RC-135 Rivet Joint, Wikimedia Commons By James Dickey, Columnist According to various news reports over the past several months, the United States does not have enough aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) to meet ballooning world-wide demand. The oft-cited reasons for this include too few aircraft, [1] budget shortfalls,[2] and even a shortage of … Continue reading Amateurs Talk Collection, Professionals Talk PED
Category: Intelligence
Accurately Attributing the Sony Hack is More Important than Retaliating
By Michael Sexton, Columnist Beginning November 24, 2014, Sony was struck by an aggressive cyber attack, which involved the release of employees’ private information and threats to terrorize movie theaters showing The Interview, a comedy centered on a CIA assassination plot against Kim Jong-Un. The popular narrative of the attack’s origin, supported by the US … Continue reading Accurately Attributing the Sony Hack is More Important than Retaliating
Using Hate Sites to Counter White Separatist Terrorism in the US
Wikimedia Commons By Joshua Forget, Columnist Since 9/11, terrorist attacks from right wing extremists have been more numerous and more deadly than terrorist attacks from jihadists in the United States.[1] In the wake of President Obama’s immigration decision, the feasibility of a white separatist terrorist attack being carried out on US soil may increase. This … Continue reading Using Hate Sites to Counter White Separatist Terrorism in the US
Morality in Intelligence Practice: Lessons from the British Experience in Northern Ireland
Photo by Hayes MKII/Flickr | By Natasia Kalajdziovski | The role of intelligence in successful counterterrorism efforts is undoubtedly critical. That role, however, can become complicated when counterterrorism efforts focus entirely on domestic terrorist groups. Questions of morality inevitably arise when liberal democratic states direct counterterrorism efforts against their own citizens; these questions stem from a … Continue reading Morality in Intelligence Practice: Lessons from the British Experience in Northern Ireland
Revisiting the Invasion of Iraq
Baghdad, 2011. Photo courtesy of the GSSR editorial board This op-ed was featured in GSSR Vol. 1 Issue 2. By John C. Gannon In the past few weeks, I have gobbled up numerous media retrospectives on the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, which came two years after my retirement from the CIA. I heartily agree … Continue reading Revisiting the Invasion of Iraq