Political, Economic, and Security Situation in Africa
Watch the hearing here. Chairman Kaine, Ranking Member Risch...
Northwest Airlines Flight 253
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
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
With Holder, the Politicizing Never Stops
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be underwear bomber who tried to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and kill its 292 passengers and crew on Chr...
Op-eds
Yemen Claims AQAP Cleric Anwar al Awlaki ‘Killed’ in Airstrike
Yemen's Defense Ministry claimed its forces killed Anwar al Awlaki, the American cleric who serves as an operational commander for al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen. Samir Khan, another Ame...
Op-eds
John Brennan Is Still Wrong on Gitmo Detainee
A recently leaked threat assessment prepared at Guantanamo draws into question the Obama administration’s analysis of a detainee who was transferred to Yemen shortly before all future trans...
Op-eds
DNI Clapper Needs to Know
Little did Director of National Intelligence James Clapper know that when he and two of his Obama administration colleagues sat down to discuss the terror threat with ABC’s Diane Sawyer ear...
Op-eds
Anwar al Awlaki’s License to Kill
“Don’t consult with anyone in fighting the Americans; fighting the devil doesn’t require consultation or prayers or seeking divine guidance.” So said Anwar al Awl...
Op-eds
AQAP Claims Responsibility for Cargo Planes Plot
In a message released to jihadist websites on Friday, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for two explosive packages found aboard cargo planes in late October. The...
Op-eds
From Yemen With Malice
We are still learning the details of the terrorist plot to send explosives into the U.S. from Yemen via cargo plane, so it is too early to make a definitive assessment. However, we have enough in...
Op-eds
Al Qaeda Troubled by Helen Thomas’s Firing
A few weeks ago, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released the second edition of its online magazine, Inspire. As with the first edition, Inspire seeks to garner new recruits i...
Op-eds
Anwar Awlaki’s Message to Inspire Readers
The second edition of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) Inspire magazine makes multiple references to the controversy over the Obama administration's decision to allow US force...
Op-eds
Two Ex-Gitmo Detainees Featured in al Qaeda’s Inspire Magazine
The newly released issue of Inspire, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) quarterly online magazine, features two former Guantanamo detainees. The first is Othman Ahmed al Ghamdi, who...
Op-eds
US Official Explains National Counterterrorism Center’s View of The Enemy
In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee yesterday, Michael Leiter provided an overview of how his National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) sees the terror...
Op-eds
Nigeria at the Crossroads, Again
Focused on the final stretch of the midterm elections at home, policymakers and pundits in the United States have hardly evinced any interest in concerning themselves with electoral politics abro...
Op-eds
Terror Cell Broken Up in Canada
The news out of Canada is that authorities have broken up a terrorist cell that had more than 50 electronic circuit boards that could be used in improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The details o...
Op-eds
Clapper and the Sprawling Intelligence Bureaucracy
Yesterday’s confirmation hearing for Lt. Gen. James Clapper, who is poised to take over as the new director of National Intelligence, highlighted a fundamental challenge facing America&rsqu...
Op-eds
The Homegrown Terror Threat
Homegrown terrorism has been much discussed on cable news channels and the op-ed pages of major newspapers in recent months. The attention is unsurprising. After all, 2009 saw more homegrown terr...
Op-eds
Saudi Gitmo Recidivists
On Saturday, June 19, Saudi officials told reporters that about 25 former Guantanamo detainees, or approximately 20 percent of the 120 detainees who have been repatriated to Saudi Arabia, have re...
Op-eds
Beyond Strategery
Is it possible to defeat an enemy we don't understand? That is only one of the questions that ought to occur to anyone reading President Obama's new National Security Strategy (NSS). Ad...