Posted on 09/20/2007 8:56:59 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
WASHINGTON - Once her son is off to school, Laura Mansfield settles in at her dining room table with her laptop and begins trolling Arabic-language message boards and chat rooms popular with jihadists.
Fluent in Arabic, the self-employed terror analyst often hacks into the sites, translates the material, puts it together and sends her analysis via a subscription service to intelligence agencies, law enforcement and academics.
Occasionally she comes across a gem, such as when she found a recent Osama bin Laden video before al-Qaida had announced it.
"I realized, oh my gosh, I'm sitting here, I'm a fat 50-year-old mom and I've managed to scoop al-Qaida," said Mansfield, who uses that name as a pseudonym because she receives death threats.
She sometimes spends 100 hours a week online, and she often finds items after word has begun spreading on the Arabic forums of an imminent release.
"It's really important to understand what the jihadists think and how they're planning on doing things," she said. "They're very vocal. They tell us what they're going to do and then they go out and do it."
Mansfield tips off her intelligence sources when she does find something new, part of an informal working relationship with the government.
"When I send them something, it's welcome," she said. "They thank me."
There have been times when an impending video release has kept her from a planned shopping trip with her daughter.
"It gets really challenging when you're trying to do that and cook spaghetti at the same time," she said.
Not after he’s a bad dog!!
CM...that’s BAD trainin’! : )
This is a few hours old but interesting...
Yowdy CM! :)
And you can even control your appliances by sending the signal across standard electricity wiring. Not ethernet, not cable, but standard 120v outlets (lol)
P.S. Which means if you can, so can I :) Sleep on that! heh heh
Not after hes a bad dog!!
CM...thats BAD trainin! : )
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LOL,,,Well,,,He ain’t took-up the Cee-gar smokin’ and beer drinkin’,,,yet,,,;0)
“control my appliances”
: )
Called a talented and committed . You got a problem with that? We should spend more money training non-Arabs to learn Arabic. The Arabs like to talk their heads off, but they think we don’t know their lingo.
LOL,,,Hey There...;0)
lol...not going to touch that
a drinkin’ and smokin’ dog???
Hope you don’t plan on finding some kind of way to add cursin’ to that list, too!!
lol!
LOL,,,JMHO : He Cusses a Bunch...;0)
Learned that no doubt from “papa”
Aren’t you ashamed?! : )
Some would call it oversight, but as with any system with the human element, there’s the risk of that occuring. In this instance I think the reward is worth the extremely minimal risk. And in the event that did occur, it’s been proven before that someone will throw a flag. IMO.
the article already said that was not her real name.
Earl drinks Bud and Junior drinks Bud-Light :)
I kind of meant my comment as an allusion to the nutjob in Iran and the threats he constantly makes against the West.
Learned that no doubt from papa
Arent you ashamed?! : )
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Nope,,,Not A Bit,,,”Commie-sonsabitches” is not cussin’...;0)
I certainly hope so.
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