Want to know how little our police/intelligence agencies seem to have learned from their failures prior to 9/11?
I'm afraid we don't need Black Hat/Defcon to tell us this. Just yesterday we had major terrorism alerts about specific targets and today we find out the information was all years old. Does that mean the buildings weren't targets still? Well seeing as some of the info went back prior to 9/11 it would make it seem a fairly safe bet that the seriousness of the threat was vastly overstated.
by Anonymous Coward writes:
on Tuesday August 03, 2004 @01:33PM (#9869910)
today we find out the information was all years old
I think all that means is that the terrorists are going on scouting missions. IOW, scout possible targets, determine some facts about them, etc. It's the same thing militaries have done for centuries: figure out what to attack and what impact it might have.
The question is whether the targets scouted are still considered relevant by the terrorists. This is the type of stuff intelligence services need to find out, and in a timely manner. And if it is still a relevant target, find out if attacks are planned or are being planned. Get info on those plans, etc etc until an attack can be thwarted.
Now whether or not our gov't should be reacting the way it is to this info (orange alerts in NYC, Newark, Washington, etc) I dont really know. They (the gov't) might have other info not releasable to the public, and keep in mind the RNC will be at Madison Square Gardens later this month.
The question is whether the targets scouted are still considered relevant by the terrorists. This is the type of stuff intelligence services need to find out, and in a timely manner. And if it is still a relevant target, find out if attacks are planned or are being planned. Get info on those plans, etc etc until an attack can be thwarted.
You hit the nail on the head. The prevailing opinion in all the news articles I can find today is that the jumped the gun, that the info the terrorists had on these t
or there is an even more paranoid theory that this whole thing including the "3 year old data" and the terror alert was all manufactured my US intelligence for some political/military issue.
The political motivation right now is strong as this is an issue Bush polls better on than Kerry and the race is too close to call, so you cannot discount that this may have been in whole or part a polictical exercise. What with the timing (3 days after the DNC) as well, I put the chances of a political driving force
The political motivation right now is strong as this is an issue Bush polls better on than Kerry and the race is too close to call, so you cannot discount that this may have been in whole or part a polictical exercise. What with the timing (3 days after the DNC) as well, I put the chances of a political driving force at around 50%
If you want people to take a security warning seriously you do not add a campaign pitch to the end of it which is what Ridge did, claiming that the report is due to the magnifice
What police/intelligence agencies have learned. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm afraid we don't need Black Hat/Defcon to tell us this. Just yesterday we had major terrorism alerts about specific targets and today we find out the information was all years old. Does that mean the buildings weren't targets still? Well seeing as some of the info went back prior to 9/11 it would make it seem a fairly safe bet that the seriousness of the threat was vastly overstated.
S
Re:What police/intelligence agencies have learned. (Score:3, Insightful)
I think all that means is that the terrorists are going on scouting missions. IOW, scout possible targets, determine some facts about them, etc. It's the same thing militaries have done for centuries: figure out what to attack and what impact it might have.
The question is whether the targets scouted are still considered relevant by the terrorists. This is the type of stuff intelligence services need to find out, and in a timely manner. And if it is still a relevant target, find out if attacks are planned or are being planned. Get info on those plans, etc etc until an attack can be thwarted.
Now whether or not our gov't should be reacting the way it is to this info (orange alerts in NYC, Newark, Washington, etc) I dont really know. They (the gov't) might have other info not releasable to the public, and keep in mind the RNC will be at Madison Square Gardens later this month.
Re:What police/intelligence agencies have learned. (Score:1)
You hit the nail on the head. The prevailing opinion in all the news articles I can find today is that the jumped the gun, that the info the terrorists had on these t
Re:What police/intelligence agencies have learned. (Score:1)
The political motivation right now is strong as this is an issue Bush polls better on than Kerry and the race is too close to call, so you cannot discount that this may have been in whole or part a polictical exercise. What with the timing (3 days after the DNC) as well, I put the chances of a political driving force
Re:What police/intelligence agencies have learned. (Score:2)
If you want people to take a security warning seriously you do not add a campaign pitch to the end of it which is what Ridge did, claiming that the report is due to the magnifice