OSINT Analysis of Militia Communications, Equipment and Frequencies (wordpress.com)

An anonymous reader writes: On January 2, 2016, the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, United States, were occupied by armed members of rump militias in one of the longest-running law enforcement standoff in American history. The Radiomasterreport blog, using publicly available information, wrote an OSINT Analysis of Militia Communications, Radio Equipment and Frequencies. The research results has astonishing conclusions: far-right patriot militas openly carrying +3000$ AR15 rifles and US military body armour also use cheap 30$ unsecure chinese Baofeng walkie talkie radios with no encryption whatsoever. Any simple ham radio operator , police scanner owner, or even some folks with a Software Defined Radio can receive those militia communications.

Comments

Wannabe soldiers

[spiritplumber]

have no concept of operational security. And now to Ric Romero with the news!

Re:Wannabe soldiers

[OverlordQ]

Well a non-trivial number of these guys are former military and so during that time, they just had some poor asshole who carried the radio and even if they used it, they never had to worry about encryption, it was somebody elses job.

Re: Wannabe soldiers

[Nidi62]

Patriots standing up for civil rights.

I didn't realize that setting fire to government land because they wouldn't let you use it for grazing was a civil right. I must have missed that clause in the Constitution. Finicum isn't a hero, isn't a martyr, he took up arms against the government of the United States. This was a modern day version of the Jon Brown Raid, and those that perpetrated it deserve the same fate as Jon Brown.

Also, I like how you complain both about how the police now have to wear body cameras in one sentence and then complain about them turning them off in another. Nice cognitive dissonance there.

Re:Wannabe soldiers

[bobbied]

Look, to be fair, off the shelf radios with encryption are not easy to afford and are difficult to manage.

But that doesn't mean they don't have OPSEC here, it just means they don't encrypt the audio. There are other ways to obscure what you are saying enough that the listener may not be able to easily figure out what you are communicating. Using code names for things, altering numeric data in reversible ways all are easy to implement, don't require encrypted radios and provide a measure of OPSEC without the expense or logistical key distribution problems.

Besides, all the tactical information the government really needs would be observable even if they had encrypted radios. The problem is that once you hit that transmit key, it's like you are striking a match in a dark room and revealing your position no matter what you say. Tactically, knowing where things are is the most important, followed by knowing when they are communicating. Anything more is nice, but unnecessary if you are interested in making an armed assault.

Re: Wannabe soldiers

[Nidi62]

Further, the occupation was a protest to violation of double jeopardy and persecution of a man for an accidental brush fire.

An "accidental brush fire" that happened to burn up evidence that the two men in question had committed numerous offenses related to poaching and was corroborated by a member of their own family. The two men in question also publicly stated that the people occupying the facility in no way spoke for them, and most of the locals, including local Paiute Indians, wanted the "protesters" to leave as well. As I said several times already, these people committed a modern day Jon Brown's Raid, committed an openly hostile act against the United States government, and should be treated accordingly.

Re: Wannabe soldiers

[bkr1_2k]

The other thing that people seem to miss regarding these YeeHawdis is that they are idiots.

This is the problem with most conservatives. They're conservative because they're stupid.

And this is the problem with people who spout "left" or "right" instead of thinking for themselves. they over-simplify issues, generalize the "other" as "stupid" or "thoughtless" or just as a whole, rather than as thinking individuals, and they make themselves look like assholes.

The "left" and "right" are both wrong. Thinking about a subject on its merits (rather than because it's your side's point of view) is the only way to rationally and intelligent consider anything.

Re: Wannabe soldiers

[WaffleMonster]

I didn't realize that setting fire to government land because they wouldn't let you use it for grazing was a civil right. I must have missed that clause in the Constitution.

Due to Medias complete and epic inability to provide any useful context as to "why" these people were there in the first place I felt it necessary to waste hours reading legal transcripts of jury and sentencing to try and sort it all out.

It is very easy for someone who lives in cities to make these comments about setting fires portraying the Hammonds as crazed pyromaniacs. Controlled fires are routinely used to control invasive species and pests, reduce potential for dangerous uncontrolled fires, provide for growth of grasses used for grazing. Fires are set regularly to manage public and private lands all over the world. Sometimes controlled fires get out of control and cause unintended damage.

What the Hammonds did was sneaky, dangerous, stupid and illegal. They did not properly get permission to set their fires, they set a fire to cover for illegal deer hunting, trespassing, strong arm a ranger into not telling on him..etc. They were sentenced and did time for their transgressions.

The problem with Hammonds going back to jail has to do with total complete and utter bullshit. A "terrorism" bill invoked by setting of fires even though none of this had anything to do with anything even remotely related to terrorism demands a mandatory 5 year minimum sentence. The Judge who originally handed out the sentence deemed this to be way over the top for crime and refused to invoke the mandatory minimum sentence.

Eventually this argument was lost in a higher court who upheld the mandatory minimum sending Hammonds back to jail. These people are not terrorists, militia members, rebels or freedom fighters they publically stated they don't want Bundy's help, they just wanted to go to jail and do their time.

Text of a totally unrelated terrorism bill is overriding common sense of Judges imposing unnecessarily harsh minimum sentences on an old man who is regarded highly in his local community and all everyone talks about is the stupid assholes with guns occupying little shit buildings in the middle of nowhere.

Finicum isn't a hero, isn't a martyr, he took up arms against the government of the United States. This was a modern day version of the Jon Brown Raid, and those that perpetrated it deserve the same fate as Jon Brown.

Personally I'm waiting for more facts to be known about the circumstances of his death before making a judgment. If he died pointing weapons at law enforcement then he deserves what he got.

"Standoff"

[Nidi62]

Not really much of a standoff when you have local residents bringing you food and those inside the facility are able to come and go as they pleased. Hell, the leader of the group even left to go visit family in Boise at one point. That being said, as a 2nd Amendment supporter myself, these guys committed treason and openly engaged in an act of war against the US government by occupying federal property by force of arms. I believe that this action was no different than Jon Brown's Raid and the perpetrators should be punished accordingly.

Re:"Standoff"

[Nidi62]

Considering what happened to the Native Americans, why is this a surprise to anyone?

These constitution-loving folks seem to have forgotten exactly how the west was won.

"Well, I didn't think they'd do it to white people..."

You do realize even the local Paiute tribe wanted these idiots to leave, right? And that local ranchers actually already had grazing rights on the refuge. They even took down the fence of a local rancher to "help" him and he said he didn't even want them there either.

Re:Militia ?

[Koreantoast]

Militia is a particularly unique form of domestic terrorism / unrest that regularly pops up in the United States. It's distinguished from terrorism because the tactics are a bit different - they almost never aim to directly create mass civilian casualties or property damage like your more typical terror group. However, they do encroach and illegally use Federally owned territory. The American Federal government tends to be very cautious with them because the last tit-for-tat escalation in the 1990s ended with the Federal government accidentally killing dozens of men, women and children in addition to most of the militia members (Waco, Ruby Ridge are the two most public examples) that eventually did lead to terrorism by a group of sympathizers - the Oklahoma City Federal bombing. Maybe the more apt term would be anti-government rebels, but as one person pointed out, the US tends to be sympathetic to the term rebels given our history, so critics of militia don't like using the term.

Re: Militia ?

[Nidi62]

And the violence committed was?

A group of people standing in your office protesting is a sit in. A group of people standing in your office protesting with guns is an occupation and a hostage situation. By entering the facility with weapons they made the implicit threat (and following statements such as Bundy's and Finicum's made it explicit) that you are willing to use those weapons. That's the violence.

Re: Militia ?

[Nidi62]

Perhaps, but I don't see where their actions provoked a state of terror in the public or was violence perpetrated against a noncombatant or bystander. At most this is trespassing, breaking and entering, refusing a lawful order and resisting arrest with a possible "while using a firearm" enhancer..

Their actions were intended to force a particular response,was carried out in a violent way, and had a political purpose. And it was perpetrated against you. Your tax dollars help fund the wildlife refuge and their actions prevented people from the ability to use the facility and caused damage to the facility (removal of fences, cameras, etc).

Re: Militia ?

[Nidi62]

Who are the hostages in this situation?

Metaphor much? The possession of firearms takes this from a peaceful protest to a violent, forceful act.

Re: Militia ?

[TsuruchiBrian]

"All I did was point a gun at the shopkeepers head and say that I would murder him in front of his family if he didn't give me all the money in the register. I didn't commit any violence. I was just exercising my right to freedom of speech."