Groups under Al-Qaeda’s ‘syndicate’ in Afghanistan and Pakistan are trying ‘to destabilise not just Afghanistan, not just Pakistan, but potentially the whole region by provoking a conflict perhaps between India and Pakistan through some provocative act.’
               – Secretary Robert Gates, New Delhi, January 20, 2010
It was just over a year ago that India demonstrated its [...]

According to one U.S.  official, “blond-haired, blue-eyed types,” with American passports, are among those training in Al-Qaeda’s Yemen camps, reports the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Al Qaeda in Yemen and Somalia: A Ticking Time Bomb, released yesterday.
If it was not clear already, this information only makes it only more obvious that racially profiling at [...]

FBI agents seeking phone records used ’startling’ methods – washingtonpost.com
FBI agents seeking telephone records demanded information from phone companies in a variety of “startling” and illicit methods, including e-mail and post-it notes, in an “egregious breakdown” of safeguards and oversight, the Justice Department’s inspector general reported Wednesday.
The long-awaited investigative report describes numerous lapses by FBI [...]

Matt Yglesias links to the following piece from Spencer Ackerman:
Analysts Question Al-Qaeda Efforts at Counterterrorism Center « The Washington Independent
Only half of NCTC’s roughly 300 analysts focus directly on al-Qaeda — with some analyzing terror groups that do not threaten the United States, like the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka or the Hamas radicals of [...]

From Bruce Hoffman:
Al-Qaeda has a new strategy. Obama needs one, too. – washingtonpost.com
Remarkably, more than eight years after Sept. 11, we still don’t fully understand our dynamic and evolutionary enemy. We claim success when it is regrouping and tally killed leaders while more devious plots are being hatched. Al-Qaeda needs to be utterly destroyed. This [...]

From the White House summary of the Christmas bombing intelligence failures (summary_of_wh_review_12-25-09.pdf):
“A misspelling of Abdulmutallab’s name initially resulted in State Department believing he did not have a valid U.S. visa.”
I’ve been railing about this for a while.  But if anything makes the case for moving to a biometric identity assurance system, this has to [...]

Many Ex-Detainees Said to Be Engaged in Terror – NYTimes.com
Administration officials said Wednesday that a classified Pentagon report concludes that of some 560 detainees transferred abroad from the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, about one in five has engaged in, or is suspected of engaging in, terrorism or militant activity.
The detainees released are by definition [...]

The details of the thwarted attack on Northwest 253 on Christmas are still emerging.  Nevertheless, there are several issues worth exploring even as investigations continue.  Many commentators seem to feel that this event requires a major rethinking of our approach to counter-terrorism.  Before rushing into any significant decisions, however, we ought to reflect carefully on [...]

A recent New York Times article, highlighted the plight of the victims of climate change, who are forced to leave their homes due to changes in weather patterns, flooding, encroaching sea waters, and desertification.  Because people displaced by climate change do not qualify for refugee status and often have very limited funds, internal migration from effected [...]

Six Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to be repatriated – washingtonpost.com
Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), a critic of the administration policy on Guantanamo, said Yemeni detainees pose a particular risk because of the instability of their home country.
“Stop. These men are dangerous,” Wolf said when asked about the transfer. “I believe they will be involved [...]