Steven Aftergood
INTELLIGENCE IN SUPPORT OF INTERNAL DEFENSE OPERATIONS
Tue Mar 2 18:55:40 2004
64.140.158.141

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2004, Issue No. 24
March 2, 2004


** LOS ALAMOS: SIMULATING TERRORIST NETWORKS
** WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL GONZALES ON ENEMY COMBATANTS
** JUSTICE DEPT ON CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE INFO, SHSI
** SEEKING CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN U.S. INTELLIGENCE
** INTELLIGENCE IN SUPPORT OF INTERNAL DEFENSE OPERATIONS


LOS ALAMOS: SIMULATING TERRORIST NETWORKS

Los Alamos scientists are using computer simulations to gain
insight into the nature of Islamist terrorist organizations.

"Borrowing tools from the field of computational economics and
sociology, we are developing agent-based models that simulate
social networks and the spread of social grievances within
those networks," wrote Edward P. MacKerrow in the latest issue
of Los Alamos Science.

"Our computer-generated 'agents' are humanlike, endowed with
personal attributes and allegiances that statistically match
the demographics of a specified region and, like people,
interact with one another and response to societal pressures."

"We can expose our agents to a variety of determinants -- new
government policies, different media exposure, economic
pressures, and others -- and quickly generate hundreds of new
scenarios."

The goal is to develop "a detailed understanding of the
sociodynamics of militant Islamic terrorism," MacKerrow wrote.

See "Understanding Why -- Dissecting Radical Islamist Terrorism
with Agent-Based Simulation" by Edward P. MacKerrow, Los Alamos
Science, Number 28, 2003 (1.5 MB PDF file):

http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/pubs/las28/why.pdf

For no good reason, the full text of the latest issue of Los
Alamos Science is not available on the Los Alamos web site. But
a copy may be found here:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/pubs/las28/index.html


WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL GONZALES ON ENEMY COMBATANTS

"Until today, the Government has been reticent about discussing
in any detail the decision-making steps that may result in an
American citizen being designated as an enemy combatant or how
an American detainee held in the United States may be provided
access to counsel," said White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales
last week.

"Our silence has been largely for reasons of national security."

"We realize that our relative silence on this issue has come at
a cost. Many people have characterized -- mis-characterized, in
our view -- our actions in the war on terrorism as inconsistent
with the rule of law."

"Indeed, because of our silence, many critics have assumed the
worst. They have assumed that there is little or no analysis
-- legal or otherwise -- behind the decision to detain a
particular person as enemy combatant. To them, the decision
making process is a black box that raises the specter of
arbitrary action."

In his February 24 speech, Mr. Gonzales filled in some of the
procedural gaps, while insisting that determinations regarding
who is an enemy combatant are the sole province of the
executive branch.

His presentation is predicated on the assumption that the "war
on terrorism" is analogous, in every significant way, to past
wars such as World War II and that past law and precedent is
therefore a sufficient guide to current practice.

See the text of his speech before the American Bar Association
Standing Committee on Law and National Security here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2004/02/gonzales.pdf

The speech was reported and analyzed in "Bush Counsel: How U.S.
Classifies Terror Suspects" by Vanessa Blum, Legal Times, March
1 (sub. or free reg. required):

http://www.law.com/jsp/dc/index.jsp


JUSTICE DEPT ON CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE INFO, SHSI

The new regulations that exempt "critical infrastructure
information" from disclosure under the Freedom of Information
Act were discussed and interpreted by the Department of Justice
Office of Information and Privacy in an online notice last
week.

Justice reiterated that the new regulations are likely to be
expanded to encompass information submitted to agencies other
than the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and that "such
a development could be expected to have an impact upon the
daily processes of FOIA administration at many agencies."

The Justice notice also observed that DHS procedures governing
the handling of "sensitive homeland security information"
(SHSI) are not yet complete.

Those long-anticipated procedures "hold the potential of
significantly altering the landscape for the safeguarding of
federal information," the notice said. See:

http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foiapost/2004foiapost6.htm


SEEKING CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN U.S. INTELLIGENCE

"The origins of the Intelligence Community are basically white
male, if you go back to World War II and its aftermath,"
observed Gen. James Clapper, head of the National Geospatial
Intelligence Agency (NGA). "And that may be a lingering legacy
yet today."

However "we can no longer expect an Intelligence Community that
is mostly male and mostly white to be able to monitor and
infiltrate suspicious organizations or terrorist groups," said
Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA). "We need spies that look like their
targets, CIA officers who speak the dialects that terrorists
use, and FBI agents who can speak to Muslim women that might be
intimidated by men."

The challenges to the workforce of U.S. intelligence presented
by a multicultural world, and efforts to meet those challenges,
were addressed in a November 5, 2003 open hearing of the House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

The transcript of that hearing, published last month, is
available here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_hr/110503hpsci.html


INTELLIGENCE IN SUPPORT OF INTERNAL DEFENSE OPERATIONS

A U.S. Army correspondence course for intelligence personnel
provides an introduction to the theory of revolution and the
role of intelligence in confronting insurgencies and bolstering
internal defense in foreign countries.

Students may monitor their own progress with multiple-choice
self-test questions such as the following:

What are insurgents?

A. Citizens who protest US military combat personnel entering
their country.
B. Citizens attempting to legally alter the governmental
structure by holding private elections.
C. Citizens of a country attempting by illegal means to change
the way it is governed.
D. People that privately disagree with the government over
political issues and hold meetings to discuss how to rectify
identified shortcomings.

The correct answer, um, is C.

See "Intelligence in Support of Internal Defense Operations,"
U.S. Army Intelligence Center, Fort Huachuca, AZ, September
1998 (thanks to RT):

http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/army/internal.pdf


_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email: saftergood@fas.org
voice: (202) 454-4691

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