Situation Report: Intel-on-Demand in a Web 2.0 World (Exclusive)
August 11, 2012 1 Comment
By TIMOTHY W. COLEMAN | intelNews.org |
In the United States, the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), “the highest-level intelligence analysis targeted at the key national security issues and concerns of the President”, is increasingly going digital. For that matter, so is much of the output produced by the US Intelligence Community at large. According to AOL Defense News, “The President and his top officials want and will get a single mobile device allowing them to access highly classified and unclassified data wherever they are”. The mobility feature is driven by a desire not to be tethered to a desk or a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). In addition to the obvious benefits of mobility, the digitized PDB allows for a more in-depth and interactive reading of intelligence matters. In the example of the PDB, as the President reviews the nation’s most sensitive intelligence information on a specialized tablet, he can jump back and forth, click on links to take a deeper dive, see follow-up briefings, review background materials for greater context, view videos, photographs, maps and other visual aids. In fact, the PDB has gone from a static page to an interactive assessment of top intelligence concerns, landing it squarely in a quasi Web 2.0 world for the Intelligence Community. That is not to say that the President is checking Twitter, Facebook or the Rasmussen Report’s daily Presidential Tracking Poll numbers. Instead, reports indicate the digitized hardware has been scaled way down. For obvious reasons, specific details regarding the hardware’s composition and features remain classified. Read more of this post
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Jordan claims arrest of seven-member Syrian spy cell in Amman
October 24, 2012 by Ian Allen 2 Comments
Security services in the Kingdom of Jordan announced on Tuesday the detention of seven Syrian nationals who were allegedly caught with sophisticated communications devices in their possession. The announcement was made in a laconic press release issued early yesterday evening by Jordan’s Public Security Directorate (PSD), which is the Kingdom’s counterintelligence agency operating under the Ministry of the Interior. The press release said a Syrian national had been arrested in Jordanian capital Amman following “intelligence tips”. Following his detention, the man allegedly told his interrogators that he was a member of a larger Syrian spy cell active in and around Amman. On Monday, PSD forces conducted simultaneous raids across Amman and the nearby city of irbid (50 miles north of the capital), and arrested another six Syrians. According to the PSD, the detainees were found to be in possession of 35 “advanced communications devices” that are “banned in the Kingdom of Jordan”. Sources tell intelNews that the devices are portable two-way radio transceivers, which appear to be satellite-enabled and to have encryption capabilities. In addition to the transceivers, Jordanian counterintelligence allegedly confiscated three laptop computers and a “night vision device”. Special Police Force spokesman Mohammed Khatib told reporters on Tuesday that the seven Syrians were collaborating with Jordanian authorities, but refused to provide specific information on their identities, condition or whereabouts. Read more of this post
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2011 Syrian uprising, Amman (Jordan), counterintelligence, Jordan, Mohammed Khatib, Public Security Directorate (Jordan), Syria, wireless communications