US reassuring allies #ISIS, while still dangerous, is in decline in #Iraq#Syria
Number of attacks down year-on-year & have been "less complex, showing less sophistication, showing the organization remains under a lot of pressure" per @StateDept's Amb James Jeffrey
"There's been a number of aggressive operations, aggressive #Iraq|i operations" per Jeffrey, the US Sepcial Rep to the Global Coalition to Defeat #ISIS "There's been a number of strikes on terrorist leaders that we've been very successful"
#ISIS "leadership is under very, very strong pressure by coalition or local forces," per Amb Jeffrey "We see them very, very limited in their ability to coordinate tactically, even within #Syria & #Iraq, and very very little ability to organize" external attacks or w/affiliates
Coalition "stomping on the financial channels that #ISIS set-up" per @StateDept's Jeffrey "Many of them have tried up now and we're still pursuing them"
"Their ability to move money, their recruitment...are way, way way down"
"We think the situation is not getting worse. It's getting better," per @StateDept's Jeffrey "It's getting better slowly"
But #ISIS remains a resilient & significant threat" to region & world, he says "Everybody should be careful & cautious & on their guard"
#ISIS in #Iraq#Syria "We don't see them expanding" per @StateDept's Amb Jeffrey, noting "There are areas where they operate..."
"We are concerned about #Daesh elements south of the #Euphrates in those areas that the [#Syria] regime & its #Iran|ian & #Russia|n supporters control.
"There's been a significant increase in attacks"
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Some nuggets from @FBI Dir. Christopher Wray's appearance Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies...
#ArtificialIntelligence & #Election2024-"We are, of course, seeing & I've been warning about this for some time, the role of AI to enhance efforts that our foreign adversaries have already been engaged in" per @FBI's Wray
"It's not that it [#ArtificialIntelligence] changes fundamentally what it is our adversaries want to do...it allows them to amplify to do it, to make it more sophisticated, more deceptive, cheaper, faster" per @FBI's Wray
HAPPENING NOW - US intelligence chiefs testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee:
@ODNIgov Dir Avril Haines
@CIA Dir William Burns
@FBI Dir Christoper Wray
@NSAGov Dir Gen Timothy Haugh
@DefenseIntel Dir LtGen Jeffrey Krause
@StateDept Asst Sec for Intel Brett Holmgren
Noting that the current era is as challenging as ever, with a wide variety of threats, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair @MarkWarner calls for "redefining what we think of" when it comes to national security
@MarkWarner "We are no even seeing the possibility of foreign adversaries weaponizing space" in ways that could be detrimental to US way of life, per @MarkWarner
NEW: @FBI joins White House, Senate intelligence committee chair in sounding alarm about foreign interference in #Election2024
"This election cycle, the US will face more adversaries, moving at a faster pace & enabled by new technology
per Dir Christopher Wray at @INSAlliance
#ArtificialIntelligence advances "lowering the barrier to entry-making it easier for both more & less-sophisticated foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence" per @FBI's Wray
"Making foreign influence efforts by players old and&new more realistic & difficult to detect"
@FBI Where are US adversaries focused?
“The attack surface for the bad guys is the private sector” per @FBI's Wray "The intelligence that we need is in the hands of the private sector, often”
NEW: US worried about #Russia seeking to interfere in #Election2024
"Of course there are concerns" White House Nat'l Security Adviser @JakeSullivan46 tells @MeetThePress
"There's plenty of reason to be concerned" per @JakeSullivan46
"There is a history here in presidential elections by the #Russia|n Federation, by its intelligence services" he says
"We are going to be vigilant"
Concerns about #Russia|n interference in #Election2024 "not about politics" per @JakeSullivan46
"This is about national security. It is about a foreign country, a foreign adversary seeking to manipulate the politics & democracy of the United States of America."
NEW: US confirms #Houthis using "various #Iran|ian-origin missiles & unmanned aerial vehicles" in their attacks on shipping in the #RedSea #GulfofAden
Conclusion based on new analysis by @DefenseIntel
The assessment is based on information current as January 2024 - including a "comparative analysis of publicly available images of #Iran|ian missiles & UAVs to those displayed & employed by #Houthi forces in #Yemen to attack commercial shipping" per @DefenseIntel
US @DefenseIntel on #Iran|ian drones in #Houthi arsenal:
-Sayad (Sammad) - range of 1800km
-Shahed-136 - range of 2500km
-Waid-1 (version of the Shahed-131) - range of 900km
AQ "established up to 8 new training camps in Afghanistan, including four in #Ghazni, #Laghman, #Parwan & #Uruzgan Provinces w/a new base to stockpile weaponry in the #Panjshir Valley" per new @UN report
The new #alQaida camps appear to be "conducting suicide bomber training for TTP [Tehrik-i-Taliban #Pakistan]" per the @UN report
Intelligence provided by @UN member states also notes #alQaida is operating madrasas in #Laghman, #Kunar, #Nangarhar, #Nuristan & #Parwan provinces
AQ also "maintains safe houses to facilitate the movement between #Afghanistan & the Islamic Republic of #Iran"