For Headley, a terror plot was a 'Mickey Mouse Project'

According to Stratfor, that calls itself the world's leading online resource of geopolitical intelligence, Headley wasn't "merely a low-level cannon fodder-type operative".
When referring to attack plans in phone and e-mail conversations, Headley and his alleged co-conspirators reportedly called them "investment plans" or "business plans".
And when discussing the plot against Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which published the Mohammed cartoons, Headley and his co-conspirators referred to it as the "Mickey Mouse Project", the "MMP" or "the Northern Project".
For the most sensitive communications and planning activities - Headley, who is charged with scouting targets for the Mumbai attacks, travelled to Pakistan to meet with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihad e-Islami (HUJI) in person, a very secure way to communicate.
The Dec 7 indictment of Headley, charged with scouting targets for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, shows that he reportedly attended Lashkar-e-Taeba (LeT) training camps in Pakistan in February and August of 2002 and in April, August and December of 2003.

"This indicates that Headley progressed far beyond basic militant training, and it is likely that he was taught during his later training sessions the tradecraft required to conduct preoperational surveillance for terrorist attacks and to participate in the operational planning for such attacks," Stratfor said.

"One element of terrorist tradecraft that was evident in the indictment and the Oct 11 criminal complaint is Headley's careful use of language and of multiple methods of communications, including the use of cell phones and using long-distance calling cards, e-mail communication (using a variety of accounts) and face-to-face briefings," the global intelligence company said.
Headley also used a common militant communication method of creating messages and then saving them in the drafts folder of a Web mail service rather than sending the message. A second person can simply log on and read the communication in the draft folder without an e-mail having been sent.
In addition to facilitating communication, these "electronic dead drops" can be used to save notes that a terrorist operative does not want to physically carry on his person for fear of being caught with them.
According to the Oct 11 criminal complaint, before leaving Pakistan for the US in December 2008, Headley used this process to save a list of taskings he had received for his surveillance work in Denmark. The items listed in the complaint demonstrate the depth of the surveillance work Headley was tasked with by his contacts in Pakistan, Stratfor said.
These responsibilities included determining the best way to get the attack team ("clients") into the country, finding them a place to stay, procuring weapons ("machinery") and conducting thorough surveillance of the newspaper and its surroundings.
The extensive use of terrorist tradecraft by Headley makes it evident that he "was not merely a low-level cannon fodder-type operative", Stratfor states.

The list, which was entitled "Mickey Mouse", included the following entries:
* Route Design (train bus air)
* Cross (cover authenticator)
* Trade? Immigration?
* Ad (Lost Luggage) (Business) (Entry)?
* King's Square (French Embassy)
* YMCA
* Car Trip + Train Option (Nufoozur Rehman) (Weekend?)
* Residence for clients
* Complete Area Coverage (P.S. e.t.c.)
* Countersurveillance (magic eye)
* NDC option; Lunch + coffee spots
* Security (armed?)
* Foreman residence
* Zoom; Entry and exit method in the house
* Feasible plan
* On return, procurement of machinery
* Uniform
* Mixed fruit Dish
* Cell phone and camera
* Border Crossing
* City Guide Map
* Alternate Investment
* Got Papers? (Clients)
* Make Visiting Cards