Morning Security Brief: AQAP in Yemen, Somali Insurgents Attack Hotel, Cyberattack Against CENTCOM, Mexican Mass Grave, & More

♦ The United States may expand targeted strikes against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula after alleging the regional terrorist organization is collaborating with terrorists in Pakistan and Somalia. "Such a move would give the Central Intelligence Agency a far larger role in what has until now been mainly a secret U.S. military campaign against militant targets in Yemen and across the Horn of Africa. It would likely be modeled after the CIA's covert drone campaign in Pakistan," reports The Wall Street Journal. "The U.S. military's Special Operation Forces and the CIA have been positioning surveillance equipment, drones and personnel in Yemen, Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia to step up targeting of al Qaeda's Yemen affiliate, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, and Somalia's al Shabaab—Arabic for The Youth."

♦ Insurgents dressed like soldiers stormed into a hotel in Mogadishu and killed at least 30 people, including 6 politicians. "The insurgents methodically moved room to room, killing hotel guests who tried to bolt their doors shut, Somali officials said. When government forces finally cornered the insurgents, two blew themselves up with suicide vests," reports The New York Times. The brazen attack demonstrates Somali insurgents can move around the government-controlled capital city at will. "Operational momentum has shifted to the insurgents, who can go anywhere they want except where the African peacekeepers are deployed,” said J. Peter Pham, senior vice president at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.

♦ It's official: the U.S. military has been successfully cyberattacked by an adversary using a flashdrive. "In an article to be published Wednesday discussing the Pentagon's cyberstrategy, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III says malicious code placed on the drive by a foreign intelligence agency uploaded itself onto a network run by the U.S. Central Command," reports The Washington Post. Writing in the journal Foreign Affairs, Lynn says the "code spread undetected on both classified and unclassified systems, establishing what amounted to a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control. It was a network administrator's worst fear: a rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary." UPDATE: Wired.com's Danger Room, who originally reported the attacks, reports that troops who worked to contain the worm question whether foreign spies were behind the malware.

♦ Mexican marines have discovered a mass grave in a rural area of North Mexico after a shootout with cartel members at a ranch. "The cadavers of 58 men and 14 women were found at a spot near the Gulf coast south of the border city of Matamoros," reports The Associated Press. "It appears to be the largest drug-cartel body dumping ground found in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug trafficking in late 2006."

♦ A Pennsylvania university will guarantee that students who major in homeland security will get a job within six months. If not, Misericordia University will provide a three-month paid internship to that student, according to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania's The Times Leader.  “If the student completes the program and does not have a job in six months or is not accepted into graduate school, Misericordia will provide a paid internship in that student’s field of interest for three months,” said Paul Krzywicki, assistant director of marketing communications at the university. Misericordia's Government, Law and National Security program will be available for adult learners this fall semester and for all students come fall semester 2011.