Nardelli, the Cerberus executive who oversaw Chrysler, is helping to lead the company "It's a sensible strategy to roll up things," says Gautam Khanna, an aerospace and military industry analyst at Cowen & Company. The issue is whether the Freedom Group, and Cerberus, can persuade more Americans to buy more guns. "That," Mr. Khanna says, " is an open question." Defendant in Michigan militia case changes plea to guilty Joshua John Clough, 29 years old, pleaded guilty in federal court in Detroit to the use of a firearm in connection with a violent crime, federal prosecutors in Detroit said. He faces a five-year prison sentence, the maximum under the law, according to his plea agreement. It was unclear whether Mr. Clough planned to help the government in its case against his co-defendants. The trial for the eight remaining defendants, who have pleaded not guilty, is scheduled to begin Feb. 7. Randall Roberts, Mr. Clough's attorney, said his client pleaded guilty in part because he didn’t want to risk a sentence of life in prison if a jury convicted him on all terrorism-related charges. "It was too risky of a chance," Mr. Roberts said. As part of his new plea, Mr. Clough acknowledged that he was a member of the Hutaree, an antigovernment group that has advocated and prepared for violence against law-enforcement officials. He said Hutaree's goals included plotting to use bombs against law officers, prosecutors said. In the spring of last year, prosecutors accused nine members of the Hutaree of plotting to kill a police officer and starting an armed conflict with law officers from their base in southeastern Michigan. Defense lawyers in the case have argued in court papers that the members had legal possession of the weapons involved and that their conduct amounted to radical but lawful speech.

Drugs and terror mix in case DEA Informant Plays Star Role as Agency Expands National-Security Portfolio The informant at the center of an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador marks the latest example of how the U.S. government's war on drugs has expanded into the war on terrorism. U.S. authorities say the informant was providing information to the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Houston. They say he began cooperating after facing drug charges in the U.S. The DEA has participated in many narcoterrorist inquiries in recent years. For example, an agent escorted the Afghan Taza Gul Alizai, left, at a New York-area airport in July, after his arrest on charges of selling heroin and rifles with the intention of using the proceeds to fund the Taliban. This past spring, the informant told agents that an Iranian-American man named Manssor Arbabsiar had asked him to help put together terror attacks in the U.S. and elsewhere, according to law-enforcement officials. 101311reutersobamairan_ 512x288.jpg "At a joint news conference with the visiting South Korean president, President Barack Obama vowed to seek the "toughest sanctions" against Iran over an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, and said the U.S. would not take any options off the table. Reuters reporting. Photo: Getty Images. The U.S. alleges Mr. Arbabsiar, working on directions from Tehran, sought out a Mexican drug-cartel member to carry out terror attacks for money. The Iranian side was ready to pay $1.5 million to kill the ambassador, the U.S. says. Iran has called the allegations baseless. The terror investigation is now being handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but it is one of several recent cases where the DEA, using its underworld connections, has reached far beyond U.S. borders to investigate, arrest and bring to the U.S. those suspected of terror conspiracies. Asa Hutchinson, former DEA head, said there was "a significant amount of overlap " between drug organizations and terror networks in parts of the globe, notably Afghanistan. He said the current case was unusual, because the alleged plot involved an attack inside the U.S. The U.S. often cultivates drug suspects as informants

 

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