text: Domestic SITREP: EUROPE NEARS CONFLICT, U.S. BRACES FOR DISRUPTIONSFollowing President Putin’s address to the world, Europe is bracing for conflict in Ukraine. For several years, the Russian government’s efforts at undermining social cohesion, institutional faith, and exploiting psychological vulnerability intersect with its ability to conduct persistent and potentially destructive cyber operations against businesses and governments at all levels. Repeated warnings from U.S. cybersecurity entities paint a rather grim outlook for potential disruptions to daily life. A few things we expect to see during the following days, weeks, and months are an increase in cyber intrusions, disruptions, and influence operations. At this point, a kinetic attack against the U.S. homeland remains unlikely, however, the potential impact of Russia’s known capabilities introduces a few considerations. In the event of a cyberattack or “maskirovka” campaign against U.S. banking systems, utilities, or other critical infrastructure, a few events are increasing in likelihood. Before intermittent and/or regional disruptions to your banking accounts, consider having sufficient cash (or alternative currency) on-hand for transactions. Understand that in a sustained disruption, some retailers may rapidly increase their prices to capitalize on the crisis. While this is largely illegal, your state commerce department may not be able to assist in a timely manner. Understand your personal and familial circumstances to navigate the situation, but don’t be caught off-guard by opportunists.Utility disruptions can include electricity, natural gas, internet connectivity, and water access. While each situation is unique, consider understanding where your utilities come from and what risks are posed to their continued operation. As Russia is likely to increase its information operations, double-check information purportedly from your providers as information about previous crises (Colonial Pipeline, Texas’ blizzard) was littered with state-backed disinformation. Misinformation about access and shortages are also likely as otherwise well-meaning users and reporters may not verify the information before sharing. Notably, this occurred during the Colonial Pipeline shutdown as millions of accounts (some authentic, some not) shared dated footage of long gas lines, theft, or improper storage (plastic bags).The overall impact on the homeland will become more apparent as the days and weeks progress. Be “out front” in preparing for these potential impacts and disruptions. A series of temporary problems can quickly cascade into a degraded local security situation without properly understanding your operational environment. – D.M.TAC INTEL COURSE SUMMARYIt is incredibly important to dig into low intensity conflict due to the current landscape in the U.S. and the progressing decline of U.S. influence abroad. Over the weekend, students learned skills to assist with navigating through a low intensity conflict. The course took students through the intelligence cycle and how to conduct an effective Area Study of your local area. These key lessons are the necessary foundation to build relevant information on likely threats. Your situation is unique; however, the methods taught provide the common framework to find the relevant information needed to stay ahead of the information curve. The tools employed to fill gaps in our awareness ranged among drones, open-source information, human sources, scanning radio frequencies, and more. Taking a deep dive into open source, human, signals, and imagery intelligence showed a variety of solutions available; however, integrating these pieces is another valuable skill to have. The course ended with putting the whole picture together. The lessons highlighted the importance of effectively fusing the collection information sources to understand the entire concept better while providing up-to-date battle tracking information. The scenarios were relevant, from local gang activity to cyber security threats.