8 February 2010: Join Doug Hagmann on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory tonight during the entire last hour of the show – starting at 1:00 am PT, 4:00 am in the East – as we discuss the terror threat environment and talk about the “February 11″ threat.

                        

By Sean Osborne, Assistant Director, Military Affairs Specialist

3 February 2010: According to various news sources Iran launched an indigenously manufactured Omid (Hope) satellite into a 55 degree inclined low earth orbit (LEO) at 18:30 GMT yesterday via their indigenously developed Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) launch vehicle. Other reports cite the launch vehicle as being the Safir-2 making the specific identification unconfirmed.

Early direct and parametric observations are indicating that this was a 2-stage launch to orbital altitude. One orbit of the Omid and rocket body is accomplished in 90 minutes and the orbital altitudes range from an apogee of 200 miles to a perigee (closest approach to earth) of 150 miles. The perigee altitude is just 50 miles above the minimum altitude required for sub-orbital space flight, making the Omid’s orbit analogous to that of an orbiting ICBM warhead.

The launched satellite is reportedly a capsule carrying live animals (a rat, some turtles and worms). The live animals onboard the satellite would tend to indicate that Iran intends to precisely de-orbit the satellite for a return to earth at some point. Even if the animals fail to survive this “space mission” a successful de-orbiting of the capsule would be the primary objective of the mission. I cannot help but to speculate that given Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad recent statements of a “surprise” on 11 February that this capsule is to be de-orbited on that date.

Assessment: Iran is using the anniversary of its Shi’a Islamic revolution to demonstrate its new intercontinental ballistic missile system and warhead de-orbiting capability to the West and to Israel despite months and months of futile Western-imposed economic sanctions. The message sent by this launch is now crystal clear: time has now expired with respect to making a decision to act against the Iranian nuclear weapons and delivery program.

Director’s note: Also something (very unpleasant) to think about: EMP 101

                        

By Doug Hagmann

3 February 2010: If one considers the Christmas Day bomber Umar Abdulmutallab as a “lone wolf” terrorist, then remember that wolves are pack animals – predators – that excel at observational learning. While they might be “lone” in one given situation, a “lone wolf” inherently nonetheless adheres to a pack mentality. Like wolves, terrorists exist in various packs, some more feral and ultimately more dangerous than others. Like the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt, there will be more attempts driven by that very same pack mentality that so many are attempting to explain away as unrelated.

Instead of acknowledging the common traits that exist among the so-called “lone wolf” attackers, our current administration and the Department of Homeland Security is striving to downplay their common behavioral characteristics and the Islamic ideology behind them.  The blame for this mentality is rooted in post-9/11 events by misplaced fears of backlash and bias against Muslims in North America. Although Obama and members of his administration are not the architects of this environment, they have certainly excelled this mindset by commission and omission. And through their efforts, they have succeeded in potentially creating the most dangerous terror environment within our own borders since 8:45 am ET on 11 September 2001.

The overt predisposition of our current administration to downplay or eliminate the association of Islam to terror attacks on our soil currently lays squarely at the feet of Barack Hussein Obama, himself no stranger to Islam. The most transparent aspect of the Obama administration to date, at least with regard to issues of national security, has ironically been to obfuscate the motives behind recent series of terror attacks. This obfuscation has led to the decision to conduct criminal trials for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terrorists, only to toss the five admitted terrorists into unnecessary legal limbo. It has resulted in the predominate mishandling of the Christmas Day bomber, and advanced the pernicious policy of eliminating the classification of enemy combatants that affords our very enemies the same legal rights as citizens loyal to America.

It has allowed the unparalleled example of a nation at war the ability to wage war without having to identify our enemy by name. Of the 7,000-plus words State of the Union speech delivered by Obama, not one time did he mention Islamic terrorism by name. Rest assured that the “wolves” were listening.

The wolves of Islam, operating alone or in packs, have taken notice of this as the Arabic language web sites and terrorist forums once again flourish. To them and contrary to what many have heard, Obama in the White House is akin to “having a friend at the factory.” Some see it as a weakness of Obama as commander-in-chief and primary protector of our nation; others see it as a perfunctory approach to Islamic terrorism that is directly related to his upbringing, while others see it as simply a green light for launching terror attacks inside the U.S. without fear of the arcane notion of a trip to Guantanamo.

Regardless of how it is perceived, one thing is clear: the drumbeats that have historically portended Islamic terror attacks within our borders have not been this loud since 9/11. And the tempo is rising as well. The idea of a “lone wolf” terrorist might be comforting, but it is deliberately deceptive. Be forewarned.

                        

1 February 2010: [UPDATED WITH DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK]: Doug Hagmann was a guest on TruNews with Rick Wiles today, discussing the terror outlook for 2010, as well as the “terror environment” being cultivated by our own government. Is there something more behind this?  Listen to the program at this link – right click on link to download the file in mp3 format (10MB file). This program is a “must listen.”

                        

31 January 2010: When a man is apprehended with a cache of weapons, body armor, a map of a military installation and jihadist personal effects, the natural response of most Americans is to assume the situation is terrorist-related. The Obama administration says otherwise.

READ IT ALL: An editorial by The Washington Times… Not much more needs to be said…

                        

28 January 2010: Douglas J. Hagmann, the founder and director of the Northeast Intelligence Network, is proud to be invited to be a guest during Israel National Radio – Arutz Shevathon 12-hour fundraiser.

Arutz Sheva is the world’s #1 source for news about Israel. It’s professional team of news writers, radio show hosts and TV crew bring you breaking news, news analysis and stories that touch your heart. Arutz Sheva is the lone beacon of pro-Israeli journalism in the ocean of biased reporting and anti-Semitic media who delegitimize the Jewish state.

To continue to do this, they need your help! Please consider donating to this worthy cause.

Doug Hagmann will be weighing in on Israel National Radio at about 1:30 p.m. ET – join in, but please, reach in your hearts and pockets to assist Arutz Sheva.

                        

Director’s note: The following analysis was originally written during the Christmas holiday air travel season. The author is a screenwriter by profession, and uses his professional insight to address the “myth” of airport security. This issue is more applicable today than ever – and provides valuable insight into airport security issues. — Doug Hagmann

By Gary Rudick

27 January 2009: Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab and his predecessor Richard Reid have been successful failures, they failed to detonate their respective bombs but they were successful in causing a reaction in security, which gives them an intelligence win. If they do this, then we do that.  In fighting, one often throws a punch that is not intended to hit its target in order to setup another punch that will connect with more impact.

The holiday travel season with its increased crowds at airports and other transportation hubs, warrants that security receive extra scrutiny at this time. The recent unintended disclosure of security procedures should not concern anyone, because whatever those procedures may be, they are not capable of the protection that people want. Currently, airport security can be thought of as a chain-link fence, which is to say there are more holes than fence. The large things are kept out but small things can easily pass though and putting up more chain-link fence cannot fix that fundamental flaw.

What we need and what we expect is to have brick-wall security.

I am not a security expert, nor am I someone who has traveled extensively. I am a screenwriter, however. As a writer I am always pushing myself to think creatively or failing that, re-purposing prior creative ideas, quoting Albert Einstein “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” However, security through obscurity often leads to neither security nor obscurity.

As a youth, I watched television shows like “MacGyver” and played with toys like Legos and the Rubik’s Cube, that pushed the creative engine in me to examine all puzzles in daily life. Recently, while I was waiting in yet another long airport security line, I came to the conclusion that there is no airport security, despite what other more credentialed security experts have referred to as the “security theater.”  I very briefly considered the ease in which a harmless but powerful wake-up call demonstration could be performed, but I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in court and/or prison for essentially yelling, “Boo(m)!” , so I decided to write this op-ed instead. Art imitates life; life imitates art. The film “In the Line of Fire” showed that assassinating the president was a trivial matter.

Before you disagree, do not focus on the details of the assassination, but examine the strategy behind the plan. If you require some assistance, you can look at another film, “Troy”, which shows us that as humans, we are always vulnerable to our own social nature, as the recent White House party crashers showed us all too well. All successful killers and terrorists take advantage of this weakness.

TSA: Targets Standing Around

We all know what happened and how it happened, the it is 9-11 and what happened is nearly 3000 people were killed and the how is terrorists crashed airplanes into buildings. Increased security has been in place since that day, but what are we actually securing? The Transportation Security Administration says that “Your Safety Is Our Priority”, but an open minded analysis of security by this traveler, says otherwise.

The tragedy of 9-11 has been misidentified as planes crashing into buildings.

To be quite honest if all the terrorists had done on 9-11 was destroy a few planes and a few buildings, it would’ve just been an act of mass vandalism not mass murder. The security paradigm at all airports is dedicated to protecting the airplanes, not the traveling public.

Currently, terrorists are trying to get explosives onto planes in liquids and in shoes. It’s only a matter of time before they realize it is an unnecessary hurdle. Prior to boarding the plane the passengers are in the airport. Does anyone really believe it matters where or when you are killed? In the air or on the ground, dead is dead.

You should feel rather safe on the airplane, before you get on the plane is another matter, however, as security has now mandated that many concentration points are now available at the airports on the ground not just in the air. The security checkpoints have become choke-points where masses of unscreened people are gathered with the TSA (Targets Standing Around) agents, a large target for a suicide or non-suicide bomber to kill before any security challenges.

Banning of carry-on luggage would appear to be the quick, if painfully frustrating, fix, but that is not the case, nor would making the security lines start at the terminal entrance, and forcing people to wait outside, nor starting the security line at the airport entrance.

Moving the problem around does not solve it. The problem is that increased security screening has actually made airports a more attractive target than the airplanes. The fact that we haven’t had a 9-11 level attack at multiple busy airports, I can only attribute to the fact that the remaining active terrorists aren’t terribly intelligent. If I may again quote Albert Einstein, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” If you want to be scared of something, be scared of the free travel tools that reveal security line wait times. The days of arriving five minutes before takeoff are long gone, likewise the unique appeal to terrorists of attacking planes as a concentration point of people.

Airplane Security and Airport Security

Did you ever try to eat the good half of a half-rotten apple? As President Lincoln quoted Christ, “A house divided cannot stand.” Likewise, you cannot have secure and insecure halves of airports. What real and effective security needs to strive for and hopefully accomplish is a more distributed and streamlined security beyond the perimeters of airports before any traveler can be in contact with other travelers.

Frequent traveler pre-screening needs to be expanded to include infrequent travelers. This needs to be combined with an Israeli-style model of profiling travelers before, during and after their airport visits. Everyone’s privacy need not be surrendered, but it should at least be determined whether or not you are a Trojan Horse trying to get through the brick wall.

                        

By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director

26 January 2010: Mohamad Mustapha Ali Masfaka, 47, more well known as Abu Ratib, a popular singer of Islamic religious songs in the Muslim world, was arrested last week on charges of attempted naturalization fraud, making false statements to FBI investigators and immigration officials, and perjury. According to federal investigators in a press release dated 22 January 2010, the singer reportedly lied about his involvement with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), an organization that was designated by the U.S. Department of Treasury on December 4, 2001, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist [organization]. According to federal investigators, Masfaka praised HAMAS during some of his international performances subsequent to the 2001 designation of HAMAS as a terrorist organization.

The indictment (PDF format) was unsealed on Friday.

Masfaka, is a native of Syria but has been residing in the suburban Detroit community of Farmington Hills, Michigan. He was arrested as he attempted to re-enter the U.S. from Canada via the Ambassador Bridge. During a hearing held in federal court in Detroit on Monday, the singer pleaded not guilty to the charges. A detention hearing is scheduled for this Thursday.

In 2008, a federal jury in Dallas, Texas convicted the HLF and five of its employees of 21 charges, including providing millions of dollars in material support to the designated terrorist organization, Hamas.  Masfaka’s is alleged to have been employed by HLF in 1997 and 1998 and ran the HLF operations in the Detroit area to include organizing and participating in fund raising events for the HLF, according to federal officials.

If convicted, Masfaka faces up to 23 years’ imprisonment and $750,000 in fines.

                        

By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director

26 January 2010: Lloyd R. WOODSON, 43, having a last known address in Reston, Fairfax County, Virginia was arrested early Monday after police responded to a “suspicious person” call to a Quick Chek convenience store located on  Route 28 in Somerset County, New Jersey. The caller to the police stated that a Black male, dressed in military fatigues, was acting suspicious at approximately 3:55 a.m. When police arrived and began to interview WOODSON, he ran from the officers, who found him hiding in the brush in a nearby trailer park. During a search of WOODSON, police found him wearing a bullet proof vest and was carrying a weapon modified to shoot .50 caliber ammunition under his coat.

What police investigators found next caused significant alarm among law enforcement and Joint Terrorism Task Force personnel, suggesting perhaps an attack on a U.S. military installation was being planned.

According to an interview conducted late Monday by this investigator with a central New Jersey law enforcement source familiar with this investigation, WOODSON checked in to the Red Mill Inn, 3400 State Route 22, Branchburg, New Jersey last week. A search of his hotel room found a large cache of weapons, ammunition and maps, along with other items that could indicate his ties to radical Islam and an Islamic group based in the U.S.

A search of WOODSON’s room found a second bullet proof vest, a 37-mm Cobray grenade launcher, a Bushmaster .308-caliber semi-automatic rifle with a defaced serial number, hundreds of.50-caliber and .308-caliber ammunition including hollow points, a rifle mountable night vision scope, a police scanner, a military-style backpack, and various military pouches and garrison equipment. Additionally, two maps, one of a U.S. military installation and a second map of an out-of-state “civilian” community were found. Among his personal belongings was a red and white traditional Middle-Eastern headdress.  Authorities officially declined to identify the military installation or the “civilian community.

According to the New Jersey law enforcement source interviewed by this investigator Monday, “the map of the non-military community and other personal effects” not only associate him with “radical Islam, but also with a “militant Islamic group.”

Authorities charged WOODSON with multiple offenses, including second-degree unlawful weapons possession and fourth-degree possession of prohibited weapons. WOODSON was jailed at the Somerset County jail, and additional charges could be forthcoming with the involvement of federal authorities.

According to media reports, WOODSON is a deserter from the U.S. Navy. He joined the service in February 1988 and served aboard the USS Orion, a submarine tender, before deserting in April 1989.  In 1997, WOODSON was returned to Navy custody, and was discharged in August of that year.

Additional information about WOODSON and his associates is being withheld at the request of our law enforcement source to avoid potentially compromising an ongoing and growing investigation. Additional details will be forthcoming.

                        

By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director

25 January 2010: The release of a one-minute audio message reportedly from Osama bin Laden obtained and aired on Al-Jazeera TV yesterday has many veteran intelligence insiders both concerned and somewhat at odds with each other about the authenticity and intent of the message.  The message bearing the title “From Osama to Obama” consisted of a voice purporting to be that of bin Laden accompanied by an older image of the top al Qaeda terrorist.  Osama bin Laden addresses US President Obama personally, taking credit for the Christmas day airline bombing attempt by Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab and warning of continued attacks as long as the U.S. continues to support Israel.

While at least one private intelligence agency believes the wording contained in the statement is possibly indicative of an impending attack by al Qaeda, others, including veteran U.S. intelligence contacts closely held by the Northeast Intelligence Network, express doubts that the message is any type of instructional command.

“The message was indeed out of the norm in content and length, and the timing is certainly a concern as is the reference to the Christmas Day bombing attempt,” stated one intelligence source in a telephone interview with this investigator Sunday evening. “We have no doubts whatsoever that Islamic terrorists are engaged in planning attacks against the U.S. domestically and abroad, and that includes continued attempts against U.S. flagged airplanes. But it certainly does not limit attempts against our commercial aircraft, and I would caution everyone to be vigilant not only while flying, but everywhere,” added this source. “We must be careful of tunnel vision, and not become too focused on any single target opportunity.”

When asked if the voice of bin Laden had been authenticated, this source stated that there is disagreement among analysts about the voice being that of bin Laden. “Certainly, it’s possible, but just because it’s possible, that doesn’t make it so.”

Investigators and researchers at the Northeast Intelligence Network are continuing their analysis, while communicating with sources inside the intelligence community. There is a level of distrust with regard to the authenticity of this and previous messages purportedly from bin Laden, especially when the best proof of life (of Osama bin Laden) is in a form that can be easily manipulated. We are not as easily convinced or prepared to state, as other agencies have already stated, that the audio statement “appears to be exactly what it purports to be, an audio message from bin Laden.”

Additional details will be forthcoming.

Text of Osama bin Laden’s statement:

In the name of God the most passionate the most merciful, from Osama to Obama.

“May peace be on those who follow the light of guidance. If our messages to you could be carried by words we wouldn’t have done that by planes. The message I want to convey to you through the plane of the hero, Mujahid Umar al Farouk [referencing Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab] reaffirms a previous message that the heroes of 9/11 conveyed to you and was repeated frequently.

The message is that America will never dream of peace unless we live it in Palestine. It is unfair that you should a safe life while our brothers in Gaza are suffer greatly therefore with God’s will our attacks on you will continue to (as long as you support) Israel. Peace be on those who follow the light of guidance.”