OUR PICKSTerrorism’s Geography Lessons | Extremism & Local News | The Case for Repealing Gun Manufacturers’ Legal Shield, and more
·Geography Lessons From the 9/11 Terrorist Network
·U.S. Cited ‘Domestic Terrorism’ In Search Tied to Oath Keepers’ Lawyer
·China Accuses Washington of Cyber-Spying on University
·Elected Officials, Police Chiefs on Leaked Oath Keepers List
·Ensuring Access to Courts for Gun Victims: The Case for Repealing PLCAA
·Soldier Who Said He Wanted Combat Experience to Kill Black People Booted After FBI Probe
·Ukraine’s Azov Battalion: Neo-Nazis or Russian Propaganda?
·How Is Cryptocurrency Funding Terrorism Across the Globe
·Extremism Concerns Raised Against Bill to Empower Local News
·German Court Hands Islamic State Member 10 Years in Prison for Murder, War Crimes
Geography Lessons From the 9/11 Terrorist Network (Olivier Walther et al., Lawfare)
Mapping the travel geography of terrorist networks can help expose how they operate internationally. This article takes a close look at the 9/11 plot and finds that terrorists who belonged to the same operational cell did not necessarily live in the same place at the same time. However, their itineraries closely matched their organizational structure. Distinct travel patterns and strong social ties not only made the 9/11 travel network resilient but also essentially allowed the 19 hijackers to hide in plain sight while being very mobile.
U.S. Cited ‘Domestic Terrorism’ In Search Tied to Oath Keepers’ Lawyer (Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post)
A court opinion unsealed Tuesday evening marks what appears to be the first time the federal court in Washington has disclosed the FBI and Justice Department’s use of a domestic terrorism measure in the USA Patriot Act to obtain a search warrant connected to their sweeping probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Federal investigators probing the extremist group Oath Keepers on charges of seditious conspiracy last year invoked the provision that permits the government to obtain a search warrant from a U.S. magistrate judge anywhere in the country rather than one located where the search is to be executed in a domestic terrorism investigation, according to the newly unsealed court records. The 18-page opinion revealed that in July 2021, prosecutors asked a U.S. magistrate judge in D.C., rather than one in Texas, to approve a court-authorized search of a cellphone owned by a person who appears to match the description of an attorney for the Oath Keepers, Kellye SoRelle. The lawyer was arrested last week in Texas and was with the group’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
China Accuses Washington of Cyber-Spying on University (Associated Press / VOA News)
China Monday accused Washington of breaking into computers at a university that U.S. officials say does military research, adding to complaints by both governments of rampant online spying against each other.
Northwestern Polytechnical University reported computer break-ins in June, the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center announced. It said the center, working with a commercial security provider, Qihoo 360 Technology Co., traced the attacks to the National Security Agency but didn’t say how that was done. (Cont.)