• Shipments From Yemen Touch Off Global Alert (NY Times)
• President Calls It Credible Terrorist Threat (Washington Post)

By Allan Lengel

WASHINGTON — U.S. Marshals assisted federal agents in a raid earlier this week at  the  suburban Washington  home of a man who had retired from the National Archives, the website TBD reported.

The raid, which resulted in the seizure of materials, came in wake of a report that cited “significant weaknesses” in the agency’s security, TBD reported.

TBD reported that the Government Accountability Office conducted “the audits at the behest of Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) after news broke last year that several important historical documents, including the original patent for the Wright Brothers’ flying machine, had gone missing.”

Tuesday’s raid , lead by special agents from the National Archives and Records Administration’s Office of Inspector General, was at the Rockville, Md., home of  Leslie Waffen, who had worked at the Archives for more than 40 years, most recently as the head of the Motion Picture, Sound, and Video unit, TBD reported.

The Washington Post, citing an unnamed law enforcement official, reported that Waffen directed agents to his basement where they removed “10 to 20 boxes.”

Authorities declined to say what they were after.

By Allan Lengel

WASHINGTON — The latest FBI sting involving a Northern Virginia man who was allegedly plotting to blow up subway stations in Northern Virginia highlights the complex relationship the Muslim community has with the FBI.

Reporter William Wan of the Washington Post reports when news surfaced that the FBI on Wednesday had arrested Farooque Ahmed,34, a Pakistani American, “Muslim groups in the area struggled with what to say publicly.”

“As details of the arrest trickled out, many in the Muslim community avoided saying anything to outsiders, but instead quietly voiced concerns to one another about the tactics used,” the Post wrote.

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By Allan Lengel

WASHINGTON — The New Black Panther Party voter intimidation controversy continues to haunt the Justice Department and the Obama administration.

A draft report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights concludes that the Justice Department tried hiding the fact high-level political officials were involved in dropping most of the charges in the case in which members of the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia stood outside a polling place trying to intimidate white voters, according to the website Talking Points Memo. One man was carrying a nightstick.

The commission will vote on the report Friday.

“[T]he record of communications within the Department appears to indicate that senior political appointees played a significant role in the decision making surrounding the lawsuit,” the report says, according to Talking Points Memo. “The involvement of senior DOJ officials by itself would not be unusual, but the Department’s repeated attempts to obscure the nature of their involvement and other refusals to cooperate raise questions about what the Department is trying to hide.”

The Justice Department disputed the allegations.

“The department makes enforcement decisions based on the merits, not the race, gender or ethnicity of any party involved,” Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman said, according to the Talking Points Memo. “We are committed to comprehensive and vigorous enforcement of the federal laws that prohibit voter intimidation.”

To read more click here.

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At a press conference Friday , John Perren, acting head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, said he believes the person has a grievance against the Marine Corps, but not those serving in uniform.

WASHINGTON — Though it may not be nearly as perplexing as the D.C. sniper case of 2002, authorities are trying to figure out who has been shooting at buildings in Northern Virginia. All the shootings have happened overnight.

FBI's John Perren

On Thursday, the FBI confirmed that a shooting this week at a vacant Marine Corps recruiting office in Fairfax County is linked to shootings earlier this month at the Pentagon and the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the Washington Post reports. Unlike the sniper case, no one has been hurt.

The Post reported that ballistic tests of bullets found at the scene point to the same weapon.

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• Intelligence Spending at Record $80.1 Billion (Washington Post)
• 3 More Charged in NYC Anti-Gay Attacks (AP)
• Terror Suspect Described as Quiet Suburban Father (AP)
• Feds Don’t Want 41 Venomous Snakes from Porn Case (AP)