re: "Spy problems"

Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive ("the paratrooper of love") critiqued how America collects intelligence.

Money quote(s):

"One of the biggest flaws in our national security is the lack of any serious human intelligence capabilities. I do not mean to demean those who do practice this most dangerous craft, but to point out our lack of focus on this area."

We do have folks whose (dangerous) business this is; CAA has had the privilege of working with some of them in the past.

"I am saddened by the amateur nature of it. We decided back in the days of Jimmy Carter that spying was too nasty a game for a civilized nation to play and consequently we have blundered about like Mr. Magoo since then. We rely on signal intercepts to learn what is going on, and while this is valuable, absent the context and reality check of human intelligence it is guess work. Sadly all too often our guesses have turned out to be wrong."

Within the IC, the "science is settled" on this; the post-Vietnam focus on technical intelligence and severe cuts our human intelligence capabilities were a mistake.

Post-9/11, much time, effort, and money has gone to re-building our human collection capabilities but this isn't something that can simply be achieved, it's a moving target.

"If we want to avoid big wars, then we need a true intelligence gathering capability. That means spies, real spies, spying on people. We can scarf up all the data we want, but the value of an insider telling us what is really going on trumps all that. So let's thaw out some of the Cold War tactics that kept us safe. It may not be Boris & Natasha (or it might) but we need to keep an eye on all kinds of folks."

11/21

re: "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi"

COMJAM at The Lexicans ("A home for us all.") marked the end of an era and the loss of a national asset.

Money quote(s):

"It’s oft said in Our World that you can tell a person’s journey through their time in the service by the little bits of colored ribbons on their chest. While that’s often the case, when it came to the folks who flew in VQ-2 (and VQ-1 as well) that really wasn’t very true. For as was written by SJS, they were in the shadows. Deliberately and with intent. You don’t advertise where you went or what you did. For many years, not even their aircraft were marked with much more than maybe the star-and-bar, a small Modex and a US flag. When they stepped off their land-based aircraft, when far afield, they wore a coat and tie, and you never departed with more than a military ID card, cash and dog tags." (Bold typeface added for emphasis. - CAA.)

Like the t-shirt says: "It's a small world, but a Black one."

(Those who know, will know.)

"(W)hat they did mattered. It mattered to the Flags. It mattered to the Task Force Commanders, the Fleet Commanders, the Regional Commanders. It mattered to Langley and to Ft. Meade. It mattered in the EOB and at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It mattered to the few folks in the Air Wing who maybe, once upon a time, had Been There and Done That, then slipped away, usually to ride the Cadillac and spout offense ‘trons at those who grieve them and their fellows and it mattered to the few who’d been “read in.” They were a rag-tag bunch of loveable hooligans and cast-offs oft as not, and that led to some memorable pairings, when CAG would insist that someone, some has to, you see, “take care of the VQ Det, please.”

Sometimes it was, remarkably, the fighter squadrons who took them under their protective embrace, ensuring that they became as much a part of the Ready Room as their own." (Bold typeface added for emphasis. - CAA.)

Smart commanders want the collectors to feel they're part of the team, because they are.

"The Bean Counters won, in the era of The Great Unilateral Disarmament. The Cold War was won, and we were experiencing the End of History. We had other things to do, and after all, there were land-based planes to Do The Work, and they didn’t shoot things nor dropped stuff, so what good were they really? The “program” had cost lives; many, many lives lost over the decades. Planes that went out and simply did not come back; maybe some wreckage, maybe an angry accusation from someone, somewhere; maybe some rumors from the depths of the Gulag. It was all very, very messy. But the beans must be counted and the budgets paid mind to. The turf battles for what money there is continue. Since they now flew only one kind of aircraft, the two subject-matter expert squadrons were brought “home,” leaving behind decades in-theatre, where they built up a breadth and depth of unsurpassed corporate knowledge. Because it mattered.

Now, because counting beans trumps tactical knowledge and in-house expertise. Because PowerPoint Promises and “maybe-might-ought-to-work” robotic dreams far surpass the hard facts of actual reality and because all the decades in the shadows meant recognition and visibility that leads to advocacy within Big Navy were not to be, the VQ “we” will become, as of Thursday, May 17th, 2012, a singularity. http://www.vq2.navy.mil/ And the defense of the nation will be diminished by yet another brick in the wall." (Bold typeface added for emphasis. - CAA.)

&

"And still, other than a knowing glance, a quiet word and the odd bit of ribbon with a bland description noting the entire squadron’s work at a place or at some time, they say nothing. For that is the way of the Shadows."

5/16

re: "Six Days in June"

Dave in Texas at Ace of Spades HQ remembers a long-ago fight.

Money quote(s):


"(W)hen Israel fought for its survival in the 6-Day War, they faced Arab armies in M-48 Patton tanks. When they say "never again", they really mean it.

In June of 1967, almost a quarter-million Israeli troops, of which only 50,000 were regulars, the rest reservists faced off against a half-million Arab soldiers from Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. Israel prepared by collecting vital intelligence regarding enemy positions, and battle plans, and by launching a devasting air attack against the air forces of the combatants, which resulted in Israel owning the airspace over the battlefield, a force multiplier for their smaller forces against the Arabs."

Israel, lacking oceans by which it could be separated from its enemies, depends upon a much faster mobilization process than we ever have (at least not since the Minute Men).

"Does Israel have the right to exist?

Regardless of our answers, they think they do."

That kind of settles the question. They are a nation in being, which suffices to constitute any sort of "right" salient to the subject.

"Israel knew they ultimately stood alone against their enemies. And it was up to them to fight back and win, or be annihilated. And by "annihilated", I mean completely Holocausted off the face of the planet.

Surrounded by their enemies, they taught their enemies "don't fuck with us"

I admire this sentiment."

Once upon a time we had a similar sentiment on one of our flags.

JO - US agents stream into Jamaica, Move seen as effort to push 'Dudus' extradition.

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

US agents stream into Jamaica


Move seen as effort to push 'Dudus' extradition


Sunday, April 11, 2010


AGENTS from two American intelligence-gathering organisations have descended on Jamaica in unusual numbers over the last six months in what political watchers believe is a move by the United States to add more muscle to its request for Jamaica to extradite Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"A highly placed source told the Sunday Observer that some of the agents have been given strict instructions to pay close attention to three Government ministers, several members of the security forces, and two major downtown business operators."

"Yesterday, one source with knowledge of the country's security operations said that a significant number of foreigners, believed to be US agents, arrived in the island last Wednesday at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston."

"According to our sources, this is the latest tactic being used by the USA to have Jamaica extradite Coke, who a New York grand jury indicted last year on drug- and arms-trafficking charges."

"During the 1970s when the People's National Party administration, headed by Michael Manley, declared itself a democratic socialist government and damaged Jamaica's relations with America, CIA agents were active in Jamaica, fuelling many political fires. Some, operating as journalists, deliberately fed erroneous information to overseas media."

&

"When contacted, a spokeswoman in the DEA Office of Public Affairs in Washington said no one was available to provide information on the number of agents operating in Jamaica."

re: "Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants"

Herschel Smith at The Captain's Journal ("dedicated to the dissemination of conservative views, based on a solidly and consistently conservative world view, on matters political and military") cuts to the heart of this: money.

Money quote(s):

"So the story line is that Jordan and his cohorts were hired to build and maintain a web site similar to Iraq Slogger, except for Afghanistan. I don’t believe that charging for content on Iraq Slogger worked out very well, and they apparently worked a deal with the DoD to fund this new web site with tax dollars. Some of “their” money got diverted to use in actually developing real intelligence and killing the enemy, and they went to The New York Times, complaining and moaning about lost revenue.

Since I have gone on record demanding a covert campaign to foment an insurgency inside of Iran (as well as advocated targeted assassinations of certain figures such as Moqtada al Sadr and others), it should come as no surprise that I have no problem with dollars being spent wherever they are best utilized. It’s amusing that a government official said “no legitimate intelligence operations got screwed up.” No, to the contrary, these dollars redounded to success. There is a lesson in this."

&

"(T)here is the moralistic element to this account. It’s an outrage: his information was “being used to kill people,” intoned the flabbergasted Pelton. This is the same preening, holier than thou, sanctimonious crap that we heard from the anthropologists who weighed in against the use of human terrain teams – as if war isn’t a legitimate application for anthropology. Every enlisted man and officer in war practices anthropology every day."

JG - Fighting crime - 'Intelligence' gathering is key

Jamaica Gleaner

Fighting crime - 'Intelligence' gathering is key


Published: Sunday February 8, 2009

File

In this April 2000 file photo, police escort a man to the August Town Police Station after they could not ascertain his address during a flare-up in the community. The police routinely detain citizens without justification for long periods.


Nagra Plunkett, Assignment Coordinator


Western Bureau:


HOW DO the police identify suspects? How do they know who to investigate? How do they know who to put under surveillance or who to arrest? These are questions many persons pose as they point to the country's unacceptably low number of arrests and convictions for crimes.


Read the whole article here.


Snippet(s):


"Veteran detectives note that to solve crimes, investigators may receive tips, infiltrate gangs, gather forensic evidence at crime scene and monitor emails or bank accounts."

&

"(I)ntelligence-gathering is information that has been checked and verified and may be used for supporting evidence."