Posted on 05/10/2011 2:26:30 AM PDT by Scanian
OK, the incredible details of the operation to silence Osama bin Laden are, indeed, irresistible -- but our government's been saying way too much about them, tipping off al Qaeda and clueing in other bad guys.
You can't blame the press; its job is to get the story. But you can finger the White House and other government officials for not keeping enough of a zipped lip on some elements of the historic operation.
For instance, what about the early, broad -- and repeated -- disclosure of a "treasure trove" of information taken during the raid on Osama's compound in Pakistan?
Instead of broadcasting the intelligence grab, we might've waited a while -- so we could more fully exploit some of the windfall before alerting al Qaeda operatives to take defensive measures.
Perhaps, based on the info on the computers and drives taken during the operation, we could've tapped or geo-located some cellphones used by the al Qaeda network, hacked into some e-mail accounts, nabbed other bad guys and so on.
Yes, the terrorists no doubt took countermeasures to cover their tracks upon hearing about the events in Abbottabad -- but they might not have done as clean a sweep if we hadn't bragged of stumbling upon a "mother lode" of information.
And, yes, it's fascinating to know how our spooks tracked the courier and the SEALs stormed the compound -- but did we really have to coach the bad guys on this? That sort of grandstanding will likely prove counterproductive.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Rule 1: Always protect methods and sources
Rule 2: Never let them know what you know.
Rule 3: Only violate Rule 1 and Rule 2 in order to mix in some disinformation that you want them to believe.
Rule 4: Never confirm or deny, see Rules 1 & 2.
Rule 5: Never use official channels to when implementing Rule 3, feed disinformation through putative leaks, see rule 4.
1. Hide it, eyes only... Everyone seeks access.
This is effective to identify who wants to know, but
vulnerable to individual corruption.
2. Dump every thing true and invented out there and
let anyone who cares try to sort out the myth from
the reality. Today, this is the best mechanism.
You can steal the secret data in a second if it is in one place. Sort through a warehouse of data loaded with... things... that may or may not pertain.
If I’m the POTUS when bin Laden gets caught, I don’t say a WORD about it publicly until my intelligence department and my military have a chance to peruse all the information gathered from the compound.
After I smashed a few more key members of the al Qaeda network, THEN I would make public the news of bin Laden’s death.
I think Obama was in such a hurry to gain from this politically, that he willingly sacrificed future military gains against our enemy. Part of the reelection campaign, I suppose.
I think he might have been justified in making the announcemnt after leaks made the announcement an anticlimax, but I like Mark Steyn’s suggestion that any announcement should have been made at a very low level, a Pentagon spokesman say.
As it should be.
Others assume differently.
The obama is a known liar... This has actually been pulled off in a manner that has baffled the crap out of everyone, friend and foe alike. obama probably does not even have a clue about the actual situation.
We are watching the rats scatter, as the Pakistanis sell off hunks of a drone for the chinese to waste a billion dollars reverse engineering.
The only thing that could blow this now is an obl video on utube holding a current news paper.
I had the same line of thought myself after pondering the matter a bit. Why didn't some adult suggest this to Zero?
The traitor in the white house wanted to make it all about him and all jihadists got a heads up and fled to new hiding places.
Thanks for making us less safe, princess boy.
Well,,,, we did leave 16 witnesses behind for the pakistains to interrogate. And we now may be getting access to them.
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