• South Korean navy recaptures pirated tanker

    South Korean special forces team boards a pirate-held tanker in the Arabian Sea; pirates were killed, injured or captured; 21 sailors rescued after being held since last Saturday; three rescuers sustain minor injuries

  • Hezbollah readies its forces for a Beirut coup

    Unarmed, black-clad members of Iran-backed militant group fan out across Lebanon’s capital carrying hand-held radios, Lebanese media reports Hezbollah militants spread across the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday in a reportedly simulated coup of the capital, in the wake of the political unrest that has engulfed the country since the guerilla movement exited the Lebanese coalition and caused the government to collapse; Lebanon is facing its most severe political crisis in years, after Hezbollah ministers and their cabinet allies resigned from Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government over disagreements about a United Nations-backed tribunal investigating the murder of his father; the tribunal has apparently indicted several Hezbollah members of involvement in the senior Hariri’s assassination

  • Australia, U.K. in global terrorism talks

    Rising concerns about the emergence of new centers of global terrorism in Somalia and Yemen were a main focus of Monday’s talks between Australian and British foreign and defense ministers; those concerns were leading to increased intelligence co-operation between Britain and Australia; it is understood a new defense co-operation pact between the United Kingdom and Australia will be signed during the summit

  • Al Qaeda advocates theft, embezzlement to fund war

    Followers of one of the fastest-growing radical Muslim terror groups are being told to steal, embezzle, and seize property -– especially from Americans — in order to finance their jihad; Muslim teaching generally forbids theft, but the new edition of Inspire magazine — launched by the group behind the air cargo printer bombs in October, the underwear bomb plot in December 2009 and the most recent pre-Christmas alert — is now telling followers that such crimes are justifiable, especially if the U.S. government and U.S. citizens are targets; intelligence analysts are also keying in on the magazine’s emphasis on the recruitment of women as suicide bombers; analysts also note that the leading articles in the latest edition of the magazine are all written by Americans.

  • New tactics in war on terror -- litigation

    Islamic extremists are increasingly using lawsuits to threaten and intimidate civilians across the world; the Danish newspaper Politiken, which published the controversial Danish Mohammed cartoons in 2005, has been hit by a civil lawsuit; a Danish MP was recently forced to plead guilty to hate speech for speaking his mind about Islam; civilians can also use the courts to go after extremists using similar tactics

  • UN indicts Hezbollah chiefs in Hariri assassination

    Prosecutor for international tribunal investigating assassination of former Prime Minister Hariri files indictment with pre-trial judge; Nasrallah threatens to “cut off the hands” of anyone attempting arrest of Hezbollah members; turmoil grows following last week’s collapse of government

  • New report disputes Gitmo repeat offender rates

    New report disputes U.S intelligence statistics on Gitmo recidivism rates; the director of national intelligence reports indicated that 13.5 percent of former detainees had returned to the battlefield, while the new study shows only 6 percent; new report cites each of the thirty-six confirmed and suspected terrorists by name; as of October 2010, 598 detainees have been released from Guantanamo

  • Materials for fertilizer bombs not regulated

    Mixtures of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO) are used in about 80 percent of all explosives used in North America each year, mostly in the mining and demolition industries; they were also used by Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City, and in insurgents’ IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan; explosives-grade ammonium nitrate can be refined from commercial-grade fertilizers using processes readily found online; there are even YouTube videos that break down the process step by step; commercial grade fertilizers are not regulated; those states that address the issue typically require merchants to keep records of who buys what, but there are no limitations on who can buy what and no reporting requirements

  • Israel places troops on alert after Lebanon government falls

    Lebanon plunged into crisis after Iran orders Hezbollah out of the government; Hezbollah’s move comes in anticipation of a UN tribunal’s decision to charge Hezbollah with masterminding and carrying out the 2005 assassination of Lebanon prime minister Rafik Hariri; by withdrawing its eleven cabinet ministers from the government, Hezbollah prevents the 30-member cabinet from acting on the UN tribunal’s determination (for that, the Lebanese constitution requires two-thirds cabinet majority); Iran is also acting to thwart a joint Saudi-Syrian effort to curb the growing power of Hezbollah — already the most militarily powerful group in the country; Israel’s military goes on alert

  • Officials warn of Arizona copycat attacks

    Intelligence and law enforcement authorities informed U.S. lawmakers that they are monitoring for potential “copycat” attacks on lawmakers after the rampage in Arizona on Saturday; Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he expects to ask for a formal report on the shooting, addressing both the short-term concerns — including the likelihood of copycat incidents — and long-term issues with security; among the questions he wants answered, King said, are “Is this part of a larger movement? Is there any evidence he [the assailant] was motivated by organizational structure?” FBI director Robert Mueller said: “Given this tragedy, all logical precautions are in place to best ensure the safety of other public officials, but there is no information at this time to suggest any specific threat remains”

  • K-State doctoral dissertation examines food bioterrorism

    Terrorist “chatter” and information gleaned from informants have led DHS to warn restaurants and hotels that terrorists are planning to use biological agents to contaminate food in readily accessible areas such as salad bars, cafeteria food displays, and more; a Kansas State graduate student writes a dissertation on how restaurants in country clubs protect themselves against this risk; he finds that they do not do much

  • U.K. consulate staff arrested in plot to bomb Jerusalem soccer stadium

    Two Palestinian employees of the U.K. consulate general in East Jerusalem have been arrested over an alleged weapons plot; the U.K. Foreign Office spokeswoman said the two consulate employees were suspected of trying to obtain weapons for a rocket attack on Teddy Stadium, the home of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team; the activities of the two consulate employees included systematically checking how best to launch rockets into the stadium while the stadium was crowded with people during a game; the launching of the rockets was to be carried out by two Hamas members, who were also arrested; questions raised in the U.K.. about vetting procedures at the consulate

  • Homegrown terrorists share characteristics, backgrounds

    Since the 9/11 attacks, 90 people were arrested in the United States on terrorism charges for plots or attacks against the United States; a new study of the group finds that 44 percent had prior criminal records; 61 percent of the terrorism defendants attended some college, including three who earned doctoral degrees; 64 percent of those college-educated terrorism suspects were engineering majors

  • Al Qaeda aiming at soft targets in U.S.

    DHS has ramped up its efforts to protect soft targets in the United States from terrorist attack this year; the department has issued bulletins to state and local law enforcement warning of the possibility terrorists could target religious gatherings, sports matches, and parades; the al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen puts out an online magazine in English that encourages U.S. residents to plan attacks. Suggestions include driving a truck into a crowded place or shooting into a restaurant

  • U.S. terror watch list streamlined, updated instantaneously

    Now a single tip about a terror link will be enough for inclusion in the watch list for U.S. security officials, who have also evolved a quicker system to share the database of potential terrorists among screening agencies; a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said that officials have now “effectively in a broad stroke lowered the bar for inclusion” in the list; the new criteria have led to only modest growth in the list, which stands at 440,000 people, about 5 percent more than last year; also, instead of sending data once a night to the Terrorist Screening Center’s watch list, which can take hours, the new system should be able to update the watch list almost instantly as names are entered