Impressively thorough article in "U.S. News and World Report" this week about the status of the Al Qaeda hunt. We're making good progress on arrests and breaking up the infrastructure, though sometimes the techniques being used are questionable (such as CIA operatives hacking into foreign bank account records to follow the money).

] U.S. News has retraced the war on terror, starting in the very
] first weeks after 9/11, to examine in detail how Washington and
] its allies launched an unprecedented drive, led by the Central
] Intelligence Agency, to disrupt and destroy bin Laden's
] operation. Interviews were conducted with over three dozen past
] and current counterterrorism officials in a half-dozen countries;
] the magazine also reviewed thousands of pages of court records
] and analytical reports.

In terms of crypto, the article's researchers agree with my own conclusions:

] . . . al Qaeda operatives are not the high-tech
] terrorists some imagine. Their computer files are rarely
] encrypted, and when they are, U.S. officials have broken
] the codes easily. Nor have they used encrypted
] telephones. Al Qaeda's "codes" consist of simple word
] substitutes or use of flowery Arabic phrases.

For anyone following the Al Qaeda Hunt, this article is interesting reading.

U.S. News: The inside story of how U.S. terrorist hunters are going after al Qaeda

] Since 9/11, US sources have monitored several websites
] linked to al Qaeda that appear to contain elements of
] cyberplanning:
]
] alneda.com, which US officials said contained encrypted
] information to direct al Qaeda members to more secure
] sites, featured international news on al Qaeda, and
] published articles, fatwas (decisions on applying Muslim
] law), and books.

I had mixed feelings reading this report. On the one hand, it seemed to have some interesting ideas. On the other, some of it seemed to be poorly researched. For example, on the subject of steganography, the author states:

] The practice of steganography, which involves hiding messages
] inside graphic files, is a widespread art among criminal and
] terrorist elements.

However, based upon my own research, steganography is *not* in widespread use. Also, the author misquoted other Al Qaeda statements which I've run across, which makes me doubt the reliability of other statements in the same article. Ultimately, this seems to be a lot of speculation and/or parroting of unresearched comments in other open source reports, and not much in the way of new hard info. But there are a few snippets here and there which, as long as they're taken with a grain of salt, are worth noting.

US Army War College Quarterly - Al Qaeda and the Internet

] Beneath the football boots and shinpads in the boot of
] Benmerzouga's car, police found equipment for "skimming"
] account details from credit cards and dozens of
] unembossed Visa and Mastercards awaiting forgery.
]
] In his flat were doctored Pakistani visas, a camouflaged
] solar battery pack and a list of parts for a field radio.
] Analysis of computers revealed extensive coded e-mail
] traffic with Pakistan.

"coded e-mail traffic" -- another tantalizing reference to encryption, but without details.

Al Qaeda Encryption Reference

] Members of four- or five-man cells led normal lives,
] avoided contact with well-known Islamic organizations and
] were not even known to be active members of mosques in
] Singapore. They used code names and code numbers,
] communicated by Internet e-mail, encrypted their computer
] diskettes and used prepaid mobile phone cards to avoid
] detection.

I'd love to learn what kind of encryption they were using . . .

Al Qaeda in the Philippines

] British military divers are searching for evidence of
] chemical weapons in a flooded underground bunker at what
] they believe was "Chemical Ali's" intelligence
] headquarters.

This reminds me of some other reports we got a few months back, saying that chemical weapons were stashed below the "high tide" mark of the Tigris River.

Divers search 'Chemical Ali's' HQ

] Chemical tests for nerve agents in the warehouse came
] back positive for so-called G-Series nerve agents, which
] include sarin and tabun, both of which Iraq has been
] known to possess. More than a dozen infantry soldiers who
] guarded the military compound Saturday night came down
] with symptoms consistent with exposure to very low levels
] of nerve agent, including vomiting, dizziness and skin
] blotches.

Lots of conflicting reports are going on today about chemical weapon discoveries. Check the agonist.org site for details.

Unconfirmed: Sarin exposure in Iraq

] For a very long time, Americans were content to believe
] that this nation's sheer size and distance from global
] hot spots sheltered us from terrorism. In the face of a
] billion tons of ash and human carnage, it became clear
] that we're as vulnerable as anyone else.
]
] But this country has the economic power, the military
] strength and the political will to do something about it.
] That's a blessing, because we can defend ourselves in
] ways few other nations can. It's also our curse, because
] if we don't deal with the problem--as the United Nations
] refused to do--no one else can or will. So the duty falls
] to us, and the time has come to stop playing games with
] national security and--by extension--the lives of not
] only Americans but those of oppressed innocents across
] the globe as well.
]
] That's what this war's about.

U.S. efforts stand to make the world a better place--even for the French

From a Washington Post article, 3/28/2003:

] Southeast of there, in Nasiriyah, U.S. Marines who have
] been battling stiff resistance to secure control of two
] bridges vital to supply convoys finally took a hospital
] that had been used as a base by Iraqi gunners. Television
] reporters allowed inside examined the 3,000 new chemical
] weapons protective suits that Marines had reported
] finding there and discovered that the labels and
] instructions were in English. The country of origin of
] the suits was not known, they said.

Labels on Chemical Suits Were in English (3/28/2003)

] US Marines found cyanide and mustard agents in high
] concentrations in the Euphrates River near Nassiriya in
] Iraq, television network MSNBC has reported.
]
] The network said a briefing from Marine officials was its
] source for the information.

EUPHRATES 'POISONED'

] MSNBC.com tests reveal evidence of the deadly toxins
] ricin and botulinum at a laboratory in a remote mountain
] region of northern Iraq allegedly used as a terrorist
] training camp by Islamic militants with ties to the
] al-Qaida terrorist network. The U.S. Central Intelligence
] Agency is conducting its own tests at the same area, but
] has not yet released the results, according to officials
] in northern Iraq.

Positive test for terror toxins in Iraq