The Latest from National Terror
Alert Response Center

Posted: 04 Jun 2009 01:32 AM PDT

STRATFOR has long discussed the threat posed by lone wolf militants and
the unique challenges they pose to law enforcement and security personnel.
Of course, the primary challenge is that, by definition, lone wolves are
solitary actors and it can be very difficult to determine their intentions
before they act because they do not work with others. When militants are
operating in a cell consisting of more than one person, there is a larger
chance that one of them will get cold feet and reveal the plot to
authorities, that law enforcement and intelligence personnel will
intercept a communication between conspirators, or that law enforcement
authorities will be able to introduce an informant into the group, as was
the case in the recently foiled plot to bomb two Jewish targets in the
Bronx and shoot down a military aircraft at a Newburgh, N.Y., Air National
Guard base.

Obviously, lone wolves do not need to communicate with others or
include them in the planning or execution of their plots. This ability to
fly solo and under the radar of law enforcement has meant that some lone
wolf militants such as Joseph Paul Franklin, Theodore Kaczynski and Eric
Rudolph were able to operate for years before being identified and
captured.

Lone wolves also pose problems because they can come from a variety of
backgrounds with a wide range of motivations. While some lone wolves are
politically motivated, others are religiously motivated and some are
mentally unstable. Even among the religiously motivated there is
variety.

Read Full Article

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.

North Korea Puts Two U.S. Journalists On Trial

Posted: 04 Jun 2009 01:19 AM PDT

North Korea put two U.S. journalists on trial on Thursday on charges of
illegally entering the state with “hostile intent”, in a case that could
worsen tension with Washington after Pyongyang’s nuclear test last
week.

The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of the U.S. media outlet
Current TV, were taken into custody in March near the border between China
and North Korea while working on a story. The TV network was co-founded by
former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

North Korea’s KCNA news agency said in a one-sentence dispatch that the
trial would begin at 0600 GMT (3 p.m. local time) at one of the country’s
highest courts.

Experts say the pair could face a sentence of 10 years or more of hard
labour in the reclusive state. They add a guilty verdict is almost certain
in a North Korean justice system that protects the unquestioned rule of
leader Kim Jong-il.

via North
Korea puts two U.S. journalists on trial Reuters.

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.

Animal Rights Terrorism on the Rise in U.S.

Posted: 04 Jun 2009 01:09 AM PDT

It was 4 o’clock in the morning when David Jentsch, a neuroscience
professor at UCLA, awoke to a loud bang and the sound of his car alarm. He
hurried to his bedroom window and saw the orange glow of his new Volvo
luxury sedan burning in his yard.

He suspected immediately that it was the work of animal rights
activists.

“Enough of my colleagues had been attacked that I had a feeling they
were responsible,” Jentsch said about the March 7 torching of his car.
“Two days later the Animal Liberation Brigade took credit for it. The
irony of the whole situation is that no one had ever approached me about
my research before, not one harassing e-mail or phone call.”

Jentsch, who experiments on monkeys and rodents in his studies on
mental disorders like drug addiction and psychosis, is one of a growing
number of victims in a renewed and intensified campaign by animal rights
activists. In what law enforcement officials are calling a wave of
militancy, groups like the Animal Liberation Front and another called The
Justice Department are going after scientists personally, both at work and
at home, and threatening the safety of their families.

“There is an upswing,” said Laura Eimiller, a FBI spokeswoman in Los
Angeles. “What’s really concerning is the tactics that are being used.
Previously it was non-violent, mostly harassment or vandalism. Now we’re
seeing the increased use of incendiary devices to target individuals.”

Over the past 18 months, there have been at least 39 criminal actions
undertaken in the name of animal rights, according to data compiled by the
Foundation for Biomedical Research, an advocacy group for researchers.
That represents a significant rise from 2006 and 2007, when there were
only 25 incidents.

Much of the recent activity has been focused in California, which has
seen labs destroyed, scientists’ cars firebombed, public officials’ cars
vandalized and animals kidnapped and then released into the wild.
Activists have claimed to have sabotaged the cars of UCLA football
players, and six masked activists burst into the home of a researcher at
the University of California-Santa Cruz.

Source

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.

Bin Laden Warns Americans To Be Prepared For Consequences

Posted: 03 Jun 2009 08:56 AM PDT

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden warned Americans “to be prepared to
receive the consequences of the Obama and Bush administrations.” In a new
recorded audiotape aired by Arabic Al Jazeera TV Wednesday, June 3 - as
Saudi king Abdullah greeted US president Barack Obama on his arrival in
Riyadh - bin Laden said Obama had planted the seeds for “revenge and
hatred” toward the United States in the Muslim world.

The warning was issued the day before the US president was to deliver a
speech to Muslims from Cairo.

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.