Iran’s supreme leader Wednesday marked the 20th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by denouncing those who sought reconciliation with the “Great Satan.” Meanwhile, across the city, a large student rally at Tehran University took on the guise of a counter-demonstration as about 1,000 people protested against violence and called for…

New information on a 1996 car bombing that killed 19 Americans in Saudi Arabia points to the involvement of the Iranian government. The news presents Washington with a dilemma — to seek amends, or play down the news to avoid bolstering hard-liners in Iran. Full Article

Since November 1975, when the group assassinated the top CIA official in Greece, Richard Welch, the United States has pressed Greek police to bring the members of the group to justice, but officials here say their first arrest is still a long way off. Washington Post Story

Osama bin Laden will likely remain in Afghanistan after the United States rejected an offer by the suspected terrorist to leave for a secret destination, a spokesman for the ruling Taliban militia says. CNN Story

In a surprise move, the FBI has released the Project Megiddo report. This report is their analysis of the potential for Y2K related domestic terrorism. After a leaked copy of the report was covered in the press, the FBI decided to make its full contents accessible to the general public. We have archived the report…

Not only is there no evidence so far of foul play in Sunday&#039s crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, but the crash also does not appear to fit the pattern of midair aircraft bombings, terrorism experts said. Full Story

While the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 is still under investigation, there inevitably are some that speculate that terrorism might have been the cause. MSNBC provides some reasons why it may have been an act of terrorism, yet we will not know until more is discovered concerning the crash.

Online magazine Salon is running an article on the threat of chem/bio terrorism. An interesting read and sampling of viewpoints.Salon Article

$1.2 Billion has been budgeted for counter terrorism, particularly in response to the threat of chemical and biological terrorism. Yet with such a large amount of federal funds allotted to this topic, there is little, in no, oversight on whether the funds are being utilized wisely. Gannett

Travel advisories have been issued for Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, and Algeria. Many of these advisories are Y2K related.

There are several articles of interest appearing in the press this weekend. This article in the Washington Post describes an FBI report which indicates the FBI has evidence that religious extremists, racists, cults and other groups are planning millennial violence. This article discusses how the West Nile virus outbreak in New York, serves as a…

Saudi-born terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden has offered to leave Afghanistan and go to another unknown country, a Pakistan-based Afghan news service said Friday. Reuters Story

Osama bin Laden continues to receive help from businessmen in Saudi Arabia who are transferring tens of millions of dollars to bank accounts linked to the accused terrorist, U.S. intelligence officials told USA Today. Washington Post Article and USA Today Article

The Terrorism Research Center receives numerous requests every day for information on terrorism in the United States. As a service to our readers we have archived the FBI “Terrorism in the United States” reports from 1996 and 1997. We highly recommend them as introductory reading material. 1996 Report and 1997 Report

The United States lacks the technology to adequately defend its food supply if attacked by biological warfare, government officials told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee yesterday. Reuters Story

Afghanistan&#039s Taliban movement Thursday denied reports it was poised to hand over Saudi-born terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden because of U.S. pressure and the threat of imminent U.N. sanctions. Reuters Story

The General Accounting Office has released a new report entitled “Combating Terrorism: Need for Comprehensive Threat and Risk Assessments of Chemical and Biological Attacks.” The document has been archived by the TRC in PDF format and can be found here.

Gunmen who killed Armenia&#039s Prime Minister Vazgen Sarksyan and other leading members of parliament in a hail of bullets were holed up in the building Thursday, negotiating with officials over dozens of hostages.Reuters Story

The New York Times is running an article detailing the decision making process and factors involved in the decision to bomb a chemical plant in Sudan last year. The plant was believed to have ties with wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden. NY Times Article

Fearing a possible outburst of millennium-related violence, Israeli authorities rounded up members of two Christian groups living on the slopes of the Mount of Olives on Monday and ordered 20 of them deported. Read Article

Afghanistan&#039s ruling Taliban movement offered Saturday to hold talks with the United States to settle their row over Saudi-born bombing suspect Osama bin Laden whom it refuses to hand over to Washington.Reuters Article

A report in the Washington Post notes that Washington, D.C. has become the top terrorist target in the world according the FBI. Post Article On another note, according to AP, the FBI has created a 50-member National Capital Domestic Response Unit would work with about a dozen other federal, state and local public safety agencies…

With the support of the U.S. Department of State&#039s Research and Training Program for Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union (Title VIII Program), the National Research Council (NRC) will support scholars to travel to Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union for periods of two to six weeks to…

German police were still trying to identify a hijacker on Wednesday who seized an EgyptAir plane from Istanbul at knifepoint but gave himself up after landing at Hamburg. CNN/Reuters Earlier report from the beginning of the hijacking. CNN

Stressing that there can be no justification for terrorism, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday calling on all countries to stop providing safe havens for terrorists and to cooperate in bringing them to justice. With global terrorist activities increasing, the council declared that terrorism can threaten international peace and security and urged…

Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for a review of the federal response to the recent outbreak of West Nile-like virus and says the U.S. government should appoint a terrorism czar. AP

When a killer virus carried by mosquitoes hit New York last month, the CIA and FBI did not rule out an act of bioterrorism. President Clinton has already said that he expects an attack against a U.S. city within the next five years, and is spending $2.8 billion to prepare for the consequences. How real…

The UN Security Council is focusing on the increase in global terrorism with a fresh call for international co-operation to prevent terrorist acts and to bring perpetrators to justice. Against a backdrop of recent bombings and killings — from Russia and Kosovo to East Timor and Burundi — the council is holding an open meeting…

Germany has arrested a suspect in the 1975 terrorist attack on OPEC headquarters in Vienna in which 70 people were taken hostage and three killed. AP news

This paper is a follow-up to the award winning “Information Terrorism: Can You Trust Your Toaster?”. It examines some of issues surrounding the U.S. capability to respond to attacks against its critical infrastructures and recommends that valuable lessons can be extracted from our thirty year history of combating terrorism. While this paper was written in…

U.S. Senator Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem, says that U.S. emergency managers deserve praise for Arigorous preparation in advance of the millennium date change, but development of a long-term strategy is necessary to address cyberterrorism and information warfare — two Y2K-related threats not addressed…

British bomb and forensic experts have been advising Russian law enforcers, who are investigating a wave of bomb attacks which killed nearly 300 people. Reuters

Gunmen in the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia Thursday released four of the seven U.N. officials held hostage since Wednesday after a round of negotiations. UPI

Four Muslim militants convicted of bombing the World Trade Center were resentenced in federal court Wednesday as one of them warned that the United States may splinter like the Soviet Union. The District Judge in the case had some interesting comments for the four men. Full Article

On Tuesday evening, ABC&#039s Nightline held a discussion on Biowar/Bioterrorism. SecDef Cohen, Secretary Donna Shalala, and NSC advisor Richard Clarke were all interviewed. Unedited Transcript and the Real Video of the interview are available. (Please note – the Real Video component does not contain the full interview.)

CNN reports that the city of Charleston is considering labeling the KKK as a terrorist organization in order to prevent them from holding public marches. We invite you to share your comments on this subject in our forum area. CNN Article

The State Department has issued a travel advisory relating the events that took place yesterday in Pakistan. Unconfirmed analysis also indicates that counterterrorist professionals should be concerned with the new government&#039s potential ties to bin Laden. Advisory

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday let stand the sentence of life in prison and the conviction of Terry Nichols for conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal without comment or dissent. Reuters Story

More detail on the U.S. State Departments newly up-dated list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The organization headed by Osama bin Laden is added to the list. AP News, CNN

An article by US News and World Report concerning the billions of dollars flowing into the response to bioterrorism. The article suggests that the threat analysis justifying the funding may not be as credible as prior thought. US News

The NY Times has a story on the outbreak of West Nile virus in New York City. On an interesting note, Reuters reported over the weekend that the FBI was investigating the outbreak as a potential attempt at bioterrorism. NY Times Story

The testimony from the hearing before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information on “Critical Information Infrastructure Protection: the Threat is Real” is now available. Read the testimony

GovExec.com is reporting that there is a budget item for Critical Infrastructure Protection and computer security in a $611 million mid-year fiscal 2000 budget ammendment. The total designated for CIP and security enhancements is $39 million with $8.4 million earmarked for the federal intrusion detection initiative known at FIDNET. Full Story

The Agence France Presse is reporting that three bombs have exploded at two Corsican Official buildings. The bombs are believed to be the work of hardline separatists.Full Story

Reuters is reporting that authorities have taken a sixth defendant into custody for involvement in the bombings against U.S. embassies in Africa. Further details regarding the arrest should be made available by authorities later this afternoon. Full Story

The man convicted of failing to warn police about the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people lost his bid Friday to reduce his original 12-year sentence, CBS radio reported. Fortier has spent four years in jail, convicted of involuntary manslaughter for failing to warn authorities that his friend Timothy McVeigh was plotting to…

NIPC Director Mike Vatis provides the following Threat Assessment in which he states: Terrorists are known to use information technology and the Internet to formulate plans, raise funds, spread propaganda, and to communicate securely. For example, convicted terrorist Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing, stored detailed plans to destroy United States…

A copy of the letter from the Secretary of State requesting that the following list of terrorist organizations be published in the Federal Register.

The full version of the paper “Information Terrorism: Can You Trust Your Toaster?” has been made available in PDF format. We have been offering a reduced version of this paper for several years. This is the original version and contains an introductory scenario detailing an information terrorism attack. The document was originally published in 1996…

The GAO has made available their report entitled “Critical Infrastructure Protection: Comprehensive Strategy Can Draw on Year 2000 Experiences”. A copy of the document can be found here.

CNN reports that the United States is pushing forU.N. sanctions against the Taliban leaders in Afghanistan to pressure them to hand over Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, who is accused of leading a worldwide terrorist network. Full Story

The technical gurus at Slashdot, a geek news/community site, have been holding some very interesting disuccsions on cyberterrorism. An editor from Jane&#039s asked the Slashdot community to comment on an article they were preparing to publish on the topic. The response was overwhelming and somewhat negative and as a result, the editor has decided to…

The TRC Staff has encountered at least a dozen articles in the past 24 hours discussing infrastructure protection issues. NIPC Director Mike Vatis provided testimony on the hill yesterday detailing an operation dubbed Moonlight Maze in which attacks on U.S. systems were traced back to Moscow. The Russians have denied that these attacks were sponsored…

AP is reporting that Moscow police have detained 2,000 people and seized scores of weapons as part of an anti-terrorism operation in the Russian capital. During the operation, code-named Whirlwind, police confiscated 88 firearms and 26 pounds of explosives, Interior Ministry inspector Viktor Krykhtin said, according to the agency. Full Story

A U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee today will examine the information security threats posed to the nation&#039s public and private critical infrastructure. This hearing follows a federal report released this week that faulted the federal government&#039s security efforts while warning that little was known about the effectiveness security systems at private companies. The hearing will be…

Iranian government officials may have been involved in the 1996 terror attack on U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, according to “information” obtained by the State Department, a spokesman said today. ABC News

The U.S. State department has released a new world wide caution announcement, dealing with the increased danger to U.S. citizens and facilities due to to the deportation of Hani al-Sayegh. WWC-October 5, 1999.

A man suspected in the Khobar Towers bombing will be deported to his native Saudi Arabia, where he will face charges in the 1996 attack that killed 19 U.S. servicemen. ABC News

The Terrorism Research Center is pleased to announce the creation of our real-time news page. This page will be updated by TRC staff and selected moderators to provide you current links to relevant news and other resources. In addition, the TRC is please to release the beta version of its new online forum. This forum…

MITRE, in coordination with numerous security companies, has created a dictionary of common vulnerabilities and security exposures. This online resource can be found here.