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Rising number of domestic terrorism cases make Muslim Americans grapple with homegrown jihad
Recent arrests of Muslim men in terrorism plots lead some adherents to ask whether there is a need for more urgency in approaching the risks of homegrown jihadists; says one Muslim scholar: “There is this tug of war inside ourselves of trying to reconcile Islam and being an American”
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7/7 London bombings: "The rules of the game have changed"
Two weeks after the 7 July attacks, the then prime minister, Tony Blair, called a press conference at which he warned: “Let no one be in doubt. The rules of the game have changed”; he outlined twelve new measures that aimed to transform the landscape of British counterterrorism; together, they were intended to offer a greater degree of collective security; each came at considerable cost to the liberties of both individuals and groups of people; the controversial Terrorism Act 2006 passed after the 7 July bombings has led to increased arrests and convictions
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Report: Terrorism in Britain "mostly home grown"
New study finds that that 69 percent of terrorist offenses in the United Kingdom were perpetrated by individuals holding British nationality; 46 percent of offenders had their origins in south Asia including 28 percent who had Pakistani heritage; 31 percent had attended university and 10 percent were still students when they were arrested; 35 percent were unemployed and living on benefits
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Attacks on trains: what the numbers say
Terrorists see public surface transportation as a killing field; despite their continuing obsession with attacking commercial aviation, when it comes to wholesale killing, trains and buses offer easily accessible concentrations of people
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Scotland Yard: U.K. proposed budget Cuts "will increase terrorism risk"
The U.K. government wants the Scotland Yard to find £150 million in savings as part of “eye-watering” Treasury budget cuts; the assistant commissioner of Scotland Yard, says these cuts cannot be made without increasing the risk of a terrorist attack
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GSA scraps proposed anti-terrorism training site on Maryland's Eastern Shore
The administration planned to invest $70 million in building one of the U.S. largest anti-terrorism training center near the town of Ruthsburg on Maryland’s East Shore; stiff opposition from local residents, environmentalists, and Republican in Congress convinced the General Services Administration to scrap the plan
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Law enforcement disrupted eleven plots against NYC since 9/11
Since the 9/11 attacks, New York police and the U.S. intelligence services have disrupted eleven plots against New York City
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Calls in Canada for better protection against fertilizer bomb threat
The Canadian Association of Agri-Retailers wants a comprehensive plan of action to prevent agricultural supplies such as fertilizers from becoming tools of terrorists; the association calls for an “integrated crop input security protocol” for Canada’s 1,500 agri-retail sites; this plan would include perimeter fencing, surveillance and alarm devices, lighting, locks, software, and staff training in various security techniques, at retail outlets; estimated cost: $100 million
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Emergent sells anthrax vaccine to U.S. allies
European countries, worried about bioterror attacks, are working on a plan to stock vaccines regionally — a Baltic stockpile, a Nordic stockpile, and so on would help in covering countries that have not expressed a desire to form their own stockpiles; a Maryland-based companies is providing these European countries with anthrax vaccine
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North Carolina prepares for bioterrorism, epidemics
North Carolina universities and state and federal agencies create the new North Carolina Bio-Preparedness Collaborative; the idea is to use computers to link all the disparate forms of data collected by various agencies quickly to root out indicators of new disease, or food-borne illness, or, in a worst-case scenario, an attack of bio-terrorism
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TSA looks for commercial software to manage Secure Flight
Managing the long — very long — No Fly and Terror Watch lists is not a simple task; TSA is looking to purchase commercial software to help manage its Secure Flight program which checks the information airlines collect about passengers against DHS terrorist watch lists
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Bill seeks to bolster U.S. ability to fight bioterror
Bill calls for bolstering U.S. defenses against future bioterror attacks requiring the director of national intelligence to produce and administer a National Intelligence Strategy for Countering the Threat from WMD, which would be created in consultation with the homeland security secretary as well as other relevant agencies
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Administration moves ahead on Illinois prison purchase -- possible Gitmo replacement
The Justice Department informed the Illinois congressional delegation that the White House was going ahead with consideration of the Thomson Correctional Center, located 150 miles west of Chicago, as home for some detainees from Guantanamo Bay; lawmakers opposing to moving terrorists to a U.S. prison blocked funding for refurbishing Thomson, but the administration says the Justice Department can purchase the prison and hold federal inmates in it
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Lawmakers push for designating the Taliban a terrorist organization
Faisal Shahzad, a U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, said in court Monday that his failed car bomb plot was backed and financed by the Pakistan Taliban; the group, though, is not yet labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, unlike al Qaeda and its affiliates; lawmakers want to change that
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Pakistani court convicts, sentences 5 American for terrorism
Five young Americans from the Washington, D.C. area, captured in Pakistan last December, were convicted of terrorism and sentenced to 10 years in prison each; prosecutors said e-mail records and witness statements proved they were plotting terror attacks in Pakistan and conspired to wage war against nations allied with it, a reference to Afghanistan; one of the convicted Americans left behind a farewell video in the United States showing scenes of war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended
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More headlines
The long view
Patriots’ Day: How Far-Right Groups Hijack History and Patriotic Symbols to Advance Their Cause, According to an Expert on Extremism
Extremist groups have attempted to change the meaning of freedom and liberty embedded in Patriots’ Day — a commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord – to serve their far-right rhetoric, recruitment, and radicalization. Understanding how patriotic symbols can be exploited offers important insights into how historical narratives may be manipulated, potentially leading to harmful consequences in American society.
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”
“Tulsi Gabbard as US Intelligence Chief Would Undermine Efforts Against the Spread of Chemical and Biological Weapons”: Expert
The Senate, along party lines, last week confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National intelligence. One expert on biological and chemical weapons says that Gabbard’s “longstanding history of parroting Russian propaganda talking points, unfounded claims about Syria’s use of chemical weapons, and conspiracy theories all in efforts to undermine the quality of the community she now leads” make her confirmation a “national security malpractice.”