By William Tucker

According to the FBI, about 30 Governor's representing both major political parties have received letters demanding that these politicians leave office in three days or be removed. The group that sent the letters calls itself the Guardians of the Republics and claims via its website its intention to restore America through nonviolent means. Furthermore, the group claims to have the support of high ranking officials in the U.S. military in carrying out these goals. While these claims by domestic extremists are nothing new (in fact, they are identical to most of the known anti-government groups operating in the U.S.), they do deserve examination.

Continue reading "30 State Governor's receive Threatening Letter's" »

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By William Tucker

When news broke of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar's capture one month ago the operation was hailed as a successful collaboration of Pakistani and U.S. intelligence, and yet not everyone was please with the outcome. The AP is reporting today that the arrest of Baradar infuriated Afghan President Hamid Karzai because he was working with Baradar towards holding a peace summit between the Afghan government and the Taliban movement. If this report is accurate then it raises numerous questions.

U.S. policy has stated on many occasions that negotiating with reconcilable elements of the Taliban was necessary for NATO's withdrawal. Understanding this it stands to reason that there was a breakdown in communications between the U.S., Pakistani, and Afghan governments; or the U.S. and Pakistan new about Karzai's arrangement and chose to ignore it. Because of the close work between the Afghan and U.S. governments it is unlikely that the U.S. did not know that Karzai was speaking with Baradar. On the other hand it is possible that the U.S. and the Pakistanis thought Baradar held information on the whereabouts of high ranking Taliban and al-Qaeda thus forcing both nations to go around Karzai. Given the numerous arrests that followed in the wake of Baradar's detention this scenario seems plausible. Right now I am working with limited information; however I will continue to follow this as it could impact Afghan - U.S. relations.

Photo credit: NY Times

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By William Tucker

The city of Jos, Nigeria is experiencing violence between Christian and Muslims once again in what appears to be a continuation of fighting that began in January. Since fighting in this city is frequent it is unclear what set off this bout of violence, but what we do know is that aid organizations have given body counts of over 600 since the fighting began in January. I discussed one possible reason back in February:

Nigeria is once again suffering violence between Christians and Muslims in the central city of Jos. The Nigerian constitution requires a power sharing between members of the two faiths, but with the Muslim President currently in Saudi Arabia undergoing treatment for a heart condition without an accurate picture of his status things are getting tense. The Christian Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, has been given ceremonial powers to act as President, but many Muslims view this suspiciously. Further complicating matters is the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has declared an end to a ceasefire agreement with the government. The Niger Delta is the region where Nigeria harvests most of its crude oil.

Nigerian President Umaru Yaradua has since returned to his country, but has not resumed his role leaving Jonathan as acting President. While we don't have a clear connection between national political issues affecting regional violence we cannot rule it out either.

Map credit: United Nations Cartography. Text in red is mine.

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By William Tucker

It has been revealed that Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, turned on his father's organization and spied for Israel. According to the Times Online, the junior Yousef had become disenfranchised with the spate of suicide bombings and offered his services to Shin Bet. According to Israeli sources, the intelligence Yousef provided put several members of Hamas in jail and prevented numerous suicide bombings. Much of Yousef's exploits will be detailed in his forthcoming book, Son of Hamas, which should help shed some light on the inner workings of Hamas.

Getting people inside terrorist or criminal organizations is not an easy task and sometimes, though most intelligence officers won't admit it, luck plays a crucial role. This is very much evident in Yousef's case. From a counterintelligence standpoint it seems that Hamas's internal security suffered a major failure and I for one am curious as to why.

The Times Online article is here

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By William Tucker

The Obama administration has levied new sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), or more specifically, Gen. Rostam Qasemi and four subsidiaries of a construction firm that he operates. This action is not unprecedented, and in fact was initiated under executive order 13224 which President Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to obstruct terrorist funding. Furthermore, the U.S. officially designated the IRGC as a "specially designated global terrorist" in 2007 following allegations of Iranian support for insurgents in Iraq.

While the original purpose of targeted sanctions against IRGC entities was to discourage foreign nations and businesses from working with Iran for its ties to terrorism, they have now become a tool for pressuring Tehran from continuing work on its nuclear program. The new sanctions may make for good press, but they are hardly expected to yield results. The reason for this is the sanctions are only binding to U.S. persons and businesses, leaving foreign nations the ability to fully cooperate with Iran on any number of business opportunities. As the world's largest economy the U.S. does have the ability to wield its massive buying power to pressure other countries to prevent them from doing business with Tehran, but this action is not guaranteed to work and could very well work against Washington's interests.

In the immediate future the U.N. Security Council will take up the topic of imposing international sanctions against Iran, but once again success in this action faces serious challenges. For international sanctions to be passed all permanent members of the Security Council must vote in favor of implementation, but with diplomatic ties between the U.S., Russia, and China strained at the moment this is unlikely to happen. Although these sanctions are new the same problems exist in implementation making the other options for dealing with the Iranian nuclear program, such as military action, more likely.

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A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.

By Professor Joseph B. Varner

Continue reading "Global Security Brief" »

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By Aaron Richman

This Intelligence report includes information from open and closed intelligence sources. Not all information is able to be verified; however, the TAM-C is actively evaluating the reporting to establish its accuracy and to determine if it represents a possible link to terrorism.

Continue reading "Actionable Intelligence Round Up" »

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This Intelligence report includes information from open and closed intelligence sources. Not all information is able to be verified; however, the TAM-C is actively evaluating the reporting to establish its accuracy and to determine if it represents a possible link to terrorism. For more information about these intelligence briefings, visit

Continue reading "Actionable Intelligence Roundup" »

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Senate pulls an all-nighter to push for a vote on withdrawing troops from Iraq. Think Progress is live-blogging the filibuster.

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This Intelligence report includes information from open and closed intelligence sources. Not all information is able to be verified; however, the TAM-C is actively evaluating the reporting to establish its accuracy and to determine if it represents a possible link to terrorism.

Continue reading "Actionable Intelligence Roundup" »

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Timothy Brown, a 20-year veteran of the United States Army, wrote an interesting article for the Global Politician about the shifting sectarian dynamics in Iraq. It's a bit long, but a very interesting read.

Excerpt:
The March 2003 United States invasion of Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, reversed 300 years of Turkish Ottoman, Sunni based monarchial and military rule in the country. The toppling of Saddam Hussein, the Baa’th Socialist Party of Iraq, and moreover, the total evisceration of the governmental structure, set in motion the decentralizing centrifugal forces of sectarianism.

Read the entire article at Global Politican online.

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This Intelligence report from the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response includes information from open and closed intelligence sources.

Not all information is able to be verified; however, the TAM-C is actively evaluating the reporting to establish its accuracy and to determine if it represents a possible link to terrorism.

Continue reading "Actionable Intelligence Briefing - June 25 to July 2, 2007" »

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This Intelligence report from the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response includes information from open and closed intelligence sources.

Not all information is able to be verified; however, the TAM-C is actively evaluating the reporting to establish its accuracy and to determine if it represents a possible link to terrorism.

Continue reading "Actionable Intelligence Briefing - June 18 to June 25 , 2007" »

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By John A. Cote MSSI, CPP

President Bush’s New Iraq plan met with resistance the moment it was unveiled to the world. A Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that 52 percent of Americans disapproved of the plan with 61 percent not agreeing to the increase of 20,000 troops in Iraq.

Continue reading "New Iraq Plan" »

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By John A.Cote MSSI, CPP

Could a major military strike in Iraq be in the very near future? It seems that all the ingredients have been added into the mix for such an event to take place.

The newly appointed Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, has to make a big splash in order to set the tone of his tenor. To do that, he needs help facilitate a rather large and significant policy shift in Iraq.

Secretary Gates has essentially stated that we are losing the war in Iraq and that a major overhaul to the U.S. war strategy is needed to break the endless cycle of violence occurring every day throughout Iraq.

Currently, the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is steaming its way toward the Gulf to relieve the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise strike group, which was in the region supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Having two complete battle groups in the region is thought to be a show of force to Iran.

But what if there were other reasons why two battle groups were there?

Lately the name Muqtada al-Sadr has been thrown around the Pentagon as the current public enemy number one in Iraq. Could a major Tomahawk Land-Attack Missile (TLAM) attack on the leadership of al-Sadr's group be in the cards?

Such an event would serve as the major policy shift needed in Iraq, because if successful, it would send a major message to anyone trying to interfere in the restoration process of Iraq.

In the early hours of the current Saddam Hussein. Why not try a decapitating blow to the al-Sadr Army by sending in a TLAM strike on all major players in the al-sadr Army other wise known as the Mahdi?

The first battle of Fallujah referred to as Operation Vigilant Resolve held in April of 2004 resulted in an unsuccessful attempt by the U.S. to recapture the city. November 7, 2004 saw a second attempt by the U.S. to recapture the city of Fallujah in Operation Phantom Fury which ended in January of 2005 resulting in another U.S. pull back.

I am sure with having all those troops in the city fighting, quite a bit of intelligence was gathered on the make up and location of the Mahdi Army. It could be this very intelligence which is being analyzed and reviewed right now as you read this article, which is used to program those TLAM’s in order to make a bold U.S. Statement.

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John A.Cote MSSI, CPP

Although events in Iraq, Gaza and Afghanistan have been taking more than their share of headlines as of late, a war in Somalia has been brewing for the past few months.

Continue reading "The Coming War in Somalia" »

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President Bush released a statement following his meeting with the Iraq Study Group Wednesday, saying that the report "gives a tough assessment on the situation in Iraq" and that he plans to "take every proposal seriously."

Calling the war in Iraq "grave and deteriorating" in their report, the group cautions that there's no clear path to success in this situation, but there's definite room for improvement.

Click here to read the report: The Way Forward
Watch or listen to congressional testimony on the report.
(source: C-SPAN)

Some recommendations found in the report:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After years of defending his secretary of defense, President Bush on Wednesday announced Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation within hours of the Democrats' triumph in congressional elections. Bush reached back to his father's administration to tap a former CIA director to run the Pentagon.

Read full story.

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Reposted from - Terror Free Tomorrow

WASHINGTON, DC— While people from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan—the world’s three largest Muslim countries—increasingly oppose US-led efforts to fight terrorism, most are favorable to the United States for past aid and want deeper American assistance in the future. In fact, American assistance results in a substantial favorable change in opinion toward the United States.

Continue reading "Humanitarian Assistance Key to Favorable Public Opinion in World’s Largest Muslim Countries" »

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On the Huffington Post, writer Bob Burnett provides some analysis on the delicate relationship between Bush and the troops.

Continue reading "Bush Losing Support of the Military?" »

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by Mike Harbert

For the last couple of weeks, since portions of the most recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) were leaked to the New York Times and Washington Post, politicians and talking heads in the media have been finding ways to use the information to further bolster their positions.

Continue reading "A Few Thoughts on the National Intelligence Estimate" »

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Terror Free Tomorrow President Ken Ballen writes that “the changed circumstances of the latest conflict against terror require, as our military leaders recognize, a different and imaginative use of our military and civilian resources to prevail.”

Continue reading "A Power to Bring Peace" »

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A poll conducted by the nonprofit organization, Terror Free Tomorrow, shows that despite high levels of anti-Americanism, positive American leadership, particularly humanitarian assistance, results in a more favorable view of the United States.

Continue reading "New Polls Throughout Muslim World: Humanitarian Leadership by US Remains Positive" »

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Former President Clinton says Iraq War"hasn't helped" the broader global fight against terrorism.

Continue reading "Clinton Weighs in on Iraq War" »

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Do you think Pope Benedict XVI's remarks about Islam crossed the line? Or do you think that he sincerely wanted to move Catholics and Muslims toward productive dialouge?

Continue reading "Instant Poll: The Pope's Remarks, Stimulating Dialogue or a Grave Mistake?" »

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Sen. John Warner (R-VA) led a Senate Armed Services Comittee hearing on Iraq and Afghanistan Thursday.

Continue reading "Secretary of Defense Testifys in Hearing on Afghanistan, Iraq and the U.S. Reponse to Terrorism" »

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