[Cindy]

http://internet-haganah.com/harchives/006804.html

19 March 2010
“AH, THE PLEASURE OF WAKING UP IN THE MORNING TO DISCOVER THAT...
...you’d spent two years running interference for the Saudis and the CIA:”

SNIPPET: “As for the rest of us, life goes on, as does the global war on terror, and our adversaries learn and alter their behaviors constantly. As a result of the last point, this whole debate is of limited value, as it doesn’t address what al-Qaida operatives are doing online today, and where they are doing it. The caravan has moved on, folks.”

[marron]

This is the challenge of any undercover operation. To be effective, you’re going to be drawn into giving effective help to your enemy, at least for a time. If you use your intel too quickly and too often you risk burning your assets too soon. You won’t be able to penetrate very deep.

But, then again, the reason you are gathering intel is to disrupt your enemy. So there is always going to be a tug of war between two competing needs.

Another issue. If you’re truly undercover, you may be attacked by your own side, since not everyone can be in the know. Too much protection could blow your cover.

[SunkenCiv]

Four former senior U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified operations, said the creation and shutting down of the site illustrate the need for clearer policies governing cyberwar. The use of computers to gather intelligence or to disrupt the enemy presents complex questions: When is a cyberattack outside the theater of war allowed? Is taking out an extremist Web site a covert operation or a traditional military activity? Should Congress be informed?

Oh yeah, that's what should be foremost on our minds. ;') Thanks Cindy.

[marron]

CIA spokeswoman Marie Harf said, "It's sheer lunacy to suggest that any part of our government would do anything to facilitate the movement of foreign fighters to Iraq."

Oh, but we should be. We should be insinuating our people into every step of the process. We should have people sleeping in caves next to Osama, driving trucks hauling weapons to Waziristan, working on websites in Hamburg and Gaza, moving money in and out of Abu Dhabi, whatever they are doing we should be mirroring it and moving our people into it. Our people shouldn't know they are our people, in the best of worlds.

If we aren't, I would want to know why not.

And if we are, I would want them to deny it. Of course. Obviously.