Morning Security Brief: Terrorist Airline Employee?, ISTs, Terrorism Profiling, Yemen-America Terrorism Connection

♦ A British Airways employee has been charged on two counts of terrorism-related charges. Prosecutors allege Rajib Karim, a British citizen, volunteered to help recruit suicide bombers and become one himself in attacks outside the United Kingdom. According to CNN.com, "He used his position at British Airways to advise foreign terrorists on airport security measures, including suspicion scans, liquid allowances, and computer systems, prosecutors alleged." British officials did not say who Karim was working for, CNN.com reports.

♦ Lawrence D. Sloan, president and CEO of the Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates, says that the chemical security bill passed by the House last November has "overreaching standards" in the The Houston Chronicle yesterday. The bill would mandate that certain chemical facilities substitute inherently safer technologies to replace dangerous chemicals or chemical processes. If the bill became law, Sloan argues, it would devastate certain parts of the chemical industry, particularly in Houston. "That could mean chemical companies would have to move production offshore, shutting down U.S. plants and putting thousands of people in the local community out of work," he says.

♦ Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson argues the recent case of "JihadJane" proves one thing: "Anyone who claims to be able to identify a potential terrorist by appearance or nationality is delusional. There's a reason all of us have to take our shoes off at the airport." Robinson goes on to explain that if the government gave into calls for passenger profiling based on race or ethnicity, it would easily miss the likes of "JihadJane," an unspectacular middle-aged, white woman from Pennsylvania who went by the name Colleen LaRose.

♦ The Philadelphia Inquirer today reports of a local man who traveled to Yemen in 2007 to study Arabic and allegedly became an al Qaeda terrorist. That man, Sharif Mobley, now sits in prison in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a for murdering a hospital security guard while trying to escape from a hospital. The Inquirer reports that Mobley had an ongoing relationship with radical Islamist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the same cleric who had contact with alleged Ft. Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who preached to two of 9-11 hijackers, and who allegedly helped dispatch the "underwear" bomber to attack the United States on Christmas Day.