Training for the Jihad (merged thread)

[SoiCowboy]

I hadn't thought about the rewrites/updating of doctrine. I know that sounds stupid because they might have nailed it recently.

The first doctrine manual that comes to my mind is:

US Army (15th August 2005), A military guide to terrorism in the Twenty-First Century, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, TRADOC DCSINT Handbook No.1, Version 3.0

Because it cites the anarchist cookbook as a source for instructions to make homemade bombs.

I'll go away and look up some of the more recent ones. I think I've read some from 2004/5/6.

[Tom Odom]

I hadn't thought about the rewrites/updating of doctrine. I know that sounds stupid because they might have nailed it recently.

The first doctrine manual that comes to my mind is:

US Army (15th August 2005), A military guide to terrorism in the Twenty-First Century, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, TRADOC DCSINT Handbook No.1, Version 3.0

Because it cites the anarchist cookbook as a source for instructions to make homemade bombs.

I'll go away and look up some of the more recent ones. I think I've read some from 2004/5/6.

Try a bit more finesse on whether you are talking doctrine or TTP. Doctrine by definition is longer term. TTP--my business--is short term and often pushes doctrine in front of it like a bow wave. That has been very true for the past 5 years. You are correct that some doctrinal quarters are less amenable to change and indeed I still hear tensions expressed between "real War" and "COIN stuff". Sometimes the tensions between the doctrine side and the TTP side erupt into full disputes.

The other issue is manning. The old days where every proponent had a stable of doctrine writers is no more; they are short staffed and working priorities. In this regard, TTP chasers like me fill in the needs.

Best

Tom

[Jedburgh]

I hadn't thought about the rewrites/updating of doctrine. I know that sounds stupid because they might have nailed it recently.

The first doctrine manual that comes to my mind is:

US Army (15th August 2005), A military guide to terrorism in the Twenty-First Century, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, TRADOC DCSINT Handbook No.1, Version 3.0

Because it cites the anarchist cookbook as a source for instructions to make homemade bombs.

I'll go away and look up some of the more recent ones. I think I've read some from 2004/5/6.

The TRADOC DCSINT Handbook series are not doctrine. They are essentially reference materials that provide background on select subjects along with limited lessons learned. CALL materials are also not doctrine - however, they focus on capturing valuable TTPs and lessons learned that often are later translated into doctrine. "Doctrine" that addresses the IED threat in the Army will be found in published Field Manuals (FMs) and Training Manuals (TMs), with a few other designations not mentioned.

[SoiCowboy]

Well there we are then. I'm using the wrong terms and I stand corrected.

[Jedburgh]

If you're not aware of it, this one has been around for a few years. It was down for quite a while, but it appears to be running again:

The Explosives and Weapons Forum: A Weapon of Mass Instruction

[SoiCowboy]

Thanks. Well aware of them. They're more technical than the average pyro, though they still come across as a bunch of elitists.

[Stan]

Thanks. Well aware of them. They're more technical than the average pyro, though they still come across as a bunch of elitists.

The link to the forum is dead, or experiencing problems. So, off to the home page for Rogue Science or the Chem Lab "Thunder in a Test Tube" for a quick look.

At first glance not too technical, but even after my many years, I won't be trying any of these home-made cocktails without at least a 9 suit and helmet.

This paragraph immediately got my attention:

There must be danger, there must be excitement, and there must be passion to ignite the spark of scientific curiosity in the next generation. We face a dark world where all that could be dangerous is destroyed, and all who seek to learn are persecuted for what they might do. What may, what might, what could, the ignorant fear only dreams and vague possibilities, veiled threats, and hypothetical scenarios. Explosives harm very few people, and are the most important industrial tools in the world. Without explosives there would be no modern world.

The author has not been kept up to date, or rarely reads the papers

[SoiCowboy]

You've got to remember that a lot of the stuff comes from the same mindset of the militias in the 1990s after Waco and Ruby Ridge; that federal government is omniprescient, omnipotent and 1984 is a very real near future.

In the forum they've got the basic peroxide based stuff like AP and HMTD down pat. Mid range stuff like ANFO/ANNM and PETN is pretty well covered as well. From there its pretty much reader beware.

By technical, I mean they pretty much use the scientific symbols and discuss chemistry as opposed to buy this, that and the other from walmart and mix them.

[Jedburgh]

The Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Monitor, 27 Sep 07:

GIMF Develops Defensive and Offensive Software for Jihadi Operations

In July 2007, jihadi forums announced the creation of a new computer program called the Secrets of the Mujahideen, version 1.0. The objective of the program—which was published and distributed by the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) through many jihadi websites—is to replace the old and unreliable PGP corporation encryption tools that jihadis had used in the past. Since the release of the program, jihadi websites, especially the GIMF, are instructing their subscribers to communicate using the program's encryption keys. Furthermore, al-Qaeda operatives are using Secrets of the Mujahideen in an attempt to avoid U.S. eavesdropping operations against them.

Separately, and on the offensive front, jihadi hackers have also invented their own programs to steal data off other computers, part of a larger "Electronic Jihad." Some of the Islamic hackers' targets are computers attached to cameras transmitting live videos from intersections and other busy areas. They claim that these videos can be used to case potential targets.

This article will elucidate the documentation of the Secrets of the Mujahideen, in addition to providing information on the ongoing Electronic Jihad.....

[Tom Odom]

The GIMF's asleep....

Wake him up...

Interesting post, Jed!

[Jedburgh]

RAND, 10 Oct 07: Assessing the Value of Information and Communication Technologies to Modern Terrorist Organizations

....This analysis focuses on the potential application of information and communication technologies that may be used across the full range of activities that make up terrorist operations and whether these applications can lead to new and different approaches to terrorist operations. Its purpose is to identify which of these network technologies terrorist organizations are likely to use in conducting their operations and to suggest what security forces might do to counter, mitigate, or exploit terrorists’ use of such technologies.

To highlight the merger of software and computer technologies with communication and display technologies that digitalization has made possible and to encourage thinking beyond military technologies, this report uses the term network technologies to describe what are referred to as command, control, communication, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) technologies in military parlance, as well as the consumer-oriented technologies that can often provide the functionality needed for terrorist operations. These network technologies can include connectivity technologies (e.g., wireless routers), mobile computing (e.g., xiv Network Technologies for Networked Terrorists laptop computers), personal electronic devices (e.g., personal digital assistants and cell phones), IT services and Internet access, and video recording, among others.....

[Norfolk]

Amongst other things that this report describes, one particularly disturbing capability available to jihadi and other terrorist organizations is the ability afforded by digital technology to alter or completely fabricate digital images or audio recordings; a potent instrument at the strategic level, and one that allows terrorist/insurgent groups to go toe-to-toe with state governments in the media war, often the decisive theater in Western countries at least. Terrorist/insurgent groups, as we have seen for the last few years, have been able to negate politically much of what they have failed to accomplish militarily (albeit often in tandem with media outlets that have their own axes to grind; fellow travellers in some respects, so to speak).

Although such digital technology to allow for altered or fabricated imagery and recordings has been availble since the 1980's, and the possibilities of that pondered over the last 20 years, I don't think that Governments and Publics that are the intended targets of jihadi information operations are really prepared for the day when the airwaves and the net are dominated by news, imagery, and sound-bites of some incident in some sensitive place or on some sensitive issue that is either heavily altered by jihadis wielding digital techonology to do so, or outright fabrications of things that do not exist or never actually occurred. Disturbing.

[Jedburgh]

The Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Focus, 1 Apr 08:

An Online Terrorist Training Manual - Part One: Creating a Terrorist Cell

Jihadis continue to pursue terror training and knowledge exchange with fellow jihadis through Internet forums. Often, the jihadi forum participants post short, though significant, details pertinent to terror conduct drawn from real life experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recently, a forum participant posted six training episodes comprised of the basic knowledge needed by a novice jihadi to become a full-fledged terrorist. The episodes begin with two basics lessons on "How to set up a terrorist cell." Four more episodes followed, over a week, on sniper attacks, assassination techniques, attacking and looting government centers, and conducting massive terror strikes. Terrorism Focus will cover all six episodes of this important training manual, beginning with this issue and continuing over the next two weeks.

Posted by an Islamist forum participant nicknamed “Shamil al-Baghdadi,” the first of the training lessons is entitled, “Do you want to form a terror cell?” and is directed at setting up a terrorist cell behind enemy lines under tight security conditions. The cell, says al-Baghdadi, should commence with one, strong, monotheistic and valorous man as the nucleus. This individual should meet the following conditions:

• He must be a strong adherent of the Sunni ideology and well educated in the history of jihad.

• He should be experienced in—at the very least—light weapons such as pistols and rifles because these are available in nearly any society.

• He should be trained in secure communications through the Internet and mobile devices.

• He should be tolerant and display perseverance in religious preaching and teaching.

• He should maintain a good cover and not be on any security watch lists in order to allow free mobility

[Jedburgh]

The Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Focus, 9 Apr 08:

An Online Terrorist Training Manual - Part Two: Assassinations and Robberies

The last issue of Terrorism Focus discussed the first two of six terrorist training lessons posted on a pro-al-Qaeda jihadi forum. These lessons, dealing with the creation of a terrorist cell, also briefly touched on the subject of assassination techniques. This issue will discuss the next two lessons which focus on assassination methods and procedures for raiding and looting small “enemy” installations.

The author of the lessons, who gives his name as Shamil al-Baghdadi, commences the third episode by expanding on the assassination techniques he touched on in lesson two......

[Van]

Check out the articles at the bottom of this page, gleaned from numerous jihadi sites.

I can't read Arabic, but the in Al Battar series and others, the pictures speak for themselves. Lots of other links to jihadi materials.

[Jedburgh]

The Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Focus, 16 Apr 08:

An Online Terrorist Training Manual - Part Three: Striking U.S. Embassies

This issue of Terrorism Focus will conclude the look at the terrorist training lessons of Shamil al-Baghdadi, posted on a pro-al-Qaeda website. Episodes five and six of the training discuss the perpetration of “quality terror attacks”—high-impact, high-risk operations that include tourist abductions, sniper attacks and strikes on American embassies and other U.S. interests.....

[AdamG]

Police Discover Online Al Qaeda Manual The 8-page manual offers instructions how to prepare a remote car bomb attack and pilotless craft attack.
http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=169313

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,403902,00.html
New Al Qaeda Manual Reflects Changing Face of Terror

Most shocking are the lessons on kidnapping, with orders to slaughter hostages in a way that will terrify the public.

"I propose you start with those that have blood on their hands torturing and suppressing Muslims like high-ranking intelligence officers, the governor or any foreign official," writes al-Baghdadi.

[davidbfpo]

The link is to a Norwegian think tank report The Internet: a virtual traing camp: http://www.mil.no/multimedia/archive...nu_101280a.pdf

Might fit somewhere else, but another suitable thread not readily id'd.

A longer version is in the periodical Terrorism and Political Violence, No.20 April 2008.

From the conclusion: 'the Internet is best viewed as a resource bank for self-radicalized and autonomous cells, which is used alongside more traditional ways of training and preparing. In many cases, jihadi Internet manuals may function as a preparation for real-life training, rather than a substitute for it. This also seems to be a common view among the jihadis themselves. The idea that Internet training material should be used to learn the basics—before moving on to classical jihadi training—makes it perhaps more accurate to talk about the Internet as a ‘‘pre-school of jihad’’ rather than a ‘‘university.’’

The link (fee to pay) is: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/con...all~order=page

A wider perspective is on: http://www.mil.no/multimedia/archive...08_107488a.pdf (free too) and a 2006 report: http://rapporter.ffi.no/rapporter/2006/00915.pdf

davidbfpo