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From the Eyes of a Tiger: Schizo-affect resulting from being a former child soldier – Part III
The civil war in Sri Lanka from 1983-2009 was generally viewed as one of Asia`s most prolonged ethnic conflicts of the 21st century. It was and still is a conflict born out of ethnonationalism, where nationality, ethnicity, identity, religion, and culture played a significant role. It refers to the use of unconventional methods as part…
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From the Eyes of a Tiger: The OSINT as a catalyst for terrorists – Part II
During the summer of 1992, after completing the mandatory three battles with the Imran-Pandiyan Regiment, I was hand-picked by Thinesh Master to join the LTTE’s military intelligence unit. Thinesh was the military advisor to the LTTE leader Prabhakaran and oversaw the LTTE’s military office. He ordered that I be sent to the Military Intelligence Unit…
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From the Eyes of a Tiger: International Dimensions of the Sri Lankan civil war – Part I
I was only 17 years old when I was kidnapped from high school and forcibly deployed as a child soldier by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), better known as the Tamil Tigers. I rose quickly in the ranks to become an intelligence officer collaborating closely with the Tiger leadership. Over more than four…
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Spy Tigers: The LTTE Intelligence Wing (Part II)
By Adrien Fontanellaz & Kagusthan Ariaratnam One key contributor to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) effectiveness was the organization’s initial focus on gathering, analyzing, and exploiting intelligence. This dedication led to the development of an intelligence apparatus rivaling established state services. The LTTE formally established its intelligence wing in 1986, known as the…
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Combining Three Tiers of Intelligence-Gathering Is Key to Keeping Russia and China at Bay
The U.S. and its allies today face two major geopolitical threats: Russia and China. A prominent U.S. think tank, The Atlantic Council, published a dire forecast in September 2016, entitled “Global Risks 2035” that predicted a Hobbesian world “marked by the breakdown of order, violent extremism [and] an era of perpetual war”. According to this report, the…
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Special Report: Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Bombings – An Intelligence Failure? Or an Intelligence Operation?
This article was originally published by “The NATO Association of Canada” on May 25, 2020. Since the Easter Sunday bombings that rocked Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 21, 2019, killing more than 250 people and injuring another 500, questions remain unanswered surrounding the role of the Sri Lankan military and intelligence services before and after…
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Timely and Innovative Intelligence Tradecraft Is the Need of the Day to Save the Afghanistan Peace Deal
While the entire world is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taliban in Afghanistan has steadily staged more than 4,500 attacks across the war-ravaged country in the 45 days since they signed an agreement for a U.S. troop drawdown, according to a Reuters report. In a previously secret agreement that was disclosed by a Twitter…
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Unintended Intelligence Consequences: How Yesterday’s Proxy Insurgents turned into Today’s Terrorists
Introduction During the Cold War, nations were increasingly sponsoring and/or supporting insurgencies. For instance, the United States of America supported Afghan-Mujahedin, Nicaraguan Contras, and Tibetan Buddhist fighters. The Soviet Union supported communist guerrillas in Angola, Greece, and South Africa. China supported insurgents in Vietnam. India supported Sri Lankan Tamil rebels. In fact, Trends in Outside…
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Intelligence Innovation Outside The Anglosphere: Deconstructing The Sri Lankan Counterterrorism Model For Obliterating ISIS
Introduction As the entire world is coming forward to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), I would like to share my opinion here on how to fight ISIS and eventually obliterate them just like the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) just seven years ago. ISIS, an…
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Tigers’ Eyes and Ears: The LTTE Intelligence Wing (Part I)
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) Intelligence Wing, Tiger Organization Security Intelligence Service (TOSIS) The author would like to dedicate this article to Colonel Tuan Nizam Muthaliff RWP, MI (July 12, 1966 – May 31, 2005) was the former Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Military Intelligence Corps, Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) of…