The FBI has received substantial criticism over the past decade -- much of it valid -- but nobody can deny its record of excellence in thwarting its own Terrorist plots.

Confessions from Swami Aseemanand, an activist associated with the Sangh Parivar in India, about the involvement of mainstream Hindutva elements in terror activities were published recently in the Tehelka magazine. Sukumar Muralidharan, veteran journalist comments on these and the phenomena of "Hindutva Terror" and more. 

After Umar Abdulmutallab’s, the “underwear” bomber’s attack on the Amsterdam-Detroit flight, the US response has been to start installing full body scanners at airports and also officially identify 13 countries whose citizens would be now subjected to special security measures at airports. The Indian authorities, and presumably many other countries, would also now introduce full body scanners, held till now to be privacy invading. Apart from airport security measures, the US is also stepping up drone attacks and other “counter terrorism” operations – in other words targeted assassinations. With this, the Obama administration is proving to be not so different in practice from the earlier Bush administration, even though the rhetoric remains much more sophisticated. At least Obama can pronounce the name of the countries he bombs!