#terrorthreat

Four main things have led to the continued divulgence of classified information to the public with little or no consequence atmosphere in our country. Whether it is the “SEAL that shot Osama Bin Laden” or Leon Panetta, or even Vice President Joe Biden, classified leaks should not happened, and those that divulge classified information should fall under the full penalties of the law.

1.  The President – Classified information has become a political tool to “pump up the home team” when needed, and is NEVER punished or even acknowledged when it is done by members of the administration. Our current presidential administration has set the bar so low on guarding classified information that often there is absolutely no thought by people in the know divulging what they know because if the Obama administration went out and hammered every military or government worker that wrote a book or spoke out revealing classified information, they then would have to be held to the same standard. So clearly, there are no standards enforced or to follow, regardless of the law. 

2.  The Operators – Our military and government operators work in an environment that has grown to support the executives and not the workers. In my experience of being a SEAL, a Federal Air Marshal, and an FBI Special Agent, the problem was always the same; Executives hold positions of stature over their subordinates and fail to function as team leaders. In other words, the simple fact is that Executives are able to check boxes to hold executive positions and that manifests itself into justification in their minds that they know more than those they lead. 

This has been a growing problem since the Clinton administration when being a “warfighter” in law enforcement and the military was first frowned upon by the President. Warfighters got out, politicians stayed in. 

3.  The ME Generation – Simply put, the ability to take a “selfie” has destroyed the American culture of professional exceptionalism. Instant gratification without having to earn it has become the norm. People (not just kids) want to be noticed because they can position themselves into a persona or leadership position without having to really be good at anything. Just like a selfie picture with a cell phone, anyone can look awesome if they find the right lighting and angle (that’s why match.com is so popular). Instead of taking care of your physical person, or going out and meeting like minded people, it has become easier to take a really good picture and convince yourself that that’s the real you. But the same goes for the issues in problems 1 and 2 discussed above. If a person gets the right job regardless of their qualifications, they believe they are worthy of being in charge. Psychologists call this narcissism.   

4.  The Press – If I sell you a car that is stolen, and you know it's stolen, and you get caught driving that car, you will go to jail for either accessory to a crime, or being in possession of a stolen vehicle. For some strange reason (not protected by the constitution) the press has become immune to this when accepting classified information. Whether they believe they are doing the public a favor or out of their own self interests, receiving and then publishing classified information should be held to the same legal ramifications as the person that is expected to protect that information. 

When it comes to the “SEAL that shot Osama Bin Laden,” I see someone that is seeking to prosper off his knowledge and involvement in a classified operation. And for that, he should be punished. I see a self indulging operator that has no regard for the safety of his family or fellow Teammates. I also see a member of a Team, SEAL Team SIX, that has outgrown its position. The SEAL Teams were created to be covert and secretive, and by and large the SEAL Teams have remained that way.  With the exception of one Team, SIX. 

SEAL Team SIX was created for the purpose of counterterrorism. But when the Navy officer corp discovered that the potential to gain a fast track promotion platform had been created, the SEAL Teams grew too fast, and too big, and Team SIX became something other than what it was created for. 

Any SEAL Team could have done the assault on Osama Bin Laden. With the right equipment, adequate training and rehearsal time, and asset coordination, I could have put a blindfold on and picked the SEALs and the mission would have been just as successful. 

Today, January 7, on Shepard Smith Reports on Fox News, I further discussed the terror threats against Sochi 2014 with Harris Faulkner filling in for Shep.  Check out the video by clicking here.

UNDERSTANDING HOW RUSSIA FIGHTS TERROR VS THE US

The 9/11 operatives carried out a mission that was focused on massive disruption on a global scale, which is why they chose that specific type of attack.  In contrast, the Russian Islamic Separatist are attempting to cause strategic REGIONAL change in the Dagestan / Chechnya region of Russia. 

This is an important detail because in order to drive the point home enough to make Russia change, the attacks must be big enough or deadly enough to make the major world governments react and put pressure on Putin.  While it is doubtful Russia will ever bend to pressure, gaining this understanding of what the strategic goals are for these terrorist gives us a better understanding of the tactical operations they could potentially carry out.

Russia confronts these issues in a much different fashion than the US, as they are not bound by the same constitutional rights afforded to civilians (and terrorists) as we are. 

Russian officials are ruthless in their anti-terror campaign, which is largely carried out in secrecy with little information sharing to the media or other world governments.  This is a huge problem for an event like Sochi2014 as the visiting countries are largely left in the dark as to the true nature and size of the threat.  Although the US has a system of information collection that spans worldwide, we can see the results of Russia’s unwillingness to communicate in the Boston Bombing where the combination of what we knew and what Russia knew was never connected. 

Although I’m not totally against how Russia is able to confront known terrorist in their country, it does cause alarm when such a large event is being hosted in their country within 300 miles of a major terrorist hub.  It would be about the same problem as if the Summer Olympics were being held on the Afghanistan, Pakistan boarder…

It is very important to realize that Russia suffers the same “smoke and mirror” problem as the rest of the world when facing terrorism.  They believe behind the scenes efforts can be carried out in a 70% reactive manner while creating an illusion of complete safety and comfort for the public to see.  They believe this will make everything ok.  Even the International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said today that "You can see if you speak with the athletes in the Olympic village they all feel very comfortable that the atmosphere is very good in the village and I'm absolutely sure this Olympic atmosphere will spill over from the Olympic village to the audience and the games." He obviously doesn’t understand what unconventional warfare is all about, which is what we are dealing with when it comes to Fundamental Islamic Terrorists.

UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE AND HOW IT WORKS

Unconventional warfare is practiced by terrorists and special operations alike, although the motivation and rules of engagement are different with the US Special Forces community having much less freedom to operate.

Lets break unconventional warfare down into four categories for simplicity sake.

Small unit operations

Improvised attacks

Getting the biggest “bang for the buck” in every attack

a. Understanding an enemies weaknesses b. Exploiting those weaknesses c. Unlimited in time and scope of attack. 

                 i.     It is limited by the attackers imagination and access

     4. Carry out tactical attacks to effect the strategic outcome 

Likewise, civilians attending or participating the Sochi2014 games should also take a similar stance.  The Israeli population lives with this mindset, and what you see there is an example of a calm, aware population that is not surprised by an attack because they are mentally prepared for it and have thought out the threat that surrounds them. 

I would be very aware of behaviors (not race, color, or sex).

CONCERNS

As we have seen time and time again, terrorism security is quite often made up of smoke and mirrors.  Airports and large special events are absolutely the biggest violators of this problem even after 9/11. 

As I have been publically stating, I give the Sochi games a 60% chance of being attacked themselves, but I would venture to say there is about a 98% chance there will be an attack in the next three weeks somewhere other than the Olympic compound and games themselves, but still relating to Sochi.  The motivation by these terrorists is absolutely real, whether or not they have the access to carry them out is where I derive my percentages. 

It is time for the US and world venues such as the Olympics, to realize and admit what the actual threat is, and start being smarter about how we fight or defend against it.  I absolutely believe if there is not an attack of some kind during the Olympic games it’s because the terrorists got lazy, not because they were not capable of attacking.