The mysterious Israeli Airstrike: Revisited

Last year, Israeli airplanes hit a target inside Syria - and the expected fuss over that incident, didn't materialise. This has led people to speculate that it was a nuclear facility, but not much is know.

Now, the New Yorker provides us with some quality journalism in digging deep into the story and revealing some of the contradictions that other media (and most of us bloggers) have raced past.

An interesting aspect of the article is how much information can be found in Open Sources and with some dedicated effort turned into usable intelligence.

Whatever was under construction, with North Korean help, it apparently had little to do with agriculture?or with nuclear reactors?but much to do with Syria?s defense posture, and its military relationship with North Korea. And that, perhaps, was enough to silence the Syrian government after the September 6th bombing.

A Strike in the Dark. What did Israel bomb in Syria? by Seymour M. Hersh

Sådan diskuterer man sikkerhedspolitik

En rapport fra DIMS, udgivet i sidste måned, har fundet vej til mit skrivebord nu. Og det ser overordentligt interessant ud. Grundlæggende prøver den at undersøge hvordan den nye aktivistiske sikkerhedspolitik bliver skabt i Folketinget - og påpeger hvor den praksis bliver fundet for let.

Den tilgang til emnet rammer lige ned i mit interessefelt mellem kommunikation og sikkerhedspolitik og konklusionerne ser i høj grad ud til at være i samklang med de ting jeg selv stødte på under interviews og research i den danske brug af InfoOps. Det ser ud som om debatten på Borgen halter bag efter de strategiske realiteter. Men på den anden side er dette den oplagte konklusion for enhver sikkerhedspolitiske observatør, der ikke selv har valgkredsen i klemme i dag-til-dag realpolitik.

Under alle omstændigheder er det rart at se, at DIMS'en bidrager til den forsvarspolitiske forskning på anderledes
"bløde" faconer.

Vibeke Schou Tjalve og Anders Henriksen: Vi diskuterer jo ikke politik på den måde: Regeringen, Folketinget og sikkerhedspolitikken

Fra abstract:

Den nye aktivistiske og brede danske sikkerhedspolitik stiller krav til den måde, hvorpå sikkerhedspolitikken koordineres og debatteres i det danske Folketing. Den nye sikkerhedspolitik fordrer, at man på en og samme tid gør det muligt både at centralisere og demokratisere den parlamentariske praksis. Og til det formål bør de danske politikere grundlæggende ændre deres parlamentariske kultur på Christiansborg.

OSINT and social software

Now the Canadian Forces warns their soldiers about using social software as this constitute a major source of the "enemy's" intelligence. Brig.-Gen. Peter Atkinson estimates that as much as 80 percent of their intelligence comes from the net.

This percentage has set off some fury over at Enthropic Memes, disputing the claim. And to me it also seems that the good Brigadier General is just regurgitating one of the most widespread OSINT memes, namely that 80 percent of all intelligence is gleaned from open sources. This is the type of information that can be thrown around without anyone actually bothering about finding a source. It might very well be true, but it comes off as if the Social Software and the internet has changed this from the days of the public library, and I don't think that's the case.

I think there is some validity to the claim, but on the other hand, the internet has also strengthened some aspects of Counter Terrorism, so you loose some, you win some.