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Some security analysts and policymakers are calling for wider use of body scanning technology.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Some experts call for increased use of body scans
* Privacy advocates say body scans are invasive
* 40 scanners in use in U.S.; 150 coming online this year
* No ‘magic technology’ to ensure safety, security expert says

(CNN) — The full-body scanning technology being adopted and discussed since the attempt to take down a passenger plane on Christmas Day is under attack from privacy advocates who call it a “virtual strip search.”

The controversial technology, first used in a U.S. airport in 2007, can find hidden objects that metal detectors can’t.

“The advanced imaging technology enhances security because it can detect both metallic and nonmetallic threats hidden on a passenger’s body,” TSA spokesman Greg Soule said.

Privacy rights groups are wary of movements to impose the anatomically revealing technology on all travelers as a primary screening method.

“Obviously we have a concern because it’s a virtual strip search that is terribly invasive,” said Michael German, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Federal authorities have charged suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, 23, of Nigeria, with trying to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan. The device failed to fully detonate.

In Amsterdam, metal detectors and X-ray machines were in place, but the advanced scanning technology was not available. Dutch authorities have said they are confident about how AbdulMutallab was screened, but acknowledge that they could not have detected the explosive material that he was allegedly carrying.

Full coverage of Terror on Flight 253

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport will begin using the full-body scanners on all passengers taking flights to the United States, the Dutch interior minister said Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, the airport authority in Nigeria, where AbdulMutallab’s flight to Amsterdam originated, announced plans to add body scanners to its security system.

In the United States, 40 of these advanced imaging machines are in use in 19 airports, according to the TSA. Only in six airports are they used as a primary screening option.

An additional 150 advanced imaging machines will be installed in U.S. airports over the next year, and the TSA plans to purchase 300 more machines in 2010, the TSA’s Soule said.
Video: Netherlands now uses body scan
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The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based public interest research center, filed a lawsuit in November against the Department of Homeland Security seeking details under the Freedom of Information Act about the department’s use of the advanced imaging technology.

The privacy rights group is concerned that the focus on hidden explosives will push the TSA to ramp up use of the machines as a primary screening tool without resolving concerns about appropriate use of the technology, said associate director Lillie Coney.

Addressing privacy concerns, the TSA says faces are blurred on the body scans generated by the agency’s machines. Agents who deal directly with passengers do not see the scans, and the agents who review the scans do not see the passengers.

Because only a handful of the machines currently are in use in the U.S. as a primary screening measure and only a few other countries are using the technology, most travelers flagged for secondary screening would encounter other means of detecting threats, including pat-down searches and technology that can detect traces of explosives.

Some security analysts say pat-down searches — which are often perfunctory — are useless.

“Basically, any pat-down that you are not violated and embarrassed after is ineffective,” said security technologist Bruce Schneier, who is the author of a number of security-related books, including “Beyond Fear.”

In April 2008, the TSA announced an “enhanced pat-down search” to address items that could be hidden in “sensitive areas of the body,” including the chest and groin. The more thorough searches, the announcement said, would be used only when all other screening measures failed to resolve a security alarm.

The agency said Wednesday that this is not the current procedure but declined to offer further details on how pat-down guidelines have evolved.

A separate technology that analyzes samples for traces of explosive material is in place at every airport, Soule said. More than 7,000 explosives trace detectors are in use in airports across the country.

Screening procedures and technology constitute only one layer in combating terrorism, said Dr. Richard Bloom, director of terrorism, intelligence and security studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

“Regardless of the sophistication of the piece of technology, if you can collect the information on how it works and what its technical parameters are, then that machine is not going to deter a [sophisticated] terrorist operation,” Bloom said.

The screening technology is more effective in detecting threats from an increasing number of unsophisticated, mentally troubled suspects acting alone, he said. The technology is “only a piece” of aviation security.

Schneier believes the technology-based measures are a waste of money. Investigation and intelligence gathering is where the money would make a difference, he said.

“Stop trying to guess. You take away guns and bombs, the terrorists use box cutters. You take away box cutters, they put explosives in their shoes. You screen shoes, they use liquids. You take away liquids, they strap explosives to their body. You use full-body scanners, they’re going to do something else,” he said.

There is no “magic technology” or “magic pat-down technique,” Bloom said.

“In general, the odds are really stacked in the terrorists’ favor … because they only have to be successful one time and the government has to be successful all the time.”

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — GMAC Financial Services will receive a third round of bailout funds from the U.S. Treasury Department and the government will have a controlling stake in the company, according to a government report Wednesday.

The troubled auto and mortgage lender will collect $3.8 billion of additional aid on top of the nearly $13.5 billion already received since December 2008, the Treasury said in a statement Wednesday.

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The fresh lifeline is intended to return Detroit-based GMAC to profitability in the first quarter of 2010, according to the report, and will likely allow GMAC to avoid placing its home lending unit, Residential Capital, into bankruptcy.

This additional money will give the company the “capital buffer” it needs “to meet the worse-than-expected economic scenario,” GMAC said in a statement Wednesday.

The Treasury’s stake in GMAC will increase from 35% to 56%, and the government will have the right to appoint two additional directors to the company’s Board of Directors.

Last month, GMAC brought in former Citigroup executive Michael Carpenter to replace CEO Al De Molina, who had led the company since April 2008.

Carpenter had been a member of the lender’s board since May, when the Treasury made its second investment of $7.5 billion on top of the $6 billion received in December 2008.

Earlier this year, the government told GMAC to raise additional capital from private investors by Nov. 9 as part of the spring’s stress tests of the nation’s largest banks.

The Treasury said it will inject $3.8 billion of new capital into GMAC rather than the previously announced $5.6 billion, because GMAC’s needs are now less than originally expected, in part because the impact from the bankruptcies of General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler were not as harsh as regulators predicted.

Still, GMAC, which provides financing for General Motors and Chrysler and their customers, lost $5.3 billion in the first nine months of 2009, as demand for cars remained tepid and previous loans continued to go sour.

This marks the first big injection to a single company in several months, as firms such as Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) and GM have announced plans to repay their loans.

–CNN’s Emily Anderson contributed to this report To top of page

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America’s top military officer has voiced concern about an incursion by Iran into Iraq that ended with Iranian soldiers seizing an Iraqi oil well.

Admiral Mike Mullen said he had spoken to Iraq’s defence minister, but it was for leaders in Tehran and Baghdad to resolve the dispute.

Officials from both countries have said they want a diplomatic solution.

The Iranian troops are believed to have now left the Fakkah oil field, which is close to the Iranian border.

Similar incidents have happened before along the border, which has never been properly defined since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s – although relations between the two neighbours are now cordial.

‘No military escalation’

The Iraqis said about a dozen Iranian soldiers had been involved in the incursion and that they had raised the Iranian flag over the oil field.

I worry a great deal about Iran’s view of destabilising this region as well and specifically… focusing on an oil field

Adm Mike Mullen
According to General Ray Odierno, commander of US forces in Iraq, the Iranian forces had left the oil well as of Saturday morning, reports AP news agency.

“All of us are concerned about the influence of Iran,” Adm Mullen told a news conference in Baghdad.

“I worry a great deal about Iran’s view of destabilising this region as well and specifically… focusing on an oil field.”

He continued: “But my understanding is this is sovereign Iraqi territory and is something for leaders in Iraq to resolve.”

Earlier, Iran’s armed forces apparently confirmed the incursion, in a statement quoted by Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam satellite television.

“Our forces are on our own soil and, based on the known international borders, this well belongs to Iran,” they said.

Oil prices rose on Friday amid reports about the commandeered well in Maysan province.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters news agency: “We call for calm and for a peaceful solution to this matter, far from any military escalation.”

US forces are due to stay in Iraq until elections in March 2010, and then gradually pull out, with complete withdrawal scheduled by the end of 2011.

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The US was aware that “a Nigerian” in Yemen was being prepared for a terrorist attack – weeks before an attempted bombing on a US plane.

ABC News and the New York Times say there was intelligence to this effect, but its source is unclear.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab flew from Lagos to Amsterdam before changing planes for a flight to Detroit on which he allegedly tried to detonate a bomb.

The Netherlands is to introduce body scanners on US flights within weeks.

Dutch Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst said Mr Abdulmutallab did not raise any concerns as he passed through Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to board the flight.

She said the airport would be able to use body scanners on all flights to the US from the airport in three weeks, adding that they would be a permanent fixture.

Obama denounces lapses

US President Barack Obama has said security failures were unacceptable.

He has said a systemic failure allowed Mr Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, to fly to the US on 25 December despite family members warning officials in November that he had extremist views.

US FLIGHT ADVICE
Only one item of hand luggage, including items bought airside
BA and Virgin Atlantic not charging to check in extra hand luggage
Check in wrapped presents
Passengers subject to “pat-down” searches before boarding, on top of usual security checks
Customers to remain seated during final hour of flight
No access to hand luggage and a ban on leaving possessions or blankets on laps during this hour

Dutch press EU to adopt scanners
In pictures: Suspect’s journey
How are travellers screened?
Q&A: ‘Jet bomber’ case
US media response
The source of the intelligence about “a Nigerian” in Yemen was reported as coming from the Yemeni government or from US intercept intelligence, which can refer to intercepted e-mail and phone calls.

Mr Obama said he wanted to know why a warning weeks ago from Mr Abdulmutallab’s father did not lead to the accused being placed on a no-fly list.

“We need to learn from this episode and act quickly to fix flaws in the system,” Mr Obama said.

“When our government has information on a known extremist and that information is not shared and acted upon as it should have been, so that this extremist boards a plane with dangerous explosives that could have cost nearly 300 lives, a systemic failure has occurred.”

Some passengers and crew tackled Mr Abdulmutallab in his seat about 20 minutes before landing in Detroit as he allegedly tried to detonate explosives in his underwear.

Following a preliminary investigation, the Dutch interior minister described the bomb as professionally made but executed in an “amateurish” way.

Mr Abdulmutallab has reportedly told investigators that he trained in Yemen with al-Qaeda.

He was living in Yemen from August to early December, the foreign ministry said, according to an earlier report from the official Saba news agency.

He had a visa to study Arabic at an institute in the capital, Sana’a.

CIA spokesman George Little earlier said the agency had become aware of Mr Abdulmutallab in November when his father, who had lost contact with him, visited the US embassy to seek help in finding him.

He said the agency had ensured the Nigerian’s name was added to the government’s terrorist database, and was forwarded to the National Counterterrorism Center.

Nigerian airports ‘safe’

Meanwhile, Nigeria has rejected suggestions that its airport security was lax in allowing Mr Abdulmutallab to begin his journey from Lagos.

Nigeria’s Information Minister Dora Akunyili told the BBC: “We are not disorganised and our airports are very safe.”

Ms Akunyili said CCTV footage from Lagos airport showed Mr Abdulmutallab from check-in through to boarding the plane.

Lagos airport security has been tightened since the incident.

UK Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said it would be irresponsible if Britain did not carefully review its airport security, but stressed that President Obama’s comments about flawed checks were directed at American security processes.

“We believe our security processes are robust – and with… additional checks to and from the United States, I believe it is perfectly safe and responsible for people to continue travelling,” Lord Adonis said.

Somali held last month with chemicals, syringe

‘We caught him red-handed,’ official says after arrest in Mogadishu airport

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A man tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have caused an explosion in a case bearing chilling similarities to the terrorist plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The Somali man — whose name has not yet been released — was arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops before the Nov. 13 Daallo Airlines flight took off. It had been scheduled to travel from Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai. A Somali police spokesman, Abdulahi Hassan Barise, said the suspect is in Somali custody.

“We don’t know whether he’s linked with al-Qaida or other foreign organizations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him red-handed,” said Barise.
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A Nairobi-based diplomat said the incident in Somalia is similar to the attempted attack on the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day in that the Somali man had a syringe, a bag of powdered chemicals and liquid — tools similar to those used in the Detroit attack. The diplomat spoke on condition he not be identified because he isn’t authorized to release the information.

Barigye Bahoku, the spokesman for the African Union military force in Mogadishu, said the chemicals from the Somali suspect could have caused an explosion that would have caused air decompression inside the plane. However, Bahoku said he doesn’t believe an explosion would have brought the plane down.

A second international official familiar with the incident, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he isn’t authorized to discuss the case, confirmed that the substances carried by the Somali passenger could have been used as an explosive device.

In the Detroit case, alleged attacker Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab hid explosive PETN in a condom or condom-like bag just below his torso when he traveled from Amsterdam to Detroit. Like the captured Somali, Abdulmutallab also had a syringe filled with liquid. The substances seized from the Somali passenger are being tested.

U.S. officials hasten investigation
The November incident garnered little attention before the Dec. 25 attack aboard a flight on final approach to Detroit. U.S. officials have now learned of the Somali case and are hastening to investigate any possible links between it and the Detroit attack, though no officials would speak on the record about the probe.

U.S. investigators said Abdulmutallab told them he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen — which lies across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia. Similarly, large swaths of Somalia are controlled by an insurgent group, al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida.

Western officials say many of the hundreds of foreign jihadi fighters in Somalia come in small boats across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen. The officials also say that examination of equipment used in some Somali suicide attacks leads them to believe it was originally assembled in Yemen.

Law enforcement officials believe the suspect in the Detroit incident tried to ignite a two-part concoction of the high explosive PETN and possibly a glycol-based liquid explosive, setting off popping, smoke and some fire but no deadly detonation. Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian national, is charged with trying to destroy an aircraft.

A Somali security official involved in the capture of the suspect in Mogadishu said he had a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) package of chemical powder and a container of liquid chemicals. The security official said the suspect was the last passenger to try to board.

Once security officials detected the powder chemicals and syringe, the suspect tried to bribe the security team that detained him, the Somali security official said. The security official said the suspect had a white shampoo bottle with a black acid-like substance in it. He also had a clear plastic bag with a light green chalky substance and a syringe containing a green liquid. The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.

The powdered material had the strong scent of ammonia, Bahoku said, and samples have been sent to London for testing.

The Somali security officials said the Daallo Airlines flight was scheduled to go from Mogadishu to Hargeisa, to Djibouti and then to Dubai.

A spokeswoman for Daallo Airlines said that company officials weren’t aware of the incident and would have to seek more information before commenting. Daallo Airlines is based in Dubai and has offices in Djibouti and France.

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Bikinis are okay, but no more thongs or pasties that reveal the bottom portions of the breasts

EVERETT, Wash.—The long-running campaign in Snohomish County to rein in drive-through coffee stands featuring nearly nude baristas will culminate Jan. 7 in new laws that will apply to an estimated half-dozen businesses that are in the county but outside the city limits of Everett, Washington.

“The County Council voted unanimously on Dec. 9 to regulate businesses as adult entertainment if employees show too much skin in public,” reports the Herald. “The council also strengthened the county’s lewd conduct law, including tougher penalties and clarifying definitions for public places. That law also holds business owners and managers accountable for allowing lewd conduct.”

The new rules prohibit baristas from wearing such things as thongs or pasties that don’t fully cover rear ends or the bottom portion of the breasts, but they do not prevent workers from wearing bikinis in public.

The move comes after a long campaign by local citizens who were instrumental in pushing the county to enact the new laws. “We’re planning to go to the Everett City Council as sort of a next step,” said Shahram Hadian, who has organized local opposition to the controversial stands.

“Past complaints have included baristas flashing customers and performing simulated sex acts, as well as employees wearing thongs, pasties and other skimpy clothing,” reports the Herald. “The county’s new rules already appear to be moderating behavior even before they take effect,” Hadian said.

“I definitely think it’s had an impact,” he added. “The word has gotten out and they have toned down.”

According to one of the coffee-stand owners, however, the new rules will have little impact on business.

“It’s not a problem,” said Bill Wheeler, the owner of the Grab-N-Go chain of bikini espresso stands. “My girls look just as beautiful in a bikini as they would in pasties anyways.”

Of perhaps greater significance to the county is its inability to conduct future inspections not only of the coffee stands, but of any adult establishment. According to the Herald, the county auditor is responsible for inspecting all such businesses, including adult bookstores and strip clubs, but since 2008, it has lost its three field inspectors—one was laid off, another resigned and a third retired. None have been replaced.

So, while the new laws will now be on the books, it appears that the honor code and community vigilance will ensure that they are obeyed. But for the relatively few citizens who managed to stir the outrage pot that led to the new laws, however, the marketplace seems to be speaking equally loudly.

After one of Wheeler’s stands changed to more family-friendly attire about a month ago, he estimated business dropped by about 95 percent.

“I don’t plan on doing that with any other stand,” he told the Herald. “Nobody wants to buy coffee from a clothing stand.”

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Yahoo!, Flickr and Bing are all blocking requests for sex-specific search results

DELHI—The world had a good chuckle this week after it was revealed that the 86-year-old governor of a province in India resigned after a sex tape was released that showed him in bed with three young women, but the story veils what’s really going on in a country whose citizens search for “sex” on the internet more than any other people in the world.

Search queries for “sex” are coming back minus the sex. In fact, a recent investigation by the Guardian has uncovered an astonishing amount of censorship by some of the most trafficked portals in the world, including Flickr, Bing and Yahoo!.

“The Yahoo search engine and Flickr photo-sharing site (owned by Yahoo) altered their sites earlier this month to prevent users in India from switching off the safe-search facility. The block also applies to users in Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea,” reports the paper. “Microsoft has also barred Indian users of its Bing search engine from searching for sexual content. Users who do try to search for sexual material receive a notice informing them that ‘your country or region requires a strict Bing SafeSearch setting, which filters out results that might return adult content.’”

The restricted access is apparently the result of changes to India’s Information Technology Act of 2000, which bans the publication of pornographic material. That law is based on a 150-year-old statute (section 292 of the Indian penal code) that defines obscenity as “any content that is lascivious and that will appeal to prurient interest or the effect of which is to tend to deprave or corrupt the minds of those who are likely to see, read or hear the same.”

“In October,” says the Guardian, “the scope of the 2000 act was widened to enable action to be taken against a wide range of providers, from internet search engines and internet service providers to cyber-cafes. Under the new law, they are obliged to exercise due diligence and disable access to any content which contravenes the act. Failure to do so carries a three-year jail sentence and a fine of up to 500,000 rupees.” That amount converts to $10,744.60.

Such large-scale censorship in a democracy that, like America, is deeply conflicted about its attitudes toward sex should be of profound concern to civil libertarians in the United States who believe it can’t happen here or that the massive internet portals upon which we are all increasingly dependent will ultimately stand up and defend the ability of individuals to freely access the internet.

Despite the fact that Yahoo! is an American corporation, the Flickr website explains that “Flickr is a global community made up of many different kinds of people.

“What’s OK in your backyard may not be OK in theirs. Each one of us bears the responsibility of categorizing our own content within this landscape. So, we’ve introduced some filters to help everyone try to get along.

“If your Yahoo! ID is based in Singapore, Hong Kong, India or Korea you will only be able to view safe content based on your local terms of service (this means you won’t be able to turn SafeSearch off).”

What it also means is that, under the right circumstances, Flickr will block our search results in a New York minute, too.

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Group built around opposition to a fake Facebook fee which quickly claimed 133,000 members may have already been disabled

PALO ALTO, Calif.—A Facebook group that has been adding members at a fast clip is apparently a scam that ultimately sends people to a site that contains porn and, even worse, a lot of vicious malware. The techosphere is on full alert regarding the problem, which came to light only recently, even though the group has already amassed about 133,000 members.

The problem was brought to light only yesterday by designer Ben Pieratt, who posted it to his blog, General Projects. “Looking at my news feed this morning on Facebook, I noticed that my sister-in-law had joined the “WE’RE AGAINST THE 4.99 A MONTH CHARGE FOR FACEBOOK FROM JUNE 30TH 2010” group. Surprised that I hadn’t heard anything about this new charge, I clicked through to find out what it was all about. The group has no content other than its title and a reference to an external URL (which I won’t be linking to).”

No such pending Facebook fee exists, says mxlogic.com, and “the only link posted on the group’s page sends users to a well-known shock site, which hijacks browsers and attempts to download 25 items onto the affected computer. The shock site displays rapid-fire images of pornographic and obscene images and sounds, appearing to shake the screen around and making it impossible to close the hijacked browser and requiring the victim to restart his or her machine to end the flood of offensive images and sounds.”

According to a commenter on General Projects, “Apparently the destination URL is a 4chan dumping ground for pissing people off and I’m a total noob.” Which means the commenter didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late.

It appears, however, that as of midday Tuesday the group no longer exists, though there has been no official comment from Facebook regarding the malware group that somehow garnered 133,000 members.

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Google and Microsoft to escalate war in 2010

by Sharon Gaudin, Computerworld

Editor’s Note: This story is excerpted from Computerworld. For more Mac coverage, visit Computerworld’s Macintosh Knowledge Center.

One of the most heated battles among technology companies was waged this year between Google and Microsoft
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For those who think this corporate fight hit a crescendo in 2009, industry analysts say they better think again. It looks like this is just getting started.

The battle escalated this year as the two high-tech titans went after each other’s market share and revenue stream in Internet search, operating systems, enterprise applications and browsers. With each company seeing the other as a major threat to its bread and butter products, 2009 may been just a warm-up for the battle that will ensue in the months to come.

“These two companies really squared off this year,” said Jim McGregor, an analyst with In-Stat. “Both are looking for dominant positions in the Internet. For Google to increase its business, it needs to move into other territory. For Microsoft to have significant growth opportunities, it needs to become an Internet powerhouse, and they know it. This is not a war that is going to be won by one or two battles. This is going to be a prolonged activity.”

He added that the battle isn’t simply over which can be called top dog, because the fight is critical to both companies. “For Google, it’s about expanding, and for Microsoft, it’s about a life-or-death challenge,” McGregor said.

The two companies basically grew into this face-off.

Google, one of the great Internet success stories, has grown into an online behemoth. With a name that has evolved into a verb meaning “to search,” Google grown so much that it has become a threat to Microsoft, which has had a long and storied history of high-tech industry dominance. There was a time not so long ago when few believed that any company could rattle Microsoft, let alone a Web company like Google.

But those days are over. Google has rattled Microsoft’s cage and, in turn, the software giant has set its sights on taking its new rival down a notch or two. Microsoft has spent millions of dollars and used countless manpower hours to grab a chunk of Google’s search market share and topple the Web company from its new lofty perch above the high-tech industry – eliminating the threat to Microsoft’s longheld industry dominance.

“The reason that Microsoft is so focused on Google is because Google is chipping away at Microsoft’s crown jewels of Office and Windows with their online applications,” said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. “While Microsoft plays defense on the applications/operating system front, they’re attacking Google on search and online services. Search is the key to Google’s success since Web ads account for more than 90% of its revenue. If you can steal some eyes from Google’s search engine, you cut into their ad revenue and, perhaps over time, cripple them.”

This back and forth between the two companies intensified when Microsoft overhauled its far-from-beloved Microsoft Live Search and released the update, Bing search engine in June. But make no mistake about it – Google still owns the search market with a share of more than 64 percent. But Microsoft’s Bing has failed to fail. The new search service has largely been gaining steam, albeit in small increments, but gaining nontheless.

Microsoft has more reason to hope that Bing will take a significant chunk out of Google search since the company announced plans over the summer to team with Yahoo, which holds the second-place spot in the search market—nestled snugly between Google and third-place Bing. The deal, which still has to be approved in the U.S. and in Europe, would have Yahoo give up its own search technology to use Microsoft’s.

Pooling their resources and industry might, the two companies hope to do together what neither has been able to do alone—significantly make gains on Google’s ubiquitous search.

The search battle heated up this fall when both companies announced they had struck individual deals to serve up real-time search results. Microsoft will be offering users real-time tweets from Twitter and posts from Facebook, while Google has already begun working with Twitter to offer up tweets in its search results.

But this fight extends beyond search.

Google pushed hard this past year to move its cloud-based office applications into the enterprise. Taking on Microsoft’s ubiquitous Office applications was a bold move that could prove lucrative if it succeeds. Microsoft, however, isn’t sitting back and watching Google move into that territory. The company announced this year that it plans to move its Office applications to the cloud and take on Google head-to-head.

The Google/Microsoft fight also extends into the browser arena with Google Chrome going up against Internet Explorer. Google also announced that it’s working on the Linux-based Chrome OS operating system, which, if widely adopted, could help users see Google’s Apps offering as a viable alternative to Microsoft’s Office suite.

“This battle was always looking like a long-term conflict,” Olds said. “It’s the equivalent of high-tech trench warfare. In 2010, we can expect to see the bitter competition continue, with each company keeping up the heat with new features and innovations.”

McGregor noted that the next 18 to 24 months are looking to be fun to watch with the two giants pulling out all the stops, and all their weaponry, to try to take down the other.

He added that the search market should expect to see a greater focus on real-time search and more advanced algorithms designed to help the search engines figure out what people are thinking and how to give them more information. For instance, instead of searching for pet stores and getting a list of stores in a certain area, users might be given a list of stores along with directions on how to get to each one from their current location.

Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, said we’re likely to see more industry players, such as Apple, Mozilla, and News Corp. aligning against Google.

“Both companies are largely betting their collective futures on this battle so the stakes are huge,” Enderle said. “Microsoft is going to partner and try to starve Google out of content and partners. Google is going to work against Microsoft’s pricing model and starve them out of money. Both are, for once, largely going after each other’s relative weaknesses and leveraging their respective strengths, so this will likely be a battle for the history books.”

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A Yemeni army helicopter carries out operations against al Qaeda suspects on December 17 in the Sanaa province.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Two senior U.S. officials tell CNN that Yemen, U.S. are looking at fresh targets
* U.S. and Yemen trying to identify potential al Qaeda training sites in Yemen
* Strikes would be in retaliation for botched attempt to blow up airliner landing in Detroit
* U.S. believes there may be a few hundred al Qaeda fighters in Yemen

Washington (CNN) — The U.S. and Yemen are now looking at fresh targets in Yemen for a potential retaliation strike, two senior U.S. officials told CNN Tuesday, in the aftermath of the botched Christmas Day attack on an airliner that al Qaeda in Yemen claims it organized.

The officials asked not to be not be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information. They both stressed the effort is aimed at being ready with options for the White House if President Obama orders a retaliatory strike. The effort is to see whether targets can be specifically linked to the airliner incident and its planning.

U.S. special operations forces and intelligence agencies, and their Yemeni counterparts, are working to identify potential al Qaeda targets in Yemen, one of the officials said. This is part of a new classified agreement with the Yemeni government that the two countries will work together and that the U.S. will remain publicly silent on its role in providing intelligence and weapons to conduct strikes.

Officially the U.S. has not said it conducted previous airstrikes in Yemen, but officials are privately saying the Yemeni military could not have carried out the strikes on its own.

By all accounts, the agreement would allow the U.S. to fly cruise missiles, fighter jets or unmanned armed drones against targets in Yemen with the consent of that government.
Video: Yemen the next terror haven?
RELATED TOPICS

* Yemen
* Al Qaeda
* Terrorism

One of the officials said Yemen has not yet consented to the type of special forces helicopter-borne air assault that would put U.S. commandos on the ground with the mission of capturing suspects for further interrogation. That is also a capability the U.S. would like the Yemenis to eventually develop the official said.

At this point, the U.S. believes there may be a few hundred al Qaeda fighters in Yemen centered around a group of key network leaders. U.S. intelligence believes some key leaders were killed in recent airstrikes but is still working to confirm details.

U.S. military and intelligence officials describe to CNN an al Qaeda network with organized command and control that has evolved and grown over the past year. U.S. intelligence concludes there are several training camps similar to those established in other countries where one or two dozen fighters at a time train.

The U.S. and Yemenis are also looking into the possibility the Nigerian suspect in the airliner incident trained at one of the camps.

One of the camps was among the targets in each set of airstrikes earlier this month.

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President Obama said authorities should have had enough information to prevent the suspect from boarding the plane.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* President: Authorities should have prevented suspect from boarding flight
* Obama: Information that U.S. had on man’s allegedly extremist views not effectively distributed
* Man accused of attempting to detonate explosive on flight to U.S. on Christmas
* Systemic failure “totally unacceptable,” Obama says

RELATED TOPICS

* Terrorism
* Barack Obama
* September 11 Attacks

(CNN) — President Obama said Tuesday that a “mix of human and systemic failure” allowed a terror suspect to board a U.S. airliner in the botched bombing attempt on Christmas Day.

In a brief statement during his vacation in Hawaii, Obama said that information on the suspect, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, should have been sufficient to alert authorities to prevent him from getting on the Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan.

“A systemic failure has occurred, and I consider that totally unacceptable,” Obama said.

“What already is apparent is that there was a mix of human and systemic failures that contributed to this potential catastrophic breach of security,” he said. “We need to learn from this episode and act quickly to fix the flaws in our system, because our security is at stake, and lives are at stake.”

Federal authorities have charged AbdulMutallab, 23, of Nigeria, with trying to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear as the flight made its final approach. The device failed to fully detonate, instead setting off a fire at his seat.

Obama said courageous actions by other passengers and crew members helped avert a disaster, and he repeated a series of steps originally announced Monday as a response to the incident, including reviews of passenger screening procedures and terrorism watch lists for air travel.

However, the president said U.S. intelligence officials had received information signaling that the suspect might be a terrorism threat but failed to take steps to prevent the man from boarding the flight.

“It’s been widely reported that the father of the suspect in the Christmas incident warned U.S. officials in Africa about his son’s extremist views,” Obama said. “It now appears that weeks ago, this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list.”

Obama cited “other deficiencies,” saying “there were bits of information available within the intelligence community that could have and should have been pieced together.”

The screening system implemented after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States was “not sufficiently up to date to take full advantage of the information we collect and knowledge we have,” he said.

“Had this critical information been shared, it could have been compiled with other intelligence, and a fuller, clearer picture of the suspect would have emerged,” Obama said. “The warning signs would have triggered red flags, and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America.”

He praised the dedication and professionalism of U.S. intelligence services, crediting them with saving the lives of Americans every day. But he added that the inability to take proper action on “information on a known extremist” showed the system had failed.

“As president, I will do everything in my power to support the men and women in intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security to make sure they’ve got the tools and resources they need to keep America safe, but it’s also my job to ensure that our intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security systems and the people in them are working effectively and held accountable,” Obama said. “I intend to fulfill that responsibility and insist on accountability at every level.”

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