National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair to Resign

FOXNews.com

National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair resigning in the wake of a series of intelligence failures

 

In this Jan. 9, 2009 file photo, then President-elect Barack Obama listens as then-National Intelligence Director-designate Dennis Blair speaks during a news conference in Washington. (AP)

National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair is resigning in the wake of a series of intelligence failures -- in the Fort Hood shooting, the failed Christmas Day bombing plot and the attempted Times Square bombing.

"It is with deep regret that I informed the president today that I will step down as director of National Intelligence effective Friday, May 28th," Blair said in a written statement.

"I have had no greater honor or pleasure than to lead the remarkably talented and patriotic men and women of the Intelligence Community," he said.

Read More

53 Hours in the Life of a Near Disaster

PHOTOS

Al Qaeda America

A look at U.S. citizens who are sympathetic to the Taliban or Al Qaeda, in some cases actually joining the organizations.

By Evan Thomas and Mark Hosenball | NEWSWEEK

Published May 7, 2010

From the magazine issue dated May 17, 2010

 

Frustrated sons of privilege, caught between East and West, sometimes make for dangerous militants. Mohamed Atta, the lead 9/11 hijacker, was the son of a Cairo lawyer and the grandson of a doctor. The so-called underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is the son of a wealthy Nigerian diplomat. Faisal Shahzad, too, appeared to be a fairly secularized, Westernized Pakistani. His father was once a high-ranking official in Pakistan's Air Force, and Faisal had become a U.S. citizen. But unknown to many who knew him superficially, his life was riven by tensions that propelled him toward terrorism.

Read more

Terrorists May Have New Focus on Striking U.S., Officials Say

Associated Press

The failed attack on New York's Times Square could be only the first by terrorist groups that seek to avoid detection by using simpler methods that are more independently planned, U.S. counterterrorism officials said.

WASHINGTON -- The failed bombing in New York's Times Square is a possible signal that militant leaders in Pakistan have shifted their focus to targets in the U.S. and other Western countries instead of sticking to their home base, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials.

The attack, they also warned, could be only the first by terrorist groups that seek to avoid detection by using simpler methods that are more independently planned. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Read more

Money woes changed NYC suspect, friend says

By James Barron and Sabrina Tavernise

updated 7:01 a.m. CT, Thurs., May 6, 2010

Theirs was an arranged marriage: two well-educated children of prominent Pakistani families set up through a mutual friend. He was the quiet one; she was the one who laughed at parties.

At their wedding in Peshawar six years ago, men and women danced separately but also together, “a rarity at that time,” recalled one guest. “It was such a huge gathering that even their family friends from Qatar came.”

When they returned to the United States, his colleagues at the cosmetics maker Elizabeth Arden celebrated with a small office party. 

Read more

Bomb suspect lost Conn. home to foreclosure

Jessica Hill / AP

Law enforcement officials on Tuesday search the home where Faisal Shahzad lived in Bridgeport, Conn.

The suspect in the Times Square bombing attempt defaulted on a $200,000 mortgage on a Connecticut home and the Shelton property is now in foreclosure, according to court records.

The foreclosure records show that Faisal Shahzad took out the mortgage in 2004 and that he co-owned the home with a woman named Huma Mian.

Chase Home Finance LLC sued Shahzad, 30, in September to force the foreclosure. The case is pending in Milford Superior Court.

Read more