A Nuclear Submarine: Eyes and Ears

Cmdr. Rich Bryant picked up the ship's intercom and addressed the USS Miami: "Booya, Miami!"

The crew of 140 men on the fast-attack submarine responded: "Booya, Sir!"

It was mutual recognition for a successful "underway," which is the official term for a voyage or mission.

Their assignment? Preparation to go to a sensitive part of the world where submarines, like the USS Miami, rule.

"It is one of the most deadly weapon systems known to mankind," quips Bryant, aboard his L.A. Class nuclear submarine.

U.S. adversaries have dangerous well-known weapons: Russia has the "White Swan" and China has a million man Army, but the U.S. Navy has what submariners call "The Silent Service."

I spent a week with the crew of the Miami, most of it aboard their fst attack submarine and Cmdr Bryant told me, "one of our strengths is our stealth, and that is the inability for other submarines, other surface ships' sonar systems to detect us, so the concept of our acoustic quieting is one of our treasures."

Another is the Miami's ability to fire tomahawk missiles. "In Iraqi Freedom," Bryant says there were 800 Tomahawks that were launched, 33 percent of those came from U.S. submarines.

The sub also can launch Harpoon missiles, MK-48 torpedoes, lay mines in the water and watch and listen very closely to what's going on on land from the middle of the ocean with no one noticing.

The Miami is the second U.S. Navy ship to be named for the Florida city. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp. in Connecticut on Nov. 28, 1983, and the keel was laid down on Oct. 24, 1986.

The voyage was full of highlights, including the sensation of blasting out of the water and splashing down on the surface. If you saw the movie, "The Hunt for Red October," you may remember when the USS Dallas is being chased by a torpedo and Lt. Commander Thompson says "Come on Big D, fly."

But back to business, spending a few days aboard a nuclear submarine taught me a lot. Chief among them - how we can collect so much intelligence without actually having boots on the ground.

The payoff: al Qaida on the run again

Today's is the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the man thought to be responsible for them narrowly escaped capture last weekend.

But we may be seeing the unraveling of al Qaida's senior leadership network.

As we reported on The Hunt on Federal News Radio on July 30, Abu Khebab al-Masri, al Qaida Senior weapons and training facilitator was killed by a missile. Intelligence sources say it was a part of an attack on the Egyptian component of al Qaida. Al Qaida's second in command Ayman al Zawahiri is a part of that component and (as we reported on August 1, may have been killed in that same attack.

Fred Burton, former head of the State Departments Rewards for Justice program says, "the advertisement for the money to lead for the arrests or favorable resolution in this case is working."

Interestingly enough within the same week, four top al Qaida operative were targeted and Burton thinks it's because the intel picture on al Qaida's senior commander's whereabouts may be coming together.

"Anytime you have that level of tactical data that you can specifically strike a target, you obviously have done a pretty good job with your human intelligence collection network, because you are able to pinpoint specific locations that these high value al Qaida targets could be in."

In Kenya, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed had to leave in a hurry without his wife and children behind. When he escaped from a coastal town in Kenya over the weekend, he reportedly left telephone numbers and email addresses for people all over the world. The reputed computer whiz, who allegedly planned the attacks on the US Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, also left a laptop and almost a half dozen cell phones in his hideout while trying to get treatment for for a Kidney ailment. The information may lead authorities to other al Qaida operatives.

The Rewards for Justice Program has a proven history.

The program played a significant role in the arrest of Yousef, who was convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

But sometimes money... doesn't work. Osama Bin Laden has been roaming free somewhere between Pakistan and Afghanistan for almost seven years now, with a $25 million bounty on his head.

Mike Darmiento, Asst Dir of the Diplomatic Security Service says that issue has forced them to think creatively.

"If you were a tribal person in Afghanistan and I told you I was going to give you $25 million, it may mean nothing to you. You may not be able to get your arms around such a big number. But if I were to offer you something else, something you value like livestock or a house -- maybe that's something that's going to motivate you."

Whether it's a goat or millions of dollars, Darmiento indicates DSS is prepared to pay to settle the score and seek what Burton calls "justice" for Americans who can no longer do it for themselves -- people like John Granville.

Granville, 33 was shot five times while being driven home about four a.m., this New Year's Day after leaving a celebration in Sudan. He suffered wounds in the stomach, left hand and shoulder.

He died several hours later at a hospital in Khartoum.

The Secretary of State is currently offering rewards of up to $25 million for information that prevents or favorably resolves acts of international terrorism against U.S. persons or property worldwide. Rewards also may be paid for information leading to the arrest or conviction of terrorists attempting, committing, conspiring to commit, or aiding and abetting in the commission of such acts.

It looks as though either the word is getting around or maybe the world is getting too rough even for the bad guys.

But as we remember the innocent people who died on this day 10 years ago and the hundreds of people who suffered blindness from flying glass and other injuries after those attacks, I can only say it's about time for some good news.

TERRORISM: The intersection of War and Diplomacy

In early July, a fuel delivery driver made a stop on the waterfront in Southwest Washington, D.C. to service a client. He noticed two men loitering around an area close an intake connector for an underground fuel pipeline.

"They just kept going back and forth. At first I thought they were groundskeepers, but I got off the truck and got my binoculars and noticed they had a bucket or cooler and noticed they were putting something in it, but I didn't see any fishing poles."

The driver, who asked to remain anonymous for security purposes was so concerned that he called 9-1-1, but that experience concerned him even more than what he'd seen.

"You think you're talking to someone who knows the city, I'm sitting there telling the police dispatcher or call taker what I'm seeing and exactly where I am and she's asking me where I am."

The frustrated driver reported what he'd seen to federal authorities.

The details of what he had seen concerned the FBI enough to begin an investigation.

But as we enter what some intelligence experts view as a critical time frame in al Qaida's attack planning schedule, the incident has exposed an emerging homeland security divide.

A number of local enforcement agencies across the country have said publicly the Department of Homeland Security is focusing too much of it's money and time on terrorism and not enough on crime.

But federal authorities are worried that complacency is setting in not just among the general population, but among some local law enforcement agencies.

"It is a little concerning that were at a point now where individuals, particularly local law enforcement feel like they can come out a say publicly that they've done what they need to do when it comes to homeland security", says DHS spokesman Russ Knocke.

One of those police officials is Providence Rhode Island police Col. Dan Esserman. He says DHS is having some trouble balancing it's efforts.

Our nation, that I love, is like a great giant that can deal with a problem when it focuses on it," said Colonel Esserman, who became chief in 2003 when he was hired by Mayor David N. Cicilline. "But it seems like that giant of a nation is like a Cyclops, with but one eye, that can focus only on one problem at a time.

The support we had from the federal government for crime fighting seems like it is being diverted to homeland defense," he added. "It may be time to reassess, not how to dampen one for the other, but how not to lose support for one as we address the other. New York Times

When reached for comment, Esserman told me he declines to comment further.

Knocke sees no such diversion. In fact he says, "there's no question that's important and they (local law enforcement) rightly should advocate for resources they think they need to fight crime in their communities. But the mishandled 9-1-1 call pokes holes in the idea that local homeland security agencies have the terror threat covered.

"Quite frankly as we make advances in our own security, there are going to be new and emerging threats and new and emerging vulnerabilities, so our work there is far from complete," says Knocke.

The rift comes at a time when some experts seem to think the police should play a greater role in the fight against terrorism in the U.S. A team of Rand Corporation researchers, lead by political scientist, Seth Jones determined that "local police and intelligence agencies, rather than the military, should be the tip of the spear against al Qaida in most of the world, and the United States should abandon the use of the phrase 'war on terrorism'".

Jones says, "the U.S. did this successfully in Anbar province of Iraq. The use of intelligence and military presence in the background as local Iraqi police and other security forces then countered al Qaida in Iraq."

It's not clear whether reducing the role of the military and intelligence agencies will fly, in the struggle against terrorism. Nor is it clear that local police see themselves playing the augmented role suggested by the Rand Corporation, but a growing number of intelligence officials see the value of shedding the "war on terrorism" terminology.

That's not likely to happen soon, because according to Knocke, "we are entering into a period of heightened vulnerability. Over the coming months, we will of course have the olympics in China, there are going to be political conventions for both parties here, there's going to be elections here in November and then a transfer from one administration to another in January."

As a result, even though there is no specific intelligence to suggest an attack is imminent, DHS has told employees to be vigilant for signs of terror attacks, for the next 12 months.

Russia's Western Alliance

Russia's close relationship with Cuba and Venezuela is more than just the foundation for their global economic hopes: It's the preparation for war footing.

Russian newspaper Izvestia newspaper, quoting a "highly placed source", wrote Russia might station its "White Swans", the Tu-160 supersonic, nuclear capable bombers, in Cuba if the U.S. presses ahead with a missile defense shield in Europe.

The Russian Defense Ministry denies it, but why would they admit something like that. That would amount to giving away a part of their strategy.

Even so, Gen. Norton Schwartz, who is under consideration to become the Air Force's top military officer warned that doing so would be akin to crossing a "red line".

This is clearly reminiscent of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when the Soviets tried to build missile bases on Cuba, but after being found out, had to stand down. But this is neither the time nor place to reminisce.

Russia is serious about whatever it is they're doing and the KGB leftovers that now run the country haven't forgotten the deep, private embarrassment of losing the Cold War and the hardship they've endured since that time.

Sergei Tretiakov, the highest ranking Soviet or Russian spy to defect to the U.S. told me recently the Russians still consider America their main enemy and says "the Cold War was never over".

He ran Russian spy operations in the U.S. from 1995-2000. He quietly defected to the U.S. and brought along with him thousands of documents and confidential information. He's the subject of a book by author Pete Early, called Comrade J.

Tretyakov says he's not just trying to sell books.

"It's not just emotions when I'm telling you that the Cold War was never over. It's documented."

He says the Russians never changed their Cold War policy of aggression against the U.S.

"Sometimes Americans, including American politicians, are a little bit naive," says Tretiakov.

The Russians have resumed their long-range bomber flights, more frequent patrols in the Arctic and have taken a much more aggressive foreign policy tone.

Joe Cirincione, President of Ploughshares says, "they're doing this in reaction to what we're doing". Cirincione says Russia is worried the missile shield components slated to be built in Europe are preparation for an attack on them.

So Russia is pulling it's war machine together. A critical part of that is Venezuela.

Tretiakov believes Russia is cozying up to America's enemies as a part of it's endgame to weaken the U.S. and strengthen American adversaries.

He says, "the threat from Russia is not over. More Russia has money, more aggressive will be it's foreign policy."

Tretiakov says the U.S. is not a direct risk of an attack from the Russia, but Russia is trying to set the stage for America's enemies to assume a much more aggressive posture.

"Iran with it's nuclear program can do nothing without the technical support or other wise from Russia," says Tretiakov. "In Latin America, who is the best friend of Russia? Hugo Chavez."

And that's not all. "Russians are engaged in the militarization of Venezuela. They're selling the most sophisticated weapons including military war planes to Venezuela -- not to mention they've begun a new policy of selling technology to China. That, was a Cold War no-no.

The wild card in all of this is Cuba. Fidel Castro has been Chavez's mentor for many years, but he's leaving the scene and Raul Castro is assuming the reigns of power. Interestingly in all of this, he may undo the Russian plans for a return to global dominance.

Why? Because he, unlike Fidel is said to be a pragmatist, and will look at what makes the most sense for his long-term goals. In short, because of Fidel's iron will to remain an adversary of the U.S., Cuba has suffered greatly and many Cubans are keenly aware of it and not happy about.

Raul, even though he has been perhaps the most pro-Soviet of the two, may recognize that it's a new day and look to go in a different direction. Or at the very least, may decide not to follow the Russians, while maintaining the status quo with the U.S.

This would probably anger Chavez, Putin and maybe even Russia's new President Dimitri Medvedev, but the reality is there's not much they can do about it. With a new presidential administration coming up in the U.S., there's a good chance U.S. Cuban relations might improve just enough to ruin Russia's plans.