Rumsfeld Cool to Intelligence Czar Idea; Prosecutors Admit Mistake in NY Terror Case; Marketing Ploy Alarms Gamers

Rumsfeld Cool to Intelligence Czar Idea

In his first public testimony onthe findings of teh 9/11 commission, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld Tuesday said that he was wary of a national intelligence czar with broad authority over the nation’s spy agencies and military intelligence. According to a story in the Boston Globe, the Pentagon is reluctant to cede its authority over military intelligence to a new national director of intelligence. The Defense Dept. controls more than 80 percent of the $40 billion annual intelligence budget. Said Rumsfeld to the Senate Armed Services Committee: “We would not want to place new barriers or filters between the military… and those [intelligence] agencies. It would be a major step to separate these key agencies from the military combatant commanders, which are the users of such capabilities.”

For more details, read the full article in the Boston Globe.

Prosecutors Admit Mistake in NY Terror Case

Federal prosecuters acknowledged Tuesday that a major piece of evidence in their case against two terror supporters in Albany may be flawed. According to a story in The New York Times, prosecutors believed that one of the suspects, Yassin M. Aref, 34, in part because of information given to them by the Defense Dept. A notebook containing Aref’s name and address was found in a terrorist training camp in Iraq. Aref was thought to have been referred to as “commander” in the notebook. However, because of a translation error, the word referring to Aref could actually mean “brother.” Prosecutors believe that the discrepancy is not terribly significant because of other evidence that suggests that Aref and Mohammed M. Hossain, 49, agreed to launder money for a terrorist who planned to attack a Pakistani diplomat in New York City. The terrorist in this case was a government informer.

For more details, read the full article in today’s New York Times.

Marketing Ploy Alarms Gamers

The T-Virus doesn’t exist, but many mobile phone users might not know that when they receive a marketing message that promotes the computer game Resident Evil: Outbreak. According to a story in The Register, some people are receiving unsolicited text messages informing them that they have ben infected by the so-called T-Virus. The messages are being sent from a promotional website for Resident Evil. Said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for anti-virus firm Sophos, “This marketing campaign seems particularly ill-conceived, as there is so much genuine interest in the mobile virus threat at present.”

For more details, read the full article in The Register.