The Task Force on Future Terrorism formed by the Homeland Security's Advisory Council (HSAC) released its findings today in Washington DC, in the presence of Secretary Chertoff, other US leaders and the media. In his remarks, Task Force chairman Lee Hamilton said the group expect al Qaeda and other Islamic radicals to continue to attempt to attack the US. He said motivations behind these potential attacks are "complex" and include extremist ideologies. He added that while it is impossible to predict with precisions, three elements are to be taken into consideration: Terrorists leadership, political and economic reform in the Muslim world and safe havens (as in Pakistan). Frank Cilluffo, the vice chairman of the Task Force said "home and prison radicalization is very important" in the growth of the threat. He mentioned that a "lexicon" has to be established to engage in the "battle of ideas."
The findings, as announced today, include a variety of assessments and recommendations. It is important that the community of counter terrorism experts review the findings and evaluate it, as they are now a basis for a policy discussion at the level of Government. Two CTB members were consulted during the research sessions: Steve Emerson and myself. Among the points raised by HSAC are the following issues related to the War of Ideas, along with my comments :
1) "There is every indication that the number and magnitude of attacks on the U.S., its interests and its allies will likely increase.".
Comment: It would be important for the CT community to begin working on the parameters of this projection: the almost certainty that the magnitude of attacks will increase.
Excerpted
NAIROBI - Kenyan police on Thursday interrogated two al Qaeda suspects' wives caught fleeing Somalia, as mystery remained over whether their husbands survived a U.S. air strike.
The United States on Monday hit a village in southern Somalia in an attempt to take out an al Qaeda cell accused of bombing two U.S. embassies and an Israeli-owned hotel. U.S. ally Ethiopia continued air attacks in Somalia on Tuesday and Wednesday in pursuit of fleeing Islamist fighters, but the Pentagon denied it had mounted more strikes. The success of the attacks remains unclear although Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said eight "terrorists" were killed in the U.S. strike.
A Kenyan counter-terrorism source said the wives and three children of two al Qaeda suspects, wanted for the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and a 2002 hotel blast on the Kenyan coast, had been arrested. Unconfirmed reports say one of three al Qaeda suspects -- Comorian Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Sudanese Abu Talha al-Sudani and Kenyan Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan -- was killed. But it was not known which one.
Mohammed and Nabhan's wives and children were caught trying to cross into Kenya from Ras Kamboni, on Somalia's southern tip, long thought by Western and east African intelligence agencies to be the site of a militant training camp. "They were arrested on Monday at Kiunga. They headed for Nairobi today in a police chopper for questioning," the counter-terrorism source told Reuters.
Excerpted
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070111/wl_nm/somalia_conflict_dc_105
Al Qaeda's leaders are in Pakistan, U.S. says
1/11/07 2 hours, 50 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda's leaders are holed up in a secure hide-out in Pakistan, from which they are revitalizing their bruised but resilient network, U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte said on Thursday.
In an unusually direct statement on the whereabouts of the militant group's top echelon, Negroponte told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that Pakistan is the center of a web of al Qaeda connections that stretches across the globe into Europe.
Excerpted
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070112/ts_nm/security_usa_threats_qaeda_dc_1