• Declassified report details intelligence failures leading up to failed terrorist attack

    The report criticizes the U.S. counterterrorism (CT)community for not connecting the dots related to the Christmas Day plot; “Unfortunately, despite several opportunities that might have allowed the CT community to put these pieces together in this case, and despite the tireless effort and best intentions of individuals at every level of the CT community, that was not done”

  • Boston mayor wants to block Yemeni tankers from Boston Harbor

    Yemen is disintegrating, and jihadists are moving in; the mayor of Boston says it is unsafe to allow tankers delivering liquefied natural gas from Yemen into Boston Harbor; “They cannot be coming into a harbor like Boston, where there is less than 50 feet between the tankers and residential areas,’ the mayor says of Yemeni tankers’

  • Holiday cheer from – and for – those on the frontline

    Tech. Sgt. Nathan Gallahan posts holiday greetings from Afghanistan; what do U.S. soldiers carry with them in the war zone? “The only possessions these soldiers had were what they could carry on their back and holiday cards from school children from across our beautiful nation”

  • India, Israel discuss counter-terrorism, intelligence sharing, arms delivery

    India and Israel both face Islamic militants and nuclear-armed, or would-be nuclear armed, adversaries; the defense and intelligence cooperation between the two countries has been steadily growing, and is now in the open

  • Obama administration makes stopping nuclear terror key goal

    The administration, in its February 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, will declare that stopping nuclear terrorism is its central aim on the nuclear front; countering nuclear terrorists — whether armed with rudimentary bombs, stolen warheads, or devices surreptitiously supplied by a hostile state – will become a task equal to the traditional mission of deterring a strike by major powers or emerging nuclear adversaries; shift in nuclear emphasis would mean devoting less money to modernizing bombers, missiles, and submarines, and more to surveillance satellites, reconnaissance planes, and undercover agents

  • DHS investigates counterfeit operation

    DHS suspects that there is a connection between the sale of counterfeit clothing and funding of terrorist actitivites; the Fresno police raids a clothing store in Fresno, California, and confiscated half a million dollars worth of phony designer jeans, T-shirts, handbags,
    and shoes.

  • Using rope to fight pirates

    New antipiracy device uses compressed air to fire a plastic cylinder containing either a coiled rope or net up to a range of 400 meters; the coiled line of net or rope, which has a parachute attached to the end, will unravel and lay out across the surface of the water; as a pirate boat travels through the water its propeller shaft will pick up the line and become entangled

  • New antiterror technology tool uses human logic

    A new interactive image-based software can be used on touch-screen table-top displays and other large-screen systems better to manage the huge amounts of data collected in connection with alleged terrorist plots

  • DARPA looking to equip MRAPs with autonomous guns to engage enemy

    DARPA’s Counter Rocket-Propelled Grenade and Shooter System with Highly Accurate Immediate Responses, or CROSSHAIRS, project will engage enemy soldiers autonomously, or remotely operated, while simultaneously shooting rockets out of the air

  • Pakistan installs radiology scanner in Islamabad

    There are more than 160 points of entry into Islamabad but four main entry points for goods carrying vehicles; the Pakistani government buys radiation detectors from China to prevent terrorists from smuggling a nuclear or dirty bomb into the city; worries about the health effects of the strong radiation the scanner emit

  • Maersk Alabama fend off pirates

    The Maersk Alabama was seized by Somali pirates in April and its captain taken hostage (he was later released by U.S. Navy commandos); last week, Somali pirates try to hijack it for the second time — but this time the ship used evasive maneuvers, Long-Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), and small arms fire were among the tactics used to fend off the attackers

  • Illinois officials say holding Gitmo inmates would be economic boost

    The Obama administration is considering the Thomson Correctional Center on Monday, located 150 miles west of Chicago, as home for some detainees from Guantanamo Bay; Illinois officials say the move could provide up to 2,000 jobs and up to $1 billion in federal money to the area

  • The costs of piracy mount

    Shipping companies report only a fraction of the actual cases of piracy for fear of their ships being impounded for long periods or because they simply do not want to pay the resultant higher insurance premium; the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) puts losses from piracy in 2008 alone at some €13 billion

  • U.S. vetoed Israeli attack on ship carrying arms for Hezbollah

    The Israeli Navy captured a ship heading toward Syria with weapons for Hezbollah; the manifest said the ship was carrying “parts for bulldozers,” but containers on the ship were found to contain more than 500 tons of weapons — thousands of medium-range 107- and 122-millimeter rockets, armor-piercing artillery, hand grenades, and ammunition for Kalashnikov rifles; the haul included more than 3,000 rockets, which is the equivalent of about 10 percent of Hezbollah rocket arsenal

  • JASON says computer models cannot predict terrorist events

    Pentagon advisory panel concludes that extreme terrorist events such as the 9/11 attacks cannot be predicted by computer models because the data re too sparse; “it is simply not possible to validate (evaluate) predictive models of rare events that have not occurred, and unvalidated models cannot be relied upon”