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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Hamas deployed specialized units to attack Israel, sources say.

Monday, October 9, 2023

Written by Samia Nakhoul, Reuters Dubai.

Categories: ASCF News

Comments: 0

Israel Hamas

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas deployed a force of about 1,000 fighters to stage the most devastating attack on Israel in decades, organizing them into specialized units, a source close to the group told Reuters.

Some of the operations or training by the units were caught on videos released by Hamas and its armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades. Other footage of the operation came from witnesses.

An Israeli military spokesman said Israeli troops were fighting Hamas gunmen at half a dozen points around Gaza, more than 48 hours after the assault was launched in the early hours of Saturday morning.

TRAINING
The source close to Hamas said the group's fighters had been training in Gaza since the last conflict in 2021, on occasion conducting drills in plain sight. The exercises involved building a mock Israeli settlement to practice a military landing and training to storm it, the source said.

The Joint Room for Palestinian Resistance Factions, which is led by the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, released photographs on its Telegram channel on Dec. 28, 2022, showing what it said were images of training for a "raid behind enemy lines", including training to capture Israeli soldiers.

MISSILE UNIT
At the start of the operation, Hamas said it had fired 3,000 rockets in the first barrage. Israel's military said 2,500 rockets were fired, logging the bombardment at about 6.30 a.m (0330 GMT).

The rockets were intended to cause shock and confusion while providing Hamas fighters with cover to break through the fortified fence surrounding Gaza and carry out the operation.

AIRBORNE UNIT
Teams of fighters on hang gliders or motorized paragliders flew over the border and secured the terrain for the main ground assault.

Videos released by Hamas showed the unit, with badges carrying the name Air Force Falcon Squadron, in what appeared to be training for the assault. Some militants used one-person paragliders, and others used paragliders for two people. It showed them training to land at a target with weapons ready.

ELITE COMMANDO GROUND UNIT
This was a 400-strong elite force that broke through the fortified Gaza fence using explosives to open up gaps so they could infiltrate the Israeli side. After some crossed on motorcycles, bulldozers were used to widen the holes so teams could enter Israeli territory in four-wheel drive vehicles.

The commandoes attacked the first Israeli defense lines, raided the sleeping quarters of soldiers, and seized bases and the headquarters of Israel's military operation for southern Gaza, the source said.

Videos issued by Hamas showed the fighters breaching the security fences, with the dim light and low sun suggesting it was at around the time of the rocket barrage.

DRONE UNIT
Drones were used for border surveillance.

Hamas released a video showing what it described as drones called Zouari, saying they were the ones used to pave the way for the infiltration. It also released a video of militants launching the drones from Gaza.

INTELLIGENCE UNIT
This unit was used to identify the positions and movements of Israeli soldiers and to monitor their headquarters. The source did not provide further details about this unit.
Read the original article here.

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