The Chattering Classes of al Qaeda
Slowdown in 'chatter' worries officials
It's the Goldie Locks' view of terrorist chatter:
"This chatter is too much. This chatter is too little. I want my chatter to be JUST right."
Maybe they stopped talking because now they know which chattering channels Homeland security is listening to!
The article hints that maybe the chatter slowed down because they arrested the source of chatter.
Some could ask, "Did Tom Ridge, by making the data about the buildings in New York and DC available, alert terriorists about homeland security's 'sources and methods'?"
In this case maybe not. Ridge was getting heat for being too vague. But if he was specific, then the terrorist would 1) Know that their communications method had been comprised and stop using them and 2) Abort the attack.
So, by coming out with a specific attack out lined by Esa al-Hindi and stored on Muhammed Naeem Noor Khan's computer, Ridge could point to an intelligence triumph that is specific but doesn't reveal that they know the chattering al Qaeda operatives methods and codes.
In WWII when the allies had cracked the German's code, they had to let the Germans destroy some small villages instead of saving them because otherwise the German's would know that their code had been cracked. A real moral dilemma, I don't envy Ridge his job.
I wonder how deep they thought this announcement through, they might have picked this specific threat to throw to the American people to deal with their vagueness complaints because it was 'safe' (i.e. not going to happen). It also might have thrown the terrorists off guard, so they would underestimate HLand Security. But on the other hand the terriorsts might just think, "We have to be more careful with our communications, they obviously can crack whatever we got." This might drive them to using more one-time pads, low-level note passing and other methods that aren't easily sucked up into the NSA net.
Update 8-14-2004 : Gee, I was right. They DID blow some source to run this orange alert. Thanks to rorschach at No Capital for the link.
Idiots.
It's the Goldie Locks' view of terrorist chatter:
"This chatter is too much. This chatter is too little. I want my chatter to be JUST right."
Diminished communication prompted the concern because the counterterror experts don't know why suspected terrorists would be talking less.
Maybe they stopped talking because now they know which chattering channels Homeland security is listening to!
The article hints that maybe the chatter slowed down because they arrested the source of chatter.
Some could ask, "Did Tom Ridge, by making the data about the buildings in New York and DC available, alert terriorists about homeland security's 'sources and methods'?"
In this case maybe not. Ridge was getting heat for being too vague. But if he was specific, then the terrorist would 1) Know that their communications method had been comprised and stop using them and 2) Abort the attack.
So, by coming out with a specific attack out lined by Esa al-Hindi and stored on Muhammed Naeem Noor Khan's computer, Ridge could point to an intelligence triumph that is specific but doesn't reveal that they know the chattering al Qaeda operatives methods and codes.
In WWII when the allies had cracked the German's code, they had to let the Germans destroy some small villages instead of saving them because otherwise the German's would know that their code had been cracked. A real moral dilemma, I don't envy Ridge his job.
I wonder how deep they thought this announcement through, they might have picked this specific threat to throw to the American people to deal with their vagueness complaints because it was 'safe' (i.e. not going to happen). It also might have thrown the terrorists off guard, so they would underestimate HLand Security. But on the other hand the terriorsts might just think, "We have to be more careful with our communications, they obviously can crack whatever we got." This might drive them to using more one-time pads, low-level note passing and other methods that aren't easily sucked up into the NSA net.
Update 8-14-2004 : Gee, I was right. They DID blow some source to run this orange alert. Thanks to rorschach at No Capital for the link.
Idiots.
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