February | 2009 | intelNews.org

Belgian intelligence concerned about increasing spy presence

February 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Alain Winants

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Despite Belgium’s strategic location and central role in the Cold War, the Belgian secret services have historically had a very limited presence in the country. Their postwar function has been primarily one of information analysis, and it was not until 2006 that they were given powers to intercept communications, conduct authorized breaking-and-entry operations, or detain and question suspects. This situation is changing, however, as the Belgian Federal Parliament prepares to consider a bill on “special intelligence methods” that will further expand the powers of Belgian intelligence services. Last week, Alain Winants, Director of Belgium’s State Security Service (SV/SE) said his agents required expanded investigative powers to combat the increasing presence of foreign spies in the country. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alain Winants, Belgium, Brussels, espionage, EU, false identity, intelligence covers, NATO, News, SV/SE (Belgium)

British MPs to consider torture allegations of MI5 detainees

February 2, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
In 2007, British newspaper The Guardian disclosed that several Pakistani “war on terror” detainees in Pakistan were severely tortured by Pakistani intelligence agents before being interrogated by British security officers. Nearly two years after the revelations, a joint British Parliament committee has agreed to consider the allegations. On Tuesday, February 3, the British Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights will hear evidence that interrogators with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) brutally tortured a number of prisoners before handing them over to interrogators working for MI5, Britain’s foremost counterintelligence agency. In exposing the story in 2007, The Guardian suggested that the MI5 agents were aware of the torture, which involved severe beatings, fingernail extractions, and even physical threats with electric drills. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Human Rights Watch, interrogation techniques, ISI, Joint Committee on Human Rights (UK), MI5, News, Pakistan, Rawalpindi, torture, UK, War on Terrorism

South Korea military intelligence caught spying on citizens

February 2, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Yongsan

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Since last December, a residential building scheduled for redevelopment in the Yongsan district of South Korean capital Seoul had been the site of a mass occupation campaign. Dozens of protesters, all building residents, were refusing to leave unless they were offered improved compensation and relocation packages. On January 20, however, Seoul’s riot police and SWAT units stormed the building using tear gas and water cannons. During the operation, parts of the building were engulfed in a huge blaze, which caused the deaths of five protestors and one police officer, and injured 23 people, one of whom is reportedly in a coma. On the evening of Saturday, January 31, protestors who had gathered in and around Seoul’s Myeongdong Cathedral for a candlelight memorial service for the victims of the fire spotted a group of plainclothes military intelligence officers with South Korea’s Capital Defense Command (CDC) clandestinely observing the vigil. The six-member group appeared to be directed by a number of commanding officers who were also in the proximity of the vigil, though detached from the crowd. Organizers of the vigil isolated the six intelligence officers and proceeded to search them, but discovered no surveillance equipment. Witnesses said, however, that one of the intelligence officers appeared to be reporting on the movements of vigil participants on his cell phone. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CDC (South Korea), domestic intelligence, military intelligence, News, Seoul, South Korea, South Korean Army, Yongsan (South Korea)

Confirmed: CIA extraordinary renditions to continue under Panetta

February 2, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Leon Panetta

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On January 22, I examined the possibility that Leon Panetta, Barack Obama’s nominee for CIA Director, may favor the controversial practice of extraordinary rendition. The Los Angeles Times has now confirmed that the new US President has authorized the CIA to continue its policy on renditions under Mr. Panetta –a Clinton-era administrator who has publicly come out against the use of torture in interrogations. Extraordinary rendition involves extrajudicial kidnappings of wanted terrorism suspects by CIA or FBI paramilitaries, often abroad, followed by extrajudicial transfers of same suspects to third countries, such as Egypt or Syria, where they are usually tortured. The extracted information is then utilized by US law enforcement and intelligence agencies in their pursuit of the “war on terrorism”. This notorious practice became widespread under the first George W. Bush Administration, but it was first implemented under former US President Bill Clinton. As White House aide to Mr. Clinton at the time, Leon Panetta was reportedly “a consumer of intelligence at the highest level”. It follows that he must have known about the practice, though he apparently failed to speak out against it. Read more of this post