The secret behind al-Shabaab’s longevity: A formidable spy wing
July 11, 2022 1 Comment
MORE THAN HALF OF all terrorist groups fail within a year, while 95 percent of them are extinct within a decade. Yet al-Shabaab, Somalia’s al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist outfit, has been projecting strength in the Horn of Africa for over 15 years, despite having faced much stronger opponents. Today, with an operational presence in both Somalia and Kenya, the group maintains a force of between 5,000 and 10,000 full-time fighters. Pointing to its longevity, some observers view it as the most successful terrorist group of the 21st century.
What accounts for al-Shabaab’s endurance? According to a recent article by researcher Zakarie Ahmed Nor kheyre, the secret rests with the group’s sophisticated intelligence wing, the Amniyat. Nor kheyre’s article, entitled “The Evolution of the Al-Shabaab Jihadist Intelligence Structure”, was published on Friday in the peer-reviewed journal Intelligence and National Security. The author argues that counter-terrorism researchers have been focusing on al-Shabaab’s operational, logistical and financial capabilities, to the detriment of its formidable intelligence wing. The latter, Nor kheyre claims, has been a priority of al-Shabaab for years, and is today more efficient that the Somali federal government’s own intelligence agency, the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA). He quotes one Somali insider who exclaims that “without Amniyat, al-Shabaab would be nothing”. Read more of this post
THE KREMLIN IS PROVIDING “indirect and passive support” to Western neo-Nazi, white supremacist and other far-right groups, in an effort to subvert Western security, according to a leaked report produced by United States intelligence agencies. The report is titled “Russian Federation Support of Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists”. It was produced in July of 2021 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), with information provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency.
GERMANY’S NEW CHANCELLOR, OLAF Scholz, warned that democracy “stands ready to defend itself”, after a special police unit uncovered an alleged assassination plot by anti-vaccine extremists in the city of Dresden. Dresden is located in the state of Saxony, which is considered a stronghold of anti-vaccine sentiment in Germany. It has one of the country’s highest COVID-19 infection rates and one of the lowest rates of vaccination among the local population.
DOMESTIC EXTREMISTS, MOTIVATED BY conspiracy theories and opposed to mitigation measures against the coronavirus, pose “the greatest domestic terrorism threats” against the United States in 2021, according to a new government report. The report, dated January 13, is contained in a Joint Intelligence Bulletin, which is produced jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center. It was 
Authorities in the United States have formally charged an American soldier for helping a secretive neo-Nazi organization plan a terrorist attack on his own unit. Meanwhile, a government fusion center has warned law enforcement agencies that extremists may be planning violent acts in the Washington DC area.
Members of neo-Nazi groups in Germany attended paramilitary training camps in Russia, which were organized by a group that the United States has designated a global terrorist organization, but which the Russian government has not banned. If true, these claims add further credence to the view that Russian far-right groups are becoming increasingly central in the worldwide network of racially motivated radical organizations.
Terrorism experts have issued warnings that the Islamic State may be exploiting the global instability caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic to stage a worldwide resurgence. Indeed, there are signs that Islamic State activity has been intensifying in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and even Europe, in recent days.
The Department of Homeland Security has warned law enforcement departments across the United States that violent extremists are mobilizing against health restrictions imposed to combat the novel coronavirus. This is the third warning known to have been issued by the DHS in the past month about the potential of violence by domestic violent extremists, as America continues to battle the pandemic.
Extremist groups around the world are capitalizing on the novel coronavirus pandemic to rally their members around a common cause and spread chaos and violence, according to a new report. In an 
In an effort to remain relevant, al-Qaeda has shifted its strategic focus from Yemen to Syria but continues to pursue a globalist agenda by seeking ways to attack Western targets, according to an expert report. Following the meteoric rise of the Islamic State in 2014, al-Qaeda found it difficult to retain its title as the main representative of the worldwide Sunni insurgency. But in an 
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US-based Afghan man who planned election-day attack ‘worked as CIA guard’
October 14, 2024 by intelNews 1 Comment
Tawhedi’s arrest occurred shortly after he purchased two AK-47 assault rifles, 10 magazines, and several rounds of ammunition from an FBI employee posing as a seller of the merchandise. The suspect allegedly told at least two FBI informants working on the case that he intended to use the weaponry to target “large gatherings of people” on Election Day. Tawhedi is also reported to have boasted that he expected to die in the attack. His indictment suggests that he planned to carry out the attack on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
Tawhedi has lived in the US for a little over three years, having arrived on US soil soon after Washington began withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan, following a two decades-long military campaign. Like thousands of other Afghans, Tawhedi was able to enter the US through an emergency entry privilege known as a “humanitarian parole”. He then applied for a Special Immigrant Visa, which is customarily offered by the US government as a form of protection to foreign nationals who have provided services to its military and security agencies. According to reports, Tawhedi’s Special Immigrant Visa application had been approved and was in the last stages of being officially issued.
Last week, the American television network NBC reported that Tawhedi had been employed as a guard by the CIA in Afghanistan. The network cited “two sources with knowledge of the matter”. Later on the same day, another American television network, CBS News, said it had been able to independently verify the earlier report by NBC. It is notable that, according to both NBC and CBS, Tawhedi worked as a guard for a CIA facility, rather than an informant or an asset for the intelligence agency.
The recent media reports about Tawhedi have yet to answer the question of whether he had been communicating with identifiable ISIS handlers, or whether he was independently radicalized through his online activity. It is also not known whether Tawhedi was a supporter or an affiliate of ISIS during his stint with the CIA, or whether he became radicalized after arriving in the US in September 2021.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 14 October 2024 | Permalink
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, CIA, elections, FBI, Islamic State, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, News, terrorism, US