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Compton Gamma Ray Observatory equipment helps to sniff out radioactive sources. Remnants of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (pictured), are being used in other fields.NASA The 9-year mission of NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory ended in 2000 with a plunge into the Pacific Ocean. But its spare parts are living on — as a detector of dirty bombs. James Ryan, an astrophysicist at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, has recycled parts from one of the space telescope’s old instruments, realizing that they can work just as well pointing horizontally as they did vertically up into the heavens. The...

SCOTLAND Yard believes it has thwarted an al-Qaeda nerve gas attack aimed at ministers and MPs in the British Parliament. The plot, hatched last year, is understood to have been discovered in coded emails on computers seized from terror suspects in Britain and Pakistan. Police and MI5 later identified an al-Qaeda cell that had carried out extensive research and video-recorded reconnaissance missions in preparation for the terror attack. The encrypted emails are said to have been decoded with the assistance of an al-Qaeda "supergrass". By revealing the terrorists' code, he was also able to help MI5 and GCHQ - the...

The appearance of nuclear weapons materials on the black market is a growing global concern, and it is crucial that the United States reinforce its team of nuclear forensics experts and modernize its forensics tools to prepare for or respond to a possible nuclear terrorist attack. Large quantities of nuclear materials are inadequately secured in several countries, including Russia and Pakistan. Since 1993, there have been more than 1,300 incidents of illicit trafficking of nuclear materials, including plutonium and highly enriched uranium, both of which can be used to develop an atomic bomb. And these are only the incidents we...

By Judi McLeod Tuesday, March 25, 2008 In an effort to provide them a fair trial, the Canadian government is seeking a limited publication ban on the identities of the adults charged with belonging to the so-called “Toronto 18” group. The identity of the youth charged with belonging to a homegrown terror cell is already protected under the Young Criminal Justice Act. The trial for the youth gets underway in a Brampton court today. Almost unheard of since they were nabbed in a foiled undercover operation to kidnap and behead members of Parliament, among other things on June 2, 2006,...

Colombia's FARC guerrilla movement was trying to get hold of radioactive material to make a "dirty bomb," Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos said on Tuesday. Santos told the United Nations Conference on Disarmament that materials found on computers of Raul Reyes, the deputy commander of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), showed the group was in negotiations to get hold of radioactive matter for a bomb. (Reuters)

MIAMI (AFP) - Jose Padilla, the US citizen arrested in 2002 for an alleged dirty bomb plot only to see those charges disappear three years later, was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison Tuesday for supporting the Al-Qaeda terror network. ADVERTISEMENT Two other men accused of plotting with Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, also received lengthy prison terms: 15 years and eight months for Hassoun and 12 years and eight months for Jayyousi. Miami federal judge Marcia Cook said there was not enough support for the charges to give Padilla the maximum life sentence requested...

Jose Padilla is sentenced to 17 years By CURT ANDERSON, AP Legal Affairs Writer 5 minutes ago Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive "dirty bomb," was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and four months on terrorism conspiracy charges that don't mention those initial allegations. The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke marks another step in the extraordinary personal and legal odyssey for the 37-year-old Muslim convert, a U.S. citizen who was held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant after his 2002 arrest amid the "dirty bomb" allegations. He had...

MIAMI (AFP) - Jose Padilla, a US citizen convicted of supporting the Al Qaeda terror network, could face anywhere from decades to a lifetime behind bars, a federal judge said on Tuesday. Judge Marcia Cooke rejected defense claims that Padilla, 37, and two co-conspirators had not commited any actual act of terrorism. She ruled that a special provision for stiffer penalties applied and that the three could each face prison sentences of 30 years to life. Before Cooke delivers sentence, probably later this week, lawyers for the two sides will present their arguments for sentencing. The prosecutors want Padilla, Adham...

A British al-Qa'eda fanatic who planned to cause "indiscriminate carnage, bloodshed and butchery" on both sides of the Atlantic has been jailed for life. Dhiren Barot, from London, plotted explosions Muslim convert Dhiren Barot was told by a judge at Woolwich Crown Court this afternoon that he must serve at least 40 years before being considered for release. Mr Justice Butterfield told Barot: "This was no noble cause. Your plans were to bring indiscriminate carnage, bloodshed and butchery first in Washington, New York and Newark, and thereafter the UK on a colossal and unprecedented scale." He added: "Your intention was...

Slovak Police Say Seized Radioactive Material Was Uranium By Stefan Bos Budapest 30 November 2007 Officials in Hungary and neighboring Slovakia say police have detained three suspects who were in possession of material enriched enough to be used to make a so-called "dirty bomb." Stefan Bos reports for VOA from Budapest. A spokesman for the Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard, Attila Kiss, tells VOA that, after months of preparations, Hungarian and Slovak police detained three suspects on charges of trying to sell enriched uranium for at least $1 million. Kiss says police discovered half a kilogram of enriched uranium in...

There are no zombies to distract from the plausibility of Right at Your Door. And that's what makes this smart, coolly horrifying American indie thriller one of the scariest movies you're likely to see all year — a post-9/11 nightmare about terrorism, panic, and paranoia with real, waking-life implications. The time is now, the setting is the nothing-special new home of a young married couple in the hills of Los Angeles, where Lexi (Mary McCormack), a corporate type, kisses her stay-at-home musician husband, Brad (Rory Cochrane), goodbye and joins the city's commuting thousands. She forgot to charge her cell phone?...

WASHINGTON: The specter of a nuclear bomb, hidden in a cargo container, detonating in an American port has prompted Congress to require 100 percent screening of U.S.-bound ships at their more than 600 foreign starting points. The Bush administration and shippers maintain the technology for scanning 11 million containers each year does not exist and say the requirement could disrupt trade. Current procedures including manifest inspections at foreign ports and radiation monitoring in U.S. ports are working well, they contend. Nonetheless, President George W. Bush signed the measure into law this month and praised its transfer of domestic money to...

After a three-month trial, a federal jury convicted home-grown terrorist Jose Padilla (AKA Abdullah al-Muhajir or Muhajir Abdullah) of terrorism conspiracy charges. Padilla and co-defendants Adham Hassoun, a Palestinian born in Lebanon, and Kifah Jayyousi, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Jordan, were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim overseas, one count of conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists and one count of material support for terrorists.Opponents of the Bush administration’s policy of treating terrorists as enemy combatants rather than common criminals, point to the verdict as "proof" that convictions can be obtained while...

A verdict was reached Thursday in the trial of Jose Padilla and two co-defendants charged with supporting al-Qaida and other violent Islamic extremist groups overseas. The jury verdict was scheduled to be read at 2 p.m. EDT before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke in Miami's downtown federal courthouse, according to an announcement from her chambers. The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about a day and a half following a three-month trial. Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi face possible life in prison if convicted of all three charges in the case

DETROIT — A man who became the subject of a book called "The Radioactive Boy Scout" after trying to build a nuclear reactor in a shed as a teenager has been charged with stealing 16 smoke detectors. Police say it was a possible effort to experiment with radioactive materials. David Hahn, 31, was being held Friday on a $5,000 bond in the Macomb County Jail after he was arraigned Thursday on felony larceny charges. Clinton Township police Capt. Richard Maierle said Hahn denied the charges. A district court clerk on Friday said Hahn did not have an attorney. The Associated...

Breaking story

They JUST anounced here in NYC on FOX 5 NY news that the NYPD is raising their counter terrorist surveilance level, including vehicle checkpoints and radiological detection. It was their lead breaking story. No details yet.

MIAMI - The defense rested its case Tuesday in the trial of Jose Padilla and two other men charged with supporting terrorism, with Padilla's lawyers calling no witnesses or putting on any evidence. After the defense rested, prosecutors called only one additional witness and then ended their case, earlier than had been anticipated. The actions, coming on day 53 of the trial, clear the way for closing arguments, likely next week. Jurors could begin deliberations next week as well. Padilla, 36, is accused along with Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, both 45, of participating in a support network...

The GAO set out to procure enough radioactive material to build a dirty bomb. Suppliers were only too happy to help. How the agency did it. Gregory Kutz and his colleagues wanted to order enough radioactive material to make a dirty bomb. So they set up bogus companies and applied for separate licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the state of Maryland. They didn’t succeed with Maryland, but they got a license from the NRC in less than a month. Then Kutz and his associates doctored the license to increase the amount of radioactive material they could buy, and...

MIAMI - Jose Padilla gave evasive or vague answers about his activities in the Middle East shortly after arriving at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in May 2002, an FBI agent testified Thursday at his trial on a charge of supporting terrorism. Padilla did not remember the address or telephone number for his wife and children in Egypt, or the last name of his roommate, agent Russell Fincher said. In contrast, Padilla remembered many details of his life growing up in Chicago, including specific streets where his family lived, Fincher said. He also was carrying documents with other personal information such...

WASHINGTON - Congressional investigators set up a bogus company with only a postal box and within a month obtained a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that allowed them to buy enough radioactive material for a small "dirty bomb."

A new study by the Canadian government predicts that the explosion of even a small dirty bomb in downtown Toronto could result in a rush on the city’s medical facilities and an economic toll of more than $23 billion. The disclosure comes just months after the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said a dirty bomb assault in that country was "overdue.” The study explored the nightmare scenario involving the detonation of a device containing a modest amount of americium-241, a plutonium byproduct, The Canadian Press news agency reported, noting: "The grim outline is not far-fetched. A database of lost and stolen...

MIAMI - The federal judge in Jose Padilla's terrorism support trial refused to declare a mistrial Thursday after at least one juror saw one of Padilla's co-defendants in shackles outside the courtroom. Attorneys for Adham Amin Hassoun said his right to a fair trial had been jeopardized, but U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke said after interviewing jurors that none had been "unfairly prejudiced in this matter." On Tuesday, the 16 jurors were being transported in government vans from the courthouse's basement garage to their cars. As one of the vans was leaving, three deputy U.S. marshals escorted Hassoun through the...

Al Qaeda terror cell members jailed for plotting to kill 'thousands of people' in BritainLast updated at 14:49pm on 15th June 2007  Seven members of a terror cell run by Al Qaeda "general" Dhiren Barot have been jailed for a total of 136 years.  The group were vital to Barot's deadly plans to attack the UK and the US, Woolwich Crown Court was told. Barot was jailed for life last year for plotting to kill "hundreds if not thousands" of people using explosives-packed limousines and a "dirty" radiation bomb.    Jailed (left-right): Abdul Aziz Jalil, Qaisar Shaffi, Omar Abdur...

MIAMI -- Fingerprints found on a purported al Qaeda training camp questionnaire discovered in Afghanistan match those of terrorist suspect Jose Padilla, a government analyst testified yesterday. John Morgan, a Secret Service fingerprint specialist, said seven fingerprints on a "mujahedeen data form" match Mr. Padilla's, who prosecutors say was attempting to join a terrorist training camp in southern Afghanistan in July 2000.

Lost in all the coverage of the Virginia Tech tragedy were the sobering words of Vice President Dick Cheney about a calamity facing America that will dwarf anything it has ever experienced as a nation. Characterizing it as "the greatest threat we face," Cheney once again raised the ugly specter of nuclear terrorism against the U.S. "It's a very real threat," he said, "something that we have to worry about and defeat every single day." Tying the warning to politicking over Iraq war policy, he said a precipitous withdrawal from that country by U.S. military forces would invite and encourage...

BUFFALO, N.Y. - An American wanted for allegedly training with the "Lackawanna Six" at an al-Qaida camp was among the 23 men who tunneled out of a Yemeni prison last week, the FBI confirmed Friday. Authorities earlier said they believed Jaber Elbaneh, 39, was probably among the escapees, but were not certain because of conflicting information, including a posting by the international police organization Interpol that pictured Elbaneh but described someone else. Elbaneh is charged in Buffalo with providing material support to al-Qaida by attending the al-Farooq training camp run by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan months before the Sept....

MIAMI (Reuters) - Five years after the U.S. attorney general announced on live television that Jose Padilla was a "known terrorist" plotting to set off a radioactive bomb, a federal court must find a jury willing to presume he is innocent. The "dirty bomber" allegation made by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft when Padilla was arrested in 2002 never showed up in the formal charges brought against him after he had spent 3 1/2 years jailed in a military brig. But Padilla's lawyers fear the stigma could taint jurors' view of the 36-year-old American whose trial begins on Monday. "If you...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2007 – The enemy in Iraq is adaptive, and is interested in “catastrophic attacks,” the commander of coalition ground forces in Iraq said today. Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, met with Pentagon reporters over a satellite link from Baghdad. Insurgents blew up a tanker filled with chlorine yesterday in southern Baghdad. The attack killed at least two people and wounded more than 30. Coalition officials in Baghdad said this could be an escalation in the insurgent attacks. The attacks are meant to cause fear, and chlorine gas – which was...

The nation's top nuclear weapons agency announced Tuesday that it's planning to field-test devices that could eventually be used by local agencies around the country to disable a terrorist "dirty bomb" or nuclear weapon in the absence of experts trained to defuse nuclear bombs. The plan is an answer to concerns that, in the event of a terrorist plot on U.S. soil, the Nevada-based Nuclear Emergency Search Team wouldn't be able to get to the scene of an attack soon enough. The team, known as NEST, is the first line of defense against such attacks, which federal authorities say could...

STORY HIGHLIGHTS • NEW: Georgian officials and CIA's 2006 sting resulted in arrest • Unclear how suspect, who isn't cooperating with police, got uranium WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republic of Georgia authorities, aided by the CIA, set up a sting operation last summer that led to the arrest of a Russian man who tried to sell a small amount of nuclear-bomb grade uranium in a plastic bag in his jacket pocket, U.S. and Georgian officials said. The operation, which neither government has publicized, represents one of the most serious cases of smuggling of nuclear material in recent years, according to analysts...

LONDON: The exotic murder-by-polonium of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko throws into question most of the previous analyses of "dirty bombs," terrorist attacks using radioactive isotopes wrapped in explosives (or using other dispersion techniques) to spread radioactive material in crowded areas. Essentially all analysts, myself included, played down the possibility of using alpha radiation — fast- moving helium nuclei ejected during the radioactive decay of certain isotopes, such as of polonium 210, the substance that killed Litvinenko — as a source of dirty bombs.

Alexander Litvinenko, a former officer of the KGB and its more recent incarnation known as the FSB, is a perfect example of an intelligence officer who transferred his loyalties from his country, and the people he was entrusted to serve, to the “enemy� for reasons other than monetary gain...His areas of expertise included counter-terrorism and organized crime. For reasons unknown, Litvinenko became a supporter of the Islamic terrorists leading the rebellion in the separatist region of Chechnya, despite the fact that they had murdered hundreds of his fellow Russians. [SNIP] The fact that Litvinenko recently died as a result of...

Was ex-spy trying to sell dirty bomb? The radiation spy scandal took a sensational twist last night with the revelation that KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko had converted to Islam before he died. Scotland Yard detectives are now trying to discover if he had any secret links with Islamic extremist terror groups. Their biggest fear is that the former Soviet spy, who died of polonium-210 poisoning in a London hospital, may have been helping Al Qaeda terrorists or other extremist groups get hold of radioactive material to be used in a devastating “dirty” atom bomb. The news comes on top of...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (CNN) -- About 500 people were evacuated from the New Mexico State Fairgrounds Expo as a precaution Saturday evening after low levels of radiation were detected, police said. A Geiger counter registered the presence of radiation after two objects were discovered at the 236-acre fairgrounds in the heart of Albuquerque, said Lt. Juan Martinez, a spokesman for New Mexico state police.

The Savoy hotel, Waterloo station, the Heathrow Express and a Tube train under the Thames were on a hitlist of targets drawn up by a British al-Qaeda terrorist, a court was told yesterday.Dhiren Barot will be sentenced today after he admitted planning “back-to-back” attacks on London, which he predicted would have created “a black day for the enemies of Islam”. His two-day hearing, the most significant terrorist case since 9/11, can be reported after The Times and the BBC succeeded at the Court of Appeal in having reporting restrictions lifted. In detailed documents prepared for the approval of al-Qaeda’s leadership,...

A Muslim convert raised in Britain admitted plotting to detonate a "dirty bomb" in the UK as part of a plan to kill "hundreds if not thousands" of British and American civilians. Dhiren Barot, 34, planned to commit mass murder on a huge scale by blowing up some of the world's largest financial institutions, detonating a radioactive bomb in Britain and even flooding London by rupturing the Thames. Barot planned to murder "enemies of Islam" in an unprecedented plot involving buildings and public transport. In the UK Barot plotted to detonate a radioactive bomb and to blow up buildings by...

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A man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to murder people in terrorist campaigns in Britain and the US.Dhiren Barot, of north London, planned to use a radioactive "dirty bomb" in one of a series of attacks in the UK, Woolwich Crown Court has heard. He intended to cause "injury, fear, terror and chaos", the court was told. Barot also plotted to carry out explosions in US cities that were "designed to kill as many innocent people as possible".

A British Muslim yesterday admitted plotting a series of co-ordinated terrorist attacks in this country including one involving a radioactive "dirty bomb". Dhiren Barot, from Kingsbury, north London, also pleaded guilty to planning attacks against the IMF, World Bank and financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark. Dhiren Barot pleaded guilty Edmund Lawson, QC, told Woolwich Crown Court, south London: "These plans to carry out explosions at those premises with no warning were basically designed to kill as many innocent people as possible." Barot described a car bomb plot called the "Gas Limos Project" as "the main cornerstone of...

"SEIZURES of smuggled radioactive material capable of making a terrorist "dirty bomb" have doubled in the past four years, according to official figures. Smugglers have been caught trying to traffick dangerous radioactive material more than 300 times since 2002, statistics from the International Atomic Energy Agency show. Most of the incidents are understood to have occurred in Europe." "Western security services, including Britain's MI5 and MI6, last year thwarted 16 attempts to smuggle plutonium or uranium. On two occasions, small quantities of highly enriched uranium were reported missing. All were feared to have been destined for terror groups. Scientists responsible...

SEIZURES of smuggled radioactive material capable of making a terrorist “dirty bomb” have doubled in the past four years, according to official figures seen by The Times.Smugglers have been caught trying to traffick dangerous radioactive material more than 300 times since 2002, statistics from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) show. Most of the incidents are understood to have occurred in Europe. The disclosures come as al-Qaeda is known to be intensfiying its efforts to obtain a radoactive device. Last year, Western security services, including MI5 and MI6, thwarted 16 attempts to smuggle plutonium or uranium. On two occasions small...

Customs agents use hand-held isotope identifiers to confirm that cargo emits only naturally occurring radiation if an alarm is triggered by stationary sensors.

The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq said that more than 4,000 foreign insurgents have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. The claim was made in an audiotape posted on the Internet. The man speaking on the tape identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir - also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri - the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, although the voice could not be independently identified. The Arabic word he used indicated he was speaking about foreigners who joined the insurgency in Iraq, and not coalition troops. It was believed to be the first major statement...

WASHINGTON - Anti-terrorism officials conducted an aerial survey of New York City’s radiation sources in preparation for a so-called “dirty bomb” attack - and found a Staten Island park with high levels of radium. Federal authorities found 80 unexpected “hot spots” around New York, including Gateway National Park in Staten Island. The Government Accountability Office report released yesterday details a previously undisclosed aerial anti-terrorism program that may be extended to other cities. By creating a map of the city’s radiation sources, city officials hope to respond more quickly to a dirty bomb attack, knowing which streets are contaminated.

In 2005, the mainstream media seemed shocked when a number of news sources, including WorldNetDaily.com released a report about an "American Hiroshima" plot against the United States by Al-Qaeda The plot calls for Al-Qaeda to detonate nuclear weapons on American soil, having arrived over the Mexican border with the assistance of MS-13 gang members. The report claims Al-Qaeda has already obtained a large number of nuclear weapons currently being maintained by Pakistani and Russian scientists. Why the shock? In November 2002, this author provided similar and nearly identical information to the American public and intelligence agencies compiled from private and...

Revelations in the Peoria Journal Star earlier this week that the Peoria/Champaign area is one of seven in the United States on a terrorist “circuit” were frightening. “Terrorists enter the United States in San Francisco and Los Angeles, then move to Phoenix, then Denver," reported Phil Luciano of the PJS. "From there some head to Peoria and Champaign. Some terrorists remain in those communities, while others head on to New York City" (emphasis added). Luciano was provided this information by Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy, who received it at a recent FBI conference held in Springfield. Names of larger cities...

When asked if the suspect was Muslim, Kerlikowske said at a news conference, "you could infer that that was his background." Laura Laughlin, special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI office, said Haq was a U.S. citizen. Haq's lawyer, Larry Stephenson, told The Seattle Times that he thought Haq was single and unemployed, and that Haq had a misdemeanor lewd conduct charge pending in Benton County. Haq had been accused of exposing himself in a public place, Stephenson told The Times. Haq's parents were shaken by his arrest in the shootings, the lawyer said. "I talked to his father,...

POLICE could be forced to shoot members of the public to maintain order in the event of a terrorist "dirty bomb" or biological attack on Britain, it was claimed yesterday. The Police Federation annual conference in Blackpool was told that so few officers have been trained to deal with a chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological strike that they would have to resort to "very unsavoury but necessary" crowd control. Bob Elder, the chairman of the constables’ central committee, did not refer specifically to officers firing on civilians, but sources within the organisation said it was clear police could have to...

Border guards seized a British lorry on its way to make a delivery to the Iranian military - after discovering it was packed with radioactive material that could be used to build a dirty bomb. The lorry set off from Kent on its way to Tehran but was stopped by officials at a checkpoint on Bulgaria's northernborder with Romania after a scanner indicated radiation levels 200 times above normal. The lorry was impounded and the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NPA) was called out. On board they found ten lead-lined boxes addressed to the Iranian Ministry of Defence. Inside each box...