Terrorism here in the US

[vector7]

BAGHDAD, Dec. 15, 2010
Iraq: Al Qaeda Planning Holiday Attacks in West

Iraqi Authorities Say Two Captured Insurgents Admit to Planned Suicide Attacks in U.S., Europe during Christmas Season

(AP) Iraqi authorities have obtained confessions from captured insurgents who claim al Qaeda is planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the Christmas season, two senior officials said Wednesday.

Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told The Associated Press that the botched bombing in central Stockholm last weekend was among the alleged plots the insurgents revealed. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, in a telephone interview from New York, called the claims "a critical threat."

Both al-Bolani and Zebari said Iraq has informed Interpol of the alleged plots, and alerted authorities in the U.S. and European countries of the possible danger. Neither official specified which country or countries in Europe are alleged targets.

There was no way to verify the insurgents' claims. But Western counterterrorism officials generally are on high alert during the holiday season, especially since last year's failed attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called underwear bomber, who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

Al-Bolani said several insurgents claimed to be part of a cell that took its orders directly from al Qaeda's central leadership. He said at least one of the captured suspects was a foreign fighter from Tunisia.

The confessions were the result of recent operations by Iraqi security forces that have netted at least 73 suspected operatives in the last two weeks, al-Bolani said.

Links between al Qaeda's central leadership, which is believed to be hiding in Pakistan, and the terror organization's front group in Iraq are tenuous as the local branch in recent years has been run by local insurgents.

But al-Bolani said the claims; if true; show al Qaeda remains a presence in Iraq.

"Several members of this terrorist group have direct links with the central leaders of the al Qaeda organization," al-Bolani said. "Those captured represent the main structure of the al Qaeda organization in Iraq."

Zebari, who is in New York for a meeting of the U.S. Security Council, said he informed "the countries concerned." He mentioned the U.S, but would not specify which countries in Europe.

Al-Bolani said the suspects claimed that last Saturday's suicide bombing in Stockholm - carried out by an Iraqi-born Swede on Saturday - was among the plots. He said the suspects made the claim after the bombing happened.

[vector7]

Holiday Terror Warning Cites Car Bombs and Small Arms Attack

Authorities Worry About Christmas Attack For 'Psychological Impact'

By RICHARD ESPOSITO

Dec. 17, 2010 —

Federal law enforcement terror bulletins have become as much a part of the holiday season in the past decade as egg nog and department store Santas.

But this year, which ends amid a heightened concern over terror, is a little different. A Department of Homeland Security bulletin sent to law enforcement nationwide Thursday says that federal authorities worry terrorists will try to rattle Americans by attacking during the holidays, and lists concerns including car bombs, trucks ramming crowds and a Mumbai-style small arms attack.

"We are concerned these terrorists may seek to exploit the likely significant psychological impact of an attack targeting mass gatherings in large metropolitan areas during the 2010 holiday season, which has symbolic importance to many in the United States," The "Security Awareness for the Holiday Season" bulletin states.

The bulletin cites no specific threats for Christmas and New Year's, but makes clear that this year's enhanced concern is based on a persistent, evolving threat. The past 12 months brought multiple attempted attacks on U.S. targets, including the attempted Christmas Day underwear bombing of Northwest 253, Faisal Shahzad's failed Times Square car bomb, the "printer bomb" cargo plane plot and a number of alleged would-be bombers caught in stings in Oregon and elsewhere.


"During the last year," said the bulletin, "al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have attempted to carry out attacks in the United States, thereby raising their international profile. We cannot discount the possibility that other al-Qa'ida-linked groups, such as al-Qa'ida in Iraq, al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb, Lashkar-e Tayyiba, or al-Shabaab, will attempt to target the Homeland during the holiday season."

The document suggests that terrorists may consider public gatherings like "sporting events, parades, religious and cultural activities" to be attractive targets. "Attacks against these targets could maximize the psychological impact on the American public given the symbolic importance of the holiday season to many in the United States," says the bulletin. "Attacks against air cargo during this busy season are also a concern."

Holidays Are 'Appealing Targets of Opportunity For Terrorist Attacks'

"While terrorists will strike when and where they can, holiday periods do pose a particular window of vulnerability and are appealing targets of opportunity for terrorist attacks," said Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University.

"This is underscored in the recent failed attempts in Oregon and Sweden and [accused underwear bomber] Abdulmutallab's attempt last Christmas."

The most recent attempt came in Sweden on Saturday, where a terrorist who was apparently planning a large attack in central Stockholm blew up a suicide belt, killing himself and wounding two bystanders, after one of the explosive devices he had prepared detonated prematurely in his car, setting the car on fire.

Don Borelli, former assistant special agent charge in of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York, said that despite the absence of a specific threat, this year stands out.

"There are a couple of key concerns here that make it a little more unusual than the norm including the printer bomb plot," said Borelli.

The DHS memo cites a range of possible attack options by terrorists.

"Based on our review of historical Homeland and overseas terrorist plots, we assess that terrorists plotting an attack within the United States could use IEDs placed and abandoned at predetermined locations or carried or worn by suicide operatives, remotely detonated multiple IEDs that are timed for sequential explosions, or VBIEDs [car bombs].Terrorists could also use tactics featuring small arms to conduct an attack, possibly in combination with IEDs."

CLICK HERE to follow the ABC News Investigative Team's coverage on Twitter.

New York City police conducted a drill to prepare for a Mumbai-style small arms attack earlier this year.

'Terrorist Use of Vehicle Ramming Tactics'

Worries about vehicle-borne threats were brought up in three earlier DHS briefing memos sent to law enforcement that are circulating with the holidays approaching. The bulletins warn of possible attacks from tractor trailers and buses, the use of vehicles to breach security perimeters, and "Terrorist Use of Vehicle Ramming Tactics."

"The ramming warning likely comes from an online Al Qaeda magazine, which advocated attaching blades to a pickup and driving into a crowd in Washington, D.C.," said Borelli, now a senior v.p. of the Soufan Group, a security consulting firm. The tactic was recommended in a summer issue of Inspire, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's webzine.

The most recent bulletin to mention vehicle ramming, a "Roll Call Release" dated this Monday, says the tactic "offers terrorists with limited access to explosives or weapons an opportunity to conduct a Homeland attack with minimal prior training or experience."

An earlier Roll Call Release dated June 10 and now recirculated, states, "Terrorists could use large commercial motor vehicles ... such as trucks or buses loaded with explosives or toxic industrial chemicals as weapons to attack public gatherings; secure or sensitive sites such as airports, power facilities, critical bridges and tunnels, or fuel depots. A terrorist also could use a CMV as a battering weapon."

And a third release also dated June 10 states, "Analysis of attacks by violent extremist groups overseas reveals that attackers seek ways to circumvent or overcome fencing, access road barriers, and similar perimeter security measures to gain access to their primary target. Law enforcement and security personnel should be aware that individuals seeking to conduct an attack in the United States may attempt unorthodox or unexpected measures, such as using improvised ramps, to bypass obstacles."

Combined, the circulars demonstrate the level of concern about what top officials have already acknowledged is a significant uptick in the terrorists' operational tempo.

Said Cilluffo, "The jihadi threat we face today has metastasized and comes in various shapes, sizes, flavors and forms, ranging from Al Qaeda senior leadership to its affiliates in [Pakistan's] Tribal Areas and Waziristan, Yemen , Somalia, the Maghreb and increasingly the Caucasus, to homegrown jihadists. "

CLICK HERE to follow the ABC News Investigative Team and Brian Ross on Facebook and join in on the discussion.

The DHS holiday bulletin also reminds readers, however, that "the timing of a terrorist attack depends more on terrorists' readiness to execute" it than on the calendar.

[American Patriot]

Two mailbombs have exploded in two separate mail facilities in Maryland in the last hour.

Hazmat teams on scene.

Gov. of MD says no injuries.

Other sources are stating as many as 6 in one incident

Both buildings are Maryland state buildings.

[American Patriot]

Jan. 6, 2011 Packages Explode in Two Md. State Buildings

Authorities Looking Into Package Explosions at Md. Dept. of Transportation and Other State Building; 3 Reported Injured

• Authorities respond to a mail bomb explosion in Maryland. (CBS)

(CBS) ANNAPOLIS - Mail packages have exploded at two state office buildings in Maryland.

CBS News confirms that a mailroom employee was injured at the Maryland Department of General Services' Jeffery Building in Annapolis after the package he was handling exploded. The building is near the state capitol.

One explosion occurred at around 1 p.m. in the mail room of the Maryland Department of Transportation headquarters in Hanover, Md., reports WBAL radio in Baltimore.

The Jeffrey Building explosion happened around 1:30 p.m., WBAL reports.

Three injuries have been confirmed by CBS News thus far, although the location of where the injuries occurred is unclear.

Rick Abbruzzese, spokesman for Governor Martin O'Malley, told The (Annapolis) Capital that no one was injured.

[American Patriot]

Apparently these devices were "incendiary" devices as they have been described.

As far as I can tell they have not taken these things apart for complete analysis.

Both packages en route to forensic sciences in MD for eval.

Injuries to the afflicted employees were "singed hands and fingers" - but nothing serious. Apparently most folks were evacuated in both buildings to hospital as a precaution.

Both packages appeared to have come through US Postal Service. USPS Inspector is involved in investigation but has not been verified. Both packages were described as "book like packages", and an image was shown on tv just now. The image showed a brown-wrapped package with a lot of stamps on it.

One was sent to the Department of Transportation and the second was sent to the Governor's office - and was in the mail room where they open packages directly addressed to the Governor.

Package ignited instantly upon opening by the employee. The fire guy is describing the device as "incendiary" again. They can't state what is in the package yet. Smell of sulfur was evident after ignition. (Probably small quantity of gun powder or some kind of det cord - Rick's guess)

Investigation is not yet a "terrorist" investigation. They are leaving this open until they have more information.

Both packages appear similar. All mail facilities were closed down until they can determine there are no other packages.

(All from the news conference in Hanover, MD)

[American Patriot]

Wasn't GW Bush accused, repeatedly of "making things up" and "scaremongering" over saying these things?

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/...115655219.html

Official: US Terror Threat Perhaps 'Most Heightened' Since 9/11

VOA News February 09, 2011
[IMG]http://media.voanews.com/images/480*300/AFP_NapolitanoSecurityThreat_9Feb11.jpg[/IMG] Photo: AFP

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testifies before the House Committee on Homeland Security during a hearing on Understanding the Homeland Threat Landscape - Considerations for the 112th Congress, February 9, 2011



U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the terrorist threat against the United States is evolving and, in some ways, may be at its most heightened state since the September 11, 2001 attacks.


Napolitano told the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday that al-Qaida still poses a threat to the U.S. despite its diminished capabilities.
She said the U.S. also faces threats from a number of al-Qaida associated groups, which have shown an increased emphasis on recruiting Americans and other Westerners to carry out attacks.


The director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Mike Leiter, said he considers the Yemen-based offshoot, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the most significant risk to the United States. He said radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, one of the group's leaders, is using the Internet to talk directly to Americans.


The U.S. Army psychologist charged in the deadly 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas (Major Nidal Malik Hasan ) had been in e-mail contact with the U.S.-born al-Awlaki.


Intelligence officials have said al-Awlaki recruited and trained Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, the Nigerian man charged with attempting to blow up an airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.


Napolitano said her department is working to provide state and local law enforcement with the information and resources they need to combat the threat of violent extremism within their own communities.

[American Patriot]

Homegrown terror plots focus of hearings

The House Homeland Security Committee will open hearings Wednesday into the domestic terror threat in the U.S. The panel will look at the radicalization of American Muslims.

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By Richard A. Serrano February 8, 2011Washington Bureau



WASHINGTON — Abdulhakim Muhammad was born Carlos Bledsoe, played high school football and attended business school in college. He mowed his grandmother's lawn. He also converted to Islam at a Memphis mosque, studied in Yemen and, while there, fell in with a group of extremists.


By the time he returned to the U.S., federal law enforcement officials say he had been dangerously radicalized as a domestic terrorist. When he allegedly opened fire with an SKS automatic rifle on a Little Rock, Ark., Army recruiting station, he became part of a rising trend — one of 50 Americans arrested on terror charges in the last two years.


From May 2009 to last November, authorities broke up 22 homegrown terror plots, compared with 21 during the previous eight years.


The House Homeland Security Committee opens hearings Wednesday into the terrorist threat in the United States. In the weeks ahead, the panel will hold sessions on the domestic radicalization of American Muslims.


Most of the suspects are being recruited in this country by foreign organizations through the Internet, community activities or, in some instances, local mosques.


For Al Qaeda, tapping into a new generation of potential terrorists already here is easier and cheaper than finding ways to get attackers into the country, though the result has not approached anything close to the death toll of Sept. 11, 2001.


"The threat is real, the threat is different, and the threat is constant," Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said recently.


Some suspects have displayed a chilling dedication.


Muhammad, charged with killing one soldier and wounding another, has written the judge asking to plead guilty to capital murder. He is ready to die for Al Qaeda.


"I wasn't insane or post-traumatic, nor was I forced to do this act," he wrote from jail. The shootings, he said, were "justified according to Islamic Laws and the Islamic Religion, Jihad — to fight those who wage war on Islam and Muslims."


The committee chairman, Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), has rebuffed claims from religious and civil-rights groups that the hearings will unfairly target Muslim Americans. He remains determined to blunt what he calls "the significant change in Al Qaeda tactics and strategy."


"Al Qaeda has realized the difficulty it faces in launching attacks against our homeland from overseas," he said Tuesday. "Thus, it has adjusted its tactics and is now attempting to radicalize from within our country."


Terror consultant Evan F. Kohlmann testified in the 2008 trial of Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, a Philadelphia cab driver convicted and given life for his part in a six-man conspiracy to "kill as many Americans as possible" at the Ft. Dix army base in New Jersey.


Kohlmann said the Internet, videos and other electronic and digital platforms helped drive the plot.


"The information age means you don't need training camps to become a terrorist; all you need is an Internet connection," he said. "The Web is terrorism's new frontier, offering both persuasive inspiration and practical instruction. In fact, these homegrown terrorist cells come at essential zero cost to Al Qaeda."


Only two cases have produced bloodshed since the 2001 attacks — the Little Rock ambush and the Ft. Hood, Texas, shooting in 2009 that killed 13 and injured 32.


Other plots were broken up by government informants or undercover agents, though in some cases defense attorneys have complained that authorities helped them plan their crimes and build their bombs, only to arrest them at the last minute.


Some were poorly organized and carelessly planned. Others fell apart by pure luck, such as when a car bomb failed to ignite on a Saturday evening in New York's Times Square. It was placed there by Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen, Connecticut financial analyst and father of two. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life without parole. Yet he left for prison unnerved. "Allah Akbar!" he told the court.


Mitchell D. Silber, director of intelligence analysis for the New York City Police Department, said "the vast majority" of Americans who embrace violent jihad do not start out as religious people or very knowledgeable about Islam teachings. But through "self-identification," they begin to study Islam, usually after some crisis in their life.


Indoctrination follows, and the individual "intensifies his beliefs, wholly adopts extremist ideology and concludes, without question, that action is required," Silber said. Then "potential targets are chosen, surveillance and reconnaissance begins" and finally, "jihadization" with an assault rifle or car bomb.


In Hempstead, Texas, a window washer named Barry Walter Bujol was seen visiting his local library to go online and read the latest postings from Al Qaeda leaders, such as American-born Anwar Awlaki. He allegedly exchanged e-mails with Awlaki, who sent him an attachment called "42 Ways of Supporting Jihad."


Bujol often went to the library after prayer services at a nearby mosque. The father of two young children, he had recently become a devout Muslim. Last year, he was indicted for attempting to aid terrorists; he faces 20 years in prison if convicted.


In Little Rock, Muhammad is scheduled for trial on Feb. 23, despite wishing to plead guilty. Prosecutors hope he gets what he wants — the death penalty. In one of his letters to the judge, Muhammad wrote, "I await sentencing."
richard.serrano@latimes.com

[American Patriot]

BUENA, N.J., March 11, 2010 Al Qaeda Suspect Worked at Nuclear Plants

New Jersey Man Arrested in Yemen, Accused of Killing a Guard to Break out of a Hospital

• Authorities in Yemen are holding Sharif Mobley, 26, who was being treated in Republican Hospital in San'a when he got into a shootout with guards, killing one, as he attempted to escape, said Mohammed Albasha, spokesman for Yemen's embassy in Washington. The FBI is investigating the case. (CBS)

• Stories
• FBI Probing N.J. Man in Yemen Shootout
• No-Fly List Doubles After Christmas Attack

(CBS/AP) He was raised in New Jersey, where he was on the high school wrestling team and earned a black belt in karate. Nearly a decade later, Sharif Mobley is under arrest in Yemen, suspected of being an al Qaeda member and accused of killing a guard in an attempt to break out of a hospital.

While some acquaintances were startled by the news out of the Middle East on Thursday, a former classmate said that Mobley had strong religious views in high school, often trying to convert friends to Islam, and became increasingly radical, especially after they graduated in 2002.

Roman Castro, 25, who did a tour with the Army in Iraq, said the last time he saw Mobley, about four years ago, Mobley yelled, "Get the hell away from me, you Muslim killer!"

FBI Probing N.J. Man in Yemen Shootout

The FBI, the State Department and other authorities said they were trying to gather information about Mobley. But the allegations appeared to illustrate a phenomenon U.S. intelligence officials have warned about: American Muslims becoming radicalized and joining terrorist movements overseas.

Sources say Mobley has been on the FBI's radar for a few months, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr. The FBI will not say what piqued their interest in Mobley, only that it was "intelligence-related."

Officials believe Mobley may have become radicalized through extreme Internet sites and had traveled to Yemen seeking to join Islamist fighters, Orr reports.

Mobley, a 26-year-old natural-born U.S. citizen, was identified by Yemeni officials as a Somali-American. Mobley moved to Yemen about two years ago, supposedly to learn Arabic and study Islam, a former neighbor said.

Before that, Mobley worked for several contractors at three nuclear power plants in New Jersey from 2002 to 2008, PSEG Nuclear spokesman Joe Delmar said. Mobley carried supplies and did maintenance work at the plants on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek, and worked at other plants in the region as well.

He satisfied federal background checks as recently as 2008, Delmar said, adding that the plant is cooperating with authorities.

Mike Drewniak, a spokesman for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, said that his office had been told that Mobley was always supervised, caused no problems and was not believed to have breached security at the plants.

Joe Szafran, a spokesman for Exelon Corp., which owns nuclear plants at three facilities in eastern Pennsylvania, referred all questions about whether Mobley worked there to the FBI. An FBI spokesman did not immediately return a call.

Also, Mohammed Albasha, spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, said there was no immediate connection between Mobley's activities or capture in Yemen and his work at the plants.

Mobley was arrested in Yemen in a roundup of suspected al Qaeda members this month and was being treated at a hospital in San'a when he got into a shootout with guards during an escape attempt, killing one and wounding another, said Mohammed Albasha, spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington.

U.S. officials worry that Yemen is becoming the next significant terrorist staging ground because of signs that lower-level al Qaeda operatives have been moving into the country from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

The al Qaeda branch in Yemen was linked to the failed Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner. Also, Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood last year, had exchanged e-mails with an extremist cleric in Yemen.

Special Report: The Christmas Day Terror Attack

In response to the threat, the Pentagon has proposed spending $150 million to help Yemen battle insurgents within its borders.

Somali-Americans have become a particular concern to American security officials. Young Somali-American men have been traveling from the U.S. to fight jihad in Somalia, raising fears they are receiving terror training and returning to the U.S. ready to launch attacks.

Americans are valuable to terrorist groups, in part because they can travel easily, without arousing much suspicion.

"The U.S. passport is the gold standard," said Fred Burton, a former U.S. counterintelligence agent who is now a vice president at STRATFOR, a global intelligence company in Austin, Texas.

Mobley was among 11 al Qaeda suspects detained this month in a security sweep in San'a, the capital, officials said. He was taken to the hospital over the weekend after he complained of feeling ill. He snatched a gun from a security guard and shot him, then got into a shootout that ended with anti-police terrorism capturing him, authorities said.

In Yemen, killing a guard during an escape attempt could result in execution by a firing squad.

Mobley graduated from high school in 2002 in the rural southern New Jersey town of Buena, and afterward lived in Philadelphia and Newark, Del. Castro said that in the past few years, Mobley organized religious pilgrimages to the Middle East for other Muslims.

Mobley's mother, Cynthia Mobley, told WMGM-TV in Atlantic City, N.J., that her son is "an excellent person who's never been in trouble" and "a good Muslim."

As his father, Charles Mobley, pulled out of the family's driveway on the way to see a lawyer Thursday, he said: "I can tell you this: He's no terrorist."

Abdel-Hadi Shehata, imam of the Islamic Society of Delaware, said Mobley used to live one floor below him in an aging apartment complex in Newark and occasionally visited the society's Newark mosque to pray. Shehata said Mobley, who had a wife and young daughter, moved to Yemen about two years ago.

"I think to learn Arabic or something like that ... and to learn more about the religion Islam," he said.

Shehata said Mobley never discussed politics or his religious views with him, but sometimes would ask his advice about how to pray and how to cleanse himself.

Marisa Porges, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said many Arabic language scholars travel to Yemen to study the language because the dialect there is so useful. She said there is a risk that even those who travel there to study can become radicalized.

"It's often the case that their being there makes an individual more vulnerable to radicalization," she said.

Umar Hassan-El, assistant imam at the Islamic Society of Delaware's mosque in Wilmington, Del., said he roomed with Mobley during a 2004 pilgrimage to Mecca.

The worst Mobley did, Hassan-El said, was forget to pick up his clothes or interrupt discussions among older Muslims.

"He gave no indication that he would join a group that he's alleged to be a part of right now," said Hassan-El. "I never heard that boy ever talk about shooting anybody, killing anybody."

As a teenager, Mobley studied martial arts at Yi's Karate Institute in Sewell, N.J., earning his black belt after three years, according to the master of the dojo, Chom Sam Kim.

"He was very athletic, and had a good respect and attitude," Kim said. Kim said he was surprised to hear the allegations against Mobley: "I never saw anything abnormal about him during the time he was here."

[American Patriot]

Al-Qaeda suspect was Cern nuclear researcher

A suspected “high level” al-Qaeda collaborator who provided data on terrorism targets in France and expressed a “desire to carry out an attack” was on Friday revealed to work at the world’s largest nuclear research facility.



By Henry Samuel in Paris
Published: 7:13PM BST 09 Oct 2009


A view of the LHC (large hadron collider) in its tunnel at CERN near Geneva Photo: AP




Security sources in Paris said the suspect, who was arrested with his brother on Thursday in Vienne near Lyons, worked on projects for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) on the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva.




The 32-year old Frenchman of Algerian origin and his 25-year old brother were being held last night at the Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence, France’s equivalent to MI5, near Paris.


Related Articles

• Al-Qaeda suspect was nuclear researcher at CERN

Christophe Teissier, a judge, said the men were being held under suspicion of “criminal activities related to a terrorist group”. They can be held for four days before being formally charged.



Investigators described the older man as “very high level” and said that he had been in contact with individuals linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) — the North African wing of the terrorist network — about potential targets in France.



Intelligence sources said he had expressed a “wish, a desire” to carry out a terrorist attack but had “not committed material preparatory acts”.



Brice Hortefeux, the interior minister, said both men posed a sufficient threat to halt an 18-month surveillance operation and bring them in.



The older man is a physicist who has been working on analysis projects with Cern’s Large Hadron Collider — the world’s largest atom collider designed to explore what happened after the Big Bang that allowed matter to survive and to create the universe 14 billion years ago.



The nuclear research body yesterday insisted he “was not a Cern employee” and that “his work did not bring him into contact with anything that could be used for terrorism”.



A Cern statement said: “None of our research has potential for military application, and all our results are published openly in the public domain,”



However, his role in such a sophisticated organisation would have made him extremely useful to terrorist groups.



The brothers came to anti-terror investigators attention when they cropped up in an inquiry into French Islamists seeking to fight Nato forces in Afghanistan.
The decision to arrest them followed the interception of internet exchanges with people identified as having links with Aqim, which is considered the biggest current threat to French domestic security.

[American Patriot]

Got more information. one more piece.

Apparently they are "beefing up" security at nuke plants around the country to prevent infiltration...

Due to the guy above.

I hit it pretty good this morning.

[American Patriot]

So... they are extremely concerned about this thing above.

Fox has exclusive stuff on it.

There are - from what I can gather from both my sources and open source news, three intelligence streams. Europe and US are two of them that are strongly being looked at. Obviously specific intelligence that is classified can't be commented on.

above:

In fact, the senior intelligence official said there are five major threat streams -- three aimed at Europe and two aimed at the United States -- that U.S. authorities are following right now.

There are some very specific things in Europe and US that are being considered above other things.

If anyone is in a downtown area of any city in the US - keep your eyes open for unusual things! That's the best I can tell you right now.

[American Patriot]

That can't possibly happen HERE....

[vector7]

That's right,



Cause big Sis is working overtime keeping Americans safe...

[vector7]

FBI, Homeland Security issue holiday threat notice to law enforcement

By Carol Cratty and Pam Benson, CNN
December 17, 2010 -- Updated 0041 GMT (0841 HKT)


The advisory includes suggested tactics for countering attacks by terrorists who might have bombs or small arms.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Officials say the advisories are "standard practice"
• There is no specific and credible information about any planned attacks, officials say
• Notice to law enforcement is a reminder to be vigilant

Washington (CNN) -- U.S. officials say they have no specific and credible information about planned terror attacks on the United States, but they have issued an intelligence bulletin to state and local law enforcement warning terrorists could target large crowds at holiday gatherings.

The Department of Homeland Security and FBI issued an intelligence bulletin Wednesday to encourage law enforcement agencies to be watchful.

"Terrorists may seek to exploit the likely significant psychological impact of an attack targeting mass gatherings in large metropolitan areas during the 2010 holiday season which has symbolic importance to many in the United States," the bulletin says, a copy of which was obtained by CNN. "We continue to assess, however, the timing of a terrorist attack depends more on terrorists' readiness to execute an attack rather than a desire to attack on a specific date."

The law enforcement notice was intended to reach only state and local law enforcement groups. It suggests various tactics to counter any possible attack by terrorists who might have improvised explosive devices or small arms. Those suggestions include installing barriers to separate vehicles from crowds and posting added security people in areas where large numbers of people gather.

U.S. officials say issuing these advisories before holidays has become "standard practice" in recent years. The intelligence warning lists the types of gatherings and locations which could be attractive to terrorists including parades, religious and cultural activities, shopping malls, airports and public transportation systems, and sporting events.

Another feature of the advisories is to list recent events which law enforcement should keep in mind as they assess the intention of terrorists to attempt new attacks. This year's advisory notes the recent attempt by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to hide bombs in copiers and ship them to the United States as air cargo: the recent arrest of a naturalized American citizen who allegedly wanted to set off a vehicle bomb during a Christmas tree lighting in Portland, Oregon; two recent explosions set off in crowded shopping areas in Stockholm, Sweden; and the failed attempt of a naturalized U.S. citizen to set off a vehicle bomb in Times Square last May.

The bulletin only briefly mentions a holiday time terror attack which remains front and center in the minds of law enforcement and counterterrorism officials. Last Christmas a young Nigerian man named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to detonate an explosive device sewn into his underwear as his flight headed toward Detroit.

Abdulmutallab pleaded not guilty earlier Thursday to new charges brought against him.

It does not mention information shared by Iraq it said came from captured insurgents who said al Qaeda in Iraq was planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe over the holidays. A U.S. official said the report was being taken seriously, although there is no intelligence backing up the claims.

A U.S. counterterrorism official added there is no "new, specific credible threat to Europe." According to this official, a terror threat to Europe which came to light a few months ago has been disrupted but is not over.

[American Patriot]

damn....

LOL

[Phil Fiord]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/attor...kw=&tqshow=GMA

Holder warns of homegrown attacks.

[American Patriot]

WTOP radio is reporting NO INJURIES REPORTED>

[American Patriot]

the term Explosion might be "too strong" a word... someone (FBI?) saying "flare up"

Jeffery Building is one location.

[American Patriot]

State Police is clarifying injuries. "NO SERIOUS INJURIES".

Therefore. Injuries.

[American Patriot]

HANOVER, Maryland -- Investigators and emergency responders are on the scene of two seperate explosions at government buildings in Maryland.



Reports say the explosions involved suspicious packages, one that apparently detonated in a building that houses the Maryland Department of Transportation headquarters in Hanover, the other that exploded in a state office building in Annapolis. The Jeffreys building is reported to house both the Secretary of State's office and the Office of Homeland Security.



CNN reports that a mail room employee may have been injured in one of the blasts. The network also says that bomb squad personel were on scene, and the FBI was responding when the packages detonated.
We will have more on this situation as it becomes available.