EGN NEWS DESK
The director of the National Counterterrorism Center will step down subsequent month, Biden administration officers stated on Wednesday.
The director, Christine S. Abizaid, has served three years because the nation’s high counterterrorism official. In latest years, a resurgent China and Russia, in addition to the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza, have changed counterterrorism because the nation’s important nationwide safety priorities.
But talking to a safety convention in Doha, Qatar, final month, Ms. Abizaid warned that the Hamas assaults in opposition to Israel on Oct. 7, and the following Gaza battle, had energized an more and more various set of worldwide terrorist threats.
The Islamic State now not controls huge swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria, however its fighters and teams aligned with Al Qaeda are on the march in Africa. The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan, ISIS Khorasan, dramatically demonstrated its increasing attain earlier this 12 months, conducting lethal assaults in Iran and Russia. In addition to supporting Hamas in Gaza, Iran backs extremist teams in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
“We are in an elevated international menace setting,” Ms. Abizaid stated on the convention.
Ms. Abizaid, 45, had beforehand served as a senior counterterrorism official on the White House and as a senior Pentagon official for Southwest Asia coverage earlier than taking on the counterterrorism heart in June 2021.
The counterterrorism heart, created within the wake of the assaults on Sept. 11, 2001, integrates, analyzes and shares counterterrorism data to deal with threats.
“Christy Abizaid is a rare chief who is just not solely extremely efficient however principled, brave and sort,” Avril D. Haines, the director of nationwide intelligence, stated in an announcement.
Ms. Abizaid began her authorities profession as a counterterrorism intelligence analyst on the Defense Intelligence Agency, specializing in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in addition to the Middle East, and together with a tour because the company’s senior consultant in Iraq. She is the daughter of John P. Abizaid, a retired Army common who previously led the Pentagon’s Central Command, overseeing army operations within the Middle East and components of Asia.
“Christy has performed an indispensable position in driving the counterterrorism enterprise for the U.S. authorities at the same time as different high-priority nationwide safety challenges draw assets and a focus,” stated Nicholas J. Rasmussen, a former director of the counterterrorism heart who’s now on the Homeland Security Department.
Brett M. Holmgren, the assistant secretary of state for intelligence and analysis, will function the performing director of the counterterrorism heart when Ms. Abizaid departs in mid-July, administration officers stated.
