Morning Security Brief: Post-9-11 AQ Plots, Rio's Top Cop, Iran's New Worm Problem?, Northern Border Dispute, & Cybersecurity

♦ The New York Times reports that newly leaked files on Guantanamo Bay detainees offer a look into various post-9-11 plots by some detainees. "Mr. [Saifullah] Paracha’s assessment is among more than 700 classified documents that fill in new details of Al Qaeda’s efforts to make 9/11 just the first in a series of attacks to cripple the United States, intentions thwarted as the Central Intelligence Agency captured Mr. [Khalid Shaikh] Mohammed and other leaders of the terrorist network," according to the story. "The plots reportedly discussed by Mr. Mohammed and various operatives, none of them acted upon, included plans for a new wave of aircraft attacks on the West Coast, filling an apartment with leaked natural gas and detonating it, blowing up gas stations and even cutting the cables holding up the Brooklyn Bridge."

♦ Newsweek profiles Rio de Janeiro's top cop, José Mariano Beltrame, who has been credited with taking back the city's shantytowns by saturating them with police officers. "In four years under Beltrame’s control, police have 'pacified' 14 slums, including Borel, the giant Complexo do Alemão, and the City of God—the flatland favela that inspired the eponymous drugs-and-thugs film. Dons of three competing crime factions are either in jail or dead. Nearly 1,000 rogue cops, including two former police chiefs, have been cashiered. Dozens have been thrown in jail for selling protection or skimming off the drug trade," reports Newsweek. "Beltrame’s successes bode well for Rio. The mayhem and fear that used to plague the city’s commuters—assaults, robberies, kidnapping attempts, and carjackings—have plummeted. While Beltrame may not be able to fully take credit for this, the homicide rate for Greater Rio, once one of the world’s most dangerous megacities, has fallen by half in a decade. The plan was hardly ingenious: using wiretaps, computerized crime mapping, and brute force, take over the lawless parts of the city. Critics wonder where the authorities will get the extra guns to pacify the dozens of bandit hillsides that remain in rogue hands."

♦ Cybersecurity experts are finding it difficult to verify Iran's claims that it was the victim of another large cyberattack. "Without a sample of the new worm that an Iranian official says attacked the country's computers, it's impossible to verify his claims, a security researcher said Monday," reports ComputerWorld. "Kevin Haley, the director of Symantec's security response group, said that his team has not found an example of the worm, dubbed 'Stars' by the Iranian military commander responsible for investigating Stuxnet, the sophisticated malware that attacked the country's uranium enrichment facilities beginning in June 2009."

♦ The trial of a Washington man for allegedly trying to endanger the lives of U.S. border agents by shining a spotlight at their helicopter has revealed the acrimony between local border residents and the Department of Homeland Security. "The case represents one of a number of recent disputes residents on the northern border have had with federal agents tasked with securing it," reports the Bellingham Herald. "The case is titled United States of America v. Wayne P. Groen, but given its stakes and the ramifications of its outcome, the parties involved might be more appropriately identified as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the people of northern Whatcom County."

♦ DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano is on a cybersecurity recruitment mission. "Napolitano has been talking to university students since January about the need for new people in the government's quest for cybersecurity and has visited schools like MIT and George Washington University," reports the Contra Costa Times. "About 150 students attended Napolitano's hourlong talk at UC Berkeley's Sibley Auditorium on Monday afternoon. Earlier in the day, she met with Los Angeles law enforcement officials." According to Napolitano, "So we still need more people.I'm talking to the students here. We need a strong and innovative group to take on this incredible challenge that protections of cyberspace demand. We want to be as creative and innovative as possible."