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Source: Terrorists Behind “Most Specific, Credible” Embassy Threat in Years (+video)

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By CBS

The terror threat prompting the U.S. government to close nearly two dozen embassies and consulates Sunday is the most specific, credible threat information in years, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reports.

Intelligence officers have reporting from a reliable source that a major plot is under way and that the team to carry it out has been selected and is in place, Miller reports.

The threat information has been described as the most specific and credible since the foiled plot to blow up British planes en route to the United States in 2006, Miller reports. The specificity ends there.

What authorities don’t have is the date, the timing or the target of the attack, which is why they have taken such an approach to warning potential targets, Miller reports.

The threat has prompted the U.S. to issue a global travel alert to all Americans for the first time since the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APPeter King: Plot ‘Most Specific I’ve Seen’

By Breanna Edwards

Chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence [RINO] Rep. Peter King confirmed on Friday that “something serious is being planned,” prompting the shutdown of 21 U.S. embassies across the world.

“There’s very little doubt, if any, that something serious is being planned,” the New York Republican told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on a phone call in “The Situation Room.” “I’ve been getting briefed fairly regularly over the last seven or eight years at least and also pretty heavily before then and this is the most specific I’ve seen.”

“It is not just trying to connect the dots. That is very specific information about the fact that there is a plot, that attacks are planned, but again it’s not certain as to where,” he added.

King said that the information had been developing for a while, but remained tight-lipped about any possible sources and other details, mostly reiterating known information.

Read more from this story HERE.

Napolitano: Sequester Cuts Will Make US More Vulnerable To Terrorist Attack

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Photo Credit: U.S. Embassy New DelhiAllowing the $85 billion sequester to go forward will make the United States more vulnerable to a terrorist attack, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned Monday.

Napolitano added that the blunt nature of the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set for March 1 “makes it awfully, awfully tough” to mitigate threats faced by the nation.

“I don’t think we can maintain the same level of security at all places around the country with sequester compared to without sequester,” said Napolitano, whose agency includes the Transportation Security Administration.

The cuts will also hit the Pentagon, the Department of Justice and other national security spending, and the administration has warned the spending reductions will hurt the military’s readiness.

“I think if you look at the combination of the effect on [the Department of Homeland Security], the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense, we are having real impacts on the robustness of our defensive posture,” Napolitano told reporters at the White House on Monday.

Read more from this story HERE.

Black Flag of Islam Flies Over US Tunisian Embassy as Attacks on America Continue Worldwide

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A black Islamic flag is currently flying over the U.S. embassy in Tunisia after it had been stormed by an angry mob of protesters, who were upset over an anti-Islam film that was made by Americans.

This is just one of many incidents occurring around the world today, in which Americans are being targeted.

In Tunis, the mob overran the compound, scaling walls and setting fire to trees before tearing down the American flag and replacing it with a symbol of Islam. It is not thought that any U.S. staff were actually in the embassy in Tunis. An American school in Tunis was also set on fire. Police responded to the mobs by firing tear gas, and police gunfire could also be heard.

Several dozen protesters were also briefly able to enter the embassy compound and set fire to cars in the embassy parking lot. Police and special forces pushed them back outside.

In Lebanon today angry protesters ransacked a KFC and Hardee’s restaurant, police were firing on protesters in Yemen, and there was also unrest in Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Turkey.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Embassy in Cairo Makes Outrageous Statement Against First Amendment

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Yesterday, the US Embassy in Cairo put out a shameful statement in response to anger over an anti-Muslim film:

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others

A stand against those who “abuse” their right to free speech is best suited to authoritarianism, and it’s absolutely grotesque to see American diplomats embracing it. The effort at appeasement was as inefficacious as it was depraved: The protests against the film in question turned more violent after the statement was issued, when the embassy wall was scaled and the American flag was torn down and burned.

By late this evening this was obvious at the White House: “The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government,” a source characterized as a “senior administration official” tells Politico’s Byron Tau.

That’s all well and good; the statement does indeed look like it wasn’t carefully vetted (the missing period after “others” above isn’t my error — that’s how it is on the embassy website). But a not-for-attribution walk-back is hardly sufficient here. Somebody needs to be fired. Given that the embassy’s Twitter account spent the day defending the statement, it’s likely to be more than one somebody that needs to go, perhaps including Ambassador Anne Patterson herself.

Read more from this story HERE.