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Subscribe to RSSAt Tuesday's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, National Director of Intelligence James Clapper said Iran may be more willing to attack the U.S. at home and abroad. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Al-Qaida remains a threat, but intense U.S.-led pressure is working and could relegate it and similar organizations to having only "symbolic importance," the nation's intelligence chief said Tuesday.
When and if that happens, the U.S. will no longer have the luxury of focusing on one dominant threat, James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told senators in the intelligence community's annual assessment of threats to national security.
Rather, the "multiplicity and interconnectedness of potential threats, and the actors behind them, "will combine into an amorphous but critical challenge," Clapper said in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He was joined at the hearing by CIA Director David Petraeus.
While people find it easier to identify a single target — like the Soviet Union during the Cold War or al-Qaida during President George W. Bush's war on terrorism — "it is virtually impossible to rank, in terms of long-term importance, the numerous potential threats to U.S. national security," he said.
Clapper warned that security challenges today cut across political, economic, military and transnational trends. They reflect a "quickly changing international environment" that includes new political and military developments, the rise of "nonstate actors" — like regional terror and paramilitary groups — and ever-increasing access by individuals to deadly technologies.
The good news, he said, is that the resistance to al-Qaida over the past decade has established that sustained pressure works.
"The intelligence community sees the next two or three years as a critical transition phase for the terrorist threat, particularly for al-Qaida and like-minded groups," he said. "... As long as we sustain the pressure on it, we judge that core al-Qaida will be of largely symbolic importance to the global jihadist movement."
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Clapper, a retired Air Force general and former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was confirmed as national intelligence director in August 2010.
In his testimony Tuesday, Clapper and Petraeus talked in detail about al-Qaida and other threats to national security:
- Al-Qaida: The death of Osama bin Laden deprived radical Islam of it "most iconic and inspirational leader" at a time when its capabilities had already been degraded by years of U.S.-led pressure, Clapper said. Al-Qaida's new leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is unlikely to change the organization's strategic direction, even though "most al-Qaida members find Zawahiri's leadership style less compelling than bin Laden's image as a holy man and warrior" and "will not offer him the deference they gave bin Laden."
As a result, "al-Qaida increasingly will seek to execute smaller, simpler plots to demonstrate relevance to the global jihad," Clapper said. In fact, smaller regional groups like al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and al-Qaida in Iraq are likely to "surpass the remnants of core al-Qaida in Pakistan" as threats to U.S. interests.
- Syria: It's only a matter of time before Syrian President Bashar Assad falls from power, Clapper said, but it could be a long time because of intervention by Iran and the militant Islamist group Hezbollah and military supplies from North Korea. That makes it difficult for the West to plan for "a post-Assad situation," he said.
- Weapons of mass destruction: The spread of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons is "among our top concerns," Clapper said, because "the time when only a few states had access to the most dangerous technologies is past."
Biological and chemical materials "move easily in our globalized economy, as do the personnel with scientific expertise to design and use them," he said.
Open Channel: Israeli Embassy, US tourists among likely targets of bomb plot
While no recognized countries are yet known to have provided direct WMD assistance to terrorist groups, that could change: "As governments become unstable and transform, WMD-related materials may become vulnerable to nonstate actors, if the security that protects them erodes," he said.
- Iran: Petraeus said he believed the International Atomic Energy Agency's report in November — which said Iran is on the verge of a nuclear "breakthrough" that could allow it to launch a missile able to hit Israel and Europe — is accurate.
But Iran's willingness to allow IAEA inspectors to extend their stay in Tehran this week indicates that new sanctions on Iran's central bank are beginning to bite. (NBC News has reported that China, Iran's biggest oil customer, has recently reduced its purchases of Iranian oil after behind-the-scenes negotiations with U.S.)
Msnbc.com: Will Iran make good on its threat against US?
- North Korea: The death of supreme leader Kim Jong-il is unlikely to lead to any fundamental change in Pyongyang's isolation and belligerence, Petraeus said. There's no reason to believe, he warned that the new leader, Kim Jong-un, will stop the country's exports of ballistic missiles and other materials to Iran, Syria and possibly other countries.
- Cyber-threats: Advances in information technology have opened the door to mass-scale collection of personal and governmental data by China, Russia and numerous independent groups, Clapper said.
Unfortunately, "innovation in functionality is outpacing innovation in security, and neither the public nor private sector has been successful at fully implementing existing best practices," he said. That's shown by well-publicized intrusions into the NASDAQ computer system and International Monetary Fund networks, underscoring the "vulnerability" of the U.S. economy.
- Health threats and natural disasters: Clapper pointed to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan as an example of what could go wrong even when a government acts appropriately.
"Although Tokyo responded adequately in the immediate aftermath of Japan's largest earthquake, the triple disaster contributed to Prime Minister (Naoto) Kan's resignation," he said. Beyond the immediate health and safety concerns, such developments open the way for militant groups to "challenge and potentially destabilize governments" that never would have been considered vulnerable, he said.
"Although we can say with near certainty that new outbreaks of disease and catastrophic natural disasters will occur during the next several years, we cannot predict their timing, locations, causes or severity," he warned.
Andrea Mitchell and Courtney Kube of NBC News contributed to this report from Washington.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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BULL@!$%#. LET THEM ATTACK FIRST. It's the military industrial complex scaring us again.
I agree. Let's pay off the $3.7 TRILLION we aready owe on the wars since 9/11 before we start another one!
I bet you loved 9/11. We don't need to be panicking to be ready. Boosting defenses =/= starting a war.
"New hard-to-grip challenges confront US security"
True at that and it's ***CONGRESS***
"Fear anything and everything so we can get on with our torching of the Constitution."
It just goes to show that whether a Democrat or Republican is in the White House, the establishment will continue to relentlessly beat the war drum. I had hoped this election cycle would see more people thinking rationally and voting for Ron Paul. But alas, too many sheep are still brainwashed.
Yes better to be reactionary than proactive I always say! Let them kill or maim a few thousand (or more) U.S. citizens before we do what should have been done in the firs place and put and end to them once and for all!
You two sound like they type of person who buys a security system or guard dog or gun or starts locking their door (or all four) after you have been the victim of a crime instead of doing something to prevent it in the first place! Even the I would bet you will blame the justice system for not protecting you when you are unwilling to protect yourself! The world needs more pacifists! It gives the terrorists easy target practice!
"Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
President Dwight Eisenhower
"America, dude, wise up already!"
Me.
@Ernie-201266
We wouldn't be facing these threats if we weren't sticking our noses in Middle Eastern affiars in the first place.
Ernie:
We ARE being proactive. Over the last few years Homeland Security';s been pouring money into several special projects that will enhance our nations safety:
DHS are using Nogales, AZ to test a surveillance system that will continuously monitor 4 square miles or provide scanning monitoring for up to ten square miles, this includes infrared scanning that can see through some types of building materials, enabling law enforcement to see who is growing pot or cooking meth in the backyard shed. The technology also includes retina scanners that are reportedly accurate up to 50 feet away with the person being scanned running. Its called 'Wide Area Surveillance System'. Plans are also underway to fit the system to those Predator drones and test-fly that over Nogales, AZ.
They are planning to roll out the WASS nationwide in areas that are usually considered hot spots; they would be particularly useful along the border, to monitor communes and cult encampments in hard-to reach places like mountains, search canyons and ravines and snowy mountainsides for victims of avalanches and other disasters. The infrared scanning can see through walls and roofs, giving the government a clear picture of who is inside a house, how many, and what these people are doing inside their houses. They'll be able to see who's cooking meth or growing pot in the basement, for example, who is brewing homemade moonshine in the woods behind the house, see who is breaking into someone's house, see a child molester molesting a child.
Another bit of technology they are currently testing in an 'undisclosed location' in the Northeast is what they called a Future Attribute Screening Technology, FAST, which will scan a person as far as 50 feet away for changes in body temperature, respiration, heart rate, eye movement and other factors to determine if they are acting in a suspicious manner. Agents watching the scanners can then direct ground agents to apprehendthe person befoe they can commit an illegal act. Early tests utilizing DHS employees who were told to act a certain way indicated hat the machine was 70% accurate in detecting persons who were told to act suspiciously.
DHS is going to utilize FAST in airports to figure out who is nervous getting on a plane--the FAST system utilizes retina scanning, infrared, pulse and respiration monitor, so someone out of breath with pulse pounding and eyes shifting around rapidly is certainly about to commit a terrorist act. If you have a machine that tells you that someone will commit a crime, then you can be proactive and prevent a crime from happening, which could serve to wipe out most obvious types of crime right away. FAST can be used on buses to predict which passengers will cause a disruption and transportation officers can meet the bus at the next stop, taking the potentially disruptive passenger away before they can cause a disruption; can be used to tell which businessman walking into a diplomatic session will be carrying a briefcase bomb. There will be no more chances for assassination plots like 'Operation Valkyrie' and of course no more 9-11, unless the terrorists are specifically trained to act normal and can control their breathing enough to appear calm and beat the scanner. After all, the scanner has 70% accuracy!
Also currently being tested are portable DNA scanners. Meant to be utilized at airports, it'll require that the person being tested open their mouth for an inside-the-cheek swab which will then be placed in a portable DNA analyzer and return results. Most of the initial results will be enrollment results but if the DNA submitted happens to be a match or partial match for someone on DHS's database who is, for instance, currently detained at Guantanamo Bay or currently detained as an illegal immigrant, that person can be detained as well. This is primarily for use on children coming through with parents/guardians, DNA analyzers will make sure the child is related to the guardian/parent and is not being smuggled or trafficked into the US.
The retina scanning can be incorporated to scan a person's eyes as they sit at a red light, predicting who is going to run that red light before they do it, printing that person a ticket for running that red light before they even do it. Traffic cameras will be able to see a person's shifting eyes, predicting that they will cut off another vehicle before they do it; and they can record the pulse of the other driver, and if the pulse speeds up after the person is cut off, the police can apprehend the other driver for a potential road rage incident before the driver can actually commit said incident.
Portable DNA scanners are going to be used mostly at airports; in addition to the regular TSA screening, you'll be required to give DNA before getting on the plane, and so will your wife and child. This will actually be a good thing; if the plane crashes while you're on it, they'll be able to match the DNA of your remains to the preflight DNA screening with no guessing required.
My mom and dad adopted me, but never wanted me to know and never told me; if DNA screening at airports had been around when I was young, I would have found out they weren't actually my parents a lot sooner; parents absolutely shouldn't have the right or the choice to keep that kind of information from their children. By the same token, a mother shouldn't be keeping the fact that the child has a different father from the child or the Dad either, or the dad keep the fact that the person a child thinks is 'Mom' is actually 'Stepmom'.
I agree. Ya know, if we brought back our forces from overseas, we would save all that money, have a large military present here and if somebody f*&^ked with us we could actually afford to go somewhere and kick their asses. But than again, we're really not interested in that. No money in it.
Am I the only one that can see bad stuff on the horizon?
Ed, I agree 100%. Petraeus and Clapper are pimping another war to keep the defense contractors in cash and "culling back" the herd. I'm just waiting for the Freedom Fries to make their comeback. The nation is not ready to give in to the CIA and create another war.
That's exactly how I'm seeing it. In my opinion, Clapper and Patraeus and warmongerers. Pakistan and India both have the bomb so what's the big deal about Iran getting it? The U.S. keeps putting pressure on Iran. As far as I see it, we're the ones pushing the middle east closer to a powder keg situation. I don't think we ever got over the fact that the Iranians deposed our dictator who we supported--the Shah. I think we should be a lot more concerned about keeping tabs on the nuclear arsenal of the old U.S.S.R. I'd be a lot more worried about a terrorist group getting their hands on a bomb and bringing one into the U.S.A. Other than that I think we should keep our noses out of the middle east. Bring the troops home and secure our borders. If you don't let certain individuals in then you lessen the odds of a problem here at home. Let's take care of our own first. After all, we spend all that money in the middle east and the Pakistanis still don't like us, Afghanistan still hasn't gotten over it's tribal issues and many of them don't like us, Egyptians don't like us even though we send em billions, and Israel insults our President after all the Billions we send em. Cut al foreign aid to all countries. U.S.A. citizens first.
protect the U.S. mainland and nothing else...just a thought (OK Alaska and Hawaii)...take your best shot
If China landed on the shores of Texas....We would own China (and I would hate to give up that buffet)
Al-Who
Oh yea...Al Qaida...If we wasn't I'n Dah Middle East...There would be no Al-Who
Put the Ebola virus in Tehran's water supply and just sit back . . . two can play THAT game.
Correct. As Al-Qaeda recedes, the biggest challenge facing US "security" is how to make more money off the American taxpayer.
z
The new security issue. While we are over in the middle east, we imported more people from the region in the last ten years than in the 200 years beforehand. And they spread like ghosts, and we have no idea where they are or what they are up to.
Oooooooh. We're so scared! Save us, Big Brother! ...
NOT! And never again! Try another false flag op and We the People will shove both flag and pole up your corporate fascist stooge backside sideways and slowly.
Aren't you lucky, frogs.....over 2,489,335 Americans (of all nationalities) have been wounded or killed in all our wars so that freaks like you can spout you stupidty to the sky.
Aren't you a fool, GCCal..... "over 2,489,335 Americans (of all nationalities)" makes no sense as being "American" is generally accepted to mean being a U.S. citizen which is only ONE nationality.
But yes, we have killed millions "of all nationalities" in our wars, although NONE of those wars fought since 1945 were "so that freaks like you can spout you stupidty [misspelled] to the sky": They were fought so that the military industrial complex and the bankers that own and finance them could make money out the a*s by exploiting the ignorance of "patriots" like you.
watchingfrogsboil, do you know you are a fool, and do not know what you are saying, i was in Vietnam and the gulf war, just to keep people just like you safe, and i bet you haven't even been in the service, so do not even start talking about something you do not even know about.
Sorry Lannie but Watching frogs is right. Vietnam was a joke, a needless war, a needless loss of good men, a waste of money, and an example of what happens when older (but not wiser) men run a war and don't know what they're doing and don't know that if you're going to start a war at least do it right. In my opinion they got you at a young age and indoctrinated you. Don't hold that against someone else who has the guts and brains to think for himself.
Lannie,
If you were 19 when the war ended.....(do 19 year olds really understand what is going on ), then you were 47 when Iraq war started...try your BS elsewhere
Olias of Sunhillow, Eisenhower did not predict that enough armaments now exist to blow the world up not just once, but several times over.
Bill S - Kinda thinking we need to call you out on the BS meter, too. First, 47 is not impossible, especially for an officer (which we don't knwo from Lannie's post)
Second, the FIRST Gulf War started in August, 1990. So, again, we don't know from Lannie's post, but it's not physically impossible to have served in both. I do think, however, that his background does not qualify him to be any more expert on the facts.
Yes there are national security threats as there always has been
BUT, we need to take a quality instead of quantity approach to this from now on. The military industrial complex has wasted tremendous tax dollars in the past and this can be no more in the 21st Century.
Ed: every discussion board I've read, about 95% of the people believed this is propaganda for justifying a war with Iran. So who are they trying to fool with this story.
Screw Israel. Israel isn't a part of the US. Personally I hope the bastards get what they have coming. CNN is a Zionist propaganda machine and Mitchel is nothing but a Zionist shill along with Wolfe Blitzes. Since the US is actively engaged in assassination and operations within Iran's boarders retaliation should be expected. Why is it Kosher for the US to use Assassination and Terrorist activities and condemner others for doing the same thing. The US Government is a bigger threat to the people of this country than any other outside source, and CNN is part of the problem not part of the solution.
Hello Nazi I think you better realize your in the minority jerk head. If Israel goes so goes democracy in the middle east. I doubt an idiot like you can comprehend what that would mean
There ya go again Anna.. name calling is just rude and reveals that you don't actually have an argument for the point.
My , aren't we a hateful SOB ? 7 million Jews can be slaughtered and according to you they deserve it !
Israel is the only stable country in the middle east and they are constantly being murdered by Musl ims , even infants and children ! What you are is an anti semite and a foll of large proportions !
Right on tallman! We should be thanking Israel for destroying Iraq's attempt to build a nuclear reactor in 1981 and Syria's attempts in 2007. They seem to be the only country which has balls to do what must be done.
"Israel is the only stable country in the middle east and they are constantly being murdered by Musl ims , even infants and children ! What you are is an anti semite and a foll of large proportions !"
First of all Israel is the farthest from being any form of democracy, secondly Palestinians are semites too yet they haven't hijacket the antisemite words like the zionists did, they are also much human as the Israeli's. The majority of muslims are not terrorists (go make some muslim friends instead of watching zionists propaganda news). Palestinians deserve to have a country too. the jews did migrate from europe to palestine, the zionists plan was to creat a jewish israel and eliminate the Palestinians contrary to the belfor declaration, which promised not to harm or effect the indigenous population. so not only did the zionists steal their land but now they claim the palestinians dont exist, are jordanians, terrorists, etc. such corruption in the world were to begin. I;m a palestinian christian i have many muslim friends which by the way are not terrorists and are very nice, there are many christians in palestine, there are also many churches and mosques and christains there. muslims get along with christians there like brothers. there are christian extremists and jewish extremists in this world yet nobody labels them as such only the muslims get the fun names. so instead of being brain washed by the news go observe by yourself and stop spewing hate, the injustice in this world and the belive that all muslims are the boogie man has to stop. thank you
Ok Mr. Butters....first of all, Israel is a democracy and if you read the old testament( you say you're a christian), then you know that god gave this land to the jews....the promised land, yeah, it's there in the bible. They stole nothing, you can't steal what is yours in the first place. As for spewing hate, you're doing it to the jews. I'm sick of you anti-semetic Hitlers. Israel stopped Iraq and Syria from having nuclear weapons, do you have to be smacked up the side of your head to realize that? Little Israel is surrounded by enemies with their back to the sea, yet they prevail, as they did in the six day war in 67' and Yom Kippur in 73'. Maybe as a christian you should ask why do they prevail? The answers in the Holy Christian Bible....God loves the Jews! Don't blame me, but it's there in black and white.
Rick, I disagree with you. Israel doesn't have freedom of the press. What the press says is controlled by the government. And when you say God loves the Jews you imply that he loves others less and in my opinion that is a racist statement in its own right. The Bible is made up in part by stories from previous written works and they were written by men, not by God. God is perfect and being perfect God wouldn't show preference to one group over another. He loves all equally.
The thing is, in international relations there has always been one superpower and numerous other nations that would like to be and who work to bring the superpower down. Right now, we're the superpower.
Just another reason for them to scare more Americans and take more of our freedoms away!
Al-Qaida isn't as big a threat to our freedoms as Republicans. Heck to Republicans, Al-Qaida is a role model they wish to modify into a Christian version.
Yeah , those Republicans are great at stoning women to death , creating IEDs , murdering any person at will and kidnaping innocent people , sitting them in front of a video camera , reading some incoherent manifesto and then sawing their head off with a knife !
Diid you even read your post ! You are not a leftistatheist , you are a complete and utter fool that has been sucking on the Kool-Aid so long you are brain damaged What a hateful and scornful post with no humor !!!!
leftistatheist: Did you make this word up? If not, what does it mean?
Hey AtheistLefty, go @!$%# yourself . . . . .
Amen Fargoguy! There is certainly no shortage of idiots on this site!
Social conservatives are Taliban light.
Big Brother wants to make sure we never run out of Boogeymen to be afraid of. TOO LATE. Most of the People are waking up to the fact that Big Brother IS the Boogeyman! So now, Big Brother, it's YOUR time to be afraid. And I mean really, REALLY AFRAID...
The biggest threat to national security is the pending number of unemployed people, since the defense budget has been cut. That number would also have to include all of the merchants in the areas where these national security people live.
Not to mention the failure to build a pipeline. Lost jobs. Obama could've easily approved the pipeline and accelerated a resolution to make the environmental crowd happy.
Nice try, Corporate Fascist plant. You'll be boarding the same cattle car as Big Brother soon. And let me assure you, s**k up: Payback is gonna be a b**ch!
Steven B, now that we see that you know all your parties talking points, have anything orginal? Try it without "The sky is falling!"
Isn't what Steve said, while having some what of a political tent to it, still actually true?
If the US government is going to reduce the defense budget and achieve that reduction by discharging approximately 192,000 military personal, would that not be increasing (at least temporarily) the unemployment numbers by 192,000 military personal.
If those 192,000 military personal no longer live or stationed neared major bases like Fort Brag or Camp Pendilten and no longer have a steady job, they would not be able to easily buy the goods sold at Walmart or Target or Krogers in those area. Would this not in turn mean that those places would no longer need as many employees as they currently employ?
While there are arguments that the Keystone pipeline project would provided only temporary jobs, most experts agree that the construction phase would have been at least 5 years. So that would have been 5 year temporary jobs provided to a group of US citizens presently unemployed. A person should believe that a 5 year job would always be better than no job at all, I would hope.
Than there is the fact refining of a natural resource done in by US company would mean that company is having revenue. That would equate, I hope, to that company not closing its doors and laying off its present employees.
There is, IMO, an argument that can be made that if you can lease land to a company who is going to build things at their own expense and hire your citizens it would be a better investment then giving $500 million dollars to a company that your own advisers suggested was a financially troubled company and watching them go bankrupt 8 months later laying off 1000+ of your citizens. Don't you?
By the way, everyone is now expected to believe that any job will probably be 5 years or less now.
Is a 2,000 mile long pipeline full of toxic solvents a vulnerability? Republicans are paid to rush to find out.
Why don't you google Map Of Petroleum Pipelines In US to see that this pipeline is nothing new to this country.
I would have to believe that a 2,000 mile pipeline full of toxic solvents was LESS vulnerable then trucking the toxic solvents along 2,000 miles of highways roads or rail. The stuff is going to move. It can moved from one location to another in a controlled and secure path, or it can move on the highways next to your mini-van and that drunk driver that just left your local drinking establishment. Your choice.
I'm a Canadian, so i'm not sure how much if any of our news that you see. Yes, President Obama could have approved the construction of the pipeline, but that only pertains to the U.S.
Building a pipeline that's starting in Canada is a different matter.Of course all the enviromentalists are making themselves heard, but also our native groups as well......and quite recently our government is listening very closely to them. Put simply, it would have been a bigger battle to even get it started here, no matter if President Obama approved it or not.
If you doubt what i say, google Oka, Quebec, Canada; circa; 1990. It was around the same time that Operation Desert Shield was started.
Rick-4187868, that is a good point. And mostly, we have not heard about that. The most we have heard about Canada's opinion on this is when Canada's Priminester publicly stated that the US President for holding Canada hostage on this delay in his decission. Did that actually occur?
The education system is to blame on that, school children should be taught where gasoline, electricity, food, water, natural gas and other resources come from - and how it all gets to us.
Beware the boogiemen!
What a joke. People still don't get we fought an enemy that never really existed, whoa watch out a box cutter. Pussy's Detroit is worst than Kabul
you mean a box cutter like the hijackers had that brought down 4 planes? An enemy that never really existed? You may want to take that discussion up with the loved ones of those killed in the twin towers, the pentagon, and in that field in pennsylvania, not to mention the loved ones of the people on all of the planes.
Joke, danL? You're the joke, and not a very good one.
Hopefully, the increasing divide occurring between the 1% and the 99% does not create internal problems that the military needs to deal with because there are not enough police to protect. The decision makers that have created an economic crisis, or even concerns about environmental issues, really need to review some lessons from history.
Outside threats are one thing.... internal discontent is quite another, but equally devastating to a way of life we think can't be drastically altered.
We will be protesting NDAA nationwide on Friday Feb 3. And regardless of what happens then or thereafter, AUMF & NDAA WILL BE UNDONE and with them any thought of ever using American troops on American soil against American citizens.
Hey froggy? Your paranoia is showing. lol wow.
Let me know how that works out Frog. Just about everybody in our government is behind this, they're just waiting for something big to happen. The military performed "joint missions for keeping us safe" this last week in Los Angeles. For all we know, they've already got it planned out and are just waiting for March 16 to come when the president can declare martial law when he pleases. Keep an eye out for a huge amount of attack on US soil news to come. The idea is to scare us into going along with their plans, and it will happen even if we don't ask for it. Just sayin'.
And the precedent to use a secret death panel has already been activated on a US citizen.
Connie O'Bryne said:
Outside threats are one thing.... internal discontent is quite another, but equally devastating to a way of life we think can't be drastically altered.
Homeland Security has realized this, that's why in addition to creating a list of external terroristic threats to our country, they've also released a list of internal domestic terror threats:
Alternative media
Anarchist extremism
Animal rights extremism
Anti-abortion extremism
Anti-immigration extremism
Anti-technology extremism
Aryan prison gangs
Black bloc
Black nationalism
Black power
Black separatism
Christian Identity movement
Cuban independence extremism
Decentralized terror movement
Denial-of-service attacks
Direct action (including lawful acts of civil disobedience)
Environmental extremism
Ethnic extremism
Extremist groups
Green anarchism
Hacktivism (technology-enabled social/political activism)
Hate groups
Jewish extremism
Leaderless resistance
Left-wing extremism
Lone terrorists
Mexican separatists
Militia Movements (including conspiracy theorists)
Neo-Nazis
Patriot Movement
Phineas Priesthood
Primary targeting(directly supporting/funding terrorists)
Puerto Rican independence extremists
Radical Norse mysticism practitioners
Racialists
Right-wing extremists
Single-issue/multiple issue extremist groups
Skinheads whose ‘dress may include shaved head/short hair, jeans, thin suspenders, combat boots or Doc Martens and a bomber jacket’
Sovereign citizen movement
Tax resistance movement
Violent anti-war extremism
Violent religious sects (includes those who stockpile food and weapons)
White Nationalists
White Power advocates
White Supremacists
Alternative media
Anarchist extremism
Animal rights extremism
Anti-abortion extremism
Anti-immigration extremism
Anti-technology extremism
Aryan prison gangs
Black bloc
Black nationalism
Black power
Black separatism
Christian Identity movement
Cuban independence extremism
Decentralized terror movement
Denial-of-service attacks
Direct action (including lawful acts of civil disobedience)
Environmental extremism
Ethnic extremism
Extremist groups
Green anarchism
Hacktivism (technology-enabled social/political activism)
Hate groups
you left out outlaw motorcyle gangs and soccer moms with pms.
What else is left?
People who order pepperoni with pineapple
People who wipe their butts with their left hand.
People who buy gold and silver. (opps, thats the other list)
Supporters of Ron Paul. (other list)
Ron Paul bumber stickers. (other list)
Tattoos.
Wouldn't be easier to tell us what we can do rather than the long list of what we can't?
Ya's forgot to list the T.S.A.
How much money and lives lost
To figure out to lock cock-pit doors before take-off and do not open until landing completed.
There had been so many hi-jackings in the past. Prior 9/11.
What were they thinking?
Anything more difficult than this will be way over the intelligence of our Government.
They shoot 10 million dollars worth of cruise-missles ( President Clinton) at bin laden
Did they not think he might be pi--ed and maybe we should just carpet-bomb him.
Yea, new threats like...peak oil, climate change, political instability as the global economy crashes. Duh.
The biggest threat to Americans will now come from our own government.
rd - you state it perfectly and I fear the direction our government, particularly Hussein Obama, is taking us. He has signed the NDAA, which gives our government power to arrest and detain American citizens which our government can claim are terrorists and hold them indefinitely without trial. If this isn't in direct violation of the Bill of Rights, I don't know what is. Our government is systematically eliminating our rights and the Constitution of the United States of America.
Sounds like the dark ages to me. We need someone like Ron Paul to Restore America!
bjbd:
in case you haven't heard, there is now the Enemy Expatriation Act, or HR3166, currently making its way through the House that will allow the government to strip citizenship from a natural-born citizen or revoke citizenship for a naturalized citizen if you're caught engaging in or advocating for sedition or rebellion or 'acting contrary to the interests of' the US or any of its allies.
The biggest threat to America is the population can't, won't research anything outside of what's said on the flat screen. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out if you just open your mind to all the possibilities. (although, i am a rocket sceintist). But no, lets just believe everything we hear on mainstream media, They know whats going on, they have inside contacts. You know, the "not authorized to say a fooking thing but I will". (didn't hear that 30 yrs ago) how come there not listed as traitors? Thought the Prez wasn't gonna put up with inside leaks? Oh yeah, He's said alot of things, nevermind!
rd & frog, ya hit it on the head. A lots gonna happen between now and 2020 and most of the believers in gov't are going to be screaming their heads off. But thats ok, at least we will really know who they are, and i'm to old to give a rats ass.
BTW, terrorist don't bother me as much as the gov't squeezing away my rights in the name of security.
Vote the Lifers out!
Its amazing that the threats the government claims to be prevalent is more alarming to them then the whole being of its citizens. We are becoming more poor, losing more jobs and more rights (NDAA, patriot act, airport security) everyday. Yet all the focus is on terrorists (AKA muslim man with a beard). Screw that! eventually people will get tired when their pushed into the corner then what?I hope it will not get to that point where we have to riot in order to get attention. The real defense should be here on U.S soil when people go crazy, not 3000 miles away on countries we have no right being in. If they want to defend america then just defend here, watch the immigrators who come here and stop interfering in other countries businesses. BUT i guess there is just to many valuables overseas for america to give up......oh well. Jump of joy goes to the brainwashed sheep who do not give a damn
And yet Ken-880631 stated ". . . your paranoia is showing . . ."
Your paranoid about being asleep so I guess your gonna stay with that.
Still have to wander how many of these threats are inside jobs just to keep the system primed , you know their are jarheads that would shot their own family if they were ordered to . Maybe not a 9/11 event but a car bomb or something just big enough to sell the message , something a neocon could run with
Good Post......you know its just not an easy job to keep 300 million Americans contstantly distracted and afraid at the same time.......
jarheads that would shoot their own family if they were ordered to? who the f'k are you to talk that way about people willing to sacrafice their lives to protect our country and your freedoms? God damn you for your attitude. How dare you say such a thing? You are a gutless coward who, i'm sure, has never had the guts to join the military or serve their country in any other way. You SUCK!!!!!
And you know that there are non-military people who HAVE shot their own family because they did not want to feed them an orange.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57356312/cops-man-kills-3-relatives-in-spat-over-dying-wife/
Your point being?
YEAH, What KEN said, YOU SUCK!!! But than again orders are orders and if you have been conditioned in the new correct way, well.................
You know ken it is under military oath to defend against all threats on u.s soil both foreign and DOMESTIC. If we have the guts to pee on dead people, make finger trophies of them and kill innocent people you think killing a family member for a soldier is going to be a hard thing? For crying out loud people in the military molest others in their own platoon. The military is not as idealistically sound and polite as you take it to be. Remember at the end of the day, they had the choice when committing atrocities overseas whether to shoot innocents or not. So do not be so damn naive.
Nemesis-2101965, the problem with yours and seemssoobvious's post is that it implies that because of the reported bad acts by some people in the military, it is a standing condition on all military personal. That is not true. In fact, I believe the percentages of bad act committed by people actually is higher in the civilian population then it is in the military population. That is to say there are more killing of innocent people, rapes, child molestations, desecration of the dead, etc. done by the civilian people in the US then has been done by its military. The only reason we generally hear about these acts in the military are because they are so rare that they become news, and these acts are accepted as more of fact of life in the civilian world.
This is such BS. They will say whatever they can to get NDAA and other initiatives through. Terrorism....You have a better chance of being killed by Bees. What a joke.
tell it to the families of the victims. then get your head out of your liberal ass.
cars kill more people then terrorists- maybe you should delcare war on cars
EMB-1853047, absolutely true. But are those cars named Christine, and knowingly seek out to kill people?
Still, let us not forget the quote by the 18th century poet Samuel Johnson: "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel . . ."