• The challenge of fighting Lashkar-e-Toiba

    In her debut guest column, Bidisha Biswas, an associate professor of political science at Western Washington University, explores the threat that Lashkar-e-Toiba poses to the United States as well as India and Pakistan and what can be done to stop the extremist group

  • DHS to work with Netherlands on cybersecurity

    On Wednesday DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano signed a letter of intent to work with the Netherlands on several critical cybersecurity initiatives

  • Inspectors uncover Qaddafi’s hidden WMD stockpile

    Last week international weapons inspector found clear evidence that the late Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi had large caches of hidden chemical weapons, despite making a promise to destroy all weapons of mass destruction weapons in 2004

  • Morocco changes offer U.S. “very important opportunity”

    Homeland Security NewsWire’s Executive Editor Eugene K. Chow recently had the opportunity to chat with Robert M. Holley, the executive director of the Moroccan American Center for Policy; in their interview Holley discusses the implications of Morocco’s recent historic elections, the likely policies of the newly elected moderate Islamist party, and the broader consequences of the Arab Spring in Egypt and Libya

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  • Minnesota banks to stop money transfers to Somalia

    In an effort to cut off funds to Somali terrorists, banks in Minnesota will no longer support money transfers via local businesses called “hawalas”; Minnesota has the largest concentration of Somalis in the United States and officials fear that money sent from relatives living in the United States could be funding terrorist groups like al Shabaab

  • EU wants tech firm to stop selling surveillance gear to despots

    Following the revelations in the Wikileaks “Spy Files” last week, the EU digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes will urge European technology firms to develop a strategy to avoid “selling despots the tools of their repression,” a practice she describes as “to say the least, bad PR.”

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  • Early Egyptian election returns confirm Islamist trend

    The immediate results of the Arab Spring so far have complicated the manner in which the United States protect its interests and negotiate regional issues, but these results also offer new opportunities; the news is not all bad for the United States: the Islamist parties which won in Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt may use anti-American rhetoric, but their rise to power also means an increase in the influence of Saudi Arabia in the region; this will likely mean a more robust Sunni Arab containment posture vis-à-vis Iran and its Shi’a and non-Sunni allies (Hezbollah, Syria)

  • Chinese rare earth embargo would be “disastrous,” says mining executive

    Mike Parnell, the CEO of U.S. Rare Earths, Inc., recently took the time to chat with Homeland Security NewsWire’s executive editor Eugene K. Chow; in the interview Parnell discusses the potential consequences of a full Chinese rare earth metal embargo, efforts to develop alternatives to rare earth metals, and the progress made in making the drilling process more environmentally friendly

  • U.S. probing use of U.S.-made surveillance technology in Syria

    U.S. Department of Commerce officials are seeking to determine whether Blue Coat Systems of Sunnyvale, California, knew its equipment and software were being used by the Syrian government to monitor anti-government demonstrators. If Commerce find that Blue Coat knowingly violated technology export and licensing rules, it could fine the company up to $1 million.

  • Syria: the end game

    The willingness of the Assad regime in Syria to unleash a brutal suppression campaign against the anti-regime movement, and the reluctance of outside forces openly to intervene – as they did in Libya — to curb the regime’s ability to use its military superiority to suppress the insurgency, have led analysts to argue that the Assad government can outlast its opponents and emerge victorious, if bloodied, from the this latest challenge; the emergence of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) – especially if aided by Saudi Arabia – and the move by Turkey to assume a more active role in Syria, may well spell the end of the regime

  • U.S. working closely with U.K. to secure 2012 Olympics

    Yesterday U.S. and U.K. officials met in Washington, D.C. to discuss security plans for the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London; the United States will have more than 500 federal agents on hand at the event and is working closely with British authorities

  • Rumor of war: Is Israel about to attack Iran?

    There is an increasingly heated debate in Israel, accompanied by leaks from high ups in the government, about a coming Israeli military attack on Iran; four developments have created a climate more hospitable to an Israeli military action: the progress Iran has made in its effort to build nuclear weapons — and the exposure of this progress in an IAEA report due out this week; changes at the top of the Israeli national security establishment — changes which saw individuals more favorable to an attack on Iran replace individuals who were adamantly opposed to military action; growing understanding between Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan; and the coming elections in the United States; these developments have convinced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense minister Ehud Barak — both proponents of an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities — that a window has been opened for an Israeli military action against Iran

  • EU and U.S. hold joint cybersecurity drill

    On Thursday, the United States and the European Union held their first joint cybersecurity exercise in Brussels, Belgium; the exercise, dubbed “Cyber Atlantic 2011,” was aimed at strengthening efforts to protect international critical infrastructures

  • Terrorism in Africa: Kenyan troops invade Somalia

    On Wednesday, Kenya sent its troops some 100 miles inside Somalia to take the battle to the Islamic Al Shabaab organization, killing some 75 militants; yesterday, AU troops stormed a stronghold of Al Shabaab militant group on the outskirts of Mogadishu, while a militia backed by Kenyan troops simultaneously attacked another Shabaab stronghold along the Kenya-Somalia border, taking it over and forcing Shabab fighters to flee; Somalia’s nominal government relies on Ethiopian and Kenyan troops to fight Islamic terrorists in Somalia

  • Qaddafi killed – 42-year rule over

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    There are reports from Libya that Col. Muamar Qaddafi was killed while trying to escape his besieged hometown of Sirte; NATO says that a convoy of several vehicles was attacked as it was trying to make its way out of the city, and that when rebel forces approached the destroyed cars, they found Col Qaddafi in one of the vehicles; there are conflicting reports about whether he was killed by NATO airstrike on the convoy, or killed by rebel forces which pulled him out of his car