Tom Clancy For National Security Advisor

“How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments of every hostile nation?” — James Madison, Federalist No. 41 — 1788”

In his comments regarding national defense in Federalist 41 Madison was not advocating a hostile posture towards other nations, but he was not so naïve to belief that mere words could prevent malevolent intentions of other nations towards the United States. His complete statement in Federalist 41 states:

”How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments of every hostile nation? The means of security can only be regulated by the means and the danger of attack. They will, in fact, be ever determined by these rules, and by no others. It is in vain to oppose constitutional barriers to the impulse of self-preservation. It is worse than in vain; because it plants in the Constitution itself necessary usurpations of power, every precedent of which is a germ of unnecessary and multiplied repetitions. If one nation maintains constantly a disciplined army, ready for the service of ambition or revenge, it obliges the most pacific nations who may be within the reach of its enterprises to take corresponding precautions.”

While Madison was in no way advocating a large standing army that would pose a threat to other nations and the Constitution itself he did, however, realize that we should take precautions and actions that would safeguard our newly formed republic. It was Madison who, in 1812, requested Congress for a declaration of war against Britain for their trade restrictions brought about by Britain's ongoing war with France, the impressment of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of American Indian tribes against American expansion, and outrage over insults to national honor after humiliations on the high seas.

Today we are under attack by the People’s Republic of China. Their attack is not an overt military action such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the terrorist attacks of 9/11. This war is an attack on our commercial enterprises and our national security and the chief weapon is the computer and their soldiers are experienced and competent computer hackers. The PRC is attempting to damage our ability to be a leader in technology through their cyberattacks. This is not too much different than one of Madison’s reasons for requesting the declaration of war against Britain for their trade restrictions.

A group linked to the Chinese military has stolen massive amounts of data from over 100 different targets, most of which are based in the U.S., a security firm said in a report released Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal reports Internet security company Mandiant says in the report it traced 141 major hacking attempts to a People's Liberation Army building in Shanghai, 115 of which targeted U.S. companies or organizations.

Mandiant didn't name specific targets of the attacks but said they included information technology firms and telecommunications to aerospace and energy companies.

The stolen information allegedly includes blueprints, details on proprietary processes, pricing documents and contact lists.

Mandiant also cites a memo from a Chinese telecommunications provider supplying communications links to the building where the hacking allegedly occurs, saying it would "smoothly accomplish this task for the military based on the principle that national defense construction is important."

The Mandiant report comes a week after President Obama issued a long-awaited executive order aimed at getting the private owners of power plants and other critical infrastructure to share data on attacks with officials and to begin to follow consensus best practices on security.

Mandiant Corp. said in a 74-page report released on its website that a group attached to China's People's Liberation Army has since at least 2006 stolen data from 141 companies, 115 of which were in the U.S. Mandiant didn't name specific targets of the attacks but said they spanned industries ranging from information technology and telecommunications to aerospace and energy. Mandiant's accusations were reported earlier by the New York Times.

The report comes as China's potential role in hacker attacks has come under increasing scrutiny. In recent weeks, a number of news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, have said they were infiltrated by Chinese hackers believed to have government links. People familiar with an earlier investigation by U.S. intelligences agencies into Chinese hacker groups infiltrating U.S. networks have said most are linked to the Chinese military. Previous targets of Chinese hackers have included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Nortel Networks Ltd.

In an October speech, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said China was "rapidly growing" its cyber capabilities.

"In my visit to Beijing, I underscored the need to increase communication and transparency with each other so that we could avoid a misunderstanding or miscalculation in cyberspace," he said, while also calling for greater information sharing about cybersecurity between private enterprise and the government.

Akamai Technologies, which provides services to help websites speed up connections and monitors large amounts of web traffic, said in the third quarter of 2012 China was the world's No. 1 source of observed attack traffic. China was the origin of 33% of the traffic, Akamai said, more than doubling from 16% in the second quarter. The U.S. was second, rising to 13% from 12%, and Russia was third, falling to 4.7% from 6.3%.

Mandiant said it believes the group behind the hacking is Unit 61398, within a wing of the People's Liberation Army. It said it has observed hacking attempts against nearly 150 victims over seven years. Hundreds of terabytes of data were involved, it said.

It pinpointed the group's location in facilities in Shanghai's Pudong district. It also reprinted a memo from a Chinese telecommunications provider supplying communications links to the facility that said it would "smoothly accomplish this task for the military based on the principle that national defense construction is important."

The Executive Summary to the Mandiant Report states:

“Since 2004, Mandiant has investigated computer security breaches at hundreds of organizations around the world. The majority of these security breaches are attributed to advanced threat actors referred to as the “Advanced Persistent Threat” (APT). We first published details about the APT in our January 2010 M-Trends report. As we stated in the report, our position was that “The Chinese government may authorize this activity, but there’s no way to determine the extent of its involvement.” Now, three years later, we have the evidence required to change our assessment. The details we have analyzed during hundreds of investigations convince us that the groups conducting these activities are based primarily in China and that the Chinese Government is aware of them

Mandiant continues to track dozens of APT groups around the world; however, this report is focused on the most prolific of these groups. We refer to this group as “APT1” and it is one of more than 20 APT groups with origins in China. APT1 is a single organization of operators that has conducted a cyber espionage campaign against a broad range of victims since at least 2006. From our observations, it is one of the most prolific cyber espionage groups in terms of the sheer quantity of information stolen. The scale and impact of APT1’s operations compelled us to write this report.

The activity we have directly observed likely represents only a small fraction of the cyber espionage that APT1 has conducted. Though our visibility of APT1’s activities is incomplete, we have analyzed the group’s intrusions against nearly 150 victims over seven years. From our unique vantage point responding to victims, we tracked APT1 back to four large networks in Shanghai, two of which are allocated directly to the Pudong New Area. We uncovered a substantial amount of APT1’s attack infrastructure, command and control, and modus operandi (tools, tactics, and procedures). In an effort to underscore there are actual individuals behind the keyboard, Mandiant is revealing three personas we have attributed to APT1. These operators, like soldiers, may merely be following orders given to them by others.

Our analysis has led us to conclude that APT1 is likely government-sponsored and one of the most persistent of China’s cyber threat actors. We believe that APT1 is able to wage such a long-running and extensive cyber espionage campaign in large part because it receives direct government support. In seeking to identify the organization behind this activity, our research found that People’s Liberation Army (PLA’s) Unit 61398 is similar to APT1 in its mission, capabilities, and resources. PLA Unit 61398 is also located in precisely the same area from which APT1 activity appears to originate.”

While we are fighting a shooting war in Afghanistan against the Taliban and other terrorist groups the Chinese are busy infiltrating and attacking our commercial and national defense infrastructure using bits and bytes.

This brings me to the title of this blog —Tom Clancy for National Security Advisor. I have been a reader and a fan of Tom Clancy’s techno-thrillers for years. It began with his best seller “The Hunt for Red October” where he provided us with an incredible amount of information on the Soviet Union’s nuclear submarine threat and our defense to these “boomers”.

In “Red Storm Rising” he detailed the Soviet threat to Europe and how NATO – led by U.S. forces would counter such an attack. He wrote quite a bit about the logistics problems in supplying the forces of NATO. Problems that became demonstrably evident in the NATO attack on Libya.

In “Sum of all Fears” Clancy warned of a possible nuclear attack on the United States from Middle Eastern terrorists using home-made nuclear weapons. And in “Clear and Present Danger” he warned of the growing power of the Columbian drug cartels — cartels that have now moved to Mexico.

In “Debt of Honor” Clancy portrayed a 747 loaded with fuel crashing into to Capital Building and decapitating our government six years before 9/11. In his sequel to Debt of Honor “Executive Orders” he addressed the potential of bio-warfare against the United States and how we might combat it.

In “Rainbow 6” Clancy wrote about an elite anti-terrorist group that could go anywhere to clandestinely take out terrorists before the general public ever heard of SEAL Team 6. He also exposed the tyranny of the environmentalist and their desire to let people die to save trees, bugs, and bunnies.

In his latest novel “Threat Vector” Chinese cyberwarfare experts have launched a devastating attack on American infrastructure. It's a new combat arena, but it’s every bit as deadly as any that has gone before. It’s as though Clancy predated the Mandiant report as he has been in front of the curve on many other national security issues. Either Clancy is clairvoyant or he has a multitude of contacts within the national security establishment.

Clancy will claim he is “just” and author of fiction. His modesty is overwhelming. As “just” an author of fictional novels he has the ability to take bits and pieces of data and assemble them into a cogent analysis of the threats facing us. His ability to think out of the box far surpasses the political appointees to our national security bureaucracy including the Directors of National Intelligence, the CIA, and the Defense Department with their embedded political agendas and party loyalties. Party loyalties as George Washington stated: “This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human Mind. It exists under different shapes in all Governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy.”

It amused me to no end to find this quote by the Former U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who mentioned, “A lot of what I know about warfare I learnt from reading Tom [Clancy].” Even Ronald Reagan was a fan as documented by his wife, Nancy Reagan: “Ronnie especially enjoyed history, biography and the novels of Tom Clancy.” In a way former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave Clancy a left-handed compliment when she stated not everyone is a fan. In an interview, Rice showed her disapproval of Clancy’s work and fictitious US military warfare by saying, “No-one [but Clancy] could have imagined [terrorists] taking a plane, slamming it into the Pentagon [or] into the World Trade Center, using planes as a missile”.

It for the reasons stated above that I nominate Tom Clancy for the post of either the National Security Advisor, the Director of the CIA, the National Intelligence Director, or the Secretary of Defense. I am sure Clancy would not have allowed those four Americans to perish at the hands of terrorist in Benghazi. Oh, and you can add Brad Thor and Vince Flynn to my short list. They are cut from the same mold as Clancy with Thor’s latest offering “Black List” a novel based on the premise that a group of powerful, well-financed people in cahoots with a foreign power are attempting to take over the United States through cyberwarfare and data mining.

Will Looters Target You

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." — Patrick Henry.

With increasing unemployment and a slumping economy more and more home invasions and robberies are taking place across the nation. most of these home robberies are by stealth, but the number of violent home invasions is increasing.

Security Concepts an ADT sponsored alarm company reports:

“Home invasion is one of the most terrifying and horrific crimes that a family or individual can experience. It can often leave people traumatized for long periods after the crime occurs and can also result in a complete loss of personal sense of security. Many are left devastated by home invasions and are unable to feel safe in their own homes afterwards. It would appear that one of the main targets for this terrible and dangerous crime is people who are elderly or physically disabled. Criminals who commit home invasions often target the weak and unprepared. They often use a weapon such as a knife or other cutting instruments to intimidate or even assault their victims.

Home Invasion statistics report that the crime is on the rise. People typically think of a home invasion as a robbery or a burglary. While in most cases this is the intended crime to be committed, in several cases home invasions occurs with the intent to commit a rape, an assault or even a murder. Money and expensive belongings may be the motivation behind most break-ins, but sometimes it is a secondary intention of criminals. Because the reasons, methods and intentions of home invasions are so varied it can be difficult to define reliable statistics on the crime. According to a report by the United States Department of Justice, 38% of assaults and 60% of rapes occur in the home during an invasion.

There are some startling statistics and facts about home invasion in the United States. It is estimated that in the U.S. at least one property related crime occurs every three seconds. In the United States there were over 3,600,000 each year between 1994 and 2005. Statistics Canada reported over 289,200 per year in the last five years. Statistically there are over 8000 reported home invasions each and every day across North America. These are just the facts for the crimes which are actually defined as home invasions. There are many burglaries and thefts which occur under different circumstances which do not fall directly into that category of a home invasion for one reason or another.

Typically, criminals convicted of home invasions or property related offences indicate that they see residential homes as viable alternatives to robbing a bank or a convenience store. The reason for this is because of more and more businesses using high tech security systems on their business properties. It is becoming harder and harder for criminals to pull off robberies of business properties, leading them to target private residences instead.9 out of 10 convicted criminals who have committed home invasions have said that they would not attempt to break into a home with a home security system installed. Violent crime is on the rise in North America, and it is estimated that 1 out of every 5 homes are just as likely to experience a robbery as they are to have a fire or carbon monoxide poisoning. Having a home security system installed makes your home three times less likely to be targeted by burglars.”

My purpose here is not to sell home alarm systems although I have one installed in my house. The neighborhood I live in has a Neighborhood Watch and several years ago at one of our meetings with our liaison deputy with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department we were given some tips to protect our homes from criminals. So with the security of our property and lives in mind I have compiled a list of security tips from the Riverside County Sheriff and other security sites I perused.

According to the sheriff most criminals will “case” your neighborhood during daylight hours and then return at night to do their mischief this why a neighborhood watch is important. You and you neighbors should note any unfamiliar persons walking or driving slowly through your neighborhood and make a mental note of them. If you see them more than once a call to the police is in order.

Lights are another good security measure. You should light both your front and rear yard with bright lights. If you use those motion sensitive lights make sure the bulbs are not burned out and the sensors are working properly. Criminals like to work in the dark.

Make sure your neighbors look like better targets than you do. Criminals are creatures of opportunity and will, in general, pick the targets that offer the most potential reward in exchange for the least potential risk. I know this sound selfish but the meaning here is not to make your home the showcase of the block, just blend in with your neighbors.

Also, look at your house as if you were a thief. Do you have a big-screen TV, a gun case or other valuables in plain view through your windows? If so, move the items so they aren’t easily visible.

If you have an alarm system, make sure you have signs advertising the fact and use your alarm. It won’t stop a truly determined home invader, but it will give you a few seconds’ advanced warning. If you don’t have an alarm, consider getting one or at least getting alarm stickers.

While you’re looking at your house through the eyes of a thief, do you see any places where he could hide — either because of bushes or because of shadows? One of the most basic things you should do is to add lighting with motion sensors on the approaches to your house. Also, consider clearing out the bushes that provide concealment or replacing them with roses or other thorny bushes.

The next thing is to look at your doors. Do they look secure? Is the bolt lock a high-end one or the $12 special from Home Depot that lock-pickers use for practice when they first start picking locks?

How about your windows? Fragile antique windows may look great architecturally, but they are also very inviting to someone who wants to break in. If replacing old windows isn’t an option, install some inexpensive alarms, back up old locks with a piece of wood or PVC cut to size to prevent someone from opening the window from the outside and apply security film.

Perhaps most important, look at your house and the other houses in your area and see which you would try to rob first. Which would be last on your list? Is your house closer to the top of the list or the bottom of the list? You may be able to get away with having valuables visible through your windows if you have Rottweilers, German shepherds, pit bulls or other guard-type dogs in the house or in the front yard. I know that when a person approached our house my two German shepherds let us and him know. Also, if during the daylight hours a solicitor or deliver person comes to the door the shepherds are very visible and if the person has malevolent intents he will soon know the dogs are there.

If you find yourself in an urban-survival situation, you not only want to look like a bad target from the outside, you probably want to make sure you don’t look like a target to people who are inside your house.

You can accomplish this by separating and hiding as much of your survival provisions as possible so that, if need be, you can actually let people into your house to show them you don’t have much food or supplies worth stealing. This obviously isn’t an ideal scenario, but it is a realistic one when you’re dealing with hungry friends.

Historically, almost no urban-survival situation has been a “Mad Max”-type scenario. Instead, they are long-term, extremely fluid scenarios in which people are dying of starvation and struggling to get by in close proximity to healthy people who have jobs and food.

When most people think of survival, they think of a dramatic, instant, across-the-board breakdown in civilization in which people are eating one another within three to four days. Again, history proves this just doesn’t happen. One of the biggest reasons is because the majority of people will simply act like zombies and do nothing, unless they’re told to do something by an authority figure. They don’t know how to make decisions, they don’t know how to take initiative, and they sure as heck don’t know how to spend their time and resources in a way that improves their chances of surviving.

There’s no doubt that a complete breakdown is possible, but this melting pot of people in completely different phases of desperation living near each other is probable and requires a completely different approach.

In these in-between scenarios, you can reduce your risk of becoming a target by simply hiding the fact that you have supplies to steal.

This will be much harder to do with generators, solar panels, deep-cycle battery arrays and other large items, but the principle of hiding everything you can holds true.

Survival In The Country

If you have chickens, you might need to have a plan to move them inside your house if things get unstable. Again, your options are to hide them, increase deterrents or have a 24/7 watch.

If you need to protect a garden, there are a few options; but none of them are really easy. One would be adding a skylight to your garage or attic and switching over to a hydroponic or aeroponic garden.

Another would be surrounding your garden with weeds to disguise it.

A third strategy is to make sure you don’t plant things that will scream: “Food!” As an example, carrots blend in with green weeds because the orange is underground, but tomatoes stick out because the red is aboveground and visible from a considerable distance.

Keep in mind that it’s very difficult to grow enough food to provide all of the calories you need if you’re gardening part-time.

Considering the number of calories you’ll need and the amount of time it takes to maintain and protect the garden, combined with the potential shortage of water, fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides, it’s a 50/50 bet at best whether you will get enough food to survive or just end up wasting a lot of time trying. Add in vitamin, mineral and fiber requirements and you start to see how big of a challenge this really is.

If you already live off your own garden, this doesn’t apply. But if you don’t have a garden or if you are just a hobby gardener and expect to be able to flip a switch and start growing everything you need to survive while adjusting to civilization breaking down and doing something to earn money at the same time, you might want to rethink your plan.

A better approach may be to switch to medicinal herbs or native edible plants that are low-maintenance. Plant native vegetables that grow easily and have low water requirements. A bonus is that they blend in and don’t look like food to passers-by.

This brings up an important point. Even if you have chickens, a garden and a rural location, you still need to have a good supply of food in the event of a breakdown in civil order.

Even without having to defend against looters and thieves, chickens get sick and predators get hungry. Bugs come, hail happens and, sometimes, gardens just don’t grow the way you expect them to or that they have in seasons past.

U.S. Houses Aren’t Made To Withstand A Determined Attack

Determined, focused attackers aren’t going to mess around with your doors and windows. If they want you badly enough, they’ll launch Molotov cocktails with a water balloon launcher over your neighbors’ house and smoke you out.

If they want your stuff, all they have to do is drive a truck through one of your exterior walls and use smoke, gas grenades or a mix of household chlorine and ammonia to take care of you.

If a fight comes to your front door in a survival situation and you have to defend yourself against a lethal-force attack, you’re setting yourself up to likely spend time in jail or looking out for people who want revenge.

I’m not suggesting you let people steal from you. I’m saying you should try to do whatever you can to keep from being a target thieves think is worth hitting.

What about weapons? Guns are a good means of personal defense, especially a good pump shotgun. It’s hard to miss with a shotgun at close range. The problem with guns is threefold. One, where they are kept, two, are they loaded and three, does your state have a “Castle” law?

If it takes more than a few seconds to reach your gun you probably won’t need it — you will be dead. If the gun, for safety sake, is not loaded you will not need it as you will also be dead. And if you have a loaded gun near and use it and your state does not have a castle law you may end up in prison.

So in summary, unless you are a survivalist, your best means of protections against home invasion are: 1) a neighborhood watch with committed and involved neighbors, 2) plenty of lights, 3) well trained dogs, 4) good locks and secure windows, 5) don’t advertise your prosperity, and 6) an alarm system.