The Designation of Egypt’s Muhammad Jamal
By David Barnett The U.S. Department of State today announced the designation of Muhammad Jamal and his network...
Benghazi
Settle Scores With Those Who Have Killed Americans
Fairly or not, in the eyes of the world President Barack Obama's handling of the Syrian crisis has laid waste to what little remained of his claim to be a credible commander in chief. How to...
Op-eds
The Muddle East
If Congress refuses to support American military action against the Assad regime in Syria, and President Barack Obama declines to strike or strikes meekly, will American power—that marriage...
Op-eds
Al Qaeda’s Widening North African Jihad Confounds Foes
Inquiries into the bloody assault on an Algerian gas plant are uncovering increasing evidence of contacts between the assailants and the jihadis involved in killing the U.S. ambassador to ...
Op-eds
Put a Sock in It!
Once again, the system is blinking red. U.S. officials are warning, through strategic leaks to the press, that Al Qaeda — remember those guys? — has threatened to do …...
Op-eds
INTERPOL Alert Warns of Al Qaeda’s Jailbreaks
INTERPOL issued a “global security alert advising increased vigilance for terror...
Op-eds
Ansar al Sharia Mans Security in Benghazi
More than ten months after the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, Ansar al Sharia is even more entrenched in Libyan society. Members of Ansar al Sharia in Benghazi were repo...
Op-eds
Rumor Busting: Benghazi, the Brotherhood, and Interpretation of Data
A couple of weeks ago, I testified at a House hearing on the terr...
Op-eds
The Metaphysics of Jailbreaks
In the mid-seventies, when I was reporting from Rome for The New Republic, jailbreaks were commonplace. Red Brigades terrorists and other such broke out of prisons throughout the c...
Op-eds
Global al Qaeda: Affiliates, Objectives, and Future Challenges
Chairman Poe, Ranking Member Sherman and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the threat posed by al Qaeda. We have been asked to “examine the nature of...
Congressional Testimonies
Salafi Jihadism in the North African Regional Context
Chairmen Poe and Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Members Sherman and Deutch, distinguished members of the subcommittees, it is an honor to appear before you today to discuss the threat of jihadist terroris...
Congressional Testimonies
See No Evil
During his speech at the National Defense University on May 23, President Obama sought to reassure Americans that they are “safer” because of the administration’s “efforts...
Op-eds
Blame for Benghazi Goes Deeper Than a Conspiracy
Many conservatives suspect that the U.S. State Dep...
Op-eds
Black Swans, Icebergs and Benghazi
‘Humans are great at self-delusion,” the polymathic philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb has observed. I’m confident he’d agree that the humans who populate the foreign-polic...
Op-eds
Assessing the Threat to the Homeland from al Qaeda Operations in Iran and Syria
Chairman King, Ranking Member Higgins and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the threat posed by al Qaeda’s operations inside Iran and Syria. These ar...
Congressional Testimonies
CIA Warned of ‘Jihadist’ Threat to Cairo Embassy
The Obama administration’s editing of the Benghazi talking points not only obscured what really happened in Libya on September 11, 2012, it also confused the events of earlier that day in C...
Op-eds
Petraeus’s Objection to the Benghazi Talking Points
After nearly two days of editing, then CIA director David Petraeus was sent the revised Benghazi talking points on September 15, 2012. He was less than impressed, to put it mildly. &ldqu...
Op-eds
Egyptian Authorities Break Up Embassy Plot
The Egyptian interior ministry announced Saturday that an al Qaeda plot against a Western embassy and other targets had been disrupted. Two suspected terrorists are being held for questioning and...
Op-eds
Disconnecting the Dots in Benghazi
Nearly eight months after terrorists killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, the Obama administration still has not explained who, exactly, was responsible....
Op-eds
The Syrian Conundrum
President Obama warned the Assad regime not to use chemical weapons against the rebels. To do so, he said, would be to cross a “red line.” So now that it’s been crossed the cons...