XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1999 19:45:55 ET

ALL U.S. PORTS PUT ON HIGH ALERT

The U.S. Customs Service has placed all 301 ports of entry into the United States on high alert following the arrest of an Alergian in Washington state.

Ahmed Ressam, 32, was charged on Friday with transporting explosives into the United States, providing false identification and lying to authorities.

The WASHINGTON POST is reporting in Sunday editions that U.S. authorities have intensified efforts to find an accomplice who apparently had been with Ressam at a motel in British Columbia for three weeks prior to Ressam's passage into the United States.

"Ressam's arrest has left law enforcement and intelligence officials scared and deeply concerned about possible terrorist attacks on U.S. soil as millennium celebrations approach," reports the POST's Vernon Loeb.

The detonation device found in Ressam's rental car -- circuit boards linked to a Casio watch and a nine-volt battery -- is "the method they teach in [Osama bin Laden's] camps in Afghanistan -- and the Casio device turned up in one of the Moscow apartment bombings" thought to have been carried out earlier this year by Islamic radicals, reports the paper.

Sunday's NEW YORK TIMES reports that authorities believe the second man has returned to Montreal, which Canadian authorities have described as the base of an "Algerian cell" created to finance terrorist organizations.

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@AOL.COM), December 18, 1999

Answers

The lockdown is starting.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), December 18, 1999.

And so it heats up. The stage is set for terrorist attacks, real, fabricated, imagined, or set up. Clampdown, lockdown may result. If it is true hope all the creeps are caught immediately.

-- cover for Y2K failures (#1@terrorist.blame), December 18, 1999.

S0 ...... the rebels the Russians are destroying now - for the apartment bombing and others - are they holed up in Russia? Fighting the Russian army and leaving the Russians with heavy casualties ?

-- Living in (the@real.world), December 18, 1999.

The ports will have to be a high alert anyway for all the ships that may flounder and spill oil and cause economic and environmental disaster and destruction.

-- Cascadia's been there :-( (allaha@earthlink.net), December 18, 1999.

Link please.

-- the Virginian (1@1.com), December 18, 1999.

The horses are gone.

All barn doors will now be closed.

-- Me (me@me.me), December 18, 1999.

www.drudgereport.com

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@AOL.COM), December 18, 1999.

hey UNCLE BOB, why in the FUCK do you always type in CAPITALS? its really FUCKING ANNOYING

-- Daniel Roberts (daniel roberts@anon.anon), December 18, 1999.

Ummm, Daniel...if you go to the link you will see that Uncle Bob has copied and pasted the report here exactly as it is written, caps and all. Uncle Bob is a long-time poster who has made many valuable contributions to this forum and does not deserve anyone's flames.

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), December 18, 1999.

Okay, now, put two and two together .... the following EO was signed on December 2, 1999. Safeguarding Waterfront Facilities. Thoughts? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) ______________________________________________________________________ __ For Immediate Release December 2, 1999

EXECUTIVE ORDER

- - - - - - -

AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 10173, AS AMENDED, PRESCRIBING REGULATIONS RELATING TO THE SAFEGUARDING OF VESSELS, HARBORS, PORTS, AND WATERFRONT FACILITIES OF THE UNITED STATES

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including 50 U.S.C. 191, I hereby prescribe the following amendment to the regulations prescribed by Executive Order 10173 of October 18, 1950, as amended, which regulations constitute Part 6, Subchapter A, Chapter I, Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

Section 6.01-4 is amended to read as follows:

Section 6.01-4 Waterfront facility. "Waterfront facility," as used in this part, means all piers, wharves, docks, or similar structures to which vessels may be secured and naval yards, stations, and installations, including ranges; areas of land, water, or land and water under and in immediate proximity to them; buildings on them or contiguous to them and equipment and materials on or in them.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON THE WHITE HOUSE, December 1, 1999.

-- zeaal (do-dah@wondering.com), December 18, 1999.

Somebody give that guy a tampon, he is PMS-ing!

-- don't (blow@a.fuse), December 18, 1999.

Here's a little more info. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- srv/aponline/19991218/aponline191243_000.htm

-- FLAME AWAY (blehman202@aol.com), December 18, 1999.

You don't need a tampon when you are PMS'ing silly. P= PRE that means BEFORE

-- Diane (DDEsq2002@juno.com), December 18, 1999.

zeaal,

Could you give a Reader's Digest version (sorry, my attention span's a little short tonight) of the content of Executive Order 10173 prior to the amendment?

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), December 18, 1999.

Just like Y2K, he needs to be "prepared" in advance. Wouldn't want him to throw another tantrum!

-- don't (make@him.mad), December 18, 1999.

Heeheeheeheheheheh, a really DGI male troll!

-- he obviously (Doesn't@Get.Any), December 18, 1999.

Daniel Roberts...

You eat with that mouth?

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@AOL.COM), December 18, 1999.

Well this is fascinating. Interesting catch on this new EO, zeall.

EO10173 was signed by Truman in October 1950. The EO (and an associated bill) apparently related to the Security of US ports. This EO seems to relate specifically to which foreign-flag NON-military ships were allowed to enter certain US ports. Interestingly, it seems to include the provision that military force was authorized to stop unwelcome non-military visitors. Very much a Cold War issue.

None of the EO's before Kennedy's time are available on-line, but I found this paper concerning ports bills at the Truman Library:

http://www.truman.edu/academics/studentresearch/portsbil.html

It's a dry read, but important if you want to try and get a grip on this.

This is an incomplete summary from the text:

"...The original bill granted authority to the President to control the movements and anchorage of foreign flag vessels, but enforcement was to be essentially carried out by the U.S. Coast Guard. In order to facilitate this Executive Order 10173 was passed on October 18, 1950..."

So the really interesting thing about the new Executive Order is that it seems to allow the President to control anything (public, private or foreign) in any port.

Now, I'm not a lawyer by any means so I certainly may have mis-read this. Contrary opinions encouraged.

The new Executive Order *amends* pre-existing text, but since the old text isn't included, it's hard to know what changed. But the new phrase "including ranges" jumped out at me. This whole thing may simply relate to the flap over the bombing range in Puerto Rico.

Still the timing is interesting vis a vis our recent ferry passenger. Were we tipped off to expect threats via shipping?

Alright, that's enough speculation for one night....

-- Lewis (aslanshow@yahoo.com), December 18, 1999.

Lewis,

Quick searched the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) site and they didnt have it linked on their EO page...

http://www.fas.org/irp/ offdocs/eo/

...But there was this little tidbit...

The text of Executive orders beginning with Executive Order 7316 of March 13, 1936, also appears in the sequential editions of Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

Find that... and...

;-D

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 19, 1999.

Hi Di-

Yeah, I tried that route, too. Searched for that Title over at the House site and got gibberish. Have you noticed that most of the really good research sites are gone? Bout time...

And there was this from elsewhere:

More from ERRI. Be sure to read Clark Staten's comments at the end.

http://www.emergency.com/1999/mil-mad2.htm

ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Tuesday, December 14, 1999-Vol. 5, No. 348-08:30CST

UNITED STATES

Terrorist Cell Planning Attack On U.S. Interests; Arrested In Middle East

U.S. officials said on Monday night that members of a suspected terrorist cell have been arrested in an unidentified Middle Eastern country, accused of planning attacks against Americans. The unnamed official source said the investigation is still ongoing, and further details would compromise operations. But the official said the alleged attack was intended to coincide with New Year's celebrations overseas and prompted a U.S. State Department warning to Americans overseas during the holiday season.

The U.S. official and others would not say how many people had been arrested as part of the operation, the cell members apprehended were said to be connected to master terrorist Usama bin Laden. The official saidthe arrests were made because the group was believed to be connected to a threat against Americans that officials already had deemed "credible."

ABC News reported on Monday that possible targets for the attacks were "Christian sites on New Year's Eve," mentioning sites in Jerusalem and even the Vatican as possible targets. However, officials familiar with the investigation could not confirm this, saying information on potential targets was "not all that specific."

ERRI senior national security analyst Clark Staten observed: "Reports of the arrest of several suspects for their involvement in plots to carry out terrorist attacks during the transition to the year 2000 would seem to validate our (ERRI) previously issued 13 Nov 1999 terrorism advisory."

"But, our most current analysis, however, would suggest that these arrests are not the end of this story," Staten continued. He added: "While yesterday's arrests are certainly commendable and may have prevented some of the potential carnage, we still have reason to believe that there will be further attempts to carry out multiple terrorist attacks on multiple targets, set to coincide with millennium celebrations, simultaneously."

Staten also said, "It remains our belief that those associated with terror master-mind Usama Bin laden have chosen the month of Ramadan, and the end of this century, as a significant time to carry out attacks on America and her allies throughout the world. We would urge great caution and preparedness on the part of American citizens, embassies, military bases, and corporations closely associated with the United States, as this century draws to a close and the new one begins."

-- Lewis (aslanshow@yahoo.com), December 19, 1999.

Thank you, Lewis for your research on the new EO. I, too, did the Truman Library route. And, tried the codification files at http://www.nara.gov ... again ... nothing.

But ... the date the president signed the new EO was December 1 and it posted December 2. Pondering ... wasn't something big going on in Seattle during this time period ... and isn't Seattle a sea port. St r e t c h i nnnnn ggggg ????

12, zeaal

-- zeaal (do0dah@wondering.com), December 19, 1999.

Seattle is a port city, so is LA, Houston and New York City. I too was a bit shocked when I read this new EO amendment. The way I interpreted it, any US coastgaurd unit will have FULL control of everything contiguous to the water. So if your grain plant has a dock, the grain plant's under their security watch and in their control zone. If you have a refinery with a dock, they control it. If you have ...well you get the picture...

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), December 19, 1999.

Yup - they have everything under control EXCEPT the Panama Canal which is now a Chinese Takeout...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), December 19, 1999.