A foiled German terrorist plot against airports, military bases and off duty hangouts of American soldiers was motivated by Islamist zeal and hatred of American foreign policy, the group's leader has revealed. Their intent was to kill as many Americans as possible to punish us for an alleged "war against Islam."

The most ignored but arguably the most important factor militating against American success in Afghanistan is the dynamic of outside intervention in internal wars. The experience of foreign countries intervening in other people’s civil conflicts is, to put it mildly, dismal.

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan is the latest senior official calling for additional resources for the effort there.  Meanwhile, the debate over whether NATO should continue its mission at all has taken off.

Arnaud de Borchgrave, member of the Atlantic Council and senior fellow at CSIS, published the op-ed " Pakistan nuke thefts foiled" in UPI's Emerging Threats section. While not denying reports that Pakistan's secret nuclear facilities have in the past been attacked by extremists, former President Pervez Musharraf and his successor Asif Ali Zardari have said repeatedly that the country's nuclear weapons are fully secured.

Atlantic Council senior advisor Harlan Ullman published "National security in the 21st century" in the Outside View column, part of UPI's Emerging Threats analysis section.  Ullman writes about the new security challenges facing National Security Advisor James Jones and how much the world has changed since predecessors Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Is Pakistan's nuclear arsenal theft-proof? Former President Pervez Musharraf and his successor Asif Ali Zardari and their army and intelligence chiefs repeatedly have assured both the Bush and Obama administrations that their 80-odd nuclear weapons are as secure as the U.S. arsenal of some 7,000 city busters.

Last Sunday Barack Obama's national security adviser, retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, made the television morning talk show rounds. Perhaps the most provocative question fired at him was why he was playing a far less visible – and critics would add even an invisible – role than his more famous predecessors such as Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski.

My colleague Evelyn Farkas challenged me to provide a follow-on to my somewhat critical review of John Brennan’s speech outlining the Obama Administration’s counter-terrorism policy. 

In a policy address at the Council on Foreign Relations last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said of Iran, “We cannot be afraid or unwilling to engage.” But the Iranian government has yet to accept President Obama’s outstretched hand. Even if Tehran suddenly acceded to talks, U.S. policy makers must prepare for the eventuality that diplomacy fails.

New NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has wasted no time in signaling that the war in Afghanistan is the Alliance's top priority, holding a teleconference on the conflict, reorganizing the mission's command structure and calling for more EU help in his first days on the job.