NEW: @SecPompeo says there's an "#Iran-#alQaida axis" w/Iran serving as AQ core's new "home base"

But former US Special Envoy to the Coalition to Defeat #ISIS, Amb James Jeffrey tells @TheWilsonCenter the relationship is "transactional...not a joint campaign"
#Iran - #alQaida "These ties are transactional in nature" per Amb Jeffrey "They are not a joint campaign against the #UnitedStates"

Jeffrey further says there have long been 3 levels of cooperation:
- refuge
- passage
- "very, very limited" operational cooperation
Why the emphasis on #Iran-#alQaida?

"It's an attempt to stack the deck, to make it harder for the next administration to reverse your policies" per Amb Jeffrey
As of the #Iran-#alQaida relationship: "The ties...have long been known both to the intelligence community and to the media" per Jeffrey

"They are involving, 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours...making life harder for the United States around the region'"
"This is not a case that #Iran should be covered under the Authorization for the Use of Military Force in 2001...I don't believe that at all" per Amb Jeffrey "That's not the intent of the administration & it would be absurd"

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More from @jseldin

14 Jan
NEW: @StateDept's top counterterrorism official says the Jan 6 siege of the #USCapitol "wasn't just an assault on the Capitol. It was an assault on democracy, w/a violent mob trying to interfere with the results of the election" Image
"Nothing is more sacred to our constitutional democracy than the peaceful transfer of power" per Amb. Nathan Sales speaking to @AEI

Adds that those who rioted "desecrated the Capitol & the principals for which its stands"
"There's no room for complacency" @StateDept's Sales warns on the fight vs terrorism, repeating warnings that there needs to be a focus on #ISIS, #alQaida in #Africa
#StateCTatAEI
Read 9 tweets
13 Jan
Months ago, the top @StateDept Counterterrorism official said #alQaida was "on the ropes, no doubt"

Now, @SecPompeo says #AQ poses "a grave threat" from its new "home base" in #Iran

A look at the long, complicated AQ-Iran relationship & what it means...
voanews.com/middle-east/us…
NEW: US slapping #Iran, foundations controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei w/new sanctions

Sanctions target Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO, Astan Quds Razavi (AQR) which allow regime "to exploit a system of ownership over a wide range of sectors of Iran’s economy"
"While purportedly charitable organizations (bonyads), EIKO and AQR control large swaths of the #Iran|ian economy, including assets expropriated from political dissidents & religious minorities" per @USTreasury
Read 5 tweets
12 Jan
NEW: "We have already opened more than 170 subject files" per Acting US Atty Michael Sherwin on siege of #USCapitol

"We've already charged over 70 cases" he adds, saying number will like exceed 100 on charges - trespass to theft of nat'l security/defense info to assault, etc
"This is only the beginning" per Sherwin
"We're looking at significant felony cases tied to sedition and conspiracy" per acting US Atty Sherwin

Priority is cases involving weapons, pipe bombs
Read 9 tweets
12 Jan
Siege of #USCapitol caused feelings of "Shock...a little bit of embarrassment" the top US Counterintelligence official, William Evanina, tells #postlive

"This is the closest I got to that feeling of emptiness inside" that he felt on 9/11 Image
#USCapitol and foreign adversaries - "We are watching them watching us" NCSC Director Evanina tells #postlive, warning adversaries they will not be able to take advantage of the situation
"This is clearly homegrown & it is extremism" per NCSC Dir Evanina

"The mindset to storm the #USCapitol because of a belief is something I never thought I would see...a paradigm shift "
Read 10 tweets
25 Nov 20
NEW: @USAfricaCommand warns #alQaida-linked #alShabaab "remains adaptive, resilient, and capable of attacking Western & partner interests in #Somalia & East #Africa" in final @DoD_IG report on US counterterrorism ops in Africa
Despite ongoing train/advise/equip efforts by US, others "The Somali government...has not met milestones for the development of its security forces" per @DoD_IG Sean O’Donnell

#Somalia #alShabaab
In North #Africa, #alQaida in the Islamic Maghreb (#AQIM) & #ISIS-#Libya "significantly degraded & currently pose no threat to the US homeland & a minimal threat to US interests in the region" per @DoD_IG Sean O’Donnell
Read 43 tweets
24 Nov 20
BREAKING: President-elect @JoeBiden to start getting intel briefings

“This afternoon the White House approved ODNI to move forward with providing the PDB [President's Daily Brief] as part of the support to the transition" per @ODNIgov spokesperson
MORE: @ODNIgov will also start providing "requested support to the transition team" per spokesperson "following the statutory direction of the Presidential Transition Act”
Per @ODNIgov official, @Transition46's agency review team is expected to be on site this coming Monday (November 30)

ODNI preparing to provide agency/operations overview as well as support delivery of intel briefings
Read 4 tweets

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