ON THE FIGHT
Over two years after the effort to oust Gaddafi that resulted in his death, Libya is a cesspool of transnational criminal organizations and terrrorism, including a new safe haven for al-Qaeda and their affiliates (commonly referred to as al-Qaeda and associated movements).
In 2012 — a full six months before the attacks in Boston — the National Counterterrorism Center released a study stating that IED precursors are widely available in the U.S.
Jane Lute, a departing Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security with cognizance over cyber integration, has warned that US policymakers should not treat cyber “as an intelligence program”, in an apparent reference to the intense secrecy that surrounds the activities of national-level agencies like the NSA.
ON THE FORCE
While many Americans assume critical components of the global war on terrorism are coordinated from Creech Air Force Base or CIA’s New Headquarters Building in McLean, Virginia, there is another critical node in that “kill chain”: the headquarters of 497th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group nestled within Joint Base Langley-Eustis, located in picturesque Hampton Roads, Virginia.
ON SECRECY – OR LACK THEREOF
The Pentagon has revised its internal guidance on the use of information operations at the tactical, operational and strategic level. Among the many revisions is a passage specifically designating so-called human-derived information as exempt from intelligence committee reporting requirements.
