Archive for the ‘National Security’ Category
Cyber War
While doing some unrelated research, I came across an article written by Dr. Dave Pearson exposing how tenuous our cyber security situation really is.
In July 2009, thousands of “zombie” computers awoke at once and launched a massive attack against multiple U.S. targets, including the network-heart of the U.S. Department of Defense. The goal of the attack was to overwhelm the target networks with excess internet traffic, thus forcing a total shut down.
The attack raced through the Internet, hitting the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the White House, the New York Stock Exchange, the Treasury Department, the Federal Trade commission, the Secret Service, and the Department of Transportation.
According to the article, indications point to North Korea as the likely source of at least one of the attacks, but we have seen lately that pinning something on the Norks can be about as easy as convicting Rod Blagojevich of corruption.
And speaking of Chicago Democrats, it sounds like our hacker enemies merely applied the Cloward-Piven strategy — whose tactics are currently hard at work overwhelming and dismantling American capitalism — to our sensitive DoD networks. In fact, the 2009 attack did shut down several sites. As vulnerable as we are, it could have been much worse.
Each hour, the Pentagon’s computer networks are probed over a quarter million times by unauthorized users. In fact, if a deep weakness was found, the ensuing digital battle could be lost within seconds.
This is where an over-reliance on technology gets us. DoD can have all the firewalls, anti-virus, and other protections in place, but our enemies only have to be right once. U.S. Cyber Command – actually a sub-command under U.S. Strategic Command – has around 1,000 members working to secure the DoD’s seven million computers and 15,000 networks. USCYBERCOM became operational in May, but won’t be fully functional until October.
[...] the resources needed to initiate a devastating attack on the U.S. information infrastructure are no longer out of reach of terrorists. Cyberspace is the ideal realm for cyberterrorism, including terrorist networks and organizations like Al Qaeda and Hezbollah. And the Internet is the ideal tool by which to attack the U.S. on a massive scale, both militarily, as well as the entire U.S. civilian infrastructure, including the U.S. financial centers, electrical grid, telecommunications, air traffic control, and multi-national corporations.
If al Qaeda and Hizballah can conduct crippling attacks simply by pointing and clicking a mouse, we are in trouble.
In: National Security
Obama admin ignores Arizona governor’s repeated requests to secure the border
The Obama administration claims to be committed to securing our borders, but has ignored multiple requests by a governor to use troops to secure the border.
Since Obama became president, Arizona governor Jan Brewer has sent five separate requests to deploy the state’s National Guard to the border – four last year and another on March 29.
Shockingly, none of the governor’s letters has elicited a response from the White House.
A reporter from the Tuscon television news station KGUN attempted to determine why the government isn’t listening. Instead of getting answers however, he found obstacles.
According to KGU’s website, the reporter first contacted the White House Media Affairs office, who then replied that they required copies of the governor’s letters. Once copies were sent, KGUN’s follow-up call was not answered.
Another call to the Department of Homeland Security pointed the reporter to the Department of Defense, stating the Pentagon is responsible for deploying the National Guard.
The Department of Defense representative in charge of the National Guard was not in the office, and an email was sent.
KGUN reporter Steve Nunez writes: “So, here’s the trail……6 phone calls, 4 emails, no answers. Just a couple of statements including one by Napolitano’s office that was released March 26th which states ‘the Secretary shares the Governor’s concern about the safety of U.S. border communities.’”
In: National Security · Tagged with: illegal immigration, Obama administration
Terrorism Roundup
Egypt: According to Ynet, Egyptian security forces captured 100 anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons believed destined for Gaza on Wednesday according to the Egyptian newspaper al-Youm al-Sabe’. Egyptian forces also discovered three tunnels linking Rafah to the Gaza Strip, and confiscated dozens of vehicles used for smuggling.
Gaza: The Kuwait News Agency reports that Palestinians fired two more rockets into Israel on Wednesday. Local radio stations said the Ali Mustafa Brigade – the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – claimed responsibility.
And just hours after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov urged Hamas to stop militants from firing rockets into Israel, a Qassam rocket was fired into Ashkelon.
Israeli warplanes responded by launching at least five attacks on various targets.
Lebanon: Tribunal investigators have summoned 12 Hizballah members and close supporters for questioning for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Hizballah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah referred to the 12 as “witnesses and not as suspects,” and told al Manar – the jihadist group’s television station – that “We have nothing to fear and we will co-operate.”
Nasrallah stated that six additional members would appear for questioning.
Hizballah, Israel, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, Syrian intelligence, and even al Qaeda have been speculated to be involved in the Hariri killing. But in May of last year, Der Spiegel reported the tribunal had evidence showing that Hizballah was behind the massacre.
Russia: Chechen terrorist leader Doku Umarov has claimed responsibility for the “Black Widow” suicide attacks on the Moscow Metro, which killed 39 Russians on Monday. Another double attack in Dagestan killed 12, including nine policemen on Wednesday. A second Dagestan bombing killed two more on Thursday. President Dimitri Medvedev said in a Security Council meeting that the attacks are “links in the same chain,” and called for a “brutal” response.
Monday’s blasts were the first terrorist attacks against Russia in six years.
In: National Security · Tagged with: Egypt, Gaza, Hamas, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Rafik Hariri tribunal, Russia
Recognizing the 8 signs of terrorism
A group called “The Cell” has an informative video on how to recognize potential terrorist acts.
In: National Security · Tagged with: terrorism
Update: 4 of the Fort Jackson 5 discharged
While calling for the government to end their policy forbidding the mention or consideration of Islam or jihad, I pointed out the incident at South Carolina’s Fort Jackson, where 09L translators were being investigated for possibly poisoning the food supply. Not only was the credibility of my sources questioned, my integrity was also questioned merely for reporting an alleged incident.
Just because the perpetrator of a crime may be of a certain religion is no reason to dismiss threats.
Today W. Thomas Smith, Jr. writes at Family Security Matters:
The State newspaper and WIS TV, both based in Columbia, S.C., are reporting tonight that four of the Fort Jackson Five – the Muslim soldiers allegedly involved in a plot to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson, S.C. – have been removed from active duty.
According to The State, U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson – a member of the House Armed Services Committee – “disclosed for the first time that four of the Muslim soldiers had been ‘administratively separated’ from the Army, a military designation that means they were discharged with neither honorable nor dishonorable status.”
WIS TV adds, “for petty crimes.”
No mention of what the crimes were.
The fifth soldier has been removed from active service, but returned to his unit in the Virginia National Guard.
What are we not being told and why?
In: Military, National Security · Tagged with: Fort Jackson Five, W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Military needs to trash jihad coverup policy
One of the things helping jihadists attack this country the most could be the policy Obama signed last year forbidding our military from mentioning jihad, Islam, or any such terms that could anger our enemies. Granted, this nonsense started under the Bush administration. But when it comes to our national security, which is government’s primary responsibility, it doesn’t matter who is to blame. What matters is that we fix it.
Case in point: In December, five Muslims were arrested for allegedly attempting to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson. The incident is still under investigation.
From Fox News:
Five suspects, detained in December, were part of an Arabic translation program called “09 Lima” and use Arabic as their first language, two sources told Fox News. Another military source said they were Muslim. It wasn’t clear whether they were still being held.
And from CBN News:
A source with intimate knowledge of the investigation, which is ongoing, told CBN News investigators suspect the “Fort Jackson Five” may have been in contact with the group of five Washington, DC area Muslims that traveled to Pakistan to wage jihad against U.S. troops in December. That group was arrested by Pakistani authorities, also just before Christmas.
Now this, from The Palmetto Scoop:
Army officials, however, denied the allegations and said none of the men were Muslim.
So 09L’s – who speak Arabic, Dari, Pashtu, Farsi or Kurdish as a first language, who may also be in contact with other Jihadists in Pakistan – aren’t Muslim?
Why are we learning of this two months after the fact? When a non-Muslim commits a violent act, such as the man who killed the abortion doctor “Tiller the killer,” journalists pass along everything there is to know about the man. However when the perpetrator happens to be Muslim, and especially when the crime is an act of jihad, we don’t see a name or any religious connection until the last few paragraphs – if they are reported at all.
Why is this right? What kind of Mickey Mouse leadership stands by while Maj. Hasan spouts his jihadist rhetoric for years before murdering 14 innocent Americans, then says they have no freaking clue as to the alleged assailant’s motivations? And then has the audacity to warn of anti-Muslim backlash rather than have soldiers be on the lookout for other jihadists in the ranks. And then has the audacity to say that the loss of the Army’s “diversity” would be a greater “tragedy” than the 14 Americans that Hasan murdered.
Let’s not “jump to conclusions” my ass, Army! How about let’s not jump FROM conclusions.
What matters is the truth. If the truth hurts the feelings of the jihadists who declared war on us 1300 years ago, then so be it. Regardless what our Commander-in-Chief thinks, the U.S. military is not there to soothe the feelings of our enemies, or to become a proving ground of diversity. The military is there to deter our enemies from attacking us. When all else fails, the military KILLS our enemies. And while the forces on the ground have been working miracles, our leadership has been undermining their work at home with asinine policies that prevent us from looking into religion or ideology.
How many more Americans will die before Washington gets their heads out of their asses? Thousands of Fort Jackson soldiers could have been endangered by an attack on the food supply. When will these politicians realize that Americans don’t like to live under the threat of terrorism?
In: National Security · Tagged with: Fort Jackson Five, Islamic crime, jihad, Nidal Malik Hasan
How Maj. Hasan should have been handled
Victor Davis Hanson has a good point at National Review Online:
[...] Major Hasan should have been treated the same way a lone-wolf Nazi would have been treated in 1943 — once it was revealed that he was mouthing Hitlerian doctrine on a U.S. military base and communicating with Nazi-sympathizers in Argentina.
But under the Bush and Obama administrations, Islam and jihad are no-fly zones for government. Could you imagine the fallout had FDR banned the government from mentioning Nazis in a negative light? Or mentioning – as candidate Obama did regarding Hamas and Hezbollah – that Hitler does in fact have “legitimate claims?”
In: National Security · Tagged with: Nidal Malik Hasan, Victor Davis Hanson
Follow the Money: Islamic infiltration of our military, government
Private investigator Doug Hagmann at the Northeast Intelligence Network has written an incredible expose on the Saudi Arabian infiltration of our military and government. If you don’t read anything else this week, read these two articles:
In: National Security
Sen. Sessions on Brennan’s Outrageous Claims
(For background, refer to my previous article)
In: National Security · Tagged with: John Brennan, Obama administration
Government must drop partisan politics on national security
In an opinion piece for a major newspaper, a White House official lashed out at critics of the Obama administration’s ability to defend against terrorism. John Brennan, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, wrote in a USA Today op-ed on Tuesday, “Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda.”
Does Brennan truly think criticizing government’s self-admitted “shortcomings” and “systemic failures” constitutes serving the goals of al Qaeda? And with the spate of al Qaeda attacks on our homeland, our concerns are anything but “unfounded fear-mongering.”
What Brennan sees as attempts to score “cheap political points” might be more accurately viewed as Americans expressing unease with poor handling of the War on Terror.
His sub-heading reads “Administration disrupts terrorists’ plots, takes fight to them abroad.” But the administration certainly didn’t disrupt the Fort Hood jihadist massacre. To be fair, the shooter served under both Obama and Bush – despite being a card-carrying member of Soldiers of Allah (literally). While the government can’t disrupt every attack, officials should at least correctly identify the reason the attack happened in the first place. In this respect, the government failed miserably.
The 86-page report on Ft. Hood released by the Pentagon following the attack avoided any mention of the jihadist ideology that appears to be the motivation behind the attack. But the report did mention “animal rights,” “disgruntled employees,” and “white supremacy” as factors in terrorist attacks.
I ask Mr. Brennan: Does the administration’s whitewashing of the jihadist attack on Fort Hood help or hurt al Qaeda?
In: National Security · Tagged with: al Qaeda, Fort Hood tragedy, George W. Bush administration, jihad, John Brennan, Obama administration, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
