Homeland Security Network Blog

  Real Clear Defense Would Putin Dare Use Nuclear Weapons? Managing His Ukraine Fears Are the Key By Robyn Hutchins & Adam Lowther Two top national security experts explain that the key to success in Ukraine is effectively managing Vladimir Putin’s perception of gains and losses. As we approach the six-month mark of Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine, there is an opportunity to reflect on a conflict that offers the world unprecedented access into the mind of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. While the daily images of death and destruction are heart-wrenching, it is important to take some time to understand the psychology that led Putin to invade Ukraine and threaten the use of nuclear weapons. The free world needs that understanding as it attempts to counter Putin’s actions and ensure he does not follow through on his nuclear threat. Indeed, deterring Putin’s nuclear threats is one of NATO’s top priorities. To...

  Washington Post Do armed drones reduce terrorism? Here’s the data. This research analyzes patterns of terrorism in the 18 countries that utilize drones Analysis by Joshua A. Schwartz and Matthew Fuhrmann At 6:18 a.m. on July 31, a CIA drone fired the two Hellfire missiles that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former deputy to Osama bin Laden. Since 9/11, the United States has conducted over 14,000 drone strikes like this against suspected terrorist targets. Countries such as Iran, Turkey, Nigeria and Egypt­ have also acquired armed drones and conduct their own strikes. But do armed drone operations reduce terrorism, or do they actually make countries more vulnerable to it? To find out, we analyzed patterns of terrorism in 18 countries — every country that has fielded armed drones to date. The evidence reveals that obtaining armed drones reduces the amount of terrorism a country experiences. Armed drones may raise...

NBC News Iran Blames Salman Rushdie And His Supporters For Stabbing Attack By Amin Hossein Khodadadi and Rhoda Kwan TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said Monday that Salman Rushdie and his supporters are to blame for the stabbing attack that left the famed author hospitalized with serious injuries. In its first public comments since the assault, Tehran denied any involvement but sought to justify the attack, which has been celebrated on front pages and in coverage across the country's media. “We do not consider anyone other than him and his supporters worthy of blame or even condemnation,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said. “No one has the right to accuse Iran,” he added. “The insult that was done and the support that was given was an insult to all religions.” Rushdie, 75, is now “on the road to recovery,” his agent said Sunday. He was removed from a ventilator a day...

LAWFARE Rethinking How the United States Trains Foreign Militaries By Renanah Miles Joyce In May, President Biden quietly signed an order authorizing a persistent U.S. military presence in Somalia. U.S. troops are not engaging in direct combat operations there; instead, they are primarily training and advising Somali and African Union partner forces to fight the terrorist group al-Shabaab. These training efforts are part of a global web of U.S. military training and advising that aims both to build partner militaries’ warfighting capabilities and to influence when and how they fight. The United States has different tools at its disposal to influence security partners: It can provide material goods such as arms and equipment to incentivize good behavior, or it can make support conditional on partners doing what it wants. Both approaches have problems. Generous flows of assistance rarely motivate partners to change, particularly when they get what they want without having...

  KRDO 13 An armed man tried to enter the FBI’s Cincinnati office and was fatally shot after a standoff with police. Here’s what we know By Elizabeth Wolfe, Josh Campbell, Brynn Gingras and Paul P. Murphy, CNN An armed man suspected of trying to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati field office Thursday was killed after an hours-long standoff with law enforcement, authorities say. The suspect was believed to be armed with an AR-15 rifle and a nail gun, a federal law enforcement source told CNN, and was wearing body armor, according to officials in an Ohio county. He was Ricky W. Shiffer, 42, of Columbus, the state highway patrol said Friday. After attempting to enter the FBI facility, he fled and his vehicle was followed by state police, authorities said. When the vehicle pursuit ended in southwestern Ohio, a lengthy standoff followed, ending with law enforcement shooting and killing the suspect,...

Iran International FBI Accuses Iran Of Attempted Terrorist Attacks, Kidnappings, Cyberattacks The Federal Bureau of Investigation says the Iranian regime and “its terrorist partners” aren’t just a threat to the Middle East, but also a critical risk for the United States. In a number of tweets on Monday, the FBI said Iran and its proxy groups “don't just endanger the Middle East -- they also put Americans, US national security, and our country's critical infrastructure at risk.” Sharing a link to a page on its website about how it is fighting back against the Iranian threat, the bureau added that the risk by the Islamic Republic is not theoretical. “Through intel and law enforcement partnerships, the FBI has countered an array of threats from Iran's government -- such as attempted terrorist attacks and kidnappings, espionage and foreign influence ops, and cyberattacks.” Reiterating its commitment to identifying and disrupting all Iranian intelligence...

  Asharq Al-Awsat ISIS Network Of Tunnels Found In Syria's Al-Hol Camp Hasakah - Kamal Sheikho The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava) has found a network of trenches and tunnels under al-Hol camp, east of al-Hasakah. The security sources said these trenches and tunnels were used by sleeper cells loyal to the ISIS terrorist organization to smuggle persons and carry out murders and assassination attempts. The ongoing investigations revealed that the tunnel connects one of the camp sectors to the outer wall and from there to the surrounding areas. A day earlier, the Rojava security forces thwarted a mass escape through a truck designated for transporting construction materials. The truck was transporting 39 children and 17 women from 56 ISIS families. The camp witnessed 728 escape attempts since March 2020. A video recording inside the camp showed how tunnels were dug with primitive tools, covered with metal and...

New York Post Iran vows to build nukes, turn New York into ‘hellish ruins’ By Joshua Rhett Miller Iran has reportedly threatened to build nuclear warheads and warned that it has the capability to turn New York into “hellish ruins” — amid stalled efforts to reinstate a nuclear deal between the county and world powers. Two Telegram channels with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps posted a 2-minute video Saturday that vowed to quickly start building nuclear bombs if the “US or Zionist regime make any stupid mistakes,” according to Iran International, a London-based news outlet. The video claims secret underground facilities in Fordow, near Qom, are close to working to turn the Islamic Republic into a nuclear power — and warned that its “peaceful nuclear program” could morph into a weaponized one with ease. “The nuclear facilities of Fordow have been built deep under mountains of Iran and are...

Washington Post U.S. kills al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in drone strike in Kabul By Shane Harris, Dan Lamothe, Karen DeYoung, Souad Mekhennet and Pamela Constable The United States has killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda and one of the world’s most-wanted terrorists, who, alongside the group’s founder, Osama bin Laden, oversaw the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Biden announced Monday evening. Zawahiri was killed in a CIA drone strike in Kabul over the weekend, according to U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence. When U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan last August, Biden administration officials said they would retain capability for “over-the-horizon” attacks from elsewhere on terrorist forces inside Afghanistan. The attack against Zawahiri is the first known counterterrorism strike there since the withdrawal. Speaking in a live television address from a balcony at the White House, Biden announced that days ago he had...

  Iran's Deepening Military Expansion Into Europe   by Con Coughlin  •  Gatestone Institute The Iranian regime's decision to give its backing to Russia's military offensive against Ukraine... represents an alarming expansion in Iran's military ambitions beyond the Middle East. Arguably Khamenei's most revealing comment during the visit was his call for Iran and Russia to increase what he termed "reciprocal cooperation" between the two countries to counter the threat of Western sanctions. The concern now, say Western security officials, is that the commercial ties between the two countries will lead to closer military cooperation. Iran's very public displays of support for Russia certainly undermine the long-standing assumption of American and European policymakers that the Iranian threat, allowing Iran unlimited nuclear weapons, relates only to the Middle East -- and specifically against Israel. US President Joe Biden's confused position on the Iran issue has been further exposed by the head of...

  Kim threatens to use nukes amid tensions with US, S. Korea SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned he’s ready to use his nuclear weapons in potential military conflicts with the United States and South Korea, state media said Thursday, as he unleashed fiery rhetoric against rivals he says are pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war. Kim’s speech to war veterans on the 69th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War was apparently meant to boost internal unity in the impoverished country amid pandemic-related economic difficulties. While Kim has increasingly threatened his rivals with nuclear weapons, it’s unlikely that he would use them first against the superior militaries of the U.S. and its allies, observers say. “Our armed forces are completely prepared to respond to any crisis, and our country’s nuclear war deterrent is also ready to mobilize its absolute...

Foreign Policy The Taliban’s Neighbors Fear Afghanistan’s ‘Boiling Pot’ Of Terrorism A three-day conference in Uzbekistan has united the region, worried about the guerrillas in their midst.By Lynne O’Donnell The Taliban’s failure to make the leap from insurgency to governance is coming under scrutiny this week as they meet with representatives of countries that are growing increasingly concerned that after almost year in power, the extremists have again transformed Afghanistan into a global terrorist haven. The July 25-27 conference in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, follows the latest report on Afghanistan by the United Nations Security Council, which contains alarming details on the activities of terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, now enjoying the Taliban’s protection in Afghanistan. The report indicated that Afghanistan has essentially reverted to the state it was in before Sept. 11, 2001, when it hosted Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, while the group planned the...

  Given all the threats to the U.S., how significant a threat is ISIS right now? NPR NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Seth Jones at the Center for Strategic and International Studies about the threat from ISIS, and U.S. military operations that killed or captured some of its leaders. LEILA FADEL, HOST: The U.S. military confirmed the death of an ISIS leader in Syria last week. A drone strike killed Maher al-Agal. U.S. Central Command called him one of the top five ISIS leaders worldwide. This mission was the third U.S. counterterrorism operation in Syria in about a month. So how significant a threat is ISIS right now? I asked Seth Jones. He's a senior vice president and director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. His team keeps a database of groups that pose active threats to the U.S. Right now, they've got white...

  Fox News Africa: The New Ground Zero For Jihadi Terror Groups, Experts Say By Paul Tilsley JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Africa has been beset by jihadi violence, and it is something the U.S. will need to pay close attention to, observers warn. On Sunday, a U.S. airstrike killed two al-Shabab terrorists in response to an attack carried out against U.S. partner forces in Somalia. "The Islamic Jihad in Africa is real," claims Jasmine Opperman, South Africa based security consultant specializing in extremism and political violence, who believes Africa has taken over from the Middle East as the jihadis main area of operations. "It definitely is the case", Opperman told Fox News Digital. "If one looks at the history of Africa, I'm going into Mali and the West Africa region, Somalia, the East Africa region, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique, we are seeing that al-Qaeda has always had...

  Associated Press UN Experts: Terrorist Threat Remains High In Conflict Areas By EDITH M. LEDERER UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. experts said Tuesday the threat from Islamic State extremists and al-Qaida remains high in conflict areas and neighboring countries and warned that those conflicts will “incubate” the capability for a terrorist operation elsewhere in the world unless they are successfully resolved. In a wide-ranging report to the U.N. Security Council, the experts said both the Islamic State and al-Qaida operate in the areas of greatest concern -- Africa, central and south Asia, and the “Levant” which includes Syria and Iraq. The experts said foreigners who fought with the Islamic State group are “another major potential threat multiplier” along with their dependents and quoted one unnamed country reporting that an estimated 120,000 remain in 11 camps and some 20 prison facilities in northeast Syria. Another country reported that approximately 10,000 “foreign...

Iran claims "technical ability to build a nuclear bomb" CBS News Tehran — Iran has the technical capacity to build a nuclear weapon but has not taken a decision to do so, an official told the Al Jazeera broadcaster on Sunday. Iran "has the technical ability to build a nuclear bomb" said Kamal Kharrazi, who heads an advisory board linked to Iran's leadership. But Tehran has "not made a decision to build an atomic bomb," he added. The comments come after U.S. President Joe Biden visited the Middle East this week and signed a security pact with Israel vowing to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. It also comes as efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers remain stalled. Kharrazi, a former foreign minister, also told Al Jazeera that Tehran had carried out extensive drills to be able to strike deep inside Israel "if sensitive (Iranian)...

The Texas Tribune Leaked video shows Texas law enforcement’s long wait to confront Uvalde school shooter Elected officials and law enforcement leaders criticized the leak of the video that was supposed to first be shown to victims’ families. by Uriel J. García and Zach Despart UVALDE — On the same day that a Texas House committee investigating the Uvalde school shooting announced plans to release footage of law enforcement response to the incident, a video showing police waiting for more than an hour in the school hallway before confronting the shooter was published by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV. The apparent leak of the video before victims’ families could view it drew ire from local and state leaders. At a Uvalde City Council meeting Tuesday night, Mayor Don McLaughlin said it was unprofessional to have leaked the video to news outlets. He said families deserved to have viewed the video first...

Domestic terror cases increasingly cross borders, FBI director says British intelligence chief says that young neo-Nazi suspects obsessed with weapons present a “cocktail of risk” around the globe.By Devlin Barrett LONDON — Many domestic terrorism cases now have an international component, as would-be killers are “egging each other on” and drawing inspiration from racist or neo-Nazi attacks overseas, the head of the FBI and his British counterpart said Friday.Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, speaking to reporters alongside Ken McCallum, director general of the British domestic security agency MI5, said their agencies have spent decades developing tip-sharing systems to handle international terrorism cases, but that “muscle memory” is now being applied to domestic terrorism investigations. “Travel and technology,” Wray said, “have really blurred the lines between foreign and domestic threats.” The FBI director said the...

Japan’s Shinzo Abe, Former Prime Minister, Is Assassinated Police arrest 41-year-old man suspected of firing two shots at former leader with crudely made gun By Alastair Gale and Miho Inada TOKYO—Shinzo Abe, a former Japanese prime minister, died after being shot Friday during an election campaign rally, sending shock waves through a country unaccustomed to gun violence. Police arrested a 41-year-old man who they said approached Mr. Abe from behind as he gave a speech in the city of Nara and fired twice with what appeared to be an improvised firearm. A doctor who treated Mr. Abe said he had gunshot wounds near the base of his neck and one bullet pierced his heart. Mr. Abe, 67, was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history and remained powerful even after stepping down in 2020. During his term in office, he pushed to strengthen the nation’s military, beefed up cooperation with U.S....

New York Times Parade Shooting Live Updates: 22-Year-Old Is in Custody After Manhunt The police said they had detained a man they described as a person of interest in the shooting at the Highland Park, Ill., Fourth of July celebration. Six people were killed, including a 76-year-old grandfather. Many details about the attack remained unclear a day after the shooting. HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — The attack on a Fourth of July parade in a lakefront suburb north of Chicago that killed six people on Monday left the community and country reeling with questions, as a 22-year-old suspect remained in custody, his motive unclear and charges expected. Numerous people were still being treated in hospitals for gunshot wounds and other injuries. The shooting came a week and a half after President Biden signed the most significant gun measure to clear Congress in nearly three decades, but it was unclear whether any of...