The Obama Administration has appointed Indian-American to a key IT position, making him head of an agency that facilitates the sharing and access of terrorism-related information within various wings of the US Government.
United States and India will hold their four-day inaugural strategic dialogue beginning June one which would include an in-depth discussion between the leaders of the two countries on global and regional issues.
As the Pakistani Taliban demonstrated their ability to reach the US with the recent Times Square terror plot, key members of the 9/11 Commission have expressed frustration that more progress has not been made on their recommendations like sharing of vital intelligence.
Pakistani-American terror suspect Faisal Shahzad had planned to attack four other targets if his bid to detonate a car bomb near Times Square in New York was successful, according to a television channel. Other locations that he intended to attack were Rockefeller Centre, Grand Central Terminal, the World Financial Centre and the Connecticut headquarters of defence contractor Sikorsky. Sikorsky manufactures helicopters for the US military, including the Black Hawk.
This Tuesday, the class is likely to have focused on Faisal Shehzad's plan to create havoc in New York City's Times Square.
Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American suspect in Times Square failed bombing, has waived his right to a speedy arraignment and is not expected to appear in court today.
Police probing the Times Square car bomb case have zeroed in their search on a white man in his 40s who was seen on surveillance videos shedding his shirt and walking away from the area where the explosive-laden vehicle was found. Over 45 kgs of fertilizer, with fireworks and wires fitted around was found with the bomb, police said, but it was not the ammonium nitrate grade that can explode.
Pakistan may slip over nuclear weapons to the Taliban for use against India in the event of escalated tension or war between the two neighbours, a non-proliferation United States commission has said.
A former US non-proliferation official has warned that South Asia and the Middle East are most likely to be the first point of a future nuclear attack.
Noting that Pakistan is a complicated country, which faces huge economic, energy and water shortage, a top Obama administration official has said that the country needs the United States' support.
The number of Indians receiving the coveted green card or the Legal Permanent Residency status in the United States has experienced a considerable decline in the past three years.
Fifty years ago on July 20, 1969 with these words American astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" E Aldrin made history by becoming the first human beings to set foot on another world -- the moon. It was an event that was watched by millions on television and one that remains etched in all our memories. Collected here are 17 images of that historic mission, a "giant leap for mankind".
Biden is best qualified to address the root cause of the polarisation in American politics before it turns into terminal malignancy, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Learning lessons from the Mumbai terror strikes, the Obama administration has taken several steps in intelligence gathering and security infrastructure to thwart any similar attack on a major US city, according to a top official.
India and Israel have vowed to enhance cooperation in combating the menace of terror, with Tel Aviv terming 'New Delhi's security as important to it as its own.'
A small plane crashed into a seven-storey building in Texas on Thursday that houses government offices, including the Internal Revenue Services' criminal investigation unit, but the US ruled out any terrorist involvement in the incident.
Leaders from South Asian and Arab American communities and from religious groups met recently with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to discuss joint efforts against domestic extremists. They also brought up concerns over discrimination and racial and religious profiling in the wake of rules imposed after the Christmas Day terrorism attempt by Nigerian suicide bomber Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab.
As many as two lakh Indians are living illegally in the United States, a latest official report on illegal residents for the year 2009 has claimed.
United States' Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair has -- in a candid assessment -- revealed what went wrong before and after the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight. He said that he had wrongly caved to external "pressure" to trim the no-fly list and even admitted the intelligence community would probably drop the ball in the future.
The Salahis will soon have a chance to explain their story to Congress. On Wednesday, January, 20, the couple is scheduled to appear before the House Homeland Security Committee. But they say they plan to invoke the Fifth Amendment.
Of the 1.87 million resident non-immigrants in the US in 2012, India accounted for the maximum number of 430,000 residents, followed by China with 210,000 residents and South Korea with 140,000, the Department of Homeland Security said in its latest report.
"Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is an extension of Al Qaeda core coming out of Pakistan. And, in my view, it is one of the most lethal and one of the most concerning of it," John Brennan, assistant to the US President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, told media persons at a White House briefing.
"Ultimately the buck stops with me. As President, I have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people, and when the system fails, it is my responsibility," he said in a televised statement from the White House.
Travellers from 14 nations, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia flying into the United States will face additional screening starting Monday, US officials have said. The heightened security procedures include full body pat downs before boarding, checking of carry on baggage, and random checks on US bound flights.
Accusing Britain of being a "menace to the outside world", Americans have blamed their closest ally in Europe for the rise of Islamic extremism amid growing anger over the UK's perceived failure to tackle extremism.
In a letter to US Homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano, IATA's director general Giovanni Bisignani said 'the air transport system cannot support 100 per cent pat-down searches over the long term' even though short-term temporary and extra-ordinary security measures were needed until the immediate threat had abated.
US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that a "systemic failure" occurred in the intelligence network ahead of the thwarted attack on a US-bound flight from Amsterdam on Christmas Day.
How this individual who had been alerted to the authorities, the US Embassy, about his perhaps Islamic leaning to some radicalization, was still able to have a visa, that visa not revoked and able to get on a US aircraft," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was asked by a reporter.
Passengers travelling to the United States will now be subjected to physical pat-downs as authorities announced fresh set of security measures following an unsuccessful attempt by a Nigerian to blow up a US plane midair.
'Heck, the only way Tareeq and Michaele Salahi could have missed being our Persons of the Year was if we'd made them Persons of the Decade instead,' wrote the columnist.
Pakistani-origin American David Coleman Headley, charged by FBI of being involved in the Mumbai terror attacks, was using US as a base to plan future attacks outside the country, a top Senator said on Thursday. "I understand he was able to use the US as a base of (terror) operations," Senator Joe Lieberman, Chairman of the Senate Homeland and Security and Governmental Affairs who has received a classified briefing on the issue, said at a Congressional hearing.
It might be a "frustration" for India to restrict itself from any military action against nuclear power Pakistan after the Mumbai terror attacks, but taking such a calculated response was "overwhelming", feels former US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff.
A Congressional committee has moved ahead with the process to issue subpoenas for Tareq and Michele Salahi, after the Virginia refused to turn up for testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security.
US President Barack Obama faces the same level of threat as that of his two predecessors, George W Bush and Bill Clinton, and not any higher, a senior Secret Service official has said.
A United States Congressional committee on security will summon the Secret Service chief and the Virginia couple who gate crashed into President Barack Obama's first state dinner, to testify before it on the breach of security at the White House.The House Committee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing on Thursday, in which they will hear testimonies of aspiring reality TV stars Tareq and Michaele Salahi, who managed to gate-crash into the state dinner.
The governmental/administration names on both sides of the table are no-brainers that requite little elaboration. It is on the political side that Obama sprang a few surprises.
MoUs range across pharma, telecom, IT and homeland security.
David Coleman Headley, the Pakistan born Lashkar-e-tayiba operative held for planning a terror strike in India changed his name from Daood Gilani to allay suspicion when he was traveling abroad, The Washington Post said in a report.
Indian information technology companies are eyeing the $10-billion medium multi-role combat aircraft deal, up for grabs from the Indian Air Force.Of this, about $1-1.5 billion (Rs 4,600-6,900 crore) is the size of the total IT integrated services pie, that would include engineering services and IT services, said industry sources.Six global vendors -- Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Mirage, Russian Aircraft Corp's MiG, Saab and Eurocopter -- have been shortlisted.
US Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, paralysed from waist down due to bullet wounds received during his shooting spree that killed 13 fellow soldiers, may have wired money to Pakistan which could lead to his possible links to militant groups there, according to two Congressmen
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