ShaneHarris.com » Intelligence

Decoding the “cyber attacks” on gas pipelines

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:43:38 +0000

Here’s the first thing you need to know about a reported “cyber attack” against natural gas pipeline operators that was revealed last week: It wasn’t actually an attack. More here.

Killer App

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:45:32 +0000

Have a bunch of Silicon Valley computer geeks figured out how to stop terrorists?

Out of the Loop: The Human-Free Future of Drone Aircraft

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:42:58 +0000

As aircraft and weapons have become more precise, human beings have become less essential to the conduct of war. The rise of unmanned aerial vehicles, more commonly known as drones, promises to push human beings further out of the loop.

This essay is part of the Hoover Institution’s Koret-Taube Task Force on National Security and Law.

9/10: The Day Before

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:25:36 +0000

No one asks, “Where were you on 9/10?” and most people don’t remember. It’s only in hindsight that the details of a thoroughly ordinary day seem so remarkable.

The Diane Rehm Show: Drones and counterterrorism strategy

admin — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:29:38 +0000

I was a guest today on The Diane Rehm Show, discussing drones and the future of the United States’ strategy to fight terrorism. We also discussed what drones mean for the future of war and when drones will be showing up in U.S. cities. You can listen to the full show here.

From the Team that Brought You Blackwater Comes…Jellyfish

admin — Thu, 12 May 2011 21:16:00 +0000

A new private intelligence outfit, formed by ex-Blackwater execs and former team members of the pre-9/11 Able Danger program, says it has human sources inside the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran.

Check out the full–rather incredible–details here.

Bin Laden’s death planned out in miniature

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 20:17:43 +0000

Before a team of elite Navy forces stormed Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, they and senior US officials had closely studied a digital mock-up of the facility and even a physical miniature, able to be laid out on a table. It showed them the intelligence community’s best guess about what Bin Laden’s hiding place looked like, down to the precise location of gates, fences, windows, and doors.

Full story in Washingtonian.

Killing Osama: Or, How the CIA Got Its Groove Back

admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 21:28:37 +0000

What a difference two years, a couple hundred drone strikes, and killing Osama bin Laden make. With the news that a CIA-led operation ended the life of the world’s most wanted man, the long-embattled agency may have politically rehabilitated itself after years of controversy that once seemed likely to sink it.

Read the full story at Washingtonian.

Did Chinese spies impersonate a Washington journalist?

admin — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:09:47 +0000

National Journal’s Bruce Stokes learned in the documents that, while he was the magazine’s international-economics correspondent, he was unknowingly the central character in an apparent Chinese espionage plot. Read the full story here.

The Watchers–in paperback!

admin — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:44:31 +0000

The Watchers is on sale today in paperback. You can pick up a copy in your favorite bookstore or online. It’s got a nifty new cover, as well as a new afterword on the Christmas Day bombing attempt. That event occurred as the hardcover was going to press, so we couldn’t work it in. I’m glad it’s in the new version, because it ties up the theme of the whole book very nicely.

Here are some links to bookstores selling the paperback: