The US filed murder charges against Ahmed Abu Khattala, who is linked to Ansar al Sharia, for his role in the murder of US personnel in the 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi; sealed charges have also been filed against about a dozen others. US officials said the recent flurry of drone strikes in Yemen were an attempt to disrupt an al Qaeda plot, but they are not sure if the strikes have disrupted it. The State Dept. evacuated some diplomatic staff from Yemen and urged US citizens to leave the country. Mike Morrell, the outgoing second in command at the CIA, called Syria the primary security concern for the US, and said more fighters are entering Syria each month to join al Qaeda-linked groups than were entering Iraq at the height of the war with al Qaeda in Iraq.
