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Yemen On High Alert For al Qaeda Terror Attack

Posted: 05 Feb 2009 09:14 PM PST

Over the last several weeks a growing number of al Qaeda operatives have

entered Yemen from Saudi Arabia and have established a renewed
network that potentially threatens U.S. and Saudi targets in
the region, both U.S. and Yemeni officials have told CNN.

As a result Yemeni security forces have gone on high
alert.

CNN spoke with three U.S. officials and a Yemeni embassy
official who outlined new concerns about al Qaeda in Yemen that all three
said go beyond the usual worries about the terror organization in Yemen.

None of the officials could identified by name because of the sensitivity of the
information.

“There are strong indications of heightened activity in
Yemen,” one U.S. official told CNN. “There is real concern in the U.S.
government that al Qaeda is trying to mount attacks in Yemen.”

The United States continues to worry about attacks against
the U.S. embassy or other U.S. business interests in Yemen the official
said. But there are also growing concerns that a renewed al Qaeda network in Yemen
could plan attacks against Saudi oil infrastructure or the massive cargo shipping
operations that run through the immediate region — potentially disrupting an already
shaky world economy.

The official said there is a flow of intelligence
information in recent weeks backing up that assessment.

“There are clear indications al Qaeda is placing emphasis on Yemen as a place to

conduct operations and train operatives.”

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Social Media Aids Intel Community In Tracking Terror

Posted:
05 Feb 2009 09:02 PM PST

From the Office of The Director of National Security

On Feb. 4, the New York Daily News online published an
article on the Intelligence Community’s (IC) use of classified social networking sites to
collaborate on last November’s Mumbai terrorist attacks. US intelligence
officers in various locations around the world utilized ‘Intellipedia’ and ‘A-Space’
to discuss and compare notes on incoming intelligence and news reports accounting
the events in Mumbai. Over the span of three days these two sites received over
7,000 page views.

Under ODNI direction, the IC is adapting the concepts behind MySpace and other social networking sites to enable intelligence analysts to share information more freely and collaborate across agency lines.

You can read the New York Daily News online article, “Spies
Form Virtual Units on The Fly to Track Terror,” by cliocking the link
below.

Spies Form Virtual Units on The Fly to Track
Terror

When a cell of 10 Islamic militants stole into the Indian
port city of Mumbai in November and began to unleash a fusillade of hell on
two hotels, a train depot in rush hour and a Jewish center, US spooks scrambled
to make sense of it all. About 20 analysts from across the globe immediately
convened - not in the same room, but on two classified Web sites called
Intellipedia and A-space.

Think of it as Wikipedia and Facebook for spies.

The first Mumbai entry was posted by a watch officer at the
National Counterterrorism Center at the onset of the attacks,
officials told The Mouth. Soon, analysts from across America’s 16 spy agencies
familiar with extremists in India and Pakistan logged on to A-space - a
discussion site accessible to only a few thousand US intelligence analysts with the
highest security clearances - to weigh who the attackers might be.

Analysts posted realtime satellite imagery and video depicting the carnage outside the Taj Mahal Hotel, which showed a sluggish response by Indian security forces. They also uploaded the first news photos of one young terrorist in Mumbai’s rail station who was later nabbed alive - noting how professionally he carried his weapons, and how he was dressed as blandly Western as the 9/11 hijackers 7 1/2 years ago.

The ad hoc group of analysts, who did not all know each
other - including at least one in a Far East military outpost - quickly agreed
that a claim of responsibility by the unheard of “Deccan Mujahadeen” was malarkey. It
was really the handiwork of Pakistan’s Al Qaeda-affiliated Lashkar-e-Taiba.

“The analysts concluded it was LeT hours before that was made public,” said one senior US intelligence official.

The Mumbai strikes were the first big test of the new system
of collaboration using social networking tools put in place last fall by
Directorate of National Intelligence chief technology czar Michael Wertheimer and his crew of savvy young spooks from the Myspace Generation. There are also Top Secret elements modeled on YouTube and Flicker.

Read more about A-space and Intellipedia after the jump.

Read More

This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National
Terror Alert.
National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for
homeland security news and information.