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Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department officially labeled MS-13 a transnational criminal organization. No other American-born street gang has earned that distinction, which has previously been given to groups like the Yakuza in Japan and the Zetas in Mexico.
The CIA is urging the White House to approve a significant expansion of the agency’s fleet of armed drones, a move that would extend the spy service’s decade-long transformation into a paramilitary force. The proposal by CIA Director David H. Petraeus would bolster the agency’s ability to sustain its campaigns of lethal strikes in Pakistan and Yemen and enable it, if directed, to shift aircraft to emerging al-Qaeda threats in North Africa or other trouble spots, officials said.
The U.S. State Department on Thursday announced a $12 million bounty for information on the precise location of two Iran-based al Qaeda money-men. The rewards, part of the department’s Rewards for Justice program, include $7 million for information on alleged al Qaeda senior facilitator and financier Muhsin al-Fadhli and $5 million for information on his deputy, Adel Radi Saqr al-Wahabi al-Harbi. Both men are wanted by Saudi authorities on terrorism charges and are believed to be supporting al Qaeda members who are fighting against Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria.
Crystal City-based security contractor Jorge Scientific is under investigation after a video surfaced of its employees in Afghanistan allegedly under the influence of alcohol or drugs in what is being called “a pattern of outrageous behavior” while working in Afghanistan. Jorge Scientific says it has taken “decisive action” against the employees in the video.
“The intelligence briefings we got a week to 10 days after were consistent with what the administration was saying,” said Rep. William Thornberry, R-Texas, a member of the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees. Thornberry would not confirm the existence of the early CIA report but voiced skepticism over how sure intelligence officials, including CIA Director David Petraeus, seemed of their original account when they briefed lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The Iraqi Prime Minister is demanding new arms shipments from the US.
Robert Caruso is a veteran of the United States Navy, and has worked for the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Business Transformation Agency and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
