Thursday, March 04, 2004

Here is the Swisscom calling card (SIM, now discontinued) that was used to track al Qaeda cell phone use. 10:41:52 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

Who is Prince Nayef?  Read up. After September 11, American strategists considered some worrisome long-term scenarios, including changes of government in Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Such change may already be underway in Saudi Arabia, where Prince Nayef is taking over before our eyes, retaining heir apparent Abdullah as window dressing. Most discussions of the succession to King Fahd emphasize the competition between Crown Prince Abdullah, head of the National Guard, and Prince Sultan, head of the Ministry of Defense. These two factions would be major players if civil war broke out. But Prince Nayef already has his troops in place and hard at work. Less clear is whether his agents have infiltrated the other two organizations and have the authority to arrest "disloyal elements." 8:47:58 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

To scale pictures of global subway systems.  Global subway systems by ridership and miles of track. 8:35:35 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

Narco-revolution in Haiti.  Out of the frying pan and into the fire.  Rumors on the US involvement in this revolution are circulating (from gun running to the rebels, via the Dominican Republic, to a forced removal of Aristide).  Did the US get promises of cooperation from the rebels on anti-terrorism in exchange for help? According to internal documents from a regional governmental organization that closely monitors state institutions in Haiti, Guy Philippe, the rebel leader who declared himself head of the revived Haitian military on Tuesday, and Gilbert Dragon, his second-in-command, allegedly became involved in drug trafficking in the late 1990s as members of the Haitian police force. 7:50:03 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

Report from the Pakistani ISI rumor mill on Osama's location and the operations in progress to capture him.  Taliban (assumed to be in close proximity to Osama) use of satellite phones (al Qaeda gave them up long ago given their vulnerability) cited as a key factor in finding his location.  If these rumors are true, the lack of Opsec on this operation is likely due to mujahideen in ISI's ranks. 7:39:14 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

Michael Gartenberg is enthusiastic about the OQO.  Will it ever ship??  I expect that a mature type of this device (IF it eventually gains traction) will likely include a dual-mode option that allows you to use it as a Linux-based (most likely on a low power chip set) media player while on the move.  It would also need video glasses, which despite advances in technology, have not arrived yet. 7:29:19 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

Details on how the US used its ability to track a cellphone chip (Swisscom) globally enabled them to shut down al Qaeda operations and capture key operatives.  Of course, al Qaeda is a learning organization (heterarchies are good at this), they have since moved from cellphones to the Internet and hand delivery (most likely Skype for voice): A half dozen senior officials in the United States and Europe agreed to talk in detail about the previously undisclosed investigation because, they said, it was completed. They also said they had strong indications that terror suspects, alert to the phones' vulnerability, had largely abandoned them for important communications and instead were using e-mail, Internet phone calls and hand-delivered messages. 6:47:22 AM    Comment_ Trackback []