Tuesday, October 23, 2012

PAKISTAN'S ISI EXPORTS TERRORISM

 
Osint News ran across one of the most detailed and in-depth reports about Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI. It was found in a report from the Institute for Conflict Management. The report was entitled, “ISI: Twisted Shadows” and written by Sanchita Bhattacharya, a Research Associate. It begins by describing how, on September 17, 2012, India's Tamil Nadu State intelligence sleuths arrested an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agent, identified as Thamim Ansari, from Tiruchi in the Tiruchirappalli District. This ISI agent was heading for the airport to board a flight to Colombo (Sri Lanka). They found 25 CDs and photographs of Naval and Coast Guard Stations, along with Army installations throughout the State on his person. During interrogation, Ansari admitted that a Pakistan High Commission diplomat in Sri Lanka, Amir Zubair Siddiqui, had assigned him to secure these pictures.

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The Pakistani diplomat, through several contacts, had employed Ansari to supply sensitive information on defense installations in India. Preliminary investigations indicate that a Pakistani espionage desk was operating from Colombo and was concentrating on South India. ISI agents were actively attempting to recruit Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who had come to India during the course of the Eelam War, and have now returned to the island nation after the end of the conflict in May 2009. This war refers to the armed conflict between the Sri Lankan military and the separatist Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is identified as a terrorist organization by 32 countries and labeled at the Tamil Tigers.

Ansari's arrest and subsequent disclosures are only the most recent evidence of a sustained effort by the ISI to encircle India with a network of subversive cells spread throughout civilian neighborhoods to engage in espionage, to recruit and support extremist and terrorist elements, and to engage in activities intended to destabilize India from within. According to the partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), 133 ISI-related cells have been discovered and neutralized in India since 2004. 37 such cells were thwarted in New Delhi, followed by 18 in Punjab, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, 10 each in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, 9 in Maharashtra, 8 in Gujarat, 6 in Karnataka, 5 in Rajasthan, 4 in Madhya Pradesh, 3 in Uttaranchal, 2 each in Tripura and Haryana, 1 each in Goa, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Assam.

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OSINT News found that Pakistan’s ISI is encircling India by sending and recruiting agents in neighboring countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. And, we found that they are effectively setting up vast networks of ISI cells throughout India. According to The Hindu, there is credible Intelligence that indicates Pakistan is helping these infiltrators. Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on October 21 said that there is credible intelligence of Pakistan trying to stir up trouble in India by helping terrorists to infiltrate into the country. "We have credible information that Pakistan is helping terrorists to enter our territory. We have intelligence inputs. But we are alert." And, we read througu IBN Live to learn that Pakistan’s ISI and the SIMI are helping Maoists. In the newspaper, the West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP) Naparajit Mukherjee warned that the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) have links with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). He added that he had information that several pro-Maoist over-ground outfits have joined hands with some elements of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which have close links with ISI.

Here are some additional findings from India’s newspapers about the ISI’s activities in INDIA:
    July 25, 2012: the Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam (MULTA) and Pakistan's ISI triggered ethnic-communal clashes in the Bodo Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD) area.
August 12, 2012: an unnamed intelligence officer commented, "(ISI) have used the social networking sites and mobile phones to create panic in the community and, unfortunately, it has worked for them".

March 2012: former ISI Chief Asad Durrani admitted before the Pakistan Supreme Court during proceedings relating to the Agency's mandate, that the ISI had provided logistical support and funding to insurgent groupings in India's Northeast in a campaign intended to destabilize India.  


A brief history of the ISI:
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The ISI Directorate, formed in 1948 following the Indo-Pakistan war of 1947, has dramatically augmented its capacities, both within Pakistan, and across expanding theatres abroad. Backed by USA's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) through the anti-Soviet Campaigns in Afghanistan after 1979, the ISI came to control huge, unaccounted for finances and has executed a range of sustained covert operations, including the creation and support of a multiplicity of terrorist groupings across the South Asian neighborhood. Hein Kiessling, who represented the Munich (Germany)-based Hanns-Seidel-Foundation in Pakistan from 1989 to 2002, in a book titled "Revisiting Contemporary South Asia" notes:
The (real) ISI budget is top secret, only a few people know the figure. In fact officially the ISI budget today is between $300 and 400 million... The personnel strength of ISI has also been a secret. During Zia-ul Haq's tenure it was estimated to be 20,000 men. In the 1990s and in the new millennium there were drastic reductions in personnel. Therefore, it is now assumed that ISI's base strength is approximately 4,000. About five percent of the ISI personnel are from the military on a contract basis. Approximately 45 percent are from the military. ISI has 50 percent of civilian staff members... It (ISI) is controlled and efficiently run - there is no ISI within the ISI. Although officially the Internal Cell was declared closed, it still exists. The ISI is the eyes and ears of the military. The military forces see themselves as guardians of Pakistan's survival. Therefore, it is very unlikely that the Internal Cell was close to success.


The ISI, headquartered in the Pakistani capital city of Islamabad and currently headed by its Director General, Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam (who assumed office on March 9, 2012), has acquired increasing notoriety even within Pakistan. Amidst growing concerns of political machinations, human rights violations, 'disappearances', and widespread intimidation, a Bill was introduced in July, 2012, by Farhatullah Babar, spokesman of President Asif Ali Zardari in the Senate (Upper House) to make the ISI more accountable to the Parliament and Government.

Babar’s Bill recommended internal accountability within the ISI and a better discipline system to end enforced disappearances and victimization of political parties. The bill was, however, withdrawn on the apparent grounds that Babar had not secured the prior approval of the Law Minister Farook H. Naek-headed Special Committee of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), of which President Asif Ali Zardari is the Co-Chairman. The development, however, is widely seen as evidence of the ISI's clout within the political establishment. Past attempts at imposing a measure of accountability over the agency have also proven abortive.


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The ISI political mischief within Pakistan has been further established in the Supreme Court hearings on a 1996 petition filed by former Pakistan Air Force Chief Asghar Khan. Khan accused the ISI of financing politicians in the 1990 General elections by providing the Pakistan PKR with 140 million to create the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and prevent Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) from winning at the polls. However, on October 3, 2012, the Defence Ministry of Pakistan told the Supreme Court that there was 'no political cell' in the ISI. The Ministry, however, conceded that a political cell 'might have' existed in the past, but that no notification regarding its creation was found in the records. The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, on October 4, served notice to the secretary to the President, seeking records of the existence of any political cell in the ISI.

Meanwhile, On October 19, 2012, the Supreme Court ordered the Government to take legal action against former Army Chief General Mirza Aslam Beg and former ISI Chief Asad Durrani for distributing millions of rupees among politicians to rig the 1990 General Elections. The Supreme Court also said that any "political cell" operating in the Presidency, ISI, Military Intelligence (MI) or Intelligence Bureau (IB), should be shut down immediately as such an institution was unconstitutional.

Oranizational structure of the ISI
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The ISI officially has seven sections: Joint Intelligence X (JIX), Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB), Joint Counter Intelligence Bureau (JCIB), Joint Intelligence/North (JIN), Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous (JIM), Joint Signal Intelligence Bureau (JSIB) and Joint Intelligence Technical Division (JIT). JIN concentrates on Jammu and Kashmir, conducts operations and supports various terrorist proxies in the State, and also monitors Indian forces in the region. JIX serves as the Agency's secretariat; JIB monitors political intelligence; JCIB is responsible for oversees intelligence operations in Central Asia, South Asia, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Israel and Russia, and is also responsible for field surveillance of Pakistani diplomats stationed abroad; JIM is responsible for covert offensive intelligence operations and war time espionage; JSIB operates a chain of signals intelligence collection stations and provides communication support to its operatives; and JIT is a covert unit with a separate explosives section and a chemical warfare section.

Media reports also indicate that ISI has four "wings": 'A Wing' directs analysis and is the bureaucratic department; 'T Wing' is the technical section and provides assistance to the other wings. 'C Wing' is the counterintelligence wing. The 'S Wing' oversees 'external security' and is responsible for state sponsorship of various terrorist formations, including al Qaeda, the Taliban, and anti-India jihadi groups. An unnamed former Indian intelligence official observes, "We have known about its (S Wing) existence for several years. It took shape probably in the 80s, and from then on it has grown in size and strength". He further added that the entire operation of Kashmir militancy, over the past 20 years, had been handled by the 'S Wing'. On July 9, 2012, the then acting Director General of Police (DGP), Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), K. Rajendra, noted, ".No terrorist activity can take place in our country without the support of the actors from across the border. There are state actors headed by the ISI".

ISI involved in terror:
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On July 21, 2012, the arrested handler of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks Abu Jundal, provided first-hand evidence of the 'Karachi Project', an ISI backed terror scheme to mobilize and direct Indian terrorist fugitives in Pakistani safe havens. Abu Jundal's disclosures confirmed earlier details relating to the Karachi Project and its role in the 26/11 attacks, provided by the Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley. The Karachi Project was set up by the ISI in collaboration with LeT, and sought to make use of Indian terrorist operatives trained in Pakistan to execute bomb blasts in Indian cities. According to sources, "The scheme is funded by ISI and Gulf investments".

The ISI-IM nexus has also been re-established in the charge sheet filed by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) before a special Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act Court on May 25, 2012, regarding the July 13, 2011, Mumbai serial bombings case. It has been stated that the blasts were planned and coordinated by IM leaders from Pakistan. In its 4,478-page charge sheet, the ATS observed, "The IM has been expressly created by (the) ISI of Pakistan ostensibly to spread terror in this country through Indian front outfits."

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Despite apparent bans on the LeT and the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), moreover, these groups continue to operate under a multiplicity of new identities, with their infrastructure intact. A Government of India dossier on 'Anti-India Activities on Pakistan Soil', passed on to the Pakistani authorities during the Home Secretary Level Talks of May 24-25, 2012, listed as many as 42 terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Making a presentation at the Annual Conference of Directors General Police/Inspectors General of Police, held at New Delhi on September 7-8, 2012, the Delhi Police noted that IM "has Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) patronage". This is regarded as the first official confirmation of ISI-IM link.

Additionally, ISI's links with India's most wanted terrorist and crime boss, Dawood Ibrahim, are also well documented. Ibrahim is on the US listing of "Specially Designated Global Terrorists", but operates with impunity from Pakistan. Mumbai Police sources thus stated, in May 2012, "D-company [Ibrahim's crime syndicate] aides holed up in Pakistan are provided security and shelter by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Dawood and his aides can easily obtain bogus passports issued by Pakistan authorities and travel abroad". During the May 24-25, 2012, secretary level talks in Islamabad (Pakistan), India handed over to Pakistan a list of four precise coordinates of Dawood Ibrahim's location, with addresses. In Islamabad, Dawood stays in an ISI safe house on Bhoubhan Hill, 20 kilometres on the road to Muree.


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The ISI has also been patronising Sikh terror groups since 1984. On September 1, 2012, following the arrest of a Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist, Kulwant Singh alias Guddu, from Sahora village near Kharar in Mohali District of Punjab, an NIA official observed, "ISI is also reportedly keen on forging coordination between Khalistani terrorists, terrorists operating in J&K and some fundamentalist groups and in this process Jagtar Singh Tara who escaped from Burail Jail in 2004 is favoured by the ISI to revive the Khalistan movement." Terror outfit BKI, among others, is actively supported by the ISI, and is believed to have received more than INR 800 million over just the last four years to fund its terrorist activities. On September 4, 2012, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Jitendra Singh told Lok Sabha (the Lower House of India's Parliament) "Available inputs indicate the patronage and assistance provided by Pakistan's ISI to leaders of various Sikh terrorist groups including BKI based in Pakistan. Interrogation of arrested Sikh militants revealed that short term modules are being run in Pakistan for training gullible Sikh youths from India and abroad." During the May 24-25, 2012, Home Secretary Level Talks between India and Pakistan at Islamabad, India handed over a dossier on 'Pakistan's Support to Terrorism in Punjab', which included details of recent attempts to organize terrorist actions in India, recruitment of extremists in India and win Western countries, as well as detailed listing of prominent Sikh terrorists sheltered in Pakistan. Details and locations in Pakistan of the top leadership of BKI, the Khalistan Zindabad, the International Sikh Youth Federation, Dal Khalsa International, Khalistan Commando Force (Panjwar), and the Khaistan Tiger Force were included in the dossier.

ISI supports anti-West insurgents and terrorists:
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Meanwhile, in continuing with its policy of seeking to gain full control over the internal affairs of Afghanistan and to emerge as the sole decisive power in future Government formation in that country, in the aftermath of the withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in 2014, the ISI continues to support Afghan insurgent and terrorist formations in their fight against the Allied Forces. A May 2008 transcript given to Mike McConnell, the Director of US National Intelligence, stated that Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, referred to the Haqqani Network, one of the most active terrorist formations in Afghanistan, which has consistently targeted ISAF and Afghan National Security Force personnel, among others, as a "strategic asset". Similarly, on September 21, 2011, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen described the Haqqani Network as 'a veritable arm' of the ISI. The Quetta Shura Taliban, headed by Mullah Omar, the former 'Head of the Supreme Council' of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, between 1996 and 2001, operates with impunity, and under the protection of the ISI, from Pakistani soil. A number of ISI-backed Pakistani terrorist groupings, including the LeT, are reported to have shifted focus and cadres to Afghanistan over the past years, to help the Afghan Taliban groupings in anticipation of the Western 'withdrawal'. Further, in its attempt to deter India, which is helping Afghanistan in a multiplicity of nation building projects worth some USD two billion (since the year 2001), ISI-mentored terrorist groups have attacked Indian targets (in Afghanistan) on at least 15 occasions since 2003, according to partial data on the SATP database.

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In addition to conventional patterns of terrorism, the ISI has also extended its mischief into cyber space. A highly-specialised cyber division in the ISI is reported to have been assigned the task of training operatives of terrorist outfits like the LeT, JeM and the IM, to train their cadre in the use of computers. A classified note circulated among participants of the DGPs/IGPs meet of September 2012, observed, "The ISI is now working on a bigger game plan in training terrorists in the use of cyber and computer technology as the Pakistani agency feels India is not fully equipped in dealing with incidents of cyber war or attack.''

Pakistan continues to evade designation as a terrorist state by the skin of its teeth, despite overwhelming evidence of the ISI's support and sponsorship of terrorism in a multiplicity of theatres. Erroneous western calculations of 'strategic interests' and an inability by the western powers to prevail effectively in Afghanistan have resulted in a policy of continuing ambivalence towards Pakistan's visible support to terrorists and the country's widening 'footprint of terror' across the world. There is, however, increasing awareness and displeasure against Pakistan's sustained international criminality on this count, even as the bloody blow back of this deceit mounts within Pakistan. It remains to be seen if the country will ever find the sagacity and the capacity to pull itself back from the brink, and reverse the grave and intentional harm it has inflicted both domestically and internationally.


Robert Morton, Ed., Ed.S. is a member of the Association Of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). A portion (10%) of this site's ad revenues is donated to the AFIO. The views expressed on this site do not represent those of any organization he is a member of. OSINT News is always looking for different perspectives regarding the Intelligence Community- got a thought, article or comment you'd like to submit? Contact us on the SECURE CONTACT FORM

Saturday, October 20, 2012

HOMEGROWN RADICAL ISLAM GROWING THREAT TO AMERICA

As I view the Boston Marathon end in a disaster, I thought about how the 17 agencies compromising the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) are on “Z” while most of the American public and news media remain on “A” regarding the topic of homegrown terrorism. My mind wandered back to an Association Of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) seminar held in Tyson Corner, VA in 2006. Charles "Charlie" Allen, a top counterintelligence expert warned us of the growing numbers of radicalized U.S. citizens...who become radical Islamist supporters or joiners.
 
 
This discord exists because counterintelligence and counterterrorism professionals do not want to release any information that may give away sources and methods to radical Islamists or other terrorists within the U.S. In this age of leaking classified information, I acknowledge this fact, but, perhaps, this disharmony can be bridged by establishing a pure, sanitized public relations campaign to combat terrorism, akin to existing Community Block Watch Programs (CBWP).

In a broad sense, citizen participation to protect America from terrorist attack can be utilized more effectively. To avoid vigilantism, and actually protecting innocent American Muslims, such an awareness program can be absorbed into existing CBWP‘s which exist in thousands of American neighborhoods. Block Watch programs help neighbors to get better acquainted with each other and help local police by reporting unusual activities as they occur.


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Neighborhoods across America would a much-closer partnership with the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) and the role all federal agencies play in protecting them from harm. And, the IC and those federal agencies would benefit because local denizens know what’s “normal” activity in their respective residential settings; they would be grassroots 'eyes and ears' them.

So, how would it work? To prevent local crimes, CBWP enables local law enforcement to train neighbors to write down descriptions of suspicious persons and vehicle license plate numbers, models, colors, etc. But, now that we have local police and counterintelligence professionals working in Fusion Centers (FC), why not enhance intelligence-gathering by incorporating local citizens and businesses who “know” their neighborhood’s idiosyncrasies and customs? Residents are familiar with their neighbor’s habits, types of friends, relatives, vehicles, leisure pursuits, interests, etc. Through risk-free and vetted workshops, citizens could be taught what to look for, regarding terrorist behavior. Even a well-integrated homegrown terrorist who has lived and worked in a particular neighborhood and remains underneath the radar of homeland security, behaves differently as the attack plan nears fruition.

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A great deal of time and energy is used to plan, prepare, finance, purchase and store materials, and to meet with others in order to execute a devastating attack. Unseen inside the home, garage, or workplace, such a radical can be detected if laypeople are educated on what to look for. Local police agencies conducting CBWP’s could invite overt intelligence officials, such as some FBI agents, to speak at their public meetings. Detailed descriptions of “terrorist-like” behaviors could be incorporated into the established system of CBWP’s. A toll-free hot line number to call could be distributed. This would make federal counterintelligence and counterterrorist agencies more open and available to the public and law enforcement. Of course, covert agents would never show their faces at such public gatherings. But, other federal representatives could.


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"Terrorist-specific” observable behaviors could be taught to Americans through the CBWP network. The term "observable behavior" describes actions in a way you can record with a check-off. For example, instead of saying “My son is lazy”, which isn’t really observable or “checkable”, you could say “My son didn’t take out the garbage on Tuesday‘s garbage pick-up day.” I prefer observable behaviors because they make citizen observations more accurate and confirm-able. Also, such observations aid citizens to identify homegrown terrorists who do not fit the stereotype of an Islamic terrorist. For example, Colleen LaRose, or Jihad Jane, doesn't look like any one's idea of a radical Islamic warrior. Yet, the blond-haired, blue-eyed suburbanite from Philadelphia has been charged in connection with a plot to kill a Danish cartoonist.


OSINT News offers these 13, observable behaviors that should raise the antennae of citizens in their capability to identify a terrorist:
 
13 Tell-Tale Observable Behaviors of homegrown terrorists:
Observable Behavior 1- Uncommon cell phone behavior: terrorists need communication with others to plan meetings or buy materials and chemicals. They use multiple anonymous pay-as-you-go mobiles phones and swap SIM cards and handsets. Stolen mobiles are typical. Also, they may have large quantities of mobile phones. Some years ago, the same small group of persons bought hundreds of cell phones from Wal*Mart stores throughout Ohio.

Observable Behavior 2- Suspicious Passports: They use multiple identities and documents for no apparent reason.

Observable Behavior 3- Small truck, vans and station wagon vehicles: They need transport and will buy, rent, or lease a van or small truck for transport, even possibly for use in the attack itself. Anyone working in commercial vehicle renting, leasing or sales should be on the look out for suspicious behaviors.

Observable Behavior 4- Excessively thorough interest in local site: Terrorists use cameras or camcorders to gain logistics and other information about potential attack sites. It helps them plan coordinated and comprehensive attacks. If you see anyone preoccupied with security arrangements, heavy pedestrian traffic, etc., report it.

Observable Behavior 5- Over-abundant purchases. Be on the watch for persons buying large or unusual quantities of chemicals for no reason. Anything odd, such as accumulating BBQ propane canisters from different stores falls under this category. I remember, years ago conducting police surveillance at the local supermarkets for excessively large purchases of baking soda, which dealers used to cut their pure cocaine. We simply followed them out to the parking lot and followed them home. Remember, Zazi and three others linked to the Denver-NYC terrorist connection, bought large quantities of peroxide and acetone from Denver, CO beauty supply stores. One store owner alerted the authorities; another example of the critical importance of citizen participation.

Observable Behavior 6- Suspicious financial transactions: They need funding and check and credit card fraud runs rampant among terrorist cells. Remember, observable and “checkable” actions- do they open up numerous checking accounts? Lost or stolen credit card reports? Carries around separate check books from different banks? 


Observable Behavior 7- Suspicious use of and heavy reliance on computers: They are on the cutting edge of organizational networking to recruit new members, raise money, organize activities, and distribute propaganda. Suspicious computer behavior, such as visiting terrorist-related websites and should be a red flag. Terrorists make instant press releases after a fatal bombing attack on their respective websites! If you ever witness such unusual Internet behavior, grow suspicious!

Observable Behavior 8- Protection Paraphernalia: They need to handle hazardous waste and radioactive, biological or other WMD material. Masks, goggles, thick rubber gloves, disposable or reusable coveralls, hardhats, safety glasses, chemical-resistant clothing, face shields, even devices to protect one’s hearing or portable respirators that cover only the mouth and nose to large varieties that supply oxygen to self-contained suits. You may see someone carrying these items into the garage at night or find them thrown away in a dumpster.

Observable Behavior 9- Padlocks: Terrorists need storage. Lock-ups, garages, backyard sheds, storage rentals, etc. can be used to store equipment.

Observable Behavior 10- Terrorists need to travel: The counterterrorism and counterintelligence agencies battle in protecting us has turned upside down. All terrorist attacks in the last year, inside America, were from home grown terrorists. But, they were influenced, funded and trained overseas. Many U.S. citizens turned terrorists have flown to the Middle East to train and plan attacks back “home”…in the U.S. They certainly don’t freely brag about their vacations when they arrive back in the U.S. Be suspicious when they are vague about where they are going, sites they saw, etc.

Observable Behavior 11- Change in behavior: Terrorist planning or finalizing an attack plan may behave differently from how you’ve known them to behave in the past.



Observable Behavior 12- Strange visitations: A terrorist usually has people helping him. These people may come and go at odd hours. Trust your instincts!

Observable Behavior 13- Overhear threats: A true terrorist is full of hate for western democracies. Due to their uncompromising beliefs, they may get quite angry at times and shout, boast, laugh about, or mention during a normal chat their intention to harm civilians. Obstinate and unbending viewpoints may be expressed when discussing politics, religion, societal issues, etc. If you hear an intimidating or even threatening tone of voice, weigh this observation against your previous observations.




Ironically, by incorporating a “terrorist watch” program and incorporating it into a national community organization such as Block Watch, we may not have to worry about big government intruding on our lives. Let me explain. I recall  Democratic Representative Jane Harmon, not too many years ago, introduced National Security legislation that passed the US House of Representatives by a secretive voice vote, but failed to pass the US Senate.

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Harmon’s bill, the federal “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act” was supported by President Obama and his top counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan. Both men were deeply concerned about the problem of home-grown terrorists and the increasing number of individuals in the US who have become “captivated by extremist ideology or causes.” Unfortunately, the bill didn't  spell out Observable Behaviors and leaves the defining and identifying of homegrown terrorists left to political whims of the future. Perhaps, we should rethink this bill and enhance its effectiveness by initiating a "Homegrown Terrorist Blockwatch Program."



OSINT News believes that, America needs to determine what is and what isn’t terrorist behavior and who is and who isn’t a terrorist. We studied the resource "Al Qaeda in Europe" by Lorenzo Vidino (not advertised here), the European expert at The Investigative Project in Washington, D.C. This resource details what could materialize in America. Europe has become a key battleground in the global war on terror, and we hope America does not. From the July 2005 London bombings, the Madrid train bombings, the thwarted plot to attack various European capitals with chemical weapons,  the movements of hundreds of European Muslims who are joining terrorist groups in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, and NW Pakistan to fight U.S. forces, to the burgeoning of radical Muslim ideology in the hearts and minds of "citizens" throughout the EU, the region has become not only a target but as a base of operations...against America. 

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The implications for the United States are tremendous: under existing law, for example, terrorists carrying European passports could easily enter the U.S. It is not a coincidence, in fact, that every attack planned or executed against the United States, including 9/11, has had strong European ties.
It's a sad state of affairs when terrorists-most of them native to the countries of Europe, raise money, communicate, and hide in plain sight in the suburbs of London, Paris, Amsterdam, etc. And, law enforcement agencies worldwide are having more difficulties when attempting to shut down terror cells. idino analyzes events such as the Madrid train bombings, the thwarted plot to attack various European capitals with chemical weapons, and the movements of hundreds of European Muslims who are joining terrorist groups in Iraq to fight U.S. forces.
 
Robert Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S. is a member of the Association For Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and writes the online spy series "Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster in the Caribbean."  His ideas are his own and do not represent any organization he's a member of. He welcomes your ideas and comments on OSINT. Contact him on the SECURE CONTACT FORM.

Friday, October 19, 2012

SPYING FUSION CENTERS PROTECT AMERICANS

On October 24, 2001, 98 Senators voted for and passed the Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, known as the Patriot Act. Currently, there are 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across America. 

In addition, 854,000 people hold top-secret security clearances, and 33 building complexes the size of three Pentagons conduct top-secret work in and around the D.C. Beltway. Lockheed Martin landed a huge contract to develop the FBI's billion-dollar Next-Generation Identification (NGI) system, which includes 3-D facial recognition modeling enabling experts to construct a subject's entire face from partial video footage. The Dept. of Homeland Security and the entire Intelligence Community (IC) will gain access to the NGI database.

We now have Fusion Centers set up in all 50 states. These FCs have access to 240 state, regional, and federal agencies and their databases. FC's also monitor CCTV surveillance systems at intersections, thoroughfares, and parking lots across America. In Chicago, hi-tech infrared surveillance cameras that save and store video feeds for more than a dozen years are set up every mile along the Windy City's freeway system. One FC can access hundreds of private security cameras in railroad yards, trucking sites, sports arenas, office buildings, shopping malls, large retail stores, and warehouses.

Some feel this increased security to protect us from terrorism is not needed and that Fusion Centers are akin to Big Brother encroaching on our personal privacy. I feel these security measures must be taken with proper oversight and monitoring and that Americans should feel safer. The 60-year old ban preventing the CIA from conducting domestic surveillance has ended with the establishment of Fusion Centers. 

Eight years ago, retired CIA spymaster Charles “Charlie” Allen, then in his octogenarian years, reappeared as Chief Intelligence Officer within the Department of Homeland Security and deployed intelligence officers to newly-created Fusion Centers (FC’s) throughout the U.S..

Allen, who spent 47 years collecting and analyzing foreign intelligence at the CIA, used FC’s to strengthen America’s homeland security by meticulously sculpting our gravely inadequate homeland intelligence gathering and sharing capacity into a well thought-out operation. FC’s enable authorities at the state, county and city level to detect and respond to terrorist schemes by leveraging national intelligence with teams of clandestine federal intelligence officers embedded locally, possibly in your neighborhood.

Yes, one or more is currently operating in your state. As a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), I listened to Allen say that by the end of 2008, FC’s will be positioned in all 50 states (Statement made 2006, AFIO seminar, Tyson Corners, Va.). There will be a two-way, robust sharing of information, although highly-classified foreign and domestic intelligence will be sanitized through a Homeland Security Data Network (HSDN) before it’s shared with the state/local powers that be.”

In 2006, America spent $337 million for this trans-cybernet system and as Chief Intelligence Officer, Allen began positioning his officers in each FC, thus enabling America’s intelligence community to share terrorist information with over 600 state and local agencies.

Here's a possible scenario on how FC's could protect Americans from harm: The National Security Agency (NSA) receives intelligence from a spy satellite that picked up a cell phone call made from someone in Los Angeles to a suspected al Qaeda cell in Yemen. The intercept mentions Dodger Stadium. On the ground in Yemen, imagine a CIA Case Officer (CO) had previously recruited one of the suspected cell member’s cousins to spy for the U.S. Suppose that this recruited spy (“asset”) uncovered in his cousin’s home a map of Dodger Stadium and surrounding streets marked off with words in Farsi, and turned it over to his CIA handler.

In this highly-plausible scenario, through the HSDN secure network, Allen’s locally-embedded, federal intelligence officers inside L.A. would instantly tap into their underground workstation supercomputers, penetrate the secured IC terminals and pull together the staggering intelligence-gathering capabilities of the U.S. intelligence community, then share it with Los Angeles and state authorities- in real time, sanitized, of course. The HSDN system would transform the cloak-and-dagger, top secret particulars of this scenario into an unclassified product that would conceal the sources and methods used to acquire the overseas intelligence, before sharing the information with state and local authorities on the essence of the looming threat.

I believe America needs these locally-embedded FC’s because the lines between foreign and domestic intelligence have become blurred. Overseas threats that target our local communities are real in this new war on terrorism. The new terrorist cells are transnational and religiously driven; no longer are they merely disgruntled natives with local political ambitions.

Indeed, al Qaeda yearns for loss of American lives on a massive scale. The “old” terrorists’ weapons of choice, like small arms, plastique explosives, and rocket-propelled grenades, appear trite when our intelligence community has verified that al Qaeda has set its sights on acquiring and detonating nuclear, radiological, chemical and/or biological weapons inside America.


Decades ago, Charles “Charlie” Allen learned the dire consequence of not rapidly sharing intelligence. In September 1984 a truck loaded with the equivalent of 200 kilograms of TNT smashed into the US embassy in West Beirut. Previously, CIA satellite imagery analysts collected suspicious satellite photos taken over Bekaa Valley of the Sheikh Abdullah barracks, showing oil drums mimicking the layout of streets and concrete barriers in front of the US embassy annex, along with tire tracks in the sand made from practice runs for suicide bombers preparing for actual attack. Back then, Allen shared this top-secret satellite data with a marine in charge of the Beirut operation.

As we all know, the marine barracks were bombed and Allen wondered if the intelligence ever made it up the chain of command and if the bombing could have been prevented. The marine he passed on the intelligence to was named Oliver North.

Allen’s Fusion Centers, occupied by his intelligence officers and HSDN network, calls upon the US Intelligence Community’s global intelligence-gathering capability to support local communities. Yes, Fusion Centers are currently operating close by us all. I believe we should be glad they’re close at hand...in every state.

Robert Morton is a member of the Association Of Former Intelligence Officers and writes the spy thriller series "Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster in the Caribbean, Florida Keys and Key West."

Thursday, October 18, 2012

PERSONAL PREPARATION FOR RADIOLOGICAL BOMB ATTACK MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE

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OSINT News recalls a CNN report, from the President Bush administration, about U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announcing that a U.S. citizen had been arrested and charged with plotting to detonate a "dirty bomb," in Washington, D.C. Dirty bombs do not use a nuclear reaction, but instead use conventional explosives to disperse radioactive materials. After the arrest, CNN Health Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen spoke with CNN anchor Leon Harris about what steps to take after a dirty bomb detonates. It was an interesting interview and revealed useful data for anyone who is unfortunate enough to be near a "dirty" bomb detonation.

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Cohen wanted to know the most important things to do, even before you get to a hospital. It's interesting what she found out. Hospitals are supposed to be able to deal with this particular act of terrorism, but preparation among hospitals vary considerably. On a pesonal level, here's what to do; it's actually pretty simple:

If there has been a dirty bomb detonation, a bomb that emits some sort of radiation, the first thing you're supposed to do is take off your clothes. That may sound strange, but the reason is that if there is any radiation that has gotten on your clothing, or dirt that has gotten on your clothing, you want that off. And once you've taken that off, that is a huge step because you've gotten rid of that surface the radiation might have gotten onto.

The second thing that you're supposed to do is wash up, preferably a shower. If not, then wash hands and face and other areas that might not have been protected by the clothing. In fact, if people come running to a hospital ... the first thing they would do would be to tell you, 'You can't come in here,' and they will theoretically have set up stations outside the hospital to do the kind of decontamination described above.


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The other thing that's very important is that if you have been in the vicinity of such an attack, you must assume the radiation is in the air. There is face mask called an N-95 mask- the number is important, because not all masks do the same thing. Interestingly, Cohen had such a face mask that she retrieved from down the hall because CNN, like other large companies, have or should have them available in case there were a "dirty bomb" attack or a chemical kind of attack, or any kind of accident, that would keep you from inhaling any radiation. Why not obtain an N-95 mask for you and your loved ones?

In sum, if it happens- clothes off, wash up, use an N-95 mask. Pretty simple! Cohen and Harris discussed how many hospitals are equipped to handle a radiological attack via dirty bomb, with an outbreak of radiation in a major urban area. Harris quoted one report that stated there is only one hospital in the country set up to handle that kind of thing. Cohen said that that was not completely right, because there's a difference between hospitals that have set up an area that's exclusively for that or that specialize in that. All hospitals, if they're accredited hospitals, are supposed to be equipped to deal with this kind of emergency or with a chemical or biological attack. Some, obviously, are going to be better than others. Large urban hospitals would have had training for their doctors and nurses, where smaller rural ones wouldn't have had the ability to have those training programs. But all hospitals are supposed to be able to deal with them.

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Cohen also pointed out that it's true that not all hospitals are properly equipped to handle a "dirty bomb" attack. He stated that not all have had the kind of training they're supposed to and that it is unknown whether or not they can deal with it, because America hasn't had that kind of attack. Harris said, "God forbid, if there were an attack today, how many hospitals would handle it well? We don't know. It's never happened. But they're supposed to have the kind of training that would allow them to deal with it."

Harris asked Cohen about "taking off your clothes is the first thing you do." He wondered if the radiation would go through your clothing anyway. Cohen said that could happen. However, it would still be helpful to take off the clothes. It also depends on the proximity. If a bomb went off, God forbid, right between you and me, shrapnel would go into us and radiation would get in through the shrapnel. But if you're talking about people much farther away, taking off the clothes is a huge step.


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OSINT News wonders just how equipped and trained hospitals are in urban areas. We also recommend that Americans educate and prepare themselves for a WMD attack of any kind. Personal preparation can save your life, as well as the lives of your loved ones. A little information goes a long way if terrorists do strike and a dirty dirty bomb  explodes nearby. Do you know how to decontaminate yourself and your loved ones by using items found in your home after a radiological, chemical, or biological agent attack? Have you thought about where you find safe drinking water in an emergency or how you can find or create shelter to save you and your family from blasts, poisons, or radiation? Have you sat down and discussed what your options are for survival if you or your family members ride mass transit buses, trams, and boats? Perhaps, it would also be helpful to list what supplies you should have in your shelter and how much of each item. Also determine what kinds of radios and telephones are reliable in an emergency. 

OSINT News believes the threat of radiological terrorism is increasing. This threat has come to the attention of the international community as it became clear that terrorist organizations are seeking nuclear and radiological material to manufacture and use improvised nuclear devices (IND) and 'dirty bombs'. Terrorists are also focusing in on sabotaging 
nuclear power facilities. But while nuclear weapons and INDs still remain relatively secure from terrorist access, radiological material is more readily available in large quantities throughout the world.

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And, OSINT News believes that Iran's nuclear power plants will soon be producing plutonium-239 residue inside their reactors and "spent" fuel rods. Enter Hezbollah, Iran's long-time terrorist proxy. We wrote an article on this new uncertainty- Iran and it's terrorist proxy, Hezbollah increase likelihood of "super dirty" bomb being detonated inside America.

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A bit about radiological explosives or other dispersal devices- they're easy to make and to use. Radiological dispersal devices (RDDs) come in many shapes and sizes; a dirty bomb uses a conventional explosion to scatter radioactive material. Terrorists could launch an attack by placing a container of radioactive material in a public place and an airplane can easily disperse radioactive material as a powder or an aerosol. OSINT News recalls a crop duster aircraft was stolen by terrorists a decade ago. Fortunately, they were caught. What was their plans?

On a grand scale, a nuclear facility could become an RDD. Intentional damage done to a nuclear power plant or other site could release radiation, contaminating the immediate surroundings or even beyond. RDDs of any kind present a potent and effective terrorist weapon because they threaten to expose civilian populaces to radiation, which would create panic out of proportion to the modest number of casualties likely to result from limited doses of radiation.

Personal preparation for a radiological attack will, indeed, greatly increase the chances that you, and your loved ones, will survive.

Robert Morton, Ed., Ed.S. is a member of the Association Of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). A portion (10%) of this site's ad revenues is donated to the AFIO. The views expressed on this site do not represent those of any organization he is a member of. OSINT News is always looking for different perspectives regarding the Intelligence Community- got a thought, article or comment you'd like to submit? Contact us on the SECURE CONTACT FORM

Saturday, October 13, 2012

MALALA SHOOTING WON'T CURB PAKISTAN'S TALIBAN VIOLENCE

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Will long-term changes in Pakistan’s relationship with the Taliban change after the shooting of fourteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai? OSINT News does not believe so. We offer 3 reasons why. Malala remains in critical condition after a Taliban assailant shot her in the head. According to the Taliban, this kid had committed a scandalous act of campaigning for the right for girls to get an education. Yes, she was shot in the head for raising her voice in favor of female education.
 

Reason No. 1Few CIA analysts believe worthwhile changes will occur over this act of violence, because the Pakistan has exploited Islamist extremism as an instrument of state policy. The guiding principle in the highest level of government is to not act passionately against terrorism. Just look at the Taliban victim count over the years, and ask yourself why it still continues. Mosques have been attacked, innocent civilians have been blown to bits by suicide bombers, sectarian murders and political killings run rampant, and thousands of Pakistani soldiers have died.

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The Taliban’s victimization list continues…tribal leaders who have supported the Karzai government or who took part in the U.S. directed reconstruction programs have been hung in the public squares. The Taliban enjoys hanging since it sends a clear, visual message to the villagers. Thousands of U.S. servicemen have been blown up and shot by the Taliban; they even shot down a NATO helicopter, killing all on board.

And, Ironically, Malala isn’t the only child the Taliban willingly killed. In June of 2010, they sunk to a new low by accusing a 7-year-old boy of being a spy…and hung him high. Hamid Karzai got it right after this hanging when he said, “I don’t think there’s a crime bigger than that, that even the most inhuman forces on earth can commit. A 7-year-old boy cannot be a spy…a 7-year-old boy cannot be anything but a 7-year-old boy.” Later on, it turned out the boy was a Pakistani patriot; he had told the police or U.S. troops where he saw the Taliban planting explosives. Ironically, British Prime Minister David Cameron had stopped in Kabul at the time, and he was taken back by the child lynching. He stated, “I think it says more about the Taliban than any book, than any article, than any speech could ever say.”


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The Taliban has a penchant for stringing up children and the elderly. They also lynched a 70-year-old woman and a child, together, in Pakistan’s Musa Qala district, because of trumped-up charges of spying. What did the child do? Perhaps, he took a piece of candy offered to him by a U.S. marine. They also killed both adults and children when a Taliban suicide bomber blew up a wedding party. Over 40 were killed and 70 were severely wounded. Bits of flesh and severed limbs recovered from the site indicated that children were killed along with the adults.

OSINT News agrees with the CIA analysis that no long-term changes will happen in Pakistani-Taliban relations because the entire government continues to, indeed, use Islamic radicalism as an arm of their state policy. In fact, a columnist for one Pakistani newspaper that we often research said, “…after the culmination of years of playing with fire and manufacturing demons and Frankensteins, we should have had sense enough to understand what would come to haunt us and become our worst nightmares.” So true. The Taliban is the worst nightmare any regular Pakistani citizen could possibly meet.

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Reason No. 2: Most groups on Pakistan’s political right and Islamist groups are sympathetic to the Taliban. Many support them with financial assistance, room and board, and fresh supplies while they’re out in the field. This sympathy and support for the Taliban is learned behavior, through formal schooling through the network of radical schools, or madrassas. The Taliban is supported by two generations of young men schooled at these extremist madrassas and have been brainwashed to believe, since they were too young to rationally think things through, in hatred toward America and India, jihad and intolerance towards women. Why do you think Malala was gunned down by the Taliban??!!! She was not only a woman, but a symbolic threat to the madrassas, which are a continuation of the state of terrorism…by the Taliban. Malala’s protest for women’s education in Pakistan is a direct threat to the fanatic curriculum taught in the madrassas. OSINT News researched madrassas and wrote about how madrassas teach hatred toward the U.S.

One ultimate madrassa-type school actually trains young suicide bombers and then hires them out to settle political disputes. In 2008, in Bhakkar District of Southern Punjab, a suicide bomber was hired and used in settling such a dispute. In Pakistan's Tank District and Waziristan, these madrassa-type schools have transformed into suicide bombers academies, and are recruiting bombers and exporting them in and out of the country. Recently, a teenage Punjabi Taliban was arrested after an unsuccessful suicide bombing attempt. He was interviewed in a Dera Ghazi Khan District hospital. OSINT News doesn't think the Taliban has much sympathy for shooting Malala!

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It’s interesting to note that, despite the condemnation of Malala’s shooting by the Taliban, the Pakistani clerics and right-wing groups reserve their vitriolic remarks for U.S. drone strikes on Pakistani soil and ask why the government doesn’t protect them from our UAV’s. They switch to topic off off Malala quickly. In short, all groups on the political right and all Islamist groups are sympathetic to the Taliban, which murders the Satan U.S. and its interests in their country, and elsewhere.

Reason No. 3: The Pakistan government will not take advantage of the current uprising against the Taliban’s brutal shooting of an innocent, teenage girl who simply wants to get an education because an offensive against the Taliban will not succeed. If the Malala incident and citizen pressure 

provokes the Pakistan government to mount an offensive against the Taliban in North Waziristan, the Taliban won’t be crushed. Instead, they will simply disappear by crossing over into Afghanistan or to other tribal areas. The entire FATA area in Pakistan is a terrorist breeding ground. They will never be caught. Pakistan's army entered Waziristan in 2004 to kill al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who were using the province as a base to kill Americans and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Well, the Taliban is still there, alive and doing quite well in this rugged and remote region of Waziristan...and Malala's shooting will not result in them being driven out of Pakistan. 

Related Posts:
Pakistan's ISI Infiltrated Afghanistan Security Forces
Terrorist Chief Al-Zawahiri Hiding In Pakistan
CIA Got bin Laden, Not Pakistan ISI

Robert Morton, Ed., Ed.S. is a member of the Association Of Former Intelligence Officers  (AFIO) and writes the online Spy series, "Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster in the Caribbean".  The views expressed on this site do not represent those of any organization he is a member of. Contact him on the SECURE CONTACT FORM.