Al-Qaeda after al-Zawahiri | Protecting Federal Data Centers | Alex Jones Concedes Sandy Hook Attack Was Real, and more

In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors said Khalifa played a key role in the group’s successful efforts to recruit tens of thousands of foreign fighters to defend its self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria. In two notorious propaganda videos titled “Flames of War,” Khalifa can be seen shooting Syrian soldiers in the back of the head after they dug their own graves. He also narrated the videos. Khalifa’s defense attorneys had sought a term of just 20 years at Friday’s sentencing hearing in Alexandria, Virginia. They argued that he was less culpable than two British-born Islamic State members — Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, nicknamed the “Beatles” by their captives — who personally beat and tortured Western hostages. Both Kotey and Elsheikh were convicted in Alexandria; one has received a life sentence and the other is expected to get life when he is formally sentenced next month.

National Guard Member Sought Out Extremists, Planned Attack on Police  (Washington Post)
A former National Guard member who admitted in pleading guilty to a weapons charge that he sought out violent extremists and discussed a potential attack on Virginia Beach police was sentenced Monday to four years and nine months in prison. Francis P. Harker, 22, of Norfolk, pleaded guilty to possessing several firearms while he was regularly using LSD and other drugs. He was sentenced Monday based on that offense, but prosecutors said it was “just the tip of the iceberg.” A backpack in Harker’s car trunk contained ingredients for molotov cocktails, prosecutors said, and Harker “admitted to interacting online with members of a group called ‘The Base,’ “ a violent white-supremacist and anti-government group. A magistrate judge found in November that Harker “traveled to Colorado to meet with the leader of a violent extremist group,” but the group is not named in court records.  Harker’s public defenders said he was “vulnerable and isolated,” suffering from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and drug addiction, and was interested in white supremacism for the shock value and not out of ideological conviction. They had requested a sentence of three years in prison. “His drug use, along with his untreated ADHD, caused Mr. Harker to delve deeper and deeper into a fringe ideology and make increasingly warped decisions, culminating with the choices leading to this prosecution,” his attorneys said in a sentencing brief.

Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Federal Data Centers from Catastrophic Weather Events, Cyber-Attacks, and Other Potential Disasters  (Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)
U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, introduced bipartisan legislation to protect and secure federal data centers. Federal data centers store considerable amounts of sensitive information, and house critical information technology and cybersecurity infrastructures. Peters’ legislation would help ensure that these centers are able to withstand a potential disaster or attack. Michigan is home to several data centers, including a facility owned by Switch in Grand Rapids.

Alex Jones Concedes Sandy Hook Attack Was Not a Hoax but ‘100% Real’  (DW)
This US conspiracy theorist had lied about the Sandy Hook school shooting for years. But, facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit, he now admits he was wrong.