State of the art security culture...NOT
Blizzard of chatter set alarms ringing
IT was a sudden explosion of intercepted "chatter" early last week that rang the alarm inside the nation's spy and police network.
After 18 months of surveillance, investigators were convinced the group was planning an attack and the Australian Federal Police was close to gathering the final pieces of evidence against them.
But when senior police chiefs and ASIO met on Tuesday last week they confronted their worst nightmare. Intercepts from telephones, computers and other spying devices revealed that the suspects had suddenly abandoned their usual routine.
Instead there was a frenzy of communication between the Melbourne and Sydney groups -- a blizzard of "chatter" that pointed to the horrifying conclusion that an attack was imminent.
The Joint Management Committee, headed by AFP deputy commissioner John Lawler and AFP national manager counter-terrorism Ben McDevitt, had been discussing before the meeting what action should be taken to thwart the group. The final straw came last Tuesday when police concluded that the group's members were showing classic behavioural changes including more telephone conversations, more face to face meetings.
After reviewing all the evidence, the committee decided they had no choice but to act immediately.
As one senior police officer said yesterday "how long do you let them run?"
By the end of the week, parliament had pushed through the emergency amendment the AFP needed to make the arrests.
With the new laws making front page news, Benbrika's group knew their time was up, with several of them telling close friends that they expected to be arrested within a week. END
How hard is security culture that carries out routine counter-surveillance and uses the net and couriers only?
These ' terrorists' make the IRA in the prime look good. Fuck me.
IT was a sudden explosion of intercepted "chatter" early last week that rang the alarm inside the nation's spy and police network.
After 18 months of surveillance, investigators were convinced the group was planning an attack and the Australian Federal Police was close to gathering the final pieces of evidence against them.
But when senior police chiefs and ASIO met on Tuesday last week they confronted their worst nightmare. Intercepts from telephones, computers and other spying devices revealed that the suspects had suddenly abandoned their usual routine.
Instead there was a frenzy of communication between the Melbourne and Sydney groups -- a blizzard of "chatter" that pointed to the horrifying conclusion that an attack was imminent.
The Joint Management Committee, headed by AFP deputy commissioner John Lawler and AFP national manager counter-terrorism Ben McDevitt, had been discussing before the meeting what action should be taken to thwart the group. The final straw came last Tuesday when police concluded that the group's members were showing classic behavioural changes including more telephone conversations, more face to face meetings.
After reviewing all the evidence, the committee decided they had no choice but to act immediately.
As one senior police officer said yesterday "how long do you let them run?"
By the end of the week, parliament had pushed through the emergency amendment the AFP needed to make the arrests.
With the new laws making front page news, Benbrika's group knew their time was up, with several of them telling close friends that they expected to be arrested within a week. END
How hard is security culture that carries out routine counter-surveillance and uses the net and couriers only?
These ' terrorists' make the IRA in the prime look good. Fuck me.
posted by professor rat at 1:13 PM
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