By JOSEPH STRAW

A D.C. security thinktank has followed up Osama Bin Laden’s killing with a downer of a report on the U.S.-led fight against terror 10 years after 9/11.

The civilized world isn’t losing in its struggle against Al Qaeda and its allies, but it isn’t winning, either, according to the annual “Are We Winning?” report from the American Security Project.

“Regardless of the news headlines, the reality is that there is only one word to describe the ‘war on terror’ based on empirical data: stalemate,” wrote author Bernard I. Finel.

“Indeed, more than ever it is becoming clear that the best the United States can achieve is to reduce the threat of terrorism to a persistent nuisance that we accept as a fact of life,” the report states.

It cites pluses: evisceration of Core Al Qaeda leadership by Navy SEALs and CIA Predator drones alike, and improved international cooperation in counterterrorism.

Minuses include a continued increase in Islamist  terrorist incidents -- which ASP counted outside the war zones of Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and the Palestinian territories -- tracking consistently upward from 182 in 2004 to 849 last year.

ASP also cited an uptick in both anti-Islamic sentiment in the U.S. and growth in self-radicalization stateside, evidenced by cases like that of Times Square bomber Faisal Shahazad.

Two-thirds of New York veterans are not receiving the military health benefits they are entitled to, said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) as she introduced legislation today to streamline the process.
Gillibrand’s bill would automatically enroll every veteran in the free health care they are entitled to once they leave the service, and issue them a VA identification card to cut down on red tape.
All service members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are already eligible for up to five years of free VA health care - regardless of whether they were injured - but many never claim this benefit, or only claim it after they get sick, she said.
“They deserve much better,” Gillibrand said.
- Of the 215,641 veterans in New York City, 166,675 are not receiving VA health care benefits.
- Of the 152,985 veterans on Long Island, 120,622 are not receiving VA health care benefits.
The legislation also seeks to put the burden on the VA to inform vets what their benefits are and to make all application processes simpler.
Gillibrand said the legislation also seeks to make sure every veteran’s medical information would be transferred to the VA.
“Less than 50 percent of the veterans are enrolled in the VA. That’s just a travesty,” said Iraq veteran Matt Gallagher, 28.
He said the VA needed to improve its outreach, especially to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We don’t know the bureaucratic games. The Vietnam veterans have been doing this for 30-40 years and they still get fed up and confused. The VA has an impossible job, but I think even the people at the VA acknowledge they have to do a better job getting the information out,” said Gallagher, a former Army captain who left the service in 2009.

Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester) today tried to protect the nation's top terror target - New York City - in the fight for homeland security money.

Lowey tried to re-work a security appropriation that could otherwise cost New York City more than $100 million in counter-terrorism funds for the fiscal year that starts in October. The loss increases when port and transit security cuts are included.

Lowey's amendment would have funded the security program at $725 million, the same level as 2011, and would have pulled the high-targets program, the Urban Areas Security Initiative, out from a catch-all FEMA block grant program.

"It is unacceptable to short-change security imperatives under the guise of deficit reduction," Lowey said.

The amendment failed by a vote of 19-27, and broke along party lines.

The GOP-dominated House Appropriation Committee then voted 27-20 for the full slate of cuts. The measure now goes to the full House for a vote.

"This legislation also seeks to address our nation's unparalleled fiscal crisis by paring down government spending to smart and sustainable levels, making tough but necessary cuts so that we can get our economy moving, create jobs and provide future financial security," said House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, (R-KY.).

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has pledged to fight any similar cuts getting through the Democratically-controlled Senate.

"The day we let our guard down is the day we let terrorists gain a leg up on us. Homeland security funding is as important to urban areas as disaster relief is to rural areas. We will do everything we can in the Senate to avoid these dangerous cuts," Schumer said.

Shut up about the Osama Bin Laden raid or risk endangering the families of SEAL Team 6, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday in a stern message to the nation’s military and intelligence communities.
Gates said he was gravely concerned that “there were too many people in too many places talking about this operation.”
Gates told a Pentagon briefing that the SEAL Team 6 members were worried that their indentities could be learned from the leaks.
The SEALSs “did express concern, not so much for themselves but for their families,” Gates said.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman, backed up Gates in criticizing the leaks on details of the operation.
“From my perspective, it is time to stop talking,” Mullen said. “We have talked far too much about this.”