09.06.12
Afghanistanization
Above photo, nabbed from standard rot on “DARPA” wanting to make cyberwar and planning for it “routine” with “X” at Wired. (No link.)
The pic, unintentionally hilarious as an inside joke, shows NSA director, Keith Alexander, in Afghanistan. Where everyone knows the Taliban is just loaded with cyberwarriors. Why, the Iranians and al Qaeda in Pakistan are probably attacking, too.
Then there’s the actual world where the US has real and much bigger problems — like the Afghan military and militia forces being trained by the US are seen as potentially riddled with insurgents.
American special operations forces have suspended the training of new recruits to an Afghan village militia until the entire 16,000-member force can be rescreened for possible links to the insurgency, U.S. officials said Sunday.
The move is the latest repercussion from a series of “insider” shootings carried out by members of the Afghan police and army against Western troops. Forty-five NATO service members have been killed in such attacks this year, and the U.S. toll in August alone was 12 dead.
“[Plan X] means building tools to help warplanners assemble and launch online strikes in a hurry,” informs Wired’s DangerRoom.
By golly!
Readers will remember General Keith Alexander’s national publicity tour to gin up fear of cyberwar against the American heartland in support of cybersecurity legislation recently. The legislation was defeated.