The WikiLeaks Web site released a secret CIA memo on Wednesday warning of fallout if the US came to be seen as an “exporter of terrorism,” given al-Qaeda’s interest in US recruits.
The document by the CIA’s so-called “Red Cell” was the latest classified memo to be published by the whistle-blowing Web site, which released more than 70,000 secret US military documents last month on the war in Afghanistan.
The three-page CIA memo released by WikiLeaks did not appear to expose any state secrets and one US official quipped it was hardly a “blockbuster.” Indeed Red Cell reports are meant to provoke thought, rather than provide an authoritative assessment.
It addresses the hypothetical and highly sensitive question about the potential impact on the US if allies saw it as a nation whose citizens frequently operate abroad to carry out acts of terrorism.
It says the US could lose leverage over allies to cooperate on terrorism — particularly on “extra-judicial activities.”
Foreign governments might even take the extraordinary step of secretly extracting US citizens suspected of carrying out extremist acts abroad.
“Primarily, we have been concerned about al Qaeda infiltrating operatives into the United States to conduct terrorist attacks, but AQ may be increasingly looking for Americans to operate overseas,” the document proposes. “Undoubtedly al Qaeda and other terrorist groups recognize that Americans can be great assets in terrorist operations overseas.”
It says US citizens are valuable to terrorist organizations because they are harder to detect. They don’t fit the typical Arab-Muslim profile and can easily communicate with leaders through their “unfettered” access to the Internet and other methods, the report said.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
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