DTN News - YEMEN UNREST: Soldiers Defected To Anti-Government Side And Join Rally To Demand Prosecution Of Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh

DTN News - YEMEN UNREST: Soldiers Defected To Anti-Government Side And Join Rally To Demand Prosecution Of Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 23, 2012: A defected army soldier backing anti-government protesters pray on the bonnet of a military vehicle as they secure a street, where a rally to demand the prosecution of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa March 23, 2012.      (Photo - Reuters)

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/ 

DTN News - FUNDAMENTALS OF TERRORISM: Detection Points In The Terrorist Attack Cycle

DTN News - FUNDAMENTALS OF TERRORISM: Detection Points In The Terrorist Attack Cycle

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 1, 2012: Last week's Security Weekly discussed the fact that terrorism is a tactic used by many different classes of actors and that, while the perpetrators and tactics of terrorism may change in response to shifts in larger geopolitical cycles, these changes will never result in the end of terrorism. Since that analysis was written, there have been jihadist-related attacks in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Yemen and Pakistan, an assassination attempt against the president of Abkhazia, and a failed timed-incendiary attack against the Athens subway. (The latter incident, which militant anarchists claimed, reinforces that jihadists are not the only ones who practice terrorism.)

But while terrorism is a continuing concern, it can be understood, and measures can be taken to thwart terrorist plots and mitigate the effects of attacks. Perhaps the most important and fundamental point to understand about terrorism is that attacks do not appear out of nowhere. Individuals planning a terrorist attack follow a discernable cycle -- and that cycle and the behaviors associated with it can be observed if they are being looked for. We refer to these points where terrorism-related behavior can be most readily observed as vulnerabilities in the terrorist attack cycle.

The Attack Cycle

Many different actors can commit terrorist attacks, including sophisticated transnational terrorist groups like al Qaeda; regional militant groups like India's Maoist Naxalites; small, independent cells like the anarchists in Greece; and lone wolves like Oslo attacker Anders Breivik. There can be great variance in attack motives and in the time and process required to radicalize these different actors to the point that they decide to conduct a terrorist attack. But once any of these actors decides to launch an attack, there is remarkable similarity in the planning process.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2012/03/dtn-news-fundamentals-of-terrorism.html

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. Navy says Iran Prepares Suicide Bomb Boats In Gulf

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. Navy says Iran Prepares Suicide Bomb Boats In Gulf

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 12, 2012: Iran has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks, but the U.S. Navy can prevent it from blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the region said on Sunday.

Iran has made a series of threats in recent weeks to disrupt shipping in the Gulf or strike U.S. forces in retaliation if its oil trade is shut down by sanctions, or if its disputed nuclear program comes under attack.

"They have increased the number of submarines ... they increased the number of fast attack craft," Vice Admiral Mark Fox told reporters. "Some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. The Iranians have a large mine inventory."

 "We have watched with interest their development of long range rockets and short, medium and long range ballistic missiles and of course ... the development of their nuclear program," Fox, who heads the U.S. Fifth Fleet, said at a briefing on the fleet's base in the Gulf state of Bahrain.

Iran now has 10 small submarines, he said.

Military experts say the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet patrolling the Gulf - which always has at least one giant supercarrier accompanied by scores of jets and a fleet of frigates and destroyers - is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran's navy.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2012/02/dtn-news-defense-news-us-navy-says-iran.html

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. Navy says Iran Prepares Suicide Bomb Boats In Gulf

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. Navy says Iran Prepares Suicide Bomb Boats In Gulf

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 12, 2012: Iran has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks, but the U.S. Navy can prevent it from blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the region said on Sunday.

Iran has made a series of threats in recent weeks to disrupt shipping in the Gulf or strike U.S. forces in retaliation if its oil trade is shut down by sanctions, or if its disputed nuclear program comes under attack.

"They have increased the number of submarines ... they increased the number of fast attack craft," Vice Admiral Mark Fox told reporters. "Some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. The Iranians have a large mine inventory."

 "We have watched with interest their development of long range rockets and short, medium and long range ballistic missiles and of course ... the development of their nuclear program," Fox, who heads the U.S. Fifth Fleet, said at a briefing on the fleet's base in the Gulf state of Bahrain.

Iran now has 10 small submarines, he said.

Military experts say the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet patrolling the Gulf - which always has at least one giant supercarrier accompanied by scores of jets and a fleet of frigates and destroyers - is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran's navy.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2012/02/dtn-news-defense-news-us-navy-says-iran.html