Yeah, him. And me too.
Just because some asshole stamped “secret” on some piece of paper doesn’t mean squat to me. Now, if I had made a promise not to divulge that information, then maybe it would. But I’ve never promised any such thing, and I have no problem with repeating so-called secret information.
Well…yeah. What’s so secret about finding out that the SEAL team was wearing small cameras on their helmets? Its not like the kind of camera (which may very well be of a secret, advanced type of technology) was divulged.
I’m racking my brains here trying to think of a situation where in the future, a secret SEAL mission will somehow be compromised because of the general knowledge of them wearing helmet cameras and I am drawing a blank.
I’m more interested in the technology the helicopters used to evade Pakistan’s radars. I know that modern combat helicopters can be equipped with a rotor wash kit to deaden the sound of the rotation of the rotors, but I had no idea that we had anti-radar stealthy helicopters (other than flying low to the terrain). I always thought that was the domain of warplanes.
Quickly addressing this. How do you think the images/sound were transmitted? Radio Frequencies. Scanners are cheap. Yes, the SEALS frequency was probably tippy top secret and the data stream may have been encrypted. Just having a scanner that pops up with a burst of “somethng” in a frequency range not noted locally is a big warning. "Hmm, never heard the local taxis on that channel/band before? You don’t have to be able to understand the transmission - only that it occured.
Radio silence is always a big deal on operations.
I suspect the situation room viewing may not have been “live”. The OP was completed and visual data was downloaded to more powerful radios aboard the helicopters for transmission.
If the feed was indeed live; it would have been from the cameras to the helicopter (or CIA monitoring house) then retransmitted to satelities. Then there would have been multiple sources of RF energy to trigger alarms.
Interesting. I do understand radio silence being crucial. It always has been. So there’s no way to completely secure a video transmission? Is it indeed broadcast on radio frequencies? For some reason I thought it would be some other frequency of EM than radio for the transmission of video feed.
No, it’s all part of the same radiated energy spectrum (AM, FM, UHF, SW, etc…). You can encrypt it but you can’t hide the transmission. Modern equipment will compress the data and transmit the signal in a burst. This minimizes the time “on the air”. Also the transmitters (radio, radar, etc…) will “hop” the transmitted frequency to hinder interception, jamming, or localization but the signal is still out there.
The main security violation I saw was release of information about siezure of computer and storage devices. Just shut up about what was found or what you’re exploiting. It will just send planning cells underground further and result in a change of tactics and objectives. Most operatives would consider they were compromised but maybe one or two won’t realize.
Releasing news about Osama death was fine in this instance. He wasn’t in direct communication with operatives; he didn’t have meetings or move about the country.
A few years back; we killed the “current” AQ#1 in Iraq in a bombing attack (some Z guy). We violated just about every rule. We disclosed his death - the guy was actively meeting with other operatives and moving about. AQ immediately confirmed his death so no one would be expecting him or show up for planned meetings. We again revealed that we had seized computers alerting AQ to change phones, plans, get out of dodge, etc… We disclosed it was F-16 fighter-bombers using laser guided bombs. Weapon system and weapon used are no-nos. “Laser guided” - we blabed that special forces were involved using a ground designator for the bomb targeting. Tactics and personnel involved in an operation are highly classified. We let out that neighbors were instrumental in locating the bad guy. Signing some death warrants maybe?
Fifteen years or so back we killed a terrorist under a tree in some crappy location. We couldn’t wait to say it was a Predator UAV firing a laser guided Hellfire missile. Some violations - we had never mentioned that UAVs (Predators specifically) were being used in that area; it had never been announced that Predators were capable of carrying Hellfire missiles or doing self-designation. Dammit, if asked about some creep’s death, just say he must have been hit by a cargo door falling off and airplane. Yeah, it will come out eventually but don’t advertise it.
Our politicians, military brass, aides, munition manufacturing companies, and media darlings are attention whores. If I were king, we’d be stringing up a few high ranking officials as examples - and really announcing and broadcasting that occurance.
Thanks for the explanation. I agree with you about them broadcasting to the world what they had found inside the Bin Laden compound.
I thought the old adage about intelligence is that we only become aware of intel ops when there’s a failure, not successes still held true. Apparently not always although I have to admire the amount of secrecy that surrounded this particular operation’s planning, training and execution.