Terrorism
Specific Terrorism issues:
07 January 2010 Obama
Announces Enhanced Airline Security Measures The United States is strengthening
airline security measures and taking other corrective actions in the aftermath
of a thwarted terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day, announced
President Obama. Obama outlined four areas that two top-level reviews have indicated
need correcting to prevent a similar incident from happening. However, part of
the problem, the president said, is that the U.S. intelligence community had sufficient
information about the alleged terrorist and the possibility of an attack, but because
of lapses and miscues, authorities did not intercept him before he boarded a flight
to the United States from Europe.
• Remarks by the President on Strengthening Intelligence and Aviation Security
• Read the summary of the security review (White House, PDF)
• Read
the President's Directive on corrective actions (White House, PDF)
07 January 2009 Background Briefing Following Security
Review Background
Briefing by Senior State Department Officials following release of Security Review
conducted after the failed Christmas terrorist attack.
05 January 2010 Intelligence
Not Fully Analyzed Before Airline Attack, Obama Says President Obama
says a Nigerian man affiliated with al-Qaida in the Arabia Peninsula was able to
board a U.S.-bound flight with explosives on December 25, 2009, because U.S. intelligence
officials had failed to “connect the dots” of information that could
have prevented him from being allowed onto the aircraft.
04 January 2010 Remarks
by Secretary Clinton, Qatar Prime Minister Al-Thani They discuss their
meeting held at State Department in Washington.
01 January 2010 Clinton
on Terrorist Attack in Pakistan United States strongly condemns attack,
offers condolences.
29 December 209 President
Obama on Review of Terrorist “Watchlisting System” Directs
examination of all intelligence on suspect in airliner attack.
29 December 2009 President
Obama on Aviation Security Procedures Directs
immediate review of aviation screening technology.
29 December 2009 Obama:
United States Doing Everything to Protect Americans President Obama says those
responsible for the attempted Christmas Day attack on an American airliner will
be held to account. In his first public comments on the incident, Obama also outlined
additional steps to improve air safety. The president said many questions surround
the attempted attack and that the search for answers is well under way. “A
full investigation has been launched into this attempted act of terrorism. And
we will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable,” he
said.
29 December 2009 Statement by the President on Preliminary Information from his Ongoing Consultation
about the Detroit Incident
28 December 2009
U.S. to Review Security Procedures After Detroit Airline Incident The Obama administration is reviewing U.S. terror monitoring procedures after a Nigerian man attempted to blow up an airliner as it approached the city of Detroit. Administration officials say the suspect’s name had been entered into a U.S. security database, but had not been added to a “no-fly” list.
• Statement by President Obama
15 December 2009 Presidential Memorandum--Closure
of Dentention Facilities at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
11 December 2009 U.S.
Says al-Qaida Has Been Degraded, but Is Still a Threat The terrorist group al-Qaida remains a significant security threat to the United
States but is finding it tougher to raise money, train new recruits and plan attacks
outside of South Asia, says the U.S. coordinator for counterterrorism. “The group is under severe pressure in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the
[United States] and its allies have succeeded in severely degrading its operational
leadership,” Ambassador Daniel Benjamin said.
19 November 2009 Counterterrorism: Press Conference with Secretary Clinton at U.S. Embassy Kabul
19 November 2009 U.S.
Welcomes Armed Repulsion of Pirate Attack The United States on November
18 welcomed the repulsion of a band of pirates by gunfire from a private security
team on a ship off the northeastern coast of Somalia.Pentagon spokesman Bryan
Whitman said the department is pleased with the success of the team on board
the Maersk Alabama, the same ship that was hijacked in April when it did not
have a security team onboard. In that incident, pirates held the ship’s
captain hostage until an elite unit of U.S. military snipers freed him.
30 October 2009 Senate Vote Marks Next Step in Complex
Effort to Close Guantánamo Shortly after his inauguration, President
Obama called for the closure of the detention facility at the Guantánamo
Bay Naval Station in Cuba within a year, banned use of torture in interrogations,
pledged adherence to the Geneva Conventions, and created a task force to develop
a new policy for detainees.
17 September 2009 Director of National Intelligence Remarks on Cyber-Infrastructure Blair
says best defenses should be shared with private sector.
24 August 2009 Obama Creates New Unit to Handle High-Level Interrogations In an effort to gain more intelligence through “scientifically proven means,” the Obama administration has created a “high-value interrogation group” with responsibility for interrogating key detainees who are believed to have useful information on violent extremist groups, a White House spokesman says.
06 August 2009 Obama Aide on a New Approach to Safeguarding Americans Remarks by assistant to the president for homeland security.
31 July 2009 Obama Praises Philippines for Counterterrorism Progress President Obama praised the government of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for progress in dealing with counterterrorism issues and initiating a peace process in Mindanao. Obama said that the peace process to rein in terrorists in Mindanao has the potential to bring peace and stability to a region of the island nation that has been the source of unrest for too long.
21 July 2009 Department of Justice Detention Policy Task Force Issues Preliminary Report The Department of Justice and Department of Defense today announced that the Detention Policy Task Force, which was created pursuant to Executive Order 13493, has issued a preliminary report on military commissions and a process for the determination of prosecution forum for trials of suspected terrorists.
• Preliminary Report - Detention Policy Task Force
• Tab A of Preliminary Report
15 June 2009 U.S.-EU Statement on Closure of Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility Joint statement says closure based on values, law and human rights.
21 May 2009 Obama Sets Framework for Trying Terrorist Detainees Saying that this generation of Americans faces "a great test in the specter of terrorism," Obama laid out a framework for how the U.S. will proceed in trying and treating detainees accused of acts of terrorism that conforms to accepted U.S. legal practice, and how they will be confined if convicted by U.S. federal district courts or revised military commissions.
21 May 2009 Remarks of President Barack Obama on Protecting Our Security and Our Values
16 April 2009 Statement of President Barack Obama on Release of OLC Memos These Office of Legal Counsel memos speak to techniques that were used in the interrogation of terrorism suspects during the period between 2002 and 2005.
23 January 2009 Analysis: Obama Offers New Approach to Counterterrorism President Obama plans to continue building robust global partnerships to confront terrorism, but he has already signaled in his first days in office a new American approach to facing extremist violence.
Detainees
11 June 2009 White House Document on Obama's Plan for Guantánamo Bay Series of documents on issues central to Obama administration’s agenda.
11 June 2009 Four Uighur Guantánamo Detainees Resettled in Bermuda The Obama administration says it is "extremely grateful" to the government of Bermuda for accepting four Chinese Uighur detainees who had been cleared for release after being held at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.
29 May 2009 Department of Defense Press Spokesman response to 28 May 2009 Daily Telegraph Article on Detainee Photos
29 April 2009 Remarks by Attorney General Holder at American Academy of Berlin Holder says Europe and America must join together to close Guantanamo.
29 January 2009 U.S. Delegate on Closure of Guantánamo Detention Center
22 January 2009 Obama Orders Guantánamo Shut Down President Obama issued orders closing the detention center at the Guantánamo Bay U.S. naval base in Cuba within a year and placing new restrictions on interrogation of terrorism suspects. "The message we are sending around the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly," Obama said at a January 22 White House signing ceremony.
Detainees at Guantanamo Bay
A Department of Defense web site
see also: Department of Defense: Military Commissions
A Department of Defense web site.
Intelligence Reform
27 October 2005 Intelligence Director Issues New U.S. Intelligence Strategy A comprehensive U.S. strategy that is designed to integrate the missions of the 15 intelligence agencies better, while enhancing the collection of intelligence on threats to U.S. national security worldwide was released by the director of national intelligence October 26.
Country Reports on Terrorism 2008
The complete text of the Country Reports on Terrorism 2008 is available on the Department of State website.
From Country Reports on Terrorism 2008: Europe & Eurasia :
United Kingdom
• On-The-Record Briefing On the Release of the Country Reports on Terrorism 2008
30 April 2009 Terrorist Attacks Fell 18 Percent in 2008, Report Says The number of terrorism attacks worldwide in 2008 fell 18 percent from 2007 levels, and the number of deaths from attacks last year fell 30 percent from 2007, the State Department reported in its latest annual report on terrorism.
Chronologies
The United States and the Global Coalition Against Terrorism: A Chronology
Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, Department of State.
The Pan Am 103 Bombing, Lockerbie, Scotland, December 21, 1988
20 August 2009 Scotland’s Release of Pan Am 103 Bomber Disappointing, U.S. Says The Obama administration says it is deeply disappointed by the decision of the Scottish Executive to release Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi, the only individual convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan American World Airways Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Lockerbie Trial In-Depth BBC News
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Terrorism