Al-Qaida said to be changing its ways after leaks

[The Straight Story]

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence agencies are scrambling to salvage their surveillance of al-Qaida and other terrorists who are working frantically to change how they communicate after a National Security Agency contractor leaked details of two NSA spying programs. It's an electronic game of cat-and-mouse that could have deadly consequences if a plot is missed or a terrorist operative manages to drop out of sight.

Terrorist groups had always taken care to avoid detection — from using anonymous email accounts, to multiple cellphones, to avoiding electronic communications at all, in the case of Osama bin Laden. But there were some methods of communication, like the Skype video teleconferencing software that some militants still used, thinking they were safe, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials who follow the groups. They spoke anonymously as a condition of describing their surveillance of the groups. Those militants now know to take care with Skype — one of the 9 U.S.-based Internet servers identified by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's leaks to The Guardian and The Washington Post.

Two U.S. intelligence officials say members of virtually every terrorist group, including core al-Qaida members, are attempting to change how they communicate, based on what they are reading in the media, to hide from U.S. surveillance. It is the first time intelligence officials have described which groups are reacting to the leaks. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak about the intelligence matters publicly.

The officials wouldn't go into details on how they know this, whether it's terrorists switching email accounts or cellphone providers or adopting new encryption techniques, but a lawmaker briefed on the matter said al-Qaida's Yemeni offshoot, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has been among the first to alter how it reaches out to its operatives.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/al-qaida-said-be-changing-its-ways-after-leaks

I just had to LOL about this. "We can't go into details about how we know this...trust us"

"Two U.S. intelligence officials say members of virtually every terrorist group, including core al-Qaida members, are attempting to change how they communicate"

So how do they know this? Do they have people on the inside already? Why aren't they taking out these known terrorists if they can tell us that they are changing things up?

It might all play well with the faux news crowd but to me it seems a tad bit iffy. And a little more than convenient - I would bet that the next few terror attacks anywhere in the world will be blamed on this "Well, if it hadn't been for them leaks we would have stopped it" - yeah, like all the other ones including the attacks in Kabul the other day...about the only attacks we stop are the ones the FBI sets people up to do.

[leveymg]

1. The fact the NSA intercepts int'l calls has been known for 40 years. The leak doesn't effect real

terrorists or spies one bit. The only people effected by Snowden's disclosures of NSA spying inside the US are American citizens, and they should be making changes - changes at the monstrously overgrown NSA, its enriched contractors, and the national security establishment who have routinely lied to us.

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. The next phase of damage control has begun.

I refuse to be distracted!

[leveymg]

4. What surprises me is that there really is NO proof that NSA domestic spying has stopped any real

terrorist plots. What have we been spending $80 billion a year on? It's now confirmed the whole thing has been another trillion dollar Pentagon fraud - just a massive assault on Constitution and a huge contracting giveaway.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. One might expect a secretive agency to be..........well, secretive

plus, it may be a little hard for a secretive agency like the NSA to be able to tell everybody how they stopped any terrorist plots because if they did, they might have a harder time stopping future ones, right? Some people around here are acting as though the CIA, NSA, etc. were only invented yesterday. Geez.

[The Straight Story]

9. Well, therein lies a problem - to which there are solutions

Oversight. We have three branches of government for this reason.

Trust. Back in the day we were worried most about foreign threats (Soviets, et al) and, outside of the red scare, it was us vs them type of thing. We trusted each other more than other countries.

Now we don't trust our own people to board a plane with a bottle of water or to even see loved ones off at the gate at an airport. WE have become the ones some want to track because 'they' don't trust 'us' - so why should we trust them?

Roll back the patriot act and such, then we can talk.

[IdaBriggs]

10. Looking for the like button! nt

[leveymg]

15. It's past time for the intelligence services to stop pretending they are not accountable and don't

have to demonstrate efficacy and ROI, like every other institution, public or private. Some people around here are acting as if everything is just peachy with the CIA, NSA, etc., and that the rest of us were born yesterday. I've been reading about the failures and domestic abuses of the IC since the first revelations were printed in 1967. Nothing changes except US intelligence is increasingly intrusive on the lives and liberties of Americans, has proven itself ineffective at protecting us from terrorist attacks, and the costs of privatized intelligence functions continue to escalate faster than any other part of the federal budget. Geez, yourself.

[dkf]

3. Then maybe they shouldn't have been spying on all of us necessitating these exposals.

Gimme a break.

[HardTimes99]

7. +Infinity! You have nailed it! - nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. They contradict themselves in then story

Bin Ladin was not using any (true statement) but some were still using it.

If any were still using it were low level operators, not any of the higher ups.

They have also created a parallel net.

Damage control phase three.

This tells me the spy ops now moves to see... We really need to do this.

Some folks will buy it

[HardTimes99]

6. If anyone believes this load of shit, I've got a bridge in New York for sale - nt

[Kurovski]

12. No, now...wait...

I'm planning on selling the al-quacky guys an ingenious system of strings and tin cans...please don't ruin this for me.

[cthulu2016]

11. "They spoke anonymously as a condition of describing their surveillance of the groups."

Right, because this information would only help al Queda if there was a name attached to it. Anonymous makes it okay.

So in order to describe the harm Snowden has done, we tell al Queda info about what our sense of their current communication methods is?

Silliness.

Also, note that a congressperson disclosed presumably classified intelligence (anonymously) for this article about al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula's techniques.

I wonder how upset that congressperson is about Snowden, while leaking sensitive intel about al-Qaida surveillance to the press.

That's what kills me... Peter King (for instance) is a one man espionage crew. He can't open his mouth without blabbing some shit. And he is probably among the most upset about leakers.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Yup

[Autumn]

14. Sure it is.

Cause they had no idea about this before.

[BlueCheese]

16. "The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak..."

Leaks are bad. They endanger national security. To convince you of this, we will leak information that tells the bad guys what we know about them.

[kentuck]

17. How did they get this information without spying on the American people?

We want them to spy on the "terrorists". We want to know if anyone plans to attack us in any way? But how did they get this information if their intelligence was changed? They are still capable of doing their jobs without wiping their asses on the 4th Amendment. Someone just has to set limits and perform oversight on them.