02/03/12: The Chicago Tribune reports that an Uzbekistan refugee accused of helping a foreign terrorist organization is denying the allegations. Speaking through a Russian interpreter, Jamshid Muhtorov told a federal judge in Denver Thursday, “I swear to Allah I never did anything like that.” Muhtorov, who lives in the Denver suburb of Aurora, was arrested at a Chicago airport on Jan. 21. The 35-year-old is accused of providing material support and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic Jihad Union. The State Department has designated the group as a foreign terrorist organization.
Continue reading "Uzbek refugee arrested at O'Hare denies helping terror group" »
02/02/12: Reuters reports that US lawmakers are steeling for a public battle against the possible transfer of Taliban detainees out of Guantanamo Bay prison, a key step in the Obama administration's bid to broker a peace deal ending the war in Afghanistan. Congressional opposition is gaining steam, especially among Republicans but also among some senior Democrats, to the potential transfer to Qatar of five senior Taliban prisoners, a good-faith move that could set the stage for eventual political talks between the Taliban and Afghan government.
Continue reading "Lawmakers warn of outcry against Taliban transfer" »
02/02/12: CNN reports that the spokesman for Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has been captured after a months-long surveillance operation, a spokesman for Nigerian police said Wednesday. Security services tracked Abu Qa Qa through his phone and are now trying to confirm his true identity, though they believe that he is a Nigerian citizen. Boko Haram has carried out multiple bombings and shootings across northern Nigeria in recent days.
Continue reading "Nigerian police arrest terrorist group's spokesman" »
02/01/12: ABC News reports that five men arrested in November in connection with a plot to blow up the only bridge connecting the island of Bahrain with Saudi Arabia and to assassinate Bahraini politicians are allegedly tied to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and reportedly received military training in Syria, according to information leaked to the media by Bahraini prosecutors. The charges are the latest salvo in a regional struggle for power between Iran and the Arab Gulf states.
Continue reading "Iran and Syria aided bomb and assassination plot in Bahrain" »
02/01/12: The Miami Herald reports that Guantánamo defense lawyers for an alleged al Qaida bomber asked an Army judge on Tuesday to order Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to undergo war court questioning at a New York hospital. Navy Lieutenant Commander Stephen Reyes wouldn’t say what he wants to ask the former Yemeni strongman on behalf of Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who faces a death penalty trial at Guantánamo next year. He did said he believed the chief military commissions judge could issue a subpoena that “would compel the Yemeni president to be deposed” — despite a US State Department declaration that the 69-year-old Yemeni would receive diplomatic immunity as head of state.
Continue reading "Alleged bomber's lawyer wants to question Yemeni President" »
02/01/12: The Helena Independent Record reports that an American Muslim group appealed Tuesday to Iran's supreme leader to show clemency for an ex-US military translator with dual citizenship condemned to death on accusations of being a CIA spy. A letter Tuesday from the Council on American-Islamic Relations asks Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to spare the life of Amir Hekmati.
Continue reading "US Muslims seek clemency for condemned US-Iranian " »
02/01/12: The New York Times reports that a group of four Islamic militants, all of them British citizens, admitted involvement on Wednesday in a conspiracy inspired by Al Qaeda to place a bomb in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange, part of a plot that, prosecutors said, was foiled after undercover counterterrorism officers tailed them as they surveyed London tourist attractions. The four were among a group of nine men who had been set to plead not guilty to terrorism charges but changed their plea to guilty when they learned of the likely sentences, Britain’s Press Association news agency reported.
Continue reading "Militants admit to plan to bomb London Stock Exchange" »
01/31/12: The Daily Star reports that a legal charity supporting detainees in Guantanamo has condemned the conviction and sentencing of an Algerian after he was forcibly repatriated after eight years in the US Guantanamo detention center. Naji was sent back to Algeria in July 2010. He was convicted on January 16 of "belonging to a terrorist group abroad" and sentenced to three years in prison, according to the state news agency.
Continue reading "Algerian re-imprisoned after Guantanamo extradition" »
01/31/12: The New York Times reports that the nation’s top intelligence official said on Tuesday that continued pressure from the United States and its allies will likely reduce Al Qaeda’s core leadership in Pakistan to “largely symbolic importance” over the next two to three years as the terrorist organization fragments into more regionally focused groups and homegrown extremists. The assessment by the official, James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, was contained in prepared remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee at the panel’s annual hearing to review global threats to the United States.
Continue reading "Intelligence chief sees Al Qaeda likely to continue fragmenting" »
01/31/12: The Huffington Post reports that two former Libyan detainees, Sami Al Saadi and Abdel Hakim Belhadj, at the center of claims that British spies were involved in rendition and torture, are launching legal proceedings against the former director of counter-terrorism at MI6. The two men claim that evidence of the UK's role in the couple's rendition is detailed in a number of documents held by the Libyan security services, which came to light after the fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
Continue reading "Libyan detainees sue former MI6 chief over their rendition" »
01/31/12: The Washington Times reports that former intelligence officials use “reprehensible” and “egregious” to describe the alleged acts of a former CIA officer charged by the government with betraying his own when he revealed the identities of two overseas operatives to the media. These former officials reject the image of John Kiriakou as a high-minded “whistleblower” who sought to expose official wrongdoing or a botched intelligence operation.
Continue reading "Ex-CIA officials assail ID of agents" »
01/30/12: CNN reports that the Afghan government plans to hold talks with Taliban representatives in Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks, in a move that threatens to cloud already delicate and fragile steps to negotiate an end to the United States' longest war. An anonymous senior official said the plans were at such an early stage that it was not clear who -- including American officials -- would attend or when any talks would be held. The US has acknowledged that it has held discussions about opening a Taliban office in Doha, Qatar, as well as the possibility of transferring some Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay as part of American support for Afghan reconciliation efforts.
Continue reading "Afghan officials, Taliban may hold talks in Saudi Arabia" »
01/30/12: Reuters reports that a Norwegian of Chinese Muslim origin with alleged links to al Qaeda was convicted on Monday of plotting to blow up a Danish newspaper that had printed cartoons of Islam's Prophet Mohammad, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Mikael Davud, who was accused of leading a bomb plot, had admitted he intended some day to attack Chinese interests like the Chinese embassy in Oslo but he was charged only with plotting to bomb the Danish newspaper. Prosecutors had earlier recommended an 11-year prison sentence for Davud.
Continue reading "Norway court convicts men in al Qaeda-linked bomb plot" »
01/27/12: The Washington Post reports that since it began a decade ago, the federal government’s massive investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks has been plagued by missteps and complications. Investigators initially focused on the wrong man, then had to pay him a nearly $6 million settlement. In 2008, they accused another man, Bruce E. Ivins, who killed himself before he could go to trial. Now, in the latest twist, the government has argued Ivins was likely not the anthrax killer.
Continue reading "Justice Department takes on itself in probe of 2001 anthrax attacks" »
01/27/12: The Investigative Project on Terrorism reports that a Maryland man pleaded guilty Thursday to attempting to blow up an Army recruiting center near Baltimore. Antonio Martinez, a Muslim convert who also goes by Muhammad Hussain, was arrested on December 8, 2010, in an FBI sting after he tried to detonate a car bomb at the Armed Forces recruiting station in Catonsville, Maryland. The bomb, supplied by federal agents, was inert.
Continue reading "Maryland man pleads guilty to plotting attack on military recruiting center" »
01/27/12: The Blog of Legal Times reports that the US Justice Department has asked a federal judge to keep secret photos showing the death of Osama bin Laden, saying the images are classified because of their potential to incite violence against the United States. The department filed court papers this week in a FOIA suit in Washington asking US District Judge James Boasberg to keep the photos out of the public domain. The DOJ asserts the photos reveal specific military and intelligence activities, methods and techniques.
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01/27/12: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that an ex-Marine from Virginia pleaded guilty Thursday and has agreed to serve a 25-year prison sentence on charges that he fired a series of overnight pot shots in 2010 at the Pentagon, the Marine Corps museum in Quantico and other military targets as part of what prosecutors called a campaign to strike fear throughout the region. Prosecutors revealed that Yonathan Melaku’s intended next target was Arlington National Cemetery, where he was arrested before he was able to carry out a plan to deface gravestones there.
Continue reading "Accused Pentagon shooter Melaku pleads guilty" »
01/27/12: Homeland Security Watch features commentary by Philip J. Palin concerning the administration’s new National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security. Palin contends this is an easy issue to underestimate. Like the plumbing in your house, it tends not to be at the forefront until something goes wrong: leaking, freezing, breaking, bursting, or when the well goes dry. He shares his brief quick take on context and potential implications of the new strategy.
Continue reading "Commentary: The innate tension between efficiency and resilience in supply chains" »
01/26/12: The Albany Times Union reports that judge gave federal prosecutors until a week from Wednesday to give up the name of a witness they say was recruited for a chilling, al-Qaida-sanctioned plot for suicide bombers to attack the New York City subways with explosives made from beauty supplies. Lawyers for alleged plotter Adis Madunjanin had demanded to know the identity of the man, referred to only as John Doe in court papers, before Madunjanin goes to trial later this year.
Continue reading "Prosecutors ordered to identify NYC terror witness" »
01/24/12: The ABA Journal reports that in a move decried by the American Civil Liberties Union as a sad day for the rule of law, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court's ruling that an American citizen who claimed he was illegally detained and tortured at a US military jail in South Carolina cannot turn to the legal system for redress. Because he was designated an "enemy combatant" by the military, Jose Padilla's treatment falls outside the scope of government conduct that tort litigation is intended to address, held the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals as it affirmed a trial court's dismissal of the case.
Continue reading "4th Circuit denies damages suit for alleged torture suffered by ‘enemy combatant’ Jose Padilla" »
01/23/12: Opinio Juris features a piece by John C. Dehn concerning Newsweek’s report that the Obama administration is finally going to reveal a bit more about its legal authority to target and kill US citizens (in armed conflict or national self-defense) without a prior judicial adjudication. After a prolonged internal debate, reportedly pitting the State and Defense Departments’ head lawyers against others on the President’s national security team, the Attorney General may soon provide details in a public statement. The time and place of that statement is still unclear or undetermined.
Continue reading "Commentary: Did international law motivate the “capture-if-feasible” element of the Awlaki legal opinion?" »
01/23/12: The Washington Times reports that Pakistan's army on Monday formally rejected a US claim that American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last year were justified as self-defense, a stance that could complicate efforts to repair the troubled but vital relationship between the two countries. In a detailed report, the army said that Pakistani troops did not trigger the November 26 incident at two posts along the Afghan border by firing at American and Afghan forces, as the US has alleged. Pakistan's army said its troops shot at suspected militants who were nowhere near coalition troops.
Continue reading "Pakistan rejects US self-defense claim on strikes" »
01/21/12: ABC News reports that a Swedish court has acquitted three men accused of plotting to murder an artist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog. In Friday's ruling, the Goteborg district court said the defendants lied about why they visited an art gallery where Lars Vilks was expected to make an appearance, and were armed with knives, but it hadn't been proved that they intended to kill him. The ruling was expected as the three men — of Somali and Iraqi origin — had been released pending the decision.
Continue reading "Three acquitted of murder plot against Swedish artist" »
01/21/12: The Times of India reports that Bangladesh's elite counter-terrorist force has arrested five members of the banned Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir in connection with a botched coup attempt by some serving and retired army officers. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested five members of Hizb ut-Tahrir from the city yesterday, a day after the army said it had foiled a coup allegedly plotted by Maj Syed Mohammad Ziaul Huq, said to have links with the banned Islamist outfit.
Continue reading "Five members of Islamist outfit arrested for Bangladesh coup attempt" »
01/20/12: The Modesto Bee reports that a Lebanese-Swedish man detained in a terror probe in Thailand has told a Swedish newspaper that he's innocent and blamed Israel's Mossad spy agency for his arrest. The tabloid Aftonbladet on Friday said it spoke to 47-year-old Atris Hussein in a Bangkok prison where he's being held on allegations of illegally possessing explosive materials. Hussein was quoted as saying he is "100 percent innocent" and that "much of the material the police found in my warehouse had been placed there, probably by the Israeli security service Mossad." Police have said Hussein was storing 8,800 pounds of explosive materials in Bangkok before shipping them to another destination.
Continue reading "Swede blames Mossad for Bangkok arrest" »
Scholarship: Special issue of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy released
01/30/12: The Journal of National Security Law & Policy (JNSLP) is pleased to announce the publication of its special issue, Vol. 5:2, examining “Shadow Wars.” Articles examine the law and policy regarding US paramilitary operations, including use of drones, payment of contractors to spy, and training of local operatives to chase terrorists in what The New York Times has described as a “shadow war against Al Qaeda and its allies.”
January 30, 2012 at 05:55 PM in Intelligence, Terrorism / Counterterrorism, Commentary / Opinion, Military Contractors | Permalink