May 9th Morning Readbook

Iraq lawmakers' pay under scrutiny 




Maliki's actions, and Obama's inaction, threaten an Iraq democracy
Since the success of the 2007 surge in Iraq, violent attacks have fallen more than 90% and Iraqis have been making steady progress toward stability and democracy. That momentum is now threatened by the actions of Iraq's prime minister, Nouri Maliki, and by the inaction of the Obama administration.


Bombs planted in home of policeman kill 3 in Iraq
The bombing was one of several attacks around Iraq's north that killed at least 10 people over the weekend, a sign that authorities are struggling to maintain security as the country's politicians clamor over the shape of a new government two months after an inconclusive election.


Taliban gears up for Western offensive in Kandahar
In an apparent PR effort, a self-styled Taliban spokesman in Kandahar speaks to a reporter, declaring, 'The foreign occupiers have come to our city, and we will fight them.'


US warns Pakistan over Times Square bomb attempt
The United States has delivered a tough new warning to Pakistan to crack down on Islamic militants or face severe consequences after the failed Times Square bombing.


U.S. drone missiles kill at least six in Pakistan
U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles into a Taliban compound in Pakistan's North Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Sunday, killing at least six militants, Pakistani security officials said.


Kirkland man deported to Iraq for ties to Al Qaeda
A Kirkland man and Iraqi citizen was recently removed to his native country for ties to an Al Qaeda leader after a federal immigration judge deemed him a national security risk, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Thursday.


The main headlines on Al Jazeera

May 8th Morning Readbook

Kandahar's Karzai confident despite criticism 




Are Al-Qaeda and Taliban running out of intelligent recruits in anti-American terrorist campaign
Judging by recent bungled bombing attempts it would seem as if terrorist organizations are scraping the bottom of the barrel and maybe have run out of reasonably intelligent terrorist bombers. Of course "reasonably intelligent" and "terrorist bomber" don't necessarily go hand in hand. The attempt by Faisal Shahzad to bomb Times Square and run, failed miserably. Even the "run" part of the equation didn't work too well. Add the botched job by another terrorist in Detroit on Christmas Day and you have the makings of some either weak links in the terrorist chain or some pretty dumb folks.


Pressure on Pakistan amid fresh terror links
Alleged links between the Times Square plot and extremist networks are adding to perceptions of Pakistan as a global exporter of terrorism and increasing pressure on its military to crack down on extremists along the Afghan border.


Afghanistan's Karzai to ask Obama for billions more to fight Taliban
Afghan President Hamid Karzai will ask for billions more in aid when he travels to Washington next week on a trip aimed at improving relations with Barack Obama.


Attacks signal end of poppy harvest in Afghanistan
The gunfire and explosions echoing across this Taliban-infested district in southern Afghanistan on Friday signaled the end of the opium poppy harvest as militants again turned their attention from agriculture to attacking NATO and Afghan forces.


Afghanistan readies for Kandahar 'operation' 




Iraq vote winner asserts right to form government
The leader of the top vote-getting coalition in Iraq's inconclusive March 7 elections insisted his bloc still has the right to form the next government despite an alliance forged this week between two rival Shiite groups.


'Big ideas' key to US surge success in Iraq: Petraeus
The US troop surge succeeded in Iraq because the army embraced new ideas about waging war against insurgents, focusing on winning the trust of local people, top commander General David Petraeus said.


The main headlines on Al Jazeera

May 7th Morning Readbook

Shia blocs form new Iraq alliance 




Fear of bloodshed in Iraq as Iran-backed bloc tries to take power
Two months after landmark elections, the State of Law party of Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), which is dominated by Moqtadr al-Sadr, the radical cleric, announced that they would jointly form a new government. The deal was apparently put together with the help of the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, which maintains close ties with Shia political parties. They expect to have a narrow majority in parliament.


Iraq vote winner asserts right to form government
The leader of Iraq's top vote-getting coalition in the inconclusive March elections is saying that his bloc still has the right to form the next government. Ayad Allawi returned to Iraq after touring the Mideast since his cross-sectarian Iraqiya party eked out a slim lead in the balloting. He met with the heads of other political parties late on Thursday.


Pakistani Taliban Are Said to Expand Alliances
The Pakistani Taliban, which American investigators suspect were behind the attempt to bomb Times Square, have in recent years combined forces with Al Qaeda and other groups, threatening to extend their reach and ambitions, Western diplomats, intelligence officials and experts say.


Pakistani Taliban: NY bomb attempt a 'brave' act
The Pakistani Taliban on Thursday denied any role in the botched car bombing in Times Square but praised the suspect for a "brave job," as New York authorities pressed him on his claims of terrorist training.


Obama talks about Afghanistan, Pakistan with national security team
It seems likely the Times Square bombing attempt came up today at President Obama's national security meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan, though officials aren't saying much.



The main headlines on Al Jazeera

Counterterrorism and Finite Deduction

There are an infinite number of ways to conduct a terrorist attack but a finite number of terrorists. Find the common link among these individuals.


Faisal Shazad
US Citizen
Allegedly trained in Pakistan


Najibullah Zazi
US Citizen
Trained in Pakistan


David Coleman Headley
US Citizen
Trained in Pakistan


Waqar Hasan
US Citizen
Training in Pakistan before arrest


At most this very basic behavioral profile can generate leads. Old fashion detective work like we witnessed only after the failed bombing in Times Square is still required.

Update on the Latest Failure

This undated image, obtained from orkut.com on May 4, 2010, shows Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American who is suspected as the driver of a bomb-laden SUV into New York's Time Square on May 1. (REUTERS/Courtesy of Orkut.com)


For the second time since Christmas, the federal government has failed to prevent a terrorist attack against the United States. Only terrorist bomb making incompetence has saved the lives of an unknown number of Americans. Hopefully, US agencies with the responsibility to protect its citizens will correct their incompetence before terrorists fix their own.

Here is the latest update on the massacre that could have occurred in New York.


Times Square bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad said to implicate himself; probe expands to Pakistan
The suspect in a failed attempt to detonate a car bomb in Times Square admitted his role in the plot and told investigators he had received training in bomb-making in his native Pakistan, U.S. officials said Tuesday.


30-year-old Pakistani American Charged with Terrorism in Failed NY Bombing
U.S. authorities have charged a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen with terrorism related charges in connection to the failed Times Square bombing. Thirty-year-old Faisal Shahzad was charged Tuesday in a five-count complaint, one day after he was arrested while trying to leave New York on a flight for Dubai.  Authorities say he has admitted to receiving explosives training in Pakistan. 


Times Square suspect had explosives training, documents say
A suspect in the failed Times Square car bombing told law enforcement officials that he recently received bomb-making training in Pakistan, court documents filed Tuesday show.


U.S. Said to Learn Shahzad on Plane 30 Minutes Before Departure
Shahzad was placed on a no-fly list yesterday afternoon. The airline didn’t update its list before allowing Shahzad on the plane, according to the person, who couldn’t be identified because the matter is still under investigation. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents learned Shahzad was on the plane when the airline presented a mandatory passenger manifest to U.S. officials just before take off, the person said.


Faisal Shahzad: Who is the Times Square terror suspect?
The 30-year-old Pakistani-American at the center of the botched Times Square car bomb plot was known in his neighborhood as a mysterious loner who kept odd hours and "always looked on edge," neighbors said Tuesday.


Inside Terror Training Camp Tied to Bomb Suspect
CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark reports Pakistani police have arrested at least two people in Karachi, Pakistan. One of them, Tauseef Ahmed, is believed to have traveled to the U.S. two months ago to meet with Faisal Shahzad. CBS News has also learned that Shahzad may have spent at least four months training at a terrorist camp - raided in early March by Pakistani forces. The camp is affiliated with Pakistan's Taliban, the group that claimed responsibility for the botched attack in Times Square. Its leader Hakimullah Mehsud threatened, "The time is very near when our fighters ....will attack the American states."

Times Square Car Bomb?

The scene at the corner of W 45th St. and Broadway in the heart of Times Square, where a car was found last night, that contained cans of flammable liquid and other explosive devices. (NY Daily News)


‘Very Lucky,’ Mayor Says, After Bomb
A crude car bomb of propane, gasoline and fireworks was discovered in a smoking Nissan Pathfinder in the heart of Times Square on Saturday evening, prompting the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers on a warm and busy night. Although the device had apparently started to detonate, there was no explosion, and early on Sunday the authorities were still seeking a suspect and motive.


Mayor: New York 'Lucky' Car Bomb Did Not Explode
Authorities in New York City are viewing security camera footage and examining other evidence to determine who may have tried to set off a car bomb in the Times Square entertainment district.


Time Square car bomb: Cops evacuate heart of NYC after 'potential terrorist attack'
Three heroic cops and a quick-thinking street vendor stopped a madman from detonating a car bomb in the heart of Times Square Saturday night, law enforcement officials told the Daily News.


'Very Lucky': Cops Comb Foiled Times Sq. Bomb Clues
A t-shirt vendor, a Vietnam veteran, saw something suspicious in New York's Times Square Saturday evening -- smoke coming from an unoccupied SUV -- so he alerted police. The tip led police to find the Nissan Pathfinder contained what New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to called an "amateurish"-looking bomb and what Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told ABC News' "This Week" might have been part of a "one-off" attack.


Echoes of 2007 London attack in Times Square car bomb
An illegally parked car packed with propane gas cylinders and cannisters filled with petrol attached to a crude homemade detonator. That was Times Square, New York, last night. It was Haymarket, London, three years ago.


Napolitano: NYC car bomb is 'a potential terrorist attack'
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano took to the Sunday talk shows this morning, ostensibly to talk about efforts to protect the Gulf Coast from a potential ecological disaster due to a massive oil slick headed for land. However, Napolitano instead found herself talking about the apparent failed car bombing Saturday night in New York's Times Square.


Times Square Bomb Scare: 'Very Deadly' Blast Averted 

May 2nd Morning Readbook

Inside Iraq - Resurgent violence 

Violence is back with a vengeance in Iraq - explosions in Baghdad have become common again and secret torture chambers are fuelling the cycle of hatred. But is the current political stalemate responsible?




The ‘Wanted Dead’ Option in the War on Terror
You can hardly blame Iraq’s beleaguered prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, for trumpeting the killing of the two leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq last month as a lethal blow to the local terrorist franchise.


Turmoil in Iraq threatens US withdrawal plans
Iraq continues to be embroiled in its messy post-election coalition-building process. It has become so messy that the US may well be rethinking its withdrawal plans, and particularly its withdrawal of all combat troops at the end of August.


Petraeus: Tough times ahead for south Afghanistan
Tough times are ahead for Kandahar in southern Afghanistan where thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces are gearing up for the latest offensive of the war, a top U.S. general said in an unannounced visit there Friday.


US Army captain becomes king in Afghanistan
In the U.S. Army, Casey Thoreen is just a 30-year-old captain. Around here, he's known as the "King of Maiwand" district — testimony to the fact that without the young captain and a fat international wallet, local government here as in much of the insurgency-ravaged south could not function at all.


U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan get mixed response
The aircraft target Al Qaeda and the Taliban and minimize civilian deaths, U.S. officials say. Many Pakistanis decry them as indiscriminate; others approve, even some who have lost relatives.


Two Charged With Supporting Al Qaeda
Two former Brooklyn residents have been indicted on charges that they conspired to provide al Qaeda with material support, including computer advice. Wesam El-Hanafi, 33 years old, and Sabirhan Hasanoff, 34, were charged in a one-count indictment unsealed Friday with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.


New York City Police Discover Car Bomb in Times Square
New York City authorities say they found a potentially powerful bomb in a vehicle in Times Square late Saturday. Swift action by police and city residents averted what could have been a deadly car bombing attack.


The main headlines on Al Jazeera

"To Fight With the Taliban"

Cornell/Getty

Aspiring al Qaeda suicide bomber Najibullah Zazi in his own words.

THE DEFENDANT: Your Honor, during the spring and summer of 2008, I conspired with others to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and fight against the U.S. military and its allies. We made this agreement in Queens, New York, to carry out this agreement. At the end of August 2008, we flew from New York airport to Peshawar, Pakistan.

THE COURT: Your purpose in going to Pakistan?

THE DEFENDANT: Was to join Taliban.

THE COURT: For the purpose of?

THE DEFENDANT: To fight alongside with the Taliban against the U.S. ... Also, our plan was to go to Afghanistan and fight with the Taliban. While we were in Peshawar, we were recruited by Al Qaeda, instead. We were taken by Al Qaeda to training camp in Waziristan, where we received weapons training.

During the training, Al Qaeda leaders asked us to return to the United States and conduct martyrdom operation. We agreed to this plan. I did so because of my feelings about what the United States was doing in Afghanistan.

Later, I received more training from Al Qaeda about how to construct the explosives for attack in the United States or to carry martyrdom operation. During my training, I had discussion with Al Qaeda ... leaders, including target locations, such as New York City subways.

In January 2009, I come back to United States. Beginning around June 2009, I accessed my bomb-making notes and began researching where to find the ingredients for the explosives.

I also took trips to New York, and meet with others to discuss the plan, including the timing of the attack, and where to make the explosives. I then used the bomb-making notes to construct explosive for the detonators in Denver. The explosive was hydrogen peroxide.

In early September 2009, I drove to New York with the detonator explosive and other materials ... necessary to build bombs.

I arrived in New York City on Thursday, Sept. 10. And we intend to obtain and assemble the remaining components to build a bomb over the weekend. The plan was to conduct martyrdom operation on subway lines in Manhattan as soon as the material were ready, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

When I arrived in New York City, I realized that law enforcement was investigating me. At that point, we threw away the detonator explosives and other materials, and I flew back to Denver, and I was arrested just a few days after.

You can find the full article here.  

February 10th Morning Readbook

Expatriate Iraqis look at a candidates list at a polling station in Amman in 2005. At least 10 polling stations are to open in Jordan for Iraqi expatriates to take part in their country's March 7 election, as part of worldwide out-of-country voting, Iraq's ambassador said on Tuesday. (AFP/File/Khalil Mazraawi)


Iraq poll candidate ban appeals wrongly presented  
Almost all the candidates who contested their ban from Iraq's upcoming parliamentary election did not submit their cases properly and may have lost the chance to appeal, an Iraqi legal body said on Tuesday. Nearly 500 candidates for Iraq's March 7 vote were disqualified from standing in the election by the Justice and Accountability Commission for alleged links to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, sparking political uproar.


Security developments in Iraq, Feb 10
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two policemen and wounded four others on the western outskirts of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - A roadside bomb wounded three people including a district official in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - A sticky bomb attached to the car of an Iraqi soldier wounded him in eastern Mosul, police said.

MOSUL - A roadside bomb killed a civilian and wounded six others on Tuesday in eastern Mosul, police said.


Iraq Kurdistan oil exports to resume in coming days
Iraq expects to announce the resumption of oil exports from its northern Kurdistan region in the "coming days", Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told reporters on Wednesday.


Pakistani officials: Taliban chief is dead
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has died, the country's top civilian security official told The Associated Press Wednesday, giving the government's first categorical confirmation of the death of the feared militant leader.


Marines plan joint mission to eject insurgents from last Helmand stronghold
In the late 1950s, scores of U.S. engineers transformed a swath of uninhabited desert in southern Afghanistan into verdant farmland by constructing a network of irrigation canals fed by the Helmand River. The Afghan government filled the area, which it called Marja, with Pashtun nomads and told them to grow wheat.


Toll Mounts in Afghan Avalanche
High in the Hindu Kush mountain range, Basir Salangi, a senior provincial official, surveyed a vista of tragedy on Wednesday after avalanches buried hundreds of cars and severed Kabul’s heavily traveled link to northern Afghanistan. The death toll seemed far higher, he said, than initially feared.


Yemen getting tougher with Somalis on Qaeda fears
Somalis fleeing war have long found refuge in Yemen, seen as a way station to Saudi Arabia, but fear of al Qaeda infiltration has cooled their welcome.


Opposing view: 'We need no lectures' By John Brennan
Politics should never get in the way of national security. But too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points, instead of coming together to keep us safe.


Brennan: Political 'fear-mongering' serves 'the goals of al-Qaeda'
President Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser asserted Tuesday that "too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points" regarding the administration's handling of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the alleged Christmas Day bomber.


The main headlines on Al Jazeera

February 5th Morning Readbook

A man walks past a torn poster of Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki posing with the country's soccer team, on a street in Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, February 5, 2010. REUTERS/Atef Hassan


Iraqi PM says he won't allow US to meddle in vote
Iraq's prime minister says he will not allow the U.S. ambassador to meddle in an effort to bar hundreds of candidates from running in March parliamentary elections because of suspected ties to Saddam Hussein's regime. Nouri al-Maliki says Ambassador Christopher Hill will not be allowed to overstep his position as a diplomat. His comments appeared to be in response to U.S. praise for a court decision Wednesday lifting the ban on more than 450 candidates.


Iraq Government says Decision to Reinstate Ba'ath Candidates 'Illegal'
The Iraqi government says the decision to allow candidates with ties to the Ba'ath Party to run in March elections is "illegal." Meanwhile, the head of Iraq's electoral commission says he is awaiting a decision on the matter from the country's top court.


Bombings hit Iraq Shia pilgrims in Karbala
Two suicide bombers have killed at least 10 people and injured 25 in the outskirts of Karbala in Iraq, reports from Iraqi police say.


New dangers in Pakistan Taliban leader's 'death'
The death of Pakistan's Taliban supremo in a US missile strike, if confirmed, would deal a major blow to the militant nexus but could magnify the dangers should Al-Qaeda exploit a leadership vacuum. US officials increasingly believe that Hakimullah Mehsud, who rose suddenly to the Taliban leadership after a US missile killed his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud six months ago, has succumbed to the same fate.


McChrystal Sees Signs of Progress In Push to Stabilize Afghanistan
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, head of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, said he no longer believes the battlefield situation there is deteriorating, the first time he has made such a determination since taking command in Kabul last summer.


Kunduz bombing highlights 'confusion of war'




India offers to revive talks with Pakistan
India offered on Thursday to resume high-level peace talks with Pakistan, an overture that reflected a significant warming between the nuclear-armed countries more than a year after the deadly siege in Mumbai.


Homegrown terrorism a growing concern for US intelligence
Homegrown terrorism is a growing threat, US intelligence chief Dennis Blair said this week. But the number of American Muslims engaged in extremist activity remain small and still largely focused overseas.


The main headlines on Al Jazeera

Bin Laden Commending Failure

AFP/Getty Images

Osama bin Laden's decision to praise a botched attack by a franchise chapter is his attempt to remain relevant. Most headlines state that bin Laden claimed responsibility for the attack but after reviewing the one minute audio bin Laden simply praises the attack attempt. What is interesting with the short audio is that it comes out 30 days after the attack attempt giving us a window into bin Laden's information flow and hiding posture. Bin Laden links the attack attempt to US support for Israel over Gaza and promises President Obama more attacks should the US continue to support Israel.

Peter Beinart of the New America Foundation previous wrote an article that places al Qaeda's current capabilities into context.

Here's a fact about the underwear attack that you might have missed in the media shoutfest: it failed. It failed, first of all, because Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was just one terrorist. Once upon a time, al-Qaeda's modus operandi was to launch multiple, simultaneous attacks. That way, even if one attack failed, the entire operation wouldn't. On 9/11, the network deployed 19 hijackers on four planes; on 12/25, by contrast, it managed only one. Second, the underwear attack failed because Abdulmutallab wasn't particularly well trained. The 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were personally selected by Osama bin Laden from the tens of thousands of potential killers who went through al-Qaeda's Afghan training camps in the 1990s. The ringleaders got extensive training on the design of airplanes and the behavior of aircraft crews, even before they enrolled in U.S. flight schools. The grunts were made to slit the throats of camels and sheep to overcome their inhibitions about murder. Abdulmutallab, by contrast, reportedly used a syringe to try to detonate a notoriously hard-to-detonate explosive called PETN. "To make this stuff work," says Van Romero, an explosives expert at New Mexico Tech, "you have to know what you're doing." Abdulmutallab, it appears, did not.

You can read the full article here.


Final word goes to Al Jazeera's coverage of the new bin Laden audiotape.

In the latest Osama Bin Laden tape on Sunday, the al-Qaeda leader warned Barack Obama, the US president, that there will be more attacks on the US if it continues to support Israel.

Obama and the DNI II

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC. Blair held meetings with Pakistani-Americans as the United States expands its drone attacks on militants in the South Asian nation, his office said Wednesday. (AFP/Getty Images/Mark Wilson)

We previously blogged about a DNI press release where he referred to suicide bombings as "new tactics." Today's testimony topped that gaf when he recommended to senators that the AQAP Christmas airline bomber should have been interrogated by a unit that has yet to form as opposed to the FBI.


Intel Chief Dennis Blair’s Embarrassing Walk-Back
“My remarks today before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs have been misconstrued,” Blair said in a statement just emailed to reporters. “The FBI interrogated Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab when they took him into custody. They received important intelligence at that time, drawing on the FBI’s expertise in interrogation that will be available in the HIG once it is fully operational.”


 Intel Chief's Comments Infuriate Obama Officials
Obama administration officials were flabbergasted Wednesday when Director of National Intelligence Adm. Dennis Blair testified that an alleged Qaeda operative who tried to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day should have been questioned by a special interrogation unit that doesn't exist, rather than the FBI.


Intelligence Chief Slams Handling of Christmas-Bomb Case
The nation's intelligence chief said the man accused of trying to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day should have been questioned by a special interrogation team instead of being handled as an ordinary criminal suspect.


U.S. team should have questioned Nigerian: spy chief
The top U.S. intelligence officer said on Wednesday that a group set up to interrogate terrorism suspects should have been used when a Nigerian man was arrested in Detroit on suspicion of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner.


More cluelessness in the Obama administration?
Not only did Blair, Napolitano and Leiter go AWOL on civilian prosecution, they turn out apparently to be under-informed about the status of the HIG. It's not yet operational and couldn't have been called in, even if that had been a good idea. Blair issued a retraction.


Intel chief concedes errors in Christmas bomb case
The nation's intelligence chief on Wednesday conceded missteps in the government's handling of the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt, but his comments about the failure to use a special federal interrogation team may have amounted to a misstep of his own.


Right now, it is a very close race between Napolitano and Blair as to which one will resign first.

Obama and the DNI

Barack Obama lashed out at systemic intelligence failures over an attempted attack on a US jet amid reports that Washington was planning reprisal strikes against targets in Yemen. (AFP/Jewel Samad)


I was going through the President's speech on the Christmas attack attempt. Needless to say, it was a bit confusing.

First, I'm directing that our intelligence community immediately begin assigning specific responsibility for investigating all leads on high-priority threats so that these leads are pursued and acted upon aggressively — not just most of the time, but all of the time. We must follow the leads that we get. And we must pursue them until plots are disrupted. And that mean assigning clear lines of responsibility.

Second, I'm directing that intelligence reports, especially those involving potential threats to the United States, be distributed more rapidly and more widely. We can't sit on information that could protect the American people.

Third, I'm directing that we strengthen the analytical process, how our analysis — how our analysts process and integrate the intelligence that they receive. My Director of National Intelligence, Denny Blair, will take the lead in improving our day-to-day efforts. My Intelligence Advisory Board will examine the longer-term challenge of sifting through vast universes of intelligence and data in our Information Age.

First, other people will be blamed for failures even though the president stated in the same speech,

Moreover, I am less interested in passing out blame than I am in learning from and correcting these mistakes to make us safer. For ultimately, the buck stops with me.

Second, the CIA can only pass information and does not make policy recommendations. This is one of the reasons I have previously stated there is no such thing as an intelligence failure. From the CIA website,

It is important to know that CIA analysts only report the information and do not make policy recommendations — making policy is left to agencies such as the State Department and Department of Defense. These policymakers use the information that CIA provides to help them formulate US policy toward other countries. It is also important to know that CIA is not a law enforcement organization. That is the job of the FBI; however, the CIA and the FBI cooperate on a number of issues, such as counterintelligence and counterterrorism.

Third comes from the DNI Dennis Blair's official response:

The Intelligence Community has made considerable progress in developing collection and analysis capabilities and improving collaboration, but we need to strengthen our ability to stop new tactics such as the efforts of individual suicide terrorists. The threat has evolved, and we need to anticipate new kinds of attacks and improve our ability to stay ahead of them and protect America.

New tactics? If Dennis Blair believes suicide attacks are a new tactic, the first step in improving U.S. intelligence should be to appoint a new DNI.

January 6th Morning Readbook

Obama: Dots Weren't Connected in Airline Attack




Analysis: For Obama, what will accountability be?
As the White House portrays the dramatic scene, President Barack Obama summoned his national security team to the Situation Room for a lecture about accountability after the failed terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound airliner. "This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous," the commander in chief said.


Angry Barack Obama vows security changes
An angry President Barack Obama said Tuesday there had been "unacceptable" failures in the American intelligence system that allowed an alleged terrorist to board a U.S.-bound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day, and he vowed changes in security procedures and information-gathering to avert future plots.


WORLD: Iraq frees militant leader linked to British hostages
The Iraqi government has released the leader of a militant Shiite group linked to the 2007 kidnapping of five Britons, a spokesman said Tuesday. An Interior Ministry spokesman said Qais al-Khazali was freed Sunday, following his transfer several days earlier from U.S. to Iraqi custody.


Iraq frees Shiite militant in exchange for Briton, followers say
High-level Iraqi officials refuse to confirm the release of Qais Khazali, which had been billed as a key step before his group would hand over Peter Moore, an abducted Briton who was freed last week.


Confusion grows over how bomber infiltrated CIA base in Afghanistan
The Jordanian double agent had never been to the base before the attack that killed seven CIA employees waiting to receive hot tips on Al Qaeda.


The many faces of the double agent CIA bomber




US Drone Attack Kills 4 In Pakistan - Officials
U.S. missiles targeted a Taliban training center in Pakistan's tribal belt Wednesday, killing four militants in the latest strike in a recent spike in drone attacks, Pakistani officials said. The attack targeted a compound in Sanzali village, about 30 kilometers west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, and was the fourth suspected U.S. missile attack in the tribal district in a week.


Former bin Laden bodyguard is among ex-guerrillas in Yemen
When he served in the Afghan mountains as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard, Nasser al-Bahri said, he was known as "The Killer." Today, Bahri is a business consultant in Yemen who favors Western-style pinstriped shirts, crisp slacks and black loafers. But his ideas are still radical: Ask him whether jihadists should kill Americans on U.S. soil and he replies without hesitation, "America is a legitimate target."


Yemen arrests 3 al Qaeda suspects
Yemeni security forces arrested three al Qaeda suspects northwest of the capital, Sanaa, early Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said. The suspects were wounded and on the run after clashes with government troops on Monday, when they were thought to be accompanying Mohammed Ahmed al-Haunq, an al Qaeda leader for the area, according to the ministry.



The latest news from Al Jazeera

January 4th Morning Readbook

US and UK shut embassies in Yemen



U.S., U.K. Close Yemen Embassies for Second Day (Update1)
The U.S. and U.K. shut their embassies in Yemen for a second day, citing security threats, and Yemeni security forces killed two suspected al-Qaeda militants near the capital.


Al-Qaeda suspects killed in Yemen 
Yemeni officials say police have killed two suspected members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula during an "anti-terror" raid near the capital Sanaa.


Thousands rescreened at Newark airport
A security breach at Newark Liberty International Airport Sunday evening forced the closure of a terminal for hours while authorities rescreened thousands of passengers.


Iraq vows to fight blackwater ruling



Pakistan blast kills ex-minister 
A former provincial cabinet minister was among four people killed by a roadside bomb in the northwest of Pakistan, police have said.


Five Americans say no plan to attack inside Pakistan
Five Americans suspected of using the Internet to contact militant groups to carry out terrorist attacks told a Pakistani court on Monday they had only wanted to give fellow Muslims financial and medical aid.


Afghan parliament taking baby steps to maturity
Afghanistan's infant parliament has taken steps towards maturity on the war-torn country's path to democracy with its rejection of most of President Hamid Karzai's cabinet nominees, experts said.


The latest news from Al Jazeera

Because He Said So?

REUTERS/Jim Young

AP ran a relatively disturbing story today on al Qaeda's links to the Christmas Airline bombing attempt. This is the second time in several months we have caught AP with ill-informed editorializing in their articles.

A senior administration official had said the United States was increasingly confident there was a link between Abdulmutallab and an al-Qaida affiliate, but Obama's statement is the strongest connection between the two.

The President "says so" is neither evidence nor the "strongest" connection. I would think the suspect's travel to Yemen from August to December 2009, CIA information on his possible nefarious activities, his entrance into terrorist databases, combined with al Qaeda's claim of responsibility would be a little stronger than an elected U.S. official making a statement.

Maybe AP forgot what happened the last time the media parroted elected officials' claims of terrorist connections. At least we have evidence in the Abdulmutallab case.

The full AP article can be read here.

January 2nd Morning Readbook

Men claiming to be Al-Qaeda members arrive to address a crowd in Yemen's southern province of Abyan. US President Barack Obama Saturday for the first time accused an Al-Qaeda affiliate of arming and training a young Nigerian man for a thwarted suicide mission to blow up a US airliner.
(AFP/File)


Profile: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was formed in January 2009 by a merger between two regional offshoots of the international Islamist militant network in neighbouring Yemen and Saudi Arabia.


Obama Connects al Qaeda to Jet Plot
President Barack Obama drew a direct link Saturday between an al Qaeda group and a foiled attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas Day.


French reporters kidnapped in Afghanistan 'alive'
Two French journalists kidnapped in Afghanistan are alive and in good health, French media have reported. The reporters were kidnapped along with three Afghan assistants in Kapisa province north-east of Kabul earlier this week, officials said.


Death Toll at 95 in Pakistan Volleyball Bombing
Police say suicide bomber drove onto crowded field in North-West Frontier Province town of Lakki Marwat, detonated explosive-laden vehicle


'They kept pumping bullets into us' 
The Iraqi government is under increasing pressure to aggressively pursue the prosecution of American military personnel accused of killing Iraqis.


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How Broken is DHS?

REUTERS/Jason Reed


A former Secretary tries to take advantage of the latest mass-murder attempt by advertising his client company's body scanners.

Since the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff has given dozens of media interviews touting the need for the federal government to buy more full-body scanners for airports.

What he has made little mention of is that the Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, includes a client that manufactures the machines. The relationship drew attention after Chertoff disclosed it on a CNN program Wednesday, in response to a question.

The current Secretary believes a suicidal terrorist mixing explosives smuggled onto a plane and being beat down by passengers is proof the "system worked."

Janet Napolitano -- former Arizona governor, now overmatched secretary of homeland security -- will forever be remembered for having said of the attempt to bring down an airliner over Detroit: "The system worked." The attacker's concerned father had warned U.S. authorities about his son's jihadist tendencies. The would-be bomber paid cash and checked no luggage on a transoceanic flight. He was nonetheless allowed to fly, and would have killed 288 people in the air alone, save for a faulty detonator and quick actions by a few passengers.

January 1st Morning Readbook

(AFP/File/John D McHugh)


Number of U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan doubles in 2009
The year's tally was 318, compared with 155 in 2008, due mostly to the crude but ever larger and deadlier roadside bombs employed by the Taliban. And Western military fatalities are expected to spike.


Afghanistan Suicide Bomber May Have Been Helped by CIA Informant
The suicide bomber who killed eight Americans, including seven CIA officers, this week might have been able to get through multiple layers of security at the U.S. compound aided by an Afghan informant with the agency, a Western official said Friday.


Attacked CIA base oversees air strikes
The CIA base attacked by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan on Wednesday was at the heart of a covert program overseeing strikes by the agency's remote-controlled aircraft along the border with Pakistan.


Afghan tensions rise amid civilian and CIA deaths




U.N. to Cut Foreign Staff in Pakistan for Safety
The United Nations is moving as many as 60 foreign employees, or about one-quarter of its international staff, out of Pakistan for at least six months over safety concerns, a United Nations official said Thursday.


Top US general stresses importance of Iraq vote
Gen. David Petraeus, the leading American general who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, speaks with reporters in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. Gen. Petraeus, who used to be the top American commander in Iraq, says the upcoming Iraq election in March is of "enormous importance" to the country's future, but warned of violence leading up to it.


Focus on Internet Imams as Recruiters for Al Qaeda
The apparent ties between the Nigerian man charged with plotting to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day and a radical American-born Yemeni imam have cast a spotlight on a world of charismatic clerics who wield their Internet celebrity to indoctrinate young Muslims with extremist ideology and recruit them for Al Qaeda, American officials and counterterrorism specialists said.


Report to Obama Shows Intelligence Lapses Persist




Al Shabaab urges Muslims to support Yemeni Qaeda
Somalia's hardline Islamist rebel group al Shabaab said on Friday it was ready to send reinforcements to al Qaeda in Yemen should the U.S. carry out retaliatory strikes, and urged other Muslims to follow suit.


TSA nominee misled Congress about accessing confidential records
The White House nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration gave Congress misleading information about incidents in which he inappropriately accessed a federal database, possibly in violation of privacy laws, documents obtained by The Washington Post show.


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The "System Failure"

REUTERS


Declassified, the blog for Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball, has two interesting postings on the Christmas Package Bomber. The picture for how exactly the "system failure" occurred is slowly emerging.

Based upon their two articles, it appears that Customs and Border Protection did not check an inbound passenger roster against a database managed by an office of the Director for National Intelligence (a 9/11 commission created position). Also, the National Counter-terrorism Center (a 9/11 commission created organization) entered information on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab into the DNI managed database.

Homeland Security officials told reporters, on condition of anonymity, today that the National Targeting Center, a suburban Washington office which is part of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (which in turn is part of Homeland Security) has a special room where officials who do advance screening of airline passenger lists can go to access classified data bases including TIDE, the classified data base, maintained by a division of the National Intelligence Director's office, which is supposed to be the government's broadest source of raw intelligence information about terrorism suspects. As Newsweek and other media have previously reported, after the father of alleged would-be underpants bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab notified an American Embassy in Nigeria of concerns that his son had fallen in with islamic extremists -- possibly in Yemen -- the National Counter-terrorism Center, which maintains TIDE, entered a report from the Embassy about the father's concerns into the TIDE data base.

Nefarious information received by the CIA from Abdulmutallab's father was passed to the State department. This did not meet the threshold to repeal Abdulmutallab's U.S. Visa.

According to news reports, CIA personnel were involved in discussions with Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, Umar's father, when the father went to the American Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, on Nov. 19 of this year to ask for help in locating and retrieving his son. The next day, according to U.S. national security officials, embassy officials, including representatives of the CIA and other agencies involved in counterterrorism operations, met to discuss the father's information.

As a result of this meeting, as we reported on Monday, a cable was sent by the embassy into Visas Viper, a database used by the State Department to track foreigners who hold or apply for U.S. visas. This cable noted the father's concern that his son "may be involved with Yemeni based [Islamic] Extremists." Information from this cable was subsequently entered into the government's broadest classified database on terrorist suspects, known as TIDE, which is maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), a unit of the National Intelligence Director's office that was set up after 9/11 to ensure that counterterrorism information was rapidly shared among relevant U.S. agencies.

In review:

1. The DNI owns a database that is managed by NCTC in which information is entered by the CIA.
   
   
2. The State department had access to this database but did not repeal Abdulmutallab's visa.
   
   
3. The information from Abdulmutallab's father was enough to place his son into the DNI database, but not on the No-Fly List. 
   
   
4. Customs and Border Protection (a division of DHS) did not cross-check the inbound passenger roster against the DNI database which they could have accessed.
   
   
5. Transportation and Security administration (a division of DHS) did not find the bomb components brought onto a U.S.-bound aircraft.
   
   
6. Citizens that elected the U.S. government leadership had to take matters into their own hands as the government failed yet again.

Conclusion:

There is no such thing as an intelligence failure as actions are restricted by policy. Loosening restrictions on visa revocations and placement on the No-Fly list would have prevented the attempted Christmas mass-murder.

1. The State department could not revoke Abdulmutallab's visa because the nefarious intelligence did not meet threshold according to current policy.
   
   
2. Customs and Border Protection would still have allowed Abdulmutallab to board the flight to the U.S. according to current policy since he was not on the No-Fly List.
   

TSA security measures are employed based off of the previous attacks and attack attempts. Terrorists are adaptive therefore it is unrealistic to expect TSA security measures to prevent the "next attack."

Links to full articles below:

Homeland Screeners Have Access to Secret Terrorist Database -- But Rarely Look At It

What the CIA Did and Didn't Know About Alleged Underpants Bomber