Armed SAS troops have reportedly been deployed to key positions in busy streets across the UK, with hopes that the tactic will have soldiers poised for any unfolding terror attacks.
One source told The Mirror: "The view is there are so many homeless people out there undercover operators will remain safe and anonymous.
[...] Another source claimed to the paper that the operation had been ongoing for "some time", with soldiers stationed around transport hubs and shopping centres.
Soldiers from the Counter Revolutionary Warfare Wing have reportedly been drafted for the operation.
Source: The Sun
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SAS Troops Posing as Homeless on UK Streets Amid Terror Fears
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(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @08:05PM (1 child)
In 2014, I think I encountered one between a supermarket and a transport hub. Always wore very clean natural cotton sportswear like an undercover police officer trying to look ghetto. Outright prick and suspiciously good at fighting. Gave me tips to not lose my next fight.
(Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Monday June 19 2017, @04:22AM
Obviously their strategy has paid off handsomely, since there haven't been any successful terrorist attacks since 2014.
(Score: 4, Funny) by maxwell demon on Sunday June 18 2017, @08:22PM (17 children)
So we conclude that we must maintain a certain level of homelessness to provide for a cover for undercover agents. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:10PM (4 children)
I thought the implication was that the homeless have secretly been undercover government agents all this time.
(Score: 3, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:31PM (2 children)
Quick Ginger, we haven't a moment to lose! [youtube.com]
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @10:06PM
der der-ler duh der-ler duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh DDDUUUUUHHHH
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday June 19 2017, @04:20AM
I was just waiting for Sir Digby Chicken Caesar to come up in this discussion :-).
(Score: 2) by number11 on Monday June 19 2017, @02:16AM
If it is true, I'm sure that the real homeless can spot the fake ones even at great distance.
(Score: 4, Funny) by frojack on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:26PM (6 children)
No, you've misunderstood.
This is the plan for getting rid of the homeless, by painting targets on their back and getting terrorists to take them out first giving the actual tax payers time to scurry away.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:32PM
Sure treat the symptom not the economic disease causing it.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:52PM (3 children)
I tag this "Evil Genius idea of the day".
Diabolical!
My one came across the idea that it was a very easy way to explain any future sudden increase in homeless people you see day to day round here. "Oh, they are not really homeless left to rot on the street, let down by society and our collapsing economy. They are in fact crack undercover troops protecting us and our blossoming economy from evil!!"
"No, don't give them any charity, you might blow their cover"
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @10:16PM (1 child)
Just put the word out that there are undercover agents spying on the homeless and watch as the paranoid homeless population murder each other to eliminate the undercover threat. For extra evil bonus points the undercover agents do not even have to exist.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday June 19 2017, @04:25AM
That would be the way I'd do it. Then I'd leak that bus drivers were also sikrit anti-terrist agents. And bag ladies. And chavs. And pigeons. That'd put the wind up those pesky terrists, everywhere they go they're surrounded by sikrit law enforcement personnel.
Especially the pigeons.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday June 19 2017, @08:08AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday June 19 2017, @07:07PM
I hear the Tories might be looking for a new leader in a couple of weeks. Thought of applying?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday June 19 2017, @12:11AM
I conclude that California is either an impenetrable fortress or a homeless magnet.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by TheRaven on Monday June 19 2017, @10:17AM (3 children)
Given that this is coming from the Sun, it sounds like a piece saying 'look, the Tories aren't responsible for a massive housing crisis and increase in homelessness, those aren't actually homeless people that you're seeing, they're all undercover SAS soldiers making you safe! But please keep being afraid of the scary terrorists!'
For those keeping score at home: the number dead in the Grenfell Tower as a result of the Tories refusing to push through regulation that had been recommended by a government-commissioned safety review to ban highly inflammable insulation material has now killed 79 people. The 7/7 2005 bombing of the London underground, the worst terrorist attack in the UK in the last couple of decades, killed 56 (52 if you don't count the suicide bombers). The 2017 Westminster attack killed 5 (plus the attacker), and the June 2017 attack killed 8 (plus three attackers). That's a total of 65 for the terrorists over a period of 12 years, against 79 for the Tories in a single event. STRONG AND STABLE!
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @11:28AM (1 child)
Since Grenfell Tower appears to have been populated mostly by muslim immigrants, I'm just waiting for the fire to be blamed on right-wing extremists.
(Score: 1) by purple_cobra on Wednesday June 21 2017, @02:50PM
I believe the most recently named culprit was a refrigerator. Any knowledge of its political views are pure speculation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @03:09PM
Don't forget the concert bombing. Another 22.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday June 18 2017, @08:27PM (3 children)
Sort of made sense that some governments would actually encourage a Micro#erft mon0culture, as it would make covert surveillance much easier. But now I see that the large population of homeless people in post-industrial nations is not due to conservatives cutting social services or speculative markets in real estate, but was created just to have cover for the Counter Revolutionary Warfare troops. So, once the War on Terror is over, we will see a reduction in homelessness?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @08:36PM
No, you'll see an increase in Counter Revolutionary Welfare troops.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:18PM
Hell will have some very nice powder to ski on.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1) by harmless on Monday June 19 2017, @12:17AM
The War on Terror will never be over.
Just the people designated terrorists will change.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Sunday June 18 2017, @08:33PM (17 children)
This is a very odd story, if true. One wonders in either case why the media would even write about it.
The SAS is quite small, best Internet guess around 1200-2000 people and they won't all be doing this, so it probably ain't large enough to field any kind of beggar-army to cover all metropolitan hotspots in Britain even if they wanted to for some extended period of time. It would have to be some very specific intelligence behind that. There will be a lot more potential targets then that if you count train stations, shopping centers, tourist attractions etc. There just won't be enough troopers if they are also going to perform all their normal duties and be active in every other military hotspot around the globe hunting for terrorists with their "kill lists" [1]. So this either have to be a very limited operation or they are hoping for some kind of panopticon effect -- you never know when you are being watched. This could be some weird ass psyops.
One does wonder what the potential negative aspects of it will be. Will people now assume that there are hidden SAS operatives hiding behind every beggar? A false sense of security for the public. Is the next ISIS target going to be killing beggars in metropolitan areas of Britain in hope of them finding an SAS operative to kill? Just waiting for some idiots to start kidnapping homeless people to make homegrown beheading videos. As a scare-tactic this probably won't work on terrorists -- if the last couple of attacks are any indicator of how things goes then no terrorists are coming out alive. So the threat of being interrupted by some special forces operatives probably isn't real enough to have any kind of deterrence effect.
I guess the sad part is that there are a lot of x-military personal on the streets as beggars already, they just are not there as part of some operation. They are there cause they are actual beggars, with physical and mental issues.
[1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/sas-special-forces-hit-list-iraq-syria-isis-terrorist-attacks-drones-a7400756.html [independent.co.uk]
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:14PM
It's a secret plan to get ISIS to expose themselves by attacking the homeless while at the same time reducing the number of homeless...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ledow on Sunday June 18 2017, @10:25PM (12 children)
It's bullshit.
And if it's not, I'm *really* pissed that someone knows about it enough to publish in a national paper, and The fucking Mirror at that (tabloid trash. For non-UK people - the biggest sign that this story is just bollocks is that it's only in The Sun, The Mirror or The Daily Mail).
Why the hell would anyone even know about this if it were true? Depending on how they found it, it's either publicly-available knowledge or it means that anyone casing a location would also know it within minutes.
I would hope that the SAS (which are an air-service, people, even if they do have particular roles related to terrorism sometimes - it's the equivalent of saying the Navy SEALs are doing this) are doing something much more productive with their time than hanging out at random Tube stations hoping to shoot the guy with a bomb before he explodes it.
And, I'm sorry, there are much better people to be doing this - with permission to carry arms, local knowledge, who can be drafted in from all over the country, are easier to deploy without arousing suspicion, and capable of the same kind of intelligence gathering / operation in this kind of instance as a random special forces guy. They're called police. Whose time is much less valuable than an elite unit.
Wrong people for the wrong kind of job, but it sounds "cool" to idiots if it looks like you might know what the SAS are doing...
If you do, I very much suspect the SAS are no longer an elite special forces unit. More likely they are active in quite predictable warzones and/or carrying out much more important missions. Wouldn't even be surprised if they were all over Russia or even the US at the moment. But would be INCREDIBLY surprised if anyone else knew that to any level of precision.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday June 18 2017, @11:12PM (1 child)
No, no they're not, as the first part of the Wiki article shows. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday June 19 2017, @08:15AM
> Its first mission, in November 1941, was a parachute drop
The ultimate in disinformation - tell the truth, noone expects that!
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday June 18 2017, @11:31PM (1 child)
The Independent found the story credible enough to mention, without providing its own independent sources.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-special-forces-homeless-people-road-sweepers-disguises-uk-cities-deploy-terror-threat-a7791221.html [independent.co.uk]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday June 19 2017, @08:22AM
A story they consider so important they (a) didn't investigate the claim themselves; and (b) didn't even get it proof-read?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @11:46PM (4 children)
posting anon for obvious reasons
I served in the Parachute Regiment starting in 1987. I went on to pass selection for a unit called 14 Intelligence Company(AKA The Det).
We did all the information gathering clouding photographic(still, video and audio) for the SAS to then go and take action on.
My Regiment supplies, both then and now, by far the most amount of soldiers to the SAS. Not me though, 14 Int which thgen became the Special Reconnaissance Regiment was plenty enough action for me.
I served with many SAS soldiers and their roles are many. This is something the SAS are quite suited to and have done similar roles in the past.
The SAS are ARMY .. soldiers and the "Air" applies to them the way "Airborne" applied to me and the rest of my Regiment and they also started life as an Army Commando unit. Also the SAS.. I'd put them up against the Seals 5 times a day, every day of the week and 40 times on Sunday.
And yes I say that from having served , both on exercise and in live theatres of warfare with seals.
As for the Sun, Mirror etc... well if you used them for toilet roll, more shit would come off the paper than your arse however the Independent(a quality broadsheet) also reports on it HERE [independent.co.uk] quoting the Mirror's and it's article is 2 days old and comes up top of the google search
Wow.. you do realise that.....The SAS are perfect for this role, also there's rather a lot more than you think.. there's 21 reserve (Artists Rifles - an old historical titles they ad but really they were outstanding forgers and outstanding soldiers), 22 who you will have heard of as it's the main unit and of course 23 SAS Reserves(based in Birmingham but has little satellite locations all round the UK. The SAS are also being given an extra 1500 men.. which will happen when the poor fuckjers can pass the course and I can tell you I have seen some hard as fuck, solid soldiers get minced by that course and come back somewhat more humble than they were before going on selection.
to sum up.. again the SAS are perfect for this role and have done it many times in many locations and much more besides while I served in direct support of their roles on a few those occasions... however it is a general rule of thumb that an active clandestine.operation would not be announced. I joined in 87(first three of my number 247(which can date entry ) and got out in 1999 as a Sgt(it's a lot harder in the British army than the yank army to get promoted, certainly in my day for sure. The Sceptic Tanks (yanks) get badges of rank thrown at them all over the place and having served alongside in support of the SAS in a fair few varying ways but mostly observational capability I can safely say what I have said confident that what I say is all present and correct on the "been there, done that, served alongside the regularly" stakes
want specifics?? dial 0800 get fucked. while my reserve service is now done, I also know that the Official secrets act most certainly isn't in regards to duties perfomed. broad strokes.. yeah.. easy but specifics.. nah.. can't help you
(Score: 2) by Kell on Monday June 19 2017, @12:48AM
You sound like an interesting person to share a pint with. Good stuff.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @05:32AM (1 child)
That's the point, you can't just magically give them an extra 1500 men..
If, as they say, less that 10% of the current candidates (and they're already a 'pre-filtered' group) pass, then to get this figure you'll have to put well over 15,000 through the course, now, as there's only between 70,000-113,100 soldiers currently in the forces one wonders how this'll pan out.
Of course, the could 'lower the bar'....somehow, I think not.
Ah, an RE colleague once referred to such things ('Operational' USian military decorations and the suchlike) as 'Muttley medals'..
I don't know why I've never heard that one before, but thank you for it, made my morning...
(Score: 1) by Pax on Monday June 19 2017, @01:39PM
maybe you have never run out of toilet roll!
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday June 19 2017, @07:11PM
Are you the session who played lead for Ritchie Blackmore on Smoke on the water? :-)
I played session for Rick Wakeman on all his best stuff.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Monday June 19 2017, @10:19AM (1 child)
Wouldn't the SBS be the equivalent of the Navy SEALs?
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @02:21PM
Yes bud, that would be more correct and much as it pains me to say this being an Ex-Parachute Regiment man and compliment the bootnecks(marines), I reckon the Special boat Section would outperform the Seals
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday June 19 2017, @02:41PM
Sounds like they'd be better off abandoning the idea now, since everybody knows about it. Then act like they're not using reverse psychology, the undercover guys are just *really good.*
I have a hard time imagining that the actual homeless people wouldn't immediately figure out who they were and not want to hang around with them, either.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @04:22AM
Indeed, 'Let's support our brave troops by blabbing about their undercover ops...' doesn't quite ring true..
The oft-quoted figure is 400-600, I suppose that's currently active, I'd be surprised given their nature that the number would be much higher than that, or publicly revealed. As for 'all metropolitan hotspots in Britain', they'll only be hanging around 'high value' targets, so London & our beloved 'great and good'..
Yes, you do wonder why they've painted such a large target on the backs of such a vulnerable group...
Seeing as they're going to die in glorious jihad (choice of houris. sherbet etc. etc. ) there is no 'scare-tactic' value in announcing another way of killing them, you want to scare them? arrange to keep them alive in an immobile state for the rest of their lives (no possibility of prayer etc. etc. etc..).
Termination with extreme prejudice doesn't have to be quick.
Indeed, far too many, sure, TPTB engage in the occasional 'hand wringing exercise' about this but you get the impression that they're acceptable casualties of a military system they don't want to change.
Quoted out of sequence here..
As we're constantly told, we already live in the CCTV capital of the world (actually, we don't, but there are quite a number of them in the major metropolitan areas), you already 'never know when you are being watched', and, as has sadly been shown, the only fucking use these things (CCTV cameras) are good for in terrorist incidents is providing the retrospective requisitely fuzzy footage of the bastards as they set out to do whatever they've planned to do, of course, I do feel that I have to point out that as we're told the numbers but never the details about any of their claimed 'operational successes' for 'operational security' reasons, what do I know?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday June 19 2017, @08:29AM (1 child)
That I doubt, it really wouldn't be good for their public image.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday June 19 2017, @03:12PM
Cause their public image now is so swell? Blowing up little kids, cutting the throats of infidels, tossing gay people from roofs, burning people alive ... Killing a beggar would somehow be crossing the line?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @08:40PM (3 children)
Where is aristarchus to remind us of the gay old days when beggars were the gods in disguise and you were obliged to be nice to them or they would smite you with thunderbolts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @08:51PM (2 children)
He's up there.
Personally, I just saw this movie the other weekend! Laurence Fishburne was the guy in charge of the homeless assassins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:05PM (1 child)
Where did he mention Zeus or Xenios or why you should give to Diogenes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @10:01PM
Oh sorry, didn't realize you were only looking for that.
Today I learned that Laurence Fishburne was Cowboy Curtis [memegenerator.net]!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:06PM (5 children)
What, you thought the Op was over? LoL!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Helm_15_conspiracy_theories [wikipedia.org]
The battle has just begun!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:34PM
JSOC get SASsy.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @10:03PM (3 children)
But the UK doesn't have FEMA concentration camps ready to go. :(
Or do they....?!
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday June 19 2017, @12:06AM
They call it "France"
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @04:26AM (1 child)
St. Kilda?
or, for added terror...IoW!
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday June 19 2017, @07:04PM
I hear what you say about the Isle of Wight, but what about Gruinard Island [wikipedia.org]? If the anthrax doesn't get you, the midgies [wikipedia.org] will.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:12PM (5 children)
As soon as they learn to code, every homeless person will become rich and famous, just like Michael David Crawford.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:45PM (4 children)
or you could end up like this guy:
http://www.newworldwar.org [newworldwar.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @09:51PM (3 children)
Sure because "blogging" === "coding" somehow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @04:41AM (1 child)
Hey, why not?, after all, it's also a 'job' as far as 'millennials' are concerned...
(cf. http://www.emmagannon.co.uk/2017/06/05/news-im-in-the-latest-microsoft-tv-advert/, [emmagannon.co.uk] https://youtu.be/t4G12L8d6j4 [youtu.be] Warning: Content of said site and video will offend your sensibilities..)
"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.” - Douglas Adams.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Monday June 19 2017, @10:22AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday June 19 2017, @08:09AM
Of course it is. After all, as modern blogger you write in Unicode! ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @07:00PM
The Sun is printing news now? Who cares. Are the boobs any good today? And who won the footie?