China is stepping up their game and timeline for War. -SF China’s cyber attacks against U.S. government and private sector databases are part of a major intelligence-gathering operation and are likely to continue, according to a new report by a cyber security firm. Chinese hackers stole health care data pertaining to some 80 million Americans…
Category: Intelligence Tradecraft
Can China be Deterred in Cyber-Space?
Deterring state actors from attacks that do not reach the level of force is difficult. If we look at the cyber realm, the effectiveness of deterrence depends on who (state or non-state) one tries to deter and which of their behaviors. Ironically, deterring major states like China from acts of force may be easier than…
Espionage Files: “Eyewash” and How the CIA deceives it’s Own Workforce about Ops
Senior CIA officials have for years intentionally deceived parts of the agency workforce by transmitting internal memos that contain false information about operations and sources overseas, according to current and former U.S. officials who said the practice is known by the term “eyewash.” Agency veterans described the tactic as an infrequent but important security measure,…
Espionage Files: From Pacifist Sheep Farmer to One of Britains Greatest Secret Agents
Occupied France, 1944. Francis Cammaerts stepped from a train onto the railway station platform in Avignon. Almost immediately, German security forces at a checkpoint became suspicious and asked for his papers. The son of a Belgian poet and English actress, he was everything you would never expect in a secret agent. Cammaerts had been a pacifist and conscientious objector…
Military History: The Easter Offensive 1972, A Failure to Use Intelligence
This article was originally published in the Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, 1998. It was not Intelligence (evaluated information of the enemy) that failed. The failure was [that of] the commanders and certain G2s, who did not act on the intelligence they had. –Colonel Robert S. Allen, on The Battle of the Bulge1 Like the Battle…
Chinese Military Revamps Cyber and Intelligence Capabilities
This story reminds me of Paul Newman’s famous line in the scene from Cool Hand Luke where the “Road Boss” with the Mirror sun glasses Shoots a bird flying with a rifle with one shot: “That man don’t say much, but I think he just said something right there….” The Chinese are continuously making statements…
The CIA’s Constant Battle Between Secrecy and Effectiveness
In his masterwork, On War, Carl von Clausewitz discussed the inner logic of war. He maintained that it is a logic of maximum violence without pause, violence that ceased only with the utter and permanent subjugation of the adversary. However, he also noted that war is the continuation of policy through other means. These…
Cold War Files: The Rise and Fall of the Soviet ‘Death Star’
The ambitions of the United States and the Soviet Union, late in the Cold War, to launch massive weapons into outer space sounds like a fever dream today. Few however know just how serious it got, with the USSR making impressive progress on plans for a so-called “Red Death Star” to be launched into orbit….
Surveillance is the Business Model of the Internet
The Internet of Things That Talk About You Behind Your Back SilverPush is an Indian startup that’s trying to figure out all the different computing devices you own. It embeds inaudible sounds into the webpages you read and the television commercials you watch. Software secretly embedded in your computers, tablets, and smartphones pick up the…
Inside an IS Terror Weapons Lab
Experts describe the footage obtained by Sky News of a “jihadi technical college” as an intelligence gold mine. Terror group Islamic State is employing scientists and weapons experts to train jihadists to carry out sophisticated “spectacular” attacks in Europe, while also modifying weapons systems capable of targeting passenger jets and military aircraft. From a “jihadi…