The Counter Terrorist Magazine - February/March 2013

N ar c o S u b s • T r a c k in g T h e Tal i b a n • H e z b o l l a h • D e m o g r a p h i c Wa r fa r e

Journal for Law Enforcement, Intelligence & Special Operations Professionals

Counter The

february/march 2013

Volume 6 • Number 1

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Counter

The Journal for Law Enforcement, Intelligence & Special Operations Professionals February/march 2013

Volume 6 • Number 1

COVER story:

34

contents

34

22

50

60

World cyber war

By Chris Mark

FEATURES:

8

Firsthand: Tracking the Taliban

By Andrew Curtiss

22

Case Study:

“BIGFOOT” AND NARCO SUBMERSIBLE INTERDICTION

By Phillip Null DEMOGRAPHIC JIHAD: CONQUEST WITHOUT AN 50 ARMY

By Paul Williams

60

Hezbollah Advises Mexican Cartels?

By Jennifer Hesterman

departments: 6 From the Editor

Welcome 48 Book Review

Secret Weapon: How Economic Terrorism Brought Down

the U.S. Stock Market and Why it Can Happen Again

69 Innovative Products

Armadillo Tactical Ladder, Commandlink Overwatch, Sevylor Colorado

72

Training Review

Open Source Intelligence

Cover Illustration: Scott Morrison

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 5

Counter The

From The Editor:

Welcome

By Chris Graham

W

Journal for Law Enforcement, Intelligence & Special Operations Professionals

Volume 6 • Number 1

elcome back to The Counter Terrorist. This issue is being read by an

expanded audience and new readers. So for those experiencing their first issue with us… Welcome!

The Counter Terrorist is the premier journal dedicated to the study of unrestricted warfare and criminal action of international significance. Where other journals focus on technology, we focus primarily on people and the techniques they have been observed employing. While others are often introverted in focus, we strive to be primarily extroverted in focus. Others view events through the perspective of journalists and academics. Our writers are currently-serving and former law enforcement officers, military personnel, and intelligence officers with operational experience from around the world. As such, The Counter Terrorist brings insight that conventional media outlets fail to grasp in depth.

Our American readers: law enforcement, military, and other personnel, share one commonality. At the beginning of our careers we individually took an oath to “support and defend The Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” This is unique. We did not vow allegiance to any person, political party, or branch of government. Our loyalty, by freely taken obligation, is to the legal foundation of our republic. The function and intent of the U.S. Constitution is to limit the powers of government and protect the life, liberty, and property of individual citizens. We do not see our citizens in the role of children whom we have parental powers over. All Americans are equal and are equally free to pursue their interests; personally responsible for their consequences. We are privileged to be retained as their martial servants. While we fall short, that is our goal.

If you have not taken this oath, you obviously have no such obligation. We recognize, however, that there are warriors around the world who did not choose their profession out of selfishness or malice. If you are personally committed to the protection of the life, liberty, and property of each of your fellow citizens, no matter your country of origin, then you are our brother (or sister).

The Counter Terrorist has the perspective of a round table. When a police officer in India has learned a lesson that is important to share, this forum is available. Do not force your brothers and sisters to relearn lessons that have often been paid for in blood. I look forward to hearing from you.

Semper Fidelis, Chris Graham Editor, The Counter Terrorist

feb/mar 2013

Editor Chris Graham Director of Operations Sol Bradman Director of Advertizing Carmen Arnaes Production Assistants Giselle Manassa Melissa Berne Contributing Editors Eeben Barlow Jennifer Hesterman Richard Marquise Tom Nypaver Steve Young Graphic Design Morrison Creative Company Copy Editor Laura Town Advertising Sales Chris Bell Publisher: Security Solutions International 13155 SW 134th St. • STE 204 Miami, Florida 33186 ISSN 1941-8639 The Counter Terrorist Magazine, Journal for Law Enforcement, Intelligence & Special Operations Professionals is published by Security Solutions International LLC, as a service to the nation’s First Responders and Homeland Security Professionals with the aim of deepening understanding of issues related to Terrorism. No part of the publication can be reproduced without permission from the publisher.

The opinions expressed herein are the opinions of the authors represented and not necessarily the opinions of the publisher.

Please direct all Editorial correspondence related to the magazine to: Security Solutions International SSI, 13155 SW 134th Street, Suite 204, Miami, Florida.

33186 or info@thecounterterroristmag.com The subscription price for 6 issues is $34.99 and the price of the magazine is $5.99.

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Firsthand:

tracking

the taliban

By Andrew Curtiss

Reports suggested that the Day Chopan valley in Zabol Province, Afghanistan, was swarming with anti-coalition forces. It was believed that the area was a winter reconsolidation point of sorts and that by striking this site, coalition forces might be able to deliver a debilitating, pre-emptive blow to the Taliban prior to their annual spring offensive.

Counter The

8 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

Militiamen move to CH-47's for pick up. All photos courtesy of the author.

T

ravel into the valley was slow going and arduous due to the lack of roads, and there were several mountain passes to climb and descend. Our entire Special Forces company—augmented by Afghan National Army soldiers, Afghan Militia Forces, and some local mercenaries— planned to encamp in the center of the valley and run a series of Sensitive Site Exploitation missions to “stir up the

hornets’ nest.” It was estimated that there were 500 (+) insurgents in the neighboring villages and mountains.

My detachment visited each of these villages, conducting “civil affairs” operations, handing out free trinkets, and inquiring what additional free crap we could give away in the future. This provided us access to the Tora Ghar Mountain. It was quite clear that we

Soldiers staging for helo-lift.

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 9

were in Indian country, with flashing mirrors all over the valley. The Taliban used the mirrors as a form of signaling and men wearing black turbans crawled out of every hole, it seemed. We had even spotted several squirters fleeing into the mountains as we rolled from village to village.

We staged a vehicle breakdown that held the townspeople’s interest.

The breakdown was a distraction that permitted dropping off two of our teammates to scale the nearby outcrop at the foot of Tora Ghar. It proved to be an excellent observation point for a twenty-four-hour period. We didn’t dare let our Afghan militiamen know we were inserting a recon team for the following day’s mission. Had we let them in on it, they would have surely informed the locals.

On the way back to our camp, I played the dumb American soldier, snapping tourist photos. Of course, the things I photographed were actually points of interest for follow-on missions. It was while I was taking these photos that we stumbled across what appeared to be Taliban men dressed up in burkhas fleeing into the mountains.

We monitored the radio to record the latest information from our recon team.

We were tasked with spearheading an operation—to conduct a Sensitive Site Exploitation on two villages at the base of Tora Ghar. I planned the helo infiltration for my team and our Afghans, and we coordinated with the other teams going in on the mission. I specifically coordinated with the helos to insert us with the tails of the Chinooks facing the village of

interest. The HLZ was approximately 200 meters from the objective, requiring a 200-meter sprint for my team and our Afghans. Far too many times we would initiate an operation only to find a “dry hole” because all of the targeted personnel had already squirted.

Our reconnaissance team had lost comms during the night and everyone was hoping that our boys had not been compromised. We hoped that once we arrived, we’d have comms again. Early that morning, we conducted rehearsals with the local nationals.

“Thirty seconds” the team sergeant yelled. The captain grabbed my shoulder.

“You are leading the Charge, Andy. Let’s haul booty before they squirt out.” I “rogered up” and nodded my head then quickly gave my Afghans the signal. I had no interpreter because they were limited

The mountains of Afghanistan.

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The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 11

Afghani tribesmen.

in supply, but my Pashto was better than most. The tail of the Chinook dropped, and I could see the ground approach.

Once we hit the ground it was a mad dash to the village. Something didn’t seem right though; the village seemed farther away than it should have been. I called the captain on the team net and told him I thought we had gotten off at the wrong LZ. He just told me to keep pushing, but I memorized the terrain and knew what my backstop would look like.

I once more insisted that we were in the wrong spot, and once more he urged me to push on faster. Finally I pulled out my GPS and saw that we were headed in the wrong direction. The bird dropped us facing the wrong way!

I quickly turned and began our sprint in the opposite direction toward our objective. As I passed my fellow teammates, I couldn’t help but see the

confused looks on their faces. Now, as we approached the village I was also looking for squirters to capture or kill as well. The outer cordon set in and “first down” was announced over the radio, then the inner cordon and “second down.” As I made it into the village and stacked outside the first door, I called in “third down.” Then the next search teams called the same.

I heard the captain sending a transmission about some squirters, but it didn’t seem important at the time since I was knee deep in apprehending suspects.

We were moving quickly. I had already searched three compounds by the time I had heard the first gun shots. Someone had made contact! As everyone who wasn’t near the gun fire eagerly awaited hearing what the situation was, a voice broke over the airways. It was a dog. One of the search teams had encountered a hostile dog and was forced to put it

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We approached the cave, ascending higher, leaping from pillar to pillar. I remember watching the Afghans traverse the terrain with difficulty.

down. Shortly after the dog call, our captain was on the horn again about three individuals squirting that he believed met the description of suspect individuals encountered the day prior on the recon insertion.

He was trying to get anyone available to support him to pursue the squirters.

He gave a clear description of the suspect personnel in question. At this point my search team had encountered a few dry holes. We were approaching our final compound when I responded to his call.

I explained that as soon as my team was done I would be available. My Team Sergeant was also running a search team and he had expressed that he would be available to provide back up for me.

By the time I approached the captain’s position, at least thirty minutes had passed. I met up with him and got the priority information. I clarified the description, that they did not appear to be armed, and which direction they were headed. He had lost sight of them at least fifteen minutes prior to my getting there. I was left only with a direction, description, and hopefully a trail. After a quick brief, half in Pashto and half in English, I gave the hand and arm signal for my men to begin moving in a wedge.

One thing I knew I could count on was that Afghans were superb at hunting down other Afghans. I had limited visual tracker training, but I was well trained in counter tracking.

Within 150 meters of my captain’s position we came across the tracks of what appeared to be three men moving rather quickly. They were fresh tracks. I could tell by the displacement of sand and the depth of the tracks near the toes and balls of the feet. The gait of the track also revealed that the three men were exceptionally long-legged, or that they were moving at a jog or run.

After following the tracks for nearly 300

14 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

meters, the tracks disappeared at the base of a rocky cliff. I immediately knew that they had either climbed it or there was a tunnel nearby. Since I had pursued hundreds of Taliban at this point, I knew that each village usually had an escape route for when the inhabitants needed to “bug out.” My main worry was the high ground and the threat of enemy shooters from above. I couldn’t help but think the three squirters had made a move to some cached weapons and were just waiting to ambush us.

An initial assessment gave no clue of there being any sort of cave. However, I looked at the lay of the terrain and combed the immediate area for the continuation of tracks. After finding nothing, I looked at the terrain again, only putting myself in the shoes of the pursued. I saw a couple of places that appeared to be quick climbs and figured I would try the process of elimination. To my left in a westerly direction, I noticed a series of narrow step ups that wrapped around the cliff in front of us. This appeared to be the most feasible route.

I then directed my Afghan militiamen up that route with caution. As the path wrapped around the cliff, it led to a series of pillars. Each rock pillar was separated by at least two to five feet and there was at least a hundred-foot drop to the desert below. One of the pillars had a visible cave. That’s where I would have gone.

We approached the cave, ascending higher, leaping from pillar to pillar. I remember watching the Afghans traverse the terrain with difficulty. Without armor these guys would own just about anyone, but today I was dragging them with me up each climb. Today, body armor was the great equalizer, but the temperature was growing quite hot by this time. I estimated it to be in the nineties (F) and it was still before noon. I knew that there was no way my Afghans would be able to

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The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 15

keep up against the start these squirters had on them with the body armor. In spite of my concern and the rapidly fatiguing Afghans, we pressed on.

We crested the final climb before reaching the cave atop the pillar, and I picked up a trace that they had gone this way. I could see what looked to be fresh spit. The Afghans regularly carry small tins of Qat that they chew like snuff. I recognized this immediately. The sign didn’t show a trace of three fleeing men, but it was recent, possibly within 30 to 45 minutes. I sent four Afghans in to clear the cave while I assessed the situation. Once it was clear, I left a security element outside and inspected

the cave myself. It appeared that this cave was used regularly. There was a fire pit with embers that couldn’t have been more than a few days old. There were several D-cell batteries lying around and fresh straw strewn about. There was some fairly new litter from cigarette packs and small toffee and caramel hard candy wrappers.

This candy was often enjoyed by Afghans with Chai. The area around the cave was 360 degrees and about 50 feet in diameter with the small cave being in the center. I gave the Afghans the command for SLLS (Stop, Look, Listen, and Smell), and one of the Afghan soldiers spotted three men in the distance. The figures were about 700 meters out and about

16 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

150 feet down. These guys had climbed up and down the giant rock pylons by the time we had reached what appeared to have been a short rest stop for them. I called it in to the captain. They were out of range for our weapons, so I asked what he wanted me to do. Convinced that at least one of these men was an important Taliban, he said, “press on.”

Luckily, for me, there was more sign.

There was some displaced sand along the rocks at the edge of the pillar we were on. That displaced sand shined light on a steep path, down the pillar into the valley where we observed the men we were pursuing. Slipping, sliding, and sometimes stumbling down the slope of

The CH-47 workhorse.

the cliff, my Afghans were far too fatigued to make the chase if they continued in armor. I told them to drop the black Ranger Body Armor, sling their ammo pouches, and pick up the pace. I plugged the grid into my GPS and quickly cached the armor. I reported the decision to higher and picked up the chase toward the location where we had spotted our squirters. I led the charge at an even jog, hoping those we were pursuing had slowed down. We had a thirty-minute or more gap to catch up with them, but the good news was that I didn’t have to catch them, I could just shoot them.

Our pace through the desert sierra picked up greatly as we moved another

The author rehydrates with an IV.

kilometer. The enemy had gained ground, but it appeared that they had made their way to a fresh water creek and were moving along the creek bed.

We spotted them briefly in the distance and once more made a mad dash to their last known location. They were at least another kilometer ahead of us. As we moved, we periodically went back and forth between finding their sign and losing them again. There were several points that I felt I had lost them, but common sense told me to just keep pressing the stream. Chances were these guys were not sporting canteens and would need water. I made the call to keep pressing along even though at one

point we had lost sight for at least thirty minutes. Although we moved as quickly as possible, we stopped frequently to assess the terrain and make a hypothesis as to where they may have gone next. At one point, I felt I had truly lost my prey when I came across a young boy and an old man. The young boy saw us and ran up stream immediately. I had been sure that the three men knew we were pursuing them, but the fact that the boy seemed so surprised to see us told me they didn’t know. If they had known, they would most likely have told the others they came across along their way.

The old man was shouting something at us in Pashto that I could not make out.

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 17

I used the radio to contact my captain in order to use his interpreter to talk over the radio with the old man to ask if he’d seen the three men we were after. The old man replied back into the radio. The interpreter returned the message that he had, in fact, seen the men and that they went toward the nearby village up the stream. We thanked the old man for his help, continued to scan 360 degrees around us, and made our way toward the village. My Team Sergeant volunteered help and was enroute. I gave him a present grid and description of the terrain and then continued up the stream. Less than 800 meters more up the winding stream, we saw the village. We were also surprised to see that we were met by a large crowd. They were not friendly and we took fire from an unknown direction.

I immediately sought cover and reported the incident as I continued to scan and urged my Afghans to hold

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their fire until we could identify a target.

Assistance was almost forty minutes from my location at this point. I thought we might have an ugly situation. To top things off, one of my Afghans was starting to show signs of heat exhaustion and another shot rang out.

We heard the ricochet roughly the same time as the shot, which told me the shooter wasn’t far away. There were a couple of places in the village that I thought might be a point of origin, but the crowd was quickly approaching. I estimated there were approximately forty to fifty fighting-age men approaching my position. I gave the crowd direction in Pashto. “Wahh derregah, larsoonah porticai” (Stop! Put your hands up).

The crowd did not stop coming, and I could see tomorrow’s headline “United States Special Forces Soldier and Afghan Mercenaries Execute 50 Unarmed Afghans.” Just then, I received an

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unreadable call. It was relayed.

I was told to abort, and to be back at the pickup zone in 45 minutes. I hated to pull back, but it was made clear: “either get to the LZ or walk home.” Considering that we were outnumbered and taking fire from an unknown location, the last thing we needed to do was stick around.

We once more came across the old man and warned him of what was ahead. We bounded back about 150 to 200 meters before the crowd stopped advancing.

Once we were out of site, we dog-legged to the mountain range to our south; then again once more to our east.

We picked up the body armor, and the Afghans complained nonstop for me to slow the pace. We carried the heat stricken militiaman. I kept telling them we were almost there, but I was exhausted too. Our recon guys headed in as well, no worse for wear. We made it back, only to wait at the assembly area in the target village for another two hours.

There had been quite a roundup. These missions provided information that would justify the stand-up of another firebase and eventually lead to high-valuetarget: Rosie Kahn.*

•

*See The Counter Terrorist Vol. 5 No. 1, “Task Unit Bravo”

About the Author Mr. Curtiss served in the 3rdSpecial Forces Group (Abn). He is the author of two books and writes two “Examiner. com” columns. He owns and operates The Academy of Combat Application Techniques in Fort Worth, Texas (www. knife-and-h2h-combat.com).

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SECURITY SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL Protecting the Homeland The Counter TerroristTogether ~ February/March 2013 19 ®

Case Study:

“BIGFOOT”

AND NARCO SUBMERSIBLE INTERDICTION

Photo: Narco submersible underway. Photos courtesy of the author.

20 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

By Phillip Null

Drug cartels are increasingly turning to the open ocean, using custom made semi-submersibles and even fully functioning submarines to avoid detection while exporting cocaine from the FARC controlled jungles of Colombia.

L

aw enforcement officers and military personnel tasked with interrupting the narcotics supply chain by locating and boarding these vessels are using tactics reminiscent of the hunt for Nazi U-boats during World War II. Surveillance flights, nighttime approaches by darkened ships, and high speed intercepts using inflatable Zodiacs have proved successful in getting men on deck before traffickers can open scuttling valves and sink their illicit cargo. Some teams, unsatisfied with surface tactics,

have fast roped from helicopters onto the submersibles to seize evidence before it could be destroyed.

Built in muddy rivers hidden by jungle canopy, the submarines and semi-submersibles of the cartels can take months to build and may cost over a million dollars each. Their low profile hulls, ranging from thirty to eighty feet, are normally made of fiberglass and designed to stay submerged to minimize detection by sight and radar. Most carry four man crews and up to ten tons of

cocaine on one way transits. Each is fitted with a diesel engine and a large fuel tank to allow non-stop transits of up to 2,000 miles at cruising speeds of around ten miles per hour. Installed satellite navigation systems allow their crews to stay on course from Colombia to rendezvous points along Central America and Mexico’s Pacific and Gulf coasts, where cargo is offloaded for transport over the US/Mexico border. The subs are abandoned and sunk after making delivery. They have been made illegal by

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 21

A narco sub’s crew will open scuttling valves just prior to surrendering, and as they emerge to be detained, the vessel will sink out from under them.

the Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act of 2008, and just being on board one is a felony in the United States.

Some of the first reports indicating the existence of a narco submersible came from the US Drug Enforcement Administration in 1993,1 but it wasn’t until 2006 that U.S. authorities observed and seized one.2 Later nicknamed Bigfoot because of persistent but unproven rumors surrounding the cartel’s undersea efforts, the US Coast Guard located the craft by chance 90 miles from the Costa Rican shoreline. An attentive lookout, standing watch with binoculars and elevated above the ocean surface on the bridge wing of a Coast Guard cutter, spotted the submersible as the ship closed within a mile of its position. Six officers, armed with M9 Berettas and a single

Remington M870 shotgun, launched from the cutter in a small inflatable boat and approached the suspicious craft. The officers were initially unaware of the low profile vessel’s purpose and maneuvered next to it to investigate. Once alongside, the boarding party began knocking on its exterior hatches, drawing their weapons as movement was heard inside. Four men soon exited and without a fight surrendered themselves, an AK-47, and three tons of cocaine.

Following the seizure of Bigfoot, sightings of semi-submersibles increased to an average of four per month.3 Few of these were seized, however, as crews scuttled or sank the vessels once sighted. Scuttling valves, installed low in each craft’s hull, are quick acting valves fitted to pipes running from

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DISCLAIMER: This project was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number 2006-GD-T6-K001 administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/FEMA, Training and Exercises Integration Secretariat. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

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the cabin to the submerged exterior that can be opened to flood and sink a vessel within minutes. For this reason, officers targeting these subs are paired with experienced naval damage control personnel who are included to stop the flooding and dewater the submersible before evidence is destroyed, sinks, or becomes unrecoverable. Often a narco submersible’s crew will open the valves just prior to surrendering, and as they emerge to be detained, the vessel will sink out from under them.

Despite pre-planned efforts to prepare for flooding, the best boardings are those that don’t allow traffickers an opportunity to open scuttling valves. This was evidenced by the US Coast Guard’s initial attempts to stop and board submersibles, most of which were in daylight and

A member of Coast Guard law enforcement detachment 404 prepares some of the 37 bales of cocaine seized from a self-propelled, semi-submersible craft seized Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008, by the guided-missile frigate USS McInerney (FFG 8). Photo: Petty Officer 1st Class Nico Figueroa/

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USS McInerney (FFG 8) tows a self-propelled, semi-submersible craft seized Saturday, Sept.

13, 2008. Photo: Lt. Justin Cooper

ended with the vessels sinking shortly after the traffickers observed their pursuers. Surprise and speed were soon found to be more effective in getting on board and many of these interdictions are now successfully performed under the cover of night. Aircraft and ships using forward looking infrared locate and track the submersibles before teams of two to four officers embark a patrol ship’s small boats to close with subs and come alongside unnoticed. Once side by side, the traffickers are signaled to stop using loudhailers and flares or are boarded and first notified of officers’ presence when they knock on the hatch.

Most traffickers surrender, exit the cabin at gunpoint, and are handcuffed and searched as the interior of the submersible is cleared for additional suspects. Some fail to yield and instead attempt to sink their cargo using scuttling valves in an

effort to avoid lengthy prison sentences leveled for felony drug convictions. 4In these cases some international operatives have suggested simply securing hatches as subjects choose to flood the interiors of their own vessels.

Even with the cover of darkness and the element of surprise, boarding a narco sub remains dangerous. On September 13, 2008, after a US Navy helicopter identified a fifty-nine foot semi-submersible 350 miles from the Guatemalan coast, a joint US Coast Guard and Navy boarding team deployed from a nearby frigate with orders to stop the submersible.5 The team made its approach at night in black inflatable Zodiacs and maneuvered alongside seemingly unnoticed, but after stepping onto the flat outer hull and ordering the traffickers to surrender, the vessel’s engines were suddenly reversed, causing

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A fully-operational submarine built for the primary purpose of transporting multi-ton quantities of cocaine located near a tributary close to the Ecuador/ Colombia border that was seized by the Ecuador Anti-Narcotics Police Forces and Ecuador Military authorities with the assistance of the DEA. Photo: US Drug Enforcement Administration water to rush over its deck and knock the officers from their feet. Grabbing available handholds, the officers held on to the submersible’s exterior exhaust ports until it finally stopped. With their footing regained, the officers breached the main hatch before pointing MK-18 rifles into the cabin and again ordering the traffickers to surrender. The threat was successful and four traffickers emerged with their hands raised. Over 230 bales of cocaine, with an estimated $187 million street value, were seized.6 When queried, the Colombian government could neither confirm nor deny the master’s verbal claim of Colombian nationality and the vessel was classified as stateless, allowing the suspects to be transported to the US,

26 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

where they were successfully prosecuted.

Nighttime approaches are not the only tactic for no-notice boardings, and with helicopters responsible for locating many narco submersibles, it’s not surprising they have also been used for boarding subs. While patrolling the Gulf of Mexico in 2008, the Mexican Navy was presented with its first opportunity to seize a semisubmersible when a patrolling helicopter sighted one 125 miles from shore. Rather than risk detection of a daylight surface approach by a ship or small boats, the military decided to use the helicopter already on scene to get personnel on board.7 As the semi-submersible moved toward its destination, four men fast roped from the helicopter onto its deck,

which was mostly awash in sea water. The small team then forced its way into the cabin by breaching the hatches with pry bars. Inside, four traffickers were found and quickly subdued and handcuffed without a shot being fired. With the suspects detained, the officers took control of the craft and its 10 ton cargo of cocaine.

Tactics responsible for the recent successes in seizing semi-submersibles are already being countered by the cartels, who believe they only need to go deeper to avoid detection. The first evidence of a fully submersible narco-submarine was discovered by the Colombian police in a warehouse outside the country’s capital in 2000.8 Designed with a double hull, the partially-built 100 foot-long craft, if completed, would have been capable of diving 300 feet with loads of

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Photo: US Drug Enforcement Administration

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 27

cocaine exceeding 200 tons. The find was significant and showed a major technological advance over the cartels’ original low profile semi-submersible design. It wouldn’t be until 2010 that authorities in Ecuador, in cooperation with the DEA, seized a functional one.9 The submarine was a close match to the one discovered in Colombia, but instead of being found in an urban area, was located deep in triple canopy jungle along the nation’s border with Ecuador.

At 100 feet long it was built for transocean shipments with capacity to move hundreds of tons of cocaine. Far more difficult to detect and board compared to the semi-submersible models, this sub would be challenging to detect from the surface once submerged.

Although less than 100 narco submersibles have been seized,10 their impact on the US cocaine market is substantial. Even a handful of subs, transporting up to ten tons of cocaine each, makes the case for continuing to target them and refining the tactics for boarding and taking control of them.

Of course, there is no reason to believe that submersibles cannot also be used by organizations smuggling personnel and materials even more dangerous than cocaine.

about the author Mr. Null has extensive operational boarding experience on small vessels and ships as a member of the United States Coast Guard. He has trained many officers deploying on anti-piracy and counternarcotics missions in the advanced tactics necessary for non-compliant boardings.

He currently serves on the U.S./Canadian maritime border.

Endnotes: Kushner, David (April 23, 2009).

“Drug-Sub Culture” The New York Times.

2 Bolen, Scott Bolen (June 29, 2009).

Brief: The Hunt for SPSS Boats & Other Small Vessels 3 Wilenson, Wade. (October 14, 2008). “A New Underwater Threat”.

Proceedings Magazine. http://www.usni. org/magazines/proceedings/2008-10/ new-underwater-threat 4 The Economist. (May 1, 2008).

“Drug-trafficking trends” http://www. economist.com/world/la/displaystory. cfm?story_id=11294435 5 USCG Official Press Release.

(September 15, 2008). “US Coast 1

Guard Navy Seize 7 Tons of Cocaine”. http://www.piersystem.com/go/ doc/786/226303/U-S-Coast-GuardNavy-seize-7-tons-of-cocaine.

6 McCullough, Amy (Sep 16, 2008).

“Sailors, Coasties Nab Cocaine Stuffed Sub”. Navy Times. http://www. navytimes.com/news/2008/09/navy_ cocaine_091608w/ 7 Admiral Thad W. Allen, USCG (July 21, 2008). DHS Leadership Journal. http://ipv6.dhs.gov/journal/leadership/ labels/drug%20enforcement.html 8 Kash, Douglas. White, Eli. “A New Law Counters the Semisubmersible Smuggling Threat”. http://www.fbi. gov/stats-services/publications/lawenforcement-bulletin/march-2010/thesemisubmersible-smuggling-threat 9 DHS 2010 Annual Report on Counternarcotics Enforcement www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/cneannualreport-2010.pdf 10 Wilson, Brian. “Submersibles and Transnational Criminal Organizations”.

Ocean & Coastal Law Journal http:// mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/oclj/pdf/ vol17_1/vol17_oclj_35.pdf

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World Cyber

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Counter The

32 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

Dr. Bruce Schneier has stated that “Cyberwar is certainly not a myth. But you have not seen it yet, despite the attacks.”1 He astutely states,“The biggest problems in discussing cyberwar are the definitions.”

M

any people tend to abide by a very binary, traditional (and outdated) Western view of war and warfare, which has historically been defined by direct, kinetic actions. many “experts” are resistant to the notion that the United States is engaged in a war with its adversaries despite the fact that other countries and non-state belligerents have stated they are waging war against the United States and its allies.

“A single rumor or scandal that results in fluctuation in the enemy country’s exchange rates… can be included in the ranks of new concept weapons.” –Unrestricted Warfare2 On September 6, 2007, a suspected Syrian nuclear facility being built

by North Koreans was bombed and destroyed by Israeli F-15s. While the story was disputed by Syria and North Korea, the United States took the unusual step of releasing clandestine video of the

facility that left little doubt as to the nature of the construction. To many, this is simply another banal act in a long line of bombings, invasions, and military activities by adversaries. Looking more closely, however, it is more profound. As can be expected of any country building a nuclear facility in violation of the United Nation’s Non Proliferation Pact, Syria had invested significantly (billions of US dollars) in advanced Russian air defense

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 33

Before and after picture of building struck during Operation Orchard in Syria.

Photo: US government systems. How then did Israel manage to circumvent these defense systems?

According to Richard Clarke: “What appeared on the radar screen is what the Israelis had put there, an image of nothing.”3 There are three prevailing theories as to how the mission was accomplished: The first is that electronic jamming systems were used to inject malicious code in the radar receivers in much the same way a virus or worm is installed on a computer over the Internet. The second theory is that the Russian computer code used in the radar facilities had been compromised and a “backdoor” inserted into the code, allowing agents to remotely control the radar system. The final option was that the fiber optic cable used to transmit information had been tapped and malicious instructions inserted into communications.

Regardless of the method, the Syrians were unable to identify the planes as they were approaching the facility for a bombing run.4 This was neither the first

nor last time cyberattacks were used in furtherance of military objectives: • In 2004, before the invasion of Iraq, hackers reportedly penetrated the secure, “closed loop” private network of the Iraqi army. Iraqi officers received emails on the Defense Ministry Email System warning of the impending attack and providing directions for surrendering. Many Iraqi officers heeded the warning and lined their tanks up in anticipation of the Allied invasion.5 • In 2006, several months after attempting to hack the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), hackers successfully penetrated US Naval War College systems. The attack was traced back to China and was the third identified attack by the Chinese against DOD systems in 2006.6 • In 2008, Russia invaded the Republic of Georgia over a dispute in two Ossetion territories. Before the invasion, the Georgian government’s websites were attacked with Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDOS) and defacements

34 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

in which the Georgian leader was portrayed as Adolf Hitler.7 • On April 21, 2009, the US Department of Defense acknowledged that 1.5 terabytes of data on the F35 Joint Strike Fighter had been stolen

by Chinese hackers. The theft of this data represented over $300 billion in research and development operations. As an advanced fighter has little use in the civilian market, this is a clear example of military technology being stolen to advance the interests of a foreign nation.8 On December 4, 2011, an American RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was captured near the city of Kashmar in northeastern Iran. The Iranian government announced that the UAV was brought down by a cyberwar unit that commandeered the aircraft and landed it.

In 2012, US Natural Gas Pipeline companies have been hit with continual cyberattacks widely attributed to the same Chinese hackers that were responsible for the compromise of RSA.9

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To understand the significance of these attacks and why they represent acts of war, it is important to have a working definition of the concepts of war, cyberwar, and cyberspace.

According to Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz, war: “is nothing but a duel on an extensive scale… we shall do so best by supposing to ourselves two wrestlers. Each strives by physical force to compel the other to submit to his will… War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfill our will”10 From the early 20th century, wars have been fought in the three primary domains of land, sea, and air. In 1957, the United States added a fourth warfighting domain—space.11 By 2007, cyberspace was officially recognized by the US Air Force as a warfighting domain. This fifth

domain is of particular interest.12 Within the first four domains, von Clausewitz’s definition of war was widely regarded as appropriate, as violence can be applied quite effectively to force an opponent to “submit.” With the recognition of more domains, however, it is necessary to refine the definition of war. It is also necessary to acknowledge that nation states are not the only practitioners of warfare.

There are two commonly understood applications for the concept of cyberwar.

First is to make a conventional attack easier by disabling the enemy’s defenses.

The second use of cyberwar is to send propaganda to demoralize the enemy.13 In 2008, Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23, “Cyber Security Policy” was signed by President George W. Bush. The directive defined cyberspace as:

“The interdependent network of information technology infrastructures, and includes the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and controllers in critical industries.”14 Interestingly, it is difficult to find an official definition of “cyberwar.”

According to Richard Clarke, “cyberwarfare” is defined as “actions by a nation-state to penetrate another nation’s computers or networks for the purposes of causing damage or disruption.”15 This definition harkens back to von Clausewitz and is not consistent with how adversaries view cyberwar. As Schneier said, “The biggest problems in discussing cyberwar are the definitions.”

“The War God’s Face Has Become Indistinct” — Unrestricted Warfare 16 To highlight the differing views of war and warfare, one need only to look to China. China, as an acknowledged Western adversary, has been on the forefront of cyber-espionage efforts against the West and has embraced an evolving concept of war since the late 1980s. In 1988, China’s information warfare theorist, Dr. Shen Weiguang, posited that: “Virus-infected microchips can be put in weapon systems,” or “An arms manufacturer can be asked to write a virus into software, or a biological weapon can be embedded into the computer system of an enemy nation and then activated as needed… Preparation for a military invasion can include hiding self-destructing microchips in systems designed for export.”

Dr. Shen recognized that these tactics, if carried out systematically, could have

36 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

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…“destroy the enemy’s political, economic, and military information infrastructures, and, perhaps, even the information infrastructure for all of society.”

profound strategic implications. They could, according to Shen, “destroy the enemy’s political, economic, and military information infrastructures, and, perhaps, even the information infrastructure for all of society.” Shen believed this would allow China to achieve the greatest military objective. To “destroy the enemy’s will to launch a war or wage a war.”17 Advancing this theory, in 1995, Major General Wang Pufeng, former Director of the Strategy Department of the Academy of Military Sciences, wrote: “In the near future, information warfare will control the form and the future of war.

We recognize this developmental trend of information warfare and see it as a driving force in the modernization of China’s military and combat readiness.”18 Adding to Dr. Shen and General Wang’s positions, the Chinese government sponsored research by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui. In the seminal 1999 work titled Unrestricted Warfare the authors succinctly state China’s evolving definition of war when they say: “If we acknowledge that the new principles of war are no longer ‘using armed force to compel the enemy to submit to one’s will,’ but rather are ‘using all means including armed force and non-armed force, military and non-military, lethal and nonlethal means to compel the enemy to accept one’s interests.’”19 A more evolved definition of cyber weapons may also be seen in Unrestricted Warfare.

“As we see it, a single man-made stockmarket crash, a single computer virus invasion, or a single rumor or scandal that results in a fluctuation in the enemy country’s exchange rates or exposes the leaders of an enemy country on the Internet,

38 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

all can be included in the ranks of newconcept weapons.”20 By 1999, the Chinese had already adopted a theory of warfare that embraced means of “compelling the enemy to accept one’s interests.” In short, China has redefined the concept of war and warfare to include what they call “semi-warfare, quasi-warfare, and subwarfare, that is, the embryonic form of another kind of warfare.” While many “experts” in the United States may dispute that their country is at war, few leaders in China are likely to share that perspective.

“The United States is under attack”

— 2011; US House of Representatives While some would argue that the United States has been slow to react, China’s actions have not gone unnoticed.

On April 15, 2011, the United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs held hearings titled Communist Chinese Cyber-Attacks, Cyber-Espionage and Theft of American Technology. The opening remarks state clearly the United States position: “The Chinese Communist Government has defined us as the enemy. It is buying, building and stealing whatever it takes to contain and destroy us. Again, the Chinese Government has defined us as the enemy.

Chinese cyber-attacks on US assets now number in the thousands ever year.”

This statement is the first public acknowledgement that the United States views Chinese actions as aggressive. It is important to note that cyber warfare has been integrated into the formal order of battle of the conventional military forces of the PLA. While some may view cyber-espionage and data theft in purely commercial terms, it is

important to understand that Chinese strategy considers cyber-espionage as a critical component of their cyber warfare strategy. As detailed in the aforementioned hearings: “The economics of cyber theft is simple: Stealing technology is far easier and cheaper than doing original research and development. It is also a far less risky way to spy than historic cloak and dagger economic espionage.”21 The Chinese do not simply engage in cyber-espionage for corporate gain, rather the Chinese government supports cyberespionage in furtherance of national goals.22 The key point to understanding the objective of cyber-espionage by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), whether companies, individuals, or directly government, is to understand

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their National Security “16 character policy.” The 16 Character Policy translates to “Give priority to military products.”

In short, cyber-espionage and data theft benefits the Chinese government first and foremost.23 The PRC relentlessly engages in cyber-espionage activities against every country in which the PRC has an interest. Using “cyber militias” consisting of patriotic hackers and more formal military units such as the Special Tactical Reconnaissance Units of the PLA, the Chinese engage in ongoing cyber-espionage with the objective of supporting military objectives24.

International companies are now subject to continuous probes seeking any and all manner of information, whether military, commercial, or political. China has

embraced the idea that “the richest source of power to wage war lies in the masses of the people.”25 With almost 2 billion people, they have a significant power to wage war. In 2006, one patriotic group, the Red Hacker Alliance, alone counted more than 300,000 members.26

“A rapid, powerful transition to the attack—the glinting sword of vengeance—is the most brilliant moment of defense.”

— Carl von Clausewitz 27 In October 2012, President Barack Obama signed Presidential Policy Directive20. This is an update to a 2004

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 39

A Tactical Tomahawk Cruise Missile launches from the forward missile deck aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG 99) during a training exercise. Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Leah Stiles/Released directive signed by then President George W. Bush. While classified, the Directive reportedly outlines, for the first time, that the United States could engage in offensive cyber operations.

As stated by a senior administration official: “What it does, really for the first time, is it explicitly talks about how we will use cyber-operations,” further- “Network defense is what you’re doing inside your own networks. …Cyber-operations is stuff outside that space, and recognizing that you could be doing that for what might be called defensive purposes.”28 While it is important to understand that the United States, as an open and interconnected society, clearly has some vulnerabilities, it also has some claws with which to defend national interests.

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40 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

the United States’ own ability to wage cyberwar.

According to The New York Times,29 former President Bush initiated a classified program, continued by President Obama, known as “Olympic Games” that included sophisticated attacks on the computer systems used to run Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities. The public became aware of the program in the summer of 2010 after a virus, known as Stuxnet, escaped from the facility and began infecting systems throughout the world. Stuxnet was designed to send commands to the centrifuges, which caused them to spin abnormally, thereby destroying the centrifuges. According to Kapersky Labs, the sophistication of the Trojan indicates that it was built by a nation state. The most likely candidates, they say, were the

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United States and Israel.

After the discovery of Stuxnet came the discovery of the Duqu virus, which contains ninety-five percent of the same code as Stuxnet but is much more sophisticated. Following Duqu was the Flame virus. Called by a researcher “the most complex piece of malicious software discovered to date,” Flame was designed to capture data and also to change computer setting and turn on integrated microphones to record what is being said in a room. Kapersky Labs discovered the virus, which had been lurking undetected inside thousands of computers for as long as five years. According to Kapersky, the countries with the most infections include Iran, followed by the Israel/Palestine area, Syria, and Sudan.

According to Kapersky Senior Researcher

Roel Schouwenberg, “The virus contains about 20 times as much code as Stuxnet, which attacked an Iranian uranium enrichment facility, causing centrifuges to fail.”30 When considering whether cyberwar is at hand, it is important to consider the position of adversaries. It is easy to fall into a state of complacency because the actions of one’s adversaries don’t look like traditional warfare. It appears that the Chinese, Russians, North Koreans, Iranians, and others (including non-state actors) are focused on achieving strategic goals using non-traditional warfare. The PRC, in particular, gives insight into its approach to warfare in Unrestricted Warfare. While many “experts” ignore the significance of cyberattacks, they are a continuing rain of blows. One cannot

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42 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

afford to discount the capabilities of an enemy that does not fight conventionally just because conventional wisdom holds that his capabilities are “inferior.”

•

About the Author Mr. Mark is the founder of Mark Consulting Group, Inc. He is a data security and risk professional. He has consulted for numerous Fortune 500 companies and publishes the blog: www.

GlobalRiskInfo.com.

Endnotes Bruce Schneier, “Cyber war: Myth or Reality? Freedom from Fear Magazine, http://www.freedomfromfearmagazine. org/index.php?option=com_content&v iew=article&id=315:cyberwar-myth-orreality&catid=50:issue-7&Itemid=187.

2 Wiangsui Qiao Liang and Wang, Unrestricted Warfare, (Beijing: PLA Literature and Arts Publishing House; 1999).

3 Richard A. Clarke, and Robert K. Knake. CYBERWAR. (New York: Harper Collins, 2010) 5.

4 Clarke and Knake, CYBERWAR, 9-10 5 Clarke and Knake, CYBERWAR, 9-10 6 “Third Chinese Hack Attack This Year,” Strategy Page, December 4, 2006, http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/ articles/20061204.aspx.

7 Clarke and Knake, CYBERWAR,,19.

8 Christopher Goins, “Chinese Hackers Stole Plans for America’s New Joint Strike Fighter Plane, Says Investigations Subcommittee Chair,” CNS News, April 25, 2012, http://cnsnews.com/news/ article/chinese-hackers-stole-plansamericas-new-joint-strike-fighter-planesays-investigations.

9 Mark Clayton, “Exclusive: Potential China Link to Cyberattacks on Gas 1

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The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 43 Circle 279 on Reader Service Card

Pipeline Companies,” The Christian Science Monitor, May 10, 2012, http:// www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0510/ Exclusive-potential-China-link-tocyberattacks-on-gas-pipeline-companies.

10 Carl von Clausewitz, On War: All Volumes (Illustrated) (2011), Kindle Edition, 173-174.

11 Suart H. Starr, and Larry K. Wentz.

Cyberpower and National Security, Ed. Franklin D. Kramer. (Dulles: Potomac Books, 2009,)25.

12 Christian, “Unconstrained Cyberspace Domain,” DefenseTech, February 12, 2010, http://defensetech.org/2010/02/12/ unconstrained-cyberspace-domain/.

13 Clarke and Knake, CYBERWAR, 6.

14 Starr and Wentz, Cyberpower and National Security, 25.

15 Clarke and Knake, CYBERWAR, 6.

Liang and Wang. Unrestricted Warfare.

17 Joel Brenner America the Vulnerable: Inside the New Threat Matrix of Digital Espionage, Crime, and Warfare (Dirk Pitt Adventure), (Penguin Group, 2011), Kindle Edition, 1814-1821.

18 House of Representatives, United States, Communist Chinese Cyber-Attacks, Cyber-Espionage and Theft of American Technology (Kindle Edition, 2011), 323324.

19 Liang and Wang, Unrestricted Warfare.

20 House of Representatives, Communist Chinese Cyber-Attacks, Cyber-Espionage and Theft of American Technology, 325327.

21 House of Representatives, Communist Chinese Cyber-Attacks, Cyber-Espionage and Theft of American Technology, 188189.

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44 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

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Heather Harrison Dinniss, Cyber Warfare and the Laws of War (Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law), (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), Kindle Edition, 22.

23 House of Representatives, Communist Chinese Cyber-Attacks, Cyber-Espionage and Theft of American Technology, 641.

24 House of Representatives, Communist Chinese Cyber-Attacks, Cyber-Espionage and Theft of American Technology, 329331.

25 Brenner, America the Vulnerable: Inside the New Threat Matrix of Digital Espionage, Crime, and Warfare (Dirk Pitt Adventure), Kindle Edition, 1826-1827.

26 House of Representatives, Communist Chinese Cyber-Attacks, Cyber-Espionage and Theft of American Technology, Kindle Edition, 338-341.

27 Carl von Clausewitz, On War: All Volumes (Illustrated) (2011), Kindle Edition, NEED PAGE NUMBER. 28 Ellen Nakashima, “Obama Signs Secret Directive to Help Thwart Cyberattacks,” The Washington Post, November 14, 2012, http://www. washingtonpost.com/world/nationalsecurity/obama-signs-secret-cybersecuritydirective-allowing-more-aggressivemilitary-role/2012/11/14/7bf515122cde-11e2-9ac2-1c61452669c3_story. html?hpid=z4.

29 David Sanger, “Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran,” The New York Times, June 1, 2012, http:// www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/ middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-ofcyberattacks-against-iran.html.

30 Damien McElroy and Christopher Williams, “Flame: World’s Most Complex Computer Virus Exposed,” The Telegraph, May 28, 2012, http://www.telegraph. co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/ iran/9295938/Flame-worlds-mostcomplex-computer-virus-exposed.html.

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Terrorist ~ February/March 2013Service 45 Card Circle 136 on Reader

Book Review

Secret Weapon:

How Economic Terrorism Brought Down the U.S. Stock Market and Why it Can Happen Again

By Kevin Freeman

Reviewed by: Avner Smith

rom the 1700s to the current day, governments and non-state actors have employed Economic Warfare against their adversaries. As an investor and advisor, Kevin Freeman had an interesting perspective witnessing the 2008 market collapse.

With suspicions aroused, he conducted a preliminary investigation. He reported his findings to the US government and the Department of Defense, and published some of his findings. He is the author of Secret Weapon: How Economic Terrorism Brought Down The U.S. Stock Market and Why it Can Happen Again (Regnery, 2012) and the fascinating blog, Global Economic Warfare (www. globaleconomicwarfare.com).

Mr. Freeman devotes chapters to establishing motive, means, and opportunity for an adversary or adversaries to have taken action. The author documents motives countries such as China, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, as well as various non-state actors, have articulated. These motives run the gamut from financial gain to paramilitary conquest.

The means the various suspects have at their disposal are diverse. The means can

stock prices. He asserts, “Financial terrorists may be willing to sacrifice their own economic interests to their ideological agenda. But new finance tools mitigate downside risk for potential financial terrorists, meaning that they themselves could actually profit by attacking the U.S. economy. Tools like credit default swaps, naked short selling, and leveraged ETSs can be used to attack us while the perpetrators hide their identities in dark markets and dark pools or behind computer trading with rogue traders.”

Opportunities for these methods to be used against Western nations are widespread; most have been supplied by our own governments. Our outof-control governmental spending, debt, and the inflationary bubbles our policies have created—such as those in stocks, housing, and the government expansion bubble—can all be viewed as malinvestment (governmental intervention counter to natural market forces) that creates massive strategic vulnerability. Repealed financial regulations concerning derivatives, naked short selling, and other techniques

F

include the manipulation of oil prices, currency, and debt, as well as a host of manipulative practices that negatively affect financial markets. Freeman asserts that sovereign wealth funds are “stateowned investment funds” that can be used to manipulate commodities and

46 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

are weapons that can exploit these vulnerabilities.

Mr. Freeman lays out the case that attacks culminating in the 2008 collapse were multi-phased, and began with the run-up of oil prices. According to the author, they appear to have been carried out by a combination of sovereign wealth funds and may have had the involvement of Islamist groups and national players such as Venezuela and Iran. “If Americans were concerned by rising oil prices in early 2008, they were panicked by the March collapse of Bear Stearns,” when a series of “bear raids” and market rumors nearly collapsed the world’s financial markets. Later, a report linked several groups to firms that were involved in causing the “flash crash” of 2010. Those groups included “individuals identified by authorities as ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorists,’ as well as al Qaeda financiers, an investment manager

once accused by the FBI of handling an account for Osama Bin Laden (with advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks), HAMAS financiers, the Russian mafia, Chinese traders and various jihadist foundations.”

Freeman states, “By shorting the market, our enemies shouted ‘fire’ in a crowded theater, prompting market actors to all ‘de-risk’ at once. They were piggybacked by a few market traders like George Soros, who made a bundle. And the entire U.S. economy paid the price.”

The greatest challenge may not be the harm that we have incurred, but rather the ignored potential for a future attack. Freeman observes, “The Phase Three concern is that the response itself to the recent collapse has strained economic resources, creating large budget deficits and high inflation risks.” All previous hazards remain in place; we simply face them

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demographic jihad: conquest without an army

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48 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

Inset: Islamic Society of North America building Photo: Baxter1961

By Paul Williams

For the past three decades a group of Muslim scholars and activists have been actively pursuing a creative means to bring about Islamic conquest. If war is the attempted imposition of one’s will on an adversary by force, demographic warfare may be considered conquest by demographics.

T

he success of this undertaking, participants believe, is qisma, a process of inevitability or destiny.

One of the first modern Islamic scholars to articulate the potential for demographic domination in the United States was Ismail Raji al-Faruqi, the son of wealthy Palestinians, who became a professor of religion at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1968. Witnessing the

first sizable waves of Muslim immigrants to arrive in the wake of the Six Day War, he wrote: “Nothing could be greater than this youthful, vigorous, and rich continent [North America] turning from its evil past and marching forward under the banner of Allahu Akbar.”1 Al Faruqi went on to list the following five reasons why the newly arrived Muslim immigrants should become activists:

1. Activism will assuage any guilt for settling in the land of the kafirs, because God was leading them to become da’iyya (missionaries).

2. They will see America through Islamic eyes and realize that its culture is inferior.

3. They will experience a feeling of personal worth since they will be performing the will of Allah.

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 49

4. The Islamic vision will provide the immigrants with necessary criteria for making American society conform to the will of Allah.

5. They will come to experience a level of attachment to the United States since they are transforming it into an Islamic nation. Immigrants, however, must constantly remain focused on their homeland, so that Allah will permit them to return there and not be assimilated into the American way of life.2 Shortly before he was murdered in 1986 by a member of the Muslim Student Association, al-Faruqi wrote: “If you look upon this [the arrival of Muslim immigrants in the United States] as an event in world history, you will see that Allah has prepared the course of history to welcome you in the West. By bringing

you here, Allah has carved out a vocation for you, a new mission, and this mission is to save the West.”3

THE MUSLIM STUDENT ASSOCIATION The concept of demographic conquest was advanced by three Arab students— Ahmed Totanji, Jamal Barzinji, and Hisham al Talib, who formed the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at the University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign, in 1963.4 Two years after its founding it listed thirty-eight chapters and gained a representative on the board of the Federation of Islamic Organizations of the United States and Canada.5 There was a substantial difference between the MSA and other international

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Islamic system and establish in its stead an Islamic system of state rule.”8 The MSA opposed assimilation within America’s secular culture by adopting a Muslim Brotherhood motto: “We are Muslims first, and Muslims last, and Muslims forever. We should live as Muslims and we should die as Muslims.”9 The new organization was funded, almost entirely, by the Muslim World League, a Saudi organization established to encourage conversion to Salafism through da’wah (proselytization).

Salafism (used here as synonymous with Wahhabism) is an austere form of Sunni Islam that attempts to effect a return to what its adherents believe to be unadulterated Islam, as practiced

by Muhammed and his first followers.

In order to achieve this objective, the Salafists seek to strip what they see as bida, or innovations, from the practice of Islam as it has developed over the centuries. According to Salafists, only pure Islam can solve the political, economic, and social issues that beset the Muslim community (ummah). This accounts for their insistence that all Muslim societies must be governed by shariah (Islamic law).10 With the creation of more chapters on American campuses, more millions flowed into the MSA’s coffers. By 1971, the group set up headquarters at the Al-Amin Mosque in Gary, Indiana.

Four years later, the MSA purchased a large farm in Plainfield, Indiana, and established a general secretariat of fulltime workers. Departments were created for education and publication, training, public relations, administration, and finance. By 1976, the finance department gave rise to the North American Islamic Trust, which held title to MSA properties including three hundred newly created mosques.11 In subsequent years, a number of Islamist organizations would grow out

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The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 53

of MSA, whose website now proclaims: “MSA National was the precursor of ISNA [the Islamic Society of North America], ICNA [the Islamic Circle of North America], MAYA [the Muslim Arab Youth Association], IMA [the Islamic Medical Association of North America], AMSS [the Association of Muslim Social Scientists], AMSE [the Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers], MYNA [Muslim Youth of North America], Islamic Book Service, and the North American Islamic Trust.”12 As the MSA continued to sprout branches, American Islamist writers continued to advance the notion of demographic jihad. One of the most influential of these writers was Shamim A. Siddiqi, a Pakistani who arrived in 1997 to form the Forum of Islamic Work in Brooklyn. Siddiqi believed that most Americans had the wrong conception of Islam, since they viewed

it as a religion. “Islam,” he wrote, “is a Deen [a way of life] not a religion, as the West mostly understands it. It is an ideology, a code of conduct that governs the entire spectrum of human life both individual and collective, from birth to death. It regulates all the aspects of human life—personal and private, social and cultural, economic and political, war and peace, trade and commerce, human rights and obligations, national and international affairs, moral and spiritual bonds. Nothing lies beyond its domain.”13 For this reason, he concluded, no true Muslim could assimilate within American culture. He wrote, “It’s [the Dawah program’s] call on The Muslims of America to decide once and for all that they are to live in the country like true Muslims as enjoined by Allah and his Prophet or perish in this permissive society like vermin.”14 Siddiqi maintained that the Islamic

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takeover of the United States was imminent. The vast majority of Americans, he argued, remain hungry for the Islamist message, since it “pinpoints the shortcoming of capitalism, elaborates the fallacies of democracy, [and] exposes the devastating consequences of the liberal lifestyle.”15 A substantial number of Americans, he argued, are perplexed by moral turpitude that surrounds them at work, at play, and even within the privacy of their living quarters. He believed that they decry gay rights, same-sex marriages, abortion, pornography, illicit drugs, lawlessness, radical feminism, and promiscuity and will welcome shariah as the law of the land. The process of Islamization, the scholar added, can be accelerated by the migration of Muslims to certain states and municipalities, where they can establish political-action groups, lobby for Islamic interests, and elect their own candidates to local, state, and federal office.16 Moreover, Siddiqi pointed out that the United States permits Islamists to pursue their political conquest without the necessity of violence. The Constitution, Siddiqi maintained, guarantees governmental neutrality toward religion and allows making America an Islamic nation without fear of political or military resistance.17 The courts, he writes, have proven to be an important ally in the process of permitting the takeover, granting concession after concession to Muslim activists: The United States is a democratic country. There is freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of movement for every individual. These freedoms provide the opportunity to individuals or a group of people to profess, practice and propagate any ideology of their choice… To this extent, the Muslims of America will be free to mobilize themselves and carry out the program of Dawah Ilallah to every

nook and corner of America. There will be nothing to stop them.18

THE STEPS In Methodology of Dawah Ilallah in American Perspective, published in 1989, Siddiqi advised his fellow Islamists to adopt the following measures: 1. The promotion of Islamic rituals and customs in public schools and institutions. This has entailed the permission of Muslim students to recite the basmallah in classrooms, the broadcast of calls to prayers over loudspeakers on college campuses and within places of employment, and the installation of prayer rooms and foot baths in airports and publicly owned buildings.

2. The demand of special privileges for Muslims. This includes public support for Islamic schools, mosques, and civic centers, the inclusion of Muslims in quotas, affirmative-action plans, and the insistence upon special allowances for Muslim employees, including their right to retreat from their work stations at designated times of the day for prayer.

3. The restriction of rights of others.

This consists of penalties for those who dare to show disrespect for the Koran and tenets of the Muslim religion, the curtailment of critical analysis of Islam by “Occidentalists” (non-Muslim scholars), and the prohibition of activities that are offensive to believers.19 Siddiqi anticipated Islamists gaining control of the White House and the corridors of executive, legislative, and judicial power before 2020.20 During his stay in the United States, Siddiqi served as the director of the Dawah and Publications Department at the Islamic Law Council of North America (ICNA). The ICNA, which remains the largest Islamic organization in the United States, was an outgrowth

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of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and, in turn, the Muslim Brotherhood,21 which came to adopt the Pakistani scholar’s plan for the Islamic transformation of America.22

A CONFIDENTIAL MEMO The Muslim Brotherhood’s project for the conquest of America was revealed in a document titled “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America,” which came to light during the 2007 trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the largest Islamic charity in the United States. The memorandum had been written by Dr. Mohamed Akram Adlouni, a former director of the United Association of Studies and Research in North Virginia.

It received the unanimous endorsement of the Muslim Brotherhood’s shura, or planning council, on May 22, 1991.23 In the document, Adlouni wrote that Muslims “must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands so that Allah’s religion is victorious over all other religions.” This task, Adlouni maintained, can be accomplished by the slow and steady process of “absorption”—a kind of reverse assimilation by which Muslim immigrants and converts incrementally impose their values and, ultimately, their laws upon others.24 The Islamization of America, Adlouni continued, is not a fantastical goal but an achievable objective: “The U.S. Islamic arena is full of those in waiting. If we ask for money, a lot of it would come, and if we ask for men, they would come in lines. If we examined the human and financial resources, the Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] alone owns in this country, we and others would feel proud and

Of interest is the fact that the Saudi government has dispatched over 15,000 Tablighi Jamaat missionaries to inner-cities throughout the US.

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 55

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glorious. And if we add to them the resources of our friends and allies, those who circle in our orbit and those waiting on our banner, we would realize that we are able to open the door to settlement and walk through it seeking to make Almighty God’s word the highest.”25 Adlouni called upon the Muslim Brotherhood to create charities and nonprofit organizations to further the cause of Islam in America. Such organizations, he said, can be used as battering rams to break down all obstacles to the ascent of Islam that may be raised by government officials and petty bureaucrats. Adlouni wrote: “We must say that we are in a country which understands no language other than the language of the organizations, and one which does not respect or give weight to any group without effective, functional, and strong organizations.”26 He noted that many Islamist organizations are already in place: “All we need is to tweak them, coordinate their work, collect their elements and merge their efforts with others, and then connect them with the comprehensive plan we seek.”27

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According to Adlouni, the conquest of America will not occur overnight. He does expect that Muslims in the United States will form their own political party to place devout believers in positions of power, operate their own television network, publish their own newspapers, oversee the curricula in public schools and colleges, establish Islamic universities to train Islamic scholars and teachers, set up an “Islamic Central Bank” that will provide interest-free loans to all believers, institute Muslim attorneys’ societies to champion the cause of Islam, and create a “Central Islamic Court” that will establish Islamic law throughout the land.28 Of interest is the fact that the Saudi government has dispatched over 15,000 Tablighi Jamaat missionaries to innercities throughout the US. The success

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of these missionaries, including Hafis Mahbub, Ali Abdur Rashid, and Sheikh Mubarek Ali Gilani, has resulted in the creation of such groups as Dar ul-Islam, Jamaat ul-Fuqra (aka The Muslims of the Americas), and the National Ummah Movement.29 The Tablighis also succeeded in establishing the Muslim prison ministry. At present, 90% of all US converts to Islam are African Americans and 60% are converted in prison.30 Could the plan to conquer by demographics succeed? Consider the following: • The US fertility rate is now below 2.1 per woman.31 This statistic does not hold true for the average Muslim American woman who displays a fertility rate of 2.8.32 • “Diversity” visas are granted to diversify the immigrant population in the United States, by selecting applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.33 In 1992, nearly 50,000 Muslims arrived in the US and received permanent residency status. In 2009, that annual number soared to 115,000.34 A GEO report released by Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (RME) show that half of the 12 million US illegal immigrants have entered the country legally but have overstayed their visas. Many of the over-stays are from Islamic countries. Five of the 9/11 hijackers overstayed their visas, and GAO found that 36 of the roughly 400 people convicted of terrorism-related charges since September 2001 had overstayed their visas.35 In addition to the legal and illegal Muslim immigrants, 80,000 refugees entered this country under resettlement programs to date. Nearly, 75,000 came from Islamic countries.36

• Islamists do not recognize the legitimacy of other faiths. Some believe “there is a morally necessary, legally and religiously obligatory state of war, until the final triumph of Islam over unbelief.”37 The result, according to Islamists, is providential. America, they maintain, will become a Muslim nation by 2050.38

•

about the author Dr. Williams (Ph.D. of philosophical theology) is author of: The Vatican Exposed, The Al Qaeda Connection, and The Day of Islam. His latest book is Crescent Moon Rising: The Islamic Transformation of America (Prometheus, 2013). Williams served as a consultant (CI-247) to the FBI. His work resulted in multiple terrorism related arrests and convictions.

Endnotes Ismail Raji al-Faruqi, “Islamic Ideals in North America,” in The Muslim Community in North America, ed. Baha Abu-Laban, Regula B. Qureshi, and Earle H. Waugh (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1983), p. 269.

2 Ibid, p. 268.

3 Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Loving America and Longing for Home: Isma’il al-Faruqi and the Emergence of the Muslim Diaspora in North America (Malden, ME: Blackwell, 2004), p. 75.

4 Paul Kramer, “International Students and U.S. Global Policy in the Long 20th Century,” Asia Pacific Journal, January 18, 2010, http://www.japanfocus.org/Paul_A_-Kramer/3289 5 Kambiz Ghanea Bassiri, A History of Islam in America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 264, 6 Fiona Symon, “Analysis: The Roots of Jihad,” BBC News, October 16, 2001, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_ east/1603178.stm 1

58 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press), p. 83.

8 Sayeed Abdul A’la Maudidi, Jihad in Islam (Beirut: Holy Koran Publishing House, 2006), pp. 6–7, http://www. muhammadanism.org/Terrorism/jihah_ in_islam/jihad_in_islam.pdf 9 Bassiri, History of Islam in America, p. 264.

10 Steve Emerson, “Report on the Roots of Violent Islamic Extremism and the Efforts to Counter It,” Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, July 10, 2008, http://www.investigativeproject.org/ documents/testimony/353.pdf 11 Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, The Muslims of America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 15. See also Leila Ahmed, A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence from the Middle East to America (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 166.

12 Ibid.

13 Shamim A. Siddiqi, Dawah in the Americas (New York: Forum of Islamic Work, 1993), p. 10.

14 . Ibid, p. 25.

15 Shamim A. Siddiqi, quoted in Daniel Pipes, “The Danger Within: Militant Islam in America,” Commentary, November 2001, http://www.danielpipes. org/77/the-danger-within-militant-islamin-america 16 Shamim A. Siddiqi, Methodology of Dawah Ilallah in American Perspective (New York: Forum of Islamic Work, 1989), p. 45, http:// www.dawahinamericas.com/bookspdf/ MethodologyofDawah.pdf 17 Ibid. See also Daniel Pipes, Militant Islam Reaches America, pp. 113–15.

18 Shamim A. Siddiqi, Methodology of Dawah Elallah in American Perspective, pp. 39-40.

19 Siddiqi, Ibid, pp. 28–90. See also 7

Pipes, pp. 117–20.

20 Ibid, p. 76.

21 Jane El Hoor and Sana Saeeed, “Campus Radicals: A New Muslim Group Tries to Rouse the Moderates,” Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2008.

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 Mohamed Akram Adlouni, “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America,” May, 22, 1991, Government Exhibit 003-0085, U.S. v. the Holy Land Foundation, 2007.

25 Ibid. See also Sylvan Besson, “Revelations,” Le Temps (Geneva), October 6, 2005.

26 Akram Adlouni, “An Explanatory Memorandum 27 Ibid.

28 Ibid.

29 Robert Dannin, Black Pilgrimage to Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 20020, pp. 75-76.

30 Frank J. Gaffney, “The Enemy Within,” Front Page Magazine, August 19, 2005, http://archive.frontpagemag. com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=7541 31 Rob Stein, “U.S. Birth Rate Falls Again: A Possible Effect of Economic Downturn,” Washington Post, August 27, 2010.

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“A Demographic Portrait of American Muslims,” Pew Research Center, Auguhttp://www.peoplepress.org/2011/08/30/section-1-ademographic-portrait-of-muslimamericans/ 33 “Diversity Visa Program,” Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State, http://travel.state.gov/visa/ immigrants/types/types_1322.html 34 Ibid.

35 Jim Kouri, “Almost Half of Illegal Aliens Entered U.S. Legally, But Overstayed Visas, Senators Say,” Family Security Matters, May 20, 2011, http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/ publications/id.9562/pub_detail.asp 36 “Presidential Memorandum — Refugee Admissions,” The White House, Press Release, October 8, 2010, http://www.whitehouse.gov/thepress-office/2010/10/08/presidentialmemorandum-refugee-admissions 37 Bernard Lewis, The Political Language of Islam (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 73.

38 Art Moore, “DC Imam Declares Muslim Takeover Plan,” World Net Daily, November 10, 2007, http://www.wnd. com/2007/11/44480/ 32

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 59

hezbollah advises mexican cartels?

Excerpted from the new release, The Terrorist-Criminal Nexus (CRC Press, 2013)

Counter The

60 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

By Jennifer Hesterman

Prior to 9/11, Hezbollah was responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any other terrorist group. They had a hand in the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks (241 U.S. military dead, 60 wounded); the kidnapping and murder of multiple US officials in Lebanon; and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia (19 U.S. military dead, 372 wounded).

W

hen tensions escalate

between the West and Iran or Syria, elements of Hezbollah often take action, serving as Iran’s unconventional warfare foreign legion.

Hezbollah has been in operation for 30 years and was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US State Department in 1995. Hezbollah, also known as “The Party of God,” is an approximately 10,000-man group.

The group is sophisticated in nature,

with several arms including military, political, influence and community services. Hezbollah is a global operation with presence in Central and South America, Western Africa, and Europe, operating in the same “space” as other criminal entities and terrorist groups such as FARC and al Qaeda. They have been very active players around the world in this age of unrestricted warfare, willing to share expertise, logistical assistance, and more.

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 61

Hezbollah bunker filled with weaponry and rocket launchers hidden under trees in Lebanon.

Photo: Israel Defense Forces

Tunnels Hezbollah has constructed a network of tunnels in Lebanon used to secure themselves from Israeli airstrikes and permit covert maneuvering of forces.

The tunnels have medical facilities, dormitories, lighting, heating, cooling systems, and even digitally controlled surveillance and weapon systems. Recent reports from Beirut indicate that with the help of Iran, Hezbollah has tunneled beneath mountains in the Beqaa region and into Syria.1 Tunnels in the Middle East are nothing new; consider the vast network discovered by coalition forces in Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom, including high-tech underground corridors from one of Sadaam Hussein’s palaces to the airport. HAMAS has also constructed a network of 400 main tunnels and 1,000 feeder tunnels between

62 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

the Gaza Strip and Egypt, many of which can accommodate vehicles. Their tunnels are used to smuggle weapons, personnel, medicine, construction material, fuel, and other goods embargoed due to the ongoing Israel-Palestinian conflict.2 Tunnels built by Mexican drug trafficking organizations to clandestinely cross from Mexico into the United States have grown increasingly sophisticated.

Law enforcement agents have discovered more than 150 tunnels since 1990, most crude and incomplete, but a few of those discovered were operational with tracks to move carts loaded with contraband across the border. In July 2012, DEA and ICE agents discovered a 240-yard, $1.5 million tunnel under a strip mall in San Luis, Arizona, expertly constructed with 6-foot ceilings and wood walls,

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The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 63

and equipped with ventilation, lighting, hydraulic systems, and other high-tech components. This was not the common dirt tunnel through a sewer system previously encountered. DEA agents believed the tunnel was the work of experienced engineers.3 If Mexican cartels want better tunnels, they will purchase the expertise they require. A former US law enforcement agent with extensive experience working undercover in Mexico believes the expertise and construction features seen in the latest cartel tunneling efforts points to Hezbollah’s involvement.4

Bomb Tactics A new weapon in the cartel’s battle for domination seems to have been imported directly from Middle Eastern terrorist groups and debuted in July, 2010 with the successful detonation of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) in the border city of Ciudad Juárez. The Juárez cartel deliberately targeted first responders by placing a bound, wounded man in a police uniform at the scene, luring law enforcement and medical personnel to the area. A nearby vehicle, inconspicuously laden with 22 pounds of Tovex, exploded moments later, killing three people and wounding 20. Tovex is a water gel explosive widely used as a substitute for dynamite for industrial and mining purposes. Theft of Tovex in Mexico is a common occurrence; in February 2009, masked gunmen stole 900 cartridges of the substance from a US firm in Durango, Mexico.5 In July and August 2012, a wave of car bombings in northeast Mexico targeting a city hall and the homes of security officials were detonated by Zeta and Gulf cartels as part of their campaign to influence local elections. Two of the bombs detonated

64 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

by use of a cell phone trigger. VBIEDs are widely used by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and by terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and al Qaeda. Richard Schwein, the former FBI special agent in charge of the El Paso office, stated, “It certainly seems like they’ve taken a page out of the Middle East.”6 The cartel’s use of these tactics present an evolutionary change in Mexico’s organized crime insurgency and calls for increased vigilance on the US side of the border as the violence pushes north.

Hezbollah in Mexico The number of Hezbollah operatives operating in Mexico has increased in recent years. In 2009, former Syrian military officer Jamal Yousef was arrested in New York City on narco-terror charges for his involvement in a weapons-forcocaine scheme between Hezbollah and FARC, using Mexico as a safe haven.

According to the indictment, a weapons cache of 200 rifles, 2,500 hand grenades, C4 explosives, and antitank munitions was stolen from Iraq by Yousef ’s cousin, a member of Hezbollah, and moved to the home of family members in Mexico, also affiliated with the terrorist group. Yousef planned to deliver the weapons to FARC in Colombia, in return for 2,000 pounds of cocaine, but the DEA intervened.

Yousef pled guilty and faces 15 years in prison.7 Although he is widely believed to have been a lone operator, Jameel Nasr was an international Hezbollah operative taking direction from Lebanon to establish a Hezbollah network in Mexico and throughout South America.

Nasr traveled regularly between Lebanon, Venezuela, and Tijuana and was arrested in 2010 by Mexican authorities upon his return from one of these trips. Mexican authorities said Nasr had been “entrusted with forming a base in South America

and the United States to carry out operations against Israeli and Western targets.”8 In late 2011, prosecutors in Virginia charged a Lebanese man, Ayman Joumaa, with smuggling “tens of thousands of kilos” of Colombian cocaine into the US with 85,000 kilos sold to Los Zetas cartel.

Joumaa and his associates laundered over $250 million in proceeds through Spain, West Africa, Lebanon, Venezuela, and Colombia.9 According to the US Treasury department, Hezbollah derived financial support from the criminal activities of Joumaa’s network through the sanctioned Lebanese Canadian National bank of Beirut.10 In 2011, a former undercover law enforcement officer discussed Hezbollah interface with DTOs, saying the group receives cartel cash and protection in exchange for giving their expertise on subjects ranging from “money laundering to firearms training and explosives training.” He also discussed his discovery of Hezbollah safe houses in Tijuana and Durango.11 Finally, the shocking case of the Iranian plot to kill Saudia Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, D.C. revealed how the cartels may be used to carry out attacks for rogue regimes. In October 2011, authorities arrested Mansour J. Arbabsiar, an Iranian-American car salesman in Texas in connection with the plot.

According to his indictment, Arbabsiar’s cousin in Iraq, who was somehow affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force, reached out to him to set up the assassination using a Mexican cartel. The plot entailed the bombing of a Washington, D.C., restaurant while the ambassador was having lunch. Arbabsiar traveled back and forth to Mexico to meet with representatives of Los Zetas cartel to arrange the hit and provided a $100,000

8 May, 2011 protest against killings in Mexico City.

Photo: Zapata

The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 65

For instance, during the December 2008 to January 2009 Gaza War, HAMAS and Hezbollah maintained continuous communication in all phases of the conflict. During the battle, Hezbollah’s influence on HAMAS’s tactics was apparent with the group relying more on rocket attacks and less on suicide operations. Iranian sources report Hezbollah trained HAMAS in military tactics used to attack Merkava tanks, the main battle tank employed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). A Hezbollah parliamentary official confirmed the tactical exchange.13

Hugo Chavez, head of state of Venezuela.

Photo: Valter Campanato/ABr down payment from Iran as a sign of good faith, a small portion of the $1.5 million which would be paid for the entire operation. Confidential informants reportedly alerted US law enforcement, who then monitored bank transactions and telephone calls from Iran, as well as Arbabsiar’s conversations with what he thought were cartel members.12

Partnerships Hezbollah has a history of forming relationships with other militant and criminal groups that can be of value.

We must acknowledge this nexus, and understand that similar to major corporations, criminal groups can strategically partner without merging.

Hezbollah and HAMAS, also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, operate in the same “space” in terms of benefactors such as Iran and Syria, and financing activities in the tri-border area of South America. Although their ideologies have differences, the two groups are forming an increasingly strong partnership in the Middle East.

Emergent Hezbollah Threats South of the Border In January 2012, Iranian President Ahmadinejad, a key supporter and financier of Hezbollah, stopped in Venezuela while on a tour of Latin America, posing for photographs outside Chavez’ presidential palace. Pointing to a nearby hill, Chávez said, “That hill will open up and a big atomic bomb will come out,” and Ahmadinejad added any bomb they would build together would be fueled by “love.”14 It could be argued that one of the “bombs” they are creating is Hezbollah, with Chavez openly inviting Hezbollah members to live in Venezuela, directing his embassies in the Middle East to launder Hezbollah money, and shipping arms to Lebanon.

Although Hezbollah’s relationship with Chavez is noteworthy, the group’s presence in Mexico presents a more urgent danger. A study done

by Georgetown University found the number of immigrants from Lebanon and Syria living in Mexico exceeds 200,000, and according to the 2010 Mexican census, 1.1 million Mexicans consider themselves Arab. Hezbollah is poised to

66 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

infiltrate these communities to exploit any sympathy possible; arrange funding and safe harbor; and conduct activities similar to those pursued in the tri-border region of South America. Hezbollah is not only in Mexico, but pushing north across the border. ICE officials have testified that members of Hezbollah have already entered the United States across the Southwest border,15 and in 2011, a former undercover law enforcement officer disclosed his discovery of Hezbollah safe houses just across the border in Tijuana.16

•

about the author Ms. Hesterman is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel. She is a senior analyst for the MASY Group. Her most recent book is The Terrorist-Criminal Nexus: An Alliance of International Drug Cartels, Organized Crime, and Terror Groups.

Use code JWL23 for a 20% discount and free shipping at http://www.crcpress.com/ product/isbn/9781466557611.

Endnotes Sobhi Monzer Yaghi, “Israel is Preparing for War Tunnels and Hezbollah Elements in the Aouthern Syrian Border,” (July 2, 2012), http://www.aljoumhouria. com/news/index/15409.

2 Kifah Zaboun, “Gaza Tunnel Trade: Matter of Life and Death for Hamas,” August 31, 2012, http://www.asharq-e. com/news.asp?section=1&id=30885.

3 Elliot Spagat and Jacques Billeaud, “Drug Tunnels Discovered Between U.S.Mexico Border Contained Railcar System, Tons Of Pot,” July 13, 2012, http://www. huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/14/drugtunnels_n_1673317.html.

4 “Terrorist Group Setting Up Operations Near Border,” (2011), http:// www.10news.com/news/27780427/ detail.html.

1

Alicia A. Caldwell, “Car Bomb in Mexico Drug War Changes the Ground Rules,” (2010), http://www.guardian. co.uk/world/feedarticle/9178042.

6 Ramon Bracamontes, “Experts: Car bomb in Juárez Mimics Middle East Terrorist Tactics,” (2010), http://www. elpasotimes.com/ci_15537113.

7 Southern District of New York United States District Court, “Sealed Indictment: Jamal Yousef,” July 6, 2009, http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/asmp/ externalresources/2009/Yousef,Jamaletal.

S3Indictment.pdf.

8 Investigative Project on Terrorism, “Mexican Arrest Indicates Hizballah Seeking Foothold,” (2010), http://www. investigativeproject.org/2046/mexicanarrest-indicates-hizballah-seeking.

9 United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, “Sealed Indictment: Ayman Joumaa,” November 3, 2011, http://www.investigativeproject.

5

org/documents/case_docs/1856.pdf.

10 Sebastian Rotella, “Government Says Hezbollah Profits From U.S. Cocaine Market Via Link to Mexican Cartel,” (2011), http://www.propublica.org/ article/government-says-hezbollahprofits-from-us-cocaine-market-via-linkto-mexica.

11 “Terrorist Group Setting Up Operations Near Border,.” May 4, 2011, http://www.10news.com/news/terroristgroup-setting-up-operations-near-border.

12 Southern District of New York United States District Court, “Sealed Indictment: Mansour J. Arbabsiar,” October 11, 2011, http://www. investigativeproject.org/documents/ case_docs/1712.pdf.

13 Benedetta Berti, “Assessing the Role of Hezbollah in the Gaza War and Its Regional Impact,” Terrorism Monitor 7, no. 4 (2009), http://www.jamestown.org/ single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_

Ophir Falk and Henr y Morgenstern have serious about winn compiled a book that should be read ing the war on terro better understan r. By painstakingly by anyone who is d the nature of analyzing the empi our enemies and rical data, they they offer important why they employ help us insights on how these barbaric tacti terrorism can be In so doing, they cs. Most crucially, effectively confr have performed onted and ultim an invaluable servi crucial battle. ately ce for all those defeated. who are committed to winning this —Benjamin Neta nyahu, former Prime Minister of Israe l

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U.s. and policymakers, first israeli experiences and detailed interv responders, and threat of suicide students of home iews with frontline personnel, terro Suicide Terror enab land security to understand and for future attacks. r. it analyzes recent suicide attac deal with the grow les ks as well as our following the expe current vulnerabili Moreover, they learn ing rt authors’ advic ties e, readers learn how to prepare possible measures and likely scenarios and losses in the event of an attac for and implement an effective and quick response to prevent an attack. k. following an overv to minimize casualties iew and historical review of suicide terror, the book cover • Global jihad s: • Israel’s confron tation with suicide te rrorism • America’s expe rience with suicide b ombings • Internationalizat ion of suicide terroris m • High-risk scena rios and future trends • Methods for co nfronting suicide terror • Medical manag ement of suicide terro rism Using eye-witnes s accounts, the text recreates the studies help reade look and feel of rs actua these very dangerousget into the minds of suicide terro rists in order to unde l terrorism incidents. Detailed threats. case rstand how to best This book is a defin prevent and confr itive study of suicide ont experts who have terror, synthesizing t dealt with it firsth he experience of wel devastating threa and. anyone respo l-known Is t should read this book and consider nsible for understanding, preventing raeli and American its recommendation , and confronting OPHIR FALK, LLB, this s with all seriousness. institute for Coun MBA, is a Partner at the Naveh, K ter terrorism, wher of experience in e he has published antor Even-Har law firm and a Rese vario numerous articles carried out risk asses us security capacities and serve in the field. Mr. falk arch Fellow at the d as a sments for olympic has over a decade venues and critic consultant for the 2004 olympic HENRY MORGEN al national infras games, where he STERN is the Presi tructure. than 500 federal, dent of security state solutions internation first responders to Is , and local agencies to effectively al, a company that of suicide terror. He rael to study Homeland Security. Mr. confront the threat of terror and regul has trained more radio stations, and has offered expert commentary on tMorgenstern is a widely publishe arly takes groups of d aut Web broadcasts. error-related issu es for NBC, ABC hor on the subject , CBS, Fox, numerous

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14 José R. Cárdenas, “Iran in Latin America is No Laughing Matter,” Foreign Policy (2012), http://shadow. foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/01/11/ iran_in_latin_america_is_no_laughing_ matter.

15 House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Investigations, A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border, 2006.

16 “Terrorist Group Setting Up Operations Near Border,” (2011), http:// www.10news.com/news/27780427/ detail.html

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27th Israel Security & Defense Week • www.securityisrael.com....................................................................... 305 4th Annual Cloud Computing for DoD & Gov. 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Summit • www.bigdatafordefense.com................................................................ 119 Border Management North Summit • www.bordermanagementsummit.com..................................................... 115 Center for Rural Development • www.ruraltraining.org..................................................................................... 265 Counter Terror Expo • www.counterterrorexpo.com/TCTM1.................................................................................. 267 DSG Arms • www.dsgarms.com............................................................................................................................. 275 Elite K9 K9 Cop Magazine • www.elitek9.com.................................................................................................... 277 Elite K9 K9 Cop Magazine • www.k9copmagazine.com...................................................................................... 279 Energizer • www.hardcasetactical.com.................................................................................................................... 209 George Washington University • www.nearyou.gwu.edu/ssl............................................................................ 283 Golden Engineering • www.goldenengineering.com............................................................................................. 83 Golight Inc • www.golight.com............................................................................................................................... 285 GovSec 2013 • www.govsecinfo.com..................................................................................................................... 257 Icor Technology • www.icortechnology.com........................................................................................................... 81 J & N Tactical • www.jntactical.com....................................................................................................................... 155 Lenco Industries Inc. • www.swattrucks.com......................................................................................................... 13 Lithos Robotics • www.lithosrobotics.com............................................................................................................... 307 Mattracks • www.mattracks.com............................................................................................................................ 297 Military Behavorial Healthcare Summit • www.militarybehavioralhealthcare.com............................................ 148 NEMO • www.nemoarms.com................................................................................................................................. 237 NTOA • www.ntoa.org............................................................................................................................................ 222 Office of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa • www.la2013conference.org........................................................... 317 Patriot3 • www.patriot3.com.................................................................................................................................. 301 Police One • www.military1.com............................................................................................................................ 335 Policetraining.net • www.policetraining.net.......................................................................................................... 191 Recon Robotics • www.reconrobotics.com/throwbotxtdemo.................................................................................... 337 Reconyx • www.reconyx.com................................................................................................................................. 303 Safety & Security Asia 2013 • www.safetysecurityasia.com.sg............................................................................ 329 Security Solutions International • www.ssitacticalgear.com................................................................................ 291 Security Solutions International • www.homelandsecurityssi.com/products........................................................ 295 Southern Police Equipment • www.southernpoliceequipment.com........................................................................ 343 Special Operations West Summit • www.specialoperationswest.com.................................................................. 293 SSI Advanced Homeland Security Training in Israel • www.homelandsecurityssi.com.................................... 215 SSI PVBs • www.ssipvb.com................................................................................................................................... 226 SSI SWAT-MACTAC • www.homelandsecurityssi.com.............................................................................................. 228 Suicide Terror Book • www.homelandsecurityssi.com............................................................................................ 117 Tactical Products Group Inc. • www.tacprogear.com........................................................................................... 101 Thermo Scientific • www.thermoscientific.com/mil-chemID..................................................................................... 254 Thorshield - G Squared Consulting • www.thorshield.com................................................................................ 97 Trident Consulting Group • www.tridentconsultinggroup.org................................................................................ 99

70 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

The Advanced Global Security Workshop in

Israel SSI

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The experts on training in:

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Since 2005, SSI has taken nearly 500 First Responders to Israel and shown them the basics of the Israel security concept.

Thanks in part to that program, we are better able to defend ourselves in the United States. In response to demand, we are now offering a once-in-a-lifetime experience covering the following advanced subjects:

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Hezbollah - a threat as deadly as al-Qaeda - Learn about them in their own territory, along Israel’s northern border.

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Hospital Response - Find out how Israel’s critical response hospitals handle surge and multi-casualty incidents.

Israel Counter Terrorism units - Learn how they operate.

Israel National Police - National Academy; See how they train?

Sensitive Installations - Participate in a day-long exercise and training program in how to set up a complete security system.

Secret Israel Homeland Security Simulator - See how this works at a base south of Tel Aviv.

Stay in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and visit some of the most amazing sites! Register now if you are US Military, a Homeland Security Professional, a Security Professional, an EMS, or an EMT.

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The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 71

Training Review

Open Source Intelligence

I

f you live in the modern world, you live in an ecosystem in which the most adept predator is most frequently the one that can most skillfully sift through electronic data. In this line of work, you probably realize that the amount of information that has been collected on individuals is nearly limitless, that the volume of information collected is greatest on individuals in “first-world� nations, and that no database is entirely

By Chris Graham secure.

If you are an investigator and do not have well-honed skills that maximize your ability to search open source online data that has been posted by the subject of your investigation and the people and organizations he has interacted with, your capabilities are antiquated. If you are a law enforcement officer or military operator and do not understand how much of your personal information is

readily accessible, you are living with great vulnerability.

Michael Gordon is a man who knows this well. He is a police detective and a principal of Dataveillance (www.dataveillance.us). He recently demonstrated these points by conducting an Internet search in front of a room full of law enforcement officers. In seconds he accessed city records that revealed the names, pay, and personal information

Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Ryan Allshouse uses the intrusion detection system to monitor unclassified network activity from the automated data processing workspace aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Photo: Rick Naystatt/Released

72 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

Marina Marina Bay Bay Sands, Sands, Singapore Singapore 1 17 7 -- 9 9 May May 2013 2013 www.safetysecurityasia.com.sg www.safetysecurityasia.com.sg

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Host

Supporting Governmental Partners

Knowledge Partner

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Concurrent Events

Organiser

Host

Supporting Governmental Partners

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Conference & Exhibition Management Services Conference Exhibition Pte&Ltd Management Services Pte Ltd

Security Systems Association of Security Systems Singapore Association of Singapore

Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau

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Frost & Sullivan

BCP Asia

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Fire & Disaster Asia 2013 Fire & Disaster Asia 2013

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International Facility Management Expo 2013 International Facility Management Expo 2013

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Merlion Awards 2013 Merlion Awards 2013

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Circle 239 on Reader Service Card Asian Professional Security Association Singapore Chapter (APSA) Asian Professional Security Association Singapore Chapter (APSA)

ASIS International Singapore Chapter (ASIS) ASIS International Singapore Chapter (ASIS)

Building Owners & Managers Associations of the Philippines (BOMAP) Building Owners & Managers Associations of the Philippines (BOMAP)

Singapore Institution of Safety Officers (SISO) The Counter Singapore Institution of Safety Officers (SISO)

Singapore Retailers Association (SRA)

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Association (SRA)

Alliance (SSA)

Terrorist ~ Retailers February/March 2013Security 73 Singapore Singapore

of the local police department’s officers.

He then demonstrated an Internet search for a spreadsheet of FBI usernames and passwords.

After capturing each student’s attention, Mike provided a highly valuable one-day Multijurisdictional Counterdrug Task Force (MCTF), High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) course on Open Source Intelligence.

Gordon defined Open Source Intelligence as: “A form of searching that involves finding, selecting and acquiring information from publicly available sources and analyzing it to produce actionable intelligence. The term “open” refers to overt, publicly available sources (as opposed to covert or classified sources); it is not related to opensource software or public intelligence.”

The course provided a definition for “dataveillance,” discussed IP addresses and digital footprints and explained temporary files and cookies. We discussed CCleaner and the deletion temporary files and cookies. We discussed Malware, spyware, and adware. We talked about Firefox and Firefox add-ons. We explored anonymization and the website TorProject.org, and we reviewed other anonymization options.

Gordon also covered “browser leakage.”

He briefed: “social networks,” searching social networks, searching Facebook and searching Twitter using various

websites. We discussed search engine basics and Boolean searches. We talked about effective searches using Google and advanced search techniques. We harvested hidden information from posted photos and video files.

I suspect that a training review on the subject of internet searches is not the most exciting article you have ever read. It is certainly not the most exciting that I have ever written, and yet I wholeheartedly endorse the HIDTA Open Source Intelligence course as one

74 The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013

of the most singularly valuable days of training I have attended. I believe that I would glean even greater insight from attending the course again and will eagerly do so if the opportunity arises. If you have the opportunity to attend, it is well worth going out of your way. www.mctft.com

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The Counter Terrorist ~ February/March 2013 75

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Energizer and other marks are trademarks of Energizer Circle 209 on Reader Service Card