I guess this is the Intelligence Community’s way of arguing that they need these massive capabilities in order to keep us safe. If it seems kind of high-school to be garbling al-Qaeda’s newsletters, it does open up an interesting debate. One part of the debate is about capabilities and the other is about strategy. Let’s look at the capabilities:
“You can make it hard for them to distribute it, or you can mess with the content. And you can mess with the content in a way that is obvious or in ways that are not obvious,” said one intelligence official, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal debates…
…Although techniques are carefully guarded, officials said U.S. intelligence operatives have monitored the magazine during its production process through overseas computer networks. Each time an issue is about to hit the Internet, officials from the NSA, CIA, Pentagon, State Department and Justice Department debate whether to sabotage it.
In cases where threats appear imminent, steps might be taken to disrupt publication. In some cases, cyber-spies sabotage files so that they come up blank when a user clicks on them, according to the former official. In one case, the official said, the sabotage was not corrected for months.
Sometimes, the disruption occurs when the magazine is being put together, intelligence officials said. An U.S. operator might alter a technical point in a set of bomb-making instructions so the device will not work. The sabotage could go unnoticed for a long time, an official said.
That sounds like verification that the NSA can “can watch you form ideas as you type,” as Edward Snowden alleged.
It raises another question for me, which is how they could be able to watch these folks assemble their newsletter and not know exactly where they are. We’ve had an active drone program in Yemen for years, and we’ve used it to kill some of the people who make this newsletter. It seems odd that we would reword their recipe for a bomb rather than drop a bomb. I am not even endorsing our drone program; I’m trying to understand how this story fits in the context of our known policies.
On the First Amendment issue, I am a bit confused about that, too. Terrorists don’t have a Constitutional right to publish incitements to kill people or blueprints for implements of mass destruction.
In any case, I don’t think monkeying with their newsletter is going to fix the problem, nor do I think droning people will fix the problem. It’s not that they should ignore the people who make this newsletter, but lessoning the threat of terrorism is going to involve a much broader and longer-term reassessment of foreign policy priorities.
Is this a leak or a press release. Because if it’s a leak, al Quaeda’s Inspire operation knows that it was a US military operation and not, say, an Anonymous wannabe that trashed their web site. And that there were “sensitive internal debates”. By the standards of folks seeking Snowden’s head for treason, that aids and comforts the enemy.
Because I don’t here any agonizing screams from the usual media suspects, I take it that this is a press release done in an unusual way. And without concern for the two issues I just mentioned.
So, our IC is the dog eating the terrorists homework?
This kinda freaks me out. If they just told al-Qaeda to double-check their bomb-making instructions in response to the recent revelations, ‘High school’ is far too kind.
This kind of undermines Booman’s theory that Obama was playing 11th-dimensional chess by fighting women’s having free access to Plan B:
Stupidity is not evidence of playing 11th-dimensional chess. Stupidity is evidence of stupidity. Both the “IC” and the Justice Department are filled with idiots.
Did the Obama administration simply play out Churchill’s observation that you can always count on Americans to do the right thing after they’ve tried everything else. Maybe the whole Plan B opposition from the Justice Department just finally collapsed under the weight of its ludicrousness? We’ll never know.
As for how we might defuse or deter some of the terrorists who are thirsting for American blood, has anyone thought to try pursuing a foreign policy that doesn’t create so many corpses out of persons in other countries who were simply minding their own business?
Now that’s some crazy talk.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/06/obama-drops-plan-b-contraception-battle.php?ref=fpa
That makes me suspect he just realized he was beaten and decided to make the best of the situation.
Also, because the alternative is let Opus Dei shit all over reproductive rights.
If they just told al-Qaeda to double-check their bomb-making instructions in response to the recent revelations, ‘High school’ is far too kind.
Cultivating paranoia in your enemy can be a very useful tool, too. Getting them to mistrust even legitimate communications can gunk up the works.
“It seems odd that we would reword their recipe for a bomb rather than drop a bomb.”
I don’t think you would bomb if you didn’t know the extent of the network. It might be beneficial to know who is trying to cook up that particular bomb recipe.
Tough to launch a drone strike on an internet cafe in downtown Lahore. Works much better in the sticks.
Yes, indeed, thank goodness we have created the NSA and all its wondrous implements so that we can undermine the journalistic integrity of Al Qaeda Weekly! Or is it Terror Today? Whatever, we know we can rest easy now that our giant computer vacuum and software geniuses can boldly erase the beard on the digi-screen image of Past Editor (and Founder) bin Ladin! And think of the damage we’ve inflicted on the Islamist want ads section! Some ads have never been repaired! Ruthless. And the NSA never sleeps!
Now why does our secret NSA behemoth have to be trained on every American phone to “disrupt” the weekly al Qaeda editorial again?
I think all the emphasis on al Qaeda here is a little misleading. What about China? What about India? The NSA isn’t the only entity in the world that has the capability to watch you form ideas as you type. What kinds of capabilities does Google have? I don’t know if they’re watching me type this (Hi guys!) but they do have pictures of my house.
So the capabilities exist, and they will still be in use if the NSA folds up its entire operation. What are we to do about that?
Dollars to donuts there no discussion at all of that going on in the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership talks. Or at least not in regards to ordinary citizens.
OT: It amuses me that Carlyle Group is the holding company for both Booz-Allen-Hamilton and Dunkin Donuts.
They’ve got NSA and cops covered.
As usual, the Onion hits it out of the park:
“Area Man Outraged His Private Information Being Collected by Someone Other Than Advertisers”
http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-outraged-his-private-information-being-co,32783/
.
Not always though, with no contract you get raided by a 12 men strong Swat Team.