Morning Security Brief: Terrorism Down in Europe, Underwear Bomber, Firefighter Grants, & Do Full Body Scanners Work?

♦ Europol reported yesterday that terrorism, in particular Islamist terrorism, has declined significantly throughout Europe from 2008 to 2009. "The total number of foiled, failed or successful attacks decreased from 441 to 294, with most of them being carried out by Basque separatists in France and Spain and Corsican separatists in France," Haaretz reports. "The number of people arrested in connection with Islamist terrorism declined sharply, falling to 110 compared to 187 in 2008 and 201 in 2007. Most took place in Spain (40) and France (37). Only one Islamist terrorist attack, in Italy, was successful in 2009." Nevertheless, Europol's Director Rob Wainwright said Islamist terrorists remain active inside and outside of Europe and citizens should keep their guard up.

♦ U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade reiterated yesterday that underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab faces the most serious charge possible after ABC World News featured a video of the alleged terrorist shooting weapons and making martyrdom statements in Yemen. “The very first count of the indictment charges him with attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction, which is a terrorism charge,” McQuade told the Detroit Free Press. “Perhaps the confusion comes from the fact that the word ‘terrorism’ does not appear in the statute. However, terrorism is a category of charges, not a charge itself.”

♦ A bipartisan group of senators ignored proposed cuts in firefighter grants by the Obama administration and poured more into the pot, reports HSToday. "The Fire Grants Reauthorization Act of 2010, which passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, would authorize $950 million per year for the Assistance to Firefighters (FIRE) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) as well as the Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) grant programs for a period of five years. Those levels would increase with adjustments according to inflation." Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) called firefighter grants the "most successful programs administered by the Department of Homeland Security."

♦ The Atlantic Monthly's James Fallows questions whether the Transportation Security Administration rushed full body scanners into the nation's airports without knowing whether they worked. Fallows' skepticism comes after an Israeli airport security expert told Canadian Parliament flat out last week that the costly machines do not work. "So we face the timeless question of figuring out how to weigh competing claims," writes Fallows. "On the one hand, we have 'this will work!' reassurances from an agency whose ability to make common-sense decisions we observe each time we go to the airport, backed by government contractors with a big new procurement order to defend -- and both of them arguing that this new technology will really solve a criminal/ terrorist/ human-network problem. On the other hand, we have the guy in charge of Israel's airport security, saying that reliance on machines is a mirage, that the real answer lies in intelligence and savvy, that capital-heavy, static tech solutions simply invite clever opponents to work around them, and so on."