Counterterrorism
Joint Base Andrews was on lockdown tonight after a vehicle tried to bypass security at the main gate and the two occupants fled, with at least one of them armed. Vice President Harris had just flown back to the Maryland base with four cabinet secretaries after attending the…
The U.S. Department of State said on Monday it was designating an al Qaeda-affiliated group which operates primarily in the Idlib, Syria as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist." In addition to the designation, the Katibat-al-Tawhid wal-Jihad group has been…
Military & Defense
The first foreign fighters have arrived in Ukraine amid heavy Russian bombardment and are on the battlefield, Ukraine military officials tell Military Times. This marks the first time the unit has been used, Ukraine Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of that nation’s defense…
The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine deepened Monday as Russian forces intensified their shelling and food, water, heat and medicine grew increasingly scarce, in what the country condemned as a medieval-style siege by Moscow to batter it into submission…
Cybersecurity
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says the Ragnar Locker ransomware gang has breached the networks of at least 52 organizations from multiple US critical infrastructure sectors. This was revealed in a joint TLP:WHITE flash alert published on Monday in…
After hacking Russian streaming services, Anonymous, a decentralized international activist and hacktivist collective, has leaked that Kremlin is planning to disconnect the country from the global internet. The group shared the information on Twitter on Sunday by posting…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
Russia has been trying to recruit Syrians to fight in Ukraine to bolster Moscow’s flagging invasion, according to the Pentagon. A senior US defence official said it was unclear how many Syrians Vladimir Putin is seeking to recruit, but said “we find it noteworthy that he…
Abu Zubaydah, whom the CIA once mistakenly alleged was a top al-Qaeda leader, was waterboarded 80+ times, subjected to assault in the form of forced rectal exams, and exposed to live burials in coffins for hundreds of hours. Zubaydah sobbed, twitched and…
Transnational Organized Crime
Authorities in Mexico recently seized an historic amount of high-powered weapons and ammunition in a northern border state, laying bare the true firepower of one faction of the Sinaloa Cartel as it tries to solidify its control over the group. On March 1 and 2…
Attorney General Merrick Garland has joined with the United States's “Five Eyes” partners to call upon the International Criminal Police Organization to end Russia’s access to Interpol databases as the Kremlin continues its Ukraine invasion. Interpol, with its 194 global…