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House Intelligence: ISIS-K Terror Threat Growing After Moscow Attack (VIDEO)

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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) said over the weekend that the threat of terrorist attacks from ISIS-K is growing after the Islamic terrorist group carried out a large attack late last week in Russia.

The remarks from McCaul, which he made on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” come as Russian officials continued to search for bodies in a concert hall outside Moscow where four heavily armed gunmen opened fire before setting the building on fire.

“This attack in Moscow was carried out by ISIS-K, a group that typically emanates out of Afghanistan,” said host Margaret Brennan. “We know the U.S. had advanced warning. From what you know, is there an ongoing threat in Eurasia, and are U.S. interests a target?”

(Read more from “House Intelligence: ISIS-K Terror Threat Growing After Moscow Attack (VIDEO)” HERE)

Pelosi Names First Muslim Lawmaker to House Intelligence Committee (+video)

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By Lauren French. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced in a closed-door meeting Tuesday she would name the first Muslim lawmaker to the House’s Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. . .

[Rep. André] Carson would be the first Muslim to serve on the committee and was the second Muslim to be elected to Congress. He already serves on the Armed Services Committee and worked for the Department of Homeland Security’s Fusion Center — the clearinghouse established by the federal government to streamline data sharing between the CIA, FBI, Department of Justice and the military. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Dutch Mayor Tells Muslims Who Can’t Stand Free Speech to “F**K OFF!”

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Ex-NYPD Detective: Muslim-Only “No Go Zones” Coming to the US

By Sean Piccoli. The rise of so-called “no-go zones” in France — segregated Muslim communities governed by local imams and abandoned by French police — are the handiwork of Islamists who plan to spread them throughout the non-Muslim West, a former New York City police detective told Newsmax TV on Tuesday.

“I think this is actually a strategy that is slowly being implemented worldwide by radical Islam,” Harry Houck, a private investigator and retired NYPD detective, told “The Steve Malzberg Show,” describing a process of gradual takeover that he said is key to the Islamists’ dream of world dominion.

“What they do is they imitate the free countries and then ask the politicians that are giving these free zones — these no-go zones — [to] let them implement some type of Sharia law,” said Houck. “That should be a flag to any politician or any government, that if anybody wants to immigrate to your country and then change your laws for the laws they want to follow, those people should be kicked out immediately,” he said. (Read more from this story HERE)

Intel Committee Chairman Poised to Recall Ex-CIA Chief Morell Over Benghazi Testimony, Weighing Same for Petraeus

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Photo Credit: Fox News Republican allegations that former CIA Acting Director Mike Morell misled Congress over the White House’s role in crafting the flawed Benghazi “talking points” took a dramatic turn Thursday, with the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee telling Fox News it’s likely Morell will be recalled to testify. Investigators also are reviewing the testimony of former CIA Director David Petraeus, Morell’s old boss, to assess whether he should be recalled as well.

“We are having some transcript reviews. We’ve been continually doing that through the committee,” Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., told Fox News. “We’re looking at Director Petraeus’ transcripts and reviews — looking at what information we have now available. Sometimes that second interview can be equally important and it is likely we will have Director Morell up to testify before the committee.”

The debate continues to focus on why the talking points did not reflect the best available intelligence, and what influence the administration brought to bear on the flawed public narrative of the attack in the days immediately following Sept. 11, 2012 – that narrative initially claimed the attacks sprung out of protests over an anti-Islam film.

Among the allegations, Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a January 2014 Benghazi report that Morell insisted the talking points were sent to the White House for informational purposes, and not for their input — but e-mails, later released by the administration, showed otherwise.

In response to Rogers’ comments, Morell said in an email to Fox News, “I sent him a letter this afternoon saying that I would very much welcome an invitation to testify in open session before the Committee on Benghazi.”

Read more this story HERE.

House Intelligence Panel Chair — Europe Probably Spying on Obama Too

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Photo Credit: APThe top lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday defended the secret data collection tactics of the United States, including the phone tapping of foreign allies, suggesting Europeans are probably doing the same type of monitoring of President Obama.

“They don’t have necessarily the same type of oversight of their intelligence services that we do and their compartmentalization is much smaller than ours,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Rogers pointed out that Obama’s BlackBerry is encrypted, suggesting it’s a defense against other countries that may be trying to monitoring his communications.

“I think they need to have a better oversight structure in Europe,” Rogers said. “I think they would be enlightened to find out what their intelligence services may or may not be doing in the interests of their own national security.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Secret House Intelligence Meetings: Internet Freedom Under Attack Again?

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Photo Credit: nist6ss

Members of the media and the public will not be able to watch the House Intelligence Committee’s markup next week of a controversial cybersecurity bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).

Lawmakers will be allowed to discuss what happened in the meeting afterward, and the committee plans to release information about what amendments were offered and how lawmakers voted. But the public will not be allowed in the room, and the meeting will not be streamed online.

Susan Phalen, a spokeswoman for the committee, explained that the Intelligence Committee often restricts access to hearings and that it is possible that lawmakers will need to discuss classified information.

“Sometimes they’ll need to bounce into classified information and go closed for a period of time to talk,” she said. “In order to keep the flow of the mark-up continuing forward, you can’t stop in the middle of an open hearing, move everyone to another location for a portion of it, and then move back.”

She noted that the committee used the same procedure when it marked up CISPA last year. The committee has yet to formally schedule the markup, but it is expected to happen next Wednesday.

Read more from this story HERE.

Justifying Another War: Head of Intel Committee Says Syrian “Red Line” Crossed (+video)

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Photo Credit: FreedomHouse

There’s mounting evidence that over the last two years the Assad regime has used “at least a small quantity” of chemical weapons against rebel forces in Syria’s raging civil war, House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said today on “Face the Nation,” adding that the time is now for U.S. intervention.

Amid debate over an alleged chemical weapons attack out of Syria last week, President Obama during a visit to Israel doubled down on his claim that such an attack would be considered a “game changer” for his administration, but qualified that it’s important to find out “precisely whether or not this red line was crossed” before making a decision that could lead to an act of war.

“I think that it is abundantly clear that that red line has been crossed,” Rogers said. “There is mounting evidence that it is probable that the Assad regime has used at least a small quantity of chemical weapons during the course of this conflict.”

Though a senior administration official has said intelligence this week suggests weaponized chemicals were not used in the recent strike, Rogers said the fact that President Bashar al-Assad has ordered scud missile attacks on civilians “in and of itself should prompt action.” The “wholesale slaughter” of Syrian rebels and civilians, he said, “is now spilling up to the doorstep of Israel.”

“This is a growing, destabilizing event in the Middle East,” Rogers continued. “Our Arab League allies talk to us frequently, and they are as frustrated as I have seen them because of the lack of U.S. leadership at the time table.” Senior Arab diplomats this morning announced the Arab League has decided to transfer Syria’s seat away from Assad and to opposition forces.

Watch video here:

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House Intel Committee: China’s Largest Phone Equipment Maker Could Imperil US Telecommunications Infrastructure

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U.S. companies should avoid business with Huawei Technologies Co., China’s largest phone-equipment maker, to guard against intellectual-property theft and spying, the U.S. House Intelligence Committee chairman said.

U.S. companies considering purchases from Huawei should “find another vendor if you care about your intellectual property, if you care about your consumers’ privacy, and you care about the national security of the United States of America,” Representative Mike Rogers told CBS News’s “60 Minutes,” according to a CBS release about an interview set to air tomorrow.

Rogers, a Michigan Republican, and the committee’s top Democrat, Maryland Representative C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger, are preparing to issue a report Oct. 8 on their yearlong investigation of Huawei and ZTE Corp. (763), another Chinese phone- equipment maker. The lawmakers have been looking at whether the companies’ expansion in the U.S. market enables Chinese government espionage and imperils the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure.

“Huawei is a globally trusted and respected company doing business in almost 150 markets with over 500 operator customers, including nationwide carriers across every continent save Antarctica,” William Plummer, a Washington-based spokesman for Huawei, said in an e-mail. “The security and integrity of our products are world proven. Those are the facts today. Those will still be the facts next week, political agendas aside.”

Susan Phalen, a spokeswoman for the committee, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more from this story HERE.