Intelligence officials: IS determined to strike US this year
Intelligence officials: IS determined to strike US this year
WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders of the Islamic State are determined to strike targets in the United States this year, senior U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday, telling lawmakers that a small group of violent extremists will attempt to overcome the logistical challenges of mounting such an attack.
In testimony before congressional committees, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other officials described the Islamic State as the “pre-eminent terrorist threat.” The militant group can “direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world,” Clapper said.
Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the Islamic State will probably conduct additional attacks in Europe and then attempt the same in the U.S. He said U.S. intelligence agencies believe IS leaders will be “increasingly involved in directing attacks rather than just encouraging lone attackers.”
Clapper also said al-Qaida, from which the Islamic State spun off, remains an enemy and the U.S. will continue to see cyber threats from China, Russia and North Korea, which also is ramping up its nuclear program.
North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could begin recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months, Clapper said in delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country.
Obama seeks cybersecurity boost to replace ‘ancient’ tech
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Tuesday he is asking Congress for $3.1 billion to update the government’s archaic computer systems to protect them from cyberattacks as part of a new, centralized effort to boost cybersecurity.
Obama said he will hire a new chief information security officer — but whose salary would be paltry compared to those paid by big businesses — and expand the government’s troubled “Einstein” intrusion-prevention technology. Obama said some infrastructure is downright ancient, with the Social Security Administration relying on systems from the 1960s that are vulnerable.
“That’s going to have to change,” Obama said, flanked by top national security advisers in the Roosevelt Room. “We’re going to have to play some catch-up.”
Across town, the U.S. director of national intelligence, James Clapper, warned Congress that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are the most serious threats to U.S. information systems. Clapper also said increasingly connected devices and appliances make the U.S. vulnerable in new ways.
Obama’s comments came after the release of his 2017 budget proposal. Obama is asking Congress for $19 billion more in cybersecurity funding across all government agencies — an increase of more than from 35 percent from last year.
Hoarding in Syria’s largest city as government advances
BEIRUT (AP) — As government troops close in on Aleppo, some residents are preparing to flee Syria’s largest city while others are hoarding food in case of a long siege, even laying out bread on rooftops to dry it out for storage.
The U.N. warned Tuesday that hundreds of thousands of people could be cut off from humanitarian aid as siege conditions tighten around the rebel-controlled eastern part of the city.
The threat of starvation haunts Aleppo’s residents, who have seen images of emaciated children and adults from other blockaded parts of Syria. An estimated 1 million people are trapped in besieged areas, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Siege Watch project.
“There is a lot of fear, especially after people saw Madaya,” said opposition media activist Karam Almasri, referring to a besieged town in southern Syria.
“They don’t want the same to happen to them,” added Almasri, who lives in Aleppo’s war-ravaged neighborhood of Bustan al-Qasr. He and others spoke to The Associated Press via Skype or social media.
Fries with that? Man accused of tossing gator at drive-thru
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Alligators have been used as shoes, briefcases, university mascots, lunch and now, authorities say, a deadly weapon.
Joshua James, 24, was arrested Monday and charged with assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill after Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officials say he threw a 3.5-foot alligator through a Palm Beach County Wendy’s drive-thru window in October. He’s also charged with illegally possessing an alligator and petty theft. Jail records show he was released on $6,000 bail Tuesday. He was ordered to have no contact with animals.
Wildlife officer Nicholas Guerin said in his report that James drove his pickup truck to the window at about 1:20 a.m. Oct. 11. After an employee handed James his drink, he threw the alligator through the window and drove off. No one was hurt. Guerin captured the alligator and released it into the wild. Guerin said James was tracked down through video surveillance and a purchase at a neighboring convenience store.
Guerin wrote that James admitted throwing the alligator in a December interview. He said James told him he had found the alligator on the side of the road and put it in his truck.
James’ mother, Linda James, told WPTV that her son’s actions were a “stupid prank.”