Month: May 2022

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Security News: Federal Jury Convicts Nevada Man of Impeding and Threatening Federal Officers at the Port of Entry

Source: United States Department of Justice News

TUCSON, Ariz. – On Monday, John Milton Lee, 62, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was found guilty by a federal jury of smuggling goods from the United States and impeding and threatening a federal officer. Lee is scheduled for sentencing on August 3, 2022, before United States District Judge James A. Soto. 

According to the evidence presented at trial, Lee traveled from Arizona to Mexico on November 1, 2019, but Mexican authorities returned him to the port almost immediately. When Lee returned to the Lukeville Port of Entry, he refused to provide identification. At secondary inspection, Lee would not exit his vehicle and refused inspection. Instead, Lee told U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers that they could not touch him or anything in his vehicle. Lee then reached into his jacket and threatened the officers that he “didn’t want it to go there.” Although Lee never pulled out a gun, officers could see the handle of the firearm in his jacket. Over the next hour, Lee engaged in an armed standoff with five CBP officers. The officers eventually convinced Lee to exit his vehicle, but he still refused to surrender. After continued unsuccessful negotiation, one of the officers tased Lee. Officers confirmed then that Lee had been holding a loaded handgun with a round in the chamber, the safety off, and the hammer cocked. When officers searched Lee, they also found three loaded 30-round rifle magazines.

In a subsequent search of Lee’s vehicle, officers discovered that an AR-type rifle had also been within his reach during the standoff. Officers seized three additional long arms, including an HK 91 and a Tavor (Israeli assault rifle), three additional handguns, nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition, and 17 loaded magazines. All the firearms were loaded with a round in the chamber. In a post-Miranda statement, Lee admitted that he had planned to take the firearms and ammunition to Guatemala.

Homeland Security Investigations, Sells, conducted the investigation in this case, with the assistance of CBP. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angela Martinez and Serra M. Tsethlikai, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.

CASE NUMBER:           CR-19-2946-TUC-JAS
RELEASE NUMBER:    2022-074_Lee

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.

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Security News: Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta Delivers Remarks at the 2022 National Summit to Reduce Violence and Strengthen Communities

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Anjali, thank you for that warm welcome. 

I am delighted to join all of you on this second day of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) National Summit to Reduce Violence and Strengthen Communities. I want to thank the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Amy Solomon and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Director Karhlton Moore for their leadership and dedication to PSN. I also want to thank the entire teams at OJP and BJA for making this summit possible. 

Project Safe Neighborhoods is coordinated through the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms – the steadfast commitment of all of the U.S. Attorneys and the ATF, as well as the other federal law enforcement components, have saved lives and made communities stronger. 

This is the first national convening of PSN teams in several years, and I am grateful to all of you for participating and attending. As I reviewed the agenda, I was struck by the breadth of experience and the diversity of backgrounds of the panelists and the attendees.   

We all have come together because we share a common goal – keeping our communities safe. This is a top priority for the Department of Justice. Recent horrific events in Buffalo, Laguna Woods and Milwaukee, and other communities across the country, are somber reminders of the importance of the work that we have joined here together to do.

Preventing and addressing violent crime can be achieved only in partnership with all of you here at this summit. Our PSN teams include dedicated state, local and Tribal law enforcement and corrections professionals who work hand in hand with federal agencies to investigate and prosecute crime. The department invests substantial resources to support the work of these partners. 

But experience and research have taught us that enforcement alone is not enough to prevent crime. That is why, as you heard throughout the sessions yesterday, the department has deployed a comprehensive strategy to strengthen PSN that is rooted in four basic principles: building community trust and legitimacy; investing in community-based prevention and intervention programs; setting strategic enforcement priorities to target the most significant drivers of crime in a given community; and measuring the results of those efforts by reductions in crime, and not by the number of arrests or prosecutions.

The multi-disciplinary views that you all bring are critical to the success of that strategy. Law enforcement and government officials – your local expertise and leadership are essential to identifying the most significant drivers of crime impacting your communities and implementing effective strategies tailored to address those specific needs. Researchers – you help ensure that our strategies are evidence-based and work to reduce crime in practice, which can help other communities use those strategies to address their own issues. Social services professionals, public health representatives and community-based organizations and leaders – you all play a critical role in making sure that community members have access to the resources that they need and that they are empowered to strengthen their communities from within.   

It is this combination of federal, state, local and Tribal partners spanning multiple disciplines that has made PSN so successful over the last 20 years.   

Today, the need to reduce violent crime through this multi-disciplinary approach is more urgent than ever. Gun homicides surged significantly between 2019 and 2020, reaching the highest rate in 25 years. This, standing alone, is unacceptable. 

Protecting communities from gun crime also serves another of our shared values – ensuring that everyone has the same opportunity to live free from the fear of violence. Underserved communities, especially communities of color, experience higher rates of violent crime, which have devastating effects on victims, their families and their communities. Such violence affects Black and other communities of color at disproportionate rates, and is highest in higher poverty neighborhoods. The CDC recently released a report finding that the largest increases in firearms homicide rates occurred among Black males aged 10 to 44.   

The approach you take through the Project Safe Neighborhoods model can save lives, promote public safety, and build trust between law enforcement and the communities that are often most impacted by violence. 

I want to talk about a few ways that the department can support your efforts to implement the PSN model in your communities. One of the department’s priorities for reducing violent crime is investing in community-based violence intervention programs. As many of you have seen firsthand, community-based violence intervention focuses on reducing violent crime by establishing relationships between community leaders, service providers, and people at the center of gun violence in local communities, and relies on credible messengers to intervene in the lives of those at the highest risk of perpetrating or becoming victims of violence. Cities and towns across the country have deployed innovative community-based violence intervention strategies as highly effective complements to the enforcement of criminal laws. This year the department is awarding $50 million to support community violence intervention programs. 

We also are investing in programs that provide early interventions with our youth by, for example, supporting communities develop comprehensive approaches to assist elementary school-aged children who have been exposed to violence build resilience and address their trauma; supporting organizations providing mentoring services to at-risk youth; and helping school personnel address students’ mental health crises. 

We also are working at the intersection of public safety and public health to find ways that we can more appropriately respond to the treatment needs of individuals experiencing mental health and co-occurring substance use disorders. We have heard repeatedly from law enforcement, prosecutors, judges the civil rights community, health professionals and government officials that we must support behavioral health programs so that individuals with mental health and co-occurring substance use disorders receive treatment and support services, instead of becoming involved in the justice system. For those who are currently incarcerated, we provide support to jails and prisons to implement and expand behavioral health treatment and other services. And for those who are reentering society after incarceration, we provide funding and technical assistance for corrections systems, as well as nonprofit organizations and Indian tribes partnering with correctional agencies, to provide critical assessments and transitional services to support continuity of care for their ongoing mental health and substance use needs. Our goal is to address and remediate the underlying conditions that often contribute to involvement in the criminal justice system in the first place. 

Another pillar of effective crime prevention is the legitimacy of law enforcement in the eyes of the communities they serve. When residents trust the police, they are more likely to report crimes, serve as witnesses and cooperate with investigators. Such trust and legitimacy are not only necessary for public safety, they also honor this nation’s core values of fairness and dignity for all. The department’s commitment to protecting civil rights and ensuring public safety is reflected in our many tools geared toward building police-community trust and legitimacy.   

We can help build such legitimacy by helping our partners implement best practices long before there’s a crisis or a complete breakdown of police-community trust. Last month I announced the launch of the National Law Enforcement Knowledge Lab, which will draw upon the department’s expertise, as well as years of research and engagement with law enforcement, to develop and consolidate in a centralized location the department’s resources on the best practices in policing. These best practices focus on ways to create safer communities, protect officers and residents alike, and effectively engage with the community.   

And just last week, OJP announced a new resource, the Jails and Justice Support Center, that will provide the nation’s jails with resources to create safe and effective environments both for people who are detained or incarcerated and for the professionals who work in those facilities.   

These resources are available to you as potential models that can be tailored to fit the needs within your own communities.  

The pandemic, rise in gun violence, staffing shortages among law enforcement, and tensions between police and some communities have created extraordinary challenges. Although these issues are national in scope, the solutions must be built in local communities – rural and urban, large and small – with local leaders, advocates, residents, officials and law enforcement all working together. This is why I am so grateful for the dedication all of you have shown to PSN.   

What makes the PSN model so effective is its attention to using best practices to create local solutions to violent crime, and an acknowledgment that we are not going to be able to arrest our way out of the challenges faced by communities across this country. Effective solutions require sustained engagement with communities and partnerships among all of the disciplines you bring here to this summit.   

Thank you for everything you are doing to keep our communities safe. We look forward to hearing your ideas and developing effective strategies to help save lives and strengthen communities. 

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Defense News: U.S. Fleet Cyber Command Executes Operation Cyber Dragon

Source: United States Navy

Chief Warrant Officer Scott Bryson works in Defensive Cyberspace Operations and Department of Defense Information Network Operations. He said his team initially made the discovery of the problems with the network, “We identified that [the Navy] had over 14,500 known issues across the DoD network.”

He also recognized the urgency to resolve these issues “We’re always going to be vulnerable to anybody that has any malicious acts and that can be anyone with a keyboard. The longer the vulnerabilities remain, the more susceptible we are to attack. You’ve got to shore up what we’re vulnerable against and we have to take actions to make sure that we’re secure. That’s what this is all about,” Bryson said.

The U.S. Navy relies on a number of computer applications provided by commercial providers including commonly used Microsoft programs such as Outlook, Power Point, and Word. Sandy Radesky, deputy chief information officer at Fleet Cyber Command, said “The partnerships the Navy has with various commercial providers that support Navy missions puts us in this gray space that we have to constantly synchronize with our providers and [we need to] understand of who’s doing what to protect our attack surface.” This is why Radesky authorized the execution of the Operation.

Bryson sought Navy reservists from within and outside the command and he said they didn’t necessarily need computer experience. “If you’re trainable, I can show you what to do and then I’ll set you free,” Bryson said.

Petty Officer 2nd Class David Lucas, a Yeoman who does administrative work from Wichita, Kansas, was one of about two dozen who volunteered for this mission. “This was different than anything I’ve ever used before, but it was very intuitive. Once they explained to me what the words all meant, and which ones I was supposed to work on… once I got the basics down, it was much easier,” Lucas said. He also credited his teammates and leadership for always being available to help.

In March, Bryson’s team quickly and aggressively resolved thousands of vulnerabilities in the network. “I will say [it was] a huge success. We were able to… get 23% remediation actions out of the original 14,500 discrepancies,” Bryson said. He says the intricacies of the various Navy networks makes resolving each vulnerability complex. At the end of the first phase, Bryson said they had to evaluate the effectiveness of each resolution and assess the impact they had on the system, positive and negative.

Radesky said the diverse skillsets of the Navy reservists were invaluable, “[We] were able to leverage those skills across multiple teammates within the reservists that came in to be able to create this repeatable process. And they did it so quickly. I mean, we did this in about 30 days, and with 22 reservists.”

Rear Adm. Stephen Donald, vice commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. 10th Fleet said, “This operation demonstrated the strength, responsiveness, and expertise our Navy Reservists offer. Fleet Cyber Command was able to mobilize a team of reservist quickly to execute an urgent mission. With warfighting readiness as our primary mission, this was a clear example the value reservists provide to the defense of the United States.”

Bryson says this operation is especially important in a time of increased conflict worldwide. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) says cyber threats have increased. Bryson says the cyber attacks can be launched from anywhere and by anyone whether it’s a coordinated by another country, a rogue actor, or someone with curiosity, testing out his or her computer skills.

“Network cyber hygiene is very paramount. If we didn’t do this, then we just have additional vulnerabilities and if you have too many vulnerabilities, someone’s going to exploit them and potentially in a bad way,” Bryson said.

After evaluating the success of the operation, Bryson says he’s now preparing to execute the second phase of the operation this summer with the goal of tackling an additional 50 percent of the vulnerabilities.

“So now that the foundational piece has been done for the most forward facing, and most critical vulnerabilities, this next phase is going to go faster, and will be easier because we’ve already established the lanes in the road,” Radesky said. She says this will now be a regular effort where the active duty personnel will work with reservists to continuously identify and resolve vulnerabilities in Navy networks.

Searching for vulnerabilities in the network will continue after the conclusion of Operation Cyber Dragon said Bryson, “Our attack surface is always going to change across anybody’s network. Whether it’s a commercial business, military or government, your attack surface varies all the time from malicious hackers that are trying to

poke and prod you. We’re always going to have vulnerabilities. We know that, but it’s how we handle the vulnerabilities that we know that are out there and how we address them.”

However, he says continuation of operation Cyber Dragon will better maintain the fortification and resiliency of the Navy’s networks to stand against attacks from our adversaries.

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Security News: Justice Department Secures Agreement to Provide Community-Based Services to Children with Disabilities in Rhode Island

Source: United States Department of Justice

The Department of Justice today entered into a settlement agreement with the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) to resolve alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The parents of a child with autism filed a complaint with the Justice Department, alleging that Rhode Island failed to provide their minor son with community-based Medicaid services that the state had authorized. These services allow children with disabilities to remain in their homes and communities rather than enter residential treatment facilities. The parents alleged that while the state authorized their son to receive 25 to 34 hours per week of community-based services, their son only received, on average, half of the weekly authorized hours. As a result, the parents feared that their son would be forced to leave their home and move to an institution. After the United States opened an investigation of this complaint, the child entered an out-of-state residential treatment facility for several months.

“The ADA requires states to provide disability services in the most integrated setting appropriate so that children with disabilities can remain at home with their families,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Providing community-based services allows children with disabilities to live at home and avoid needless placement in residential facilities. The Civil Rights Division will vigorously enforce the ADA so that people with disabilities can get services at home instead of in facilities.”

“Integrated, community-based services for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities are critical to keeping families together and ensuring that children receive care in a supporting and loving environment; no family should be forced to make a choice between care and separation from their children when adequate support is possible in a community setting,” said U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha of the District of Rhode Island. “That is what the ADA requires, what today’s agreement is designed to ensure, and what this office will continue to demand as we go forward.”

Under the agreement reached today, Rhode Island will modify its policies so that children with intellectual and developmental disabilities such as autism will receive the community-based services to which they are authorized. The state will require that families of such children receive a family care plan, allow families to receive services from different provider agencies, and provide oversight to make sure children with disabilities receive authorized community-based services. The state will also create an ombudsman program to allow individuals and their family members to express concerns. For the complainants’ son, EOHHS will develop an individualized service plan to identify the community-based services necessary for him to live at home, and pay $75,000 in damages.

This matter was handled jointly by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Romero for the District of Rhode Island and the Civil Rights Division’s Disability Rights Section.

The Justice Department plays a central role in advancing the ADA’s goals of equal opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities. For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit http://www.justice.gov/crt. For more information on the ADA, please call the department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov. ADA complaints may be filed online at http://www.ada.gov/complaint.

Anyone in the District of Rhode Island may also report civil rights violations directly to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island at Civil Rights Enforcement (justice.gov) or 401-709-5000.