Category: Expert Analysis

On Tuesday, Oct 15, Abu Anas al Libi, captured in Libya on Oct 5, was arraigned in federal court in New York.  He is believed to have been instrumental in the bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1998.  He has pleaded “not guilty” to terrorism charges, and his lawyer is claiming that […]

Author’s Note: This is the final instalment of a three-part series on AQAP in Yemen. Part I described the operating environment in Yemen, identified the basic capabilities and background information on AQAP, and summarized basic US counterterrorism efforts.  Part II highlighted the success of AQAP assassinations in Yemen, identified several E-TTPs, and discussed AQAP’s effect on US foreign policy. […]

Two of the best disruptive strategists in the modern era, TE Lawrence and COL. John Boyd, understood that a state of mind could defeat the mind of state, unless that state was prepared to adapt in unconventional ways and means. GEN Allenby got it, and let Lawrence create his own insurgency that became like an […]

Syria is becoming a new example of a phenomenon that has become known as “jihad terrorism:” the influx of foreign Muslims to Muslim-affiliated wars in order to take part, waging jihad against the enemy of the moment, in this case the Syrian government and their Hezbollah and Iranian backers. Jihad tourism is nothing new.  The […]

There is great cause for celebration within the organization.  Over the course of one week, al Shabaab has gone from an anemic group of Islamic radicals residing in relative obscurity, to an overnight terrorist powerhouse with global recognition. What happened within the organization to aid their rise to international prominence? Nothing. In fact, it is their […]

Please help me welcome our newest writer, and Army veteran Jeff Danovich. Jeff currently resides in the Baltimore/Washington Area with his wife and children.  Jeff recently finished up at The George Washington University, where he studied both Political Science and International Affairs. Also an Army veteran, Jeff has served in Northern Iraq with the 416th […]

We now have a list of some of the alleged terrorists behind the shopping mall massacre in Nairobi, Kenya.  The mall was apparently attacked because it was known to be frequented by Westerners.  The list of terrorists involved now in the media is preliminary and should not be taken at face value until confirmed. The […]

I’ve been seeing quite a bit of lionization of Vladimir Putin lately, by a lot of the same people who were up in arms last year about Obama’s hot mic comment to Dmitri Medvedev that he’d have “more flexibility” as regards to giving the Russians what they want (re: missile defense for our allies in […]

The purpose of this article is to provide a strategic framework for a possible US course of action regarding intervention in Syria.  The strategic-level framing was used in order to provide readers with the most all-encompassing perspective; while tactical-level knowledge may be useful for understanding various actor TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures), it does little […]

In June 2009, Gen Stanley McChrystal took over as the overall commander of US and ISAF forces in Afghanistan.  Shortly after he took command, he issued new ROEs aimed at helping US and ISAF forces win the hearts and minds of the locals.  This was supposed to herald a new phase of Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan.  […]

Face it, whatever decision is made by U.S. Congress concerning action to be or not to be taken in Syria, it will not be embraced whole heartedly by the American public. Obviously no decision like this one has ever been fully embraced–not even the invasion of Afghanistan after the attacks of 9/11. Really, I recall […]

If you read my previous post on The Case for Intervention in Syria, you have the commonly-ignored information necessary to understand the Syrian situation. What follows are the three reasons that it’s in our national interest to intervene in Syria, and the way forward in that country Deter Chemical Warfare Use Deterring chem use is […]