Just a few more federal Air Marshalls on U.S.-bound flights and closing embassies for another week.
“It could be in Europe, it could be in the United States,” Representative
Peter King, a New York Republican who serves on both the House
Intelligence and Homeland Security committees, said on “This Week.” “It could be a series of combined attacks.”
There are growing concerns that an al
Qaeda affiliate use a new generation of liquid explosive, currently
undetectable, in a potential attack, according to two senior U.S.
government officials briefed on the terror threat that has prompted the
closing of nearly two dozen U.S. embassies.
Though the Transportation Security
Administration has long been concerned about liquid explosives being
used in potential devices — as it was during the failed Christmas Day
bombing in 2009 — the new tactic allows terrorists to dip ordinary
clothing into the liquid to make the clothes themselves into explosives
once dry.
“It’s ingenious,” one of the officials said.
Another senior official said that the tactic would not be detected by current security measures.
The TSA declined to comment specifically
on the new liquid device, but an official there said, “As always, our
security posture, which at all times includes a number of measures both
seen and unseen, will continue to respond appropriately to protect the
American people from an ever evolving threat picture.”
“I am not in a position to discuss any
intelligence around this current threat. But, as a general matter TSA
screens both passengers and carry-on baggage for metallic and
non-metallic prohibited items, including weapons and explosives. To do
this, TSA uses the best available imaging technology to safely screen
passengers for any concealed items,” the TSA official said.
Nearly two dozen U.S. embassies throughout
North Africa and the Middle East were closed Sunday after the U.S.
intercepted communications between the leadership of AQAP and al Qaeda’s
remaining leadership in Pakistan, which suggested a major operation was
underway, senior U.S. officials said. The diplomatic posts are expected
to remain closed this week.
In addition to the new liquid bomb, a U.S.
official said American spy agencies are concerned the attack could use
what some call “Frankenbombers,” suicide bombers who could carry an
improvised explosive device sewn into their body cavity.
Sunday on “This Week,” Rep. Dutch
Ruppersberger, D-MD — the ranking member of the House Intelligence
Committee — said the intercepted communications called for a “major
attack.”
What a coincidence. Now that the American people are finally
starting to wake up to massive government intrusion of our
Constitutionally protected rights and their outright lies, suddenly the al Qaeda boogeyman is a headline grabbing, credible threat to the American people. Psychopaths.
“It’s a very credible threat and it’s
based on intelligence,” Ruppersberger said. “What we have to do now is
the most important issue, is protect Americans throughout the world.”
Along with the embassy closings, the U.S. government is taking precautions by ramping up the use of federal air marshals on U.S.-bound flights.
Air cargo coming from Europe is under even
more scrutiny by security services, one of the senior officials told
ABC News, adding that intelligence analysts’ best guess at the moment is
an attack being planned against U.S. targets in Yemen or Pakistan. Both
countries host U.S. Special Operations, counter-terrorism and
intelligence officers targeting Al Qaeda with drones and direct action.
A Federal Aviation Administration notice
issued last week also warned about a “significant risk to civil flight
operations in Yemen” from terrorists armed with man-portable
surface-to-air missiles.
The multiple embassy closings has thrust
al Qaeda back into headlines around the world, shortly after the group
garnered international attention for allegedly taking part in a series
of mass jailbreaks last month.
Friday the international police
organization INTERPOL released a “global security alert advising
increased vigilance for terrorist activity” following the jailbreaks.
INTERPOL said that al Qaeda was suspected to be involved in several of
the plots and asked its member countries to help determine if they were
coordinated or linked.
Michael
Scheuer, a former CIA officer who led the hunt for bin Laden before his
retirement in 2004, went further, telling ABC News that he believed al
Qaeda really hasn’t changed since bin Laden’s death.
“I think the guys on the ground [local
affiliate commanders], day-to-day tactical decisions were made there,
where they always have been,” he said. “Core al Qaeda lays down the
guidelines to keep everybody pointed at the enemy.”
Scheuer said he believes al Qaeda is more
dangerous under its currently leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, than it was
under bin Laden. Zawahiri, Scheuer said, may settle for smaller
U.S.-based operations that would have a much smaller body count than a
9/11-type operation that bin Laden aspired to repeat.
Any idea that al Qaeda is on the way out, Scheuer said, is “completely politicking.”
More from Scheuer via Former CIA Officer Calls Embassy Closings ‘Panicky Move’.
Former CIA intelligence officer Michael
Scheuer calls the closing of U.S. embassies and consulates in 19
countries around the world due to terror threats a “panicky move.”
“They’re afraid of what’s out there,” Scheuer said Monday on “Fox & Friends.”
Scheuer served as a special adviser to the
chief of the CIA’s bin Laden unit from 2001 to 2004, and has written
extensively about Islamist terrorists and threats.
“They are encouraged just by the
fact that Obama seems to be ignorant of his enemy. That encourages the
enemy because they have the leg up on him,” he added.
Scheuer said that after 13 years, the U.S. still doesn’t “have a clue about what motivates” extremist Islamists.
“If you look at the map today compared to
2001, the size, the geographic dispersal and reach of the enemy, and
because of the Arab Spring, its reinforcements to veteran fighters —
this is a very, very big problem. And the president is leading us to
hell by downplaying the seriousness of it,” he said.
Someone over at Daniel Pipes noted, via On Closed Embassies, the Worldwide Travel Alert, and Wimpitude:
How interesting that the same State
Department that issued this world wide terror alert and temporarily shut
down 21 diplomatic missions due to fears of a terrorist attack is the
same institution that pressured Israel to release 104 terrorists.
And celebrated numerous Ramadan dinners at the White House and Capitol Building last week.Is it all a prelude to a U.S.-led, post-Ramadan military invasion in Syria?
AM update: At a minimum it was a prelude to drone strikes in Yemen. In other breaking news: U.S. borders remain wide open.
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