headland

Most of the secrets that intelligence agencies spend billions to find are available for free. In "Money for nothing and your clicks for free" (The Sunday Age [Australia], March 2, 2008), Tom Hyland writes:

"Old spies say that if you didn't steal a piece of information or get it by secret means, it's not intelligence."

To open source advocates, up to 95% of intelligence sought by governments is freely available — if you've got the time and expertise and know where to look. It's less cloak and dagger, more mouse-click and blogger. It's a revolution US agencies have responded to, with the creation in 2005 of the Open Source Centre, based at CIA headquarters. Its analysts don't just search and translate traditional open sources such as news media, journals and published reports.

They are looking at YouTube, which the centre's director, Doug Naquin, says "carries some honest-to-goodness intelligence".

"The problem with spies is they only know secrets." Former CIA officer Robert Steele

They're entering chat rooms, and looking at citizens and social media like MySpace and blogs. They were the first to discover the value of blogs in understanding developments in Iran, for instance.

"We have one person … who we've actually hired to blog on terrorist internet messaging," Naquin said.

As evidenced in yesterday's Missile shield to protect the Gulf from Iran, Headland continues to look for "open secrets" from parts of the web not universally accessible in order to gain a deeper understanding of global developments.

Labels: Australia, CIA, open source, OSINT

The Australian press today (The Australian; The Daily Telegraph) is reporting several interesting details about Australian terrorist suspect Mamdouh Habib, one of 35 detainees at Guantanamo Bay whose case is being reviewed for his possible release. The U.S. Government lawyers presented papers to a District Court containing several allegations:

• Habib admitted having prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks.
• He helped move chemical weapons within Afghanistan, near Kabul.
• Habib conducted surveillance of buildings, hospitals and schools.
• He was in telephone contact Ibrahim El-Gabrowny, convicted over the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Additional connections between Habib and those convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing were reported in the Australian press last summer:
• In July, it was reported that Habib's lawyer, Steven Hopper, revealed that Habib had been a schoolfriend and neighbor in Egypt of Mahmud Abouhalima, also convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center ("Habib, WTC bomber 'old schoolfriends'" Lincoln Wright, Canberra times, July 10, 2002).
• The Canberra Times also reported in July that Ibrahim El-Gabrowny telephoned Habib and asked for Habib's financial support for Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind cleric who was convicted for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
• In the same July article in the Canberra Times, Habib was also reported to be a close associate of Ramzi Yousef, convicted of planning the 1993 WTC bombing.
• Habib stayed in an al-Qa'ida safe house in the months leading up to September 11.
• He planned to hijack a plane himself.
• Habib trained with al-Qa'ida, and its Kashmir-based offshoot Lashkar-e-Taiba.
• Sheik Mohammad Omran, of Melbourne, alleged earlier this year that Habib had assembled a war chest of $12,000 to send Islamic rebel fighters to Chechnya.
• Habib has claimed he was tortured by the Egyptian secret police before being transfered to Guantanamo Bay in 2003.

Labels: Afghanistan, al Qaeda, Al-Qa'idah, Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaida, Australia, Mamdouh Habib, Ramzi Yousef, September 11, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, World Trade Center

"It happened, interestingly enough, before the 11th of September, 2001, and it does underline the fact that al-Qaeda had an interest in this country before the terrorist attack on New York and Washington and before the involvement of Australia in Iraq." Prime Minister John Howard

Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has confirmed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man who planned the September 11 strikes, was granted a tourist visa for Australia just one month before the attacks.

Labor Leader Mark Latham responded by saying the incident showed the need to tighten Australian security. Prime Minister John Howard, drew a different moral, pointing out that the incident revealed al-Qaeda’s interest in Australia prior to the Australian involvement in the war in Iraq.

Labels: al Qaeda, Al-Qa'idah, Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaida, Australia, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, September 11

Let there be no mistake: I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and a certain response.
John F. Kerry July 29, 2004.

That line in Kerry's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention occasioned notice. Was Kerry implying that he will cede the next move to the terrorists? Can the Democrat reject the right of preemptive action, thereby placating his base on the left, while trying to make the appeal to swing voters that he stands for a stronger America?

The issue was joined this week in Australia, where Prime Minister John Howard criticized his election opponent Mark Latham for ruling out preemptive strikes against terrorist targets in Southeast Asia. Howard has said he would order preemptive strikes in neighboring countries if he learned that a terrorist organization such as Jemaah Islamiyah was planning an attack on Australia. Jemaah Islamiyah had killed nine people outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta just this last month and the same group was responsible for the October 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202.

Labor Party leader Latham, asked what his approach to terror in the region would be, said: "We've rejected Mr. Howard's notion of preemption, extended preemption. You need to do things in cooperation with our neighbors.... There's obviously sovereignty issues involved with that question, our approach is diplomacy, cooperation with our neighbors."

Howard sounded an alarm: "The question was 'If you knew there was going to be an attack on Australia, would you be willing to act to stop it?' What other answer can an Australian prime minister give than to give that answer? I'm amazed that Mr Latham didn't give the same answer as I gave." (AFX News, Asia, September 19, 2004)

In the United States meanwhile, as Kerry continues to avoid press conferences and news interviews, U.S. voters may have to await the debates for clarification of his views about preemptive action against terrorism.

Labels: Australia, Bali, Jemaah Islamiyah, John Howard, John Kerry