The Colorado Springs Gazette August 11, 2002
Internet good friend to terrorists
By John Diedrich
A computer and Internet connection found in millions of homes can reveal a lot about a U.S. military base: how high a fence is, where the operations center and fuel supply are located and how many troops live there.
That scares a military braced for more terrorist attacks.
Airmen in the 527th Space Aggressor Squadron at Schriever Air Force Base work to make such an attack tougher.
They scour the Internet for potentially compromising information, thinking and acting like the enemy.
They can't, however, yank the information when they find it. They simply show commanders where their base might be vulnerable.
Such information once was the domain of powerful nations with satellites, spy planes and billion-dollar budgets. The Internet and high-quality satellite pictures from private companies put the information a click and a credit card away.
The threat from easily available information - coined "open-source intelligence" - is real.
Last year, U.S. soldiers found a General Accounting Office report on an al-Qaida computer in Afghanistan that showed how easy it is to breach security at sensitive U.S. buildings.
The United States has since "scrubbed" its Web sites of potentially sensitive information, but more than government information is available on the Internet.
High-resolution satellite pictures, including images of military installations, are for sale or free on the Web.
"These (terrorists) understand the use of the Internet," said Ken Allard, a retired Army colonel and an expert on information warfare who lives in Washington, D.C., and teaches at Georgetown University.
"What it constitutes is a treasure trove for someone who knows what they are looking for."
The public has a right to know, Allard said, but that right shouldn't allow release of information that might jeopardize national security.
"The First Amendment is not a suicide pact," he said.
Others question the threat.
John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a defense research group, posts pictures of U.S. bases and other military information on the site, which the Aggressor Squadron regularly checks.
Pike said the site promotes public debate and doesn't jeopardize national security.
Satellite pictures from private companies may show a base runway, buildings and anything that isn't inside or camouflaged, but the information only poses a threat if the commander isn't properly protecting the base, Pike said.
"I continue to be surprised by how surprised people are about what is available," Pike said. "If any commander thinks he can build a base out in the middle of the desert and nobody is going to notice, he has got another thing coming."
Part of the Aggressor Squadron's job is to remind commanders people are watching.
The squadron, formed in October 2000 with an annual budget of about $3 million, combs the Internet for nuggets of potentially compromising information.
The airmen use commercial telephone lines and civilian computer programs to analyze satellite photos and make the threat realistic.
In other words, they use what's available to anyone.
The airmen find out plenty.
They figured the height of a base's outer fence by the shadow it casts. They counted the barracks and estimated the number of soldiers living on the base with the help of information in a newspaper story.
They determined how many barricades were at the front gate, then set up barricades in a parking lot at Schriever and figured how long it would take to drive through them.
The airmen couldn't get a picture of one building they suspected was on the base, but They found a photo of it on an Internet site created by someone stationed on the base so his parents could see where he worked.
Squadron members also found out which Global Positioning System satellites the base used by checking the direction its satellite dish faced. That allowed the squadron to employ a GPS jammer. Most U.S. jets, bombs and ships use the satellites for navigation and timing.
The squadron built one jammer small enough to fit in a cigarette pack. It had a weak signal and would have to be close to the antennae to work.
Another jammer, about 15 feet tall, could interrupt the signal from farther away.
It was relatively easy to build. The airmen bought the plans online for $35. The amplifier came from an electronics store, the generator from a ham-radio operators convention. The rest - PVC pipe, copper tubing, wood supports and hardware - came from a home improvement store. The total cost was less than $9,000.
"This is not something cosmic," said Lt. Col. Rad Widman, who until recently commanded the squadron.
GPS jamming usually can be defeated by changing a channel frequency, but operators must realize they are being jammed, Widman said.
Although the squadron uncovers weaknesses every day, members don't see critical failures.
"The sky is not falling," Widman said. "The picture we want to put out is one of preparedness."
Allard, the retired Army colonel, sees more dire risks and hopes the squadron's work expands.
"There is an assumption that technology gives us an invulnerable edge. It never does. That is a deadly assumption," he said.
"The beginning of knowledge is knowing where the loopholes are."
© Copyright 2002 The Gazette
