Taliban buying American to elude attacks

I did a search for 'taliban' and found nothing about this. Its sorta a scary thought.

Here's some news that has folks at the Pentagon cringing -- terrorist groups and foreign governments have increasingly attempted to purchase sensitive dual-use and military technology from companies in the U.S.

This news wasn't leaked. It was released in report by a U.S. government agency.

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have managed to escape U.S. and NATO attacks and carry out painful assaults against foreign forces, thanks to an American state-of-the-art military technology that has reached their hands.

The Government Accountability Office set up front companies and fictitious identities and was able to buy night-vision scopes and special infrared patches that U.S. troops wear in Iraq and Afghanistan. These infrared patches are used to help soldiers distinguish the enemy from their fellow combatants.

"Based on our conversations with the Department of Defense, terrorists have used U.S. uniforms and the infrared patches to get close to U.S. and allied forces on the battlefield and at bases," the GAO's Jonathan Meyer recently told reporters.

Another piece of equipment, the inclinometer, measures an object's slope and inclination for medical, optical, range finder and robotics purposes; it can also be used to make IEDs. According to the GAO and the Department of Defense, this tool has been falling into the wrong hands at the cost of American lives.

Other items purchased in the bogus transactions included parts for making nuclear devices and guiding missiles that could carry nuclear warheads, body armor and other hardware for ground combat, triggered spark gaps used to detonate nuclear weapons, and electronic sensors used in improvised explosive devices and gyro chips used in guided missiles and military aircraft, said the report.

The GAO's fake companies were able to obtain military equipment and dual use items-which have both military and commercial use-in the U.S. and ship them overseas, according to the report recently made public at a House subcommittee hearing.

Gregory Kutz, a GAO managing director who led the 13-month investigation, said it found "sensitive dual-use and military technology can be easily and legally purchased from manufacturers and distributors within the United States and illegally exported without detection."

He stressed that no laws were broken by any of the companies that sold items to the undercover GAO operation, and that the magnitude of trying to check all overseas travelers and shipments made it impossible to halt illegal export of the items under current law.

Kutz held up some of the items purchased by undercover investigators, including a small device that looked like a spark plug called a triggered spark gap. The item has medical applications and can also be used to detonate a nuclear weapon, he said.

Kutz also displayed a small device called a gyro chip that can be used to steer guided missiles. Other items on display in the committee room included some used in improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that target U.S. soldiers in Iraq, as well as sophisticated body armor and night-vision devices.

Undercover investigators complied with all required checks in purchasing the equipment, Kutz said, including the submission of end-user agreements that forbid exporting the equipment or using it in any nuclear, biological and missile weapons. Such documents amount to an "honor system" pledge, rather than any enforcement mechanism, he said.

The only further checks involved are confirming the validity of credit cards and the existence of websites, Kutz said. Most of the transactions took place by e-mail and telephone calls.

http://www.military.com/news/article...tml?ESRC=eb.nl

[OcdtADF]

Wow. That’s an eye opener

I just finished a paper on China’s abuse of Dual-Use tech and equipment rules. I really should learn more about the US side of things; if you find anything can message it to me. I can only imagine that if you can do that in the US imagine what you can do in Pakistan, Russia or China.

(Insert Chills Up My Spine)

You might cruise thru YouTube. There is a very interesting 10 minute piece on this dude buying arms in the Khyber Pass.

There is nothing that cannot be bought, anyplace, anytime, anywhere....IF, one has the financial where with all and the desire to aquire that particular item...be it guns, drugs or a person. It is a sad fact of the world we live in. In some respects it could be called capitalism at its finest. Prices for the aforementioned items are generally what the market will bear.

I do know that some of the GPS systems in current use by our SF are either what I am currently using.. my handheld Garmin or newer, not yet on the market stuf. I have been asking.. mostly because I am in the market for a new unit and want one that will take a beating.. like my Kestrel hand held wind meter. I have the mil-spec grade one.. http://www.nkhome.com/ww/4500.html
It calculates wind speed, direction and cross direction amoung other nice features. If I Had to downgrade the 4000 or 4200 model.

Are you familiar with Spot? My best freind gave her son one for his last deployment.. mom wanted to know her baby boy was 'ok'....
So I had a side bet with another freind that the tracker would not last past the bird landing... and golly gee, it accidently fell on the ground and golly gee he accidently stepped on it.. wow... poor spot... see spot, see spot fall out of the ruck.. see spot get stepped on by a boot... oh gee, poor spot..
http://www.findmespot.com/en/

There is technology and then there is technology... sometimes I do NOT want to be found.. sometimes, most of the time, the only person who needs to know where I am is me... geez...

I think that any technology that is in use by our military should be off limits to civilian purchase and tracked if purchased so as to not leave this country..

OTOH... SF, from what I understand, uses what will do the job.. so that might leave me not able to get that new handheld gps I am looking at..

[Utah Bob]

Not surprising.

[Sawman]

This is an unfortunate, but entirely inevitable development. The key is making it as difficult as possible for the technology to fall into the wrong hands.

One way or another, sooner or later, this always happens. When it does, we adjust our equipment to utilize different frequencies, areas of the spectrum, etc. It's like the battle between the cops and speeders. The cops have the radar guns and the speeders have the radar detectors. Both sides have equipment from the same manufacturer. When one wants the edge, they buy newer technology equip. Then the other side does the same.

In the tactical world, it's similar, only we're always ahead. All our enemies have to do is catch up with the same capabilities and we have to advance again.

With our enemies (and their families) being so ridiculously wealthy, it's difficult to stop the loop of hadj aquiring our technology through circuitous methods. Still, we HAVE to try.

Here's one good thing. When we smoke those filthy hadj, we also take back our stuff, or destroy it. The fact is, they're still dying in big, bleeding bunches. Take comfort in that. I do!

[nmap]

Originally Posted by OcdtADF

I really should learn more about the US side of things; if you find anything can message it to me.

From the U.S perspective, have you looked at the rule book (the International Traffic in Arms or ITAR) for exports? I found it rather interesting.

LINK

[greenberetTFS]

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

This is nothing new. Years ago I remember hearing the old USSR used computer chips out of the early video games made here in the US for their fighter aircraft. I don't know if it is true, but thought it was an intresting concept. As time marches on we either advance or fall behind. It has been like that since the dawn of time. It started with sticks and stones, whent to the bronze age, into the iron age, into the space age, now its electronics. In a thousand years countries will be dond the same thing in space.

B.O.,

I heard the same thing about how the USSR got their chips from our early video games...... When will we ever learn?

Big Teddy