Sometimes it seems the distinction between counter terrorism versus counter insurgency gets blurred.   After all, if the war on terror is global, what’s the difference if it’s being fought over here, or over there?  Indeed, the main issue distinguishing these efforts is where the enemy is operating.  In terrorism, they are working within your environment.  With insurgents, you are fighting them in theirs. 

Timelines for withdrawal aside, the Petraeus COIN doctrine spells out neatly the strategies to win a battle that go well beyond firepower to political, diplomatic, psychological, economic and social concerns.  A war of hearts, minds and pockets.  Alas, with few exceptions, most counter insurgencies fail.  Absent brutal broad strokes that decimate a population beyond the insurgents themselves (the U.S. versus native Americans, or vs. the Philippines at the turn of the 20^th c), insurgency is a real challenge to counter.  How many such campaigns can you count that have succeeded?

(more…)

Nadia and Paul Rockwood were arrested by the FBI and last week pleaded guilty to charges of domestic terrorism which involved plotting the assassination of more than a dozen targets. The targets were people whom Paul, a convert to Islam and a follower of Anwar al-Awlaki, had identified as having desecrated Islam. It was to be his violent contribution to the Jihadi war against America.

This is a disconcerting story.  One wonders gee, which of my neighbors or colleagues is other than what they seem?  Heaven forbid we start spying on our neighbors and in any event, as the Rockwood case illustrates, it would not have helped.  According to friends and neighbors, nothing in their demeanor or conversation would have given them away.

(more…)

Mosab Hassan Yousef is once again in the news.  We last heard of him at the launch of his book Son of Hamas , detailing his experiences as a Palestinian spy working for Israel’s Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).  Lately, he had been busy fighting a deportation attempt by the U.S. government on the basis that Mr. Yousef consorted with terrorists.  Since then he has been granted asylum.  Aside from the deportation attempt, the story of Mr. Yousef raises questions that have not been asked by the media covering the case.  What really caused him to flip? (more…)

Chameleon Associates provided the US Army 5/2 Stryker Brigade with Predictive Profiling and Field Intelligence Training as part of their Language Enabled Soldier Program. Parts of the training were conducted in Arabic.  The training provided soldiers with tools to identify suspicion indicators in high risk environments. Here is the case study for the LES program which includes Predictive Profiling training as presented by Col. Tunnell, Commander of the 5/2 Stryker Brigade:

http://www.chameleonassociates.com/Predictive_Profiling_LES_US_Army.pdf

Predictive Profiling becomes especially important to a soldier working in an environment that is not familiar to him. Predictive Profiling is much easier when one knows the norms in his surroundings, but when facing am unfamiliar culture, language and environment Profiling becomes a lot harder. This is exactly the situation a soldier facesbeing deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq. Predictive Profiling is as much a counter insurgency tool as it is counterterrorist or security methofology.

It was announced today that the TSA will be using new intelligence-based screening guidelines that should cause fewer problems for some foreign travelers who were previously put under extra scrutiny simply because of the countries from which they came.

Residents from 14 specific countries had been subject to more intensive screening procedures since the U.S. introduced new rules in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing attack. That meant that all travelers from Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen were singled out for extra attention — including full-body pat-downs by TSA personnel

(more…)

New media reports from the UK talk about new intelligence from the MI5 about Muslim doctors trained at some of Britain’s leading teaching hospitals have returned to their own countries to fit surgical implants filled with explosives. The reports also say that similar surgery has been performed on male suicide bombers. In their cases, the explosives are inserted in the appendix area or in a buttock. Both are parts of the body that diabetics use to inject themselves with their prescribed drugs.

(more…)

Maj. Nidal Hassan’s vicious and deliberate shooting of unarmed soldiers and civilians at Ft. Hood was a terrorist attack.  Hassan’s assault was religiously motivated and it targeted a population which he regarded as the enemy, therefore, his actions must be regarded as “terrorist”.  Unlike a criminal who targets an individual or a group of individuals, Hassan’s terrorist target was a group of people who represented a political doctrine to which he fiercely objected and resented.

Hassan’s role as an officer and psychiatrist in the U.S. Army about to be deployed could not coexist with his beliefs and his religious identity as a devout Muslim. The policies taken by the U.S. government and put into action by the U.S military abroad go against some of the most fundamental doctrines in Islam.  One such doctrine is that Muslims should never be ruled or conquered by an army that represents a faith other than Islam (like it or not, the U.S military is regarded by most Muslims around the world as a Christian army and not as we might see it; an army representing a democratic and free nation.) In fact, a conquest of Muslims by non-Muslims such as the one taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan justifies Jihad according to prevalent Muslim thought.

(more…)

Hezbollah is today the world’s most organized, well-equipped, well-trained and sophisticated terrorist organization. The seizure of the Antiguan-flagged Francop cargo ship by the Israeli military two weeks ago shows the degree of operational support and capability that this organization holds.  Hezbollah works and operates as an operational arm of Iran and its revolutionary guard and as such it receives complete support in intelligence, training and technology directly from the Iranian government.

As a Shea based terrorist organization; Hezbollah operates using a well structured organizational hierarchy and a centrally controlled political objective. In this regards Hezbollah operates differently than Sunni based terrorist organizations like Al-Qaida that is organized as a network of sub-organizations and individuals operating with a very wide scope political and religious goal. While Al-Qaida operates as terrorist movement or network, Hezbollah works as a terrorist organization.

(more…)

The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is warning BlackBerry users about a spyware program that allows attackers to turn a target’s handset into a microphone that can be accessed remotely. PhoneSnoop is a free, remote spying application designed for BlackBerry phones. The app works by intercepting phone calls from a predetermined ‘trigger’ number. When PhoneSnoop detects an incoming call from that number, it accepts the call and turns on the BlackBerry’s speaker phone, effectively allowing the caller to listen in on the target’s surroundings.

In this video you will find some examples of the spyware used to hack and listen into mobile phones

(more…)

A new report  by The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission notes that Chinese hackers are increasingly targeting U.S companies  and US government agencies. The report entitled “Capability of the People’s Republic of China to Conduct Cyber Warfare and Computer Network Exploitation,” states that: “Technical assessments of operational tradecraft observed in intrusions attributed to China are the result of extensive forensic analysis and discussions with information security professionals who follow these issues closely.”

The report details an attack that was believed to be China-based, where two groups of hackers worked on a sophisticated operation to steal data from an unspecified “large” U.S. company. One group worked to crack the security systems while another moved specific files and information external severs. The report note that: “The problem is characterized by disciplined, standardized operations, sophisticated techniques, access to high-end software development resources, a deep knowledge of the targeted networks, and an ability to sustain activities inside targeted networks, sometimes over a period of months,”

(more…)