If you’ve been following this blog you know that I’m writing an undergraduate thesis about the future of asymmetric warfare.

If this is your first time to this blog, I’m writing an undergraduate thesis about the future of asymmetric warfare.

I recently took my research prospectus to my course professor and he loved it- except for one part- the title! After thinking about it for a while, I’ve got to agree with him. The one I’ve got now is pretty clunky.

Here’s what I came up with: GLOBAL CONSPIRACIES OF ONE: ANONYMOUS, ISOLATED, COORDINATED TACTICS.

And here’s what my teacher and I tentatively agreed on in our sit-down: GLOBALLY INDIVIDUALIZED INSURGENCIES: OPERATIONS OF AND AGAINST ANONYMOUS, ISOLATED, COORDINATED AGENTS.

Kind of clunky, huh? Yeah, I’m not too hot on it either. So it’s time for a Wingman NewsWire first: a contest!

If you can come up with a title that:

A: I like
B: My professor likes
C: Describes the work

and finally

D: Isn’t utterly uncool

You’ll be getting a $20 AMAZON.COM GIFT CERTIFICATE. The contest will run until the end of October or until there’s a winner, whichever comes last.

For some more details about the paper, check out these posts.

This is the initial prospectus for my research project, which I mentioned here. As always, it is released under a creative commons license and I more than welcome your comments, questions and advice.

1. WORKING TITLE: Global Conspiracies of One: Anonymous, Isolated, Coordinated Tactics.

2. RESEARCH QUESTION: Is the National Security Organization optimized for combating widespread conspiracies which use cell isolation and anonymous communication?

3. PROBLEM BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE: Operations Security is the most important consideration for any combatant force today. This is especially true for asymmetric forces such as terrorist organizations or insurgencies. Organizational leaders try to minimize leaks by compartmentalizing forces into semi- or fully autonomous “cells”. Sometimes these cells owe allegiance to a philosophical leader in name only, operating on their own with no knowledge of any other cells. Occasionally, the name is the only thing these cells share—even end goals might differ between two “affiliated” groups. A conspiracy where one master cell, perhaps only one individual deep, manages hundreds or thousands of independently acting individuals, none of whom even know their partners exist, could have amazing security. This means great difficulty for organizations defending against this globally-individualized conspiracy. With the only mastermind using anonymizing technology to be indistinguishable from a friendly citizen, tracking down and preventing attacks could be nigh on impossible.

4. METHODOLOGY: Begin with a definition of the problem and its elements, including a brief primer on anonymizing technology, asymmetric combat, and terrorism. Continue with a literature review. Next discuss current terrorism and anti-terrorism model briefly, providing step-by-step process for prevention/defense. Then, discuss theoretical model and back it up with case studies, including Neurocam. Lay groundwork for technical feasibility with more detailed information on anonymizing technology. During theoretical model, show how it would defeat current anti-terrorism strategy point-by-point. Conclude with suggestions for a more effective model and recommendations for further research, including friendly use of this strategy.

As I mentioned before, the purpose of this paper is to “red plan” a method of organization and attack, and point out how the current security model is inadequate to fight it. I just picked up Robb’s Brave New War, which I have a feeling will influence the direction of this paper quite a bit. Just looking at it, he’s thinking along the same lines I am.

Like most, if not all, of the milestones I’ll post, this one has already been reviewed by my professor. The only thing he had to quibble about was the title- think you guys could help me?

Questions for Readers: Do you have books, journals or article you think I should read? Have you thought along these lines? Do you know of an organization which might be a case study of this sort of organization? Do you think you have a better title? If you’ve got anything that might be of ANY value whatsoever, post it to the comments! I look forward to discussing this with you.

Now this is a funny turn.

I knew there was something shady about that place. I guess this explains the Black Knights mascot. Don’t worry, America- November 3rd, the terrorists lose!

In all seriousness, this is a pretty lame move on Iran’s part. Tit-for-tat when we did basically the same thing, but I don’t see too many people clamoring to be part of Iran’s financial network. It’s just one more tick upward on the thermometer of U.S.-Iranian relations.

So, I’m the anomaly. I’m at the Air Force Academy, I have perfect vision, and I don’t want to fly. I don’t want to be an astronaut. I want to stay right here on the ground and catch bad guys.

I have friends here who would kill me for my eyes and I have friends in ROTC who would kill me for the fact that the Academy receives a disproportionate amount of the pilot training slots each year. And since the accepted route into space is to fly here on Earth for a while, I’ve got some space geek friends who mourn my squandered opportunity as well.

But if it’s your eyes that are keeping you out of space, despair no longer! Threat Level reports that NASA has just announced LASIK is a legit surgery! Great news, since apparently 50% of the program applicants are denied because of crappy eyes.

So fare thee well, my visually-impaired, space-minded (not spacy-minded) friends. Get that vision fixed and you’ll be up in space before you can say “Robert Heinlein.”

This is the first in a series on my undergraduate thesis, GLOBAL CONSPIRACIES: Anonymous, Isolated, Coordinated Tactics. Updates will be posted as they’re written/reviewed by my professors. Questions, ideas and discussion are always welcome.

Topic: Communications technology and asymmetric tactics.

Given:

1. Recent terrorist actions have shown the benefit of isolated cells.

2. Several new communications technologies make anonymous communication easily possible.

3. Cell-based warfare tactics are already difficult to trace and eradicate, with some branches of the network effectively invisible.

4. Modern network-centric communication tends to be two-way, in that if you are using “the grid” you are likely “on” it and traceable.

5. Centralized command and decentralized execution is considered a wise tactic in almost all forms of modern warfare.

Issues:

1. How isolated can asymmetric cells and still be effective?

2. How small can cells become and still be effectively led from above?

3. What would is a possible method of this leadership?

4. Will the current tack of the National Security Organization provide defense against this sort of widespread, ultra-isolated conspiracy?

5. If Issue 4 is answered negatively, what are some immediate action steps for correcting this security hole?

Question: Is the National Security Organization (DHS and DoD) optimized for combating widespread conspiracies which use cell isolation and anonymous communication?

Well? Got an answer? Post it in the comments or trackback here. The question isn’t the really important part. Ask the GAO, there’s not much optimized about DHS. Of more importance is the tactics and strategies that I’m envisioning. I’m looking forward to sharing more in the future. Think Neurocam meets Global Frequency meets flash mobs.

Feel free to dispute or build on any of these topics. As with everything on this blog, my thesis milestones are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Do me a favor, though- let me know if you build on it. I like sharing, and I’d love to see what you come up with.

According to LTCOL John Graham of West Point (as reported by Mr. David Axe of DANGER ROOM), cadets are key nodes in a network he’s designed to analyze terrorist networks. Go ahead. Tell your cadet command. You could bring the whole thing down.

All joking aside, it’s a very interesting idea on how to attack loose networks of people.