Terrorism in the USA:threat & response

[davidbfpo]

This 'mapping' is a well known UK CT tool, often arousing controversy amongst those normally targeted an I've selected one of the first Google hits:

‘Rich Picture’ is a mechanism to gather National Security intelligence to identify investigative opportunities for both local and regional levels. ‘Rich picture’ has been termed ‘neighbourhood policing intelligence for counter terrorism’....These will inform local decision-making and guide suitable interventions involving local strategic partners and communities.

Link:http://www.mpa.gov.uk/committees/mpa/2008/080724/08/

IIRC there are older posts on the subject, which has roots in what the UK did in Northern Ireland; others refer to it as 'ground cover'

[jmm99]

The Eleventh Circuit, United States v. Augustin, has affirmed the convictions of Burson Augustin, Stanley Grant Phanor, Patrick Abraham, Rotschild Augustine, and Narseal Batiste (collectively, “Appellants”).

They were all convicted of:

(1) conspiracy to provide material support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization (Al Qaeda) by agreeing to provide personnel (including themselves) to work under Al Qaeda’s direction and control, knowing that Al Qaeda has engaged or engages in terrorist activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339B;

and (2) conspiracy to provide material support by agreeing to provide personnel (including themselves), knowing and intending that they were to be used in preparation for and in carrying out a violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 844(f)(1) and (i), and to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, and ownership of such material support, all in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A.

Abraham and Batiste were also convicted of conspiracy to maliciously damage and destroy by means of an explosive a building leased to an agency of the United States (the FBI) and a building used in interstate and foreign commerce (the Sears Tower), all in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(n). Additionally, Batiste was convicted of conspiracy to levy war against the Government of the United States and to oppose by force the authority thereof in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2384.

This opinion dealt with multiple issues, which Bobby Chesney has summarized at Lawfare, Convictions Affirmed in “Miami Seven” Case:

* Charges under the material support statutes (2339A and 2339B) are not subject to the Treason Clause because the elements of those offenses differ from a charge of treason.

* The evidence was sufficient to support the conclusion that the defendants conspired to act under al Qaeda’s direction and control, rather than to act independently.

* The opinion is somewhat unclear regarding the defendants’ argument that taking photographs of federal buildings from public viewpoints cannot constitute material support. On one hand, the opinion clearly rejects the argument that such activity implicates the language in Holder v. HLP in which the Supreme Court discussed whether speech imparted specialized knowledge. On the other hand, the panel went on to focus on the defendants’ participation in an al Qaeda oath ceremony as well as their acts of photography, rather than just saying that the photography was itself an act of material support.

* It does not matter if a person takes an oath to support al Qaeda based on financial motivations rather than ideological affinity.

* It is not clear whether the definition of “personnel” contained in 18 USC 2339B(h) apply as well to a material support charge based on “personnel” under 18 USC 2339A, though that turned out not to matter in this case since the evidence sufficed to meet the direction-and-control standard.

* On the overall strength of the evidence and the fact that there were two prior hung juries: “We recognize that the evidence supporting Augustin’s, Phanor’s, and Augustine’s convictions on both Count 1 and Count 2 is far from overwhelming. Indeed, two juries failed to convict on these counts. But those juries also failed to acquit. Ultimately, with the benefit of three months of testimony and over five days of deliberation, the third jury arrived at a verdict, distinguishing between the various defendants and various counts. We cannot say that the jury was unreasonable in concluding that the government carried its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Augustin, Phanor, and Augustine violated § 2339A and § 2339B as charged.”

* Applying a plain error standard, the panel rejected the argument that the FBI’s role in the scheme amounted to outrageous government conduct in violation of the Due Process Clause.

* It was permissible for one of the investigating agents to testify about how various statements by a defendant had impacted the course of the investigation; this did not constitute improper testimony about the defendant’s state of mind, though the court called this a “very fine line.” The testimony also was relevant in that it was probative of why the investigation unfolded as it did, an issue that had become material because of the entrapment issue.

The importance of this case is that, from start to finish, the plot was fabricated by the FBI and its informant from the local Muslim community - and was, in that sense, not "real". As I've said a number of times, the defense of entrapment (in one form or another) is often asserted, bur rarely successfully.

Regards

Mike

[davidbfpo]

Reading US coverage of suspected terrorism within the USA I have been puzzled at the series of plots uncovered - as my earlier posts indicate - and of late the difference between NYPD and the FBI over the threat posed in plots NYPD investigated.

This FP article is rather stark:

Pimentel had managed to scrape down "over 700" match heads -- which usually utilize phosphorus as the active agent -- to manufacture his explosive material. Leaving aside the stupidity of scratching match heads when gunpowder works just as easily, fans of the Discovery Channel's Mythbusters might recall that the show's hosts failed to produce an explosion when they ignited one million match heads. The idea that the scrapings from 700 match heads dispersed across three pipe bombs would kill "a lot of people" is suspect at best.

This paragraph refers to statistics and cites melons:

That statistic warrants repeating: Despite dozens of plots, homegrown jihadists have only managed to kill 15 people in the United States since 9/11 -- and 13 of those deaths were the result of one unstable soldier's shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. Just to put this in perspective, more Americans have been killed here at home by contaminated cantaloupe in the past few months than have been killed by violent Islamic extremists in the past decade!

Link:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article..._door?page=0,0

For a host of reasons, many political, others bureaucratic and some sinister it is hard to get a sensible, public statement on the real threat posed by the "enemy within".

[AdamG]

The Nigerian Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram poses an “emerging threat” to the United States and is set to join other al Qaeda affiliates in plotting attacks against the U.S. homeland, a congressional panel said Wednesday.

U.S. intelligence agencies must not underestimate Boko Haram’s ability and desire to strike directly at the United States, a mistake they made with al Qaeda affiliates in both Pakistan and Yemen in recent years, a House Homeland Security subcommittee said in a bipartisan staff report published at a hearing Wednesday.

“The U.S. intelligence community must not underestimate Boko Haram’s intent and capability to strike U.S. interests and most importantly, the U.S. homeland,” said Rep. Patrick Meehan, Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-threat-to-us/

On Tuesday, Defence Minister Bello Haliru Mohammed said Nigeria was strengthening defence ties with neighbouring Niger to stem the flow of weapons from Libya, Nigeria's privately owned Tribune newspaper reports.

"We are very much aware of the movement of arms and explosives that were stolen from Libya," he is quoted as saying.

Mr Mohammed said the European Union (EU) had also offered to assist.

"They have fears also of disruption in our sub-region, if these weapons are allowed to proliferate without challenge. And Mali, Central African Republic, Mauritania [and] Niger are all coming together to set a joint operation to fight movement of these weapons," he is quoted as saying.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15981656

See also
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=7914

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to LWOT that the Congressional Research Service (CRS) have published this report, which on a quick skim is encyclopaedic in coverage and sources. Maybe useful as a reference guide:http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R41416.pdf

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to LWOT for this 'must read' in the NYT, which opens with:

It is the other Guantnamo, an archipelago of federal prisons that stretches across the country, hidden away on back roads. Today, it houses far more men convicted in terrorism cases than the shrunken population of the prison in Cuba that has generated so much debate.

Nice to know the numbers:

Today, 171 prisoners remain at Guantnamo. As of Oct. 1, the federal Bureau of Prisons reported that it was holding 362 people convicted in terrorism-related cases, 269 with what the bureau calls a connection to international terrorism up from just 50 in 2000. An additional 93 inmates have a connection to domestic terrorism.

That hardy perennial how many fight again?

Rare recidivism. By contrast with the record at Guantnamo, where the Defense Department says that about 25 percent of those released are known or suspected of subsequently joining militant groups, it appears extraordinarily rare for the federal prison inmates with past terrorist ties to plot violence after their release.

Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/us...2&pagewanted=1

[davidbfpo]

In a wide ranging commentary on current US CT strategy a South African academic, Hussein Solomon, includes a reminder that I only vaguely remembered:

..the terrorist challenge the United States was confronted with in the form of Puerto Rican nationalists and militant leftists. Between January 1969 and October 1970, 370 bombings occurred in New York City alone.

For the current situation he writes:

The American resolve remained undaunted and the challenge posed by these violent nationalists and the Weather Underground joined history’s legions of other failures.

Unfortunately this aspect of America is not getting through to those who believe that Americans are essentially weak and will easily give in to blackmail. To the extent that this perception of American weakness persists, it will continue to encourage terrorists to strike American targets in the hope of affecting some change in policy.

This constitutes a missing dimension in US counter-terrorism efforts.

Link:http://icsr.info/blog/The-Missing-Di...nter-Terrorism

He wrote this before the most recent legislation was passed:

the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. The legislation is supposed to provide the money for the Pentagon to keep America safe.....

The new NDAA effectively allows the military to act on American soil and detain indefinitely anyone, including a US citizen, suspected of terrorism.

Link:http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/...efinitely.html