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| 2015-12-22 |
| Good backgrounder to the Wonderful World of Intel. There really aren't all that many ways of gathering intel: open source, signals (COMINT, ELINT, etc-INT), HUMINT (agents), and PHOTINT. The different INTs confirm/deny each other. Usually the people expressing the loudest opinions are the ones who know the least about it. That fact that we have seventeen or so different bureaucracies is a disgrace. |
| Posted by:newc |
| #4 The lack of classifications markings does not negate the doctrine of 'need to know.' This fellow is writing about sources and methods from an insider's perspective which probably violates the non-disclosure agreement he signed when 'Read-Off' the programs or access. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-12-22 23:53 |
| #3 Nothing here is classified. |
| Posted by: newc 2015-12-22 23:29 |
| #2 About the author: John Schindler is a security expert and former National Security Agency analyst and counterintelligence officer. A specialist in espionage and terrorism, he's also been a Navy officer and a War College professor. He's published four books and is on Twitter at @20committee. Safely out of uniform, gov't service, and the requirement to pass a poly, putting others at risk by discussing 'sources and methods' appears to ok.... as long as his articles and book sales produce revenue. Apologies to Pollard and the Rosenbergs may be in order. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-12-22 09:04 |
| #1 This reality applies even more in the struggle against ISIS, which would like nothing better than to catch American spies whom they can decapitate, or perhaps set on fire in a cage, for YouTube. Commandos from the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command, in tandem with the DO’s Special Activities Division (which is composed mostly of former military special operators), have regularly deployed in the Middle East against ISIS, but they’re not under cover in any meaningful sense, neither are they big-picture intelligence collectors. Flag down - Operators probably have a much better grasp of the "big picture" and the reality of terrorism and intelligence collection than some politically motivated Federal bureaucrat at Main or Foggy Bottom...or the author if this POS. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-12-22 08:43 |