The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard interdicted three Low Profile vessels (LPVs), known as Narco Submarines, in quick succession in May 2020 H I Sutton (photos US Navy, US Coast Guard)
Forbes: 3 Narco Submarines In 4 Days: Navy And Coast Guard Make Impact
The success of the new Enhanced Counter-Narcotics Operations, being run by U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) are slowly coming out. Since April 1 the Command has dedicated more naval assets to stemming the flow of illicit drugs into the United States. During four short days in mid-May the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard stopped three narco submarines in their tracks.
News of the interdictions is only now coming out in a series of press releases. There is often a lag reporting these incidents, especially when they are intercepts at sea. Part of the reason for this may be that it gives law enforcement a brief window where the cartel may not know that the sub has been seized. This allows intelligence leads to be followed up without alerting the drug traffickers. In some cases this can result in another drugs bust where the next narco-sub in the chain is also caught.
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WNU Editor: The sensors that the U.S. Navy to detect these low profile vessels must be incredible.
H. I. Sutton the author of this puff piece begins his article by touting the "success" of this operation. In asking this he reveals he either does not understand how the US government operates or he is a paid shill. He's asking the wrong question. What he should be asking is if three were detected, how many actually got away? While I can't be certain of this number but based upon the known tendency of the US government to both overstate its successes and understate its failures, a reasonable estimate would be the number that got away would be 10 fold. Essentially for everyone they get 10 are going to get away. In any event, many more are getting through than are getting caught. The author approached this from the wrong direction.
ReplyDeleteThe last sentence is a real beauty. "There may be more incidents that are yet to be reported." Nah US leadership are bit like egotistical teenagers. They are going to tout any "success" they have while ignoring any failures they have or blaming those failures on someone else. In other words, they would not be able to wait to run to a microphone or camera to tout any "success" they may have long before someone could accurately put to print or bandwidth such a statement. Basically there aren't any incidents yet to be reported.
Does this author really have such a fundamental misunderstanding of how US government officials operate or is he a paid shill? I'm thinking its the latter. He simply lacks a basic understanding of how US officials operate or the psyche. Regardless the lack of ability to do basic analysis makes him untrustworthy as a reporter or news analyst which by definition would extend to his employer, Forbes. Surely Forbes can do better than this.
ReplyDeleteSpeculating om the speculations, are we poster?
Anon,
ReplyDeleteI've understood the tendency of our government to both overestimate our capabilities while underestimating those of adversaries for over 20 years. This was evident on 911. Afghanistan, the second Iraq war, and the Syrian war. Other examples could be cited. Such as the actions against Grenada as explained by men who were there. The preparation on the part of the military leadership was p!ss poor. We were extremely blessed that it worked out as well as it did.
As we study people we discern patterns in how they act. Having studied the US government I know they tend to both overestimate their own abilities while underestimating those of adversaries and they overestimate their ability to solve problems with bothering to consult with affected stakeholders, the ridiculous reaction to COVID-19 is a case in point.
So based upon this many, many years of study, while I don't know, I deem it VERY unlikely that many more of these shipments did not get through than were caught. I'd deem the probability that for every one that got caught got through at least ten got through to be about 99.9999999%. Very respectfully the author of this piece did not do his homework. Had he have done so he would know that in situations like this to never take a claim of our government at face value. I'd suggest getting other sources to back up that claim. There is no evidence he did this.
Now I could be wrong. Maybe the US government really got this one right!! As has been said, every once in awhile "blind squirrel finds a nut!!"
I meant without bothering to consult with affected stakeholders. I apologize for the typo.
ReplyDeleteDamn, there goes my stach.😂🥴
ReplyDelete