US refocuses on home-grown terror threat

President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism aide,
John Brennan, vowed to pursue the
"utter destruction" of Al-Qaeda
© AFP/File Saul Loeb

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States vowed Wednesday to pursue the "utter destruction" of Al-Qaeda, while refocusing its counter-terrorism strategy to combat the threat of home-grown terror.

The new strategy comes on the 10th year of the US-led "war on terror," launched by former president George W. Bush after the deadly September 11 attacks on the United States.

It is a "pragmatic, not ideological" approach to counterterrorism that "formalizes" the administration's approach since January 2009, said John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism advisor.

The new strategy, developed after US commandos killed Osama bin Laden on May 2 in Pakistan, also reflects "the extraordinary political changes" sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, Brennan said.

Man with 'suspicious' pack arrested near Pentagon

© AFP/Getty Images Win Mcnamee

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Police blocked off roads around the Pentagon on Friday and searched the surrounding area after arresting a man with a suspicious backpack in nearby Arlington National Cemetery.

Police later identified the suspect as 22-year-old Marine Corps reservist Yonathan Melaku.
"Melaku was in possession of a backpack that contained unknown materials which initially caused public safety concerns," the FBI said in a statement.

"Bomb experts at the scene, however, were able to determine that the items were non-explosive and inert. The materials in the backpack will undergo further testing," the statement read.

Janet Napolitano Visits NYU Law School to Discuss Need For Citizen Spies (Video)

"We have to get to a place where every part of our society is cognizant of the kinds of threats that are out there, and empowered to take some common sense steps to counter that." -- Janet Napolitano
  

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Activist Post

Homeland Security head, Janet Napolitano, continued her campus tour in a recent stop at NYU Law School where she gave a speech about the state of security as we approach the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and following the announced death of Osama bin Laden.

In the video below Napolitano lays out a sweeping surveillance agenda that includes citizen spies who have a mission of "shared responsibility" to thwart "Core" al-Qaeda, foreign groups "inspired by" al-Qaeda, as well as domestic "extremist" groups, which apparently include an increasing number of plots by U.S. citizens.  She added that "there is no single portrait" of today's potential terrorist, citing recruiting tactics "including Hip Hop videos, if you can imagine that."  And, naturally, cyberspace. Each of the four key ways that she stated as critical to Homeland Security's mission will widen the Stasi-style network of unpaid employees of the State virtually deputized to spy on their neighbor in the private and public sector and issue reports to the DHS federal security matrix.

• Strengthen the nation's 72 fusion centers, which coordinate with local police, businesses, churches, universities and more in a cooperative effort to federalize local communities.
•  Launch the National Terrorism Advisory System to replace the general color-coded terror alert system and set up a "base level" high risk, which will be augmented with specific messages.  One component of this new system that she does not address is that it will be directed toward the individual by utilizing a text messaging system, as well as social networks to issue government statements and warnings (or propaganda).  
• Continue the expanded use of Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR), initially used for IRS reporting and for businesses to alert government officials to large cash purchases at their establishments.  The new initiative will cover all sectors that will share back to DHS.
• Continue expansion of a national "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign that began with the NY Metropolitan Transit Authority, and kicked off at private businesses like Wal-Mart whereby people can receive ongoing messages via telescreens in government buildings, private businesses and public areas, then report on anyone for any reason without consequence for false reports.

She also predictably suggests that the counter-terrorism apparatus is a useful tool that can save citizens in need of rescue from natural disasters.  More likely, it is the roll-out of soft martial law that will create a permanent state of fear, suspicion, false arrests, police brutality, and the end of the American republic in the same fashion that led to the end of every society that chose the path of security over freedom.

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For Anarchist, Details of Life as F.B.I. Target

Colin Moynihan and Scott Shane
The New York Times

AUSTIN, Tex. — A fat sheaf of F.B.I. reports meticulously details the surveillance that counterterrorism agents directed at the one-story house in East Austin. For at least three years, they traced the license plates of cars parked out front, recorded the comings and goings of residents and guests and, in one case, speculated about a suspicious flat object spread out across the driveway.

“The content could not be determined from the street,” an agent observing from his car reported one day in 2005. “It had a large number of multi-colored blocks, with figures and/or lettering,” the report said, and “may be a sign that is to be used in an upcoming protest.”

Actually, the item in question was more mundane.

“It was a quilt,” said Scott Crow, marveling over the papers at the dining table of his ramshackle home, where he lives with his wife, a housemate and a backyard menagerie that includes two goats, a dozen chickens and a turkey. “For a kids’ after-school program.”

Mr. Crow, 44, a self-described anarchist and veteran organizer of anticorporate demonstrations, is among dozens of political activists across the country known to have come under scrutiny from the F.B.I.’s increased counterterrorism operations since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Other targets of bureau surveillance, which has been criticized by civil liberties groups and mildly faulted by the Justice Department’s inspector general, have included antiwar activists in Pittsburgh, animal rights advocates in Virginia and liberal Roman Catholics in Nebraska. When such investigations produce no criminal charges, their methods rarely come to light publicly.

US charges six with aiding Pakistani Taliban

Pakistani soldiers patrol  in Islamabad
© AFP/File Farooq Naeem

AFP

MIAMI (AFP) - Members of a Pakistani American family were arrested Saturday on charges they created a fundraising network to buy guns for the Pakistani Taliban, US authorities said.

Hafiz Khan, a 76-year-old imam of a Miami mosque, two of his sons, his daughter, his grandson, and another man were indicted on charges including providing "material support" to a foreign terrorist organization.

"Members of the conspiracy created a network for the flow of money from inside the United States to Pakistan for the benefit of the Pakistani Taliban, and its supporters," the federal indictment said.
The network they established involved wire transfers and bank withdrawals of more than $46,000, according to the four-count indictment.

Khan and his son Izhar Khan, 24, were arrested in Florida, while a second son, 37-year-old Irfan Khan, was arrested in Los Angeles. Izhar Khan also is an imam at a separate Florida mosque. All three have court dates Monday.

Khan's daughter, Amina Khan, his grandson, Alam Zeb, and Ali Rehman all live in Pakistan and are at large.

Al-Qaeda may seek vengeance for bin Laden: US

Editor's Note: And here is the police state capitalizing on the contrived news of the assassination of Osama bin Laden.  Perfect reason to now ram through the See Something Say Something Act, which will help create a Stasi-like citizen spy network and present the CIA and Homeland Security as our saviors.  The bill's sponsor, Peter King, stated, "Al Qaeda is gonna want to avenge this as quickly as they possibly can." 

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
© AFP/Getty Images/File Michael Loccisano

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government urged police and the public to be on high alert Monday for possible terrorist plots to avenge slain Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, warning Western targets around the world were at risk.

CIA director Leon Panetta, a key architect of the daring US special forces raid that left bin Laden dead at a secretive Pakistan compound, warned "terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge him."

"We must -- and will -- remain vigilant and resolute," Panetta said, as concerns about retaliation tempered exuberant celebrations of bin Laden's slaying nearly 10 years after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

In New York, where Al-Qaeda suicide operatives used passenger airplanes as guided missiles to destroy the World Trade Center Towers, beefed-up police patrols carried assault rifles at "Ground Zero" and subway stations.

See Something Say Something Act Seeks To Turn USA Into East Germany

Lee Rogers
Rogue Government

The clowns in Congress continue to promote the fake terror war despite the fact that the official story of the 9/11 attacks is a total lie, and the entire war against terror is based off of an entirely false pretext.  It is also highly unlikely that any American will end up dead as a result of a terrorist attack but the promotion of fear continues.

Americans are more likely to die from disease, a car accident or any number of other circumstances than they are from a terrorist attack.  Despite all of this, we continue to see members of Congress propose bills that seek to destroy individual freedom under the guise of fighting this completely bogus terror war.  A new bill proposed by Representative Peter King (R-NY) called the See Something Say Something Act seeks to encourage Americans to spy and report information on their neighbors by ensuring that those who make such reports would be immune from lawsuits. Even if the reported claims prove to be entirely false, the accused would be unable to take action against the accuser so long as it is believed that the accusations were made in good faith and with reasonable suspicion.  This means that the true purpose of this bill is only to encourage people to be more willing to spy on and report information on their neighbors to the authorities.

From the bill:

Arab uprisings disrupt US counter-terror effort

Yemeni anti-government protesters, 
© AFP Mohammed Huwais

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Arab unrest is shaking the foundations of US counter-terror efforts that have long relied on spy agencies under authoritarian regimes to help fight Islamist militants.

With popular protests toppling rulers in Tunisia and Egypt and threatening leaders in Yemen and elsewhere, US intelligence agencies are struggling to adjust to a radically changed landscape, US officials, former intelligence officers and experts say.

The United States for years has counted on Arab allies to back up its diplomatic and security interests, enlisting their help to combat Al-Qaeda with harsh tactics and interrogations.

But the political wildfire spreading across the region means US spy services will have to deal with new intelligence chiefs more wary of Washington and more reluctant to cooperate on covert projects that might be unpopular with their citizens.

"The immediate effect, there's no question, is that a lot of relationships which we have built over the years to fight Al-Qaeda and like-minded terrorists are over," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer.

'Fusion centers' gather terrorism intelligence – and much more

Editor's Note:  Thanks to the latest episode of Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory, Police State, on TruTV, Alex Jones of InfoWars.com, and many others, the "Corporate Media" is forced to report on the Fusion Centers, FEMA Camps, and 9/11 Truth!  As the truth is revealed; more and more people wake up, the establishment will speed the advancement of the police state.  Get ready while you still can!


Designed to share data and head off attacks, the 72 offices in the U.S. are starting to worry civil libertarians.

image / Public Intelligence

Ken Delanian -- LA Times

Reporting from Baltimore —

About a year ago, a police officer in Maryland noticed a truck loaded with plastic pallets driving down a main road in the early morning. He normally wouldn't have given it a second look, but the officer had seen a bulletin from the state's "coordination and analysis center" advising that such thefts were costing bakeries and grocers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sure enough, the pallets were stolen.

Cracking down on pallet thieves wasn't quite the mission envisioned for "fusion centers," 72 facilities across the country that were started after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks to improve information-sharing and threat analysis among local law enforcement.

The centers, which have received $426 million in federal funding since 2004, were designed as an early warning system against the next attack. Lately, amid the recent uptick in homegrown plots, the Homeland Security Department has been touting fusion centers as a means of thwarting domestic terrorism.

But it turns out that homegrown terrorism pales in frequency and fatalities compared with typical street crime, so many of the centers have begun collecting and distributing criminal intelligence, even of the most mundane kind.

In the process, Homeland Security Department officials say, the centers are developing a system to receive, sort and share crucial information. And they say it's too soon to judge the program, which is likely to grow in importance as a tool in detecting terrorism before it erupts.

"I'm a big supporter because of their potential," said Mohamed Elibiary, a Texas-based Muslim activist who advises the Homeland Security Department, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. "If you want the government to function effectively, you need proper information sharing and analysis."

Critics argue that the centers are another potential intrusion on citizens' rights, and that having 72 of them guarantees bureaucratic overkill. Many centers make extensive use of private contractors. And the methods used are inconsistent from one to the next, raising questions about whether some of them are performing vital work.

"We thought if we just threw the name out there, built a bunch of them, we'd feel a lot better," former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said this month at George Washington University. "And I frankly think there's too many of them. We still don't have quite the protocol we need to make sure that they're effective."

Homeland Security Department officials say that by the end of the year, all 72 fusion centers will have to demonstrate competency in four key areas, showing that they are able to receive classified threat information from the federal government; analyze that information in a local context; disseminate it to local agencies; and gather tips from the public.

Civil liberties activists point to a series of privacy and civil rights flaps associated with fusion centers. They say the public is kept in the dark about what databases analysts are searching, what information they are gathering and what drives their priorities.

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Al-Qaida group takes responsibility for mail bombs

Editor's Note: Ah, Hahahaha...Ah, Hahahha. Of course they did.

Brian Murphy and Lolita C. Baldor
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A Yemen-based al-Qaida group on Friday claimed responsibility for the international mail bomb plot uncovered late last week as well as the crash of a United Parcel Service cargo plane in September.

A week after authorities intercepted packages in Dubai and Britain that were bound for the U.S., al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula issued a statement taking credit for the plot and saying it would continue to strike American and Western interests. The group specifically said it would target civilian and cargo aircraft.

"We have struck three blows at your airplanes in a single year. And God willing, we will continue to strike our blows against American interests and the interests of America's allies," the group said in a message posted on a militant website.


The authenticity of Friday's claim could not be immediately verified. A U.S. intelligence official said authorities are not surprised to see this claim now.

U.S. officials have said all week that there were strong indications the plot originated with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a terror group that has become al-Qaida's most active franchise and has increasingly carried out attacks on Western targets.

Authorities in the U.S. and the UAE have said the Sept. 3 crash of the UPS plane in Dubai shortly after takeoff was caused by an onboard fire, but investigators are taking another look at the incident following the parcel bomb plot.

A security official in the UAE familiar with the investigations into the UPS cargo plane crash in Dubai and the mail bombs plot told The Associated Press Friday that there is no change in earlier findings and that the UPS crash in September was likely caused by an onboard fire and not by an explosive device.

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