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| Caucasus |
| Interesting tidbit on US-Russian counter-terrorism relations |
| 2004-02-03 |
| Excerpted from a much larger article. Counterterrorism has been the centerpiece of recent cooperation, most of it secret. U.S. News has learned that in December, U.S. intelligence used electronic intercepts and satellite images to locate a band of Chechen terrorists wanted for murder and kidnapping who were fleeing through the mountains of Dagestan in southern Russia. Thirty-seven militants were killed in an assault by Russian special forces, artillery fire, and aerial bombing. The exchange of information goes both ways: The Russians provided data on the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan in 2001 and on Saddam Hussein’s regime during the Iraq war. Now ain’t that interesting ... |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 the idiot Boston Globe reporter... There's my vote for the redundancy of the day. |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-2-3 12:05:09 PM |
| #5 The press will eventually have to start choosing to be "American" over being a "Reporter" PUH-LEEEEEEZE. Leopard, spots, change, NOT. Is that a haiku ? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-2-3 10:31:11 AM |
| #4 I've commented before that Russia's Chechen operations show all the hallmarks of either lousy intel or lousy intel coordination, or both. This confirms my suspicions. |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-2-3 10:05:57 AM |
| #3 The USA and Russia alliance...don't let them see the new Movie Miracle, not because we beat the CCCP, but because of the horrible acting...the relatinship will be over quicker than that shot of Janet's nipple. |
| Posted by: Bin Dempsey 2004-2-3 9:22:27 AM |
| #2 Your want info on moving targets in the boonies, we can do that better than anyone else with the tech we have. IR, satellites, intercepts, etc. But these are fragile sources - ask the idiot Boston Globe reporter who published a "leak" during the Clinton administration that told how we were intercepting Bin Laden's sat-phone conversations; which promptly stopped being used, completely blowing the source of the info. THe press will eventually have to start choosing to be "American" over being a "Reporter" when reporting issues like that. That is why were were blind to 9/11: tech gone (via press leak) and no real "spies" inside. We are over-reliant on technical sources of intelligence. Its going to take us a decade to recover the US HUMINT business from the 25+ years of crippling "reforms" started under Carter and continued by every president since then (with the possible exception of Reagan - they let us off the leash there, against the Communists). You want info from inside a farily closed group, you need HUMINT. We suck at that. Good that the Russians are willing to go quid pro quo. The Russians still have KGB style guys they go to for that kind of thing. They cannot afford the high-tech, so they go with the tried and true: dangerous men in dangerous places. They have guys who will cut off a man's "appendages" and mail them to his father to get the idea across that they are serious about an issue. People in Washington (and the press) have got to get over the "yuck" factor. HUMINT is a dirty, inexact business, and can require dirty deals, and some wet work. To have good HUMINT you have to deal with some bad people, and you will have some things go wrong (Iran-Contra for example). But it has to be done, warts and all... Consider the price paid if you do not do this stuff... There are a few thousand dead people in NY City and the Pentagon bearing witness to what HUMINT failure costs. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-2-3 9:19:29 AM |
| #1 I always suspected that something like this was going on, nice to see more and more confirmation of it. |
| Posted by: Evert Visser 2004-2-3 8:46:50 AM |