Everything you say is valid. And I'm glad that you specify "top of the chain" as it is less likely than some mope at the bottom.
But that's my point. it is these lower level people, maybe even up to mid level which are the weak links. Analysis and targeting, it's what led folks to UBL in the end.
There is nothing more damaging, in my opinion, than confirming your abilities, or lack thereof, to an adversary. That's why things are classified, there is strength in secrecy.
What bazillion is trying to get across is that people are people. They tend towards that which is most convenient and least painful. Sure, HN could come up with the worlds most secure, least detectable, most effective means of communicating with anyone, anywhere at anytime. It will also be a PITA for people to use. Hence, when your mind is occupied with blowing people up or kidnapping someone or hijacking a plane or stealing state secrets, you end up not spending a lot of time on the aforementioned Perfect Comms Path.. you use gmail and pgp the contents (maybe)
being smart doesn't preclude you from having someone stupid in your ranks. This applies to anyone trying to hide their activities. And im glad you're so sure about the comsec of all terrorist/spies/criminals.. totally separate, stand-alone communications networks, end-to-end encrypted, one-time pads, etc. why do anything at all? why? because its a ludicrous assertion and you know it. This goes to the point of the top comment.
We all better hope that Bloomberg/Vice is more authoritative on this subject than the intelligence community or else the NON-ZERO number of terrorism cases involving these types of comms just went dark.
Btw, wasn't it UBLs courier who was caught through his cell phone?
But that's my point. it is these lower level people, maybe even up to mid level which are the weak links. Analysis and targeting, it's what led folks to UBL in the end.
There is nothing more damaging, in my opinion, than confirming your abilities, or lack thereof, to an adversary. That's why things are classified, there is strength in secrecy.