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It’s alarming that the Department of Defense, which invented the Internet (along with Al Gore, of course), seems to understand so little about how it is used for propaganda — terrorist or otherwise. Recent congressional hearings on terrorism and the Internet indicate a Cold War-era mentality among federal policymakers. They seem to view terrorist propaganda efforts as a monolithic “organized framework” orchestrated by a few Goebbels-like masterminds within Al Qaeda.
Who You Gonna Believe — Jack Bauer or Joe Navarro? - SpyTalk
In the battle for public opinion on torture, Joe Navarro doesn’t stand a chance against Jack Bauer.
The hero of the Fox action series “24,” now entering its seventh season, seems to have cast a spell over the country — including high level Pentagon, CIA [...]
Counterterrorism Blog: Jihad Against Freedom of Speech at the United Nations
The United Nations’ Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has no problem with its members suggesting that the 9/11 attacks were an “inside job” perpetrated by the United States on itself … Denying the role of Jihadists in the 9/11 attacks is apparently perfectly acceptable freedom of [...]
The rulings of the Supreme Court last week on two money laundering cases will directly impact the federal government’s ability to utilize a very powerful prosecutorial tool, with conviction carrying a prison sentence of up to 20 years. The first case, Cuellar v. United States, seemed like a “no-brainer” as the Court ruled 9-0 that simple concealment of cash is not money laundering.
Northern Ireland’s Top Cop: Negotiate with Al Qaeda | Danger Room from Wired.com
Sir Hugh Orde, Northern Ireland’s top cop and potential candidate to head the London Police, says we ought to think about negotiating with Al Qaeda. More cops and counterterror agents won’t be enough to deal with Osama’s followers, he contends. So it’s time [...]
The NEFA Foundation - Statements by Al-Qaida Leadership
The NEFA Foundation has obtained a copy of a communiqué issued by senior Al-Qaida commander Mustafa Abu al-Yazid claiming responsibility for the June 2 suicide bombing attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.
There is a tendency for us as Americans to think that improving the status of homeland security means deploying more Border Patrol Agents and better trained TSA screeners. However, there are instances when the DHS uses its regulatory authorities to advance security in a way that is flat wrong. Requiring airlines to play a pivotal role in US VISIT EXIT is one such example. DHS recently issued the US VISIT EXIT proposed rulemaking which makes little sense and flies in the face of the successful pilot program the Department has undertaken.
Institutionalizing Counter-Terrorism » Outside The Beltway | OTB
While there’s some short-term advantage to the ad hoc, make-it-up-as-you-go approach that the Bush Administration has taken, it’s damaging in the longer term. Not only does it undermine our moral authority in trying to hold others to the rule of law but it’s problematic on the domestic front, [...]
From MaineSecurity.com:
The counter-terrorism community is becoming increasingly concerned with “home-grown extremists inspired by militant Islamic ideology” that is operationally controlled by al-Qaeda. This ideology is being spread rapidly throughout the world and here in the United States via the Internet. Read an interesting commentary on this topic entitled “Virtual Jihad”, Forbes.com, May 19, 2008. Read [...]
From the Counterterrorism Blog:
It is interesting to note the first major conviction in the United States in a drug case tied to radical Islamist movements, in this case, the Taliban. (Many more case documents can be found here.)
“As an enemy of the United States, Khan Mohammed intended to ship heroin to the United States and [...]
Despite the stereotypes in the media, not every terrorist is going to look like he or she comes from Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. They don’t have official “Member of the International Brotherhood of Terrorism” identification cards. They will say things like, “I just need to get a job to feed my family” rather than “Will you help sneak me across the border so that I can blow up the Pentagon?” They will look like Middle Eastern in some cases, yes, but they will also look German or French or Canadian or American or Mexican in others. They will look like me and you.
Combating Terrorism Center: About the Center
“The Power of Truth?”
On 16 December 2007, Ayman al-Zawahiri invited journalists and Jihadist enthusiasts to ask him questions via the primary Jihadist web forums. Zawahiri promised to personally answer some of those questions in a subsequent statement. On 2 April 2008, As-Sahab Media released the first part of Zawahiri’s response [...]
Last week, al-Qaeda’s Deputy in Command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, resumed answering questions previously submitted to Al-Sahab via the internet. His answers and how they have been analyzed and reported by some journalists sheds new light on the growing criticism of the terrorist organization in the “Muslim world”.
The Department of Homeland Security recently announced a strategy to combat threats posed by terrorists trying to use small boats for attacks in US waters - one that aligns with a number of previously-recommended strategies including an emphasis on local / state government control and self-regulation on the boats themselves to watch out for potential threats.
Mr. Carter’s revisionist history reminds one of the international bullying of Maoist China and the Soviet Union’s fearless invasion of Afghanistan under his presidency. It’s as if the former president is sleepwalking through history, in a lovely dream of righting all the wrongs he failed to right as president. What a nightmare for the rest of us.
The post below is an excerpt of an email published on the Counterterrorism blog, regarding alleged efforts by the government to airbrush the term jihad from the American lexicon:
As a Muslim trying to help America defend itself against the Islamist jihad, I am outraged that our government is letting us down so badly by cozying [...]
Recently declassified documents disclose the bureaucratic side of al Qaeda and the terrorist organization’s continuing struggle with funding. The documents were captured in Afghanistan and Iraq and date from the early 90s to the present. They reflect an organization obsessed with paperwork, and the control and flow of money - something that has become more difficult in the post 9/11 world.
US policy towards Hamas is boosting Iran’s standing and influence in the Middle East, increasing the Iranian threat to Israeli security, neutralizing American efforts to contain Iranian ambitions, and endangering the long term interests of the United States in that region. The question that should be seriously debated in Washington still stands: should the United States talk to Hamas?