Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A senior counterterrorism official said on Wednesday his agency lacks "Google-like" search capability that could have identified the suspect in the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing. The National Counterterrorism Center, the agency charged with reviewing disparate data to protect against attacks, does not have a computer search engine that could have checked for various spellings of the alleged bomber's name and his birthplace in Nigeria, the center's chief told a Senate hearing on security reform. "We do not have that exact capacity," said Michael Leiter, adding that the agency is working on solutions that could be in...

WASHINGTON – With thousands of fraud investigations under way, the FBI is considering shifting agents away from counterterrorism work to help sort through the wreckage of the financial meltdown. FBI Deputy Director John Pistole told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the bureau may reassign some of the positions that were reallocated to anti-terrorism work after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Such a move would be a further sign of the government breaking with the Bush administration's priorities, which pledged to assign every available resource to averting another terrorist attack.

Counterterrorism, like espionage and covert action, isn’t a spectator sport. The more a country practices, the better it gets. France has become the most accomplished counterterrorist practitioner in Europe. Whereas September 11, 2001, was a shock to the American counterterrorist establishment, it wasn’t a révolution des mentalités in Paris. Two waves of terrorist attacks, the first in the mid-1980s and the second in the mid-1990s, have made France acutely aware of both state-supported Middle Eastern terrorism and freelancing but organized Islamic extremists. In comparison, the security services in Great Britain and Germany were slow to awaken to the threat from...

A scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has discovered a way to literally catch terrorists red-handed. A new chemical spray detector developed by Prof Joseph Almog of the Hebrew University's Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry detects the home-made explosive urea nitrate. When sprayed on cotton swabs taken from the hands of an individual who has had recent contact with urea nitrate, the chemical will turn a blood red hue. Urea nitrate is a powerful improvised explosive, frequently used by Palestinian terrorists in Israel. It was also used in the first World Trade Center bombing in New York in 1993....

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd as you recall, was the man on flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his cell phone and uttered the words Let’s roll, which authorities believe was a signal to other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour a transformation (had) occurred among the passengers, athletes, business...

THE success of PhD papers by Oxford University students is usually gauged by the amount of dust they gather on library shelves. But there is one that is so influential that General George Casey, the US commander in Iraq, is said to carry it with him everywhere. Most of his staff have been ordered to read it and he pressed a copy into the hands of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld when he visited Baghdad in December. Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife (a title taken from TE Lawrence - himself no slouch in guerilla warfare) is a study...

TORONTO - Canadian counter- terrorism investigators have dismantled a suspected terrorist cell in Toronto whose members included an al-Qaeda-trained explosives expert, the National Post has learned. The cell consisted of four Algerian refugee claimants who had lived in Canada for as long as six years and were alleged members of a radical Islamic terror faction called the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. The central figure of the Toronto-area cell was a former al-Qaeda training camp instructor who studied bomb-making at Osama bin Laden's Al Farooq and Khaldun training camps in eastern Afghanistan. The group was watched by intelligence officers...

If you read the papers or watch TV , you’ve probably heard that an Army Intelligence unit called Able Danger (may have) identified four of the 9/11 hijackers as much as a year before they struck – but was unable to pass the information on to the FBI because Pentagon lawyers said it would be a “no-no”….but shouldn’t Richard Clarke have known about it ? Richard Clarke was President Clinton’s Counter-terrorism Director- but I suspect he was kept “out of the loop” as far as any real or valuable intelligence was concerned. I believe, had he known about Able Danger,it...

NEW YORK (AP) - The burly FBI agent in the pinstriped suit stepped to the front of the mosque and looked out over a sea of Pakistani men in white kufi caps and women in brightly colored headscarves. "A-salaam aleikum," said Charles Frahm, special agent-in-charge of the FBI's New York counterterrorism division. "It's a great honor to be here today in the capacity of a friend." Frahm has become a frequent presence in the mosques and social clubs of New York's Arab and Muslim neighborhoods, trying to ease tensions where law-enforcement scrutiny has spawned some anger and much anxiety. On...

Jeff Baxter played psychedelic music with Ultimate Spinach, jazz-rock with Steely Dan and funky pop with the Doobie Brothers. But in the last few years he has made an even bigger transition: Mr. Baxter, who goes by the nickname "Skunk," has become one of the national-security world's well-known counterterrorism experts. A wiry man who wears a beret to many of his meetings, Mr. Baxter, who is now 56 years old, has gone from a rock career that brought him eight platinum records to a spot in the small constellation of consultants paid to help both policy makers and defense contractors...

In a large-scale counter-terror offensive, the IDF killed at least 11 Arab terrorists, injured dozens more before withdrawing its forces Saturday night. The offensive was aimed at stopping the constant terrorist firing of rockets and mortar shells upon the communities of Gush Katif and the western Negev. The Army pulled back soldiers from the PA-controlled city of Khan Yunis, in Gaza, following a 48-hours operation termed, "Orange Iron," which targeted and destroyed munitions factories and sites used by terrorists to launched rockets and mortar shells. No serious injuries to IDF soldiers were reported during the entire operation. Despite the IDF's...

The new national counterterrorism center established by President Bush under an executive order is to begin operations in early December, at about the same time that Congress may be debating whether to approve a law that would create a different version of the same agency. The center would be the "primary organization in the United States government for analyzing and integrating" all intelligence "pertaining to terrorism and counterterrorism, excepting purely domestic counterterrorism information." The center's director is to supervise correlation of the terrorism intelligence and produce reports to be sent to the president and other senior officials. It would operate...

The government Friday launched a public relations campaign to combat anticipated international criticism of its newest military operations in the northern Gaza Strip, which is aimed at eliminating the threat of Kassam rockets, the Prime Minister's Office spokesman Ra'anan Gissin said. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at Thursday's late night security cabinet meeting "instructed the security services, the air-force and whoever is taking pictures of the Kassam rockets to release them so it will be available to the media," said Gissin. "We do not have to apologize, but we are going to explain," said Gissin. Sharon is hoping the pictures will...

A large number of Israel Defense Forces troops, accompanied by 100 tanks and helicopters flying overhead, entered the northern Gaza Strip early Friday, according to Palestinian security officials. The sources said that tanks had entered Beit Lahiya, the Jabalya refugee camp, and Beit Hanun. The security cabinet approved unanimously on Thursday Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans for an expanded military ground operation in the Gaza Strip in response to the launching of Qassam rockets and the recent escalation of hostilities in the region. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the heads of the Israel Defense Forces presented the plan to Sharon...

An Israel Air Force missile strike tore apart a car in Gaza City on Monday, killing two senior Hamas militants. The two men, Rabah Zakut and Nabil al-Saidi, were riding in a jeep in the Rimal neighborhood in the city. Five Palestinian bystanders were injured in the blast, one in moderate condition and the other lightly. Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said in response that "Hamas will teach the enemy (Israel) the same lesson of Be?er Sheva," a reference to the last Hamas attack inside Israel, when suicide bombers blew up two buses in the southern Israeli city of on August...

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz called the recently intensified IDF operations in Gaza the "proper response" against Kassam launches from the region into Israeli neighborhoods. Army procedures in Gaza will continue as long as they are necessary, Mofaz said, as reported by Israel Radio Friday afternoon. Although he admitted that army procedures in the Gaza Strip unfortunately cannot completely eliminate rocket attacks, they certainly deter them and limit terrorist activity, Mofaz said. Hamas terrorist killed in Gaza IDF forces killed a Hamas terrorist in the Jabalyia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday. The terrorist, Abdel Aziz El-Ashkar, was...

A Russian threat to carry out pre-emptive strikes against terrorist bases outside its territory is “understandable” and within international law, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today. A senior Russian military officer today told reporters that Moscow was ready to take any measures necessary “to liquidate terrorist bases in any region of the world” in the wake of last week’s Beslan school outrage. The European Union and Nato were wary of responding to the comments, with one EU spokeswoman noting that no public statement on pre-emptive attacks had yet been made by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Mr Straw made clear...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - About 25 Israeli tanks moved into the northern part of the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, witnesses said. The tanks approached the town of Beit Hanoun and the large Jebaliya refugee camp. Two attack helicopters flew overhead, firing flares that lit up the night sky. No gunfire or casualties were reported. The operation follows rocket fire by Palestinian militants at an Israeli town just across the Gaza fence. In the past, Israel has sent tanks and troops into northern Gaza to try to stop the rocket fire. Israeli military sources said there was a limited operation...

Right click and save as (windows media player): New Fashion Among the Suicide Terrorists (translation of the IDF video clip title to English)

A high level delegation from Maryland, headed by Homeland Security director Dennis Schrader recently visited Israel. The delegation, which included the commander of the State police and other senior law enforcement officials, is part of the ongoing initiative by Governor Robert L Ehrlich Jr. to promote economic and security cooperation between Israel and Maryland. Dennis Schrader said that the group had had productive meetings with Israeli security officials. ”We regard this cooperation as most important, as we have the utmost respect for Israeli technological and operational know-how in security matters”, he said. He said that Maryland, although a relatively small...

Greece has reportedly quietly agreed to let Israel send armed guards to protect our athletes in next month's games in Athens. The Greeks have also allowed the United States and reportedly Britain too to use armed guards to secure their athletic teams against a strike by terrorists during the August 13-29 games. Officials in the government here have remained mum about the reported agreement. But members of the Israeli security establishment have confirmed that the agreement was necessary in order to Israel to participate. Officially, however, Greece has imposed an arms ban, barring most nations from bringing armed guards to...

IRAQ announced the formation of a domestic spy agency yesterday to counter terrorism inside the country. Iyad Allawi, the interim Prime Minister, made the announcement as ten people were killed by the second major car bombing in 24 hours and just before an abortive attempt to assassinate his Foreign Minister. He said the General Security Directorate would help to eliminate insurgents intent on destroying his country’s infrastructure and killing innocent civilians. “We are determined to bring down all the hurdles that stand in the way of our democracy . . . Terrorism will be terminated, God willing,” Mr Allawi said....

Israel Army Radio reports at least 9 terrorists have been killed by IDF forces in their continuing counter-terror operation in PA terrorist controlled Beit Hanoun and other PA areas in the Gaza district. IDF is continuing to operate against terrorists who launch qassam rockets and other terror targets. Also IDF Soldier Seriously Wounded in Gaza Fighting 06:20 Jul 08, '04 / 19 Tammuz 5764 (IsraelNN.com) It is now permitted to announce that an IDF soldier sustained serious injuries from terrorist gunfire in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza during the night.

Anne Robinson-Peter, a 44-year-old graphic artist from New York who is an activist with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM), has been held for the past week at Ben-Gurion Airport's detention center on the grounds that she poses "a security risk to the state." The Interior Ministry denied Robinson-Peter entry to Israel when the U.S. citizen landed last Wednesday from New York, saying that it was complying with "the request of the security establishment." After her lawyers, Yael Barda and Shamai Leibovich, challenged the decision in Tel Aviv District Court last week, Judge Nissim Yeshaya issued an interim order forbidding...

Israel regrets harming Palestinian civilians but the Rafah operation will continue Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Wednesday night after Palestinian protestors were killed in Rafah Wednesday afternoon. The Chief of Staff, Moshe Yaalon said that no soldier was given the command to target civilians. At a joint press conference at the Sufah checkpoint in the Gaza Strip, the two justified the Rafah operation. “The operation is essential and will continue”, Mofaz said. “It is too early to go in to the details of the incident. In such complex and complicated fighting, incidents like these happen sometimes and no other army...

The army has received information in recent days regarding a shipment of Strella shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, Sagger anti-tank missiles, and other long-range rockets that are waiting on the Egyptian side of the border to be smuggled through tunnels into the Gaza Strip, a senior IDF officer said on Tuesday. As the IDF launched Operation Rainbow against the terrorist network in Rafah, current assessments show that at least three or four tunnels are still operating in the area, the officer said. The weapons are brought to the area by boats anchored at El-Arish, tunnels dug underneath the Suez Canal, and from...

Palestinian sources report large IDF forces in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of expected operations to widen the Philadelphia corridor, after the High COurt rejected petitions by 13 Palestinian residents in Rafah against the destruction of houses in Palestinian Rafah, reported channel one news Sunday evening. The IDF revealed plans Sunday to create a 60 meter wide underground canal, 20 meters deep that is aimed at preventing the forging of arms-smuggling tunnels from the Egyptian side of Rafah to the Palestinian side. This is one option to widening the Philadelphia Corridor, reported Channel 2 news Sunday. The army is considering...

A new test that taps brain records so accurately it identified a serial killer could soon be used to identify terrorists before they strike, including those in long-term "sleeper" cells. So says researcher Marina Murphy in Chemistry & Industry Magazine. Whatever a suspect's verbal answers to questioning, the brain will always answer honestly - and it is this internal answer that "brain fingerprinting" reveals. With the right questions, it is possible to detect records of crimes committed or crimes in the planning. During the 30-minute test, the suspect is presented with words, phrases and images, some of which may be...

Almost 70 people gathered last Monday night at the Tel Aviv home of Canadian-American Menachem Feder and his partner Yael Fishman, to celebrate the launch of Pups for Peace-Israel, the Israeli arm of a Los Angeles-based organization that has donated 30 sniffer dogs to the Transportation Ministry and Israeli police force. In the past, the puppies were trained in California; the training operations have now moved to an army base in the Golan. "These dogs represent a nonviolent form of counterterrorism," said Feder, a who has lived in both Montreal and New York and is now the chairman of Pups...

The IDF forces have operated since last night in the northern Gaza Strip in order to strike Palestinians who attack Israeli targets by planting explosive devices, firing mortar shells and launching Qassam rockets. Hamas short film regarding terrorist activities Additional Hamas short film regarding terrorist activities Short film regarding Hamas confrontation Additional short film regarding Hamas confrontation During the operation, intense exchanges of fire erupted between armed gunmen and the IDF forces. In the exchange terrorists fired dozens of anti-tank missiles, as well as light fire and detonated explosive devices and several grenades - all fired at IDF forces. The...

Israel Defense Forces troops on jeeps and a tank raided the West Bank city of Jericho early Sunday for the first time in months, and surrounded a house suspected to hold several Fatah activists. An armed Fatah activist was seriously wounded in an exchange of fire with IDF troops. He tried to escape, but was caught and sent to an Israeli hospital, Israel Radio reported. Troops also forced residents to remain confined to their homes at the start of the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said troops had entered the town for...

The Transportation Ministry will test a new security system for buses in Jerusalem in the coming weeks. Ministry spokesman Avner Ovadia said the prototype will be installed on five buses in the capital over the next two weeks. The security system, developed jointly by the ministry, TAAS-Israel Industries, and Ha'argaz Incorporated Industries, consists of a bar at the front door of the bus and a turnstile at the back door to control passenger entry. In addition, sensors can detect explosives as a potential terrorist enters the bus, alerting the driver, who can then lock the front-door barrier to prevent entry....

Army sources disclosed Saturday night that they had arrested a Canadian student involved in terror activities. 22 year-old Jamal Akal, an ex-Palestinian studying at Windsor University in Canada, was arrested as he crossed the Rafiah border crossing to Egypt two weeks ago. Reacting to a Canadian newspaper report, Israeli Embassy spokesman in Ottawa Ophir Gendelman told reporters that Israel has concrete evidence to support the arrest, and the Canadian Embassy in Israel will receive information as it comes. Akal's family have told reporters that Jamal had gone to Israel to get married, and that he was being denied legal aid.

The Turkish daily Radikal reported that the Israeli intelligence service Mossad had warned Turkish intelligence units twice about an attack on synagogues in Turkey. The first warning came in April, when Mossad reportedly said that al-Qaida was planning to attack the Neve Shalom and other synagogues, as well as U.S. British and Israeli consulates in Turkey, Radikal said. A second Mossad warning, that al-Qaida was planning attacks on Israeli citizen and U.S. citizens in Turkey, came in September, Radikal reported. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom flew to Istanbul to show solidarity to the small Jewish community in this predominantly Muslim...

IDF In Pictures November 12, 2003 This morning (November 12, 2003), IDF forces uncovered 13 Kalashnikov rifles and dozens of ammunition cartridges hidden under the ground surrounding the Janad Palestinian jailhouse (Nablus). Photos: IDF Spokesperson's Unit A terrorist holding a mortar launcher is fired upon (picture of him running with another terrorist) Ceremony marking the changing of the commander of the "Plada" IDF outpost Physical training and maintaining of the soldier's good health. A number of competitions were held among different infantry divisions and brigades (those in these pictures are of the Nahal Brigade)

IDF forces arrested Yihyeh Daradjmeh, a senior Hamas member in Tubas, on the West Bank. His arrest comes as Taha Ramdan Duik is to be deported from the West Bank to Gaza. Duik is highly experienced in manufacturing explosive devices, Israel Army Radio reports. Another – a fugitive member of the Islamic Jihad gave himself up to border police forces Thursday night near Tulkarm Also overnight Thursday the IDF arrested 5 Palestinians in raids throughout the West Bank. Two Hamas members and one suspect were arrested in Ramallah; a Fatah member was arrested near Jenin; and another Hamas member was...

(IsraelNN.com) Seven terror attacks were prevented inside Green Line Israel during the past 10 days as a result of ongoing aggressive actions by security forces. According to a Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) report, this list includes a planned double suicide bombing attack in Beit Shean, scheduled to take place on 19 October. Earlier today, it was reported that there were 41 intelligence community terror warnings.

A system inside three small boxes can protect civilian aircraft from terrorist missiles, an Israeli company said Thursday, displaying its airborne protection system for the first time. "Flight Guard" deflects heat-seeking missiles by launching flares, a system in place on military aircraft for a decade, adapted for civilian aircraft by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI). The need is not just theoretical. In November 2002, terrorists apparently linked with al-Qaida fired two shoulder-mounted missiles at an unprotected Israeli civilian airliner in Mombasa, Kenya. The missiles narrowly missed. IAI showed the system as part of a display marking 50 years since its founding....

(IsraelNN.com) Security forces arrested 19 would-be homicide bombers since the PA’s unilateral Hudna ceasefire that began on 30 June.

While infiltration may be looking down, acts of terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir have not subsided. This will only happen once the swamps and pits of terrorist infrastructure have been dried and destroyed, permanently and irreversibly. This is easier said than done. The Indian Army early this month launched one of its biggest terrorist hunting operations in recent times in the Surankote forests in a place called Hilkaka on the southeastern slopes of the Pir Panjal range which separates Srinagar valley from Jammu. In the old days, in summer, the Mughal caravans from Delhi would cross over the Pir Panjal...

Clement critical of state's security efforts Sundquist spokesman calls lawmaker's remarks 'nonsense' By Tom Humphrey, News-Sentinel Nashville bureau June 5, 2002 U.S. Rep. Bob Clement, campaigning for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination, on Tuesday attacked Gov. Don Sundquist for "ridiculous" shortcomings in the state's homeland security efforts. However, the man in charge of those security efforts seems somewhat baffled by Clement's remarks and overtures to help him gain security clearance. But what might be even more baffling is why a former Army brigadier general is still waiting for security clearance from the feds. Clement's position was labeled as "nonsense" by...

The number of American troops sent to the Philippines in the war against terrorism will rise to 1,200 with Saturday's landing of Navy Seabees to build airstrips and carry out other construction projects. Some 340 of the Navy engineers and their Marine security force were going ashore at daylight from the dock landing ship USS Germantown to the southern Basilan Island only hours after their deployment was approved by the Philippine government, Pentagon officials said Friday. The island is a base of the Abu Sayyaf rebels, who have been holding American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kansas, hostage...