Gulf of Guinea Pirates: A Boko Haram Connection?

A CNN investigative report suggests there is in Kidnapped captain told ransoms may go to Boko Haram:

Yan St-Pierre, CEO of Modern Security Consulting Group, said his contacts believe Boko Haram, once confined strictly to the northern parts of Nigeria, is benefiting from the increase in piracy along the west coast of Africa. But the group is perhaps not directly carrying out the kidnappings itself.

"So when people are asking, is there a link between Boko Haram and piracy in Nigeria, it's not the one they usually expect it to be,'' said St-Pierre, whose firm was not involved in the Thomas case. "It's one that is not necessarily logistical and operational. It's one that is more subtle. Essentially they will probably provide personnel every now and then, but it's not a fixed structure. So we are talking more (about) providing means to wash the money, to clean it. To make sure the smuggling routes, personnel, sex slaves, drugs, weapons above all else, these pirates need weapons.

"So if Boko Haram provided the weapons in advance for example and said, 'Well we will get a cut of the ransom,' which is standard policy within these groups within the region in general, this would make absolute sense to say, well the ransom money that was paid for the captain ended up at the very least partially into Boko Haram's hands, quite probably as a payment for services delivered."

"Subtle" connections . . .

Saturday is Heinlein Quote Day #15

From Chapter 35 of The Puppet Masters

'... [T]he price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, any time and with utter recklessness.'

See here and contemplate how it makes the cost of taking away freedom very high.

Or, as set out in another context: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Independence Day Video - War of Independence: History of the United States Navy (1956)

Happy 4th!

Disaster Prep Wednesday: Terrorist Hazards

There are all those natural disasters to prepare for - and disasters caused by accidents - but, sadly, there are also those events that can be caused by terrorists that we need to prepare for. At Ready.gov they call these "terrorist hazards" and list 6 potential threats:

1. Biological;
2. Chemical;
3. Cyber;
4. Explosions;
5. Nuclear Blast; and
6. Radiogical Dispersion Device

Preparation for all these begins with the basic disaster preparation steps:

Build an Emergency Supply Kit, which includes items like non-perishable food, water, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, extra flashlights and batteries.
Make a Family Emergency Plan. Your family may not be together when disaster strikes, so it is important to know how you will contact one another, how you will get back together and what you will do in case of an emergency.

For biological and chemical acts, for the most part you want to shelter in place until an
"all clear" is given. HEPA filters can help screen out biologics. For chemical events, you will want to turn off that ventilation system and use duct tape and plastic sheeting from your emergency kit can help to seal doors and other air entry points until you get that "all clear":

If you are instructed to remain in your home or office building, you should:

- Close doors and windows and turn off all ventilation, including furnaces, air conditioners, vents, and fans.
- Seek shelter in an internal room and take your disaster supplies kit.
- Seal the room with duct tape and plastic sheeting.
- Listen to your radio for instructions from authorities.

Cyber attacks can run the gamut from those threatening national security to those that are most likely to affect you and your family:

Transportation, power, and other services may be disrupted by large scale cyber incidents. The extent of the disruption is highly uncertain as it will be determined by many unknown factors such as the target and size of the incident.

Photo by Christopher Mardorf

In such cases, many things not connected to the internet may continue to function normally (your car, for example) your lights, heat/air conditioning, water and other things may be impacted. Once again, that emergency kit is vital.

Most terrorist driven explosions will not be directed to individual dwellings but at place that can maximize the "terror effect" or damage infrastructure - which might include damaging power and water structures:

There can be significant numbers of casualties and/or damage to buildings and the infrastructure. So employers need up-to-date information about any medical needs you may have and on how to contact your designated beneficiaries.
- Heavy law enforcement involvement at local, state and federal levels follows a terrorist attack due to the event's criminal nature.
- Health and mental health resources in the affected communities can be strained to their limits, maybe even overwhelmed.
- Extensive media coverage, strong public fear and international implications and consequences can continue for a prolonged period.
- Workplaces and schools may be closed, and there may be restrictions on domestic and international travel.

Photo by Benjamin Crossley

- You and your family or household may have to evacuate an area, avoiding roads blocked for your safety.
- Clean-up may take many months.

In event of a nuclear blast, if you are in a safe place away from the blast, the best thing to do may be to shelter in place and await instructions:

- Stay where you are, even if you are separated from your family. Inside is the safest place for all people in the impacted area. It can save your life.
- During the time with the highest radiation levels it is safest to stay inside, sheltered away from the radioactive material outside.
- Radiation levels are extremely dangerous after a nuclear detonation but the levels reduce rapidly.
- Expect to stay inside for at least 24 hours unless told otherwise by authorities.

Got a workplace Emergency Supply Kit?

Radiological Dispersion Device (RDD)
Terrorist use of an RDD — often called “dirty nuke” or “dirty bomb” — is considered far more likely than use of a nuclear explosive device. An RDD combines a conventional explosive device — such as a bomb — with radioactive material. It is designed to scatter dangerous and sub-lethal amounts of radioactive material over a general area. Such RDDs appeal to terrorists because they require limited technical knowledge to build and deploy compared to a nuclear device. Also, the radioactive materials in RDDs are widely used in medicine, agriculture, industry and research, and are easier to obtain than weapons grade uranium or plutonium.

The primary purpose of terrorist use of an RDD is to cause psychological fear and economic disruption. Some devices could cause fatalities from exposure to radioactive materials. Depending on the speed at which the area of the RDD detonation was evacuated or how successful people were at sheltering-in-place, the number of deaths and injuries from an RDD might not be substantially greater than from a conventional bomb explosion.

Once in your shelter:

If you have time, turn off ventilation and heating systems, close windows, vents, fireplace dampers, exhaust fans, and clothes dryer vents. Retrieve your disaster supplies kit and a battery-powered radio and take them to your shelter room.

Seek shelter immediately, preferably underground or in an interior room of a building, placing as much distance and dense shielding as possible between you and the outdoors where the radioactive material may be.

Seal windows and external doors that do not fit snugly with duct tape to reduce infiltration of radioactive particles. Plastic sheeting will not provide shielding from radioactivity nor from blast effects of a nearby explosion.

Listen for official instructions and follow directions.

Saturday is Heinlein Quote Day #14

From Starship Troopers:

" . . . War is not violence and killing, pure and simple; war is controlled violence, for a purpose. The purpose of war is to support your government's decisions by force. The purpose is never to kill the enemy just to be killing him...but to make him do what you want to do. Not killing...but controlled and purposeful violence. But it's not your business or mine to decide the purpose of the control. It's never a soldier's business to decide when or where or how—or why—he fights; that belongs to the statesmen and the generals. The statesmen decide why and how much; the generals take it from there and tell us where and when and how. We supply the violence; other people—'older and wiser heads,' as they say—supply the control. Which is as it should be."

Which is a nice paraphrase of Clausewtiz

"War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfill our will"
and

"We see, therefore, that War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means. All beyond this which is strictly peculiar to War relates merely to the peculiar nature of the means which it uses. That the tendencies and views of policy shall not be incompatible with these means, the Art of War in general and the Commander in each particular case may demand, and this claim is truly not a trifling one. But however powerfully this may react on political views in particular cases, still it must always be regarded as only a modification of them; for the political view is the object, War is the means, and the means must always include the object in our conception. "

The last part is usually offered up as, "War is a mere continuation of policy by other means."

On Midrats 29 June 2014 - Episode 234: "Asking the right questions to build the right leaders"

Please join us at 5pm (U.S. EDT) on Sunday, 29 June 2014 for Midrats Episode 234: "Asking the right questions to build the right leaders":

Is the profession of arms, as the Navy believes it is, primarily a technical job for officers - or is it something else?

To create the cadre of leaders one needs, do you train them as empty vessels that one only needs to fill up with what you want or an empty checklist to complete - or do you train them by helping them bring out their ability to lead and make decisions through informed critical thinking?

Our guest for the full hour to discuss this and more will be Major Matt Cavanaugh, USA. Matt is currently assigned as an Assistant Professor in military strategy at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Prior to this assignment, Matt was a Strategic Planner at the Pentagon, after service with the with Second Squadron, Third Armored Cavalry Regiment with multiple deployments to Iraq from Fallujah, Ramadi, and Tal’Afar.

Matt earned his Master’s in Strategic Studies at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand and is currently at work on a PhD dissertation on generalship at the University of Reading (UK). He is a Fellow at the Center for the Study of Civil Military Operations, has been published with several peer-reviewed military and academic journals, and is the Editor at WarCouncil.org, a site dedicated to the study of the use of force. Matt has represented the United States in an official capacity in ten countries, including: Iraq, Kuwait, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Latvia, and Great Britain.

Matt is the author of the blog essays Ten Questions West Point Does Not Ask Cadets - But Should, Another Ten Questions West Point Does Not Ask Cadets - But Should, and What Cadets Should Study - and Why Military History is Not Enough.

Join us live at 5pm (U.S. EDT) on Sunday, 29 June 2014 or pick up the show later by clicking here.

Friday Fun Film: Operation Deep Freeze (1957)

Exploring Antarctica . . . the logistics force supporting the effort:

Operation Deep Freeze was a massive scientific expedition to Antarctica which began in 1955.

Some of us remember when the U.S. Navy had ice breakers. And AOGs and YOGs.

I wonder what the environmental impact statement would look like today . . .

Should there be a "cost-benefit analysis of fighting maritime piracy? The Government Accountability Office says it might be a good idea in its report "MARITIME SECURITY Ongoing U.S. Counterpiracy Efforts Would Benefit From Agency Assessments"

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If you are looking for humor of a sort, you might look at the following table:

I would suggest that the difference in the "Pirate response to armed security teams" between the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Guinea has a great deal to do with the variation in the quality of the private security teams between the two areas. So ... just sayin'  - there are many kinds of "cost effectiveness."
Hat tip to USNI News.

Disaster Prep Wednesday: Lightning Safety Awareness Week: June 22-28, 2014

Summer begins - people are outdoors more and so it's time for Lightning Safety Awareness Week: June 22-28, 2014:

Summer is the peak season for one of the nation's deadliest weather phenomena--lightning. Though lightning strikes peak in summer, people are struck year round. In the United States, an average of 51 people are killed each year by lightning, and hundreds more are severely injured.

Of course, in 2012, 34,000 people died in car wrecks, so 51 is, relatively speaking, not a big number.

On the other hand, as the logic goes, it matters a lot to those 51 and their loved ones.

The main thing is to be safe - so far in 2014, 7 people have been killed by lightning:

What lessons can be learned from these deaths? If it is thundering and there is lightning about, it is a really, really good idea to get inside and away from lakes, trees, roof tops and open places. As The National Weather Service says,

That's Leon the Lion (lions roar, you see, so ...)

So, where are the high risk areas?

Lightning Deaths U.S. 2004- 2013

You can draw your own conclusions about where the danger lurks.

NWS also has a good web page on how lightning can get at you here (those images on the right and below came from there). Explanations at that link.

So far as I have been able to
research things, no one has ever been killed while taking a shower in a building or while in a bath tub inside or talking on a wired phone. Your research may vary and I look forward to seeing it.

However, the NWS offers these shelter safety tips here that warn against using a corded phone or showering, so what do I know?

The point is - get under cover. Be safe.

You don't want to be a statistic.

People Smugglers: US Coast Guard Rescues and Repatriates Migrants from Haiti

Poor and desperate people who are taken advantage of by thugs. So, the U.S. Coast Guard has to spring into action - a sad response to a failed country's mess. Reported by the Coast Guard News as "Smugglers force migrants into the sea in attempt to avoid interdiction":

The Coast Guard repatriated 43 Haitian migrants Wednesday from two separate interdictions in the Mona Passage, including a pair of migrants who had to be rescued after they were forced into the water by smugglers attempting to avoid interdiction at sea.

The Coast Guard Cutter Confidence repatriated the migrants to Haiti Wednesday.

On Friday a group of 19 migrants was detected by a Coast Guard aircraft west of Mona Island, Puerto Rico. Coast Guard Sector San Juan diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo to interdict the migrant vessel and informed federal law enforcement partner agencies.

Upon the cutter Key Largo’s arrival on scene, the smugglers, in an attempt to flee the area and avoid interdiction, allegedly threatened the migrants onboard and forced two Haitians, including a minor, overboard without life jackets. The crew of the Key Largo rescued the two Haitians and continued to pursue the suspect vessel.

During the pursuit, a patrolling U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine Operations aircraft was able to maintain surveillance of the fleeing vessel until it was relieved by a Coast Guard HC-144 Maritime Patrol aircraft deployed to Puerto Rico from Coast Guard Air Station Miami.

The suspected smugglers were later apprehended by Dominican Republic law enforcement authorities.

“This incident demonstrates just how ruthless smugglers are. They have no regard for human life and are only seeking to profit from this illicit activity,” said Lt. Daniel E. Stepler, Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo commanding officer.

The other 24 Haitian migrants were interdicted four days earlier by Coast Guard Cutter Drummond approximately 13 miles west of Mona Island. Two suspected smugglers were apprehended and turned over to law enforcement authorities in Puerto Rico for further investigation.

Hanging from a yardarm might be a good idea for those smugglers. Attempted murder charges at least.

How bad is the problem? "Coast Guard Repatriates 56 Migrants to Cap Haitien, Haiti and Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba":

The Coast Guard repatriated 25 Haitian migrants to Cap Haitien, Haiti, and 31 Cuban migrants to Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba, Tuesday.

These repatriations are a result of five separate attempts to illegally migrate to the United States.

On June 9, 2014, the Coast Guard Cutter Drummond interdicted 25 Haitian migrants on a yola vessel west of Mona Island, Puerto Rico. The migrants were transferred to the Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma and then to the Coast Guard Cutter Confidence for repatriation to Haiti.
C
The following Friday, three separate interdictions totaling 31 migrants took place in the Florida Straits. The crews of Coast Guard Station Key West, Florida, Coast Guard Station Marathon, Florida, the Coast Guard Cutter Sawfish and Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo interdicted the migrants and safely removed them from their unseaworthy vessels.

All the migrants interdicted were transferred to the Coast Guard Cutters Knight Island and Confidence for repatriation.

“The Coast Guard and our partner agencies continue to diligently patrol the waters around the United States to deter illegal migrant activity,” said Capt. Mark Fedor, chief of response enforcement. “Our main concern is the safety of life at sea. When migrants put their lives in the hands of smugglers, or take to the sea aboard unseaworthy vessels, they put their lives at grave risk.”

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter all migrants receive food, water, shelter, and basic medical attention.

Crewmembers from the Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo rescue a Haitian migrant from the water west of Mona Island, Puerto Rico, Friday. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

Maritime Crime Threat: People Smugglers at Sea

There ought to be a special level of hell for the people who engage in the sea smuggling of people for profit. Ruthless hardly covers it.

See here:

Smuggling of Migrants is a crime involving the procurement for financial or other material benefit of illegal entry of a person into a State of which that person is not a national or resident. Migrant smuggling affects almost every country in the world. It undermines the integrity of countries and communities, and costs thousands of people their lives every year.

Reuters report: "Overloaded boat sinks off Malaysia, 34 Indonesians missing, three dead":

An overloaded boat carrying suspected illegal Indonesian immigrants sank as it left Malaysia's west coast early on Wednesday, and at least three passengers drowned and 34 were missing.

The boat, whose passengers included women and children, sank at the mouth of a river shortly after midnight as it left Malaysia's Carey Island, likely bound for Indonesia's Sumatra island, officials and witnesses said.

Police said the boat lacked safety equipment such as life jackets, but that rescuers were still holding out hope of finding more survivors. The boat went down in shallow water close to shore.

"It is likely that survivors could have swum ashore and went into hiding since they have no legal documents here," said Mohammed Hambali Yaakup, head of operations in the area for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).

Hambali said he could not confirm reports that a people-smuggling gang had been involved with the boat. All 60 survivors have been arrested under immigration laws, he said.

This problem is not limited to Asia - as noted in this BBC report, "On Italy's immigration front line":

Record numbers of immigrants have been arriving in the country this year. Arriving from the south, from Africa. Since the start of 2013 some 10,000 have landed every month, a growing number of them picked up by the Italian navy.

When 366 people died off the Italian island of Lampedusa last October, as the boat carrying them sank, Italy decided to deploy its maritime forces to prevent more deaths. They called the operation "Mare Nostrum" - Our Sea.

It's taking a toll on the country's finances, and on its immigration centres, which are filling up at an alarming rate.

It's also putting pressure on other European countries to share the burden, but there's increasing political pressure within many of those countries to limit immigration.

Few countries could handle 10,000 new immigrants per month, especially those arriving without any useful skills or funds to set themselves up in a new location.

Too bad the home countries of these migrants are such hellholes that any escape, even in the hands of hardened criminals, seem like the best of all the bad choices available. Since it seems that so many women and children are involved, it seems even worse.

Midrats 22 June 14 - Episode 233: "Global Combat Fleet Development With Eric Wertheim"

Please join us today on Midrats at 5pm Eastern (U.S. EDT) for Episode 233: Global Combat Fleet Development With Eric Wertheim:

From the USA, Europe, Russia, to the South China Sea, nations continue to signal where their priories are by what type of fleet they are building.

What capabilities are they expanding, and what capabilities are they letting drift away?

To discuss this and more for the full hour will be returning guest Eric Wertheim.

Eric is a defense consultant, columnist and author specializing in naval and maritime issues. He was named to the helm of the internationally acknowledged, one volume Naval Institute reference Combat Fleets of the World in 2002.

Join us live at 5pm or pick the show up later by clicking here.

Saturday is Heinlein Quote Day #13

From Robert Heinlein's Rocket Ship Galileo

“There is a world of difference, under the laws of free men, between an unprovoked attack and striking back in your own defense. If a footpad assaults you in a dark alley, you don’t have to get a court order to fight back.”

Good time to remember that.

Friday Fun Film: War with Iraq (Desert Storm Portion)

The war in the Middle East:




An over-reaching dictator. Twelve years later he was fixed and the Iraqis given a chance.

The Navy was there. The Navy is still there.

Strategy: Naval War College: Current Strategy Forum 2014 (in part)

From the DVIDS site, videos of the 2014 Current Strategy Forum held at the Naval War College:

The videos are posted here

As noted on the DVIDS site:

This year marks the 65th annual Current Strategy Forum (CSF) at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. The first CSF was held on May 9, 1949 under the title “Round Table Talks.” This event offers an opportunity for the nation’s public servants, scholars, and senior military officers to join the College faculty and students to discuss the future strategy of the United States.

Yes, any word you misspell will always be in the post title.

UPDATED to put in link directly to DVIDS page.

South China Sea Pirates? Another small tanker goes missing in the SCS

 According to the Norwegian Maritime Authority, there is another Missing vessel in the South China Sea

1. IFC received information from Company that they have lost communication with their Indonesia Flag Product Tanker "ARSENAL" at the South China Sea.
The details are as follows:2. Vessel details:Name: ARSENAL (Product Tanker)IMO: 7620964Flag: IndonesiaType: Product TankerCompany: Global Marine TransportLPOC: Eastern OPLNPOC: VietnamLast Known Position; 01 31N 104 29E (020 HBL 12nm) at 17 0745H Jun 14.
3. Incident details: Company lost communication with the Product Tank since 17 0745H Jun 14. Product Tanker "ARSENAL" is manned by 12 Indonesia. "ARSENAL" is carrying "MOGAS" as her cargo. ARENSAL accompanied by a tug named Pawai.

Hat tip to Lars H. Bergqvist

All images from here.

UPDATE: See New Threat to Small Tankers in SE Asia from The Maritime Executive.

South China Sea Pirates: Another Tanker Robbed of Cargo Fuel

Ai Maru with Malaysian MMEA vessel alongside

Reported in the New Sabah Times:

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has confirmed that pirates seized about 700,000 litres of diesel worth RM1.4 million from an oil tanker, ‘MT Ai Maru’ on Saturday night, about 31 nautical miles off Timur Tanjung Sedili, Johor.

MMEA deputy director general (Operations), Datuk Mohd Puzi Ab Kahar said the agency was investigating whether it was an “inside job” ....
***
Mohd Puzi said the tanker was located at 3.20 am yesterday and an inspection found that the crew and captain were unharmed.

“According to the crew, the pirates pumped out the fuel in three hours into another ship which they could not identify.

“The captain claimed the crew were confined in a room while he was ordered by the pirates who were armed with machetes and pistols to steer the ship. He could not ascertain the nationality of the culprits who later fled towards the nearby islands such as Pulau Andalas in Indonesia or Pulau Aur,” he said.

These pirates are good. Too good to be anything other than a well-organized gang.

Circled area is vicinity of hijacking

Must be good money in it.

Where does ISIS get its logistical support?

There is this, "The Economist explains: What ISIS, an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, really wants"

ISIS originated as an al-Qaeda offshoot in Iraq. Composed of fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, the group targeted the Iraqi government and American forces in Iraq, as well as Shia Muslims and Christians (both of whom it considers heretics) and killed civilians of all faiths in indiscriminate attacks. It expanded into Syria when that country's uprising turned into a war between President Bashar Assad (who is backed by Iran's Shia leadership) and the rebels he had tried to crush. One of the best-equipped and funded militias on the ground—although its sources of cash are murky—ISIS took control of the eastern rebel-held city of Raqqa in 2012 and expanded along the border with Turkey. Foreign fighters flocked to Syria to join it.

As ISIS’s name suggests, the interests of the group and its current leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi go beyond Syria. Its members believe that the world's Muslims should live under one Islamic state ruled by sharia law.

Murky? In this day and age? Others sites have been less reluctant to point fingers. See CFR's Backgrounder "Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria":

Supporters in the region, including those based in Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, are believed to have provided the bulk of past funding. Iran has also financed AQI, crossing sectarian lines, as Tehran saw an opportunity to challenge the U.S. military presence in the region, according to the U.S. Treasury and documents confiscated in 2006 from Iranian Revolutionary Guards operatives in northern Iraq. In early 2014, Iran offered to join the United States in offering aid to the Iraqi government to counter al-Qaeda gains in Anbar province.

The bulk of ISIS's financing, experts say, comes from sources such as smuggling, extortion, and other crime. ISIS has relied in recent years on funding and manpower from internal recruits. Even prior to ISIS's takeover of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in June 2014, the group extorted taxes from businesses small and large, netting upwards of $8 million a month, according to some estimates.

The Old Caliphate

Of course, now there are reports of an ISIS bank heist of over $400 million in Mosul, which ought to pay for a lot of those "out of area volunteers" and their AK-47s.

Cutting off the ISIS supply chain might have been easier before they apparently captured so much equipment from those elements of the Iraqi Army that decided to beat feet in the face of the enemy.

Ah, Sunni v. Shiite and a turf war over an oil rich country. Might want to dust off those books on the 30 years war when the Catholics vs. Protestant dust-up morphed into the battle for dominance of Europe. Of course, that was 500 400 years ago (1618- 1648) (updated).

This will get even uglier. Not much middle ground in the sectarian/clan battlefield.

Good stuff at The Long War Journal. Go see.

UPDATE: ISIS has big money for a gang of thugs, see How an arrest in Iraq revealed Isis's $2bn jihadist network (hat tip to War on the Rocks).

Father's Day

Korea 1952, Dad on the flight line at Kunsan, the B-26s he flew in the background:

Some wag wrote on the back of the photo, "Some guy who stands in front of things to have his picture taken." I guess the rules on flight line smoking were different then.

At the time of the photo he was a 35 year old AF Reservist, recalled for Korea. In WWII he flew in B-17s with 35 combat missions after first serving in the horse cavalry near San Diego. During the Korean War he flew over 150 combat missions.

After Korea, he remained on active duty, finally retiring from the USAF in 1972 after a great deal of time in SAC.

He was once described a "big man built low to the ground."

A gentleman and great father.

Saturday is Heinlein Quote Day #12

“A managed democracy is a wonderful thing... for the managers... and its greatest strength is a 'free press' when 'free' is defined as 'responsible' and the managers define what is 'irresponsible'.”
― Robert A. Heinlein,The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

See here from 20130:

If these bills—support for which the White House reaffirmed in its DOJ report—pass without change, Congress effectively will create two tiers of journalists: the institutional press licensed by the government, and everyone else. That’s a pretty flimsy shield if what we are really trying to protect is the free flow of information.

One way to silence your critics is to define away their right to criticize. "Managing" the news, as it were.