Inside the Ring

Al Qaeda targets Navy

An al Qaeda Web site last week announced that in response to U.S. targeting of al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen it would launch a campaign against U.S. Navy interests, including seeking data on naval nuclear weapons and Navy personnel and their families.

The group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the main al Qaeda affiliate that has been linked to the Christmas Day airliner bomb plot, announced Dec. 29 that it had called on all Muslims to take part in the “mast media campaign,” specifically the gathering of information on U.S. naval interests. Targets include the names of vessels at sea, information on crew and their families, how ships are serviced by other nations and data on possible nuclear weapons on board.

The statement said: “The lions of al Qaeda flirted with the American Navy several years ago when they targeted the destroyer Cole! Now, with the help of God, every American naval vessel in the seas and oceans: aircraft carriers, submarines, and all of its war machines within range of al Qaeda - will be destroyed, God willing.”

In response, the Navy has heightened its alert posture in the Middle East, according to a defense official.

Navy spokesman Lt. Nate Christensen declined to comment on security posture levels, but said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service knows about the threat.

“The Navy has been aware of the al Qaeda threats since discovery on Dec. 31, 2009,” he told Inside the Ring, noting that the NCIS has circulated information about the threat throughout the service.

“It’s important that the Navy family (sailors, civilians, Navy families, retirees) remain vigilant in not sharing potentially sensitive or secure information by any non-secure means - to include letters, e-mail, telephone conversations or social media,” he stated.

The Navy is concerned that sailors and their families could unwittingly provide operational data that “could potentially jeopardize security or expose the safety of our people or forces,” Lt. Christensen said.

A Navy official said NCIS is responsible for investigating terrorists threat and works with law-enforcement and security agencies worldwide to mitigate such threats.

F-22 export study

The recent Defense Appropriations Act signed quietly into law by President Obama on Dec. 19 contains a new provision that has rekindled hopes among proponents of the F-22 Raptor, the U.S. military’s most advanced fighter bomber program that was canceled by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in April.

The spending law keeps in place a provision that prohibits the export of the F-22. However, new language contained in Section 8059 of the law gives the Pentagon the ability to use money to “conduct or participate in studies, research, design and other activities to define and develop a future export version of the F-22A that protects classified and sensitive information, technologies and U.S. warfighting capabilities.”

Edward Timperlake, a former Marine Corps pilot and former Pentagon acquisition official who supports producing more F-22s, said the fact that Mr. Obama signed the legislation with the F-22 export study provision is hopeful.

“If this intent of Congress is executed with skill and insight by U.S. Air Force leadership it will send a powerful message of support to Australia, Japan and the Israeli air force,” Mr. Timperlake said in an e-mail. “This congressional guidance will make the need for more F-22s an important campaign issue in 2010.”

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