Violence and Security

US Defense Budget Prioritizes Russia, China Threats

February 02, 2016

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter makes a case through the Pentagon's budget proposal for why China’s rapid military buildup and Russia’s intervention beyond its borders pose a larger threat to US security than do extremist groups like the Islamic State.
Boko Haram Continues War for Sharia in Nigeria with Lethal Assault Against Civilian Targets

February 01, 2016

Boko Haram, the homegrown Nigerian Islamist extremist group aiming to install sharia law throughout Nigeria, staged a lethal combination of high-casualty terror attacks this weekend against civilian targets, including a series of suicide bombings and fire bombings of villages and refugee camps in the northeastern part of the county.
US Court Case on Hacking for IS Reveals Broader Links to Kosovo

February 01, 2016

The US Justice Department has announced that an Albanian Kosovar extradited from Malaysia to the United States who faces trial on charges of hacking American computer systems and sharing confidential military personnel data with the Islamic State ("IS") is likely the leader of a Kosovar Albanian hacking group with sympathies and ties to global networks of violent Islamists.
IS Flagship Magazine Reveals Jihadi Infighting and IS Anti-Saudi Stance

February 01, 2016

The articles in the latest issue of Fabiq, the widely circulated flagship propaganda magazine of the Islamic State ("IS"), reveal intensive internecine conflicts among globalized jihadi groups, with IS reserving particular opprobrium for the Taliban and Shiite Muslims and calling for the overthrow of the Wahhabist clerics and the ruling family of Saudi Arabia.
Another Jihadi Suicide Bombing Continues Islamist Civil War in Yemen

February 01, 2016

Yemen's main port city and economic center, Aden, has been rocked by a second suicide bombing in two days, as multiple Sunni jihadi groups, including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State ("IS"), have allied with Saudi Arabia in an Islamic sectarian war to oust Shiite Houthis from control over large parts of Yemen.
Libya's Failed State Proves a Boon for Violent Islamists

January 29, 2016

The collapse of the Libyan state and the country's descent into civil war since the termination of the Qaddafi dictatorship has proven a boon for radical Islamists, including al-Qaeda and Islamic State ("IS") factions, which are drawing revenues from the country's oil fields, running jihadi training camps inside Libya's borders, and priming to use Libya as a platform to launch Islamist operations in Europe.
Europol Report Warns of IS European Operations and on Targeting Refugees for Radicalization

January 29, 2016

A new report by Europol, Europe's Police Agency, warned that the Islamic State ("IS") has developed an "external action command" and special forces units designed to carry out operations against civilian targets with high casualties, and that IS is honing its focus on European refugee centers as recruitment grounds for radicalizing Muslim refugees and fleeing the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
Texas Seeks Court Order Against Syrian Refugee Resettlement

January 29, 2016

After US officials failed to give Texas authorities sufficient notice, as required by a court order, of the resettlement of a Syrian family in Houston, Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton has argued before a US district court that it should bar the federal government from resettling further Syrian refugees in the state.
Growth in Hardline Islamism Threatens Religious Minorities in Indonesia

January 27, 2016

Hardline Sunni Islamist activism in parts of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority state, is generating threats against religious minorities, as the Muslim Ahmadiyah sect is being pressured to either "convert" to Sunni Islam or be expelled from the country, with sectarian harassment following the pattern of increasing Islamist attacks on Indonesia's Christian communities.
2015 Was Marked by Troubling Signs of Extremist Islamism in America

January 27, 2016

Extremist political Islam became a more prominent and consistent part of the US social and political landscape in 2015, based on a media review of threats of religious violence, social intolerance, and chilling effects on free speech and gender equality.