Atlantic Council blogs

Crisis in the Sahel: Mali Terrorism Threat Growing

By Rudolph Atallah

Over the past year, things have escalated dramatically in Mali, causing further instability in the Sahara and the Sahel. Many skeptics underestimated the Islamist threat and claimed that the Saharan branch of Al-Qaeda in the Magreb (AQIM) was only focused on kidnappings for ransom and illicit trade, rather than jihadist activities.

NSA Deputy Warns Against Cyber Vigilantes

By Colin Clark, Breaking Defense

From Colin Clark, Breaking Defense:  The private sector — and the government — must “exhaust” the use of traditional responses such as public shaming, criminal charges, diplomatic demarches, and sanctions “before we contemplate the dangerous possibility we might encourage vigilantism

Report Recommends US Permit Private Counterattacks Against International Hackers

By David E. Sanger, New York Times

From David E. Sanger, New York Times:  With President Obama preparing for a first meeting with China’s new president, a commission led by two former senior officials in his administration will recommend a series of steps that could significantly raise the cost to China of the theft of American industrial secrets.

Iranian Soldiers Fighting for Assad in Syria, Says State Department Official

By Anne Gearan, Washington Post

From Anne Gearan, Washington Post:  Iran has sent soldiers to Syria to fight alongside forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad

Congressional Panel Seeks to Block Retirement of Global Hawk Drones

By Jeremy Herb, Hill

From Jeremy Herb, Hill:  A House Armed Services subcommittee is proposing to block the Air Force’s planned retirement of the Global Hawk Block 30 drones at the end of 2014.

Crisis in the Sahel: Overview

By Rudolph Atallah

North Africa and the intertwined Sahel, from Egypt to Mauritania, is a region that has undergone profound and destabilizing political and social change in the last several years, especially since the “Arab Spring” of 2011. Nascent political systems, newly empowered non-state actors, and underlying structural problems in the region contribute to an increasingly volatile mix, […]

NATO Deactivates Allied Air Command Izmir HQ in Turkey

By Kimberly Rhoades, Allied Air Command

Morsi Government Resignations

By Nancy Messieh

President Mohamed Morsi began his four year term with seventeen political advisers and four aides. The seventeen advisers were described as being divided between seven ‘political liberals’ and ten advisers with ‘Islamist leanings.’ Among the seventeen advisers, two were women and two Christian.