Tag Archives: Bill Gertz

Jihadists in Our Own Backyard

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With Peter Wehner, Amb. John Herbst, Bill Gertz, Michael Braun

PETER WEHNER, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives:

  • Examining President Obama’s ideological preferences
  • Inherent contradictions within Islam
  • The Administration’s minimalist theme of armed intervention

AMB. JOHN HERBST, former US Ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan:

  • A sense of gloom looming over the political landscape in Kiev
  • Consequences of Putin’s goals for Ukraine
  • Three steps for deterring the Kremlin’s aggression

BILL GERTZ, Senior Editor of the Washington Free Beacon:

  • Syria’s role as a safe haven for the Khorasan Group and jihadists focused on transnational attacks
  • The Obama Administration’s decision to suspend the use of land mines against the advice of senior military officials
  • Clandestine cybersecurity talks between Chinese envoys and the State Department

MICHAEL BRAUN, Managing Partner at SGI Global and former DEA Chief of Operations:

  • Security challenges posed by the growing influence of Mexican drug cartels inside the U.S.
  • A potential terrorist-cartel alliance south of the border
  • The target rich environment that is America’s critical infrastructure

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ISIS’s New Threat is Anything But New

In a new release on Sunday from chief propagandist of the Islamic State (or Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham), Shaykh Abū Muhammad al-‘Adnānī ash-Shāmī called for Muslims everywhere to kill Westerners in whatever manner possible:

So O muwahhid wherever you may be, hinder those who want to harm your brothers and state  as much as you can. The best thing you can do is to strive to your best and kill any disbeliever, whether he be French, American, or from any of their allies.
{O you who have believed, take your precaution and [either] go forth in companies or go forth
all together} [An-Nisā’: 71].
If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him. Do not lack. Do not be contemptible. Let your slogan be, “May I not be saved if the cross worshipper and taghūt (ruler ruling by manmade laws) patron survives.”

If you are unable to do so, then burn his home, car, or business. Or destroy his crops.

This (admittedly brutal) call for the murder of Americans, and our allies, by any means necessary, has received substantial press, as does almost every statement issued by ISIS, thanks in part to their mastery of social media, and comes on the back of a plot by ISIS supporters to kidnap and behead random civilians, which was recently broken up by Australian security forces. Other online chatter from ISIS included discussion of targeting U.S. military personnel at their homes.

The reality, however is that there is nothing new of substance in this call for individual Muslims to undertake jihad with or without prior contact with ISIS or any other Jihadist terrorist entity. The same strategy has been employed  by Al Qaeda proper for several years, following the publication of their online terrorist manual, “the Lone Mujahid’s pocket book” and updated with monthly editions of Inspire Magazine, which contains instructions ranging from how to conduct arson to building pressure cooker explosives of the same kind used by the Boston marathon bombers.  The murderers of British Army drummer Lee Rigby cited some of the same koranic verses given as evidence by Adnani in their May 2013 beheading attack. The Center for Security Policy produced a lecture discussing the phenomenon in April 2013, where CSP Fellow and Shariah law specialist, Stephen Coughlin pointed out that during World War I, the last-sitting Ottoman Caliph issued an almost identical call for “individual jihad.”  As far back as 2006, Dr. Daniel Pipes coined the phrase “Sudden Jihad Syndrome” to refer to such incidents of terrorism from Muslims otherwise absent established terrorist connections, following the attempt by a Muslim man to run over fellow college students with a rented jeep  (presaging Adnani’s “run him over with your car” command).

Unfortunately the United States continues to be ill-prepared to address such a threat. As noted by veteran journalist Bill Gertz last week, the FBI continues to view jihadist terror solely through the matrix of “international” terrorism:

The FBI’s most recent national threat assessment for domestic terrorism makes no reference to Islamist terror threats, despite last year’s Boston Marathon bombing and the 2009 Fort Hood shooting—both carried out by radical Muslim Americans.

Instead, the internal FBI intelligence report concluded in its 2013 assessment published this month that the threat to U.S. internal security from extremists is limited to attacks and activities by eight types of domestic extremist movements—none motivated by radical Islam.

Far from innovative, the call by ISIS for believers to exercise the obligation, imposed by shariah, to target and kill “nonbelievers”, individually if necessary, is well within the established doctrines of jihad. And while it ought to go without saying that not all Muslims personally hold to such views, the call by Adnani for individual jihad remains doctrinally accurate, and legally permissible. Rather than attempting to disguise jihad as “workplace violence” or mental illness, only a strategy which accurately addresses the ideological threat posed by shariah will be effective in stopping ISIS, or Al Qaeda, or indeed the “lone” jihadist in the future.

 

Iraq’s Enduring Challenge

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With Rep. Jim Bridenstine, Rep. Mike Kelly, Bill Gertz

Rep. JIM BRIDENSTINE (OK-1), member of the House Armed Services Committee and House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology:

Part 1:

  • Barack Obama’s change in rhetoric on Iraq after he entered the 2008 presidential race
  • Is a new Authorization to Use Military Force necessary for fighting the Islamic State?
  • The uncharacteristic manner in which the 2011 Status of Forces Agreement for Iraq was pursued

Part 2:

  • The potential for the U.S. to cripple the Russian economy by exporting energy resources to Europe
  • Contrasting Vladimir Putin’s augmentation of Russia’s nuclear arsenal while the U.S.’s atrophies
  • Horrific realities if the U.S. electrical grid is compromised, and an unusually large solar storm expected to hit Earth this weekend

Rep. MIKE KELLY (PA-3), House Committee on Ways and Means member:

  • The proposed U.N. Arms Trade Treaty’s relationship to the 2nd Amendment and American strategy abroad
  • The Senate’s responsibility to protect the country from inadvisable international agreements
  • An upcoming conferences on the Arms Trade Treaty that bans opponents of the agreement from attending

BILL GERTZ, Senior Editor at the Washington Free Beacon:

  • ISIS’ threats to behead a third Westerner
  • Russia’s increasingly capable nuclear armament and willingness to employ it
  • China’s growing understanding of modern warfare and brinksmanship with U.S. flights

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Did the Cold War Ever Truly End?

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With Victor Davis Hanson, Bruce Weinrod, Bill Gertz, Olivier Guitta

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution:

  • Vladimir Putin’s ambition of ending the NATO Alliance
  • Are nuclear weapon capabilities still an effective deterrence to conflict?
  • President Obama’s increasingly isolationist foreign policy strategy
  • Differing views of immigrants and Congress on immigration reform

BRUCE WEINROD, Former Secretary of Defense Representative to Europe and Defense Advisor to the U.S. Mission NATO:

  • Is a contingency force of several thousand troops a useful deterrent against Vladimir Putin?
  • The atrophying of American strategic and tactical nuclear capabilities
  • Finding the political will to ensure that NATO is a credible alliance

BILL GERTZ, Senior Editor at The Washington Free Beacon:

  • The case of eleven Libyan commercial jetliners missing after an Al-Qaeda-linked group captured the Tripoli Airport
  • ‘Politicization of intelligence” in the Obama Administration
  • A new FBI report that omits radical Islam as a domestic terrorist threat
  • Concerns over Yemeni citizens training in the US to navigate oil tankers
  • Advances in Chinese and North Korean military technology that threaten the U.S. pivot to Asia
  • An FBI warning that Cuban intelligence is actively trying to recruit American assets, and especially liberal academics

OLIVIER GUITTA, a security and geopolitical risk expert on Africa and the Middle East:

  • The continued downward spiral of the Libyan state after the Western-backed overthrow of the Gaddafi regime
  • Threats stemming from the disappearance of 11 commercial jetliners in Libya
  • Special techniques used to recruit females into jihadist organizations

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Experts on Both Sides Agree: Budget Cuts Are Hurting Future U.S. Military

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With Roger Zakheim, Dr. Jarno Limnell, Daniel McGroarty, Bill Gertz

ROGER ZAKHEIM, Former General Counsel of the House Armed Services Committee:

  • Unprecedented changes made in the most recent Quadrennial Defense Review
  • Findings of the National Defense Panel’s critical review of the QDR
  • Ways to minimize the gap between the U.S. military’s mission and resources
  • Bringing back the “peace through strength” doctrine to American foreign policy

Dr. JARNO LIMNELL, Director of Cybersecurity at McAfee, a product of Intel:

  • Understanding cyber threats as the biggest indicator of worldwide security
  • The international community’s responsibility for the creation of proactive measures of cyber defense
  • Top three cyber threats facing the West today
  • Implications of the expected addition of cyber attacks to NATO’s Article V

DANIEL McGROARTY, Founder and Executive Director of the American Resources Policy Network:

  • Globalization’s impact on access to strategic metals
  • Titanium’s critical use in civilian and military aircraft, and problems with the U.S.’s heavy reliance on Russia and other foreign sources for it
  • Ways to move the U.S. away from depending on China for 90% of its supply of rare earth metals

BILL GERTZ, Senior Editor at the Washington Free Beacon:

  • Yesterday’s acknowledgment of Russian INF Treaty violations by a State Department official
  • Continuing efforts by the Obama Administration to move towards nuclear disarmament
  • Recent Chinese anti-satellite weapon development and ballistic missile testing

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“America: Imagine the World Without Her”

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With Dinesh D’Souza, Bill Gertz, Mark Krikorian

DINESH D’SOUZA, Author of America: Imagine the World Without Her

Part One:

  • What does Obama’s “remaking” of America entail?
  • Comparing the presidencies of Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter
  • Is this the end of an American era of global leadership?

Part Two:

  • Shifts in the Middle East caused by a diminished American presence
  • The Obama Doctrine
  • Threats to the U.S. Military created by globalization
  • Progressives’ criticism of American Exceptionalism
  • Looking at Hillary Clinton’s upcoming presidential nomination bid as a proxy “third term for Obama”

BILL GERTZ, Senior Editor at the Washington Free Beacon and “Inside the Ring” Columnist at the Washington Times

  • Strategic implications of Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty
  • DIA Director Lt. General Michael Flynn’s comments about the worldwide rise of jihadist ideology
  • Reports al Qaeda is possibly going to target America’s critical infrastructure
  • Suspicious Chinese behavior at the recent RIMPAC exercise

MARK KRIKORIAN, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies

  • Do the US and other democracies have the will to protect their own borders and sovereignty?
  • Senate and House attempts to respond to the illegal immigrant surge
  • Analyzing the chances of comprehensive immigration reform

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Evolving American-Japanese Relations Under The Looming Threat of China

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With Rep. Luke Messer, Lenny Ben-David, Bill Gertz, Fred Gedrich

Rep. Luke Messer (IN-6) discusses the relationship between the U.S. and Japan in light of increasingly aggressive behavior from China, and how under Obama’s leadership the U.S. might not be able or willing to come to calls of help from American allies in the region.

“Our allies are watching too and understand that, based on the leadership of this president, we may not be quick to help.”

On today’s show:

Rep. LUKE MESSER, Indiana’s 6th District:

  • Japan’s changing defense policy and the current US-Japanese relationship
  • Proposed IPO move to the U.S. Market by Alibaba, a company with known ties to the Chinese government
  • Israeli-American relations in light of the escalating violence between Israel and Hamas
LENNY BEN-DAVID, former Deputy Chief of Mission for Israel’s embassy in Washington, DC:
  • Hamas’s decision to order civilians to serve as human shields on houses identified as targets for Israeli air strikes
  • Evaluating the wisdom of relinquishing Gaza to the Palestinians
  • Questioning the notion that Fatah can be a viable partner for peace
  • The prospect for the use of ground forces to neutralize threats to Israel in Gaza
BILL GERTZ, of the Washington Free Beacon and Washington Times:
  • Rundown on two new parts to the Chinese military build up: Scramjet technology and a next generation nuclear attack submarine
  • Comments made by a US official indicating that the Chinese will be given access to US electric infrastructure
  • US policy towards Iraq and the Islamic State

FRED GEDRICH, foreign policy and national security analyst:

  • Threats of ballistic missiles to America’s homeland security
  • The successes and failures of missile defense in the U.S.
  • Credible threats of an EMP attack against the U.S.

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Asserting Leverage in the Iraqi Sectarian Crisis

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With John Hannah, Fred Fleitz, Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, and Bill Gertz

JOHN HANNAH, Former National Security Advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney:

  • Examining the likelihood of current negotiations actually curbing Iranian nuclear ambitions
  • Prospect of the Obama Administration and Iran conducting a constructive joint military action against the Islamic State
  • An argument that in the current Iraqi sectarian crisis, President Obama must assert his leverage against Iraqi and regional leaders

FRED FLEITZ, Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Policy:

  • Interpreting the failure to anticipate ISIS’ rise as a policy, rather than intelligence, problem
  • Concerns about Obama’s request for $500 million to train “moderate” Syrian rebels
  • Incoherence in the allies chosen by the United States on either side of the Iraq-Syria border
  • The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board’s findings regarding foreign electronic surveillance

Dr. PETER VINCENT PRY, former CIA and House Armed Services Committee Staff Member:

  • The Electric Infrastructure Security Council’s London Conference on threats to electrical grid capabilities
  • Physical attacks in San Jose, C.A., Nogales, A.Z., Mexico, and Yemen that show serious vulnerabilities of electric grids
  • Cyber-war against U.S./European electrical grids from the new ‘Dragon Fly’ computer worm
  • What are steps the U.S. can take to defend herself from the threats of tomorrow?

BILL GERTZ, of the Washington Times and Washington Free Beacon:

  • Predictions that the dismissal of a high-ranking general from the Communist Party may lead to further instability in the Chinese Government
  • Chinese military enhancement in the form of a new attack submarine and cyber-intelligence center
  • Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel meets with military Chiefs of Staff to combat threat from newly-created Islamic State

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The Border Crisis That President Obama Has Created

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With Bill Roggio, Fred Fleitz, Rep. John Carter, Bill Gertz

“[The illegal immigrants are] coming in here, just turning themselves in and assuming that they’re going to be granted some kind of permission. They call it [“con permiso”] to be able to come in here. Quite honestly, it’s because we’ve given a signal by the President’s actions that this is something that would happen… All you have to do is, you know, jump in with the smugglers and get smuggled up here and you’ll be in business. You’ll get to be in the United States, safe and sound, and all will be well. It’s contrary to our laws, [and] its contrary to the rule of law in the United States.” 

Congressman John Carter (TX-31) tackles the tough issue of immigration and explains how the new border crisis is a result of President Obama’s unwillingness to enforce the law.

On today’s show:

BILL ROGGIO, managing editor of The Long War Journal:

  • ISIS’ ambitions to extend into Jordan and Lebanon
  • The financial strength of ISIS and how state-sponsored terrorism is facilitating sectarian conflict in the Middle East
  • Should the administration rethink its troop withdrawal policy towards Afghanistan, given recent events in Iraq?

FRED FLEITZ, Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Policy:

  • ISIS’ origins
  • Political intelligence failures of the Obama Administration
  • The controversies surrounding the use of drones
  • Next steps in the legal system for Benghazi terror suspect Ahmed Abu Khatallah

Congressman JOHN CARTER, of the 31st Congressional District of Texas:

  • President Obama’s role in the skyrocketing amount of undocumented immigrants seeking amnesty in the U.S.
  • How the border patrol, police, Texas and the United States are being affected by the surge of illegal immigrants
  • Ideas for what the U.S. should do to handle the influx of illegal immigrants

BILL GERTZ, senior editor of The Washington Free Beacon:

  • China’s inclusion in RIMPAC, a large international naval exercise: What message does it send to America’s allies in the Pacific?
  • Russia’s recent cruise missile tests amid international tensions over the Ukraine situation
  • Implications of a recent successful test of the US missile defense system
  • North Korean outrage over a new film about American journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong Un

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Floundering Around on Iraq

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With John Bolton, Bill Gertz, Bill Roggio, Andy McCarthy

“I just want to note this historic moment–that after more than a decade of criticizing President Bush and many others for their terrible, evil policies of regime change, that Barack Obama appears on the verge of calling for regime change in Iraq. This is irony of ironies.”

Ambassador John Bolton discusses a broad spectrum of issues related to the conflict in Iraq. He looks at the United States response, the role of Iran, the potential for a similar destabilizing event in Afghanistan, and the long-term implications for the Kurds.

On today’s show:

JOHN BOLTON, former US Ambassador to the United Nations:

  • Analyzing the as-yet unclear administration policy on Iraq, and how the US response will be shaped by Iran’s role in the conflict
  • Concerns the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan will produce a resurgence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda similar to that of ISIS in Iraq
  • What is the future for the Kurds in Iraq?

BILL GERTZ, senior editor of The Washington Free Beacon:

  • An attempt by China and Russia to use international treaties to prevent the US from developing space weapons, even while they continue to do so covertly
  • A Congressional effort to block the US from sending attack helicopters to the el-Sisi government in Egypt
  • The need to modernize the U.S. Air Force’s strategic bomber fleet

BILL ROGGIO, editor of the Long War Journal:

  • Capture of Benghazi terror suspect Ahmed Abu Khattala—if he was watched by the U.S. “from day one,” why did the administration blame the attack on an anti-Islam video?
  • Likelihood that Iranian troops in Iraq will create a full-scale civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites
  • How ISIS’s desire to create a new Caliphate might lead to the creation of a Kurdistan made up of the Kurdish areas of Syria, Turkey and Iraq, all of whom would be expected to strongly oppose any loss of territory

ANDY MCCARTHY, former federal prosecutor:

  • Problems with trying Benghazi terror suspect Ahmed Abu Khattala in federal court—namely, that the start of the discovery process gives Abu Khattala access to US intelligence, and the government is prevented from interrogating him further
  • Overview of the newly-established Benghazi Accountability Coalition

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