Author: Mike Levine

A team of Justice Department attorneys reviewing the new immigration law in Arizona has recommended that the U.S. government challenge the state law in federal court, but the recommendation faces an uncertain future and tough scrutiny from others in the Justice Department, sources with knowledge of the process tell Fox News.

Staff attorneys within the Justice Department recently sent higher-ups the recommendation. At the same time, the Justice Department’s Civil Division, which oversees the majority of immigration enforcement issues for the department, has drafted a “civil complaint” that would be filed in federal court in Arizona, sources said.

The draft complaint challenges the Arizona law as unconstitutional, saying it is illegal because it impedes federal law, according to the sources, who would not offer any more details about the draft complaint or the arguments made in it.

Two weeks ago, Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers such an issue was being considered by Justice Department lawyers reviewing the new law, which outlines and possibly broadens the authority of police to detain those suspected of being in the country illegally.

“We are examining the [Arizona] law and trying to determine if it contravenes the federal responsibility [toward] immigration, whether or not what the Arizona legislature has tried to do is actually preempted by federal law, by federal statutes.” he told the House Judiciary Committee on May 13. “The regulation of our borders and the immigration that occurs by crossing our borders is something that is inherently something I believe for the national government to take responsibility for.”

He also said it would not be “an extended period of time” before his department decides whether to take action on “preemption” grounds, adding that the Justice Department’s “view of the law will be expressed relatively soon.”

Two sources with knowledge of the review said the draft complaint, which is now receiving input from the attorney general’s office and other Justice Department offices, is not an indication that the Justice Department will ultimately file a lawsuit.

One source said the Arizona law has sparked a “huge battle” with national implications, and the Justice Department is therefore conducting a “slow analysis of all of the options.”

If Justice Department higher-ups decide to move forward with the civil complaint, concrete action likely would not take place for some time, according to the source, who predicted it will be “a while before anything would be filed.”

“This is going to be slow going,” the source said.

Holder echoed that sentiment when he was on Capitol Hill.

“There’s a wide variety of things that go into the determination that ultimately we will have to make, and I want to make sure that we take as comprehensive a look as we can before we make what I think is going to be a very consequential decision,” he said.

If the Justice Department’s Civil Division decides against filing the complaint, others within the Justice Department could step in. In fact, the attorney general’s office, the deputy attorney general’s office and the Civil Rights Division are all reviewing options.

Holder told lawmakers that the Civil Rights Division will be monitoring the application of the Arizona law, set to go into effect in late July, and could take subsequent action.

“We are concerned about the potential impact that it has and whether it contravenes federal civil rights laws, potentially leading to racial profiling,” he said. “We would constantly be monitoring it to see if there are civil rights violations, civil rights concerns, that are generated by the implementation of the law.”

He said such monitoring would occur in any case.

Kris Kobach, a Republican law professor who helped author the Arizona law, said the legislation “expressly prohibits racial profiling.” As for the issue of preemption, he said the law was “drafted extremely carefully to avoid any preemption problems at all.”

Holder said the Justice Department will also be looking at other issues, including “the history that is involved in all of this” and memos or opinions from other offices within the Justice Department.

Holder himself has raised concerns that the Arizona law could push a “wedge” between police officers and the communities they serve, something he’s expected to discuss during a meeting with police chiefs, including three from Arizona, at the Justice Department on Wednesday morning.

“Arizona police chiefs are concerned that the new … law in Arizona will drive a wedge between the community and the police, and will damage the trust that police agencies have worked to establish over many years with members of all their communities,” a statement from the police chiefs said.

Others have raised concerns that a 2002 memo from the Office of Legal Counsel could complicate federal challenges to the Arizona law, especially preemption-related challenges. The 2002 memo said state and local police can arrest illegall immigrants for violating federal law.

But after reviewing the Arizona law and options for challenging it, at least some Justice Department lawyers have concluded that the 2002 memo would not pose a problem because, in their view, it is narrow enough in scope to permit a challenge.

As for whether the U.S. government will end up challenging the Arizona law in any form, Holder recently insisted that’s still up in the air.

“I don’t know exactly … what we are ultimately going to do with regard to our review of the law,” he told lawmakers.

But, he said, there is “certainly an illegal immigration problem that this country needs to face,” and he understands the “frustration” of Arizona citizens.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment for this article.

“Are people who go to the Expo potential targets for espionage? I think you’d be a fool to think otherwise,” said one U.S. official, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the topic.

More than 70 million people from China and abroad, including some of the world’s most powerful businessmen, are expected to visit the Expo before it closes in six months. Nearly 200 countries have set up pavilions, displays and food stands representing their singular cultures and history, according to event organizers.

“The event will be the first registered world exhibition held in a developing country, demonstrating the international community’s trust in China and its anticipation of the country’s future development,” said a video released by event organizers. “Expo shanghai provides an opportunity for China to see the world, and the world to see china.”

But for years U.S. officials have worried that China might be able to see too much during the World’s Expo and similar global events.

“These public venues are laden with opportunities for foreign collectors to interact with U.S. experts and glean information regarding dual-use and sensitive technologies,” said a 2008 report issued by the U.S. intelligence community to Congress. “Such events offer host-country intelligence agencies the opportunity to spot, assess, and even recruit new intelligence sources within the U.S. private sector and to gain electronic access to companies’ virtual networks and databases through technology brought to the events by corporate personnel.”

The report, titled “Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage,” mentioned the World’s Expo specifically, noting that intelligence and information collection in such “open forums accounted for over four percent of reported suspicious incidents” in the previous year.

A U.S. intelligence official said the threat environment has not changed much since then, pointing out that the offices of the Director of National Intelligence and National Counterintelligence Executive, which jointly issued the 2008 report, have not retracted it.

“We continue to view certain countries such as China and Russia, with their efforts to acquire technologies, as a threat,” the intelligence official said.

The sentiment was echoed by Marion “Spike” Bowman, a veteran of the intelligence community who as the nation’s Deputy National Counterintelligence Executive at the time helped draft the 2008 report.

“The fact of the matter is that the United States, with about three percent of the world’s population, we spend 25 percent of all the world’s research and development dollars,” he said. “So we are the number one target in the world.”

Before events like the World’s Expo or the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the intelligence and law enforcement communities often try to teach business executives and others about the threats they face, Bowman said.

Bowman said the largest threat is a country’s efforts to steal trade secrets and other sensitive technology information.

Intelligence officials often urge travelling business executives to take a “throw away” cell phone instead of their “normal” devices, and to leave their laptops at home, or “at least let your IT folks scrub the hell out of them when you come back,” according to Bowman.

“If you take your blackberry and you go back home and you sync it up to your internet and to your office files, the chances of you being penetrated by a bug that’s been planted in your blackberry are just too high to merit the risk,” Bowman said.

In China, for example, a hotel maid could simply install a file on a guest’s computer. To make things “even easier,” a hotel employee could steal information through a guest’s use of the hotel’s internet service, according to Bowman.

Before the Olympics in 2008, officials from the Director of National Intelligence’s office held private meetings with up to 30 Chief Executive Officers from the nation’s biggest companies, demonstrating to them “how easy it is” to hack into a cell phone or a laptop, Bowman said.

U.S. intelligence officials successfully persuaded some key executives to leave their laptops behind and take disposable cell phones, according to Bowman.

Bowman said he was unaware of any serious incidents or espionage activities during the Olympic Games in Beijing, which were also mentioned as a “high-threat environment” in the 2008 intelligence report to Congress.

While Bowman said economic espionage is the greatest threat facing Americans who might travel to the World’s Expo, he said countries hosting global events may also try to recruit new spies.

It’s unclear exactly how common it is for an American to be recruited or “assessed” while traveling overseas, but it has happened before.

In November 2009, a former high-ranking State Department intelligence official and his wife, both in their early 70s, pleaded guilty to aiding the Cuban government for nearly 30 years. Three decades earlier, in December 1978, Walter Kendall Myers, then a State Department employee with an affinity for Cuba, visited the communist country for two weeks.

That trip “provided [Cuban intelligence] with the opportunity to assess and or develop Kendall Myers as a Cuban agent,” according to court documents filed by the FBI.

As for China, a federal law enforcement official who deals with intelligence matters said the nation “continues to pose a threat,” particularly an economic espionage threat, and a State Department official said the U.S. government has “concerns for all Americans traveling to China under all circumstances.”

“Although the Expo may concentrate more business people together during a short time period, that does not change the risk,” said the State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

But, the official said, Americans from U.S. firms have likely taken precautions, since “most of those companies have been doing business in China for years and know the drill.”

In addition, the State Department’s Overseas Advisory Council warns and educates private businesses about potential threats and methods for protecting sensitive information.

China has spent $45 billion to host the World’s Expo, which opens Friday night with a ceremony and fireworks display.

The United States has spent more than $60 million to participate and build a pavilion representing America, with financial support from several major U.S. companies, including Boeing, PepsiCo, General Electric, and Proctor and Gamble.

In a letter to the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it is “crucial for the United States to be present” and support the Expo’s environmental theme of “Better City, Better Life.”

Meanwhile, the World Expo’s promotional video said China “loves international communication and world peace.”

“Because China is undergoing a reform and opening process, it needs to expand exchanges and learn from the development experiences of other countries by hosting this successful and unforgettable World Expo,” the video said.

In fact, China is likely to become the world’s second largest economy later this year, according the U.S. intelligence community’s annual threat assessment for 2010.

Presenting the assessment to Congress in February, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair noted that China has played a “central role” in the response to the global economic crisis.

“[China] has served as one of the key engines for global recovery, reinforcing perceptions of its increasing economic and diplomatic influence,” he said.

Fox News requested comment for this article from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, but no response was provided.

 

 

An official with the nation’s aviation system lamented on Wednesday that U.S. counterterrorism efforts are too focused on — of all things — the aviation system.

The Federal Aviation Administration official called the issue “troubling,” insisting that more attention should be paid to the nation’s rail system.

In Washington, where federal agencies often tangle over turf and tactics, it’s rare to see an official from one agency worrying about the resources and attention being afforded to another agency or institution.

The sentiment came after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, speaking in Washington at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, outlined her department’s efforts to boost aviation security around the world.

During a question-and-answer session, a man identified himself as an FAA employee and a “strong” supporter of the Obama administration’s efforts to stop terrorism.

But, he told Napolitano, he finds it “troubling” that “so much progress has been made with aviation security” while rail security remains “largely” ignored.

After all, Russia and Spain have both “suffered transit attacks,” said the FAA employee, a policy analyst in his 30s.

He asked Fox News not to identify him by name, insisting he did not speak for the FAA.

Napolitano herself has expressed similar views, even before she became head of Homeland Security.

During her confirmation hearing on Jan. 15, 2009, she told lawmakers that the department’s counterterrorism efforts “ought” to focus on “not just aviation but surface transportation as well.”

“That is a work in progress,” she said. “We haven’t done as much there as we have done on aviation.”

On Wednesday, Napolitano told the FAA official he is “right to say” that terrorists want to target rail systems, which she said is something reflected by current U.S. intelligence.

As an example, she cited the case of Najibullah Zazi, the Colorado airport shuttle bus driver who was arrested last year for plotting an attack on the New York City subway system.

But, she said, her department and the Obama administration are taking steps to boost security on rail systems across the country.

She said the White House’s latest budget proposal includes requests to increase deployment of Visible Intermodal Protection and Response (VIPER) teams, particularly where intelligence suggests threats are greatest.

VIPER teams are the rail equivalent of federal air marshals, patrolling Amtrak and other mass transit systems for suspicious behavior and responding to potential incidents.

In addition, Napolitano said her department is trying to boost rail security through risk-based grant programs to cities and towns across the country.

Napolitano was the keynote speaker at the National Chamber Foundation’s Annual Aviation Summit, a forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

“Secretary Napolitano underscored the Obama administration’s unprecedented efforts to strengthen the international aviation system by enhancing information sharing with international partners about terrorists and other dangerous individuals; increasing cooperation on the development and deployment of new technology, such as Advanced Imaging Technology and Explosive Trace Detection units; and modernizing aviation security standards around the world,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

In March, two female suicide bombers attacked the Moscow Metro, killing dozens and injuring scores more. Six years earlier, in 2004, several bombs ripped through four trains in Madrid, killing nearly 200 and injuring hundreds more.

In each case, a group affiliated with al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack.

per Mike Levine and Justin Fishel

A former U.S. Air Force intelligence specialist forced an Atlanta-bound flight to land in Bangor, Maine, after he claimed to have explosives in his luggage, according to several U.S. officials.

Federal air marshals restrained the man as Delta flight 273, carrying 235 passengers and 13 crew members from Paris, landed in Bangor around 3:30 pm ET, one official told Fox News.

Law enforcement officials, including representatives from the Transportation Security Administration and FBI, took the man into custody and were still interviewing him early Tuesday evening.

As of early Tuesday evening, authorities were still trying to determine whether the man was in fact carrying any explosives. He also claimed to have boarded the flight with “fake” documents,” but authorities believe the man’s travel documents are authentic, according to one official.

Homeland Security Secretary recently said diverted flights are never an overreaction.

“Where airline security and air security is concerned, those are judgments that should not be second-guessed,” she told Fox News in an interview last week. “There’s really not room for error there.”

A TSA statement said Tuesday’s flight was diverted “out of an abundance of caution.”

Authorities would not identify the suspect, but two officials said he served as an Air Force intelligence specialist from June 2005 to June 2009.

No charges have been filed yet.

Machine gun. Lawyer. Virginia. USS Nicholas. And USS Ashland.

Those were the only words that most onlookers in a federal courtroom in Norfolk, Va., could understand Friday afternoon as an unidentified man beaming in via telephone read, in their native language, 11 alleged Somali pirates the U.S. government’s case against them.

“Was that Arabic?” asked one reporter, who was told it was Somali, the national language of Somalia. Another reporter expressed surprise that “Somali” is in fact a language.

The last time anyone was prosecuted in the Eastern District of Virginia for piracy on the open seas was sometime during the Nineteenth Century, U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said during a press conference later in the day.

The Somali men’s trip to the Eastern District of Virginia was likely the first time they had ever been in contact with U.S. soil, much less the American justice system.

Two weeks earlier, six of the men were in a small boat off the Horn of Africa when they began firing on the USS Ashland, which was conducting “routine” operations in the Gulf of Aden, according to the U.S. Navy.

The six men, Mohammed Hasan, Gabul Ali, Abdi Dire, Abdi Gurewardher and Abdi Umar, wanted to hijack and rob the American ship, according to federal prosecutors.

But the USS Ashland returned fire, engulfing the small boat in flames and forcing the six Somali men to abandon their vessel, the U.S. Navy said in a press release at the time. They were taken aboard the USS Ashland and received medical treatment, the press release said.

On Friday, one of the men, wearing a dark suit, had to be pushed into the Norfolk courtroom by a U.S. Marshal. He was in a wheelchair, the bottom half of his right leg amputated due to injuries he suffered during the attack.

What was left of his right leg rested on a small pillow attached to one arm of the wheelchair. His left leg was completely wrapped in bandages.

Another Somali man hobbled into the courtroom on crutches, his hands and head wrapped in bandages, with much of his face darkened by bruises. He took a seat in the front row of what is usually the jury box.

The other four Somali men, dressed in bright orange jumpsuits, also sat in the jury box.

Their handcuffs had been removed.

For the next 15 minutes, the unidentified man on the telephone read the six-page indictment against them, his Somali translation being broadcast throughout the courtroom.

“USS Ashland” and “Virginia” were the only non-Somali words he spoke as he told the six alleged pirates how a grand jury had indicted them on five counts, including “Piracy Under the Law of Nations” and “Attack to Plunder Vessel.”

Then a court official said, “All rise,” as a federal magistrate judge entered the courtroom. A U.S. Marshal motioned to the six men to stand up.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Tommy Miller entered, at one point looking taken aback by the sight of the man in the wheelchair.

He then gave the six men a brief tutorial on their rights in the U.S. criminal justice system, including the right to remain silent.

“If you make a statement, that statement can be used against you at trial,” said Miller, whose remarks were quickly translated into Somali by the unidentified man on the phone.

The six men’s faces stood blank.
 
Miller told them that they will face trial.
 
“That will be a trial to determine if you committed any of these offenses,” he said.

Also, he said, the U.S. Attorney’s office had informed the court that the six men have no assets, so lawyers would be appointed for them and paid for by the U.S. government.
 
The translator chose to use “lawyer” himself.

In addition, Miller told the six men that, if convicted of piracy, they face life in prison. And for some of the other charges against them, use of a machine gun could warrant harsher sentences.
 
The translator couldn’t find a Somali equivalent for “Machine gun,” so he used the English version.

Finally, Miller told the six men they would be held without bond until Wednesday, when they would appear in court again for a detention hearing.

At that time, Miller said, a trial date would be set.

The six men, whose ages could not be verified by authorities, did not enter pleas.

Prosecutors want them held until trial, deeming them a threat to the public.
 
A similar scenario unfolded an hour earlier, when five other Somali men were brought into the Norfolk courtroom to hear that a grand jury had indicted them on six counts, including piracy.

In this hearing, though, the defendants were dressed in dark green jumpsuits, one of them had to repeatedly be told by a U.S. Marshal to sit quietly, and another picked his nose in open court.

Four days prior, according to the indictment, all five left Somalia looking for a merchant ship to “pirate.” They found the USS Nicholas, allegedly using a large supply ship and two small vessels loaded with assault weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade to launch an attack on the U.S. ship.

The efforts by Maxamed Saciid, Mohammed Jamah, Jaamac Ciidle, Adbicasiis Cabaase, Abdirasaq Abshir and Mahamed Hassan, failed, and they were taken into custody, according to federal authorities.

At the press conference later in the day, MacBride, the U.S. Attorney, insisted that prosecuting alleged Somali pirates in U.S. courts is the “appropriate” thing to do, at least in these two cases.

“Piracy threatens human lives and disrupts international commerce,” he said. “When pirates attack U.S. vessels by force, they must face severe consequences.”

He said he hopes these cases send a message that “attacks on U.S. interests will not be tolerated.”

A reported asked him whether the target audience of such a sentiment can even receive the message in war-ravaged Somalia, with its limited U.S. media presence.

He seemed to suggest it’s worth trying.

A man from West Africa who boarded a New York-bound flight in Senegal was added to the no-fly list while the plane was already heading over the Atlantic Ocean, according to a passenger on the flight and two sources with knowledge of the situation.

On Wednesday night, Delta Airlines Flight 215 departed from Abuja, Nigeria, stopping later in Dakar, Senegal, before heading for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, according to Delta’s website.

The plane made an unplanned stop in Puerto Rico. Delta’s website said the plane was “diverted,” but a statement from Customs and Border Protection called it a “routine refueling stop.”

“The plane did not have enough gas to make it to New York because the winds,” one of the passengers on the plane, Joan Mower, told Fox News. “It was a small plane, and it was strong winds. … We couldn’t make it direct from Dakar to New York.”

After the refueling, there was a “big sort of kerfuffle,” said Mower, who works for Voice of America and was on her way home from a week-long business trip in Nigeria.

CBP officers boarded the plane and removed what the CBP statement called a “potential person of interest.”

“Then the pilot came on and said, ‘We’ve been delayed some more, because there was someone who got on the plane, and we were just told they added him to the no-fly list after he was on the plane,’” Mower said.

In fact, Mower said, the pilot described it as “a serious security risk.”

Mower was unable to see the man who was taken off the plane, she said.

“The question for Homeland Security, I think, is ‘Why was the guy allowed to get on the plane in [Africa], and then added to the no-fly list while the plane was in the air?,’” she said.

Two sources confirmed to Fox News that the man in question, a citizen of Gambia, had been added to the no-fly list while Flight 215 was in the air.

The man had already been on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment list, which is comprised of more than 500,000 people with even limited ties to known terrorists, one source said.

“But there’s a low threshold to get on TIDE,” one source said.

In addition, one source said, in the aftermath of the attempted Christmas Day bombing, being added to the no-fly list is sometimes a precaution, rather than an indication of a present threat.

“They’re putting more people on [there] if they have any sort of connection to anyone they deem might be a threat,” the source said. “Until [authorities] run the leads and determine [he] is not a jihadi, he could be on the list.”

In fact, both sources said, this could be a situation where someone knowingly relayed false, but negative, information about the man.

In this case, the FBI received a tip from someone shortly before Flight 215 left for the United States, according to one source.

“Someone suggested that this was a bad guy … and could potentially be involved in some kind of security incident,” one source said. “What choice does that leave?”

As of Thursday evening, the man was still in the custody of CBP. Authorities had yet to find anything to corroborate the claim that he posed a threat, but the investigation is ongoing.

The Justice Department says it will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that deemed the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional.

In a “Notice of Appeal” filed in the Western District of Wisconsin on Thursday, Justice Department lawyers said that, on behalf of President Barack Obama and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, they were asking the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to overturn the judge’s ruling.

In a 66-page opinion issued April 15, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb said the holiday violates the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment, which creates a separation of church and state.

“I understand that many may disagree with that conclusion and some may even view it as a criticism of prayer or those who pray,” Crabb said in her opinion. “That is unfortunate. A determination that the government may not endorse a religious message is not a determination that the message itself is harmful, unimportant or undeserving of dissemination.”

The opinion came in a case filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group of self-described “atheists” and “agnostics.”

Crabb said her ruling was based on “relevant case law,” and it did not prevent religious groups from organizing prayer services or prevent the President from discussing his views on prayer.

“The only issue decided in this case is that the federal government may not endorse prayer in a statute,” Crabb said.

Within hours of the ruling, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee urged the Justice Department to “immediately” file an appeal.

“The decision undermines the values of religious freedom that America was founded upon,” Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Tex., said in a statement. “What’s next? Declaring the federal holiday for Christmas unconstitutional?”

Crabb said the ruling would not have any effect until any appeals are exhausted.

She insisted her ruling was not a judgment on the value of prayer.

“No one can doubt the important role that prayer plays in the spiritual life of a believer,” Crabb said in her opinion. “In the best of times, people may pray as a way of expressing joy and thanks; during times of grief, many find that prayer provides comfort. Others may pray to give praise, seek forgiveness, ask for guidance or find the truth. … However, recognizing the importance of prayer to many people does not mean that the government may enact a statute in support of it, any more than the government may encourage citizens to fast during the month of Ramadan, attend a synagogue, purify themselves in a sweat lodge or practice rune magic.”

The National Day of Prayer was first established by Congress in 1952, with a more specific date for the holiday set in 1988. It is now observed on the first Thursday in May.

 

 

Three weeks after he and dozens of others, including top-ranking Obama administration officials, spoke in the nation’s capital about building a brighter future for Americans, 20-year-old Demarco Scott robbed an electronics store at gunpoint, according to local police and officials.

Scott, a Washington, D.C., resident, expressed regret to his victims as he robbed them, documents filed by police in federal court said.

The month before, he had been a “student presenter” during a conference aimed at tackling issues such as job creation and economic stability, transportation and infrastructure, and housing stabilization in cities and towns across the country.

Scott was asked to describe his experience with a new city-sponsored internship program, which places “underserved young adults” into five-month apprenticeships across Washington, and teaches them resume-writing and job-interviewing skills.

“It’s a pretty good program,” Scott said in a halting voice, at first sounding unsure of himself as he addressed a session of the National League of Cities’ 2010 Congressional City Conference. “We have a lot of young adults in the program, and it’s like the program is there to help to try to get people a career … to better their future.”

The conference, held over three days in the middle of March, featured mayors from across the country and several Obama administration officials, including White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

Around that same time, Scott was allegedly participating in a gun-wielding robbery spree across the nation’s capital.

Between March and April, he carried out armed robberies of a Subway sandwich shop, a liquor store and a carry-out restaurant, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

On April 8, shortly after noon, he entered a Game Stop electronics and video store in northeast Washington and pulled out a silver handgun, court documents said.

“You’ll know what this is,” he allegedly said, adding, “So you know I’m not playing.”

After two employees in the store handed him $564 in cash, he said, “I’m in a real bad jam, and I hope you don’t lose your jobs over this.”

The incident was captured on surveillance video.

Police in the neighborhood distributed a flyer featuring the suspect’s picture, and 11 days after the robbery Scott was arrested.

According to court documents, Scott admitted to robbing the Game Stop and the other locations in Washington.

“Scott explained that the reason he robbed the [Game Stop] was because his brother was in trouble and needed money,” according to a summary of the case filed in court by a local detective.

Scott has been charged with armed robbery, and he is currently being held without bond, pending a detention hearing set for May 4.

According to Scott’s own statements at the conference in Washington, trying to help someone in need is nothing new for him. But it’s unclear if doing so in a potentially criminal manner is new for him.

When Scott was accepted into the youth internship program, which is run by the D.C. government and funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he was living in an independent living facility and serving one year’s probation for an unidentified offense, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Scott learned about the internship program through a social worker, and, with an interest in nursing, he was placed in the “recreation department” of a nursing home, he told conference attendees in a session titled “Putting People To Work.”

In fact, he said, he hopes for a long-term career in the nursing field.

“I kind of enjoyed working with the residents and the elderly people,” said Scott, who was paid $8.25 an hour for his work. “It’s just basically interacting with the residents at the nursing home and getting them to feel comfortable meeting new people, and basically feeling how it was when they were young.”

He said he also tried to help his unemployed friends by persuading them to apply for the internship program.

“Some people [have] never been on a job interview before,” he said. “[The program organizers] try to teach us how it is in the real world when you go to a job place. … The program is for career training, for our future, in the long run.”

But his friends missed the deadline to sign up, he said.

As for himself, he hoped the nursing home would officially hire him after the internship ended in late March. After all, he said, “Everybody likes me.”

Scott became a participant in the National League of Cities conference after being offered by an official with D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s office, which oversees the internship program, a spokesman for the National League of Cities said.

The spokesman declined to comment further.

An email and a phone call to a public defender representing Scott were not returned.

(To see video of Scott’s remarks at the National League of Cities conference, click here: http://www.nlctv.org/events/ccc2010/100313/default.cfm?id=12163&type=flv&test=0&live=0)

A day after she was in Oklahoma City to commemorate 15 years since the deadly bombing there, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Tuesday expressed concern that groups inside the United States, including anti-government groups, could be seeking to launch violent attacks.

“The question is not ideology,” she told Fox News in a wide-ranging and lengthy interview. “We’ve always had groups on all sides that have held beliefs that are very strong and express them very vociferously.”

Instead, the issue is “the turn to violence,” according to Napolitano, who, as U.S. Attorney for Arizona at the time, helped lead part of the federal investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing.

“Whenever you go to Oklahoma City, you need to go to the memorial, and you need to walk through that museum,” she said Tuesday in a somber tone. “That will teach you the difference between those who are merely expressing themselves — loudly and with anger — and the violence that we must seek to prevent.”

In March, federal authorities arrested nine militia members from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, accusing them of planning to kill law enforcement officers and start an all-out war with the government.

Days later, the FBI acknowledged it was investigating a series of letters sent from an anti-government group to governors across the country, promising to remove the governors from office if they did not resign themselves.

Nearly a year earlier, the Department of Homeland Security issued a controversial bulletin to local law enforcement, warning that current economic and political factors could help “right-wing extremist groups” recruit new people.

Shortly after the assessment became public, Napolitano denounced it and said it should never have been issued.

But the recent militia-related arrests and FBI investigation have not changed Napolitano’s views on the assessment, as she continued to distance herself from it on Tuesday.

She bristled at even the term “right-wing,” saying it was something she didn’t want to use.

When read some less-controversial lines from the assessment, Napolitano said she agrees that “the threat posed by lone wolves and small terror cells is more pronounced than in past years,” and that “the current economic and political climate has some similarities to the [early] 1990s,” which led to the Oklahoma City bombing.

She also said she agrees “in part” with the line saying, “The economic downturn and the election of the first African-American president present unique drivers for right-wing radicalization and recruitment.”

After all, she said, “Those are things that we in law enforcement are dealing with all the time.”

But, she said, the assessment issued a year ago was “not written in a fashion that was usable by local law enforcement.”

“I think now, having been in the job 15 months, the goal that we need to have is to give local law enforcement tactical intelligence-based threat information that they can act upon — not generalizations and not comments about ideologies,” she said. “There is a balance there, and there is a nuance there that our department now needs to not only express but communicate with local law enforcement.”

On Monday, Napolitano toured the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum with Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry, Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty and Fire Chief Keith Bryant.

Citty and Bryant responded to the bombing 15 years ago, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

During a speech on Monday, Napolitano called the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people, an “unspeakable act of terrorism.”

“We honor the continued need for vigilance against the hateful ideologies that led to this attack, so that we can recognize their signs in our communities and stand together to defeat them,” she said. “I wish it were possible to stand here and say that threats from terrorism and violent extremism have gone away since then. We know that’s not the case.”

It’s “really hard” to say whether al Qaeda has tried to launch another attack on the aviation system since the failed Christmas Day bombing, but no one has been taken into custody for attempting to carry out such a plot, according to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

“It is always difficult to talk about what you have deterred and what has been prevented,” she said in a wide-ranging and lengthy interview with Fox News.

Since 23-year-old Umar F. Abdulmutallab boarded a plane in Nigeria and then allegedly tried to blow up an airliner over Detroit, Napolitano has been trying to persuade countries around the world to boost their aviation security measures.

“There has been remarkably little resistance,” said Napolitano, who over the past several months has met with officials in Europe, Africa and South America. “When al Qaeda and al Qaeda-related groups go at aviation, they’re really going at the citizens of the world and the global aviation system.”

Asked whether an al Qaeda operative could access the aviation system by simply going to a country that has not agreed to boost security measures, Napolitano suggested such a scenario is unlikely.

“We have processes in place that allow us to identify travelers who may be trying to avoid” countries or airports with boosted security measures,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about that any more than that.”

Most recently, Napolitano met with African authorities in Nigeria, where officials were “eager” to host international officials to help dispel any notion that Abdulmutallab is a “typical Nigerian,” she said.

Nigeria has already deployed “new types of technology” to the airport in Lagos, and U.S. partners around the world have implemented new procedures for collecting information and “vetting” passengers, according to Napolitano.

Among the new measures, airports across the globe have added more K-9 teams, more explosive detection equipment, and different kinds of scanners, including the “advanced imaging technology scanners,” she said.

On a broader scale, the United States has “totally reconfigured” how U.S.-bound and U.S.-based passengers are screened, with officials now focusing on intelligence rather than time spent in at least one of 14 worrisome nations.

Napolitano dismissed the idea of using both intelligence-based screenings and a 14-nation list, saying a list of nations was “helpful as an immediate tool” right after the attempted Christmas Day attack but isn’t practical today.

“It’s too much and too little at the same time,” she said. “It’s too much because [there are] too many people you don’t need to be spending time on. They’re innocent travelers. They just happen to be from a particular country. … And it’s too little because you’re not focusing on intelligence that may be derived from passengers who are coming from other places in the world.”

In addition, Napolitano acknowledged that some countries face “capacity issues” when it comes to boosting their security measures.

Specifically, she said some countries have “resource issues,” difficulties with maintenance and repairs, or “electrical supply issues.”

While the United States, for example, may deploy technology to boost security, in some counties it’s “easier to deploy more people to actually do pat downs and physical screening than it is to deploy new types of technology,” she said.

Napolitano said these “capacity issues” will be addressed by international partners when they meet in Canada in early Fall, after which nations “will need” to discuss offering resources to less fortunate nations.

Since the failed Christmas Day bombing, U.S. flights have increasingly been diverted for security reasons.

According to a study by USA Today, in the first three months of this year, 35 U.S. flights were diverted from their destination to a different airport for security reasons. In the same period last year, 17 U.S. flights were diverted for security reasons.

Napolitano defended the uptick.

“Where airline security and air security is concerned, those are judgments that should not be second-guessed,” she said. “You always have to act in what you believe is the security of the passengers. There’s really not room for error there.”

Asked whether she thought the failed Christmas Day bombing might have hurt the Obama administration’s standing with the public, she emphatically said, “No.”

“I think the administration responded very quickly and also identified that there were problems that needed to be addressed and fixed,” she said. “We have obviously on the security side … taken material steps forward and really used Christmas Day as an opportunity to address the world-wide aviation system as a whole.”

She said the issue would not impact Democrats in mid-term elections later this year.

Napolitano travels next to the Middle East, where she’ll urge nations there to boost aviation security measures in their airports.

 

One of the nation’s top schools of criminal justice is now in trouble with the criminal justice system.

On Friday, the Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit accusing John Jay College of Criminal Justice of discrimination.

The school, located in New York City, regularly required non-U.S. citizens to prove their eligibility to work, while not requiring U.S. citizens to do so in the same way, according to the lawsuit.

“Every individual who is authorized to work in this country has the right to know they will be free from discrimination as they look for a job, and that they will be on the same playing field as every other applicant or worker,” the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Thomas E. Perez, said in a statement.

According to the lawsuit, John Jay College suspended an employee several times between 2004 and 2008 after the school “insisted she produce” her Green Card as well as other “employment authorization documents,” such as her Social Security card and driver’s license.

But the Green Card was not necessary because “the documents she had already produced were legally sufficient for a showing of employment eligibility,” according to the Justice Department.

The woman, who worked as a part-time computer lab assistant at the school, was one of at least 103 non-U.S. citizens who were similarly asked to produce such documents during that time, the lawsuit said.

The school did not require U.S. citizens to provide similar documents proving their work eligibility, thus imposing “different and greater requirements on non-U.S. citizens,” according to the Justice Department.

John Jay College “knowingly and intentionally committed document abuse discrimination” against non-U.S. citizens, the lawsuit said, calling it an “unfair immigration-related employment practice.”

The part-time computer lab assistant, Shoulan Chang of Brooklyn, N.Y., filed a complaint with the Justice Department in July 2008.

“The employer refused to accept my social security card (unrestricted) and driver livense,” she wrote in the complaint. “The employer demanded he see a green card or employment authorization card issued by immigration, and suspended me from the work.”

The school, part of the City University of New York’s public school system, calls itself a “world-renowned center and clearinghouse for research in criminal justice.”

“The breadth and diversity of scholarship at the College reflect our continuing commitment to innovative analyses, interdisciplinary approaches and global perspectives,” the school’s web site says. “[The school] serves the community by developing graduates who have the intellectual acuity, moral commitment and professional competence to confront the challenges of crime, justice and public safety in a free society.”

A spokeswoman for John Jay College told Fox News she was unaware of the lawsuit and could not comment.

 

 

Pilloried for his use of the federal court system as a counterterrorism tool, which critics say has serious limitations, Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday night laid out for the first time what he sees as the limitations of the military commissions system in fighting terrorism.

“No matter what one thinks of the bigger questions surrounding the debate about courts and commissions, it is important to understand their practical differences and how they must affect the choice of forum,” Holder said in prepared remarks. “Our civilian courts cover a much broader set of offenses available than the military commissions, which can only prosecute some violations of the laws of war.”

Specifically, Holder said, military commissions can only prosecute alleged terrorists who are affiliated with al Qaeda or the Taliban.

“That means members of other terrorist groups, such as Hamas, Hizbollah or the FARC [in Colombia] may not be tried in military commissions,” he said.

In addition, Holder said, “lone wolf terrorists” inspired by al Qaeda but not actually affiliated with the group are not subject to military commissions.

Holder cited the cases of Hosam Smadi, the 19-year-old arrested last year for trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper, and Michael Finton, the Illinois man arrested for attempting to bomb a federal building in Springfield, Ill.

“With the proliferation of cheap and highly disruptive, portable bomb technology, these people are to be worried about,” one senior Justice Department official said. “But they would not fall under law of war detention authority or military commissions prosecution authority. They thought perhaps that they were conspiring with part of … al Qaeda. In fact, it was not so. We had undercover agents.”

U.S. citizens like Anwar Awlaki, the radical Muslim cleric tied to the Fort Hood shootings and the alleged Christmas Day bomber, cannot be tried in military commissions either, Holder said Thursday night.

“Military commissions may not be used against U.S. citizens … no matter what kind of horrendous acts they commit,” he said.

Asked whether Congress could pass further legislation to address any shortcomings of the military commissions, the senior Justice Department official said “you can change the options that are available” but that’s “not always that easy to do.”

“We ought not be so glib or assured to think that creating an entirely new legal framework for detention is easy or cost-free,” the official told Fox News in an interview last month. “You will have a period of uncertainty and a breaking-in period, and that may endure for quite a while.”

On Thursday, Holder also repeated statements he has made in the past, including the notion that, unlike in federal courts, military commissions cannot employ lesser charges to induce cooperation and disrupt terrorist plots “while evidence to prove terrorism charges is still being collected.”

Still, Holder did not mention any limitations of military commissions for prosecuting the likes of alleged Christmas Day bomber Umar F. Abdulmutallab and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Republicans have strongly criticized the Justice Department for its decision to “Mirandize” Abdulmutallab only hours after being arrested and to prosecute Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators in federal court, a decision the administration is now reconsidering.

“Your actions have shaken my confidence in your leadership at the Department of Justice,” Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Holder during a hearing on Wednesday. “The course you’ve chosen on national security is steering us into a head-on collision with reality. The American people are not interested in terrorists being brought from Guantanamo to their own communities. … Pretending that terrorists can safely be treated as common criminals will not make it so.”

According Republicans, limitations of the federal court system include the “lawyering up” of terror suspects, which they say can inhibit the collection of intelligence, and less stringent protections of classified information in open court.

Nevertheless, despite any limitations posed by military commissions, Holder said such military trials have a vital role to play “in the proper circumstances.”

“Those who denigrate these commissions must remember that, while federal courts can handle most terrorism prosecutions, in some cases, military commissions are not only appropriate, but also necessary to convict and neutralize terrorists,” he said. “There is, quite simply, no inherent contradiction between using military commissions in select cases while still prosecuting terrorists in civilian courts.”

Holder has already referred six cases to the military commissions, and he said he “expects” to refer even more.

Since taking office, the Obama administration has worked with Congress to revise and improve the rules governing military commissions, according to Holder.

On Thursday, Holder insisted that despite what others may claim, he knows the United States is at war, and he is “determined to win.”

“I know we can, and I am certain we will,” he said in part of a keynote address at the annual awards dinner for the Washington-based Constitution Project. “But victory and security will not come easily. And they won’t come at all if we approach this work by adhering to a rigid ideology or narrow methodology.”

The National Day of Prayer, honored in the United States for more than a half-century, is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Wisconsin has ruled.

In a 66-page opinion issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb said the holiday violates the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment, which creates a separation of church and state.

“I understand that many may disagree with that conclusion and some may even view it as a criticism of prayer or those who pray,” Crabb said in her opinion. “That is unfortunate. A determination that the government may not endorse a religious message is not a determination that the message itself is harmful, unimportant or undeserving of dissemination. Rather, it is part of the effort to ‘carry out the Founders’ plan of preserving religious liberty to the fullest extent possible in a pluralistic society.’ … The same law that prohibits the government from declaring a National Day of Prayer also prohibits it from declaring a National Day of Blasphemy.”

The opinion comes in a case filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group of self-described “atheists” and “agnostics.”

Crabb said her ruling is based on “relevant case law,” and it does not prevent religious groups from organizing prayer services or prevent the President from discussing his views on prayer.

“The only issue decided in this case is that the federal government may not endorse prayer in a statute,” Crabb said.

The Justice Department would not say whether it expects to appeal Crabb’s ruling.

“We are reviewing the court’s decision,” a Justice Department spokesman said.

The National Day of Prayer was first established by Congress in 1952, with a more specific date for the holiday set in 1988. It is now observed on the first Thursday in May.

On the holiday last year, President Obama issued a statement saying Americans have always “come together in moments of great challenge and uncertainty to humble themselves in prayer.”

“In 1775, as the Continental Congress began the task of forging a new Nation, colonists were asked to observe a day of quiet humiliation and prayer,” the statement said. “Almost a century later, as the flames of the Civil War burned from north to south, President Lincoln and the Congress once again asked the American people to pray as the fate of their Nation hung in the balance.”

A former high-ranking National Security Agency official has been accused of sharing classified information with a newspaper reporter.

In an indictment unsealed Thursday, federal prosecutors said 52-year-old Thomas Drake illegally retained classified information, passed some of that classified information to a reporter with the The Baltimore Sun, who was identified only as “Reporter A,” and then tried to cover up his actions.

“Our national security demands that the sort of conduct alleged here – violating the government’s trust by illegally retaining and disclosing classified information – be prosecuted and prosecuted vigorously,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said in a statement.

Fox News has learned that “Reporter A” is Siobhan Gorman, who now works for The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by the same company that owns Fox News.

According to the indictment, one of Drake’s “close” friends put him in touch with “Reporter A” in late 2005. Over the next several months, all three set up a series of email accounts intended to hide their true identities, according to the indictment.

Drake and “Reporter A” then exchanged hundreds of emails, after Gorman agreed to a series of conditions, including a vow to refer to Drake in her articles only as a “senior intelligence official,” the indictment said.

Between February 2006 and November 2007, “Reporter A” published a series of articles about the NSA, some which contained classified information, according to prosecutors.

Several of Gorman’s articles during that time dealt with the emerging threat of cyberattacks and NSA efforts to keep up with developing technologies.

“Drake served as a source for many of these newspaper articles,” the indictment said.

In fact, the indictment said, he “reviewed, commented on, and edited drafts, near final and final drafts of Reporter A’s articles.”

In a March 2007 article about an internal NSA document, Gorman quotes an NSA spokesman as declining to comment due to the document’s “classified” nature.
 
“The information is essentially embedded in a classified, privileged communication meant solely for the consumption of cleared NSA personnel,” spokesman Ken White was wuoted as saying. “Communications detailing the agency’s classified internal preparations to modernize our cryptologic enterprise are strictly limited to the properly authorized venues afforded by our congressional oversight committees.”

After the stories were published in The Baltimore Sun, the FBI launched a criminal investigation into the disclosure of classified information.

According to the indictment, Drake knew about this investigation and subsequently shredded documents he had removed from NSA and deleted relevant information from his home computer.

He did so “in part to conceal his relationship with Reporter A and prevent the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s discover of evidence that would have linked defendant Drake to the retention of classified documents for the purpose of supplying information to Reporter A,” according to the indictment.

This was not the first time Drake allegedly shared classified information with someone not qualified to receive it, according to the indictment.

Before the “close” friend put Drake in touch with “Reporter A,” Drake allegedly shared classified information with the “close” friend, who worked as a congressional staffer at the time, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said Drake described his relationship with the congressional staffer as a “close, emotional friendship” and a “different and special” bond.

Drake joined NSA in August 2001, eventually obtaining “Top Secret” security clearance. In 2006 he became a teacher at the National Defense University in Washington, maintaing his access to sensitive information.

But Drake left the school in November 2007, after NSA suspended his security clearance. He resigned from NSA in 2008.

A federal grand jury in Maryland has indicted Drake on five counts of “willful retention of national defense information,” one count of obstruction of justice, and four counts of making false statements to federal investigators.

Each count carries a maximum of five to 20 years in prison.

Drake is not currently in federal custody, but he is expected to appear in federal court sometime next week.

 

 

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee promised it would be a “significant issue” the next time Attorney General Eric Holder appeared before them, but when Holder finally made it there Wednesday morning no one asked him about his failure to disclose a terror-related legal brief during his confirmation.

Only Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., mentioned the issue at all.

“There can be no doubt that treating terrorists as regular criminals will reduce our ability to obtain intelligence,” Sessions said in his opening statement. “And six years ago you acknowledged that fact in a Supreme Court brief — a brief you failed to disclose as required during your confirmation process — you candidly admitted that the civilian criminal system possesses inherent limitations.”

Five weeks earlier, after the Justice Department acknowledged that several briefs should have been provided to the committee, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said he was “deeply disappointed” in Holder.

Kyl said Holder would be grilled at the Judiciary Committee’s next hearing with him, which at the time was scheduled for March 23 but was then postponed until Wednesday.

“Attorney General Holder will have a lot of questions to answer then about why he failed to disclose his prior representation of [Jose] Padilla to the committee, and, more importantly, why he has changed his views about the national security risks that we face because of this Administration’s handling of terrorism cases,” Kyl said in a statement issued March 12.

Appearing on Fox News Channel two weeks later, Kyl wondered whether Holder “deliberately” failed to disclose the brief.

“We’re going to be talking to him about that,” said Kyl, referring to the upcoming Judiciary Committee hearing.

Similarly, Stephen Boyd, a spokesman for Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement at the time that Holder’s omissions were “simply unacceptable,” adding that they would be “a significant issue” at the next hearing, set for March 23.

During Wednesday’s hearing, though, Holder was not asked about the issue at all. He was, however, questioned extensively about other major national security issues, particularly the use of civilian courts as a counterterrorism tool.

Each senator was allowed only seven minutes of questioning, which included Holder’s sometimes long-winded responses.

In fact, at one point, Kyl had to stop Holder from continuing to answer a question Kyl himself posed about border security.

“Could I just interrupt you,” Kyl said. “I just got seven minutes, as you know.”

The briefs that Holder failed to disclose — signed by Holder and other Clinton-era officials — argued that the president lacked authority to hold Padilla, a U.S citizen declared an “enemy combatant,” indefinitely without charge.

In making their case, Holder and the others insisted that using federal courts to fight terrorism would not “impair” the government’s ability to obtain intelligence, but they also acknowledged a possible risk in using the federal court system.

“It may be true that in some cases the government will not be able to obtain information from citizens who are informed of their right to counsel, or that obtaining that information may be delayed,” the brief said. “But this is an inherent consequence of the limitation of executive power. No doubt many other steps could be taken that would increase our security, and could enable us to prevent terrorist attacks that might otherwise occur. But our nation has always been prepared to accept some risk as the price of guaranteeing that the executive does not have arbitrary power to imprison citizens.”

Republicans have said that assessment undermines Holder’s recent statements expressing confidence in the ability of federal courts to fight terrorism.

Last month, a Justice Department spokesman said the omitted briefs were “unfortunately and inadvertently missed.”

Kyl said he was skeptical.

“Are we expected to believe that then-nominee Holder, with only a handful of Supreme Court briefs to his name, forgot about his role in one of this country’s most publicized terrorism cases?” Kyl said at the time. “Or that he was not reminded about it when he later received our letter about recusals? That strains credulity.”

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Sessions declined to comment for this article. An email and a phone call to Kyl’s office were not immediately returned.

A Justice Department spokeswoman would not say whether, before Wednesday’s hearing, Holder had prepared to respond to questions about the omitted briefs.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been mentioned as a possible replacement for outgoing Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, but it’s unclear if she has interest in the position.

“She is completely focused on the important and demanding position she currently has,” one Homeland Security official told Fox News.

Still, the official said, “Secretary Napolitano would be flattered if the President considered her.”

After news broke Friday that Stevens would be retiring this summer, President Obama told reporters that he sees the process of finding a replacement “among my most serious responsibilities.”

“While we cannot replace Justice Stevens’ experience or wisdom, I will seek someone in the coming weeks with similar qualities — an independent mind, a record of excellence and integrity, a fierce dedication to the rule of law, and a keen understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people,” he said.

Napolitano has had a high-profile political career, but she has also had an extensive legal career. Before becoming Governor of Arizona and then joining the Obama administration, Napolitano served as Attorney General of Arizona and U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.

In addition, Napolitano was a clerk for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and she was a private lawyer in Phoenix, according to her official biography on the DHS website.

She received her law degree from the University of Virginia’s law school, after attending Santa Clara University and becoming the school’s first female valedictorian, the DHS website says.

A diplomat who works at Qatar’s embassy in Washington has been taken into custody after possibly trying to ignite something on a flight from Washington to Denver, a source told Fox News.

The source said it does not appear the man, identified as Mohammed al Modadi, was trying to light an explosive substance or explosive device. Instead, the source said, the suspect may have been trying to light something aboard United Airlines Flight 663 in an attempt to cover up another smell.

Authorities have not made final conclusions about the incident and continue to investigate, the source said.

The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement that it was “monitoring an incident” after receiving “initial reports that a Federal Air Marshal responded to a passenger possibly causing a disturbance on board this aircraft.”

Two F-16 fighters intercepted the Denver-bound aircraft at about 8:45pm ET, according to a statement from the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The flight landed safely in Denver about five minutes later, according to TSA and NORAD.
 
Law enforcement officials are still on the scene, and “all steps are being taken to ensure that safety of the traveling public,” according to the TSA.

It’s unclear whether the man in custody will face any charges.

The key administration officials recently installed by recess appointment can serve in their new jobs through the end of next year, but at least one of them says he plans to keep his job for much longer than that.

Alan Bersin, who last year became the Obama administration’s point man on border security issues, is now the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security.

“I look forward to a good and candid and fruitful series of exchanges over the next number of years,” Bersin told a group of reporters on Wednesday, in his first face-to-face with the press since becoming commissioner.

Asked by Fox News whether that means he’s planning to be CBP commissioner beyond what the recess appointment allows, Bersin said: “Absolutely.”

Such a move would require Senate confirmation, but Bersin said he hopes to prove himself to skeptical members of Congress in the months ahead.

“[I] moved very proactively to not only build on Congressional relationships that I have had over many years but also to reach out across the aisle and across both houses to indicate my openness and eagerness to engage with Congress,” he told reporters. “Recess appointments have a history in all administrations, and I expect over time that people will come to see that it was a good choice, and I look forward to that. I look forward to earning that confidence with members of Congress.”

He is scheduled to testify before the House Appropriations Committee next week.

Bersin said he is “honored” to be CBP commissioner and to “work effectively every day with the men and women of CBP to enhance our service to the American people,” even if through a recess appointment.

“Not a single moment of hesitation on that,” he said.

In announcing the recess appointments of Bersin and 14 others on March 27, the White House accused Republicans of “obstructing” administration nominees, insisting that “partisan politics” was hindering “the basic functioning of government.”

“The United States Senate has the responsibility to approve or disapprove of my nominees,” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “But if, in the interest of scoring political points, Republicans in the Senate refuse to exercise that responsibility, I must act in the interest of the American people and exercise my authority to fill these positions on an interim basis.”

Some of President Obama’s recess appointments faced strong opposition from Senate Republicans. In the run-up to the appointments, all 41 Senate Republicans wrote a letter to the White House urging President Obama not to use a recess appointment for a top labor official.

Bersin faced no such opposition.

Before joining the Obama administration, he served in a wide array of positions, including a stint as a private lawyer in Los Angeles, nearly five years as U.S. Attorney in Southern California, and more than a year as California’s Secretary of Education under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Nowadays, Bersin’s official photo is hanging in the lobby of CBP headquarters in Washington. However, it has yet to be added to the wall of the CBP conference room that hosted reporters on Wednesday.

Asked when he might join his two predecessors on the wall, Bersin didn’t have an exact answer.

“Well, we’ve got it down in the elevator lobby,” he said with a smile. “That’s a start.”

A man from Washington state has been arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., over her support of the health care overhaul.

Documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington charge Charles Alan Wilson with one count of “threatening a federal official.”

He was arrested Tuesday morning.

For the past several months, an unidentified man had been leaving “harassing” and “vulgar” voicemails with Murray’s office, but those voicemails became increasingly threatening after Congress approved the health care bill in March.

“The caller began to make overt threats to kill and/or injure Senator Murray,” according to court documents.

Between March 22 and April 4, Wilson allegedly left at least 15 threatening and profanity-laden voicemails with Murray’s office.

“It only takes one piece of lead,” he allegedly said in one voicemail on March 22. “Kill the f***ing senator! I’ll donate the lead. … Now that you’ve passed your health-care bill, let the violence begin. … We, the people, will not subside, succumb to socialism. … You have awakened a sleeping giant.”

Wilson also allegedly referenced comments by Attorney General Eric Holder last year.

“We are not a country of cowards, as one of the high ranking people of this administration says,” Wilson allegedly said.

The next day, employing a common refrain from opposition to the health care reform bill, Wilson allegedly suggested that in addition to “killing the bill” people should “Kill the f***ing Senator!”

“Kill the bill, kill the Senator too,” he allegedly said. “I do believe that every one of you mother-f***ing socialist democratic progressive mother-f**kers need to be taken out.”

Federal authorities were able to identify Wilson by reviewing phone records, according to court documents. He later told an undercover FBI agent that he possessed and regularly carried a gun, according to court documents.

“I do pack, and I will not blink when I’m confronted,” he allegedly said in a recorded conversation with the FBI agent. “It’s not a threat, it’s a guarantee.”

A Pennsylvania man with possible mental illness has been accused of sending emails to FBI offices around the world, vowing to bomb New York City and kill President Barack Obama, FOX News has learned.

In the past week, Michael Moore of Bridgeport, Penn., allegedly sent about 50 “threatening” and “bizarre” emails to FBI field offices in Philadelphia and Washington, according to documents filed in federal court.

On March 30, more than 30 FBI field offices around the United States and elsewhere received an email from Moore saying, “I need to have some field testing done before I begin bombing the sh** out of New York City,” according to court documents.

The next day he allegedly sent an email to FBI field offices in Philadelphia and Washington saying he was “ABOUT TO BLAM! AND MURDER THE ENTIRE POPULATION.”

The same day, he sent “several” emails addressing the President of the United States,” including one saying “POINT THE GUNS AT O” and another specifically referencing killing President Obama, according to court documents.

Federal authorities searched Moore’s email accounts after issuing a subpoena to Google Inc., according to an affidavit filed by a federal agent in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

Three weeks before sending the first “threatening” emails to FBI field offices, Moore was “involuntarily committed” for a mental evaluation after authorities discovered he had been leaving unaddressed envelopes containing “miscellaneous papers” at a federal building in Philadelphia, the affidavit said. Moore was released 10 days later.

It’s unclear if he is currently in custody.