http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/secret-libya-psyops/ Listen: Secret Libya Psyops, Caught by Online Sleuths By Noah Shachtman Email Author March 20, 2011 | 7:28 pm | Categories: Air Force The U.S. military has dispatched one of its secret propaganda planes to the skies around Libya. And that b Commando Solob aircraft is telling Libyan ships to remain in port b or risk NATO retaliation. We know this, not because some Pentagon official said so, but because one Dutch radio geek is monitoring the airwaves for information about Operation Odyssey Dawn b and tweeting the surprisingly-detailed results. On Sunday alone, b Huubb has identified the tail numbers, call signs, and movements of dozens of NATO aircraft: Italian fighter jets, American tankers, British aerial spies, U.S. bombers, and the Commando Solo psyops plane (pictured). b If you attempt to leave port, you will be attacked and destroyed immediately,b the aircraft broadcasted late Sunday night. Itbs the kind of information that the American military typically tries to obscure, at least until a mission is over. But Huub is just a single node in a sprawling online network that trawls the airwaves for clues to military operations. Huub, also known online as b BlackBoxb and @FMCNL, has been monitoring longer than most b more than a quarter-century. A former member of the Dutch military, he says that hebs captured the sounds of everything from Air Force One to CIA rendition flights to the travels of Yugoslavian war criminal Slobodan Mlosevic. b I just combine the global and free information on the Internet with my local received information from the ether,b Huub e-mails Danger Room. b [My] main goal to listen to this communication is to listen to bthe truth,b without any military or political propaganda.b Military aircraft have to provide basic information about their position over unencrypted, unclassified UHF and VHF radio networks; otherwise, theybd risk slamming into civilian jets in mid-air. That allows savvy listeners like Huub to use radio frequency scanners, amplifiers, and antennas to capture the communications. Some spend thousands of dollars homebrewing their own DIY listening stations. Many others b Huub included b rely on handheld gear, much of which can be ordered through Radio Shack. Huub uses the ICOM R20 receiver and the Uniden UBC-785XLT scanner, both of which retail for a little more than $500. But the type of gear is almost secondary, Huub writes. b I do not simply listen to ATC [air traffic control] or NATO frequencies,b he says. Instead, he monitors everything from aircraft transponder data to IRC chatrooms to pinpoint his planes. b I use a combination of live listening with local equipment, audio streaming, video streaming, datamining, intelligence, analyzing and the general knowledge of ATC procedures, communication, encryption, call signs, frequencies and a lot of experience on this!b Huub, who ordinarily spends his days as a digital forensics manager in the town of Hilversum, has lately spent up to 16 hours a day, scanning for clues about the attack on Libya. Some of his Twitter followers arenbt so sure Huub should be devoting that much time to plucking military data from the sky. b If you are not delaying your tweets by a WIDE margin, you are putting the pilots in harms way!!!!b tweets @Joe_Taxi. b When the sounds of the #operationoddesydawn aircraft are heard in #Libya it should be a complete surprise.b Huub is hardly the only one eavesdropping on this operation, however. At least two others recorded the Commando Solo in action on Sunday, for instance. And that shows just how easily average folks can now gather intelligence in ways once reserved for the best-funded spy agencies. Online sleuths now use Google Earth to find everything from North Koreabs launch facilities to Pakistanbs drone bases. Plane-spotters scoured tail numbers to uncover the CIAbs torture flights. So itbs no wonder that the sounds of this newest air war are being broadcast online b even before the planes return to their airstrips. Photo: USAF http://www.lsdimension.com/2011/03/23/amateur-spying-on-the-usaf-and-nato/ Amateur Spying On The USAF And NATO A few days ago I posted a USAF warning transmission targeted at Libyan ships. Somebody had picked that transmission off the ether, recorded it and put it on the internet. It turns out that somebody was a Dutch guy called Huub. This digital forensics manager in Hilversum has spent all of his freetime in the last 25 years on tracking down air movements of military aircrafts. During the current war in Libya he is spending 16 hours a day monitoring the positions and movements of the allied warplanes. Wired has a story on this former member of the Dutch military, in which he explains his methods: b I just combine the global and free information on the Internet with my local received information from the ether,b Huub e-mails Danger Room. b [My] main goal to listen to this communication is to listen to bthe truth,b without any military or political propaganda.b (b&) b I do not simply listen to ATC [air traffic control] or NATO frequencies,b he says. Instead, he monitors everything from aircraft transponder data to IRC chatrooms to pinpoint his planes. b I use a combination of live listening with local equipment, audio streaming, video streaming, datamining, intelligence, analyzing and the general knowledge of ATC procedures, communication, encryption, call signs, frequencies and a lot of experience on this!b For this he uses his computer and simple handheld radiogear which costs no more than a couple of hundred dollars. He shares his findings on Twitter, which raises the question: is he putting fighter pilots and the general mission in danger? Maybe he should wait a few hours before tweeting his discoveries? The Wired article ends with: And that shows just how easily average folks can now gather intelligence in ways once reserved for the best-funded spy agencies. Online sleuths now use Google Earth to find everything from North Koreabs launch facilities to Pakistanbs drone bases. Plane-spotters scoured tail numbers to uncover the CIAbs torture flights. So itbs no wonder that the sounds of this newest air war are being broadcast online b even before the planes return to their airstrips. Some recent tweets bij Huub (@FMCNL): More on Huub and another Dutch radio amateur called Dirk de Jager who is doing similar stuff at The Guardian, NOS and RNW (last two in Dutch). - Edit: An Italian guy called David Cenciotti (@cencio4) is doing similar work and he posts a daily overview of all the actions of the allied forces in Operation Oddysey Dawn, including a detailed gathering of daily fly ops, ship movements and military buildup. He puts all this data into a stratigical and military-historical perspective. Very interesting!