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Video report at link. U.S. government uncovers plot by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen) to recruit Americans and Europeans to get training in Syria to blow up passenger planes with shoe bombs.

A 58-year-old airport worker was charged Friday with allegedly planning a suicide bombing at a passenger terminal at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in Kansas. The suspect, Terry Lee Loewen, an avionics technician who lives in Wichita, was arrested earlier in the day as he attempted to use his security pass to drive a vehicle that he thought contained explosives onto the tarmac at the airport, law enforcement officials said at a news conference in Wichita. In fact, the car contained only dummy explosives. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Loewen spent months developing a plan to drive a carload of explosives...

A Long Island man was arrested Friday after investigators say he attempted to travel to Yemen to join al Qaeda and conspired with the terror group from the United States, according to an indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice. Marcos Alonso Zea, 25, also known as “Ali Zea,” was arrested at his home in Brentwood, New York, on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, attempting to provide material support to terrorists and obstruction and attempted obstruction of justice, the indictment says. …

"Nigerian Terror Suspect Flown to New York for Trial, Accused of Recruiting, Training for Al-Qaida Federal authorities say Lawal Babafemi received al-Qaida money to recruit English-speaking people to engage in acts of terror against America" SNIPPET: "A Nigerian terror suspect accused of trying to help al-Qaida in Yemen was flown to New York to appear Friday in a federal courtroom. Lawal Babafemi is accused of training with members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and using his English skills to help publish the terrorist magazine "Inspire." Judge John Gleason ordered Babafemi, also known as "Ayatollah Mustafa," held without bail." SNIPPET:...

SNIPPET: "A webmaster from Normandy, northern France was arrested and charged on Thursday for "provoking" and condoning terrorism. He is accused of translating articles from the jihadist magazine Inspire into French." SNIPPET: "The 26-year-old, identified as Romain, was detained Tuesday for his role as administrator of the Ansar al Haqq website, a "reference" for the radical Islamist movement, and as a translator of magazines put out by militant group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Paris prosecutors said. Detained by intelligence officers in his native Calvados region of northern France, Romain said he converted to Islam when he was 20, prosecutors said. The Ansar...

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is growing and security experts believe it now poses the greatest danger to the West. Based in Yemen, the terrorist group is believed to number about 1,000 members, up from an estimated 200 a few years ago. It is led by Nasir al-Wuhayshi, a former aide to al-Qaeda’s late founder Osama bin Laden. AQAP has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including an attempt to blow up a U.S. commercial airliner on Christmas Day in 2009. The group is also at the heart of the latest security alert that saw the U.S. close embassies and...

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. The intercept provided the U.S. intelligence community with a rare glimpse into how al Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, manages a global organization that includes affiliates in Africa, the Middle East, and southwest and southeast Asia. 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...

SNIPPET: "An examination of online activities by binyamine leads to the conclusion that he is likely involved with Dar al-Murabiteen, and that he links multiple terrorist networks together through his work translating, transcribing, and distributing jihadi media content. He is linked, in no particular order, to • Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan • The Pakistan and Afghan Taliban • as-Sahab, al-Emara, and al-Malahem media outfits • al-Shabaab and their al-Qimmah forum This is what Granovetter meant by a bridging weak tie - the kind of "weak" tie that is strong, as he links multiple networks. Among other things, all this...

The US State Department has ordered citizens and non-emergency government staff to leave Yemen "immediately" due to security threats. --SNIP-- The BBC's Abdullah Ghorab, in Sanaa, says the Yemeni capital has been experiencing unprecedented security measures, with hundreds of armoured military vehicles deployed to secure the presidential palace, vital infrastructural buildings and Westerns embassies in the capital. Our correspondent says that a security source confirmed Yemeni intelligence services had discovered that tens of al-Qaeda members had arrived in Sanaa over the past few days from other regions in preparation for the implementation of a large plot. The source described the...

August 5, 2013 Terror Threat Intelligence Not New Agencies knew of threat to embassies, officials for months Bill Gertz Intelligence regarding al Qaeda plans to attack U.S. embassies, officials, and interests last Sunday was known for months by U.S. intelligence agencies but was used only recently to trigger the closure of embassies and issuance of public warnings of impending attacks. Al Qaeda “chatter” about coming terrorist operations, mainly against 22 U.S. embassies and consulates, and threats to attack or bomb officials in the Middle East and elsewhere was widely reported in classified intelligence reports over several months. The report said...

Federal authorities are boosting security in the United States after intelligence agencies detected a credible threat to Western interests overseas and the government began closing diplomatic posts in some Muslim countries, according to homeland security officials. The Department of Homeland Security is increasing security measures at airports, train stations and other transportation hubs, and expanding scrutiny of visitors coming into the United States, two officials told ABC News. The FBI, meanwhile, is "working sources" and taking other "logical steps" to monitor any potential threat, an FBI official said.

JUST IN: Terrorists behind the threat closing U.S. embassies Sunday have been selected and are in place, CBS News' John Miller reports

In warning about possible al Qaeda attacks against Americans overseas, U.S. officials may have provided too much detail about intercepted chatter and the source of the information, and that may make it more difficult to get such tips next time, former and current intelligence officials say. On Friday, the U.S. State Department issued a worldwide travel alert for Americans, citing an unspecified al Qaeda threat. The bulletin said that the highest threat levels are the Middle East and North Africa, “and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arab Peninsula.” As a result of the threat, the United States will...

SNIPPET: "The U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa announced Thursday that a grand jury has indicted Shelton Thomas Bell, 19, of Jacksonville, on charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. He faces up to 15 years in prison for each of the two charges. According to the indictment, Bell had planned to travel to the Arabian Peninsula and join Ansar Al-Sharia, which is an alias for al-Qaida there. The group has taken responsibility for multiple attacks on Yemeni forces, including a suicide bombing during a parade in May 2012, which killed more than 100 Yemeni soldiers. The...

"LI teen faces 30 years in prison for trying to join al Qaeda in Yemen to wage war on American forces" SNIPPET: "Justin Kaliebe, 18, of Bay Shore, was arrested by NYPD and federal agents at JFK Airport in January as he prepared to board a flight to Oman, according to a complaint unsealed in Brooklyn federal court today. He planned to travel by land to Yemen to sign up with al Qaeda, officials said."

Jodie Evans, 2008 Obama bundler and co-founder of the leftist anti-American group Code Pink, is in Yemen this week campaigning against the United States’ efforts in fighting the war on terror. This is in keeping with Code Pink’s decade-long history of working with terrorists and state sponsors of terrorism against the United States.While in Yemen, Evans is raising money for families of Yemenis being held at the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and possibly the family of slain al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki. Code Pink sent their top leadership, including Evans, Susan ‘Medea’ Benjamin and former diplomat Col....

AFP - Al-Qaeda's military chief in Yemen warned Americans in an audio message posted online Sunday that the Boston bombings revealed a fragile security as he urged Muslims to defend their religion.

A man reported to be a serving soldier is dead and two people have been shot in Woolwich, south east London, after what Sky sources understand is being treated as a terrorist attack. Downing Street has called a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency committee after the incident in John Wilson Street, which David Cameron described as "truly shocking". Sky sources understand that senior police officers believe the killing was likely to be a politically-motivated Islamist terrorist attack. Dozens of weapons - including a number of knives - and pools of blood could be seen on the ground, where a...

One day before President Obama is due to deliver a major speech on national security, his administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged that the United States had killed four American citizens in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan. In a letter to Congressional leaders obtained by The New York Times, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. disclosed that the administration had deliberately killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric who was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen. The American responsibility for Mr. Awlaki’s death has been widely reported, but the administration had until now refused to confirm...

The US attorney general has acknowledged four US citizens were killed in drone strikes since 2011. The US specifically targeted and killed Anwar al-Awlaki, Eric Holder wrote in a letter to the Senate judiciary panel. Awlaki's 16-year-old son Abdulrahman, Samir Khan and Jude Mohammad were "not specifically targeted by the US". The disclosure of the killings in Yemen and Pakistan marks the first formal public acknowledgement of the US citizen deaths in drone strikes. "The president has directed me to disclose certain information that until now has been properly classified," Mr Holder wrote. 'Continuing threat' America's top law enforcement official...