Northeast Intelligence Network

By Kate Evans-Taylor, Analyst

9 March 2010: Just after settling in as the newest member of the Northeast Intelligence Network, I was ready to dig in to a list of assignments suggested to me by Doug Hagmann, the organization’s founder and director.  I followed the organization while living and working in Great Britain and courted the idea of joining the Northeast Intelligence Network after arriving in the U.S. Last month, I completed several informal training sessions that gave me necessary insight into the inner workings of the organization, only to be taken aback by a Fox News report out of Chicago about “cyber vigilantes” fighting terrorists on the Internet. That report featured the Northeast Intelligence Network as one of a group of “cyber-vigilantes” whose objectives include the act of going after and taking down terrorist web sites.

Pardon my expression and regression to my native slang, but the depiction of the Northeast Intelligence Network as a cyber-vigilante is a bunch of bollocks.

One of the very first things I learned during my induction into the Northeast Intelligence Network is the importance of being covert and operating without interference, especially in cyberspace. It is our operational policy to observe, follow and track terror threats, but never do anything to drive a source of raw intelligence further underground. After I read the article and watched the news video that aired with the Fox report, I immediately called Mr. Hagmann, who was featured in the segment for clarification. Had our policies suddenly changed?

Mr. Hagmann assured me that nothing had changed. The story was heavily edited and failed to include his emphasis on the tactics that separate the Northeast Intelligence Network from groups that have been defined as weekend warriors, armchair detectives, amateur sleuths and cyber vigilantes.

“We’ve spent far too much time and effort to infiltrate the forums, web sites and identify the informational portals used by the terrorists to do anything that would cause the Islamic terrorists and their supporters to shut down and move elsewhere in cyberspace,” he said. “It’s just not how we operate. It’s absolutely counterproductive and those who are engaged in such tactics are deluding themselves into believing that they are helping to fight terrorism. Just the opposite, in fact,” added Mr. Hagmann.

And so began my first assignment – interviewing Mr. Hagmann to write about on a topic I hadn’t expected and clearing any misconceptions about our counter-terrorism efforts. I also learned that there are so-called “cyber vigilantes” and ‘cyber-crusaders” as described in this 2008 Fox report who wear the title as a badge of honour.

“Although our operational tactics are vastly different from other groups having a visible presence on the Internet, we have unfortunately been lumped in with those organizations,” stated Mr. Hagmann. “The core of our all-volunteer organization consists of about 20 well-experienced professional investigators who excel in their individual areas of expertise, from surveillance to forensic accounting. Located across North America, they engage in the monitoring of communications of internet sites and also conduct field investigations and surveillance to verify information as warranted. Many are former law enforcement officers and veterans of federal investigative agencies. Not only are they experienced and adequately equipped with state of the art surveillance equipment, they are properly licensed,” stressed Mr. Hagmann. They comprise the covert area of operations and do not publicly contribute to the web site.

Additionally, many of these investigators have spent significant amounts of time infiltrating the forums and web sites operated by Islamic terrorists, creating multiple identities and becoming established within those venues. Unlike to so-called “cyber vigilantes” who disrupt the terror sites, their sole purpose is to covertly monitor their communications and collect information about the identities of the participants. Based on my limited time with the Northeast Intelligence Network, I am amazed at the amount of information that has been collected.

“Ours is a strictly passive activity and at no time do our investigators engage, bait or disrupt any activity taking place within the groups that have been infiltrated. It is not our business to solicit responses or encourage or engage in any dialogue, but to document activity, which is then vetted for content and submitted to the appropriate law enforcement agency,” stated Mr. Hagmann.

The public side of our organization, or what is presented on our website, is provided as a public service to inform and possibly educate our readers of the potential threats we face. It is the combined product of our investigative findings in conjunction with open source information. It also provides critical insight from authenticated sources within the law enforcement and intelligence communities about less overt threats to our nation, including threats from within.

Sean Osborne, assistant director of our organization, has a strong military background and specializes in issues involving both military and geopolitical affairs. Mr. Osborne has an extremely comprehensive understanding of the military and paramilitary issues and offers his assessments based on that understanding and experience. His public contributions have provided our readers with extensive assessments of the larger picture.

Mr. Hagmann is emphatic about helping and not hindering law counter-terrorism efforts. “As an organization and individually, we are absolutely against any activity that has the potential to interfere with the efforts by our intelligence services and law enforcement agencies. We are certainly not ‘cyber-crusaders’ or ‘cyber-vigilantes,’ and believe that those who consider themselves as such are doing more harm than good. Merely causing a [terrorist] web site to be shut down is of little overall consequence. Those who truly understand how these sites, forums and portals are set up would realize that their actions have little impact on the terrorists’ operation, but they do have the potential to significantly disrupt legitimate efforts to gather intelligence,” he stated.

According to Doug Hagmann, “being characterized as some type of cyber-vigilante is both inaccurate and insulting. Based on my experience, I agree.

Kate Evans-Taylor joined the Northeast Intelligence Network in February 2010 as a researcher, analyst and contributor. Ms. Taylor is a native of Yorkshire, England where she worked in data collection and analysis for the British government. She moved to the U.S. in 2004 and obtained citizenship status in 2009. She currently resides in Western New York with her husband and two boys.