• Al Qaeda wants to be your “friend” and “follower”

    Hackers attacking databases is just one facet of online terrorist activity; international terrorist organizations have shifted their Internet activity focus to social networks and today a number of Facebook groups are asking users to join and support Hezbollah, Hamas, and other armed groups that have been included in the West’s list of declared terror organizations

  • Thirty U.S. car dealers caught in Hezbollah terror-financing scheme

    Thirty used car dealerships in the United States are currently under investigation for their part in an international money laundering scheme that sent roughly $300 million to the known terrorist organization Hezbollah

  • Al Qaeda leaders fleeing to North Africa

    Reports from senior British military officials indicate that al Qaeda’s top leaders are moving out of Pakistan and into North Africa potentially in an attempt to avoid casualties from the U.S. drone campaign or as a broader shift in strategy

  • FBI’s eGuardian integrated with Memex Patriarch

    Deployed over the last three years, FBI eGuardian is a nationwide Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) system focused on counterterrorism tips and leads; the agency has now integrated eGuardian with Patriarch Intelligence Management Platform from Memmex

  • Terrorists using sophisticated uni-directional bombs

    Terrorists have learned to develop increasingly sophisticated explosives as evidenced by the uni-directional bombs detonated last week in Karachi, Pakistan that killed three Pakistan Rangers and injured several others

  • Minnesota banks to stop money transfers to Somalia

    In an effort to cut off funds to Somali terrorists, banks in Minnesota will no longer support money transfers via local businesses called “hawalas”; Minnesota has the largest concentration of Somalis in the United States and officials fear that money sent from relatives living in the United States could be funding terrorist groups like al Shabaab

  • White House offers details of plans to fight homegrown terrorism

    The White House yesterday unveiled a broad, new strategy to battle homegrown terrorism in the United States. The program empowers communities by teaching local officials to recognize violent extremism and see the threat as a public safety issue, like the battle against gangs and drugs. The 20-page White House strategy, entitled “Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States,” adds details to the outline the administration released four months ago.

  • The threat to military communities inside the United States

    The Majority Staff of the House Committee on Homeland Security has released a report on threats to the security of military communities in the United States; the report says that 70 percent of the plots against military targets occurred since mid-2009 — including the two successful homeland attacks since 9/11

  • Safer fertilizer technology

    Honeywell will build a facility in California to produce a fertilizer with the agronomic benefits of traditional nitrate-based fertilizers, but with significantly lower explosive potential; the new fertilizer was independently tested, with guidance from the DHS and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and demonstrated significantly less or no explosive power

  • Nigerian Islamist terrorists and U.S. security

    Boko Haram is an Islamist religious sect that formed in the northern part of Nigeria, Africa’s leading oil producer, in 2002. Its Hausa-language name means “Western education is sin.” The group’s continuing attacks on Western targets in Nigeria and a death toll reaching 330 people in 2011 have made U.S. lawmakers and security experts take notice.

  • CIA terror plot-tracking technology is intriguing, worrisome

    A program developed by Palantir Technologies for PayPal is now used by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. It allows the CIA to detect a terrorist plot in the making, and do so without subjecting the general public to intrusive measures.

  • Indiana sheriffs use video conferencing to reduce costs

    In an effort to reduce costs, officials in Tippecanoe County, Indiana have begun using video conferencing technology to hold court hearings without transporting the defendant to the courtroom

  • LAPD named best counterterrorism squad

    The Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau (CTSOB) recently received Government Security News’ highest honor for a division of its kind

  • NYPD spying on Muslims leads to spiral of mistrust

    Following the revelation that the New York City police department was spying on the daily lives of ordinary Muslims, community activists have launched a campaign encouraging people to avoid directly reporting suspicious activity to the police

  • Cyber attacks on critical infrastructure reach U.S.

    Most of the U.S. critical infrastructure is run by computers which are connected to the Internet; this makes them susceptible to cyber attacks; a few days ago the control system of a water pump in Illinois was taken over by a hacker’s remote command, and then deliberately destroyed; what critical infrastructure facilities will hackers — nerdy teenagers, terrorists, or intelligence operatives of other nations — target next?