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t wasn’t just any terrorist message that triggered U.S. terror alerts and embassy closures—but a conference call of more than 20 far-flung al Qaeda operatives, Eli Lake and Josh Rogin report. The crucial intercept that prompted the U.S. government to close embassies in 22 countries was a conference call between al Qaeda’s senior leaders and representatives of several of the group’s affiliates throughout the region. snip Several news outlets reported Monday on an intercepted communication last week between Zawahiri and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the leader of al Qaeda’s affiliate based in Yemen. But The Daily Beast has learned that the discussion...

I have to ask, think this through, what has been the reason for a series of embassies to ever close in our past history? Are we so scared of a group that was once defeated that we cower in fear like this? Or does Obama have other plans? Embassies, closed, this many, at the same time...only in time of war, folks, only in time of war

The Pentagon has placed its elite cadre of special operations teams on full alert to launch preemptive attacks against suspected al Qaeda targets across the globe, according to reports. The American special forces teams have spent the past week waiting for U.S. military and intelligence officials to confirm the whereabouts of the terror cell plotting to attack U.S. diplomatic outposts in the Mideast and North Africa. Unnamed sources told CNN on Monday that the teams were poised to carry out the preemptive strikes, but declined to comment on where the U.S. forces were located or which potential targets the Pentagon...

I'm sure al-Qaeda is suitably impressed with the seriousness with which our president takes the threat of a terrorist attack in the next few days. Associated Press: President Barack Obama kicked off his birthday weekend Saturday with a round of golf with friends and a getaway to Camp David. Obama, who turns 52 on Sunday, left the White House just after 8 a.m. EDT -- that's unusually early for the half-hour motorcade ride to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland -- to squeeze in some golf before the celebration shifted to the presidential retreat nestled in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains. Before...

As his top national security advisors gathered for an urgent Saturday meeting to discuss the terrorist threat that has forced the United States to close embassies overseas, President Obama was at Camp David celebrating his birthday with friends. Sixteen senior officials participated in the unusual gathering, according to the White House. Among them were National Security Advisor Susan Rice, who chaired the session, Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, and Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa...

Key figures in the Obama administration met on the current al-Qaeda threat on Saturday while the president conducted an intensive golf fiesta at Andrews Air Force Base. President Obama set off for the golf course at about 8 a.m., hoping to squeeze in as much play as possible before a scheduled departure to Camp David at 2:30 p.m. Three all-male teams hit the golf course to mark the day before Obama’s 52nd birthday, including regulars Reggie Love and Marvin Nicholson, White House chef Sam Kass and college friend Wahid Hamid. “Before departing this morning, the president was updated on a...

The so-called “chatter” about a terror plot that led the Obama administration to close 22 U.S. embassies and consulates Sunday across the Muslim world goes beyond anything heard before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and Fox News sources. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, of Georgia, said Sunday the so-called “chatter” detected by U.S. intelligence agencies that led the Obama administration to order the closures and issue a global travel warning to Americans is "very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11." [snip] A Mideast diplomat says al-Zawahiri “pressuring” Al Qaeda in the Arabian...

The White House said top administration officials gathered late Saturday over a terror threat that provoked the State Department to close more than 20 diplomatic posts and issue a worldwide travel alert. National Security Adviser Susan Rice chaired a meeting with 12 administration officials including the secretaries of State, Defense and Homeland Security and the directors of the FBI, CIA and NSA

<p>Jonathan Karl @jonkarl Aug 4, 2013 9:00am Muhammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images On the day that almost two dozen U.S. embassies and consulates across North Africa and the Middle East are closed following the identification of a significant threat from an al-Qaeda affiliate, a senior U.S. official is providing new details about the communications intercepted from the terrorists, telling ABC News that al-Qaeda operatives could be heard talking about an upcoming attack. The official described the terrorists as saying the planned attack is “going to be big” and “strategically significant.”</p>

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A suspected U.S. drone killed four alleged al-Qaida members in Yemen on Tuesday, as the U.S. and British embassies evacuated staff amid reports of a threatened attack by al-Qaida that has triggered temporary shutdowns of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Muslim world. Yemeni officials have suggested al-Qaida threats to multiple potential targets in the Arabian Peninsula country in recent days, including foreign installations and government offices in the capital Sanaa as well as to the strategic Bab al-Mandeb straits at the entrance to the Red Sea to the south. It is not clear if these...

A pair of suspected U.S. drone strikes killed four al Qaeda militants in Yemen as the United States maintained a heightened security alert in the country and urged all Americans to leave immediately. Security sources told CNN about the strikes but didn't offer additional details. A Yemeni official said four drone strikes have been carried out in the past 10 days. None of those killed on Tuesday were among the 25 names on the country's most-wanted list, security officials said. It is unclear whether the strikes were related to the added security alert in the country after U.S. officials intercepted...

The State Department on Tuesday ordered most embassy personnel out of Yemen and urged all U.S. citizens currently in that country to leave over the Al Qaeda threat that triggered the shutdown of 19 American diplomatic posts this week. The U.S. Air Force already has flown State Department personnel out of the capital of Sanaa as part of the broad evacuation effort. "The U.S. Department of Defense continues to have personnel on the ground in Yemen to support the U.S. State Department and monitor the security situation," Pentagon spokesman George Little said. The rapid-fire developments on Tuesday came as two...

A statement issued Tuesday says the department has ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Yemen "due to the continued potential for terrorist attacks." The travel warning says U.S. citizens currently in Yemen should depart and calls the security threat level in Yemen "extremely high." A U.S. intelligence official and a Mideast diplomat told The Associated Press that the current shutdown was instigated by an intercepted secret message between al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri and his deputy in Yemen about plans for a major terror attack. Britain's Foreign Office says it has evacuated all staff from its embassy in...

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The Department of Homeland Security is beefing up its presence at airports, train stations and other travel hubs in the United States in the wake of global travel warning imposed on all U.S. citizens Local authorities are not going into specifics but the San Francisco Police Department does acknowledge receiving a bulletin by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and DHS. The SFPD says their officers are monitoring various areas of the city and will determine if additional resources are necessary. areas of the city and will determine if additional resources are necessary. They say they have...

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About one-third the U.S. diplomatic posts that were temporarily shuttered due to a "serious threat" of al Qaeda attack reopened on Monday, hours after officials extended closures at 15 others through Saturday and shut four more. Nine embassies and consulates opened their doors again, but a further 19 would be closed through Saturday “out of an abundance of caution,” the State Department said. “This is not an indication of a new threat stream, merely an indication of our commitment to exercise caution and take appropriate steps to protect our employees including local employees and visitors to our facilities,” the State...

Warnings from U.S. officials on the threat of possible terrorist strikes against Americans overseas -- and the massive closure of embassies in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia on Sunday -- may have divulged too much information, including details about the intercepted chatter and source of the information. Some intelligence officials say the disclosures may work against obtaining new information and even pose a deadly threat from militants who might kill anyone suspected of working with Western intelligence, The Washington Times reported. “There simply are not that many who would know about the attacks,” the Times quoted one...

The terror threat prompting the U.S. government to close nearly two dozen embassies and consulates Sunday is the most specific, credible threat information in years, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reports. Intelligence officers have reporting from a reliable source that a major plot is under way and that the team to carry it out has been selected and is in place, Miller reports. The threat information has been described as the most specific and credible since the foiled plot to blow up British planes en route to the United States in 2006, Miller reports. The specificity ends there. What...

Sunday also marks the 27th day of Ramadan, known as “The Night of Power,” when the first verses of the Koran were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed, and some analysts believe that date may encourage militants to launch attacks against “infidels.” Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/3/intel-community-worried-obama-administration-discl/#ixzz2axxPv400 Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

Republican Rick Santorum on Sunday blamed President Barack Obama's policies for creating the current terrorist threat that has closed more than 20 embassies around the world. "I think it's a huge deal, and I think it's really the consequence of the policies of this administration," Santorum said on NBC's "Meet the Press," pointing to last year's attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans. "We've seen really nothing other than cover-ups," said Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator and candidate for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. "What we've seen is an administration that has refused to confront radical Islam, that has embraced...