Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Contractors running U.S. spy missions in Africa


"Tusker Sand is a manned airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platform, along with an associated intelligence fusion cell designed to address emerging theater collection requirements and command strategy to build partner nation capacity." If I am decoding this government-ese correctly, the "associated intelligence fusion cell" are the private contractors. The Chinese are already ensconsed in Africa, and do we, or do we not, need to catch up?

In October, President Obama sent about 100 elite U.S. troops to central Africa to scour the terrain for Joseph Kony, the messianic and brutal leader of a Ugandan rebel group. But American contractors have been secretly searching for Kony from the skies long before that, at least since 2009, under a project code-named Tusker Sand, according to documents and people familiar with the operation.
The previously unreported practice of hiring private companies to spy on huge expanses of African territory — in this region and in North Africa, where a similar surveillance program is aimed at an al-Qaeda affiliate — has been a cornerstone of the U.S. military’s secret activities on the continent. Unlike uniformed troops, plainclothes contractors are less likely to draw attention.
But because the arms-length arrangement exists outside traditional channels, there is virtually no public scrutiny or oversight. And if something goes wrong, the U.S. government and its partners acknowledge that the contractors are largely on their own.
(snip)Among the jobs to be outsourced: pilots, sensor operators, intelligence analysts, mechanics and linguists. The expectation was that the personnel would be veterans; most needed to certify that they had passed the military’s survival, resistance and escape training course, because of the possibility of aircrews being downed behind enemy lines.
Contractors would have to supply the surveillance gear, including electro-optical and infrared sensors that work in the dark, and a laser-emitting sensor that can peer under the jungle canopy. All had to be concealed within the body of the plane with retractable mounting to avoid attracting suspicion.
WaPo

Added: creeley23 says, "Last year a friend told me to look into Joseph Kony because Kony had become very high profile with young Americans after a documentary "Kony 2012" came out. Kony is abducting and enslaving children to be child soldiers and child sex slaves, so it's the sort of cause the young can identify with."

26 comments:

rhhardin said...

Outsource it to google earth.

rhhardin said...

Google street mapping of Africa woundn't cause suspicion. They do it everywhere.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

US Contractors, CIA, posing as Google employees.

I know there is a punch line in there.




Aridog said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paddy O said...

I think we better get indoors. The Sand People are easily startled but they'll soon be back, and in greater numbers.

Aridog said...

Among the jobs to be outsourced: pilots, sensor operators, intelligence analysts, mechanics and linguists.

Maybe a bit of gun running and bribery on the side, too?

Sound familiar?

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Serpentine!

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I don't know what those guys were competing at, but that's a pretty weird medal presentation ceremony where they blindfold you and then shoot you afterwards.

rhhardin said...

Pin the tail on the donkey doubles.

rhhardin said...

The dalai camel leads the sand people.

Michael Haz said...

Intelligence outsourcing is not new. More that half of the CIA's in-field ops are outsourced to private contract firms. Booz Allen, for example, derives 100% of its revenue (hundreds of millions annually) from outsource contracts with the CIA.

edutcher said...

B-b-b-b-but I thought the Choom Gang didn't like military contractors.

Like Blackwater.

edutcher said...

PS Hey, Lem, nice job on darkening the print.

ndspinelli said...

Obama uses Peace Corp volunteers.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Thanks Ed.

Chip helped me out with that.

The up side to contracting out some of the intelligence work, that I can see, is that the incentive to perform is much stronger when the profit motive is in the equation.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Anything short of that and the next stop is Detroit.

Anonymous said...

Last year a friend told me to look into Joseph Kony because Kony had become very high profile with young Americans after a documentary "Kony 2012" came out. Kony is abducting and enslaving children to be child soldiers and child sex slaves, so it's the sort of cause the young can identify with.

Few adults I know are aware of Joseph Kony.

deborah said...

Ari:
"Maybe a bit of gun running and bribery on the side, too?"

Yeah, baby.

Methadras said...

The chinese have been making inroads into africa for a long time. they've been buying up land and mineral/ore reserves for a long time, while we have been letting them do that without a response and it's all deliberate stalling tactics on Urkles part.

ndspinelli said...

The guy who made Kony 2012 lives not far from where we stay in San Diego during the winter. He had a nervous breakdown and was found naked on a street corner. Thankfully Michael Moore didn't make Kony 2012!

deborah said...

Whoa, Nick. That's interesting.

Yea, Meth, but I think we are realizing we need(?) to step it up.

Methadras said...

deborah said...

Whoa, Nick. That's interesting.

Yea, Meth, but I think we are realizing we need(?) to step it up.


That's my point. China has basically been allowed to tromp all over africa buying up resources while the Obama admin has done nothing. Deliberately.

Chip Ahoy said...

Mitchell the bat, the in-laws

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Serpentine! Serpentine!

It cracks me up every time!

ndspinelli said...

EVI, Great scene and great combo.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.