US must not become complacent to a growing terrorism threat, a Counterterrorism Center official says

US must not become complacent to a growing terrorism threat, a Counterterrorism Center official says
Acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Brett Holmgren speaks during an interview at the National Counterterrorism Center, Jan. 8, 2025 in McLean, Virginia (AP)
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Updated 15 January 2025
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US must not become complacent to a growing terrorism threat, a Counterterrorism Center official says

US must not become complacent to a growing terrorism threat, a Counterterrorism Center official says
  • “We are in a period where we are facing an elevated threat environment,” Holmgren said
  • He also points to mass migration from the Russia-Ukraine war that has sent central Asians to countries including Turkiye, Syria, Iraq and even the US

UNITED STATES: Brett Holmgren got woken up early on New Year’s Day by alerts that a driver had plowed into a crowd of revellers in New Orleans.
The rampage, which killed 14 people, was the deadliest attack on US soil in years and was inspired by the Daesh group.
The National Counterterrorism Center, which Holmgren leads, sprang into action to help the FBI run down information on the culprit from Texas and his plot.
It was a rare recent example of a mass attack motivated by religious extremism to hit the US homeland. But it didn’t occur in a vacuum, coming at a time when a terror threat that has waxed and waned in the two decades since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is decidedly on the rise around the world.
“We are in a period where we are facing an elevated threat environment,” Holmgren said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We faced that last year. We’re going to face it again in 2025.”
The NCTC emerged in the aftermath of 9/11 as a centralized US government hub to collect and analyze data and intelligence on the international terrorism threat, providing information to the White House and other agencies to shape policy decisions and protect against attacks.
A former counterterrorism analyst and assistant secretary of state, Holmgren was named its acting director last July and intends to step aside at the conclusion of the Biden administration.
At that point, new leadership under President-elect Donald Trump will grapple with managing some of the global hot spots like Syria that have vexed officials in recent months and that the NCTC has been tracking.
Holmgren cites multiple factors for why the threat is higher than before, including passions arising from the Israel-Hamas war — a conflict that he says has been a driving factor in some 45 attacks worldwide since October 2023. He also points to mass migration from the Russia-Ukraine war that has sent central Asians, some with ties to the Daesh group, to countries including Turkiye, Syria, Iraq and even the US
Around the world, officials are monitoring tensions in Africa, which Holmgren called potentially the greatest long-term threat to US security given that the Daesh group has a large footprint on the continent and is investing resources there.
He says the “most potent overseas threat facing the United States” right now is the group’s Afghanistan-based affiliate, known as Daesh-Khorasan, whose attacks include a March 2024 massacre at a Moscow theater and the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 US service members and about 170 Afghans in the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
One ongoing spot of concern is Syria, where an insurgent group named Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, led a lightning offensive last month that toppled the government of President Bashar Assad.
HTS is a Sunni Islamist group that formerly had ties with Al-Qaeda, although its leader has preached religious coexistence since taking over in Damascus. The group has not plotted against US interests in recent years and has been “the most effective counterterrorism partner on the ground,” Holmgren said.
HTS has been designated by the State Department as a foreign terror organization, a label that carries severe sanctions.
Asked whether that designation would remain, Holmgren said that was a policy decision, though he noted: “They want to be perceived as being on the right side of the international community at this time when it comes to (counterterrorism). But we will continue to evaluate not just their words but also the actions that they’re undertaking.”
In an indication of Syria’s continued instability, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press last week that the US needs to keep troops there to prevent the Daesh group from reconstituting, and intelligence officials in Syria’s new de facto government already have thwarted a plan by Daesh to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in a Damascus suburb.
US officials, meanwhile, remain concerned about the possibility of Daesh gaining strength by taking over weapons left behind by Assad’s government or through a mass release of fighters who are now imprisoned.
“A large-scale prisoner release in Syria could provide a real boost in the arm for IS at a time where they have been under significant pressure,” Holmgren said.
The counterterrorism center’s focus is on international terrorism, which includes cases in the US like the New Orleans rampage in which the attacker was inspired by a group from abroad. The culprit, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, pledged his allegiance to Daesh in videos he recorded just before he drove his speeding pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street early on Jan. 1.
As of now, Holmgren said, there’s no evidence that Jabbar was communicating with any Daesh operatives overseas or guided by anyone, but given that he was a lone actor who was radicalized, “this symbolizes exactly the type of attack that we’ve warned about for some time.”
“And I think it illustrates that while we have been quite effective as a government and across administrations at disrupting plotting overseas and going after terrorist leaders, we have a lot more work to do when it comes to countering violent extremism at home, countering violent extremist propaganda abroad,” he added.
“That is ultimately what is going to be needed to prevent more attacks like the one in New Orleans,” Holmgren said.
By the same token, through vast intelligence collection, hardened defenses and overseas counterterrorism operations, the US has made the risk of another large-scale attack like Sept. 11 lower than it’s ever been.
“But if we get complacent as a country,” he warned, “it will come back to bite us.”


Alaska lawmakers push back on Trump’s mountain name change

Alaska lawmakers push back on Trump’s mountain name change
Updated 34 sec ago
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Alaska lawmakers push back on Trump’s mountain name change

Alaska lawmakers push back on Trump’s mountain name change
  • A resolution passed unanimously by the Alaska state senate on Friday urged Trump to rethink his plan.
LOS ANGELES: Donald Trump’s order to change the name of the highest mountain in the United States faced pushback Friday from members of his own party.
Alaska’s Republican-dominated senate voted overwhelmingly against his plan to ditch the Indigenous name Denali for the huge peak, which Trump has rechristened Mount McKinley.
The president has unleashed a flood of executive orders in his first few days in the White House as he attempts to remake the US government.
Orders have included mass pardons for pro-Trump rioters, a federal hiring freeze and an attempt to overturn the constitutionally mandated practice of granting birthright citizenship.
But his order to rename the 20,300-foot (6,200-meter) Denali drew the ire of Alaska’s state legislators.
A resolution passed unanimously by the Alaska state senate on Friday urged Trump to rethink his plan.
“The name Denali is deeply ingrained in the state’s culture and identity,” the motion said.
“Residents of the state believe that the names of the geographic features in the state should be determined by state residents and representatives.”
The motion, which earlier cleared the lower chamber by a sizable majority, notes that state lawmakers called for the mountain to be known by its Indigenous name as far back as 1975.
Four decades later, then-president Barack Obama officially recognized that push and dropped the moniker Mount McKinley, which had been the peak’s official name since 1917.
It was coined in honor of Republican president William McKinley who served in the Oval Office from 1897 until his assassination in 1901.
The resolution by the state legislature appeared unlikely to change Trump’s mind, but was notable as a rare display of disobedience from members of his largely quiescent Republican Party.

French ex-president Sarkozy gets electronic tag

French ex-president Sarkozy gets electronic tag
Updated 38 min 17 sec ago
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French ex-president Sarkozy gets electronic tag

French ex-president Sarkozy gets electronic tag
  • Sarkozy’s lawyer Jacqueline Laffont said he continued to contest the conviction for influence peddling and would lodge an application with the European Court of Human Rights this month, after exhausting all legal avenues in France

PARIS: Nicolas Sarkozy was fitted with an electronic tag Friday after being convicted of graft, prosecutors said, in a first for a former French president.
France’s highest appeals court in December ordered Sarkozy to wear the tag for a year, after finding him guilty of illegal attempts to secure favors from a judge.
Sarkozy, who turned 70 last week, was fitted with the ankle monitor at his home, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
A judge summoned the ex-president on the day of his birthday and told him he would wear the monitor from February 7, a source close to the case said. The ankle bracelet was imposed as an alternative to spending one year in jail.
The right-wing politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, would only be allowed out of his home between 8.00 am and 8.00 pm, the prosecutor’s office said.
He would however be allowed an extra hour and a half in the evenings three days a week when he attends court as an accused in another case.
In hearings that started last month and run through to April 10, Sarkozy has been charged with accepting illegal campaign financing from Libya before his 2007 election.
Sarkozy’s lawyer Jacqueline Laffont said he continued to contest the conviction for influence peddling and would lodge an application with the European Court of Human Rights this month, after exhausting all legal avenues in France.
Theoretically, the former head-of-state could also apply in France for a conditional release that can be given to people aged 70 and above.

Sarkozy has been shadowed by legal troubles since he lost the 2012 presidential election.
But he remains an influential figure and is known to regularly meet President Emmanuel Macron.
Before the latest trial, Sarkozy, his wife singer and former supermodel Carla Bruni and daughter went on holiday to the Seychelles. He is no longer able to travel.
In the case which led to the ankle bracelet, a court found that Sarkozy and a former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, had formed a “corruption pact” with judge Gilbert Azibert to obtain and share information about an investigating judge.
The deal was done in return for the promise of a plum retirement job for the judge.
The trial came after investigators looking into a separate case of alleged illegal campaign financing wiretapped Sarkozy’s two official phone lines, and discovered that he had a third, unofficial one.
It had been taken out in 2014 under the name “Paul Bismuth,” and only used for him to communicate with Herzog. The contents of these phone calls led to the 2021 corruption verdict.
Before Sarkozy, the only French leader to be convicted in a criminal trial was his predecessor Jacques Chirac, who received a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for corruption over a fake jobs scandal.
But Sarkozy is France’s first post-war president to be sentenced to serve time.

 


Trump revokes Biden’s access to government secrets in payback move

Trump revokes Biden’s access to government secrets in payback move
Updated 39 min 14 sec ago
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Trump revokes Biden’s access to government secrets in payback move

Trump revokes Biden’s access to government secrets in payback move
  • “JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump said in a social media most stating that Biden "could not be trusted with sensitive information"
  • Trump also removed security details assigned to protect former government officials who have criticized him, including his own former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo

PALM BEACH, Florida: President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s revoking former President Joe Biden’s access to government secrets and ending the daily intelligence briefings he’s receiving in payback for Biden doing the same to him in 2021.
Trump announced his decision in a post on his social media platform shortly after he arrived at his Mar-a-Lago home and private club in Palm Beach for the weekend.
“There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings,” Trump wrote. “He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents.”
The move is the latest in a vengeance tour of Washington that Trump promised during his campaign. He has previously revoked security clearances from more than four dozen former intelligence officials who signed a 2020 letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the hallmarks of a “Russian information operation.” He’s also revoked security details assigned to protect former government officials who have criticized him, including his own former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who faces threats from Iran, and former infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Biden didn’t immediately comment on the move.

Donald Trump's post on his Truth Social media platform, announcing his move to revoke former President Joe Biden's access to government secrets.

 

Biden ended Trump’s intelligence briefings after Trump helped spur efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and incited the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. At the time, Biden said Trump’s “erratic” behavior should prevent him from getting the intel briefings.
Asked in an interview with CBS News what he feared if Trump continued to receive the briefings, Biden said he did not want to “speculate out loud” but made clear he did not want Trump to continue having access to such information.
“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said. “What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
in 2022, federal agents searched Trump’s Florida home and seized boxes of classified records. He was indicted on dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified records and obstructing FBI efforts to get them back. He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. A judge dismissed the charges, ruling the special counsel who brought them was illegally appointed, and the Justice Department gave up appeals after Trump was elected in November.
In his post, Trump cited the special counsel report last year into Biden’s handling of classified documents, saying, “The Hur Report revealed that Biden suffers from ‘poor memory’ and, even in his ‘prime,’ could not be trusted with sensitive information.”
He ended his post by saying, “I will always protect our National Security — JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Special counsel Robert Hur investigated Biden’s handling of classified information and found that criminal charges were not warranted but delivered a bitingly critical assessment of his handling of sensitive government records. The report described Biden’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.” It said Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice president.
Trump has the right to end the briefings for Biden because it is a sitting president’s decision on whether a past president should continue to have access to classified information.
Steven Cheung, the president’s communications director, shared Trump’s post on the X social media platform and said, “Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back no more!”


19 states sue to stop DOGE from accessing Americans’ personal data

19 states sue to stop DOGE from accessing Americans’ personal data
Updated 57 min 12 sec ago
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19 states sue to stop DOGE from accessing Americans’ personal data

19 states sue to stop DOGE from accessing Americans’ personal data

Nineteen Democratic attorneys general sued President Donald Trump on Friday to stop Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records that contain sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans.
The case, filed in federal court in New York City, alleges the Trump administration allowed Musk’s team access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system in violation of federal law.
The payment system handles tax refunds, Social Security benefits, veterans’ benefits and much more, sending out trillions of dollars every year while containing an expansive network of Americans’ personal and financial data.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, was created to discover and eliminate what the Trump administration has deemed to be wasteful government spending. DOGE’s access to Treasury records, as well as its inspection of various government agencies, has ignited widespread concern among critics over the increasing power of Musk, while supporters have cheered at the idea of reining in bloated government finances.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office filed the lawsuit, said DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s data raises security problems and the possibility for an illegal freeze in federal funds.
“This unelected group, led by the world’s richest man, is not authorized to have this information, and they explicitly sought this unauthorized access to illegally block payments that millions of Americans rely on, payments for health care, child care and other essential programs,” James said in a video message released by her office.
James, a Democrat who has been one of Trump’s chief antagonists, said the president does not have the power to give away American’s private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress.
Also on the lawsuit are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
The suit alleges that DOGE’s access to the Treasury records could interfere with funding already appropriated by Congress, which would exceed the Treasury Department’s statutory authority. The case also argues that the DOGE access violates federal administrative law and the US Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine.
It also accuses Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent of changing the department’s longstanding policy for protecting sensitive personally identifiable information and financial information to allow Musk’s DOGE team access to its payment systems.
“This decision failed to account for legal obligations to protect such data and ignored the privacy expectations of federal fund recipients,” including states, veterans, retirees, and taxpayers, the lawsuit says.
The Treasury Department has said the review is about assessing the integrity of the system and that no changes are being made. According to two people familiar with the process, Musk’s team began its inquiry looking for ways to suspend payments made by the US Agency for International Development, which Trump and Musk are attempting to dismantle. The two people spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Separately, Democratic lawmakers are seeking a Treasury Department investigation of DOGE’s access to the government’s payment system.
Also, labor unions and advocacy groups have sued to block the payments system review over concerns about its legality. A judge in Washington on Thursday temporarily restricted access to two employees with “read only” privileges.


Trump says he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week

Trump says he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week
Updated 08 February 2025
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Trump says he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week

Trump says he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week
  • Higher tariffs to pay for extending 2017 tax cuts
  • Trump, Republicans to unveil tax and spending plan this weekend

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday he plans to announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries by Monday or Tuesday of next week, a major escalation of his offensive to tear up and reshape global trade relationships in the US’ favor.
Trump did not identify which countries would be hit but suggested it would be a broad effort that could also help solve US budget problems.
“I’ll be announcing that, next week, reciprocal trade, so that we’re treated evenly with other countries,” Trump said. “We don’t want any more, any less.”
The move would fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to impose tariffs on American imports equal to rates that trading partners impose on American exports.
Trump made the announcement during a meeting with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. He said auto tariffs remained on the table amid reports that the White House was weighing potential exemptions.
The new US president has long complained about the European Union’s 10 percent tariffs on auto imports being much higher than the US car rate of 2.5 percent. He frequently states that Europe “won’t take our cars” but ships millions west across the Atlantic every year.
The US, however, enjoys a 25 percent tariff on pickup trucks, a vital source of profits for Detroit automakers General Motors , Ford and Stellantis’ US operations.
In recent confirmation hearings, Trump’s Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick voiced concerns about India’s high tariff rates, while US Trade Representative nominee Jamieson Greer discussed US complaints about Vietnam’s and Brazil’s tariffs and trade barriers.
The US trade-weighted average tariff rate is about 2.2 percent, according to World Trade Organization data, compared to 12 percent for India, 6.7 percent for Brazil, 5.1 percent for Vietnam and 2.7 percent for European Union countries.
Trump told Republican lawmakers of his plans during budget discussions at the White House on Thursday, three sources familiar with the plan told Reuters. Trump and top aides have said they plan to use higher tariffs on foreign imports to help pay for extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which independent budget analysts say could add trillions of dollars to the US debt.
Increased tariffs could offset some of that cost, though they have only accounted for about 2 percent of annual revenues in recent years.
Trump announced tariffs of 25 percent on Canada and Mexico on Saturday but delayed them after a negative reaction from investors. The two largest US trading partners agreed to increase enforcement efforts at the border, a top Trump priority.
Wall Street extended losses on Friday following the Reuters report of Trump’s discussion with lawmakers.
US consumer sentiment dropped to a seven-month low in February, and attitudes soured among Republicans as households took stock of what they believe will be a surge in inflation from Trump’s tariffs.
Trump and his Republicans aim to unveil their ambitious tax and spending package this weekend. It faces a perilous path through Congress, where Republicans hold narrow majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Republicans are expected to rely on arcane budget rules to bypass Democratic opposition, which will require them to work in lockstep.
Trump is due to have dinner with Senate Republicans on Friday and attend the Super Bowl with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday.
In his confirmation hearing on Thursday, Greer said other countries will need to reduce barriers to US exports if they want to maintain access to the US market, citing Vietnam in particular.
“I need, if I’m confirmed, to go to these countries and explain to them that if they want to enjoy continued market access to the United States, we need to have better reciprocity,” Greer said.