The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

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• America Needs A More Effective Warning System
  
  
  
• Homeland Security Today – Savage Struggle On The
  Border
  
  
• Baitullah Mehsud – Possibly Killed In U.S.
  Missile Strike
  
  
• War On Terrorism, Global War, Fighting Jihadists
  Over – White House
  
  
• Pentagon – Russian Subs Near US Coast Pose No
  Threat
  
  
• Interpol Issues Global Alert For 13 Mumbai Terror
  Suspects

America Needs A More Effective Warning System Posted: 07 Aug 2009 01:35 AM PDT Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has appointed a 17-member board to review and evaluate the Homeland Security Advisory System, the familiar, if often ignored, five-color terror-alert warning. The system is long overdue for review and should be improved. Editor’s Note – I agree that there are long overdue changes needed to the current Homeland Security advisory system. But as pointed out, that doesn’t necessarily mean getting rid of the color-coded system. The color coded system is an widely recognized and could be very useful if specific actions were tied directly to the threat level. I also agree that the appearance or potential opportunity to use it politically needs to removed. A neutral agency or organization could administer the alert according to a very specific criteria, removing any doubt from the public’s mind as to the actual severity of the threat. The system was established in March 2002 as a readiness measure for state and local law enforcement and the public generally. It has been the butt of many jokes, and most Americans have no idea what the current alert level is at any given time. But the system has some utility. It works best when there are concrete signs of increased terrorist activity. The last time the system went to red alert was in 2006 after evidence emerged about a plot in Britain to bomb trans-Atlantic airliners. Unfortunately, the alert status often has fallen victim to politics. During the George W. Bush years, the president’s political opponents charged that the administration was trying to whip up hysteria any time the alert status moved up, despite concrete evidence that the terror threat had increased. The political equation at the lower end of the scale is more mundane. The United States has been at yellow alert (signifying “significant risk” of attack) since 2006, with airlines at orange alert (”high risk”). Some localities maintain their own alert levels. For example, the New York City metro area is at orange alert and generally stays one level above the federal alert status. Read Full Editorial At The Wash. Times 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. America Needs A More Effective Warning System

Homeland Security Today – Savage Struggle On The Border Posted: 07 Aug 2009 01:34 AM PDT A raging war between rival drug cartels in Mexico, the rise of Islamist Extremism in Latin America, and an alliance between Jihadists, Drug Cartels and Latino Street Gangs all contribute to a unique, and potentially very dangerous scenario on our Southern Border. Anthony Kimery from Homeland Security Today has put together an incredible, in-depth news report that clearly illustrates the dangers and risks we face. Read The Articles At Homeland Security Today Included in This Special Report: Savage Struggle On The Border In Northern Mexico a largely overlooked but nonetheless brutal war is raging between Narco-terrorists and government authorities and it’s violence threatens to spread to the united states. The Rise of Islamist Extremism in Latin America “This network … did not spring up overnight,” states the report of Operation Cazando Anguilas, a study commissioned by the US Office of Secretary of Defense to explore the nexus of terrorists, transnational criminal organizations and Mexican narco-cartels in Latin America. “Rather, it arose as a byproduct of a long history of Muslim involvement in the region.” Unholy Trinity South of the American border, three transnational threats are coming together in an alliance of convenience and mutual support that may present A danger to the American homeland. Revealing the Threat In May 2003, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing, “Narco-Terrorism: International Drug Trafficking and Terrorism—A Dangerous Mix,” took a hard, cold look at the problem. The nearly 1-inch thick fine print transcript of the hearing documented Hezbollah and other Middle East terrorist organizations’ undeniable presence in the region Honduras: A beachhead for narco-cartels and Islamist terrorists While Latin America’s socialist governments have condemned the Honduran military for its June 28 ousting of President Manuel Zelaya in response to Zelaya’s questionable moves to usurp the nation’s constitution, intelligence shows that counter-narcotics and counterterrorism authorities had been investigating the Zelaya regime’s ties to Mexico’s narco-cartels … and terrorists. and more… Could Mexico Fail The War For Mexico’s Future Murder of Border Patrol Agent is Test for Mexico and US 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. Homeland Security Today – Savage Struggle On The Border

Baitullah Mehsud – Possibly Killed In U.S. Missile Strike Posted: 06 Aug 2009 05:23 PM PDT UPDATE: As is often the case in stories of this nature coming out of the tribal areas, the storyline has again changed. Several sources are now reporting that Baiullah Mehsud is dead. Pakistan believes Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was probably killed with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Friday. An intelligence officer in South Waziristan told Reuters that Mehsud’s funeral had already taken place, while Pakistani media cited their own security sources saying Mehsud was dead. “He was killed with his wife and he was buried in Nargosey,” the officer said, referring to a tiny settlement about 1 km (half a mile), from the site of the missile attack, believed carried out by a pilotless U.S. drone aircraft. Malik said: “We suspect he was killed in the missile strike. We have some information, but we don’t have material evidence.” Source UPDATE: Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud was not killed in yesterday’s airstrike in South Waziristan, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal. “Baitullah is alive,” one official old The Long War Journal. “We’re aware of the reports that he might have been killed and we are looking into it, but we don’t believe he was killed.” The late night airstrike on a compound operated by Ikramuddin Mehsud, Baitullah’s father-in-law, in the village of Zanghra in the mountains near Baitullah’s home town of Makeen, killed Baitullah’s second wife and two other Taliban fighters. One of Baitullah’s two brothers was also reported to have been killed. Witnesses on the scene immediately said that Baitullah was not among those killed. He reportedly visited his wife but left an hour prior to the attack. Read more: Original Post US and Pakistani officials have said they are checking reports that the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, has been killed. He is said to have died in a missile attack on the home of a relative. A US official said there was “reason to believe reports of his death may be true, but it cannot be confirmed”. Family members have already confirmed that one of Mehsud’s wives was killed when a US drone attacked her father’s home in South Waziristan on Wednesday. The area is a stronghold of Mehsud, who has been blamed by Pakistan for a series of suicide bomb attacks in the country. About 2,000 people have died in such attacks across the country since July 2007, when government forces besieged and captured a radical mosque in Islamabad from Mehsud’s loyalists. Since then the Taliban in Pakistan have claimed responsibility for some of the worst attacks, but have always denied any role in the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi in December 2007. Read Article Read previous article – Meet Baitullah Mesud Enemy Number One 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. Baitullah Mehsud – Possibly Killed In U.S. Missile Strike

War On Terrorism, Global War, Fighting Jihadists Over – White House Posted: 06 Aug 2009 11:30 AM PDT It’s official. The U.S. is no longer engaged in a “war on terrorism.” Neither is it fighting “jihadists” or in a “global war.” President Obama’s top homeland security and counterterrorism official took all three terms off the table of acceptable words inside the White House during a speech Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “The President does not describe this as a ‘war on terrorism,’” said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, who outlined a “new way of seeing” the fight against terrorism. The only terminology that Mr. Brennan said the administration is using is that the U.S. is “at war with al Qaeda.” “We are at war with al Qaeda,” he said. “We are at war with its violent extremist allies who seek to carry on al Qaeda’s murderous agenda.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in March that the administration was not using the term “war on terror” but no specific directive had come from the White House itself. Mr. Obama himself used the term “war on terror” on Jan. 23, his fourth day as president, but has not used it since. 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. War On Terrorism, Global War, Fighting Jihadists Over – White House

Pentagon – Russian Subs Near US Coast Pose No Threat Posted: 06 Aug 2009 07:32 AM PDT Russian submarines patrolling off the US east coast are not cause for concern and pose no threat to the United States, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. “So long as they are operating in international waters as, frankly, we do around the world — and are behaving in a responsible way, they are certainly free to do so and it doesn’t cause any alarm within this building,” press secretary Geoff Morrell said at a Pentagon news conference. US Northern Command issued a brief statement earlier that it was monitoring the submarines, which Morrell said were several hundred miles (kilometers) off the eastern coastline. Morrell said he was unsure if Moscow gave Washington advance notice but the US military “had the means to derive where they were going.” Morrell played down the episode, saying: “While it is interesting and noteworthy that they are in this part of the world, it doesn’t pose any threat and it doesn’t cause any concern.” He acknowledged that US submarines have operated off the Russian coast “from time to time” as well, in international waters. The New York Times first reported the presence of two Russian nuclear-powered, Akula class submarines off the American coast, the first such move in years that carried echoes of Cold War tensions. Read 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. Pentagon – Russian Subs Near US Coast Pose No Threat

Interpol Issues Global Alert For 13 Mumbai Terror Suspects Posted: 06 Aug 2009 07:18 AM PDT Interpol has issued a global alert for 13 suspects wanted by police in Pakistan in connection with the investigation into the Mumbai terrorist attacks in India. The alert asks Interpol member countries to assist in locating the individuals and immediately notify their bureau in Islamabad, Pakistan and headquarters in Lyon, France with any investigative leads. A statement by Interpol said: “If the fugitives are located, Pakistani authorities will then formally request provisional arrest with a view towards extradition, in accordance with any applicable extradition treaty.” The request suggests a new level of co-operation on the investigation between the two long-running enemies, although India has asked for suspects to be extradited to stand trial there. Pakistan has arrested five people suspected of involvement in the assault, including the alleged mastermind, Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and their trial is expected to begin in the next week. In India, Ajmal Kasab, the only one of the terrorists to be captured alive, changed his plea to guilty last month, although his trial is continuing. 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. Interpol Issues Global Alert For 13 Mumbai Terror Suspects

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