THE BOSTON BOMBS

It is too soon to speculate; even at this late stage there is still more that we don't know, than what we do know. Prayers to the victims, their families, & to the wounded survivors - S.L.



The news broke quickly at about 14:50hrs this afternoon and right away the pol-scientists and the journo-analysts were picking our brains - by 'our' I mean the two Snake Eaters in the room; myself and my runnin' partner. I posted the above photo because this is what we were initially working off because right away the Suits were pouring into the Security bubble and asking questions.

In the aftermath of a surprise attack, there is a thirst for information. It was incredible how the senior execs quizzed us; as if we could know any more than what they could see with their own eyes on TV. But we could see more because we know what it is we are looking at . . . or perhaps it is because we know what it is not . . .

White smoke suggests it is not C-4; no huge fireball suggests it is not a gasoline cover. In fact that much smoke and dust suggests AMFO; Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil, with a 1lb TNT kicker. Crude but effective enough in a packed crowd, especially with the ball bearings.

Then there were the conflicting casualty counts - it went from 2 to 12 then settled back down to 3. I was coming back from the latrine and the Suits were all piling out of a conference room and it was like an impromptu press conference right there in the hallway.

"How many killed?"

"What is it? Any more bombs found?"

I told them it is too soon to say, the media was full of conflicting reports, that the casualty count was anywhere between 2 and 12 killed, as many as 110 wounded, possibly more, possibly much more.

Then Theo emailed me asking the same thing and this is what I told Theo:

So far this thing has the earmarks of an AQ-recruited homegrown amatuer. They got lucky this time, actually got a couple to detonate. There were more apparently - from what I've seen so far in open-source intell, they look like amfo (ammonium nitrate/fuel oil) with ball bearing apparently. Crude but effective.

Time will tell. They should waterboard the hell out of the perp for 48 hours, then give him to me. All I'll have to do is make friends with the rat bastard, and then coax info out of him by saying, "If you don't want to talk to me, I'll give you back to the waterboard team and you can talk to them . . . " . . . he'll talk. They always do . . .

I can't say shit like that at work. Scares the shit out of the Suits.


- STORMBRINGER SENDS

NEW NRA VIDEOS

The NRA Network just released two videos today. The first falls inside the NRA Stand and Fight initiative and provides a direct response to the Mayors Against Illegal Guns' million dollar ad campaign. Please forward this around to help get this very important message out today - S.L.

NRA STAND AND FIGHT: ONE SIMPLE QUESTION



Mayors Against Illegal Guns' latest million dollar ad campaign - featuring a self-professed gun owner – prompted gun owners all over America to ask one simple question.

Visit www.nrastandandfight.com to sign up for important updates.


They are also launching the new NRA Stand and Fight channel this week (on the HTML5 platform) so that is something to be on the look out for as well. The second video is the fifth episode of the NRA News Commentators series featuring former US Navy SEAL Dom Raso:

NRA NEWS COMMENTATORS: EPISODE 5 - "Our Job" Featuring Dom Raso

In this week's episode, former U.S. Navy SEAL Dom Raso discusses a situation that happened recently in New Jersey and the complacency our nation has fallen into when it comes to personal protection.



Tune in every Monday for a new episode featuring one of the NRA News Commentators.


- STORMBRINGER SENDS

V.A. NATIONAL GUN CONFISCATION OPERATIONS

‘I Get A $3,000 Bonus Per Veteran For Seizing Their Guns’: V.A. Psychiatrist Exposes National Gun Confiscation Operation

OPEN-SOURCE INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS

A reader poses an interesting question . . .




Given your background, both past and current, any tips for us civilians on how to collect intel and do background type checks with open source and available resources (internet, etc)? Not quite after cyber stalker level info, but a general know your friend and enemies level of "who am i dealing with here" before foot is insert in mouth of other orifice. Enjoy the blog and your insight. - M.Heffer


S.L.: Wow thats a pretty wide-open question. What you seem to be asking is what the corporate community refers to as "due diligence". Whenever I am approaching an information-gathering task, I precede by an analysis of information requirements for due diligience, divided into two categories; primary information requirements (PIRs - circumstances, people and or things which will directly affect my client) and information requirements (IRs - any items related to the client's desired activity).

PIRs include anything which may constrain or limit the client's desired activity. The security situation will fall somewhere in between constraints and limitations:

Constraints are actual physical realities; i.e facilities, water supply situations, electrical power supply, logistics, physical security details such as fences, barriers, monitoring systems etc.

Limitations are artificial or self-imposed; i.e. rules, laws, regulations, licensing requirements, personalities and local jurisdictions to include officials and the local corruption or fraudulent activities which may directly influence and at the same time jeopardize the client's desired activity.

IRs include anything related to the PIRs, but not of direct influence. IRs include roads, routes, chokepoints, physical layouts, etc.

A start point to these kind of lists includes Who, What, Why, When, Where and How Many. Internet resources include Google searches, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and then of course investigative background services; but you'd be amazed with what you can find with a simple Google search.

Not sure if I answered your question here. Thanks for your support!


M.Heffer: Thank you. Let me digest this. May I follow up with any questions that I may have?



S.L.: Yeah sure you can reach out to me anytime - the problem is your question is so open ended and the craft of intelligence and information contains so many disciplines. I was trained as an analyst AND a collector - a combination that as far as I know only exists in US Army Special Forces. I was trained at Ft. Bragg, in Washington DC and in Stuttgart, Germany and my experience in intelligence operations includes the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Mexico; and now my post-retirement activities as a security consultant in the corporate environment, in Europe, S.E. Asia and Latin America. You can't really learn this stuff by shooting questions out there - I had formal training mixed with operational experience and was mentored by some legendary individuals. As far as I'm concerned I'm still learning.

It's a lifelong journey, and for me it continues in the private sector - this is also not common. I didn't seek it, in fact when I got out I was so sick of the Army and so done with the stress and anxiety that I didn't want to do anything the word 'security' in it. I actually tried to strike out into business on my own, just in time to catch the credit meltdown followed by the market meltdown and then one day the phone rang and I was back in the game. A leopard can't change his spots I guess.

I don't know your age or your station in life but my advice is that if you want to gain skills go into the military, intelligence or Federal law enforcement. Don't try learn the trade on your own or via business operations that masquerade as schools. We in the trade only do business with people like ourselves and there's a reason - early on in my post-retirement career I decided to do a favor to a kid who was striking out on his own, claimed a lot and represented an outfit out of L.A. for all I know is all his own creation. I directed him to a colleague who's running a training operation in L.A. and the guy showed his ass so bad, embarrassed the hell out of me and I got my fingers burned, bad. I learned from that to only do business with people who are carefully vetted, with solid military or intell credentials. The nature of this business is we all know each other - we have to. I learned from that episode - only trust people who have walked the walk, who you know their background and training, and who have paid their dues.

Do some reading, learn the disciplines of intelligence,learn tradecraft, learn analysis and planning skills, and learn leadership. There is only one way to learn leadership as far as I am concerned and that is through the school of hard knocks. Believe it or not physical fitness is as important as mental acuity and tradecraft. Interview skills are as valuable as marksmanship (if not more so); learn how to be a human lie detector and for when you are on the other side of the table learn the art of speaking for thirty minutes and saying absolutely nothing. Know what to do and where to start when you walk into a situation and there's more that you don't know than what you do know because that is more often that not. Above all you have to have faith in the people to your left and to your right, in your country and in everything you hold holy and sacred - because there will come a time when that is all you have; faith. If you don't have that, you will not survive when the chips are down. Best wishes - S. L.



BTW it ain't all cloak & dagger and guns a-blazing like in the movies - I only included the clips from Where Eagles Dare because the tradecraft is good and I like hearing Richard Burton saying "Broadsword this is Danny Boy."

- STORMBRINGER SENDS

NEVER FORGET

68 years ago, US Army units entered the Buchenwald concentration camp. This is what they saw:

Survivors gaze at rescuers from the United States Third Army during the liberation of Buchenwald, April 1945.


A Czech doctor (right) prepares to examine a Buchenwald concentration camp inmate while other inmates surround him, awaiting treatment, April 1945.


Examining Buchenwald prisoners after the camp's liberation by U.S. troops, April 1945.


Deformed by malnutrition, a Buchenwald prisoner leans against his bunk after trying to walk. Like other imprisoned slave laborers, he worked in a Nazi factory until too feeble.


Prisoners at Buchenwald during the camp's liberation by American forces, April 1945


Prisoners, too emaciated to walk, at Buchenwald during the camp's liberation by American forces, April 1945.


Prisoners at Buchenwald gaze from behind barbed wire during the camp's liberation by American forces, April 1945.


The dead at Buchenwald, April 1945.


The dead at Buchenwald, piled high outside the camp's incinerator plant, April 1945.


The remains of an incinerated prisoner inside a Buchenwald cremation oven, April 1945.


A newly liberated prisoner stands beside a pile of human ashes and bones, Buchenwald, April 1945.


As German officers and Weimar civilians bear witness, after Buchenwald's liberation, to atrocities committed at the camp, a dummy in striped prisoner garb hangs from a gallows — a gruesome demonstration of one of the many public ways that inmates were murdered at the camp.


Prisoners at Buchenwald display their identification tattoos shortly after camp's liberation by Allied forces, April 1945.



German civilians are forced by American troops to bear witness to Nazi atrocities at Buchenwald concentration camp, mere miles from their own homes, April 1945.


German civilians are forced by American troops to bear witness to Nazi atrocities at Buchenwald concentration camp, mere miles from their own homes, April 1945.


Story to Remember:
In the 1920s and 1930s Germany was the most advanced society on Earth in terms of science, technology, philosophy and the arts; every single German Jew who went to the concentration camps was a full citizen of that country - many of whom served their country honorably in the First World War - all of whom arrived in those death camps by obediantly complying with the laws of their land.

Lesson learned:
When the Government says "We are hear to help you," - NEVER trust!

The Israeli monument in front of the Headquarters building at Dachau Concentration Camp says:




- STORMBRINGER SENDS

If You Voted for Obama Because . . .

. . . of his work experience, then you are delusional.

. . . of his qualifications, then you are ignorant.

. . . of his economic plan, then you are a moron.

. . . he is black, then you are a racist.

. . . you want free stuff, then you are greedy.

. . . your union told you to, then you are a tool.

. . . you want free healthcare, then you are an idiot.



BUT, if you voted for him because you TRULY know what he stands for, then you are a traitor.


STORMBRINGER SENDS

TWO TRUE STORIES

Today we present Honor and Self-Sacrifice, epitomized. - S.L.


STORY NUMBER ONE

Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago . Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.


Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was Capone's lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.

To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but Eddie got special dividends, as well. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.

Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.

Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object.

And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.

Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son; he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example.

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done.

He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great. So, he testified.


Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street. But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine.

The poem read:

"The clock of life is wound but once,
and no man has the power to tell
just when the hands will stop,
at late or early hour.

Now is the only time you own.
Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in time.
For the clock may soon be still."

STORY NUMBER TWO


World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare.

He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.

One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank.

He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship.

His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.

As he was returning to the mother ship, he saw something that turned his blood cold; a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the American fleet.

The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger. There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet.

Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber's blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent.


Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible, rendering them unfit to fly.

Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction.

Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier.

Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft.

This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy's first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Medal of Honor.

A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.


So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.


SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?

Butch O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son.


.



I travel to Chicago on business quite often these days, and I have been aware of this incredible story of honor spanning two generations for several years now. Whenever I pass through O'Hare Airport, I always pause and look at the F4F-3 Wildcat, and pay silent respect to the brave O'Hares, father and son.

- STORMBRINGER SENDS