Fighting terror notebook

Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 6, 2002

Ridge says border needs a fast lane for Mexico traffic

U.S. and Mexican officials are considering a "fast lane" across the border for pre-approved, low-risk users after heightened security following Sept. 11 slowed crossings to a crawl, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Tuesday.

Calling the way the U.S. southern border is managed "outdated," Ridge said the new plan would use technology to clear goods in factories, rail yards and seaports instead of waiting until they reach the border crossing.

Heightened security following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, including rigorous checking and more frequent searches, has created what Ridge described as "unconscionable" delays.

"Once you've got the no-risk and the low-risk set aside, then you can direct your human and your technology resources to the cargo and the people that you know nothing about," he said.

Washington tempers flare

Tensions over the Bush administration's sharing of information with Congress flared anew Tuesday as the White House excluded the House Democratic leader from a confidential briefing and Bush aides swapped charges with lawmakers about who was told of White House contingency plans dealing with a hypothetical nuclear attack on Washington.

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., first learned from a reporter about Tuesday's classified briefing for congressional leaders on the contingency plans, his aides said. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer blamed a "scheduling matter" and said Gephardt had "already been talked to," which Gephardt's aides said was untrue.

The White House also disputed lawmakers' claims that they hadn't been advised of the administration's contingency plans, reported last week in the Washington Post, involving scores of senior administration officials taking rotations in underground bunkers outside of Washington. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. -- who as Senate president pro tempore is third in line to the presidency -- and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., had said they weren't informed of the plans.

Crash wasn't to blame

A car crash did not kill a driver's license examiner whose burning car rammed into a utility pole the day before her scheduled court appearance on charges she helped five Middle Eastern men get licenses illegally.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol on Tuesday released a preliminary report on the Feb. 10 crash involving Katherine Smith, 49.

Smith was driving about 20 miles from her home when her car hit the utility pole.

Patrol Capt. Jimmy Erwin said an investigation determined Smith was traveling just over 20 mph, and "that would be a survivable crash."

Memphis FBI spokesman George Bolds said the cause of the fire remains undetermined, though it appears to be arson.

Smith was arrested by FBI agents five days before her death along with five men and a juvenile male, at least three whom are believed to be in the United States illegally.

More news ...

PAKISTAN WANTS FIRST TRIAL: A Pakistani court on Tuesday set aside a petition to prevent the handover of the key suspect in the slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl to the United States, after the government promised not to do so in violation of the law, the prosecutor said.

The government promise appeared to leave the door open to handing over British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh through means in accordance with Pakistani law.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Rasheed Khan said the law requires defendants facing charges in Pakistan to be tried at home first before being transferred to any other country.

ASHCROFT WANTS DNA BANK: Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday that the Justice Department would ask Congress to change a federal law to allow the FBI to maintain a DNA databank of profiles taken from al-Qaida and Taliban fighters detained in Afghanistan and Cuba.

Ashcroft endorsed a legislative proposal by the FBI to permit the bureau to build a DNA database for suspected terrorists. He said that blood samples were being taken from detainees in Cuba but current law prohibits them entered into the FBI's database.

The government is proposing to create DNA profiles of the 300 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the 7,500 to 8,000 prisoners in Afghanistan. The profiles would be stored in the national database.

AL-QAIDA BACK ON NET?: Newly detected Internet traffic among al-Qaida followers, including intercepted e-mail messages, indicates that elements of the terror network may be trying to regroup in remote sanctuaries in Pakistan near the Afghan border, government officials say.

U.S. officials said they had discovered the existence of new Web sites and Internet communications that appeared to be part of a concerted al-Qaida effort to reconstitute the group and re-establish communications after the war in Afghanistan.

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