As details emerge regarding Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s 2012 trip to Dagestan and Chechnya, which his family has insisted was merely to visit with relatives, fresh questions arise as to how that trip may have influenced either his motivation or preparation for the Boston Marathon bombings. The frequency with which American-born or …
Canadian police announced on Monday that they had arrested two foreign men plotting to derail a passenger train and who had received some unspecified form of support from al-Qaeda personnel based in Iran. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that Raed Jasser, a 35-year-old Palestinian living in Toronto, and Chiheb …
Last week, NASA observed the largest solar flare of the year. The coronal mass ejection was one “powerful enough to cause a brief radio blackout.” Indeed, there were some small instances of radio interference last week following the solar flare. While the event made for some spectacular photographs, it also …
The leader of al-Qaeda’s Iraq branch, the Islamic State of Iraq, announced on Tuesday the formal merger of his organization and Jabhat al-Nusra (“Victory Front”), an al-Qaeda-controlled front group that has played a growing role inside Syria. Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared, “It’s now time to declare in front of …
Last week, a hacker turned cybersecurity expert, Marc Maiffret, published an enlightening op-ed in The New York Times, arguing the private sector can and should do more to improve the nation’s cybersecurity. This is especially true since the private sector produces the hardware and software for every device we use. …
The world’s second-largest reinsurer, Swiss Re, reports “that natural catastrophes and man-made disasters cost the insurance industry $77 billion in 2012.” The report noted this figure covered “more than 300 catastrophes and disasters caus[ing] the loss of 14,000 lives and $186 billion.” These disasters included many of the 112 events …
Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is holding a hearing titled, “Counterterrorism Policies and Priorities: Addressing the Evolving Threat.” The hearing has just three witnesses, not one of whom represents state and local law enforcement counterterrorism equities. That omission really is par for the course, as too often …
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a hearing on Thursday on the progress made in the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program over the past six months. CFATS was once considered a great success in security and government regulations. In late 2011, however, a leaked Department of …
