Homeland

Martin O'Malley, who once had Baltimore fully in his windshield and not the rear-view mirror, called it a "rough patch." Nearly 200 homicides in the first eight months of 2007, putting Baltimore on a pace to record more than 300 killings for the first time since the bloody 1990s, and O'Malley plays this down as a "rough patch." No outrage. No fury. Not a drop of classic O'Malley sarcasm. No expression of impatience. Not a bit of disappointment in his successor for breaking from the smart and aggressive law enforcement strategies that his administration put in place and that appeared to reduce violent crime here.

Theodore A. Haapala Jr., a retired information services engineer and Navy veteran, died of heart failure July 24 at Memorial Hospital in Easton. The Greensboro, Caroline County, resident was 66. Mr. Haapala was born in Worcester, Mass., and spent his early years in Maynard, Mass., and Ipswich, N.H. He later moved to the Eastern Shore, where he graduated from Preston High School in 1959. During his 20-year naval career, he served as a chief petty officer aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Virginia.

The Department of Homeland Security patrols the nation's borders, issues passports and deports illegal immigrants. But the linchpin of future of immigration enforcement is stored in a secure facility in Woodlawn, where computer servers hold the digital Social Security records of hundreds of millions of Americans. Since 1996, a growing number of employers have logged on to a password-protected Web site and queried those records to see whether job applicants are here legally. The screening system, called Basic Pilot, is run by the Department of Homeland Security.

Once again, federal assurances that anti-terrorism surveillance tactics respect the limits of individual privacy rights have been proved worthless. Listen in. Here's Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last December defending a program that collects and saves for up to 15 years information about the travel habits of innocent Americans: "What we are doing is a sensible, totally constitutional and privacy right-respecting effort to make sure...

Sitting on a metal bench at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport last night, Jeff Goodale confessed to being worried about his London-bound daughter, Ashley. His concerns, he said, were that of any parent whose daughter is heading overseas alone: Will she be safe once she is there? But his anxiety about her flight worsened when he heard that two men yesterday rammed a flaming sports utility vehicle into the main terminal of the Glasgow airport, the largest in Scotland.

WASHINGTON -- Emerging yesterday from a closed-door meeting with Gov. Martin O'Malley, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he would not favor expanding the National Capital Region to include more of Maryland and Virginia. The designation, which groups Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland with Washington and several cities and counties in Northern Virginia, enables local officials to tap into homeland security funds set aside for high-risk areas. O'Malley has pushed for the area to be enlarged to include Richmond, Va., and Baltimore, cities he says would be likely to receive evacuees from any large natural disaster or terrorist attack on the capital.

The Department of Homeland Security's failure to anticipate the impact of new passport rules for travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean has created a panic. The first wave hit congressional offices about the time of spring break. Honeymooners and graduates quickly followed. In Baltimore, much worry surrounded high-schoolers headed off on summer exchange trips. Since Memorial Day, the fear of being forced to cancel vacation plans because travel documents haven't yet arrived has grown to the point where federal lawmakers from Maryland and across the country have had to convert their offices into auxiliary passport agencies.

WASHINGTON -- A Georgia man with a highly infectious strain of tuberculosis, whose travels last month caused an international health scare, told Congress yesterday that he had no idea he was contagious. "I don't want this, and I wouldn't have wanted to give it to someone else," said Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old Atlanta lawyer who is under quarantine at a Denver hospital. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "knew that I had this. ... I was repeatedly told I was not contagious, that I was not a threat to anyone," he said.

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee called on the Bush administration yesterday to delay the planned launch of a multi- billion-dollar cybersecurity initiative so that Congress could have time to evaluate it. Rep. Bennie Thompson said he wants to make sure the new program is legal before it is launched. In an interview, the Mississippi Democrat said he had been told that President Bush might unveil the initiative as early as next week. Known internally as the "Cyber Initiative," the program is designed to use the spying capabilities of the National Security Agency and other agencies to protect government and private communications networks from infiltration by terrorists and hackers.

A day after a federal judge ruled that the government could not use mismatched Social Security numbers to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, a coalition of immigrant advocates, faith leaders and workers gathered near the Social Security Administration headquarters in Woodlawn to voice their outrage at the proposal. The regulation is part of a recent Bush administration push to get tough on employers and weed out illegal immigrant workers. But advocates said yesterday that the proposal encourages employers to fire millions of workers with questionable Social Security numbers, harming immigrants and citizens.

Seven developers honored for Baltimore projects Seven Baltimore development projects have been picked for their innovation and vision to be the first recipients of a new award sponsored by The Urban Land Institute's Baltimore chapter. . The seven WaveMaker Awards projects are Miller's Court, a warehouse renovated into offices and apartments on North Howard Street by Seawall Development Co.; Silo Point, a former Locust Point grain elevator turned into condos by Turner Development Group; Legg Mason Tower, the new headquarters of the Baltimore-based money manager built by H&S Properties Group; Fairfield Inn by Marriott on South President Street by Summit Associates LLC/A&R Development Corp; Towns at Orchard Ridge, a 60-acre community on Maple Ridge Drive by Pennrose Properties/Doracon Development LLC; Baltimore Medical System's Highlandtown Healthy Living Center on Fleet Street by Highlandtown Development LLC; and the American Brewery on North Gay Street, an old brewery turned into offices, by Humanim.

Maryland will get $6 million of federal stimulus money to go toward port and transit security and firehouse construction, an announcement government officials made Wednesday in Baltimore amid the backdrop of an unspecified terrorism warning issued this week. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the money earmarked for the state will create jobs through construction projects and is part of a $510 million federal government effort to improve security at some of the country's major ports.

MDE looking into Homeland fish kill 3 State environmental officials are investigating what might have killed more than 200 fish in a lake in Homeland, a spokeswoman said yesterday. Residents of the North Baltimore neighborhood reported seeing dead fish last week in one of three lakes on Springlake Way. The fish appeared to have died from lack of oxygen in the water, said Dawn Stoltzfus, spokeswoman with the state Department of the Environment. "We've never had this problem before," said Lynn L. Petersons, operations manager for the Homeland Association, which maintains common areas in the neighborhood.

WASHINGTON -The economic downturn and the election of the nation's first black president are contributing to a resurgence among right-wing extremist groups that had been on the wane since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, according to a U.S. intelligence assessment distributed to state and local authorities last week. The report, produced by the Department of Homeland Security, has triggered a backlash among conservatives because it also raised the specter that disgruntled veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan might "boost the capabilities of extremists ... to carry out violence."

Shari Elliker and Treavor Erney had no illusions about the half-million-dollar house they purchased last August in northern Baltimore's Homeland. The three-story Georgian-style home, solidly built of fieldstone in 1928 and placed among similar mansions in the Olmsted-designed neighborhood, was a majestic site to behold - from the street. But beyond the front door, with its impressive Palladian transom, a daunting job awaited. "This house was a major interior renovation," said Elliker, a popular WBAL talk-radio host.

Seventy-one percent of the underclassmen at Homeland Security Academy left for new high schools after Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso gave them the chance to transfer at midyear, according to figures released yesterday. Officials said 278 students have left the failing west-side school and 228 remain: 117 seniors who did not have the option to leave and 111 underclassmen, mostly freshmen. Only 12 juniors are still there. Late last month, Alonso announced the unusual step of the midyear transfers from Homeland Security, part of the Walbrook complex that was created under the breakup of Walbrook High.

Immigrant advocates released video footage yesterday that they say shows federal agents unfairly targeted Latinos in January 2007 outside a 7-Eleven in Southeast Baltimore. The video, taken from store cameras, captured U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents rounding up 24 men suspected of being illegal immigrants. Most have since been deported or left the country voluntarily. In the video, agents can be seen ignoring black store patrons while focusing on Latino men. Advocates say a white man who had hired three Latinos for day labor was allowed to drive his pickup truck away from the 7-Eleven, while the three workers were taken into custody.

Baltimore schools CEO Andres Alonso says what he means and means what he says. His decision to prod students at the troubled Homeland Security Academy to transfer undoubtedly reflects that. City students shouldn't have to remain in a school that doesn't provide an atmosphere conducive to learning. And to hear the city's top school administrator reinforce that view should be liberating for students and their families. Actions really do speak louder than words with this gung-ho schools chief.

City schools chief Andr?s Alonso is urging underclassmen at a struggling West Baltimore high school to transfer to other schools midyear - a highly unusual step in keeping with his pledge to hold all schools to high standards. The system is legally prohibited from closing the 575-student school, Homeland Security Academy, in the middle of the academic year, but Alonso is strongly encouraging students to choose to leave and asking the school board to close it this summer. Students will be able to select from 21 other city high schools that have extra space and are deemed stable.

The security world has changed drastically and unpredictably, expanding the range of potential threats, new missions, new forms of warfare and intelligence-gathering, and new technologies. Combined, these present many national security challenges for the incoming Obama administration. Consider: The perpetrator of the 9/11 terrorist attacks still pursues al-Qaida objectives; the U.S. and NATO fight the Taliban in Afghanistan; the battle against Iraqi insurgent forces continues; Iran threatens to go nuclear and supports Middle East terrorists; Gaza fighting erupts; and Russian tanks are in Georgia.