• Tuaregs set Sahara aflame, proclaim new country

    Tuareg secessionist rebels have declared independence in an area larger than France in the northern two-thirds of Mali; the move, which has been condemned by the UN and the African Union, among others, has raised concerns about similar secessionist moves in neighboring Niger, where the Tueareg-populated areas contain large deposits of uranium and active uranium-mining operations; there are also fears about the relationship between an independent Tuareg government and al Qaeda-affiliated organizations in North Africa

  • First U.S. drone attack in Pakistan in a month kills four terrorists

    Yesterday, Sunday, missiles launched from a CIA drone missiles hit military targets in Pakistan for the first time in a month. The attack killed four al Qaeda members, but further heightening tensions between the United States and Pakistan. Back in November 2011, U.S. airstrikes, called in by Pakistani commanders n the ground, killed twenty-four Pakistani soldiers. In response, Pakistan said that unless the United States apologized for the incident, no more U.S. drone attack would be allowed against terror targets inside Pakistan. The United States expressed regrets over the death of the soldiers, but refused to apologize, saying the accident was the result of mistakes and miscommunication on both sides. Since November, the United States has reduced considerably the number of drone attacks inside Pakistan, but has refused to end such attacks altogether. The U.S. refusal has led to Pakistani parliament, on three different occasions, to pass resolutions calling upon the United States to cease and desist.

  • Threat of imminent Israeli, U.S. attack on Iran appears to recede

    The New York Times reports today that analysts inside and outside the Obama administration believe that there is less likelihood now – relative to how things looked in the winter — that either Israel or the United States would launch a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. The reasons: the economic sanctions on Iran are slowing the Iranian economy, with more draconian sanctions coming in July; the mood in the first round of talks between Iranian and Western representative, who met in Ankara two weeks ago, was positive, and there is some optimism that the next round, to be held in Baghdad in a month time, may yield Iranian concessions on the issue of uranium enrichment; also, there is a growing schism in Israel between, on one side, political leaders – namely, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak – and, on the other side, both former and current military and intelligence officials about the wisdom of attacking Iran now, before diplomacy and tough sanctions have been given a chance.

  • Bill in Israel would cut social security payments to terrorists in half

    Lawmakers from the nationalist Yisrael Beytenu party (the leader of the party is Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister) have sponsored a bill, which was approved for its second and third reading in a contentious meeting of the Knesset Labor, Welfare, and Health Committee on earlier today (Monday), which would cut in half  National Insurance (more or less the Israeli equivalent of the U.S. Social Security) payments to criminals convicted of terror-related crimes upon their release from prison. The legislation cuts National Insurance benefits by 50 percent for Israeli citizens involved in terrorism who were sentenced to at least ten years in prison.

  • British state-backed reinsurer has £4.5 billion to cover Olympic Games terror-related losses

    Pool Re, the British state-backed reinsurer which covers commercial property losses from  terror attack-related activities, has £4.5 billion ($7.327 billion) of assets to cover the Summer Olympic Games. Pool Re said it had no plans to jack up premiums for the event. If the damage from bombings or other terror-related incidents were to cost more than that amount, the British taxpayer, under the Pool Re structure, would step in to cover the difference. Pool Re was set up in the 1990s when the U.K. government was worried that the terror campaign pursued by Irish militant groups could make London property uninsurable and damage the national economy.

  • Surface-to-air missiles to protect London Olympic Games

    British security sources revealed that the security envelope developed to protect the Summer Olympic Games in London will include six Rapier surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries. The British security forces will conduct, between 2 and 10 May, a massive exercise, called Exercise Olympic Guardian, on land, sea, and in the air in the London and Weymouth areas. For those familiar with London: For the exercise, six sites were selected for deployment of the SAM dummies: the Lexington Building in Tower Hamlets; the Fred Wigg Tower in Waltham Forest, east London; Blackheath Common; Oxleas Wood, Eltham; William Girling Reservoir, Enfield; and Barn Hill in Epping Forest.

  • Terrorism poses serious threat to Nigeria

    The Nigerian chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, said that recent terrorist attacks in Nigeria pose a challenge to the country’s security forces, making it necessary for the military and police to be more proactive. General Ihejirika spoke at the graduation ceremony of 256 students of the Special Forces’ Basic Counter Terrorism Course. The students are trained in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations at the Nigerian Army Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism Center, located in Kachia, Kaduna State.

  • Two Taiwanese nationals charged in military technology smuggling plot

    Taiwanese nationals engaged in smuggling counterfeit consumer goods and crystal methamphetamine into the United States, are discovered to be working for Chinese intelligence agencies in an effort to smuggle sensitive U.S. military technology out of the United States

  • FBI still short on terrorism experts

    A report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) says that the FBI, despite progress made in hiring terrorism experts, is still facing difficulties staffing its Counterterrorism Division (CTD)

  • Budget pressures lead Nevada to reduces state’s anti-terrorism programs

    The Nevada Homeland Security Commission, faced with a 60 percent cut in federal homeland security funds, drastically reduced the state’s anti-terrorism programs; six programs eliminated, while remaining programs will have to manage with less

  • Critics slam administration’s “minor offenses” deportation stance

    Critics if the administration’s immigration policies slam the administration’s last week announcement that it will no longer initiate enforcement actions against deportable aliens identified by the Secure Communities program who have committed minor criminal offenses

  • LAPD shows the way in local counterror efforts

    Commander Joan T. McNamara, who heads the LAPD Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau, has devised a method which is considered so inexpensive, easily implemented, and innovative that federal authorities are considering making it a national model for local law enforcement intelligence gathering

  • #WeGotBinLaden: how Twitter broke its biggest story

    A new study confirms the widely held belief that Keith Urbahn (@keithurbahn), an aide to former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was the first person to break the news regarding the killing of Osama bin Laden on Twitter; his tweet was sent at 10:24 p.m.

  • No Hezbollah training camps in metropolitan Detroit: FBI

    FBI assistant special agent Todd Mayberry, the head of the FBI’s counterterrorism activities in Michigan, told attendees at a security conference that the Iran-supported Hezbollah has no training camps in the Detroit area

  • Supreme Court hears arguments on Arizona immigration law

    The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments about the tough Arizona immigration law, known as SB107; the case highlights a fundamental disagreements over the precise balance of power between the states and the national government; the judges appeared skeptical of the administration’s arguments; the Arizona case may occasion a redrawing by the Supreme Court of established boundaries between the federal government and the states on immigration enforcement