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CIA sees increased threat in Yemen
By Greg Miller
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 25, 2010; A1

For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, CIA analysts see one of al-Qaeda’s offshoots – rather than the core group now based in Pakistan – as the most urgent threat to U.S. security, officials said.

The sober new assessment of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen has helped prompt senior Obama administration officials to call for an escalation of U.S. operations there – including a proposal to add armed CIA drones to a clandestine campaign of U.S. military strikes, the officials said.

“We are looking to draw on all of the capabilities at our disposal,” said a senior Obama administration official, who described plans for “a ramp-up over a period of months.”

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, stressed that that analysts continue to see al-Qaeda and its allies in the tribal areas of Pakistan as supremely dangerous adversaries. The officials insisted there would be no letup in their pursuit of Osama bin Laden and other senior figures thought to be hiding in Pakistan.

Indeed, officials said it was largely because al-Qaeda has been decimated by Predator strikes in Pakistan that the franchise in Yemen has emerged as a more potent threat. A CIA strike killed a group of al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen in 2002, but officials said the agency has not had that capability on the peninsula for several years.

“We see al-Qaeda as having suffered major losses, unable to replenish ranks and recover at a pace that would keep them on offense,” said a senior U.S. official familiar with the CIA’s assessments.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as its Yemen-based group is called, is “on the upswing,” the official said. “The relative concern ratios are changing. We’re more concerned now about AQAP than we were before.”

Al-Qaeda in Yemen is seen as more agile and aggressive, officials said. It took the group just a few months to set in motion a plot that succeeded in getting an alleged suicide bomber aboard a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

More important, officials cited the role of Anwar al-Aulaqi, an American-born cleric whose command of English and militant ambition have helped transform the Yemen organization into a transnational threat.

Philip Mudd, a former senior official at the CIA and the FBI, argues in a forthcoming article that the threat of a Sept. 11-style attack has been supplanted by a proliferation of plots by AQAP and other affiliates. “The sheer numbers . . . suggest that one of the plots in the United States will succeed,” he writes in the latest issue of CTC Sentinel, a publication of the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. In the future, he said, “the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region will not be the sole, or even primary, source of bombing suspects.”

U.S. officials said the administration’s plans to escalate operations in Yemen reflect two aims: improving U.S. intelligence in Yemen and adding new options for carrying out strikes when a target is found.

The CIA has roughly 10 times more people and resources in Pakistan than it does in Yemen. There is no plan to scale back in Pakistan, but officials said the gap is expected to shrink.

Details of the plans to expand operations in Yemen have been discussed in recent weeks among deputies on the National Security Council at the White House, officials said. According to one participant, the talks are not about whether the CIA should replace the U.S. military in its leading operational role in Yemen, but “what’s the proper mix.”

Although the CIA has expanded the number of case officers collecting intelligence in Yemen over the past year, officials said the agency has not deployed Predator drones or other means of carrying out lethal strikes.

Instead, attacks over the past eight months have been the result of secret military collaboration between Yemen and the United States.

U.S. Special Operations troops have helped train Yemeni forces and helped them to execute raids. A senior U.S. military official said the United States has not used armed drones in Yemen, mainly because they are more urgently needed in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. As a result, intermittent strikes on al-Qaeda targets have involved cruise missiles and other weapon that are less precise.

An airstrike on a suspected gathering of al-Qaeda operatives in Marib province on May 25 involved a cruise missile launched from a U.S. naval vessel. Among those killed was the deputy governor in the province, who was reportedly seeking to persuade the militants to give up their arms. The human rights group Amnesty International later said it found evidence that U.S. cluster munitions were used in the attack.

Proponents of expanding the CIA’s role argue that years of flying armed drones over Pakistan have given the agency expertise in identifying targets and delivering pinpoint strikes. The agency’s attacks also leave fewer telltale signs.

“You’re not going to find bomb parts with USA markings on them,” the senior U.S. official said. Even so, the official said, the administration is considering sending CIA drones to the Arabian Peninsula “not because they require the deniability but because they desire the capability.”

A senior Yemeni official indicated that the government would not welcome CIA drones. “I don’t think we will ever consider it,” the official said. “The situation in Yemen is different than in Afghanistan or Pakistan. It is still under control.”

Introducing a covert CIA capability might also improve the U.S. ability to carry out attacks – perhaps from a U.S. base in Djibouti – if the Yemeni government were to curtail its cooperation.

That relationship is “in as positive a place as we’ve been for some time,” the senior administration official said. But, he added, “we always have to be in a position where we are able to protect our own interests should that be necessary.”

The concern about al-Qaeda in Yemen is remarkable considering that the group was all but stamped out on the peninsula just a few years ago and is known more for near-misses than successful, spectacular attacks.

Indeed, some government intelligence analysts outside the CIA argued that it would be wrong to conclude that al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen has eclipsed the organization’s core.

“We still do view al-Qaeda core as they view themselves,” a senior U.S. counterterrorism analyst said, “which is the vanguard of the jihad, providing a lot of global direction and guidance.”

Even under constant pressure from Predator attacks, al-Qaeda has proven remarkably resilient. Officials also stressed that it is surrounded by other militant groups in Pakistan that share its violent aims.

The U.S. citizen who planted a failed bomb at Times Square earlier this year, for example, said he had been trained by the Pakistani Taliban.

But concern about AQAP has risen sharply in the aftermath of the failed Christmas Day attack.

U.S. officials cited recent indications that AQAP has shared its chemical bomb-making technology with other militant organizations, including Somalia-based al-Shabab.

Because Yemen is an Arab country and the ancestral home of bin Laden, some analysts fear that it could be more difficult to dislodge al-Qaeda there than in Pakistan.

Officials acknowledged that since a military strike missed Aulaqi in December, they have had few clues on his whereabouts. Aulaqi has been linked to three plots in the United States, and his presence has further radicalized his peers.

“The other leaders of AQAP are predominantly Yemenis and Saudis, and their worldview and focus is on the peninsula,” said the senior U.S. counterterrorism official. Aulaqi “brings a world view and focus that brings it back here to the U.S. homeland.”

millergreg@washpost.com finnp@washpost.com

Recess sets aside several controversial defense issues
By Roxana Tiron – 08/09/10 06:00 AM ET
The Hill

Congress will face several controversial defense issues when it returns from the summer recess, beginning with the annual defense spending bill, the industry’s bread and butter.

A crucial test for defense lobbyists, companies and lawmakers alike will be how many earmarks make it into the Senate’s version of the bill. The Senate this year appears to be the only conduit for for-profit firms and their congressional benefactors to add funding for projects the Pentagon has not requested.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who also leads the defense-spending panel, is expected to take up the Pentagon’s fiscal 2011 budget in September.

House Democrats allowed earmarks only for nonprofits, and House Republicans instituted a moratorium on all types, with only a few GOP members breaking that pledge. As a result, pet projects were cut in half in the 2011 spending bill as compared to the previous year, according to an analysis by The Hill and Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Conference negotiations with the Senate may be intense over the earmarks, testing the resolve of Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), the new defense appropriations chairman, and Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), the retiring Appropriations chairman, to keep pet projects only for nonprofits in the final defense bill.

The Senate panel is not expected to approve funding for an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine, which the Pentagon does not want and which has prompted a veto threat from administration. That sets up a clash with the House: Dicks couldn’t fend off the second engine’s supporters when his panel approved the 2011 appropriations bill in July. The full House Appropriations panel is also likely to back the $450 million for the GE-Rolls-Royce-made alternate engine.

It’s unclear whether the Pentagon’s 2011 budget will be in place on time — by Oct. 1. Congressional sources have said Congress may not approve the final defense bill before the November elections, forcing a continuing resolution that would fund the department at 2010 levels.

The Senate is also poised to take up the massive defense policy bill in September — usually seen as must-pass legislation because it carries critical policies for the Pentagon, including the yearly authorization for the military’s pay raises and benefits. Perhaps the most polarizing issue this year is the repeal of the Pentagon’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which bans openly gay people from serving in the military.

John McCain (Ariz.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Thursday indicated he would set up hurdles to Democratic leadership efforts to bring up the 2011 defense authorization bill for a vote in September. He opposes repeal of the “Don’t ask” law as well as a provision in his committee’s bill that would repeal the ban on abortions at military hospitals if they are paid for with private funds.

Supporters of the “Don’t ask” repeal are pressing Congress to act while Democrats still hold majorities in both chambers. The defense authorization bill containing the repeal provision is unlikely to move forward in the Senate without 60 votes in favor — a level of support that may be unreachable after the midterms.

Another issue likely to ignite floor debate is a provision mandating that the president deploy 6,000 National Guard troops to the Southwest border. McCain backs the provision — his state of Arizona has seen some of the worst violence related to the drug trade from Mexico — but Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the panel’s chairman and the manager of the bill, believes it would be unprecedented for Congress to direct the commander in chief to send troops to a specific location.

Levin has vowed to fight the provision on the floor or in conference negotiations with the House, which did not include such a provision.

Separately, the Obama administration is fighting a $1 billion cut in its $2 billion request for U.S. military training of Iraqi security forces.

“Some of us feel pretty strongly about this issue: that it’s time — given the amount of money that Iraq is taking in oil revenue and the fact they cut their own defense budget in half in the parliament — it’s kind of hard to justify putting billions of dollars in for the Iraq army,” said Levin, who has vowed to fight the cut, in May.

Conference negotiations with the House may be drawn out too, particularly because Levin is the only one of the Big Four — the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services panels — who supports repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Also, the F-35 alternate engine could keep lawmakers arguing, as was the case last year when the Senate did not include funding for the GE-Rolls-Royce engine.

Homeland Security likely to scale back virtual border fence
By Gautham Nagesh – 06/18/10 01:33 PM ET
The Hill

The Department of Homeland Security will likely scrap its plans to install a virtual fence along the entire Southwest border to detect illegal immigrants, according to a DHS official testifying before Congress Thursday.

Mark Borkowski, executive director of DHS’ Secure Border Initiative told a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight that the department will likely scale back its plans to install sensors, cameras and radar towers along the Southwest border.

Borkowski’s admission came after withering testimony from Randolph Hite of the Government Accountability Office on the state of the virtual fence program, known as SBInet.
Hite said SBInet has been troubled since its outset and plagued by frequently changing milestones, management weaknesses and performance shortfalls. As a result he said the Department has little to show after spending most of the program’s $1.3 billion budget.

“In effect DHS is saying it will have to invest more than a billion dollars into SBInet before it will know whether doing so was economically justified or cost effect vis-à-vis other technology alternatives,” Hite said.

Subcommittee chairman Chris Carney, (D-Penn.) blasted DHS for the lack of progress and high cost of the program, which he called unacceptable.

“At our last hearing on SBInet in March I asked if we could get a refund and I believe the taxpayers would still like one,” Carney said.

“Now perhaps some good has come from this program, but not nearly enough to justify the funding and time that has been spent on this program, and I urge the department to continue to explore alternative means to secure the border in a timely and effective manner.”

Hite said DHS couldn’t provide positive answers to basic questions such as “Are we doing the right thing?” and “Are we doing it the right way?”

“The answers right now are: ‘we don’t know’ and ‘no, we’re not’,” Hite said. “After having invested almost a billion dollars in five years, the answers should be ‘yes’.”

Borkowski agreed DHS has failed to deliver on the program’s original goals, which is why his office is focusing on completing two portions of the system along the Arizona border near Tucson and Ajo.

Once those two are complete DHS will assess the viability and cost effectiveness of SBInet in comparison with other technology alternatives. Borkowski admitted it is unlikely SBInet technology will be deployed along the entire border.

Republican lawmakers complained that Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has already promised an assessment of the program but yet to deliver.

“It’s been six months and we’re no closer to knowing how we’re going to proceed,” said Candice Miller, (R-Mich.).

Obama and world leaders look to secure all nuclear material by 2014 after summit
By Sam Youngman – 04/13/10 07:19 PM ET
The Hill

The world leaders attending President Barack Obama’s nuclear security summit agreed to secure all loose nuclear material by 2014.

The agreement gave the administration a final victory in its two-day gathering, which focused on the growing nuclear threat.

Obama acknowledged Tuesday that the goal is “ambitious” and said the leaders were “under no illusions that it will be easy.”
But the president boasted that the summit, attended by more than 40 world leaders, had led to “unprecedented progress” on nuclear security issues.

In their final communiqué, the attendees set out broad but general goals: They agreed on the “urgency and seriousness” of the nuclear threat, agreed to maintain “effective security” of their own nuclear plants and materials and agreed to a “sustained, effective program of international cooperation” on nuclear security.

But there were no binding agreements. The leaders have agreed to gather again in South Korea in 2012.

There were, however, other happenings for the administration to highlight.

On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gave Obama a boost when he agreed to shut down the country’s last weapons-grade plutonium factory in a formerly secret Siberian city.

“I welcome this significant announcement from President Medvedev,” Obama said in a statement. “This important step forward continues to demonstrate Russia’s leadership on nuclear security issues, and will add momentum to our shared global effort.”

Also on Tuesday, the U.S. and Russia agreed to convert 68 tons of weapons-grade plutonium to use for electricity, an amount that could have been used to make 17,000 nuclear weapons.

Obama also appeared to make some slight progress, throughout the course of the summit, in securing China’s agreement in pushing for sanctions on Iran.

After meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday, the White House was thrilled to announce that China has signaled “they’re going to work with us.”

On Tuesday, Obama sounded more cautious, noting that he is “mindful” that China and other countries have oil interests in Iran and worry about what effect economic sanctions could have on the larger global economy.

But Obama said he pressed Hu and other leaders and takes some measure of satisfaction that the Chinese have sent officials to the United Nations in New York City “to begin the process of drafting a sanctions resolution.”

Even though the president warned that “sanctions aren’t a magic wand,” he said he pressed the Chinese and others to develop meaningful sanctions because “words have to mean something.”

“There have to be some consequences,” Obama said.

Obama and his aides have claimed they made tremendous progress in bringing along U.N. Security Council holdouts Russia and China, arguing that such progress would have been unthinkable a year ago. As permanent members of the Security Council, Russia and China could veto any plans for Iran sanctions.

Obama acknowledged there is still a lot of work to do.
“These negotiations can be difficult,” Obama said. “I’m going to push as hard as I can to make sure that we get strong sanctions that have consequences for Iran as it’s making calculations about its nuclear program.”

Despite those difficulties, the president said again that he wants to see sanctions approved and in place within weeks.
Obama repeated Tuesday that he will push for the Security Council to “move forward boldly and quickly to send the kind of message that will allow Iran” to change its nuclear goals.

Obama predicts ‘tough’ Iran sanctions
By: Carol E. Lee
April 8, 2010 08:05 AM EDT
POLITICO

PRAGUE — President Barack Obama predicted Thursday that he would be able to achieve “strong, tough” sanctions against Iran in coming weeks and credited nuclear arms discussions with the Russians for helping to pave the way.

But Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stopped well short of endorsing sanctions, questioning whether such economic restrictions would work to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Medvedev expressed openness to the idea, saying he gave Obama a list of sanctions that would be acceptable. He laid down two conditions — calling for “smart sanctions” that change Iran’s behavior, but that also protect Russia’s national interests, a sign he wouldn’t endorse a proposal that significantly cut into Russia’s trade with Iran.

“We need Iran to behave properly and we need to maintain the national interest of our two countries, so smart sanctions should be able to motivate certain countries to behave properly,” Medvedev said after signing the START nuclear arms reduction treaty.

Medvedev also acknowledged that “regrettably” Iran is flouting world opinion in pressing ahead with its nuclear program. “And we cannot turn a blind eye to this,” he said.

Obama made clear that he hopes to build on his success getting Russia to sign onto a reduction of its nuclear arsenal by getting Medvedev also to sign on to cracking down on Iran for pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran sanctions are going to be a key topic of Obama’s nuclear summit in Washington next week, when he plans to sit down with the other major holdout on the idea — Chinese President Hu Jintao.

But Obama sounded more optimistic than ever than he could achieve his goal.

“We’re going to start seeing some ramped-up negotiations taking place in New York in the coming weeks,” he says. “And my expectation is that we are going to be able to secure strong, tough sanctions on Iran this spring.”

Obama said the United States and Russia have benefited on the sanctions process in two ways by signing the START pact: It has emboldened their leaders’ trust in each other, and it sends a “strong signal” that they are following their own obligations.

“We can be frank. We can be clear,” Obama says. “That helped to facilitate, then, our ability to … present to Iran reasonable options that would allow it to clearly distance itself from nuclear weapons and pursue a path of peaceful nuclear energy.”

Russia and China have long resisted sanctions against Iran because both countries do business with Iran. And in fact, in outlining sanctions that would be unacceptable to Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said a total embargo on deliveries of refined oil products to Iran is off the table because it would be a “huge shock for the whole society and the whole population.”

Despite being an oil-rich nation, Iran imports most of its gasoline — mainly from China, but also from Russia. “These types of things that [disrupt] the fundamentals of a society or a country are something that definitely we are not prepared to consider,” Ryabkov said. But he declined to outline the list of possible sanctions Medvedev delivered to Obama, saying it is confidential.

“We also believe that whatever sanctions eventually are adopted and agreed upon in New York, we should maintain unity. It is very important that all countries … stand together and send the same signal,” Ryabkov said.

For his part, Obama said Russia “has no interest in bringing down Iranian society or the Iranian government, but it does have an interest, as we all do, in making sure that each country is following its international obligations.”

“This is an issue that international community takes seriously,” he said.

Obama also said signing the treaty shows both the United States and Russia are willing to be bound by their obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and that should send a powerful signal to other nations that they must comply as well.

“The United States and Russia are following our own obligations” under the treaty, “and our interest in Iran or North Korea or any other country following” it is “not based on singling out any one country, but rather it sends a strong signal that all of us — each country — has an obligation to follow the rules of the road internationally to secure a safer world for our children and grandchildren.

“We are willing to be bound by our obligations and we are not asking any other countries to do anything different,” Obama said.

Obama, Medvedev sign nuclear stockpile treaty
By Michael O’Brien – 04/08/10 06:51 AM ET
The Hill

President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a new treaty Thursday pledging to significantly curtail each nation’s nuclear stockpiles.

During a ceremony early Thursday afternoon at Prague Castle in the Czech Republic, Obama and Medvedev signed the successor to the now-lapsed START treaty, a new agreement which would seek to reduce each nation’s nuclear arsenal by a third, and halve the weapons delivery systems for nuclear weapons.

“Today is an important milestone for nuclear security and non-proliferation, and for U.S.-Russia relations,” Obama told dignitaries. “It enables both sides the flexibility to protect our security, as well as America’s unwavering commitment to the security of our European allies.”

Obama and Medvedev signed the treaty shortly after noon, following an 85-minute bilateral meeting, according to a tweet by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Gibbs also tweeted that Medvedev will visit the U.S. this summer, “in the next step of improved relations between Russia and the US.”

The signing on the long-negotiated treaty comes as Obama works to shift the U.S. posture on the use of its nuclear arms, outlining more limited circumstances under which the government would be willing to use nuclear arms. Diplomats also will begin to gather in Washington on Sunday for the Nuclear Security Summit.

Republicans have pounced on elements of Obama’s shift in the U.S. nuclear posture, warning that it tips the administration’s hand in terms of security to both other nations and other, independent terror groups.

Obama said he looks forward to working with the Senate to ensure the votes to pass the new treaty he signed today. Brian McKeon of the National Security Council will begin briefing members of the Senate on the details of the treaty as soon as today.

National Center at USM to test surveillance technology at game
Hattiesburgamerican.com

Van Arnold
Special to the American

The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at Southern Miss will conduct real-time testing and evaluation of surveillance technology in conjunction with the Golden Eagles’ home football game against the University of Tulsa today at M.M. Roberts Stadium.

A total of 12 high-definition cameras will be positioned outside and inside the stadium complex to monitor fan activity. Two national surveillance companies – Avigilon and Pixel Velocity – have teamed up with the NCS4 to test the equipment and related procedures.

This exercise serves as the launch of the national lab at NCS4 in which sophisticated testing of this nature will be conducted on a regular basis.

“Video surveillance has surfaced as the top issue facing the security industry right now,” said Lou Marciani, NCS4 director. “The goal with our lab is to vet security solutions for sports at all levels, from college to professional. There is no one else right now doing what we are for collegiate venues through this lab.”

Safety and security experts from across the country will serve as independent evaluators of the entire operation which includes a set of pre-arranged scenarios designed to mimic “suspicious” activities.

The game-day test will begin with an initial scenario approximately 3½ hours before the 6:30 p.m. kickoff and continue until the final phase is completed during the first quarter.

Jerry Surak, chief scientist with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), helped develop the scenarios that will be evaluated after spending more than a year working with NCS4 officials on the testing protocol.

“What we have put together is so subtle that the average fan will probably not notice anything out of the ordinary,” said Surak. “However, if fans do see something suspicious and decide to report it, that would certainly be a good thing.”

The lab test will also involve members of the Southern Miss Police Department as well as law enforcement representatives and emergency management officials from the surrounding area. University Police Chief Bob Hopkins said the surveillance test should not cause any game-day disruptions.

“Our fans should be aware that this exercise will not interfere with their game-day experience,” said Hopkins. “As always we want them to be vigilant and to report anything suspicious or out of the ordinary to one of our uniformed officers or by calling 266-4986.”

Fans who wish to report unruly behavior or related incidents may also use the text-messaging system already in place for Southern Miss home games. Fans can simply text “4153”, followed by “USM”, followed by a space, then a brief description of the incident and location.

“There’s really a two-pronged payoff to what we’re doing with this lab experiment,” said Marciani. “On one hand we get to test the protocols and procedures we’ve been working on here at the National Center for the past two years.

“But we’re also providing a test lab for these surveillance companies to determine whether or not their equipment can perform exactly as advertised.”

Established in 2006, NCS4 is the only sports security training organization of its kind in the United States and remains the recognized leader in addressing potential threats and risks to the safety and security of sporting events. Through research, education and innovative solutions, the center continues to enhance the level of preparedness at sporting venues worldwide.

Maersk Alabama repels 2nd pirate attack with guns
AP
November 18th

AP – FILE – The U.S.-flagged cargo ship, the Maersk Alabama arrives in Mombasa, Kenya, in this Saturday April …
Slideshow:Somali Pirates
Play VideoVideo:Pirates attack Maersk Alabama a second time AP
Play VideoVideo:Maersk Alabama Commander In New Attack From RI WBZ Boston
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 56 mins ago
NAIROBI, Kenya – Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday for the second time in seven months and were thwarted by private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship who fired off guns and a high-decibel noise device.
A U.S. surveillance plane was monitoring the ship as it continued to its destination on the Kenyan coast, while a pirate said that the captain of a ship hijacked Monday with 28 North Korean crew members on board had died of wounds.
Pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama last April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy SEAL sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a daring nighttime attack.
Four suspected pirates in a skiff attacked the ship again on Wednesday around 6:30 a.m. local time, firing on the ship with automatic weapons from about 300 yards (meters) away, a statement from the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said.
An on-board security team repelled the attack by using evasive maneuvers, small-arms fire and a Long Range Acoustic Device, which can beam earsplitting alarm tones, the fleet said.
Vice Adm. Bill Gortney of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said the Maersk Alabama had followed the maritime industry’s “best practices” in having a security team on board.
“This is a great example of how merchant mariners can take proactive action to prevent being attacked and why we recommend that ships follow industry best practices if they’re in high-risk areas,” Gortney said in a statement.
However, Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said the international maritime community was still “solidly against” armed guards aboard vessels at sea, but that American ships have taken a different line than the rest of the international community.
“Shipping companies are still pretty much overwhelmingly opposed to the idea of armed guards,” Middleton said. “Lots of private security companies employee people who don’t have maritime experience. Also, there’s the idea that it’s the responsibility of states and navies to provide security. I would think it’s a step backward if we start privatizing security of the shipping trade.”
A Massachusetts Maritime Academy professor, who is also the father of a sailor who was on the Maersk Alabama during the first pirate attack in April, said about 20 percent of the ships off East Africa are armed.
The owners of the Maersk Alabama have spent a considerable amount of money since the April hijacking to make the vessel pirate-proof, Murphy said, including structural features and safety equipment. The most dramatic change is what he called a security force of “highly trained ex-military personnel.”
“Somali pirates understand one thing and only one thing, and that’s force,” said Capt. Joseph Murphy, who teaches maritime security at the school. “They analyze risk very carefully, and when the risk is too high they are going to step back. They are not going to jeopardize themselves.”
The wife of the Maersk Alabama’s captain, Paul Rochford, told WBZ-AM radio in Boston that she was “really happy” there were weapons on board for this attack.
“It probably surprised the pirates. They were probably shocked,” Kimberly Rochford. “I’m really happy at least it didn’t turn out like the last time.”
A self-proclaimed pirate told The Associated Press from the Somali pirate town of Haradhere that colleagues out at sea had called around 9 a.m. — 2 1/2 hours after the attack.
“They told us that they got in trouble with an American ship, then we lost them. We have been trying to locate them since,” said a self-described pirate who gave his name as Abdi Nor.
A U.S. Navy P-3 surveillance aircraft “is monitoring Maersk Alabama and has good voice communication with the vessel,” said Lt. Nathan Christensen, the Bahrain-based spokesman for the 5th Fleet. The ship was heading for the Kenyan port town of Mombasa.
“The crew and the captain are safe,” Amanda Derick, a spokeswoman for Maersk Line Limited in Norfolk, Va., said on Wednesday. “The appropriate security measures were taken. That’s the main thing, everyone’s safe.”
Maritime experts said it was unlucky but not unprecedented that the Maersk Alabama had been targeted in a second attack.
“It’s not the first vessel to have been attacked twice, and it’s a chance that every single ship takes as it passes through the area,” Cmdr. John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force. “At least this time they had a vessel protection detachment on board who were able to repel the attack.”
Phillips’ ordeal last spring galvanized the attention of the U.S. public to the dangers of operating merchant ships in the Horn of Africa, one of the busiest and most precarious sea lanes in the world.
Underscoring the danger, a self-proclaimed pirate said Wednesday that the captain of a ship hijacked Monday had died of wounds suffered during the ship’s hijacking. The pirate, Sa’id, who gave only one name for fear of reprisals, said the captain died Tuesday night from internal bleeding.
The EU Naval Force has said the Virgin Islands-owned chemical tanker the Theresa was taken Monday with 28 North Korean crew.
Pirates have greatly increased their attacks in recent weeks after seasonal rains subsided. On Tuesday, a self-proclaimed pirate said that Somali hijackers had been paid $3.3 million for the release of 36 crew members from a Spanish vessel held for more than six weeks — a clear demonstration of how lucrative the trade can be for impoverished Somalis.
Phillips told the AP last month from his farmhouse in Vermont that he was contemplating retiring from sea life after his ordeal. He’s been given a book deal and a movie could be in the works.
Phillips was hailed as a hero for helping his crew thwart April’s hijacking before he was taken hostage, but he says he never volunteered, as crew members and his family reported at the time. He says he was already a hostage when he struck a deal with the pirates — trading him for their leader, who was taken by the Maersk Alabama’s crew.

Defense appropriations delay irks lawmakers
By Roxana Tiron – 10/25/09 07:48 PM ET
The Hill

Some lawmakers are growing antsy over the delay by House Democratic leaders in moving the 2010 defense appropriations conference report to a vote.

Rep. James Moran (D-Va.), a senior defense appropriator, told The Hill on Friday that the vote on the conference “possibly” will not happen until December.

“We’re ready,” Moran said. “The problem is [this] is considered a must-pass bill. This is the ace that the leadership has up their sleeve.”

Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), the ranking member of the Appropriations Defense subcommittee, quipped: “We don’t want it to become the joker.”

Young and other Republicans have been pressuring the Democrats not to add contentious and unrelated legislation to the bill.

Moran said that so far it is unclear what the plan for the bill is and whether it is going to carry a D.C. voting rights bill or spending for other government agencies.

The House leadership is expected to meet with President Barack Obama next week to discuss the strategy for the pending appropriations bills.

Meanwhile, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the Senate Appropriations Chairman, said in a short interview with The Hill that conference negotiations between the two chambers are proceeding. He also expressed confidence that the 2010 Pentagon-spending bill “will pass very soon.”

J. Taylor Rushing contributed to this report