Homeland Security News

The upper echelons of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security paint Adham Amin Hassoun as a terrorist so dangerous he should not be set free on American soil.

That said, federal officials have a dilemma with Hassoun, who is jailed at the immigration center in Batavia: They don't have solid proof that he is a national security risk.

And, the evidence they once hoped would prove him a threat turned out to be constructed on allegations from another detainee in Batavia who now appears to have likely concocted his claims against Hassoun.

Read more: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Major victories against terror groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida have so far failed to stem their spread across the world, part of a worrisome trend identified in a new U.S. government report on terrorism.

The State Department’s annual terror assessment, released Wednesday, hailed “major strides” in Washington’s ongoing effort to curb terrorism, pointing to the defeat of the Islamic State (IS) caliphate in Iraq and Syria, the killing of former IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the killing of Hamza bin Laden, the son of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden.

Only the report found none of that was enough.

Read more: Voice of America

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday that the United States has doubled the bounty for the new ISIS leader to $10 million.

The leader of the ISIS terror organization, Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, also known as Hajji Abdallah, ascended to the top spot within the terror organization following the October 2019 death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a U.S. military operation.

Al-Mawla was previously a senior member in ISIS’ predecessor organization, al-Qa’ida in Iraq, before joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

Read more: CNBC

Charges laid against a U.S. Army soldier linked to a satanic neo-Nazi group founded in Britain have led to renewed calls among anti-racism campaigners to ban the far-right extremist organization.

A federal grand jury handed up Army Pvt. Ethan Phelan Melzer, 22, of Louisville, Kentucky, federal attempted murder charges Monday for allegedly passing along information about his unit's planned deployment overseas with the intention to get extremist groups to attack it.

The group Melzer reportedly delivered the information to is the Order of Nine Angles (O9A), a fringe far-right extremist group that incites violence by spreading its ideology, particularly online.

Read more: NBC News

Afghan National Police did not typically attend the meetings, or shuras, between U.S. troops and Afghan soldiers on Camp Maiwand in Afghanistan’s eastern Logar province.

But the police forces, known as ANP, were necessary on Sept. 3, 2018. Elections were close at hand and the ANP would play a large role in provincial security as insurgents attempted to undermine the country’s already fragile electoral process.

Brig. Gen. Muhammad Raziq, commander of the Afghan National Army brigade at Camp Maiwand, invited local ANP leaders, Afghan National Directorate of Security personnel and U.S. advisers to a 10 a.m. shura in his office to discuss operations in Logar and Wardak provinces. The Afghan leaders were accompanied by personal security details that increased the number of attendees beyond what was normal.

Read more: Army Times