Obama's Chicago Headquarters Target Of Molotov Cocktail Attack Plotted By 3 Men; NATO Meeting Protesters

Men accused of plotting attacks around NATO summit

Three Male Activists who traveled to Chicago for a NATO summit were accused Saturday of manufacturing Molotov cocktails in a plot to attack President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's home and other targets.

But defense lawyers shot back that Chicago police had trumped up the charges to frighten peaceful protesters away, telling a judge it was undercover officers known by the activists as "Mo" and "Gloves" who brought the firebombs to a South Side apartment where the men were arrested.

"This is just propaganda to create a climate of fear," Michael Deutsch said. "My clients came to peacefully protest."

On the eve of the summit, the dramatic allegations were reminiscent of previous police actions ahead of major political events, when authorities moved quickly to prevent suspected plots but sometimes quietly dropped the charges later.

Prosecutors said the men were self-described anarchists who boasted weeks earlier about the damage they would do in Chicago, including one who declared, "After NATO, the city will never be the same."

At one point, one of the suspects asked the others if they had ever seen a "cop on fire."

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy dismissed the idea that the arrests were anything more than an effort to stop "an imminent threat."

"When someone was in the position (of having) Molotov cocktails — that's pretty imminent," he said. "It was not a completed investigation."

The men allegedly bought fuel at a gas station for the makeshift bombs, poured it into beer bottles and cut up bandanas to serve as fuses.

The suspects are Brian Church, 20, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Jared Chase, 24, of Keene, N.H.; and, Brent Vincent Betterly, 24, of Oakland Park, Fla.

If convicted on all counts — conspiracy to commit terrorism, material support for terrorism and possession of explosives — the men could get up to 85 years in prison.

Outside the courtroom, Deutsch said the two undercover police officers or informants were also arrested during the Wednesday raid, and defense attorneys later lost track of the two.

"We believe this is all a setup and entrapment to the highest degree," Deutsch said.

The suspects were each being held on $1.5 million bond. Six others arrested Wednesday in the raid were released Friday without being charged.

The three who remained in custody apparently came to Chicago late last month to take part in May Day protests. Relatives and acquaintances said the men were wanderers who bounced around as part of the Occupy movement and had driven together from Florida to Chicago, staying with other activists.

Court records indicated no prior violent behavior.

Longtime observers of police tactics said the operation seemed similar to those conducted by authorities in other cities before similarly high-profile events.

For instance, prior to the Republican National Convention in 2008 in St. Paul, Minn., prosecutors charged eight activists who were organizing mass protests with terrorism-related crimes after investigators said they recovered equipment for Molotov cocktails, slingshots with marbles and other items.

The protesters, who became known as the RNC Eight, denied the allegations and accused authorities of stifling dissent. The terrorism charges were later dismissed. Five of the suspects eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, and three had their cases dismissed altogether.

Molotov cocktails are dangerous weapons, but it "kind of stretches the bounds to define that as terrorism," said Michael Scott, director of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He said police have a history of abusing such tactics, sometimes infiltrating purely peaceful protest groups to search for troublemakers.

But if the allegations are true, police were justified in moving quickly to take the men off the streets, even if the terrorism charges don't stick.

Just one week before their arrest, at least two of the suspects were involved in a minor confrontation with police captured on a video that was then posted on YouTube and aired widely by Chicago media, said another defense attorney, Sarah Gelsomino.

The men had been stopped by police after turning their car into a private driveway.

In the video, one officer asks another what Chicago police would have said in 1968 when they clashed with demonstrators at the Democratic National convention.

"Billy club to the ... skull," the officer responds. Another officer says to the men in the car, who the police take as protesters, "We'll come look for you."

Documents filed by prosecutors in support of the charges in Chicago painted an ominous portrait of the men, saying the trio also discussed using swords, hunting bows and knives with brass-knuckle handles in their attacks.

Relatives and acquaintances painted a starkly different picture.

Activist Bill Vassilakis, who said he let the men stay in his apartment, described Betterly as an industrial electrician who had volunteered to help with wiring at The Plant, a former meatpacking facility that has been turned into a food incubator with the city's backing.

"All I can say about that is, if you knew Brent, you would find that to be the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard. He was the most stand-up guy that was staying with me. He and the other guys had done nothing but volunteer their time and energy," he said.

Betterly appears to have a history of minor run-ins with law enforcement.

Earlier this year, he was cited for disorderly intoxication in February in Miami-Dade County, Fla., but the case has been dismissed, according to online court records.

Authorities in Oakland Park, Fla., said Betterly and two other young men walked into a public high school last fall after a night of tequila drinking and took a swim in the pool, according to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

They stole fire extinguishers from three school buses, discharged one and smashed a cafeteria window with another. The vandalism caused about $2,000 in damage. Betterly was charged with burglary, theft and criminal mischief, the newspaper said.

Chase grew up in Keene, N.H., and moved to Boston a few years ago before becoming active in the Occupy movement, said his aunt, Barbara Chase of Westmoreland, N.H.

Jared Chase's father, Steve Chase, died about five weeks ago after a long struggle with a disease that left him disabled, Barbara Chase said. The family had been waiting for him to come home before having a funeral.

She said she was stunned to learn of the charges against her nephew.

"That surprised me because he's not that dumb," said Barbara Chase. "He always seemed harmless, but who knows? Outside influences sometimes can sway people to do things that they normally wouldn't do."

Elsewhere around Chicago, demonstrations remained relatively small. Scattered groups of protesters gathered in some neighborhoods, including several hundred who marched to the mayor's house.

Late in the day, another group gathered in the Loop business district and marched down the city's famous Michigan Avenue. Police on horseback and bicycle kept them away from diners at outdoor cafes who ventured downtown despite wide-ranging security precautions.

The largest protests were expected Sunday, when thousands of people were expected to march from a band shell on Lake Michigan to the McCormick Place convention center, where NATO delegates will meet.


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Sources: AP, CBS News, CNN, Google Maps

Yemen Is Unstable & Al-Qaeda Terrorist Cell Haven

Why Yemen's US-Aided Fight Against Al-Qaeda Could Backfire


The attempted Assassination of the British Ambassador to Yemen in April, together with a purported video of the Christmas Day bomber training with Al Qaeda’s branch here, has drawn fresh attention to the need for a strong Counter Terrorism strategy in Yemen.

The United States sharply increased military assistance to Yemen after AQAP claimed responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound flight. In recent months, the Yemeni government has targeted dozens of suspected AQAP [Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula] operatives – often quietly working in tandem with the US.

But experts caution that unless Yemen diversifies its approach – which led to success in neighboring Saudi Arabia – increased military action as well as overt cooperation with America may ultimately backfire.

“Up until Christmas Day 2009, AQAP ... was stronger in Yemen than it had ever been before. Over the last few months, they’ve taken a series of hits … but none of these have been sort of the debilitating blow that’s going to knock the organization off its tracks for any sustained period of time,” says Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen expert at Princeton University in New Jersey.


A Day In The Life Of Yemen's Counter Terrorism Unit

The main crux of Yemen’s Counter Terrorism offensive is targeted military action by the Yemeni Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), with the aid of American and British funding, trainers, and intelligence. In February, Defense Secretary Robert Gates authorized $150 million in security assistance for Yemen for fiscal year 2010, up from $67 million last year.

According to officials interviewed by Reuters, $38 million of the funding is earmarked for a military transport aircraft, while $34 million will go to "tactical assistance" of Yemen's special operations forces.

The CTU was established in 2003 and consists of 200 fighters who live in barracks at the headquarters of Central Command in Sanaa. They attend training sessions five days a week at a small, primitive obstacle course about eight miles outside the capital.

On a recent day, a small team of soldiers in green camouflage ran drills.

The soldiers ran to a fixed point before lying down and firing at an upper body target. Darting up in unison, they ran to another target point and fired at green glass bottles balanced on a wall, until moving on to firing pistols at a closer range on more targets that appeared to be cut from wood and cardboard. An empty concrete structure approximating a house stands amid the course, where the CTU practices approaching homes.

The CTU also has an all-woman unit consisting of 42 women, who work with female American instructors, who also practice shooting on the course. Overhead, the sound of Air Force practice could be heard.

Maj. Abu Luhom, who has been with the CTU since it was founded, says they have been running more, increasingly successful, missions in recent months: “We owe the credit to American and British training.”

Amar, a young warrant officer, gleamed with sweat under his black helmet and flak jacket after finishing the obstacle course. “Every day we sit with the Americans,” he said, adding that they coach him in house searching, shooting, and medical training. He explained that he trains five days a week and sometimes has night drills – before the interview was abruptly ended by Luhom's directive that soldiers were not authorized to speak to the press.







Yemen's Path To Reform


Almost every news story about Yemen ends with a familiar listing of the various challenges, or “crises,” facing the country. Of those who follow such news regularly, many simply stop reading when the usual litany is presented: civil war, terrorism, secessionism, water crisis, an exploding population, etc. Recent events, from Saudi Arabia’s entanglement in the Houthi rebellion in November of last year, to the failed bombing attempt on an American airliner by a Nigerian trained in Yemen, have served to sharpen international attention on Yemen’s internal issues.

A report from an American think tank summarized the worst fears of many, stating that these interconnected problems “have the potential to overwhelm the Yemeni government, jeopardizing domestic stability and security across the region.” At the center of these discussions is the viability of the Yemeni government in the midst of a sea of crises.

Attempting to bring light into this void is a team of young reformers, who have developed an ambitious ten-point plan of reform. It has been in the works since 2008, but in the last six months, the Ten Point Plan has gained considerable momentum, and now enjoys support from the highest levels of government.

The group behind the plan, including Deputy Minister of Finance Jalal Yaqoub, among many others, have been part of past reform efforts, and are uniquely positioned to answer difficult questions: What reforms are possible? What reforms should we prioritize? What steps need to be taken to achieve them? What are the likely obstacles?

The plan starts with the belief that the core of Yemen’s problems are economic in nature, and dealing with the economy requires focusing on three areas: job opportunities, provision of services, and rule of law. All of the ten points are related to one of these three pillars.

Evolution Of A Plan

The plan began with frank discussions among a group of young reformers in 2008. In June of that year, Jalal Yaqoub penned an article for Yemen Today, presenting the Ten Points (or Ten Priorities, as they have also been referred to) in an abbreviated form. But it did not take off until the summer of 2009.

The plan was revised and presented to Prime Minister Mujawwar in a PowerPoint presentation in July; a month later President Saleh gave his official imprimatur, and the wheels of government started moving to make the plan a reality. An executive office was formed, comprising the relevant ministers. Beneath the executive office is a technical committee, of which Jalal is a member, tasked with working out the fine print. International consultants have been hired to assist with this step, after which the plan will be officially announced.

This is expected to happen in the spring. In the meantime, the Ten Points have been referred to favorably by Barack Obama (in a letter to President Saleh in the fall), and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband at the London Conference back in January. Yemen Today sat down with Jalal to discuss the plan in greater detail.

The Priorities

“Why do we need priorities?” Jalal asks rhetorically, right off the bat. “Yemen faces many challenges; you name it, we have it right now. And we design strategies and plans to deal with these issues; however, we really don’t have enough time, financial resources, or human capacity to address all the challenges at the same time…Therefore, we’re saying that the government must prioritize, and must create success stories for the citizens to see, in the next twenty-four months.”

After looking at the broad range of issues the ten points aim to tackle, from government employment to water, from oil to land, the two-year timeline for the Ten Points seemed quite short. But Jalal made it clear that the idea of a relatively short time frame was to establish, and achieve, clear goals and benchmarks. “We need to create success stories,” he said, and to re-establish the government’s credibility by making visible progress.

The fifth priority, for example, is land reform. Clashes over land are responsible for violence and clogging the courts with intractable case-loads. To solve all the country’s land disputes within two years is not realistic. What the plan hopes to accomplish, however, is to take a few neighborhoods, and register all of the land in those areas, settling disputes once and for all. Such a success story, achievable in two years, would set an example for the rest of the country to follow.

While an issue like land reform enjoys broad consensus, that is not the case for all of the points. The most controversial of the points is a plan to attract one hundred highly qualified Yemenis into the government. Most of them would likely be Yemenis born and/or educated abroad. Jalal doesn’t pull any punches; he believes the low capacity of government employees is one of the greatest challenges facing the government. Senior level officials, whose jobs may be in jeopardy, are not pleased at the prospect of losing their jobs.

Nevertheless, Jalal is insistent: “If there is one priority that is the most important, the one that would make the most change, it would be this one. Because we believe that the core of most of our problems stems from not being able to deliver the services needed to be a success. And why are we not able to deliver these services? Because we cannot plan properly, because we don’t have the right people.”

Many of the points are interconnected, as Jalal readily acknowledges. Priority nine, for example, calls for urgent solutions to the water crisis. Laws to deal with the crisis are in place, it’s just a matter of enforcing those laws; enforcing the rule of law is itself a point (number eight).

The government’s inability to uniformly enforce the law also feeds the aforementioned land issues, which themselves negatively impact the investment environment, the improvement of which is a key to the first and seventh points (Top 100, and Action Plan for Aden, respectively), and so it goes.

One notable absence from the list is corruption, an issue which many Yemenis feel to be at the heart of the country’s problems. “I see dealing with corruption just like you do with terrorism,” Jalal responded. “You have to deal with it in two parallel approaches. One, with extremism, you have to have security measures…But you also have to have development on the ground, with job opportunities and services, like water, electricity, roads, education, and health…This parallels with corruption. You can always just keep putting people in jail, but this doesn’t deal with the root of the problem.

You have to fix the system. I see corruption as a symptom, and [the ten points] are the ingredients that you use to fix the underlying problem.” Education and health care are also not in the plan for the same reason: they are just symptoms of more fundamental problems, which the Ten Point Plan hopes to tackle directly.

While the plan is meant to demonstrate that Yemen can help itself, Jalal doesn’t deny that concerted assistance from the international community will be needed to help the country fend off multiple crises. And the donors themselves are hoping that the government will not only step up to the plate, but will hit a home run as well. The Ten Points could not be more relevant in this regard, given increasing reports (all unofficial so far) that Yemen might enter into an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Such agreements usually call for a government to reduce subsidies by raising prices, while also making cuts to the civil service. The end goal is improving the government’s fiscal health by cutting expenditures, but higher prices and unemployment would be the likely results. The Ten Points, particularly the first three, deal with the same issues, but in a more deliberate, holistic fashion. Rather than immediate cuts to subsidies and the civil service across the board, the plan calls for a measured process, through which greater employment opportunities and improved services would first be provided, softening the blow to the population of eventual price raises and cuts to the civil service.

Government Credibility

A final criticism of the plan is that it fails to deal with what many observers feel to be the central problem of the Yemeni government: over-centralization of authority. Yet those behind the plan are not revolutionaries; they are clearly trying to effect change from within the system. Point six calls for the engagement of the President’s Office (and by extension, his ruling party, the General People’s Congress). The goal of the Ten Points is to re-establish the government’s credibility with Yemeni citizens and the international community, investors and donors alike.

Although the government is criticized from many quarters for corruption, lack of transparency, and a less-than perfect human rights record, there are no realistic policy recommendations which suggest circumventing the central government. Whatever its faults, there is no other institution in Yemen with the potential to bring about the sweeping change necessary.

Public discontent with the government grows as the government’s credibility and ability to provide services decrease. By all accounts, such discontent is feeding the Southern Movement and tacit tribal support for al-Qaeda. The Ten Point Plan is the government’s best chance in a long time to regain the public’s trust. A dedicated team of public servants is working to give the people reason to hope.

But working closely with the US is a difficult balancing act for the Yemeni government, and risks strengthening AQAP’s hand.

“Al Qaeda wants to present Yemen on par with Iraq and Afghanistan ... to present Yemen as being occupied by outside forces, because once they do that, then it throws open the gates of recruitment,” says Mr. Johnsen of Princeton. He describes statements by Yemeni officials that there are no US soldiers in Yemen as “a very sort of calculated quote to indicate to the Yemenis that these aren’t soldiers, they are just advisers – and that the US isn’t occupying Yemen.”

Yemen’s predicament was highlighted when the CIA added to its hit list American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim cleric tied to the Fort Hood shooter and Christmas Day bomber who is now believed to be hiding in Yemen. Initially, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said Yemen was waiting for US evidence of Mr. Awlaki’s terrorism ties before hunting him, but later amended his statement.

“Yemeni authorities look at him [Al-Awlaki] as having links with Al Qaeda and therefore he is targeted by the Yemeni government for arrest and prosecution,” Mr. Qirbi told the Monitor in a follow-up interview in his office. He maintained responsibility for capturing Awlaki was a domestic prerogative. “Outside interference, of course, will create political problems for the government.”
Saudi success has driven militants to Yemen

One country that has struck a balance between public cooperation with the US and countering Al Qaeda is Saudi Arabia, which launched a successful domestic offensive against the group in 2003. Saudi forces are better funded and have been receiving foreign training since the early 1970s, but experts maintain Saudi Arabia’s ability to dispel Al Qaeda stemmed from launching a variety of initiatives, something Yemen hasn’t done.

“The whole point is they’ve done many things and [it’s] precisely the diversity that partly explains the success. They’ve not relied exclusively on force,” says Thomas Hegghammer, research fellow at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI) in Oslo. Saudis used propaganda campaigns, constrained the financial resources of militants, limited their ability to acquire weapons, and offered militants amnesty to encourage desertion from Al Qaeda.

“In Saudi Arabia, the violence subsided to the level of zero, one, or two [operations] per year after 2006 and the organization didn’t produce any more propaganda," adds Mr. Hegghammer.

The irony of the success of the Saudi program is that Saudi militants have moved to Yemen. In January 2009, six years after the Saudis bolstered their counterterrorism offensive, the Saudi and Yemeni branches of Al Qaeda joined forces under the new name Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and made Yemen their base.

“As the security environment in Saudi Arabia has gotten less permissive, these guys will relocate,” says Christopher Boucek, associate at the Carnegie Middle East program in Washington.

Measuring success in either country comes down to “what the militants say and what the militants do,” says Hegghammer. “In Yemen ... Al Qaeda is still carrying out operations at the rate of tens [of] attacks per year and is very active in producing propaganda, so [Yemen has] a long way to go.”



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Sources: CNN, Christian Science Monitor, Yemen Today, Google Maps

Yemeni Authorities Arrest Woman Involved In U.S. Terror Plot

Yemeni Forces Arrest Woman Believed Linked To Plot


A woman believed to be connected to a plot to send explosive packages bound for the United States has been arrested in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, according to a Yemeni government official and a reporter with the state news agency.

Authorities have scrambled to find those responsible for sending two suspicious packages that were found in the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told CNN that the plan to send explosives on a flight to the United States has the "hallmarks of al Qaeda."

Yemen has become a key battleground for al Qaeda since a local affiliate calling itself al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was established in 2009.

One of the packages was discovered at Britain's East Midlands airport containing "viable explosives" that could have brought down an aircraft upon detonation, British Home Secretary Theresa May said Saturday.

"We believe that the device was designed to go off on the airplane," said Prime Minister David Cameron. "We cannot be sure about the timing when that was meant to take place.There is no early evidence that that was meant to take place over British soil, but of course we cannot rule it out."

The preliminary U.K. investigation indicates that the target may have been an aircraft, May said, but authorities do not believe the perpetrators would have known the location of the device had they detonated it.

May said that there is no indication of any other attack on British soil, and the threat level in the United Kingdom remains unchanged at severe.

All the packages from Yemen that authorities were looking for have been found and did not pose a threat, a U.S. law enforcement official said.

The suspected terror plot involved two suspicious packages found abroad, addressed to Jewish organizations in the United States, that contained considerable amounts of explosive material.

President Barack Obama confirmed that the packages originated in Yemen.

"We also know that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ... continues to plan attacks against our homeland, our citizens, and our friends and allies," he said during a press briefing on the incident Friday.

"Initial examination of those packages has determined they do apparently contain explosive material," Obama said.

The devices were "professionally" loaded and connected using an electric circuit to a mobile phone chip tucked in a printer, Dubai police told WAM, the official news agency for the United Arab Emirates.

They were packed in toner cartridges and designed to be detonated by a cell phone, a source close to the investigation told CNN.



Police said they were tipped off about the possibility of an explosive device in postal packages onboard a FedEx flight to Dubai. The device had been shipped first from the Yemeni capital of Sanaa to Doha, Qatar, on a Qatar Airways flight, the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority said Saturday.

The Saudi government provided U.S. officials with tracking numbers of the two packages, enabling quick tracing to the United Kingdom and Dubai, a source told CNN.

"We know that the perpetrators of this -- and it has the hallmarks of al Qaeda, the AQAP -- they are constantly trying things to test our system," Napolitano said, referring to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

"What happened is you have great information sharing from the Saudis," Napolitano said Saturday. "We were immediately able to work across the globe to get these packages segregated."

Pressed by CNN's T.J. Holmes on whether the United States would have known about the plot had it not been for the Saudis, she said, "We certainly got the heads-up from the Saudis."

"I don't want to go into other intelligence," she said. "That would be inappropriate. I don't play the 'what if' game. What if the Saudis hadn't told us? We share information. We share information like this across the globe. The ability for passengers to travel safely is a global issue and all countries of the world need to be involved here."

Obama thanked King Abdullah on Saturday for Saudi Arabia's key role in disrupting the plot, the White House said.

Cameron, meanwhile, lauded the cooperation among several countries and said Britain has banned packages to and from Yemen.

Mohammed Albasha, a Yemen Embassy spokesman in Washington, said no UPS or FedEx flights take off or land in Yemen. He said his government is investigating, but it was too early to speculate or reach any conclusions.

Yemen is cooperating with regional and international partners, including the United States and the United Kingdom, the spokesman said.

A Yemeni government official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said Saturday that police would close UPS and FedEx offices in the country as part of the investigation. Packages bound to the United States from Yemen "are being inspected and scrutinized as part of the investigation," the official said.

He said workers at local UPS and FedEx offices were questioned, as were other cargo workers.

Obama's presidential counterterrorism advisor John Brennan spoke to Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh, stressing "the importance of close counterterrorism cooperation, including the need to work together on the ongoing investigation into the events over the past few days," according to the White House.

The package found at East Midlands Airport contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge and had white powder on it as well as wires and a circuit board, a law enforcement source said Friday. A similar package set to be shipped on a FedEx cargo plane was discovered in Dubai, officials there said.

The source close to the investigation said the type of material found in the devices was PETN, a highly explosive organic compound belonging to the same chemical family as nitroglycerin. Six grams of PETN are enough to blow a hole in the fuselage of an aircraft.

PETN was allegedly one of the components of the bomb concealed by Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to set off an explosion aboard a Northwest Airlines flight as it approached Detroit, Michigan, on December 25.

AbdulMutallab is alleged to have been carrying 80 grams of PETN in that botched attack -- also believed to be the workings of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

By comparison, the source said the two devices found Friday contained multiple times more PETN.

"The quantity of PETN in these devices was about five times the volume used at Christmas" by AbdulMutallab, Col. Richard Kemp, the former chairman of the British government's Cobra Intelligence Group, told CNN affiliate ITN. The plot "does appear to be a typical al Qaeda-type operation," he said, agreeing that an explosion could have brought down an aircraft.

A source closely involved in the investigation said the detonating substance was Lead Azide. Lead Azide is a "very powerful initiator" which is easily prepared and is a standard substance in detonations, the source said.

Kemp said al Qaeda remains intent on carrying out a "spectacular attack" comparable to the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. soil.

Both packages bore addresses in the United States, "specifically two places of Jewish worship in Chicago," Obama said.

The packages led to increased searches of cargo planes and trucks in several U.S. cities, said law enforcement sources with detailed knowledge of the investigation.

White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said that "the materials that were found and the device that was discovered were intended to do harm."

The Transportation Security Administration on Friday stopped all packages originating from Yemen, and shipping companies UPS, FedEx and DHL all said they were complying with the order. May said Saturday that all cargo into or through the United Kingdom originating in Yemen was halted as well.

The U.S. Postal Service announced it has temporarily suspended acceptance of inbound international mail originating in Yemen.

Counterterrorism officials are taking the threat "very seriously," Obama said. The Department of Homeland Security said it has taken measures to intensify security.

"We have put in place enhanced protections for cargo and passengers emanating from Yemen and making sure we identify all packages coming from there," Napolitano said Saturday. She stressed that officials are acting out of "an abundance of caution."

A security expert in the United Arab Emirates noted that Dubai is under major pressure as the main cargo center in the region. Dubai has a system that re-screens every parcel, even if it is not the final destination for the package, said Mustafa Al Ani, security director at the Gulf Research Center.

"The investigation about the bomb is global -- it's not just about Dubai," he told CNN. Still, Al Ani pointed out that it took "a very short time" for UAE officials to discover the device once they received intelligence.

"Without information or intelligence, such explosives are very difficult to detect," he said.



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Sources: CNN, MSNBC, Telegraph.co.uk, Google Maps

Chicago Jewish Center Target Of Al-Qaeda Terror Plot

Chicago Synagogues On Alert After Suspicious Devices Found On Planes


Cargo planes and trucks in several U.S. cities were inspected Friday after investigators found suspicious packages in at least two locations abroad, said law enforcement sources with detailed knowledge of the investigation.

U.S. officials believe that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, commonly referred to as AQAP, is behind the incident.

One suspicious package, found in the United Kingdom, contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge but tested negative for explosive material, the source said. It led to heightened inspection of arriving cargo flights in Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a UPS truck in New York.

The package had white powder on it as well as wires and a circuit board, a law enforcement source said; someone shipped it from Sanaa, Yemen, with a final destination of Chicago, Illinois. A similar package has been discovered in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, the source said.

Authorities were looking for about 13 other packages shipped from Yemen, a law enforcement source said. Some of them have been found and an investigation of those has not indicated they are a threat, the source said.

There is no specific intelligence indicating the other packages are a threat or that they are in the United States, the source said, but authorities want to check them as a precaution.

A Yemeni diplomat in Washington said his government has opened a full-scale investigation into the incident but it was too early to speculate or reach any conclusions.

Investigators were looking for a "possible nexus to terrorism," a U.S. official said.

"We are taking this very seriously," the official said.

The plot could be a dry run to test Western security, another official told CNN.

The Department of Homeland Security said it "had taken a number of steps to enhance security," including "heightened cargo screening and additional security at airports."

"Passengers should continue to expect an unpredictable mix of security layers that include explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology, canine teams and pat downs, among others," DHS said in a statement. "As always, we remind the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to local law enforcement."

Some Jewish religious leaders in Chicago were alerted Friday, said Linda Haase, spokeswoman for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.

"We were notified about this earlier this morning," she said. "We are taking appropriate precautions and we are advising local synagogues to do the same."

Lucille Price, a receptionist at Anshe Emet Synagogue, said Chicago police made them aware of the reports and asked them to keep an eye out for suspicious packages among any deliveries that arrived Friday.

But congregation leaders at two prominent Chicago synagogues, Temple Sholom and Chicago Sinai Congregation, told CNN they were not made aware of any attempts to ship bombs or hazardous material to them.

In the United Kingdom, police were investigating the suspicious package at a freight distribution center at East Midlands Airport, about 100 miles north of London, said airport spokesman Russell Craig. U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May said the package, which originated in Yemen and was addressed to a U.S. destination, was discovered during a search of a cargo flight. The package is being examined, she said.

May sought to assure Britons that "safety and security of the U.K." is her top priority.

"We are urgently considering what steps need to be put in place regarding security of freight originating from Yemen," she said. "For security reasons there are currently no direct flights from Yemen to the U.K."

She added that "at this stage there is nothing to suggest that any location in the U.K. was being targeted."

Meanwhile, U.S. authorities seemed most focused on inspecting cargo planes.

Investigators examined two UPS planes that landed at Philadelphia International Airport and another at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, said Mike Mangeot, a UPS spokesman. Authorities later gave the "all-clear" at the airport in Newark, U.S. and U.K. officials said.

Authorities are focusing on flights coming from Yemen into the United States, according to the source.

In Philadelphia, six packages from Yemen were found aboard the two UPS planes that were sitting on the tarmac, said a law

enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. Though there was no specific threat related to the two planes, U.S. authorities said they decided to check the cargo to be extra cautious, the source said.

All cargo on the planes was to be inspected, even packages that did not originate in Yemen, a process that will take several hours, the source said

Hazardous material teams were using mobile equipment to check for biological, radioactive and chemical material as well as explosives, the source said.

One plane was parked in a remote area of the airport, by Gate 11. The other was near the UPS terminal, which is far from the passenger terminal.

The Transportation and Security Administration said authorities acted "out of an abundance of caution."

UPS said it is cooperating with authorities, and its shipment is being removed from the aircraft.

In Newark, investigators examined another UPS plane, Mangeot said. Police determined that there was no threat.

In New York, the bomb squad responded to a report of a suspected explosive device inside a package aboard a UPS truck, said deputy police commissioner Paul Browne. Police later concluded that the truck at the Metro Tech Center facility contained nothing harmful.





Explosive Devices On cargo Jets Trigger Terror Alert


Two suspicious packages were found on U.S.-bound cargo flights from Yemen overnight, the White House said Friday, triggering searches of other cargo flights that had landed in the U.S. and an investigation into whether al-Qaida was behind a new terror plot.

Sources told NBC News that both packages contained toner cartridges with wires and white powder. An official in Dubai, where one cartridge was found, said it was an "explosive device."

"The president was notified of a potential terrorist threat on Thursday night at 10:30," the White House said in a statement. President Barack Obama was to make a statement at 4:15 p.m. ET, and msnbc.com will carry it live.

Homeland Security said in a statement it was taking new measures, "including heightened cargo screening and additional security at airports."

The devices were found aboard U.S.-bound cargo planes in Britain and Dubai.

A law enforcement official told NBC that the two packages were addressed to a synagogue and a Jewish community center in Chicago.

One U.S. official said authorities are investigating whether the incident was a dry run for a plot to send bombs through the mail delivery system.

Yemen is the home of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the offshoot branch that claimed responsibility for an attempted bombing of a U.S.-bound airliner last Christmas.

Test results for explosives were negative on the cartridge found in Britain, one law enforcement official said. The UPS cargo flight had been bound for Chicago but was at a British airport during a routine stopover when the cartridge was spotted.

Officials found the suspicious item during basic security screening.

In Chicago, synagogues were warned to be on alert Friday.

"We were notified this morning that synagogues should be on the alert," Linda Haase, associate vice president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, told Reuters. "We are taking appropriate precautions and are advising local synagogues to do likewise."

TSA issues alert

The Transportation Security Administration earlier said that cargo flights that landed safely at Newark and Philadelphia airports were being searched after "reports of potentially suspicious items onboard."

"Out of an abundance of caution the planes were moved to a remote location where they are being met by law enforcement officials and swept," TSA added.

Two jets in Philadelphia belonging to UPS were searched. A federal law enforcement official told the AP that nothing suspicious was found.

The flight that landed at Newark, N.J., also was a UPS cargo jet. After the jet was searched, officials gave the all clear.

In New York, an Emirates commercial flight arrived from Dubai around 3:30 p.m. ET and was also being searched as a precaution.

The flight is carrying one of some 15 packages from Yemen that the U.S. wants to inspect, WNBC said.

"This is only because there is cargo from Yemen on the flight," said FBI spokesman Richard Kolko. "There is no known threat associated with this cargo or this flight."

Earlier Friday, a UPS truck was searched and then cleared in Brooklyn.

Al-Qaida active in Yemen

The United States has stepped up its training, intelligence and military aid to Yemen after the failed Christmas Day plot, for which the Yemeni wing of al-Qaida claimed responsibility.

The accused Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has told U.S. investigators he received the explosive device and training from al-Qaida militants in Yemen.

Yemen has been trying to quell a resurgent branch of al-Qaida, which has stepped up attacks on Western and government targets in the Arabian Peninsula country.


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Sources: ABC News, CNN, MSNBC, Telegraph.co.uk, Google Maps

FBI Arrest 3 Suspects Connected With Faisal Shahzad

Cash Couriers Target of Northeast Raids, Source Says


Raids by Federal Agents in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey on Thursday are focused on a system of "cash couriers" who bring money into the United States from overseas, a source close to the investigation said.

Three people were taken into custody, according to a U.S. official -- two in Massachusetts and a third in Maine. A statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that three people were taken into custody on alleged immigration violations, but provided no further details.

All three are from Pakistan, according to a U.S. official. One is a so-called "visa overstay." Another was in the process of being removed from the United States, but had not yet been ordered removed, as he was attempting to adjust his status so that he could stay in the country, the official said.

A federal law enforcement source said the initial two detained were connected to the case, but said they were "collateral" in the sense that they may not have had direct knowledge of or input into the Times Square plot.

Investigators searched locations in and around Boston, Massachusetts, and in New York and New Jersey, a federal law enforcement source said.

Two locations on Long Island were among the targets of the raids, a federal law enforcement source told CNN. The FBI executed search warrants at both locations in Suffolk County, New York, in eastern Long Island, the source said. Tim Motz, a Suffolk County Police spokesman, said officers from that department were assisting federal agents. No arrests had been made.

Some of the money allegedly ferried by the cash couriers is thought to have been made available to finance operations like the abortive Times Square attack. The source close to the investigation said two individuals have been under surveillance at least since Wednesday, but could not confirm that they were two of the three individuals arrested in the raids.

The source said there is no direct evidence connecting those under surveillance to the Times Square attempted bombing, but they are being investigated for possible links.

"These searches are the product of evidence that has been gathered in the investigation since the attempted Times Square bombing and do not relate to any known immediate threat to the public or active plot against the United States," Attorney General Eric Holder told the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. "I share that information just to indicate that this is an ongoing investigation and that we are actively pursuing all those who were involved in it."

One of the searches took place in Watertown, Massachusetts, according to a federal law enforcement official. CNN affiliate WCVB-TV reported that two people were taken into custody in Watertown.

A Watertown resident who lives near the home where the search warrant was executed told WCVB he was sitting in his living room watching television at about 6 a.m. when he "heard an FBI agent scream, saying 'Don't move' or 'Put your hands up,' something like that."

"I thought I was dreaming, actually, because in a small town, who would think, you know, that you'd hear an FBI person?" said the man, who did not give his name in the interview posted on WCVB's website.

When he looked out the window, he said, he saw 15 or 20 FBI agents lined up, with their guns drawn and pointing at the house. He said after a few minutes, a couple of agents went inside the house. "I was expecting to hear gunshots or something, you know, but there wasn't ever any gunshots," he said.

After a few minutes, agents brought a man out in shackles, put him in a car and drove away, the man said. He said he'd never seen the man before, but noted that new residents have moved into the home every few years.

Photos from Watertown showed yellow police crime scene tape around a large white Colonial-style house. The photos were taken by WickedLocal.com, a local news website.

One photo showed a man in an FBI shirt talking with two other men. Another showed a man walking out of the house holding a plastic bag that appeared to contain an electronic or computer-related device or accessory.

Another search unfolded in Brookline, Massachusetts, where police were helping the FBI search a Mobil gas station on Harvard Street, said Lt. Philip Harrington of the Brookline Police Department.

Video from CNN affiliate WHDH-TV of Boston showed apparent law enforcement officers at the gas station. They were examining a parked gray four-door sedan, its two front doors and trunk open.

Diane Chung, who manages a Japanese fusion restaurant across from the gas station, said investigators were swarming the scene when she got to the restaurant around 9:30 a.m. She said the gas station was completely blocked off.

She said she hadn't seen authorities bringing anyone out of the gas station and hasn't seen them enter any other businesses in the area.

Michael Sobelman, owner of Michael's Deli on Harvard Street, took a stroll down the street to check out what he said was rare commotion along the retail and commercial stretch.

"You can see them taking stuff out," he said. "You'd never have thunk something like this is going on."

News media and police packed the area as three or four helicopters hovered over the scene. Sobelman said he saw the FBI load vehicles with material from the gas station.

"I'm shocked that it could happen in an affluent community like this," Sobelman said. "I tip my hat to the FBI and praise them for their work and their diligence and looking behind the scenes into everything."

A search warrant was also being executed at a home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, according to J.J. Klaver, FBI spokesman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. No one was in custody. A federal law enforcement source told CNN raids were also being conducted at a business called Prompt Printing in Camden, New Jersey. The home in Cherry Hill was believed to be that of the shop's owner, the source said.

Shahzad, a 30-year-old Pakistani American, is the only person charged in the May 1 attempted bombing at Times Square.

He was arrested while trying to fly out of New York two days after he allegedly attempted to set off a car bomb in the always-crowded tourist hotspot. The bomb failed to detonate.

Shahzad has been charged with five counts in connection with the case.

According to court documents, he admitted to law enforcement officials that he attempted to detonate the bomb and that he recently received bomb-making training in the Waziristan region of Pakistan.

Court documents also said that Shahzad returned to the United States via a one-way ticket from Pakistan on February 3. He had told immigration officials upon his return that he had been visiting his parents in Pakistan for the previous five months, the complaint said.

Holder said Shahzad was working with the Pakistani Taliban.


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Sources: CNN, NY Daily News, Google Maps

Eric Holder Mirandizes Faisal Shahzad After NYC Terror Plot

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AG Eric Holder Defends Decision To Mirandize NYC Suspect


U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder rejected on Thursday the notion that the investigation into the Times Square bombing case was hindered when authorities informed suspect Faisal Shahzad that he could not be forced to incriminate himself and he has a right to a lawyer. Holder told Congress that Shahzad's cooperation is continuing, and he has provided useful information.

Holder's assertions to a Senate appropriations subcommittee marked a sharp change in tone to the attorney general's recent appearances on Capitol Hill, where he has faced tough questions about his performance.

With what appears to be a success in the Shahzad case, Holder said, "We will continue to pursue a number of leads as we gather intelligence relating to this attempted attack."

"Mr. Shahzad is in fact continuing to cooperate with us," has provided useful information and if convicted, faces a potential life sentence in prison, Holder said.

"There is simply no higher priority than disrupting potential attacks and bringing those who plot them to justice," the attorney general said.


‘Got what they needed’

Separately, a senior U.S. intelligence official said that before investigators read Shahzad his rights, "they got what they needed."

Chief among their check list of questions: finding out whether other imminent attacks were planned, or other operatives assisted Shahzad. After nearly eight hours of questioning, investigators read Shahzad his Miranda rights, so whatever resulted from the subsequent questioning could be used in a future court case.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, the intelligence official said lessons learned in the handling of Dec. 25 bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab case paid off, with a team being brought in immediately to handle the questioning and decide whether and when to read the suspect his rights.

The official credited this with producing the muted response from Capitol Hill, compared to the outcry from Congress over the handling of Abdulmutallab.

At the Senate hearing, Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski did raise an issue that has come up in the Shahzad case, that the suspect was able to get aboard an airliner before being arrested, even though investigators already placed had his name on a no-fly list.

The issue "to me is like chalk on a blackboard," said Mikulski.

Emirates airline apparently did not notice the notification from the Transportation Security Administration that Shahzad's name had been added to the list, and Shahzad boarded the Middle East-bound jetliner before federal authorities pulled him off and arrested him.

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‘I am never satisfied’

On Wednesday, the government issued a new requirement for airlines to check the no-fly list more often, a move aimed at closing that security gap in future cases of terror suspects.

"I suspect we would have detected him earlier" had the change already been in effect, Holder said, marking the one aspect of the Shahzad case on which the attorney general conceded a shortcoming.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski focused on the no-fly list problem in the apprehension of Shahzad, prompting Holder to declare that "I am never satisfied, even in an operation like this one" that was successful.

The arrest of Shahzad has provided an opportunity for the attorney general and the Obama administration to display a success in the fight against terror following Holder's ill-fated decision last year to put self-declared Sept. 11 attack mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four accused co-conspirators on trial in New York. The White House stopped that effort.

Democrats at the hearing praised Holder for law enforcement's performance on the Shahzad case.

"It was pretty remarkable to see all the pieces come together," said Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, also a Democrat.

Mikulski called it "amazing" that Shahzad had been taken into custody Monday night in such a short time after the Saturday evening bombing attempt.

Holder cited an earlier thwarted plot to bomb New York City's subway system, in which a key participant, Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty to terrorism violations.

The Shahzad and Zazi cases reflect "exemplary investigative efforts" by federal agents, law enforcement officers and Justice Department prosecutors, the attorney general said in his prepared remarks.



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