Category Archives: #StopIran

Iran Tests Medium Range Missile, Violates UN Resolutions

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Iran tests another mid-range ballistic missile in breach of UN resolutions

FNC: Iran has carried out a new medium range ballistic missile test in breach of two United Nations Security Council resolutions, a senior U.S. official told Fox News on Monday.

Western intelligence says the test was held Nov. 21 near Chabahar, a port city in southeast Iran’s Balochistan province near the border with Pakistan.  The launch took place from a known missile test site along the Gulf of Oman.

The missile, known as a Ghadr-110, has a range of 1,800 – 2000 km, or 1200 miles, and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The missile fired in November is an improved version of the Shahab 3, and is similar to the precision guided missile tested by Iran on Oct. 10, which elicited strong condemnation from members of the U.N. Security Council.

“The United States is deeply concerned about Iran’s recent ballistic missile launch,” Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., said in a statement after the October launch. “After reviewing the available information, we can confirm that Iran launched on October 10 a medium-range ballistic missile inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon.”

President Obama mentioned the Iranian missile test during a press conference on Oct. 16 and said the United States was preparing to brief the U.N. sanctions committee. He added that it would not derail the nuclear deal.

Iran appears to be in a race against the clock to improve the accuracy of its ballistic missile arsenal in the wake of the nuclear agreement signed in July.

Just days after Tehran and six world powers signed the nuclear accord that would curtail Iran’s nuclear program, the U.N. passed resolution 2231, which compels Iran to refrain from any work on ballistic missiles for 8 years. UNSCR 1929 was passed in 2010 and bans Iran from conducting ballistic missile tests.

The international community expressed its discontent with Iran’s October missile test, but it is not clear whether the latest test will elicit more sanctions.

Iranian missile development defies restrictions (courtesy of Janes)

Key Points

  • Iran’s testing of the new Fateh-313 and Emad missiles, and the revelation of an underground missile complex, signal Tehran’s refusal to abide by UN missile prohibitions.
  • Released video footage of the flight tests and underground complex, analysed by IHS Jane’s , has revealed key details about Iran’s new missiles and missile infrastructure.
  • With UN missile restrictions on Iran generally weakened under Security Council Resolution 2231, and with Iran in the process of implementing the nuclear agreement reached in July 2015, the P5+1 and other countries may struggle to impose sanctions as a means of curbing Iran’s missile activities.

Confirmed, Terror Related People Exploiting Refugee Program

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Today, December 7, Josh Earnest just declared we are at war because Islamic State has declared war on the West. Wonder if this was approved by Barack Obama himself.

ISIS has targeted refugee program to enter US, Homeland Security chairman says

TheHill: Intelligence officials have determined that Islamic extremists have explored using the refugee program to enter the United States, the head of the House Homeland Security Committee said on Monday.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) declined to go into detail about the determination, which the Obama administration has not announced publicly.

Yet the disclosure could add ammunition to critics of the White House’s refugee plans who have warned that the program is vulnerable to infiltration by adherents of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“ISIS members in Syria have attempted to exploit it to get into the United States,” McCaul said during a speech at the National Defense University.

“The U.S. government has information to indicate that individuals tied to terrorist groups in Syria have already attempted to gain access to our country through the U.S. refugee program.”

McCaul would not say specifically who informed him and other lawmakers about the revelation, only describing the sources as “elements of the intelligence community.” More here.

Congressman, Mike McCaul of Texas, Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee is working diligently to stop the abuse of the refugee program to stop terror connected people from entering the United States.

We must listen to the words of our enemies. ISIS has vowed in their words to ‘exploit the refugee process, to sneak operatives, to infiltrate the West.’ They appear to have already done that to attack our allies. Last week the streets of Paris could have just as easily been the streets of New York, or Chicago, or Houston, or Los Angeles.

Rep. McCaul: ‘Make No Mistake:  We Are a Nation at War’

FBI investigating 1,000 ‘homegrown terror cases’

The chair of the House Homeland Security Committee warned the nation Monday during a wide-ranging address on national security matters, “We are a nation at war.”

Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), in a State of Homeland Security address delivered at the National War College, flatly said: “Make no mistake: We are a nation at war.”

McCaul’s comments come on the heels of a major terror attack in San Bernardino, California that was allegedly committed by followers of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) terror group.

“Our own city streets are now the front lines,” McCaul said. “Indeed, San Bernardino was not an isolated event. Terrorists are on the offensive, working to deploy operatives to our shores and to radicalize our citizens to commit acts of violence.”

McCaul said that the U.S. homeland is experiencing the “highest threat environment since 9/11” and that the FBI is investigating “nearly 1,000 homegrown terror cases” across all 50 states, most of which are related to the Islamic State.

“Already, federal authorities have arrested over 70 ISIS supporters in our country,” he said.

In the wake of San Bernardino, Islamic State affiliates have been connected to 19 “terrorist plots or attacks here at home,” McCaul said. 

“These include plans to murder tourists on Florida beaches, to set off pipe bombs on Capitol Hill, to detonate explosives at New York City landmarks, and to live-stream an attack at an American college campus,” he said.

This year has been the “single most active year for homegrown terror we have ever tracked,” according to McCaul, who said “there were more homegrown terror cases in the first six months of 2015 than any full year since 9/11.”

McCaul went on to blast the Obama administration for failing to take concrete steps to battle the Islamic State and prevent further attacks on the United States.

“I was disappointed last night when the president failed to lay out any new steps to fight this menace,” he said. “Instead, he doubled down on a strategy of hesitancy and half-measures.”

He said the mass shooting in San Bernardino should serve as a “wake-up call” to Americans and U.S. lawmakers.

“This attack should not just be a wake-up call. It should be a call to action. For far too long, we have allowed extremists to reclaim their momentum, surging from terrorist cells into full-fledged terrorist armies,” McCaul said.

“As a result, I believe the state of our homeland is increasingly not secure, and I believe 2015 will be seen as a watershed year in this long war—the year when our enemies gained an upper hand and when the spread of terror once again awoke the West.”

McCaul lambasted some of his congressional colleagues for denying that the United States is under attack by terrorist forces.

“We are not acting early enough to keep terrorist groups from spreading, and there are some in Washington who are in denial about the threat we face,” he said.

The Obama administration has repeatedly said the United States is immune from attacks, despite a series of incidents fueled by extremist ideology.

“I have had enough,” McCaul said. “We cannot be blind to the threat before us. ISIS is not contained—it is expanding at great cost to the free world. In November, the group managed to conduct three major terrorist attacks on three separate continents in just three weeks.”

The Islamic State “is now more dangerous than al Qaeda ever was under Osama bin Laden,” McCaul said, adding that the terror group’s extremist ideology has “spread into the West, including into the United States.”

Old is New Again, the Terror Alert System

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Jeh Johnson admits the NTAS has never been used but now, we need it?

Wonder when it will be launched and how:

Action Center

National Terrorism Advisory System Public Guide

NTAS Public GuideThe National Terrorism Advisory System, or NTAS, replaces the color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS). This new system will more effectively communicate information about terrorist threats by providing timely, detailed information to the public, government agencies, first responders, airports and other transportation hubs, and the private sector.

It recognizes that Americans all share responsibility for the nation’s security, and should always be aware of the heightened risk of terrorist attack in the United States and what they should do.

US To Roll Out New Terror Alert System

SkyNews: The announcement comes after President Obama tells the American people that a new phase of terror threats has emerged.

The United States will launch a new terror alert system aimed at better informing Americans about the nation’s security posture, Homeland chief Jeh Johnson has said.

Details about the new system – the country’s third since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks – will be announced soon, Mr Johnson said at a Defense One magazine forum on Monday.

Colour-coded US threat advisory system

The much maligned colour-coded system was replaced in 2011

The Homeland Security boss did not provide specifics, but said the changes will keep the public better informed.

His comments come on the heels of President Barack Obama telling Americans that the US is witnessing a “new phase” of terror threats.

President Obama

In a rare address from the Oval Office on Sunday night, Mr Obama explained how the threat that terrorism posed to the US had changed from the “multi-faceted” attacks of 9/11, to simpler methods such as mass shootings.

Mr. Johnson echoed the President’s words on Monday, telling the forum that terrorist threats to the US have evolved and terrorist-inspired threats are a growing concern.

Since 2011 the US has used the National Threat Advisory System (NTAS), which replaced the much maligned colour-coded system put in place after 9/11.

THAT Terror Watch List Includes TSA Employees

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People are nominated due to certain conditions and points to go on the terror watch list. The report is here.  .

Obama’s solution to terror was to expand the stipulations to be on the list, keeping the country safe?

72 DHS Employees on Terrorist Watch List

FreeBeacon: At least 72 employees at the Department of Homeland Security are listed on the U.S. terrorist watch list, according to a Democratic lawmaker.

Rep. Stephen Lynch (D., Mass.) disclosed that a congressional investigation recently found that at least 72 people working at DHS also “were on the terrorist watch list.”

“Back in August, we did an investigation—the inspector general did—of the Department of Homeland Security, and they had 72 individuals that were on the terrorist watch list that were actually working at the Department of Homeland Security,” Lynch told Boston Public Radio.

“The [former DHS] director had to resign because of that,” he said.

DHS continues to fail inspections aimed at determining the efficiency of its internal safety mechanisms, as well as its efforts to protect the nation.

Lynch referred to a recent report that found the Transportation Security Administration, which is overseen by DHS, failed to stop 95 percent of those who attempted to bring restricted items past airport security.

“We had staffers go into eight different airports to test the department of homeland security screening process at major airports. They had a 95 percent failure rate,” Lynch said. “We had folks—this was a testing exercise, so we had folks going in there with guns on their ankles, and other weapons on their persons, and there was a 95 percent failure rate.”

Lynch said he has “very low confidence” in DHS based on its many failures over the years. For this reason, he voted in favor of recent legislation that will tighten the vetting process for any Syrian refugees applying for asylum in the United States.

“I have very low confidence based on empirical data that we’ve got on the Department of Homeland Security. I think we desperately need another set of eyeballs looking at the vetting process,” he said. “That’s vetting that’s being done at major airports where we have a stationary person coming through a facility, and we’re failing 95 percent of the time.”

“I have even lower confidence that they can conduct the vetting process in places like Jordan, or Belize or on the Syrian border, or in Cairo, or Beirut in any better fashion, especially given the huge volume of applicants we’ve had seeking refugee status,” Lynch said.

*** There are more details:

TheIntercept: Nearly half of the people on the U.S. government’s widely shared database of terrorist suspects are not connected to any known terrorist group, according to classified government documents obtained by The Intercept.

Of the 680,000 people caught up in the government’s Terrorist Screening Database—a watchlist of “known or suspected terrorists” that is shared with local law enforcement agencies, private contractors, and foreign governments—more than 40 percent are described by the government as having “no recognized terrorist group affiliation.” That category—280,000 people—dwarfs the number of watchlisted people suspected of ties to al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah combined.

The documents, obtained from a source in the intelligence community, also reveal that the Obama Administration has presided over an unprecedented expansion of the terrorist screening system. Since taking office, Obama has boosted the number of people on the no fly list more than ten-fold, to an all-time high of 47,000—surpassing the number of people barred from flying under George W. Bush.

“If everything is terrorism, then nothing is terrorism,” says David Gomez, a former senior FBI special agent. The watchlisting system, he adds, is “revving out of control.”

POTUS asked for Unique ISIS Report, Dates Matter

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Barack Obama commissioned a special report on Islamic State that was complied by U,S, Southern Command and a few other top intelligence agencies. He received the report before he told the country Islamic State was ‘contained’ and certainly before the Paris climate change summit where countless side meetings were held with other world leaders on the matter of Iraq and Syria. He had the facts, but continued with ‘his’ self concocted strategy, while issuing a full rebuke to others challenging his posture on the war against Islamic State.

Most chilling is Barack Obama received this distinct report, holding all the facts regarding territory and resourcing the military on Islamic State but worse is the State Department is managing the whole conflict with U.S. Southern Command. Since when does a diplomatic agency drive a war?

U.S. Intel to Obama: ISIS Is Not Contained

Dozier/DailyBeast: A new report stands in stark contrast to earlier White House assurances that ISIS had been ‘contained.’ And it is already spurring changes in how the U.S. grapples with ISIS.
A new U.S. intelligence report on ISIS, commissioned by the White House, predicts that the self-proclaimed Islamic State will spread worldwide and grow in numbers, unless it suffers a significant loss of territory on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria, U.S. officials told The Daily Beast.

The report stands in stark contrast to earlier White House assurances that ISIS had been “contained” in Iraq and Syria. And it is already spurring changes in how the U.S. grapples with ISIS, these officials said.

It’s also a tacit admission that coalition efforts so far – dropping thousands of bombs and deploying 3,500 U.S. troops as well as other coalition trainers — have been outpaced by ISIS’ ability to expand and attract new followers, even as the yearlong coalition air campaign has helped local forces drive ISIS out of parts of Iraq and Syria.

The White House commissioned the intelligence report prior to last month’s deadly strikes in Paris, and long before last week’s terror attacks in San Bernardino, California, three senior U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to describe a confidential document and policy changes. It was also commissioned before Obama declared ISIS “contained” in Iraq and Syria — just a day before the Paris attacks — but it was delivered to the White House in the weeks afterward.

After reviewing its grim conclusions, President Barack Obama asked Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford to come up with new options to beat the group back.

The counterterrorism campaign is being stepped up—using the same arsenal of drones, special forces raids, and local proxies previously employed in the global war on al Qaeda. A special operations targeting cell, announced by Carter last week, is one of the recommendations. The roughly 200-strong team will conduct raiding operations in Iraq and Syria, coordinating strikes through a 50-man team that will work inside northern Syria with a band of U.S.-supported guerrillas known as the Syrian Arab Coalition.

Defense chiefs have also tasked the military’s Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to host an interagency think tank of military, diplomatic, and intelligence representatives to come up with other options, The Daily Beast has learned.

President Obama addressed the nation about the threat of terrorism in a rare Oval Office address Sunday night and made brief mention of the stepped-up campaign but no new announcements to expand it.

“In Iraq and Syria, air strikes are taking out ISIL leaders…In both countries, we’re deploying special operations forces who can accelerate that offensive,” Obama said. “We’ve stepped up our effort since the attacks in Paris.”

The roughly eight-page intelligence report that drove the policy changes was compiled by a team of analysts from CIA, DIA, NSA, and other agencies, all reporting to the director for national intelligence.

“This intel report didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know,” said one official. “It was lots of great charts showing countries highlighted across the globe, with some groups having pledged allegiance to ISIS and others leaning towards it.”

It described how the terrorist group with aspirations of founding an extremist Islamic caliphate already has a network of groups that have pledged allegiance or are vying for membership in a dozen countries.

The DNI confirmed it had produced the intelligence report, but offered no comment.

The White House and Pentagon would not comment on the intelligence report nor confirm the request to U.S. Special Operations Command to host intergovernmental discussions on the problem. But they did point out that SOCOM already has the job of tracking and planning the military’s response to counterterrorism threats.

“SOCOM plays an important role in the critical analysis of trans-regional threats, providing assessments that look across the seams between geographic commands, and helping the department to synchronize military efforts with all elements of national power,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis Saturday.

The State Department will continue to lead the overall ISIS campaign, with U.S. Central Command directing the campaign in Iraq and Syria, two U.S. officials said, saying that SOCOM was in no way being asked to take over the campaign.

But three U.S. officials insisted SOCOM has been asked to present further options that will employ other skills unique to the more than 60,000 operators led by Gen. Joseph Votel, who once commanded the counterterrorism-focused Joint Special Operations Command or JSOC, which is comprised of elite units like the U.S. Army’s Delta Force and the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, known colloquially as SEAL Team Six.

Far beyond raids and hostage rescues, special operators like Green Berets specialize in training, advising and assisting local forces, and conducting psychological operations to combat ISIS’s social media siren song that has lured so many young recruits to its fight – still drawing 1,000 fighters a month to Iraq and Syria.

Secretary of Defense Carter is so eager to use some of the nascent plans they have already come up with, that he announced them publicly before military planners had worked out some of the logistical or legal kinks.

Carter surprised his own defense chiefs when he told Congress last week that he would be deploying the new Iraq-based special operations “expeditionary targeting force.” While many of the operators are already in Iraq, ready to participate in one-off raids like the one that killed ISIS financier Abu Sayyaf, the rules governing how they will operate haven’t quite been worked out, one of the senior U.S. officials said.

Those forces and the 50 operators who will work inside Syria are led by the Joint Special Operations Command, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operations publicly.

Carter said they’ll only raid inside Iraq with the Baghdad  government’s consent, and always together with Iraqi forces. But the Pentagon hasn’t figured out what it would do if it starts regularly capturing ISIS leaders in raids inside Syria – with options ranging from handing them over to the Iraqi government for questioning or flying them to a U.S. ship and prosecuting them as has been done with al-Qaeda suspects grabbed in Libya and Somalia.

“With respects to the expeditionary targeting force and capture, we will deal with that on a case by case basis. It’s gonna depend on the circumstances,” Carter said Thursday in a Pentagon press briefing.

The 50 special operations “advisers” inside Syria, who are expected to arrive this month, will be helping to synchronizing and coordinating air strikes and rebel ground offensives, two senior military officials say.

“It’s having conversations in person that have been hard to have by text message, the way they are doing it now,” one of the officials said.

“Things like, “hey, that target you helped us hit yesterday, next time let us know if there are civilians in the area,” he said.

All the officials interviewed said stepped-up raids and strikes won’t solve the problem, but may damage ISIS enough to make the group less popular and buy time for other necessary steps like the political deal-making underway to try to get Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

U.S. officials are also in discussions with close allies like Britain, France, and others to ask them to step up their counterterrorist missions in places like Libya, where ISIS is growing but the White House is unwilling to send troops after the attacks that killed the ambassador and three more Americans in Benghazi, Libya.

“It’s clear that we have to intensify global efforts,” said one western official who spoke anonymously in order to describe sensitive diplomatic discussions to weave a global network for counter-ISIS forces. “As long as they have territory, they can push their narrative of having a caliphate.”