Thursday, May 1, 2008

Daily Report

• CBS News reports a new airport security system, designed to better identify a terrorist or a suspicious traveler by reducing anxiety levels of passengers, was introduced Monday at Baltimore’s Thurgood Marshall International airport. The new system is expected to be installed at airports across the country. (See item 12)

• According to Cybercast News Service, three anti-war activists damaged a satellite base in New Zealand on Wednesday. The activists say the communications facility is part of a global surveillance system that benefits the U.S. anti-terrorist campaign. (See item 28)

Information Technology

Nothing to Report

Communications Sector

28. April 30, Cybercast News Service – (International) Satellite base damaged in anti-US protest. Anti-war activists in New Zealand early Wednesday broke into a communications facility they say is part of a global surveillance system that benefits the U.S. anti-terrorist campaign. Three men were arrested after members of a group calling itself ANZAC Ploughshares said they cut through fences and slashed one of two giant white radomes covering satellite dishes, deflating the ball-shaped structure. The Waihopai base on New Zealand’s South Island is operated by the Government Communications Security Bureau. The Wellington-based agency says its functions are to collect and provide the New Zealand government with foreign intelligence, and to provide advice and expertise to ensure that the government’s official information is protected. Groups that have been protesting against the site for years claim it is part of a global eavesdropping network providing intelligence to the U.S. National Security Agency and involving listening stations in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Source: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200804/FOR20080430b.html