NYPD Counterterrorism Chief on Threats, Privacy & Transparency by Noah Berman - Gotham Gazette As the internet continues to transform the landscape of threats to the United States and New York City specifically, the NYPD has had to adapt, and the police department in the country’s largest city, what some call its ‘number one terror target,’ uses monitoring and surveillance tools that have raised questions. Advancements in technology and tactics -- as well as age-old concerns about privacy, free speech, and due process, plus prior departmental errors in judgement -- have led to calls for more transparency by some advocates and lawmakers.Amid the push to ensure civil liberties and NYPD transparency, the department has fought to maintain its own privacy, arguing that keeping its strategies and tools secure is necessary to truly provide public safety in the age of internet terrorism. Particularly, the NYPD’s intelligence and counterterrorism units must be...

Voice Of America Afghan Forces Claim Attack On IS Cells In Kabul by Hasib Danish Alikozai VOA’s Afghanistan Service contributed to this report.WASHINGTON — Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, the country’s intelligence agency, released a new video showing its special forces attacking Islamic State sleeper cells in rural areas of Kabul Wednesday.The agency also said it arrested this week a key member of the terror group accused of coordinating suicide attacks and managing suicide bombers in the capital.The agency said in a statement that it acted on prior intelligence about three locations around the capital, killing two IS suicide bombers and seizing a large amount of explosives and ammunitions.“We have killed two IS suicide bombers and seized heavy weaponry, suicide vests, explosives and materials used to improvise vehicular bombs,” the statement said.At least two members of the Afghan security forces also died in the operation. Read more: https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/afghan-forces-claim-attack-cells-kabul...

Gizmodo FBI Plans To Monitor Facebook, Twitter, And Instagram For Terrorism And Domestic Threats In Real-Time by Jennings Brown The Federal Bureau of Investigation is soliciting technology firms to build a tool that can monitor social media for threats.The agency posted a request for proposals on July 8 claiming it wants a “social media early alerting tool,” that will help it track the use of the platforms by terrorists, criminal organizations, and foreign agencies.“With increased use of social media platforms by subjects of current FBI investigations and individuals that pose a threat to the United States, it is critical to obtain a service which will allow the FBI to identify relevant information from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms in a timely fashion,” the request reads. “Consequently, the FBI needs near real-time access to a full range of social media exchanges in order to obtain the most current...

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Second Man Sentenced In Plot To Join Islamic State by Bruce VielmettiFederal prosecutors couldn't get a 20-year sentence for a man who really wanted to join the Islamic State, but that didn't stop them from seeking the same sanction for the man's less-culpable follower.Again, the judge imposed a far less severe sentence — five and a half years.Yosvany Padilla-Conde (pictured on the right), 32, pleaded guilty in April to helping Jason Ludke travel to Texas in 2016, with plans to then enter Mexico and ultimately go to Syria. Their journey was at the direction of FBI agents posing online as IS recruiters, who arrested the pair near San Angelo.Padilla-Conde made videos in which he swore allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and said he planned to travel to the Middle East. Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2019/08/07/milwaukee-man-sentenced-helping-friend-try-join-islamic-state/1938056001/...

Deutsche Welle Iraq: Caught Between Militias And 'Islamic State' by Judit Neurink (Bashiqa, Iraq) Iraq's prime minister wants to integrate militias into the Iraqi army, but in Bashiqa the local Shiite militia refuses to leave. Is the region plunging into dark times once again? "Yes, there have been murder incidents," admits Hussein Zainal, a member of Bashiqa's local council, when asked about the behavior of the 30th Brigade of the Iraqi Shiite militias in this mixed town on the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq. "They are not a trained army. The boys have no ethics or knowledge of human rights."The 30th brigade is part of the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which consists of some 150,000 volunteers divided between some 40 Shiite militias. The PMU was formed to fight the Islamic terror group "Islamic State" (IS) after a fatwa issued by the religious leader of the Iraqi Shiites,...

4 fatally injured in stabbing spree in Southern California, suspect nabbed By Brie Stimson | Fox News A suspect armed with "machete knives" fatally stabbed four random people and wounded two others in a Southern California stabbing spree Wednesday, police said.An unidentified 33-year-old Orange County man who police said was "full of anger" was arrested. He allegedly stabbed a woman at an insurance business, two men at the Garden Grove apartment complex where he lived and a man at a gas station. The crimes spanned a period of two hours from Garden Grove to Santa Ana, which are under 10 miles from each other. The victim at the gas station was slashed in the face so badly, his nose was nearly severed. Both men at the apartment complex died. The suspect also fatally stabbed a 7-Eleven security guard and a Subway employee, police said.He was arrested without incident after the...

The Jerusalem Post Taliban Claim Bomb Attack On Police In Afghanistan; Nearly 100 Wounded A car bomb exploded on Wednesday outside a police station in the Afghan capital, Kabul, wounding at least 95 people, government officials said, and the Taliban claimed responsibility.There has been no let-up in violence in Afghanistan even though the Taliban and the United States appear close to a historic pact for U.S. troops to withdraw in exchange for a Taliban promise the country would not be used as a base from which to plot attacks by extremists. The blast, in the west of the city during the morning rush hour, sent a huge cloud of grey smoke billowing into the sky.The Taliban said a "recruitment center" had been attacked by one of their suicide bombers."A large number of soldiers and police were killed or wounded," the Taliban said in a statement.Read more: https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Explosion-in-Kabul-no-casualties-reported-597916...

Warning Over Terrorist Attacks Using Drones Given By EU Security Chief InHomelandSecurity.com “Drones are becoming more and more powerful and smarter,” EU Security Commissioner Julian King warned this weekend, “which makes them more and more attractive for legitimate use, but also for hostile acts.”This is not new news—the threat from a drone attack on a crowded space in the West has been focusing security minds for some time now. And the real fear from a drone attack is that a chemical or biological payload could be delivered into the midst of a crowded space with relative ease. The challenge with such attacks has always been delivery. A drone takes that challenge away.According to Germany’s de Welt—which published King’s comments—in December last year, France’s Anti-Terrorism Unit (UCLAT) issued a “secret report” for the country’s Special Committee on Terrorism. The report warned of “a possible terrorist attack on a football stadium by...

Yahoo News UN Chief: Islamic State Has As Much As $300 Million To Fight by EDITH M. LEDERER - Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Islamic State extremist group has been left with as much as $300 million following the loss of its so-called "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, "with none of the financial demands of controlling territory and population," Secretary-General António Guterres said in a report released Monday.The report to the Security Council on the threat posed by IS warns that the lull in attacks directed by the militant group "may be temporary."Last week, U.N. experts said in another report to the council that IS leaders are aiming to consolidate and create conditions for an "eventual resurgence in its Iraqi and Syrian heartlands." It said the current lull in attacks "may not last long, possibly not even until the end of 2019."Guterres said in the new report that...

Military Times China vows to counter US deployment of midrange arms in Asia By: Christopher Bodeen, The Associated Press BEIJING — China said Tuesday that it “will not stand idly by” and will take countermeasures if the U.S. deploys intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region, which Washington has said it plans to do within months.The statement from the director of the foreign ministry’s Arms Control Department, Fu Cong, follows the U.S.'s withdrawal last week from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a move Fu said would have a “direct negative impact on the global strategic stability” as well as security in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.Fu said China was particularly concerned about announced plans to develop and test a land-based intermediate-range missile in the Asia-Pacific “sooner rather than later,” in the words of one U.S. official.“China will not stand idly by and be forced to take countermeasures should the U.S. deploy...

TSA stops traveler with flowers containing hidden knife A passenger flying through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last month was stopped when a knife was found hiding in flower stems the traveler was trying to bring in their carry-on.The traveler was stopped during the routine screening of carry-on luggage on July 23, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) shared.The passenger will reportedly face a civil penalty for having a concealed weapon. Read more: http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/us-world-news/tsa-stops-traveler-with-flowers-containing-hidden-knife...

A Ticking Time Bomb: Meeting The ISIS Women Of Al-Hol The Defense Post by Joanne Stocker A pregnant woman was reportedly beaten to death this week in a Syrian refugee camp housing tens of thousands of people displaced by the war against Islamic State where they live among the militants’ wives and children in conditions described by international agencies and reporters who have visited the camp as harsh, dire, and even apocalyptic.The woman, identified as 30-year-old Sodermini by ANHA news agency, was six months pregnant, and originally from Indonesia. On July 28, her body was discovered in a tent and taken to a hospital run by the Kurdish Red Crescent, where an autopsy determined she had suffered tremendously before she died.The Indonesian government said it is investigating the circumstances of her death, and the woman is believed to be among about 50 Indonesian adherents to Islamic State living among about...

ISIS, Eyeing Europe, Could Launch Attacks This Year, U.N. Warns The New York Times By Nick Cumming-BruceGENEVA — Less than five months after the military defeat of the Islamic State in Syria, a United Nations report is warning that the group’s leaders could launch international terrorist attacks before the end of the year, including those intended to “exacerbate existing dissent and unrest” in European nations.In a bleak assessment of the global spread of jihadist movements, a report by United Nations analysts on the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee said that Islamic State leaders, despite their military defeat in Syria and Iraq, are “adapting, consolidating and creating conditions for an eventual resurgence” in those countries.The group, though hobbled by a lack of financing, is also exploring ways to “reinvest in the capacity to direct and facilitate complex international attacks,” the July report said.“The current abatement of such attacks, therefore, may not last...

The Clarion Project Understanding El Paso By Meira Svirsky In the aftermath of the El Paso shooting, there has been a fresh outcry against white supremacy. The shooter appears to have posted a manifesto online explaining in detail his motives for the attack and the racist ideology behind it.Liberals, like Presidential Candidate Beto O’Rourke, who represented El Paso as a congressman, have already used the horrific shooting to accuse President Donald Trump of encouraging the white supremacist ideology by stating their mantra “[Trump] is a racist and stokes racism.”Other Democratic candidates have made similar comments about the El Paso shootings, saying that Trump’s push to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico demonizes immigrants in the eyes of Americans.Conservatives argue the opposite. They point to the reasons that Trump himself says about why he wants to build a wall: to stop the powerful Mexican drug cartels from using...

Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times The U.S. Attorney’s Office is conducting a simultaneous investigation looking into filing federal hate crime and domestic terrorist charges against the suspect involved in a mass shooting at an East El Paso Walmart.U.S. Attorney for Western District of Texas John Bash said that his office is investigating the mass shooting by Patrick Wood Crusius, 21, to indict him on federal hate crime, domestic terrorism and federal firearm charges. The investigation will be separate but will be conducted with state and local law enforcement investigations. Crusius is accused of killing 20 people and wounding 26 during a mass shooting at an East El Paso Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall at about 10:40 a.m. Saturday.“We are conducting a methodical investigation with our (law enforcement) partners,” Bash said at a news conference Sunday morning. “A careful investigation with a view toward bringing federal hate crime charges…and federal firearm...

FBI investigate 3 homes where El Paso shooting suspect had stayed after capital murder charge By Nicole Darrah | Fox NewsFBI agents executed several search warrants at three homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas on Sunday where the suspected gunman in the El Paso Walmart massacre had stayed.One of the locations was reportedly the home of Patrick Crusius’ grandparents in Allen, Texas, where authorities shut down streets following the shooting. In a news conference on Sunday afternoon, FBI Special Agent Jeanette Harper said forensic processing had begun on the evidence taken from the homes. She did not disclose what was found or confiscated , saying the investigation is ongoing.She added that interviews were being conducted in Dallas and San Antonio, adding that Crusius has no contacts in El Paso. Harper said at this point there is "no credible intelligence" that Crusius is "part of a group."Another FBI spokeswoman...

CNA Six bombs explode in Bangkok as city hosts major security summit BANGKOK: Six small bombs exploded at three locations in Bangkok on Friday (Aug 2), injuring four people and rattling the Thai capital as it hosted a Southeast Asian security meeting that includes top diplomats from the United States and China.   The first small explosions were heard during rush hour, just before 9am (10am Singapore time), at two sites in central Bangkok. Further blasts hit a government complex hosting several ministries in the north of the city.  Four people were injured, the Erawan Medical Center said. It added that the injuries were not serious and the four people were being treated at hospitals.Three of those hurt were women cleaning the street when a bomb went off. Pictures on local websites showed them looking dazed and getting treatment from medics. One was taken into an ambulance.The other casualty was near...

The New York Times With Guns, Cash and Terrorism, Gulf States Vie for Power in SomaliaBy Ronen Bergman and David D. KirkpatrickWhen a small car bomb exploded outside a courthouse in the bustling port city of Bosaso in northern Somalia, local news reports chalked it up to Islamist militants retaliating for American airstrikes. At least eight people were wounded, and a local affiliate of the Islamic State claimed responsibility.The attack, however, may have also been part of a very different conflict: one among wealthy Persian Gulf monarchies competing for power and profits across the Horn of Africa.Over the last two years, war-torn Somalia has emerged as a central battleground, with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar each providing weapons or military training to favored factions, exchanging allegations about bribing local officials, and competing for contracts to manage ports or exploit natural resources.In an audio recording obtained by The New York...

Security Today Shielding the AttendeesVehicle tragedies emphasize need for pedestrian protection at large eventsBy Greg HammBy their very nature, terrorist attacks and errant drivers, who can also create untold damage, are unpredictable and predicated on surprise. Staying one step ahead by identifying vulnerable areas, and securing them, is critical to staving off vehicular attacks. That means being able to deploy security equipment in tough conditions, at a moment’s notice.Terrorists typically don’t go where they see barricades, so placing them wherever possible attacks can happen reduces security risks dramatically. Temporary barriers are often used to protect facilities while permanent ones are being built. Plus, they’ve even been effective for the long-term where physical conditions preclude permanent solutions. Such are the cases at two very different events thousands of miles apart, New Orleans’ annual Mardi Gras and the Commonwealth Games held four years apart at varying British commonwealth nations.This has been happening...

  25 years after the deadly Hezbollah terror attack on the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, rescuers at the devastating scene finally share their story.   ...