ISIS vows attack on Washington; Brennan: more attacks coming; Paris ‘mastermind’ ID’d; Gitmo closure delayed; 5 detainees transferred to UAE; And a bit more.

The Islamic State just released a new video vowing a direct attack on Washington, D.C., Reuters reports this morning. The clip warns other countries dropping bombs in Syria that they will suffer the same fate as France with the Paris attacks. “The video, apparently released by an Iraqi sub-group calling itself Wilayat Kirkuk, used television footage showing Francois Hollande speaking and police operations in the wake of the shooting and suicide bombings that killed at least 129 people in Paris on Friday,” The Independent adds. The video featured a man “identified as Al Ghareeb the Algerian, [and] also warned Europe in the video that more attacks were coming.”

More attacks are possible. That’s what CIA Director John Brennan said during an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies this morning when asked if the ISIS attack on Paris was a one-off event. “I would anticipate that this is not the only operation that ISIL has in the pipeline,” Brennan said. “I do believe that this is something that we’re going to have to deal with for quite some time.”

“It is clear to me that ISIL has an external agenda, that they are determined to carry out these types of attacks,” he continued. “This is not something that was done in a matter of days. This is something that was deliberately and carefully planned over the course, I think, of several months.” That gave ISIS time to get the operatives, explosives and suicide belts.

Brennan said many attacks of the Paris scale are thwarted before they occur. He said the CIA works “very, very closely with our French partners” and he has “an exceptionally strong relationship with the heads of the external and internal services.”

European nations have had large numbers of people who have traveled to Syria and Iraq and back to Europe. “Their ability to monitor and surveil these individuals is under strain,” Brennan said. “It’s not a surprise that this attack was carried out from the standpoint of we did have strategic warning. We know that these plans, [and] plotting by ISIL was under way, looking at Europe in particular as the venue for carrying out these attacks.”

Operatives are adapting to keep their activities concealed from the authorities. “There are a lot of technological capabilities that are available right now that make it exceptionally difficult, both technically as well as legally, for intelligence and security services to have the insight they need to uncover it,” he said. Much more on the ISIS fight below the fold.

Five GITMO detainees transferred. Defense One had the scoop yesterday on a big move for the Obama administration's push to close Guantanamo: five Yemeni detainees were transferred from the U.S. military prison in Cuba to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday. The transfer of Ali Ahmad Muhammad al-Razihi, Khalid Abd-al-Jabbar Muhammad Uthman al-Qadasi, Adil Said al-Hajj Ubayd al-Busays, Sulayman Awad Bin Uqayl al-Nahdi, and Fahmi Salem Said al-Asani brings the total population to 107, with 48 more cleared to go. And it comes just days ahead of Obama signing the annual defense authorization bill, in which lawmakers extended existing restrictions and added new ones intended to freeze transfers into 2017. It also takes on a defiant tone amid preemptive political outcry over the Obama administration’s ever-imminent plan to close Guantanamo, which officials say will include a series of options for alternative sites in the U.S., and its refusal to rule out executive action to ultimately shutter the facility in Cuba.  More here.

Speaking of the GITMO closure plan — it's delayed. Again. And the hold up may have cost the Obama administration its most important ally for the push to close Guantanamo: Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz. “That gives you a pretty good sense of what we’re up against, right?" White House spokesman Josh Earnest quipped. "Even our friends on this issue are threatening lawsuits.” More here.


From Defense One

In Cuba, a U.S. Navy hospital ship is forging new bonds with America’s previously-cutoff southern neighbor, writes SOUTHCOM chief Gen. John Kelly and Rebecca Bill Chavez, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western Hemisphere affairs. Read all about the diplomacy at the heart of the USNS Comfort, here.

An emerging “drone hub” in upstate New York is making locals very nervous about surveillance — despite the regional gains to be made in putting people to work. The Atlantic’s Alana Samuels has the story, here.

Who wins in a cyber war with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea? Tucked away in the new defense authorization bill is a provision written by lawmakers demanding U.S. Cyber Command conduct simulated “war games” with the four nations after a series of high-profile hacks (like OPM and Sony) shook the U.S. government and civilian industry in recent months. NextGov’s Aliya Sternstein has more, here.

A country’s strength isn’t measured by how many bombs it drops, or how many armies it funds, argues The Atlantic’s Peter Beinart in a rebuttal of much of the GOP 2016 fray’s war-hungry foreign policy after last Tuesday’s debate. “Five of the candidates on the main stage, and everyone in the GOP’s undercard presidential debate, support a no-fly zone in Syria. Asked why, most of them said some variation of: We need to show Russia who’s boss,” he writes. “The chances that Syria’s moderate rebels could defeat Assad, defeat ISIS, rid themselves of their al-Qaeda-like allies, and create a stable, decent Syria are vanishingly slim. But for the hawks in the GOP field, this is almost beside the point. The point is to show that America still runs the Middle East.” More, here.

Welcome to the Monday edition of The D Brief, from Ben Watson, Marcus Weisgerber and Molly O’Toole. Tell your friends to subscribe here: http://get.defenseone.com/d-brief/. Want to see something different? Got news? Let us know: the-d-brief@defenseone.com.


France devoted much of Sunday to bombing ISIS HQ in Raqqa, Syria — an escalation previously dodged by U.S. warplanes. But now that French President Francois Hollande having galvanized his citizens under what he declared was an “act of war” by ISIS, French restraint in Syria is (temporarily) out the door.

France used 10 planes to drop 20 bombs on Raqqa, but both numbers are expected to quickly rise with the imminent arrival of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle — which holds an additional two-dozen aircraft, including “up to 12 Rafales and nine older Super Etendard fighters plus support planes,” The Daily Beast reported Sunday. “If France uses all of those airplanes it has aboard the Charles de Gaulle and based in the region, it could conceivably have more manned fighter and attack aircraft in the sky than the U.S. does. And those planes may be less constricted in their strikes.”

And this morning, the alleged mastermind of Friday’s attacks in Paris has been ID’d by French officials. Abdelhamid Abaaoud is now the terrorist du jour — a Belgian-born child of Moroccan immigrants who grew up in Brussels, according to the Associated Press.

He’s already believed have had a hand in the August attack on the “Paris-bound high-speed train that was foiled by three young Americans … and the other against a church in the French capital's suburbs,” AP reports. “Belgian authorities suspect him of also helping organize and finance a terror cell in the eastern city of Verviers that was broken up in an armed police raid on Jan. 15, in which two of his presumed accomplices were killed. The following month, Abaaoud was quoted by the Islamic State group's English-language magazine, Dabiq, as saying that he had secretly returned to Belgium to lead the terror cell and then escaped to Syria in the aftermath of the raid despite having his picture broadcast across the news.”

French authorities conducted whopping 168 raids overnight at the homes of suspected militants, with nearly two-dozen under arrest this morning. They also seized a cluster of arms, “including a rocket launcher and automatic weapons,” Reuters reports.

On the global stage — a seismic shift is underway to bring unprecedented force to bear on the Islamic State, and two of the chief beneficiaries could be the presidents of Russia and Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported. On the sidelines of Sunday’s Group of 20 meeting in Turkey, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin “agreed on a broad process for resolving the Syria war, White House officials said, with a noticeable shift to a less-critical tone regarding Russia’s military effort there.” Not that that means Obama is expected to shift the U.S. strategy of its limited troop engagement.

“We don’t believe that U.S. troops are the answer to the problem,” Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national-security adviser said. “Frankly, it’s more sustainable and effective to have opposition forces on the ground in Syria and partners in Iraq who are able to take back and hold this territory in their own communities.”

But the U.S. has expanded its intelligence-sharing with France in the wake of Friday’s attacks. Still, the problem with taking the wind out of ISIS’s sails remains the same lingering one it’s been since Syria’s civil war kicked off more than four years ago: “The more you support Assad the more you are getting on the wrong side of the Sunnis, and give them only one option — supporting Daesh,” said François Heisbourg, a leading French security specialist.

The U.S. is reportedly on the verge of a $1.3 billion sale of 13,000 smart bombs to the Saudis, Bloomberg reports. “The weapons include Joint Direct Attack Munitions with GPS satellite guidance from Chicago-based Boeing, one of the U.S.’s most precise weapons. The first JDAMs for sale to the kingdom were approved in 2008. Also included would be a resupply of Paveway laser-guided bombs that Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon first sold to the Saudis in 2011. The bombs are in part intended to replenish Saudi inventories expended in its air operations against Islamic State in Syria and rebels in Yemen.” More here.

Massachusetts armory: robbed. “The U.S. Army Reserve armory in Worcester, Massachusetts, was broken into Saturday night and more than a dozen guns were stolen,” TDB reported. The haul? “Six M4 assault rifles, 10 pistols, and several long guns (M-16s).” You’d think security at these places would be tighter these days. More here.

Lastly today — catch footage of French warplanes on their way to Raqqa here, or listen to the bombs fall via audio recorded by activists in Raqqa, here. Those activists — from the group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently — have done a pretty bang-up job tallying the hits around ISIS HQs in their Twitter feed, which you can scan right here.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.