Terrorism in the USA:threat & response

[AdamG]

ST. LOUIS — Six people, including three St. Louisans, are facing charges of providing support and resources to terrorists.

An indictment has been unsealed charging Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, 40, his wife, Sedina Unkic Hodzic, 35, and Armin Harcevic, 37, all of St. Louis County. Nihad Rosic, 26, of Utica, N.Y., Mediha Medy Salkicevic, 34, of Schiller Park, Ill., and Jasminka Ramic, 42, of Rockford, Ill., were also named in the indictment.

The United States attorney's office says all six suspects are natives of Bosnia who immigrated to the United States and are either naturalized citizens or have refugee or legal resident status.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...rism/23032923/

[davidbfpo]

A 10 pg article via Lawfare 'Analytics in Action at the New York City Police Department’s Counter-terrorism Bureau':http://www.lawfareblog.com/wp-conten...2/Levine_5.pdf

he New York City Police Department’s Lower Manhattan Security Coordination Center integrates data from a variety of sources, including sensors (cameras, license plate readers, and environmental detectors) and records (arrests, complaints, summonses, 911 calls, etc.). Analyzing this data to inform decision making has required the development of several coordinated processes. These processes are leading to increased efficiency and effectiveness as well as improved situational awareness for senior leadership.

[davidbfpo]

A long-awaited report on law enforcement’s response to the Boston Marathon bombing has been released Friday.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency found “weapons discipline” was lacking by law enforcement officers during the Watertown shootout on April 18 with the Tsarnaev brothers and the operation the next day to capture Dzhokhar.

The absence of organized, universal public safety procedures led to confusion among first responders in the wake of the bombings.

The press report has a copy of the 130 page report to read or download:http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikehayes/bo...cement-report?

[AdamG]

BDA* of the Garland TX clusterfark.

There seems to be a great deal of skepticism regarding whether or not the suspects were wearing body armor and whether they were armed with “automatic weapons” or “assault rifles” or something else entirely. Other photos from the crime scene suggest answers to those questions as well.

In the image above, we have drawn an orange rectangle around what appears to be blood-drenched halves of a soft body armor carrier worn by one of the terrorists. Most people don’t seem to grasp that there are multiple grades of soft body armor, that these materials degrade over time, and that the armor panels themselves do not often cover the entire torso, leaving gaps under the arms, below the ribs, and at the neck.

http://bearingarms.com/pushed-forwar...nd-terrorists/

* Battle Damage Assessment

[AdamG]

Something that slipped past our radar last September.

SAN FRANCISCO – An attack last year on Silicon Valley's power grid appears to have involved only one shooter and did not require access to technology or a high degree of training, an FBI official said.

The incident began when one or more people lifted heavy manhole covers south of San Jose, climbed under the road and cut AT&T fiber optic cables, temporarily knocking out 911 service and phone service, sheriff's officials have said.

About 15 minutes later, someone fired a high-powered rifle into a nearby PG&E substation, damaging numerous transformers.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/09/11...others-say-it/

For the whole backstory, see
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...806#post168806

[AdamG]

The FBI is looking into a series of deliberate cuts of fiber optic cables in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In the past year, there were 10 instances on four separate nights when telecom cables were intentionally cut in Fremont, Walnut Creek, Alamo, Berkeley and San Jose, the agency said Monday.
FBI Special Agent Greg Wuthrich said it's unclear if the incidents are unrelated or the work of a single person or group, but the FBI is keen to hear from anyone who may have witnessed anything suspicious.

http://www.itworld.com/article/29363...-bay-area.html

[AdamG]

PHOENIX (AP) -- Calling him "off-the-charts dangerous," authorities outlined the evidence against a Phoenix man who they say helped orchestrate a shootout on an anti-Islam event in Texas and had aspirations to join the Islamic State terrorist organization and attack the Super Bowl.

Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, 43, was arrested last week on charges related to the shootout at a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest that led to the deaths of two roommates from Phoenix. An indictment filed in federal court in Phoenix says Kareem hosted the gunmen in his home beginning in January and provided the guns they used in the May 3 shooting in Garland, Texas.

http://www.whdh.com/story/29339139/l...er-bowl-attack