Today's Headlines and Commentary

In likely the most creative (and ridiculous) terrorist plot we’ve seen here at Lawfare, an Australian man inspired by the Islamic State was arrested for planning to pack a live kangaroo full of explosives and set it loose on Australian police forces. The Washington Post has more from down under.

In a more conventional attack, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing outside of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s residence in Aden yesterday. The blast killed six people and injured eleven others. President Hadi was inside his residence when the bomb detonated but was unharmed.

The Telegraph reports that Russian security services have identified the airport worker responsible for planting a bomb on Metrojet flight 9268. The suspect, who was last seen in Turkey, is one of six individuals Egyptian and Russian security forces are hunting in connection with the Islamic State’s attack. Reuters shares that an airport employee was detained along with two airport policemen and a baggage handler who are suspected accomplices. For its part, Egypt publicly claims that it has uncovered zero evidence suggesting that the plane was brought down by a terrorist act. The doomed Russian jet exploded 23 minutes into its scheduled flight to St. Petersburg. All 224 passengers, mostly Russian tourists, were killed.

The New York Times shares that Pentagon officials have decided that more is needed in order to beat the Islamic State. Military officials told the White House that although progress has been made in the fight against the Islamic State, they believe hundreds more trainers, advisers, and commandos from the United States and its allies are needed to combat the growing terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

Reuters has the latest on the United States-led coalition forces training Iraqi soldiers to fight the Islamic State. Coalition forces are applying lessons learned from last month’s recapture of Ramadi in order to prepare the Iraqi army to retake Mosul later this year. If successful, Mosul’s recapture would mark the largest military blow against the Islamic State.

A suicide bombing and gun assault on a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia killed at least four people and injured another 18. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attacks resembles others by the Islamic State on Shiites it considers to be heretics. Reuters has more on the story and provides a cell phone video of the assault here.

Reuters reports that Israeli security officials do not view the assault of Muslim man who opened fire on a Tel Aviv bar as "a classic ISIS terrorist attack.” The New Year's Day attack came just days after the Islamic State threatened Israel and even though the attacker left behind an infamous black Islamic State banner, Israeli security officials are reluctant to connect the shooting to the pseudo-state.

Buzzfeed shares a fascinating piece on their visit to an abandoned Islamic State prison in Syria close to the border with Turkey. The only thing left behind were wall markings of tallies signifying how long prisoners were detained and phone numbers leading to mostly dead lines. One number, however, lead to an interview.

Syrian opposition representatives said that they will not attend the peace talks beginning today in Geneva, in a move that has derailed the negotiations to end the Syrian civil war. The High Negotiations Committee said that they have not received enough answers to their demands to end air strikes and blockades among other goodwill steps, and would “certainly” not be in Geneva on Friday, according to Reuters. Looks like the peace meeting will have to be delayed yet again.

The Associated Press tells us that Iran flew an unarmed surveillance drone over a U.S. aircraft carrier and took “precise” photographs. The drone flyover and photoshoot were part of an ongoing naval drill, according to Iran’s state media. Although the United States did not open fire against the Iranian drone, the incident adds to the increased tensions between the two countries in the Persian Gulf after the brief capture of ten U.S. sailors earlier this month. Speaking of those sailors, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said that he was “very, very angry” when he saw footage of the ten U.S. Navy sailors detained broadcasted on Iran’s television news. CNN has more on that story here.

The BBC shares that a Hamas attack tunnel in northeast Gaza collapsed, killing seven of the terrorist group’s members. Hamas has been using tunnels on Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt in order to launch attacks on Israel, transport weapons, and smuggle goods. However, after the 2014 Gaza conflict, Israel destroyed many of the attack tunnels. Hamas has been rebuilding ever since.

On Thursday, Italy’s defense minister Roberta Pinotti stated that Western powers are prepared to fight the Islamic State in Libya even if the North African country does not agree on its unified government soon. Reuters has more on the story here.

The Hill tells us that General John Nicholson, freshly tapped to take over troop command in Afghanistan, promised the Senate Armed Services Committee that he would make a recommendation on troop levels after his first 90 days in his new role. During his confirmation hearing yesterday, Nicholson said that with the security situation deteriorating in Afghanistan in recent months, there are a number of capabilities Afghan forces still need to develop, which could take years.

Hours before General Nicholson testified during his confirmation hearing, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that the United States will “stick with Afghanistan, but not just in 2016, that’s 2017 and beyond,” signifying that the never-ending war in Afghanistan may well never end. Foreign Policy has more here.

The Pentagon unveiled that female troops in all branches will receive 12 weeks of maternity leave as part of a new series of personnel initiatives aimed at making military careers more appealing. Read more of the new initiative here by USA Today.

Reuters reports that the United States has seen an increase in activity around North Korea’s missile site, indicating that the hermit kingdom may be making preparations for a space launch in the near future. The finding comes as the United States shows growing concern over Pyongyang’s possible space technology enhancement to utilize its missile capability. Meanwhile, the United Nation’s Security Council is discussing new sanctions against North Korea after the country toyed with a nuclear test earlier this month.

The Guardian tells us that Canada has stopped sharing intelligence with its international partners. The report to Canada’s parliament, issued by Canada’s secret eavesdropping agency, revealed that the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) illegally and unintentionally collected Canadians’ metadata in sweeps of foreign communications. As a precaution, CSE suspended sharing metadata with its Five Eyes intelligence partners — Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and the United States — until it fixes the problem.

The Intercept reports that American and British intelligence services secretly hacked into live video feeds belonging to Israeli drones and fighter jets that were monitoring military operations. Read the full report here.

Politico shares that, to no surprise, Congress is no closer to actually voting on the war against the Islamic State. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said that the vote would intrude on the presidential race and suggested that the discussion would evolve into how to tie the hands of the next president rather than what the new AUMF would actually entail.

Yesterday, the World Health Organization issued a new global alarm about the Zika virus “spreading explosively” in the Americas and predicted that the virus could infect as many as four million people by the end of the year. According to the New York Times, the global health agency will convene a meeting on Monday on whether or not to declare a public health emergency.

Parting Shot: Residents of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and other East Coast states heard a sonic boom in the skies yesterday. Conspiracy theorists were quick to blame the aliens, of course. Unfortunately for the X-Files fans, sources indicated that the boom was only the Navy conducting an F-35 test flight. Read the rest by the Air Force Times here. If you heard or felt the boom, let us know what your theory was. We promise not to judge.

Another Parting Shot: Speaking of X-Files fans, did you catch the premiere of the hit series’ new season? The latest conspiracy alleges that the Pentagon is involved in a plot to take over the world and make all of us obese. The Marine Corps Times delves into whether or not this plan is actually possible. Take a read and decide if you want to believe.

ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare

Cody flagged a new threat to two GTMO detainees recently transferred to Ghana. One of Ghana’s opposition leaders stated that they would “vanish” if his party comes to power.

David Hoffman wished us all a Happy Data Privacy Day and outlined the essential link between data processing and security.

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