Counterterrorism
French forces have killed dozens of fighters in Burkina Faso linked to deadly attacks this week in neighbouring Benin whose victims included a Frenchman, the army said. The French-led Barkhane force in the Sahel region “engaged its air intelligence capacities to locate the…
Two Malian soldiers were killed early Sunday in northern Mali in an attack on their post blamed on jihadists, the army announced on social networks. An "armed terrorist group" attacked the Niafunke post in the early hours, the army said, using a term commonly used…
More than a dozen plots against Israelis were foiled in the last two years, Channel 12 reported over the weekend. Further, I24 News reported: “According to the unsourced report, the majority of the plots were linked to the Islamic State jihadist group and targeted Israeli…
Military & Defense
Ukraine has called for a meeting with Russia and other members of a key European security group over the escalating tensions on its border. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia had ignored formal requests to explain the build-up of troops. He said the "next step" was…
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday said Russia's buildup of forces near the Ukraine border "makes it a distinct possibility that there will be major military action very soon," as tensions grow between Moscow and Kyiv amid fears of a potential Russian invasion…
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen on Sunday night asked civilians in Yemeni ministries in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa to immediately evacuate, Reuters reported, citing Saudi state news agency SPA. The coalition said the Iran-backed Houthis use these…
Cybersecurity
The San Francisco 49ers have been hit by a ransomware attack, with cyber criminals claiming they stole some of the football team’s financial data. The ransomware gang BlackByte recently posted some of the purportedly stolen team documents on a dark web site in a file marked…
A new initiative announced by the Biden administration is designed to help bolster the country’s defenses against possible cyberattacks on the country’s 150,000 public water systems that serve 300 million Americans. According to a White House fact sheet, the Water Sector…
A Maine man was indicted today by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Massachusetts, in connection with the Dec. 28, 2020, fire that destroyed a predominately Black church in Springfield. Dushko Vulchev, 45, of Houlton, Maine, was indicted by a federal grand jury…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
A former U.S. Naval nuclear engineer accused of trying to sell secrets to a foreign government is due to appear in court Monday for a plea hearing. Jonathan Toebbe of Annapolis and his wife, Dana Toebbe, previously pleaded not guilty to charges of espionage in October…
Special Counsel John Durham reportedly said in a new court filing that a technology executive working with a Clinton-tied lawyer accessed White House servers as well as Internet data for Trump Tower and elsewhere in connection with an effort to dig up dirt on Donald Trump…
Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, both Democrats, announced on Thursday that they will send a co-signed letter [PDF] to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director William Burns in April 2021, requesting…
Transnational Organized Crime
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Del Rio Sector encountered more than 160 unaccompanied migrant children from February 4-11. This fiscal year, between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2021, the Del Rio Sector has already encountered 2,280 unaccompanied juveniles…
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has announced that in 2021, its officers across Canada seized 1,122 firearms, more than double the number from 2020. The CBSA has also announced the results of an investigation into 3D-printed firearms manufacturing…
For a man who had spent the afternoon stuck in a gun battle, President Umaro Embaló of Guinea Bissau seemed remarkably calm. Hours after troops attacked his offices with bazookas, he emerged for a press conference in a crisply-ironed shirt to reassure his people…