Air Force personnel should not access the WikiLeaks website to view or download the publicized classified information. Doing so would introduce potentially classified infonnation on unclassified networks. There has been rumor that the information is no longer classified since it resides in the public domain. This is NOT true. Executive Order 13526, Section 1.1 ( 4)( c) states “Classified Information shall not be declassified automatically as a result of any unauthorized disclosure of identical or similar information …
Author Archive for Public Intelligence
News
Your Cellphone is Tracking You
For some time, it has been apparent that wireless telephone providers are storing location data on all of their customers. This information indicates the location of an individual’s cellular phone signal from its corresponding cellular tower to provide an approximate location of the user at any given time. Wireless providers are paid for supplying this information to law enforcement and the companies work to provide user-friendly guides to potential customers indicating what details they can provide. We have previously published law enforcement subpoena guides from Verizon, Nextel, MetroPCS, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, among other service providers. Many of the companies providing this information to law enforcement take steps to hide the reality of their information retention. One guide in particular, regarding the Verizon Wireless Law Enforcement Resource Team, is labeled as being only distributable among law enforcement personnel. The guide advertises a wide variety of services available to law enforcement, including details on any user’s “cell sites” going back nearly one year. Another subpoena guide produced by Verizon offers a price list for these services including $125 an hour for “expert testimony”. Active surveillance using trap and trace is the most lucrative for Verizon with a price of up to $1000 a month, not including setup fees and other administrative costs.
Corporate, Department of Justice
Confidential Law Enforcement Telephone, Cellular, Satellite & VoIP Investigation Guide
Confidential Law Enforcement Telephone, Cellular, Satellite & VoIP Investigation Guide, March 10, 2010.
Department of Homeland Security
(U//FOUO) DHS “Inspire” Al-Qaeda Magazine Warning
(U//FOUO) This product is intended to provide perspective and understanding of the nature and scope of potentially emergent threats and to assess the initial public responseto the posting of Inspire Magazine. It is also intended to assist federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies and authorities, the private sector, and other entities to develop priorities for protective and support measures relating to an existing or emerging threat to homeland security.
Department of the Treasury
Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act Overview
The Kingpin Act blocks all property and interests in property, subject to U.S. jurisdiction, owned or controlled by significant foreign narcotics traffickers as identified by the President. In addition, the Kingpin Act blocks the property and interests in property, subject to U.S. jurisdiction, of foreign persons designated by the Secretary of Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Director of Central Intelligence, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of State, who are found to be: (1) materially assisting in, or providing financial or technological support for or to, or providing goods or services in support of, the international narcotics trafficking activities of a person designated pursuant to the Kingpin Act; (2) owned, controlled, or directed by, or acting for or on behalf of, a person designated pursuant to the Kingpin Act; or (3) playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking.
Pakistan
Pakistan Prime Minister’s Secretariat Flood Update
Pakistan Prime Minister’s Secretariat Flood Update, August 5, 2010.
Corporate
AIG 2008 Global Restructuring Plan Overview
AIG Global Restructuring Plan Overview, September 28, 2008.
Federal Reserve
Federal Reserve Script for AIG Counterparty Discussions
We have asked to meet with you in order to give you an opportunity to substantially reduce your counterparty exposure to AIG and assist in promoting the long-term viability of the company as an ongoing concern. As evidenced by recent government actions, the viability of AIG is an important policy objective given the firm’s systemic importance. As we are sure you can appreciate, a collapse of AIG over the weekend of September 13th and 14th following so closely after the collapse of Lehman Brothers would have jeopardized the financial system in general, and your financial institution in particular, given your firm’s exposure to AIG at the time. Indeed, notwithstanding unprecedented governmental action, there has been a dramatic increase in AIG’s CDS spreads, which highlights the significant economic costs that would have been bourn by AIG’s counterparties had the government not intervened and the sizable counterparty exposure that your firm continues to retain with AIG. For these reasons, it is clear to us that we have a common objective in ensuring the firm’s long-term viability. With these points in mind, we would propose that you make us a compelling offer to unwind all your outstanding CDS contracts with AIG referencing ABS CDOs in exchange for the purchase of the underlying CDOs (where the assets are available) at a percentage of the notional amount for the CDS. Of course, we are open to other proposals you might have that would lead to a final resolution of this complex portfolio and therefore satisfy our common objectives.
Corporate
BlackRock Maiden Lane III Overview Presentation
This presentation outlines a structure (“Maiden Lane III”) to resolve the liquidity drain at AIG from the multi-sector CDO book (primarily U.S. subprime mortgage exposure)
Corporate
Goldman Sachs AIG/Maiden Lane III Documentation
Goldman Sachs AIG/Maiden Lane III Documentation, 2008.
Afghanistan, United Nations
UNAMA Afghanistan Protection of Civilians Mid-Year Report 2010
The human cost of the armed conflict in Afghanistan is escalating in 2010. In the first six months of the year civilian casualties – including deaths and injuries of civilians – increased by 31 per cent over the same period in 2009. Three quarters of all civilian casualties were linked to Anti-Government Elements (AGEs), an increase of 53 per cent from 2009. At the same time, civilian casualties attributed to Pro-Government Forces (PGF) decreased by 30 per cent compared to the first half of 2009.
U.S. Air Force
(U//FOUO) Air Force Integrated Air and Missile Defense Report
This report focuses on Integrated Air and Missile Defense as practiced by the Combined Air Component Headquarters at Osan AB, Korea. The study was conducted during Exercise Key Resolve 2010 (KR 10) and highlights the outstanding integration of Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force planning and execution of the IAMD mission. The report examines the work done in this particular theater of operations in developing a comprehensive Airspace Control Plan (ACP) and Area Air Defense Plan (AADP). While this report looks at only one operational theater and many other theaters face separate and distinct challenges, this report should provide lessons and insights that benefit multiple theaters.
Headline
USAID in Afghanistan Photos
Photos from USAID Afghanistan.
New York
NYPD Hartford Distributors Active Shooter Open Source Assessment
Thornton was called in by his employer and shown video surveillance footage of him stealing beer from the facility. After calmly signing a letter of resignation, and not contesting the accusations against him, Thornton opened fire on coworkers at the facility for a period spanning only minutes. One witness suspected that Thornton was carrying a weapon in the lunch bag he brought to work.
Corporate
Verizon Leveraging Commercial Wireless Services for Law Enforcement Brief
Confidential Verizon Wireless Leveraging Commercial Wireless Services for Law Enforcement Brief, May 14, 2008.
Intelligence Fusion Centers, Ohio
(U//FOUO) Ohio Fusion Center Winter Clothing Warning
(U//FOUO) During periods of colder weather, Ohio citizens and law enforcement officers (LEO) encounter a variety of winter clothing—ski masks, toboggan hats, stocking caps, scarves, head bands, hooded sweatshirts, and heavy coats—that can present challenges to identifying individuals in public areas and public transportation.
News
Al-Qaeda Magazine is Cupcake Recipe Book
Recently reports of an English-language “al-Qaeda magazine” were dealt with in mostly uncritical terms by the majority of news outlets. Wired’s Danger Room blog described how the new magazine was an attempt “to move politically frustrated Muslim youth in the West down the road of violent extremism” by filling that “inexplicably vacant media space between O: The Oprah Magazine, Popular Mechanics and the al-Qaida book Knights Under The Prophet’s Banner”. FOXNews quotes Brookings Institution fellow Bruce Reidel as saying that the magazine is “clearly intended for the aspiring jihadist in the U.S. or U.K. who may be the next Fort Hood murderer or Times Square bomber”. The Daily Beast quotes U.S. government officials as saying that the “U.S. government is aware of this new propaganda vehicle by al Qaeda in Yemen and Anwar Awlaki” and that “AQAP and Awlaki are clearly trying to incite terrorist activity overseas, and to recruit new extremists. The packaging of this magazine may be slick, but the contents are as vile as the authors.”
Afghanistan, U.S. Army
U.S. Army Mechanisms of Afghan Insurgent Control and Local Governance
(U) Many students of insurgency and counterinsurgency attest to the importance of popular support to each side’s quest to achieve its objectives. Key aspects of popular support, including type (passive or active) and scope (limited or significant), are inarguably important in analyzing an insurgency. However, focusing solely or immediately on these aspects risks glossing over insurgent efforts to set conditions necessary to mobilize such support in the first place. Most notably, these conditions include the generation of compliance and the establishment and institutionalization of control.
Department of Homeland Security
(U//FOUO) DHS Warning on Pressure Cooker IEDs
(U//FOUO) Rudimentary improvised explosive devices (IEDs) using pressure cookers to contain the initiator, switch, and explosive charge (typically ammonium nitrate or RDX) frequently have been used in Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Pressure cookers are common in these countries, and their presence probably would not seem out of place or suspicious to passersby or authorities. Because they are less common in the United States, the presence of a pressure cooker in an unusual location such as a building lobby or busy street corner should be treated as suspicious.
Headline
Oscar Grant Verdict Protest Police State Photos
Photos taken from Flickr.
California
Johannes Mesherle Manslaughter Verdict
Alameda County Johannes Mesherle Manslaughter Verdict, July 8, 2010.
Afghanistan, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(U//FOUO) Stability Operations Information Center (SOIC) Kandahar Analysis
(U) Recent Civilian Casualties Have Damaged ISAF. Stories of civilian casualties in Uruzgan and Helmand in February 2010 had a clear and widespread negative impact on Kandahar residents’ attitudes toward international forces. Though the casualties occurred in other provinces, the effects felt by patrolling ISAF troops in Kandahar City included having rocks thrown at them by residents and, in a couple of cases, being spit upon. The negative feelings were not limited to Afghan civilians. Afghan National Police officials in Kandahar City repeatedly brought up the civilian casualties in the Uruzgan air strike with their American police mentors. For more on this subject, see p. 13.
Afghanistan, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(U//FOUO) Stability Operations Information Center (SOIC) Murghab District Assessment
(U//FOUO) Murghab District is a significant poppy cultivation and opiate trafficking region, largely due to its poor, agriculture-based economy and the presence of Taliban forces encouraging cultivation.
Afghanistan, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
ISAF Joint Command District Assessments
ISAF Joint Command District Assessments, April 10, 2008.
Headline
Queen Elizabeth II Global Monarch Photos
See also: https://publicintelligence.net/queen-elizabeth-ii-is-queen-of-sixteen-nations/ “Queen Elizabeth is the Head of State of 16 of the UN’s 192 Member States and head of the Commonwealth of 54 countries. She last addressed the General Assembly in 1957 at the age of 31, four…