Eugen, I am surprised that this is new to you! Dead drops are as old as tradecraft itself. It's also the assumed transmission methodology for potentially fatal messages. No amount of rubberhose technology can recreate the chain. //Alif On Sun, 22 Jan 2006, Eugen Leitl wrote:

Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 19:24:52 +0100 From: Eugen Leitl <eugen@leitl.org> To: cypherpunks@jfet.org Subject: [mv@cdc.gov: Al Q's anonymous comms]

Unsurprisingly, very much like physical onion routing. By using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_drop even no need for couriers to ever meet each other.

I'm resending this in full text, so that the archives will get it.

----- Forwarded message from "Major Variola (ret)" <mv@cdc.gov> -----

From: "Major Variola (ret)" <mv@cdc.gov> Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 09:21:55 -0800 To: "cypherpunks@al-qaeda.net" <cypherpunks@jfet.org> Subject: Al Q's anonymous comms X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.8 [en] (Win98; U)

The system involves each courier hand delivering the tape or the written

message to another courier or location without knowing the courier's identity, the origin of the tape or message or its destination. It makes it almost impossible for intelligence agencies to roll up the entire network.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/Terrorism/story?id=1527351

----- End forwarded message -----

How Does al Qaeda Send Terror Tapes Without Getting Caught? Terror Network Uses Complex Messenger System, Which May Span Several Countries Analysis by ALEXIS DEBAT

Jan. 20, 2006 . - The broadcast of terror tapes on al Jazeera highlights a question that has haunted U.S. intelligence for a number of years now: How do these tapes find their way to the offices of the Qatari news channel, and why can't something be done to follow their trail to Osama bin Laden's doorstep?

This question remained largely unanswered until the arrest last May in Pakistan of Abu Faraj al Libbi, one of al Qaeda's operational commanders. Under intense interrogation, al Libbi revealed that Osama bin Laden's tapes -- like his operational directives -- are hand carried from courier to courier in a long and intricate route that involves several dozen "runners."

According to al Libbi, it takes six to 12 weeks of travel in the remote and inhospitable areas along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahri are still hiding. Based on this piece of intelligence, the Pakistani government succeeded in infiltrating parts of these courier networks in 2005.

But because of the extraordinary precautions taken by al Qaeda's messengers, the Pakistanis were unable to trace them back to either Zawahri or bin Laden.

The system involves each courier hand delivering the tape or the written message to another courier or location without knowing the courier's identity, the origin of the tape or message or its destination. It makes it almost impossible for intelligence agencies to roll up the entire network.

Some of these intermediaries are recruited among the thousands of travelling Muslim preachers who roam Pakistan's tribal and northern areas, usually on foot.

Analysts believe this system is still in place today, and may span several countries. According to a senior Pakistani intelligence source, the latest tape was hand delivered by an anonymous source to al Jazeera's Dubai bureau in the United Arab Emirates. The tapes are usually dropped off in an envelope at al Jazeera's offices in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

A 'Back Channel' Relationship?

Many commentators suspect a "back channel" relationship between the news channel and the terrorist organization. In 2005, al Jazeera reporter Taysir Alluni, who had interviewed bin Laden in Afghanistan several weeks after 9/11, was sentenced by a Spanish court to seven years in prison for providing help to two al Qaeda operatives wanted in connection with the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

Despite this high-profile case, there is little evidence of any formal relationship, agreement or even sustained communication between al Jazeera and al Qaeda. And al Jazeera strongly denies it.

Osama bin Laden's use of the Qatari news channel likely has more to do with strategy than ideology. With its audience of 50 million to 70 million viewers around the world, al Jazeera has emerged not only as the Muslim world's most-watched news outlet but as a powerful force driving political views of Muslims around the world.

By using al Jazeera to broadcast its messages, al Qaeda is simply borrowing the network's global reach to further its own, while making sure that the message will reach the audience with little alteration or editing, and no mistranslation.

This is especially key when bin Laden or Zawahri, as Western intelligence agencies report, wish to send covert messages to their operatives across the world.

ABC News consultant Alexis Debat is a terrorism analyst and contributing editor of the National Interest in Washington, D.C.

Copyright ) 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures

-- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

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-- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org 0xBD4A95BF 'The right of self defence is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.' St. George Tucker

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006, Eugen Leitl wrote:

I mentioned physical dead drops for the benefit of potential new list members,

"Potential new list members" Hrmmmm.... thats a thought. Is this really a possibility? I thought CP was in it's final spiral - no new anything. The traffic gets less and less every day. Even Choate is gone. "New list members" Naw. 'Taint possible... -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org 0xBD4A95BF 'The right of self defence is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.' St. George Tucker