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Open Source Spying
eldavojohn writes "The New York Times is running a very lengthy but amazingly interesting article on the short history of open source software and information on the inside of the intelligence community. The article discusses the transformation of the intelligence community from fighting the Cold War with traditional information exchange to fighting terrorism today utilizing things like wikis & blogs. From the end of the article, 'Today's spies exist in an age of constant information exchange, in which everyday citizens swap news, dial up satellite pictures of their houses and collaborate on distant Web sites with strangers. As John Arquilla told me, if the spies do not join the rest of the world, they risk growing to resemble the rigid, unchanging bureaucracy that they once confronted during the cold war. "Fifteen years ago we were fighting the Soviet Union," he said. "Who knew it would be replicated today in the intelligence community?"' You may recall that the CIA now has their own classified Wiki. I think it's interesting that the 9/11 Report recommended that United States agencies such as the DoD, CIA & FBI learn to share information more freely to overcome terrorism and now they're turning to internet community applications to accomplish that."
It makes you wonder whether or not people will take offense to their tools being used by such agencies and whether or not they'll develop licenses to ban them from using them. If they do, would they be enforceable (assuming the person somehow found out). And if it was enforceable, is there absolutely any way to find out legally? Whistle blower? If the government breaks license agreements and classifies that information, shouldn't that be illegal?
One thing tha was not really discussed in the Times article was whether the same type of "social software" is being used in other countries' spy agencies. And what about international groups like Interpol and NATO. How do they share information that is sensitive and/or secret in some way?
The Patriot Act was designed to address the lack of interagency communication, specifically with regards to intelligence. The FBI didn't know what the CIA didn't know what the NSA didn't know what the local police didn't know. Now that all the federal agencies are under the DHS banner, they can share information easily and openly.
All that other stuff was just a bonus!
Ironically, such people are called "Open Source Analysts" - as in the source is not classified/closed and is out in the open. Even a few years ago the CIA was still advertising such positions. They typically require a high level of language fluency and cultural literacy.
Just like every person shot or bombed in Iraq is an 'insurgent' or 'terrorist' because the US has magic 'insurgent seeking munitions'.
Do you have any idea how different that conflict would look if we did act like the insurgents and exhibit no concern over who got killed on the sidelines? If we know there's an Acme IED Factory franchise operating out of the basement of a Baghdad apartment building, we can either risk the lives of our own people, and try to surgically deal with it, or we can just drop some big ol' bombs on the neighborhood and totally level the entire place. Guess which happens the most often. That's how our team gets shot up on raids - by choosing not to level whole neighborhoods the easy way. And of course, the guy with the backpack full of Iraninan RPGs doesn't just go into the place with the "Insurgent Hotel" sign over the door - he operates out of the local civilian population specifically as a form of cover, knowing we don't just hose down entire city blocks to kill one guy. How many people who've been there, on the ground, hunting these clowns, have ever sat down with and had a beer? Ah, I see.
And sure there are really only 19 people on those rendition flights, the US just flew them around a lot for the ride.
Well, since you're an expert on who works those flights, on the intel that's gathered in advance of capturing people like KSM or his cronies, on the places where these people are kept, on the tactics that are used to weed out the ones that have the financial, logistical, and tactical connections to the people pulling the strategic strings - do tell! Since you're quick to say what it's not, explain what it is, and cite your sources.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
"Do you have any idea how different that conflict would look if we did act like the insurgents and exhibit no concern over who got killed on the sidelines?"
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You'd lose quicker. Remember you're supposed to win this one by *not* killing the civilian population.
"That's how our team gets shot up on raids"
So don't go on raids, declare yourself the winner and leave now.
"How many people who've been there, on the ground, hunting these clowns, have ever sat down with and had a beer?" Two.
"Since you're quick to say what it's not, explain what it is, and cite your sources."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4946668.stm
"The CIA has run more than 1,000 flights within the European Union since 2001, often transporting terror suspects for questioning overseas, MEPs have said."
14 people transferred to Gitmo:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1947647,00
1000 rendition flights could not possibly be used to transport so few people.
Do you wonder why they are shooting at you in Iraq when you are supposed to be the heroes who saved them from Sadam? Do you see no connection between the choices you make and the outcome?
These agencies are nowhere near as competant as the conspiracy theorists think
Having been a full-time employee at the NSA, I can say that these agencies are nowhere near as competent as Hollywood often thinks, much less what the conspiracy theorists think.
Posting anonymously for obvious reasons...
Correct. Foreign born (naturalized) US citizens are actively recruited for their foreign language and culture skills. The posts are reserved for US citizens though.
That said there is still a strong xenophobia within the intelligence community. While foreign born citizens are tolerated in positions that require a foreign language they will often face unwritten resitance if they try to move around within the organization. The ammount of resistance will depend on the length of time the person has been a US citizen. By contrast a citizen by birth (what is the term for that??) will be able to easily move around to different positions. It is encouraged. This isn't a case of racism. The US intel organizations are heavily integrated with the military. The smart military leaders quickly figured out that blacks, jews, and whites all bleed the same color.
In order to find out what the terrorists want, you just need to read their web sites, blogs, emails, etc. and put it together. Our intelligence agencies just don't get this and are still largely dysfunctional.
You're a clueless idiot. There's no other way to put it.
Bin Laden has repeatedly said that he just wants to get the "US imperialists out of the Middle East". He has even explicitly offered a "truce" or "peace" if the US would leave. Of course, the US doesn't want to believe this and our politicians can't even consider giving up imperialism/colonialism as our foreign policy so we are stuck in a "war on terror" that we can't win.
Strike that. You're an incredibly naive clueless idiot.
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Posted anon for a damned good reason.