On this day in 1945, on Okinawa, American forces launch Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa. After suffering the loss of 116 planes and damage to three aircraft carriers, 50,000 U.S. combat troops of the 10th Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner Jr., land on the southwest coast of the Japanese island of…
Espionage Files: CIA Trained Spy Allegedly Arrested in Russia
The Russian government says it has arrested a senior Ukrainian intelligence officer, who was allegedly trained by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and tasked with infiltrating the Russian secret services. In a statement published on Thursday, Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as FSB, said the alleged infiltrator is a “senior level employee” of the…
Modern Crime: 12 Secrets of the Witness Protection Program
Developed by Justice Department employee Gerald Shur and beginning in 1971, the Federal Witness Protection Program—or Witness Security Program (WITSEC)—has provided safe harbor for over 18,000 federal witnesses and their families in exchange for damning testimony. It was WITSEC and the promise of a government-subsidized hiding place that convinced several “made” men of the mafia…
Putin’s Attack Choppers and Merc’s are Winning the War for Assad
The George W. Bush parallel was lost on very few analysts when Vladimir Putin proudly announced that he was withdrawing a significant amount of Russia’s forces from Syria because their “mission is accomplished.” The announcement came just four days after the Atlantic published an overview of “The Obama Doctrine,” wherein U.S. President Barack Obama told journalist…
Holocaust History: Newly Released Documents Reveal Rampant Cannibalism at Nazi Concentration Camps
Cannibalism, drowning, and crucifixion: just some of the horrors described in first-hand accounts of British people’s experiences at the hands of the Nazis during World War Two which were released on Thursday in the UK. The long-sealed testimonies — contained in applications that UK nationals made to a Anglo-German Nazi Persecution Compensation scheme between 1964…
Espionage Files: More Foreign Spies in U.S. Now Than At Any Other Time in History
There are currently more foreign intelligence operatives in the United States than at any point in the country’s history, the former head of the House Intelligence Committee claimed on Wednesday. “There are more spies in the United States today from foreign nation states that at any time in our history — including the Cold War,”…
Military Defense News: After Benghazi, USMC Marks New Approach to Embassy Security in Africa
Close to the third anniversary of the infamous Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, a small detachment of Marines descended on the U.S. Embassy in Bamako, Mali, on the other side of the African continent. The little-publicized 48-hour operation took about 200 Marines attached to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground…
Cyber-Crime: Why Hospitals Are The Perfect Targets For Ransomware
RANSOMWARE HAS BEEN an Internet scourge for more than a decade, but only recently has it made mainstream media headlines. That’s primarily due to a new trend in ransomware attacks: the targeting of hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The malware works by locking your computer to prevent you from accessing data until you pay a…
Espionage Files: WW2 British General Bernard Law Montgomery was Best Man at Philby’s Wedding
Things I didn’t know: When St. John Philby got married in India in 1910, his best man was Bernard Law Montgomery. The Philby marriage of course produced H.A.R. “Kim” Philby, the greatest traitor of the 20th century. From the same book, Anthony Cave Brown’s biography of Sir Stewart Menzies, I learned the old World War II headquarters…
World War Two History: U.S. Tank Destroyer Tactics in WW2
Rules Of Innovation (10): Don’t Build Your Doctrine On Incorrect Lessons Drawn From Poorly Researched And Designed Exercises That’s the cautionary lesson of the tank destroyer, which was meant to be a relatively inexpensive, light, mobile weapon to counter German tanks. It became one of the most famous failed innovations in U.S. military history. In exercises the…