Homeland Security Network Blog

1945 America’s Maritime Army: How the U.S. Military Would Fight China?By James Holmes A couple of weeks back the U.S. Army released the latest in the family of strategy documents to issue forth from the armed services, alongside such directives as the U.S. Marines’ Tentative Manual for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations and the sea services’ Triservice Maritime Strategy. Read the whole thing and hurry on back. Titled Army Multi-Domain Transformation, this “Chief of Staff Paper” from General James McConville makes it official: the army is back in the sea-power business.And nary a moment too soon.Under the multi-domain concept, light army units will deploy as “inside forces” along Asia’s first island chain in stressful times. They will defy China’s access- and area-denial defenses, remaining within the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) weapons-engagement zone and enduring or eluding punishment while meting out heavy blows of their own. Demonstrated resilience and combat capability will give...

The New York Times The Original 20 Guantánamo Detainees: A Roster, and Where They Are NowStarting with the Bush administration, the United States has gradually transferred all but two of the first 20 prisoners at the wartime detention facility to other nations. Here’s who, and where, they are.By Carol RosenbergShabidzada Usman Ali, sent to Pakistan in 2003Mr. Ali, a Pakistani citizen, was among the earliest people repatriated from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, at a time when the main prison facility, Camp Delta, held 680 detainees. The journalist Mark Bowden wrote that he traveled to Pakistan to meet some former Guantánamo prisoners and found Mr. Ali and another detainee, who said they had not been abused in American custody “except for some roughing up immediately after they were captured.” Both were in their 20s, he wrote in a later account, from tiny villages in the mountainous region of Pakistan where Al Qaeda and...

DW Indonesia: Several injured in church suicide bombingNewlywed suicide bombers have struck outside a Catholic church in the Indonesian city of Makassar on Palm Sunday, injuring more than a dozen people. President Widodo said he "strongly condemned this act of terror." A Catholic church in Indonesia's South Sulawesi province was rocked by a suicide bombing on Sunday, authorities said.The blast in the city of Makassar wounded at least 14 people including church workers and worshippers.Police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said the attackers were members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an extremist group also blamed for a deadly church bombing in the Indonesian city of Surabaya in 2018."There were two perpetrators killed, one is a man and another one is a woman," Prabowo said. "They're members of the JAD group." The police said that those who carried out the attack were a newlywed couple that belonged to the local branch of JAD....

  Here's what we know about the Boulder, Colorado, mass shooting suspectBy Ray Sanchez, Paul Murphy, Blake Ellis and Amir Vera, CNN Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was identified by authorities Tuesday as the gunman who opened fire at a King Soopers grocery store in Colorado, killing 10 people, including a Boulder police officer. The name of the 21-year-old suspect, who is in custody, was released at a news conference by Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold, who did not disclose a possible motive for Monday's bloodshed. A search of the suspect's suburban Denver home turned up other weapons, a senior law enforcement source said Tuesday. The weapon used in the attack was an AR-15-style pistol modified with an arm brace, according to the source.Authorities have said they believe Alissa was the only person involved and that there was no additional threat to the community.The suspect has been charged with 10 counts of...

East Bay Times Boulder shooting: Gunman kills 10, including police officer, at King Soopers Boulder police say Officer Eric Talley was first on the scene when killed; investigation will take several days By Joe Rubino A gunman killed 10 people at a King Soopers in Boulder on Monday afternoon, the latest in a grim litany of mass shootings in Colorado — this one including among its victims a police officer who was first to respond to reports of shots fired at the grocery store.The suspect was taken into custody, but there were few answers in the following hours. Officials said it would take days to investigate the large crime scene and to notify families that their loved ones had been killed.The workers and shoppers who survived the violent scene in the Front Range college town fled the store any way they could — if they couldn’t, they took shelter inside —...

  The Jerusalem Post Failure To Stop Iran's Terror Support Might Lead To Israel-Hezbollah War To understand the new complex Middle Eastern puzzle, it is first necessary to recognize the fact that the Biden administration is dealing with Iran on two fronts. By EITAN DANGOT The Middle East has entered a new and significant stage in recent weeks, as all regional actors position themselves around the key question of whether or not US President Joe Biden’s administration renews the Iran nuclear agreement. Failure to achieve an improved nuclear deal and cause Iran to downgrade its regional destabilizing activities will have long-lasting effects, could create an economic disaster in Iran and could lead to a military escalation between Iran and America’s regional allies. The issue of whether sanctions on Iran will be lifted and the outline of a possible new agreement is the leading factor that will shape the face of the...

Georgia spa shootings: Suspect confesses, claims he was not racially motivated, sheriff says By WSBTV.com News StaffATLANTA — Authorities said the suspect in the deadly rampage at three metro Atlanta spas targeted the businesses because he had “issues” with sexual addiction and had been planning to commit more shootings before he was captured.The Cherokee County Sheriff said the suspect, Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock, claimed the shootings were not racially motivated. The sheriff described it as “targets of opportunity” and said Long told investigators he wanted to “eliminate the temptation.”Channel 2′s Chris Jose learned that Long allegedly targeted businesses that he had been to before. A total of eight people were killed and another was injured in Tuesday’s shootings in Atlanta and Cherokee County. The FBI has now joined in the investigation.White House officials tell Channel 2 Action News that President Biden has been briefed on the “horrific” shootings and...

Stars and Stripes Inside US troops’ stronghold in Syria, a question of how long Biden will keep them there By DAVID S. CLOUD | Los Angeles Times (Tribune News Service) — At a makeshift military outpost abutting a natural gas field in eastern Syria, the signs of the country's violent upheaval are everywhere. Bombed-out concrete buildings lie in ruins. The pipes that once carried liquefied natural gas are shredded and twisted.A tattered U.S. flag strung between 40-foot-tall gas processing towers flies high over the base, a visible symbol that American troops are here — and not planning on leaving soon."We've got the flagpole planted," said Army Lt. Alan Favalora, a Louisiana National Guard soldier at Conoco, the name the base acquired from the long-departed U.S. oil and gas firm that once operated the wells. "We want them to know we are committed to this region."How committed President Biden will be to...

Kurdistan 24 ISIS Continues Attacks In Syria Despite Counterterrorism Operations By US-Backed Forces The latest arrests, including senior ISIS figures, come as the Kurdish-led SDF steps up operations against the terrorist organization. by Wladimir van Wilgenburg ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday arrested nine suspects affiliated with the so-called Islamic State, as the terrorist group continues attacks in northeast Syria, especially in the Arab majority Deir al-Zor province.The SDF's Coordination and Military Operations Center on Sunday said on Twitter that SDF special forces units had in a raid arrested nine Islamic State suspects, including senior leaders (emirs) in the Deir al-Zor countryside.The cell was suspected of carrying out assassinations, planting improvised explosive device (IEDs) and smuggling weapons.Although the SDF and the US-led Coalition announced the territorial defeat of the Islamic State in Syria in March 2019, sleeper cell attacks persist—especially in liberated territories—in an apparent...

U.S. Naval Institute China's Desert Storm Education China took lessons from Operation Desert Storm and remade itself with foreign technology to build a formidable joint military force with expeditionary ambitions. By Commander Michael Dahm, U.S. Navy (Retired) THE 1991 GULF WAR was a harbinger of change for the Chinese military. In just 42 days, a United States–led coalition eviscerated the Iraqi military and expelled it from Kuwait. Before Operation Desert Storm, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was aware of its shortcomings relative to the West, but the war underscored the magnitude of the problem. The similarities between the PLA and the vanquished Iraqi military—an army-centric force organized for a defensive campaign—created a sense of urgency, as Beijing realized its military was ill-prepared to face a modern foe like the United States. The transformations in Chinese military strategy, technology, and force structure born out of the Gulf War have been seismic,...

NIKKEI Asia How the US military is preparing for a war with ChinaJuicy targets include artificial islands in the South China Sea by James Stavridis Admiral James Stavridis was 16th Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and 12th Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He spent the bulk of his operational career in the Pacific, and is author of "2034: A Novel of the Next World War."The Atlantic Council's publication of The Longer Telegram, which lays out a sweeping blueprint for a U.S. strategy to face China, provides significant clues about a new lay-down of American forces around east Asia.Whether the new Biden administration fully embraces the paper's aggressive stance remains to be seen, but elements are under serious consideration. Certainly, the new team at the National Security Council, led by highly respected Asia hand Kurt Campbell and a deep bench of Asia experts, will be...

  Fox News Iranian Terrorists Claim To Have Active Cells In Washington, DC Group demanded US withdraw all of its troops in Middle East By Adam Kredo | Washington Free BeaconIranian militia groups claim to have active cells of operatives stationed in Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities, according to chatter in online forums used by these groups.Kawtheryoon Electronic Team, a Telegram network used by Iranian militia groups and supporters, claimed in a recent posting that Iranian "resistance cells are rooted even in America and its capital," according to a copy of the English-language posting captured by the Middle East Media Research Institute, which tracks radical groups.The group additionally claimed that terror factions associated with Iran are growing stronger and attracting more support than ever before. The group demanded the United States withdraw all of its troops from Iraq and the Middle East. The post included a picture of caskets containing...

Deal Meant To End War in Afghanistan Seen To Embolden Taliban Stars & Stripes By J.P. LAWRENCE KABUL, Afghanistan – The drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan has encouraged the Taliban’s belief that they are closer than ever to victory, analysts and fighters said, one year after a deal was signed with the militant group meant to bring peace to the country.On Feb. 29, U.S. and Taliban representatives gathered in Doha, Qatar, to sign an agreement that would allow for the withdrawal of American troops in exchange for concessions by the militants.The concessions included opening peace talks with the government in Kabul and preventing extremist groups like al-Qaida from using the country to launch attacks on America and its allies.But a year later, a peaceful end to the bloodshed remains elusive, with the increasingly emboldened Taliban escalating their attacks on government forces, still maintaining ties with al-Qaida, and remaining unlikely to...

 The Detroit News Ohio Man Accused Of Making Terrorism Threat Against Port Huron Police, School by Jordyn Grzelewski Port Huron police announced Sunday an Ohio man has been charged with making a terrorism threat against police officers and an elementary school.Police in a news release identified the suspect as Dominik Hricovsky, 32. They said Hricovsky was arraigned Sunday on charges of threat of terrorism, discharging a firearm in or at a building, two felony firearm counts, being a felon in possession of a firearm, resisting and obstructing, and being a habitual offender.The charges are tied to an incident reported Wednesday morning, according to the news release. Police said emergency dispatch for St. Clair County "received several calls from an unknown male making threats to burn down Cleveland Elementary School and shoot police officers." Officers responded to the school, which went into a "soft lockdown," police said. Dispatchers traced the calls to...

Politico By JOBY WARRICK How The Pentagon Got Inside ISIS’ Chemical Weapons Operation—And Ended It How shady reports of ISIS-made poison gas led the U.S. to a valuable ISIS weapon-maker, who helped bring the whole operation down. The Kurdish fighters dug in along Highway 47 in Kesik Kupri, Iraq, on January 23, 2015, could hear the truck from far off and knew the attack was coming. The defenders crouched behind their vehicles or squatted along a low ridge, rifles trained on the narrow road. From the ridge to the earthen barrier across the highway were perhaps 500 men, skilled veterans of Iraq’s Kurdish Peshmerga brigades as well as teenagers and elderly volunteers from neighboring villages who had come in their civilian coats, sneakers and checkered scarves to reclaim their homes from the men of ISIS. In two hard days of combat, they had seized a strategic crossroads and now effectively controlled...

Reuters Arrival Of “Sticky Bombs” In Indian Kashmir Sets Off Alarm Bells By Fayaz Bukhari, Devjyot GhoshalSRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Security forces battling a decades-long insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir are alarmed by the recent arrival in the disputed region of small, magnetic bombs that have wreaked havoc in Afghanistan. “Sticky bombs”, which can be attached to vehicles and detonated remotely, have been seized during raids in recent months in the federally administered region of Jammu and Kashmir, three senior security officials told Reuters.“These are small IEDs and quite powerful,” said Kashmir Valley police chief Vijay Kumar, referring to improvised explosive devices. “It will certainly impact the present security scenario as volume and frequency of vehicular movements of police and security forces are high in Kashmir Valley.”The Indian government flooded Kashmir, already one of the world’s most militarised regions, with more troops in August 2019, when it split the country’s only Muslim-majority...

Bloomberg U.S. Carries Out Airstrikes on Syria MilitiasU.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin briefs reporters on the airstrikes in Syria on Thursday. The U.S. targeted facilities near the Iraqi border used by Iranian-backed militia groups. The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops. View Bloomberg video https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2021-02-26/u-s-carries-out-airstrikes-on-syria-militias-video

The Defense Post Agence France-Presse ISWAP Jihadists Overrun Nigerian Army Base As Residents Flee Late on Friday ISWAP fighters on board several trucks fitted with machine guns raided Dikwa, in Borno state, where the Nigerian army has one of its key "super camp" military bases. Staff Writer with AFP February 22, 2021A jihadist attack in northeast Nigeria has forced many people to flee after Islamic State-affiliated insurgents overran a key army base, military sources and residents told AFP Sunday.The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group that split from the Boko Haram movement in 2016 has become a dominant threat in the region, attacking soldiers and bases while killing and kidnapping passengers at bogus checkpoints.Late on Friday ISWAP fighters on board several trucks fitted with machine guns raided Dikwa, in Borno state, where the Nigerian army has one of its key “super camp” military bases.“The terrorists attacked the super camp… and...

 Deutsche Welle Taliban Threat In Afghanistan 'Will Significantly Rise,' Says German Defense Minister German defense chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told DW that militants have vowed to carry out more attacks targeting international troops if the NATO alliance doesn't leave Afghanistan by a May deadline. NATO has made no decision on whether or when to pull out of Afghanistan, the military alliance's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.A peace deal struck in February 2020 between the Taliban and the United States calls for all US and NATO forces to leave Afghanistan by May 1 in exchange for the Taliban to reduce violence and cooperate with the Afghan government However, the Taliban have increased violent attacks, and the so-called "intra-Afghan" talks with the government have gone nowhere. "We are faced with many dilemmas, and there are no easy options," Stoltenberg told journalists after talks between defense ministers in Brussels."If we stay beyond May 1,...

The Straits Times US warns Beijing against force at sea, again rejects claims on S. China Sea WASHINGTON • The United States on Friday warned China against the use of force in disputed waters as it reaffirmed its view that Beijing's assertive campaign in the South China Sea is illegal.The State Department voiced "concern" about new legislation enacted by China that authorizes its coast guard to use weapons against foreign ships that Beijing considers to be unlawfully entering its waters.The text "strongly implies this law can be used to intimidate the PRC's maritime neighbors", State Department spokesman Ned Price said, referring to the People's Republic of China."We remind the PRC and all whose forces operate in the South China Sea that responsible maritime forces act with professionalism and restraint in the exercise of their authorities," Mr Price told reporters."We are further concerned that China may invoke this new law to assert...