SANAA (AFP) – Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh received a top US counter-terrorism official in Riyadh, where he is recovering after being wounded in an explosion last month, state television reported on Sunday.
Yemeni television aired footage of Saleh, who was badly burned in the blast at his palace in Sanaa, receiving President Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan at the military hospital in the Saudi capital.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a unit created after the September 11 attacks to improve the sharing of intelligence among competing U.S. spy agencies, is leaving his post after 4-1/2 years in the job.
A U.S. official said NCTC chief Michael Leiter would depart the agency, and government service, in July. The source said it was unclear what Leiter's next job would be, but it was likely to be in the private sector.
Within intelligence and counterintelligence circles, Leiter was esteemed for his non-political approach to improving collaboration among rival agencies.
Under Leiter's stewardship, the NCTC has been regarded as one of the few components of the Office of Director of National Intelligence which has had success in improving U.S. intelligence coverage and analysis of militant activity.
However, the counterterrorism center faced some criticism under Leiter's leadership, particularly when the agency failed to put together clues which might have led to the early detection of Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian militant who has been charged with trying to blow up a Detroit airliner on Christmas Day 2009 with a bomb hidden in his underpants.
President Barack Obama praised Leiter in a statement on Thursday, saying he "led the National Counterterrorism Center with dedication and unwavering determination during challenging and demanding times."
There was also praise from Republican Representative Peter King, chairman of the House of the Representatives Homeland Security Committee, who said Leiter had done an "outstanding job" while working for both a Republican and a Democratic president.
No immediate information was available about whom Obama might nominate to succeed Leiter. However, some counterterrorism experts said that candidates might include former Bush administration counterterrorism experts Stuart Levey and Juan Zarate. Nominees for NCTC director must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
(Reporting by Mark Hosenball in London; Editing by Warren Strobel and Eric Beech)
NEW DELHI – U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has begun a four-day visit to India by paying tribute to victims of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
Napolitano laid a wreath and observed a brief silence on Tuesday at a memorial to 16 policemen who were killed during the three-day siege of India's financial capital.
Napolitano will also visit New Delhi to launch an India-U.S. security dialogue to increase cooperation in counterterrorism, intelligence sharing and cybersecurity.
A total of 166 people were killed when 10 young Pakistanis attacked two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a busy train station in Mumbai in November 2008. India blamed the attacks on Pakistan-based militant groups.
MUMBAI (AFP) – US Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano on Tuesday paid homage to the police victims of the 2008 Mumbai attacks as she began a four-day visit to India to boost counter-terrorism ties.
Napolitano placed a ceremonial wreath and stood head bowed in silent tribute for one minute at the memorial to the uniformed officers who died when India's financial capital was hit by Islamist extremists.
The memorial at the Mumbai Police sportsground is a short distance from where the sole surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, was captured. He is now facing a death sentence for his part in the attacks.
Napolitano, who was to meet officials from the state government of Maharashtra and law enforcement representatives in closed-door discussions, is also due for talks with India's Home Minister P. Chidambaram in New Delhi.
The US government says Napolitano will launch the US-India Homeland Security Dialogue, which aims to increase communication between the two countries about terrorism.
President Barack Obama called for closer ties on counter-terrorism when he visited Mumbai last November.
Napolitano's visit comes amid strained relations between the United States and Pakistan -- its key ally in the fight against extremism but India's main regional rival -- after the killing of Osama bin Laden.
India blames the banned, Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for training, financing and equipping the Mumbai attackers, who killed 166 in co-ordinated attacks on high-profile targets across the city.
New Delhi was quick to link the Al-Qaeda chief's death in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad three weeks ago to its long-held claim that its neighbour is a haven for extremists.
