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July 28, 2010

France Takes on AQIM in Mali

By William Tucker

Topography_of_africa.jpgLate last week reports began to emerge of a raid by Mauritanian troops on a suspected base of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) located across the border in Mali. The ostensive purpose of the raid was to free a French aid worker that had been captured by the group. Since that time the French have came out and stated that they had between 20 to 30 troops on the ground for the raid. AQIM on the other hand has stated that nearly 50 French troops participated in the raid and some had been killed in the course of combat. While AQIM did provide a list of names of the soldiers they claim to have killed on a known militant website we do not have any independent confirmation at this time. The French involvement in the matter was clarified by France's Prime Minister François Fillon saying that, "We are at war with al Qaeda and that's why we have been supporting Mauritanian forces fighting al Qaeda for months." This raid may not have gone as well as Paris would have liked, but one thing is for certain - France isn't going anywhere.

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Tropical Storm Bonnie - The Storm That Never Was

By Dr. Carol Pollio

Late last week we struggled to move more than 500 trucks of critical resources away from flood-prone areas to higher ground in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida in advance of what was predicted to be Tropical Storm Bonnie. We executed our severe weather contingency plan for Incident Command Post Mobile - and awaited the storm.

We were lucky. Tropical Storm Bonnie became Tropical Depression Bonnie and missed the panhandle of Florida entirely. That was great news - and even better news was the fact that the well remained shut-in and no oil has escaped now for 10 days. To put this in perspective, the amount of oil we skimmed prior to the well being shut-in was approximately 25,000 barrels in one day. A week later, that total was 56 barrels per day!

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July 26, 2010

Umarov Chooses Successor: More Trouble for Russia?

By William Tucker

The leader of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate, Doka Umarov, named Aslambek Vadalov as his successor in the event of his death according to the website Kavkaz Center (Credit: Long War Journal). Umarov was responsible for the Moscow subway bombings earlier this year. In light of the successful Moscow attack, Russia has redoubled its efforts to kill Umarov in hopes that the violence in the south will abate to some extent. But Umarov declaring his successor may have more to do with an increase in operational tempo on his part and not solely due to the forces that are trying to kill him. At the beginning of the year Umarov renewed his declaration of war on the Russian state with the Moscow attack being the most notable. In the weeks and months following the subway attack, militants of the emirate have focused on small scale local attacks aimed at hindering counterterror operations. It doesn't take much to set the Caucasus ablaze and it appears as if Umarov is holding the match.

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July 25, 2010

UK Assisting in US Drone Strikes

By William Tucker

072410_drone_604x341.jpgAccording to recent press reports the UK intelligence agency GCHQ has been providing intelligence to the US for conducting drone strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The GCHQ is the UK's equivalent to the US National Security Agency. Intelligence cooperation between the US and the UK is nothing new, but the GCHQ reportedly has listening posts in Asia where the NSA does not. In addition to local listening posts both the GCHQ and NSA are able to use satellites to pick up on telephone traffic. This weekend alone there have been three drone strikes in Pakistan and the targeted killing of militants continues.

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July 23, 2010

Militant Attacks in the Caucasus

By William Tucker

Early on the morning of July 21, militants in Russia's Caucasus region attacked a police station and a power plant leaving two security guards dead and two technicians injured. The attacks took place in Baksan, the capital of the Russian oblast Kabardino-Balkaria. The attack took place in two stages with the first diversionary strike against the local police followed soon after by the main attack on the power plant. The attackers managed to disable three of the four turbines at the plant but failed to disrupt electrical service.

Militant attacks against infrastructure are commonplace for the more active insurgencies around the world, but that may not have been the sole motivation in this attack. Earlier this year Russian security forces killed a notorious militant leader and this attack could have been carried out as revenge. On the other hand local elections are scheduled to take place in the near future meaning that this attack could be an attempt to influence public opinion. Regardless, Moscow takes any attacks on the economy very seriously and if this is just a prelude to future attacks fighting in the Caucasus will heat up rather quickly.

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The Strategic Importance of the Gulf Coast

By William Tucker

riversall.gifToday's post will have a different flavor in comparison to my posts of the past few months. For the regular readers of In Homeland Security you will notice the first posting - hopefully the first of many - by AMU professor Dr. Carol Pollio who has been dispatched to the Gulf to aid in the oil spill cleanup. Dr. Pollio's article provides us with an interesting opportunity to discuss the strategic importance of the Gulf coast to the United States.

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