Very Little Actually Known About How Plot Happened

Policy-makers the world over are eagerly drawing conclusions about what happened last week in Paris, when a pair of gunmen attacks satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and another attacked a kosher grocery store. Everyone seems confident that whoever the most convenient attacker was did it.

Intelligence agencies, however, are scrambling to find actual evidence,since there is a remarkable lack of actual intelligence on who coordinated the attacks, and why.

The al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) connection is highly speculative, and primarily based on AQAP claiming credit. The Anwar Awlaki link is even more dubious, centered on US claims of the long-dead cleric being affiliated with AQAP.

One Week After Paris Attacks, a Scramble for Intelligence