What to Do About Islamic State’s Cyber Army

Posted on January 30, 2015January 30, 2015 by Denise Simon

Islamic State has taken cyber-terrorism to a whole new plateau. What is the NSA, the Cyber-Command, ODNI or partners do about this electronic war?

ISIS Establishes A Cyber-Alliance With Anti-Israel Hackers

Several pro-ISIS Twitter accounts that promote the terrorist group’s propaganda are collaborating with established anti-Israel hackers in an effort to increase cyber-attacks on behalf of ISIS.

“Terrorists Team for Electronic Jihad” claim of responsibility.

On January 13, the Alazm Center Twitter account, which has over 5,000 followers, called on hackers to contact them. Since then, a group of anti-Israel hackers calling themselves “Terrorists Team for Electronic Jihad” has claimed responsibility for several attacks against Israeli websites on behalf of ISIS.

The group claims to have hacked the website of a security contractor in Israel, a tour organizer and few other Israeli businesses by redirecting visitors to websites featuring the name and flag of ISIS along with the signature of “Terrorists Team for Electronic Jihad.”

“Terrorists Team for Electronic Jihad” claimed responsibility for these attacks in a statement on JustPaste.it, a file sharing site ISIS has been using to publish its statements anonymously. The statement said, “Thanks to God, below is today’s summary of hacking websites which is part of a campaign against Zionist websites” and included a list of individual hackers affiliated with “Terrorists Team for Electronic Jihad.”

Videos of the hacks were also made available on Aljyyosh (“the armies” in Arabic), an online forum for Arab hackers that have claimed responsibility for stealing personal information belonging to American Jews and Israelis. The videos show the hacked websites defaced with ISIS flags and the logo of the “Terrorists Team for Electronic Jihad” along with a song that begins with, “Report our greetings to Abu Bakir [ISIS’ leader].”

Several of the names listed in that statement have previously taken part in other cyber-attacks against Israeli websites on behalf of groups in North Africa such as Al Falaga, a Tunisian hacker group that participated in a large-scale cyber-attack on Israel on Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2013.

Another ISIS Twitter account, Mo7_AbuAzzamNM, which has over 1,000 followers and identifies itself as the “Hacker of the Caliphate State,” posted other statements praising the hacking of “Zionist websites” and sharing links to the statement by “Terrorists Team for Electronic Jihad.” On January 16, Mo7_AbuAzzamNM Tweeted “America has drones, but we have cyber experience. Oh mule of the Jews [Obama], the coming days will show you.”

Prior to their apparent collaboration with ISIS, “Terrorists Team for Electronic Jihad” posted a video on YouTube on November 29, 2014, declaring its allegiance to the Islamic State. The video showed a masked man reading a message in Arabic saying, “We the Terrorists Team for Electronic Jihad declare our support for the Islamic State in Iraq and Levantine with all our force and capabilities.” It is possible that the video attracted the attention of ISIS, and led to the more recent collective efforts.

“Terrorists Team for Electronic Jihad” also operates a Facebook page and a Twitter account that have included messages in support of ISIS. “May allah bless the #ISIS,” read one post on October 8.

Another prominent hacker group that has targeted Jewish, Israeli and American websites called AnonGhost is also showing increasing interest in ISIS. A Twitter account of Mauritania Attacker, the presumed leader of AnonGhost posted several comments in the past few days related to cyber-attacks in the name of ISIS and shared a video claiming to show ISIS how to avoid being monitored by the CIA.

Cyber-attacks on behalf of ISIS have increased over the past several months. In addition to the hacking of Twitter and YouTube accounts affiliated with U.S. Central Command, Jewish institutions, universities and other websites and been targeted as well.

*** How effective is Islamic State’s cyber army?

Although it is already force to be reckoned with, the presence of the Islamic State on Twitter is not as strong as it might seem.

MOSCOW, January 28 (Sputnik) – The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, relies on as many as 45,000 Twitter accounts to wage its propagandistic and recruitment campaign in social media, according to researcher J.M. Berger.

.M. Berger described the social media campaign by the Islamic State as “highly organized,” adding that the radical Sunni group “uses deceptive tactics and shows a sophisticated understanding of how such networks operate.” However, the Islamic State’s network on Twitter has suffered a heavy blow since then.

As many as 18,000 Twitter accounts affiliated with the militants were suspended in recent months. “ISIS supporters on Twitter are under significant pressure, with the most active and viral users taking the brunt of the suspensions,” Berger told House Committee on Foreign Affairs, probing terrorist propaganda after a deadly attacks in Paris. Testimony in part:

In a forthcoming study on ISIS’s use of Twitter, commissioned by Google Ideas and to be published by the Brookings Institution’s Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, technologist Jonathon Morgan and I set out to develop metrics that could define the size and function of this coordinated effort on Twitter.

While our analysis is not complete, we can confidently estimate that during the autumn of 2014, there were at least 45,000 Twitter accounts used by ISIS supporters. This figure includes accounts that were both created and suspended during the time it took us to collect the data.

We found that the vast majority of ISIS supporters on Twitter, about 73 percent, had fewer than 500 followers each. During that period of time, we found no accounts actively supporting ISIS that possessed more than 50,000 followers, a sharp change from early 2014 when some ISIS users could be found with more than 80,000 followers.

The researcher warned that the Twitter campaign against the Islamic State should continue. Otherwise, the network will reemerge. He also said that although Twitter should suspend accounts of the most active users affiliated with the jihadist group, some low profile accounts could be kept active to be used as an open source for gathering intelligence.

NSC Silent on Russian History of Terror

Posted on January 30, 2015January 30, 2015 by Denise Simon

There was Crimea and now there is Ukraine. But going back decades there was al Qaeda. There are countless Russians that are being silenced but others do speak out on matters of Ukraine hostilities as they relate to Soviet Loyalists. There are few in media that report Russian activities after having performed comprehensive and investigative research. For this reason the National Security Council rarely addresses Russian/Putin objectives, connections and operations. Below are two items referring to Ukraine and al Qaeda.

Russian activist charged with treason after phoning Ukrainian embassy

(Reuters) – Nine months after Russian activist Svetlana Davydova called the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow to warn that Russian soldiers were making their way to Ukraine, an investigator with an order for her arrest showed up at her door.

Her husband, Anatoly Gorlov, said the investigator from the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the Soviet KGB, detained Davydova, a mother of seven living in the western Russian city of Vyazma, on suspicion of treason.

“They… didn’t ask for permission, they just threw themselves on me and rushed into the apartment yelling ‘Quiet!’,” Gorlov told Reuters in his small apartment.

“A man in civilian clothes identified himself as an investigator from the FSB. They asked Sveta ‘Are you Davydova? We are taking you right now!’,” he said.

Ukraine and Western governments accuse Moscow of sending weapons and troops to support a pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine. Russia denies this. More than 5,000 people have been killed since last April in the conflict, which has worsened sharply this month.

Russian activists, and relatives of soldiers sent to the front lines in Ukraine, are often hesitant to speak out. Soldiers’ rights campaigner Ella Polyakova was declared a ‘foreign agent’ after she gave an interview to Reuters last year about the deaths of Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine.

Gorlov said papers for his wife’s arrest on Jan. 21 showed she called Ukrainian diplomats after overhearing a soldier’s conversation about troops from a nearby military base being sent to Moscow and from there to Ukraine, where they were being told to wear civilian clothing.

If convicted, she could face between 12 and 20 years in prison.

The Ukrainian embassy in Moscow was unavailable for comment. The FSB and the lawyer assigned to Davydova declined to comment on the case.

Speaking in his green-wallpapered apartment lined with children’s drawings, Gorlov said his wife, who had been active in the Communist Party and was an environmental campaigner, was no spy.

“It’s not a secret,” Gorlov said of the presence of Russian troops in east Ukraine. He has not seen his wife since she was detained.

“I don’t know why they took her away,” he said.

“She possibly might have considered that by calling the Ukrainian embassy, fewer people would die… I know she was not led by any harmful intentions.”

*** Then we must also go back further and consider other historical items as they relate to al Qaeda. There is no denial that Soviet sympathizers maintain an art of propaganda, infiltration, nefarious missions and terror.

Russian FSB and Al-Qaida as Teamwork

Here are some materials which show Russian FSB connections with al-Qaeda.

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6163502.stm

He (Aleksander Litvinenko) has told that al-Qaeda number two (now nr 1- CC) Ayman al-Zawahiri was trained by the FSB in Dagestan in the years before the 9/11 attacks.

Litvinenko also denounced the war in Chechnya as a crime, called for Russian troops to be withdrawn, and said compensation should be paid to Chechens.

One of his friends – and one of a number of Russian exiles now settled in Britain – is Akhmed Zakayev, a former Chechen commander living under asylum in London.The two men lived on the same street in London, it has been reported.

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Litvinenko
Support of terrorism worldwide by the KGB and FSB

Litvinenko stated that “all the bloodiest terrorists of the world” were connected to FSB-KGB, including Carlos “The Jackal” Ramírez, Yassir Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Abdullah Öcalan, Wadie Haddad of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, George Hawi who led the Communist Party of Lebanon, Ezekias Papaioannou from Cyprus, Sean Garland from Ireland and many others. He said that all of them were trained, funded, and provided with weapons, explosives and counterfeit documents in order to carry out terrorist attacks worldwide and that each act of terrorism made by these people was carried out according to the task and under the rigid control of the KGB of the USSR.[61] Litvinenko said that “the center of global terrorism is not in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan or the Chechen Republic. The terrorism infection creeps away worldwide from the cabinets of the Lubyanka Square and the Kremlin”.[62][63]

Alleged Russia-al-Qaeda connection

In a July 2005 interview with the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, Litvinenko alleged that Ayman al-Zawahiri, a prominent leader of al-Qaeda, was trained for half a year by the FSB in Dagestan in 1997 and called him “an old agent of the FSB”.[61][64] Litvinenko said that after this training, al-Zawahiri “was transferred to Afghanistan, where he had never been before and where, following the recommendation of his Lubyanka chiefs, he at once … penetrated the milieu of Osama bin Laden and soon became his assistant in Al Qaeda.”[65] Former KGB officer and writer Konstantin Preobrazhenskiy supported this claim and said that Litvinenko “was responsible for securing the secrecy of Al-Zawahiri’s arrival in Russia; he was trained by FSB instructors in Dagestan, Northern Caucasus, in 1996–1997.”.[66 http://www.cicentre.com/404.asp?404;http://cicentre.com:8200/Documents/russia_islam_not_separate.html]
He said: “At that time, Litvinenko was the Head of the Subdivision for Internationally Wanted Terrorists of the First Department of the Operative-Inquiry Directorate of the FSB Anti-Terrorist Department. He was ordered to undertake the delicate mission of securing Al-Zawahiri from unintentional disclosure by the Russian police. Though Al-Zawahiri had been brought to Russia by the FSB using a false passport, it was still possible for the police to learn about his arrival and report to Moscow for verification. Such a process could disclose Al-Zawahiri as an FSB collaborator. In order to prevent this, Litvinenko visited a group of highly placed police officers to notify them in advance.” According to FSB spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko, al-Zawahiri was arrested by Russian authorities in Dagestan in December 1996 and released in May 1997.[67]

On 1 September 2005, al-Zawahiri and Mohammad Sidique Khan claimed responsibility for the attacks for Al Qaeda on a videotape which aired on al-Jazeera.[68]

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayman_al-Zawahiri
Assassinated former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko alleged, among other things, that during this time, al-Zawahiri was indeed being trained by the FSB,[83] and that he was not the only link between al-Qaeda and the FSB.[84] Former KGB officer and writer Konstantin Preobrazhenskiy supported Litvinenko’s claim and said that Litvinenko “was responsible for securing the secrecy of Al-Zawahiri’s arrival in Russia, who was trained by FSB instructors in Dagestan, Northern Caucasus, in 1996–1997.”[85]

4. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2005/07/318875.html
Chechenpress , the Department of interviews, 11.07.05

The correspondent: Alexander, who, in your opinion, is the originator of this terrorist attack?

A. Litvinenko: You know, I have spoken about it earlier and I shall say now, that I know only one organization, which has made terrorism the main tool of solving of political problems. It is the Russian special services. The KGB was engaged in terrorism for many years, and, in mass terrorism. At the special department of the KGB they trained terrorists practically from all countries of the world; these courses lasted, as a rule, for a half-year. Specially trained and prepared agents of the KGB organized murders and explosions, including explosions of tankers, captures of passenger air liners, strikes on the diplomatic, state and commercial organizations practically worldwide

A. Litvinenko: The bloodiest terrorists of the world were or are agents of the KGB-FSB. These are and well-known Carlos Ilyich Ramiros, the nickname “Jackal” (he is condemned for terrorism in France), deceased Yassir Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Adjalan (he is condemned in Turkey), Vadi Haddad, the head of the service of external operations of the Popular front of releasing of Palestine, Hauyi, the head of the communist party of Lebanon, mister Papaionnu from the Cyprus, Sean Garland from Ireland and many others. All of them were trained in the KGB, received money from there, weapon and explosive, counterfeit documents and a communication facility necessary for carrying out of acts of terrorism practically worldwide. The correspondent: You can be objected, that each of the listed figures and the forces, supporting them, were engaged in solving of their own political problems …
A. Litvinenko: Certainly, all these figures and movements headed by them operated under their own slogans, however thus none of them hid especially their “intimate” (we shall say so) communications with the Kremlin and Lubyanka. There is a simple question: whether Russian special services would train and finance those people and those groupings, which were not supervised by Lubyanka and did not serve to the interests of the Kremlin? You understand perfectly, they would not. Each act of terrorism made by these people was carried out according to the task and under the rigid control of the KGB of the USSR . And it is not casual after the disintegration of the USSR and disorder of the KGB terrorism in the world practically came to naught. But this calm lasted only till the time, until security officers seized power in Russia and then everything began anew. After Putin’s assignment to the post of the head of the FSB, in this special service political investigation was revived and those, who in days of the KGB had been engaged in terrorism, were are returned to the service.

The correspondent: Everyone, whom you have named, is “the old staff” of the KGB. Could you bring a fresher example?
A. Litvinenko: Certainly, here it is. The second person in the terrorist organization “Al Qa’eda”, about whom they speak as about the organizer of the series of explosions in London , Aiman al-Zavahiri, is an old agent of the FSB. Being sentenced to death penalty in Egypt for terrorism and searched by the Interpol, Aiman al-Zavahiri in 1998 was in the territory of Dagestan , where for half a year was trained a special preparation at one of the educational bases of the FSB. After the preparation he was transferred to Afghanistan , in which he had never been before and where, following the recommendation of his Lubyanka chiefs, he at once after the arrival penetrated into the surrounding of Ben Laden and soon became his assistant in the “Al Qa’eda”.

The correspondent: Could you hint at least, where from do you have such data?

Litvinenko: I can. During my service in one of the most confidential departments of the FSB, those heads from the UFSB of Dagestan, who directly had worked with Aiman al-Zavahiri, after his successful terrorist preparation and transferring to Afghanistan , were called to Moscow and received high posts.

The correspondent: What can you say concerning the acts of terrorism in London ? From what region and with what forces was this impact directed?

A. Litvinenko: In reply to this question I can declare perfectly definitely, that the center of the global terrorism is not in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan or the Chechen Republic. The terrorism infection creeps away worldwide from the cabinets of the Lubyanka Square and the Kremlin. And until the Russian special services are forbidden, dispersed and condemned, the terrorism will never stop: bombs will blow up, and blood will be shed. Terrorism has no limitation period and those, who were engaged in it, should be found and punished, until they are alive, instead of to award them with the Nobel Prize of the world and not to set up monuments for them. I would like to repeat, that all the terrorists, whom I have named, were supported by the heads of the Soviet and Russian special services – Yury Andropov, Vladimir Putin, Nikolay Patrushev and others. These people are the main terrorists, and their place is not among the heads of the civilized countries, but on a dock. And until we condemn them, the same as in due time they condemned fascist Gestapo, the terrorism on the earth

A terrorist on the run in America? FBI Needs Tips

Posted on January 29, 2015January 29, 2015 by Denise Simon

A former Virginia cab driver, suspected of being a recruiter for al-Shabab and traveling to Somalia to aid the militant group, was added to the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list Thursday.

Authorities believe Liban Haji Mohamed, 29, left Northern Virginia in July 2012 to travel to Somalia and join up with the al Qaeda-linked terrorist group. They warn that his knowledge of D.C.-area infrastructure makes him a dangerous asset for terrorist groups seeking to plot attacks in the region.

A federal warrant unsealed Thursday for Mr. Mohamed’s arrest accuses him of providing material support and resources to a designated terrorist organization.

New Most Wanted Terrorist
Naturalized U.S. Citizen Born in Somalia Added to FBI List

01/29/15

Liban Haji Mohamed, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Somalia, has been named to the FBI’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists, and a reward of up to $50,000 is being offered for information leading to his arrest and conviction. Mohamed is charged with providing material support and resources to al Qaeda and al Shabaab, a Somali-based terrorist organization.

“Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for many bombings in Somalia and Uganda and the 2013 attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya,” said Carl Ghattas, special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division at the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “Liban Mohamed is believed to have left the U.S. with the intent to join al Shabaab in East Africa. We believe he is currently there operating on behalf of that terrorist organization.”

Traveling with his U.S. passport, Mohamed is thought to have left the United States on or about July 5, 2012. Before his departure, the 29-year-old lived in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., where he worked as a cab driver.

“While living in Northern Virginia, Mohamed was a recruiter and radicalizer for al Shabaab, which historically has targeted Westerners to go to Somalia and fight for them,” Ghattas said. “Not only did Mohamed choose to go to Somalia and fight with al Shabaab, he took a prominent role in trying to recruit people and have them train with weapons.”

Seeking Information

Ghazi Nasr Al-Din has been added to the FBI’s Seeking Information – Terrorism list, and is wanted for questioning regarding fundraising efforts with contributors to the terrorist organization Hizballah. The Seeking Information list includes terrorism suspects who have not yet been indicted in the U.S.

Al-Din is approximately 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs about 175 pounds. He has a medium build, with black hair, brown eyes, and an olive complexion. Al-Din speaks Arabic and Spanish, and has dual citizenship in Lebanon and Venezuela.

If you have any information concerning this person, please contact your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. You can also submit a tip online.

– View poster | Press release

A federal warrant for Mohamed’s arrest was unsealed today by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia. In addition to today’s announcement adding Mohamed to the terrorist list and offering a reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction, the FBI is publicizing the case on social media channels in Somalia and elsewhere to encourage people to come forward with information about the fugitive.

“It is important for us to locate Mohamed because he has knowledge of the Washington, D.C. area’s infrastructure such as shopping areas, Metro, airports, and government buildings,” Ghattas explained. “This makes him an asset to his terrorist associates who might plot attacks on U.S. soil.”

Shortly after leaving the U.S, the international police organization Interpol issued a blue notice for Mohamed to collect additional information about his identity, location, and activities. On August 15, 2014, Interpol issued a red notice to seek him as a wanted fugitive.

Mohamed speaks English, Somali, and Arabic. He is black, 6 feet tall, weighs about 194 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes. He could be using aliases including Abu Ayrow, Shirwa, Shirwac, Qatiluhum, and Qatil. Mohamed was a close associate of convicted terrorist Zachary Chesser, who was sentenced in 2011 to 25 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab.

There are currently 31 individuals on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list. Those on the list have been charged in the U.S. for their alleged involvement in various terrorist attacks or planned attacks around the world against U.S. interests or persons.

The FBI also announced today it is seeking information about another individual, Ghazi Nasr Al-Din, regarding fundraising efforts on behalf of the terrorist group Hizballah (see sidebar).

Anyone with information about Liban Haji Mohamed or Ghazi Nasr Al-Din should contact the FBI or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. Tips can be submitted anonymously online.

Islamic State: Fighters or Refugees or Both

Posted on January 29, 2015January 29, 2015 by Denise Simon

Do you wonder about how Islamic State sympathizers and recruited fighters get to Syria, Iraq or even Yemen, Lebanon or Sinai and then return to their home country? Boats have become the easiest method of late. Some have even booked passage on cruise ships under the guise of a tourist. Do intelligence professionals know this? Yes… Does our own government understand this traveling dynamic? Yes… Do these people have passports? Yes….Real Passports? Not so much. Do they apply for refugee status upon returning to their home countries under assumed names? Yes… Disturbed on these facts?

ISIS Operative: This Is How We Send Jihadis To Europe

A small vessel loaded with 353 refugees fleeing Syria off Cyprus’ coast in 2014 Cypriot Defence Ministry / Via AP

ANTAKYA, Turkey — An ISIS operative traveled across the Syrian border late last year, settled in a Turkish port city, and began work on a mission to sneak jihadis into Europe. It has been successful, he said, in an interview near the Turkey-Syria border: “Just wait.”

The operative, a Syrian in his thirties with a close-cropped black beard, said ISIS is sending covert fighters to Europe — as did two smugglers who said they have helped. He smuggles them from Turkey in small groups, he said, hidden in cargo ships filled with hundreds of refugees. He said the fighters intend to fulfill ISIS’s threat to stage attacks in the West. He views this as retaliation for U.S.-led airstrikes against the group that began in Iraq last summer and Syria last fall. “If someone attacks me,” he said, speaking with BuzzFeed News on condition of anonymity, “then for sure I will attack them back.”

Western governments worried even before the airstrikes that ISIS would find ways to get its battle-hardened fighters across their borders. The operative is the first ISIS member involved in these plans to discuss them with the press. He detailed a scheme that takes advantage of the worst humanitarian crisis in a generation, which has sent 3.8 million refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war, pouring more than 1.5 million into Turkey alone.

From Turkish port cities like Izmir and Mersin, many thousands of these refugees have ventured across the sea, aiming mainly for Italy. Then they often make for more welcoming countries like Sweden and Germany, turning themselves over to authorities and appealing for asylum. The operative said he worked with smugglers to slip fighters into this chaotic human tide. “They are going like refugees,” he said.

Two refugee-smugglers in Turkey said they helped ISIS send fighters to Europe in this way. One put more than 10 of them on his ships, then got cold feet when asked to send more, he told BuzzFeed News last fall. Another said he’d been sending ISIS fighters for months and continues to do so. “I’m sending some fighters who want to go and visit their families,” he said in an interview in southern Turkey, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Others just go to Europe to be ready.”

Among his colleagues in the port city where he works, the smuggler has a reputation for transporting fighters. BuzzFeed News contacted him after meeting the ISIS operative, seeking to investigate the operative’s claims. At first he denied that he smuggled fighters at all; then he said he needed “permission” to discuss the issue with a journalist. Soon after he revealed that he worked for the ISIS operative, who confirmed this and allowed the interview.

The smuggler said some fighters were Syrian. He could tell from their accents that others hailed from elsewhere in the Middle East, while still others spoke Arabic poorly, or not at all. Some told him they were from European countries, he said, and a few claimed to be from the U.S.

Despite crackdowns from Turkish authorities, ISIS continues to move its fighters across a porous, 565-mile border that has long been a transit point for jihadis traveling to and from Syria’s war. Those who need them are given fake Syrian passports, the smuggler said, which can be relatively easy to obtain. After he receives the fighters, the smuggler said, he puts them up in a hotel, waiting for the passenger list for the refugee ship to fill and the weather to be right. They leave Turkey like any refugees: on small boats that steal them away to cargo ships anchored in international waters. The smuggler said he had 10 fighters waiting in one port city, “and we will send them on the next ship.”

The ISIS operative said this method of moving fighters was important to the group because Western governments, along with Turkish authorities, have stepped up efforts to track jihadis returning from Syria, which makes plane travel from Turkey risky. The scrutiny promises to increase as Western capitals work to prevent terrorist attacks like those that struck France this month, leaving 17 dead. ISIS has more than 20,000 foreigners in its ranks, according to one recent estimate, with more than one-fifth of them citizens or residents of Western European countries. If these jihadis return to Europe in refugee ships, they can travel home via open land borders that receive far less scrutiny than airport security. The ships could also land Syrian or other Middle Eastern fighters in Europe amid the confusion of a refugee crisis that worsens by the day.

Two senior members of the U.S. Senate told BuzzFeed News they had knowledge that ISIS is smuggling fighters to Europe on refugee ships — the first confirmation from U.S. Congressmen that this scenario is underway. “I think it’s safe to say that that goes on. To what degree, I’m not sure we know,” Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said in an interview on Tuesday.

“We’ve heard that,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, adding that as the war in Syria grinds on, refugees and ISIS fighters alike will continue to use Turkey to transit in and out of the region.

“If you don’t stabilize Syria, you’ll never get a handle on this,” Graham said. “You’re going to have this dilemma of how do you tell a legitimate refugee versus a jihadist going someplace else.”

The ISIS operative, a former member of the Syrian security forces, joined the opposition early in the civil war and led a rebel battalion under the banner of the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA). He pledged himself and his men to ISIS a year ago, compelled by its vision of building a hardline caliphate. He continued to work as a commander, battling both rebels and the regime, before moving to a role he described as “security,” which involved assassinations. In Turkey, he said, he monitors rival rebel groups along the border in addition to his work sending fighters overseas. “It’s our dream that there should be a caliphate not only in Syria but in all the world, and we will have it soon, God willing,” he said.

He is a wanted man among his former rebel allies. One FSA commander said he had been hunting for the operative, echoing the details of his defection to ISIS and providing photos of the operative to confirm his identity. “He has killed a lot of FSA leaders,” the commander said.

The operative agreed to be interviewed at the urging of a former rebel who fought alongside him early in the war. Sitting at a restaurant in southern Turkey, he had two associates monitor the entrance from a car outside and received calls on his cell phone at 30-minute intervals to confirm that he was safe. He said he had received permission for the meeting from his superior in ISIS — an official referred to internally as an “emir.” “There are some things I’m allowed to tell you and some things I’m not,” the operative said.

Reached later by an intermediary with established connections to ISIS officials, the emir declined to speak with BuzzFeed News but confirmed that he had approved the meeting with the operative.

At the restaurant, the operative claimed that ISIS had sent some 4,000 fighters to Europe. Given international efforts to clamp down on the group, the number seemed improbably high, and he may have cited it as an attempt to boost the group’s stature and spread fear. His other comments suggested a more modest effort in which ISIS struggled to keep ahead of Turkish and Western authorities. “We need to smuggle them quickly,” he said of the fighters. But smugglers insisted on waiting until their ships filled well past capacity, the operative said, sometimes with as many as 700 people. “We can’t pay for all the refugees just to have enough to send the ship,” he said.

The operative said he was forced to move his work from city to city in response to Turkish efforts to crack down on refugee-smuggling. And he worried about being caught. He said he had been advised by his emir to pose as a refugee while in Turkey and to consider finding a regular job as a front.

He said several times that “the whole world” is fighting ISIS, in reference to the international coalition involved in the airstrikes, and said he hoped ISIS attacks in the West would break the coalition’s resolve, getting the strikes to stop. He also said he believed any attacks would target Western governments, not civilians — though even if he was sincere, it’s something over which he would have no control.

An official with the Turkish foreign ministry said in an emailed statement that authorities were working to combat refugee-smuggling generally. He pointed out that Europe accepts relatively few refugees through legal channels — a fact that likely increases the demand for smuggling. “Illegal migration has been an important issue and Turkey is effectively fighting against it,” said the official, who declined to be named. “Of course the most effective way to put an end to all these problems would be immediate action by the international community to solve the Syrian conflict.”

The official said Turkey’s government was unaware of ISIS smuggling fighters to Europe in refugee ships. “We do not have that particular intelligence,” he said.

He added: “Turkey has been taking very tight measures against [ISIS] with all the capabilities the government has.”

A prominent refugee-smuggler based in the coastal city of Antalya, who said he did not deal with jihadis, told BuzzFeed News that Turkish authorities had recently questioned him on the subject.

The same smuggler who said he works with ISIS fighters now said authorities grilled him about it too. “I told them no,” he said. “All the intelligence agencies around the world are following us and trying to catch us. But if someone asks me if I send fighters, I will say no, I only send refugees to help them find a better life.”

With additional reporting by John Stanton in Washington, D.C.

Released Taliban Back in Militancy

Posted on January 29, 2015January 29, 2015 by Denise Simon

The White House just this week claimed that the Taliban was not a terror organization but rather an armed insurgency. However even during the prisoner swap for Bergdahl they claimed Taliban was a terror organization.

Yet….Back in 2012,

A summary report, the office of the Director of National Intelligence said that 27.9 percent of the 599 former detainees released from Guantanamo were either confirmed or suspected of later engaging in militant activity.

The figures represent a 2.9 percent rise over a 25 percent aggregate recidivism rate reported by the intelligence czar’s office in December 2010.

The increase in the apparent recidivism rate, while not large, comes at a delicate time for President Barack Obama, and could further complicate his attempts to negotiate a peace deal with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

As a “confidence building” measure, the Taliban have insisted on the release of five specific Taliban leaders currently held at Guantanamo. The Obama administration has been working on a plan under which the detainees could be transferred to the Persian Gulf state of Qatar but still held in detention.

*** Subj: CNN Breaking News One of the five Taliban detainees released from Guantanamo Bay in return for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has attempted to return to militant activity, several U.S. officials tell CNN’s Barbara Starr. They were released to Qatar, which had said it would monitor the former detainees’ activities. Shortly after their release in May for Bergdahl, President Barack Obama said, “I wouldn’t be doing it if I thought that it was contrary to American national security.”

*** More breaking today: Three American contractors and an Afghan national were shot to death in the North Kabul International Airport Thursday, a U.S. official confirmed. It was not immediately clear who did the shooting or whether the shooter was a member of the Afghan security forces. The incident occurred about 6:40 p.m., the official said, adding, “this incident is under investigation.”

There has been a recent rise in so-called “insider attacks” in Afghanistan. The U.S. combat mission there ended last year. *** Who is asking about the countless Green on Blue attacks? Are you?

Last March, KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban assailants apparently thought they were attacking an unprotected Christian-run day care center. But they mistakenly burst into the compound next door, where an American government contractor’s employees were heavily armed and ready, according to accounts that the contractor and the Afghan police gave on Friday of a wild four-hour shootout here.

Then just last month, December, the Taliban attacked a Pakistan school killing 145. The Taliban has attacked more than 1000 schools.

The Taliban took their war on education to a ruthless new low with an assault on a crowded school in Peshawar that killed 145 people — 132 of them uniformed schoolchildren — in the deadliest single attack in the group’s history. During an eight-hour rampage at the Army Public School and Degree College, a team of nine Taliban gunmen stormed through the corridors and assembly hall, firing at random and throwing grenades. Some of the 1,100 students at the school were lined up and slaughtered with shots to the head. Others were gunned down as they cowered under their desks, or forced to watch as their teachers were riddled with bullets.