re: "Obama Wants Double-Digit Cuts to Intel Budget: No Way, Says House Intel Chairman"

PETER SCHWEIZER at Big Peace highlighted the importance of our intelligence budgets.

Money quote(s):

"James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, reported earlier this month that the Obama deficit-reduction plan "calls for cuts in the double-digit range--with a B--over 10 years." Congressman Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, responded today during the 11th Annual C4ISR Journal Conference outside Washington. While arguing that congress must find efficiencies that will cut costs, "I will not allow a cut in mission capability," he told the audience. "We have to save money. We have to get efficient. But I'm not going to nick the bone." He went on: "I am not saying do more with less. I'm saying we...need to do business differently to remain competitive.""

You don't do more with less, you accomplish less with less. Working "smarter" can tighten things up at the margins, but it's not a cure-all.

10/27

re: "NBC: Israel and MEK Responsible for Murdering Iranian Scientists"

Kevin Jon Heller at Opinio Juris ("a forum for informed discussion and lively debate about international law and international relations") explored the legal and political ramifications.

Money quote(s):

"(P)recisely because it is a blockbuster that makes Israel and the MEK’s vast number of Democratic and Republican supporters in the U.S. look bad, (it) has been basically ignored in the “liberal” media"

A surprising number of very prominent politicians and former high government officials have come out in favor of "de-listing" the PMOI. It's something of a puzzlement to me.

"(I)n a rational world it should complicate efforts by the MEK’s U.S. friends to have the MEK de-listed as a terror organization"

So one would imagine.

As I've mentiond, I think, before, one of my major objections to de-listing the PMOI is that it's never come clean about the terrorism that it's known to have committed; in particular the assassinations of U.S. personnel in Iran.

"(B)ombings conducted by a civilian intelligence service such as the Mossad are not excluded from the Convention’s definition of terrorism. So yes, the Mossad’s actions in using MEK to kill the Iranian nuclear scientists qualify as terrorism."

Prof. Heller is referring to something called the "Terrorist Bombing Convention," of which CAA is completely (if momentarily) ignorant. To which the U.S. is a state party.

2/11

re: "Why the surprise?"

Richard at EU Referendum ("To discuss issues related to the UK's position in Europe and the world") keys on some areas of perennial interest to those in the intelligence professions.

Money quote(s):

"Diplomats and intelligence agencies, the strap to his piece reads, often tell ministers what they want to hear – and overvalue secret sources of information.

Secret intelligence services, naturally enough, writes Norton-Taylor, want to emphasise secret intelligence – a product which only they, in their special and privileged role, can offer. As a result, they have seriously underestimated what can be gleaned from "open sources". "

Yes and no.

There's such a thing as "intelligence fusion." That's where information from many types of sources and collection methods gets "fused" into an "all-source" product. Army folks may recall the acronym "ASAS," which is the All-Source Analysis System.

But I digress.

"All Source" intelligence includes open sources or "OSINT."

So if your analysts are on the ball, this gets included into your final product.

Ideally.

"Britain's diplomats and spooks, in common with all western intelligence agencies, also spectacularly failed to foresee the fall of the Berlin wall. Thus, he says, they must in future pay much more attention to "open sources", what they can hear on the Arab street, and what they can read, notably on the internet."

As the man says, this is something we can do better.

Lastly:

"Anyone who relies merely – or even mainly – on the MSM for their "take" on what is happening in this country, or for their general news of events, would end up very seriously ill-informed. Yet it remains the case that the political "set" in this country rely for their information on such conventional sources, and are still unduly influenced by the MSM.

However, we cannot leave it there, without also referring to what could be called mindset myopia. Our "élites" very often do not realise what is happening because they already think they know, and therefore do not avail themselves of credible information sources, because they believe they know better. They don't look for information because they don't see the need for it. And that is what really catches them out.

Either way, when our revolution eventually arrives – in whatever form it finally takes – our politicians and other agencies will also be caught by surprise. If they had the ability to see it coming, they would also have the ability to head it off.

Almost by definition, therefore, revolutions must always come as a surprise to those at whom they are aimed. The happen because those people are so out of touch that they are capable of being surprised."

Richard hits very close to a recurring dilemma for intelligence professionals: how do you get your policy-maker to value your product when they are already relying on other, outside sources, the ones they've learned to value throughout their political lives?

The case of a decision-level official who already assumes they know all there is to know is just too nightmarish to comtemplate. One needs to watch World War II movies to appreciate just what that does for a nation.

JO - Dudus, US Gov't, interception of information

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Dudus, US Gov't, interception of information

Ken Chaplin

Tuesday, March 09, 2010


THIS column begs to differ with the editorial, "No man is (worth) an island" in last Thursday's edition of the Observer regarding the constitutionality of the extradition of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, who is wanted in America for alleged drug and gun-trafficking charges.

Read the whole column here.

Snippet(s):

"It appears that information relating to Coke's alleged activities was forwarded to the US authorities after Coke's telephone was illegally tapped by operatives of a secret multinational intelligence agency, and this information was used to support the extradition request. Responding to the 2010 International Narcotics Control Report issued by the US Department of State Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Golding told Parliament last Wednesday that one aspect of the request which seemed to have worried the government was the violation of the Interception of Communications Act. The Act makes strict provisions for the manner in which intercepted communications may be obtained and disclosed. The evidence supporting the extradition request violated those provisions, said Golding. This violation is a serious offence."

"The minister has requested information from the US Government, after which the matter will be further considered."

&

"The US Department of State was not careful, as it ought to be, in the preparation of its report on the efforts of the security forces and the Jamaican authorities in the fight against international drug trafficking and organised crime. It should have been more specific and less generic in its evaluation regarding these matters. Certainly, there are a few areas where more progress could have been made, but there are a large number of areas in which the struggle has been remarkably successful, some with the assistance of the US Government."

JO - Coup d'état

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Coup d'état

PATRICK WILMOT

Saturday, March 28, 2009

The English have no equivalent for coup d'état, the violent seizure of state power by armed groups. The tradition of the coup was begun in Europe and became the favoured means of changing governments in Latin America for almost two centuries.

PATRICK WILMOT

But for most of the latter half of the 20th century the coup became associated with the instability and bad government of Africa. Coups were generally of two types. In the first Western intelligence agencies used covert methods to remove governments they disliked.

Read the whole article here.

_____

Patrick Wilmot, who is based in London, is a writer and commentator on African affairs for the BBC, Sky News, Al-Jazeera and CNN. He's a visiting professor at Ahmadu Bello and Jos universities in Nigeria.