January 15, 2008:
While Osama bin Laden, and other al Qaeda and
Taliban leaders may be hiding out in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan
border, they are not cut off from the outside world. For a few thousand dollars, you can put
together a a portable, solar powered, Internet connection. Weighing less than
twenty pounds, it can be stuffed into a backpack and carried anywhere. Using
solar panels, a satellite phone and a laptop, and you are connected. Satellite
phone companies now provide higher data speeds. Not quite DSL, but you can move
all the data a terrorist mastermind requires for communication and propaganda.
The terrorists know that Western
intelligence agencies are all over the satellite phone systems. But by using
code words, and encrypting the messages, much information can be exchanged
without unacceptable risk. Moreover, the phones themselves can be used at a
distance from the hideouts, lest the Americans are plotting the location of the
phone, and have a missile armed Predator UAV nearby.
The intel people won't comment on this,
especially any success they may have breaking the multiple layers of encryption,
or doing an analysis of transmission locations. At the same time, such portable
Internet set-ups are also useful for Western counter-terrorism forces operating
in the back-country. U.S. Army Special Forces often have small teams doing
stake outs in the outback, and Internet access is essential for getting and
sending information.