Homeland Security Network Blog

The Kansas City Star Kansas City area man among three indicted in alleged terrorist conspiracy in Cameroon By Bill Lukitsch Three U.S. citizens, including one from Lee’s Summit, face criminal charges for allegedly engaging in a conspiracy to support terrorism in the central African nation of Cameroon, federal prosecutors said Monday. Claude Ngenevu Chi, 40; Francis Chenyi Sr., 49, of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Lah Nestor Langmi, 46, of Buffalo, New York, are charged with conspiracy to provide material support for terrorism, receiving money from a ransom demand and money laundering. A grand jury indictment filed in the Western District of Missouri’s Kansas City office was unsealed Monday following the arrests and initial court appearances of all three men. Prosecutors allege the men, all of Cameroonian origin, worked in concert to provide support for a militant separatist group known as the Ambazonia Restoration Forces and other separatists based in the nation’s...

NBC News Inside The Syrian Refugee Camp Where Supplies Are Low And ISIS Fears Run High “ISIS can plant a seed in one of those areas based on the conditions and try and grow and foment its radical ideology,” Maj. Gen. Matt McFarlane told NBC News at the camp. By Courtney Kube AL-HOL, Syria — Inside the sprawling refugee camp in this arid corner of northeast Syria, the kids are everywhere. They’re playing soccer next to a sea of tattered white tents. They’re running along a fence littered with trash and empty bottles. And they’re holding up their middle fingers and throwing rocks as an armored U.S. military vehicle approaches. Of the roughly 54,000 residents in the al-Hol refugee camp, nearly half are children under the age of 12. Most fled here with their mothers and extended family members in late 2018 and early 2019 as the Islamic State terrorist group...

AP Witness: Walmart shooter seemed to target certain people By BEN FINLEY CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — The Walmart supervisor who shot and killed six co-workers in Virginia seemed to target people and fired at some victims after they were already hit and appeared to be dead, said a witness who was present when the shooting started. Jessica Wilczewski said that workers were gathered in a store break room to begin their overnight shift late Tuesday when team leader Andre Bing entered and opened fire with a handgun. While another witness has described Bing as shooting wildly, Wilczewski said that she observed him target certain people. “The way he was acting — he was going hunting,” Wilczewski told The Associated Press on Thursday. “The way he was looking at people’s faces and the way he did what he did, he was picking people out.” She said that she observed him shoot at...

Newsweek Iran Considered Carrying Out Terror Attack At World Cup: IDF Intel Chief By Zoe Strozewski Iran allegedly considered carrying out a terror attack at the men's soccer World Cup in Qatar in an attempt to disrupt the event, the military intelligence chief of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Monday. Speaking at an Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Major General Aharon Haliva said that the "only thing" stopping Iran from an act of terror was concern over how host country Qatar might respond, according to The Jerusalem Post. The 2022 World Cup kicked off Sunday and is set to last through December 18. Iran's national team is one of 32 that secured a place in the World Cup, but turmoil at home has shifted additional attention to its participation in the event. Iran began experiencing massive protests and civil unrest after the death in...

What we know about the Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub shooting By Emma Tucker, Eric Levenson, Michelle Watson, Andy Rose and Amir Vera, CNN A 22-year-old gunman killed five people and injured 25 others in an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, just before midnight Saturday, police said Sunday. The suspect in the shooting at Club Q was identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, according to Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez. After entering the club, he immediately opened fire before at least two people inside the club confronted and fought him, preventing further violence, Vasquez said. The suspect is being treated at a hospital, police said. Officers did not shoot at him, police said. Colorado has seen some of the worst mass shootings in US history, including the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. Last year in Colorado Springs, a mass shooting at a birthday party left six dead. Here's what we...

America’s Tactical Nuclear Stand-Down The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal The Biden Administration has released an unclassified review of American nuclear forces, and buried in the bureaucratic prose is a contradiction. China and Russia are amassing large, diverse nuclear arsenals, but the U.S. is nixing a tactical nuclear missile that could help deter Vladimir Putin and other rogues. The 2022 Nuclear Posture Review says the Biden Team will cancel the nuclear sea-launched cruise missile, known as SLCM-N, which is a planned smaller “tactical” nuke that could be launched from U.S. Navy ships or submarines. The cancellation isn’t a surprise. The Administration zeroed out the missile in its budget proposal this year.   Full story https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-tactical-nuclear-stand-down-china-russia-missile-nuclear-posture-review-11667573622

  Associated Press Police Officer Killed In Suspected Brussels Terror Attack By SAMUEL PETREQUIN and RAF CASERT BRUSSELS (AP) — A lone assailant killed one police officer and wounded another Thursday in a stabbing attack that two Belgian judicial officials said was suspected to be terrorism-linked. The suspect was shot and taken to a hospital. Eric Van der Sypt, from the federal prosecutor’s office, told The Associated Press the suspect was wounded by another police officers after the stabbing. Van der Sypt added that investigators suspected the attack took place in a “terrorist context.” The prosecutor’s office told AP it took over the case because there is “a suspicion of a terror attack.” “One of our patrols was attacked by a man armed with a knife,” police said, quoted by the newspaper Le Soir. “The two police officers then called for reinforcements. An officer from another patrol used his firearm to...

  Politico The U.S. military plan to keep ISIS down: Infrastructure By LARA SELIGMAN, ALEXANDER WARD, MATT BERG and LAWRENCE UKENYE The focus may be on the midterms and the Russia-Ukraine war, but the Pentagon is quietly starting to build infrastructure in Syria for a long-haul fight with the Islamic State. Roughly 900 special forces are still working overtime to help local forces hunt ISIS remnants to keep the terrorist group at bay. The Department of Defense’s latest weapon of choice, though, is improved facilities and services so ISIS can’t break out the 10,000 or so former fighters languishing in crumbling detention centers across Syria. ISIS fighters have targeted these areas multiple times in recent months, most brazenly attacking the Hasakah prison in northeastern Syria in January. Scores of prisoners escaped during the 10-day battle that ensued. “We know that ISIS sees the detention centers, the detainee population, as the path...

The Danger of a "Sleeping" Nuclear Deal: Stronger Russia, China, North Korea, Iran by Majid Rafizadeh • Gatestone Institute In spite of US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley's recently having said that the White House is not going to "waste our time" on the nuclear deal "if nothing's going to happen," he nevertheless stressed that the Biden administration is still committed to employing diplomacy, presumably to revive it at a later date. Pelosi might recall that although a "deal" would professedly "prevent" Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, the reality is quite different. Iran is acquiring nuclear weapons -- rapidly -- with a deal or without one. Any "deal" appears simply a bribe to the Iranian regime please just not to use their nuclear weapons on the Biden administration's watch. Pelosi might also recall that the nuclear deal will reward Russia by allowing it to cash in on a $10 billion...

  All Africa Somalia: US Targets Smugglers Supplying Islamic State In Somalia By Jeff Seldin Washington — The United States is trying to curb the flow of weapons to the Islamic State terror group's affiliate in Somalia, taking aim at a smuggling operation that is also helping to arm its al-Qaida-linked rival, al-Shabab, with weapons from Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department Tuesday announced sanctions against eight individuals and one company all involved in the yearslong effort to smuggle millions of dollars of weapons between Yemen and Somalia. Among those targeted are Abdirahman Fahiye, believed to lead IS-Somalia's day-to-day operations, Mohamed Ahmed Qahiye, who heads IS-Somalia's intelligence wing, and Isse Mohamoud Yusuf, a former pirate who continues to run weapons on behalf of IS. The sanctions "take direct aim at the networks funding and supplying both ISIS-Somalia and al-Shabab," Brian Nelson, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement,...

The Jerusalem Post WATCH: Terrorist Kills Israeli 50-Year-Old, Injures Three In Saturday Terror Attack The terrorist, Muhammad al-Jabari, belonged to a terror group claiming to be affiliated with Hamas's al-Qassam Brigades. By ANNA AHRONHEIM, JERUSALEM POST STAFF IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi on Sunday toured the scene of the deadly terrorist attack that took place in Kiryat Arba late Saturday night and ordered forces to increase security in the area. Ronen Hanania, a 50-year-old resident of the Jewish community, was shot dead by the Palestinian terrorist outside a convenience store on Saturday vening. Kohavi was presented with additional steps to increase security in the area, including the deployment of additional troops and the blocking of roads in the area of Hebron. The Chief of Staff visited after Israeli troops mapped the terrorist’s home ahead of its possible demolition. The terrorist behind the attack The terrorist, identified as Hebron resident...

    National Defense JUST IN: Report Warns U.S. Needs Space-based Weapons to Defend JADC2By Meredith Roaten The Space Force needs to deter adversaries from attacking space infrastructure that is critical for data collection and communications, according to a new report from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Satellites and space-based sensors will be a linchpin for joint all-domain command and control — the Pentagon effort to more quickly and effectively collect and transmit data to warfighters anywhere it's needed. This effort starts with the transport layer of satellites in low-earth orbit that the Space Development Agency will start launching in December, said Tim Ryan, a senior fellow at the institute and author of “The Indispensable Domain: The Critical Role of Space in JADC2.” Released last week, Ryan’s research found that there is currently no back up for the transport layer satellites, he said. While the satellites in space will be...

  Fox News ISIS Resurfacing In Iraq As Country Looks To Hit Back At Terror Organization 'Our eyes will stay focused on the terrorism,' one Iraqi leader says By Ali Kamal BAGHDAD, Iraq -The Islamic State caliphate, which held large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, was defeated in 2018, yet analysts are seeing signs, including a growing number of attacks in northern and western Iraq, of a resurgence, a cause for concern that needs to be watched closely. "The Islamic State has begun to regain its activity in an attempt to gather what remains of its members," Fadil Abu Ragheef, an Iraq-based expert on terrorist groups, told Fox News Digital. He said that while the organization had lost the main centers of power it held under the first generation of its leadership, it continues to pose a danger in the areas where it still has strength, the northern cities...

  The Washington Post ISIS Fighters Terrorize Mozambique, Threaten Gas Supply Amid Ukraine War By Sudarsan Raghavan PEMBA, Mozambique — The boy’s scars streak under his ears and circle his neck, dark razor marks left by the Islamic State militants who overran his village. The fighters tried to recruit him. When he refused, the torture began. He was 13. But the boy’s deepest trauma surfaces when he talks about what happened to his uncle. His eyes dim and his voice gets low, almost disappearing in the breeze. “They beheaded my uncle that day, along with others,” recalled R.A., who is now 16 and living in a refugee camp. “He was begging for help, but I could do nothing. I was too scared. I could hear the machete striking him. I could hear his screams.” In northern Mozambique, one of the Islamic State’s newest branches is fueling a brutal insurgency that has...

  The Daily Skeptic by Noah Carl During the last two weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about nuclear weapons in Ukraine: specifically, that the Russians might use them. In an interview with NPR, the political scientist Matthew Bunn said “his best estimate” of the chance Russia uses a nuclear weapon is 10 to 20 percent. And in a widely discussed article, the physicist and ‘existential risk expert’ Max Tegmark gave the chance as 30%. In a speech on October 6th, Biden referred to the “prospect of Armageddon” and claimed Putin is “not joking” when he talks about using nuclear weapons – comments the New York Times described as “highly unusual for any American president”. And in an article published four days later, the former CIA director Leon Panetta claimed, “Some intelligence analysts now believe that the probability of the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine has risen from...

  The Jerusalem Post Security Forces Arrest Alleged Terrorists; East Jerusalem Clashes Rage On IDF enter Nablus, Karawat Bani Hassan, arrested wanted men; clashes break out between security forces and rioters in east Jerusalem. By JERUSALEM POST STAFF IDF soldiers entered Nablus on Sunday evening to arrest Hamza al-Azzi, who was wanted under suspicion of taking part in terrorist activity. At the same time, IDF soldiers and Border Police officers worked together in the village of Karawat Bani Hassan to arrest another wanted person allegedly connected to terrorist activity, as well as to confiscate terrorist funds. Both of the people arrested were transferred for further investigation by security forces. East Jerusalem clashes rage on This was just as there were additional reports of violent clashes between security forces and rioters in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported four people injured so far as a...

The Times Of Israel Hezbollah Terror Chief Welcomes Border Deal, Claims ‘Resistance’ Prodded Israel Hassan Nasrallah drops threats against Israel’s offshore drilling, says group’s drones achieved goal of deterrence By TOI staff The leader of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah on Tuesday cautiously welcomed the agreement between Israel and Lebanon to settle a maritime border dispute, claiming his group’s “resistance” helped prod Israel toward a deal. Hezbollah had repeatedly threatened Israel during the negotiations and launched several drones at Israel’s offshore gas installations. “Tonight we will not issue threats. Tonight there will only be joy and clapping,” Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address, adding that Hezbollah will “remain on alert” until the agreement is signed. “We don’t need to send out drones or carry out maneuvers because the goal was for the enemy to understand that the resistance is serious,” he said. The terror chief also said, “Israel is more...

  Insider Secretary of the Army warns officers to keep 'out of the culture wars' following the investigation of a Major who called out Tucker Carlson by Isabella Zavarise Army Secretary Christine Wormuth warned leaders about engaging in social media at a press conference on Monday.Her comments come after an investigation found Maj. Gen. Patrick Donahoe's Twitter activity was inappropriate.In 2021, Donahoe criticized a Tucker Carlson segment about efforts to accommodate women soldiers. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth warned general officers about engaging with social media, advising them to keep "out of the culture wars" at a press conference on Monday, according to Task & Purpose, a publication covering the United States Armed Forces. At the annual Association of the US Army meeting in Washington, DC, Wormuth said one of the most important things to herself and Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville is that the Army remains apolitical,...

    The Washington Post U.S. Conducts Back-To-Back Raids In Syria, Killing Key ISIS Operatives By Karoun Demirjian The U.S. military announced on Thursday that it had conducted two raids in Syria within a day of each other, killing two key ISIS targets and their associates. According to U.S. Central Command, American forces conducted an airstrike in northern Syria on Thursday that targeted and killed Abu-Hashum al-Umawi, a deputy wali, or governor, in Syria, as well as “another senior ISIS official associated with him,” whom the military did not name. “This strike will degrade ISIS’s ability to destabilize the region and strike at our forces and partners,” Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command, said in a statement announcing the raid and al-Umawi’s death. “Our forces remain in the region to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS.” The operation against al-Umawi followed a Wednesday night helicopter raid in...

Rare video shows Russia moving equipment belonging to a nuclear weapons unit By Haley Ott CBS News A video shared online of a train in Russia carrying equipment belonging to a Russian military unit that handles nuclear weapons should be taken as a message to the West, a military analyst says. The video, which a U.S. official told CBS News could not be independently confirmed, shows an armored personnel carrier with a cannon attached, as well as another vehicle belonging to the unit, being transported on the train, the analyst said. "Such videos are never released by chance. I'm 100% sure that there was a purpose behind posting or releasing such a video," Konrad Muzyka, an aerospace and defense consultant focused on Russia and Belarus, told CBS News. Muzyka said that it was highly unusual to see a video of that particular Russian unit, the 12th main directorate of the Russian...