Reputed counter-terrorism expert pleads guilty

[dogboy]

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/04/army-reputed-counter-terrorism-expert-pleads-guilty-040911/

Hillar, 66, of Millersville, Md., pleaded guilty March 29 to a single count of wire fraud in a federal court in Baltimore. As part of his plea, Hillar agreed to pay back $171,000 he made by lecturing universities, soldiers, and federal and local law enforcement agencies while falsely claiming he was a counter-terrorism expert and had earned doctorate from the University of Oregon.

In the plea agreement, Hillar admitted that over 12 years, he accepted thousands of dollars in speaking fees from the likes of the FBI Command College and the Drug Enforcement Administration. He even took Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., for $3,635 after a 2007 speaking engagement.

This looks pretty bad. He lectured for the FBI Command College!

[HGjunkie]

[♠SARKID♠]

Okay, so if he had none of the training he said he did how did he manage to seem knowledgeable enough to make a career teaching professionals?  I can't exactly go to Barnes & Noble and pick up Counter Terrorism Tactics for Dummies, so where did he get the basis for what he was teaching?

[MIKE]

The Internet?

[mclarke]

Well, I know of a few websites you can order badges, ID (pvc and laminate) including decals, plates, shirts hats, the works. Most of them are generic, but yeah. They even sell "certificates" for multiple achievements.

Fact is, all the information you take can be easily obtained on the internet, or e-bay in regards to credentials. My question is, why did they not run background checks to ensure he actually has the credentials before letting him in a FBI building.

[♠SARKID♠]

Yeah, but the information floating around on the internet can't be that extensive.  That type of info is locked up tight, isn't it?  What he would have found on the internet could only be basic information and not enough to create a persona like the one he did.  Using the info from the internet to lecture to the FBI would be like me walking into an NTC conference, saying I was the radio god, and proceeding to teach B-CUT.  Anything from the internet is stuff they would already know and would probably smell a rat right off.  I'm convinced there's more to it than info he just found.  Wouldn't you agree?

[lordmonar]

I guess it depends on the nature of your information and the audiance you are talking to.

If your audiance has zero knowledge of counter terrorism....then the guy why has read on book on it becomes a fracking genius.

In the land of the blind....the one eyed man is king.

[mclarke]

Not so much. Think of it like this. You have a diary? Leave it on your dresser. Someone climbs thru your window and your in. Its the same. Everything you need to know is out there. Movies, books, websites. For example. I recently found our the local Level 1 Trauma hospital has sections off each department in the entire building with locked doors. In other words, for me to go from the ER to radiology/sonography, I have to have a keycard for 2 locked doors (and its only the next dept over).. Why? Because of a shoot out on greys anatomy...

Watch tears of the sun, read rainbow 6... all you have to do is know a little bit... Read about taliban, then speak to the police. You talk to the police, and learn more from them. You have just learned enough to teach to the state troopers. Now you do the same, talk to the FBI.. Your slowly expanding your knowledge...

its sad to say, but it really is that easy.