President Obama: “Lone Wolf Terrorists” Were “Biggest Concern We Have”

Buzz Feed -- President Obama warned in 2011 that the possibility of a "lone wolf" terrorist attack — similar to what the Boston bombings appear to be — was the greatest national security threat America faced in the post-9/11 age.

Obama was speaking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer weeks before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks that killed more than 2,000 people.

"The biggest concern we have right now is not the launching of a major terrorist operation, although that risk is always there. The risk that we're especially concerned over right now is the lone wolf terrorist," the president said. "Somebody with a single weapon being able to carry out wide-scale massacres of the sort that we saw in Norway recently. You know, when you've got one person who is deranged or driven by a hateful ideology, they can do a lot of damage, and it's a lot harder to trace those lone wolf operators."

The president continued, adding that intelligence agencies were staying "vigilant" against terrorist threats, especially in the wake of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We're spending a lot of time monitoring and gathering information," he said. "I think that we generally have to stay vigilant. There may be a little extra vigilance during 9/11."

He continued, "I think the most likely scenario that we have to guard against right now ends up being more of a lone wolf operation than a large, well-coordinated terrorist attack. We still have to stay on top of it, though, and we're never letting our guard down, that's part of our job."

According to reports Tuesday, Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told FBI investigators that he and his brother operated alone and without aid from terrorist organizations. The Los Angeles Times reported terrorist experts, such as Brian Jenkins of RAND Corporation, suspect the brothers follow a pattern of alienated youth self-radicalizing.

New York Congressman Peter King, the former chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said Wednesday it was too early to say if the Tsarnaev brothers attacked alone.

"I don't see how we can accept that," King said, according to The Hill. "It may end up being the truth, but this is a person who is a mass murderer. He's a person who barely can speak, speak at all. I don't see why he would be giving up any accomplices anyhow or talk about any connections his brother might have had in Chechnya or Russia."

The Morning Report - Friday January 25, 2013

Al Qaeda Operative Killed -- Mentally Ill Man 'Tortured' -- Microsoft Surprises -- VA  & The Electoral College -- Senate To Vote On Sandy Aid -- Gun Ban Measure Introduced -- Brown Signals Historical CA -- 

KEY AL QAEDA FIGURE KILLED BY DRONE

AP

SANAA, Yemen — Al-Qaida's No. 2 in Yemen died in a U.S. drone attack last year in southern Yemen, the country's official news agency and a security official said Thursday.

Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi national who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, was wounded in a missile attack in the southern city of Saada on Oct. 28, according to SABA news agency.

MOM PLANS PROTEST OVER 'TORTURE' OF MENTALLY ILL SON

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A mother whose adult son is being detained in a criminal psychiatric hospital for a crime six years ago is planning to live in a box at the Vancouver Art Gallery for nine days and nights to draw attention to what she calls the “torture” he endures there.

Chahna Verney said her son, Ben, (she doesn’t want his last name published) has been held for almost four years at B.C.’s Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, where he has spent “the vast majority of his time locked up in an isolation cell.”

MICROSOFT REPORTS RECORD REVENUE IN 2ND QUARTER

REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 24, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced quarterly revenue of $21.46 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2012. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $7.77 billion, $6.38 billion, and $0.76 per share.

These financial results reflect the net deferral of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer, Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-sales, and the Entertainment and Devices Division Video Game Deferral, partially offset by the recognition of previously deferred revenue for Windows 8 Pre-sales. The following table reconciles these financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to non-GAAP financial results. We have provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance.

VIRGINIA STATE SENATE MOVES AHEAD WITH ELECTORAL-COLLEGE RIGGING BILL

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These guys are swiftly becoming my favorite state legislative body. From the AP:

Virginia's Republican-ruled legislature has taken the first steps toward ending the state's winner-takes-all system of apportioning its 13 presidential electoral votes. A Senate subcommittee recommended Sen. Bill Carrico's bill on Wednesday on a 3-3 party line vote.

SENATE SETS SANDY AID RELIEF VOTE FOR MONDAY

AP

WASHINGTON — The Senate is set to vote Monday on a $50.5 billion emergency relief bill to help victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Northeast lawmakers from both parties hope to win Senate approval of the measure and send it to President Barack Obama, who has said he would sign it. The House passed it last week.

SENATOR FEINSTEIN ROLLS OUT GUN BAN MEASURE

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Washington -- - Nearly two decades after she championed a nationwide ban on assault weapons, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other Democratic lawmakers rolled out a new ban on military-style rifles Thursday in the wake of the mass shooting last month at a Connecticut elementary school.

The measure, proposed more than eight years after the 1994 ban expired, would prohibit 157 rifles, including the Bushmaster XM-15 that Adam Lanza used in the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults. It also would outlaw ammunition magazines with a capacity above 10 rounds.

BROWN DELIVERS UPBEAT STATE OF THE STATE

Sacramento -- - Gov. Jerry Brown, riding a wave of remarkable political success from the first two years of his term in office, delivered a State of the State speech Thursday that cast California as being on the cusp of an era akin to the grand times of state history.

It was the kind of optimistic and enthusiastic address to the people of California that was not possible when Brown came into office two years ago facing a nearly $26 billion deficit.