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How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

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Re: How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

#41

Post by insane_dreamer »

dgfitz wrote: post #36
nativeit wrote: post #4

> Learn from a counterterrorism expert who was in the room when the word came in that Osama bin Laden was Killed In Action. There’s a very famous photo of Obama, Biden, the Joint Chiefs, and National Security advisors in the White House Situation Room watching the raid unfold in real-time…but sure, I guess it’ll be pretty neat also to get the names of the folks working on the other side of town who got a phone call f…

> There’s a very famous photo of Obama, Biden, the Joint Chiefs, and National Security advisors in the White House Situation Room watching the raid unfold in real-time… How convenient there was a photographer in the fucking situation room! Such a coincidence.

The WH photographer is always around taking pictures of whatever the president is doing; it's literally their fulltime job.

Re: How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

#42

Post by knowaveragejoe »

dgfitz wrote: post #34
Arubis wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re not, but they are shy about defying their own regulations around pay scales. The real money in defense is in private contracting.

This is accurate. Imagine if NSA paid FAANG people FAANG salaries how different the world might be.

The NSA does pay FAANG people FAANG salaries. It's just through private contractors, many of which you've never heard of.

Re: How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

#43

Post by hindsightbias »

jmyeet wrote: post #17
dataflow wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The short version is: 9/11 happens. The Taliban offer to hand over bin Laden and George W. Bush refuses [1] I looked at your link. It seems you missed a huge asterisk on that from your own article: > the third most powerful figure in the ruling Taliban regime told reporters that the Taliban would require evidence that Bin Laden was behind the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US

So how did the alternative course of action work out? EDIT: instead of rejecting the Taliban's offer outright and, say, negotiating and acceptable outcome, we chose to go to war, spend trillions of dollars, kill countless people and ultimately still leave the Taliban in power. The Taliban saying they need proof is a negotiation. There is no court of law. We could've simply bribed them. Imagine how much cheaper and ho…

Inconcievable. We live in a binary world. They didn’t deliver him hogtied on the Resolute Desk at 8am, so Land War In Central Asia was the only option.

Re: How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

#45

Post by knowaveragejoe »

hindsightbias wrote: post #31
rtsil wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't claim that NSA found Bin Laden. They say that they were part of a multi-agency effort that took 9 years to find him. And they say that human intelligence led them to who the courier was.

> 9 years Given all the resources, I guess we all need to keep our expectations low.

This is a massive understatement of how difficult finding someone like that actually is.

Re: How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

#46

Post by stu2b50 »

dgfitz wrote: post #36
nativeit wrote: post #4

> Learn from a counterterrorism expert who was in the room when the word came in that Osama bin Laden was Killed In Action. There’s a very famous photo of Obama, Biden, the Joint Chiefs, and National Security advisors in the White House Situation Room watching the raid unfold in real-time…but sure, I guess it’ll be pretty neat also to get the names of the folks working on the other side of town who got a phone call f…

> There’s a very famous photo of Obama, Biden, the Joint Chiefs, and National Security advisors in the White House Situation Room watching the raid unfold in real-time… How convenient there was a photographer in the fucking situation room! Such a coincidence.

First, there's an official position: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Official_White_House_Pho...

Secondly, why would it be a coincidence? You don't think... the people in the situation room knew something, perhaps a situation, was happening at the time?

Otherwise, why would they _be_ in the situation room? There's usually a situation going on.

Re: How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

#47

Post by roger10-4 »

dgfitz wrote: post #30
plasma_beam wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maryland.

To expand on this, NSA is located on Ft. George Mead, in the state of Maryland. I have no doubt (as in, this is true) they have locations all over the world.

Oahu, Hawaii is another notable location.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_Cryptologic_Center

Re: How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

#48

Post by textlapse »

monksy wrote: post #29
textlapse wrote: post #28

I wonder if this helps NSA in their recruiting process - there might be a bunch of disinterested, bored FAANG folks who could 10x their impact by serving their country instead. Adding to the GDP is probably better in the long run but at this current moment where the tech world is, I think adding to the counterintelligence world has a better impact.

Given the drug policy and clearance ordeal.. doubtful

I hope they modernize and come to terms with the reality of the 21st century workforce… definitely needs a fed level revamp on the former part. The clearance part sounds like a good thing though…

Re: How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

#49

Post by paganel »

avazhi wrote: post #27
zeroCalories wrote: post #3

Wild that the NSA has a podcast. Part of me always wanted to work for them, and I still dream of cyber warfare, but the allure of big tech money and the Virginia location always pushed me away. Maybe some day.

[flagged]

There’s lots of terrorist organizations brandishing terrorist tactics the world over, why limit your choices by focusing only on the Israelis? They all kill children, too, like the Israelis did during these last attacks, maybe that’s also down your alley.

Re: How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

#50

Post by avazhi »

lofenfew wrote: post #40
avazhi wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming you're serious, why would the CIA apologise to foreign aid workers? Maybe you can petition Médecins Sans Frontières to make a plaque, but the US security services are mandated to deal with pretty discrete and clear issues. Their remit was to find Osama. Random foreign aid workers (particularly non US citizens) are - vis-a-vis the CIA/NSA - justifiable collateral in these sorts of operations. That's just how…

And yet > I wanted to inform you that the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) directed in August 2013 that the agency make no operational use of vaccination programs, which includes vaccination workers. Similarly, the Agency will not seek to obtain or exploit DNA or other genetic material acquired through such programs. This CIA policy applies worldwide and to U.S. and non-U.S. persons alike. The CIA th…

What's your point? That doesn't mean they owe anybody an apology. There have been plenty of CIA ops that have failed or resulted in blowback that I'm sure the CIA regretted ex post - that doesn't mean they wouldn't have tried them again, or that they weren't worth trying.

Also actual lol if you take anything the CIA says as being prima facie true, especially things relating to what the CIA will or will not do in the future operationally.

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