Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Kenya University Attack: al Shabaabs Deadliest Yet The assault on students at Kenyas Garissa University College by a team of al
Shabaab gunmen on April 2nd left over 140 deadmore than double the Somali militant Islamists previous high tally of 60-plus at Nairobis Westgate Mall in
September 2013. Survivors described how the gunman killed indiscriminately at first, upon storming the campus, but later separated out Christians from
Muslims for execution within dormitories, testing religious affiliation by demanding recital of passages from the Koran. While al Shabaab often claims such
attacks are retaliation for Kenyan military incursion in Somalia, many analysts believe the highly secular stamp on this, and other recent attacks (Watchline
11.26.14, 12.4.14) are aimed at recruitment of radical-leaning Muslims, as the group has been called out on high Muslim death tolls in previous acts of terror.
Assessment: Despite losses in (formerly-held) territory and leadership, Al-Shabaab continues to impose a grip of terror on the Horn-of-Africa region.
Although there is a perception that frequency of attacks in Kenya is increasing of late, one analysis by START indicates that al Shabaab conducted almost 100
terror attacks there between 2008 and 2012, including 13 in Garissa alone in 2012. What has evolved, in addition to the pronounced targeting of Christians as
expressed above, is the magnitude of the attacks, primarily garnered through body counts.
Police and emergency responders in Florida and other states have been
confronted with bizarre, violent behavior from the increasing number of users of a synthetic drug, and cousin to bath salts, called Flakka. For as little as $5 a
dose, users get a euphoric high accompanied by a burst of energy and, often, super strength, as well as elevated body temperature, leading to situations, such
as in Fort Lauderdale this week, where police chased down a man running naked through the streets (trying to evade imaginary pursuers) or where a man
attempted to break through a hurricane door at police headquarters overnight (also fearing pursuers). Another man impaled himself on an iron fence. Flakka,
also called gravel for its resemblance to fish tank rocks, may be snorted, smoked, injected, and ingested, and has also been reported in Texas and Ohio.
Assessment: Unlike bath salts containing the chemical stimulant MDVP, the alpha-PVP in Flakka has yet to be banned. In addition to dangers associated
with hallucinations, violence and adrenaline-fueled strength, responders should be aware of an extreme fight-or-flight response prompted in users and the need
for prompt medical treatment to counter associated effects of rapid increase in body temperature that may lead to death.
Ambush on Police Raises Cartels Profile On April 6th, members of the Jalisco New Generation Drug
Cartel (CJNG) ambushed a police convoy traveling on a rural road between Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara in western
Mexico. Halting the convoy with a hijacked vehicle that straddled the road and was set on fire, the attackers riddled the
police vehicles with bullets, killing fifteen officers and wounding five. It was the worst attack on security forces in Mexico in
years. Two weeks earlier, CJNG members, carrying assault rifles and grenade launchers, murdered five police officers in
the town of Ocotlan. CJNG is a relatively new force in the Mexican drug trade, one which emerged from the splintering from
the Sinaloa Cartel in 2010 after the death of the Sinaloa representative who oversaw operations in Jalisco.
Assessment: Some analysts attribute CJNGs emergence as drug powerhouse to the willingness to engage security
forces. Typical of terror strategy, the spectacle of such attacks raises groups profiles. Law enforcement and military
personnel continue to be overtly named as targets in terrorist aspirations.
A recent report by the 9/11 Review Commission states that the FBI continues to have growing
pains as it incorporates a domestic intelligence mission into a traditional law enforcement organization, said the NYT. The report, titled The FBI: Protecting the
Homeland in the 21st Century, also emphasizes the importance of intelligence analysts, whom the bureau still does not sufficiently recognizeas a
professionalized work force with distinct requirements for investment in training and education (p. 36). Earlier this month, the CIA announced that it was
conducting a massive restructuring, which will create mission centers that will better align analysis with clandestine operations.
Assessment: Contrary to the title, the recent report will likely not be as seismic as the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but better inclusion of intel analysts in
law enforcement activities and other operations can enhance all missions. The (original) 9/11 Commission Report explains how information sharing between
the Dept. of Justice and the FBI was crimped after the espionage case against Aldrich Ames in the 1990s, which revealed that too much informal information
was moving between prosecutors and special agents. The result was the Wall (p. 79), or an over-strict interpretation of FISA restrictions and other rules that
were only intended to manage and formalize the flow of information. The requirements for prosecution versus prevention will always lead to a natural tension,
but that does not bar the need for information flow.