generalspeaking

Electronic Intelligence

The National Security Agency of the United States has been under huge pressure of public condemnation relating to its all-consuming collecting of electronic data, both from without and from within the United States. Its mandate is the collection of that data for the purpose of searching for clues to potential terrorist activities. Data collection is massive. Initially, when Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor whistleblower distributed documents to various selected news outlets administration assurances were that no internal electronic messaging retrieval was involved.

Until it was revealed that to enable effectiveness of operation, the data gathering is conducted on a much larger scale, including internally, than had previously been stated. Raising an outcry of outrage from the public. There's a cost, a quite steep cost in privacy in the interests of security and public protection. There are unwaveringly relentless psychopaths subscribing to a religious ideology of pathological hatred willing and eager to deliver concrete and devastating acts of violence to demonstrate the depth of their commitment to terror.

One of them was of course Osama bin Laden, the founder and head and motivating spirit behind al-Qaeda, which became a global web of jihad. Whose most inspired and heinous assault on American power, prestige, infrastructure and almost three thousand lives in action on one foul day of infamy has earned him a place in world history. Some of those recently released documents reveal that 16 spy agencies coordinated efforts in tracking al-Qaeda operatives' mobile telephone calls.

A voluminous "black budget" document was screened and portions of it published by The Washington Post, cooperating with the government in withholding most of the 178-page report. What was revealed was the part played by the NSA in revealing the identity of the mysterious hermit living with his family in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Where the movements of senior al-Qaeda lieutenants using mobile phones held central place.

The NSA's Tailored Access Operations group tasked with planting spyware and homing devices on mobiles and computers was involved. Hundreds of photographs of the compound were taken by the National Reconnaissance Office, whose responsibility revolves around satellites. Even then, with the resources of the entire U.S. intelligence community with its over 100,000 staff and budget of $52.6 billion, there was uncertainty of the identity of the man being pursued.

When the Navy Seals moved through that night watched overhead by reconnaissance satellites to pick up electronic signs that al-Qaeda might have become aware, or that the Pakistan military had been alerted at the incursion, all went as planned, but there was a mere 40 to 60% certainty as to bin Laden's presence. Data being collected electronically allowed the monitoring of the live activities as commandos proceeded on their mission.

The National Security Agencies' coordination continued; samples of bin Laden's DNA were sent to the Defense Intelligence Agency before the body was slipped from a U.S. warship into the Arabian Sea. And the DIA was able to produce a "conclusive match", confirming that the body was that of bin Laden within eight hours of the raid. Leaving the compound, the Seals gathered computers, hard drives, CDs and USB sticks for analysis in the U.S.

Analyzing required the purchase of 36 work stations and the services of outside examiners and linguists for which purpose $2.5-million was allocated. Among other revelations it was shown that the inner circle surrounding bin Laden had been examining secret diplomatic and military files published by WikiLeaks.

Full Circle.

Labels: Crisis Politics, Defence, Intelligence, Security, United States

posted by Pieface @ Monday, September 02, 2013