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World War 3 fears were sparked this week after Israel hit the Syrian capital of Damascus early on Monday as part of its increasingly open assault on Iran's presence there. In response, Iran issued a chilling message to arch-enemy Israel – warning it is “impatient” and ready to confront and destroy the nation in a statement issued just hours after Israel launched the air raids in Syria. The former Pentagon official Michael Maloof has warned the situation between the two states is getting “quickly out of hand” due to the “intensified Israeli attacks”. Mr Maloof told RT America: “You have...

Valerie Plame should be the next Director of Central Intelligence, not Gen. Mike Hayden. Now that the CIA's Praetorian Guard has -- with the connivance of National Intelligence Director John Negroponte -- rid itself of Porter Goss, the CIA is confidently preparing to march back into the intelligence dark ages that preceded 9/11. Gen. Hayden -- former head of the National Intelligence Agency and most famous for his strong defense of the NSA terrorist surveillance program -- is slated to be nominated for the DCI post today. Hayden, now Negroponte's deputy and choice for DCI, will face tough questioning in...

Expert warns Middle East turmoil could sting U.S. WASHINGTON – A top U.S. Defense Department analyst under President Bush says ISIS, the Islamic jihadists creating a Muslim caliphate in Iraq and beyond, could use the Mexican border to infiltrate America, and it could happen “sooner rather than later.” At a time when thousands are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally each day, the risks might never be higher, said Michael Maloof, now a senior staff writer for WND and expert on the Middle East. He said there are risks to the economy and the nation’s health. And he warned the Iraq...

By JAMES RISEN WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 — As American soldiers massed on the Iraqi border in March and diplomats argued about war, an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal. Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct an independent search. They also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the...

WASHINGTON: Soon after the Sept. 11 attacks, a two-man intelligence team set up shop at the Pentagon, searching for evidence of links between terrorist groups and host countries. The men, Michael Maloof and David Wurmser, culled classified material, much of it uncorroborated data from the CIA. "We discovered tons of raw intelligence," said Maloof. "We were stunned that we couldn't find any mention of it in the CIA's finished reports." They recorded and annotated their evidence on butcher paper hung like a mural around their small office. By the end of 2001, they had constructed a startling new picture of...

WASHINGTON - A Lebanese-American businessman who acted as a conduit for a last-ditch peace offer from Iraq to the United States faces federal charges of attempting to bring weapons on a commercial aircraft. The charges were filed Nov. 6 against Imad Hage, months after he was stopped at Dulles International Airport outside Washington when a .45-caliber handgun, five ammunition magazines and four stun guns were detected in his checked luggage. Hage said by telephone Thursday from Beirut that he intends to return to the United States in a few weeks to fight the charges, which he suggested were only brought...