Homeland
Security
Current Nationwide
Threat Level
ELEVATED
Daily Open Source Infrastructure
Report for 9 July 2010
Significant Risk of Terrorist Attacks
For information, click here:
http://www.dhs.gov
Top Stories
•
According to the Associated Press, authorities held a search for two people missing July 7
after a barge hit a Philadelphia tourist boat carrying 37 people on the Delaware River. (See
item 15)
•
The Lower Hudson Journal News reports that a five-alarm fire destroyed half a block in the
White Plains, New York downtown business district July 7 and sent more than 20
firefighters to the hospital on a day with temperatures around 100 degrees. (See item 43)
Fast Jump Menu
PRODUCTION INDUSTRIES
• Energy
• Chemical
• Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste
• Critical Manufacturing
• Defense Industrial Base
• Dams
SUSTENANCE and HEALTH
• Agriculture and Food
• Water
• Public Health and Healthcare
SERVICE INDUSTRIES
• Banking and Finance
• Transportation
• Postal and Shipping
• Information Technology
• Communications
• Commercial Facilities
FEDERAL and STATE
• Government Facilities
• Emergency Services
• National Monuments and Icons
Energy Sector
Current Electricity Sector Threat Alert Levels: Physical: ELEVATED,
Cyber: ELEVATED
Scale: LOW, GUARDED, ELEVATED, HIGH, SEVERE [Source: ISAC for the Electricity Sector (ES-ISAC) [http://www.esisac.com]
1. July 8, The New York Times – (Louisiana) Obama administration asks court to
reinstate deep-water drilling moratorium. The President’s administration has asked
a federal court in Louisiana to reinstate the moratorium on deep-water drilling in the
Gulf of Mexico, saying the moratorium was a rational response to the unparalleled
emergency of the BP oil spill. In a court filing late July 6, the Interior Department said
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the six-month moratorium on drilling in more than 500 feet of water, imposed in late
May, was necessary to allow time to adopt stricter safety and environmental regulation
of deep-water wells. The action has put hundreds of people who operate and service
deep-water wells out of work and brought long-term uncertainty to the Gulf Coast
economy. Politicians all along the coast have called the moratorium a case of extras
federal overkill that threatens the livelihood of the region. The moratorium was
challenged in court by Hornbeck Offshore Services, a Louisiana firm that provides
goods and services to offshore drilling and pumping platforms, and by other oil service
firms.
Source: http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_15461307
2. July 8, USA Today – (Louisiana) BP: Gulf oil spill could be stopped this month. BP
is moving to fix its gushing Gulf oil well by July 27, weeks ahead of the deadline the
energy giant is discussing publicly, the Wall Street Journal reported. “In a perfect world
with no interruptions, it’s possible to be ready to stop the well between July 20 and July
27,” BP’s managing director said. He added that stopping the well in July is threatened
by hurricane season and is “unlikely.” BP is also readying backup plans in case its
current plan fails, including connecting a well to existing pipelines to two underwater
gas and oil fields, the Journal reported. A BP spokesman said July 8 that the company
hasn’t changed its target date of an August completion of the well-killing operation, the
Washington Post reported.
Source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/07/bp-gulf-oilspill-1/1
3. July 8, Associated Press – (National) Abandoned gulf oil wells draw shock,
anger. Leading environmental groups and a U.S. senator on July 7 called on the
government to pay closer attention to more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in
the Gulf of Mexico and take action to keep them from leaking even more crude into
water already tainted by the massive BP spill. The calls for action follow an Associated
Press investigation that found federal regulators do not typically inspect plugging of
these offshore wells or monitor for leaks afterward. Yet tens of thousands of oil and gas
wells are improperly plugged on land, and abandoned wells have sometimes leaked
offshore too, state and federal regulators acknowledge. Of 50,000 wells drilled over the
past six decades in the Gulf, 23,500 have been permanently abandoned. Another 3,500
are classified by federal regulators as “temporarily abandoned,” but some have been
left that way since the 1950s, without the full safeguards of permanent abandonment.
Petroleum engineers say that even in properly sealed wells, the cement plugs can fail
over the decades and the metal casing that lines the wells can rust. Even depleted
production wells can repressurize over time and spill oil if their sealings fail.
Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/08/national/main6657131.shtml
4. July 7, Phoenix News – (Arizona) Asphalt leaking from storage tank at Phoenix
manufacturing plant. The Phoenix Fire Department was called out to an asphalt plant
early July 7 to deal with what was first reported as an oil leak from a 50,000-barrel
storage tank. Paramount Petroleum Corporation, the largest manufacturer of paving and
roofing asphalt products in the western U.S., is located at 19th Avenue and McDowell
Road. Firefighters initially shut down McDowell Road between 19th Avenue and the
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freeway. They re-opened it a short time later after determining there was no hazardousmaterials situation. What was actually leaking from the storage tank was warm liquid
asphalt. When in its liquid state, asphalt has a consistency similar to molasses. Once it
starts to cool off, which usually happens fairly quickly, it begins to harden. According
to the captain of the Phoenix Fire Department, the leaking asphalt was being contained
in a dike that is built around the tank just for that purpose.
Source: http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Oil-leaking-from-storage-tank-atPhoenix-asphalt-plant-97945089.html
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Chemical Industry Sector
5. July 7, Central Jersey Register-News – (New Jersey) Fire at plant raises concerns. An
industrial material caught fire at a local chemical plant last week, where hazardous
substances have previously earned the site a spot on a watchdog group’s list. The fire
occurred July 1 at the Stepan Chemical Company plant on Fourth Street in Fieldsboro.
The Production superintendent said a 55-gallon tub of about 200 pounds of solid sulfur
was found smoldering just before 5 p.m. Responders included all three Bordentown fire
companies and the county Hazardous Materials Unit and Health Department. No
injuries were reported and there was no need for on- or off-site evacuation. The fire
was extinguished in about an hour, and no cause was immediately determined. The
supervising environmental health specialist for the county Department of Health said
the call came after an employee noticed something smoldering in the warehouse. “It
was initially reported as a sulfur drum with an internal chemical reaction of some sort
creating a smoke condition in the warehouse storage building. At some point moisture
got into drum and caused an internal reaction with the sulfur,” he added. Sulfur is a raw
material used in the production of sulfur trioxide and, ultimately, detergents. The
plant’s use of the trioxide got it a spot on a 2008 list from the New Jersey Work
Environment Council of 97 industrial sites considered hazardous to nearby residents in
the event of a “worst-case” accident or attack. The accident did not involve any sulfur
trioxide. “[The sulfur in the fire] is just solid material that is combustible, not anything
like trioxide,” he said.
Source:
http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2010/07/07/the_register_news/news/doc4c34d8a
2cbc8a784049282.txt
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Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste Sector
6. July 8, Salt Lake Tribune – (National) Feds seek a temp home for depleted
uranium. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has started looking beyond Utah for
temporary storage of nearly 10,000 drums of depleted uranium for up to seven years.
The cleanup waste from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina was originally
headed to Utah to be buried for good at the EnergySolutions Inc. disposal site. In fact,
the first of three shipments had already arrived in Utah when the Utah governor and the
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DOE agreed to put the disposal and the remaining two shipments on hold. The Salt
Lake City nuclear services company has estimated it will be the end of the year before
it can update a report on the site’s ability to contain large quantities of the unusual
waste, which grows more hazardous over time. And it will probably take at least
another year for state regulators to review that site assessment. In the meantime, the
first shipment containing about 5,400 drums of the Savannah River waste has been
placed in an EnergySolutions disposal cell but will not be buried until the state gives its
approval. Potential bidders have until July 15 to submit their temporary storage
proposals to the Energy Department. And, there is just one site that is licensed to offer
interim storage, a new facility in western Texas near the New Mexico border.
Source: http://sltrib.com/sltrib/home/49885304-76/waste-site-storage-depleted.html.csp
7. July 7, Reuters – (National) Heart tests add to U.S. radiation dose concerns. Heart
imaging procedures can deliver a significant amount of radiation to patients, U.S.
researchers said on Wednesday, urging patients and doctors to weigh the risks against
the benefits. They said nearly one in 10 adults under the age of 64 had a heart
procedure involving radiation over a three-year period in five major healthcare markets.
“For many patients in the United States, there is a substantial cumulative radiation
exposure from cardiac procedures,” said a professor at Yale University School of
Medicine, whose study appears in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
An advanced type of heart stress test called myocardial perfusion imaging, in which
doctors inject a radioactive tracer in patients to test blood flow, accounted for 74
percent of radiation exposure from heart scans. Heart catheterization and stenting —
procedures in which thin tubes are fished through blood vessels to open blocked
arteries — were the second biggest contributor to radiation exposure, the professor
said. More than half of the heart procedures using radiation were done in the doctor’s
own office, the team found. “Policymakers have been concerned that there is a rise in
physician office imaging and a rise in total use of imaging,” the professor said in a
telephone interview. “I think there is legitimate concern that easy availability —
convenience — makes the threshold for testing lower. Whether it is inappropriate or
not, our study can’t say.” While doctors disagree over how much, most agree that
radiation can cause cancer, and researchers are growing concerned that an explosion in
the use of medical imaging is making it more likely that patients may develop cancer.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6665R920100707
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Critical Manufacturing Sector
8. July 7, Northwest Indiana Times – (Indiana) Accident at U.S. Steel leaves worker
injured. A United States Steel corporation employee in Gary, Indiana was injured in a
plant accident early Wednesday morning, the company confirmed. A man was
operating a transfer car on the high line near the plant’s blast furnaces at about 12:30
a.m. when the transfer car left the tracks, a company spokeswoman wrote via e-mail. A
person familiar with the situation said the transfer car was being loaded with iron ore
pellets prior to leaving the track. The person also said the worker was being treated at a
local hospital prior to being airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center near Chicago
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on Wednesday. Specific injuries suffered were not available. A spokesman for the
Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the agency is aware of the
incident in Gary and will be working with the local labor and company management
team on the investigation. Two people familiar with the situation said part of the
investigation will focus on the integrity of the steel support structure for the high line.
One person said a “catastrophic failure” of the structure led to the transfer car falling
more than 30 feet to land upside down in the iron ore yard.
Source: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/article_14d7111e-298a-5fa2-90c3f3c114487b70.html
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Defense Industrial Base Sector
9. July 8, Space-Travel.com – (National) SBSS launch delayed. The launch of the SpaceBased Space Surveillance (SBSS) spacecraft planned for July 8, 2010, has been
delayed pending resolution of a test anomaly associated with another Minotaur IV
launch vehicle undergoing test in the factory. The testing identified a software issue
that is being assessed for implications to the SBSS mission. The integrated government
and contractor team is accessing the cause of the software anomaly and potential
corrective actions and expects to establish a new launch date as early as next week.
Source: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/SBSS_Launch_Delayed_999.html
10. July 8, Space-Travel.com – (National) NASA preparing for DM-2 test: Now that’s
powerful information. Preparations are under way for the testing of NASA’s nextgeneration, five-segment solid rocket development motor in September. The test is
designed to advance the understanding, safety, technology, and capability of solid
rocket motors. The five-segment DM-2 motor — capable of producing 22 million
horsepower and generating as much as 3.6 million pounds of thrust — was developed
by ATK Space Systems, a division of Alliant Techsystems of Brigham City, Utah, the
prime contractor for the solid rocket motor, and is being assembled at ATK’s test stand
in Promontory, Utah. This will be the second, full-scale, full-duration test of the new
development motor, which follows the successful test of DM-1 last fall. Although
similar to the solid rocket boosters that help power the space shuttle to orbit, DM-2
includes several upgrades and technology improvements, including the addition of a
fifth segment, a modified nozzle throat and upgraded insulated liner. With these
changes, engineers hope to improve performance and provide greater safety and
reliability for NASA’s next-generation launch vehicle.
Source: http://www.spacetravel.com/reports/NASA_Preparing_For_DM2_Test_Now_That_Powerful_Informatio
n_999.html
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Banking and Finance Sector
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11. July 8, WTNH 8 New Haven – (Connecticut) Bomb threat made in Branford bank
heist. Branford police are looking for a robber who threatened to blow up a bank from
outside the drive-up window. Police say a guy drove up to teller window at a New
Alliance Bank in Branford, Connecticut after 7:00 p.m. demanding money and
threatening to detonate a bomb. Police released surveillance photos of the incident, and
one of them shows a man holding something in his hand as if he was about to push a
button or pull a trigger. The suspect is believed to be a white male, about 35 - 40 years
old, large in stature. The amount of money the robber obtained has not been reported.
Source: http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/crime/bomb-threat-made-in-branford-bankheist
12. July 8, Bank Info Security – (California) Account Takeover: The new wrinkle. The
owner of Village View Escrow Inc., Redondo Beach, California, says her company fell
prey to a “corporate account takeover” scheme after hackers were able to break into the
company’s network, steal bank credentials, and send 26 consecutive wire transfers out
of the country, totaling $465,000. Dual controls were not used by the business, but an
email verification service offered by Professional Business Bank, Pasadena, California
was successfully disabled by the criminals. The scheme, which occurred in March, is
currently under investigation, and no litigation has yet been filed. Security experts
familiar with the Village View Escrow case say there are lessons to be learned by other
institutions and businesses to avoid corporate account takeover via ACH and wire
fraud. One area where the principals in the Village View Escrow case fell short was
allowing changes to be made to online banking alerts without verifying they were
legitimate. When the hackers disabled the email notification at Professional Business
Bank, an alert message should have automatically been generated and sent to the area
responsible for applications and systems maintenance.
Source: http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=2728
13. July 8, IDG News Services – (International) Europe votes to send secret bank data to
U.S. authorities. The European Parliament July 8 gave its consent to the controversial
Swift agreement that will allow the bulk transfer of European citizens’ financial data to
U.S. authorities as part of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP). The
Parliament originally rejected the agreement in February over concerns about civil
liberties. But after both the European Commission and the European Council approved
the plan, Parliament came under increased pressure to allow the agreement to go ahead.
The commission revised the original proposal with concessions to Parliament and its
members voted to approve the revised proposal by 484 to 109. There were 12
abstentions. In exchange for Parliament’s support, the new agreement acknowledges
the ambition for the European Union to establish a system equivalent to the TFTP,
which could allow for data extraction to take place on EU soil. The U.S. has committed
to providing assistance in setting up such a system.
Source:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178979/Europe_votes_to_send_secret_bank
_data_to_U.S._authorities
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Transportation Sector
14. July 8, Washington Post – (District of Columbia; Maryland; Virginia) FAA sends
experts to review safety rules at air traffic center. The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) on Wednesday sent a team of experts to review procedures at the
air traffic control center that directs all flights in the Washington region after the
facility recorded its 22nd potentially dangerous mistake last week. With the National
Transportation Safety Board already investigating mistakes made by air traffic
controllers nationwide, the FAA told its employees in a conference call this week that it
was launching a new effort to make air travel more safe. The team was sent after The
Washington Post reported Monday about an incident in which a 120-seat United
Airlines Airbus 319 narrowly avoided colliding with a 22-seat Gulfstream business jet
June 28. The United flight from Chicago was being guided by an air traffic controller
toward a landing at Reagan National Airport when an onboard collision-avoidance
system warned that it was headed for a midair encounter with the Gulfstream under the
direction of another controller. The United pilot reported pulling up hard and then
seeing the Gulfstream pass just behind him. There had been 21 other incidents this year
in which planes being directed by controllers at the Warrenton center invaded the air
space of other aircraft. FAA regulations require that planes be separated by at least
three miles or 1,000 feet in altitude.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/07/07/AR2010070704973.html?wprss=rss_metro
15. July 8, Associated Press – (Pennsylvania) Barge hits Philadelphia ‘duck boat’
carrying 37; 2 people missing. Authorities halted an hours-long search for two people
missing Wednesday after a barge hit a tourist boat carrying 37 people on the Delaware
River, authorities said. The search resumed Thursday morning for the 20-year-old man
and 16-year-old girl, both from Hungary, officials said. They were among 35
passengers and two crew members aboard the amphibious “duck boat,” which gives
tourists a water-and-land view of Philadelphia, a Coast Guard senior chief said. The
duck boat had driven into the water just after 2:30 p.m. and suffered a mechanical
problem and a small fire, officials said. It was struck about 10 minutes later by a barge
used to transport sludge, then sank.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/07/07/AR2010070705250.html
16. July 8, CNN – (International) Boy killed, 18 hurt as blast derails train in India. A
six-year-old boy was killed and 18 others were injured as a bomb explosion derailed a
train in India’s restive northeastern region Thursday, authorities said. At least six cars
and the locomotive of the train jumped the track because of the blast that occurred at
early Thursday morning in Assam state. An explosive device was believed to have been
planted on the railroad. Police suspect the attack in the state’s Kokrajhar district was
carried out by a faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
Source:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/07/08/india.train.derails/?fbid=vB9fiGJo
EnV
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17. July 8, Truckinginfo.com – (Ohio) Ohio to replace aging I-71 bridge. The Ohio
Department of Transportation has set aside $88 million of its fiscal budget to replace
the aging Jeremiah Morrow Bridge, located between Columbus and Cincinnati on
Interstate 71. According to reports by the Associated Press, the bridge is safe, but can
no longer support heavy loads. Trucks over 120,000 pounds cannot cross. The bridge is
similar to one that collapsed in Minneapolis in 2007, which killed 13 people and
injured 145. The original bridge was built in 1965, but it has undergone major rework
since then due to significant slope failures. Currently, the bridge services about 60,000
vehicles a day, with two lanes going each way, the AP reports. Construction will not
cause traffic to shut down in either direction, a state official told the AP.
Source: http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/newsdetail.asp?news_id=70939&news_category_id=19
18. July 7, KXII 12 Sherman – (Texas; International) Texas-Mexico bridges close as Rio
Grande rises. Laredo officials are closing a second international bridge as the Rio
Grande swells from the remnants of Hurricane Alex and releases from reservoirs
upstream. The Colombia Bridge, which connects the city’s northwestern edge to Nuevo
Leon, will close at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening. The city has already shut down the
bridge that connects its downtown to that of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. No buildings in
Laredo were immediately in danger, but a city spokeswoman says officials could order
some low-lying houses evacuated. Damage on the Mexican side of the river has been
more severe. Tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate, and the mayor of Piedras
Negras — across from Eagle Pass — and four others died when their plane crashed as
they inspected flooded areas.
Source: http://www.kxii.com/txnews/headlines/97995229.html
19. July 7, Garden City Patch – (New York) Access door from Boeing 767 falls in
Garden City. A Nassau County Public Works employee working on the grounds of the
Franklin Avenue courthouse Saturday heard something crash to the ground at
approximately 4:55 p.m. Curious, he walked to the rear steps of the courthouse to find
what appeared to be an airplane hatch door lying on the ground. Garden City and
Nassau County police were notified and began a joint investigation with the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA). An FAA spokesperson confirmed that the object was
in fact a hydraulic service access door from an Alitalia Boeing 767 heading toward JFK
Airport for landing. Measuring 1 foot by two feet and weighing four lbs, the airplane
part apparently detached from the commercial airliner as it was flying over the Garden
City/Mineola border. The missing part does not affect the controllability or safety of
the aircraft, according to the spokesman.
Source: http://gardencity.patch.com/articles/access-door-from-boeing-767-falls-ingarden-city
20. July 7, Homeland Security NewsWire – (National) The number of incidents of lasers
being flashed into aircraft rises sharply; federal, state prosecutors respond. The
number of incidents of lasers being flashed into aircraft has risen steadily in the past
five years — from 283 cases reported to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
nationwide in 2005 to 1,476 incidents last year. Lasers cause a blinding flash made
worse when viewed through night vision equipment. Criminal cases over lasers and
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aircraft have followed increased interest by federal aviation experts in the threats posed
by lasers. Pilots told the FAA of about 1,476 incidents last year of lasers flashed into
their aircraft, with 20 of those in Virginia and 13 in Maryland, federal records show.
The number has risen steadily in the past five years from the 283 reported to the FAA
nationwide in 2005. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also has taken
an interest in the laser problem, ramping up its reviews after a 1995 incident that left a
Southwest Airlines first officer temporarily blinded by light from an outdoor laser show
as he lifted off from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.
Source: http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/number-incidents-lasers-being-flashedaircraft-rises-sharply-federal-state-prosecutors-respond
21. July 7, Crain’s New York Business – (International) Feds: Subway bomb plot linked
to British cell. A failed plot to set off bombs in the New York subway system last year
was part of a larger al-Qaida terrorist conspiracy that planned a similar attack in
England, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday. In an indictment unsealed Wednesday,
prosecutors added several al-Qaida figures to the case, including an FBI most-wanted
terrorist. One of the al-Qaida leaders in charge of plotting attacks worldwide was
directly involved in recruiting and plotting the New York attack, prosecutors said. The
U.S. attorney general has called that plot one of the most dangerous since the terrorists
attacks of September 11, 2001. Two of the men indicted Wednesday were linked to a
previously undisclosed companion plot in England. Three U.S. citizens were arrested in
September 2009 before, prosecutors said, they could carry out a trio of suicide
bombings in Manhattan. The men have pleaded guilty and admitted planning to
detonate homemade bombs on the subway during rush hour.
Source: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100707/FREE/100709908/0/WB01#
For another story, see item 33
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Postal and Shipping Sector
Nothing to report
[Return to top]
Agriculture and Food Sector
22. July 8, Savannah Morning News – (Georgia) Imperial Sugar settles for $6 million,
admits no wrongdoing. Imperial Sugar Co. will pay more than $4 million for safety
violations at its Port Wentworth, Georgia refinery, where a 2008 inferno killed 14
people and injured many others. The fines are part of a $6 million settlement announced July 7 - between Imperial and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA). In addition to infractions here, it will pay $2 million for
violations at its refinery in Gramercy, Louisiana. Imperial also accepted a three-year
program of intensive OSHA oversight at its Port Wentworth refinery. Two federal
inquiries found company officials knew for years about deadly hazards at the Port
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Wentworth site, but didn’t correct them. Combustible sugar dust that workers said
sometimes clouded the air and stood knee high fueled the Feb. 7, 2008, explosions and
fire, the probes concluded.
Source: http://savannahnow.com/news/2010-07-08/imperial-sugar-settles-6-millionadmits-no-wrongdoing
23. July 8, Freemont News Messenger – (Ohio) Fremont roof collapse: Body
recovered. Rescue workers combed through rubble late July 7 at a Fremont Co.
building in Fremont, Ohio to recover the body of a Gibsonburg man who was crushed
when the roof collapsed. The B&W Welding employee was killed instantly when part
of a roof fell in July 7. The Northwest Ohio Region One Search and Rescue planned to
knock down a wall away from the body to form an entrance, and then pull the concrete
from the body. The body was retrieved from the building at about 10:20 p.m. B&W
was working as a contractor for the Fremont Company, which makes sauerkraut and
bottled ketchup and barbecue sauce, a Fremont Company spokesman said. B&W
employees were replacing columns that support the roof on a 2,000-square-foot
building when a 20-by-20-foot section of roof collapsed around 1:40 p.m. Two other
B&W employees were injured. And a Fremont Company employee was treated and
released for a head injury at Memorial Hospital. One other man was inside the building
when the roof collapsed, but he escaped unharmed. Area fire departments — including
Fremont, Sandusky Township, Ballville Township, Woodville Township, Pemberville
and Toledo — spent the afternoon searching for the B&W worker who was missing for
several hours before he was confirmed as dead. B&W sent a crane to help with the
rescue. Meanwhile, the American Red Cross handed out bottled water to firefighters as
temperatures were in the mid-90s. One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion.
Source: http://www.thenewsmessenger.com/article/20100708/NEWS01/7080304/Body-recovered-from-roofcollapse-rubble
24. July 7, Elmira Star-Gazette – (Pennsylvania) Warning issued on hard cheddar made
by Troy, Pennsylvania farm. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture on July
7advised consumers to discard aged hard cheddar cheese made with raw milk from
Milky Way Farm in Troy, Pennsylvania because of potential bacterial contamination. A
Department of Agriculture lab found Staphylococcus aureus and enterotoxin in an aged
hard cheese sample on June 21. The presence of enterotoxin violates the Milk
Sanitation Law and the Food Act as it can cause serious illness, the release says. Aged
hard cheese may be legally manufactured in Pennsylvania from milk that has not been
pasteurized, as long as it is aged more than 60 days in temperatures exceeding 35
degrees Fahrenheit, a news release says. Additional testing has determined that
pasteurized cheeses that are produced and sold on the farm are suitable for human
consumption.
Source:
http://www.stargazette.com/article/20100707/NEWS01/7070334/Warning+issued+on+
hard+cheddar+made+by+Troy++Pa.++farm
25. July 7, The Allentown Morning Call – (Pennsylvania) Upper Macungie company
recalls possibly tainted turkey. K. Heeps, an Upper Macungie Township,
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Pennsylvania food manufacturer and wholesaler, said July 7 it was recalling 171/2
pounds of turkey possibly contaminated with a bacteria that is particularly harmful to
pregnant women, children and people with weakened immune systems. The company
said the recalled product was sold as sliced turkey breast to an unnamed restaurant in
Reading. The U.S. Department of Agriculture routinely does not identify the restaurant
that served the potentially tainted meat. According to USDA, the turkey may be
contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacteria that can cause listeriosis, which
can produce fever, headache, nausea, vomiting and in severe cases, infection and death.
Source: http://articles.mcall.com/2010-07-07/news/mc-allentown-turkey-recall20100707_1_turkey-recalls-food-inspectors
For another story, see item 43
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Water Sector
26. July 7, KDKA 2 Pittsburgh – (Pennsylvania) Nadine Road reopens after water main
break in Penn Hills. Crews have reopened Nadine Road to traffic the morning of July
7 following a large water main break in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. The break happened
after 6 p.m. Tuesday. The roadway near the corner of Allegheny River Boulevard was
closed through the overnight hours and into this morning, but was reopened around
11:20 a.m. Officials say a cast iron sleeve that holds two pipes together blew off
causing the water to gush down a hillside. Tree branches, rocks and other debris came
down onto the road. The gushing water was so high it also caused a vehicle to get
stuck. Emergency crews had to rescue the driver. The water company says there are no
service outages because of the break.
Source: http://kdka.com/local/Nadine.Road.water.2.1791389.html
27. July 6, Seacoastonline.com – (New Hampshire) Report details pollution of local
waters. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) recently
submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency a list of impaired waters in the state
that are recommended for further study and corrective action. The list includes Great
Bay, the Piscataqua River, the Lamprey River and Little Harbor, all used for commerce
and recreation by Seacoast residents and visitors, and all vital to the lives of local
wildlife. “It’s troubling,” said the administrator for the Watershed Management Bureau
at DES. “The list has been growing. It doesn’t necessarily mean things are getting
worse, but our ability to discover problems is getting better.” Waters included on the
list are “impaired or threatened by a pollutant or pollutant(s),” and the DES does not
expect them to reach water quality standards “within a reasonable time even after
application of best available technology standards for point sources or best
management practices for non-point sources,” according to the report. The follow-up
Total Maximum Daily Load Studies that are planned for specific substances are aimed
at figuring out what level of reduction is necessary to improve water quality. Before
that, the agency must determine the sources of those pollutants. The list of impairments
or potential impairments for each is lengthy. He estimated that about 80 percent of the
waterway impairment statewide is caused by stormwater runoff, a consequence of
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increased development and impermeable surfaces, such as pavement.
Source: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100706-NEWS-7060379
28. July 6, WXIN 59 Indianapolis – (Indiana) Indiana releases list of contaminated
waterways. An advisory released by the Indiana State Health Department says many of
the state’s creeks, rivers and reservoirs contain fish that could be a threat to public
health. “If there’s a take home message from the advisory it is to pay attention to where
fish are caught. And avoid eating fish that are Class 4 and Class 5,” says the Aquatic
Habitat Coordinator Division of Fish and Wildlife. A total of 13 bodies of water in
Indiana are completely contaminated and the health department has banned anyone
from eating fish from them. So just how dangerous is consuming contaminated fish?
The advisory says weekly consumption of 10 ounces of carp, or anything else
vulnerable to PCBs and mercury, carries almost the same risk as having 200 X-rays a
year.
Source: http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-contaminated-waterways070610,0,1346518.story
[Return to top]
Public Health and Healthcare Sector
29. July 8, Tennessee Health – (Tennessee) Changes in immunization requirements go
into effect. Pediatric practices and county health department clinics in Tennessee
expect to be busy all summer providing the vaccines and certificates necessary to meet
the new immunization requirements that went into effect July 1. New requirements
have been adopted to better protect children from serious diseases, especially those that
can spread easily in a school or pre-school setting. Changes for new Tennessee college
students go into effect in 2011. The state has also introduced a new official Tennessee
Certificate of Immunization required for children starting pre-school, Kindergarten and
seventh grade this fall. Children already enrolled in other grades do not need a new
certificate. The Department of Health’s new school immunization rules require all
incoming seventh grade students to have a tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis booster (Tdap),
and a second dose of the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine or a history of varicella illness.
Source: http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2010/07/08/changes-in-immunizationrequirements-go-into-effect/
30. July 8, Wired.com – (National) Darpa’s blood-makers start pumping. More troops
than ever are surviving their battlefield injuries, often overloading the military’s health
care system. Massive blood shortages continue to plague military trauma care, and the
problem is complicated by the remote, inaccessible locations of today’s warzones. In
2008, Darpa, the Pentagon’s blue sky research arm, launched the Blood Pharming
program, with the goal of manufacturing mega doses of universal donor red blood units
(O-negative) using a compact, self-contained system. Now Arteriocyte, Inc. has sent off
an initial shipment of their pharmed blood product to the Food and Drug
Administration. The blood was produced using hematopoietic cells, derived from
embryonic cord blood units. “We’re basically mimicking bone marrow in a lab
environment,” the company’s CEO tells Wired. “Our model works, but we need to
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extrapolate our production abilities to make scale.” Because most blood used in
military operations is donated on U.S ground, it is usually three weeks old by the time
it hits the front lines. The shelf-life of donated blood is still disputed. The Red Cross
tosses RBC units after 42 days, but some medical experts think that fresh blood
“expires” after 28 days, and cite increased risk of infection and organ failure once
blood is older than two weeks. “Until now, the military’s strategy has mainly been
contained to basically using stale blood,” the CEO said.
Source: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/darpas-blood-makers-startpumping/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Wired
DangerRoom+(Blog+-+Danger+Room)
31. July 7, The Plattsburgh Press-Republican – (New York) Propane fire hits New York
medical building. With temperatures in the 90s, area firefighters are battling the
intense heat and a propane fire that broke out at the CVPH Medical Center Ambulatory
Center in Plattsburgh, New York on July 7. Flames sparked around the center’s
propane tanks around 2:30 p.m., bringing out crews from the District 3, Plattsburgh
City and Morrisonville fire departments. As firefighters arrived, officials evacuated the
medical building at 77 Plaza Boulevard, sending staff and patients into the heat and
humidity. Many lined the parking lot, finding shade beneath umbrellas and trees.
Several ambulances were called for standby in case of medical emergencies, though no
injuries were reported. The fire sent flames leaping more than 10 feet into the afternoon
haze but did not appear to cause any damage to the building.
Source: http://www.firehouse.com/news/top-headlines/propane-fire-erupts-ny-medicalbuilding
For another story, see item 7
[Return to top]
Government Facilities Sector
32. July 8, The Register – (Iowa) Hackers pose as US senator in email fraud
bid. Fraudsters attempted to scam a US state senator’s contacts after breaking into his
webmail account. Contacts of the state senator from Iowa received a message from his
Yahoo account claiming that the lawmaker was stranded in Scotland and in urgent need
of financial help. The scam message claimed that the state senator needed £10,000 to
pay hotel bills and, even more unlikely, was out of access by phone. The targeted
individuals were invited to wire over money which would be collected by the hackers
who broke into the state senator’s Yahoo! email account. The senator told local news
channel KCRG TV News that his Yahoo account was compromised as the result of a
phishing scam.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/08/us_politico_email_scam/
33. July 7, Seattle Times – (Washington) Three dead in Coast Guard helo crash. Three
members of a Coast Guard helicopter crew were killed in a crash off La Push,
Washington on the morning of July 7 and a fourth crew member, who was pulled from
the water soon after the aircraft went down, suffered a broken arm and a broken leg.
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The injured crewman was airlifted from Forks to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center.
“He’s awake and alert and very stable,” a hospital spokeswoman said of the man, who
arrived at 12:47 p.m. PDT. He was in satisfactory condition with what are believed to
be non-life-threatening injuries. The MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crashed around 9:30
a.m. off James Island near the mouth of the Quillayute River at the northwest tip of
Washington state. Two crew members were quickly rescued by five members of the
Quileute Nation, who jumped into fishing boats and raced to the crash scene. One of
the rescued men died after being taken ashore.
Source: http://www.military.com/news/article/two-missing-in-coast-guard-helocrash.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS
34. July 7, Global Security Newswire – (National) U.S. reaches chemical weapons
disposal milestone. The U.S. Army announced July 6 it had eliminated 75 percent of
the nation’s stockpile of chemical warfare materials and remained on track to meet the
demilitarization deadline set by an international nonproliferation treaty The Army
Chemical Materials Agency is charged with destroying 28,350 tons of materials, mostly
mustard blister agent and the nerve agents VX and sarin. As of July 1, it had
incinerated or chemically neutralized 22,958 tons of material and destroyed more than
2.1 million munitions. Ultimately the Army agency will be responsible for eliminating
90 percent of the total U.S. arsenal. Disposal of the remaining 10 percent of the original
declared 31,500-ton U.S. stockpile falls to another Defense Department office, the
Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program. The United States is required to
eradicate the decades-old arsenal by April 2012 as a member state to the Chemical
Weapons Convention. It was one of seven nations — alongside Albania, India, Iraq,
Libya, Russia and South Korea — to join the pact while in possession of banned
weapons agents. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which
monitors nations’ compliance with the convention, “welcomes the achievement of this
important milestone and the continued steady progress in the destruction of U.S.
chemical weapon stockpiles,” the spokesman said in a statement to Global Security
Newswire. “This is further evidence that eliminating all chemical weapons under a
strict verification regime is an attainable goal,” he added.
Source: http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20100707_7289.php
35. July 7, Greenwich Time – (Connecticut) Police investigate Greenwich Library bomb
threat. Police spent several hours combing through Greenwich Library July 7
following a bomb threat that came in shortly after the building opened. A police
spokesman said library staff received an e-mail threat around 9:15 a.m. that had been
sent to the library’s general e-mail account. The contents of the e-mail were not
released July 7. Police said they did not evacuate the building; that decision was left to
the library management. “Based upon the totality of what we had and the desire of
library management, it was not closed while we investigated,” the police spokesman
said. The police spokesman said library patrons were not disrupted by the bomb scare
or the police activity. He said if police felt the threat was credible, they could have
evacuated the building and called in the Stamford bomb squad to help investigate.
Police investigated for two hours, the police spokesman said. Police would not release
information about whether they had a suspect in the case, but noted that they are
probing the origin of the e-mail.
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Source: http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Police-investigate-GreenwichLibrary-bomb-threat-568717.php
[Return to top]
Emergency Services Sector
Nothing to report
[Return to top]
Information Technology Sector
36. July 8, ComputerWorld – (National) GAO slams White House for failing to lead on
cybersecurity. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released
this week the U.S risks falling behind other countries on cybersecurity matters. The
report highlighted the U.S. being unable to adequately protect its interests in
cyberspace, and that the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has so
far failed to live up to its responsibility to coordinate a national cybersecurity R&D
agenda. The GAO report was prepared at the behest of the House Committee on
Homeland Security, and called on the OSTP to show more leadership in pulling
together a focused and prioritized short, medium- and long-term R&D strategy for
cybersecurity.
Source:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178959/GAO_slams_White_House_for_faili
ng_to_lead_on_cybersecurity
37. July 8, IDG News Services – (International) Germany may fine Facebook over
privacy issues. Facebook faces a fine from the Hamburg, Germany, Commissioner for
Data Protection and Freedom of Information for failing to obtain the consent of the
people whose contact details it stores. At issue are the site’s invitation and addressbook synchronization functions, through which it uploads and stores contact
information from the e-mail and mobile phone address books of its users. The problem
is that some of that personal information relates to people who are not Facebook users,
and who have not given their permission for the site to store their personal information,
nor use it for marketing purposes. Many citizens of the German state of Hamburg have
complained in recent months of Facebook passing their contact information to third
parties and storing information about their relationships in this way. Such storage of
data by third parties is “inadmissible” because of its implications for data protection,
said the head of the state’s data protection service. Facebook did not immediately
respond to a request for comment. Facebook has until August 11 to make its case to the
data protection commissioner if it wishes to avoid a fine.
Source:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178984/Germany_may_fine_Facebook_over
_privacy_issues_
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38. July 7, V3.co.uk – (International) Symbian malware creating mobile botnet. Mobile
security firm NetQin claims to have found malware spreading via Symbian Series 60
handsets which is being used to build a mobile botnet. The company has identified
three piece of malware masquerading as mobile games or special offers, which infect
versions three and five of the Series 60 Symbian platform. NetQin estimates that
100,000 handsets have been infected and could be used to form a mobile botnet similar
to those seen in the PC world. “Our team found that these botnets do one of two things:
send messages to all the contacts of the address book directly; or send messages to
random phone numbers by connecting to a server. The viruses will delete the sent
messages from the user’s outbox and SMS log. All messages contain URLs linked to
malicious sites that users won’t be able to see until after they’ve fallen into the virus
trap,” NetQin reported. However, the Symbian Foundation told V3.co.uk that there is
no evidence that the malware is using handsets in a botnet, and that it had already
rescinded the software’s certification. The spokesman also pointed out that NetQin had
not contacted the Symbian Foundation about the malware, which he described as “very
minor”.
Source: http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2266108/symbian-malware-creating-mobile
Internet Alert Dashboard
To report cyber infrastructure incidents or to request information, please contact US-CERT at sos@us-cert.gov or
visit their Web site: http://www.us-cert.gov
Information on IT information sharing and analysis can be found at the IT ISAC (Information Sharing and
Analysis Center) Web site: https://www.it-isac.org
[Return to top]
Communications Sector
39. July 8, iafrica.com – (International) SEACOM frustration mounts. Internet service
providers are buckling as the SEACOM cable outage continues, with SEACOM saying
that the repair could take up to two weeks to fix. Users and ISPs have been venting
their anger ever since the cable system went down, with the OpenWeb CEO went on
the offensive in his latest newsletter. But customers have also expressed their anger at
the outage, with MWEB’s Free The Web Facebook group seeing plenty of messages. In
an interview with MoneyWeb, a representative of SEACOM said that the cable could
take up to two weeks to repair, with the faulty repeater located 4.7 kilometres under the
sea.
Source: http://technology.iafrica.com/news/technology/2523532.htm
40. July 7, Pontiac Daily Leader – (Illinois) Severed lines cut phone service. Some
telephone cables were severed July 6 causing loss of phone services to at least some
downtown Pontiac, Illinois businesses. The cables were severed while crews worked
near the Law and Justice Center construction site. Frontier Communications, which
now owns the former Verizon Inc., brought in repair crews from Bloomington and
Streator.
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Source: http://www.pontiacdailyleader.com/news/x1849223320/Severed-lines-cutphone-service
41. July 7, Southern Maryland Newspapers – (Maryland) Phone cable fire restricts 911
calls. A fire damaging a telephone company’s fiber cable allowed access to St. Mary’s
911 emergency center in Maryland only to cell phone users most of the afternoon July
4, but no missed landline calls have been detected. St. Mary’s public safety director
said July 6 that Calvert County experienced a similar problem, but that the shutdown
was the reverse in Charles County, where cell phone users could not reach 911 but
landline users could. St. Mary’s dispatchers in Leonardtown detected the problem at
about 12:15 p.m. July 4. Verizon representatives offered two accounts of the location of
the fire that damaged the fiber cable, one that it occurred in Prince Frederick and the
other that it happened in Salisbury. Service was restored by 5:20 p.m. The agency’s
statistics were being checked July 6 to compare the number of 911 calls received on
July 4 to the tally from that morning and that evening.
Source: http://www.somdnews.com/stories/07072010/entetop164249_32298.shtml
[Return to top]
Commercial Facilities Sector
42. July 8, Waynesboro News Virginian – (Virginia) City police respond to third
Walmart bomb threat. For the third time three months, Waynesboro, Virginia, city
police responded to a bomb threat written on a bathroom stall in the women’s restroom
in a local Walmart July 7. Store workers asked customers to leave at about noon. The
call sent about a dozen Waynesboro police, two state troopers, and a bomb-sniffing dog
to the store. As in the previous two incidents, police found nothing. The store reopened
after officers cleared the scene at about 3 p.m. Police officials say Wal-Mart loses
$30,000 to $40,000 for every hour the store is closed. Whether the prior threats are
connected to the one July 7 is unclear. Police said Walmart uses two security cameras
near the entrance of the store that should capture footage of people going into and out
of the bathrooms.
Source:
http://www2.newsvirginian.com/wnv/news/local/waynesboro/article/city_police_respo
nd_to_third_walmart_bomb_threat_since_april/57994/
43. July 7, Lower Hudson Journal News – (New York) White Plains fire injures 25
firefighters. A five-alarm fire destroyed half a block in the White Plains, New York
downtown business district July 7 and sent more than 20 firefighters to the hospital for
treatment of smoke inhalation, heat exhaustion and a few with heart palpitations. A
woman also was taken to White Plains Hospital Center with heat exhaustion. The fire
began in the basement of the Bengal Tiger restaurant at 140 E. Post Road and spread to
neighboring businesses including Latin American Cafe, a shoe store and a dry cleaners.
The fire was reported about 2:35 p.m. and continued to burn more than six hours later,
with flames shooting through the roof and smoke billowing high into the sky. More
than 60 firefighters from White Plains and nearby communities battled the blaze on
another scorching day with temperatures around 100 degrees. The fire was under
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control at 9 p.m.
Source: http://www.lohud.com/article/20100707/NEWS02/7070378/1/newsfront/White-Plains-fire-injures-20-firefighters--2nd-blaze-at-Con-Ed-substationknocks-out-power
[Return to top]
National Monuments and Icons Sector
44. July 7, WDEF 12 Chattanooga – (Tennessee) Woman injured in boat explosion on
Chickamauga Lake. Chattanooga, Tennessee firefighters training on the fire-rescue
boat were at the Harrison Bay State Park Marina on Chickamauga Lake around 11:30
a.m. July 7 when they were notified of an explosion on a boat near the marina’s gas
pumps. A husband and wife had reportedly just finished putting gas in their 28-foot
cruiser and were pulling away from the dock when an explosion rocked the boat. There
was a flash fire, and the woman jumped into the water to escape the flames. The firerescue boat was on the scene in seconds. The firefighters pulled the woman out of the
water and then boarded the cruiser to check on her husband, who was not injured. The
flash fire was extinguished by the boat’s Halon fire extinguishing system. Hamilton
County EMS transported the woman to Memorial North Park Hospital.The woman
sustained first and second degree burns to both legs, but her injuries were not thought
to be life-threatening. The cause of the explosion is under investigation. The explosion
damaged the fuel system on the boat, causing gasoline to leak into the lake. The
hazardous materials team with Hamilton County Emergency Services was called to the
scene to mitigate any environmental damage.
Source:
http://www.wdef.com/news/woman_injured_in_boat_explosion_on_chickamauga_lake
/07/2010
45. July 7, San Angelo Standard Times – (Texas) Recent rains swell Lake Amistad. Rains
from the remains of Hurricane Alex have resulted in serious flooding conditions in the
Rio Grande River just upstream from Amistad National Recreation Area in Del Rio,
Texas according to a National Park Service news release. Lake Amistad is the fullest it
has been since 1974, and since July 2, the level has risen by 16 feet to 1130 feet above
sea level — 15 feet away from the lake’s maximum capacity. The lake is now dropping
in elevation at a rate of 8 inches per day. The International Boundary and Water
Commission is releasing more water than usual from Amistad Dam to help decrease the
lake level. Many of the park’s boat ramps remain open to the public; however, the
National Park Service advises boaters to pay attention to debris and avoid running over
large rafts of floating river cane and other small floating matter, which can result in
boat motor failure
Source: http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2010/jul/07/recent-rains-swell-lakeamistad/
[Return to top]
Dams Sector
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46. July 7, Northern Virginia Daily – (Virginia) Council votes to expedite dam
removal. The Town Council of Front Royal, Virginia, unanimously passed an
emergency resolution on Tuesday that will hopefully speed up the demolition of the
Riverton Dam by 30 days. The mayor called the special meeting to help expedite
demolition of the more-than-100-year-old dam on the North Fork of the Shenandoah
River, which is already due to be removed as early as next month. The move was in
reaction to last week’s drowning of a 9-year-old at the dam. A 51-year-old man
drowned at the dam on April 7. The town is in the process of working with the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Department
of Game and Inland Fisheries to have the dam removed using roughly $130,000 in
grant money. The dam was on target to be demolished next month or possibly in
September, but the town manager told the council that the emergency resolution could
speed up the process by 30 days.
Source: http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2010/07/council-votes-to-expedite-damremoval.php
For another story, see item 45
[Return to top]
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DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report Contact Information
About the reports - The DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report is a daily [Monday through Friday]
summary of open-source published information concerning significant critical infrastructure issues. The DHS Daily
Open Source Infrastructure Report is archived for ten days on the Department of Homeland Security Web site:
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their Web page at www.us-cert.gov.
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material.
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