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Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration, grappling with a spate of recent Islamic terrorism cases on U.S. soil, has concluded that the country confronts a rising threat from homegrown extremism. Anti-terrorism officials and experts see signs of accelerated radicalization among American Muslims, driven by a wave of English-language online propaganda and reflected in aspiring fighters' trips to hot spots such as Pakistan and Somalia.

When the history of the War on Terror is written, 2009 may be seen as the year the enemy began to shift from Islamist terrorists outside the US to homegrown Jihadists. Despite the fact that it was predicted two years ago, many are still surprised (or unwilling to recognize), the Islamist threat from within. Back in 2007 the Council on Foreign Relations reported: Experts say it is quite likely the next terrorist attack in the United States will not be the work of well-trained al-Qaeda operatives sent from abroad, but rather that of an American citizen. As al-Qaeda leaders focus...

SNIPPET: "A team of researchers convened by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began a series of tests today at 20 MBTA stations to determine how airborne contaminants would spread in a terrorist attack on Boston's subway system." SNIPPET: "The findings will help guide the design of future detection systems and help strengthen evacuation, ventilation, and other emergency response plans on mass transit across the country. "We hope to use the data from the two to come up with a model to predict the behavior (of chemicals) in other subway systems," Lustig said."

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned that al-Qaida followers are inside the U.S. and pose the threat of terrorist attacks on Americans. “The fact is that home-based terrorism is here,” she said in an address to the American-Israel Friendship League in New York on Wednesday night. “And like extremism abroad, it is now part of the threat picture that we must confront." “Individuals sympathetic to al-Qaida and its affiliates, as well as those inspired by their ideology, are present in the U.S., and would like to attack the homeland or plot overseas attacks against our interests abroad.” Napolitano said a...

This October, Chris Soghoian — computer security researcher, oft-times journalist, and current technical consultant for the FTC's privacy protection office — attended a closed-door conference called "ISS World". ISS World — the "ISS" is for "Intelligence Support Systems for Lawful Interception, Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Gathering" — is where law enforcement and intelligence agencies consult with telco representatives and surveillance equipment manufacturers about the state of electronic surveillance technology and practice. Armed with a tape recorder, Soghoian went to the conference looking for information about the scope of the government's surveillance practices in the US. What Soghoian uncovered, as he...

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The head of Russia's Orthodox Church Sunday called on authorities to give a "powerful reply" to the people behind a train bombing that killed 25 people, as police probed whether Islamist rebels were involved. A blast derailed a high-speed Russian train Friday night on the main line between Moscow and Russia's second city, St Petersburg, raising fears of a new wave of attacks five years after a bombing campaign in Moscow by Chechen rebels. "We believe the reply will be effective and powerful enough to show these shameful, terrible people that ... when the hand of an...

NEW YORK (AP) — In what could be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, federal prosecutors sought to take over four U.S. mosques, a New York City skyscraper and 100 acres in Prince William County owned by a Muslim organization suspected of being controlled by the Iranian government. Prosecutors on Thursday filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he would insist on an "exacting" form of justice for alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. An Obama administration official said earlier that Mohammed and four other men accused of helping to plot the attacks would be sent to criminal court in New York from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In what could be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, federal prosecutors sought to take over four U.S. mosques and a New York City skyscraper owned by a Muslim organization suspected of being controlled by the Iranian government. Prosecutors on Thursday filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets. The assets include bank accounts; Islamic centers consisting of schools and mosques in New York, Maryland, California and Houston; more than 100 acres in Virginia; and a 36-story Manhattan office tower. Confiscating the properties would...

I don't know if I can post copy from The Bulletin website. Go to this: http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/11/10/top_stories/doc4af9ba9ddb2ef623854371.txt

Neo-Nazis took to the streets in Arizona and Minnesota this weekend, a new boldness that officials say echoes the homegrown terrorism of the 1990s. James Verini talks to the extremists leading the charge. A year after President Obama's election, hate groups are feeling bolder than they have in over a decade, and their usually insular anger is beginning to spill into the public realm. This weekend, the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi organization, held rallies in Arizona and Minnesota. Those demonstrations came on the heels of similar actions in Southern California, where epithet-spewing white supremacists were forced to disband by...

"Overseas, you are ready for it. But here, you can't even defend yourself," said Jerry Richard, a Fort Hood solider who was nearby when Major Nidal Hasan went on his shooting rampage. What do the Pentagon bureaucrats have to say about that? If soliders on this base had been allowed to carry the weapons they use overseas, the service weapons they train with, Hasan would have been able to shoot perhaps one or two people, not 41. (As of this writing, 13 are dead, 28 wounded.) "It's a tragedy to lose soldiers overseas and even more horrifying when they come...

It's been another dreadful week in the war of civilizations. On Sunday, 153 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in back-to-back car bombings in Baghdad. On Tuesday in Kabul, five UN staffers and three Afghans were killed in an attack on a UN guesthouse. And on Wednesday in Pakistan, 100 people - mostly women and children - were killed and 160 wounded in a shopping district bombing in Peshawar. The week also saw 24 American service personnel killed in Afghanistan, making 58 fatalities for the month - the deadliest since 9/11. This is a war of civilizations in...

Will Heaven is a writer who specialises in politics and religion. He can be emailed at will.heaven@telegraph.co.uk and is @WillHeaven on Twitter. SNIPPET: "The experts are certainly surprised by this latest development in online communication between terrorists and those who study or attempt to counter them. Charles Cameron reckons this “a historic moment at the intersection of internet and the military”. He’s certainly right."

The leader of an Islamic mosque in Detroit, Mich., was shot and killed during an FBI raid Wednesday-- now the search is on for others involved. Luqman Ameen Abdullah told his followers that a revolution on American soil could not succeed without violence. He said he was willing to fight the FBI, even if it meant death, to accomplish that goal. Abdullah got his wish on Wednesday. He was killed in a shootout with FBI agents at a warehouse in Dearborn, Mich., just outside of Detroit. Abdullah opened fire on the agents after they attempted to arrest him on charges...

The fugitive son of an Imam shot dead by U.S. federal agents Wednesday was arrested Thursday in downtown Windsor and in the custody Canadian border authorities, the FBI said in a statement. Mujahid Carswell, 30, also known as Mujahid Abdullah, was arrested by RCMP officers at about 1 p.m. Thursday without incident after police blocked off a downtown street and surrounded a house with a tactical team. He was witnessed being whisked away in a prisoner transport van and is currently in the custody of the Canada Border Services Agency on immigration violations. Mr. Carswell is the oldest son of...

DETROIT — Federal authorities on Wednesday arrested several members of a radical Sunni Islam group in the U.S., killing one of its leaders at a shootout in a Michigan warehouse, the U.S. attorney's office said. Agents were trying to arrest Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, at a Dearborn warehouse on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms. Authorities also conducted raids elsewhere to try to round up 10 followers named in a federal complaint.

DETROIT–A man described as a leader of a radical Sunni Islam group in the U.S. was fatally shot this afternoon while resisting arrest and exchanging gunfire with federal agents, authorities said. Agents at a warehouse in Dearborn were trying to arrest Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms. Ten followers listed in a criminal complaint were also being rounded up in the area. Three – Mujahid Carswell, 30, Mohammad Alsahi, 33, and Yassir Ali Khan, 30 – are Ontario residents, the FBI said in a release. Abdullah...

DETROIT -- The Detroit leader of a nationwide fundamentalist Islamic group was fatally shot during a series of FBI raids Wednesday afternoon. The FBI arrested 10 people who have ties to the group called the Ummah, which translates to “the brotherhood.” The group’s primary mission is to establish a separate sovereign Islamic state governed by Sunni law, according to FBI charging documents.

Federal authorities say a leader of what they describe as a nationwide radical Sunni Islam group has been fatally shot during an FBI raid in the Detroit area. The U.S. attorney's office in Detroit says Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah refused to surrender during an FBI raid Wednesday and was killed in an exchange of gunfire. Abdullah and 10 others were charged in a complaint with conspiracy to commit several federal crimes, including illegal possession and sale of firearms and theft from interstate shipments. Authorities say an FBI dog also was killed during the raid.

Lydia Khalil, a former counterterrorism analyst for the New York Police Department, and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations looks at homegrown terrorism, recent plots and arrests and what they may signify. The apprehension last week of Sudbury native Tarek Mehanna is the fifth terrorism-related arrest in the United States in as many months, putting homegrown radicalism back on the radar screen. But many question whether individuals like Mehanna are the “real deal.’’ Do they really pose a significant terrorist threat or are they acting out but lack the capability to inflict any real damage? How dangerous are...

The FBI this month arrested a second Chicago man allegedly involved in an international terrorist plot with Western European targets, the Tribune has learned. The man was taken into custody Oct. 3 before he boarded a flight at O'Hare International Airport to Philadelphia, the first stop on a trip to Pakistan, where he planned to meet people with known ties to terrorist organizations that have carried out fatal attacks that resulted in the deaths of U.S. citizens, a source said. He has not been charged.

Do counter-terrorism measures targeting bombers who dress as women offend the rights of transexuals? This is one of the pressing questions addressed in a new United Nations report on "Protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism."

Nothing pisses off progressives more, than a perceived infringement on people's rights especially if it has the potential of saving thousands of lives. To those progressive the FISA bill (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) was the definition of evil. The bill prescribed prescribes for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers." This is the bill that was made famous because it allowed for "warrantless wiretaps" under certain conditions. Last summer, after much debate. FISA was renewed. The debate centered around a provision which granted immunity from prosecution for the...

National Security: Intelligence officials say alleged terrorist plotter Najibullah Zazi was caught not thanks to domestic surveillance but by CIA tracking of al-Qaida. The White House says the president did it. Imagine you, or perhaps your father, were one of the five Marines who raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Then imagine seeing Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of that iconic image. But then you read the caption below the photo. It says that according to the White House, what those Marines were doing was the result of "President Roosevelt's deep...

President Barack Obama may have shelved the term “Global War on Terrorism,” but he praised the intelligence community’s worldwide fight against al Qaeda during a speech at the National Counterterrorism Center Tuesday. “It should now be clear — the United States and our partners have sent an unmistakable message: We will target al Qaeda wherever they take root; we will not yield in our pursuit; and we are developing the capacity and the cooperation to deny a safe haven to any who threaten America and its allies,” Obama said at the McLean, Va. center. Obama’s comments Tuesday made clear that...

Note: The following text is a quote: Major Executive Speeches Robert S. Mueller, III Director Federal Bureau of Investigation International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference Denver, Colorado October 5, 2009 Good morning. As always, it is good to be here. I have been coming to the IACP since 2001. Year after year, I look out at all of you, and I ask myself the same question. Could I handle the challenges you face, day after day? Could I do the jobs you do with the same success? And the answer is no, for one simple reason: I could...

Homeland Security: Provisions of the law that spared New York another 9/11 are set to expire Dec. 31. So why do Democrats want to gut this law and remove the immunity telecom companies have for helping protect America? To borrow a British expression from World War II, it was a very near thing. The capture, arrest and indictment of 24-year-old Afghan immigrant Najubullah Zazi before he could set off bombs made from store-bought chemicals prevented a tragedy of potentially devastating proportions. It wouldn't have happened if the critics of Patriot Act had their way. The capture of Zazi was made...

Your Taxi Driver Might Be A Terrorist!!! Somali Americans Become National Security Problem!!! By Paul L. Williams, Ph.D. thelastcrusade.org A group affiliated with al Qaeda could strike the United States in the near future. That’s grim assessment of FBI Director Robert Mueller, who spoke this week at a meeting of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Mueller’s remarks represent the first time a senior law enforcement or intelligence official has stated on the record that the al-Shabaab, a Muslim terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda, is no longer content to strike within the East African nation of Somalia. During...

Unbelievable. While serving up caf and decaf, the java guy was secretly working to commit mass murder. Cream and sugar with your terrorist attack, madam? Glazed or jelly donut with your bomb blast, sir? The recent arrest of suspected terrorist Najibullah Zazi reminds us all of the important role surveillance plays in safeguarding our people and our nation. Zazi is in custody on charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. He was accused last week of conspiring to launch a bombing attack in America with the help of some common beauty supplies and insidious training from al-Qaida in...

A "handful" of men in New York are possible associates of the chief suspect in a suspected plot to use homemade bombs to attack New York City commuter trains, and investigators have them under heavy surveillance, law enforcement officials said Wednesday. Investigators are still hunting for additional players and expect to make more arrests than just the chief suspect, 24-year-old Denver airport shuttle driver Najibullah Zazi, according to an official who declined to discuss when that might happen or how many people are under scrutiny.

Investigation Into Possible Terror Plot Prompts FBI To Warn Mass-Transit Systems Around U.S. Feds Believe Up To 12 Suspects Could Be Involved In Possible Madrid-Like Attack On NYC Subways Counterterrorism officials have issued security bulletins to police around the nation about terrorists' desire to attack stadiums, entertainment complexes and hotels -- the latest in a flurry of such internal warnings as investigators chase a possible bomb plot in Denver and New York. In the two bulletins -- sent to police departments Monday and obtained by The Associated Press -- officials said they know of no specific plots against such sites,...

AURORA, Colo. — Djilali Kacem tugged at his beard and surveyed the warehouse of Islamic books he helps oversee near Denver International Airport. “The government should know better by now,” said Mr. Kacem, an imam at a local mosque. “It has been eight years since Sept. 11 and our government still overacts sometimes when it comes to Muslims.” As an investigation into a possible terrorist plot against New York City focused increasingly last week on a local Afghani shuttle bus driver, some Muslims in and around this Denver suburb have grown uneasy, saying they are concerned that law-enforcement officials are...

"Feds probe alleged terrorists who tried to rent giant truck in suspected Al Qaeda bomb plot" BY JAMES GORDON MEEK IN WASHINGTON, JUDITH CROSSON IN DENVER, KATE NOCERA, ROCCO PARASCANDOLA AND LARRY MCSHANE DAILY NEWS WRITERS Saturday, September 19th 2009, 4:00 AM Investigators probed a failed Queens truck rental for ties to a possible Al Qaeda bomb plot yesterday as a chief terror suspect tried making a deal to save his skin. The New York end of the expanding federal probe centered on seven Afghan men who tried to rent the biggest truck at a Queens U-Haul on Sept. 9,...

The Denver shuttle bus driver at the center of a federal terrorism investigation has begun to cooperate with the authorities, admitting that he had perhaps unwittingly crossed paths in Pakistan with extremists allied with Al Qaeda, according to government officials briefed on the case. The officials did not indicate whether the admissions of the man, Najibullah Zazi, made during three days of intense questioning by F.B.I. agents in Denver, clarified whether he had directly engaged in terrorist activity. And it is not known whether his account could mean he will be charged with any wrongdoing. But Mr. Zazi’s discussions with...

A Colorado man reported to be under investigation in a multi-state anti-terror probe said Tuesday he is no terrorist and expressed shock over the sudden scrutiny. Quoting an unnamed law enforcement source, the Associated Press reported Tuesday evening that Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old airport shuttle driver from Aurora, is under surveillance in connection with a possible plot to make homemade bombs. Federal agents raided three homes in New York City early Monday as part of the investigation. But Zazi, who spoke at length to The Denver Post Tuesday from the doorway of his southeast Aurora apartment, said he is not...

The Justice Department has indicated that the Obama administration is in support of renewing a pair of controversial sections of the USA Patriot Act that expire later this year. The provisions that will expire in December include Section 206, that allows "roving" wiretaps so FBI agents can tap multiple phones or computers (with court authorization) that a specific person (target) may use.

A Colorado man who's the target of a terrorism probe that led to several police raids in New York City denies he did anything wrong. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press Tuesday that the FBI had put Najibullah (Nah-JEEB'-ull-ah) Zazi (ZAH'-zee) under surveillance in connection with a suspected plot to make homemade bombs. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly and insisted on anonymity. Zazi told The Associated Press in a Denver suburb that he had recently visited New York and knows he's under investigation. But he says he's innocent.

By Jeremy Pelofsky Jeremy Pelofsky – 2 hrs 8 mins ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration has asked the U.S. Congress to extend three surveillance techniques for intelligence agencies tracking suspected militants that expire this year, according to a letter to lawmakers. Approved after the September 11 attacks in 2001 at the request of the Bush administration, techniques such as roving wiretaps and accessing all kinds of personal records drew criticism from civil liberties groups and some lawmakers who said they were unconstitutional and violated privacy rights...

Authorities executed search warrants and seized evidence early Monday morning at locations in the Queens borough of New York City as part of a terrorism investigation, according to a senior official familiar with the case. This person said some counterterrorism officials were concerned that the individual at the center of the investigation may have had access to, or an interest in acquiring, materials that could be used for a chemical, biological or radiological device. One aspect of the probe involves whether the person had some contact or connections with suspicious individuals overseas, the official said. He stressed that the investigation...

This is an update to the "New York Residences Raided in Terrorism Probe" post. UPDATE 5-New York homes raided in terrorism probe * No imminent danger, congressmen say * Focus on one man who met with people in Queens * Apartment shared by five Afghan men searched - witness * Militant ideology sympathetic to al Qaeda detected - NYT

Authorities raided properties in New York City today in an effort that was intended to disrupt the plans of a terror suspect whose travels had been tracked by the FBI, according to an official briefed on the raids. "He was being watched and concern grew as he met with a group of individuals in Queens over the weekend," said Congressman Pete King (R-NY). "The FBI went to court late last night for an emergency warrant to conduct the raids this morning." A resident in the neighborhood said there was police activity around 2 a.m. Monday. Officials said the execution of...

"The document 'Jihad Recollections - Issue # 3' has been deleted"

Note: Includes an audio file that starts immediately with the article. # SNIPPET: "Last night's overnight RapidRecon post, Jim Jones: Another Job 'Created or Saved'?, was an exercise in frustration. I had initially done an interview last night on Dr. Melissa Clouthier's popular show, The Right Doctor. The first I heard of National Security Advisor Jim Jones's claim that President Obama has effected a more productive global counterterrorism strategy than President George W. Bush had was when Melissa Clouthier read it to me in the opening of her show. Clearly, by 2:00AM, my reaction here at ThreatsWatch hadn't changed or...

In the early days and weeks after September 11, 2001, a small cadre of men (and a few women) with vast amounts of intelligence experience reported to the Langley, Virginia headquarters of the CIA. These unsung heroes were then dispatched across the globe to run operations against the Al-Qaeda conspirators who leveled the World Trade Center and struck the nerve center of the US military. The FBI, a domestic law enforcement agency, did not have the ability or skills needed to track down and strike the attackers overseas. The Pentagon, with F22s, nuclear aircraft carriers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and battalions...

After pledging during last year's presidential campaign, and as recently as the spring, not to re-visit the past, the Obama administration, in the person of Attorney General Eric Holder, has named a special prosecutor to go after CIA interrogators who pried information from terrorist suspects, preventing more deadly assaults on the country. Before the hard Left assumed power, anyone engaged in protecting America by interrupting terrorist plans might have expected to receive a commendation. Now they could face jail time. And somewhere in a cave in Pakistan, Osama bin Laden rejoices. By any objective standard, releasing terrorists from prison and...

At least six individuals listed by the FBI as possible terrorists also were listed in the FAA database as pilot certificate holders as of this June, according to The New York Times. After the Times questioned the TSA about the situation, the FAA suspended all six certificates. The Times had received the list of names from a small software company that said it found the six by comparing public records, an effort the TSA apparently never made. "The T.S.A. appears not to have taken notice of the terrorists even when two of them turned up on the Federal Bureau of...

Barack Obama's assistant for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, John O. Brennan, conveniently outlined the administration's present and future policy mistakes in a speech on August 6, "A New Approach for Safeguarding Americans."...his address to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has an unusual tenor. "Sycophantic" is the word that springs to mind, as Brennan 90 times in 5,000 words invokes either "President Obama," "he," "his," or "the president." Disturbingly, Brennan ascribes virtually every thought or policy in his speech to the wisdom of the One. This cringe-inducing lecture reminds one of a North Korean functionary paying homage to the...

I’m beginning to understand the Obama administration strategy, at least in its initial phase, as a “bridge too far” approach. That expression came after the heroic Allied operation at Arnheim in World War Two, when what seemed a clever idea—to capture a key bridge far ahead of the existing Allied lines—turned into a military disaster. For example, take Obama’s Cairo speech. He didn’t just try to build good relations with Muslims but to whitewash the history and practices of Islamic polities and peoples completely. Or he doesn’t just try to engage Iran but to do so by removing all criticisms...

Barack Obama's assistant for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, John O. Brennan, conveniently outlined the administration's present and future policy mistakes in a speech on August 6, "A New Approach for Safeguarding Americans." John O. Brennan, Barack Obama's assistant for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. To start with, his address to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, has an unusual tenor. "Sycophantic" is the word that springs to mind, as Brennan ninety times in five thousand words invokes either "President Obama," "he," "his," or "the president." Disturbingly, Brennan ascribes virtually every thought or policy in his speech to the...