DEFLECTING THE NEXT ATTACK – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  The great Eli Lake, one of the best national-security reporters around, reports on the new challenge for those tasked with preventing terror attacks against the United States – detecting terrorists who speak our language.  Important reporting from the Washington Times:

U.S. and allied counterterrorism authorities have launched a global manhunt for English-speaking terrorists trained in Yemen who are planning attacks on the United States, based on intelligence provided by the suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing after he began cooperating.

U.S. officials told The Washington Times that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, facing charges as a would-be suicide bomber,revealed during recent cooperation with the FBI that he met with other English speakers at a terrorist training camp in Yemen. Three U.S. intelligence officials, including one senior official, disclosed on the condition of anonymity some details of the additional bomb plots.

Said one official: "It's safe to say that Abdulmutallab is not the only bullet in the chamber for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the Islamist terrorist group based in Yemen.

"Farouk took a month to get operational. Once he left [training in Yemen], it did not take very long," the official said.

That is stunning.  Only a month?  The 9-11 hijackers took several years.  If this is accurate, it means Al Qaeda has now developed methods to train and use terrorists far more efficiently than in the past. 

Information about the bomb plots was shared with the FBI after Mr. Abdulmutallab's family traveled from Nigeria to help coax the former student into cooperating, after a period of about five weeks when he refused to help authorities.

The FBI interrogated Mr. Abdulmutallab for 50 minutes after he was arrested on Christmas Day at Detroit Metro Airport upon his arrival on Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Officials said the homemade bomb sewn into his underwear failed to detonate but burned him. Had it detonated, the bomb could have killed 289 people aboard the flight.

Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen absorbed in 2008 the largely defeated branch of the group in Saudi Arabia. The group has made threats against the United States, and the Obama administration has authorized drone strikes in Yemen against the group and its leaders.

COMMENT:  Clearly, we can expect more attacks, either on our homeland or on American targets overseas.  Overseas targets are easier to hit, and, as the embassy bombings in Africa proved in the 90s, can be catastrophic. 

February 15, 2010