On Thursday, February 12, from 2 to 4 pm ET, Professor Yonah Alexander and I will co-chair a special seminar titled, “Reforming U.S. Counter-Terrorism Assistance Programs,” in room 2200 of the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington. Opening remarks will be delivered by Michael Swetnam, CEO and Chairman of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies; Rep. Brad Sherman, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs; and Rep. Edward R. Royce, the Subcommittee Ranking Member.
My co-chair, Prof. Alexander, is the distinguished Director of the Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies and the author or editor of almost 100 books on the various aspects of terrorism and counter-terrorism policy. Prof. Alexander and I participated in panels last year on the evolution of U.S. counterterrorism policy, the outlook for Iran and the U.S., and on relations between Turkey and the U.S.
Our panelists will be:
Contributing Expert Michael Kraft, former State Department Counter-Terrorism Office Senior Advisor, and co-author of a recent study on U.S. antiterrorism training assistance and counter-terrorism funding programs;
Contributing Expert Victor Comras, Attorney/Consultant, former UNSC Counter-Terrorism Monitor, and former Director of the U.S. State Department's International and Counter-Terrorism Sanctions Programs; and
We will prepare a transcript of the event for posting on this site. To RSVP, contact Michelle Zewin by e-mail or call 703-562-4522 with your name and affiliation. Acceptances only, please.
The prospect of building a successful strategy in Afghanistan is getting more and more complicated. The government of Kyrgyzstan is going to close a key resupply center, the Manas Air base-largely, it seems, at the instigation of the Russians. (Guess whose side Russia is on?)
Obama said Tuesday night in an interview with NBC News' Brian Williams that there is already "convergence between myself and the Joint Chiefs and my national security team about what we have to do." Obama added that "there's a shared view that Afghanistan is getting worse, not getting better."
"Afghanistan is really hard," Obama told NBC. "And we're going to have to bring all the elements of American power to bear in order to solve the problems."
The Joint Chiefs' plan reflects growing worries that the U.S. military was taking on more than it could handle in Afghanistan by pursuing the Bush administration's broad goal of nurturing a thriving democratic government.
This could be recognition of reality-we do not have the time and resources to do a multi-pronged approach. My full blog is here.
When a cell of 10 Islamic militants stole into the Indian port city of Mumbai in November and began to unleash a fusillade of hell on two hotels, a train depot in rush hour and a Jewish center, US spooks scrambled to make sense of it all. About 20 analysts from across the globe immediately convened - not in the same room, but on two classified Web sites called Intellipedia and A-space.
It's like Wikipedia and Facebook for spies.
The first Mumbai entry was posted by a watch officer at the National Counterterrorism Center at the onset of the attacks, US officials told me recently. Soon, analysts from across America’s 16 spy agencies familiar with extremists in India and Pakistan logged on to A-space - a discussion site accessible to only a few thousand US intelligence analysts with the highest security clearances - to weigh who the attackers might be.
Analysts posted realtime satellite imagery and video depicting the carnage outside the Taj Mahal Hotel, which showed a sluggish response by Indian security forces. They also uploaded the first news photos of one young terrorist in Mumbai’s rail station who was later nabbed alive - noting how professionally he carried his weapons, and how he was dressed as blandly Western as the 9/11 hijackers 7 1/2 years ago.
The ad hoc group of analysts, who did not all know each other - including at least one in a Far East military outpost - quickly agreed that a claim of responsibility by the unheard of “Deccan Mujahadeen” was malarkey. It was really the handiwork of Pakistan’s Al Qaeda-affiliated Lashkar-e-Taiba.
“The analysts concluded it was LeT hours before that was made public,” one senior US intelligence official told me.
The Mumbai strikes were the first big test of the new system of collaboration using social networking tools put in place last fall by Directorate of National Intelligence chief technology czar Michael Wertheimer and his crew of savvy young spooks from the Myspace Generation. There are also Top Secret elements modeled on YouTube and Flicker.
Over the past few weeks more reports about Iranian suppression of opposition surfaced, including by Iranian-backed media. One particular report revealed a number of arrests among Ethnic Azeris inside Iran, only months after other reports about significant incidents in the Ahwaz southern region. Azeris in the North West and Arab ethnics in the south West are among the largest minorities in Iran. However arrests in Iranian Azerbaijan can be a significant development as traditionally the region has not been as agitated as other ethnic provinces. Interestingly, Iranian regime sources described their action as "counter intelligence" accusing the United States of inciting against Tehran. Even more surprising was Iranian intelligence accusations against US-based NGOs and a number of American public figures on the left of the political landscape of fermenting these unrest. This is happening as the Obama Administration is bracing for the long expected talks to come with the Mullahs regime.
In the wake of these Iranian reports about arrests of Azeri opposition elements, I had a conversation with military commentator Thomas Smith published in the World Defense Review and other outlets. Following is the text:
Yesterday, Saudi Arabia released a list outlining 85 of its "most-wanted" terrorists. The list includes 11 former Guantanamo detainees who were placed in Saudi Arabia's terrorist rehabilitation program. One of the terrorists on the list operates a major al Qaeda network on Iranian soil.
Assailants torched 10 trucks stranded in Pakistan by the bombing of a key bridge on the main supply route for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday.
The No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq says Iran is still providing weapons, training and funding to Shiite extremists in Iraq - an allegation the Iranians have consistently denied.
The No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq says Iran is still providing weapons, training and funding to Shiite extremists in Iraq - an allegation the Iranians have consistently denied.
This video is a very famous one, and I actually have a connection to this young man. For one thing he is in my Brigade and the Battalion he is in, was my last one. More importantly he is the nephew of my good friend and team chief from Afghanistan, Major D.
Now he represents what it means to be a truly Great American.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s), myself included, and not intended as a directive or recommendation. Your ability to in turn express your opinions are just one of the rights I defended as a United States Army soldier. I respect and encourage that right. I ask only this; if you disagree with any of the material presented, either by the author or by posters, take a deep breath and think before you post. Be introspective. Be concise. Form a complete, well thought, and above all polite response before posting. The inability to communicate politely and succinctly on emotionally charged issues will do nothing to promote productive sharing of viewpoints. We must speak rationally and intelligently to each other as individuals before we can ever hope to do it as a country. To do anything less is to denigrate each other, hide away the truth, and perpetuate that which we seek to overcome.
