August 17, 2006
In Terror War, Phone Sales Raise Alarm
•In February, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security sent a bulletin to law enforcement agencies around the country warning that people who buy cellphones in bulk quantities could have links to terrorist organizations.
•British authorities said that mobile phones, or some other device using batteries, might have been part of the recently discovered suicide plot to mix liquids into an explosive chemical aboard airliners headed for the U.S.
•In Ohio and Michigan, the Arab men — all U.S. citizens — were originally charged with terrorism-related offenses and money laundering after they were stopped last week with hundreds of cheap cellphones in their vehicles.
Nearly as cheap as the mundane box cutter and potentially just as dangerous, cellphones have become a tool of choice for those wanting to stay a step ahead of government wiretappers as well as for insurgents triggering bombs. Reselling them on the black market also has become a way of funding illicit activities.
In the Michigan case, local prosecutors backed off charges that one target for possible attack may have been the five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan.
"There is no imminent threat to the Mackinac Bridge. There is no information to indicate that the individuals arrested have any direct nexus to terrorism," the FBI's Detroit office said Monday.
On Tuesday, charges against two 20-year-old men, children of Muslim immigrants from Lebanon, arrested in Ohio also were dropped and they were released.
This was no surprise to the young mens' families, who said buying and selling cellphones for profit had been a homegrown business venture. They also suggested that ethnic profiling may have been a factor in the arrests, as was alleged in similar cases that occurred in Texas and California earlier this year.
Still, law-enforcement officials are wary. The men had bought the cellphones at retail stores such as Wal-Mart and Radio Shack. Mobile phones with prepaid calling time can sell for as little as $20 each. Many thousands have then been resold on the black market, earning enough profit to make a business worthwhile, they say. In some cases, the phone's battery, charger, and card holding air time are sold separately.
Selling such phones can be a way for terrorists to raise money as well as provide a means of communication that is very difficult to trace, U.S. authorities say. So it's necessary to be able to use "roving wiretaps" under the USA Patriot Act to conduct counterterrorism and counterintelligence operations, federal law-enforcement officials say.
In Florida, for example, prosecutors and FBI agents investigating a cell of Colombian drug dealers had gotten 23 separate wiretaps against cell members and leaders, but failed to make a strong enough case because the suspects were constantly changing cellphones.
"Our people ultimately cracked the case when they got a roving wiretap that allowed them to continue surveillance as the cell members changed phones, and the suspects were ultimately arrested and convicted of distributing over 1,000 kilograms of cocaine," Kenneth Wainstein, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told a House judiciary subcommittee last year.
Meanwhile, a legal debate rages over "unlocking" cellphones. The technology allows cellphone users to, say, switch their cellphone to a different provider when they travel abroad by manipulating the internal software, thereby avoiding roaming and long-distance fees.
TracFone and other prepaid wireless service and phone providers claim copyright infringement and have sued companies that will unlock cellphones in some cases. Electronic privacy advocates say locking cellphones itself is illegal.
In March, a federal court in Florida issued a permanent injunction halting the unlocking of TracFone prepaid cellphones by a company that subsequently went out of business. Although similar cases are pending, courts have not ruled definitively on the issue.
The Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration have been considering lifting the ban on certain electronic devices, including cellphones, aboard commercial aircraft.
This effort may have been slowed by the recent terrorist threat to airliners that was foiled by authorities in England.
On a British Airways flight from London to New York last week, a cellphone suddenly began ringing. When none of the passengers claimed the phone, the pilot turned the aircraft around and returned to Heathrow airport. Everybody was seven hours late to their destination.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
August 12, 2006
Firefighters' Families File Suit Against Motorola
The families of two firefighters who died after being trapped in a smoky fire in a Port Richmond basement where a man had been growing marijuana have sued Motorola Inc., claiming the company's faulty radio equipment led to the deaths.
Two civil lawsuits, filed in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, each seek more than $50,000 jointly or separately from Motorola, another communications company and Daniel Brough - the man who had set up the pot farm. The suits also seek a jury trial.
Philadelphia Fire Department Capt. John Taylor, 53, of Northeast Philadelphia, and firefighter Rey Rubio, 42, of North Philadelphia, both died of asphyxiation in Brough's basement on the 3600 block of Belgrade Street while responding to an Aug. 20, 2004, fire.
The lawsuits, filed on behalf of Charlene Taylor, Taylor's wife, and Amelia Hyden, Rubio's daughter, contend that "the malfunctioning Motorola radio system prevented Capt. Taylor from communicating with other firefighters while he was in the basement" to let them know that he and Rubio needed assistance.
Taylor's repeated attempts to use his radio to signal for help were not heard by firefighters outside, the lawsuits say. Meanwhile, in the burning basement, Rubio, then Taylor, collapsed on the floor after each of their air supply packs ran out.
"Both men suffered agonizing and horrible deaths from asphyxiation, before they could be rescued," the lawsuits say.
Taylor's radio was part of the city's new $62 million emergency communications system, purchased from Motorola, for use by the police and fire departments.
Installed in 2002, the digital radios became the source of numerous complaints, many from firefighters whose calls were blocked by busy signals.
A Philadelphia Fire Department spokesman yesterday said he would not comment on the lawsuits because of the pending litigation.
Spokesmen for Illinois-based Motorola and Wireless Communications and Electronics Inc. of Philadelphia, a codefendant in the lawsuits, also said yesterday they had no comment because of the pending litigation.
At Brough's criminal trial last year, the prosecution contended that the fire was caused by the intense heat from the 1,000-watt lamps Brough used to grow marijuana plants in a small plywood basement closet.
Brough, 37, was convicted of two counts of involuntary manslaughter and other offenses and sentenced in December to 15 months to four years in prison. He is currently serving his time at the State Regional Correctional Facility in Mercer.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
August 11, 2006
MARS to Support TSA in Emergencies
"This is an extensive area and will require member support across the continental United States," Harrison said in a broadcast announcement to Army MARS participants. "We will need many volunteers to man teams assigned to specific geographical areas, starting with airports throughout the hurricane corridor." She called for "physically capable" Amateur Radio operators to volunteer for the assignment.
The first airport emergency support teams will be located at four airports in the Florida hurricane belt: Miami, Ft Myers, Jacksonville and Pensacola, Harrison said. She added that recruiting will immediately follow for nine additional potential hurricane targets from Washington, DC to Houston. In a later phase - but as soon as possible - additional teams will be recruited for other hurricane locations including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and after that, the remainder of the continental US.
The emergency support teams - each consisting of four members of MARS - are being assembled under joint sponsorship of MARS and the TSA, with deployment assignments determined by the TSA when and if the government's communication systems fail. "Volunteers should be within a reasonable traveling distance to the airport. It will be their responsibility to get to the site when activated," said Harrison.
The Memorandum of Understanding, which is already in place, calls for using MARS networks, personnel and equipment to maintain communication during the first 72 hours of incidents involving aircraft, mass transit and pipelines. Seventy-two hours is considered the maximum time needed for federal response organizations to deploy internal emergency communication systems.
The MoU spells out the most extensive MARS support mission since the development of the Essential Elements of Information (EEI), which date to the 1994 Northridge earthquake that devastated parts of California's San Fernando Valley. EEIs are alerts to the Pentagon of a natural disaster or other incident that might require a federal response.
In a memo to MARS personnel, Harrison included the following points:
. The Navy-Marine Corps and Air Force MARS organizations are included in the call for volunteers, via their separate chains of command.
. Army MARS state directors will be responsible for formation of the joint teams.
. All deployments will be by team, each with a combination of equipment and operator capabilities and members ready to work 12-hour shifts. Some locations may ultimately require more than one team.
. Required equipment for each team will include HF and VHF radios with voice and digital capability, Pactor/Airmail digital messaging, phone patching and emergency power.
. Some locations may have TSA radio gear and emergency power supply to augment the hams' personal equipment.
A particular MARS responsibility will be to provide communication interoperability with local, state and national networks, such as the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) and Shared Resources (SHARES). A separate web of national and regional HF radio networks, SHARES links federal agencies under the DHS's National Communications System (NCS), of which MARS already is a primary participant.
The pact calls for a reliable back-up solution "to ensure the continuity of TSA's command and control function during the first 72 hours following any incident interfering with normal communications channels and to provide local, regional and nationwide TSA communications during that time." The existing Army MARS emergency communication network offers such a solution immediately and at no additional cost to the TSA, the MoU points out.
Under the MoU, the TSA agrees to provide MARS volunteers with access to its facilities and space for radio equipment. It further agrees to integrate MARS capabilities into its emergency planning and exercises. The Army's commitment includes providing "volunteer MARS radio operators, equipment, and use of the MARS radio networks" and developing "alert procedures and a communications support plan" that "will identify specific frequencies, call signs, and radio operator level duties." Harrison stressed that the decision to volunteer rests with the individual. "The Army has no liability over a member who reports to a disaster site; members will be responsible to TSA personnel."
Harrison told the Army MARS membership that she's "very excited" about the new agreement. "This will be a fast-moving recruitment/development action, and I request your support in filling these teams."
The chiefs of Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps MARS also are onboard with the new agreement and have messaged their respective memberships to signify their participation and cooperation with Army MARS. Air Force MARS Chief Don Poquette, AGA3C/KE9XB, has pledged his members' support. "AF MARS will assist to accomplish this mission," he said, pending working out logistical details.
Harrison says she and her headquarters staff met recently with TSA and DHS representatives to formalize the details of the cooperative arrangement. She said MARS area coordinators will provide specific requirements to state MARS directors to recruit members and equipment capabilities to support TSA.
Signing the MoU on behalf of the Army was Col Mary Beth Shively, chief of staff, Network Enterprise Technology Command/Ninth Army Signal Command. James Schear, General Manager, Operational Plans and Programs, endorsed it for the TSA. Headquartered at Ft Huachuca, Arizona, the Ninth Army Signal Command oversees the Army MARS mission.
Source: ARRL Letter 8/11/2006
