USAF. U-2 Dragon Lady high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft prepares for flight

From maintenance by Airmen and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works contractors to launch and recovery,a legendary aircraft completes a mission.The CIA has its own U-2 fleet.*Lockheed Martin (LMT)

Ballistic Missile Submarine Makes History at Diego Garcia

At the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) of Diego Garcia,a militarised atoll in the central part of the Indian Ocean,the US Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS West Virginia (SSBN 736) recently made the first-ever port call by an SSBN at the joint US/UK military base,Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia.Carrying up to 20 sea-launched Trident D5 ICBMs with nuclear warheads,the West Virginia was in port from 25-31 October,according to U.S. Strategic Command.The port call had been withheld from the media to protect the secrecy of nuclear submarine operations.It was part of the West Virginia's sustained deterrence operations in the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command areas of responsibility.The extended deterrence patrol provides security and stability to US Allies and a warning to US adversaries such as China,Russia,North Korea and Iran.* Ohio-class submarines such as USS West Virginia serve as an undetectable platform for submarine-launched ballistic missiles,and are thus the most secure leg of the land/air/sea nuclear deterrent triad.Before its port call at Diego Garcia,the West Virginia had surfaced to embark USCENTCOM commander General Michael Kurilla,US Army,in the Arabian Sea and participated in a joint USSTRATCOM-led communications drill to validate emerging and innovative tactics in the Indian Ocean,which is third in size among the world's oceans.Noted Vice Admiral Willaim Houston,commander of Naval Submarine Forces:The stealth and response capability of these submarines combined with the crew's training make our SSBNs the most powerful warships in the world.* Indeed,the West Virginia conducted a complete 150-person crew exchange while berthed at Diego Garcia and a replenishment at sea,showcasing the SSBN's readiness and flexibility to remain on long patrols.Such submarine forces can leverage undersea concealment to permit unique operational,deterrent and combat effects.Twenty-four hours a day and year-round from any location,USSTRATCOM forces deter strategic attacks and guarantee the security of the US and its Allies.* So Diego Garcia is located just south of the equator in the Central Indian Ocean.Besides its deep water lagoon,the base has two 12,000 ft/3657 m runways capable of handling strategic nuclear-capable bombers.It isn't known if nuclear weapons are actually stored on the atoll.Under its agreement with the UK,the US is permitted to use the base until at least 2036.It was used in the Gulf War;Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan);and Operation Iraqi Freedom.Three to five thousand US troops serve there for one-year tours.No families are allowed,although civilian contractors do live on the atoll to provide critical services.Diego Garcia was reportedly used as a CIA black site for prisoner interrogation and a NASA alternate Space Shuttle Landing Facility.*

Pacific Perspective:Meet Pine Gap,the Crucial Joint Intelligence Base in the Australian Outback

Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap (JDFPG) is an ultra-secret intelligence base near the town of Alice Springs in Australia's Northern Territory.Its existence is not acknowledged,but over the years academics,photographers and a few former staff members have uncovered and/or shared a fair amount of information about one of the most critical national security facilities in the Indo-Pacific Region.US tenants at the facility nestled in a desert ecosystem with jagged hills include the CIA,National Security Agency (NSA),National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).NSA's signals intelligence (SIGINT) work here is code-named RAINFALL;while NRO operates the Australian Mission Ground Station (AMGS). Among the assets at JDFPG are 38 radomes covering dish antennae and a vast computer complex in the operations centre,which is staffed 24/7/365.The total base staff,including US servicemembers,numbers at least 800.JDFPG is,among other missions,a control station for geosynchronous US spy satellites which pass over China,Eastern Russia,and the Middle East.It is a ground control and processing station for SIGINT satellites,to include those intercepting advanced weapons telemetry;anti-missile and anti-aircraft radar signals;communications satellite traffic;and microwave transmission (for instance,long-distance telephone calls).The base's departments include a Satellite Station Keeping Sector;Signals Processing Station;and Signals Analysis Station.* Every morning,the US-Australian Joint Reconnaissance Schedule Committee chooses the spy satellite tasking for a 24-hour period.Formerly the US Air Force,but now possibly the US Space Force,maintains the control station for missile heat and emission-detecting satellites.JDFPG monitors Chinese and North Korean weapons and communications.It also plays a key role in gathering geolocation data and supports military operations such as air strikes.It was involved in the Afghan War.Additionally,Pine Gap controls spy satellites that gather intelligence over Eurasia,Africa,Southeast Asia,Eastern Europe and Atlantic Ocean nations.With an elevation of 589 m/1932 ft,the facility plays a role in US missile defence,early warning and drone strikes.It is a Commonwealth of Australia Restricted Area under the Defence (Special Undertaking) Act 1952.No Trespassing,No Photography,No Firearms.Maximum Penalty Imprisonment Seven Years,a sign proclaims.Security personnel patrol the base every ten minutes.* Pine Gap has about twenty support buildings and what appears to this blog to be a tunnel entrance.An unconfirmed report mentions nine underground levels built to withstand three simultaneous nuclear strikes.The Australian Government believes it derives a lot of useful intelligence from the joint operation conducted in 20,000 square meters of operations space.Most of the Chiefs of Facility were senior CIA officials,but,in recent years,the NSA has had its share of COFs.The Deputy COF is always an Australian Government official.* In 2015,there were 55 US civilian operations personnel and 105 US military operations personnel at Pine Gap.The Australian Government had 50 operations personnel and there were 45 contractor personnel,bringing the total of operations centre staff to 255.The remaining two-thirds of the base staff were engaged in support and maintenance activities.This information was garnered by Australian academics Desmond Ball,Bill Robinson and Richard Tanter in their report "Management of Operations at Pine Gap (2015)".* The NGA manages imagery (IMINT) and geospatial intelligence functions involving foreign satellite/communications satellite interception systems,missile launch detection and tracking data.The Mission Ground Center (MGC) of the NRO at Pine Gap is an integrated data centre where IMINT and SIGINT is fused in a format providing ready integration of intel collected by other air and ground systems,as well as human intelligence (HUMINT).* America supports you,our military men and women and Intelligence Community.*

Land Forces Alert:New Russian Buildup Heightens Washington's Fears Over Ukraine

Since late September,Russian troops,tanks and artillery have been massing near Yelnya,Russia near Northern Ukraine.The move has Washington gravely concerned-so much so that CIA Director William Burns,who speaks Russian and was a former Ambassador to Russia,was sent to Moscow by US President Joseph R. Biden last week for talks with Kremlin officials.Mr.Burns spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone,telling him the US is seriously concerned about the irregular deployment,and probing the Kremlin's intentions for the bulked-up capability.Mr.Burns also met with Nikolai Patrushev,Secretary of Russia's Security Council and former head of the FSB,the Russian spy agency that succeeded the KGB,informing him the US was following the unusual miltary activity very closely.* The massing of troops and firepower had begun following a Russia-Belarus joint exercise in the area.The elite 1st Guards Tank Army is among the tents,armoured units and support elements that were detected by a Maxar Technologies satellite.Photos of the buildup by the satellite were viewed by this blog.Forces of the 41st Combined Arms Army did not return to their base in Novosibirsk,Siberia after the drills with Belarus,and were augmented by even more troops.* Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby,US Navy retired,said: We're aware of public reports of unusual Russian military activity near Ukraine.We're going to continue to consult with Allies and Partners on this issue.As we've said before,any escalating or aggressive actions would be of great concern to the United States.* Indeed,Ukraine's defence ministry noted that Russia has: established a practise of transferring and accumulating military units for the purpose of maintaining tension in the region and political pressure on neighbouring countries.* Some US officials are more concerned about this buildup than the one that occurred back in March,noting that Russia is configuring a capability to make a quiick strike against Ukraine.A congressional aide said: With such a large buildup,Putin could order an invasion at any time and there would be very little warning.* A european diplomat feels that the US is: very,very concerned-this is the most concerned I've heard them about Russia in a long,long time.* The Voice of America recalled that US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland had visited Moscow last month,but failed to resolve a dispute over the respective sizes of the US Embassy in Moscow and the Russian Embassy in Washington.There is also tension over Russian control over the natural gas supply to Ukraine and Europe for the coming winter,with fears that Russia will use natural gas to blackmail its neighbours.Some experts believe that Putin's ultimate aim may be to reabsorb Ukraine into Russia,given recent articles written by both him and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev disparaging Ukrainian statehood.* Maxar Technologies Inc (MAXR)

From Past to Future:the CIA in Afghanistan

On 26 August 2021,a large CIA compound in Kabul was destroyed by US forces in a controlled demolition that reverberated across the city.Eagle Base was,at the very least,a training facility where Afghan counterterrorism personnel were trained.The demolition was deemed necessary because of the large amount of sensitive hard drives and equipment on the base.Yet,although the base's downfall was spectacular,it far from ended the CIA's concern about Afghanistan. Although US military operations in Afghanistan will end tomorrow,the CIA is considering how it will operate in the region in the future.This was made an acute problem when the recent ISIL-K attack that killed 11 US Marines,a US Navy corpsman and a US Army Special Forces member,pointed up the threat posed by Islamist extremist groups in Afghanistan to US and Allied interests now the US military is leaving.According to Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby,US Navy retired: We still believe there are credible specific threats.* Indeed,a rocket attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport launched from a vehicle occurred on 29 August,but was repulsed by the US Counter-Rocket Artillery and Mortar System (CRAM),which returned fire.After 31 August,the airport comes under Taliban control and all US diplomats will have departed the airport.Just how HKIA will continue to operate and be defended from ISIL-K terrorists remains to be seen;but perhaps this was covered when new CIA Director William Burns flew to Kabul to meet with the Taliban political leader,Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.* According to The New York Times,the CIA is busy looking for new bases in Central Asian countries,because it needs to ascertain how its Clandestine Service,which runs spy networks, will collect Human Intelligence (HUMINT) without the US military and diplomatic bases it had access to in Afghanistan over the past 20 years;and where it will launch its fleet of Predator drones from to carry out counterterror strikes.At least 19 CIA officers died in the Afghan War,the last one being a former US Marine reconnaissance expert killed in May of 2019.* About 1200 people have been evacuated from HKIA over the past 24 hours,bringing the total Operation Allies Refuge evacuations to about 122,300.Some 250 Americans remain who wish to be spirited out of the country,not to mention thousands of key Afghans.The CIA has reportedly been helping with covert rescue missions,as have US veterans groups. In addition to using its own land,air and sea special operators,another possibility for the Agency is to oversee US military Special Operations Forces detailed to certain CIA activities,as they had been during the operation to find and kill Osama bin Laden,the New York Times added.*

Heading for the Hills:Homeland Defence Forces Take Special Precautions

In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the Pentagon's homeland defence forces have gone to the highest level of health protection in order to safeguard personnel capable of deterring and responding to adversarial threats,as well as to the pandemic at hand.These troops include those of US NORTHCOM and NORAD.
NORTHCOM and NORAD Commander GEN Terrence O'Shaughnessy, US Air Force,told a Facebook Live town hall with his personnel:
To ensure that we can defend the homeland despite the pandemic, our command and watch teams here in the headquarters have been split into multiple shifts, and portions of our watch team began working from Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, creating a third team at an alternate location as well.
Our dedicated professionals of the NORAD and NORTHCOM command and control watch have left their homes, said goodbye to their families and are isolated from everyone to ensure that they can stand watch each and every day to defend our homeland.It's certainly not optimal, but it's absolutely necessary and appropriate given the situation.
This is a marathon, not a sprint.
My primary concern was...Are we going to have space inside the mountain for everybody who wants to move in there, and I'm not at liberty to discuss who's moving in there.*
Other sites national security personnel may be relocating to include the Raven Rock Mountain Complex (Site R) in Southcentral Pennsylvania and Mount Weather, Virginia.Both impressive bunkers are hidden in the Appalachian​ Mountains.Another possibility for isolation may be found at Camp Peary,officially called the Armed Forces Experimental Training Activity,a US Navy holding in York County, Virginia that serves as a training base for the CIA and the DIA.The highly classified 9,000 acre compound includes a 1500 m/ 5,000 foot runway that has been used by CIA aircraft.*
Other military personnel known to be isolating include B-52H Stratofortress bomber crews; ballistic missile submarine crews; ICBM personnel; and certain Special Operations Forces units.*
NORAD and US NORTHCOM normally operate out of Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado."

Crush the Enemy:CIA Covert Forces Expand Afghanistan Mission

Far from being drawn down as US military forces are being augmented in Afghanistan under the President's new South Asia Strategy,the CIA's Special Activities Division/Special Operations Group paramilitaries are reportedly also expanding their role in a conflict that has spanned more than sixteen years.It is said that President Donald Trump and his CIA director,Mike Pompeo,are determined to make the most of the Agency's paramilitary capability in hopes of quickening the end of the Taliban militants and other Islamist extremist elements who are trying to wreck the emergent democracy,such as al-Qaida,the Haqqani Network and ISIL-Khorasan.Speaking at the University of Texas in October,Mr.Pompeo said:
This is unforgiving,relentless.You pick the word.Every minute,we have to focus on crushing our enemies.If we are not out pushing the envelope,the Agency will not succeed.*
Immediately after the 9-11 attacks,the CIA was first on the ground in Afghanistan in the form of a small paramilitary team codenamed JAWBREAKER.This team and its follow-ons linked up with the indigenous resistance,the Northern Alliance,under Ahmad Shah Masood,gathering HUMINT on the Taliban and their al-Qaida guests and conducting joint operations with US and British military SOFs and the NA to eject the Taliban from cities such as Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif.Once the Taliban had been thrown out of power in Afghanistan,however,the SAD Ground Branch settled into the role of training Afghan forces and collecting HUMINT,while the Air Branch struck targets inside Pakistan with armed Predator drones.*
The Agency's paramilitaries,be they recruited from the Armed Forces' Special Operations Command or from within the CIA,are trained for proficiency in:
sabotage;abduction;bomb damage assessment;personnel and material recovery;hostage rescue;and counterterrorism.That's not surprising,what with them being the heirs of the World War II Office of Strategic Services.
Typically operating in teams of six or less,they may even be tasked with solo missions.On the other hand,they have been frequently sent on joint operations with the Pentagon's SOFs and the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces.This is the joint role they are moving into now,as leaders of hybrid Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams with Pentagon SOFs detailed to the CIA under the Omega Program and ANDSF members.They are to range across the country seeking to quash Taliban bomb-makers in particular,as the mainline US SOFs and Afghan commandos focus on recapturing Taliban territory.The Taliban IED factories are a rising threat as the militants turn more to destabilising bombing campaigns,unable to make headway against the greatly improved ADNSF and their US advisors.
The CPTs will also include Afghan intelligence officers from the National Directorate of Security as well as CIA contractors.The SAD Air Branch was trying to expand its role to include an armed drone campaign within Afghanistan itself,not just striking militants in neighbouring Pakistan,but it isn't known if that was finally approved.