August 4, 2005
NOTE: This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by email at emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.
The Department of Energy (DOE) announced last week that nuclear waste will be transported to the Yucca Mountain national repository in the Nevada desert using dedicated trains for the estimated 3,500 shipments of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The trains will carry contaminated material from sites in approximately 36 states. A DOE spokesperson offered that about 1,100 truck deliveries will be needed in addition to the train loads.
Although the estimated opening for the Yucca Mountain repository is not until 2012, the Department of Transportation (DOT) will supervise the transit of 44,000 tons of high-level waste in steel and concrete casks to a temporary dump in Utah until the opening of the permanent location at Yucca Mountain. DOT expects that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will grant a license to the Utah facility possibly before the end of this year.
Considering the eventuality for increased truck and rail movement of hazardous material from around the nation enroute to Utah, the EMR-ISAC suggests a chief officer from emergency departments solicit validation as a "trusted agent" to confirm probable routes through official channels. Furthermore, it would be advantageous for emergency organizations nearby anticipated routes to know the following about these directions of travel: densely populated areas, bridges and tunnels, traffic congestion and choke points, major intersections, sharp curves, steep inclines and declines, possible obstacles such as construction, adjacent critical structures, etc.
With this knowledge, emergency responders can take precautionary actions by actively planning, preparing, training, rehearsing, and implementing measures to prevent or mitigate the degradation of critical infrastructures caused by intentional or accidental HazMat incidents. Lessons learned substantiate that advanced HazMat skills and abilities may be required if not already available within the community.
The organized, shrewd, and violent activities of the MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) street gang continue to spread throughout the United States. Consisting largely of illegal aliens from El Salvador and other Latin American countries, gang members have been apprehended in numerous major American cities nationwide, as well as in the rural areas of Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Some of the crimes committed by recently convicted MS-13 followers include: murder, rape, assault, burglary, weapons offenses, and narcotics offenses.
Since MS-13 members have directed death threats toward law enforcement officers, the EMR-ISAC recommends extreme caution by emergency personnel when performing duties with suspected gang participants or working in areas where gang members typically congregate. Appropriate safety and force protection techniques must be used when responding to disorderly groups, loud parties, etc., to avoid being ambushed by other hiding gang members. MS-13 has a notorious reputation for employing deception and surveillance activities to collect information for ruses to entrap their victims.
The EMR-ISAC further encourages emergency organizations to consult gang deterrence specialists or a Regional Area Gang Enforcement Unit if they suspect the presence of MS-13 in their community.
As stated by an official in the U.S. Department of State's Office of Antiterrorism Assistance, cyberterrorists are trying to break into computer networks of federal, state, and local governments at alarmingly high numbers. Some evidence of these increasing attacks has come from overseas law enforcement agencies that confiscated computers which revealed terrorists have successfully accessed and sometimes disrupted the networks of American public and private agencies. This information confirms that the cyberthreat confronting the United States and its critical infrastructures is rapidly escalating as the number of hostile actors with the tools and abilities continues to grow worldwide.
On a related note, the number of organizations reporting website attacks has skyrocketed in the past year, according to a recent Computer Crime and Security Survey by the Computer Security Institute. The survey disclosed that many private critical infrastructure assets have invested heavily in firewalls, intrusion-detection systems, and other technologies to protect their networks, but ignored the fact that public domain websites provide enough information to allow criminals to get at sensitive data. "By simply browsing the website and manipulating URLs or cookies, hackers can gain entry to proprietary information without setting off any alarms."
Computer security specialists maintain that there are ways to ensure the overall security of each computer system. Operated by Carnegie Mellon University with federal funding, US-CERT developed security practices and training for computer managers to enhance the cybersecurity of the nation's critical infrastructure organizations. Its website with contact information is at: http://www.cert.org.
Taught by the faculty of Texas A&M University, the EMS Operations & Planning for Weapons of Mass Destruction Course (801004) trains emergency personnel to properly perform patient triage, transport, and treatment when patients have been exposed to biological, nuclear, radiological, incendiary, chemical, and explosive weapons. It is a three day, 24-hour exportable orientation program for planning to handle terrorist events, including detection, treatment, and dealing with mass casualties.
The course manager told the EMR-ISAC that this no-cost course is available on request for delivery on site. The requesting department or jurisdiction can contact Ms. Maura Casey at email maura.casey@teex.mail.tamu.edu, or by toll-free phone at 1-877-438-8877 for more information. Emergency agencies interested in scheduling the program should provide three possible dates for the training, but have no other responsibilities except to arrange for classroom space and student attendance.
The U.S. Fire Administration/EMR-ISAC does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, and does not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
This INFOGRAM may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. EMR-ISAC personnel believe this constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by email at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov.
The FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm
For information affecting the private sector and critical infrastructure, contact the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC), a sub-element of the NOC. The NICC can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9201 or by email at NICC@dhs.gov.
When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact.
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