Introducing the New Terror Alert System

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From the White House in 2011:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announces the launch of the new National Terrorism Advisory System, which will replace the old color-coded system with more detailed and more complete information for your safety. (Summary from the White House here)
Only 5 years later:

Feds Tweak Terror Alert System

The new “bulletin” alerts will describe developments and trends in “persistent and ongoing threats”

Time: Federal officials will begin issuing “bulletins” describing non-specific and ongoing terrorist threats to the U.S., according to a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security who spoke to the press Tuesday night

The idea is that these bulletins will add a third, more general threat level to the federal government’s current terror warning system, which the official said did not provide enough “flexibility.”

NTAS Guide in .pdf

The current National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) currently has only two levels. An “elevated” alert flags a credible terrorist threat to the U.S. and an “imminent” alert flags a “credible, specific, and impending” threat to the U.S., the official explained. Neither advisory has been used since the system was launched in 2011.

The new, “bulletin” alert level, which goes into effect Wednesday, will describe “current developments and trends” regarding “persistent and ongoing threats” to the U.S. or the American people, the official said. In some cases, a bulletin might include a description of the threat, what federal agencies are doing to address it, and what the American people can do to keep their families and communities safe.

“The secretary believes that he needs a more flexible way of communicating threats to the American people and will put in a third level of advisory, known as the bulletin,” the official said during a media phone call in which he spoke on background.

“We have witnessed constantly evolving threats across the world, from Garland to the streets of Paris, to San Bernardino,” he added. “We have also heard repeated calls from ISIL against our citizens, our military and our law enforcement personnel. In light of these persistent activities, the secretary thought it necessary to… share more information with our fellow citizens.”

The Homeland Security Department and other government agencies have been reviewing NTAS for the last nine months, the official said. The addition of the bulletin is not a direct response to any recent terrorist activity.

In 2011, former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano launched NTAS to replace the older, five-tiered, color-coded terror warning system created after the Sept. 11 attacks. The color-coded system was criticized for its vagueness, for never dropping below yellow, signifying “significant risk,” and for requiring that the alert color be reported, via automated recordings, at airports and other public spaces. It was widely mocked by comedians and political satirists.

NTAS was designed in 2010 to be more specific. Both “elevated” and “imminent” alert levels would include information about which geographic region, mode of transportation, or type of infrastructure is under threat. Both alert levels also include an expiration date, after which time the alert expires. The new bulletin alerts will be ongoing.

Valerie Jarrett has Stepped up Islamic Protection

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The Muslim organizations around the country have become a de-facto protected class and what is worse, the Obama administration is in full lock step to reciprocate the protections. The next huge question is exactly how does the White House know the names of all of them and the top leadership individual names and phone numbers to have a full call to action? (rhetorical)

A full court press, but not so much for the victims of militant jihad in America. Anymore questions about where the White House lays it true loyalty?

WashingtonExaminer: The White House on Monday began “staff-level” meetings and calls with religious leaders to discuss how they could help combat growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.

Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Obama, and Melissa Rogers, who leads the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, held a conference call with leaders of all religions from across the country.

“Spoke with 890+ religious leaders to thank them for speaking up for every American’s right to be free from religious discrimination,” Jarrett tweeted on Monday.

Administration officials “routinely” interact with religious leaders, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday, stressing that the latest round of talks is being led by staff members, not the president.

The call Jarrett led was a “conversation to discuss efforts to combat discrimination and highlight the need for welcoming all faiths and beliefs,” Earnest said. “It certainly seems a timely topic for a conversation like that,” he said, noting the uptick in anti-Muslim rhetoric since the radical Islamic terrorist group, the so-called Islamic State, launched deadly attacks in Paris and inspired a shooting spree in San Bernardino, Calif.

The “hateful, divisive” comments of a “handful of Republicans running for president is hurtful and dangerous” to the nation’s national security, Earnest said, presumably referring to candidates such as Donald Trump, who has proposed banning all Muslims from the U.S.

Also on Monday, Jarrett, Director of the White House’s Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Munoz, and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes are hosting a group of Muslim-American leaders at the White House, Earnest said.

And finally, Munoz is meeting with representatives of America’s Sikh community, Earnest said.

In addition to a massacre at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in 2012, hate crimes against Sikhs have spiked since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, often because attackers mistook Sikhism adherents for Muslims.

The White House is hosting similar meetings all week, including one on Thursday, Earnest said.

“Again these are all slated to be staff-level meetings but yet, are representative of the kind of ongoing dialogue that the White House maintains with religious leaders of all faiths all across the country,” Earnest said.

 

 

 

Kerry and Kremlin Decide Assad’s (terror) Future

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AlArabiya: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will use talks in Moscow on Tuesday to try to narrow differences with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over the role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in any political transition, a senior State Department official said on Monday.

He will seek to prepare the ground for a third round of talks of world powers on Syria amid doubts over whether a meeting pencilled in for Friday in New York will go ahead.

Russia’s foreign ministry said late on Monday that Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had agreed in a phone call on the need for specific preconditions to be met before any new meeting, throwing its timing into doubt.

Russia is one of Assad’s staunchest allies and launched a campaign of air strikes to support his forces against insurgents on Sept. 30. It says only the Syrian people and not external powers should decide his political fate.

So, John Kerry is cool with Assad staying in power for a long while it seems but this like Iran, does he care about the terror history of Bashir al Assad at all? Seems not.

In part from D. Greenfield at CounterJihadReport: Before the Islamic State’s current incarnation, it was Al Qaeda in Iraq and its pipeline of suicide bombers ran through Syria with the cooperation of Assad’s government.

Assad and Al Qaeda in Iraq had a common enemy; the United States. Assad had a plan to kill two birds with one stone. Syrian Islamists, who might cause trouble at home, were instead pointed at Iraq. Al Qaeda got manpower and Assad disposed of Sunni Jihadists who might cause him trouble.

Meanwhile Al Qaeda openly operated out of Syria in alliance with the Baathists. While Syria’s regime was Shiite and Iraq’s Sunni, both governments were headed by Baathists.

The Al Nusrah Front, the current incarnation of Al Qaeda in the area ever since the terror group began feuding with ISIS, named one of its training camps, the ‘Abu Ghadiya Camp”. Abu Ghadiya had been chosen by Zarqawi, the former leader of the organization today known as ISIS, to move terroriststhrough Syria. This highway of terror killed more American soldiers than Saddam Hussein had.

The Al Qaeda presence in Syria was backed by Assad’s brother-in-law,  Assef Shawkat, who had served as Director of Military Intelligence and Deputy Defense Minister.  His real job though was coordinating Islamic terrorist organizations. During the Iraq War, he added Al Qaeda to his portfolio.

Handling terrorists without being burned is a tricky business though and the blowback kicked in.

In 2008, a US raid into Syria finally took out Abu Ghadiya and some of his top people. A year later, General Petraeus warned that, “In time, these fighters will turn on their Syrian hosts and begin conducting attacks against Bashar al-Asad’s regime itself.”

Shawkat was killed by a suicide bomber three years later. Assad’s support for terrorists had hit home. Those Sunni Islamists he had sent on to Iraq who survived returned with training and skills that made them a grave danger to his regime.

Exactly as Petraeus had predicted.

Anti-American Leftists who claim that the US created ISIS were cheering on its early terror attacks as the work of a Baathist “Resistance”. ISIS these days is accompanied by top Baathists including General al-Douri, a close Saddam ally. The same outlets claiming that we created ISIS celebrated the “Resistance” campaign against NATO “neo-colonialism” when what they were really celebrating was ISIS.

Putin’s regime has claimed that it is fighting ISIS, but it was supporting Assad back when Syria was a conduit for ISIS to attack Americans. The Baathists in Syria and Iraq had both been Soviet clients and it was the USSR which turned international terrorism into a high art.

So how big is the Islamic State mess? Well it is active in several countries including Malaysia, China and Afghanistan. But to see the list of terror cockroaches:

So far 43 jihadi groups around the world  pledged support/allegiance to Islamic State

IntelCenter: Following the creation of the Islamic State (IS), Emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called for jihadi groups around the world to pledge allegiance to IS. Below is the list of jihadi groups that have pledged allegiance/support as of 15 Dec. 2015.

SUPPORT/PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO IS
• al-I’tisam of the Koran and Sunnah [Sudan] – 1 Aug. 2014 – Support
• Abu Sayyaf Group [Philippines] – 25 Jun. 2014 – Support
• Ansar al-Khilafah [Philippines] – 14 Aug. 2014 – Allegiance
• Ansar al-Tawhid in India [India] – 4 Oct. 2014 – Allegiance
• Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) [Phillippines] – 13 Aug. 2014 – Support
• Bangsmoro Justice Movement (BJM) [Phillippines] – 11 Sep. 2014 – Support
• Jemaah Islamiyah [Philippines] 27 Apr. 2015 – Allegiance
• al-Huda Battalion in Maghreb of Islam [Algeria] – 30 Jun. 2014 – Allegiance
• The Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria [Algeria] – 30 Sep. 2014 – Allegiance
• al-Ghurabaa [Algeria] – 7 Jul. 2015 – Allegiance
• Djamaat Houmat ad-Da’wa as-Salafiya (DHDS) [Algeria] 19 Sep. 2015 – Allegiance
• al-Ansar Battalion [Algeria] 4 Sep. 2015 – Allegiance
• Jundullah [Pakistan] – 17 Nov. 2014 – Support
• Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) [Pakistan/Uzbekistan] Video – 31 Jul. 2015 – Allegiance
• Tehreek-e-Khilafat [Pakistan] – 9 Jul. 2014 – Allegiance
• Leaders of the Mujahid in Khorasan (ten former TTP commanders) [Pakistan] – 10 Jan. 2015 – Allegiance
• Islamic Youth Shura Council [Libya] – 22 Jun. 2014 – Support
• Jaish al-Sahabah in the Levant [Syria] – 1 Jul. 2014 – Allegiance
• Martyrs of al-Yarmouk Brigade [Syria] – Dec. 2014 – Part of IS – Allegiance
• Faction of Katibat al-Imam Bukhari [Syria] – 29 Oct. 2014 – Allegiance
• Jamaat Ansar Bait al-Maqdis [Egypt] – 30 Jun. 2014 – Allegiance
• Jund al-Khilafah in Egypt [Egypt] – 23 Sep. 2014 – Allegiance
• Liwa Ahrar al-Sunna in Baalbek [Lebanon] – 30 Jun. 2014 – Allegiance
• Islamic State Libya (Darnah) [Libya] – 9 Nov. 2014 – Allegiance
• Lions of Libya [Libya] (Unconfirmed) – 24 Sep. 2014 – [Support/Allegiance]
• Shura Council of Shabab al-Islam Darnah [Libya] – 6 Oct. 2014 – Allegiance
• Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT) [Indonesia] – Aug. 2014 – Allegiance
• Mujahideen Indonesia Timor (MIT) [Indonesia] – 1 Jul. 2014 – Allegiance
• Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSCJ) [Egypt] – 1 Oct. 2014 – Support
• Okba Ibn Nafaa Battalion [Tunisia] – 20 Sep. 2014 – Support
• Jund al-Khilafah in Tunisia [Tunisia] – 31 Mar. 2015 – Allegiance
• Central Sector of Kabardino-Balakria of the Caucasus Emirate (CE) [Russia] – 26 Apr. 2015 – Allegiance
• Mujahideen of Tunisia of Kairouan [Tunisia] 18 May 2015 – Allegiance
• Mujahideen of Yemen [Yemen] – 10 Nov. 2014 – Allegiance
• Supporters for the Islamic State in Yemen [Yemen] – 4 Sep. 2014 – Allegiance
• al-Tawheed Brigade in Khorasan [Afghanistan] – 23 Sep. 2014 – Allegiance
• Heroes of Islam Brigade in Khorasan [Afghanistan] – 30 Sep. 2014 – Allegiance
• Supporters of the Islamic State in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques [Saudi Arabia] – 2 Dec. 2014 – Support
• Ansar al-Islam [Iraq] – 8 Jan. 2015 – Allegiance
• Boko Haram [Nigeria] – 7 Mar. 2015 – Allegiance
• The Nokhchico Wilayat of the Caucasus Emirate (CE) [Russia] – 15 Jun. 2015 – Allegiance
• al-Ansar Battalion [Algeria] – 4 Sep. 2015 – Allegiance
• al-Shabaab Jubba Region Cell Bashir Abu Numan [Somalia]- 7 Dec. 2015 – Allegiance

 

Russia has it’s Own Jihadi John

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ISIS member Anatoly Zemlyanka dubbed the Russian Jihadi John revealed

  • Anatoly Zemlyanka, 28, beheaded countryman Magomed Khasiev in Syria 
  • Born in Noyabrsk, Zemlyanka brought up Christian and converted to Islam 
  • Ex-teacher described him as very ordinary, adding ‘He wasn’t a hooligan’
  • Zemlyanka, on Russia’s federal wanted list, went to Syria with a girlfriend 

GeorgiaNewsday: The ISIS executioner who beheaded a suspected Russian spy in Syria was ‘a bad student’, his former school teacher said today.Anatoly ‘Tolya’ Zemlyanka is being dubbed ‘Jihad Vlad’ after he murdered countryman Magomed Khasiev – and declared war on Moscow.Zemlyanka, 28, told Russia president Vladimir Putin: ‘Here today, on this blessed land, the battle [against Russia] begins. We shall kill your children for every child you’ve killed here.’

 

School days: The ISIS executioner who beheaded a fellow Russian has been named as Anatoly Zemlyanka, pictured here at school. His former teacher described him as 'bad pupil'

School days: The ISIS executioner who beheaded a fellow Russian has been named as Anatoly Zemlyanka, pictured here at school. His former teacher described him as ‘bad pupil’

Unmasked: The Russian jihadi, 28-year-old Zemlyanka, features in a gruesome video of the beheading of Magomed Khasiev, who was accused of being a spy

Unmasked: The Russian jihadi, 28-year-old Zemlyanka, features in a gruesome video of the beheading of Magomed Khasiev, who was accused of being a spy

Born in Noyabrsk, 230 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Zemlyanka is the son of an Orthodox Christian mother who ran a kitchenware shop while he was growing up.

Svetlana Zemlyanka, 53, who had at least one other son, closed the store selling cutlery, crockery, glassware and ceramics, three years ago.

A former teacher at Noyabrsk’s school number three described Zemlyanka as an unremarkable pupil whose exam results were ‘satisfactory at very best’.

‘He was a bad student. His average score was, let’s say, unsatisfactory or, at the very best, satisfactory,’ they said.

‘He wasn’t a hooligan, quite the opposite, demure, and very ordinary.’

Zemlyanka, who is on Russia’s federal wanted list, is said to have become a Muslim and founded a local Islamic organisation called Iskhan, which was banned by a court order.

He attended Thai boxing classes for two years before he left for Syria, reportedly with a girlfriend.

Local coach Oleg Zinner at Baylun sports club, said: ‘He wasn’t a regular. He came from to time. He is a handsome tall guy, very muscular, but as a sportsman he turned out to be quite weak, rotten.

‘Other guys would pull themselves together after a defeat, and rush to fight back. But he wasn’t that kind. Not a fighter’s character. He would come time to time, sometimes he wouldn’t be seen for a while.’

Zemlyanka became Russia’s most wanted this week when he murdered Chechen loyalist Khasiev as he knelt next to a lake near what is thought to be the ISIS de-facto capital, Raqqa.

Khasiev was born in Chelyabinsk, in the Russian Urals mountains but orphaned aged nine and raised by adoptive parents in Chechnya.

The following year he became a Muslim and went on to study law at Maykop Polytechnic college, in the small Russian region of Adygea.

Khasiev – born Yevgeny Yudin before taking the name of his adoptive mother – is said to have ended up in Syria after being recruited by Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB.

In February last year he was caught in possession of prescription medication, lyrica pills, and was known to have links to drug dealers. Khasiev is said to have done a deal with the FSB to avoid prosecution, it is claimed.

He was then sent to ISIS via Turkey and given the intelligence services information from behind enemy lines.

Khasiev’s adoptive mother has told how she rescued him from an orphanage and gave him a new life in Chechnya – but also how he defied her opposition to him travelling to Syria.

Fighter: Russia now its own version of Jihadi John, the British executioner who featured in several sickening films and who was believed to have been killed recently in an American strike in Syria

Fighter: Russia now its own version of Jihadi John, the British executioner who featured in several sickening films and who was believed to have been killed recently in an American strike in Syria

Family: Mother of Zemlyanka, Svetlana, who is an orthodox Christian and used to run a kitchenware shop

Family: Mother of Zemlyanka, Svetlana, who is an orthodox Christian and used to run a kitchenware shop

'Bad student': A former teacher of Zemlyanka (circled) described him as 'unsatisfactory' as well as 'demure, and very ordinary'

‘Bad student’: A former teacher of Zemlyanka (circled) described him as ‘unsatisfactory’ as well as ‘demure, and very ordinary’

The FSB has not given details on whether Khasiev was spying on terrorists and reporting back to Moscow.

Sources have played down the claims without issuing an outright denial.

It was also revealed Khasiev – who posted pictures of grenades on his social site – had a half brother called Alexey who serves in the Russian military potentially fighting the terrorist threat.

Khasiev’s mother Markha Khasiyeva said: ‘He lost his parents when he was a child, and was put in an orphanage, Gvardeysky orphanage where we took him from.’

She was childless and raised the Chelyabinsk-born orphan with her elderly father.

‘We really liked him: he was an honest, good, kind, thoughtful boy,’ she said.

‘In school he had a lot of good friends.’

‘Today we found out about his feats. We’re shocked, I even have nothing to say.’

She said: ‘I lived with my old father, and he decided that there should be someone to look after me when I get old, as I was looking after him.

‘He made a decision to adopt him and even gave him his name. My father loved him a lot.

‘My older family and I always stood up for him.

‘We never betrayed him.

‘He was honest, very honest. I trusted him.’

Undercover: Magomed Khasiev, pictured, was rescued by his adoptive mother from an orphanage and given a new life in Chechnya

Undercover: Magomed Khasiev, pictured, was rescued by his adoptive mother from an orphanage and given a new life in Chechnya

Orphan: Khasiev's (pictured) adoptive mother Markha Khasiyeva said that she knew nothing of her son being with ISIS, or whether or not he was working as a spy

Orphan: Khasiev’s (pictured) adoptive mother Markha Khasiyeva said that she knew nothing of her son being with ISIS, or whether or not he was working as a spy

She revealed that he had been in contact less with her the past year or so, saying he deliberately did not tell her about going to Syria, knowing she would not approve.

‘We stayed in touch while he was studying,’ she said.

‘The last time I saw him in summer… autumn, when he came to see us.’

Asked if she knew he had travelled to join terrorists fighters – whether or not he was working for the FSB in doing so – she said: ‘No, of course we didn’t know.

‘He was afraid even to talk about it, he never ever said anything about it. Of course, how would he say that? He knows I am against all such things so he hasn’t told me. He always said, ‘You will never be ashamed of me. Whatever you hear, I’ll never blacken your family’.

‘I just found out about it. I couldn’t believe it.

‘My neighbour told me.’

She watched the video but not the hideous footage showing the execution.

‘He introduced himself there – name, family name, who was he working as, I saw this but I didn’t see how he was killed,’ she said.

‘We stayed in touch as long as we could.

‘Until he made us understand that it shouldn’t be done.’

'Spy': Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov admitted today that Khasiev could indeed have been an informer for Russian secret services

‘Spy’: Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov admitted today that Khasiev could indeed have been an informer for Russian secret services

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said today Khasiev could have been an informer for Russian secret services – while laying blame for his capture and murder with the West – claiming: ‘We can say with some certainty that in this case there is a trace of the CIA.’

The ally of Vladimir Putin claimed that ‘Western intelligence agencies’ share with the leadership of the Islamic State ‘data on persons who can perform certain tasks’ for the Moscow secret services.

‘The murder of Magomed Khasiev is a propaganda campaign by Ibliss gang (ISIS) and their patrons among Western intelligence agencies,’ he said.

 

Islam by the Numbers, Video

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By the Numbers is an honest and open discussion about Muslim opinions and demographics. Narrated by Raheel Raza, president of Muslims Facing Tomorrow, this short film is about the acceptance that radical Islam is a bigger problem than most politically correct governments and individuals are ready to admit. Is ISIS, the Islamic State, trying to penetrate the U.S. with the refugee influx? Are Muslims radicalized on U.S. soil? Are organizations such as CAIR, who purport to represent American Muslims accepting and liberal or radicalized with links to terror organizations?

It’s time to have your say, go to http://go.clarionproject.org/numbers-…