counterterrorism

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Bin Laden Short on Hiding Spots: Officials

Pakistan offensive, troops in Afghanistan, drone attacks cut space

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden has fewer and fewer places to hide these days, officials tell NPR. And “the administration smells blood,” says a former counterterror official who cites three reasons for the shrinking space: Pakistan’s Swat Valley offensive against the Taliban, "along with US activities from the...

FBI to Expand Role Battling Terrorism

Marks effort toward investigation, criminal prosecution of accused terrorists

(Newser) - The FBI will take a bigger role in the fight against terrorism, the Los Angeles Times reports, moving into investigation and criminal prosecution of accused terrorists. The shift marks a change from the secretive CIA operations favored by the Bush administration, and ties in with President Obama’s assertion that...

Boy Scouts Train to Fight Terror, Patrol Borders

Program trains kids in terror threats, border protection

(Newser) - Think of it as Extreme Boy Scouting: the co-ed Explorers program has trained kids across the country in law enforcement techniques for decades. But lately “our emphasis is on terrorism, illegal entry, drugs, and human smuggling,” says a Border Patrol agent of the program. That means charging around...

US Terror Reports Boost Jihadis' Radical Cred

Extremists elders complain youth give them less respect than Western analysts do

(Newser) - Prominent anti-Western cleric Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi says he isn't going soft in his old age—and he's got the Western intelligence reports to prove it. The Jordanian jihad theorist, under fire from more radical and violent younger extremists, proudly points to a report from West Point's counterterror center labeling him...

UK's Anti-Terror Chief Quits Over Photo Faux Pas

Learns the hard way not to carry top-secret memos in plain sight

(Newser) - The crack British counter-terrorism official who was inadvertently photographed carrying a paper with details of raids that snared 12 men linked to al-Qaeda yesterday has stepped down, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bob Quick, who was bringing the document to a meeting at Downing Street, had previously apologized for the...

US Ditches 'War on Terror'
 US Ditches 'War on Terror' 
Mar 31, 2009 1:45 AM CDT

US Ditches 'War on Terror'

Bush-era phrase has been abandoned, says Clinton

(Newser) - The Obama administration has dropped the phrase "war on terror" in reference to the conflict with al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists, Reuters reports. "It's not being used," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who noted that there have been no official directives about the label. Many international...

Cheney: Obama Making US Less Safe
 Cheney: Obama 
 Making US Less Safe 
TALK SHOW ROUNDUP
Mar 15, 2009 9:57 AM CDT

Cheney: Obama Making US Less Safe

Former VP slams prez for quashing 'essential' Bush policies

(Newser) - President Obama "is making some choices that will in fact raise the risk to the American people of an attack," former VP Dick Cheney charged today. Appearing relaxed and slimmer on CNN’s State of the Union, Cheney upbraided Obama for revising the Bush administration’s counterterrorism policies,...

Terrorists Recruiting Somali-Americans in Heartland US

Counterterrorism agencies fear emergence of homegrown terror cells

(Newser) - US counter-terrorism agencies are warning of a mounting terror threat as Somali extremists linked to al-Qaeda recruit Americans, the Washington Post reports. Agencies are probing the disappearance of a number of young Somali-Americans now believed to be in Somalia, and cite the case of Shirwa Ahmed, who lived in Minneapolis...

Brit, US Cops Speak the Same Language: Doughnut

(Newser) - British transit cops in Philadelphia to trade counter-terrorism tactics with their US counterparts were treated to an American specialty, the Daily Mail reports—Dunkin’ Donuts. The UK contingent is touring railroad terminals on the East Coast so that “our two organizations” can “work and learn from each other,...

Senate to Probe Bush-Era CIA
 Senate to Probe Bush-Era CIA 
Feb 27, 2009 4:22 AM CST

Senate to Probe Bush-Era CIA

Inquiry to focus on controversial interrogation and detention program

(Newser) - The Senate Intelligence Committee plans a sweeping investigation into the CIA's actions under President Bush, the Los Angeles Times reports. Officials say the probe is a fact-finding mission rather than an investigation into whether laws were broken, but the inquiry is certain to put the spotlight back on the agency's...

11 Freed From Gitmo Disappear Into Terror Network

Saudi Arabia admits former detainees may be with al-Qaeda

(Newser) - Eleven Saudi nationals who were released from detention at Guantanamo Bay have likely rejoined terrorist groups, the Saudi government said yesterday. The prisoners participated in a rehabilitation program after returning to Saudi Arabia, but all of them have fled the country—probably to Yemen or Iran. The situation underscores President...

Bauer's Torture Ethics Get Slapped on 24

For 24 hero, torture no longer cut and dry

(Newser) - After years of shooting, shocking, drugging, and maiming terror suspects, Jack Bauer will finally be tortured—by his own conscience, Peter Finn reveals in the Washington Post. 24 opens its seventh season with its post-9/11 action hero testifying before Congress about his interrogation tactics. Bauer remains defiant, but he’ll...

US Needs Wake-Up Call on Pakistan
 US Needs 
 Wake-Up Call 
 on Pakistan 
opinion
Dec 8, 2008 1:28 PM CST

US Needs Wake-Up Call on Pakistan

Patchwork approach has failed—time for a more holistic view

(Newser) - Pacifying Pakistan could prove more difficult than democratizing Iraq, a hard reality that may be eased somewhat by a US special envoy, George Packer writes in the New Yorker. Packer, who backs the appointment of Richard Holbrooke, cautions that anything other than a holistic approach could spell trouble. “Years...

New York Cops to Get Machine Gun Training

Academy recruits prepare for Mumbai copycat attacks

(Newser) - The New York Police Department is preparing for the possibility of a Mumbai-style terrorist attack on multiple targets by training all 1,000 of its latest recruits to use M4 automatic machine guns, the New York Post reports. The 2,000 officers in the Organized Crime Control Bureau will get...

Pakistan Busts 'Mastermind' of Mumbai Attacks

Security forces raid Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp

(Newser) - Pakistani security forces raided a suspected terrorist training camp last night and arrested several members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the Mumbai attacks. One of the men arrested was Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi—the militant that India has accused of masterminding the attacks, reports the Times of London. Local residents...

Make Your Case on Anti-Terror, Mr. Bush

Bill Kristol thinks America will listen

(Newser) - Republicans have fallen out of favor, and there’s probably nothing George W. Bush can say in his final days to change that. “But he could do his party—and the nation—a service by reminding Americans of our successes fighting the war on terror,” writes William Kristol....

Justice Dept. Math: Subtract Politics, Add Confidence

Obama needs to tread careful bipartisan line in cleaning up after Bush

(Newser) - Repairing a Justice Department heavily politicized by the Bush administration’s ideologically motivated hiring practices and controversial counterterrorism measures will be one of Barack Obama’s most daunting challenges, Carrie Johnson writes in the Washington Post. One key area is the secretive Office of Legal Counsel, which advises the government...

Secret Directive Lets US Attack Up to 20 Nations

Rumsfeld order in '04 allowed peacetime strikes on al-Qaeda

(Newser) - The American military has conducted almost a dozen secret attacks against al-Qaeda and other militant groups in Syria, Pakistan, and other nations since 2004, the New York Times reveals. The strikes were carried out under a classified order signed by Donald Rumsfeld that gave sweeping powers to let the military...

Saudis Fight Extremism With... Rehab?

Saudis rehabilitate terrorists using ideological approach

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia has a particular brand of counter-terrorism: a cozy detention center where captured militants share their feelings, practice art therapy, snack on Twix, rumble on PlayStation, and leave with the prospect of a wife. The retreat, Katherine Zoepf writes in the New York Times magazine, is part of the...

TSA Designed Only to 'Catch Stupid Terrorists'

Weapons? Check. Liquids? Check. Terrorist propaganda? Check. Write got it all through.

(Newser) - The Transportation Security Administration’s nearly $7 billion budget is a waste, Jeffrey Goldberg reports in the Atlantic. With the help of a security expert, Goldberg has, at various times, gotten through airport security using counterfeit passes, carrying potentially dangerous objects and liquids—not to mention a Hezbollah flag and...

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