2012 Top 10 Security Stories

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Top 10 security stories for the year...

Taken down: The top terrorist threats killed or indicted in 2012
December 31st, 2012 - One of the most wanted terrorists in Yemen. A son of the Haqqani Network founder. A man whose capture was worth $5 million to the FBI: The United States and its allies took out some of these key terror leaders throughout 2012.

Take a look at those top leaders and more who were killed or indicted in the past year:

1. Abu Yahya al-Libi
Al-Libi was second in command of al Qaeda under Ayman al-Zawahiri and a senior leader of the terror group’s external operations against the West. Al-Libi was also an Islamic scholar who appeared in many recruitment videos. The U.S. State Department offered a $1 million reward for his capture. He was killed on June 4 in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan.

2. Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso
A senior al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operative, al-Quso was wanted for his role in the USS Cole bombing in 2000, which killed 17 U.S. sailors. The U.S. State Department had offered a $5 million reward for his capture. Al-Quso was killed on May 6 in a U.S. drone strike in Shabwa province, Yemen.

3. Badr Mansoor
Described as the most senior Pakistani in al Qaeda, Mansoor was the predecessor of Ilyas Kashmiri and one of the Americans' main targets. U.S. officials said he was a coordinator for the Taliban and al Qaeda’s shura council. Reports say Mansoor was killed on February 9 in a U.S. missile strike in Miranshah, Pakistan.

4. Badruddin Haqqani
Haqqani was a commander in the Taliban-aligned Haqqani Network and son of the group's founder. He was responsible for many high profile attacks in Afghanistan including assaults on the U.S. Embassy and Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul in 2011. The U.S. State Department had designated him a terrorist under an executive order. Haqqani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan, Pakistan, in August 2012.

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Top 10 Security Clearance stories of 2012
December 26th, 2012 - 2012 has been a busy year at Security Clearance. From the U.S. diplomatic facility attack in Benghazi, Libya to the Petraeus sex scandal to the future of Afghanistan and the Pentagon preparing(or not) to fall off the fiscal cliff.

But there have been numerous other stories that have caught your eye this year. Top 10 Security Clearance stories you, the readers, made the most popular in 2012:

10. Navy detects Russian sub off U.S. East Coast
The U.S. Navy detected and tracked a Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine less than 300 miles from the southern U.S. East Coast last November, U.S. Defense officials said. While the submarine did not enter U.S. territorial waters or follow any U.S. Navy ships, its arrival came while a Navy carrier strike group was training off Florida, according to the defense officials.

9. Imagine flying from New York to London in under an hour
Perhaps Han Solo said it best in Star Wars when, describing his hyper-fast smuggling spaceship the Millennium Falcon, he said, "It may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts." While the Air Force might take exception to being likened to the Falcon, in reality the platypus-nosed X-51A Waverider hypersonic flight test vehicle really doesn't look like much. But it definitely has it where it counts. The unmanned 25-foot-long vehicle was dropped off of the wing of a converted B-52 bomber off the California coast and tried to fly for 300 seconds at science fiction-like speeds of Mach 6, over 4,500 mph – fast enough to fly from New York to London in less than an hour. It is the Pentagon's latest test as it studies the possibilities of hypersonic flight, defined as moving at speeds of Mach 5 (about 3,400 mph) and above without leaving the atmosphere. The technology could eventually bring missiles or airplanes to the other side of the planet in minutes instead of hours.

8. Army to Congress: Thanks, but no tanks
If you need an example of why it is hard to cut the budget in Washington look no further than this Army depot in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada range. CNN was allowed rare access to what amounts to a parking lot for more than 2,000 M-1 Abrams tanks. About an hour's drive north of Reno, Nevada, the tanks have been collecting dust in the hot California desert because of a tiff between the Army and Congress. The U.S. has more than enough combat tanks in the field to meet the nation's defense needs – so there's no sense in making repairs to these now, the Army's chief of staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno told Congress earlier this year. If the Pentagon holds off repairing, refurbishing or making new tanks for three years until new technologies are developed, the Army says it can save taxpayers as much as $3 billion.

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