RUSI Article on Grey Zone Operations

[KevinB]

A very good read, and one reason that Defense and Security Budgets need to go up.

Covert Wars, Criminal Gangs, and the ‘New Threat’ Environment

‘Grey Zone’ operations have become a persistent feature of peacetime, upsetting norms of conduct between states in the international community.

www.rusi.org

The fusion of organised crime and covert state action against the backdrop of geopolitical interests is not to be seen as merely criminal plots or shady intelligence operations or black ops; rather, they are strategic assaults on the very fabric of international order, let alone operational assaults on open societies and the trust that is required to sustain free and fair elections and the free flow of goods in free markets.


Curious on peoples thoughts @brihard etc

 

[ytz]

Good article. But also a reminder that all military spending is about tanks and fighter jets and submarines.

 

[KevinB]

Good article.

I think it is finally a decent article on what is occurring, however I think it is a little shallow on what can/should be done to combat it.

But also a reminder that all military spending is about tanks and fighter jets and submarines.

I’m not getting that at all. Some IC expenses clearly fall into National Defense spending, and here is also an area of why President Obama’s administration created some of the entities they did, and why following administrations have kept them going despite concern about their status.

Canada, England and the EU have different rules to the usage of the Military and Intelligence services internally than down here, but as the RUSI article points out, there are gaps between them where Criminality and National Security blur and our enemies exploit.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Good piece.

Proxies of proxies of proxies works well to get max bang out of a smaller number of int folk (esp. if things shut down completely) and help muddy the waters on the info front re: responsiblity.

Thanks for sharing that!

 

[Colin Parkinson]

A very good read, and one reason that Defense and Security Budgets need to go up.

Covert Wars, Criminal Gangs, and the ‘New Threat’ Environment

‘Grey Zone’ operations have become a persistent feature of peacetime, upsetting norms of conduct between states in the international community.

www.rusi.org

The fusion of organised crime and covert state action against the backdrop of geopolitical interests is not to be seen as merely criminal plots or shady intelligence operations or black ops; rather, they are strategic assaults on the very fabric of international order, let alone operational assaults on open societies and the trust that is required to sustain free and fair elections and the free flow of goods in free markets.


Curious on peoples thoughts @brihard etc

Mind you, the US was not shy in using organized crime to protect the docks and ports from saboteurs in WWII

 

[rmc_wannabe]

Mind you, the US was not shy in using organized crime to protect the docks and ports from saboteurs in WWII

Or cutting deals with organized crime to soften the ground in Sicily....

Operation Underworld

 

[Kirkhill]

Speaking of the Italians

Carabinieri - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign policing duties.

the Carabinieri are a military force. As the fourth branch of the Italian Armed Forces, they come under the authority of the Ministry of Defence; for activities related to inland public order and security, they functionally depend on the Ministry of the Interior.

Carabinieri Mobile Units Division - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Carabinieri Mobile Units Division, through its Brigades, is tasked with:

• The performance of military duties of the Carabinieri associated with the integrated defence of the national territory and participation in military operations abroad;
• The performance of military police tasks against Italian Armed Forces deployed overseas;
• The support of the Carabinieri territorial organization in riot control activities and to increase the control of the territory in large urban areas and in the most sensitive areas in terms of public security;
• The participation in civil protection operations;
• The ensuring reserve of the General Command, a ready and reactive mass maneuvering force to cope with various emergencies

1st Carabinieri Mobile Brigade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

2nd Carabinieri Mobile Brigade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

4th Carabinieri Mounted Regiment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1st Carabinieri Paratroopers Regiment "Tuscania" - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

....

A Gendarmerie with heavy weapons geared for the full spectrum of gray operations.

If only we had a Gendarmerie....

We might even attach the Rangers to them.

The Government will discharge its duty to protect Canadians and their sovereign rights, from wherever challenges may come at home or abroad. To keep communities safe, the Government will hire 1,000 more RCMP personnel.

Building Canada Strong: A bold, ambitious plan for our future - Canada.ca

www.canada.ca

....

 

[KevinB]

Canada etc arent missing the people specifically - they are missing the organization and legal authorities to procecute those targets.

 

[GK .Dundas]

Speaking of the Italians

Carabinieri - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Carabinieri Mobile Units Division - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1st Carabinieri Mobile Brigade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

2nd Carabinieri Mobile Brigade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

4th Carabinieri Mounted Regiment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1st Carabinieri Paratroopers Regiment "Tuscania" - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

....

A Gendarmerie with heavy weapons geared for the full spectrum of gray operations.

If only we had a Gendarmerie....

We might even attach the Rangers to them.

Building Canada Strong: A bold, ambitious plan for our future - Canada.ca

www.canada.ca

....

View attachment 93560

Wouldn't the RCMP qualify as their equivalent ?

 

[rmc_wannabe]

Wouldn't the RCMP qualify as their equivalent ?

If we actually believed in and funded the military part of the RCMP's para-military status.

Carabinieri are a military force that just happens to be employed primarily as a national police force.

 

[Kirkhill]

More on the same subject.

The ‘New Warfare’ Comes of Age: Are We Ready? » The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator | USA News and Politics

It’s much too early to judge the larger impact of the Ukrainian attack on the outcome of the war, or even, more narrowly, on the currently planned Istanbul negotiations. But it’s not too early to step back and consider what it signifies in terms of an emerging “new warfare,” one capable of...

spectator.org

The congressman asks the general what he needs to whip the North Vietnamese, and the general simply answers, “Targets — we need targets!”

It’s not drones, then, or any other clever device that should arrest our attention, but rather the degree of our interdependency and the vulnerability of our critical infrastructure to even the simplest of attacks. The “new warfare” answers the general’s plaintive quest for targets with a richness of which he could never have dreamed, targets accessible by the simplest of weapons. By all means, let’s see if we can build a “Golden Dome” to protect ourselves against nuclear-tipped missiles, but let’s also reckon with drone attacks on our own air force bases, or any of a hundred and one other simple scenarios.

Witnessing what the Ukrainians just did to the Russians, we’d best start thinking hard about what we’re going to do to protect ourselves — before it’s too late.