-=- Living in London and working more or less on top of one of the blast sites (Aldgate) meant I was well within the security perimeter. After doing all the usual disaster recovery stuff i found myself with time to think.
Here are some thoughts: : This has the feel of a homebrew copy of the madrid atrocity about it. And it really is a KISS type of attack, very simple, and devastating. : I'm willing to put money on the murderers (I'm not going to use the word terrorist, as that implies a politcal agenda you can actually make sense of) are mostly local and they used their own savings to finance this attack. They will have no previous records and everyone who knows them will be genuninely suprised when they find out who they are, as they will have been in almost every other respect utterly and scrupulously law abiding. : The Security Service has actually done a pretty good job here. I can think of at least 8 attempted attacks that have been foiled, in spite of our terrible HUMINT. The way the police and special branch works here with the local community has also been pretty sucessful as my downstairs neighbour (a local Imam) will testify to. The reason this attack was not spotted was because they are very easy to mount with only a miniscule amount of training and basic knowledge. No flying lessons needed, only a simple electronics text book and someone with access to the right materials. : You can't dry up the sea (as was suggested as being a good idea by one post on the offlist). You can, however poison it. In this case poisoning the sea means getting the local muslim community on board (they largely are already) and the only way you are going to do that is by being percieved to be scrupulously fair to the same extent that the murderers are utterly arbitary. Extraordinary rendition, Gitmo and other war fighting derived methodologies serve to alienate people and short of building internment camps it's going to impossible to monitor all the potential sympathisers in a community that is totally hostile or unresponsive to law enforcement overtures. : The front line is every mosque, every family, every group of friends. The bond and trust between society and the individual has to be strong enough to overcome the reticence of people to call law enforcement about their friends and family. This means law enforcement has to be transparent and justice must be seen to be done. People have to know that the people that are close to them will get a fair trial. Ethnic and religious minorities need to be rolled into society (something the US excels at), and given a place at the offical table. I only wish that the institutions in the UK were used like this. We have all sorts of cermonial title and pomp which enhances the idea of entitlement for a community. How about giving the religious leaders of the minorities the same right to sit in the house of lords enjoyed by archbishops? Dish out a few more life peerages to community leaders. Give people a stake in society and an active disincentive to blowing things up. : When extraordinary methods are needed in forstall an attack, for gods sake please keep it secret. No books, no news reports, and sure as hell no leaks for political gain. Occasionally it may be required that a sting operation is needed in order to entrap a 'technical consultant' (bomb maker, trainer, suicide bombing psychological support specialist). In these cases, secrecy around methods should be preserved. No books, no articles until something like 30 years after the events. -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
