A2
Politics & The Nation Politics&Nation
Newark mayor receiving avalanch of attention for storm tweets A3 Obama names ambassador to Syria
A4
TheWorld Blast kills top police officer inMosul
Digest Burst pipes cause mass water crisis inNorthern Ireland Flooding in northeast Australia causes evacuations
Local Living
Editor’s note: The Local Living section is off this week. It will return next Thursday.
CORRECTIONS
patients at Children’s National Medical Center on Christmas. He isLeoMullen,notLeoPatterson.
l APerformingArts reviewinthe Dec. 13 Style section, about a “Joy
of Christmas” presentation by the Cathedral Choral Society, mis- spelled the surname of theMaret School Concert Choir director.He is JamesErwin,not Irwin.
CLARIFICATION
l Amapthat accompaniedaDec. 11Metro article about commercial
properties owned by American University incorrectly identified the locationofnow-closedMorty’s Delicatessen as 3201 NewMexico Ave. NW. In fact, the location was 4620 Wisconsin Ave. NW. A cor- rectedmapappears above.
l The John Kelly’s Washington column in the Dec. 22 Metro sec-
tion misidentified a volunteer whodresses as SantaClaus to visit
l A Dec. 18 A-section article said that the $725 billion fiscal 2011
defense authorizationbill that the House passed thismonth exceed- ed the spending levels originally requested by theObama adminis- tration. While the total amount didexceedthe request forDefense Department spending by $17 bil- lion, the bill contained $18 billion for the Department of Energy’s weapons program and thus was $1 billion below the president’s request for thePentagon.
The Washington Post is committed to correcting errors that appear in the newspaper. Those interested in contacting the paper for that purpose can: E-mail:
corrections@washpost.com. Call: 202-334-6000, and ask to be connected to the desk involved — National, Foreign, Metro, Style, Sports, Business or any of the weekly sections. The ombudsman, who acts as the readers’ representative, can be reached by calling 202-334-7582 or e-mailing
ombudsman@washpost.com.
A6 A6
A6 BY ELLEN NAKASHIMA A year after a Nigerian man
allegedly tried to blow up a De- troit-bound airliner, officials say they have made it easier to add individuals’ names to a terrorist watch list and improved the gov- ernment’s ability to thwart an attack in theUnited States. The failure to putUmarFarouk Abdulmutallab on the watch list last year renewed concerns that the government’s system to screen out potential terrorists was flawed. Even though Abdul- mutallab’s father had told U.S. officials of his son’s radicalization in Yemen, government rules dic- tated that a single-source tip was insufficient to include a person’s name on the watch list. Since then, senior counterter-
rorism officials say they have al- tered their criteria so that a sin- gle-source tip, as long as it is deemed credible, can lead to a name being placed on the watch list. The government’s master
watch list is one of roughly a dozen lists, or databases, used by counterterrorism officials. Offi- cials have periodically adjusted the criteria used to maintain it. But civil liberties groups argue
that the government’s new crite- ria, which went into effect over the summer, have made it even more likely that individuals who pose no threat will be swept up in the nation’s security apparatus, leading to potential violations of their privacy and making it diffi- cult for them to travel. “They are secret lists with no
way for people to petition to get off or even to know if they’re on,” said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil LibertiesUnion.
WE BUY ALL BOOKS DVDs, CDs EVERY DAY 10 - 4 • CASH PAID
Contact
chuck@wonderbk.com about possible house calls for large collections of 1200+ books
15976 Shady Grove Rd., Gaithersburg, MD Open 10-8 Every Day! 301-977-9166
FREDERICK (Open 10-10) 301-694-5955
Open 10-10 Every Day! 301-694-5955 301-733-1888
HAGERSTOWN (Open 10-10) 301-733-1888 301-977-9166
IT’S A BUYER’S MARKET FOR FURNITURE NowThruSunday:
SAVE UP TO 75%* Everything Is On Sale!
ALL
SPECIAL ORDERS!
1700 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA SAVE AN EXTRA 5-15%
Custom Upholstery and Leather from Sherrill, Hickory Chair, Precedent, Southwood, Hancock
& Moore. Dining Rooms from Henkel Harris, Hickory Chair, Althorp, Nichols&Stone, French Heritage and Baker. Bedrooms from Cresent, Drexel, Henredon, DB Williams, Henkel Harris and French Heritage. TV Consoles and Desks from Sligh, Hooker and Hekman.
NOBODY OFFERS BETTER BRANDS THANCOLONYHOUSE!
Hundreds of Floor Samples priced to go! Save on remaining inventory of Leather Recliners. Choose from a variety of Original Artwork & Pictures. Plus Fine Italian Marquetry Tables.
ALL STOCK!
HENKEL HARRIS NEWINVENTORY AVAILABLENOW! HUGE SELECTION AVAILABLE!
ORIENTAL RUGS!
ALL
SAVE 50-60% ON ALLOF OUR FINE HANDMADE RUGS, ALLSTYLESAND SIZES.
Our3,000 square foot galleryand warehouse
arefullofgreatvalues.ChoosefromPersian Tabriz, Isfahan, ChineseSilk, Indian Serapi,Tibetans, Aubussons, VegetableDyed, andmuchmore!
OUR PRICES WON’T BE BEAT! Shop Colony House New Years Day from 11-5
1700 Lee Highway Arlington VA | 703 524-1700 On the web at
www.colonyhouse.net
*Discounts aretaken from MSRP which we discountfromevery day. Seestore fordetails. Excludesprior sales.
440,000 on list Officials insist they have been
vigilant about keeping law-abid- ing people off the master list. The newcriteria have led to onlymod- est growth in the list, which stands at 440,000 people, about 5 percent larger than last year. The vast majority are non-U.S. citi- zens. “Despite the challenges we
face, we have made significant improvements,” Michael E. Leit- er, director of the National Coun- terterrorism Center, said in a speech this month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “And the result of that is, inmy view, that the threat of that most severe, most complicated
Travelers go through security lines this month at Denver International Airport.
attack is significantly lower today than it was in 2001.” Themasterwatch list is used to
screen people seeking to obtain a visa, cross a U.S. border, or board an airliner in or destined for the United States. The standard for inclusion on
it remains the same as it was before—that a person is “reason- ably suspected” to be engaged in terrorism-related activity. But an- other senior counterterrorism of- ficial,wholikesomeotherswould speak only on the condition of anonymity, said that officialshave now “effectively in a broad stroke lowered the bar for inclusion.” Timothy Healy, director of the
Service Appointments Available Immediately! CALL TODAY!
LOWTOYOTA PRICES!
ourismantoyota.com
Visit us: Fairfax 866-493-6915 Chantilly 866-493-9582
Open: Mon–Sat 9–9; Sunday 11–5
FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, which maintains the master list, said the new guidelines balance the protection of Americans from terrorist threats with the preser- vation of civil liberties. He said the watch list today is “more accurate, more agile,” providing valuable intelligence to a growing number of partners that include state and local police and foreign governments. Each day there are 50 to 75
instances in which a law enforce- ment official or government agent stops someone who a check confirms is on the watch list, a senior official at the Terrorist
NOTICE OF REDEMPTION
BY MONTGOMERY COUNTY,MARLYAND of Montgomery County,Marlyand
Consolidated Public Improvement Bonds of 2001, Series A NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Montgomery County, Maryland (the "County")
has called for redemption, and will redeem, on February 1,2011, $14,000,000 aggregate principal amount of Montgomery County, Maryland Consolidated Public Improvement Bonds of 2001, Series A(collectively, the "Refunded Bonds"), as follows:
Maturing
February 1, 2012 February 1, 2013
Principal $7,000,000 $7,000,000
Call Price 101% 101%
CUSIP
6133417Z3 6133418A7
The redemption price of the Refunded Bonds, together with accrued interest there-
on, shall be payable at the offices of the County, Department of Finance, 101 Monroe Street, 15th Floor, Rockville, Maryland 20850, upon presentation on February 1, 2011. INTEREST ON THE REFUNDED BONDS WILL CEASE TOACCRUE ONANDAFTER FEBRUARY1, 2011.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY,MARYLAND Date: December 30, 2010
BY:U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION as Escrow Deposit Agent
AUCTION PARVIZIAN’S FAMOUS NEW YEAR’S
NO MINIMUM •NORESERVE* ON MANY RUGS
Persian, Chinese, Pakistan, India & Antique all sizes, color, designs.
Register to Win A FREE Rug Each Day!
No Purchase Necessary
Fine Rugs The Name You Trust
ParvizianFineRugs.com
Refreshments will be served.
7034 Wisconsin Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 301-654-8989
Preview 2 Hours Before the Auction
SATURDAY, JAN 1, 1PM SUNDAY, JAN 2, 1PM MONDAY, JAN 3 1PM TUESDAY, JAN 4, 7 PM
Screening Center said. Such “pos- itive encounters”cantake placeat airports, land borders or consular offices, or during traffic stops. The official recounted an inci-
dent two years ago in which a state trooper pulled over a truck driver for a traffic violation. The driver appeared nervous,
was traveling to several states, had three cellphones and plenty of food in his truck, and made several calls during the stop. The trooper was able to confirm through a call to the Terrorist Screening Center that the man was on the watch list. It turned out, the official said, that an FBI case agent had an open al-Qaeda- related investigation on the truck driver. Thenamesonthewatch list are
culled from a much larger catch- all database that is housed at the National Counterterrorism Cen- ter inMcLean and that includes a huge variety of terrorism-related intelligence.
TIDE troubles From its inception in 2005, the
database, the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, was plagued by technical difficul- ties. In 2008, the counterterrorism
center undertook a multimillion- dollar upgrade to streamline and more fully automate the database so that only one record exists per person, no matter how many aliases that person might have. Those improvements should
reduce errorsandfreeupanalysts formorepressing tasks, said Vicki Jo McBee, the counterterrorism center’s chief information officer. The new system will also ease
the sharing of fingerprints and iris and facial images of people on the watch list among screening agencies,McBee said. And rather than sending data once a night to the Terrorist Screening Center’s watch list, which can take hours, the new system should be able to update the list almost instantly as
names are entered,McBee said. Deployment has not been
smooth. TIDE 2, as it is called, failed readiness tests and missed a December launch deadline. But now, McBee said, all tests have been passed and the system will be launched in January. Meanwhile, theNationalCoun-
terterrorism Center has devel- opeda 70-person pursuit group to investigate “sleeper” terrorism threats, with four teams examin- ing the regional hotbeds in Afri- ca; in Yemen and the Arabian Gulf; inPakistanandEurope;and in the United States. A fifth picks up the rest of the world. “We try to look at the un- knowns, the terrorists lurking in the dark that you don’t know about, like the Abdulmutallabs of the world,” said an official famil- iar with the group. The teams, which include ana-
lysts from the CIA, FBI, Defense Intelligence Agency andNational Security Agency, might take a tip about a suspect flying to theUnit- ed States on a certain route, then study travel records to see wheth- er they can find travelers who match the pattern. They also mine Internet sites
for clues, in “a careful, legal way,” the official said. For instance, though analysts had not identi- fied Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan- born Connecticut man, before his May attempt to blow up a car in Times Square, a pursuit team delineated his network of associ- ates in theUnited States inpartby gleaning details from social net- working sites, she said. Much of the pursuit group’s
work is filtering out irrelevant information. “We get a huge kick out of” handing a lead to the FBI, the official said. “But . . . the ruling- out is almost as important as the actual finding of leads.”
nakashimae@washpost.com
Staff writer Ann Scott Tyson contributed to this report.
KLMNO Newspaperdelivery
Forhome deliverycommentsorconcerns contactusat
washingtonpost.com/subscriberservices or send us an email at
homedelivery@washpost.com or call 202-334-6100or800-477-4679
To subscribe 1-800-753-POST To adverTise
washingtonpostads.com
Classified: 202-334-6200 Display: 202-334-7642 To reachThe Newsroom
Metro:202-334-7300;
metro@washpost.com National: 202-334-7410;
national@washpost.com
Business:202-334-7320;
business@washpost.com Sports:202-334-7350;
sports@washpost.com
Ombudsman (reader representative for news coverage): 202-334-7582;
ombudsman@washpost.com
To reachThe opiNioNpages
Letters to the editor:
letters@washpost.com maiNswiTchboard
To contact any department: 1-202-334-6000 Publisheddaily(ISSN 0190-8286).POSTMASTER: Send addresschangesto
TheWashington Post,115015thSt. NW,Washington, DC. 20071. Periodicals postage paid in Washington, D.C., and additional mailingoffice.
EZ SU
KLMNO
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2010 One tip enough to put name on watch list
Antiterrorismdatabase criteria altered inwake of Dec. 2009 incident
BARRY GUTIERREZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS
WP
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48