The NSA and GCHQ have jointly published a history of World War II SIGINT: “Secret Messengers: Disseminating SIGINT in the Second World War.” This is the story of the British SLUs (Special Liaison Units) and the American SSOs (Special Security Officers).
not important • August 13, 2025 6:23 PM
MI6: Unveiling the Secret History of Britain’s Elite Spy Agency
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_7gLT_Gsc
ResearcherZero • August 14, 2025 1:15 AM
Not obtaining useful information follows a familiar pattern. Police are required to undergo somewhere between 18 to 28 weeks training, but many begin working with significantly less time spent training (to meet recruitment goals), even after failing to pass important assessments. Significant criminal complaints and behavior are often not an obstacle.
Police do not record the quality of their work.
‘https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/essex-police-greater-manchester-police-west-midlands-police-norfolk-constabulary-police-service-of-northern-ireland-b2722300.html
“Too few criminal investigations lead to justice for victims.”
https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/publications/how-effectively-police-investigate-crime/
How to not get information from a detainee.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-09/torture-guantanamo-bay-and-abu-zubaydah/100436610
Zubaydah gave the only real information he had before he was tortured.
https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2007/12/the-torture-of-abu-zubaydah/222416/
ResearcherZero • August 14, 2025 1:44 AM
If credible intelligence is obtained, then getting it to where it needs to go and having anyone actually read the stuff faces significant hurdles. There are plenty of myths, but there has always been gatekeepers and reluctance to hear things that are inconvenient.
Today, many more things are inconvenient. The impediments – significantly greater.
Fortunately it is classified, shrouding societal experiences in a vacuum chamber.
‘https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/gabbard-considering-ways-revamp-trumps-intelligence-briefing-rcna209805
Fox News-style segments can ensure that no-one actually reads what they need to see/sign.
(the details of classified economic, Geo-strategic, national or regional risks)
https://leadershipknocks.substack.com/p/the-great-american-reading-crisis
Ian Stewart • August 14, 2025 3:03 AM
‘What is truth’ Pontius Pilate asked 2000 years ago. I don’t know but you certainly won’t get it from any country’s intelligence agencies – and probably shouldn’t in order to protect national security. Techniques may change but I doubt the overall methods have changed at all and these would probably not be made public.
Ulf • August 14, 2025 3:11 AM
As an aside, this page collects all the historical publications of the NSA by time period: https://www.nsa.gov/History/Cryptologic-History/Historical-Publications/
ResearcherZero • August 16, 2025 1:32 AM
The strategy of Russian intelligence is pretty simple. Feed people in The West rubbish.
To outwit an opponent there are a few simple rules. Read the intelligence and get to know the opponent. Make the target wait and want to come to you. Make them continue to wait. Ensure that everything is in place well before any meeting in order to maintain control.
Russia has an enormous problem of unregulated waste. There is no recycling system (apart from reusing bulls–t) and waste disposal is claimed to be controlled by Kremlin-linked mafia organizations. Russia’s waterways and water supplies are heavily contaminated.
Feces is literally exploding for sewers and shooting into the air.
‘https://metro.co.uk/2024/10/29/fountain-faeces-explodes-higher-a-18-storey-building-moscow-21883155/
To calm the anger of Russian locals, Putin needs somewhere to get rid of the it.
https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-garbage-problem-russia-landfills/
ResearcherZero • August 16, 2025 2:50 AM
@Ian Stewart
The weather patterns of the Northern and Southern hemispheres are largely separate.
I wouldn’t worry too much. If Australia was taken by a foreign power, you could still mine it as most of the population centers are far from mining operations. The radiation would clear by the time management teams and security were organized. The United States even uploaded (accidentally) a plan for Australia in such a scenario, then quickly took it down.
Such weapons can be used when forces are overrun by those of a major power. Most of the super powers have similar strategies. Kind of a last resort option, if others are exhausted. Not very helpful for the local populations, but useful to maintain raw material supplies and cripple significant numbers of adversarial forces. There would of course be ramifications from kicking up all that dust, so its probably not a very wise course of action. I would prefer it if the Northern Hemisphere was nuked, but only marginally.
–
Smell the cheese?
‘https://abcnews.go.com/International/alaska-putin-offering-peace-trap-analysis/story?id=124569197
Russia is assisting China in developing landing operations technology. (SWORD)
https://theins.ru/en/inv/284047
Russia’s reasons for getting involved.
https://www.fpri.org/article/2025/06/russia-wont-sit-out-a-us-china-asia/
If a Pandora’s Box was to open…
https://www.news.com.au/world/pacific/alarm-bells-as-russia-china-team-up-in-indopacific/news-story/4eb79c82baa551c514cc7dcbe00fb323
ReasearcherZero • August 16, 2025 4:56 AM
@Ian Stewart, @ALL
and probably shouldn’t in order to protect national security.
There may be some intelligence that could be shared, but a lot of it may get people killed. Details within the intelligence could reveal where it came from and who had access to it. A number of countries like North Korea, China, Russia, Iran and others, often kill sources.
There is also the issue of it being politicized and wrongly interpreted, causing conflict between rival groups and a loss of trust in institutions or individuals who released it.
How will the recipient or recipients react to the information? This has to be weighed up.
If certain intelligence is released it can damage collection and harm national security.
Ames and Hanssen exposed at least a dozen sources, along with other sensitive information.
A good number of those assets were then shot following their exposure.
‘https://wrightmuseum.org/soviet-influence-in-the-united-states-the-espionage-activities-of-aldrich-ames-and-robert-hanssen/
Robert Hanssen shared U.S. nuclear survival plans in the event of war with Russia.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/2001/07/18/Accused-spy-compromised-survival-plans/9296995428800/
ResearcherZero • August 28, 2025 11:27 PM
@Ian Stewart
There is a little truth, but sadly not much of that truth is emerging from the White House.
How Russia continues to steer policy within the White House 11 years after seizing Crimea.
‘https://www.thecipherbrief.com/breedlove-middle-east-ukraine-authoritarians
The Kremlin’s military doctrine of permanent confrontation with The West.
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russian-belarusian-military-exercises-next-month-involve-oreshnik-hypersonic-2025-08-13/
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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
Clive Robinson • August 13, 2025 8:31 AM
@ Bruce, All,
With regards,
In many ways it’s likely to be wrong 😉 Such was the need for security those involved were given “cover stories, whilst others invented their own ideas.
One official cover was as part of the “Paymasters” one invented was that their job was to distribute “The senior officers whisky ration”.
What is known is that lowly “Other Ranks”(OR’s) in effect “out ranked” even the most senior of officers.
Sadly the real “boots on the ground” stories are now in effect “nolonger known”. Because even with the publishing of the 1970’s F W Winterbotham book “The Utra Secret” those who had been in the SLU’s remained “The geese that delivered the golden eggs and never cackled”.