WHAT WE FACE – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:   ISIS is trying to develop chemical weapons.  From The New York Times: 

WASHINGTON — An Islamic State detainee currently in American custody at a temporary detention facility in Erbil, Iraq, is a specialist in chemical weapons whom American military officials are questioning about the militant Sunni group’s plans to use the banned substances in Iraq and Syria, Defense officials said.

Defense officials said the detainee, described by the military as a “significant” Islamic State operative who was captured a month ago by commandos in an elite American Special Operations force, has, under interrogation, provided his captors with details about how the group had weaponized mustard gas into powdered form and loaded it into artillery shells.

One Defense official said that it was not concentrated enough to kill anyone, but that it could maim people.

As is protocol, Defense Department officials notified the International Committee of the Red Cross, which monitors the treatment of detainees, that they were holding an Islamic State fighter. The Red Cross acknowledged in a statement on Tuesday that it had visited the detainee but gave no other information.

COMMENT:  Eventually, terrorist groups will get weapons of mass destruction.  If they can't develop them, they might be able to buy them on the black market.  And the number of terror groups seems to be expanding, not contracting.  Reports like this are chilling, but, sadly, soon forgotten by the public.  It will take a serious jolt to wake us up again.

March 9, 2016