Track news.
It is very addictive, and a real rush when Intel strings lead to actionable Intel.
I over see a group of very dedicated genius teams, which don't know each other,
and often work just a part of the op. I've burned out some Genius Analysts and cyber officers.
Other times its dull and boring, another exciting part is when we come up with Intel
that adds a new dimension to a public news story.
Other times one puts out bait and may have to wait weeks for results.
Waiting is very hard, almost painful.
But waiting is also the professional part, not pushing anything too soon,
processing intel and discovering its best use, and forming its context into a paradigm
can be like chess, Which I've played for 45 years.
Planning ops one tries to plan for all contingencies, burns and even infiltrations.
We do have double agents among us, who have penetrated us and we are aware of them
and find ways to use them.
Some times hot items come right out of the blue, totally unexpected.
A simple routine op may turn up a HVT.
And we may work 24/7 to set up a op to exploit the Intel and wait 2 weeks
or 2 months, for the target to act.
The smallest piece of OSINT may fill in the biggest piece to an Intel op.
After action activities include setting up BSU to track news related to the target to
see what the feds do with the Intel. Or track metrics related to the target.
We publicly report about 5% of our ops, carefully screened to avoid opsec.
And to complete the operation.
Paradigm Intel plays a big part in fitting the pieces together and
planning ops, and pulling data out of a closed cell.
The data flow is substantial and one constantly works to turn it into knowledge.
And fit it into paradigms.
Often working till 3 or 4 am my time, daylight time for the Terrorist on the other side of the world.
The ability to stream data 24/7 of interest to ones project is addictive,
sometimes its a flood of sweet on target data, other times one could die of thirst just nothing
coming in. And thats when we send out recon teams. Or steer moles.
If I want to know something I can get, it if it is knowable, if not, I can get a 'READ'
on the subject and a good feel for what I want to know.
Part of the challenge is knowing what to work on, what targets are do-able.
Even figuring out just what to do can be daunting.
In general the Internet tells you what to do, the data streams point the direction.
In developing posts often it is a question of censorship, selecting what is relevant, educational
or countering propaganda. Do we have an "exclusive" that doesn't break our opsec, or do we post
others material with our new Intel added to the story.
Gerald
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