January 2014:
Obama: "If a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant. I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian." Remnick: "But that JV team [ISIS] just took over Fallujah." Obama: "I understand. But when you say took over Fallujah –" Remnick: "And I don’t know for how long."
Obama:
"But let’s just keep in mind, Fallujah is a profoundly conservative Sunni city in a country that, independent of anything we do, is deeply divided along sectarian lines. And how we think about terrorism has to be defined and specific enough that it doesn’t lead us to think that any horrible actions that take place around the world that are motivated in part by an extremist Islamic ideology is a direct threat to us or something that we have to wade into." (source: Politifact.com, emphasis added).
April 6, 2015:
#OpISIS Anonymous publishes a list of 70 pro ISIS websites | Security Affairs "The companies managing the websites are accused of supporting ISIS and its activities. The list contains the names of 70 websites and the name of their hosting provider, among them there is also the popular service ... that provides a content delivery network and distributed domain name server system used to protect customers’ web services ..."
December 14, 2015:
Hackers trace ISIS Twitter accounts back to internet addresses linked to Department of Work and Pensions - Mirror Online "We learned that the British government sold a large number of IP addresses to two Saudi Arabian firms. After the sale completed in October of this year, they were used by extremists to spread their message of hate."
February 29, 2016:
U.S. Cyber Command Ramps Up Offensive Against ISIS | Haaretz.com "Defense Secretary Ash Carter prodded his cyber commanders to be more aggressive in the fight against Islamic State ... They declined to discuss details, other than to say that the attacks include efforts to prevent the group from distributing propaganda, videos or other types of recruiting and messaging on social media sites such as Twitter, and across the Internet in general ..."
Disrupting the ISIS Support Network (video above) - Counterterrorism investigators in Europe are coming to grips with how wide the ISIS support network stretches. FT.com defence and security editor Sam Jones explains. Published March 24, 2016
Former CIA Director Mike Morell: ISIS Has A Large Network In Europe - Mike Morell: “I think there's sort of a macro picture here and a micro picture. The macro picture here is that the network that ISIS has built in Europe is large and its sophisticated. As a result of the Paris investigation we've learned that they've got bomb makers. We've learned that they've got forgers. We've learned that they're able to move money on very sophisticated network. So I think after Paris we've done very, very little to degrade that network so that's part of the story of what happened today. The other part of the story, the micro part of the story about what happened today is, I think, it's a reflection of the arrest of the logistics chief Salah Abdeslam last Friday. We know that he was involved in additional attack plotting. I think when he was arrested the individuals that he was working with decided to move quickly in case he talked to the police. I think what happened today is a reflection of that as well.
We’re still not degrading ISIS enough to degrade their ability to attack us in the West. So this is a big win for them.” Published March 22, 2016.
Belgian police say they are making progress in their effort to break the terrorist cell connected to the Brussels airport and subway bombings. A series of raids has turned up fingerprints and DNA evidence linking the bombers to suspects who attacked Paris last November. Allen Pizzey reports from Brussels, Belgium. Published March 27, 2016
House Homeland Security Chair, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, says the United States is ramping up both “visible and invisible” security measures at airports and train stations across the country. The House Homeland Security chairman says he is wary of recent ISIS-produced videos calling for terrorist attacks on American soil. Published March 27, 2016
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