Posted on 11/27/2003 7:37:26 AM PST by ChiefKujo
This is an excellent point, and I'm not trying to discourage anyone from being OPSEC minded. Given a little bit of perspective, however, I think that ChiefKujo didn't reveal enough actionable information to be of use in a timely manner. I'm all for people having concern for the President's security, I just don't think CK crossed the line.
For the Iraqi insurgents to be monitoring a second teir news site (don't fuss, ya'll know what I mean) like FR 24/7, one would assume that they are covering the primary open source links first. This would require large teams of fluent English speaking intel guys working in a secure location, with internet connections. While FR does have the occasional good hit, we're mostly an after the fact commentary board. How many 'Nuke Mecca' threads would the want to sit through before moving on?
They'd also require analysts to sift through all the data. Open source information piles up fast, and it's often hard to tell the gems from the junk. As you all recall, even veteran FR posters wanted the thread moved because it wasn't newsworty or reliable.
Some analyst would have had to determine that the unconfirmed information from a vanity poster on a known 'lunatic extremist' website (the one with black helicopters, lutefisk and ZOT) was in fact valid and possibly time sensitive, and convinced someone to act on it. This is easier said than done. The seemingly random attacks in Baghdad are based on stealth, prior planning, and the exploitation of vulnerablities and inattention. What wily insurgent commander is going to throw away scarce resources on an internet rumor? How does he know that this rumor isn't in fact a hoax to get him to expose his forces needlessly? Hasty and unplanned missions lead to compromised teams and failed attacks.
It would be a cold day in hell before we did business like that, and if the Iraqis were that astute, they wouldn't either. Of course, if they were so good at intel work, they'd be doing a whole lot better in this whole war.
Am I saying we should be overconfident? No? Am I saying we should disregard OPSEC? No. All I'm saying is that ChiefKujo saw an opportunity to give us a sublte heads up, and did so in a safe and clever way.
I heard it reported that the President left Crawford in an unmarked car boarded AF1 to Washington DC. The story told was that AF1 needed to go back for maintenance. Once in Washington DC President Bush then boarded a backup plane to AF1 and took it to Baghdad.
The regular AF1 stayed in Washington DC.
Democrat Underground Massive Belly Aching Stupidly Showing Extreme Socialism.
I had to click back to the thread you were responding to, so I could see who or what was leaking so bad. ;-)
Mylife perhaps means Hitlery's visit to BBaghdad. The President's visit was kept secret. His parents didn't even know
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