Former CIA Officer Jack Rice Analyzes Afghanistan Leaks

This Just In: The War In Afghanistan Is Going Poorly

WikiLeaks has released some 91,000 documents to the New York Times, Germany’s Der Spiegel and Great Britain’s The Guardian. What they highlight is an almost blow-by-blow look at the war in Afghanistan from the beginning of 2004 through the end of 2009. In my mind, there are basically three significant issues raised by these documents. Two of them have to do with what’s going on in Afghanistan, and the third is the interesting response they’ve garnered from the U.S. Government.

First, the issue of Afghanistan and what it means:

One of the major issues highlighted in these documents is the number of civilians that have been targeted, occasionally inadvertently, inside of Afghanistan. This is one of the big issues that since-resigned Gen. Stanley McChrystal tried to deal with. The problem is that dealing with an insurgency, particularly in a place like Afghanistan, is extremely challenging. What makes it far worse, and far more complicated, is that the more civilians you kill, the further you drive other civilians to side with and embrace the insurgency. Simply put, if success is defined by bodies killed, the more successful you are, the less successful you’ll be in the long-run.

These documents also highlight what comes next for U.S. and NATO troops. As the Taliban and what’s left of al-Qaeda continue to insert themselves inside of society in Afghanistan, the more our troops must leverage their way in and push those insurgents out. But to distinguish between an insurgent and a civilian is almost impossible at this point.

A second issue exposed within these documents, an issue which I think is far more troubling, and something that neither NATO nor U.S. troops have been willing to acknowledge, is the corruption and close association between the Taliban and the Pakistani ISI. According to these documents, the ISI is working almost hand-in-glove with the Taliban, not only targeting Afghan officials, but also aiding insurgents who are targeting U.S. troops. This is an extraordinary situation when you consider that the third greatest ally of ours in the war against terror, in terms of money, is Pakistan. Thus, our closest ally in the region is also the most sophisticated ally of the very same people that we’re fighting. This variable highlights almost the impossibility of success in Afghanistan.

Now, let me turn to the issue of the United States’ response to the leaked documents. Late last night, the White House released a statement from National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones condemning the release of these documents. Jones focused specifically on how the leaks pose grave threats to U.S. troops. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have since been echoing Jones’ sentiment. But here’s the interesting aspect; what Jones and others in Congress are doing is ignoring the content of all of the leaks themselves. It’s much easier to explain what happens when a leak actually finds its way to the press. Conversely, it’s much more complicated to explain what happens when your closest ally in the region is working with your enemies, or to explain the inability of your own troops to distinguish between the bad guys and unarmed civilians who are being killed by the hundreds across Afghanistan.

As we look back over the nine years that U.S. and NATO forces have spent in the region, the difficulty now is trying to figure out how to extricate oneself; that’s what the White House is hoping to accomplish at this point. But the problem that this administration also faces is how to do that without creating even more instability. In some ways, I think this issue is being pushed to the side; they’re far more interested in finding a political solution to Afghanistan. What these leaks are doing is making that political situation much more difficult to achieve. I, along with millions of other Americans, am hoping for the best. But sadly, it appears that the worst is coming.

Jack Rice is an International Correspondent for the Talk Radio News Service. He is also a former CIA officer, prosecutor and talk show host. He appears frequently on MSNBC and CNN.

Security in a Cyber World

The Internet has evolved into a tool of war.

"The Georgia-Russian conflict, perhaps, that is the first instance of a military action containing a clear cyber component. Denial-of-service attacks were launched by Russia against Georgia," said Deputy Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security Paul A. Schneider during a forum on the nation's cyber security posture.

"There were large swaths of Georgians that could not access any information about what was happening in their country. Government websites were defaced and the delivery of government information was seriously curtailed".

To meet high-tech threats such as these the DHS has rolled out a series of safety measures called the Cyber Initiative, with the goal of strengthening the security of both federal and private sector networks, operating and defending in real time, and expanding counter intelligence capabilities against foreign governments.

"Intelligence is one of our best preventative tools. I don't have to go into any detail, you all know the examples...up through World War II with the use of radar. We need to have similar types of tools in order to make better use of intelligence in the cyber domain in order to stop our adversaries before they can launch attacks against us,' said Schneider.

Another important aspect of the initiative is to create a more centralized manner of dealing with cyber threats. The National Security Cyber Center has been recently created to coordinate protection across the federal networks, including the .mil and .gov domains.

Schneider addressed concerns that the initiative could violate the privacy of citizens.

"If someone is seeking to access our systems and possibly inject some sort of malware it is perfectly within our right to take a closer look and see whether that code poses a threat, just as you would ask a few questions from a stranger who would want to enter your house."

National Security Adviser targets focus on North Korea and Iran

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley spoke at the Proliferation Society Initiative fifth anniversary meeting and said that North Korea and Iran are still great proliferation risks. Hadley said that the position of the U.S. and many other nations is to not betray future generations by allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons. He said the door is still open to negotiations only if Iran suspends their uranium enrichment program.

Hadley discussed the new challenges in the fight against nuclear weapons that differ significantly from the challenges faced during the Cold War. He said the U.S. is no longer facing a nuclear threat from specific nations, but also terrorist organizations with an increased threat of chemical and biological weapons.

He outlined a six-step plan to achieve the goal of keeping weapons out of the hands of dangerous people. This plan focused on locating the sources of the weapons and disrupting the networks that facilitate terrorist organizations.

Addressing representatives in the international community, Hadley said that information sharing among nations is still not what it needs to be. He said that the faster information is shared the more quickly actions can be taken.