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(AP) Security chip that does encryption in PCs hacked -- Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks.

RECENTLY IN THE HEADLINES...

(TIME) Why Didn't HIG Question the Undiebomber? -- Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt to bring down a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas Day has helped to ignite a political battle over how best to handle and question detained terrorist suspects.

(USA TODAY / AP) Official: Christmas Day suspect gives information on Yemen radical -- The Nigerian suspect in a failed Christmas Day airliner bombing turned against the cleric who claims to be his teacher and has helped the U.S. hunt for the radical preacher, a law enforcement official said Thursday.

(PC WORLD) The Google-NSA Alliance: Questions and Answers -- Google's facing a gaggle of questions over reports that it's working with the National Security Agency.

(NY TIMES/AP) Official Says Terrorism Suspect Is Cooperating -- The Christmas Day terrorist suspect who tried to use a bomb hidden in his underwear has been cooperating with investigators since last week, a federal law enforcement official said Tuesday.

(CNN) Researchers: U.S. escalated drone strikes in Pakistan in recent weeks -- The United States has escalated its unmanned aircraft strikes at militant targets in Pakistan since seven Americans were killed in a December 30 suicide attack at a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan, statistics from two informed research outlets show.

(WASHINGTON POST) -- Obama's proposed budget for NASA starts moon war on earth -- The battle over space has begun. And it's likely to be brutal.

(GUARDIAN UK) US boosts missile presence in Gulf as warning to Iran -- Pentagon expands Patriot missile programme across Middle East after Tehran repeatedly spurns hand of diplomacy

(LA TIMES) CIA may target first U.S. citizen -- The agency builds a case for putting Anwar al Awlaki, linked to the Ft. Hood shootings and Christmas bomb attempt, on its hit list. The complications involved are a window into a secretive process.

(WSJ) White House Considers Changing Venue of Terror Trial -- The Obama administration appears to be backing away from the plan to try the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City.

(TELEGRAPH UK) Osama bin Laden enters global warming debate -- Osama bin Laden surprisingly appeared to enter the debate on climate change yesterday by blaming industrialised countries for global warming.

(NY TIMES) New Russian Stealth Fighter Makes First Flight -- Russia test-flew a long-awaited new fighter aircraft on Friday, determined to challenge the United States for technical superiority in the skies and impress weapons buyers.

(CNN) The State of the Union page --Citing a "deficit of trust" in government by the American people, President Obama's first State of the Union address urged Congress to erode the influence of special interests and work together to confront the nation's most pressing problems.

(CHICAGO TRIBUNE) Chicago man pleads not guilty to terrorism charges -- A Chicago man accused of helping scout out the Indian city of Mumbai before the 2008 terrorist attack that left 166 people dead and plotting to attack a Danish newspaper pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that could result in a death sentence.

(LA TIMES) Witnesses to devastation, and to their own luck -- Alerted by two explosions minutes earlier, and automatic gunfire outside their hotel, most staffers of the Los Angeles Times' Baghdad bureau had taken cover when the bomber detonated his vehicle.

(LA TIMES) 21 killed in bombing at Baghdad government building -- More than 80 are injured in the suicide attack, which comes just one day after coordinated explosions at three Baghdad hotels kill 37 people.

(AFP) Brown condemns Baghdad bombs -- Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned three huge and apparently coordinated bombs that killed at least 36 people in Baghdad on Monday, saying violence had "no place" in Iraq's future.

(NY TIMES) 3 Coordinated Bomb Attacks Hit Hotels in Baghdad -- In a coordinated attack as devastating as it was ruthlessly efficient, three bombs unleashed minutes apart on Monday wrecked landmark hotels in Baghdad, undermining faith in Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and underscoring the precarious uncertainty of the political landscape weeks before parliamentary elections.

(POYNTER) McClatchy moved out of Baghdad's Hamra Hotel three weeks ago -- Many of you may have seen the story about the three bombings in Baghdad today and recalled that one of the targets, the Hamra hotel, housed the McClatchy Baghdad bureau. Happily, that's no longer true: Together with our partners at The Christian Science Monitor, we moved out of the Hamra three weeks ago to a private house in a compound with The New York Times.

(WSJ) White House Decides to Outsource NASA Work -- The White House has decided to begin funding private companies to carry NASA astronauts into space, but the proposal faces major political and budget hurdles, according to people familiar with the matter.

(LA TIMES) Bin Laden takes responsibility for Christmas Day airline bombing plot -- The Al Qaeda leader vows to continue targeting the U.S. as long as Washington backs Israel. But American officials doubt he played a meaningful role in planning the failed attack.

(GUARDIAN UK) Miliband warns of terror threat after 'Bin Laden' tape aired -- Danger of attack still 'very real' says foreign secretary after tape claims responsibility for Detroit plane bomb attempt.

(BBC NEWS) Indian airports on hijack alert -- Indian airports are on high alert after Western intelligence reports warned security officials of a possible attempt to hijack an Indian airliner.

(TELEGRAPH UK) UK terror threat raised to 'severe', Home Secretary announces -- The UK's terror threat level has been raised from substantial to severe, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has announced.

(WH TIMES/UK) UFO hacker Gary McKinnon gets death threats -- Janis Sharp, from Brookmans Park, disclosed that journalists and MPs have also been targeted over their involvement in her high profile campaign to prevent her son Gary McKinnon from being extradited.

(LA TIMES) Costly errors in probe of failed jetliner blast detailed -- In a tacit admission that the U.S. squandered a chance to gain valuable information after the failed Christmas Day airliner bombing, the nation's intelligence director testified Wednesday that authorities had been too quick to read the suspect his Miranda rights and grant him access to an attorney.

(DETNEWS) Senate committee schedules closed-door terrorism hearing -- The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will hold a closed-door hearing today on the Christmas Day attempted terror bombing of Flight 253.

(WSJ) Spy Chief Rips Handling Of Terror Case -- The nation's intelligence chief said the man accused of trying to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day should have been questioned by a special interrogation team instead of being handled as an ordinary criminal suspect.

(WSJ) Intelligence Chief Slams Handling of Christmas-Bomb Case -- The nation's intelligence chief said the man accused of trying to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day should have been questioned by a special interrogation team instead of being handled as an ordinary criminal suspect.

(NY TIMES) Part of Munich Airport Closed After Security Scare -- The third airport security scare this month — caused this time by a man whose laptop computer set off alarms — forced the closing of a large portion of the airport in Munich for three hours Wednesday.

(LA TIMES) Gates makes recommendations in Ft. Hood shooting case -- The military needs to do a better job of comprehensively evaluating personnel and commanders need to be able to evaluate their personnel and pick up on behavior that needs closer examination, he says.

(FOX NEWS) Al Qaeda Military Chief Reportedly Killed in Yemen Airstrike -- The military chief of the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda was killed in an airstrike Friday, according to reports from the country's official news agency.

(REUTERS) Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network -- In early 2008, an official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a report to his superiors detailing what he called "the most significant development in the criminal exploitation of aircraft since 9/11."

(TELEGRAPH.co.uk) NASA photographs 'trees' on Mars -- A Nasa probe has sent back photographs of what appears to be trees on the planet's surface.

(CNN) DEVELOPING COVERAGE: 7.0 quake hits Haiti; could be 'catastrophe,' official says -- A major earthquake struck southern Haiti on Tuesday, knocking down buildings and inflicting a catastrophe on the impoverished Caribbean nation, its ambassador to the United States said.

(CNN) Expert: CIA missed glaring red flags on double-agent bomber -- "This is the biggest deception ever of intelligence agencies, whether CIA or Jordanian intelligence," said Hassan Hanieh, a former Islamic extremist who now studies jihadist movements. "From the beginning, he was deceiving them."

(NY TIMES) Bomb blast kill\s physics Professor in Tehran -- A remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle killed an Iranian physics professor outside his home in northern Tehran on Tuesday, state media reported, blaming the United States and Israel for the attack.

(LA TIMES) Iran's opposition spreads to heartland -- Though organizing opposition to the government is more difficult in smaller cities that don't afford the anonymity of Tehran, activists in the provinces say they're making progress.

(BBC) Bosnian-born 'NY bomb plotter' denies charges -- A Bosnian-born man arrested in New York in connection with an alleged plot to bomb the city has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder abroad.

(CNN) 3 arrested after bomb threat at Heathrow -- The men, ages 58, 48, and 36, were arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat and remain in police custody, London's Metropolitan Police said.

(MSNBC/AP) Mind reading systems could change air security -- As far-fetched as that sounds, systems that aim to get inside an evildoer's head are among the proposals floated by security experts thinking beyond the X-ray machines and metal detectors used on millions of passengers and bags each year.

(CNN) Airplane bomb suspect pleads not guilty -- Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the man charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on December 25, pleaded not guilty Friday to six federal charges.

(Washington Post) Yemen says there are limits to its military cooperation with United States -- In its strongest language yet, Yemen's government declared Thursday that there are limits to its military cooperation with the United States, warning that any direct U.S. action in this impoverished Middle Eastern nation could bolster the popularity of Islamist militants.

(MSNBC) Obama orders changes after anti-terror lapses -- President Barack Obama suggested Thursday he would not fire anyone for the attempted Christmas airline attack, saying it appears the security lapses that led to the near-disaster were not the fault of a single individual or institution. "Ultimately the buck stops with me," said the commander in chief.

(VoA) Lax security may have contributed to CIA deaths -- The recent suicide bombing at a Central Intelligence Agency outpost in Afghanistan was the type of incident that was not entirely unexpected. The CIA has been targeting al-Qaida for years, even before the attacks of September 11, 2001, and retaliation was inevitable. But, a combination of lax security and an insatiable hunger for information by the CIA may have contributed to the success of the al-Qaida attack.

(CNN) Slovakia explosives gaffe 'highlights security failings' -- n aviation expert says an incident in which an explosive material was placed in an unsuspecting passenger's luggage as part of a botched sniffer dog drill highlights the need for greater international cooperation to improve security at airports.

(TIMES on-line) Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human persons' -- Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”.

(CNN) OBAMA: 'System failed' in a major way -- President Obama said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence has had considerable success, but that the botched Christmas Day attack shows "the system has failed" in a major way.

(CNN) "Actionable intelligence" received from AbdulMutallab" -- FBI investigators "gleaned usable, actionable intelligence" from AbdulMutallab in the hours after his arrest, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. Gibbs declined to elaborate on the nature of the intelligence

(LA TIMES) Yemeni groups pose new set of terrorism threats -- President Obama declares a new counter-terrorism partnership with the country, already battling poverty and a civil war. Gen. David H. Petraeus arrives there to announce new aid.

(MSNBC) Al Qaida double-agent killed CIA officers -- The suicide bombing on a CIA base in Afghanistan last week was carried out by a Jordanian doctor who was an al-Qaida double agent, Western intelligence officials told NBC News.

(ABC NEWS) Extremists online discussed blowing up planes weeks before Northwest Flight 253 attempt -- Extremist Internet forums discussed blowing up planes three weeks before the Detroit attempt -- and have also discussed ways of using deadly biological agents onboard planes.

(NEWSWEEK) -- EXCLUSIVE -- Obama Got Pre-Christmas Intelligence Briefing About Terror Threats to "Homeland" -- President Barack Obama received a high-level briefing only three days before Christmas about possible holiday-period terrorist threats against the US, Newsweek has learned.

(LA TIMES) White House pledges to fix intelligence gaps -- Inquiries show better communication might have flagged an alleged terrorist who boarded a U.S.-bound flight with explosives, officials say.

(BBC NEWS) Mousavi 'ready to die' for reform in Iran -- Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has said he is not afraid to die for the cause of reform.

(ABC NEWS) Does rehab for terrorists work? -- The leader of the al Qaeda group that claimed responsibility for trying to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day was released from the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorists on the condition that he be sent to a terrorist rehab center in Saudi Arabia.

(CBS NEWS/AP) Taliban: Turncoat killed CIA operatives -- The Pakistani Taliban claimed Friday that they used a turncoat CIA operative to carry out a suicide bombing that killed seven American CIA employees in Afghanistan as revenge for a top militant leader's death in a U.S. missile strike.

(CNN) Intel Officer: CIA officer's deaths will be avenged --  An American intelligence official vowed Thursday that the United States would avenge a suspected terrorist attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of seven CIA officers.

(Reuters) Yemen's al Qaeda affiliate seen among most active Group shifting from regional to global focus

(WSJ) U.S. probes links between bomb plot and Guantanamo Detainees Defense Department documents released earlier this year show that Said Ali al-Shihri and Muhammad al-Awfi, released from Guantanamo in 2007, are thought now to be leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemeni group that Monday claimed responsibility for the bombing attempt on Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

(CNN) Terror on Flight 253 The Christmas Day airline terror alert has brought focus on PETN, a substance till now largely unknown to the public. The white powder is said to be central to the alleged plot by Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab to bring down a passenger aircraft, carrying 300 passengers, as it prepared to land in Detroit. But just what is PETN?

(STARpod.org) -- WARNING NOTICE: Psychics warned of new explosive devices prior to Flight 253 attack

(CNN) -- Terror suspect out of hospital, held at undisclosed location  Investigators combed through Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's history Sunday in hopes of learning how the British-educated son of a Nigerian bank executive ended up carrying what authorities said was a bomb onto a Michigan-bound jetliner.

(ABC NEWS) -- Investigators: Northwest bomb plot planned by al Qaeda in Yemen Officials Say Bomb Materials Sewn Into Suspect's Underwear by Top Terror Bomb Maker

(VoA) -- White House warns Iran to meet nuclear deadline ... US officials say there are strong signs Tehran may let the end-of-year deadline slip by.

(NY Times) -- Intelligence Improperly Collected on U.S. Citizens ... In February, a Department of Homeland Security intelligence official wrote a “threat assessment” for the police in Wisconsin about a demonstration involving local pro- and anti-abortion rights groups.

(CNN) -- Iraqi insurgents hacked Predator done feeds, US official indicates ... Insurgents were able to use a mass-market software program to view live feeds from U.S. military Predator drones monitoring targets in Iraq, a U.S. official indicated to CNN Thursday.

(AFP) -- Iran slams US at climate talks, lays claim to nuclear energy ...  Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed the United States on Thursday as an oil-addicted warmonger and insisted every nation have access to "clean and renewable energy sources", including nuclear.

(CSM) -- US to stage simulated Iran missile attack after SAJJIL-2 test ... The Pentagon will simulate an Iranian missile attack in a missile defense test next month, news reports said a day after Iran test-fired a Saijjil-2 medium-range missile.

(WASHINGTON POST) -- WHO: 'Too early' to say if H1N1 pandemic is over ... With swine flu cases continuing to mount in many countries, it remains far too early to declare the H1N1 pandemic over, a World Health Organization official said Thursday.

(Telegraph.co.uk) -- Iran's new missile launch does not bode well for a peaceful 2010 ... The new Sajjil-2 missile system represents a serious upgrade of Iran’s missile capability.

(NYTIMES/REUTERS) -- Russian nuclear missile test fails, visible in Norway ... Russia admitted on Thursday another failed test of its much touted Bulava intercontinental missile, after unusual lights were spotted in Norway across the border from the launch site.

(FOX NEWS) Ahmadinejad rportedly claims U.S. is blocking return of mankind's savior Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims the United States is attempting to thwart the return of mankind's savior, according to reports from Al Arabiya, a television news station based in Dubai.

(ABC NEWS) Officials: U.S. Army Told of Hasan's Contacts with al Qaeda Army Major in Fort Hood massacre used 'electronics means' to connect with terrorists