by Charlie Edwards | Oct 14, 2008 | Conflict and security, UK
Smart Intelligence via Bruce Schneier. The following operation was used against the IRA:
One of the most interesting operations was the laundry mat [sic]. Having lost many troops and civilians to bombings, the Brits decided they needed to determine who was making the bombs and where they were being manufactured. One bright fellow recommended they operate a laundry and when asked “what the hell he was talking about,” he explained the plan and it was incorporated — to much success.
The plan was simple: Build a laundry and staff it with locals and a few of their own. The laundry would then send out “color coded” special discount tickets, to the effect of “get two loads for the price of one,” etc. The color coding was matched to specific streets and thus when someone brought in their laundry, it was easy to determine the general location from which a city map was coded.
While the laundry was indeed being washed, pressed and dry cleaned, it had one additional cycle — every garment, sheet, glove, pair of pants, was first sent through an analyzer, located in the basement, that checked for bomb-making residue. The analyzer was disguised as just another piece of the laundry equipment; good OPSEC [operational security]. Within a few weeks, multiple positives had shown up, indicating the ingredients of bomb residue, and intelligence had determined which areas of the city were involved. To narrow their target list, [the laundry] simply sent out more specific coupons [numbered] to all houses in the area, and before long they had good addresses. After confirming addresses, authorities with the SAS teams swooped down on the multiple homes and arrested multiple personnel and confiscated numerous assembled bombs, weapons and ingredients. During the entire operation, no one was injured or killed.
However, there were some tragic cases of things going wrong, and a number of schemes were eventually found out – such as the Four Square Laundry
by Alex Evans | Oct 14, 2008 | Cooperation and coherence, Influence and networks, UK
Benedict Brogan notes this from George Pascoe-Watson in today’s Sun:
The PM has decided to set up an open plan “war room” operation and is moving the heart of Government to 12 Downing Street. His move is aimed at sharpening up his Government and equipping himself to make decisions more quickly in the face of the global financial crash.
Mr Brown is being forced to quit No 10 — Britain’s most famous address after Buckingham Palace — because of planning laws. He can’t knock down walls and re-design it because it is a listed building. The only space large enough to accommodate him and his immediate operations team is 40 yards away in No 12. He will boot out his strategic communications unit and press office, and take over their space.
The PM will sit at the centre of a “spider’s web” of his closest advisers and officials so he can make snap decisions. There he will be surrounded by figures like Permanent Secretary Jeremy Heywood, private secretaries and “gatekeeper” Sue Nye. Recently-promoted Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne will be installed, along with his deputy Tom Watson and Mr Brown’s right-hand-man Damian McBride.
Mr Brown is copying the idea from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who advised him to follow his open plan operation. Mr Brown saw the layout in Manhattan a fortnight ago and discussed the idea with the Mayor.
by Mark Weston | Oct 14, 2008 | Middle East and North Africa
My young brother-in-law, Tolga, had a hernia operation yesterday in a large state-run hospital in Istanbul. When his wealthy aunt found out that she knew the director of said hospital, she phoned him up and asked him to make sure her nephew was dealt with by a good surgeon. At the last minute, therefore, the surgeons were switched and the hospital’s best practitioner was entrusted with the (albeit minor) op. Phew.
After the operation was concluded and the patient’s friends arrived to visit him, a male nurse forbade them entry, telling Tolga’s mother that only family were allowed in. She protested to no avail, but when she later went out to get something to eat, the nurse said, “You won’t come back empty-handed will you?” My mother-in-law, who but for remittances from my wife would have to scrape by on a tiny widow’s pension, took the nurse two packets of Marlboro (which cost the equivalent of a day’s worth of pension). In return, the nurse let Tolga’s friends in to see him and told my mother-in-law, “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him.” Far from being outraged, my long-suffering mother-in-law was relieved that a couple of packets of fags were enough to buy the health-conscious nurse off.
by Alex Evans | Oct 14, 2008 | Global system, UK
[youtube:http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nRl3uRra_w8]
As Gideon Rachman put it yesterday,
The current financial crisis seems to have actually cheered Mr Brown up. When a mobile phone rang during a speech he was giving late last week, the prime minister made a rare spontaneous joke, speculating about whether this was news of yet another collapsing bank. This kind of joke sounds like the height of bad taste. But somehow it worked. Gallows humour becomes Mr Brown. And besides, his audience had some confidence that he had a handle on the situation.
