Morning Security Brief: Entrapment, US CERT Failing, Memos Warn of Awlaki, Intel Center a Bust, & Security Guard Strike Spreads

♦ The terrorism plot to attack a Bronx synagogue and shoot down military planes at a nearby airport that was disrupted last summer may have been more the product of an overzealous informant than a genuine threat presented by the suspected terrorists. "Infiltrators — civilian informers and government agents — have played a part in more than 30 terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, including the plan to bomb the Herald Square subway station, the plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and the arrests last week of two New Jersey men on charges of seeking to join a militant group in Somalia," reports The New York Times. "But some terrorism experts say that the informant’s role in the Newburgh plot was more active than most, and that the case could define when a permissible sting operation becomes illegal entrapment." The judge presiding over the Newburgh trial has indefinitely postponed the trial until the prosecution gives the defense an investigator's report that determined the four men could not have conceived or carried out the attack without the informant's help. 

♦ The Department of Homeland Security agency responsible for protecting nonmilitary government networks from cyberattacks cannot do its job, according to the department's watchdog. "The Homeland Security Department branch that monitors cyber attacks can't force other agencies to protect their systems, is woefully understaffed and its ability to manage responses to cyber attacks has been hindered by constant turnover, said the department's inspector general," reports The Wall Street Journal. "The department's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, known as US-CERT, also withheld data from other federal agencies that could have helped them address security breaches, the report found." 

♦ Two intelligence memos obtained by Fox News worry about a radical American cleric's ability to ideologically push Muslims to attack the United States. "The FBI and DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis are concerned that Anwar Aulaqi's support for violence against U.S. military and civilian targets could inspire terrorist groups or individuals to conduct attacks in the United States," one of the memos said. "The FBI and DHS/I&A encourage reporting of suspicious activity to appropriate authorities and encourage our homeland security, military and law enforcement partners to remain vigilant." Awlaki currently resides on the CIA's kill-or-capture list. 

♦ A new report from the Justice Department's Inspector General has determined the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), launched decades ago to track drug trafficking, is a failure. "The 86-page report was a virtual laundry list of seemingly intractable problems at the border intelligence post, opened by the Drug Enforcement Administration with great fanfare 36 years ago," reports The Washington Post. According to Glenn A. Fine, chief of the Office of the Inspector General, “EPIC could not produce a complete record of drug seizures nationwide because of incomplete reporting into the National Seizure System, which is managed by EPIC."

♦ The strike over low pay among private security guards has spread to five of ten World Cup stadiums in South Africa. "South African Police Services said it deployed about 1,000 extra officers in and around Johannesburg's Ellis Park to guarantee security for the night match between Brazil, one of tournament favorites, and North Korea," reports The Detroit News.