Report Suggests U.S. Needs Hit Squads

A recent report from the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations University argues that the American government should set up something like a “National Manhunting Agency” to go after jihadists, drug dealers, pirates and other enemies of the state according to an article on The Danger Room. What are your thoughts?

America’s military, intelligence and law-enforcement agencies already devote thousands of people and billions of dollars to tracking down top terrorists and insurgents. But even the most successful of these efforts — like going after Iraqi militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — have been “ad hoc” efforts, with units cobbled together from different corners of the government. Report author and retired Lt. Col. George Crawford instead would like to see a permanent group with clear authority, training, doctrine and technology to go after these dangerous individuals. These “manhunting teams would be standing formations, trained to pursue their designated quarry relentlessly for as long as required to accomplish the mission,” he writes.

Read Full Article At The Danger Room

Taliban Use Stolen U.S. Gear Against U.S.

Some Taliban fighters have been able to ward off attacks by U.S. aircraft by wearing special infrared patches on their shirts that signal that they are friends rather than foes.

The patches, which can also help suicide bombers get close to U.S. targets, are supposed to be the property of the U.S. government alone, but can be easily purchased over the Internet for about $10 each. Also available online: night-vision goggles and military-grade communications systems like the ones used by the terrorists who attacked the Indian city of Mumbai last year.

While stealing uniforms is as old as warfare itself, the Internet has made purchases of military equipment much easier and increased the risk to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some of the patches have been stolen during raids on U.S. resupply convoys in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But they can also be purchased in the United States and sent overseas with little detection.

In a recent investigation, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) bought patches using fake names and a front company with only a valid credit card. The patches reveal an American flag when looked at with an infrared light and were designed to avoid friendly fire during nighttime battles.

Jonathan Meyer, assistant director of forensic audits and special investigations for the GAO, told The Washington Times, “Based on our conversations with the Department of Defense, terrorists have used U.S. uniforms and the infrared patches to get close to U.S. and allied forces on the battlefield and at bases. This is more of a potential suicide-bomber risk.”

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U.S. Cyberattack Console Aims to Turn Grunts into Hackers

The U.S. military is putting together a suite of hacking tools that could one day make breaking into networks as easy for the average grunt as kicking down a door.

That’s the word from Aviation Week, which snuck an unusual peek inside a “U.S. cyberwarfare attack laboratory.” There, researchers are building a “device” that would “weaponiz[e] cyberattack for the non-cyberspecialist, military user.”

In recent years, Defense Department officials have thumped their chests, hard, about how good the Pentagon is at hacking enemy networks. But discussing specific online attacks — ordinarily, that’s done mostly inside of secure facilities. A 2008 Danger Room post on an unclassified Air Force research project to give cyberwarriors “full control” of “any and all” computers set of a frenzy inside the service. Generals were pelted with questions about how such supposedly-sensitive information was allowed to escape into the public sphere. Since then, there have been increased calls within military circles to show off at least some of what the armed forces’ network attackers can do. It’s an effective way of detering potential foes online, the logic goes.

The device described to Aviation Week is designed “to tap into satellite communications, voice over Internet, proprietary Scada [supervisory control and data acquisition] networks — virtually any wireless network.” And it would be able to do so in a way that makes sense to n00bs.

via U.S. Cyberattack Console Aims to Turn Grunts into Hackers | Danger Room | Wired.com.

China Military Build-up Seems Focused On U.S.

China’s build-up of sea and air military power funded by a strong economy appears aimed at the United States, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday.

Admiral Michael Mullen said China had the right to meet its security needs, but the build-up would require the United States to work with its Pacific allies to respond to increasing Chinese military capabilities.

“They are developing capabilities that are very maritime focused, maritime and air focused, and in many ways, very much focused on us,” he told a conference of the Navy League, a nonprofit seamen’s support group, in Washington.

“They seem very focused on the United States Navy and our bases that are in that part of the world.”

China in March unveiled its official military budget for 2009 of $70.24 billion, the latest in nearly two decades of double-digit rises in declared defense spending.

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