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1.Chopper leaves officials clueless (galvestondailynews.com)
TEXAS CITY — For the second time in less than a month, a low-flying military helicopter had residents scratching their heads. So too were city emergency management officials, the Texas Army National Guard and Joint Terrorism Task Force officials, who said they had no idea what the chopper was up to.
Last month, a similar-looking Chinook helicopter was conducting search and rescue equipment tests in the air space above Texas City. During that testing, the U.S. Army had at least given emergency management officials in Texas City a heads up.
Not this time, Bruce Clawson, the city’s director of homeland security, said.
“I have no idea what they are doing,” he said. “We asked, but they don’t answer to any civilian authority, so they won’t tell us anything.”
A call to the Houston office of the FBI, which coordinates the Joint Terrorism Task Force for the region also hit a dead end. A spokeswoman said agents in the Texas City office of the FBI saw the chopper and suspected it was from at Ellington Field, where some Army National Guard helicopters are based, but had no confirmation that’s where it came from........
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2.FEMA, Israeli Defense Forces Home Front Command Partner for Martial Law (www.prisonplanet.com)
A press release buried on the FEMA website, dated June 30, 2009, announces a meeting between FEMA administrator Craig Fugate and Maj. Gen. Yair Golan of the Israeli Defense Forces Home Front Command. “I look forward to working with my Israeli counterpart as co-chair of an emergency management work group to improve emergency management practices in both countries,” said Fugate. “These partnerships are critical in ensuring that we are incorporating best practices and also working towards greater public preparedness.” read more
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3.Guard to seek volunteers for border (www.google.com)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is developing plans to seek up to 1,500 National Guard volunteers to step up the military's counter-drug efforts along the Mexican border, senior administration officials said Monday.
The plan is a stopgap measure being worked out between the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department, and comes despite Pentagon concerns about committing more troops to the border — a move some officials worry will be seen as militarizing the region.
Senior administration officials said the Guard program will last no longer than a year and would build on an existing counter-drug operation. They said the program, which would largely be federally funded, would draw on National Guard volunteers from the four border states. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been finalized........
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4.Boeing To Staff Seattle FBI Fusion Center (www.nationalterroralert.com)
To advance information sharing against terrorism, Boeing Co. expects to be among the first major corporations ? maybe the first ? to assign its own analyst to the Seattle FBI Fusion Center intelligence sharing office, according to a senior Boeing official.
The center is one of dozens around the country created by state and local governments to share anti-terrorism intelligence. Boeing wants to set an example of how private owners of critical infrastructure can get involved in such centers to generate and receive criminal and anti-terrorism intelligence, said Richard Hovel, Boeing senior advisor on aviation and homeland security.
“Hopefully, this will be the first of many similar efforts across the nation that will establish a collaborative partnership between the public sector and industry, and protect our critical infrastructure more effectively and expeditiously,” Hovel testified at a May 25 field hearing in Bellevue, Wash., sponsored by the House Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment........
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