Who Is Targeting The U.S. Electrical Grid?

Powering up: The U.S. electricity seen as never before, with its cities connected through a vast network. Daily Mail

Report: U.S. Electric Grid ‘Inherently Vulnerable’ To Sabotage -- Washington Free Beacon

Multiple unreported incidents raise security concerns

Electric grid compounds across the country have faced an uptick in unauthorized intrusions by unknown individuals, causing concern that the U.S. grid is “inherently vulnerable” to widespread sabotage, according to a recent oversight report issued by New Jersey’s Regional Operations Intelligence Center (ROIC), which monitors the threat level.

Following at least eight “reports of intrusions at electrical grid facilities in New Jersey” from October 2013 until January 2014, the ROIC’s Intelligence & Analysis Threat Unit issued a report warning that the U.S. electrical grid is “inherently vulnerable” to attacks that could wipe out power across large swaths of the country.

The ROIC report, released in late February, is marked as “unclassified” but designated “for official use only.” New Jersey State Police Spokesman Trooper Jeff Flynn confirmed that a report of this nature had been commissioned by ROIC when contacted by the Washington Free Beacon.

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My Comment: To protect the grid from sabotage and vandalism is next to impossible. On a positive note .... even terrorists need electricity, and they are not going to cut-off what they need.

U.S. Military Now A Target For Homegrown Islamic Terrorists

Homegrown Islamic Terror 'Severe' Threat to U.S. Military at Home: Report -- ABC News

Homegrown Islamic terrorists -- possibly including radicalized American soldiers -- who target U.S. military communities in the homeland are a "severe and emerging threat," according to a new Congressional report.

The report, released by the staff of Rep. Peter King, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, says there have been at least 33 "threats, plots and strikes" against U.S. military communities since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and the likelihood of another deadly attack by "militant Islamists" is a "severe threat."

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More News On Homegrown Terrorists Targeting The US Military

Terrorists said to be infiltrating military -- Washington Times
Military communities ‘most sought-after’ target for terrorists in US, says GOP -- The Hill
US military a prime 'target' for home-grown terrorists -- AFP
Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee sees internal threats to military -- Politico
Rep. King’s fourth Muslim-American radicalization hearing to focus on military -- The Hill
DoD official: Military is top target for terror -- Air Force Times

My Comment: In the past I would have been skeptical of such reports .... but after the Fort Hood massacre it is now hard to discount these threats.

The King Hearings On Radical Islam In America Underway

Witnesses at King Hearing Say America 'Failing' to Confront Radical Islam -- FOX News

Witnesses at a high-profile congressional hearing on Islamic radicalization said Thursday that America is "failing" to confront the threat posed by homegrown extremism, as lawmakers traded accusations over whether the inquiry unfairly singled out Muslims.

Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, said "paralysis" over the issue has seized the nation's leaders and he urged the Muslim community to confront what he called an "exponential increase" in the number of Muslim radicals in the United States.

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More News On The King Hearings On Radical Islam

Peter King warns al-Qaeda recruting US Muslims -- BBC
Lawmaker urges Muslims to combat radicalization -- Yahoo News/Reuters
New York Lawmaker King Defends Muslim Hearing as Needed to Probe Al-Qaeda -- Bloomberg
Peter King tempers rhetoric on Muslims as congressional hearing gets underway -- Washington Post
King: 'Rage and hysteria' over hearing unwarranted -- Yahoo News/AP
Rep. Peter King opens Muslim 'radicalization' hearing, saying it 'must go forward' -- L.A. Times
King Defends Domestic Terrorism Hearing -- New York Times
Peter King: I won't "surrender to political correctness" -- CBS News
Hearing on Muslims Becomes Emotionally Charged -- Wall Street Journal
Emotions run high at congressional hearings on Muslims -- USA Today
Experts, Muslims worry about fallout from hearing on radicalization -- CNN
As hearings begin, Peter King reveals threat against him -- Politico
Homegrown Islamic radicalization: Worth studying -- Washington Post editorial
Who's testifying at controversial House hearing on radical Islam in US? -- Christian Science Monitor

Canadian Jihadists Training In Pakistan

Canadian Jihadists Training In North Waziristan: Report -- Long War Journal

Several Canadians seeking to wage jihad against the West are training at camps in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, according to a report from the region.

Twelve Canadians who entered Afghanistan in February 2010 and fought against Coalition and Afghan forces there for nine months have been transferred to North Waziristan for more advanced training, a Pakistani Taliban leader told the Asia Times. Al Qaeda recruited the Canadians to carry out attacks in their home country.

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More News On Canadians Training In Al Qaeda Camps

Canadian militants training for jihad: reports -- CTV News
Canadians taking al-Qaida training in Pakistan: Report -- Vancouver Sun/Post Media News
RCMP probes claims Cdns training for jihad -- Toronto Sun
Report: Al-Qaeda Training Canadian Muslim Converts to Unleash Wave of Terror Attacks on Canada… -- Weasel Zippers
Canadians getting training for jihad in al Qaeda camp near Afghan-Pak border -- Samaylive.com
Police probes claims of locals training with al-Qaeda -- AFP
12 Canadians training for jihad in Pakistani terror camp -- Times Of India

US Home-Grown Terrorists 'A Global Threat'

US Home-Grown Terrorists 'A Global Threat', Warns Congresswoman -- The Telegraph

America's home-grown terrorists are now a 'global threat' and the US should look to Europe to learn how to deal with the problem, a prominent US congresswoman has warned Barack Obama.

In a letter to the president, Sue Myrick, a member of the House of Representatives select committee on intelligence, says that America is for the first time exporting Islamist terrorism.

She accuses the US of complacency in dealing with the issue and says the country in "far behind" Europe in having measures in place to deal with the growing problem of the radicalisation of young men and their willingness to carry out terror attacks.

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My Comment: The U.S. has been very lucky in stopping these home-grown terrorist plots .... but no one is expecting this luck to continue.

Rise In Homegrown Terror Threats Concerns US Counterterrorism Officials

Significant Developments In Terror Threats Since 9/11, Officials Say -- ABC News

Napolitano, Mueller, Leiter Discuss Increased Tempo of Attacks Against U.S.

The nation's top counterterrorism officials were blunt. The threat from within---of Americans willing to commit terrorist acts--- is growing. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told a congressional hearing today that a spike in recent terrorism cases is direct evidence of the evolving threat.

"Groups affiliated with al Qaeda are now actively targeting the United States and looking to use Americans or Westerners who are able to remain undetected by heightened security measures," Mueller said. "It appears domestic extremism and radicalization appears to have become more pronounced based on the number of disruptions and incidents."

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More News On The Growth Of Homegrown Terrorism

Risk of small-scale attacks by al-Qaeda and its allies is rising, officials say -- Washington Post
Washington struggling to rein in increasing homegrown terrorism -- The Hill
Terrorist plots becoming harder to detect warns US -- The Telegraph
Officials: Terrorism Threats Increasingly Come from Within US -- Voice of America
US Congress warned of home-grown terrorism threat -- BBC
US terror threats 'more complex' -- Al Jazeera
3 govt officials: Homegrown terrorists troubling -- AP
U.S. officials sound alarm on home-grown terrorism -- Xinhuanet

The U.S. Is Unprepared To Confront Homegrown Terrorism

U.S. Has 'No Strategy' to Confront Homegrown Terror, Security Group Warns -- FOX News

The United States has failed to anticipate the danger from homegrown terrorists and now faces the most complex set of threats since the Sept. 11 attacks, analysts on an organization headed by the two 9/11 Commission co-chairmen warned Friday.

Unveiling a new report a day before the nation marks nine years since the 2001 attacks, members of the National Security Preparedness Group said Al Qaeda and other terror groups are increasingly turning to U.S. citizens to carry out attacks on the United States. Though the U.S. at one time may have thought its cultural "melting pot" would provide a "firewall" against radicalization from within, group member Bruce Hoffman said that assumption turned out to be false.

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More News On Homegrown Terrorist Threats

Terror Threat More Diverse, Study Says -- Wall Street Journal
Report: Homegrown Terrorists Pose Biggest Threat -- NPR
Sober Reading: Threat Of Homegrown Terrorists -- NPR
US faces growing homegrown terror threat: report -- AFP
The Terrorists Are Coming From Inside the Country! American Citizens Now Our Biggest Threat -- New York Magazine
US 'failing to identify domestic terrorism' -- The Australian/AP
New report upends "homegrown terror" assumptions -- Salon
Al-Shabab, Minneapolis Somali youth highlighted in new terrorism report -- Minnesota Independent
Report: US must deal with domestic radical problem -- Real Clear Politics

My Comment: The full report from the Bipartisan Policy Center's National Security Preparedness Group can be read here.

Your Saturday Morning Chill -- America Is Teeming With 20,000 Terrorists

From Investor Business Daily:

Homeland Security: Forced to defend its growing terrorist watch list, the FBI let slip a chilling fact that should silence ACLU grumblers: America is teeming with 20,000 terrorists.

After 9/11, federal authorities estimated that as many as 5,000 terrorists were living in the U.S. The new figure is jarring not only because it's four times as large but because it's based on real persons, not estimates.

It's not something headquarters wanted to publicize. Officials had downplayed the threat so as not to spook the public. The spin had been that Britain has the homegrown problem, not us.

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My Comment: I travel a lot. Thank god my name is Eastern European and I have a Homer Simpson look.

Homegrown Terrorism Threats -- The List Of Organizations

Oklahoma City Bombing

From Counter Terrorism:

This is the second article in the series by Madeleine Gruen and Frank Hyland, portraying the seriousness of the threat of homegrown terrorism in the United States for readers of The Counterterrorism Blog.

In viewing the “landscape” of terrorism then, the many professionals who serve you by putting in long hours searching out threats do a good bit of “Threat Ranking.” An important criterion is whether the threatening group has the presence, the level of intention, and the capability to carry out its threat.

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My Comment: They have listed the following groups that present a clear and present danger to the United States:

1. Al-Qa’ida & Al-Qa’ida-Inspired Individuals or Groups
2. White Nationalist Groups
3. Lebanese Hizballah
4. Palestinian Islamic Jihad
5. HAMAS
6. Hizb ut-Tahrir
7. Muslim Brotherhood
8. USA General Store

This is a good list, and the order of importance is accurate. However, I would add the following to the list .... Foreign Government's that actively use/or have used their own organizations/agents to support terrorism as an element of their diplomacy.
They are .....
1) Iran
2) North Korea
3) Pakistan