Justice Department Refuses Cooperation With Polish Prosecutors Investigating Torture at CIA Black Site

Scott Horton reports that the U.S. Department of Justice has rejected a request from prosecutors in Warsaw for assistance in the investigation into the alleged CIA prisons in Poland, where captives claim they were tortured. On 18 March, the Prosecutor’s Office of Appeal in Warsaw filed a motion for legal assistance from the US Department [...]

Terrorist watch list: One tip now enough to put name in database, officials say

The Washington Post reports that officials say they have made it easier to add individuals’ names to a terrorist watch list. Senior counterterrorism officials say they have altered their criteria so that a single-source tip, as long as it is deemed credible, can lead to a name being placed on the watch list. The new [...]

JASON: Science of Cyber Security Needs More Work

Secrecy News reports that the JASON defense advisory panel has just produced a new report (pdf) on the science of cyber security. The JASON report began by noting that “A science of cyber security has to deal with a combination of peculiar features that are shared by no other area of study.” “First, the background [...]

Man arrested after threatening on Facebook to use explosives in Washington

The Washington Post reports that a 25-year-old Arlington County man was arrested after threatening on his Facebook page to use explosives in the Washington area, writing that he could put pipe bombs on Metro cars or in Georgetown at rush hour. Court papers do not indicate that Awais Younis, also known as Mohhanme Khan and [...]

China Sentences Uighur to Life for Reporting Riots

(AP) — A Uighur journalist who worked for an official Chinese radio service was sentenced to life imprisonment for transmitting information about the 2009 ethnic riots in western China — one of dozens jailed since the violence, an overseas Uighur advocacy group said. Memetjan Abdulla, a 33-year-old journalist with the Uighur language service of China [...]

hink tank plans study of how US treats detainees

A nonpartisan legal think tank plans to study U.S. treatment of terrorism detainees, partly out of concern that the country’s policies lack clarity and can be manipulated to permit abuse or torture in dangerous times, members of a task force appointed to conduct the study said. Eleanor J. Hill, one of three chairpersons on The [...]

European countries charge suspects with preparing for terrorist acts

NY Times: A week after coordinated raids in three cities, the British police said Monday that they had charged nine of the 12 men they arrested, in a case that seemed to be a sign that Europe’s concerns over potential terrorist attacks were spreading. Three of the 12 men were released without charges, the West [...]

White House Drafts Executive Order for Indefinite Detention

According to Pro Publica, the White House is preparing an Executive Order on indefinite detention that will provide periodic reviews of evidence against dozens of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay who have been designed. The draft order, a version of which was first considered nearly 18 months ago, is expected to be signed by President [...]

Islamic group asks DoJ to review police training

(WP) Two groups representing American Muslims differed sharply Monday over revelations in The Washington Post about the sometimes-ignorant quality of local  police training on radical Islam, with one group calling for a Justice  Department investigation, the other saying it “is not a systematic problem.”

FBI study: The Fundamentals of Islamic Extremism- Psychological Considerations for Developing & Managing Counterterrorism Sources

This paper outlines some psychological considerations for planning and running a source operation against Islamic extremist targets. The objective is simply to provide information for Special Agents to ponder as they develop operational scenarios and spot potential sources. As is true with successful interrogations, it is critical to understand the culture and mindset of the [...]