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Military Taps Social Networking To Hunt Insurgents

Posted by kdawson on from the omg-ied dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "The New York Times has an interesting article about the thousands of analysts based in the United States for the Central Intelligence Agency and the US military who are showing how the Facebook generation's skills are being exploited — and paying dividends — in America's wars. Analysts monitor enemy communications and scan still images from drones in Afghanistan, then log the information into chatrooms, carrying on a running dialogue with drone crews and commanders and intelligence specialists in the field, who receive the information on computers and then radio the most urgent bits to troops on patrol. Marine intelligence officers say that during an offensive in February, the analysts managed to stay a step ahead of the advance, sending alerts about 300 or so possible roadside bombs, paving the way for soldiers to roll into Marja in southern Afghanistan with minimal casualties. 'To be that tapped into the tactical fight from 7,000 to 8,000 miles away was pretty much unheard of before,' said Gunnery Sgt. Sean N. Smothers, a Marine who stationed as a liaison to the analysts. New analysts, who were practically weaned on computers and interactive video games, have been crucial to hunting insurgents and saving American lives in Afghanistan. The Air Force, which has 4,000 analysts, is hiring 2,100 more. For the most part, the networking has been so productive that senior commanders are sidestepping some of the traditional military hierarchy and giving the analysts leeway in deciding how to use some spy planes."

69 comments

  1. I Don't See the Connection Here by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Facebook generation

    Please don't call us that. I thought 'Generation X' and 'Generation Y' were stupid names but now I long for alphabetic naming. I still fail to see the connection between their "social networking skills" (whatever the hell that is) and the increase in effective military intelligence. It looks to me like good communication and a drastic increase in surveilance technology is what the military is tapping. Just because social networking is rising to ~95% popularity in the younger generations doesn't mean that it's the reason for everything that generation does right.

    How is this any different from World War II where several analysts received reports and images from war zones, discussed the new information, got on the radio to send new intelligence to forces and gave feedback to the collection unit of that intelligence? It sounds like the same process to me with just the next logical step up in all of these actions. Now they're using hardware to look at live video feeds. Now they're discussing it over a computer with people around the world. Now they're piloting the drone in real time. It's the advancement of technology, not Facebook that is driving this. The only stipulation is that you are familiar with a computer and the software on the computer -- which I would buy the younger generation are more comfortable around. But again, not a whole lot to do with posting on your friends wall that you got so plastered last night. And I don't really feel like social networking increases communications skills.

    For all I know this could be the equivalent of LeBron James having a Facebook page and the New York Times saying, "Look at how well the NBA utilizes the skills of the Facebook generation."

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by kevinbr · · Score: 1

      and .....social networks are not places one find truth or accuracy. We seem to be able to waste enough civilians, now we get to do it faster with less analysis thanks to lack of constraint, responsibility and oversight.

      "Dude, Just push the fucking button, not my family gonna get wasted ....... don't push the button and I will defriend you"

    2. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by sakdoctor · · Score: 5, Funny

      Farmville 2: Golden crescent

      Add me on facebook and we can harvest raw opium together.

    3. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by HungryHobo · · Score: 1

      it sounds an awful lot like the military has just started using similar systems to the ones gamer guild have been using for years to coordinate attacks in MMO's.

      I thought the military with it's massive R&D budget was supposed to be years ahead of the curve, not years behind.

      of course they probably don't suffer occasional information blackouts because the guy who's supposed to be relaying stuff had to go put out the trash. :D

    4. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by gtall · · Score: 1

      Actually, we waste less civilians with more analysis, more constraints, responsibility and oversight. You might have missed the changes the U.S. military made since Vietnam when you last looked in on them.

    5. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by Wiarumas · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wiarumas and 2 others liked this comment.

      --
      I will bend like a reed in the wind.
    6. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I thought the military with it's massive R&D budget was supposed to be years ahead of the curve, not years behind.

      The military using teh intarwebs, whodathunkit? They'll be getting GPS units soon, just you watch.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    7. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by hedwards · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You're assuming that the analysis is accurate. Or are you one of those people that still believes that there are WMDs that haven't been found in Iraq and that Saddam was involved with al Qaeda?

    8. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by lemur3 · · Score: 1

      Gotta wonder if some recruitment minded guy is saying "we need more buzzwords" wherein buzzwords are things like 'twitter' 'facebook' 'ipad'...
       

    9. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by nospam007 · · Score: 2, Funny

      "I thought the military with it's massive R&D budget was supposed to be years ahead of the curve, not years behind."

      They just seem to misuse it as a chat replacement because the stuff they have is crap.

      When I read the article summary, I thought they were reading what the bored terrorists were tweeting to their facebook page.

      'Still waiting here with the other 17 brothers and our 3 IED at the South-Bridge for the troops of the Great Satan'

    10. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by HopefulIntern · · Score: 1

      Facebook generation

      Please don't call us that.

      You think thats bad? Remember when Kanye West said he was the voice of our generation? First I had to find out who the hell Kanye West was. Then I raged. Hard.

    11. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by idontgno · · Score: 1

      Damn you. Now you're making me think of complex combined-arms operations as just another raid night.

      Only problem is that a wipe is much more tragic, and there are no battle rezzes.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    12. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by gtall · · Score: 1

      You are assuming the analysis is inaccurate. And no I'm not still waiting for WMDs to be found or links between Saddam and al Qaeda. Saddam was naughty all by himself.

      So, how does it feel to be sympathetic to the Butcher of Baghdad and the rest of his murderous Sunnis? Care to explain to the Shi'ites in Iraq how much you value their freedom? Or the Kurds? Don't hold back, tell them how you really feel.

    13. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by gtall · · Score: 1

      That was Reagan, get yer puppets straight, sheesh.

    14. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by gtall · · Score: 1

      Hehehehe...just give us time, we'll be taking down the House of Saud too, worthless bastards. Well, we will if I become president. We went after the wrong group of bastards.

      We fund the Saudi regime to the same extend we buy oil because, well, we have this economy that runs on it. Actually, it was Roosevelt who wrote the original deal. We also buy Venezuelan oil, doesn't mean we support them either. Now if you mean we arm and help defend Saudi oil, yep, we do that. So if you and your friends would just stop driving those damn cars, we could stop.

      FedGov sets up its own soldiers to be killed because it justifies continued presence in the Middle East? Really. And where did you learn this? And the U.S. bombed the Golden Dome? Now why would the U.S. do such a thing? C'mon give us a reason. Iraqi Oil? You means the stuff the Iraqis are contracting to the Chinese to help produce? Get a grip, man. There are worse things in the world than your beliefs, but they usually have more to back them up.

    15. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by czarangelus · · Score: 0, Troll

      Remember FedGov giving Sunni insurgents a fortune in guns and money and called it the "Anbar Awakening?" Now I'm no rocket scientist but if it was me and my hated enemy was pleased to give me weapons and bundles of cash for the promise that I wouldn't fight them I'd take the deal and then turn around and buy more weapons. What do you think happened to that missing plane full of hundred dollar bills eh? Why did Rumsfeld fail to secure Iraqi munitions dumps while putting policy into place that put most Sunnis out of work (De-Baathification?)

      Either these people are stupid beyond human comprehension or they genuinely don't care about nothing but securing HalliXiBoeMartin contracts.

      The real issue is you don't want to pay real money for the resources you consume so you prop up vile dictators that crush the hopes and aspirations of people all over the world. You and your Jewish owners arm and fund both sides in conflicts all over the place and sponsor terrorism (Jundallah just for a start) and then slink in afterwards with some propped up warlord and loot the resources under the bodies of the dead. You are damned already like the dinosaurs in Land that Time Forgot with a bullet in your spinal column and a body too stupid to know it's already dead.

      --
      When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
    16. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by tibman · · Score: 1

      That Dome was beautiful. I seriously doubt it was destroyed by an outside force. It was a typical Sunni attack on Shiites.

      --
      http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
    17. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But now you can run a search of your UAV pics and see if "Camel Punch" Jalil, Akmed "The Liar", and "Shifty Eyed" Salim actually hang out together before raids happen despite what they say to your interpreter. It's not too much more than another application for image and video tagging.

      Since it's been around on Facebook, Picasa, YouTube, etc. for a good while it was bound that the military would eventually pick up on it.

    18. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AC for obvious reasons...

      When I did this (recently), it was over IRC (and something similar). Seriously... we're talking "mad IRC skills"... what does that have to do with facebook?

    19. Re:I Don't See the Connection Here by gtall · · Score: 1

      Huh? How did the Jews get into this? Go ahead, be an anti-semetic. You are in good company: Hitler, Stalin, the House of Saud, The Inquisition, the Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, the modern neo-Nazies. They all have/had their conspiracy theories about the Jewish BoogieMan behind all that goes wrong in the world only to deflect criticism of their own failings or to make themselves feel superior.

      The Anbar Awakening reduced Al Qaeda in Iraq to a mere shell and decreased attacks on coalition troops by over half. What have you been smoking?

      Planes full of 100 dollar bills probably was stolen. The U.S. military was using them bills to pay people to work for the Iraqi gov, not against it.

      "Why did Rumsfeld fail to secure Iraqi munitions dumps while putting policy into place that put most Sunnis out of work (De-Baathification?)" Stupidity. But don't let that stop your conspiracy theories.

      Halliburton was the only company which had the resources to do those contracts. Granted, they didn't do them well. There was this war going on, you might have heard of it...but I doubt it given what you think.

      Oh? And which dictators around the world are we propping up? We pulled the rug out from under Marcos in favor of a democracy. We put Noriega in Panama in jail and now that he's done his time, we're extraditing him to Spain for something or other. We pushed Musharraf in Pakistan into elections which he lost. We took out the Taliban in Afghanistan to attempt a democratic government instead of a theocracy run by a bunch of paranoid Pashtuns. We pushed for apartheid to stop in S. Africa. When we handed Kuwait back to the Kuwaitis, we made sure they opened up and become democratic. They still have a way to go but they're trying. When the Kosovo Muslims were being killed by the Serb, the U.S. bombed the Serbs back into their borders.

      When the Indonesian sunami hit, it was the U.S. Navy bringing supplies and humanitarian aid onshore at U.S. expense. This to help a lot of Muslims who hate the U.S. given the rhetoric of leaders in Aceh, the province hit the hardest. When the Pakistan earthquake hit, it was the U.S. rushing in aid amongst others.

      Now, about these dictators you claim we're supporting. Care to name names? I'll help you out a bit: Mubarak of Egypt. A bit tricky there, cut him off at the knees so the Muslim Brotherhood can get on with killing the Jews. That would make you happy but it isn't a humanitarian gesture. Hmmm....who else....errr....there must be some other dictator out there...surely....

  2. Oblig. by sakdoctor · · Score: 1

    All right, people, I'm in charge now, and we will find the terrorists.
    Jarvis, I want you to check for any terrorist chatter on AOL.
    Marley and Greggs, try searching for nuclear devices on askjeeves.com

    1. Re:Oblig. by Pojut · · Score: 1

      All right, people, I'm in charge now

      Not anymore, you're not. Orders from the President, he wants this handled personally by his staff.

      --
      Living With a Nerd
  3. Now Hiring by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Must be a five star twit.

  4. I'm sure this won't be used for political gain by jsepeta · · Score: 2, Interesting

    or to help some future government spy on it's own citizens. oh wait, that's exactly what the FUCK they're doing.

    --
    Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
    1. Re:I'm sure this won't be used for political gain by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      FISA and the Church report, COINTELPRO ect are all just words now.
      The NSA is in your local http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_center watching and sorting, kind of what they did against the Soviets, but now they are looking inwards.
      From the first mobile devices to the newest web 2.0 apps, if your using one, they will track you.
      Stay off the web, its all just signals intelligence to them. Wash your location via a sneaker net.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  5. Facebook, I knew it! by theolein · · Score: 2, Funny

    I always thought that the trolls on facebook were actually Taliban texting on their mobiles from the middle of the Afghan desert!

    1. Re:Facebook, I knew it! by siddesu · · Score: 2, Funny

      And now it turns out they are just some bored trololists who moved form Mom's basement to Pentagon's basement. Quite a letdown, no?

  6. Facebook? Command&Conquer! by arachnoprobe · · Score: 1

    Seems more like the generation "C&C" is producing its first results. Tiberium beware!

  7. About time... by Midnight's+Shadow · · Score: 1

    ...facebook did something useful.

    --
    "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. " -Voltaire
  8. Shimples by ciderVisor · · Score: 1

    Just look up InsurgentsReunited.com

    Job's a good 'un.

    --
    Squirrel!
  9. Enemy combatants by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So from the enemy's point of view, these "Facebook generation" people are enemy combatants, right?

    1. Re:Enemy combatants by FatSean · · Score: 1

      Non-uniformed actors on the cyber battlefield. Prep the torture gear!

      --
      Blar.
  10. The inevitable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ***O$AMA B1N LIZZLE***
    Mood: Jihad BABY!
    Reading: The 72 Virgins You Meet in Heaven

    we shud totally meet up in nyc dis summer it'll b a blast if u kno what i mean ;)

    LaYoUT (C) 2009 HalaLayouts http://halalayouts.deviantart.com

  11. Newsflash by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

    Newsflash: governments already spy on their own citizens. But please go back to your fantasy world where this doesn't happen.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    1. Re:Newsflash by NewbieProgrammerMan · · Score: 2, Funny

      Newsflash: governments already spy on their own citizens.

      Yeah, but now it's trendy and hip!

      --
      [b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
  12. Old tools. by FatSean · · Score: 3, Interesting

    All of the features described in this article were available long before the arise of 'social networking' and 'web2.0'. You just needed a dedicated application. Smells like someone's trying to pimp their war.

    --
    Blar.
    1. Re:Old tools. by KarolisP · · Score: 1

      you still need people to use the tools... and seems like this new generation is quite good at it.

    2. Re:Old tools. by FatSean · · Score: 1

      I suppose that could be true. But it seems like everything they described could be done in IRC nearly two decades ago. I'm guessing the traditional IRC user and the traditional army recruit had less in common back then.

      --
      Blar.
    3. Re:Old tools. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smells like someone's trying to pimp their war.

      The evil Bush administration!!! .... oh wait...

    4. Re:Old tools. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      According to some sources (pdf) they are using IRC, XMPP and others.

  13. Crowdsourced war by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A whole fucking lot scarier than traditional war.

  14. Drone Crews by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Aka "Cowards"

    1. Re:Drone Crews by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It should be pointed out though, that when it comes to wars, the vast majority of the judgement over the methods people use depends on your moral assessment of those who take part.

      E.g. a group of neo-nazis with assault rifles are going to raid a hospital in a predominately black area. A peace activist smuggles in an explosive device hidden in a 2l coke bottle. They are celebrated as intelligent and brave heroes.

      On the other hand - US troops hiding explosives and poison in food supplies taken to Taliban HQ? Boo! Hiss!

      Although people like to pretend otherwise, even to themselves, it _is_ really all about the moral assessment of those who take part. In this case, one possible explanation is, if it's somehow felt that the Taliban "has a potentially valid case", then using drone attacks "denies them the right to fight for their case".

  15. oh come on! by zarzu · · Score: 1

    Military Taps Social Networking To Hunt Insurgents

    first off: no, not even the article suggests this. the article is about tapping social networking skills. yes there's a difference... like an enormously huge one.

    and as other people already pointed out, this has nothing to do with social networking skills either. they are typing information into (military) chat rooms, my god, how difficult! clearly i need my leet social networking skillz for this, come fucking on!

    facebook generation, pleeeeease... internet generation maybe.

  16. The freedom fighters that survive by AHuxley · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Will learn from their mistakes and learn to manipulate back.
    Sooner or later they will attempt a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fortitude with some web traffic and some leaks.
    Todays cyber nerds are good with forums, chat and real time info, but do they have the feel for been played?

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    1. Re:The freedom fighters that survive by couchslug · · Score: 1

      That will work sometimes if done correctly, the observers will become appropriately skeptical, and the cycle will begin anew.

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  17. Requiring a subject is stupid, Slashdot. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The title got me thinking quite a bit, every single scenario ended with the guys with the guns shooting their monitors.

  18. Multi Kill Bonus Awarded by pev · · Score: 1

    So they're side-stepping normal hierarchy so ex-gamers can just play with militray toys? No wonder the 'collateral damage' bodycount is so high...

    1. Re:Multi Kill Bonus Awarded by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      Who would have thought that Blue-on-Blue would translate so well from Team Fortress.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  19. Let's summarize the summary a bit by Minwee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "People working together share information by talking to one another. Productivity rises. Film at 11."

    It's great that they are able to use words to communicate, but this isn't exactly a new concept.

    1. Re:Let's summarize the summary a bit by radtea · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Productivity rises.

      Err... not quite. "Destructivity rises," rather.

      Henry Ford once said if you'd asked his customers what they'd wanted before he started building cars they'd have told him "a faster horse."

      This is the military or geo-political equivalent of a faster horse.

      Rather than approaching the enemy in new and interesting ways, the same old stupid and destructive deadweight loss tactics are being applied: blowing people up and killing them. To anyone who cares about economics, this is idiotic. These people are useful, capable and potentially produtive members of the human community. Rather than intelligently find ways to exploit that, we spend billions of dollars we can't really afford to find more and more sophisticated ways to blow them up.

      If blowing things up in Afghanistan solved the Afghan problem, there wouldn't be an Afghan problem anymore. It didn't work for the British, it didn't work for the Russians, and not it's not working for NATO.

      Maybe it's time we started thinking about using new technology in ways that are actually likely to bring about the desired end--which is peace and prosperity (right?--rather than just stupidly and unimaginately pursuing the dead-end dream of a faster horse.

      --
      Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
    2. Re:Let's summarize the summary a bit by Jeng · · Score: 2, Informative

      If blowing things up in Afghanistan solved the Afghan problem, there wouldn't be an Afghan problem anymore. It didn't work for the British, it didn't work for the Russians, and not it's not working for NATO.

      It worked for the Afgans with foreign invaders. They blew their enemies up and eventually the enemies left, but then they went after each other.

      Perhaps the Afgans should quit blowing people up in general. Someone needs to stop, and if the Afgans had stopped then the US probably would not have had a reason to invade. If the US stops blowing up the Afgans then they will just go back to blowing up each other again/still.

      --
      Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
    3. Re:Let's summarize the summary a bit by Shotgun · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, right on, dude. Because when we build roads, and schools, and hospitals, those

      useful, capable and potentially produtive members of the human community

      won't come in behind and blow them up and then beat the women for the audacity of accepting medical care or an education. Those potentially fine, upstanding members of the human race won't shoot old men for accepting food for their starving tribe or allowing tribe members to be educated on ways to better grow food crops. Nothing like that ever happens...potentially.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    4. Re:Let's summarize the summary a bit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When you figure out how to tap into the potential of people commanded by God to destroy us, you let us know.

    5. Re:Let's summarize the summary a bit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even better, the people that do that were heavily encouraged (financially and stingerwise) by the US to fight off 'teh evil communists' in the 1980s onwards. That worked out well didn't it? No subsequent problems arising from that bright idea, huh?

    6. Re:Let's summarize the summary a bit by Alcoholist · · Score: 1

      The real problem is the U.S., for all its military might, doesn't have the stomach for war. The insurgents do. They are willing to go all the way for their cause, as twisted as it might seem to us. It's the same problem as Vietnam. That war was half a dozen nukes away from being solved. Afghanistan and Iraq are easy to solve too: nuke the place until everyone you don't like is dead. Or everyone is dead. Al Qaeda would do it if they could.

      But oh we can't use those horrid nukes, etc, etc... OK, fine, this shows upstanding moral character and this is commendable, but it then begs a more pertinent question: "if you weren't willing to utterly exterminate your enemies with the resources you have, why did you bother to invade in the first place? Why not just stay home?"

      --
      Bibo Ergo Sum.
    7. Re:Let's summarize the summary a bit by dugeen · · Score: 1

      If the US had been invaded by the Afghan army, with mass civilian slaughter and widespread torture, would your reasoning be 'Well, this ain't so bad, because at least when we aren't being tortured/killed, we've got these new roads, schools and hospitals?' I don't think so.

  20. FaceBook Games by daeglo · · Score: 1

    And here I was hoping for something a little more like FarmVille .... We could call it DroneVille or maybe DroneTown, maybe DroneWorld?

    1. Re:FaceBook Games by AHuxley · · Score: 2, Interesting

      FarmVille with opium crops?
      US Army - "We Tolerate The Cultivation Of Opium Poppies"
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fww_b1YVdco

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:FaceBook Games by foobsr · · Score: 2, Interesting

      US Army - "We Tolerate The Cultivation Of Opium Poppies"

      Yes, what a coincidence.

      CC.

      --
      TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
  21. settings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yeah, I noticed facebook added a new privacy setting.

    Let the someone water board you? friends & US government only -> Friends Only.

    you have to watch that shit.

  22. If only Lyndon Johnson were still around... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...so he could see the outhouses he was bombing in real-time!

  23. Sooooo by NetNed · · Score: 1

    Will this be just like the air marshall program that spends billions and results in like 4 arrests in 8+ years?

    With everyone up in arms about waste in government these days, I find it amazing that they still institute programs that are unproven and massively wasteful. Bet we will hear in a couple years that this program has cost 2 billion and resulted in no arrests of convictions.

    1. Re:Sooooo by NetNed · · Score: 1

      whooooops didn't RTFA!! never mind, move along, nothing to see here!!!

  24. YOU'RE NEXT!! by czarangelus · · Score: 1, Informative

    Sing and dance to the tune of your corporate overlords, suckers. Because you are the next insurgents. The government has said as much, many times, smearing military veterans and Ron Paul voters and people who can name at least two amendments in the Constitution as "terrorists." All these fancy weapons they're testing in Iraq and all these "non-lethal" systems that turn out to be quite lethal exist to make sure you don't demand restitution for the crimes that have been committed against the American people.

    The same politicians who don't give a flying fuck about civilian life in Afghanistan and drop cluster bombs on Yemeni children - and they don't care about you either. They are going to suck us dry like the leeches they are and when they can't get any more money out of us they'll come for our blood. And you can all cheer this on like you was Jews celebrating German conquests in North Africa because when they are done with the Middle East you're next on the agenda.

    You must all be stupid to think it's a coincidence that every day there's a new story about warrantless wiretapping or cameras everywhere or a new spy satalite like the All Seeing Eye up there in space. The same eye watching you in the celestial spheres is watching you on your dollar bills and your cellphone keeps a record of everywhere you go. But close your eyes and don't believe it, deny deny abort retry. Because there's already a hit list of American citizens and if you think it ends with Anwar al-Awlaki it must be because you were born yesterday cousin.

    You don't believe in the New World Order but you better believe the New World Order believes in you. You're an ATM to the people in charge and when you run out of money and sweat and tears you are scheduled for demolition just like an Afghanistani wedding.

    --
    When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
  25. Hey, my systems made the news :) by JohnnyComeLately · · Score: 1
    Before I just trolled for GPS articles, but looks like my recent works surfacing here as well. It is true that there is a chat system, it's previous name is mIRC, and it's going to a newer system. NATO has a tool that does the same thing, which is called JChat. The article really doesn't do justice in how integrated all the groups are now. For the comment, "increased surveillance," put on your foil hat and go back to surfing. Unless you're planting IEDs or being stupid in Afghanistan, we don't care or have time to watch you surf p0rN from 23,000 miles up.

    Back on the integration, all the teams are linked now. If they call in the IED, the CJOC (Chief of Ops for the Region) knows, the CAS (Close Air Support) and a whole litany of teams know instantly. The 3-Star HQ back in Kabul also knows. They also, as mentioned can not only see it on the UAV feed, but the local ops can see incoming patrols, convoys, anything in a few different Geo-based situational awareness tools....to soon include Google maps.

    To expand a little, the increased capability is two fold here: first, the younger guys/gals understand it and use it (huge problem with 42 nations here), and second, they're efficient with it: 1 MEF (RC-S), TIC, Indir SAF, no PID, 1 WIA CAT X (US) GSW, QRF Resp, MTF. I just told you quickly, 1st Marine troops, South near Kandahar, are in contact with insurgents, using small arm fire, shooting randomly at the Marines, that they cant see, one US soldier was lightly injured by a bullet, and a whole lot of whoop ass is on the way... Stay Tuned...

    There's a ton more but this gives a good idea. The article is probably one of the best tech military ones I've seen in a long time that didn't embellish, and got the context right. Kudo's to the writer for not taking liberties I so often see/read/hear.