“In the wake of the failed Christmas Day airplane bombing and the killing a few days later of seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan, Washington is, as it was after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, obsessed with ‘dots’ — and our inability to connect them. ‘The U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot [...]
“The Department of Homeland Security issued but recalled a 2007 intelligence analysis about the Nation of Islam after deciding the document dealing with the black Muslim group broke rules on intelligence activity in the United States, officials said Wednesday.
Internal documents revealed that intelligence chiefs found analysts had ‘unintentionally and inadvertently’ violated rules governing the collection, [...]
Some people may think the words “government” and “efficiency” don’t belong in the same sentence. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano does not agree.
Napolitano outlined plans Friday to “improve efficiency and streamline decision-making” in her department.
According to her, millions of dollars can be saved by making changes in such things as how the department [...]
U.S. intelligence gathering is pretty good. Investigations post-9/11 showed that information had been known that could have stopped the hijackers at several points. The point where it breaks down is in the sharing. The result is the worst attack against civilians on U.S. soil in history. Sharing intelligence may have helped those indicators stick out [...]
The controversial security and surveillance website Cryptome.org has obtained a “threat assessment” document for inauguration week [Zip file], prepared jointly by the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and others, looking at the dangers to Barack Obama and to the spectators at tomorrow’s swearing-in. (As noted at Swampland, it’s an unclassified document, intended for use by [...]
Al Qaeda deputy Ayman al Zawahri’s message on Wednesday criticizing U.S. president-elect Barack Obama and urging attacks on America shows the network remains a threat, but there are no signs of imminent attacks, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
Mindful of past al Qaeda attacks around the time of leadership transitions, U.S. security agencies have focused on [...]
The next president’s vulnerability to terrorist attacks has become an issue on the campaign trail. But if there’s an attack as a new administration settles in, it won’t be the first time.
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown all faced acts of terrorism within their first year in office.
The [...]
The killing of four men from Kerala by security forces in far away Jammu and Kashmir has led to worried community leaders here introspecting on the hows and whys of terrorism striking root in their stat. (Economic Times)
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says the federal government is monitoring “dozens” of potential terrorists in the U.S. … Chertoff says there is a risk that some would see opportunity during the transition between administrations. (ThinkProgress)
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not met requirements to provide “open source” intelligence–that is, publicly available information–for state and local law enforcement, a new report shows. The House Committee on Homeland Security released a report Friday criticizing the department after interviewing more than 350 state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials about the [...]