Intel ops

“The CIA, As Organized Crime”, Douglas Valentine’s CIA vs. Donald Trump’s CIA

Valentine’s expansive, penetrating knowledge of the Central Intelligence Agency began with his book The Phoenix Program, the definitive work on the CIA-directed murder of between 25-40,000 civilians during the Vietnam War, suspected of affiliation with the Viet Cong, but without any kind of legal redress. These suspects, referred to as VCI or Viet Cong infrastructure, often accused via hearsay, could only be released by bribing local Vietnamese officials. As Valentine reports, CIA officer Lucien Conein called the Phoenix Program “the greatest blackmail scheme ever invented. If you don’t do what I want, you’re a VC.”

Intel ops

Intelligence Planning and Methods Employed: Operation Red Dawn - The Capture of Saddam Hussein

The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of network analysis and socio-cultural understanding within the military intelligence community and how it was used to capture Saddam Hussein during Operation Red Dawn.  It examines how the military intelligence community, in particular Task Force 121 and 4th Infantry Division, utilized socio-cultural information and complexity theory to map a network of people leading to capture of Saddam Hussein (Ryan 2008, 47).

Therefore this paper seeks to answer the question:  How did the Military Intelligence Community use social network analysis in finding Saddam Hussein during Operation Red Dawn?  At first, a literature review was conducted with the intent to discover information answering the abovementioned research question.  The reviewed literature helped to initially define the problem set, introduce a dilemma in military intelligence analysis at the time, discuss how the problem was addressed through socio-cultural network analysis, and discuss how the change in methods led to the capture of one of the most wanted men in the world during Operation Red Dawn. Finally this report concludes with an analysis section and a conclusion.  

Intel ops

Passive Aggression: US Sought Syrian Military Coup Against Assad for Years

The newspaper said on Wednesday that "the US looked for cracks in the [Assad] regime it could exploit to encourage a military coup," while Assad "tried at different times to reach out to the [US] administration to say the US should unite with him to fight terrorism."

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with the army loyal to Assad fighting several opposition factions and militant groups, including Daesh, banned in a range of countries including Russia.

The West and several Middle Eastern countries do not consider Assad to be the legitimate authority of Syria.

A former senior administration official told The Wall Street Journal that the White House was "offering incentives for people to abandon Assad," but by the summer of 2012 this strategy of orchestrating a regime change in Syria had failed.