Morning Security Brief: Mosque Security, Judicial Protection, Terror Dry Run?, Border Drones, & Cell Phone Sniffer

♦ An alleged arson attack against a mosque site in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, followed by the sound of gunshots nearby the next day has rattled nearby Muslims. According to The New York Times, "nearby mosques have hired security guards, installed surveillance cameras and requested the presence of federal agents at prayer services." A spokeswoman for the planned Islamic center has called the alleged arson an “atrocious act of terrorism.” Essam Fathy, head of the center’s planning committee, told the Times, "We are very concerned about our safety. Whatever it takes, I’m not going to allow anybody to do something like this again.”

♦ Judges who hear emotional immigration and Social Security cases are pleading for more federal security, reports National Public Radio. "Over the past four years, there have been approximately 200 similar kinds of threats and, unfortunately, some of those threats have been acted on," said Judge Randall Frye, president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges. This past January, a man angry over cuts to his Social Security benefits opened fire in a Las Vegas courthouse, killing a security guard and dying himself.

♦ Two men of Yemeni origin were detained yesterday at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam after exiting a plane from Chicago for fear they were preparing for a terrorist attack. "This was almost certainly a dry run, a test," said one senior law enforcement official to ABC News. One of the men's baggage also contained strange contents. Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi, of Detroit, MI, was" found to be carrying $7,000 in cash and a check of his luggage found a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together, several watches taped together, a box cutter and three large knives" as he boarded a flight from Birmingham, Alabama, to Chicago. Since there were no explosives in his baggage, he and his baggage were allow to fly to Chicago. Then al Soofi checked his baggage on a flight eventually landing in Yemen while boarding the flight to Amsterdam with the other man, Hezem al Murisi. "When Customs and Border officials learned al Soofi was not on the flight from Dulles to Dubai, the plane was ordered to return to the gate so his luggage could be removed," reports ABC News. "Officials said additional screening found no evidence of explosives."

♦ By the start of next year, six aerial drones should be patrolling the Southwest border, according to homeland security chief Janet Napolitano. "Ms. Napolitano said that with the launching of a fourth Predator drone this week, the entire Southwest border from California to Texas would now be patrolled from above," according to The New York Times. "Previously, drones were not approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for use in a stretch of West Texas."

♦  A new cell phone sniffer, Wolfhound, discovered 10 contraband cellphones in a Thai maximum security prison prison in less than 30 minutes, according to Gearlog.com. "The Wolfhound works by detecting cell phones' RF energy, which it can do even through thick concrete walls," the site explains. "The Wolfhound is an affordable alternative to other systems which require a network infrastructure of wireless sensors to be hard-wired throughout a facility. Using it requires little training and it doesn't jam cell phones." Wolfhound is manufactured by Berkeley Varitronics Systems of Metuchen, New Jersey.