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Pentagon Cyberweapons 'Disappointing' Against ISIS (nytimes.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the New York Times:
It has been more than a year since the Pentagon announced that it was opening a new line of combat against the Islamic State, directing Cyber Command, then six years old, to mount computer-network attacks... "In general, there was some sense of disappointment in the overall ability for cyberoperations to land a major blow against ISIS," or the Islamic State, said Joshua Geltzer, who was the senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council until March. "This is just much harder in practice than people think..."
Even one of the rare successes against the Islamic State belongs at least in part to Israel, which was America's partner in the attacks against Iran's nuclear facilities. Top Israeli cyberoperators penetrated a small cell of extremist bombmakers in Syria months ago, the officials said. That was how the United States learned that the terrorist group was working to make explosives that fooled airport X-ray machines and other screening by looking exactly like batteries for laptop computers... The information helped prompt a ban in March on large electronic devices in carry-on luggage on flights from 10 airports in eight Muslim-majority countries to the United States and Britain.
Citing military officials, the Times also reports that "locking Islamic State propaganda specialists out of their accounts -- or using the coordinates of their phones and computers to target them for a drone attack -- is now standard operating procedure."
Even one of the rare successes against the Islamic State belongs at least in part to Israel, which was America's partner in the attacks against Iran's nuclear facilities. Top Israeli cyberoperators penetrated a small cell of extremist bombmakers in Syria months ago, the officials said. That was how the United States learned that the terrorist group was working to make explosives that fooled airport X-ray machines and other screening by looking exactly like batteries for laptop computers... The information helped prompt a ban in March on large electronic devices in carry-on luggage on flights from 10 airports in eight Muslim-majority countries to the United States and Britain.
Citing military officials, the Times also reports that "locking Islamic State propaganda specialists out of their accounts -- or using the coordinates of their phones and computers to target them for a drone attack -- is now standard operating procedure."
The secret is he's full of shit.
For those who doubt he claimed a secret plan
Table-ized A.I.
That's the way the Middle East is. Any one group gets too much power and they usually become assholes. Meddlers, like the US, try to balance things out so each group keeps each other in check, but that usually fails for various reasons. It's like building Frankensteins to stop other Frankensteins, and then acting surprised when they run amuck.
When ISIS is diminished, some other jerky clan will step in to be the Asshole of the Month and Washington DC pointy fingers will have another blamefest, and the Military Industrial Complex will have another jizzfest, showing off shiny new war-ware that doesn't really work. Rinse, repeat, profit!
Table-ized A.I.
Actually, when you think about it, the whole Earth is bipolar! :)
Everybody has a major cow over civilian casualties, despite the fact that only one side - ours - is concerned about that. But the people of Raqqah are not innocent bystanders: they are Sunni opponents of the Assad regime and support ISIS for that reason.
No, the vast majority of the people of Raqqah are just ordinary people that want to live a decent life, just like most everyone else all over the planet.
Levelling the city would be a good solution, but unpalatable to our PCMC sensibilities.
What you're proposing is genocide. I have no idea what PCMC sensibilities are, but yes, I'm all in favour of having a major cow over that. And that's just based on ethics, there's also the point that levelling a city is a very effective way to create terrorists.
It's hard to believe that ISIS is very dependent on computers.
They have been very adept at using social media. They are younger and more tech savvy than more traditional jihadist groups like Al Qaeda. ISIS is mostly millenials.
But perhaps the Pentagon shouldn't have "pre-announced" their cyber-offensive.
"That's the way the Middle East is. Any one group gets too much power and they usually become assholes."
No that's not the way the Middle East is' anymore than that's the way anywhere else is.