US TERROR WARNING

An Israeli analysis of the Obama administration's current warning about a possible terrorist act is interesting for its implied criticism of the decision.  It has been  reported in a number of places  that terrorists could be now implanting explosive devices in their bodies--as this report points out there may have already been experiments on animals.

But there are at least 6 elements that don't add up.  For example, "if the threat is specific, why are so many countries on the list?"  And also the administration says the information came from electronic intelligence, but al-Qaeda has avoided electronic communication.

The article concludes:

Finally, the sweeping warnnings from the Obama administration dramatically refute its own oft-heard claims that al Qaeda is no longer a force to be reckoned with, because it has lost its compact central command and control of its component branches, which have split up into regional franchises operating autonomously. Al Qaeda, they have been saying, is no longer capable of large-scale terrorist attacks on a global scale.

American criticism of the decision from Professor Angelo Codevilla.

On the technical side, while on the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I witnessed NSA’s (deplorably) successful effort to continue to use a communications intelligence satellite after its existence and function had been revealed by a combination of a British spy and a New York Times article.

The embassy shutdowns and the traveler warnings resulted from intercepts of terrorist communications devices – phones and computer links that the terrorists surely knew are being monitored. That knowledge long predates the recent publicity – revelation is the wrong term – about NSA’s reach into the electronic spectrum.

The attacks were known of for months--why is it coming out at this time?

The timing of the administration’s announced closure of numerous U.S. embassies in the Middle East has raised concerns among some U.S. officials that the Obama administration is politicizing intelligence to distract attention from the Benghazi and other scandals.

“Why is this coming out now?” asked one official with access to terrorist threat data. “Is the administration trying to suck up news coverage with the embassy threats to distract attention from what the CIA was doing in Benghazi?”