Terrorism

As President Obama receives formal recommendations in the coming months on issues surrounding the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it is crucial that policymakers and the public have an accurate picture of the threat to the United States posed by those detainees already released. Contrary to recent assertions that one in seven, or 14 percent, of the former prisoners had "returned to the battlefield," our analysis of Pentagon reports, news stories, and other public records indicates that the number who were confirmed or suspected to… more

Indonesia has had an extraordinarily good run. The Islamist terrorist attack that struck two international hotels in the heart of Jakarta won't change that. This was the first successful attack in the country since 2005. That attack followed the spectacular 2002 Bali bombing that killed or maimed hundreds of tourists, thus bringing what had been America's war on terrorism to Southeast Asia. The consensus is that Friday's attack was perpetrated by some of the bedraggled remnants of Jemaah Islamiyah, the local answer to al Qaeda.

"They're back and can do these multiple attacks," Peter Bergen, an analyst with CNN, told the network. Indonesia had not had a major terrorist attack for ...

First, I would like to thank Chairman Carper, Ranking Member McCain, and other members of the subcommittee who have gathered today. I am honored by this incredible opportunity to share some thoughts on the subject of strengthening U.S.-Pakistan relations, with a specific focus on explaining the character and dynamics of jihadist militancy in Pakistan.

Somalia is not new territory for al Qaeda, according to CNN's terrorism analyst Peter Bergen.

"Al Qaeda was running training camps in Somalia in the early and mid-1990s," he said. "If this is now coming back, this is something that al Qaeda has already done and it's worrisome for the future...

Look, it took the Israelis 15 years to find Eichmann," says Peter Bergen, a journalist, terrorism expert and one of the few westerners to have actually met Bin Laden - he interviewed him in 1997. His personal guess is that the Saudi construction heir ...

Nor, as voiced by the author and al Qaeda expert Peter Bergen, and others, does torture produce valuable information. While the practices employed by the captors at Guantanamo Bay may not be as severe as the Inquisition's, they were as wrong and an ...

The Al Qaeda videotape shows a small white dog tied up inside a glass cage. A milky gas slowly filters in. An Arab man with an Egyptian accent says: "Start counting the time." Nervous, the dog starts barking and then moaning. After flailing about for some minutes, it succumbs to the poisonous gas and stops moving.

Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul and Said Ali al-Shihri may be the two best arguments for why releasing detainees from Guantánamo Bay poses a real risk to America. Mr. Rasoul, who was transferred to Afghanistan in 2007 and then released by the Kabul government, is now the commander of operations for the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. Mr. Shihri, sent back to his native Saudi Arabia in 2007, is now a leader of Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen.

Let me begin by thanking Chairman Smith and the members of the Subcommittee for providing me with the opportunity to testify on this critical issue.

My main focus today will be on resources. As we were reminded by President Obama's presentation last week regarding his administration's new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, counterinsurgency and counterterrorism can be expensive propositions.