Pentagon Studying Homeland Missile Defense Strategies, General Says

The Airborne Laser or ABL is a component of the ballistic missile defense. The ABL’s primary function is to shoot down ballistic missiles

 in the boost phase. This system employs advanced directed energy technology that can be used in space-to-space engagements, as well as advanced pointing, tracking and beam-stabilization systems that are universal for land, air and space based lasers. (Image: United States Air Force)

The head of U.S. Strategic Command said on Wednesday the Defense Department is considering strategies for augmenting homeland missile defenses, The Hill reported (see GSN, May 25).

Deploying ballistic missile interceptors on the East Coast is among a host of options being studied under a "hedge strategy," Gen. Robert Kehler told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

Defense authorization legislation approved earlier this month by the House of Representatives calls for preparation of an East Coast antimissile site and provides $100 million for a study of potential locations (see GSN, May 18). The Senate version of the bill does not appear to include corresponding language. A conference committee of lawmakers from both chambers would be assigned to mesh the two bills.

It "remains to be seen" whether the United States needs an East Coast installation that would complement existing interceptor silo fields in Alaska and California, said Kehler, whose organization manages the U.S. nuclear deterrent and plays a role in missile defense.

The United States must be ready to counter missiles developed by nations including Iran and North Korea, Kehler said. Neither state has yet shown the capability to produce missiles that could reach the United States, though U.S. defense officials have warned that Pyongyang might acquire that capacity within a period of years (see GSN, Jan. 28, 2011).

 

A U.S. missile interceptor lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California during a 2010 test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system. Two high-profile GOP legislators have called for the armed forces to formally consider deploying ground-based missile interceptors in the eastern United States (U.S. Missile Defense Agency photo).

Interceptors fielded in Alaska and California are primarily aimed at defending Hawaii, Alaska and the West Coast against North Korean missiles, Kehler said. An updated strategy is needed as new threats develop (Carlo Munoz, The Hill I, May 30).

Russia has regularly expressed concern about developing U.S. missile defense plans, particularly deployment of sea- and land-based missile interceptors in Europe. The systems would form the core of a NATO missile shield covering the continent. The alliance earlier this month declared the system had achieved an "interim" defense capacity (see GSN, May 21).

"We do not view the Russians ... as our enemies," The Hill quoted Kehler as saying during the event.

Several rounds of talks between Brussels, Moscow and Washington have not resulted in an agreement that would bring Russia into the missile defense effort. A primary sticking point is the Kremlin's demand for a legally binding agreement that the system would not be aimed at its long-range nuclear forces. NATO has rejected providing such an agreement while arguing the shield is developed with Iran in mind and would prove ineffective against Russia's massive nuclear firepower (see GSN, May 30).

President Obama told then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in March that he would have greater "flexibility" to negotiate the matter after the November U.S. elections. Top Republicans have seized on the comment as suggesting Obama is preparing an agreement that could weaken the nation's defenses (see GSN, May 16). The administration has said no such deal is in the offing.

"We will not agree to any constraints limiting the development or deployment of United States missile defense," White House Legislative Affairs Director Rob Nabors stated in an April letter to House Armed Services Strategic Forces Committee Chairman Michael Turner (R-Ohio) (Carlo Munoz, The Hill II, May 30).

Kehler also played down the danger posed by China's nuclear arsenal, Agence France-Presse reported.

"I do not see the Chinese strategic deterrent as a direct threat to the United States. We are not enemies," he said. "Could it be (a threat)? I suppose if we were enemies it could be and therefore we at least have to be aware of that."

The Pentagon is faced with close to $500 million in funding rollbacks over the coming 10 years under the 2011 Budget Control Act. Another $500 million cut could be forced through the sequester process if Congress cannot by January reverse the legislation’s demand for $1.2 trillion in additional government-wide reductions, according to previous reporting.

Kehler said his budget focus is on nuclear warheads rather than the systems that carry them, AFP reported.

"There is investment money there for long-range strike aircraft, there's investment there for a follow on to the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine," he said. "I am most concerned that we make sure that we have the appropriate investment in place for the weapons complexes"

Font: Agence France-Presse

Egypt: 1805 – 1952 – 2012

Mohamed Mursi - Mubarak,

Egypt’s modern history spanned two types of regime. The first, the monarchy, began when Muhammad Ali assumed the reins of government in 1805. The second started on July 23, 1952, when a group of young army officers ousted King Farouk. Do the presidential elections in Egypt represent the end of Egypt’s military regime?

The results of the first round of voting managed – just barely – to answer only one question: who the two candidates in the second round of voting will be. Just barely – because the two candidates who did not make it to the next round announced that they would appeal the results of round one, and request that the election process be suspended.

All other questions remain unanswered. The first relates to the gap between the results of the parliamentary elections and the current presidential elections. On the one hand, the results showed overwhelming success for the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist Nur movement, which received three-quarters of the seats in the parliament. On the other hand, Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate for president, earned only one-quarter of the votes, though this was enough to give him the lead. It is hard to ascribe a single reason for this meager show of support. It will undoubtedly put pressure on the movement to rally in order to ensure Morsi’s victory in the next and decisive round. One may assume that most of the Salafists stayed at home as they are indifferent to the fate of the Muslim Brotherhood candidate; the question now is: can the Muslim Brotherhood give the Salafists any incentive to vote for Morsi in the decisive round?

The second question relates to the ability of the other two candidates – Ahmad Shafiq who took second place, and Amr Moussa who placed fifth (both of whom are, at least on the basis of their careers, identified with l’ancien regime, i.e., Mubarak) – to win one-third of the votes. Shafiq represents the attempt of the Supreme Military Council to stop the Muslim Brotherhood from taking control of Egypt’s governing institutions. The questions raised by this attempt are numerous. For instance: Does the Supreme Military Council intend to help Shafiq in the decisive round, or was its intention merely to hint to the Muslim Brotherhood that it doesn’t intend to give up its role in the Egyptian power structure without a fight? Complete identification with Shafiq would not ensure the Council a simple solution, even were he to win and become Egypt’s next president. Shafiq’s securing of the second place in the first round aroused a wave of irate responses and questions about the elections’ validity. Moreover, a victory in the decisive round would confront the Military Council with the question of presidential authority in Egypt’s new constitution. The respective parties with presidential candidates asked that the question of presidential powers be postponed until after the elections. These parties will, of course, seek to reduce the president’s authority drastically should Shafiq be elected. In such a case, should the army insist on leaving most of the authority in the president’s hands, as was the case with Mubarak, it is sure to encounter massive, perhaps even violent, opposition at Tahrir Square and elsewhere. Other factions that supported Shafiq, such as the Copts (even though the Coptic church announced that it has no preference), will have to decide if they are prepared for more incitement in the streets and violent confrontations with the disappointed parties – the mosques, on the one hand, and the mostly secular factions that led the January 25, 2011 revolt, on the other.

However, the army’s attempt to drastically curtail presidential authority should Mohamed Morsi win would also place the military in a confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood and open it up to criticism as acting contrary to popular will.

The success of the socialist-Nasserite candidate, Hamdeen Sabbahi, who won 20 percent of the votes, also raises questions about possible cooperation among the secular factions, despite the hostility between Sabbahi and Mubarak’s regime, which prevented Sabbahi’s party from receiving official standing until after Mubarak’s deposal. At first glance this looks like an impossible coalition, but the millions of voters who supported Sabbahi, who will want to leave their mark on the nature of the future Egyptian regime, will have to make that difficult choice. The two candidates will have to present a personal benefits package to the losing candidates – the Muslim Brotherhood is already going this route by offering the vice presidency to other candidates – as well as more direct benefits in the form of adopting sections of the other candidates’ platforms.

From the Israeli perspective, the presidential race – unless radical changes happen by mid-June – is the harbinger of difficulties, though not necessarily crises. One may assume that Ahmad Shafiq, even with limited powers, will not call for more than minor changes in the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.

The declarations liberally made by Mohamed Morsi suggest another cooling-off of relations, especially at the most senior echelons. Morsi has stated that Egypt will stop being “a strategic treasure” for Israel and that he would not meet with Israelis, although he would allow his foreign minister to do so. In an interview with CNN, Mosri said that Egypt would honor the peace treaty if Israel does. President Carter, who was one of the foreign elections monitors, said that based on his talks with the Muslim Brotherhood he feels that Egypt would not unilaterally abrogate the treaty, though it could seek to modify it. The most radical stance belongs to Hamdeen Sabbahi, who has described Israel as a “hostile, racist, territorially expansionist country that does not desire peace.” Any involvement on his part in the new Egyptian regime would make it difficult to conduct Israeli-Egyptian relations, even at a lower profile than in the past.

Should Morsi win the final round, slated to begin on June 16, the third regime change in the history of Egypt of the last two centuries will have been completed. Furthermore, it will mark the end of a monolithic era, whether monarchic or military. A Shafiq victory will only postpone – not prevent – the transformation. Egyptian politics will have to learn to live with a new, hitherto foreign concept: the coalition. Israel, too, which until now had a single entity to address in Egypt with which to solve both regional and bilateral problems, will be forced to adapt to a situation in which decision-making in Egypt no longer belongs to one single, exclusive power center.

Font: המכון למחקרי ביטחון לאומ

Interactive: Mapping Iran's nuclear sites - Interactive - Al Jazeera English

Interactive: Mapping Iran's nuclear sites 

Zoom for info on enrichment centres, reactors, uranium mines and Middle East's first civilian nuclear power plant.

Interactive: Mapping Iran's nuclear sites - Interactive - Al Jazeera English

Interactive: World nuclear club - Interactive - Al Jazeera English

Interactive: World nuclear club - Interactive - Al Jazeera English

Panetta Urges Nation to Remember Fallen Troops on Memorial Day

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2012 – In his Memorial Day message, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta urged Americans to remember and honor the sacrifice of U.S. service members who died in the nation’s wars.
“For many Americans, Memorial Day is a welcome break from work, a time for outdoor barbeques or a day at the beach,” Panetta said. “But today is, above all, an opportunity for Americans to come together and pay tribute to all those who have fought and died in defense of our freedom.”
“It is a day to reflect on the service and sacrifice of these heroes, and to honor those American families for whom Memorial Day is another day of longing for their loved ones,” he said.
This Memorial Day, Panetta said, the American people pay particular tribute to the generation who stepped forward after the 9-11 attacks and volunteered to put their lives on the line in far-off lands to protect our nation.
“Today, we remember the more than 6,400 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and coast guardsmen who have paid the ultimate price for us to live in safety over the last ten years of war,” the secretary said. “They, and their families, have paid a heavy price so that we could be more secure, but because of their sacrifice the torch of freedom burns bright.”

Panetta said since taking his current position as defense secretary he’s written hundreds of letters of condolence to the families of the fallen and described it as “the hardest part” of his job.
“There are no words that can heal, no sentences that can lessen that loss,” he said. “I keep the fallen and their families in my heart and in my prayers, and I tell those families that their loved one died to give their fellow Americans a better life.”
“[This] is the price they paid for us,” Panetta added. “Let us never forget them and what they have done for this country.”
The secretary noted the country must reaffirm its commitment to fallen troops and their families for their sacrifices.
“As we emerge from a decade of war, we must renew our pledge on this Memorial Day to do all we can to ensure that the sacrifices of our service members and their families are honored, and that those who fell in battle are remembered,” Panetta said. “They fought for us.”
“Our duty is to fight to make sure they are never forgotten,” he said. “As Americans, that must be our charge and our sacred mission not just on Memorial Day, but every day.”

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
American Forces Press Service

European terrorism experts say al-Qaeda can target London Olympics

Europol, the European Union's criminal intelligence agency, has warned that al-Qaeda could target the London Olympics.
According to Europol, the London Games could be targeted for its symbolic value.
Security experts have cautioned that a successful large-scale assault could invigorate the organisation whose profile has been weakened after the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
Europol said that al-Qaeda is concentrating on a strategy of 'individual jihad' in recent years, The Independent reports.
But it also warned that the organisation aimed to stage assaults that would 'cause mass casualties' and wreak a 'psychological impact' that would have a long-term negative effect on society.
The chilling comments in the agency's report amount to the latest of a lengthening list of credible warnings of threats to the Games, which begin in July.

U.S. Hacks Al-Qaeda Affiliate Website in Yemen

It is rare the U.S. government would admit an hacking event as an effort of counter-terrorism.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters that Strategic Counterterrorism Communications staff at the State Department had successfully attacked Yemeni tribal websites that posted propaganda about Al Qaeda killing Americans.

The hacking was carried out apparently within 48 hours of those sites going live and replaced the original content with content that showed the "toll Al Qaeda attacks have taken on the Yemeni people," Clinton said. The response of the website operators was to question the credibility of content on websites stating that people should not believe everything they see and read on the Internet.

According to Clinton, the monitoring and hacking of sites comes as part of the strategy to limit radical Islamist ideology from spreading on the Internet and it appears that the U.S. government is taking the importance of such efforts more and more seriously. Using intelligence that leverages military and intelligence sources, Clinton said that online counter-terrorism is part of a larger effort, one that includes immediate strikes beyond actions like the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden as well as a diplomatic campaign to attract the support of local governments and train local forces.

Font: by Douglas Perry





Terrorism à la Carte

 

What makes a terrorist group a global "player"?

For any terrorist group, the ability to project destructive power is more important than the power itself. Having a large quantity of explosive, chemical or biological material that can be used only in a limited target geography may be useful for attacking that locale -- but to be able to use destructive devices on a broad international basis, however, establishes the terrorist group as a "player" in global political terms.

This is not merely a matter of organizational egotism: It corresponds to the terrorists' ambition to be recognized as representing an important ideological concept. Al Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden had that characteristic. Somali-based Al Shabaab does not. The result is different only in the scope of the two organizations' transnational terror activities and thus the perception of danger as viewed by the world community. Al Qaeda is now as widely known around the world as the Mafia. Al Shabaab has that distinction only in its own region.

Such definition is not academic but rather an operational factor. Al Shabaab has the potential of reaching out to black Americans, but so far there has been limited evidence of this happening. Some African-American dissidents have sought to associate their ambitions as a fraternal outreach to their self-proclaimed Somali cousins. Al Shabaab is not a centrally directed organization and has at least three principal leadership groupings. Outreach is limited by these divisions.

Although there is a growing community of former Somali fighters now residing in Yemen, al Shabaab's activities beyond the borders of Somalia are restricted to eastern Africa. Its external support structure depends heavily on financial infusions funneled by members of the Somali diaspora through Nairobi and other centers in East Africa as well as regular transfers from Yemen. This is along with their traditional income from piracy, hostage-taking, and thievery. The Nigerian Islamic terror organization, Boko Haram, initially was said to have an al Shabaab connection, but so far that has not proven to be the case.

The Islamic terrorist mechanism with the smallest base yet the broadest ambitions is al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Embedded in the Yemeni community, AQAP has developed assets stretching from the Gulf monarchies to contacts in Europe. Uniquely, it is said to boast various participants who held original enlistments in bin Laden's al Qaeda who administer secret training facilities -- recently a major target of Yemeni special forces. AQAP's best known member currently is the "scientist" Ibrahim Hassan al Asiri, the man credited with creating the "underwear bomb" and other exotic devices including recent ventures into cyberwarfare. One of the best known al Qaeda operatives, Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al Quso, was killed in a drone attack on May 6 in Yemen.

It is interesting that what would appear to be an otherwise limited parochial terror affiliate of al Qaeda has assumed this broader international role. The explanation seems to lie in the technically sophisticated personnel hiding out in Yemen along with Saudi AQ fighters on the run. Counteraction by the Americans, British, and Saudis of course has centered on eliminating the talent base, while Yemeni Army units attack defended al Qaeda and anti-government positions in the south.

While Pakistan still harbors many former al Qaeda veterans, other than very small groups and individuals with tribal relationships still in Afghanistan, most of these are monitored by ISI's internal surveillance. Pakistan is now more of a retirement center for actual al Qaeda "made members" than an operational hub. Nonetheless, the country remains a principal training, recruiting and financial source for other Islamic terrorists.

The name al Qaeda has had a value strictly by association with its already established deeds and reputation. By affixing "al Qaeda" to its name, any terror organization seeks to have the ability to project an image of sophistication simply through that presumed association. This is more or less the background of what is referred to as al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). One would have thought that an organization of that name would at least have had a recognizable role not only in the anti-Qaddafi Libyan civil war, but also to some degree throughout the experience of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Morocco. Various explanations have been offered, but the fact remains AQIM is not credited with any substantial participation.

Another factor of particular importance is the automatic assumption that terror organizations with Middle East or South Asian connections actually have a strong Islamic commitment. In practical terms loyalty to Islam is an initial requirement for membership in an "Islamic" terror group, but it is not the degree of piousness that is the determinant of leadership within that group. In fact, as Bernard Lewis has written in The Multiple Identities of the Middle East, "The first primal and indelible mark of identity is race."

In the Islamic world "race" is often interpreted in different ways: Tribe, clan, family are often seen as the basis for the term. Ethnicity in the Maghreb, for example, has a great deal to do with skin color and thus the varying degree of genes inherited from the several ancient sub-Sahara and European invasions. Islamic religion may tend to unite the many groupings, but the separate identities remain within and often express themselves by creating competitive components. Sunni and Shia belief systems are only the beginning.

While limiting this commentary to some of the Islamic-related terror organizations, it is important to remember: "Terrorism is the principal military weapon of a wide variety of organizations with greatly differing characteristics," as Graham Benton wrote in 1984 pointing to the contrasts and similarities among the Uruguayan Tuparamos, the PLO, the IRA, the Red Brigades and the Basque ETA. At that time only the Palestinian group had any Islamic connections, and those were tangential. In today's world the emphasis is on Islam and the terror groups associated with it. Terrorism, terrorist acts and terrorists, however, are not limited by today's preoccupation.

About the Author

George H. Wittman writes a weekly column on international affairs for The American Spectator online. He was the founding chairman of the National Institute for Public Policy.

CIA remembers losses in covert operations.

FILE - In this May 23, 2002, file photo, the American flag is reflected off of a marble slab of the CIA memorial wall containing stars in the lobby of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Va. While the nation remembers its military war dead on Memorial Day 2012, the CIA marked the loss of colleagues in the hidden, often dangerous world of espionage, adding a new star to the CIA’s memorial wall and more than a dozen names to the agency’s Book of Honor. The new star carved into the agency’s memorial wall was for Jeffrey Patneau, a young officer killed in a car crash in Yemen in September 2008.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA is remembering those lost in covert operations, adding a new star to the intelligence agency's memorial wall and more than a dozen names to its Book of Honor.

The star is for Jeffrey Patneau, a young officer killed in a car crash in Yemen in September 2008.

CIA Director David Petraeus marked the loss and others to the war on terrorism at a private ceremony at CIA headquarters this past week.

The addition of the 15 names to the CIA's Book of Honor means their families can now acknowledge where their loved ones worked when they died.

Most were killed in terrorist acts over the last three decades in places like Lebanon, Kenya and Pakistan.

 

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Why the CIA Is Applauding the Pentagon's Intelligence Grab

Last month, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced the creation of a new U.S. espionage agency: the Defense Clandestine Service, or DCS. DCS is expected to expand the Pentagon's espionage personnel by several hundred over the next few years, while reportedly leaving budgets largely unchanged. The news nonetheless surprised some observers in Washington because the move appeared, at least initially, to be a direct challenge to the Central Intelligence Agency, whose National Clandestine Service leads the country's spy work overseas. Then came a second surprise: former CIA officers and other intelligence experts started applauding. The question is why.

Four reasons stand out. First, DCS can be regarded as a rebranding and upgrading of the Defense Intelligence Agency's espionage unit, the Defense HUMINT Service (HUMINT stands for "human intelligence"), which was created in 1992 to improve the coordination and accountability of military espionage. The CIA has long supported the efforts to improve the military's HUMINT tradecraft, but despaired because the military's case officers never stayed long in their jobs. The new DCS will have ranking general officers and field grade officers who stay put for the long term.

Second, the CIA likes the idea behind DCS because it has been gaining advantages from improved military espionage over the past few years -- the raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed Osama bin Laden is just one example of the kind of success that close collaboration can achieve. The CIA would like to have that capability against national targets outside the current war zones. The CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the military services, diplomats, and law enforcement officers all need discriminating and persistent engagement with an increasingly dispersed and mercurial adversary. Thanks to the growth of broadband communications and social networking, terrorists, drug syndicates, and arms traffickers operate as overlapping networks. This is a new kind of engagement that requires innovative operations within the legal bounds of civil societies. To respond to such threats, the CIA and the Pentagon see advantages in working as a networked team too. So, the better human intelligence that comes from the military, the better the National Clandestine Service.

For the CIA, the less agreeable issue with the creation of DCS is the notion that the military might be producing the best case officers against some targets. The CIA holds that good case officers can recruit anyone. But recruiting agents is only one part of espionage; other parts involve assessing knowledge, judging risk and reliability, and then knowing what to ask for next. Against military targets, the military may be most successful. Think of it this way: if you want to collect intelligence on the nuclear weapons capabilities of a foreign state, would you prefer to have scientists or non-scientists recruiting foreign physicists and weapons designers?

Third is the matter of integration. Good national and strategic intelligence is critical for operations against transnational targets, but while the military's tactical awareness is improving rapidly, strategic context has often been lacking. Case in point: in January 2010, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, now head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, wrote "Fixing Intelligence in Afghanistan," a stinging report on intelligence deficiencies on the battlefield. The CIA has had a hard time improving the situation without being granted direct access to the problems that the military wants solved. DCS can help bridge the divide.

Fourth, chasing today's amorphous, mobile targets, such as insurgents or terrorists, is logistically difficult. Since the Pentagon has an unparalleled global reach and specializes in logistics, and the CIA has deep ties with target countries, it makes sense to gain economies of scale through combined and complementary operations. That will require overcoming the trust gap that has sometimes weakened military-civilian intelligence cooperation. Rather than representing an escalation of turf tensions, DCS is a boost to the cooperation that has been developing for some years through institutionalized joint training and collaboration in the field. Former CIA officials I have spoken with expressed optimism about the Pentagon's new initiative, using the raid that killed Osama bin Laden to illustrate the point.

The creation of DCS, however, also poses several risks. Chief among them is the prospect that the CIA will lose control over choosing targets and creating priorities for collection as the requirements for defense HUMINT gain further attention and federal budget cutting forces intelligence dollars to decline overall. The State Department, with no clandestine capability of its own, relies on the CIA to remember its needs too. As the CIA works ever closer with DCS, State's priorities may get less attention than they should.

More, if the creation of DCS simply increases the Defense Department's presence inside U.S. embassies, it may complicate the role of CIA station chiefs and U.S. ambassadors, who are legally responsible for operations in the countries in which they are stationed. A stronger Pentagon role might throw off the delicate balance required for effective in-country intelligence operations. The priorities of regional combatant commanders, ambassadors, and civilian intelligence agencies do not always align. If collection priorities or covert actions become skewed toward what the Pentagon wants, civilian policymaking might be compromised, and the risks of poorly coordinated field operations will increase.

Font: Jennifer Sims

Man arrested in Vatican over papal documents leak.

Pope Benedict XVI is said to be "saddened" by news of the arrest

Rome (CNN) -- The Vatican has confirmed the arrest of a non-clerical staff member on suspicion of leaking confidential documents to an Italian journalist.

"A man, not a priest, is under arrest following the investigations that led the Vatican police to identify a person holding illegally private documents," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told CNN in a telephone interview Friday.

Paolo Gabriele

Italy's ANSA news agency identified the man as 46-year-old Paolo Gabriele, the papal butler, who is one of only a handful of people with access to the pontiff's private desk.

Gabriele has worked for Pope Benedict since 2006 and his job included handing out rosaries to dignitaries and riding in the front seat of the "Popemobile," a vehicle used for public papal appearances, according to ANSA and evidenced in many photographs showing Gabriele with the pope.

Last month, the Vatican gave Cardinal Julian Herranz a "pontifical mandate" to uncover the source of hundreds of personal letters and confidential documents that have been released to Gianluigi Nuzzi, an Italian journalist and author of "Sua Santita" or "His Holiness" in which he published the documents.

Nuzzi would not confirm the identity of his sources, but he told CNN that his primary source, who he referred to as "Maria" in his book, "risked life and limb" if ever found out.

Nuzzi will not identify the gender or ages of his sources, but he told CNN that they worked inside the Vatican. He would not confirm if they were clergy or not.

Nuzzi told CNN that he has not been questioned in connection with the arrest. The Vatican called the publication of his book "criminal" when it was released last Saturday in Italian.

It has risen to number 1 in Italian book sales, according to Feltrenelli and Mondadori booksellers.

Nuzzi's book highlights an internal power struggle within the Vatican through numerous documents including faxes, personal letters and inter-Vatican memos.

Nuzzi told CNN that he received the documents during a year of private meetings in secret locations.

The documents show that the allegations of corruption and money laundering were a concern for a number of high ranking prelates, including Carlo Maria Vigano, who is now the Papal Nuncio in Washington, DC.

Vigano wrote in a series of letters to the pope that he was concerned about the spread of corruption and that his move to Washington would stir speculation.

"Holy Father, my transfer at this time would provoke much disorientation and discouragement in those who have believed it was possible to clean up so many situations of corruption and abuse of power that have been rooted in the management of so many departments," according to his letter which was published in the book.

The Vatican has not denied the authenticity of the documents, but instead says the breach of privacy is a criminal act.

The Vatican has its own judicial system, separate from the Italian judicial system.

The suspect is being held in a special cell within the Vatican City, a walled enclave within Rome, according to Lombardi.

There is no information about whether his legal defense will be from one of the Vatican's house lawyers, or if he will use the services of a lawyer outside the Vatican system.

Nicola Picardi, the Vatican's chief prosecutor, is leading the investigation, according to Lombardi. The pope is "saddened and shocked" at the arrest, he added.

Font: By Barbie Nadeau, for CNN

Iran Atomic Meeting Closes Without Breakthrough

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano

briefs the media before his trip to Tehran at the international airp

Iran and six major governments achieved little headway in addressing longstanding concerns over the Persian Gulf regional power's atomic activities in two days of talks this week, the New York Times reported (see GSN, May 24).

Representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States urged Iran to end production of 20 percent-enriched uranium, which Washington and other governments fear could enable faster production of weapon-grade material with an enrichment level of around 90 percent. The Middle Eastern nation, which insists its nuclear efforts are strictly civilian in nature, called on the other negotiating countries to acknowledge its perceived right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to refine uranium for civilian purposes, and sought a rollback of measures limiting its access to global markets (Erlanger/Gladstone, New York Times, May 24).

Meanwhile,envoys on Friday said the International Atomic Energy Agency had turned up tiny quantities of uranium with enrichment levels as high as 27 percent at Iran's subterranean Qum facility, the Associated Press reported (George Jahn, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, May 25).

Despite the lack of firm agreement from this discussions in Baghdad that ended on Thursday, participating governments said the meeting improved their familiarity with the other side's stance, the Times reported. They agreed to convene a new, two-day meeting on June 18 in Moscow.

“What we have now is some common ground, and a meeting in place where we can take that further forward,” European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said, adding that “significant differences remain” following the “very intense and detailed discussions.” Only a limited period is available to defuse the standoff, she added.

The meeting's primary impediment was the unwillingness of Ashton's side to formally accept Iranian production of civilian atomic material, senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said.

“This is our right, and it is clearly irrefutable,” Jalili said. “We will, of course, welcome some offer to cooperate on” should the other nations affirm the activity, he said (Erlanger/Gladstone, New York Times).

“We believe the pathway to talks can be successful only if destructive pathways working in parallel with the pathways are stopped,” the Washington Post quoted him as saying in reference to punitive economic measures. “This strategy of pressure is over. It is outmoded" (Sly/Warrick, Washington Post, May 24).

A high-level Iranian religious official on Friday said his nation "will not retreat” after achieving the means to generate 20 percent-enriched uranium, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.

"Despite [the International Atomic Energy Agency's] frequent inspections, they have not been able to find any diversion in Iran’s nuclear program, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami added (Mehr News Agency, May 25).

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty entitles non-nuclear weapons states to operate nonmilitary nuclear programs under IAEA oversight but does not specify a “right to enrich,” according to the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany. The group contends Tehran has failed to meet its international obligations, and at the meeting maintained an objective of ultimately achieving a comprehensive Iranian uranium enrichment halt as demanded in multiple Security Council resolutions, the Times reported.

One high-level U.S. official following the meeting said accepting Iran's refinement of uranium is "something we are obviously not willing to do."

The six-nation negotiating group did not anticipate achieving a compromise with Tehran in the present phase, a high-level U.S. government source added.

An EU ban on Iranian petroleum and other penalties due to take effect in July would “increase the leverage on this negotiation as we move forward," the insider stated. "Maximum pressure is not yet being felt by Iran” (Erlanger/Gladstone, New York Times).

Washington's top diplomat said major hurdles persist in the dialogue, despite "serious" and "substantive" exchanges between the sides, the Post reported.

“We think that the choice is now Iran’s to work to close the gaps,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. “We anticipate there will be ongoing work between now and the next meeting in Moscow, but it’s very clear that there’s a lot of work still to do.”

The six nations negotiating with Iran at this week's meeting were “speaking literally off the same page and with the same voice,” a new development since past multilateral discussions, Clinton said (Sly/Warrick, Washington Post).

"As we lay the groundwork for [future] talks, we will keep up the pressure as part of our dual-track approach," Reuters quoted her as saying. "All of our sanctions will remain in place and continue to move forward during this period" (Quinn/Pawlak, Reuters I, May 24).

The White House on Thursday framed plans hold the Moscow meeting as a positive development, United Press International reported.

"We did not expect in the prior two rounds breakthrough moments," spokesman Jay Carney said.

"What we're looking for is progress," the official stated. "We're looking for seriousness on the part of the Iranians in terms of addressing the concerns of the international community. And, thus far, those expectations have been met" (United Press International I, May 25).

Expectations would be greater for the Moscow gathering, and a lack of agreement at the planned discussion would constitute a notable setback, European envoys said in comments reported by the London Guardian.

"This cannot continue like this," one diplomatic official stated. "The pace will get faster and the benchmark will get higher" (Julian Borger, London Guardian, May 24).

British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Thursday said the five permanent Security Council countries and Germany had reached "clear and unified conclusion" that "urgent, concrete steps need to be taken by Iran to allow progress,” Agence France-Presse reported.

"If Iran fails to respond in a serious manner, they should be in no doubt that we will intensify the pressure from sanctions, including the embargo on oil imports already agreed, and will urge other nations to do the same," Hague said in released remarks.

"We remain fully committed to the diplomatic process under way and to finding a peaceful, negotiated solution to the nuclear issue. We are making every effort to achieve this,” he said. "But we must see significant progress from Iran at the next meeting in Moscow" (Agence France-Presse I/Now Lebanon, May 24).

China's delegate to the meeting said the discussions had made "new achievements," the Xinhua News Agency reported.

"Based on a step-by-step approach and reciprocity, all sides, during the meeting, declared their willingness to address the issue through dialogue," added Chinese Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Ma Zhaoxu (Jamal Hashim, Xinhua News Agency, May 25).

The discovery of uranium enriched above 20 percent at Iran's Qum facility is not an absolute indicator of a clandestine effort to refine bomb material, AP quoted diplomatic sources as saying. Operators of the site's enrichment machinery might have generated uranium of unintentionally high enrichment levels as they tuned its production, the officials suggested (Jahn, Associated Press).

"It is not up there ... towards nuclear weapons capability," an international relations official added in remarks to Reuters. "My understanding is that the IAEA had found a particle or had tested a sample that had uranium enriched at a higher rate than had been declared at that facility" (Fredrik Dahl, Reuters II, May 25)

Rearrangement of the facility's enrichment centrifuges increases the probability that they "overshoot 20 percent" upon activation, Institute for Science and International Security head David Albright told AP.

"Nonetheless, embarrassing for Iran," Albright added in e-mail comments (Jahn, Associated Press).

The U.N. nuclear watchdog confirmed the February finding in a quarterly Iran safeguards report issued on Friday. Responding to an agency inquiry on the matter, Tehran ins "indicated that the production of such particles 'above the target value' may happen for technical reasons beyond the operator’s control," the document states.

"The agency is assessing Iran’s explanation and has requested further details," the U.N. organization said, adding it was scrutinizing additional material drawn on May 5 from the same location.

Pictures taken from space of Iran's Parchin military installation suggested "the buildings of interest to the agency are now subject to extensive activities that could hamper the agency’s ability to undertake effective verification," the Vienna, Austria-based agency in a May 2 communication to Iran said (see GSN, May 9). Officials with the agency have repeatedly sought access to a site at the base suspected to have housed equipment relevant to a potential nuclear-weapon development effort.

Iran has produced 321 pounds of 20 percent-enriched uranium and 13,662 pounds of low-enriched uranium refined up to 5 percent, according to the assessment.

"The agency is still awaiting a substantive response from Iran to agency requests for further information in relation to announcements made by Iran concerning the construction of ten new uranium enrichment facilities, the sites for five of which, according to Iran, have been decided," the document states.

"As Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation, including by not implementing its Additional Protocol, the agency is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities," it says (International Atomic Energy Agency report, May 25).

Separately, the U.S. intelligence community is maintaining its 5-year-old position that Tehran in 2003 "halted its nuclear weapons program" and does not appear to have resuscitated the initiative, National Public Radio reported on Wednesday.

"Because we're so focused on the issues about the shortfalls of the Iraq WMD, we need to be very open about the nature of the evidence (on Iran), how much evidence, (and) the role of our assumptions," CIA Deputy Intelligence Director Peter Clement said. "Those (issues) factored into that estimate, to say we just haven't got what it takes to make the call that, yes, (the Iranians) have made a decision to go ahead with the (nuclear weapons) program."

"Writing on any controversial issue right now, I think we're very -- 'obsessed' may be too strong a word, but not entirely," Clement said. "I personally get very obsessed about sourcing. If we make a statement of fact, I want it to be clear where that fact came from. If we got it from a (human) source, how good is the source? Did they have firsthand access? Second-hand access? Are they someone we recently got on the payroll?" (Tom Gjelten, National Public Radio, May 23).

Israel on Friday received a visit from U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, AFP reported. Sherman, who led the U.S. negotiating team in this week's talks with Iran, was slated to update Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the multilateral meeting, according to public radio in Israel (Agence France-Presse/Now Lebanon, May 25).

A State Department release says Sherman would "reaffirm [the] unshakable [U.S.] commitment to Israel's security," Reuters reported on Thursday (John Crawley, Reuters III, May 24).

Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate have resubmitted a 3-month-old measure expressing the chamber's opposition to any U.S. policy based on deterring Iran should it acquire nuclear weapons, Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) announced on Thursday. The new version takes into account statements by President Obama that exclude such an approach as an option (U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman release, May 24).

Tel Aviv has intensified clandestine activities targeting "enemy countries," UPI on Thursday quoted Israeli armed forces insiders as saying.

"You almost won't find a point in time where something isn't happening somewhere in the world," Israeli armed forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz has said. "I'm escalating all those special operations" (United Press International II, May 24).

Israel has pursued closer ties with China, partly in an effort to bolster its voice in Beijing over Iranian nuclear activities, AP reported on Thursday (Bodeen/Federman, Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, May 24).

Font: NTI

NATO's missile defence shield considered 'up and running'

From Jonathan Marcus, the BBC:  Nato leaders and planners look at Iran's continuing nuclear programme - and the steady improvement it has made to the range and capabilities of its missile forces - and are convinced that missile defence is, at the very least, a prudent insurance policy.
The initial defensive screen being unveiled by Nato this weekend rests upon: a network of US early-warning satellites; a new high-powered X-Band radar based in Turkey; and at least one Aegis-equipped US warship, deployed in the Mediterranean, capable of shooting down an incoming ballistic missile.
Some of Nato's European members will offer elements of their existing air defences - Patriot missiles in Germany and the Netherlands for example - to bolster the system.
Over time Nato's missile shield will expand with more anti-missile warships. Two land-based missile defence sites are also planned - first in Romania, and later in Poland.

Professor Sean Kay, an expert on the alliance, and Chair of International Studies at the Ohio Wesleyan University, believes that the Obama administration's phased approach to missile defence in Europe, which forms the basis of the Nato plan, is both prudent and sensible. But he believes that it also has a much broader political significance as well.
"Missile defence," he told me, "is a very important step towards re-invigorating the core collective defence foundation of Nato, which all the allies should appreciate. . . ."
Moscow has signalled its fundamental opposition to the scheme; with Russian generals even going so far as to threaten to deploy nuclear-capable Iskander missiles against Nato missile defence sites in Romania and Poland.
So to what extent does Russia have a point?

Dmitri Trenin, Director of the Carnegie Center in Moscow is one of Russia's most acute strategic observers.

"Russia," he says, "sees US ballistic missile defence plans as global in scope".
The concern, he believes, is that "strategic defence impacts upon strategic offence; devaluing the deterrent value of Russia's own nuclear arsenal."
Mr Trenin accepts that the potential impact of the future system in Europe may initially be insignificant, but says that: "Moscow wants both formal assurances and an insight into the system's parameters, to be confident that the US has no intention of degrading Russia's own deterrent power, and that the Nato system has no capability against Russian strategic missiles. Washington's reluctance to give either raises Moscow's suspicions. . . ."
Dmitri Trenin shares this concern. He says Russian threats are aimed "at waking the European publics to the dangers inherent in Nato's missile defence plans if no agreement with Russia is reached".
He believes that for all the bluster Russia will act cautiously. But he insists that "a failure to engage Russia on missile defence will be a grave strategic blunder for Washington and its Nato allies. We have a couple of years, I think," he says, "to sort things out."  (graphics: BBC)

Font: Jorge Benitez

“Green on blue” in Helmand – what the international media don’t tell you - Catriona Laing

“Green on blue” in Helmand – what the international media don’t tell you - Catriona Laing

IDF - Israel Defense Forces : New tactics against terrorists operating from with

IDF - Israel Defense Forces : New tactics against terrorists operating from with

5 Anti-IDF Lies Which Turned Viral

5 Anti-IDF Lies Which Turned Viral • IDF Blog | The Official Blog of the Israel Defense Forces

Remembering Giovanni Falcone

Remembering Giovanni Falcone
Italian Judge Assassinated by the Mafia 20 Years Ago

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller speaks during ceremony at FBI Headquarters.

On May 23, 1992, Mafia hit men detonated a roadside bomb that killed Giovanni Falcone, his wife, and three bodyguards as they drove near Palermo, Italy. The assassination was payback for all the organized criminals Falcone had put behind bars as a prosecutor and judge.

To mark the 20th anniversary of his murder, a tribute was held at FBI Headquarters to remember Falcone as a courageous opponent of the Mafia—and one of the earliest advocates of international cooperation in the fight against organized crime.



Giovanni Falcone

Director Robert S. Mueller, who was joined by two former FBI directors and several Italian dignitaries in paying tribute to Falcone, noted, “Long before ‘globalization’ became part of our vernacular, Judge Falcone recognized that no one department or country could fight crime alone. He went to great lengths to cultivate strong relationships—friendships—with partners here in the United States and around the world.”
The FBI’s special relationship with Falcone was forged decades ago through two major cases in the U.S. and Italy at a time when the Mafia was powerful in both places. Louis Freeh, a federal prosecutor in New York City who would later become Director of the FBI, was cracking down on the Mafia. In a case known as the Pizza Connection, the FBI, the NYPD, and federal prosecutors teamed with Falcone and Italian authorities to bust an international heroin smuggling ring that laundered drug money through pizza parlors. The 1985 trial cemented Freeh and Falcone’s personal and professional relationships. At the same time in Italy, Falcone was prosecuting his own Mafia trial—the Maxi Trial—which put hundreds of mafiosi behind bars.
Although the Mafia for years threatened Falcone and his family and assassinated his Italian colleagues, “he carried on,” said Michael Kortan, assistant director of the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs. “He was a champion of the rule of law.”
Freeh remembered that although Falcone’s life was under constant threat, he always felt safe in the U.S. surrounded by his American law enforcement colleagues. “He loved the FBI,” Freeh said, adding that the Mafia made a “serious miscalculation” by killing Falcone. Instead of intimidating the Italian police, they—and the FBI—“rallied to the investigation of his murder.”
After Falcone’s assassination, then-FBI Director William Sessions introduced the idea of a Falcone Memorial Garden at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Two years later, then-Director Freeh saw the plan through and dedicated a bronze memorial to Falcone at Quantico.

Prosecutor Liliana Ferraro, a friend and colleague of Falcone who took his seat after his assassination, said, “The Italian police and the FBI continue to work closely together against common enemies. As they fight organized crime together, they still use many lessons from Falcone, such as the importance of international cooperation and the protection of key witnesses.”
She added that Falcone “believed in friendship, loyalty, justice, and cooperation. On those shared values, ​​we have developed a strong partnership that has enabled our countries to fight with success against organized crime and terrorism.”
“Judge Falcone always understood that there was strength in numbers,” Mueller said, “and that defeating the Mafia would require true solidarity. Due to his foresight, we have dealt a devastating blow to organized criminal syndicates.”
The relationships that Falcone forged years ago between the Italian National Police and the FBI “have borne tremendous fruit in this age of international crime and terrorism,” Mueller added. “Those friendships have set the standard for global cooperation among law enforcement.”

Resources:

- Remembering Falcone: A Partnership is Born
- Director Mueller’s remarks


Font: FBI

Mögliche Szenarien eines israelischen Angriffs auf Iran

Israel gab in den vergangenen Monaten nicht nur einmal zu verstehen, dass ein Militärschlag gegen die Atomobjekte im Iran durchaus möglich sei. Die nachfolgenden Infographiken von RIA Novosti zeigen unterschiedliche Szenarien eines israelischen Angriffs auf den Iran sowie Waffen, die in den beiden Ländern vorhanden sind.

Bomb in front of school in Brindisi (IT) Died a girl, eight injured ...

Terrorist attack in Brindisi, bomb in front of a girl at school dead, eight injured, the first bomb you would treat the findings of two / three gas cylinders placed on a wall outside the Institute.

The type of device is abnormal if the track is the mafia, remember that the mob has explosives ... to follow the track should be directed against a group of anarchists, but not scarterei track of improvised terrorist groups, not organized groups are difficult to identify but believed to be much more dangerous, since it does not experts, and if this would be only a simple demonstration has actually turned into a MASSACRE ...

At this time should be put on the field all the services of intelligence, both on the Italian territory in Europe.