Author Archive for Public Intelligence

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Federal Reserve Bank of New York Shadow Banking System Research Report

The rapid growth of the market-based financial system since the mid-1980s changed the nature of financial intermediation in the United States profoundly. Within the market-based financial system, “shadow banks” are particularly important institutions. Shadow banks are financial intermediaries that conduct maturity, credit, and liquidity transformation without access to central bank liquidity or public sector credit guarantees. Examples of shadow banks include finance companies, asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) conduits, limited-purpose finance companies, structured investment vehicles, credit hedge funds, money market mutual funds, securities lenders, and government-sponsored enterprises. Shadow banks are interconnected along a vertically integrated, long intermediation chain, which intermediates credit through a wide range of securitization and secured funding techniques such as ABCP, asset-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, and repo. This intermediation chain binds shadow banks into a network, which is the shadow banking system. The shadow banking system rivals the traditional banking system in the intermediation of credit to households and businesses. Over the past decade, the shadow banking system provided sources of inexpensive funding for credit by converting opaque, risky, long-term assets into money-like and seemingly riskless short-term liabilities. Maturity and credit transformation in the shadow banking system thus contributed significantly to asset bubbles in residential and commercial real estate markets prior to the financial crisis.

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North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NATO Multinational Submarine and Anti-Submarine Exercise Training Manual

Training is a national responsibility and each NATO country undertakes to train its own units with its own facilities to the limits of its own capabilities. Coordination between units of different nationalities is facilitated if training is based on the doctrine promulgated in Allied Tactical Publications. The state of training of submarines taking part in exercises is presumed to be such that antisubmarine operations may be undertaken. Submarines taking part in submarine versus submarine exercises must be given prior approval for advanced anti-submarine exercises by national commanders.

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Joint Chiefs of Staff

CJCS Military Family “Self-Help Guide” to Antiterrorism

This guide is designed to assist in making you and your family less vulnerable to terrorists. You should review its contents and incorporate protective measures applicable to your particular situation. It is important that you ensure all members of your family are made aware ofthis valuable information so they not only protect themselves, but also become an integral part of the overall community force protection effort. Terrorists generate fear through intimidation, coercion, and acts of violence such as bombings, hijackings, or kidnappings. As recent events have shown, terrorists have reached new levels of organization, sophistication, and violence, often targeting members of the Department of Defense and their families. Their tactics and techniques are also continually changing and will continue to be a challenge to predict and neutralize. Accordingly, we must remain vigilant.

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U.S. Marine Corps

(U//FOUO) USMC Company Intelligence Cell in Stability and Support Operations TTPs

In the asymmetrical threat climate of the 21st century, stability and support operations (SASO) are often conducted from a companylevel firm base (FB). These company and platoon size units need immediate, on-scene intelligence support to deal with an enemy that can recruit, rest, and resupply amongst the population in a predominately urban environment. This requires an intense collection and analysis effort by even the smallest unit. And, because of the noncontiguous nature of SASO, it is unrealistic to expect that higher echelon staffs will consistently be available to support them. Therefore, Marines in small units must establish and maintain a limited, but effective, capability for themselves.

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Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program

SIGTARP October 2010 Quarterly Report to Congress

More than two years have passed since the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (“EESA”) authorized the creation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”). On October 3, 2010, Treasury’s authority to initiate new TARP investments expired, marking a significant milestone in TARP’s history but also leading to the widespread, but mistaken, belief that TARP is at or near its end. As of October 3, $178.4 billion in TARP funds were still outstanding, and although no new TARP obligations can be made, money already obligated to existing programs may still be expended. Indeed, with more than $80 billion still obligated and available for spending, it is likely that far more TARP funds will be expended after October 3, 2010, than in the year since last October when U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (“Treasury Secretary”) extended TARP’s authority by one year. In short, it is still far too early to write TARP’s obituary.

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Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation

(U//FOUO) DHS-FBI Small Arms, Lone Shooters and Small-Unit Tactics Warning

(U//FOUO) DHS and the FBI assess that, given the current evolving and diversifying Homeland threat environment, recent incidents involving small arms operations here in the United States and abroad demonstrate the need for continued vigilance and awareness. Small arms operations could be employed through a range of tactics from a lone shooter—as illustrated by the 1 September incident in Silver Spring, Maryland at the headquarters of a U.S. cable network—to a small-unit assault operation.

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Corporate

TransUnion Illegal Sale of Personal Credit Information 2000 FTC Documentation

The Federal Trade Commission has ordered the Trans Union Corporation to stop selling consumer reports in the form of target marketing lists to marketers who lack an authorized purpose for receiving them under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). In a unanimous opinion authored by Commissioner Mozelle W. Thompson, the FTC determined that “Trans Union’s target marketing lists are . . . consumer reports under the FCRA” and concluded that Trans Union is violating the FCRA by selling this information to target marketers who lack one of the “permissible purposes” enumerated under the Act. The Commission’s decision applies to a number of Trans Union’s target marketing list products including its Master File / Selects products, its modeled products and its TransLink / reverse append products. Trans Union is based in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the three national credit bureaus, or consumer reporting agencies, in the United States. It currently handles data on approximately 160 million consumers. As a consumer reporting agency, Trans Union receives detailed credit information about millions of American consumers from numerous credit grantors including banks, mortgage companies, credit unions, auto dealers and others. Trans Union compiles this information into consumer reports and sells the reports to credit grantors nationwide.

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Corporate

TransUnion Corporation Sale of Consumer Credit Information Privacy Litigation Decision 2002

Defendant Trans Union is one of three major consumer reporting agencies in the United States. Its core business is assembling and evaluating consumer credit information, including credit and payment patterns on consumers for the purpose of selling consumer reports to third parties. Typical buyers of such information are firms considering extending credit to a particular consumer. The information provided by Trans Union is used to determine if the consumer is a good credit risk. Trans Union maintains a computer data base called “CRONUS,” that contains consumer credit information it uses to generate credit reports. The data base includes the credit activity of every credit-active individual in the United States. Trans Union receives the information from credit grantors such as banks, mortgage companies, credit unions, auto dealers and collection agencies. Trans Union also receives information on student loans and child support.

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International Monetary Fund, World Bank

IMF/World Bank “Future of Global Financial and Monetary System” Seminar

In the context of rapidly increasing inter-dependence across national economies and shifting economic weight of different regions, the crisis has been a wake-up call for putting in place a global financial and monetary system that reduces the frequency and severity of crisis, underpinned by greater multilateralism in policymaking. Global cooperation and coordination on a wide set of issues, ranging from crisis prevention to regulatory and prudential reform and to provision of financial support, is critical for responding to the challenges presented by financial fragilities, external imbalances, weak fiscal positions and rising debt levels, and volatile capital flows.

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U.S. Marine Corps

(U//FOUO) Insurgent Tactics in Southern Afghanistan 2005-2008

This short book provides an up-to-date introduction to the tactics employed by insurgents in southern Afghanistan during the years 2005-2008. It includes vignettes and maps on 19 different tactically significant engagements. The book covers three types of attacks: ambushes, attacks on fixed positions, and defensive engagements. The intended audience is Marines and soldiers going into theatre.

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Joint Chiefs of Staff

(U//FOUO) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense Needs Analysis

This document presents the results of the Functional Needs Analysis/Functional Solutions Analysis (FNA/FSA) for the functional area of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense (CBRND). The FNA/FSA are structured in accordance with the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Instruction (CJCSI) 3170.01D, Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS), and its companion manual, CJCSM 3170.01A, Operation of the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System.

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