I gave a lecture to the Salem State College Lifelong Learner’s Institute (LLI) on July 7th, 2010. The forty five minute talk entitled “Al Qaeda: Then and Now” was followed by an hour of Q and A. These three videos come directly from the Q and A.

If you’d like a complete copy of my PowerPoint just shoot me an email.

Comments and questions are always appreciated.

Part One: Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iraq

Part Two: Nation building, exit plans, images and perceptions

Part Three: Cut and run? Troop Fatigue

Mohamed Mahmood Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, New Jersey, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park, New Jersey, have both been charged with conspiracy to “kill, maim and murder persons outside of the United States” and face possible life sentences. They are the latest “home grown terrorists” that counterterrorism officials have detected and apprehended.

Alessa (on the left) wasn’t exactly hiding his anger or intentions, according to CNN:

The men, who were taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday, intended to take separate flights to Egypt on their way to Somalia “to join designated foreign terrorist organization Al-Shabaab and wage violent jihad,” according to federal prosecutors.

The teenager transferred to the public North Bergen High School in late 2004, but within months, he was placed on administrative “home instruction” for exhibiting “radicalized behavior that was very threatening,” according to spokesman Paul Swibinski.

“Home instruction usually arises from disciplinary or security issues,” Swibinski said. “In this case, school administrators were very concerned for the safety of students and staff. … He received his home instruction at the North Bergen public library with a security guard present at all times.”

The other jihadist, Almonte (on the right), has the distinction of being the first Dominican born terrorist or, as his mother insists, “…he’s not a terrorist, he’s a stupid kid.”

Actually, he’s both.

Here’s a quick backgrounder on Somalia’s Al Shabaab. Home grown terrorists who join them haven’t been doing too well on the battlefield.

The good news is that U.S. authorities were able to apprehend and detain these two before they could pose a danger. This marks a great improvement over the government’s ineptitude in regards to the Fort Hood shooter and the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber.

Comments and criticism are welcome.

Sometime after the BP oil leak started but before Israel commandos stormed a ship full of Palestinian activists, the Obama administration issued the new National Security Strategy (NSS). Federal law requires POTUS to submit “timely” NSS reports to Congress to ensure that the bureaucracy is on the same page (no small task when you consider all of the different layers) and announce significant changes in strategy. It’s intentionally vague and leaves the “how” to subordinate commands (i.e. DHS, The Pentagon, etc.).

Paul B. Stares, Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), points out:

“The NSS is largely silent on how the United States will manage the various dilemmas and tradeoffs that come with working through an increasingly complex and fragmented international system. “

You can read the whole thing right here.
The Reader’s Digest version is here.
You can read archived National Security Strategies here.

The reactions are predictable and cover the spectrum, but if you take the time to read it yourself you’ll see that in spite of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice’s claim that it is a “dramatic departure” from the past, it’s much of the same.

Rick Fontaine (via ForeignPolicy.com) cuts to the chase:

“…the name is somewhat of a misnomer: the National Security Strategy isn’t really a strategy — in every administration it’s more like a really long speech.”

My favorite was the Fox News story entitled “Obama’s New National Security Strategy Abandons Bush’s Unilateralism.” Page 22 of the NSS quite clearly states the opposite:

“The United States must reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend our nation and our interests, yet we also seek to adhere to standards that govern the use of force.”

Highlights: pages 17 and 18 declare the United States’ intention to maintain its military supremacy and page 20 explicitly names Pakistan as ground zero of the war with Al Qaeda (finally). It’s noteworthy that the report goes out of its way to characterize the Iraq War as a “decision”, as opposed to the “Good War” in Afghanistan that was thrust upon us as a result of the September 11th attacks.

Sidenote: It was interesting to see the growing links between terrorism and organized crime (especially the drug trade) mentioned in the NSS for the first time, but does this sound realistic? (49):

“Combating transnational criminal and trafficking networks requires a multidimensional strategy that safeguards citizens, breaks the financial strength of criminal and terrorist networks, disrupts illicit, trafficking networks, defeats transnational criminal organizations, fights government corruption, strengthens the rule of law, bolsters judicial systems, and improves transparency.”

Oh, is that all?

Comments and criticism are always welcome.

David Ratowitz recently won the Republican primary in Illinois’ 5th Congressional District. A former U.S. Army Ranger and 82nd Airborne Paratrooper (he deployed with the 82nd to Haiti after President Aristide was overthrown in 1995), Ratowitz is a crusader for small government and individual freedom. If elected, he will bring a wealth of small business, legal and military experience with him to Washington.

More importantly, Ratowitz pledges to restore dignity to the 5th District’s seat – previously held by Dan Rostenkowski (taken down and imprisoned for corruption by then U.S. Attorney Eric Holder and later pardoned by President Clinton), Rod Blogojevich (who went on to be impeached as Governor) and, most recently, Rahm Emanuel (current White House Chief of Staff).

Ratowitz and his family were among Hurricane Katrina’s hardest hit victims in 2005. From his official campaign website:

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina profoundly impacted David on both personal and professional levels. In the aftermath of the devastation, after losing the roof off of his own family home, David worked on the ground to rebuild his business and community…It was during this time that David gained a more complete appreciation of the power of the individual and voluntary cooperation among citizens, versus centralized planning, in overcoming hardships and building successful communities and enterprises.

I recently spoke to him about his positions on the major issues – the economy and the war on terror.

FULL DISCLOSURE: David and I were paratroopers together in the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, NC, where we worked closely.

Comments and criticism are welcome.

Today’s post was written by my father, Dick Miller. Dick was raised a Republican, steered by good math grades and financial necessity to a career in engineering and high-tech software. He is now a born-again anthropologist/historian (it was always in him) and wants JFK (and Jackie) to return to the White House. – RHM

Maybe it’s the 10 degree temperature, 50 mph winds, and -10 chill factor, but I feel grumpy and pissed off tonight after several days of “analysis” of the underwear bomber and Homeland Security.

And the results are predictable (see Christopher Hitchens).

So, we’ll raise the color warning a shade (the old color was faded anyway), fondle grandmothers and babies, and declare victory (neither a Democratic or Republican thing – just a bureaucracy that can’t shoot straight.)

Be prepared to sit in your airplane seat like kindergarten used to be and stretch your bladder for the final hour. If a terrorist is on board your plane, think of the discomfort he’ll suffer in the few minutes before he commits suicide.

Don’t fear for any bombs or incendiary devices (unless they’re in someone’s rectum or close to other private parts – we can’t go there.)

As for the full body scan – whoops, too much loss of privacy. We’d rather take a chance on spot-checking every seventh passenger and having a plane explode than finding anything through a thorough scan. Has ANY TERRORIST been caught by the existing “security” measures ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD? Some (bureaucrats) would say that that proves the system is working. I would say that I pray nightly for no elephant stampedes in my house, and so far it has worked.

Loss of privacy? Is there a law that says you HAVE to fly? If you don’t like real security – try a train or bus! When is the last time that a terrorist got by security in Tel Aviv? NEVER??? Why? Because they do thorough searches which, believe it or not, still only take 25 minutes!

Do you want to pretend to have security and then complain of breaches, or do you want to be secure? Chose your poison…

The last I knew, there were about 250,000 people in Homeland Security – probably more, but this number works for me. There are 500,000 people on the “big list” of possible terrorists. Why don’t we assign 2 terrorists to each HS person and have them tracked/investigated? In fact (I’ll say this before some Senator comes up with the idea), why not hire 250,000 more people in HS and make it one-to-one? We could even go all out and make it 2-1 in order to give everyone a potty break. What are another 250,000 government employees going to do, break the bank?

According to Janet Napolitano, “the system worked” after the plane almost reached Detroit. I guess that the Japanese felt good about Hiroshima after the trees started growing again.

Independent of political party, each president at least has a financial person as Secretary of Treasury, someone knowledgeable about the military as Defense Secretary, someone from farm country as Secretary of Agriculture, etc., etc., etc.

EXCEPT — why do we have a career politician who knows NOTHING about SECURITY as head of SECURITY???

Why not have a professional SECURITY person as head???

That is all.

Officials in Thailand (after being tipped off by American intelligence officials) recently seized a Georgian-registered aircraft loaded with over 35 tons of North Korean weapons. Where the weapons were bound for is unclear. However, Iran, Sri Lanka, or the African Horn countries would all be good guesses. Counterterrorism Blog’s Douglas Farah reports:

The Thais stopped the aircraft because U.S. intelligence warned them of the North Korean weapons on board, listed in the cargo manifest as oil drilling equipment. North Korea, although under an international ban on exporting weapons, makes an estimated $1 billion a year from the industry, attracting the least savory of the world’s characters as clients.

This sort of behavior is not uncommon for the North Korean regime and didn’t surprise me at first. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a state sponsor of terrorism. Then it occurred to me – North Korea is NOT a state sponsor of terrorism. Not if we go by the official U.S. State Department list. In fact, North Korea is one of the only countries to ever be removed from the list (we also removed Iraq in 1982 so it would be eligible for direct U.S. military support in its war against Iran). The Bush administration removed Libya in 2006 and North Korea in 2008. Why? According to the State Department:

On October 11, the United States rescinded the designation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a state sponsor of terrorism in accordance with criteria set forth in U.S. law, including a certification that the Government of North Korea had not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding six-month period and the provision by the government of assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future.

Obviously, removal from the official list is something that we use as a bargaining chip while conducting statecraft with rogue regimes. And I’m glad that we do this because, if used correctly, it can incentivize states to curb their behavior instead of just trying to compel them through sanctions that inevitably end up hurting the populace more than the regime. Clearly, that was the Bush administration’s rationale for removing Libya and North Korea. Which brings me to Cuba.

Does Cuba deserve to be on this list? Our economic sanctions have done little to thwart the “Revolution,” except cause Cuba to seek closer relations with other “rogue” regimes (the former Soviet Union, Iran, and Venezuela come to mind). And including Cuba on the “terror” list doesn’t seem to be accomplishing much either. It seems to me that even maintaining such a list works against our foreign policy by showing our blatant inconsistencies. How can we include Cuba while we exclude states like North Korea and Venezuela? (Chavez had been directly linked to numerous terrorist organizations, including the Colombian FARC.)

I would argue that the full repeal of economic sanctions on Cuba, and its removal from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, are both long overdue. Obviously, many others would disagree with me. Henry Gomez is one of those people. Long-time readers of this blog will recall our exchange back in May of 2008: 6 Questions with Castro’s Worst Nightmare. I recently floated my ideas his way and asked him to tell me why I’m wrong. Here is his response:

The economic sanctions currently in place on Cuba were put in place when the Castro regime expropriated $1.8 billion in U.S. business assets. To date the regime has made no attempt at restitution or settlement. The lifting of the sanctions would be a de facto amnesty for these violations of the norms of international trade and send a signal that American assets can be stolen as long you are stubborn enough and belligerent enough for long enough. The Castro regime talks about “trade” but what they really want is credit. Currently dozens of countries do business with Cuba and the regime owes billions of dollars around the world. Note this recent article about Spanish businesses that have found their investments in Cuba frozen by the Castro regime. So, the sanctions that are in place with regards to Cuba currently protect U.S. business interests from being similarly taken advantage of by an outlaw regime. Also, the U.S. is already currently Cuba’s largest food supplier but, by law, the sales must paid for with cash. Lifting sanctions on the regime will open the door to the Castro getting credit from taxpayer-funded institutions like the Export-Import Bank of the United States. I know we’ve gotten into the business of bailouts lately, but do we really want to subsidize a murderous regime with taxpayer dollars?

The idea that the sanctions hurt the Cuban people more than the regime is laughable on its face. The U.S. did not impose a Marxist economy on the Cuban people. The U.S. did not outlaw private property and enterprise in Cuba. The U.S. did not impose food rationing on the Cuban people. The regime did all that. And they did it when they had the handsome subsidies of the Soviet Union. The only time the regime has liberalized its economy was when its back was against the wall in the early and mid 90s (after the fall of the USSR and before the arrival of the new sugar daddy, Hugo Chavez). You have to understand that this regime lives by skimming off of the top of any revenue it can generate. And the more it generates the more it will skim and spend on what it has always spent money on: weapons, repression and subversion of other countries. Who is going to guarantee that the Castro brothers will take the new influx of dollars (that removing sanctions will represent) and use it to benefit the Cuban people? Are you?

As a practical matter we have diplomatic contact with Cuba through “Interest Sections” in each country. We have negotiated immigration accords and other agreements with the regime without full diplomatic relations. What is the benefit of establishing them now? On the contrary, the drawback is that the United States would be recognizing as legitimate a regime which has never been legitimate.

Cuba should remain on the list of state sponsors of terrorism for one simple reason: it is a sponsor of terrorism. Cuba has and continues to be a safe haven for the likes of FARC terrorists from Colombia, ETA terrorists from Spain, IRA terrorists from Ireland and even American fugitives such as the renown cop killer Assata Shakur. The annual state department reports on the matter couldn’t be clearer.

I’ll let Henry have the final word. If you want to read more of his work, he blogs regularly at Cuban American Pundits and the Babalu Blog.

Comments and criticism are welcome.

Adil Najam of All Things Pakistan recently interviewed a Taliban-inspired suicide bomber. The content speaks for itself, however, there are a few points worth highlighting:

1. The aspiring terrorist claims the religious high ground, but can’t seem to recall any specific fatwas or the clerics who issued them.
2. He claims that “Nobody is innocent”, including other Muslims and innocent children. Again, he knows this because it’s written in “a book” that he cannot name.
3. It’s pretty obvious, based on his answers and regional demographics, that he is illiterate. However, that makes him more of an exception to the rule when it comes to those chosen to carry out suicide missions. See my review of “Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism” for clarification.
4. Note: The man in the picture on the right is not the subject of the interview. He is Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban whose been in hiding since the 2001 invasion. See “Where in the World is Mullah Omar?” for more information.

Comments and criticism are welcome.

NOTES:

1. Please read part I of Meet Colonel Timothy H. Donovan first.
2. The picture on the right was taken in Schweinfurt, Germany, when LTC Donovan was commanding the 3rd Battalion/64th Armor (1978). They were on full alert. At the end of the lanyard that disappears into his shirt is a Cold War era CEOI (Communications-Electronics Operating Instructions) which contained the unit’s “go to war” call signs and frequencies.
3. The jeep is an old M151, which is very similar to the one procured for the Norwich University Corps of Cadets by retired Special Forces Master Sergeant Duke Dewey.

Onward…

RHM: Do you remember what happened after you were wounded?

Colonel Donovan: When I went down I knew it was bad, real bad. My medic, Gary Redding, was right there, but there wasn’t much he could do. When the sniper shot me, it triggered (no pun intended) a new firefight. Somebody was over me firing an M-16 and the hot brass was hitting me in the face (funny what you remember). I was still in command and trying to get the word to my guys, but they were doing fine. When the Huey came in to the midst of it to get me out, I turned command over to a platoon leader. My 1SGT sent me a letter a few weeks after with some pictures. C Troop definitely won the day.

RHM: Do you know what happened to the sniper who shot you?

Colonel Donovan: Yes. Before I hit the ground (in about a second and a half), my 1SGT sent that very brave and courageous soldier from North Vietnam to his heaven.

RHM: When it comes to National Security, what keeps you up at night?

Colonel Donovan: Our lack of unity in fighting this war. What’s the saying? “The Army and the Marine Corps are at war, America’s at the Mall, and Congress is on vacation.” We seem to think that it’s somebody else’s job to protect our freedom, not everybody’s job and duty to protect it. That’s very disturbing to me.

RHM: Norwich has a long history (going back to 1819) of producing military and civilian leaders who accomplish great things. How will Norwich’s role change in the 21st Century?

Colonel Donovan: Norwich has always led the Nation in producing citizens with the skills needed for the time and to meet the current challenge. Whether it was railroad engineers and inventors in the 19th century, to soldiers, industrialists, and visionaries in the 20th century, Norwich has been the educational pioneer. Since its founding in 1819, it has been the revolutionary, not evolutionary, leader in American education. That’s what it will do in this century too.

Conclusion: I had a lot of fun catching up with Colonel Donovan for this interview. Since retiring in 1993, he traded in his tank for a fishing boat. However, he remains very active as a teacher and currently has about 50 students (including many of his neighbors) in the Virginia area that attend his lectures and field trips to various historical sites. Colonel Donovan is also an avid Facebooker and loves to keep in touch with Norwich folks.

The Massachusetts primaries are next Tuesday, December 8th (Brown is running against fellow Republican and perpetual loser Jack E. Robinson. I would link to his campaign website, but his Wikipedia entry tells you everything you need to know.) As an unenrolled voter, I plan on taking a Republican ballot and checking the box for Brown. If you’re also unenrolled, or a registered Republican (yes, Massachusetts does have Republicans), here are three reasons why you should do the same.

He Listens

The primary responsibility of our elected officials is to serve their constituencies. Senator Ted Kennedy was among the best at this seemingly lost art. As a former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and current member of the State Senate, Brown is no stranger with getting “up close and personal” with the people who put him in those positions.

His appearance on “Nightside” happened about 24 hours after President Obama announced his plans for a “troop surge” in Afghanistan. Predictably, he spent the first segment of the show discussing his own position on the issue. At the first commercial break, he took off his headphones, turned to me, and asked what I thought. He listened closely as I explained my position (which is the polar opposite of his) and acknowledged my points as I made them. I’d love to share specifics of the conversation, but I didn’t ask in advance if I could quote him and doing so without such permission would be tacky. Suffice it to say that he knows what he’s talking about (unlike most of our politicians who are painfully ignorant when it comes to anything beyond spouting their “talking points”), and he responded by making a convincing argument without belittling mine. It’s tough to imagine having the same conversation with John Kerry.

Military Service

Military service is not a prerequisite for elected office, nor should it be. However, we live in a day and age where the use of military force is, unfortunately, very common. As a consequence, I feel more comfortable knowing that the elected officials making these decisions have, themselves, served in our Armed Forces. Scott Brown has served honorably in the Massachusetts National Guard for almost thirty years and currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. A graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne School and decorated for meritorious service for homeland security in the wake of the September 11th attacks, I’m pretty confident that he wouldn’t send our troops to places where he wouldn’t be willing to go himself. Maybe this is a bigger deal for me than it is for you, but it seems that some of the biggest hawks today are elected officials who have never picked up a weapon or served a day in uniform. We need more soldier representation in the U.S. Senate.

One Party Rule is Killing Massachusetts

Last month, I attended the New England Business Expo and spent the entire day on the floor talking with exhibitors. The mood was cautiously optimistic until Democratic Governor Duval Patrick showed up and sucked the life out of the entire DCU Center. I won’t go so far as to blame all of our woes on the Democratic Party but, when you have a lock on just about every level of government in the Commonwealth, you have to accept the majority of the blame. This political monopoly needs to end. Massachusetts voters need to stop blindly following the same party that year after year, decade after decade, consistently fails them. Electing Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate certainly won’t solve our state or national problems overnight, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Sidenote: Brown’s complete biography and positions on the major issues can be found on his official campaign website. He has an interesting story and a talented family (his wife is WCVB TV’s Gail Huff, and one of his daughters is American Idol semi-finalist Ayla Brown).

Comments and criticism are welcome.

The bullet entered through the seam of Captain Donovan’s flack jacket, broke several ribs, burst his left lung, and pierced his pulmonary artery before riddling its way down his spinal column and lodging itself in his spleen. A few hours (and several heroes) later, an Army surgeon stood over a bloody M.A.S.H. operating table and declared that it was “too late for this one.” His plans changed when Donovan (with two collapsed lungs) reached up and grabbed him by the throat with his right hand. In that instance, the fate of countless service men and women changed forever.

Contribution

Colonel Timothy H. Donovan (born in Bristol, Connecticut, and thankfully rejected by the United States Coast Guard Academy) is a 1962 graduate of Norwich University. A member of the prestigious Mountain Cold Weather Rescue Team, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity (back in the day when NU had fraternities), and Kilo Company (an affiliation that, after conducting this interview, I’m convinced he’s most proud of), Colonel Donovan is a mentor and source of inspiration to countless Norwich grads. In addition, he also taught at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he trained cadets with last names like Petraeus, McCrystal, and Odierno.

Straight to the chase – Colonel Donovan’s career (and life) should have ended on that table in Viet Nam. Instead, he left indelible marks on the entire military over the next twenty four years. Do you like the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank? Colonel Donovan’s fingerprints are all over it. Do you have an appreciation for Special Operations Command (SOCOM)? Colonel Donovan, at the behest of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs (with the personal backing of President Ronald Reagan), took it from concept to reality in one year. As a warrior-scholar, he also contributed several chapters to a textbook on the U.S. Civil War (The American Civil War, Avery Press, Wayne, N.J., 1987 T.H. Donovan, et al). Not bad for a soldier with “permanent disabilities.”

Legacy

Colonel D’s father (Timothy H. Donovan, Sr.) served honorably in World War I with the 4th Infantry Division. When he returned, his wife (Mary Donovan), presented him with a hand-sewed replica of the 4th ID Unit Patch as a keepsake. Fifty years later, upon learning of his son’s assignment to the same unit, he blew the dust off of his padlocked foot locker, retrieved the patch (a modest piece of stitching on plain, olive drab cloth) and passed it along to his son (seen on the right, moments before donating it to the 4th Infantry Division Museum). Ironically, and unbeknownst to Colonel Donovan until the formal ceremony, the Norwich class of 1993 would eventually honor him by including the 4th Infantry Division unit patch (his patch) on its ring.

Interview Part I

What follows are the highlights from our recent hour-long phone conversation.

RHM: You once told me about a conversation you had with your South Vietnamese counterpart where he expressed optimism that the war would “be over soon.” But when you pressed him for more information, he replied that “soon” meant another 15 or 20 years. Clearly, many other cultures have more patience than Americans. Do you see any parallels to Viet Nam and the current conflicts in Iraq and especially Afghanistan?

Colonel Donovan: Actually I said to my counterpart, Capt Dung (pronounced Young) in the summer of 1966, “at this rate the war will be over soon.” He answered “yes, in maybe 20 or 30 years,” without a smile; dead serious.

We Americans seem to think that other countries are just like us with a central government elected by the people, etc. In Afghanistan especially, that is far from the reality. That part of the world is tribal and culturally quite different. The ruling framework hasn’t changed in centuries, if not eons. The Afghan tribes aren’t even similar, speaking several languages, and with different mores, customs, and religions. It is an extremely complex region.

Vietnam had many different sects and religions and cultures, but nothing like Afghanistan. For centuries, the Afghans have seen foreign armies come and go. For the US and NATO to prevail, we must recognize that this is going to be slow and deliberate work, one village, one province, one region at a time. It will be done by teaching native people how to have a better way of life; by teaching them how to have security in order to protect their families. It’s more teaching than fighting. I think that the common human denominator (security and pursuit of happiness) is the way to success in Afghanistan. Sounds like a job for lots of SOF (Special Operations Forces) types.

Instead of having lawyers assigned to planning staffs, we need cultural anthropologists.

RHM: Do you think we’re doing enough for our returning veterans when it comes to health care and educational benefits?

Colonel Donovan: I think the new GI Bill will help a great deal. Finding jobs for returning veterans should be a top priority for everyone. The injuries in Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom are different than in other wars. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is more common because of the type of IED’s used. Health care for veterans must be in place and protected. Remember, that in World War II almost 20% of the country was in uniform fighting the enemy, and all at home were in support. If you were too young to join, you were a plane spotter or a bicycle messenger; too old you were an Air Raid Warden or a Civil Defense volunteer. Today, less than 1% of our country is in uniform. We owe them an awful lot.

In Part II of Meet Colonel Timothy H. Donovan, we discussed the fate of the North Vietnamese sniper who shot him, which aspects of national security keep him up at night, and Norwich’s role in the 21st Century. Sign up on the right-hand side if you’d like an email alert once it’s published.

The issue of self defense is particularly significant these days. And the recent events at Fort Hood, Texas, highlight the danger of the world we live in (see Political Correctness is Killing Americans). Thankfully, the U.S. has some of the most professional, well-equipped and highly trained first responders in the world. But they can’t be everywhere and response times can vary. Unfortunately, those first few precious moments can mean the difference between life and death for you and your loved ones. I recently caught up with Rob Pincus (Owner of I.C.E. Training, host of The Best Defense and S.W.A.T. Magazine TV, (Premiering in January, 2010) to pick his brain about a few issues. Rob and his team have trained with numerous law enforcement agencies as well as military units (including U.S. Army Special Forces and the U.S. Navy Seals). Comments and criticism are welcome. RHM: 2nd Amendment advocates are very vocal about “no gun zones”, arguing that having such zones (a) lets potential criminals know that they are facing an unarmed public and (b) leaves them defenseless. Do you think this was the case at Fort Hood? Rob Pincus: I absolutely think it was a component. This guy probably had a couple of agendas that we’ll learn more about as time goes on, but he certainly was interested in taking as many people with him as he could. He chose a target-rich environment, a target that represented what he apparently detested (deployment center for U.S. soldiers fighting against Islamic enemies) and an environment that he knew to be poorly defended. RHM: What advice do you have for people who live and work in areas with very strict gun laws on law-abiding citizens (i.e. school zones, military posts, etc.)? Rob Pincus: Its tough to come up with one answer that fits everyone. I travel constantly and I spend a fair amount of time in places where carrying a gun simply is not an option (airports, Europe, Manhattan). But, you have to realize that the gun (or the knife, or the taser) is just a tool. It’s the person’s ability to plan, recognize when to employ the plan, and be skilled enough to work the plan, that leads to survival. Thinking about what could happen, what should be done, and how to do it is the key. The specifics change with each venue. That said, there are always subtle, improvised weaponry that can be carried or staged in any environment. I recommend Mike Janich’s book “Forever Armed” for a thorough discussion. RHM: For those who may be afraid of guns themselves but want to be able to protect themselves and loved ones, can you recommend one or two non-lethal alternatives? Rob Pincus: The hooked wooden cane is the ultimate go-anywhere clandestine defensive tool. It is relatively easy to learn to use efficiently, even in close quarters, and you can take them everywhere: banks, planes, museums, Europe, etc. I’ve carried wooden canes a lot. If you’re not inclined to invest the time to learn how to use the cane or are self-conscious about the appearance, you really can’t beat the civilian version of the Taser. I’ve taken a chest shot from the Taser C2 and I would put my faith in it to stop an unexpecting attacker if I had time and space to use it – which is essentially the same time and space required to access and use a defensive firearm. Thanks to Rob for his time. Below is the trailer for S.W.A.T. Magazine TV, premiering in January 2010.

Very rarely do people just snap. On the contrary, there are almost always “warning signs.” Sometimes those signs are subtle and only recognizable to those closest to the individual. But other times those signs are about as subtle as a kick to the groin. The case of Nidal Malik Hasan’s recent murder spree at Fort Hood, Texas, is a textbook example of the latter. And we should all be furious.

Now that the dust is somewhat settled we’re learning some very troubling facts surrounding the case:

1. Hasan was an outspoken opponent of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. However, his dissent was not in the same spirit as my own general opposition to intervention and empire – his dissent was based on extreme religious ideology. And when I say “outspoken”, I mean he publicly (and graphically) opposed infidel aggression against Islam.
2. Hasan was an active participant in Jihadist chatrooms and websites – so much so that the federal government had him under surveillance.
3. Hasan is/was the protege of Anwar al Awlaki, a former imam at the Washington D.C. area Dar al Hijra Mosque and militant jihadist, currently preaching and plotting against the United States from Yemen.

The list goes on and on. But the fact that our own government was too inept or timid to take action (for fear of offending God knows who) they decided to “let it go.” Now, 13 innocent people are dead and, according to Chicago based lawyer Tamara Holder , the government can “expect to see the wounded…sue the United States for their failure to investigate this sick and dangerous man when the writing was on the walls.” I hope they do.

When I look at the facts surrounding this incident (as we know them thus far) I see an obvious parallel to the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre. The shooter, Cho, didn’t just get up one day and decide to kill innocent people. He displayed similar patterns of craziness that went unaddressed. You can read about the similarities in one of my father’s guest posts from April, 2008 – “Political Correctness is Killing Our Country.” I’m all for civil liberties, but individual rights have to be balanced with the general welfare and safety of others.

Fred Burton, Stratfor’s Chief Security Officer, gives a cautious-but-sobering look at the reality of intelligence investigations in the video below (Dated November 7th, 2009). Burton’s the real deal. Read my review of his book “Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent.”

Sidenote: I’m in the process of conducting a short interview with Rob Pincus, Owner of I.C.E. Training and Host of “The Best Defense.” He’s a buddy of mine from back in the day at Norwich University and one of the leading authorities on self-defense and S.W.A.T. tactics. He’ll be discussing how some of our gun laws put law abiding citizens at an inherent disadvantage and how people can take precautions to protect their friends and loved ones. Look for it over the next few days.

Comments and criticism are always welcome.

Before I get into the “Fix” this week I’d like to address my recent exclusive interview with Governor Sarah Palin. The idea for the “interview” occurred to me while watching the Sunday morning political talk shows with my father (i.e. father/son bonding). In all honestly, I thought it would be instantly recognized as satire (which it obviously was). I was wrong and, as of today, Part I is the most read article in the history of RandallHMiller.com.

Shortly after publishing the “interview”, my inbox filled up with reactions of all sorts. A few spotted the piece as satire, but most thought it was legit. That is both a testament to how highly my readers think of me (that I would be able to get such a high profile interview) and the poor opinion we have of Sarah Palin’s political IQ (the answers were feasible). There it is…on to business.

The Iranian “Selection”

I’ll keep my comments on the Iranian “elections” to a minimum because Andrew Sullivan’s coverage has been so thorough since the beginning and Christopher Hitchens nailed it here in his Slate column. Suffice it to say that although the “election” is a complete farce from start to finish, there is evidence of a major cultural, social and (hopefully) political change going on inside the Islamic Republic. How and if the recent demonstrations will manifest in real change is open to debate and remains to be seen. Something not open to debate is the role that technology played (and continues to play) for the opposition. The New York Times reports:

Iranians using the Internet messaging service Twitter had already spread the word that another silent demonstration was scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday and called on protesters to wear green, the signature color of the opposition.

President Obama is receiving predictable criticism from the far right, but I think he’s doing the right thing by condemning the violence and staying low key. Coming out in a boisterous voice of condemnation (like McCain would have) only gives ammunition to the regime that their opposition is American sponsored. Oh, and don’t forget that the Supreme Leader is already blaming the jews.

Human Trafficking

I recently watched Liam Neeson’s new movie Taken. It’s about a man whose daughter is kidnapped while traveling abroad and put up for sale. Yes, there’s big money to be made selling young women into forced prostitution and servitude. Sick, isn’t it? Anyway, the day after I watched the movie the U.S. State Department released its 2009 report on Trafficking in Persons. Sadly, the Dominican Republic (my place of residence for 6 years), scored very poorly. The bad news:

According to the State Department the DR “is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.”

Unfortunately, according to CNN, this seems to be a recession proof business. In fact, there’s been a boom.

From China to Bermuda (by way of Cuba)

Several prisoners from the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay have been released and are currently living in Bermuda. The four Chinese citizens known as Uighurs are living freely after being detained for 7 years by the American government. Uighurs are Muslim separatists from Western China (see map below) who pose no threat to the U.S. whatsoever. Why not send them back to China, you ask? Because they would be tortured and executed as soon as they arrive. There’s no perfect solution on what to do with these guys. I just hope we’ve learned our lesson on what can happen when we go around the world snatching people without thinking it through. 7 years is a long time and I fully expect these guys to file suit against the U.S. government for wrongful imprisonment. And I hope they win.

Comments and criticism are welcome.

Click here to buy my book.

Click here to contact me directly.

See you next week.

I gave a lecture on 21st Century Terrorism this morning at the prestigious Universidad IberoAmericana (UNIBE). To date this was one of the larger and more enthusiastic university audiences I have had the pleasure to talk to. Special thanks to all who made my visit possible, especially my former student Vanessa who knows how to get things done in a place where it can be difficult to get things done. No further explanation should be necessary for anyone who has spent time in Santo Domingo. Things work at a different pace down here.

Since today was my only opportunity to address these history students (from various majors) and their professors, I decided to roll 3 or 4 of my presentations into one. The result was an overview of why I started studying terrorism informally 20 years ago; a comparison of Al Qaeda and Hezbollah; why and how terrorist organizations turned to the global drug trade to raise funds; and an overview of the motivations that drive suicide bombing. Needless to say it was a lot to digest in one hour, but I was very happy with the number and quality of questions I was asked during the final Q and A period.

The Xpatriot by Randall H. Miller

In 2004, I wrote a fictional novel entitled The Xpatriot. Here’s the synopsis of the book:

Scott Green is a Special Forces soldier with ten years of experience in covert operations. While finishing an eighteen month tour hunting terrorists in Afghanistan, he makes a discovery that a part of him will regret forever.

Green leaves the service shortly after healing from his wounds and decides to travel and live abroad as he searches for the answers to his deepest burning questions. His life becomes a roller coaster of emotions as he travels through the Dominican Republic. Green emerges victorious over his internal struggles and his search for love just as his past comes back to haunt him.

In the deadly game of counterintelligence, terrorism and global drug trafficking, Scott Green must balance his survival and the survival of those who he loves with the pillars of his newfound faith.

The book is complete fiction, but based on some true events (none of which involved me personally). Regardless, I still have number of copies of The Xpatriot stored in Santo Domingo and decided to give a copy to each attendee because of the topic. Also, my hope is that most will read the book and follow the link at the end to this blog where they will become regular readers and contributors. They have a lot to offer.

Again, thanks to the students and professors of UNIBE for being such gracious hosts. I look forward to working with all of you again.

Sincerely,

Randall H. Miller

Click here to book Randall H. Miller for a lecture.

UPDATED With Video Sample: May 30th, 2009

Last week I was lucky enough to spend the week working and blogging from a friend’s camp in Belgrade, Maine (see last week’s Friday Morning Fix). The weather was cool, the lake was calm, and the boat was happy to be out of hibernation. This week I’m in the beautiful Dominican Republic (where I lived and taught for 6 years) for a little work and play. I’m visiting family, blogging (of course), and giving a lecture on 21st Century Terrorism to students at the prestigious Universidad IberoAmericana (UNIBE). I’ll be sure to post some video and pictures when I can.

UPDATE: You can see an overview and pics of my lecture here.

On to business…

Terrorists in your Backyard?

While some of the people in my hometown of North Andover, Massachusetts are going crazy over a proposed cell phone tower (in spite of the fact that they live 20 miles from an active nuclear power plant), other Americans are scared stiff about a more sinister invasion of their home towns – released terrorists. Are the “worst of the worst”, according to former Vice President and current media sensation Dick Cheney, about to be let loose on Main Street U.S.A.?

Not quite, but that’s the picture opponents of President Obama’s plans to close Guantanamo Bay have been hammering home since Obama announced his intention to close the facility during his first week in office. The truth is that nobody really knows what’s gonna happen. Some will be reluctantly accepted in other countries as part of backroom deals, others will be placed in deradicalization programs and, yes, some may be moved to the United States. But those who do end up on American soil will be processed into our correctional system, most likely at the highest levels, and, let’s face it, we have a lot of experience incarcerating people. Although the U.S. only has about 5% of the world’s population, we have about 25% of the world’s incarcerated population. Sure, most of them are non-violent offenders, but we have just as much experience with some of history’s most dangerous people. According to the Center for American Progress’ (admittedly a progressive organization, but that doesn’t change the data) Ken Gude:

The truth is that we have prosecuted and incarcerated some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists in the United States for decades, and doing so has made America safer. Beginning in the Reagan administration, the United States has captured more than a dozen terrorists overseas and brought them to justice in America. These terrorists are guilty of murdering dozens of Americans and more than 500 people worldwide, and include 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Ramzi Yousef, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed of the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings, and Aafia Siddiqui who was captured in Afghanistan in 2008 and is awaiting trial in New York for the attempted murder of U.S. soldiers.

FBI Director Robert Mueller is less worried about the safety of the general public than he is about the inmate populations in our correctional facilities. MSNBC reports:

At the start of Wednesday’s hearing, Mueller was asked what concerns the FBI has about the release of Guantanamo detainees.

“The concerns we have about individuals who may support terrorism being in the United States run from concerns about providing financing, radicalizing others,” Mueller said, as well as “the potential for individuals undertaking attacks in the United States.”

This is not an unreasonable concern. Many of our prisons are gang-infested, schools of crime. However, my gut tells me that terrorists would be greeted less as “liberators” and more like child molesters. Time will tell. Meanwhile, our first line responders continue to keep us safe…and just in time for National Police week 2009.

FBI and New York’s Finest Thwart Terrorist Plot in New York City

The details are still trickling out, but it looks as if a joint FBI/NYPD Counterterrorism Task Force thwarted what would have been a catastrophic attack against Jewish Synagogues in NYC. The plan allegedly included shooting down a plane (or planes) over the city. According to NBC New York:

Four New York men were arrested Wednesday in connection with an alleged plot to blow up area Jewish centers and military targets. The plot, however, was foiled by undercover agents.

Raids by the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force in the Bronx captured the suspected ringleader and three followers in what law enforcement sources are calling a homegrown terrorist plot.

“The NYPD did exactly what they’re trained to do and have prevented what could have been a terrible event in our city,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said this morning.

Hats off to the men and women of our law enforcement community. They do some very dangerous work and rarely get the recognition they deserve.

See you next week.

Click here to book Randall H. Miller for a lecture.

There’s a lot of chatter lately in counterterror circles about Guantanamo Bay and what to do with those held captive who are either (1) not charged and ready for immediate release, or (2) go through military tribunals which fail to convict. As a result, the conversation inevitably leads to the topic of deradicalilzation (deprogramming for you cultists out there). Stratfor’s Kamran Bokhari chimed in this past week:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia historically has played a major role in the development of jihadism. Key pillars of the Saudi state — oil, Wahhabism (a conservative form of Sunni Islam) and the strength of tribal norms — were instrumental in facilitating the rise of Islamist extremism and terrorism around the world prior to 9/11. These same pillars allowed Riyadh to contain al Qaeda within Saudi Arabia in the wake of the insurgency that kicked off in the kingdom in 2003-2004. After this success on the home front, Riyadh is still using these pillars to play an international role in counterjihadist efforts — a role welcomed by the United States.

During a visit to the kingdom last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Saudi rehabilitation program for former militants impressed him, prompting him to consider sending Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia as part of Washington’s efforts to close down the detention center. The Saudis probably have done “as good, if not a better, job of that than almost anybody,” Gates said of the Saudi program. In separate comments, Gates called on Riyadh to assist Pakistan in the latter’s efforts to combat its rapidly expanding Taliban insurgency — and Saudi Arabia in fact has been playing a role in efforts to contain the Taliban insurgency in both Pakistan and Afghanistan for some time.

The entire article can be retrieved by signing up for Stratfor’s free newsletters – which I highly encourage to anyone who wants more in-depth analysis of geopolitics and terrorism than you get from the main stream media. Not a difficult task, I know.

You can also check out the following two articles if you want to know more about deradicalization. Both are interesting and offer different perspectives:

How to defuse a human bomb
by Drake Bennett of the Boston Globe.

And…

Deradicalization or Disengagement?
by John Horgan in the Perspectives on Terrorism Journal

Personally, I’m all for trying deradicalization on those who have not actually taken reasonable steps toward acting on their plans – as long as it happens in the individual’s home country, after revocation of their passports and all visas. We can’t lock people up forever for thought crimes.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Counterterrorism Blog contributor Michael Braun recently published an interesting report on the ongoing efforts in Afghanistan to stem the flow the drug profits which continue to fill the Taliban’s coffers. Braun reports:

“NBC Nightly News reported yesterday evening (May 4, 2009) on a successful counter narco-terrorism operation involving U.S. Army Special Forces working shoulder-to-shoulder with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Foreign-deployed Advisory and Support Team (FAST), Afghan Army Commandos and Counter-Narcotics Police/Afghanistan (CNPA) officers. Notice that I used the term ‘counter narco-terrorism operation’ rather than ‘counter-narcotics operation’, because in Afghan virtually every aspect of the drug trade is unequivocally linked to the Taliban and the insurgency…”

How much money are we talking?

“The estimates of just how much contraband revenue the Taliban generates from their involvement in the Afghan based opium and heroin trade varies widely, but falls somewhere between $100 million to $500 million dollars annually. The reality of the situation is that figure could be even greater. The bottom line: we are not getting out of Afghanistan until we defeat the Taliban or bring them to a negotiated peace; and we will not defeat the Taliban or bring them to the peace table until we get the narcotics trade in check in Afghanistan.”

The truth is that since 9/11 the international community has done a pretty decent job of shutting down the flow of money to terrorists through “charitable” contributions and the like. But the money in the global drug trade continues to flow. I spoke about this in detail recently as a live guest on Daniel Williams’ The Opium Den.

Click here to book me for a lecture, debate or interview.

Well, not literally. But I will be appearing live tonight (April 30th, 2009) on former Libertarian Vice-Presidential Candidate and Drug Policy Activist Daniel Williams’ new internet talk show entitled “The Opium Den.”

I am not a drug policy activist and, quite frankly, don’t know that much about it. But I do believe in personal freedom and, as a result of years of study, know a heck of a lot about the growing connections between terrorism and organized crime or, more specifically, the global drug trade.

So, feel free to turn on, tune in (by going to TheOpiumDen at 9PM), and send in any comments or questions you may have via daniel@theopiumden.net

UPDATED 5/5/09: You can hear the interview right now here.

Click here to see a video excerpt of Randall H. Miller’s lecture on 21st Century Terrorism given in the Dominican Republic on 5/26/09.

Also, just so you don’t think I’m making this stuff up. Here are some of the sources from my research:

Byman, Daniel. Deadly Connections: States that Sponsor Terrorism. New York: Cambridge U P, 2005.

Comras, Victor. “Al Qaeda Finances and Funding to Affiliated Groups.” Strategic Insights (2005)

Cornell, Svante E., and Niklas L.P. Swanstrom. “The Eurasian Drug Trade: A Challenge to Regional Security.” Problems of Post-Communism 53.4 (2006): 10-28.

Cronin, Audry K. “Behind the Curve: Globalization and International Terrorism.” International Security 3 (2003): 30-58.

Curtis, Glen E., John N. Gibbs, and Ramon Miro. “Nations Hospitable to Organized Crime and Terrorism.” Trends in Organized Crime 8.1 (2004): 5-23.

Hamade, Samir N. Piracy and Terrorism in the Arab World. Kuwait City: Kuwait U, 2006.

Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. 2nd ed. New york: Columbia U P, 2006.

Kushner, Harvey. Holy War On The Home Front. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2004.

Naim, Moises. “The Five Wars of Globalization.” Foreign Policy Feb 2003: 29-37.

O’Neil, Bard E. From Revolution to Appocalypse: Insurgency and Terrorism. 2nd ed. Washington D.C.: Potomac Books Inc, 2005.

Ross, Daveed Gertenstein, and Kyle Dabruzzi. The Convergence of Crime and Terror: Law Enforcement Opportunities and Perils. New York, NY: Center For Policing Terrorism, 2007.

Sageman Marc. Understanding Terror Networks. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania P, 2004.

Shelley, Louise I., and John T. Picarelli. “Methods and Motives: Exploring Links Between Transnational Organized Crime and International terrorism.” Trends in Organized Crime 9.2 (2005): 52-67.

Stanislawski, Bartosz H. “Transnational Organized Crime, Terrorism, and WMD.” Nonstate Actors, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction. Ed. . n.p.: Syracuse U, n.d. n. pag.

Wood, Randall. “South America’s Tri-borders Region.” SAIS Review XXV.1 (2005): 105-06.

Three other great sources for general terrorism news are:

CounterterrorismBlog.org (a collection of experts)

Straffor (Strategic Forcasting Inc., Fred Burton does some great work over there)

NEFA Foundation (Nine Eleven Finding Answers)

Daniel E. Williams’ promo for “The Opium Den”

Be sure to tune in. If not, all shows are archived on the site.

All comments and criticism are welcome.

To book me for a lecture or debate go here.



The Opium Den Broadcast by Daniel Williams – video powered by Metacafe

]]> http://randallhmiller.com/rhm-enters-the-opium-den/feed/ 8 http://randallhmiller.com/21st-century-terrorism-at-salem-state-college/ http://randallhmiller.com/21st-century-terrorism-at-salem-state-college/#comments Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:20:15 +0000 RHM http://randallhmiller.com/?p=3013

This post is a brief overview from the lecture I gave to Salem State College history students on April 24th, 2009. The title of my lecture was “21st Century Terrorism” – a beginner’s look at modern day terrorism, terrorist groups Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, and a brief overview of the phenomenon of suicide bombing. The entire lecture is 27 slides but, for the purposes of this review, I’ve chosen to share only a few in order to drive home the main points. (I appreciate the great turn out, attentiveness and, most of all, the thoughtful questions of the attendees. This post serves as a reference for you to return to if and when you have additional questions.)

The two main sources I used when putting together this talk were Dr. Bruce Hoffman’s Inside Terrorism, and Dr. Robert A. Pape’s Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.

The slides are pretty much self-explanatory, but feel free to post any comments, questions or general observations below. I’ll chime in where appropriate.



Non-Muslim terrorist groups include: The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Shining Path (“Sendero Luminoso”), Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). In addition, these groups are all secular (non-religious) in nature, but the latter two are well-known to employ suicide operations.



Terrorist groups need both ideology and cash in order to exist. Ideologies can come from a number of different places – religious, political, nationalistic, etc. These days, much of the funding comes from direct donations as well as organized crime. Drugs are the number one criminal choice due to the $400 billion global drug market (equal to the approximate GDP of Spain). According to the CIA, the September 11th attacks cost approximately $500,000 to pull off. The 7/7 London attacks were between $10,000 and $30,000.



Like it or not – Hezbollah is a political party with democratically elected members in the Lebanese Parliament. We (the U.S.) can’t demand democratic elections around the world and then get mad when the “wrong” candidates win (i.e. Hamas in the Palestinian Territory). We’re going to have to deal with them on some level. But don’t take my word for it, watch this video of General Petraeus explaining the importance of talking to your enemies.



(A November, 2008 suicide attack by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka)





All comments and criticism are welcome.

Click here to see a video excerpt of Randall H. Miller’s lecture on 21st Century Terrorism given in the Dominican Republic on 5/26/09.

To book me for a lecture or debate go here.

]]> http://randallhmiller.com/21st-century-terrorism-at-salem-state-college/feed/ 4 http://randallhmiller.com/friday-morning-fix-april-24th-2009/ http://randallhmiller.com/friday-morning-fix-april-24th-2009/#comments Fri, 24 Apr 2009 04:13:46 +0000 RHM http://randallhmiller.com/?p=2988

If you’re a regular reader of the Friday Morning Fix, the name Paula Lerner should ring a bell. On February 5th, 2009 I attended a lecture entitled “Afghan Stories: Giving Women a Voice.” The presentation gave an overview of the collaborative efforts of photo journalist Paula Lerner and Afghan activist Rangina Hamidi (proprietor of Kandahar Treasure). Both women are social activists focused on giving Afghani women opportunities to become economically self-sufficient.

I recently caught up with Paula after she returned from yet another trip to Afghanistan and she was kind enough to have a discussion with me about the situation on the ground. Below is our conversation. Please feel free to comment at the end and if you’re interested in learning more about Paula’s upcoming events – send her a note here with “join mailing list” in the subject. You should also let her know which part of the country you live in. If there’s an event nearby, she’ll let you know.

RHM: What originally drew you to Afghanistan? And what inspired you to become an activist?

Paula Lerner: Women’s issues have been a theme in my work throughout my career, and the situation of women in Afghanistan has particularly intrigued me. There may be places on the planet where women are equally disadvantaged due to their gender, but it would be hard to find many places where they are more so.

My original connection with Afghanistan came via an organization called the Business Council for Peace, also known as Bpeace, which helps women launch and maintain self sustaining businesses in regions of post conflict. Their motto is that more jobs means less violence. They have programs in Rwanda and Afghanistan, and when I joined the organization as a member in 2003, I became part of the Afghanistan team. I went on three different missions with Bpeace to Afghanistan as part of a team. My role was to document Bpeace programs through photos and digital audio recordings. Through Bpeace I met Rangina Hamidi, an Afghan American who lives and works in Kandahar, and who runs a business employing more than 400 women called Kandahar Treasure. Currently Rangina and I are collaborating on a long-term project about women in Kandahar, and I have made two additional trips to Afghanistan for that project. I just returned from my last trip a few weeks ago.

Over the course of my career, most of my personal projects have had an activist element to it. Prior to the Afghanistan project I did a body of work on a welfare mom and a book about breast cancer walks. The power of pictures to educate and to move people to action is strong, and I want to use that power to the full extent possible. Combining still images and sound in the form of multimedia can increase this power exponentially. I have no illusions that I can change the world with this work, but it is my experience that it can have an impact and make small but important dents here and there. And it can mean a great deal to the subjects themselves, which in itself is very valuable.



RHM: Your friend Rangina Hamidi’s Kandahar Treasure initiative that you’ve been involved with has done great things for so many Afghan women. Do you think events like the recent assassination of Sitara Achakzi could be enough to scare away others? How will it affect your ongoing efforts of giving women the tools to liberate themselves?

Paula Lerner: I was heartbroken about the assassination of Sitara Achakzi, who was a member of the Kandahar Provincial Council. She was in the group of Kandahari women that Rangina and I are profiling for our project. I did an in depth interview and spent time with her only a few weeks before her death. She was a smart, articulate and vivacious woman who was working hard to improve things for men, women and children in Kandahar. Afghanistan needs more people like her, not fewer of them. It was a cowardly, dishonorable act for the Taliban to murder her in such a brutal way. Sadly, I do think it has a chilling effect on others who are doing similar kind of work, and it intimidates ordinary Afghan women who might otherwise take more of an initiative to foster change.

RHM: There’s been much talk lately of an Iraqi-esque “surge” of American combat troops in Afghanistan. Assume you’ve been appointed President Barack Obama’s special advisor on Afghanistan. How would you advise him?

Paula Lerner: If I were an advisor to President Obama, I would tell him that it is critical to have any “surge” of troops be part of a larger development strategy. America was hugely distracted from its mission in Afghanistan by the war in Iraq, and we left many promises unfulfilled. In order for there to be peace in Afghanistan, Afghans need to have the basics that make it worthwhile to “wage” peace.

For starters, we need to fix the basic infrastructure in the country: Kabul did not have electricity 24/7 until a few months ago, and much of the country and some parts of the city still do not have a regular and reliable source of power. Without power you can’t build factories, and without things like factories, its very difficult to create new jobs. Even shopkeepers in the capital often have to try to sell their goods in the dark. The roads in much of the country remain a mess as a result of the legacy of years of war; a reliable water supply is another problem. I could go on and on about basic infrastructure failures. It is critical that we address these issues in conjunction with any troop “surge”, because if we don’t, we will never get beyond where things stand now.

Many young men join the Taliban not because they ideologically agree with them, but because they are unemployed and the Taliban is the only game in town. Given a choice between no job prospects and being able to help provide for their family by joining the Taliban, most will opt for the latter. The same goes for growing poppy. If we give these young men other viable options, we will have far more of an impact than by trying to quell insurgents by force alone.

Special thanks to Paula for taking the time to do this. Click here to see her Afghan Stories exhibit.

Reminder: I am lecturing today on “21st Century Terrorism” at Salem State College. I’ll post a review, some pictures, and probably some video clips soon. Be sure to check back. Sign up on the right side if you want to be notified of updates.

UPDATED TO INCLUDE: Here is an overview of my lecture.

To book me for a lecture or debate go here.

See you next week.



]]> http://randallhmiller.com/friday-morning-fix-april-24th-2009/feed/ 0 http://randallhmiller.com/friday-mornign-fix-april-17th-2009/ http://randallhmiller.com/friday-mornign-fix-april-17th-2009/#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:26:16 +0000 RHM http://randallhmiller.com/?p=2942

After years of holocaust denying, calling for Israel to be “wiped off the face of the map”, and pursuing a nuclear weapons program against the will of the international community, Iran’s Ahmadinejad regime recently reassured any doubters that he is indeed a nutcase. It seems that new (but not really new) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s unsurprising hard line (i.e. ain’t gonna happen) position toward Iran’s nuclear aspirations – and his willingness to say so – has Tehran’s turbans in a collective twist. Reuters reports:

UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Reuters) – Iran demanded on Tuesday that the U.N. Security Council respond firmly to what it described as Israel’s “unlawful and insolent threats” to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities…

Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, have suggested the Jewish state could use military force to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, as the West suspects it is doing…

“These outrageous threats of resorting to criminal and terrorist acts against a sovereign country and a member of the United Nations not only display the aggressive and warmongering nature of the Zionist regime, but also constitute blatant violations of international law,” Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee wrote.

In Ahmadinejad’s defense (yes, those words were difficult to type), there are certain cultural disconnects that cannot be overstated. For example, bravado and talking smack are part of Persian culture when discussing enemies (don’t take my word for it, read The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran, it’s an amazing look at Iranian culture that I thoroughly enjoyed). Unfortunately for Ahmadinejad, words mean things in the rest of the world and when someone threatens the national security of another nation while running an illegal nuclear operation – people get nervous. Bottom line: Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. Israel will make sure of that by striking militarily – with or without American approval. What say you?

Investigating War Crimes



There’s no doubt that war crimes have occurred in the execution of the War on Terror. Corroborating memos have been declassified, brave soldiers at all levels have come forward and given testimony, independent groups like the ICRC have compiled meticulously researched reports, and policies have been drastically changed and/or completely scrapped as a result of these revelations and the public outcry that followed. Now what?

Should there be a public investigation of the Bush administration’s and CIA’s post-9/11 detention, rendition and interrogation programs of suspected terrorists? That’s the question being asked of national security experts at the National Journal Online. Among those asked to participate are former CIA official (head of the agency’s Bin Laden Unit), and author of bestselling Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror (which I highly recommend if you want to truly understand Islamic terrorism), Dr. Michael Scheuer. Here the raw meat (his full answer is worth reading):

“The whole idea of an investigation is predicated on the idea that no one but the White House — and then only Bush’s White House — had any idea of what was going on. Anyone who knows how covert action works, however, knows that at least the leaders of both parties in Congress, and more often all the members of the two intelligence committees, know what covert actions have been approved by the president before they are executed. The representatives and senators therefore have ample opportunity to register their disapproval with the CIA and the White House before operations begin, and, of course, always have the option of stopping the planned operations by cutting funding.

My guess is that there will be no investigation because they are too many skeletons in the Democratic closet that are too hot to let loose.”

Scheuer is right. I wouldn’t expect to see much come out of this which, unfortunately, means that the rule of law applies only when convenient. Is it enough to merely recognize mistakes (i.e. preemptive war, torture, and extraordinary rendition as official policy) or do we, as a nation, need to go further to regain the moral high ground?

Taking My Show on the Road

I’ll be guest lecturing next Friday, April 24th at Salem State College on “21st Century Terrorism.” I’m thinking about filming it and putting a clip or two on the blog. Good idea? UPDATED 4/27/09: Here is an overview of my lecture.

I’ll also be a live guest on former Libertarian Presidential Vice Presidential Candidate Daniel E. Williams’ new webcast “The Opium Den” on April 30th at 9PM EST. I’ll be talking about the growing connection between Islamic terrorism and organized crime, particularly narcotrafficking. Turn on, tune in and, well, send in your questions and comments. UPDATED 5/5/09: You can hear the entire interview right now here.

To book me for a lecture or debate go here.

See you next week.



]]> http://randallhmiller.com/friday-mornign-fix-april-17th-2009/feed/ 4 http://randallhmiller.com/friday-morning-fix-april-3rd-2009/ http://randallhmiller.com/friday-morning-fix-april-3rd-2009/#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:09:51 +0000 RHM http://randallhmiller.com/?p=2846

What’s Up, G?

The news was dominated this week by the G20 meeting in London where the leaders of the world’s twenty largest economies came together to propose solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. OK, I could barely type that with a straight face. Actually, the leaders of the world’s most economically powerful states came together to push their own interests (which is what they get elected for) and entertain the possibility that achieving their own goals may also help solve some problems – but even that took a back seat to the photo-ops and handshakes.

The star of the meeting? You guessed it, the 44th POTUS Barack Obama (notice Italy’s Burlusconi and Russia’s Medvedev smiling like little girls at a Jonas Brothers Concert). Will this meeting of the minds help things or make them worse? The Economist opines:

RARELY has a gathering of the world’s most important politicians been surrounded by so much hype. The leaders of the G20 group of rich and emerging economies…came with lofty aspirations to rewrite the rules of global finance and reshape the world’s financial institutions. The summit marked Barack Obama’s international debut and, for added tension, was accompanied by loud and colourful anti-capitalist protests. But, for all the political drama, the posturing, the preening and the outsize ambitions, history will judge the G20 leaders by a cruder criterion. Are these people, who between them run around 90% of the world economy, doing what it takes to combat the worst global recession in 80 years?

Or are they trying to do too much and, in the process, are turning a needed correction into a global catastrophe? Who knows? Not even Nobel Prize winning economists and eggheads from the likes of MIT and the London School of Economics can agree.



Siding With Genocide

The leaders of 22 Arab states embraced Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir this week at a summit of Arab leaders in Doha, Qatar. Bashir was recently indicted by the International Criminal Court alleging that he has “orchestrated the rape, killing and widespread pillaging in Darfur” – charges that he claims are merely political fabrications. The New York Times reports:

Arab leaders have closed ranks around a fellow head of state in the face of pressure from the West and condemnation from human rights groups around the world. They have argued that the International Criminal Court compromised Sudan’s sovereignty. Their supporters said the court’s action revealed the West’s double standard in dealing with Arabs by indicting Mr. Bashir while taking no action against what they saw as war crimes committed by Israel during its offensive in Gaza. They added that the indictment undermined efforts at bringing about a negotiated settlement by inflaming the situation.

I know, it’s shocking the topic of Israel would come up at a meeting of Arab leaders. Then again, do Israel’s disproportionate attacks against Palestinians indirectly give these clowns cover? What about the 200,000 or so dead as a result of the Iraq War? No, I am not comparing the U.S. military – in which I proudly served on two continents and still have great friends – to marauding bands of murdering rapists (so don’t even try it). But isn’t it feasible that our own actions give ammunition to pigs like Bashir and provide recruiting propaganda to terrorist groups? Imagine for a moment what went through the minds of Muslim men when they saw pictures of their brothers being tortured by Americans at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. I imagine they felt the same way I did on September 11th or the way I felt back in 1993 while sitting in the officer’s club at Fort Sill, Oklahoma watching footage of Somali scumbags parading the bodies of two American soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu – I wanted to kick somebody’s ass. Why would we expect them to react differently?

Jesus Take the Wheel!

The White House (this is what we say when we don’t want to say “Obama”, but if it was something good we’d say “Obama”…get it?) asked the CEO of General Motors (Rick Wagoner) to step down and I could care less. Now, if the White House (not to be confused with Obama himself) had asked, say, Steve Jobs to step down because they didn’t like the way he was running Apple, I would be outraged because Steve Jobs’ company does not run on taxpayer bailout money. However, GM received its first bailout 90 days ago and was back on its knees in D.C. again this week (insert intern joke here) asking for more. Populist move? You betcha. But I haven’t lost any sleep over it and neither should you. Good old American capitalism and freedom are here to stay.

Or you can choose to listen to apocalyptic/hyperbolic Fox News superstar Glenn Beck. Yes, people actually watch this guy for “news.” Now THERE’S something to be frightened about.

BTW: There was no Friday Morning Fix last week because I decided to take the week off from blogging. Special thanks to those of you who noticed and emailed me.

To book me for a lecture or debate go here.

See you next week.

]]> http://randallhmiller.com/friday-morning-fix-april-3rd-2009/feed/ 6 http://randallhmiller.com/friday-morning-fix-february-20th-2009/ http://randallhmiller.com/friday-morning-fix-february-20th-2009/#comments Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:48:40 +0000 RHM http://randallhmiller.com/?p=2729

The “Mouth of the South” Hugo Chavez is in the news again and this time he’s smiling. This past week he finally got his wish as the people of Venezuela voted to abolish term limits on all politicians. This doesn’t mean that he automatically gets to serve for life, but it does abolish limits on re-election. He tried jamming the same amendment through along with a list of over 100 changes to the Venezuelan constitution a few years ago but lost the vote. This time things were different. The Economist explains:

That was in a referendum in December 2007. But Mr Chávez, who claims to be leading a socialist revolution, is not a man to take “no” for an answer. Describing the opposition victory as “shit”, he vowed to reverse it. On February 15th, after a blitzkrieg campaign involving the brazen use of state resources, the president finally got the answer he wanted. Some 55% of a high turnout of voters said “yes” to a referendum question so convoluted as to be barely intelligible. The constitution will now be amended to permit elected officials at all levels to stand for the same post as often as they like. So Mr Chávez will no longer automatically have to leave office in January 2013, after 14 years in power.

Prediction: Dominican President Leonel Fernandez will attempt the same sort of maneuver.

How Big is the Stimulus?



The Boston Globe recently published a list of things you could do with the stimulus. Among them:

Pay every US elementary school teacher’s salary for 11 years
Pay off all US student debt
More than 45 million Pontiac G5s
More than 222 billion Big Macs

Instead, the government will give billions of dollars of our money to financial institutions and then we have to hope that they’ll be kind enough to lend us our own money with interest. That is not socialism, it’s theft.

Closing Down Guantanamo

The Miami Herald is reporting that Obama’s general counsel Gregory Craig, along with other representatives from the Department of Justice and the Pentagon, traveled to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to evaluate the situation concerning the last 245 detainees. The administration plans on closing the facility within one year, but is now finding out that it’s much easier said than done. The detainee population includes 17 Chinese Uighurs (pronounced wee-jurs) who were picked up in Afghanistan. They pose no threat to the U.S., but if repatriated to China they’d likely be tortured and killed. There’s also confusion as to what exactly should be done with the one or two dozen “high value” detainees currently under the custody of Task Force Platinum, the super-secret task force charged with holding and interrogating the “worst of the worst.”

Sharia Law

The Pakistani government, our alleged “ally” in the war on terror, recently signed a deal with the Taliban which gives them the right to administer strict Sharia (Koranic) law in its Swat region. This was not a smart move as it all but guarantees the Taliban a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks both within Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan. Then again, according to Stratfor reports over the past few years, 60% of Pakistan’s 160 million people want Sharia law nationally.

The Next 100 Years

I’m currently reading Stratfor CEO George Friedman’s new book The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century. It’s an interesting read, but trying to predict the next 100 years is a bit lofty, no? He explains some of his predictions in the video below. Check it out and let me know you agree with his assessment that the U.S. has yet to peak as a global power.

Understanding Terrorism

If you click on the “Terrorism” tab at the top of the page you’ll see two new book reviews:

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism

Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent

I recommend both books to anyone interested in learning more about terrorism.

To book me for a lecture or debate go here.

See you next week.

]]> http://randallhmiller.com/friday-morning-fix-february-20th-2009/feed/ 6 http://randallhmiller.com/dying-to-win-the-strategic-logic-of-suicide-terrorism/ http://randallhmiller.com/dying-to-win-the-strategic-logic-of-suicide-terrorism/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:12:38 +0000 RHM http://randallhmiller.com/?p=2703

When I picked up Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, I thought my background knowledge on suicide terrorism was relatively strong, albeit with some gaps. This piece of work by University of Chicago political science professor Robert Pape not only filled those gaps, it posits a theory of suicide bombing that most scholars are either afraid or unwilling to explore. Dying to Win, a product of Pape’s Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, is the result of some of the most comprehensive research ever conducted on the topic of suicide terrorism and has surely ruffled some feathers.

Pape’s research team in Chicago gathered all available data relating to every act of suicide terrorism committed between 1980 and 2005. It is the most comprehensive database on suicide terror in existence. After evaluating all of the available information, this is the gist of his findings:

“The strategic logic of suicide terrorism is aimed at political coercion. The vast majority of suicide terrorist attacks are not isolated or random acts by individual fanatics, but rather occur in clusters as part of a larger campaign by an organized group to achieve a specific political goal. Moreover, the main goals of suicide terrorist groups are profoundly of this world. Suicide terrorist campaigns are primarily nationalistic, not religious, nor are they particularly Islamic. From Hezbollah in Lebanon to Hamas on the West Bank to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, every group mounting a suicide campaign over the past two decades has had as a major objective – or as its central objective – coercing a foreign state that has military forces in what the terrorists see as their homeland to take those forces out. Further, all of the target states have been democracies, which terrorists see as more vulnerable to coercion than other types of regimes. Even Al Qaeda fits this pattern. Osama Bin Laden’s highest-priority objective – although he has others – is the expulsion of U.S. troops from the Persian Gulf region.”

Bottom line:

“The bottom line, then, is that suicide terrorism is mainly a response to foreign occupation. Isolated incidents in other circumstances do occur. Religion plays a role. However, modern suicide terrorism is best understood as an extreme strategy for national liberation against democracies with troops that pose an imminent threat to control the territory the terrorists view as their homeland.”

Pape draws a much different picture of suicide bombing than what we are accustomed to hearing from the main stream media and political pundits. In addition, his positions are backed up by data, whereas others attempt to oversimplify the topic by painting suicide bombers and their enablers as unequivocally insane, irrational actors. The truth is that they are very sane and indeed rational. Suicide terrorism is despicable and ugly, but it works and is almost never used as a tactic outside of the scenarios mentioned above. Are there religious fanatics involved in suicide terror? Absolutely. However:

“Examination of Al Qaeda’s pool of suicide terrorists and of its mobilization appeals shows that American military policy is stronger than Islamic fundamentalism in recruiting individuals willing to carry out suicide terrorist operations against the United States.”

Pape thus argues that the primary motivation for suicide terror is some sort of occupation and that religiosity, while a contributing factor in some cases, is not the driving force behind the phenomenon. Specific examples to help make the point include the case of Norma Hassan, a Christian school teacher who executed a suicide terror mission against Israeli Defense Forces in Southern Lebanon in 1982. No, the crux of Pape’s argument does not rest on the few cases of Christian suicide bombers mentioned in the book, but they do help buttress his argument as none of them could be characterized as religious fanatics, nor are they thought to have been insane.



The Next Generation of Suicide Terrorists

Pape’s theory has drawn predictable criticism, mostly from those who fail to recognize that our foreign policy decisions often have unintended consequences. This is not a “blame America first” or “we deserved 9/11″ type of book. Nobody is even remotely suggesting that 9/11 was deserved or that terrorism is something that U.S. policy is solely responsible for. But until we start to truly understand terrorism from all perspectives (notice I said “understand”, not “sympathize with” or “endorse”) we will continue to play right into the terrorists’ hands by giving them easy recruiting material for the next generation of terrorists and suicide bombers. Couple that with the documented fact that psychological profiles and backgrounds of suicide bombers “resemble the kind of politically conscious individuals who might join a grassroots movement more than they do wayward adolescents or religious fanatics”, and it become evident that we are in serious trouble.

Pape’s solution: withdraw combat troops from controversial areas. Easier said than done? You bet. But it may be easier than fighting for the hearts and minds of the next generation – a generation already long on its way toward donning explosive vests and sacrificing themselves for mostly nationalistic reasons. Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the motives of suicide bombers.

Click here to book Randall H. Miller for a lecture or debate.




]]> http://randallhmiller.com/dying-to-win-the-strategic-logic-of-suicide-terrorism/feed/ 9 http://randallhmiller.com/ghost-confessions-of-a-counterterrorism-agent/ http://randallhmiller.com/ghost-confessions-of-a-counterterrorism-agent/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:21:32 +0000 RHM http://randallhmiller.com/?p=2686

I recently read Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent by Fred Burton. I’ve been a fan of his work at Stratfor since I started reading his weekly Global Security and Intelligence Report a long time ago. Thus, I was immediately interested when he published this memoir and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in studying terrorism of the past thirty years. Burton had a front row seat and played a big part in some pivotal events in counterterrorism history.

Burton began his long career in security and counterterrorism as an agent in the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Services (DSS) which he refers to as the “redheaded stepchildren” of the spook world. Now a much larger and well-resourced division, at the time of Burton’s initial assignment the entire department consisted of three agents and the majority of his training was “on the job” (aka “baptism of fire”). Buried under piles and piles of seemingly unrelated data, Burton and his fellow agents were given the near impossible task of connecting the dots and thwarting terrorist attacks against U.S. Embassies and interests around the globe. Burton explains the mission of the DSS:

“If we can’t stop an attack before it happens, before the smoke clears over the target we open a CT investigation. Once a counterterror investigation is opened, our office has one major objective: Find out what went wrong. Again, it is a defensive role, we want to study the attck – break it down into its individual components to see how the terrorists carried it out. Once we figure out how they succeeded, our security flaws become evident.”

While much of Burton’s career was undoubtedly spent sifting through reports and filtering out “noise”, there were also times when his responsibilities put him right in the epicenter of terrorist events. Those events include multiple kidnappings in Beirut, Lebanon (typically at the hands of Hezbollah and its subsidiaries), and the famous Iran Contra scandal. As a consequence, Burton interacted with such well-known key players as Terry Waite and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. These stories are interesting to hear from his perspective because, in spite of his credentials and experience, Burton keeps his ego in check. And it becomes very clear that he was not in the game for glory and recognition – he was in it to stop terrorist events before they happen. This is a refreshing change from the many terrorism pundits who appear in the main stream media.



Burton is known to keep a list of terrorists and enablers in his pocket which he revisits and updates from time to time. Occasionally he has the pleasure to scratch one off the list. Such an opportunity arose last year when Imad Fayez Mughniyah, Hezbollah’s security and intelligence chief, was killed by a car bomb in Damascus, Syria. Mugniyah was the chief architect of the bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks and U.S. Embassy in Lebanon that claimed the lives of over 350 Americans in 1983. He was also a member of the team that hijacked TWA flight 847 in 1985 (see picture). Burton was on Mugniyah’s trail throughout his career and it’s safe to say he had reason to celebrate when Mugniyah finally got his comeuppance. Burton predicts Hezbollah will avenge the assassination and assesses the global threat in the map below:



In Ghost, Burton does an excellent job of explaining just how difficult counterterrorism operatations can be. There’s an impossible amount of information (aka “chatter”) that agents and analysts must digest. He explains:

“The trouble is we’re…buried by all the incoming information. Historically, this happens all the time. After an event like Pearl Harbor, Beirut I, or the marine barracks bombing, it is easy to sift through all the traffic and find the smoking gun that warned us of the impending disaster. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, and knowing what to look for separates the chaff right away. In real time, though, we don’t have that luxury, we don’t have that vision. All we see are mountains of cables and thousands of clues, all of which must be checked out lest the one valid warning go unheeded.”

I can’t help but think of the events surrounding 9/11 in the years before the actual attacks. When we look back over what transpired over the past ten, twenty, and thirty years things look obvious and we’re able to connect the dots effortlessly. But could you imagine being personally charged with the safety of others when the information flow is as constant and dynamic as it is today?

Besides his operational role in so many major events, Burton also left his mark on the DSS by completely overhauling its surveillance and countersurveillance procedures. Fans of spycraft will enjoy his in-depth explanations of how spooks watch one another in the dark world, and how they “watch each other watch each other.” Suffice it to say that it’s much more complicated than donning a trench coat or pretending to read a newspaper on a park bench.

Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent is a quick and easy read that I would recommend to anyone interested in learning more about terrorism and counterterrorism. BTW: Fred Burton evidently has a humorous side (although very slight). He appeared on the Daily Show with John Stewart last year. The video is below.

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The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c
Fred Burton
Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin
Funny Political News
Joke of the Day
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