Organ trafficking

Ukraine-Born Volfman Arrested in Tirana on Suspicion of Human Organ Trafficking

Boris Igor Volfman, born in Ukraine in 1984, could be involved in the work of an illegal network that is engaged in human organ trafficking from Costa Rica to Kosovo, Kossev news said on Wednesday.

European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX Kosovo) data shows that the network includes several doctors who perform illegal organ transplants and Volfman is one of them, Kossev said. The man, who holds both Russian and Israeli citizenship, has already been arrested over illegal human organ trafficking three times. According to law enforcement, he has been involved in the illegal trade since 2008.

Public security

Homegrown terrorists to target concerts, sporting events, Homeland Security warns

The nation’s top counterterrorism official testified Tuesday that the world’s army of terrorists is “broader, wider and deeper than any point since 9/11,” the day al Qaeda attacked America.

Nicholas Rasmussen, who directs the National Counterterrorism Center, said the Islamic State may be losing ground in Iraq and Syria but its ability to strike abroad, including in the U.S., “has not thus far been significantly diminished.”

The nation is facing a phase in which people quickly radicalize and launch simple but deadly attacks before authorities have time to detect them, he said.

His testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee conflicts with upbeat reports from the White House, which has focused on territorial losses in Syria and Iraq as signs that the Islamic State is being defeated.

“Even ISIL’s leaders know they’re going to keep losing,” President Obama said in August. “In their message to followers, they’re increasingly acknowledging that they may lose Mosul and Raqqa, and ISIL is right … they will lose them. And we’ll keep hitting them and pushing them back and driving them out until they do.”

Penitentiary

Coalition Petitions Homeland Security to End Privatization of Detention Centers

Last Month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it will phase out the use of privately operated prisons, citing data that shows for-profit institutions are not as safe or effective as those run directly by the government.

Today (September 28), a coalition of 350 legal rights and progressive organizations—including Color Of Change, Presente,Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Mijente and the American Civil Liberties Union—delivered a petition demanding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) follow suit and dump its contracts with private corporations.

The petition, signed by more than 250,000 people, was delivered to the DHS office in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with a press conference where former detainees shared their experiences of being in privately-run detention centers.

Military

Sweden Proposes Reintroduction of Compulsory Military Service

Sweden’s government on Wednesday proposed the reintroduction of compulsory military service, as the country continues to rebuild its national defenses amid rising tension around the Baltic Sea.

The proposal, which was generated by a government inquiry, would see the recruitment process for military service begin in July of next year, with the training of new entrants to start in early 2018.

The inquiry recommended Swedes born in 1999 and 2000 form the first intake. It proposes 4,000 new recruits be trained in 2018.

The move is the latest step in a ramp up of the Swedish military, which has seen defense budgets rise and troops deployed to the strategic Baltic Sea island of Gotland for the first time in a decade.

Drills

Russia, Pakistan conduct first-ever joint military drills (PHOTOS)

Russian and Pakistani servicemen conducted their first joint military exercises in Pakistan in a historic moment of cooperation between the former Cold War rivals.

A series of war games known as Friendship 2016 kicked off Monday, opening at a special forces academy in Cherat. During the ceremony, Russian forces showed the Pakistanis their weaponry, including the VSS Vintorez sniper rifle and the NRS-2 combat knife.

On Tuesday, over 40 soldiers from the two countries took part in a mountain training exercise. Carrying equipment weighing around 15kg, representatives from the Southern Military District’s mountain infantry brigade based in Karachay-Cherkessiya demonstrated how to make a safety mechanism using a station knot.

Their Pakistani colleagues returned the favor, showing them another safety mechanism using a special rope with three knots. Both systems would come in useful under extreme circumstances, where access to resources is limited.

9|11 investigation

CIA Director Warns US Congress Not to Allow 9/11 Lawsuits Against Saudi Arabia

The measure targets participation by Saudi nationals in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, as well as possible complicity by some officials in the Saudi government.

"The most damaging consequence would be for those US government officials who dutifully work overseas on behalf of our country," Brennan said. The statement explained that the law would be especially risky for CIA employees because the measure would undermine sovereign immunity, a legal principle rooted in reciprocity. "If we fail to uphold this standard for other countries, we place our own nation’s officials in danger," Brennan stated. Earlier on Wednesday, the US Senate voted to override the president’s veto and the House of Representatives is expected to follow suit within hours.

Human trafficking

Anti-sex-trafficking summit hopes to find global solution

Prosecutors are calling the scourge of sex trafficking a form of modern-day slavery that touches every state in the nation, and they’re working to draw connections between active investigations around the globe at a summit in Waikiki. 

Representatives from eight countries and a dozen states met to share details about cases of victims forced into the sex industry, hoping to collaborate on strategies to bring traffickers to justice. 

“Sex trafficking internationally is somewhere between a $7 billion and $23 billion business,” said Cyrus Vance Jr., district attorney for New York County. “It’s second to international arms sales in terms of the scope of the crime and the money that’s involved with it. So it’s huge. And it’s in every community in America - whether we like to acknowledge it or not - and every country around the world.”

Tortures

Bodies of evidence: psychologists and the CIA torture scandal

In the summer of 1975, in the weeks before President Gerald Ford dodged the first of two assassination attempts, the Rockefeller Commission issued a report into the Central Intelligence Agency’s illegal surveillance of home-grown subversives. Prompted by The New York Times’ reporting of the agency’s involvement in opening the mail and tapping the phones of anti-Vietnam War protesters and civil rights activists, the 300-page report uncovered little new information. However, it did find something equally worrying: a paper trail cataloguing the large number of American psychologists whose research had been secretly funded by the CIA.

Cybersecurity

Russian Firm King Servers to Ask FBI to Conduct Probe Into Cyberattacks in US

Earlier, US experts said, that King Servers owned six out of eight IP addresses that FBI made public during the investigation. This was called one of the reasons, why the US accused the Russian firm of being involvement in the crime.

"We are outraged that someone used our servers to conduct criminal actions… Our lawyers are considering the possibility of addressing the FBI or other intelligence services to offer starting a joint investigation," the firm’s owner Vladimir Fomenko told RIA Novosti.

Criminology

Murders up 10.8% in biggest percentage increase since 1971, FBI data shows

Murders in the US rose 10.8% last year, the biggest single-year percentage jump since 1971, according to data released Monday by the FBI.

The rising violence was driven by an increase in the murders of black men, and by an increase in the number of gun murders. At least 900 more black men were killed in 2015 than in 2014, according to FBI data.

There were roughly 1,500 additional firearm murders in 2015. No other type of weapon saw a comparable increase. The number of knife murders dropped slightly.

The percentage of murders committed with guns increased to 71.5%.

Forensics

White House Advisory Council Report Is Critical of Forensics Used in Criminal Trials

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology released a final report Tuesday on forensics, concluding that much of the most common analysis used in criminal trials doesn’t meet scientific standards.

The final document nearly mirrored a draft report reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that raised questions about the use of bite-mark, hair, footwear, firearm and tool-mark analysis as evidence in thousands of trials annually in state and federal courts.

It sets the stage for criminal-defense challenges of long-held evidentiary methods and promises increased courtroom battles with prosecutors over the use of expert witnesses.

Law enforcement

Women in Combat: Female Battalion in Iran Joins Law Enforcement

The commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s special forces division, General Hassan Karami, has announced the establishment of a women's special forces battalion in Iran.

According to the commander of the special forces, General Hassan Karami, the battalion is a volunteer unit that receives special military training and ensures that the tasks are performed on time. Women who are interested in serving in the battalion, can apply at any branch of Iran's voluntary police. 

Terror threat

‘Terrorists need to be lucky once, intelligence has to be lucky always’

Despite the great deal of work intelligence and security agencies are doing to counter terrorism, luck is also a big factor when it comes to providing the safety of our countries, says Chris Hunter, a retired British Army bomb disposal officer.

TrendsGlobal terrorism

A leading EU security official has warned Islamic State could be about to change its style of terror in Europe, possibly involving chemical weapons.

RT: Does ISIS really have the ability to carry out a chemical attack in Europe?

Chris Hunter: Yes, I think first and foremost, what we are seeing is a changing modus operandi. Any terror group, there sole intention is to spread fear and terror to achieve their objectives. And in the theaters in which they operate, they will identify certain tactics, techniques and procedures which are successful at installing that widespread fear.

Poll results

CNN said Hillary won the debate. Why do so many polls seem to say otherwise?

Take a look for example, at the polls shared  by conservative news aggregation site, The Drudge Report. At the top of their list was a seemingly scientific post-debate poll claiming to come from ABC News. According to ABC News, Drudge claimed, 54% of respondents would now be voting for Trump, followed by 21% for Jill Stein, 15% for Gary Johnson, and just 10% for Hillary Clinton, despite the fact that Stein and Johnson didn't even compete in the debate.

The poll, which Drudge linked to and which was shared by some #TrumpWon supporters on Twitter, actually came from a fake ABC News site with the address "abcnewsgo.co," not the outlet's real site, "abcnews.go.com."

Other polls weren't so conclusive. Slate, Time, Breitbart, and CNBC online polls all gave the debate to Trump. Even though Slate and Time warned their readers that their site's polls were mostly fun and unscientific ("Online reader polls like this one are not statistically representative of likely voters, and are not predictive of the debate outcome will effect the election," Timewrote), the numbers and the subsequent viral screenshots sharply contrasted with the dominant ("mainstream") narrative that Hillary had won.

Electoral battles

Nuclear security

US Congress Bill Bans President From Launching ‘First Use’ Nuclear Strike

The release claimed that the issue of "nuclear first use" is even more critical in light of the fact that a majority of Americans do not trust Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump with the US nuclear arsenal.

"This legislation would prohibit the [US] President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress," the release stated. On Monday, US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the campaign’s first debate argued that Trump’s position on nuclear weapons runs contrary to longstanding US policy given he has repeatedly said he did not care if other countries possessed them.

Spy story

World War Two spy's row with wife 'almost ruined D-Day'

A row between a spy and his wife almost compromised World War Two D-Day operations, secret MI5 files show.

Juan Pujol, who was codenamed Agent Garbo, had helped to convince the Nazis the landings would not take place in Normandy but in the Pas-de-Calais.

But after being confined to their London house to protect his identity, his wife threatened to go to the Spanish embassy in a row in June 1943.

She said she would tell all unless she was allowed to visit her mother.

Homesick

The family was based in Harrow, north-west London, where Agent Garbo had a network of sub-agents sending false intelligence reports to his German spymasters.

His feedback of false information to the Nazis diverted them away from the scene of the actual D-Day landings on 6 June 1944.

Extremism

Homegrown attacks are an increasing threat, Homeland Security chief says

Bombings in New York and New Jersey — and a stabbing attack in Minnesota the same day — underscore that homegrown attacks inspired by violent extremists are as much a threat to the United States as those directed by terrorists, the nation's Homeland Security chief says. 

While all attacks are difficult to detect and prevent, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the United States and its allies continue to "take the fight militarily to terrorist organizations overseas" 15 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

In prepared testimony before a Senate committee Tuesday, Johnson said airstrikes and special operations against the so-called Islamic State terror group have led to the deaths of a number of its leaders. While it remains a threat, the Islamic State has lost nearly half the populated areas it once controlled in Iraq and thousands of square miles in Syria, Johnson said.

Homeland security

This Plan for Streamlining Oversight Would Enhance Homeland Security

Key government officials are ready to reform congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, something that is long overdue.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has suggested in recent days that he would like to streamline that oversight.

While it may sound strange, the homeland security committees in the House and the Senate aren’t primarily responsible for oversight of the Department of Homeland Security.

When Congress, during the George W. Bush administration, created the new department in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by pulling together agencies from 22 other departments, each congressional committee kept its oversight authority of those agencies.

European security

EU Defense Ministers Discuss Deeper Military Cooperation

European Union defense ministers on Tuesday discussed proposals for increased military cooperation while Britain and some Eastern European governments expressed concern that such collaboration could undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and duplicate the alliance’s work.

The proposals debated by the ministers, who met in the Slovak capital Bratislava, are part of a push by European officials and diplomats to strengthen European ties after Britain’s vote in June to leave the EU.

Europe is also under pressure from the U.S. to step up its military spending. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump echoed those calls on Monday evening, as he pressed Europe to shoulder more of the burden of its own defense.