Jake Wallis Simons has a January 4, 2017 article in the Daily Mail Online, with the title above. Not surprisingly, he describes an adaptive, asymmetric adversary, who has learned from previous mistakes and terrorist operations– and, are improving their techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTP’s). Mr. Simons writes that “disturbing new details have emerged of a sophisticated, undercover Islamic State (ISIS) network that infiltrated the Istanbul New Year’s Eve killer into Turkey — and, used advanced special forces techniques.”
“The killer, reportedly a battle-hardened [Islamic] militant trained in Syria, was spirited into Turkey by a mysterious ISIS handler code-named, “Teacher Yusuf,’ according to leaked information published in the Turkish media Mr. Simons wrote. He adds that “the killer himself, was reportedly code-named, ‘Abu Muhammed Horasani,’ though his true identity either remains unknown, or has not been released by investigators.”
The details about the killer’s name and how he got into Turkey, etc., have not been officially verified; but, this information is being widely reported in Turkish media. “Teacher Yusuf installed the killer and his family in a safe house in the central [Turkish] town of Konya, in an apartment block where three other families were living last November,” Mr. Simons noted. “The other families, thought to be part of an ISIS cell, vanished following the atrocity; but, were detained this week by Turkish authorities 300 miles away in the Turkish town of Izmir. Mr Horasani’s wife and children, who remain under detention by Turkish police have denied any knowledge of Horasani’s connection/relationship with the Islamic State.”
A total of 27 men and women have been detained by Turkish authorities as of January 4, and came from: Syria, the Russian Republic of Dagestan, Xinjiang northeastern China — known by separatists as East Turkestan — and Kyrgyzstan, which is thought to be the killer’s home town, the Daily Mail reported. Twenty-seven children were also part of the group.
The Turkish daily, Milliyet, reported that sniper equipment, night vision binoculars, backpacks, GPS trackers, and other military supplies were seized during the raids in Konya.
Mr. Simons writes that Turkish authorities have increased their surveillance activities in Kirklareli, a Turkish town near the border with Bulgaria, as Horsanai no doubt will attempt, or has already left Turkey and disappeared elsewhere in Europe or the Middle East. “In the days leading up to the attack, Horsanai and his ‘handler’ traveled together by bus into Istanbul, a journey of some 400 miles, to make their final preparations. There, the militants stayed in a second safe house in Zeytinburnu, a working-class district of the capital, carrying out reconnaissance,” as part of their operational planning.
I would not be surprised if it is reported at some point, that ISIS has been able to establish a clandestine rat-line, and improved their TTPs’ based on help/support from Hamas, and or, Hezballah operatives. Leaks from Edward Snowden also helped these individuals and groups stay hidden, and evade law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Shortly after Mr. Snowden’s leaks, both the Islamic State and al-Qaeda published, and cited the Snowden leaks in warning their members/followers — in their respective magazines — about sloppy communications tradecraft, as well as the sources and methods that law enforcement/intelligence had used to monitor their activities. Additionally, three months after the Snowden revelations, ISIS changed, and substantially enhanced their encryption software. ISIS’s enhanced operational tradecraft has hindered our abilities to discover/ferret out terrorist communications and operational planning; and, led the head of British intelligence to publicly state in 2014 that the Islamic State had ‘gone dark.’
This kind of sophisticated operational tradecraft shows that the terrorist organization is adapting and refining their TTPs; and becoming more clever and creative in the means and methods they are using to both carry out terrorist attacks; and, escaping and evading in the aftermath of such an event.
It is also clear that an overly generous and less strict immigration stance — especially from Iraq and Syria — both in Europe and here at home, has resulted in a much more dangerous landscape, as these malcontents fly below the radar, and stay mostly hidden till the final phases of their planned attacks. This inconvenient truth, greatly underscores POTUS-elect Trump’s stance on the need to do extreme vetting on those individuals coming to America from the Middle East cauldron. And, since the Director of the FBI, and the Director of National Intelligence have previously testified to Congress that they do not have the personnel, resources, and money to do the kind of thorough vetting necessary to keep us safe — POTUS-elect Trump is on solid ground in calling for a temporary halt of allowing the displaced refugees from the war zone to come here to the United States. Otherwise, what happened in Boston, Orlando, San Bernardino, etc. will unfortunately become much more commonplace…….and deadly.
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