Washington Post columnist David Ignatius offered an op-ed on March 19 about the final years of Osama bin Laden, and the piece portrays an isolated strategic thinker who reflectively considered the position of his global terrorist network and the possibility for success. The U.S. government allowed Ignatius to read some …
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled Yemen since 1978, stepped down from power on Monday under strong domestic and international pressure. He became the fourth Arab leader ousted since the dawn of the so-called Arab Spring last year. Saleh was succeeded by his longtime crony Abed Rabu Mansour Hadi, …
Following a devastating suicide blast earlier in the week in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, leaders from the regional terror group al Shabaab issued a statement declaring that the perpetrator of the attack was American Abdisalan Hussein Ali. In an audio tape released by al Shabaab, and purported to be …
According to media reports, Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American Islamist radical who played an increasingly influential role in the al-Qaeda network, was killed in a CIA drone strike earlier today in Yemen. Awlaki was reported to have been killed at least twice before, and one of his brothers reportedly already has …
Turkish authorities arrested 15 suspected al-Qaeda militants this week and foiled a plot to bomb the U.S. embassy in Ankara shortly before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was scheduled to arrive in Turkey for a diplomatic conference regarding Libya. This should serve as a reminder that al-Qaeda has survived the …
In addition to the always outstanding analysis provided by Bobby Chesney and John Bellinger on the Obama administration’s new executive order on GTMO detention review, and the accompanying “Fact Sheet“, there is another fascinating feature that merits discussion. Here’s the question: by recognizing Article 75 of Additional Protocol I of …
Danish authorities have just sunk another plot to strike the West. According to press reports, “Denmark’s intelligence service says it has arrested four people plotting what it called an ‘imminent’ terrorist attack against the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which printed controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The head of the agency, Jakob …
The long-awaited White House Review on Afghanistan demonstrates that General Petraeus’ counterinsurgency strategy is beginning to pay dividends. The additional U.S. troops deployed to Afghanistan have helped the U.S. and coalition forces begin to uproot the Taliban from some of their traditional strongholds in southern Afghanistan. The most important task …
Attempted terrorist attacks are on the rise and we should expect more to come according to a recent memo from the Department of Homeland Security. Three weeks after the country saw the attempted Times Square bombing, an unclassified DHS intelligence memo asserts not only that “the number and pace of …
