Terrorism in the USA:threat & response

[AdamG]

WASHINGTON — The militant organization that was once the scourge of the U.S. militarycampaign in Iraq and probably is responsible for more than 100 deaths in the country over the last few days has set its sights on launching attacks in the United States, intelligence officials said.

Al Qaeda in Iraq released a message this week that threatened to strike at the "heart" of the United States, and several associates of the group have been arrested in the U.S. and Canada in the last two years, said American officials, a sign that the organization has tried to establish a network in North America.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,6632983.story

[AdamG]

The "O" in OPSEC doesn't stand for "Oops"

The New York Post is quivering in fear and outrage over a graduate level course for intelligence analysts that requires students to write a fake terrorism plot, complete with methods of execution, sources of funding, number of operatives needed and the target government’s reaction.

Students, who are training for intelligence and counterterrorism careers, must take into account the “goals, capabilities, tactical profile, targeting pattern and operational area,” the syllabus states — according to the Post‘s harrowing story Monday.

The Post‘s crack investigative team uncovered the covert training of terrorists by obtaining the syllabus of the class offered by NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...rism-homework/

[AdamG]

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (WSAZ) -- A dead science teacher, weapons of mass destruction, first responders in hazmat suits and the Ohio Army National Guard all near the Municipal Stadium in Portsmouth, Thursday. There's no cause for alarm -- this is just a drill!

The mock disaster training exercise is being done with Scioto County first responders and the Ohio Army National Guard 52nd Civil Support Unit.

"It's the reality of the world we live in," says Portsmouth Police Chief Bill Raisin. "Don't forget there is such a thing as domestic terrorism. This helps us all be prepared."

The make-believe scenario is timely. Two school employees who are disgruntled over the government's interpretation of the Second Amendment, plot to use chemical, biological and radiological agents against members of the local community.

http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/M...187322931.html

[bourbon]

FBI agent testifies that Oregon terrorism suspect had trouble with adult tasks. Associated Press, 16 January 2013.

The attorney also played recordings in which the agents asked Mohamud to rent a large storage shed in which to build the bomb.

Youssef testified the FBI assigned such tasks to test the Mohamud's resolve. In this test, however, Mohamud initially didn't understand what type of storage unit the agents wanted, and then took a month to follow through. The agent acknowledged that he and another agent had to prod Mohamud, eventually giving him the name of a storage company and driving by.

"Not much of a test if you're pointing out the right one," Hay said.

I cant help but think that one of these days there is going to be a serious terrorist cell inside our country, and the FBI is going to be judicially hamstrung because they have wasted whatever wiggle room they had - when it comes to entrapment and provocation - on feeble-minded suspects.

[jmm99]

from Bourbon
I cant help but think that one of these days there is going to be a serious terrorist cell inside our country, and the FBI is going to be judicially hamstrung because they have wasted whatever wiggle room they had - when it comes to entrapment and provocation - on feeble-minded suspects.

Good point.

I'm not a fan of the entrapment defense: subjectively (Another successful sting); analytically in considering individual cases (Augustin Sting Operation Affirmed by 11th Circuit); and objectively in considering its overall failure rate (It usually does fail):

2005 Michigan Law Review, Psychology, factfinding, and entrapment

Although accurate statistical evidence of the frequency with which the entrapment defense succeeds is difficult to come by, anecdotal evidence suggests that it is seldom successful. One survey of practicing criminal defense attorneys described it as "judicially unpopular," (17) best used only "in desperate circumstances," (18) or "in a few cases with ideal facts," where "plea bargaining has proved unsuccessful," (19) and "no other defense is possible." (20) Another survey of State's Attorneys in Chicago reveals a perception that in narcotics sales cases where the defendant pleads entrapment, "the jury will convict almost every time." (21) The author of one police manual on the execution of sting operations states that he has "never, in hundreds of cases, ever lost one to entrapment," and that in all the sting operations he has studied, he has "not heard of a single case being lost to a defense of entrapment." (22)

But, going to the well too often (when the well is already fouled) is potentially not healthy for living prosecutions.

Regards

Mike

[davidbfpo]

The issues around the Somalia community in Minneapolis are familiar here, although other communities exist in other cities and Canada, Minneapolis appears to be the focal point.

This Somali newspaper report indicates that removing young Somali men, long resident, but not born in the USA, are being detained pending removal to Somalia:http://horseedmedia.net/2013/01/24/m...d-as-children/

I expect this is an executive decision and quite legal, if fraught with problems.

Now, the Twin Cities Somali community circulates rumors of scores of their members who have been deported to Somalia and hundreds who wait their fate at detention centers. ICE officials have not confirmed the total number of Somalis who have been deported so far or kept in detention.

Many community members have expressed disappointment in the government’s decision to send people back to the dangerous country they’ve escaped.

[davidbfpo]

A different slant, a research study based on indictments, not convictions:

...there were nine terrorist plots involving American Muslims in 2012. Only one of them, the attempted bombing of a Social Security office in Arizona, actually led to any violence. There were no casualties in that or any other incident.

Link to report:http://tcths.sanford.duke.edu/docume..._final2013.pdf and to short press report:http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013...lim-terrorism/