This is what happens when security policies rely on an association between superficial characteristics and behavior: we become vulnerable to attackers who adopt the superficial characteristics we trust.
This is an awful story, and it's highly unusual. The scariest part is that the success of this attack could encourage more attacks like it in Iraq and in the U.S.
This is an awful story, and it's highly unusual. The scariest part is that the success of this attack could encourage more attacks like it in Iraq and in the U.S.
So what should we look for? Suspicious behavior:The Associate Press wrote:
Military opens up on sneak attack, By Steven R. Hurst and Qassim Abdul-Zahra
BAGHDAD, Iraq - In perhaps the boldest and most sophisticated attack in four years of warfare, gunmen speaking English, wearing U.S. military uniforms and carrying American weapons abducted four U.S. soldiers last week at the provincial headquarters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala and then shot them to death....
The brazen assault, 50 miles south of Baghdad, was conducted by nine to 12 gunmen posing as an American security team, the military confirmed. The attackers traveled in black GMC Suburban vehicles - the type used by U.S. government convoys - had American weapons, wore new U.S. military combat fatigues and spoke English, according to two senior U.S. military officials as well as Iraqi officials. One Iraqi official said the leader of the assault team was blond, but no other official confirmed that....Iraqi officials said the approaching convoy of black GMC Suburbans was waved through an Iraqi checkpoint at the edge of the city. The Iraqi soldiers believed it to be American because of the type of vehicles, the distinctive camouflage American uniforms and the fact that they spoke English.
Who arranges attacks that take advantage of profiling? Our most sophisticated adversary, Iran.The Associate Press wrote:
Police, who became suspicious when the convoy of attackers and their American captives did not stop at a roadblock, chased the vehicles and found the bodies, the gear and the abandoned SUVs....
The Associate Press wrote:
A senior Iraqi military official said the sophistication of the attack led him to believe it was the work of Iranian intelligence agents in conjunction with Iraq's Shiite Mahdi Army militia.