BBC By Gordon Corera Security correspondent Coronavirus: How will it change national security and spying? The pandemic has raised questions about whether global health should be a more central part of national security. A senior intelligence officer rushes in to a meeting with the latest report and places it in front of anxious politicians and policymakers.In the past, it might have contained details about a planned terrorist attack - perhaps a cell in the Middle East looking at a new way of taking down an airline. This would lead to the well-practised national security machine cranking into gear.But in the future, that report may instead be about an outbreak of a virus in a far-off country which was being concealed by its government.Since the 9/11 attacks nearly 20 years ago, national security has been dominated by terrorism. But there have been voices over the years who have argued the notion...

Los Angeles Times FBI Looks For Ties To Extremist Groups In Train Derailment Near Hospital Ship Mercy By Richard Winton, Staff Writer The FBI is examining whether a man accused of intentionally derailing a freight train near the Navy hospital ship Mercy, which is docked in San Pedro to help with the coronavirus crisis, had any ties to extremist groups, and agents are digging into his social media background.Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro was charged with deliberately wrecking a train during the incident Tuesday, which led to a derailment and fuel leak, according to the charges.“Moreno is the only person charged in the case. While the government has made no allegations linking Moreno to an extremist ideology, our investigation is continuing,” the FBI said in a statement to The Times.Prosecutors allege that Moreno derailed the train and deliberately crashed through barriers designed to stop engines before grinding to a...

ABC News Terrorist Groups Spin COVID-19 As God's “Smallest Soldier” Attacking West Bleeding the U.S. economy dry has always been a goal of terrorist groups. By James Gordon Meek While much of the United States and Europe has been staying home to avoid COVID-19 as it kills thousands, terrorist groups are blasting online propaganda messages toward followers and potential recruits which hail the calamity of the disease as divine retribution.In propaganda communiques this week, ISIS and al-Qaeda have each claimed that the highly contagious and deadly coronavirus is God's wrath upon the West, and the disease itself is a "soldier of Allah," as one ISIS supporter recently said in an online chatroom, according to the private SITE Intelligence Group."Allah, the Creator, has revealed the brittleness and vulnerability of your material strength. It is now clear for all to see that it was but a deception that could not stand the...

  CBS 12 News Georgia Man Pleads Guilty To Planning Terrorist Attacks On White House, Other DC Monuments by STEFANIE DYGA, Sinclair Broadcast Group WASHINGTON (SBG) – The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday a Georgia man has pleaded guilty to planning a terrorist attack on the White House.23-year-old Hasher Jallal Taheb, of Cumming, pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to destroy, by fire or an explosive, a building owned by or leased to the United States, according to the press release. Officials say he had planned an attack on the White House using weapons and explosives.Back in March of 2018, a member of the Atlanta community reported concerns to local law officials who then got in touch with the FBI, officials say.    “Taheb hatched a dangerous plan that would have resulted in unimaginable injury,” said Byung J. “BJay” Pak, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. “We...

  California engineer ran train 'off the end of rail tracks' in attempted attack on USNS Mercy in Los Angeles, DOJ saysJordan Culver, USA TODAY A California man faces federal charges after officials allege he ran a train "at full speed off the end of rail tracks" near the U.S. Naval Ship Mercy, the 1,000-bed floating hospital that arrived in the Port of Los Angeles last week amid the coronavirus pandemic.Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro, was charged Wednesday with one count of train wrecking after the Tuesday incident, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. Moreno told police that he believed the Mercy had "an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover," according to the DOJ.Moreno told law enforcement officers he "intentionally derailed and crashed the train near the Mercy." The train Moreno was conducting crashed through several barriers and came to a rest nearly...