NamEndedAllen
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Posts posted by NamEndedAllen
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5 hours ago, Seminole said:
That's why I linked to the census info in the Wikipedia article. It shows various census going over a century. Stalin's deportation of the Tartars is evident, but the place has never registered above 26.5% Ukrainian (self-identified). The census conducted in 2001 by Ukraine pegged the demographics at 60% Russian, 24% Ukrainian.
I doubt Thomas Jefferson would be considered a 'pro-Moscow propagandist', but the assertions in the American Declaration of Independence raise an important question regarding who rightly decides the question.
What would be more galling to Western democracies: A plebiscite to determine the will of the people of Crimea, or a war to compel them to live under a government they may not assent to?
Imposing a government against the will of people seems antithetical to democratic tenets.
Even if the people living there don't want that? Why is ignoring them so simple, and why is their input so unvalued?
If Crimea launched an insurgency against the Ukrainian government, would NATO support their separation as in Kosovo, or would NATO help crush the rebellion? It seems less simple than some would have it.
1. What countries recognize Crimea to be within the international borders of Ukraine?
2. What countries recognize Crimea to be within the borders of Russia?
BIG HINTS. Also from Wikipedia:
1. Nineteen. Guess which ones, and how many are democracies vs dictatorships
2. One hundred and twelve. Guess how many of the most democratically governed nations in the world are included.
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4 hours ago, Redwolf said:
I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star. We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light.
Always!
most excellent catch, Redwolf. -
8 hours ago, The_Capt said:
Did US forces in combat see their “murder aversion” change over time? Warfare throughout history demonstrates that it gets pretty normal to kill, pretty fast.
Yep. Jim, my longtime mentor, enlisted at 17. He was the youngest guy and the Gunny in a 10th Mtn weapons platoon during Kesselring’s defense of Italy. But Sully made him the platoon leader because…Jim stayed very calm. He only began talking about it in the last ten years of his life, during our long weekly Tuesday coffee sessions. His First Time - he sees the young German soldier, who also sees him. Jim fires first. Looked at the kid’s face later and thought, “Doesn’t look much different than me.” But next day, and the next day and the next: no hesitation, no remorse…simply kill or be killed. End of story.
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2 hours ago, Jiggathebauce said:
If people are going to ask me to stay on topic, everyone else should as well.
Please don’t feel the request was aimed only at you! Simply the most recent at the time…rather than a reply to the flood of “Who is the worst in playing badly with others” game. Which should be a separate thread. Please!
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1 hour ago, Jiggathebauce said:
Case in point, someone here not actually against anything mentioned, just in favor of one side doing it more than the other with some implicit redbaiting thrown in on the side. Go team go!
Perhaps the poor beaten horse is dead by now? How about getting back to the actual war in Ukraine?
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1 hour ago, dan/california said:
Which seems about as likely as my old, fat, slow, and broken self winning this year's Tour de France.
Ahh, I think you are not alone here, oh Dan of CA! However…I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was!
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Apparently new information not hashed over already. What had been openly reported at first was only a fraction of what was leaked. I think this may have been due to various Agencies requesting the main news sources to delay releasing parts of the trove. That isn’t unusual in these cases. And Iirc, Wash Post reported having reviewed 300 docs not yet published here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/18/china-supersonic-drone-taiwan-leaks/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert A secret document from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which has not previously been reported, shows the Chinese military is making technological advances that could help it target American warships around Taiwan and military bases in the region.
The Washington Post obtained the assessment of the WZ-8 program from a trove of images of classified files posted on Discord, a group chat service popular with gamers, allegedly by a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. -
No better news about sanctions choking off weapon components. Better than nothing, but still too many leakers getting through.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/18/business/economy/us-russia-chips-sanctions.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Russia Is Importing Western Weapons Technology, Bypassing Sanctions
—- Senior tax and trade officials noted a surge in chips and other electronic components being sold to Russia through Armenia, Kazakhstan and other countries, according to slides from the March 24 meeting obtained by The New York Times. And they shared information on the flow of eight particularly sensitive categories of chips and other electronic devices that they have deemed as critical to the development of weapons, including Russian cruise missiles that have been used to strike Ukraine. -
2 hours ago, sburke said:
youngsters! Why when they rolled out the horseless carriage, I warned folks of the evil of climate change and vehicle exhaust but would anyone listen to me?! Noooo they just said my horse Rusty was a worse polluter than their car!
Why, next you know, they’ll be claiming MOON landings! And forcing Chuck Berry on us, on the telly thing. Let alone Lordy Lordy & God Save the Queen, Little Richard!!
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25 minutes ago, The_Capt said:
Coming back to this one because this is how misinformation and conspiracy nonsense starts.
Let’s give it a rest. You’ve already stated your opinions about age, religion and clearances. So have many others, including those who differ from yours. Steve asked us all to cease and desist, so let’s do so.
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4 hours ago, The_Capt said:
But this kid was the age of majority, a legal citizen and taxpayer.
My mistake. For some reason I thought that in the USA military, command could request TS/SCI for whomever it wants. Or not. And assignments. Didn’t realize that the shoe was on the other rank.
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33 minutes ago, kimbosbread said:
In terms of detecting potential leaks, I would hope the approach is similar to what we do in the cybersecurity industry: Essentially have model of normal user or process behavior, and then for every behavior or non-behavior that falls out of that scope, we increase the risk score.
Makes sense, but some possibilities, because we know it went on and on:
1. It’s being done, and his behavior was NOT unusual!
2. it is, but too intermittent because monitoring is too big a firehouse for the deployed. And he knew how to beat it. Someone claimed he started as a magical 19 year cyber whiz kid as they all are
3. it is, but the parameters are flawed because of too wide variances or some other failure.
4. It is and they let him do it in a great CI scheme, although it embarrassed lots of allies
5. it isn’t.
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1 hour ago, dan/california said:
Russia has been turning down easy outs since the middle March 2022, it is time to believe them.
Yeah But #23:
“Yeah, but if we do what hasn’t worked 27 times before, maybe doing it again will work!”
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Beautiful work, Carl! And thanks for sharing it.
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6 minutes ago, chrisl said:
It will be interesting to find out what actually happened some time in the distant future when we get something approximating a complete story.
Sequel to “The Falcon and the Snowbird”! But presumably not as damaging.
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40 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
From the analysis I've seen none of it was very sensitive in the sense of telling our enemies something they couldn't have either guessed or known for themselves.
Weren’t there widely reported concerns that the penetration of Russian intelligence had them scrambling? That their search for our sources and methods is aided by the specificity of the published leaks? Hoping that isn’t actually the case.
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7 hours ago, The_Capt said:
Ok, well you are not wrong, but you really are. Lemme try and illuminate without straying too far into it.
Older people have baggage. It is called life. And as such they have a lot more possible security clearance issues than someone who has only been alive for 19 years. So, yes, the your friends should be “sweating” because they have the things that trip up a clearance…like debt. A 19 year old kid, not so much. They are clean slates in many ways. Beyond the whole constitutional and legal implications of age discrimination, if we filtered them out based on age and experience we are seriously cutting into recruiting…we need them, you might even have noticed a tv ad or two to that effect?
As to brain development. Again, totally accurate assessment…and also why we recruit them. That partially developed mind can be constructed and shaped for warfare…tale as old as time. We can wring hands about security clearances but in reality we recruit them to kill. We put a lot of firepower in their hands and expect them to be ready to employ deep judgement under fire on the use of lethal force. “But what about the chain o command”?! Well trust me when I say that adult supervision is probably the second casualty of war. These kids survive a few months and they are the adult supervision. These are the kids who fight and die in your nations wars…exactly how did you think the entire thing was getting done?
So when we are talking technology, here is a crazy truth you missed on brain development - old people brains are as slow and dumb as rocks. So we purposefully recruit sharp (money on the bar this kid had a high IQ) kids who grew up with this stuff to run networks and all that “computer stuff”. Cyber operators, the guys who are actually conducting ops in the main are in the same age category. This is good because they can relate to the rifleman who they graduated schools with. Anyway, these kids can collapse a national economy so they too are cleared just as high, and likely much easier than their 40 year old boss who is on his third marriage and has a bunch of traffic tickets.
Finally as to religion, c’mon seriously? Tell me how you think a devout Muslim would have faired in comparison? The kid likely came up entirely clean with no extremist linkages - “oh look he is a middle class white kid who used racial slurs online”. If that was a showstopper we may as well close shop right now. Here is a shocker…he probably told a few dirty jokes too, heavens no! From what we have seen on the news the kid is a poster child for a quick and easy clearance. And how do we screen for “young, lonely and insecure” particularly after a pandemic? I mean basically stop at “young”, and as I explained that would be a major problem.
You are terrific in so much that you offer. But here…just general speculation and broad opinion. Steve already laid out the case well - chrisl and others have added much to the question. It’s about mitigating specific risks in a specific context, not your broad picture. It isn’t positing a 100% guarantee. Nothing is. Age related job requirements are throughout society, and this episode suggests the military examine it in the intelligence security context. Your defense boils down to, “We’ve always done it this way.” Which is why so much keeps going amuck. Ironically, reminiscent of your critiques about war fighting doctrine.
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1 hour ago, chrisl said:
The down side of that is that it shuts people who are fresh out of college out of clearance jobs, giving them more time to get settled at a high paying FAANG job where none of the clearance hassle is required.
It wouldn’t have to. And your idea could become a graduated ladder of clearance eligibilities.
The clearances come a number of flavors, for a variety of categories.The majority of military personnel are given Confidential clearance, Level 2 access. That includes the National Security Non-Critical Sensitive category. Level 2 also includes the Secret clearance.It’s complicated. All told there are at least six levels, mixed and matched for six categories, and associated clearance types. They require one or more of at least five different kinds of initial investigations, depending on the clearance. In general there are three kinds of clearances, Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret. Level 3 gets the Top Secret requirement, and differs from Level 2 by including the National Security Critical Sensitive Category.
But it looks as if good ol’ Airman Teixera got his reclassification in 2021, making him 19. His reclass was to Level 4, Top Secret:TS/SCI Eligible. Or at DOE it’s called ‘Q’. National Security Special Sensitive. Yep. Above Top Secret. And it looks like he started right away broadcasting secrets to impress other kids. THAT’S the controversy. The military need not request freaking TS/SCI for a 19 year old for a galaxy of reasons, including your excellent point about the look-back length.
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1 hour ago, The_Capt said:
Not sure what the age issue is, he can vote and kill people for his country, he can hold a clearance. In fact on the surface he looks like a poster child for clearances. Likely zero foreign contacts. No wife, no kids, no bills or leverage. Good Christian boy so likely no illicit or online sexual weirdness. Likely no addictions record and probably had a spotless criminal record. The kid was likely clean as a whistle.
Really? *A* clearance? I have family members much older than him, who sweated through the full SSBI or Full and TS/SCI process. It’s an 8-15 month trip. This wildly bigoted and troubled not-an-exemplary kid’s religion has nothing to do with the process. Regardless, we all know (or with any science background, darn well should know ) 19–ish year old teenage brains have not matured. The last part of the brain to mature is the frontal cortex. Where good judgement, self-control, social skills, and decision-making skill come from. So yeah. Not arguing about the drinking or voting age, or recruitment age. I do think it’s playing with fire to put “scores” of 19-21 year olds fresh out of high school into positions with full access to SCIFs material and entry into the JWICS. With no ability or program to monitor the changes these 19 year olds go through on their way to actual biological maturity. What could go wrong? BTW, anyone think he never spouted off about his government conspiracy racist fantasies to anyone anywhere else?
Lastly, the US.military is sufficiently large to revise and assign this critical responsibility to an age appropriate rank and paygrade. The number of slots is “scores”, not “hundreds”. Do we really need to gamble like this? No. While of course it’s no silver bullet, it’s a LOT easier than trying to institute some sort of Total Big Brother real time microscope on every minute of people’s lives.
‘The part of the brain behind the forehead, called the prefrontal cortex, is one of the last parts to mature. This area is responsible for skills like planning, prioritizing, and making good decisions”... and… “The brain finishes developing and maturing in the mid-to-late 20s.” https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-7-things-to-know
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Catching up with Young Mr. Teixeira, the clearance situation is as bad as I suspected a few pages ago. In case it’s pay-walled, here is a few summary points:
“Jack Teixeira had a top secret security clearance at 21. Here's what to know about why that is, and what else goes into the security clearance process”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/16/classified-documents-leaked-security-clearance/* Got the TS/SCI clearance in 2021 when 19 years old. Had on the job access to that material at the facility through his duties. (whether that should be the case or not)
*Also had access to the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System, allowing him to read and print the wide range of classified high level of material that leaked.
* Quoting: “Pentagon spokesman Patrick S. Ryder, a brigadier general, said Thursday that the military regularly entrusts young people with classified information, that Teixeira’s having that level of clearance was normal and that scores of other young workers have that type of access”. (my emphasis)
None of this explains how he was able to print the mass of documents over time, and then remove them. That’s assuming he could only access and print within the secure location, and nowhere else. The folded up docs shown in the leaks suggest that was the case, but doesn’t prove it. Let’s hope the security is and has been far better at the other locations where “scores of other young workers” have this wide access to sensitive, highly classified material.
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14 minutes ago, billbindc said:
What jumps out is his ability to copy/record in a facility where that should be difficult if not impossible.
Yes! Exactly. Once the access high clearance is established (apparently) for this guy, and whatever computer skills he has acquired can be used and *perhaps* with his IT cover and *possible* sloppiness at the facility, he is in pretty good position to dig in deep. Concern is that this is still possible at what should have been covered by double and triple checking access records and whatever CI procedures would seem to be warranted. But maybe this is all way off. Some kind of simple but effective shortcut no one thought of, or was available periodically for some routine procedures.
Time should tell.
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https://www.ft.com/content/841a603a-791d-400e-a517-8b4c7626129a
Navalny seriously ill in prison. Most likely poisoned.
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3 hours ago, billbindc said:
It’s a NORAD station.
Thanks Bill. And he is reported serving in the 102nd Intelligence Wing, at Otis AFB on Cape Cod. If this went on within a NORAD station, it feels even worse. Materials from DIA, NRO, CIA, NSA, etc. I’d think the TS/SCI high level required areas would have had extremely high security protocols in place. And yet…
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I’m puzzling over the vetting process and clearances this Teixeira jerk would have been through. Some of you guys have various clearances. Please correct me where I’m wrong. He was recruited for the ANG out of high school in 2019. In the military, would he have immediately been vetted for TS, Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance, at its higher Levels? Basically, when he is an entry level kid? If not, wouldn’t he have gone through at least one more heavy duty investigation more recently? And if he did, and passed it after all the Snowden and other thefts and leaks, does this mean the clearance process for access to even these highly sensitive (Level 4?) materials and SCIFs is really really badly flawed?
Also, how many other IT types with his same/similar duties would normally be working at the 102nd Wing? They would know each other well enough, right? I imagine investigators would have a lot of questions for him.
How Hot is Ukraine Gonna Get?
in Combat Mission Black Sea
Posted · Edited by NamEndedAllen
“and”
Absolutely! It’s covered by the long recognized international agreement and supervised by the United Nations that illegal immigrants can vote in all elections. And since 2014, if their home country of citizenship chooses to do so, it’s legal to chase the local citizens out first. Or if feeling generous, deport them. But it still isn’t legal to eat the locals. Yet.