Such a technique is broader and potentially more intrusive than the FBI's Carnivore surveillance system, later renamed DCS1000. It raises concerns similar to those stirred by widespread Internet monitoring that the National Security Agency is said to have done, according to documents that have surfaced in one federal lawsuit, and may stretch the bounds of what's legally permissible.

Call it the vacuum-cleaner approach. It's employed when police have obtained a court order and an Internet service provider can't "isolate the particular person or IP address" because of technical constraints, says Paul Ohm, a former trial attorney at the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. (An Internet Protocol address is a series of digits that can identify an individual computer.)

That kind of full-pipe surveillance can record all Internet traffic, including Web browsing--or, optionally, only certain subsets such as all e-mail messages flowing through the network. Interception typically takes place inside an Internet provider's network at the junction point of a router or network switch.

The technique came to light at the Search & Seizure in the Digital Age symposium held at Stanford University's law school on Friday. Ohm, who is now a law professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Richard Downing, a CCIPS assistant deputy chief, discussed it during the symposium.

In a telephone conversation after

U.S. missile defense maturing, latest test a success�|�Top News�|�Reuters.com

U.S. missile defense maturing, latest test a success�|�Top News�|�Reuters.com: "On Saturday, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), built by Lockheed Martin Corp, intercepted a target shot from a barge. It was the first test of THAAD since its move to the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.

Two more THAAD intercept tests are planned for 2007, along with three tests of the Aegis Standard Missile-3 interceptors against short- and medium-range targets, O'Reilly said.

The agency also plans two tests of long-range ground-based interceptors in late spring and early fall.

The United States has 14 interceptors in Alaska and two in California, primarily to counter North Korea. O'Reilly said the number in Alaska would grow to 21 within eight months. Continued..."

Airborne Laser to test-fire in flight - Air Force News, military news, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, Militay Times Poll, special reports - Air

Airborne Laser to test-fire in flight -

Exclusive: IAF to buy US smart bombs | Jerusalem Post

HOW TO GET THE BAD GUYS

The US should proliferate advanced communications equipment in the closest major cities to the tribal area where suspected terrorists have found safe heaven. The catch is that the equipment should have a hidden JDAM chip. So as soon as Osama Bin Laden calls his Zawahiri to bring some more goat milk the satellite can pin point is location and identify him through GPS and voice recognition systems.

Exclusive: IAF to buy US smart bombs | Jerusalem Post

The JDAM is a low-cost guidance kit produced by Boeing Co. that converts free-fall bombs into guided "smart" weapons. The JDAM kit consists of a tail section that contains a Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System and body improvements for additional stability and lift.

Israel became the first foreign customer to purchase the system in 2000. The kits were then added to Mk-84, 2,000-pound warheads, turning simple iron bombs into precision, satellite-guided weapons.

Military deciding on anti-rocket system | Jerusalem Post

Military deciding on anti-rocket system | Jerusalem Post: "While the Skyguard laser defense system developed by the US defense firm Northrop-Grumman was given serious consideration, Israel Radio reported, it appeared that the military preferred the system developed by Israel's Armament Development Authority, Rafael, which can reportedly neutralize both Kassam rockets and long-range Zilzal missiles."

Tufts-Fletcher-News:

The Deep Blue Highway

Reprinted from The New York Times

By JOHN CURTIS PERRY, SCOTT BORGERSON and ROCKFORD WEITZ

Published: January 2, 2007
Medford, Mass.
IN October President Bush signed the Safe Port Act, authorizing an investment of $6.7 billion to tighten security at American ports. This is a vitally important and overdue step. But it ignores another major problem in maritime commerce: the phenomenal decline of American shipping.

While it’s true that the United States Navy still dominates the world ocean — its total tonnage equals the combined tonnage of the next 17 smaller navies — American commercial shipping is but a puny remnant of its former self.

In 1948, more than a third of the world’s merchant fleet flew the stars and stripes; today that figure is down to 2 percent. Half a century ago, America built more ships than any other nation, and New York City could boast that it was the world’s busiest seaport. Sliding from the top since the 1980s, New York now barely ranks among the top 20.

The only American port now on the top-10 list is Los Angeles-Long Beach, an indication of how much maritime trade has shifted from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific.

A major factor in the decline of American shipping has been an antiquated law that prevents American coastal shippers from buying ships made in other countries. By amending this law and, at the same time, encouraging the development of domestic coastal shipping, Congress could help restore America’s status as a great and proud maritime nation.

The slump in American shipping is especially surprising when you consider that it was American entrepreneurs who, in the mid-20th century, revolutionized oceanic transport by creating both the standard-size steel shipping container and the supership capable of transporting 50 times as much cargo as a World War II-era merchant ship could.

Shipping has always been the most economically efficient way to carry goods from place to place; it requires no investment in highways or rails, and thanks to the relatively frictionless ease with which ships move across water, fuel costs per ton are low. The arrival of containerized shipping pushed transport costs even lower, swelling world trade and expanding global wealth.

The export-driven economies of Pacific Asia built much of their enormous success upon the new maritime technologies. The United States did not. The Merchant Marine Acts of the 1920s and ’30s are one reason why.

Intended to protect the domestic shipbuilding industry, the acts decreed that the only ships allowed to call on two or more consecutive American ports would be those built in the United States, owned by American companies, flying the American flag and operated by American crews.

At the time, the United States still had a large merchant marine. But the acts’ restrictions handicapped coastal shipping within American waters, opening the way for the growth of the trucking and freight-rail industries.

To revive the maritime trade, Congress should give shipping companies as much choice in buying ships as their land-based rivals have when buying trucks and train cars.

Freed from the restraints of the Merchant Marine Acts, commercial shippers could not only begin to resume their position in global trade but also handle much more of the freight that moves within our borders. Before railroads and highways were developed, a network of water transportation routes connected America’s port cities and towns. Today coastal shipping handles only 2 percent of domestic freight, even though coastal counties hold more than half of the nation’s population.

The trucks that carry nearly a third of our cargo clog the highways. That is one reason why Americans now lose at least 3.7 billion hours and 2.3 billion gallons of fuel each year sitting in traffic. Ships could take on a larger share of this freight — and even some of the passengers now traveling by highway and rail — and carry it at lower cost.

Congress could further encourage domestic shipping by improving port facilities, just as it maintains interstate highways. And it could invest in developing ship propulsion technologies — to increase still further maritime savings in fuel costs and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Americans are rightfully concerned about security, but part of protecting the nation is generating a strong economy. Revitalized coastal shipping could shorten our morning commutes as it begins to rejuvenate America’s wider maritime economy.

John Curtis Perry is the director of the maritime studies program at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Scott Borgerson is a recent graduate and Rockford Weitz is a Ph.D. candidate there.

Tufts-Fletcher-News:

IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM has displaced Iraq as America's most serious foreign-policy problem. The question is whether we can live with nuclear weapons controlled by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the mullahs.

President Ahmadinejad said that Iran would not be deprived of its "inalienable right" to develop nuclear power, and does not seek nuclear weapons. Despite these assurances, the ominous conclusion is that Tehran is arguably producing fissile material for nuclear weapons and defying the United Nations Security Council, as recent events suggest:

On Aug. 22, Iran refused to allow inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to visit its underground uranium-enrichment site, at Natanz.

On Aug. 28, Iran opened a new heavy-water plant for producing what many U.S., British, French and German policymakers believe is fissile material for nuclear weapons.

On Aug. 31, the Security Council deadline for Iran to freeze its enrichment program ran out, thus raising the prospect of political or economic sanctions against Iran.

What should the U.S. public and leaders conclude from these events?

Iranian nuclear weapons pose a catastrophic threat to the United States and its allies.

In classic defense terms, we do not worry about an attack by Iran, because it does not possess long-range ballistic missiles and will not for years. Further, a direct attack against the United States would lead to Iran's destruction.

The United States is secure unless Iran uses nuclear weapons in a terrorist sense. Our greatest unknown is whether Iran would provide a nuclear weapon to terrorist organizations.

Most policymakers agree that that is unlikely, but that's not the same as a guarantee to the millions of Americans or Europeans who would die.

Worse, Iran's strategic intentions are alarming.

Iran actively supports terrorist groups and movements that are committed to an Islamic jihad against the West. It provides sanctuary to al-Qaida operatives. It supports insurgents in Iraq who are killing hundreds of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians each week. It armed Hezbollah with the rockets that killed Israeli citizens in their homes in the "war" during July and August. And Iran's President Ahmadinejad said that Israel should be "wiped off the map."

The second thing Americans should conclude from the recent events is that diplomacy is vastly preferable to military intervention.

The Bush administration's policy for the last year has focused on diplomacy. Washington has built a loose coalition of France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear program.

Diplomacy is an important option because nuclear proliferation in the hands of reckless states poses a strategic threat to all states. If Iran can develop nuclear weapons without a serious diplomatic response by the international community, the credibility of the United Nations will be further weakened.

However, the risk with diplomacy is that it may mask an unsettling reality. What if Iran and other states, such as North Korea, conclude that diplomacy is a cover for states that do not have the will to confront states that threaten peace? Despite intense diplomacy, North Korea possesses nuclear weapons, and has twice tested ballistic missiles that could someday reach American cities. Will diplomacy allow Iran to develop similar capabilities?

Third to be concluded from the recent events: Prudence dictates that military intervention is always the option of last resort.

News reports suggest that Iran's nuclear program consists of several dozen facilities. Many of these are buried deep underground, to protect them against military attack.

Most analyses of military options against Iran's nuclear complex focus on air strikes, rather than an invasion. But would air strikes destroy Iran's nuclear program?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. They would, however, dramatically slow Tehran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons -- perhaps until democratic forces replaced Iran's radical theocracy.

Unquestionably, military intervention complicates matters. Iran could cut oil production and thus drive oil prices dramatically upward -- $100 a barrel and gasoline at $5 to $6 per gallon. It could unleash suicide bombers against the United States and Europe. Most worrisome, Iran could declare an Islamic jihad against the West.

Fourth to be concluded from the recent events: The choice lies somewhere between living with Iran's nuclear weapons and intervening militarily -- risking a global war between radical Islam and the West.

The conclusions for U.S. policymakers are not reassuring: 1) diplomacy alone will not dissuade Iran from developing nuclear weapons and 2) military intervention could inflame matters in the Mideast.

Iran's President Admadinejad may already see an Islamic jihad between Islam and the West that focuses on freedom versus tyranny. His May 8 letter to President Bush warned that "liberalism and democracyhave failed."

What principles should guide how the United States deals with Iran's nuclear program?

First, we cannot ignore this problem. If Iran is not a responsible steward of nuclear weapons, millions of innocent people could die.

Second, we must pursue diplomacy aggressively, despite signs of failure. While Russia and China declared that Iran's actions are not an "urgent" problem, and are unwilling to support "severe" sanctions, U.S. pressure might alter their strategy.

Third, since the risks of a nuclear-armed Iran are unacceptable and diplomacy is not succeeding, military intervention -- unilateral, if necessary -- remains a realistic option for the United States. But with considerable opposition to U.S. "unilateralism," Washington needs the support of its allies.

Fourth, unless diplomacy works, over time military intervention will emerge as the "best" option. That is a shame, because Russia and China could convince Iran of the international community's resolve. But their strategy of reining in American power is leading them to squander the opportunity to resolve this matter diplomatically.

Fifth, war against Iran is unlikely right now, but we are moving inexorably in that direction -- unless the United States decides that it can live with a nuclear-armed Iran. I would bet that the American people and their leaders would never draw that conclusion -- or they would live to regret it.

William C. Martel, an occasional contributor, is an associate professor of international security at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

29sep06-dark_fruit.pdf (application/pdf Object)

The US Army's Strategic Studies Institute just released a 313 page compilation titled:

Strategic Challenges For Counterinsurgency And The Global War On Terrorism

Two chapters in particular are noteworthy enough that we have extracted them and offer them here:

1. The Dark Fruit Of Globalization: Hostile Use Of The Internet
by Lieutenant Colonel Todd A. Megill

This reviews the problem and offers some suggestions regarding counter-measures.

File: http://www.sofir.org/resources/29sep06-dark_fruit.pdf

2. From The Ashes Of The Phoenix: Lessons For Contemporary Counterinsurgency Operations
by Lieutenant Colonel Ken Tovo

The author reviews lessons that can be learned from the Phoenix Program - the highly controversial and much-maligned US counterinsurgency against the Viet Cong infrastructure in South Vietnam. He then discusses these lessons in light of the current global Islamist insurgency, whose infrastructure he describes as follows:

The general support component of the militant Islamic infrastructure also includes Islamic nongovernmental organizations that solicit money on behalf of al-Qa’ida and other terrorist organizations, as well as funding fundamentalist madrassas and mosques throughout the world. Such religious institutions serve as recruiting centers and platforms to spread their propaganda messages. This component also includes media organizations and web sites that provide fora for the insurgents’ psychological operations and assist in the furtherance of their information campaign objectives. The infrastructure directs, supports, and sustains the execution of violence against the regime and Western enemies; it constitutes the insurgency’s center of gravity.

File: http://www.sofir.org/resources/29sep06-phoenix.pdf

Posted on 29 September 2006 @ 08:23

Society for Internet Research::SoFIR

Society for Internet Research::SoFIR

The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point is pleased to present this report, “Harmony and Disharmony: Exploiting Al-Qa’ida’s Organizational Vulnerabilities.” Based on a collection of al-Qa’ida documents that have recently been released from the Department of Defense’s Harmony Database, this report provides an analysis of al-Qa’ida’s organizational vulnerabilities. These documents, captured in the course of operations supporting the GWOT, have never before been made available to the academic and policy community. “Harmony and Disharmony” includes a theoretically informed analysis of potential opportunities to exploit al-Qa’ida’s network vulnerabilities, a case study of jihadi operational failure, and specific recommendations for effectively addressing the evolving al-Qa’ida threat. We have provided brief summaries of each of the released documents, and the full texts of the released documents can be accessed via hyperlinks within the report, both in their original Arabic and in English. We hope that this report will provide a useful resource in our collective efforts to better understand and combat al-Qa’ida and its affiliated movements.

Harmony and Disharmony Report full text

Harmony Documents -- English translation (27 MB Zip File)

Harmony Documents -- Original Arabic (32 MB Zip File)

4 troops abducted, killed in Iraq attack - Yahoo! News

Iran tests radar-avoiding missile | Jerusalem Post

Palestinian Media Watch - Homepage

Online Jihad: "Al-Fateh" Hamas Magazine for Kids

Counter-Terrorism: Islamic Internet Resources

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Technology -- U.S. agency sets 'power of the Internet' upon seized Iraqi documents

How Qaeda Warned Its Operatives on Using Cell Phones - October 18, 2006 - The New York Sun

FrontPage magazine.com :: How Clinton Let Al-Qaeda Go by Richard Shultz Jr.

FrontPage magazine.com :: How Clinton Let Al-Qaeda Go by Richard Shultz Jr.: "Even after bin Laden declared war on America in a 1998 fatwa, and bombed U.S. embassies to show his followers that he meant business in exhorting them to 'abide by Allah's order by killing Americans . . . anywhere, anytime, and wherever possible,' the Pentagon still resisted calling terrorism war. It wasn't alone. A CIA assessment of the fatwa acknowledged that if a government had issued such a decree, one would have had to consider it a declaration of war, but in al Qaeda's case it was only propaganda."

NPR : Studying the Efficacy of Suicide Bombers

NPR : Studying the Efficacy of Suicide Bombers: "Morning Edition, June 27, 2005 � The Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism has compiled an extensive database of all suicide terrorist attacks around the world since 1980. The findings of the project, led by University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape, conclude that suicide terrorism is an extremely effective weapon in political struggles. This is the first of two reports."

RAND | Monograph/Reports | Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy

RAND | Monograph/Reports | Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy: "Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy
Cover: MR-1382 | Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy

Edited by: John Arquilla, David Ronfeldt

Netwar-like cyberwar-describes a new spectrum of conflict that is emerging in the wake of the information revolution. Netwar includes conflicts waged, on the one hand, by terrorists, criminals, gangs, and ethnic extremists; and by civil-society activists (such as cyber activists or WTO protestors) on the other. What distinguishes netwar is the networked organizational structure of its practitioners-with many groups actually being leaderless-and their quickness in coming together in swarming attacks. To confront this new type of conflict, it is crucial for governments, military, and law enforcement to begin networking themselves.

The Terrorism Research Center ::

Media Wars: News at a Time of Terror Category : Terrorism Bookshelf Author : Danny Schechter, Roland Schatz, Walter Cronkite ISBN : 0742531090
Description : (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2003), 234 pages; hardcover (list price: $70.00); softcover (list price: $22.95). Danny Schechter is a television news professional, whose career has included on-air reporting at Boston's WGBH, and serving as CNN producer, as well as producer for ABC's 20/20. He is currently the executive producer and co-founder of the television and film production company Globalvision and editor of Mediachannel.org. Schechter resides in New York and his writings have appeared in leading newspapers and magazines. "Media Wars" is his fifth book. "Media Wars" examines media coverage of the terrorist threat against the United States and other countries since 9/11. Schechter analyzes the actual news coverage and what he believes has been left out, from the reporting of more than 1,000 worldwide radio, newspaper, television, and internet affiliates. His conclusion, that the media has become a "megaphone for the U.S. military and its war on terror" may be questioned, but his analysis is provocative and interesting. He also proposes changes to improve news coverage, which he believes needs to become more independent. The book includes commentaries about media coverage by various journalists.
This book added on : 26-May-2003 by Dr. Joshua Sinai Hits: 475 Report broken book link

Bethlehem Christians claim persecution | Jerusalem Post

Russian man arrested with bomb-grade uranium | Jerusalem Post

Russian man arrested with bomb-grade uranium | Jerusalem Post

Slanging Weapons grade uranium in Georgia

Welcome to KishKish Lie Detector™

Welcome to KishKish Lie Detector™: "About Voice Stress Analysis
Voice Stress Analysis (VSA) is a type of lie detector which measures stress in a person's voice. The use of Voice Stress Analysis (VSA) as a lie detector became popular in the late 1970s and 80s. In the 90s the first Computerized VSA (CVSA) systems came to out to the market. The CVSAT is now the truth verification device of choice in the law enforcement community as the number of law enforcement agencies utilizing the CVSAT continues to grow dramatically, proving the viability of the system for twenty-first century crime detection. The CVSAT is also being utilized by the US Military in the global war on terrorism.

Now KishKish Lie detector offers you a tool to detect the stress level of the person you communicate with over Skype. With the use of KishKish Lie detector you can monitor in real-time the stress level of the person you talked with. This allows you to gage the level of stress and modify your questions in real time. You could also use our KishKish SAM VSA that allows you to record the call and analyze the stress level off-line."

Global Incident Map Displaying Terrorist Acts, Suspicious Activity, and General Terrorism News

Global Incident Map Displaying Terrorist Acts, Suspicious Activity, and General Terrorism News

See where its happening, when and how

Blackboard Learning System - Basic Edition

The Wikipedia way to better intelligence

Open-source information gathering can rival, if not surpass, the clandestine intelligence produced by government agencies.

By Douglas Raymond and Paula Broadwell

SAN FRANCISCO; AND CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

The US State Department's effort last month to issue a travel ban on 12 Iranians suspected of supporting that nation's nuclear program wasn't big news at first. Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that the analysis supporting the ban was provided not by the CIA, but by a single junior analyst using Google searches.

The lesson? Advanced technology and Web-savvy citizenry now make it possible for open-source information gathering to rival, if not surpass, the clandestine intelligence produced by government agencies.

Indeed, open-source methods have already proved their worth in counterterrorism. Shortly after Sept. 11, Valdis Krebs, a security expert, re-created the structure and identities of the core Al Qaeda network using publicly available information accessed from the Internet. He started with two 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, who were identified from a photograph taken while they attended a meeting with known terrorists in Malaysia in 2000. By scanning public sources for information linking these suspects to others, he re-created the social network identifying all 19 hijackers and described their relationships to their coconspirators, including the identification of Mohammed Atta as the ringleader.

A US-based research center, the Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Institute, monitors the public communications of terrorist and extremist websites and has successfully penetrated password-protected Al Qaeda-linked sites. SITE has successfully accessed terrorists' propaganda, training manuals, and communications, offering insight into their activities that is difficult to obtain elsewhere. According to a Marine colleague who just returned from Iraq, information on the SITE website was used within hours of posting to prevent a terrorist attack in Iraq, demonstrating that third-party analysis has become a key component of intelligence.

A third example comes from a new database at the Jebsen Center for Counter- Terrorism Studies at Tufts University's Fletcher School in Medford, Mass. Researchers there have collected historical data on the life paths of hundreds of terrorists and analyzed their letters, wills, and interviews. This information, based on open-source data, is being used to identify the factors that tend to predict terrorist acts.

Technology that lets anyone analyze data

While motivated citizens and academics have often been able to generate analysis that rivals that of government experts, the difference today is that technology such as wikis and blogs allows thousands to contribute to an analysis. Readers can then "vote" the most accurate and relevant information to the top, giving them enough credibility to be taken seriously. Take, for example, the Wikipedia entry of Moqtada al-Sadr. Mr. Sadr's entry in this free encylopedia that anyone can edit has been modified approximately 500 times by about 50 people in the past three years. These motivated authors have expanded the entry and corrected hundreds of one another's errors and omissions. Thousands read the profile and hundreds of others have linked to it, making it the first entry in most search engines' results.

Blogs are another tool for massive parallel analysis and collaboration - a search for blogs dealing with terrorism generates nearly 1 million results.

While most bloggers generate little of value to intelligence analysis, the collaborative nature of the technology gives greater weight to the better analyses, pushing them to the top. Additionally, the increasing reliance of terrorist groups on the Internet provides these amateur intelligence specialists with tomes of data that will make it easier to understand terrorist goals and objectives, improving their ability to conduct pattern analysis. The result is that analysts have increasingly better access to data, and the consumers of their work have better tools for distinguishing great analyses from those that are merely good.

A disconcerting fact about the Iranian travel-ban event is that the State Department had repeatedly requested that list of names from the CIA, but was refused for reasons of secrecy.

How US intelligence can adapt

To be fair, the US intelligence community has taken some first steps in adopting collaborative technology by creating an "Intellipedia" - a secret, internal version of Wikipedia. However, the strength of Wikipedia is not the technology, but the massively collaborative effort that the technology enables. US intelligence agencies must adopt this collaborative spirit and become more adept at incorporating the increasingly valuable analysis produced in the public domain with their internal efforts. America will be a more secure country once it discards the notion that secrecy is equal to strength and begins harnessing the power of 100,000 bloggers.

• Douglas Raymond is a former US Army captain, former member of the 66th Military Intelligence Group, and currently a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Paula Broadwell is a PhD student in counterterrorism policy studies at Harvard University and the deputy director of the Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies at Tufts University's Fletcher School.

Full HTML version of this story which may include photos, graphics, and related links

YouTube - The Media of Terrorism

YouTube - The Media of Terrorism

Incitement

"Our satellite channels deserve the name "media of terrorism" said Abd Al-Hamid Al-Ansari, Former Dean of Islamic Law, Qatar University. (Memritiv) "Such extremism is the beginning of violence and fanaticism, and violence leads to terrorism. Fanaticism, extremism, violence, terrorism."

Effects on Children

"This propaganda throughout the Arab world has a very significant effect on the entire population; on the children growing up. A child isn't born hating. I child needs to be taught to hate, taught to fear." said Itamar Marcus.

China started the weaponization of space the other day by shooting down a satelite with a ballistic missle.

Philippines says militant's death a blow - Yahoo! News

Philippines says militant's death a blow - Yahoo! News

Philippines and US soliders killed Abu Syyaf senior in a deadly shootout at his jungle hide-away in Jojo.

That leaves Radulan Sahiron, a one-armed commander, among the active Abu Sayyaf veterans.

Iran oil exports may dwindle with sanctions�|�Top Business News�|�Reuters.com

Iran oil exports may dwindle with sanctions�|�Top Business News�|�Reuters.com

y.

A report by academic Roger Stern at U.S. John Hopkins University last week predicted Iran's exports could dwindle to almost nothing by 2015 if it did not change its energy policies.

JCPA�Israeli Security-Hizballah in Lebanon: The War Was Not Supposed to End This Way

JCPA�Israeli Security-Hizballah in Lebanon: The War Was Not Supposed to End This Way

Interesting by Fletcher professor Chuck Freilich.

Main points paint a tough road ahead for Israel. Questions such as will an international force be a detriment for Israel raise important questions that need immediate answers.

Israel is not better off strategically than it was at the beginning of the war; this in itself is a Hizballah victory. Israel must prepare to win the next round decisively.
The IDF knew that Hizballah could not be defeated without a major ground operation: its plan did not fail - it was never implemented. The failure was primarily of leadership: only go to war with clear objectives and the determination to prevail.
The IDF ostensibly applied the initially brilliant U.S. strategy in Iraq - an aerial blitz against military targets and civil infrastructure, to crush the Iraqi system, followed by a decisive ground offensive. In reality, Israel did not launch the follow-on ground operation and, except for transportation, did not target Lebanon's infrastructure either.
Israel must adopt and aggressively implement a realistic deterrent posture, with clear "red lines." Hizballah attacks, even attempts to redeploy, should cause an immediate and overwhelming response. Israel, not Hizballah, must have escalation dominance.
Lebanese and international forces will do little to ensure security and will end up as a cover for ongoing Hizballah operations, hampering Israel's freedom of movement. Hizballah will neither disarm nor redeploy from the south. Another round is likely.
The West Bank consolidation is now virtually dead and with it any prospects for the "peace process." Only a serious, dramatic Arab initiative can save it. Once again, the Palestinians and their radical allies have been their own worst enemy.
Iran remains the primary issue - imagine this war just a few years from now: a nuclear umbrella for Hizballah, threats to Israel's existence, an international crisis. The good news: Iran exposed its Hizballah deterrent prematurely; Israel learned it can survive Hizballah rocket attacks, an important lesson if Iran is attacked in the future; the world was given a "wake-up call."
A revitalized U.S.-Israel strategic dialogue is more vital than ever.

Uzi Eilam - STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT, Vol 7 No 2

"The Pentagon's Revenge" or Strategic Transformation: The Bush Administration's New Security Strategy, Chuck Freilich - STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT, Vol 9 No

"The Pentagon's Revenge" or Strategic Transformation: The Bush Administration's New Security Strategy, Chuck Freilich - STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT, Vol 9 No 1 - JCSS: "'The Pentagon's Revenge' or Strategic Transformation: The Bush Administration's New Security Strategy
Chuck Freilich*"

The Journal of International Security Affairs | Venezuela: Anatomy of a Dictator

VENEZUELA’s NEWEST IMPORT: ISLAMIST TERROR CELLS

While America soldiers are busy fighting terrorist insurgencies in the Middle East and Central Asia, a new threat has arisen closer to home.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has provided safe haven, false documents in aid to Islamist terror cells bent on attacking America. General James Hills, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, pointed to the popular tourist destination Venezuelan Margarita Island as its primary strong hold. Reports suggest there is a presence of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Gama’a Islamiya, using the Island as a staging ground to gain a foot hold in the Western Hemisphere.

Security experts suggest that this is part of Chavez’s anti-American campaign. Islamists share his ideological distaste for America. By engaging them and aiding them, they join his foreign legion. To help leverage his strong hold and project his reach, Chavez his joined by the ranks of Cuban Intelligence officials, ELN and FARC—Marxist guerilla’s the US his currently fighting in Colombia in their anti-drug campaign Plan Colombia.

“Chávez has also emerged as a staunch ally of America’s greatest Middle Eastern adversary, Iran, and as a supporter of terrorists seeking to harm regional stability and the United States.,” writes Dr. Luis Fleischman, an advisor to the Menges Hemispheric Security Project at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C.

“As these moves indicate, Venezuela today is fast emerging as the most dangerous player in the Western Hemisphere. If it is successful in its efforts, the regime in Caracas could become one of the greatest strategic challenges facing the United States in the years ahead.”

A vast terrorist network exists in Latin American and the Caribbean, from Margarita Island in the North of Venezuela to Panama.

It's important that US Counterterror officials are cognizant of this network,before its too late.

Counterterrorism Blog

Counterterrorism Blog

"My first objective was to explain basic facts to the international public community: that there was an ideological current out there, aiming at world domination, which is defined as “Jihadism.” The whole of Jihadism comes from two trees, one is Salafi the other is Khomeinist. The Salafists, formed in the Sunni environment, are inspired by doctrines of the Middle Ages and have emerged in modern times as Wahhabis, the Muslim Brotherhood, Takfiris, Deobandis, Tablighi and others. They want the reestablishment of a modern day Caliphate. They feel they are the heirs of 14 centuries of history, and they reject modern international law. The Khomeinists are the Jihadists who emerged in the Shiia community. They aim at establishing an Imamate to reunify all Muslims under their guidance in pursuit of Jihad." WJ

Bombs found hidden in toys - police | NEWS.com.au

Bombs found hidden in toys - police | NEWS.com.au: "Bombs found hidden in toys - police"

Neocon Express

Miami Port Analysis

lgf: Sunni-Shi'ite War in Microcosm

Defense workers warned about spy coins - Yahoo! News

The Counterterrorism Blog: The American Islamic Leaders' "Fatwa" is Bogus

The Counterterrorism Blog: The American Islamic Leaders' "Fatwa" is Bogus: "The American Islamic Leaders' 'Fatwa' is Bogus

Steven Emerson
The Investigative Project on Terrorism
Email: Stopterror@aol.com"

Tufts-Fletcher-News:

"The Wikipedia way to better intelligence"

The Fletcher School continues to dominate in the field of conter-terrorism and defense.

Changing hearts and minds

Lawrence E. Harrison's brilliant article explains how cultural factors are all too often not considered in the attempt to tranform countries, such as Iraq, into a democratic nation.

He writes:

"Culture does matter. But politics can change culture and enable more rapid progress, substantially transforming societies within a generation. The anguish of the US adventure in Iraq, genocide and famine in Africa, and the huge flow of poor people seeking a better life in rich countries are among the vivid reminders of how difficult it is to create a more democratic, just and prosperous world. Confronting culture can make that challenge more manageable."

Lawrence E. Harrison is author of 'The Central Liberal Truth: How Politics Can Change a Culture and Save It From Itself' (Oxford University Press). He is currently leading the Culture Matters Research Project at the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Jalali: Radicalism in the Region Hurts Iran Too (ROOZ :: English)

Jalali: Radicalism in the Region Hurts Iran Too: In article from Roozonline, which hosts Iranian dissidents in exile, explains that Iran will stay the course on its persuit of nuclear weapons. Ultimately, intervention or compromise will be a decescive fator. Jalali further explains: "Iran does the best it can in the field of diplomacy. The real issue here is not diplomacy though, but interests. We should not forget that nothing is more important than national interests when it comes to international relations. All countries are pursuing their own interests, and this applies to Russia and China as well as Iran. It should not be surprising to us that countries pursue their interests. The art of diplomacy is to use the cleavages and overlaps in interests to your own benefit."

Ahmadinejad Comes to Ecuador

Iran's Ahmadinejad to tour Latin America: The rise of Latin America's anti-American leftest, led by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has undermined US trade and fight against narcotics grown and exported in the region.

Not suprisingly recently elected Ecuadorian president "Correa has vowed to seek stronger ties with Venezuela, oppose a free-trade deal with the United States, and not renew the lease for a US military air base on Ecuador's Pacific Coast."

My Way News - al-Qaida Chief in Somalia May Be Dead

Al-Qaida Chief in Somalia May Be Dead: "Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who allegedly planned the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, was killed in a U.S. airstrike Monday"

US ATTACKS SOMALIA

This is the first armed US intervention in the regioion, since a failed US mission in Somalia in 1994. The attack targeted terrorist responsible for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. In 1994, Somalia faced mass starvation. The US sent in rangers to open up food supplies. The battle, portrayed in the book adapted movie Black Hawk Down, left 19 US rangers and thousands of Somalia's dead. Leading up to the battle a number of Pakistani UN blue helmets were ambushed and killed when trying to shut down a Islamist radio station. It has also been reported that the US was after a large Russian weapons cache hidden in the area. America's standoff approach to Somalia ended, yesterday when they attacked fleeing Islamists. Initial reports suggest a top Al-Qaeda leader and 27 civilians were killed in the attack.

MERCHANT OF DEATH

Read Douglas Farah’s compelling in depth analysis of international arms dealer Viktor Bout. Bout has armed everyone from guerilla groups to US in their fight against the Taliban. He has been successful at evading international crime agencies in multiple countries. The US has made attempts to persecute him but has also come to him as one of the few peoples that can "anything anywhere on short notice." In particular the US has relied on him for air transport and arming countering insurgencies in Afghanistan. Douglas Farah on Viktor Bout, Foreign Policy Magazine, Nov/Dec 2006

Labels: INTERNATIONAL ARMS TRADE

COUNTER TERRORISM PROJECT

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

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Monday, January 29, 2007

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The Deep Blue Highway

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The Terrorism Research Center ::

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Wikipedia way to better intelligence

YouTube - The Media of Terrorism

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Monday, January 15, 2007

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Counterterrorism Blog

Friday, January 12, 2007

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Changing hearts and minds

Ahmadinejad Comes to Ecuador

US ATTACKS SOMALIA

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

MERCHANT OF DEATH

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