| By Wayne Madsen Online Journal Contributing Writer Apr 30, 2010, 00:27 | |
(WMR) -- On April 26, 2010, WMR reported: “Multiple U.S. intelligence sources have reported to WMR that a super-classified network with only some 70 terminals in select U.S. government locations handled the parallel command-and-control activities that permitted the 9/11 terrorist attacks to be successful.
“The ‘above top secret’ network bears the acronym ‘PDAS.’ WMR has not yet discovered what the acronym stands for, however, the system is limited to only a few hundred people with Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) Special Access Program (SAP) need-to-know access, in addition to the President and Vice President.”
WMR has confirmed from multiple sources that PDAS is the Planning and Decision Aid System (PDAS) that is used to support the operational capabilities to the Joint Staff at the Pentagon and Combatant Commanders (COCOMs). The PDAS system is used to network Special Technical Operations (STO) elements located within the Joint Staff, COCOMs (with a significant presence within the US Central Command), military service information operations organizations, and the intelligence agencies (including the CIA, National Security Agency, and Defense Intelligence Agency).
The Department of Defense officially defines PDAS as “the Planning and Decision Aid System (PDAS) is an automated information system protected program under Secretary of Defense (SecDef). PDAS supports the planning and execution of Integrated Joint Special Technical Operations (IJSTO).”
WMR has been informed that IJSTO operations have also been used to target foreign leaders for assassination, including Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (unsuccessful) and Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira (successful aerial assassination in 1994). One of the chief promoters of PDAS and Special Technical Operations during the Clinton administration was Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark.
Access to the PDAS network is usually accompanied with access to other intelligence systems, including the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRnet) and the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS), as well as the Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRnet).
PDAS has, since 9/11, been extended to Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
PDAS special technical and information operations training for users is conducted at the 704th Military Intelligence Brigade at Fort Meade, Maryland. The unit, according to its website, conducts “Signals Intelligence and Network Warfare” on behalf of Army, Joint Command, and National requirements.
PDAS was developed from a prototype system developed by Hughes for NSA’s Joint Special Studies Group (JSSG) in 1983 that eventually linked military commands and intelligence agencies to STOs responsible for, among other signals intelligence (SIGINT) activities, hacking into Soviet government and military communications networks and key nodes. One such program that tapped into Soviet submarine communication cables, but was compromised by a Soviet spy inside the NSA, was code-named IVY BELLS.
PDAS supposedly saw its funding yanked after the fall of the Soviet Union. However, based on information recently received by WMR, PDAS continued to function with a new mission: coordinating covert U.S. special technical operations against governments and individuals in the Balkans, Rwanda, and then, on September 11, 2001, the United States itself.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2010 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal
Email Online Journal Editor
0 Comments