Pentagon orders its cyber arm to stop operations against Russia [updated]

March 1, 2025 by 12 Comments

PentagonTHE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of Defense has reportedly ordered its Cyber Command to “stand down from all planning” of cyber operations aimed at Russia. According to technology news source The Record, the order was issued by President Donald Trump’s newly appointed Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. Citing three anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the Record said US Cyber Command’s outgoing Director of Operations, Marine Corps Major General Ryan Heritage, communicated the order last week to all component commands.

Established in 2009, the US Cyber Command is among the 11 unified combatant commands of the US Armed Forces. It coordinates and directs cyber operations in the Department of Defense, having achieved a degree of autonomy from the National Security Agency (NSA), which has historically led the US military’s defensive and offensive cyber operations.

According to the Record, Secretary Hegseth’s order appears to encompass all offensive cyber operations aimed at Russia. These are carried out by US Cyber Command’s National Mission Teams, as well as all component commands, which reside under the US Armed Forces branches —namely the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy. The order also appears to apply to all cyber operations carried out by the US European Command. However, the order does not apply to the NSA, according to the report.

The precise scope of Secretary Hegseth’s order remains unclear. The exact duration of the order is also not known at this time. But, according to the Record, Hegseth’s order provides “more evidence of the White House’s efforts to normalize ties with Moscow,” as the Trump administration continues to push for a negotiated end to the Russo-Ukrainian war.

In a separate development, Secretary Hegseth reportedly told Mexican government officials on Friday that the US military was “prepared to take unilateral action” to combat drug cartels in the country. According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported this development, the Trump administration has begun transporting nearly 2,000 troops to the US-Mexican border, to assist in “machine operation, medical evacuation and administrative support.

UPDATE: The New York Times is also reporting this as of March 2, stating that move is “apparently part of a broader effort to draw President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia into talks on Ukraine and a new relationship with the United States.”

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 01 March 2025 | Permalink

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U.S. Pentagon ran secret COVID-19 anti-vaccination campaign to undermine China

June 17, 2024 by 1 Comment

Coronavirus COVID-19THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of Defense ran a secret psychological operation on multiple social media platforms, aimed at undermining Chinese-manufactured vaccines against COVID-19. The controversial campaign was met with objections by several U.S. government officials, but continued for over a year, spanning both the Trump and Biden administrations.

According to the Reuters news agency, which uncovered the alleged plot, the psychological operation initially targeted the Philippines in the spring of 2020. During that time, the Southeast Asian nation relied heavily on the CoronaVac, also known as the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, which was manufactured by the Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech. The CoronaVac vaccine was approved for human consumption by the World Health Organization.

An investigation by Reuters determined that the U.S. Pentagon attempted to undermine the efficacy of the Chinese-manufactured vaccine, in order to sabotage the relations between China and the Philippines. Over time, the Pentagon project morphed into an anti-vax campaign that questioned the quality of Chinese-produced coronavirus test kits and Chinese-supplied face masks. There was also an attempt to stigmatize Chinese-produced medical supplies relating to COVID-19. The campaign argued that the coronavirus had originated in China, which made Chinese-manufactured medical supplies suspect.

The psychological operation utilized hundreds of fake social media accounts on multiple platforms, which were unified under the hashtag #Chinaangvirus —Tagalog for “China is the virus.” By early 2021, the campaign had expanded to the Middle East and Central Asia. Some social media posts claimed that Muslims should not be using the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine because it contained pork gelatin and should thus be considered forbidden under Islamic law. These tactics raised objections by some U.S. government officials, notably from the State Department, who expressed them in meetings with Pentagon personnel. The secret campaign was terminated in June of 2021.

The Reuters news agency spoke to Greg Treverton, former chairman of the U.S. National Intelligence Council, which ensures that the work of the nation’s intelligence agencies reflect the government’s policy priorities. Treverton told the news agency that getting “as much vaccine in people’s arms as possible” would have been in the national interest of the U.S., adding that the Pentagon’s secret operation “crosses a line”. Reuters said that a senior Pentagon official acknowledged a secret psychological operation was indeed launched, in order to “disparage China’s vaccine in the developing world.” However, the official “declined to provide details” of the operation.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 17 June 2024 | Permalink

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US Pentagon’s ‘secret army’ of clandestine operatives dwarfs CIA spy force: report

May 19, 2021 by 5 Comments

Pentagon

THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of Defense maintains a “secret army” of over 60,000 operatives, many of whom work across the world in a clandestine capacity, with fake identities and manufactured backgrounds, according to a new report. Newsweek, which published the report on Monday, said that the Pentagon force is “more than ten times the size” of the clandestine wing of the Central Intelligence Agency, which is commonly associated with carrying out covert operations abroad.

According to William Arkin, author of the Newsweek report, the Pentagon’s secret operatives are part of a wider US government effort known as “signature reduction”. The program provides undercover government operatives the ability to operate domestically and around the world without the fear of having their links to spy agencies or the military discovered by online sleuths. Some of these operatives carry out clandestine tasks under their real names, claims Arkin, but without having any formal connections with the US government, or even their country of citizenship.

Others operate under manufactured identifies, which, according to the report, are created by the Pentagon’s Operational Planning and Travel Intelligence Center. Its purpose is to alter databases of US government agencies, such as the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, or the Customs and Border Protection agency, so as to protect the manufactured identities of covert operatives. Such operatives are also provided with technologies that allow them to evade face-recognition and other biometric identification measures, including fingerprint scanners, according to Newsweek.

Another part of the “signature reduction” program, according to the report, consists of private-sector enterprises that work with the Pentagon to provide its clandestine operatives with contractual covers. These allow the operatives to work abroad under civilian cover and without any official connection to US embassies or military bases, according to Newsweek.

The report claims that the largest component of the Pentagon’s “signature reduction” program consists of members of Special Operations Forces. The remaining components of the program are made up of military intelligence and counterintelligence specialists with a variety of skills, including linguistics specialists and cyber operations. The latter form “the fastest growing” group within the program, and are tasked with collecting information about targets online, as well as engaging in influence campaigns utilizing social media platforms around the world.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 19 May 2021 | Permalink

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NSA places its Trump-appointed lawyer on administrative leave, pending probe

January 22, 2021 by Leave a comment

NSAAMERICA’S LARGEST SPY AGENCY, the National Security Agency, has reportedly placed on administrative leave its general counsel, who was installed on orders by the White House just hours before the end of Donald Trump’s presidency. Michael Ellis worked as an aide to Representative Devin Nunes (R-Ca) until 2017, when he joined the White House as the senior associate counsel to President Trump and deputy legal advisor to the National Security Council (NSC). In 2020 he was promoted to NSC’s senior director for intelligence.

Last November, days after losing the presidential election, Trump attempted to appoint Ellis as NSA general counsel —effectively the chief legal officer at the spy agency. There was speculation that Trump’s move was part of an effort to declassify documents that he believed would harm the reputation of his domestic political enemies. But the NSA resisted the move, with its director, General Paul Nakasone, allegedly dismissing it as “an attempt to burrow a political appointee [who is] not qualified for the post into a career civil service position”. The Trump administration persisted, however, and last week the then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller ordered General Nakasone to appoint Ellis, as instructed, effective by 6:00 pm on January 16. The NSA continued to stall the move, but it eventually appointed Ellis as its general counsel at 6pm on January 19.

Now, however, it appears that Ellis has been placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation into his NSA appointment, which has been launched by the Department of Defense’s Office of the Inspector General. According to The Washington Post, the investigation concerns “the circumstances of [Ellis’] selection” to serve as NSA’s general counsel. CBS News cites “a source familiar” with the case, who claims that Ellis is also facing allegations that he may have mishandled classified documents.

The NSA said it would not “comment on personnel matters”. The Department of Defense’s Office of the Inspector General said it would not confirm nor deny that Ellis was under investigation.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 22 January 2021 | Permalink

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US Pentagon signals it will stop supporting CIA’s counterterrorism mission

December 11, 2020 by 2 Comments

PentagonTHE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of Defense has reportedly notified the Central Intelligence Agency that it plans to terminate most of the military support it provides for the spy agency’s counterterrorism operations. Some of these changes may occur as early as January, according to reports published on Thursday in several US news outlets.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the CIA incorporated an increasingly expansive counterterrorist mission into its list of activities. But it has relied on Pentagon resources to support many of these activities, for things like transportation, physical security, logistics, and even execution. The Pentagon’s role in these activities tends to be crucial, given that they usually take place in active combat zones or other dangerous locations around the world. They therefore require heavy military protection.

However, President Trump has been implementing his plan to withdraw American military forces from warzones such as Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. These troops provide logistical and material support to CIA missions in some of the world’s most dangerous regions. Additionally, the Department of Defense has been signaling for quite some time its intention to focus less on counterterrorism and more on what experts refer to as “near-peer competitors” —namely China and Russia.

According to reports, Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller sent a letter to CIA Director Gina Haspel, in which he informs her of the Pentagon’s decision to make drastic changes to its support for the spy agency’s counterterrorism operations. It is believed that some of these changes will take place as early as January 5, 2021. It has also been reported that this decision marks the culmination of a so-called “pet project” of Acting Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a Trump political appointee, who was placed in his current position by the president following November’s election.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 11 December 2020 | Permalink

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NSA director and nearly all US Joint Chiefs of Staff in isolation for COVID-19

October 7, 2020 by 1 Comment

Pentagon

Seven of the eight members of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff —the group that brings together the nation’s most senior uniformed leaders— are in self-imposed isolation, after attending a meeting with a Coast Guard admiral who has since tested positive for COVID-19. As the list of senior American government officials that are in self-imposed isolation continues to grow, it was reported yesterday that the director of the National Security Agency, US Army General Paul Nakasone, was also self-isolating until further notice.

The decision to enter a period of self-isolation was taken yesterday, after it became known that Admiral Charles Ray, Vice Commandant of the US Coast Guard, had tested positive for COVID-19. Last Friday Admiral Ray attended a classified meeting at the Pentagon, which took place in the presence of members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of the NSA. Now all of these officials and their aides are in self-isolation. They include three Army generals (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, General James McConville and General Daniel Hokanson), three Air Force generals (General Charles Brown, General John Hyten and General John Raymond of the US Space Command), and Admiral Mike Gilday.

The only member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is not currently in isolation is Marine Corps General David Berger, who was unable to attend Friday’s meeting because he was not in Washington. However, another member of US Armed Forces, an officer who at times carries the US president’s Emergency Satchel to be used in a nuclear emergency, has reportedly also come down with COVID-19.

On Tuesday afternoon, Department of Defense spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement that “other Service Chiefs” were isolation, but did not provide their names. He added that none of those who are in isolation showed symptoms of infection by the coronavirus. However, they will be remaining in isolation “for the rest of the week and the first part of next week”, he added. Pentagon officials insisted on Tuesday that, despite the virus scare at the highest echelons of the US military establishment, there was “no change to the operational readiness or mission capability of the US Armed Forces”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 07 October 2020 | Permalink

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US military records 22 percent increase in COVID-19 cases in one week

July 20, 2020 by Leave a comment

COVID-19 PentagonUnited States military officials are raising concerns about the rate of increase of COVID-19 cases in the Armed Forces, which appears to be growing at twice the national rate. Last week, the Department of Defense said that the number of its personnel that contracted the virus rose by 22 percent compared to the week before. The spike is even bigger in the Marine Corps, which saw a 30 percent increase last week.

Nearly 30,000 Department of Defense affiliated personnel —which includes civilians, contractors and dependents of employees— have contracted the virus since the first case of a military service member with COVID-19 made news in February. It took just over six weeks for 10,000 COVID-19 cases to be recorded among Pentagon personnel. But the number has now doubled in half that time, according to The Military Times.

What concerns American military planners is that the rapid rise in positive coronavirus cases is occurring despite the implementation of strict guidelines for wearing face coverings, practicing social distancing and restricting the movement of military personnel outside bases. Part of the problem is that many of the southern states that are currently seeing a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, such as Texas, Florida, Georgia and Arizona, are home to large military bases.

Meanwhile, Kris Alexander, who recently retired after serving as a COVID-19 crisis planner at NORTHCOM in Colorado Springs, warned on Sunday that the virus is likely to spread even faster in the ranks of the military and National Guard during the upcoming hurricane season. He writes that the coronavirus has incapacitated volunteer organizations, like the Red Cross, whose trained disaster responders are usually older in age. The lack of volunteers, says Alexander, would necessitate the use of the National Guard in case of a natural disaster, which would likely stretch the already stretched National Guard to the breaking point. The next step, he says, would require the mobilization of troops under the US Army’s Defense Support to Civil Authorities mission.

“But the real problems would come after their exposure to the virus in the disaster zone”, says Alexander. Active-duty forces would do their best to help in a possible disaster zone, but many of them would likely contract the virus and bring it back to their bases, including to the military doctors who cater to the needs of Department of Defense personnel. Such a scenario would cause major spikes of the virus among military and security personnel by the end of the year, according to Alexander.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 20 July 2020 | Permalink

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Pentagon study warned about global crisis caused by ‘novel respiratory disease’

April 6, 2020 by 1 Comment

DoD Pandemic reportA United States Department of Defense report warned about the danger of a global crisis caused by a “novel respiratory disease”. The existence of the 2017 study adds to the mounting skepticism about President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that the coronavirus pandemic “blind- sided the world” and “came out of nowhere”.

The 103-page report is titled USNORTHCOM Branch Plan 3560: Pandemic Influenza and Infectious Disease Response, and was presented to the leadership of the US Northern Command headquarters in January 2017. It discusses the possible causes of a “clinically severe pandemic” and outlines the complications that it is likely to cause around the world. It also proposes an array of possible responses to such a crisis by the US military. A draft of the report was published online by The Nation earlier this month. The American newsmagazine said that it obtained the report from “a Pentagon official who requested anonymity to avoid professional reprisal”.

The Department of Defense study bases its analysis on data acquired from recent pandemics, such as the 2012 Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS coronavirus) and others. It discusses “coronavirus infections” and warns that “[t]he most likely and significant [pandemic] threat is a novel respiratory disease, particularly a novel influenza disease”. The report then goes on to describe the medical supply shortages that would be caused by a coronavirus pandemic. It does so with a stunning degree of accuracy that mirrors the situation that the US is currently experiencing due to COVID-19. For instance it states that global “[c]ompetition for, and scarcity of, resources will include […] non-pharmaceutical Medical Countermeasures”, namely medical masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment needed by healthcare workers.

It also warns that dire shortages in medical equipment will be hampered by inadequate logistical support and will have “a significant impact on the global workforce”. Furthermore, the Pentagon study appears to anticipate a “worldwide competition” for ventilators and other hi-tech medical devices associated with intensive care units, as well as a scarcity of hospital beds. It ominously states that “even the most industrialized countries will have insufficient hospital beds” to accommodate the numbers of those who will need to be hospitalized due to having been infected by the virus.

Two weeks ago, The Washington Post reported that, starting in January of this year, the US Intelligence Community repeatedly warned the White House about “a virus that showed the characteristics of a globe-encircling pandemic” requiring “swift action to contain it”. The paper cited “a US official who had access to intelligence reporting” about the coronavirus, who said that “the system was blinking red” in January.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 06 April 2020 | Permalink

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Pentagon leaders see COVID-19 crisis lasting months, destabilizing regions

March 26, 2020 by 2 Comments

Mark Esper MilleyThe United States Department of Defense is working under the assumption that the COVID-19 epidemic will seriously affect the life of the country for “at least several months”, and might cause “political chaos” in parts of the world. This was stated during a virtual town hall for members of the US Armed Forces, which was hosted on Tuesday by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley.

General Milley told participants that the Pentagon was planning “for this to be a few months at least”. He added that, according to all indications, the US was looking at “eight to 10, maybe 12 weeks —something like three months” of confronting serious disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It could be “as late as July”, said Milley, and assured the audience that the Department of Defense was “taking all precautionary measures to be in it for the long-haul”.

Both speakers speculated that the pandemic could destabilize a number of countries around the world, and that the ensuing lack of security could pose threats to US interests. Milley pointed out that acute shortages of critical medical equipment, such as respirators, gloves, masks and ventilators, could cause certain countries to spiral into instability that will “go well beyond the immediate medical issues” and “lead to political chaos”.

On Wednesday, Brigadier General Dr. Paul Friedrichs, who serves as the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Staff Surgeon (the Pentagon’s most senior medical professional), said that COVID-19 was spreading too quickly for experts to determine how many troops would eventually end up contracting the disease. However, Dr. Friedrichs cautioned against lightening any restrictions on social distancing before sufficient time passes to “make a dent” on infection rates. Doing so “could be disastrous”, he warned.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 26 March 2020 | Permalink

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US military given ‘continuity of government’ standby orders for COVID-19 pandemic

March 18, 2020 by 8 Comments

PentagonFor the first time in the modern history of the United States, the Department of Defense has been given standby orders to ensure the “continuity of government”, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These extraordinary measures, which include evacuating White House officials to remote quarantined locations, and devolving the nation’s leadership to “second-tier officials”, were originally meant for the aftermath of a nuclear war.

However, according to Newsweek, “Above-Top Secret” contingency plans are now in place, in case the nation’s Constitutional power successors are incapacitated by the pandemic. Standby orders have been issued for a series of plans under the US Northern Command (NORTHCOM), which was created in response to the 9/11 attacks as a homeland defense military authority.

These operations are codenamed OCTAGON, FREEJACK and ZODIAC, said Newsweek, and include CONPLAN 3400 (homeland defense if the US itself is the battlefield), CONPLAN 3500 (defending civil authorities in an emergency), and CONPLAN 3600 (defending the National Capital Region from an attack). Newsweek added that the Defense Secretary, Mark T. Esper, has authorized NORTHCOM to “prepare to deploy” in support of these “potential extraordinary missions”. These include “the possibility of some form of martial law”, where military commanders would be given executive powers across the US until a new civilian leadership would emerge.

An added complication to these plans is that the military itself is vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic, which makes for “extraordinary circumstances”, said Newsweek. In recognition of this vulnerability, the Department of Defense has instituted unprecedented restrictions for off-base activities of military personnel. Having first banned overseas travel, the Pentagon is now keeping all uniformed personnel on or nearby military bases across the country and the world. Newsweek added that several other national security agencies are following the Pentagon’s contingency plans, and that continuity personnel at the White House are “readying [for an] evacuation”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 18 March 2020 | Permalink

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US Pentagon insists it can continue to function despite COVID-19 outbreak

March 5, 2020 by Leave a comment

PentagonThe United States Department of Defense has insisted that it can continue to function uninterrupted, despite claims by some media outlets that American military readiness may soon begin to degrade as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

During a press conference on Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he was “fully confident” that the Pentagon could perform its functions uninterrupted by the spread of the coronavirus. He added that he was expecting to receive a proposal early next week about how the Pentagon —the world’s largest office building, staffed by 20,000 employees— could prevent or mitigate the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, he said, the Pentagon’s National Military Command Center —designed for a nuclear attack— would be able to sustain the Department of Defense’s employees “for weeks at a time, if they have to be locked down inside the building if we have some type of outbreak”.

He did not comment on reports from last week, according to which senior American military commanders expressed concerns about the state of the country’s military readiness by the end of March. Late on Thursday, the US European Command announced the early termination of a joint military exercise that was underway in Israel, as a precautionary measure against COVID-19. A few days earlier, Pentagon officials canceled a joint military exercise in South Korea. Meanwhile, leading US defense contractor Lockheed Martin announced on Thursday that it had halted production at its F-35 plants in Italy and Japan. The company said that production at its factories in Texas continued uninterrupted.

Defense Secretary Esper said yesterday that the US military’s worldwide efforts on COVID-19 were being coordinated by US Norther Command, which was preparing for “short- and long-term scenarios, domestic and international situations”. He did not elaborate on that statement. Also on Thursday, the Pentagon announced that it had started administering coronavirus screenings to all new and potential recruits for all branches of the Armed Forces.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 05 March 2020 | Permalink

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US unable to trace $716 million worth of weapons given to Syrian rebels

February 21, 2020 by Leave a comment

Syrian Civil War rebelsThe United States government is unable to account for nearly $716 million in weapons it gave to various Syrian groups during the war against the Islamic State, according to a Department of Defense audit. The weapons were procured under the Counter Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Train and Equip Funds (CTEF) program, which was administered by the US Pentagon in 2017 and 2018. The CTEF program cost the US taxpayer a total of $930 million.

But now an audit by the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General, which was released to the public on Tuesday, shows that most of the CTEF weaponry’s whereabouts cannot be verified. The reason, according to the audit, is that officials with the Special Operations Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, failed to maintain detailed lists of all military equipment given to Washington’s allies in Syria between 2017 and 2018. Officials did not have a centralized depository facility for dispensing the equipment, and no documentation was kept during the operation, according to the audit. Consequently, thousands of weapons, weapons parts and other military hardware were exposed to “loss and theft”, says the Pentagon report.

There is no speculation in the report about where the missing weapons may have ended up, nor is there any indication that they may have fallen into the hands of the Syrian government, the Islamic State or Iranian-backed Shiite paramilitaries that are active in the region. However, the report notes that the Syrian battlefield is awash with American-manufactured weaponry. Much of the weaponry fell into the hands of pro-Syrian government militias, or the Islamic State, after US-trained rebel groups were defeated by them, joined them or simply surrendered.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 21 February 2020 | Permalink

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ISIS evolving into ‘effective clandestine organization’ US Pentagon warns

December 7, 2018 by Leave a comment

ISIS forces in RamadiA report from the United States Department of Defense warns that the Islamic State is swiftly returning to its insurgent roots, as observers in Iraq and Syria caution that the group is witnessing a revival. It has been four years since the Islamic State —known then as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS— conquered much of eastern Syria and more than a third of Iraq’s territory. But by the end of 2017, virtually the entirety of ISIS’ self-styled ‘caliphate’ had been obliterated by an ‘unholy alliance’ of US-backed Iraqi government forces, Iranian-supported Shiite militias, Kurdish guerillas and Western airpower.

However, experts warn that, despite its loss of territorial control, the Islamic State maintains an active force of as many as 30,000 armed fighters in Iraq and Syria. Additionally, a recent US government report argues that, having been driven out of nearly all of the territory that it once held, the Islamic State is promptly “returning to its insurgent roots”. The report, authored by analysts at the US Department of Defense, claims that the militant Sunni group is “re-emerging as a guerrilla force”. In the place of what used to be a de-facto state, an “effective clandestine ISIS organization appears to be taking hold”, it states. The Pentagon document, summarized in a Financial Times article on Thursday, appears to be backed by information from the ground in Iraq and Syria. Iraqi military sources told The Times that ISIS appears to have more fighters in its ranks than initially thought, and that the group’s organizational structure that helped it grow in the first place “has not been eliminated”.

Moreover, the group is “still well-funded” and its operations remain lethal, said the paper, especially in Iraq, where it continues to undermine the government’s efforts to improve the country’s security. Islamic State fighters are systematically targeting regional leaders, said The Times, in an effort to prevent the government from delivering economic development in Iraq’s Sunni-majority western regions. A similar pattern of activities is being observed in Syria, where a resurgence of ISIS activity has prolonged the deployment of around 2,000 US military personnel there. What is more, ISIS fighters frequently cross the Iraq-Syria border and spend much of their time in safe houses and other hideouts. The paper quotes Yahya Rasool, spokesperson for the Iraqi Army’s Joint Operations Command, who says that “our war on ISIS today is an intelligence war, not a military war. We are searching and raiding their hide-outs”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 07 December 2018 | Permalink

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Islamic State’s online footprint declines drastically, experts say

October 26, 2018 by Leave a comment

Islamic State - IAThe online arm of the Islamic State, which was once one of the organization’s most noticeable trademarks, has declined markedly in 2018, according to expert observers in the United States and elsewhere. This is especially applicable to the militant group’s online propaganda and recruitment campaign, which appears to have effectively ceased, say experts.

According to The Washington Times newspaper, most information warfare experts at the United States Department of Defense believe that very little is left of the Islamic State’s once sizeable Web and social-media presence. The paper said that, according to the US Pentagon, the total media footprint of the group —which is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)— has diminished by as much as 83 percent since its peak in 2015. Online activity measured by the US Pentagon includes posts on social media by Islamic State members and commanders, as well as professionally produced pro-ISIS images and videos aired on YouTube and other image- and video-based online platforms. It also includes material from the Islamic State’s press bureau, the Amaq News Agency, which in previous years produced hundreds of pro-ISIS videos.

Experts told The Washington Times that the Islamic State’s online footprint has shrunk as a result of the group’s loss of its territory. The loss of ISIS’ physical bases in the Middle East has resulted in the death of many of the group’s online propagandists. Those who survived are currently hiding or fleeing from the authorities, fearing arrest or death. This has “crushed [the militant Sunni group’s] ability to mount a coordinated Web-based strategy”, said The Washington Times. The military attacks against ISIS continue to take place alongside an “aggressive counterstrategy in cyberspace”, said the paper, which is being led by the US Pentagon and its allies. This has included the successful targeting of thousands of social media accounts belonging to ISIS members and supporters, as well as complex hacking operations. The US Pentagon also coordinates the delivery of online content that counters the Islamic State’s narrative and messages.

But some experts warned the paper that the Islamic State continues to recruit members online and that the group’s online recruitment efforts are not completely a thing of the past. In fact, new ISIS-sponsored content continues to appear online regularly, they said. In September of this year alone, the Islamic State released 12 different videos, mostly aimed at recruiting new members. Additionally, the militant group continues to use Facebook, YouTube, and other popular online social media platforms, experts warned.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 26 October 2018 | Permalink

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US Pentagon wasted $450 million in Afghan spy training program, says watchdog

August 3, 2017 by 5 Comments

Afghan National ArmyNearly half a billion of American taxpayers’ funds were wasted by contractors hired by the United States government to train Afghan intelligence personnel, according to a scathing report by a Congressional body. The funds were spent between 2010 and 2013 by the US Department of Defense, in order to train several thousand members and a few dozen aspiring trainees of the Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). Two companies, Legacy Afghanistan R&D and Afghanistan Source Operations Management, oversaw the training program. It was primarily executed by a contractor, Imperatis Corporation, and a subcontractor, New Century Consulting, at a total cost of $457 million to the US taxpayer.

But according to a new report, the four-year program was a monumental, multimillion dollar waste. The report was written by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The body was established by the US Congress in 2008 to supervise the effectiveness of US government-funded reconstruction programs in Afghanistan. Dated July 2017, the SIGAR report says it is “almost impossible” to evaluate the effectiveness of the ANDSF intelligence-training program, because none of the contractors and subcontractors involved in it kept adequate training records. Based on the available information, the SIGAR report concludes that there is virtually “no indication of improvement in intelligence operations” by ANDSF as a result of the four-year training program.

Part of the reason for the poor value of the program is that “a significant portion” of the intelligence trainees enrolled in it performed below the minimum standards required. Additionally, few trainees actually completed the courses that were required prior to graduation. Shockingly, the US Pentagon paid the contractors in full despite the fact that they had failed to keep adequate records of their performance, an omission which legally entitled the Pentagon to refuse to payment. Even more incredibly, the SIGAR report also found that Imperatis Corporation billed the US taxpayer nearly $4 million between March and December of 2011 for training courses that had been canceled and were not being offered.

The training program’s subcontractor, New Century Consulting (owned by retired US Special Forces Colonel Tim Collins), was criticized two years ago in another SIGAR report for spending $130 million of US taxpayers’ funds on “unsupported” and “questioned” purchases. The program’s main contractor, Imperatis Corporation, went out of business in May 2016.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 03 August 2017 | Permalink

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