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IRBIL, Iraq — The Air Force will allow enlisted personnel to become drone pilots for the first time to help meet demands for increased surveillance over global hot spots, according to a new policy announced Thursday. The decision, which follows months of study, is the latest Air Force effort to overhaul the growing drone program, which has struggled to recruit and retain enough officers to serve as drone pilots. Counterterrorism operations including the battle against Islamic State have created constant demand for aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR. Drone pilots say they are overworked and badly stressed. “This group...

The French have been the subject of ridicule regarding their military capabilities. We, at some point, have poked fun of the French for their disasters abroad to the point where calling someone French insinuates the recipient of the slur is either weak, aloof, or both. Yet, to the contrary, the French military is quite capable to delivering devastating blows. Moreover, they've been at the forefront in combating terrorism long before our respective intelligence and law enforcement saw radical Islam as a threat to the United States; the 9/11 attacks electroshocked our national security apparatus into action. Then again, the...

U.S. Department of State Bureau of Counterterrorism Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO): Engaging Civil Society in Rehabilitation and Reintegration Estimated Number of Awards: One Deadline for Submissions: September 18, 2015 SUMMARY The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT) announces a Notice of Funding Opportunity for organizations interested in strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of violent extremist offenders and the reintegration of returning foreign terrorist fighters. CT invites organizations to submit proposal applications outlining a project concept and capacity to develop and manage such a program across three or more geographic...

On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Police Department announced it would be on high alert for the July 4th weekend. As local ABC 7 reporter Leanne Suter notes, “There are no credible or specific threats, but there is serious concern of a potential homegrown attack.” So nothing “credible” or “specific” — just “serious concern” about “potential” attacks. Sure, maintaining alertness during periods of vulnerability can be a good thing, but the nonexistence of evidence is concerning, especially when you consider what Deputy Chief Michael Downing said: “The threat stream is very high. In fact, we don’t think it’s been this...

A senior Islamic State (ISIS) leader who recruited funds and fighters and procured weapons for the jihadists has been killed in a coalition airstrike in Syria, the Pentagon said Thursday, according to the AFP news agency. The leader was identified as Tariq bin Tahar al-Awni al-Harzi. He was killed in the northern city of Shaddadi on June 16, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said in a statement. His brother Ali, an ISIS recruiter and person of interest in the 2012 Benghazi attack, was killed by an airstrike in Iraq a day earlier. The Pentagon said Harzi was "responsible for...

We knew it was a matter of when, not if, we’d be hit again by Islamist terrorists on our own soil. Just last Sunday, two ISIS-sympathizing terrorists, clad in body armor and wielding assault rifles, attacked a Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest in Garland, Texas. Luckily, they were killed before they could slaughter the people attending the event. Now U.S. military bases and installations are stepping up security, as FBI Director James Comey is warning that there are “hundreds, maybe thousands” of people across the country who are being recruited by ISIS with orders to attack the U.S. Security...

About 123 U.S. soldiers arrived in Turkey to train moderate Syrian rebels, bringing with them weapons which are being transferred to İncirlik Airbase in the southern province of Adana, Hurriyet Daily News reported Friday. The daily said 83 of the U.S. soldiers were deployed at İncirlik Airbase and 40 others were transferred to the Hirfanlı base in the Central Anatolian province of Kırşehir. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said that Syrians who will be trained at Hirfanlı are expected to be transferred to the southern province of Hatay where they will briefed on the use of arms, including anti-tank weapons,...

The skies above the U.S. military's counterterrorism hub on the Horn of Africa have become chronically dangerous, with pilots forced to rely on local air-traffic controllers who fall asleep on the job, commit errors at astronomical rates and are hostile to Americans, documents show. Conditions at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, the base for U.S. pilots flying sensitive missions over Yemen and Somalia, have become so dire that American warplanes and civilian airliners alike are routinely placed in jeopardy, according to federal aviation experts and documents obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act. Unlike other major U.S....

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen to participate in UN-brokered negotiations to end violence ravaging the country. “This has to be a two-way street,” Kerry told reporters in Canada after taking part in a summit of Arctic nations. “We need the Houthi and we need those that can influence them to make sure that they are prepared to try to move… to the negotiating table,” Kerry said. Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh had called on Friday for all Yemenis to enter a political dialogue to end the conflict. …

Adam Gadahn, the Al-Qaeda spokesman believed killed in a US operation, was a teenage rock music fan who grew up on a Californian goat farm before he was drawn into radical Islam. The White House announced Thursday that US intelligence thinks Gadahn died in January in a "counterterrorism operation" in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. The 36-year-old was apparently not deliberately targeted in the raid, but he has long been one of the most wanted jihadist figures on the US hit list, with a $1 million bounty on his head. As an English speaker and senior Al-Qaeda propagandist, he was one...

Something happened on Capitol Hill Monday that some people are calling “historic,” which others view as cunning political subterfuge. The U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations held their first ever National Muslim Advocacy Day in our nation’s capitol, where they lobbied a number of members of Congress on behalf of Muslims around the country. With nearly 300 delegates from 20 different states, the advocates represented a number of different Muslim organizations here in America. After receiving tips on effective lobbying from political experts, the Muslim advocates fanned out and visited some 200 different Congressional offices to make their case. But counterterrorism...

WASHINGTON: The United States has defended its latest sale of military equipment to Pakistan, arguing the American weapons systems would enhance Islamabad's counterterrorism abilities. "This proposed sale of helicopters and weapons systems will provide Pakistan with military capabilities in support of its counterterrorism operations inside the country," State Department Acting Spokesperson Marie Harf said at the daily briefing. She was commenting on Washington's green light this week for provision of approximately $1 billion of arms, including Hellfire missiles and attack helicopters. The Obama Administration is notifying Congress 30 days of the sale. "We have a very close counterterrorism relationship with...

In August of 2014, military helicopters flew low over residential neighborhoods of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, engaged in a series of night-time training exercises. The exercises involved the Naval Warfare Development Group - a "special forces" component of the U.S. Navy - and were aimed at enhancing urban combat tactics. Just as they had two years earlier, military personnel had come to the Twin Cities to conduct counter-terrorism training operations in an urban environment. And just as before, those operations commenced with little advance notice to the public.

The Interior Ministry is planning to beef up its terror response capacity by setting up an new elite unit to be deployed in emergency situations, on top of Germany’s existing GSG 9. The government is taking the step as a response to the recent terror attacks in France and Denmark, believing that Germany’s current reaction capacity is too limited, reports Der Spiegel. Germany needs “a robust unit that can confront such situations,” said the Christian Democrat (CDU) specialist for the interior, Armin Schuster. …

I found the response from President Obama and certain Democrat Members of Congress regarding Prime Minister’s Netanyahu speech to be rather, well, disparaging. Talk about “political theater” — especially the antics of House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi. However, I was actually less concerned about their response than the response from the Arab world — where some were asking Obama to listen to Netanyahu. On several occasions we’ve highlighted the actions of the brave leader of Egypt, the world’s largest Arab nation, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, former Egyptian Army general. He’s taken on and removed the Muslim Brotherhood government of Mohammad...

What Are You Really Willing to Do to Stop Terrorists From Entering the U.S.?Posted By Michael Cutler On March 5, 2015 @ 12:49 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 1 Comment The question that serves as the title of my commentary today is the question every American, irrespective of political affiliation, must ask their elected senators and congressional representatives.For all too many of our leaders, while they claim that they would stop at nothing to protect America and Americans, the reality is far different. Despite their claims to the contrary, they will not do anything to truly secure our borders or...

Complete Headline: "Anti-terror" invention designed to spray Muslims with PIG BLOOD is "deeply offensive", says faith group An American inventor has unveiled an offensive "anti-terror" system designed to spray Muslims with pig blood. [Snip] His invention involves placing containers of clearly labelled pig blood in sensitive areas, in the hope suicide attackers would avoid detonating a bomb nearby for fear of getting covered in it. These vials of blood could be attached to trip wires and spray Muslims with the forbidden substance if they enter a certain area. "It will keep suicide bombers from blowing themselves up near the container...

Subject: Why the Marine Hymn Contain Shores of Tripoli"... Interesting bit of history. This may be one of the more informative history lessons you ever read. Why the Marine Hymn Contains the Verse "To the Shores of Tripoli" Most Americans are unaware of the fact that over two hundred years ago the United States had declared war on Islam and Thomas Jefferson led the charge! At the height of the eighteenth century, Muslim pirates were the terror of the Mediterranean and a large area of the North Atlantic. They attacked every ship in sight, and held the crews for exorbitant...

Norway recently made the controversial decision to deport a large amount of Muslims with ties to radical groups. Despite all the liberals in Norway deeming this “racist”, the logical party went ahead with it and the result almost shut down every opposing voice in the government instantly. This is one of the best stories we have eve seen come from such a liberal area of the world. Violent Crime Dropped By 30%

Obama should really pick up a history book sometime, and read about how one of his predecessors, and one of our nation’s Founding Fathers, handled the threat posed by radical Islamic jihadists, way back in 1801. (Read about how Thomas Jefferson responded to radical Islamic kidnappings, beheadings, and extortion)