Terrorism in the USA:threat & response

[AdamG]

Nothing to see here. Move along.

More than 10,000 people in Arkansas were dumped into a blackout Sunday following an attack on that state’s electric grid, the FBI said today, the third such attack in recent weeks. In August, a major transmission line in the region, around Cabot, Ark., was deliberately cut.

The FBI said that two power poles had been intentionally cut in Lonoke County on Sunday, resulting in the outage.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamp...-expected-u-s/

[AdamG]

Kid stuff. Nothing to see here.

LOS ANGELES -- Three more dry ice bombs were found near a plane at the international terminal of Los Angeles International Airport late Monday, prompting a major search by airport police, the LAPD bomb squad and the FBI.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...ed-by-fbi?lite

Nervous passengers, nothing more.

The pilots say the most recent dry-run occurred on Flight 1880 on September 2. The flight left Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. and headed to Orlando International.
Crew members say that shortly after takeoff, a group of four “Middle Eastern” men caused a commotion.
The witnesses claim one of the men ran from his seat in coach, toward the flight deck door. He made a hard left and entered the forward bathroom “for a considerable length of time.”
While he was in there, the other three men proceeded to move about the cabin, changing seats, opening overhead bins, and “generally making a scene.” They appeared to be trying to occupy and distract the flight attendants.
The 10 News Investigators contacted both US Airways and the Transportation Security Administration both confirmed the incident. US Airways says it won’t discuss the details of security measures, but that it works closely with authorities.
The TSA told us it takes all reports of suspicious activity aboard aircraft seriously, and the matter requires no further investigation at this time.
However, a current Federal Air Marshal who works flights every week says of the TSA, “They’re liars. They’re flat out liars.”

http://dcclothesline.com/2013/10/11/...-atlas-shrugs/

[AdamG]

Nothing to see here. Move along.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamp...-expected-u-s/

They got their cracka.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-...-grid-attacks/

[davidbfpo]

Nada Bakos, an ex-CIA analyst, draws attention to the apparent USG and beyond failure to counter non-Jihadist violence, this time citing the LAX incident. She starts with:

Early warning intelligence looks a lot like this DHS report from 2009; Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization. That early warning analysis is directly related to the LAX shooting among others. The problem is, as with other early warning analysis, it wasn’t given the proper public discussion and government action because it was perceived as controversial. It got swept under the rug because no one wanted to acknowledge the dark side of extreme/fringe right politics in the US.

(And ends with) We have the information and forewarning to develop a strategy and not be caught on our heels by rightwing extremist armed gunmen. Just because they look like us, talk like us and reside in the US, doesn’t make them any less of a threat than Islamic extremists.

Link:espionneanalyst.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/early-warning-of-the-lax-shooting/

[Bill Moore]

Seems premature to assume the shooter was on the extreme right, he easily could have been an anarchist, or simply disturbed. In the bigger picture it was a very minor event, just like the bombing in Boston, yet our media will enlarge it to the point that it has a strategic impact. In the case of Boston, some politicians will jump on board and milk it for all it worth. All this plays into the hand of our adversaries and encourages more pin prick attacks that often hard to detect and disrupt.

[Bill Moore]

This was in the SWJ News round up today, but based on the video link it appears this attack took place in April. Based on the description of the attack it was not simple vandalism. It was likely conducted by an insider with a grudge, or an individual/group that received some professional level sabotage training. I'm surprised there not was more damage, but since there were no reported follow on attacks I'm guessing this was a grudge attack.

http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/pos...litary-assault

"Military-Style" Raid on California Power Station Spooks U.S.

"These were not amateurs taking potshots," Mark Johnson, a former vice president for transmission operations at PG&E, said last month at a conference on grid security held in Philadelphia. "My personal view is that this was a dress rehearsal" for future attacks.

He isn't correct about .22, but his point is still valid, and apparently he doesn't work for the government because he actually has a common sense recommendation.

A shooter "could get 200 yards away with a .22 rifle and take the whole thing out," Wellinghoff said last month at a conference sponsored by Bloomberg. His proposed defense: A metal sheet that would block the transformer from view. "If you can't see through the fence, you can't figure out where to shoot anymore," Wellinghoff said. Price tag? A "couple hundred bucks." A lot cheaper than the billions the administration has spent in the past four years beefing up cyber security of critical infrastructure in the United States and on government computer networks.

[AdamG]

The existence of an Islamic jihadist enclave in Texas have been confirmed by the declassified FBI documents. It has been stated that enclave is part of a terrorist organization as it was identified by the Department of Homeland Security.

The group is part of the Muslims of the Americas, which in their turn belong to the Pakistani-based militant group Jamaat al-Fuqra.

It is known that Jamaat al-Fuqra was founded in New York in 1980 by Sheik Mubarak Ali Gilani. Previously, Sheik Mubarak Ali Gilani was kept in Pakistani custody as he was found in connection with the abduction of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_02_21/...in-Texas-9905/

[slapout9]

http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_02_21/...in-Texas-9905/

Nice find Adam. This guy was on FOX news talking about the situation in Texas just a short while ago. Here is a link to video he is making on Jihad in America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPu7iVLSyX8