• OBL planned to kill Obama on 9/11

    Osama Bib Laden was putting together a team of al Qaeda operatives whose mission was to use a shoulder-fired missile to bring down Air Force One or Marine one — the president’s helicopter - on the anniversary of the 9/11 attack; the plot was gleaned from digital storage media picked up on 2 May at OBL’s compound in Pakistan; other plots were discussed, among them flying an explosives-filled plane into a sports stadium on 4th July, and killing General David Petraeus

  • Minneapolis man single-handedly battles Islamic extremism

    Individuals like Abdirizak Bihi, who single handedly tries to keep young Somali-American teenagers from becoming radicalized, are part of a growing trend that officials in Washington call “CVE,” combatting violent extremism; since the 9/11 attacks, there have been fifty-one domestically produced jihadist plots or attacks in the United States and that number is steadily growing

  • Senators concerned about terrorists entering U.S.

    U.S. lawmakers have lingering concerns about the ability for terrorists to enter the country following last week’s Senate hearing that investigated how two Iraqi nationals with terrorist ties were able to enter the United States and live in Bowling Green, Kentucky for several years; A Government Accountability Report (GAO), released on the same day as the hearing, found four critical gaps in preventing terrorists from entering the United States

  • Natural enzyme can defend against terrorists' nerve agents

    Chemicals called organophosphates, found in common household insecticides, can be just as harmful to people as to insects; organophosphates could be released on an industrial scale, through an act of terror or accident, attacking the nervous system by inactivating an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase (AChE); scientists are devising drugs to treat and prevent the toxic effects of organophosphates and related chemicals

  • ICE chief: Israel's inclusion on terror watch list a "mistake"

    DHS officials are now saying Israel’s inclusion on a list of countries that promote, produce, or protect terrorists was a mistake; John Morton, director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said, “The addition of Israel to the list—- was based on inaccurate information provided to the OIG during the course of its audit”; a May 2011 report contained an appendix which lists “specially designated countries” that promote terrorism; the list instructed ICE agents to pay special attention to, and investigate more thoroughly, individuals from these countries arrested by ICE; ICE spokesperson suggested that Israel was included not because its government supports terrorism, but because some individual Israelis do pose a terror threat; 1.5 million of Israel’s 7.5 million citizens are Arabs

  • ICE lists Israel among countries that promote, produce, or protect terrorists

    DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a report describing the methods on which the agency relies to arrest, detain, and, if necessary, deport undesirable aliens; the report contains an appendix which lists “specially designated countries” whose detained nationals should be more closely examined; among the countries whose nationals should be paid special attention as potential terror risks is Israel — which the report considers a “Promoter, Producer, or Protector” of terrorists

  • White House prioritizes domestic threats in new counterterrorism strategy

    On Tuesday the Obama administration unveiled its new counterterrorism strategy that emphasizes protecting the United States from domestic threats; the deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism said the new U.S. counterterrorism strategy will focus on “the ability of al Qaeda and its network to inspire people in the United States to attack us from within”; the new policy “is not designed to combat directly every single terrorist organization in every corner of the world”; high administration officials said that the death of Osama bin Laden and the wide spread protests across the Middle East have left al Qaeda and other extremists “on the sidelines, watching history pass them by”

  • Were Pakistani IED plants tipped off to impending raids?

    The U.S.-Pakistan relationship is becoming increasingly strained as several terrorist bomb-making factories in Pakistan were evacuated shortly after American officials alerted their Pakistani counterparts to their existence; so far, in the last month alone, four bomb-making factories were evacuated just before they were raided, but it is unclear whether that was the result of deliberate leaks by Pakistani intelligence officials or if they had been planned ahead of time as a precautionary measure; Senator john McCain (R-Arizona) said: “After all, the United States is investing billions and billions of dollars in Pakistan. Taxpayers have a right to have a return on that”

  • DHS urges greater vigilance for Independence Day, but no threats

    As Americans across the United States prepare to celebrate the nation’s birth on 4 July, DHS is urging law enforcement agencies and individuals to remain vigilant; in its latest Security Awareness bulletin, DHS is careful to note that there is no “specific or credible information” that al Qaeda is planning an attack, but did say that al Qaeda had aspired to execute attacks on the symbolic holiday

  • Al Qaeda cellphone shows possible link to Pakistani Intelligence

    The latest details to emerge from the data seized by Navy SEALs from the raid that killed Osama bin Laden reveal that al Qaeda may have links to a Pakistani militant group that has close ties to Pakistan’s intelligence agency; analysts found that the cell phone of Osama bin Laden’s courier contained contacts to Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, a militant group originally set up with the assistance of Pakistan’s Directorate for Interservices Intelligence (ISI) to fight as a proxy in Afghanistan

  • Marine reservist arrested outside Pentagon, suspicious vehicle found

    Authorities apprehended Lance Corporal Yonathan Melaku early Friday morning after he was found at Arlington National Cemetery while it was still closed; authorities discovered that the suspect was carrying a notebook that contained the phrases “al Qaeda,” “Taliban rules,” and “Mujahid defeated croatian forces”; law enforcement officials say that despite the evidence found, Melaku is not believed to be involved in a terrorist plot

  • Al Qaeda posts hit list of Americans online

    Terrorists on al Qaeda web forum have posted a hit list of prominent politicians, military officials, and individuals in what government officials fear is an attempt to spur lone wolf attacks; on Ansar al-Mujahideen, an al Qaeda run website that is among the top ten outlets for distributing jihadi propaganda, terrorists posted a list that contains the names of Pentagon officials, defense contractors, Congressional members, and private individuals

  • Pakistan charges 5 with helping U.S. kill OBL

    Pakistan arrested five men and charged them with leaking information relating to the 2 May killing of Osama bin Laden; no, they were not accused of being informants for al Qaeda or the Taliban; rather, they are charged with secretly providing information to the united States — information which led to the successful operation; among the detainees are the Pakistani who rented and maintained to safe house in Abbottabad , from which CIA operatives kept an eye on bin Laden’ compound, and a Pakistani Army major who is credited with photographing the license plate of the car of bin Laden trusted couriers; following the courier’s car was the key to locating bin Laden’s hideout; deputy CIA director, when asked to rate Pakistan’s cooperation with the United States in fighting terrorism, replied: “Three”

  • Intelligence agencies get an inside look at al Qaeda

    As analysts pour through the files confiscated from Osama bin Laden’s compound, U.S. intelligence agencies are gaining valuable insights into al Qaeda’s operations and plans as well as how they think and operate; during the raid that killed bin Laden, Navy SEALs managed to take bin Laden’s handwritten journal, five computers, ten hard drives, and 110 thumb drives; so far cyber experts and translators are “95 percent done” with decrypting and translating the confiscated information

  • DHS reduces monitoring of non-Islamic domestic terrorism

    In May 2009, DHS issues a report saying that the recession and Obama’s election could lead to a “violent radicalization” of extremist groups in the United States; conservative politicians and commentators charged that the report was an attack on conservative ideology and groups opposing abortion and immigration; in response, DHS has eviscerated the analytical unit which issued the report, cut the number of personnel studying domestic terrorism unrelated to Islam, canceled state and local law enforcement briefings, held up dissemination of nearly a dozen reports on extremist groups, and has blocked the dissemination of a digest of domestic terror incidents and the distribution of definitions for terms such as “white supremacist” and “Christian Identity”; state and local law enforcement and security experts are worried