America and Transnational Terrorism

"Anwar Al-Awlaki may have been killed in a drone strike last fall, but the American cleric's legacy is still a draw for potential American jihadist recruits, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are warning.

A new FBI/Homeland Security intelligence bulletin, first obtained by Fox News, says al Qaeda in Yemen, also known as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is determined to...

"[...] Al-Shaabab continued it's forced recruitment drive by opening registration offices in Baidoa, Kismayo, and Marka, and requiring young men, mainly from minority clans to register to join their Jihad against the Somali and Kenyan governments, according to local al-Shaabab officials[...]"

"Hundreds of foreign fighters are actively training and fighting in Somalia, Western intelligence agencies and Somali government officials are estimating. Most of these so-called 'Al-Mujahiroun' are suspected to be from other African countries like Sudan, Kenya, Chad or Eritrea followed by the Arab fighters, some of which are Pakistan/Afghanistan-trained and experienced."

"A recent report from the software security firm McAfee has raised awareness about the potential for hacking of vital information about governments and businesses."

"Under pressure from state surveillance and disapproval from local communities, activists who once trawled high-profile mosques for recruits increasingly use more discreet venues including makeshift prayer halls and bookshops, said Peter Neumann, a political scientist at Kings College, London. 'This pattern of withdrawal from open agitation is consistent across Western Europe,' said Neumann,...

"The 'mixture of Germans and Arabs' killed in a CIA drone strike in northwest Pakistan provides further evidence that jihadists with European passports are training for plots against the West, a senior western counter-terrorism official told NBC News [...].

The official, who asked not to be identified, said that western officials still have no hard evidence to back up Pakistani claims...

"They were young disaffected men who were radicalized and turned into Islamist militants bent on killing American soldiers stationed in Germany. In a Düsseldorf courtroom where the four men were standing trial this week, Judge Ottmar Breidling said the defendants had dreamed of 'mounting a second 9/11.' But their plot went awry when German police were tipped off to their activities and special...

"A group of researchers has discovered serious security holes in six top industrial control systems used in critical infrastructure and manufacturing facilities and, thanks to exploit modules they released on Thursday, have also made it easy for hackers to attack the systems before they’re patched or taken offline.

The vulnerabilities were found in widely used programmable logic...

"There exists no definitional consensus regarding what constitutes a 'lone wolf,' and it is often highly difficult to determine the extent to which individual terrorists operate on their own. Keeping such reservations in mind, existing research indicates that individual terrorists are found among a variety of ideological camps including right- and left-wing radicals, anarchists, Islamists,...

"In early October 2010, US forces launched a drone airstrike against a militant compound in North Waziristan, Pakistan. The intent of the strike was to kill members of a German al Qaeda cell that had plotted to assault European cities in a manner similar to the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India. Jihadist web sites and news accounts indicated that some members of the cell were killed in the strike...

"Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, both naturalized U.S. citizens, were found guilty on multiple charges over accusations of raising more than $8,600 for al-Shabaab from September 2008 to July 2009.

Ali, 35, and Hassan, 64, who both lived in Rochester, Minnesota, were accused of communicating with al-Shabaab individuals in Somalia and in turn going door-to-door in Somali...

"The mother of Moeed Abdul Salam tried to teach her son about religious tolerance and infaith harmony as he grew up in their well-off Texas household.

Salam certainly didn't descend into radical Islam for lack of other options. His mother Hasna Shaheen Salam ensured he attended a pricey boarding school and graduated from one of the state's most respected universities.

She and her...

"Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday said Pakistan was diligently pursuing the war against terrorism and urged the international community to lend more support.

'Pakistan has paid immensely in terms of casualties and economy. We are fighting the war, which will benefit the whole world,' the prime minister told a Chinese media delegation at the PM House here."

"Terrorism is not, as most people are inclined to believe, a new and unprecedented phenomenon. The term is over 200 years old but present day global networks are a more recent trend. However, there have been systematic political assassinations throughout history."

"Sony announced their network had been breached, but released limited details regarding the attack vector. This announcement was a precursor to a series of new attacks against other Sony online properties and ultimately the shutdown of the PlayStation Network. On May 13th, Veracode Researcher, Chris Lytle, published his blog post on the anatomy of the PSN attack."

"A group calling itself Lulz Security embarked on a nihilistic hacking spree against high-profile corporations and government agencies. Yesterday morning, it was boasting of its latest coup – bringing down the websites of the Brazilian government and the president – an action marked with a Twitter message beginning 'TANGO DOWN.'"

"One of the more extreme government abuses of the post-9/11 era targets U.S. citizens re-entering their own country, and it has received far too little attention. With no oversight or legal framework whatsoever, the Department of Homeland Security routinely singles out individuals who are suspected of no crimes, detains them and questions them at the airport, often for hours, when they return...

"We now have an extraordinary situation that reveals the impunity with which political elites commit the most egregious crimes, as well as the special privileges to which they explicitly believe they — and they alone — are entitled. That a large bipartisan cast of Washington officials got caught being paid substantial sums of money by an Iranian dissident group that is legally designated by...

"Certain countries are emerging as clear sources of threats to sensitive data, in particular to intellectual property. It appears that geopolitical perceptions are influencing data policy reality, as China, Pakistan and Russia were identified as trouble zones for various legal, cultural and economic reasons."

This timeline provides a history of some of the most famous hacking cases since the 1960s.

"On April 22, 2011 Sony announced their network had been breached, but released limited details regarding the attack vector. This announcement was a precursor to a series of new attacks against other Sony online properties and ultimately the shutdown of the PlayStation Network. On May 13th, Veracode Researcher, Chris Lytle, published his blog post on the anatomy of the PSN attack."

"Al-Shabaab (aka the Harakat Al-Shabaab al-Mujahidin, al-Shabab, Al-Shabaab, the Youth, Mujahidin al-Shabaab Movement, Mujahideen Youth Movement, Mujahidin Youth Movement), is an Islamic organization that controls much of southern Somalia, excluding the capital, Mogadishu. It has waged an insurgency against Somalia's transitional government and its Ethiopian supporters since 2006. Originally...

"As we begin 2012, political risks dominate global headlines in a way we’ve not experienced in decades. Everywhere you look in today’s global economy, concerns over insular, gridlocked, or fractured politics affecting markets stare back at you. Continuation of the politically driven crisis in the eurozone appears virtually guaranteed. There is profound instability across the Middle East....

"As the new year begins, al-Shabaab, a terror group fighting to overthrow the government of Somalia, has served notice that it intends to play an increasingly prominent role in international jihad."

"Recent developments in the case of the notorious 'Italian Unabomber' have reasserted the perceived threat of lone wolf terrorism. The Italian Unabomber, nicknamed by the Italian media because of the similarities between his or her bombings and those of American serial bomber Theodore Kaczynski, has been striking fear across the country with over thirty explosions in thirteen years. Despite...

"In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., the threat of militant Islamic terrorism -- rooted in the Middle East and South Asia -- has taken center stage. While these extremely violent religious extremists represent a minority view, their threat is real. As pointed out by RAND's Bruce Hoffman, in 1980 two out of 64 groups were categorized as largely religious in...

"The route of the terrorist from childhood to a specific violent act is emerging in rich detail from new research. Researchers have found the making of a terrorist involves a unique interplay between the beliefs and dynamic of the terrorist group and the psychological makeup of its members.

The most important new data come from detailed interviews with and psychological tests of more...

"In this address, Bruce examined the future of cyber war and cyber security. Mr. Schneier explored the current debate on the threat of cyber war, asking whether or not the threat had been over-stated. He then explored the range of attacks that have taken place, including the Latvian DOS attack and the Stuxnet worm. The address concluded with an exploration of the future of international...

CNN offers a brief video demonstrating the devastating effects a cyber-attack could have on America's electrical grid.

Annual Address to the Federal Assembly by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin outlines goals for the country in the years ahead and reassures previous national goals.

"The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 revealed the life-and-death importance of enhancing U.S. intelligence operations. Since that day, a tremendous amount of attention has been focused on the need for constructive changes in law enforcement intelligence.

Intelligence operations have been reviewed, studied, and slowly but steadily transformed. Most efforts have focused on...

"The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, is a small, dispersed armed group in central Africa that originated 24 years ago in Uganda. It has drawn the attention of Members of Congress and other U.S. policymakers due to its infliction of widespread human suffering and its potential threat to regional stability. The group is infamous for its brutal attacks on civilians and mass...

"The emergence of amorphous and largely unknown terrorist individuals and groups operating independently (freelancers) and the new recruitment patterns of some groups, such as recruiting suicide commandos, female and child terrorists, and scientists capable of developing weapons of mass destruction, provide a measure of urgency to increasing our understanding of the psychological and...

"Richard A. Clarke warned America once before about the havoc terrorism would wreak on our national security -- and he was right. Now he warns us of another threat, silent but equally dangerous. Cyber War is a powerful book about technology, government, and military strategy; about criminals, spies, soldiers, and hackers. This is the first book about the war of the future -- cyber war -- and a...

"Cyber Warfare explores the battlefields, participants and the tools and techniques used during today's digital conflicts. The concepts discussed in this book will give those involved in information security at all levels a better idea of how cyber conflicts are carried out now, how they will change in the future and how to detect and defend against espionage, hacktivism, insider threats and...

"Inside Cyber Warfare provides fascinating and disturbing details on how nations, groups, and individuals throughout the world use the Internet as an attack platform to gain military, political, and economic advantages over their adversaries. You'll discover how sophisticated hackers working on behalf of states or organized crime patiently play a high-stakes game that could target anyone,...

"'Terror in the Name of God' examines terrorist violence and, particularly, how religion is used as its motivation and justification. Based on her vast scholarship and extensive personal interviews, she provides unprecedented insight into the organisations that are essential to terrorist action, and into the most effective ways to counter them. Jessica Stern lucidly explains the components of...

An electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, has not been a common topic covered by most major media outlets. In fact, many may not have heard of the concept outside of movies such as...

Iran has been talked about for decades. Relations between Iran and the United States have been tense since the early 1950s. Some believe that Iran poses an existential threat to the U.S.; others maintain that,...

This database offers information on virtually every dimension of security & counter-terrorism and is designed to inform the analysis process, as well as to enhance the general understanding of security and terrorism-related issues. ISCTRC provides a comprehensive Open Source Intelligence Resource for analysts, risk management professionals, and students."