The Secret Sentry (73 page)

36. Karen Blakeman, “Marine’s Wry Joke: Iraq Isn’t Like Hawai’i,”
Honolulu Advertiser
, May 18, 2004; William Cole, “Marines Recall Their Time in Iraq,”
Honolulu Advertiser
, July 22, 2004.

37. Confidential interviews.

38. Oral history,
Interview with Lt. General Richard F. Natonski
, April 5, 2007, p. 4, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS; Toby Harnden, “This Is Where the Foreign Fighters Hang
Out,”
U.K. Daily Telegraph
, November 10, 2004.

39. Dr. Rebecca Grant,
The War of 9/11: How the World Conflict Transformed America’s Air and Space
Weapon
(Washington, DC: Air Force Association, 2005), p. 39; Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt, “Terror Command in Falluja Is Half Destroyed,
U.S. Says,”
New York Times
, October 12, 2004.

40. Colonel Terri Meyer, USCENTAF/A2, PowerPoint presentation, “Operational ISR in the CENT-COM AOR,” December 7, 2004.

41. The story of the second Battle of Fallujah is detailed in Matt M. Matthews,
Operation AL FAJR:
A Study in Army and Marine Corps Joint Operations
(Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, 2006).

42. “Interview, Lt. Colonel James Rainey,” April 19, 2006, in Gott,
Eyewitness to War
, vol. 1, p. 119.

43. Oral history,
Interview with Lt. Colonel John Reynolds
, March 14, 2006, p. 12, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS.

44. Oral history,
Interview with Lt. Colo nel John Reynolds
, March 14, 2006, p. 24, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS.

45. Gordon Trowbridge, “Ready or Not, Civilians to Return to Fallujah Within Days,”
Air Force
Times
, December 20, 2004.

46. Oral history,
Interview with Gunnery Sergeant Michael Johnson
, February 10, 2006, pp. 16–17, Cold War Oral History Project, John A. Adams ’71 Center for Military History and Strategic
Analysis, Virginia Military Institute, VA.

47. Oral history,
Interview with Captain Brandon Griffin
, July 24, 2006, p. 11, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS.

48. Oral history,
Interview with Master Sergeant Michael Threatt
, September 20, 2006, p. 20, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS; confidential interviews.

49. Oral history,
Interview with Captain Paul Toolan
, July 24, 2006, p. 8, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS.

50. CALL,
Operation OUTREACH Newsletter
, No. 03-27, October 2003 Section: Afghanistan Counter-Mortar Predictive Analysis, p. 20.

51. Oral history,
Interview with Gunnery Sergeant Michael Johnson
, February 10, 2006, pp. 14–15, Cold War Oral History Project, John A. Adams ’71 Center for Military History and Strategic
Analysis, Virginia Military Institute, VA.

52. Tim McGirk, “The Taliban on the Run,”
Time
, April 4, 2005.

53. U.S. Senate, Armed Services Committee, Vice Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, USN, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, statement
for the record, “Current and Projected National Security Threats to the United States,” March 17, 2005, p. 9; Sayed Salahuddin,
“Afghanistan’s Taliban Just Won’t Go Away,” Reuters, April 7, 2005; N. C. Aizenman, “General Predicts Taliban’s Demise,”
Washington Post
, April 17, 2005; Carlotta Gall, “U.S. Training Pakistani Units Fighting Qaeda,”
New York Times
, April 27, 2005.

54. Carlotta Gall, “As Winter Ends, Afghan Rebels Step Up Attacks,”
New York Times
, April 3, 2005; Carlotta Gall, “Afghan Rebels Step Up Attacks, Killing 9 Near Pakistani Border,”
New York
Times
, May 6, 2005; Nick Meo, “In Afghanistan, the Taliban Rise Again for Fighting Season,”
U.K. Independent
, May 15, 2005; Carlotta Gall, “Despite Years of U.S. Pressure, Taliban Fight On in Jagged Hills,”
New York Times
, June 4, 2005; N. C. Aizenman, “Violence Linked to Tal-iban Swells in Afghanistan,”
Washington Post
, June 9, 2005.

55. Confidential interview. See also Daniel Cooney, “2 Taliban Leaders May Be Directing Battle in Afghanistan,” Associated
Press, June 24, 2005.

56. Sean D. Naylor, “The Waiting Game: A Stronger Taliban Lies Low, Hoping the U.S. Will Leave Afghanistan,”
Armed Forces Journal International
, February 2006; Pete Boisson, “Punishment in Syahchow, Afghanistan, 25 July 2005,” in William G. Robertson, ed.,
In Contact! Case Studies
from the Long War
(Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2006), pp. 101–23.

57. For an example of coordinated Taliban attacks on units of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Zabul Province in the summer of
2005, including Taliban use of walkie-talkies, see Pfc. Jon H. Arguello, “Paratroopers Deal Blow to Taliban in Remote Valley,”
Army News Service, May 9, 2005; Paul Wiseman, “Taliban on the Run but Far from Vanquished,”
USA Today
, July 26, 2005; Catherine Philp, “They Expected an Easy Ride, Then the Enemy Struck Back,”
U.K. Times
, July 30, 2005; Scott Baldauf, “Small US Units Lure Taliban into Losing Battles,”
Christian Science Monitor
, October 31, 2005; Scott Patsko, “Sergeant Risks Own Life to Protect His Men,”
Lorain (OH) Morning
Journal
, November 11, 2005.

58. The only detailed publicly available description of the Battle of Mari Ghar can be found in Sean D. Naylor, “The Battle
of Mari Ghar,”
Army Times
, June 26, 2006.

59. Oral history,
Interview with Captain Brandon Griffin
, July 24, 2006, p. 11, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS; oral history,
Interview with Captain Paul Toolan
, July 24, 2006, p. 9, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS; quote from oral history,
Interview with Lt. Col-
o nel Don Bolduc
, July 26, 2006, p. 8, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS. See also Naylor, “The Waiting Game.”

60. Lieutenant General Thomas F. Metz, Colonel William J. Tait, Jr., and Major J. Michael McNealy, “OIF II: Intelligence Leads
Successful Counterinsurgency Operations,”
Military Intelligence Professional
Bulletin
, July–September 2005.

61. Oral history,
Interview with Colonel Emmett Schaill
, January 24, 2007, p. 14, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS.

62. Capt. Kevin Stemkaamp, PowerPoint presentation,
1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Stryker
Brigade Combat Team OIF III (Sep 04–Sep 05)
, March 9, 2006.

63. “IIF Recover Weapons, Detainees,”
Advisor
, July 2, 2005, p. 11, http://www.mnstci.iraq.centcom.mil.

64. Department of Defense “Bloggers Roundtable” with Major General Rick Lynch, USA, Commanding General, Multinational Division
Center, via teleconference from Iraq,
Operation Marne Husky
, August 16, 2007, http:www.defenselink.mil./dodcmsshare/BloggerAssets/2007-08/Lynch_ 081607_transcript.pdf. “Fairly scarce”
quote from “Blogger Call: MG Rick Lynch, CDR 3rd ID,” the Q and O Blog, August 16, 2007, http://www.qando.net/ details.aspx?entry
=6690.

65. “Special Troops Battalion, 2 Bde, FOB Kalsu, Iraq,”
Lonestar News
, February 15, 2006, p. 1.

66. CAPT Brian Gellman, “From Dagger 6,” in
Dagger News
, July 2006, p. 1, http://www.506infantry.org/pdf/ 506rct/ jul_dagger_news.pdf.

67. Hamza Hendawi and Jim Krane, “Deputy Unwittingly Led Troops to al-Zarqawi,” Associated Press, June 8, 2006; Sean D. Naylor,
“Inside the Zarqawi Takedown,”
Defense News
, June 12, 2006; “Cell Phone Tracking Helped Find al-Zarqawi,” CNN, June 10, 2006, http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/09/iraq.al.zarqawi.

68. Confidential interviews. See also Captain Daniel J. Smith, USN,
Intelligence Gathering in a
Counterinsurgency
(Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, 2006), p. 15.

69. The commanding officer of CSG Baghdad from September 2005 to May 2006 was Commander Stone Davis, USN. From May 2006 to
February 2007, the chief of CSG Baghdad was Captain Dennis M. Pricolor, USN. Captain Steve Tucker, USN, was chief of CSG Baghdad
from February 2007 to May 2008. For Tucker’s background, see “Local Soldier Returns from Iraq, Is Awarded Bronze Star,”
Morgan County News (TN)
, July 12, 2008.

70. Confidential interviews with senior U.S. military officials. See also Rear Amiral Edward H. Deets III, “Individual Augmentee,”
InfoDomain,
Fall 2007, p. 23, www.netwarcom.navy.mil/pao/infodomain/006-InfoDomain%20fall%202007%20On-Line.pdf; Rear Admiral Ned Deets
III, Vice Commander, Naval Network Warfare Command, PowerPoint presentation, “Readiness to Fight: Our Shift Forward,” November
8, 2007.

71. David A. Fulghum, “Technology Will Be Key to Iraq Buildup,”
Aviation Week & Space Technology
, January 14, 2007; Capt. Angela Johnson and Capt. Tim Crowe, “Triton Signals Intelligence Collection System Proves Critical
Tool,”
Fort Lewis (WA) Northwest Guardian
, June 14, 2007; Association of the U.S. Army, Torchbearer National Security Report,
Key Issues Relevant to Army
Intelligence Transformation
, July 2007, p. 10.

72. Confidential interviews. See also Deets, “Individual Augmentee,” p. 23.

73. Deets, “Readiness to Fight.” Deets, “Individual Augmentee,” p. 23; Raymond T. Odierno, Nicole E. Brooks, and Francesco
P. Mastracchio, “ISR Evolution in the Iraqi Theater,”
Joint Forces Quarterly
, issue 50 (2008): p. 54.

74. Deets, “Individual Augmentee,” p. 23.

75. Naval Special Warfare Group 2, press release, “Navy SEAL and Two Combat Support Sailors Killed in Iraq,” July 9, 2007;
“Barstow Navy Man Killed by Iraq Bomb,” Associated Press, July 10, 2007.

76. Rick Atkinson, “The Single Most Effective Weapon Against Our Deployed Forces,”
Washington
Post
, September 30, 2007.

77. Confidential interviews.

78. Commanding General MNF(I) General David H. Petraeus,
Multi-National Force— Iraq Counterinsurgency
Guidance
, June 13, 2007, http:// www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/CFAWC/ Contemporary _Studies/ 2007/2007-Jun/2007-06-06_MNF-I_COIN_Guidance-Summer_2007_v7_e.asp.

79. “Local Soldier Returns from Iraq, Is Awarded Bronze Star,”
Morgan County News (TN)
, July 12, 2008.

80. Frank Graham, “Branch’s Service in Iraq Earns Bronze Star,”
North Platte (NE) Bulletin
, August 27, 2008.

81. Confidential interviews with American, British, Canadian, and Dutch intelligence officers; General Michael V. Hayden,
USAF, Director, Central Intelligence Agency, statement for the record, U.S. Senate, Armed Services Committee, “The Current
Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan,” November 15, 2006, p. 3.

82. Oral history,
Interview with Major Jason Warner
, third interview, August 21, 2007, p. 8, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS.

83. Confidential interview.

84. “June 18 Airpower Summary: Strike Eagles Watch Over Troops,”
Air Force Print News
, June 19, 2007, http://www.af.mil/ news/story.asp?id=123057754.

85. Tim Albone, “Medic! Man Down! Under Fire with British Troops in a Taliban Ambush,”
U.K.
Sunday Times
, July 8, 2007.

86. Michael Smith, “SBS Behind Taliban Leader’s Death,”
U.K. Sunday Times
, May 27, 2007.

87. Taimoor Shah, “NATO Seeks to retake Taliban Haven,”
New York Times
, December 8, 2007.

88. Confidential interviews. See also Ahto Lobjakas, “Afghan Diary, Part 4: ‘You Can Go from Being Smiled At to Being Shot
At,’ ” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report, September 21, 2007, http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1078732.html.

89. “June 17 Airpower Summary: Fighting Falcon Provides Show of Force,”
Air Force Print News
, June 18, 2007, http:// www.af.mil/ news/story.asp?id =123057615; “June 18 Airpower Summary,”
Air Force Print News
.

90. Christie Blatchford, “Canadian Troops Forced to Start from Scratch,”
Globe and Mail
, August 31, 2007. See also “Operation Groundhog Day: The Final Assault on a Stubborn Enemy,”
U.K.
Independent
, September 23, 2007.

91. Les Neuhaus, “NATO Soldier Killed in Offensive Against Taliban in Afghanistan,”
Stars & Stripes
, October 25, 2007. For SIGINT, see Sgt. 1st Class Jacob Caldwell, “Company Works to Flush Out Taliban During ‘Rock Avalanche,’
” American Forces Press Service, October 31, 2007; Sebastian Junger, “Into the Valley of Death,”
Vanity Fair
, January 2008.

92. Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema, “Testing NATO’s Determination,”
Lahore Post
, November 11, 2007, http:// thepost.com.pk/OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=128142&catid=11.

93. John Ward Anderson, “Emboldened Taliban Reflected in More Attacks, Greater Reach,”
Washington
Post
, September 25, 2007.

94. Confidential interviews.

95. Denis D. Gray, “U.S. Troops Patrol Gray Afghan World, Watched by Taliban,” Associated Press, April 8, 2007.

96. “MacGyver,” Letter, July 27, 2007, / 27_jul_2007 _anp_operations1.pdf.

97. Noor Khan, “Taliban Surrounded in Kandahar Fight,” Associated Press, October 31, 2007.

98. Jason Straziuso, “Deaths Mark Grim Afghan, Iraq Milestones,” Associated Press, November 10, 2007.

99. Lt. General David W. Barno, U.S. Army Ret., “Fighting ‘The Other War’: Counterinsurgency Strategy in Afghanistan, 2003–2005,”
Military Review
, September–October 2007, p. 43.

16: Crisis in the Ranks

1. NSA/CSS, NSA Public and Media Affairs, press release, “NSA/CSS Welcomes LTG Keith B. Alexander, USA,” July 30, 2005.

2. Keith background from biographical data sheet, Lt. General Keith B. Alexander, Department of the Army, Office of Public
Affairs; biography, LTG Keith B. Alexander, USA, http://www.nsa.gov/about/about00022.cfm.

3. James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, “Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts,”
New York
Times
, December 16, 2005; Eric Lichtblau and James Risen, “Eavesdropping Effort Began Soon After Sept. 11 Attacks,”
New York Times
, December 18, 2005.