House Raises Questions Over Troop Deployment To Africa

By Adrianna McGinley

Department of Defense and State officials faced stiff questions from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over the deployment of roughly 100 U.S. troops to central Africa in an effort to train African forces to combat the Lord’s Resistance Army, a known terrorist group in the region.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto and Assistant Defense Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Alexander Vershbow did their best to fend off questions from both Democrats and Republicans on the committee over the role U.S. troops will have in the mission and the cost to tax payers.

“The cost is really an important factor because the United States can’t afford to pay the price to win everyone else’s freedom in the world,” Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said.

Members agreed the organization and its leader, Joseph Kony, needed to be taken down, but expressed concern regarding the total estimated cost and duration of the mission, the possibility of U.S. troops being engaged in combat and the lack of a concrete exit strategy.

“The president has demonstrated leadership in Libya and the fight against terrorism,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said. [But] what is the strategic interest of the United States in doing this? I mean, there are lots of unpleasant people in the world. There are lots of insurgencies and terrorist movements in the world. The United States obviously cannot try to dethrone every one of them.”

Vershbow defended the mission saying the “advise and assist” model is well established and has proven successful in the past. The Defense official assured that there will be a clear exit within a reasonable amount of time.

“We have made very clear that this is not an open ended commitment. As part of the decision to deploy our advisers, we agreed that there would be a review after several months in order to assess whether our advisers are making sufficient progress toward our objectives,” Vershbow said. “Continuing this deployment is contingent upon a number of factors including a sustained commitment and sustained cooperation by the regional governments in addressing the LRA threat.”

Even with insecurities over specific logistical concerns, the members of the committee agreed on the importance of dismembering the group deemed a terrorist organization by the United States in 2001.

“Kony’s removal won’t guarantee peace, but it is the one thing that makes peace possible in that region,” Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said.

Panel Declares European Terror Plots 'Business As Usual' For Al Qaeda

by Kyle LaFleur - Talk Radio News Service

Maltese Ambassador Mark Miceli-Farrugia joined other diplomats from the United States and Europe Friday to hear warnings from an expert panel that groups associated with Al-Qaeda may still be attempting to use urban warfare style terrorist attacks against civilians, much like the attack in Mumbai, India in 2008.

“One thing that’s clear is that there was meat to this, that this was a real plot or perhaps it is more accurate to that that these were real plots,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization. 

The panel, put together by the FDD, was comprised of senior members at the FDD as well as an Associate Vice President at George Washington University.

“Late last night I saw a report that the Taliban looking to make up for the Time Square bombing may have a new operative inside the US and as far as I’m aware, we may get an update on this in a moment, European police are continuing to search for hit teams plotting attacks against civilians in Britain, France, German, Sweden and perhaps elsewhere,” said Cliff May, President of the FDD.  

Recent commentary from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the UN regarding a September 11 conspiracy and recent arrests made in Europe of Al Qaeda recruits like Germany’s Ahmed Siddiqui were among the controversial issues the panel tackled.

“I was on a radio show a few days ago and the first question I was asked was why would Al Qaeda plan such strikes now,” May said. “My reaction was to say well that’s like asking why do dogs bark, it’s what they do.  This is the business that Al-Qaeda is in.” 

Napolitano: Threat Of Homegrown Terrorism Growing

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee Wednesday alongside FBI Director Robert Mueller and National Counterterrorism Chief Michael Leiter. The three testfied about the status of U.S. national security since 9/11. 

Nine years later, the country is safer from large scale attacks,, but faces a new troubling enemy, said Napolitano.

“Homegrown terrorists represent a new and changing facet of the terrorist threat.” To be clear, by homegrown, I mean terrorist operatives who are U.S. persons, and who were radicalized in the United States.”

The DHS chief called on local governments and citizens to work collaboratively to help combat an ever-evolving enemy.

“Homeland Security starts with hometown security,” she said.

9/11 Commission Members Suggest Reforming Terrorist Watchlist

By Justine Rellosa- Talk Radio News Service

Former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean (R) and former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), the chairmen of the 9/11 Commission, testified before the House Homeland Security Committee to discuss the challenge of evolving terrorist threats and the need to re-frame the nation’s watchlist.

Hamilton argued that the U.S. should have a single terrorist watchlist available to the entire intelligent and law enforcement community.

“We’ve not done a very good job of integrating the watchlist or assuring its accuracy and we just keep adding thousands and thousands of additional names to it. So I think the watchlist needs a lot of work,” Hamilton said at Wednesday’s hearing.

Kean directed his focus toward the attempted bombings in New York's Times Square and a commercial airliner Christmas eve and commented on how they showcased the problem of threat detection.

“I think the Christmas Day bomber, and perhaps the Times Square bomber, did us a huge favor. It got us to look again at the watchlist and the problems with it. It got us to look at the problems of information sharing again,” Kean said. “It focused our attention at a time when our attention quite naturally wandered.”

Both Kean and Hamilton called for pushing forward with intelligence reform and passing legislation that will strengthen governmental institutions that are designed to fight international terrorism and threats to the U.S.

“The burden is on the President now to clarify who’s in charge of the intelligence community... As long as you leave it to the inter-agency process, without clear direction from the President, you are not going to have an integrated intelligence product,” Hamilton said.

Holder Highlights New Times Square Arrests, Defends Trying Terrorists In Federal Courts

By Justine Rellosa-Talk Radio News Service

Attorney General Eric Holder told the House Judiciary Committee Thursday that the Department of Justice had issued search warrants earlier in the day that ultimately led to the apprehension of several individuals identified during the investigation of the Times Square bombing attempt.

Holder raised the fact to highlight the effectiveness of confronting terrorists within the U.S. justice system.

“The concern I have is that people want to take away from us the ability to bring cases in the federal courts,” Holder said. “You take away from us an extremely valuable tool; you actually weaken this country; you weaken our ability to fight this war against those that would do this nation harm.”

The Attorney General added that he is making a conscious effort to keep his Department from becoming ensnared in politics.

“I will not allow this department of Justice to be politicized,” said Holder. “I want the American people to know that, right or wrong, the decisions that I make are based on the facts and on the law and have no basis in politics.”