INTERVIEW — LT. COL TONY SHAFFER – a CIA trained former senior intelligence officer and the New York Times bestselling author of ” Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft an Special Operations on the Frontlines of Afghanistan – And The Path to Victory.” His last book was “The Last Line.”
- NY, NJ bombings: Suspect charged with attempted murder of officers. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer after a shootout Monday with police in Linden, New Jersey, Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park said. He is also charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. Authorities said Rahami is “directly linked” to bombings Saturday in New York City and Seaside Park, New Jersey, and is believed to be connected to pipe bombs found Sunday night in Elizabeth, New Jersey, sources said.
- Bombings suspect spent time Afghanistan, Pakistan, official says. (CNN) Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect in the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, traveled for extended periods to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the last few years, officials said. Rahami, 28, spent several weeks in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Quetta, Pakistan, in 2011, according to a law enforcement official who reviewed his travel and immigration record. Two years later, in April 2013, he went to Pakistan and remained there until March 2014 before returning to the US, official said. Investigators are looking into whether he was radicalized overseas before returning to the United States in 2014, according to the official.
- Gary Johnson: I’d close Dept. of Homeland Security. Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson on Monday said he would shutter the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as president. Johnson’s vow follows bombings incidents in New Jersey and New York over the weekend that injured 29. “I would,” he told host Neil Cavuto when asked on the Fox Business Network if he would consider closing down the agency. “I think it’s just another layer of bureaucracy. It’s just spending more money than we have to spend. “Look, we should always be looking for ways to make government more efficient. Why is it that government makes the perfect choices and business doesn’t? Well, business doesn’t and they admit it.” Johnson, the former GOP governor of New Mexico, said he would have the FBI assume the DHS’s responsibilities.
