Vehicle Ambush v2.0

 

The definition of hybrid warfare designates a combination of tactics and strategies; some from the conventional school, some from the asymmetrical and some from the cyber. It is this integration of cyber techniques that can make traditional and asymmetric battlefield strategies much more deadly and efficient.

Imagine this: a small insurgent force, (platoon strength or around 30 men) is planning a vehicle ambush on a convoy of enemy trucks thought to be carrying small arms, ammunition and explosives. The plan is to ambush the trucks, kill the drivers and soldiers guarding it and confiscate the weapons. The standard “L” ambush is agreed upon, and positions assigned (In this case, for the sake of clarity, the platoon is divided up into 3 “Elements”; Assault, Support and Security. The team leader of the Assault element is told  that the goal is the safe retrieval of the weapons and explosives; not the destruction of them, so pass along the word to it is crucial that the drivers are killed first so there is a smaller chance for escape. After the drivers, then focus on the small contingent of guards, which we estimate only to be around 10 men with small arms. Once all the specifics have been worked out, a key member of the ambush team, the “Cyber” element speaks.

“I will start hacking the internal systems of the lead vehicle 1/8 mile from the ambush zone, killing all the electronics in a systematic fashion and hopefully immobilizing the lead vehicle here, at or around point here.” The cyber-tech points to a spot on the map marked “Kill Box”. “Once the lead vehicle is immobilized, the other vehicles will be forced to stop and will be unable to turn around due to a blocking action of the rear element. It is imperative that the ambush starts ONLY after the lead vehicle is immobile. If the enemy are alerted to our presence too early, they will surely call for reinforcements and with the QRF response times we have monitored averaging 12 to 15 minutes, combined with the distance from the nearest base, they will be on top of us in under 45 to 50 minutes, so it is imperative that 5 minutes before the ambush, all cell phone and radio freqs are jammed by our Commo (Communications Officer). Once the lead vehicle is immobile, it will be the job of the support element to execute a blocking formation by moving our ‘requisitioned’ school bus across the road to prevent escape. With the lead vehicle immobile and the rear exit blocked, the remaining guards will either fight or flee, if they run, it will be the job of the security elements to scoop them up. Once the guards are eliminated or captured, trucks will be searched for GPS beacons and disabled. Seeing the trucks are still driveable, they will then be driven out, if not, and they are damaged, arms and ammo will be unloaded into our trucks, this will eat up valuable time, so again, all efforts must be made not to damage the enemy vehicles during the ambush!”

Now although the above is presented as a fictional “what could be” event, a recent article in WIRED showed just how easy hacking and hijacking a vehicles internal computer can be with the right gear and know-how.

If one wanted to go even further on the “what if” scale, consider if local municipality or statewide infrastructure like traffic lights, CCTV cameras (for operational surveillance) train crossings, HOV Lanes and even drawbridge controls were hacked for the purpose of physically stopping or slowing down a vehicle so an ambush, assassination, robbery, etc., could take place.

Hollywood of course, has picked up on this theme, but focusing mainly on just the “cyber” side of things and not the “hybrid” integration we are discussing.  In the Showtime series Homeland, the United States VP’s Pacemaker is hacked by a terrorist group causing rapid heart arrhythmia and eventually death. Again, considering what the OPM hack showed us in how sensitive data (like sensitive medical records for example) are vulnerable to manipulation, this is something to consider as we traverse what will most likely be known in history as the 21st “Cyber” Century.

The “Hybrid” integration of cyber threats with asymmetrical warfare has unlimited possibilities. Of course what I have hypothesized here today is thinking very “small” in terms of overall strategy, but I wanted to show that for all practical purposes, these types of hybrid tactics, when planned and executed with violence of action, can and will work.

Stay Armed and Stay Dangerous!

The Tale of Byron Smith…

Balance. That is the word I want you to remember as you read this story. If the past few years of news headlines involving people defending themselves in this overtly liberal society have taught us anything, it is that responsible citizens (ie Civilian Operators) must always seek a BALANCED RESPONSE to anything regarding self-defense, otherwise, they run the risk of spending a lifetime in prison, or worse, have a felony record and a tarnished reputation follow you around the rest of your life. This story is chocked full of WHAT NOT TO DO in regards to defending yourself and your home from a burglary, so pay attention. First, if you are not familiar with this story, read about what happened HERE.

The bottom line of this macabre tale has to do with a legal term called “Pre-Meditation”. (Initially Smith was charged with two counts of Pre-Meditated Second Degree Murder, a jury later found him guilty of Two Counts of First Degree Murder (with Pre-Meditation) and Two Counts of Second-Degree Murder ) what this basically means is that Smith “Pre-Meditated” or “Pre-Conceived”  in his mind all of the events before they unfolded that fateful evening. For all intensive purposes, Smith set up an Ambush for these two teenage cousin burglars. He first moved his vehicle down the block to make it appear no one was home. He then went down into his basement, where, because of the design of the house (dual level) he knew the victims would eventually end up, and set up the ambush point or “kill box”. Armed with a Mini-14 .223 Rifle, a .22 caliber pistol, plenty of ammo, a lengthy novel, a comfortable sofa chair and some Red Bull’s and snacks, plus some sheet plastic layed out to protect his carpet from blood stains and to wrap the bodies up in, Smith settled in and waited like a patient hunter. When the victims presented themselves individually, he shot them both a total of NINE times. Oh, and to top all this off, he had a NEIGHBOR call the Police the NEXT DAY because he did not quote “Want to bother Law Enforcement on Thanksgiving”. 

I looked around and found the un-edited version of this animated computer graphic, complete with the actual audio from a portable recorder Smith had set up on a bookshelf. At first, (before I heard it) I thought the reason Smith recorded this incident was for the obvious reason of evidence of his innocence, but as you will hear, this is anything but evidence of innocence, more like evidence of insanity.  

UN-EDITED SMITH RECORDING

A ridiculous point that some so called “legal analyst” have argued over since this incident occurred is that what made Smith’s actions “excessive” was not all the items previously described (REALLY!), but the fact that Smith delivered final “killing shots” to both victims with his pistol after they had initially been shot by the rifle. Two of these “finishing shots” was a close range head shot and a vicious under-the-chin shot. The analyst argue that Smith’s actions would have been justified under Minnesota’s Castle Law if he had only shot them with the rifle not had used the pistol! REALLY! I guess laying in wait to ambush somebody with a plastic sheet on the ground and having an audio recording of yourself that sounds more like Robert Deniro’s disturbed psychotic character Travis in Taxi Driver more than a responsible citizen defending his home and in fear for his life just does not give you enough evidence, huh? Laughable.

As if there is not enough “negatives” in this case, one factor that I noticed, and this is something I have talked a lot about on this blog, was Smith’s history. Smith was a retired State Department “Security” Employee. Now I worked for the government for a number of years and I can tell you that people who do this type of work are not boy scouts. Often the type of skill sets these people are en-powered with by good ole’ Uncle Sam are not exactly what you would call social skills! According to Smith’s brother, his particular job involved setting up security in foreign embassies; so Smith most likely had intelligence and counter-intelligence training coupled with some firearms training as well. All in all, Smith was not exactly a  “lightweight” when it came to the subject of security, firearms and taking care of himself. Why is this important? To the general public, and to a juror, this shows that Smith should be held to a higher level of responsibility and should have had some semblance of rationale in dealing with a burglary in his home because of his past experience.

I would like to say that although Mr. Smith’s actions were obviously extreme and way out-of-bounds, there is no true innocent parties in this case. Despite the barbaric way these two teenagers were killed, at the end of the day, they were burglars; they did break into Smith’s house illegally (breaking a window to gain entry) with obvious ill intent once inside. Having said all of that, it is never permissible (or legal) for a citizen to pre-meditate a “self-defense encounter” or to try to entrap a criminal in the act (by ambush or any other means) so you can kill them and call it “self-defense”. At the end of the day, we are still a nation of LAWS; right or wrong, good or bad, whether you agree of disagree, as responsible citizens, we are ALL bound to KNOW and OBEY them.

In closing, as I have alluded in articles on this blog before, the day may come very soon, that we, as our colonial forefathers did over 200 years ago, have to become “outlaws” in the eyes of a corrupt political and legal system in order to survive and ensure the survival of democracy; but until that day does come, let our actions be seasoned with courage, honor and dignity in a country whose moral compass is obviously broken.

Stay Armed, Stay Responsible and Stay Dangerous.