Small Wars Journal

Experts: Troops in Europe Could be Next Terrorist Target

Tue, 04/05/2016 - 2:58pm

Experts: Troops in Europe Could be Next Terrorist Target by Leo Shane III, Military Times

Terrorists’ next target in Europe could be U.S. troops and Defense Department civilians working there, a panel of experts warned lawmakers Tuesday.

“We know the (terrorist) networks are there, and we know they are looking for targets of opportunity,” said Clinton Watts, a security fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. “State Department and defense employees are on that list.”

The warnings came at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing looking at the aftermath of the Belgium bombings carried out by Islamic State group sympathizers last month. The coordinated attack wounded more than 300 and killed at least 35 individuals.

Among them were four Americans, including the wife of an Air Force officer stationed near the NATO headquarters in Brussels…

Read on.

Comments

Outlaw 09

Wed, 04/06/2016 - 10:56am

In reply to by Bill M.

Bill M....find it refreshing that you tied UdSSR (really KGB) to the far left terrorism of the 60-80s in Germany and Europe as a whole. Currently many in the US have totally forgotten the immediate past if it is more than two years ago......

ARE we in fact seeing the circle coming full circle now with the Russian FSB....NOTICE the so called experts in front of Congress did not draw the same conclusions nor even mentioned it or the possibility of it

There is a PS theory that states the extreme left and extreme right will met each other on a circle of violence as they tend to at some point share similar hatreds and common enemies....some have actually called the current brand of IS jihadism as being fascist form of Islam thus on the extreme right side of the violence cirlce...

I like the writings of this individual as he comes out of the CI world and I "bumped into him" a number of times over the years here in Europe..is extremely knowledgeable and calls a spade a spade......

MUST READ on how Russian FSB manipulates migrant-crisis.
http://observer.com/2016/04/how-the-kremlin-manipulates-europes-refugee…

Kyle W. Orton ‎@KyleWOrton
As the axis of European politics tilts toward the Kremlin, you didn't think they'd leave it to chance did you?

So there you go:
1. most Syria jihadists come from Russia
2. human traffickers are FSB.
3. FSB will send jihadists among refugees to EU

And as such, you may also start to understand what role FSB/Russia/Putin plays in #ParisAttacks and #BrusselsAttacks

So the Russian non linear warfare is not being successful in Europe??

Outlaw 09

Wed, 04/06/2016 - 9:13am

In reply to by Bill M.

BTW----it took USAREUR over six years of war with RAF or PFPL/PLO to finally get the US green POV license plates (with the letters USA) changed to actual German license plates BUT then in typical military fashion all "German" plates come from the German areas around a military base...so when a "terrorist" sees a huge Chevy SUV with a Amberg, Grafenwoehr or Wiesbaden area plate one knows that the driver is US or worse the driver has an extremely military short haircut....that is how much knowledge this current generation of so called "counter terror experts" we have even in the service that the Army "listens" to....THUS just not a problem of Congress.

AND BTW these so called experts are in fact DACs themselves who created the position for themselves when they were LTCs/COLs in the same place as the positions are.....BUT at a time terrorism was not much of a problem.

Common sense went out of the window in about 1991......

Bill M.

Wed, 04/06/2016 - 3:15am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

It is sadly entertaining to see this panel of so called experts providing testimony to Congress on the bloody obvious. How many tax dollars were spent on this on this nonsense? Why did it even merit publication on SWJ?

We had more U.S. service members killed by communist terrorists in the Philippines in the 1980s through the early 1990s, than were killed by Muslim terrorists since. And as you stated, U.S. forces dealt with far left wing terrorism (often supported by the USSR) in Europe throughout the 70s and 80s. The military is no stranger to terrorism, but we're increasingly ahistorical, and more and more we're attracted to the shinny objective at the moment. When that light bulb turns on, Congress's wallets open, and out crawl the experts.

Outlaw 09

Wed, 04/06/2016 - 1:57am

Can anyone explain to me just why one needs "experts" to state the oblivious.

Just as the 60s through to the 80s US military, installations and their families have always been the "potential targets" of say RAF, Red Brigades, 2 June and or just about anyone else with an axe to grind against US policies.

The military had then far more targets available for selection than currently is the case and yet the military was able to handle any potential contingencies during that period.

The core problem lies with the DAC community which is located all over the place especially those DACs that use their housing allowances for rent to purchase their own homes which is an elegant way to make a great bonus at taxpayers expense (but that is another totally different problem) or those military personnel who have selected to live off bases amongst the local community.

Again why the need for the "oblivious"?????

Just move everyone back onto the bases and if there is not enough housing available then go back to the "old days" of no availability for housing under the rank of SGT with five years of service and or non accompanied tours....resolves all problems and actually saves DoD money in the end.

Just a thought....