News you may have missed #688
March 2, 2012 3 Comments
By IAN ALLEN| intelNews.org |
►►Analysis: StratFor email leaks offer frightening view of government intelligence. As promised in December, WikiLeaks has begun to release a stash of emails related to the modus operandi of the private intelligence sector, using Texas-based StratFor as a case study. The CIA has long used private intelligence firms for ‘black ops’, allowing for plausible deniability in the event that an operation goes pear-shaped and public accountability threatens. But these emails suggest that there’s now far more to the incompetence of America’s intelligence services than meets the eye.
►►US still using U-2 to spy on North Korea. For more than 35 years, the U-2 has been one of Washington’s most reliable windows into military movements inside North Korea. Unlike satellites, U-2s can be redirected at short notice to loiter over target areas. Last month, the US Air Force postponed at least until 2020 any plans to replace them with costlier, unmanned Global Hawks. Now, as the world watches for signs of instability during North Korea’s transition to a new leadership, the U-2 operations are as important ―or more so― than ever.
►►Thin line separates cyberspies from cybercriminals. New research appears to raise questions over the conventional wisdom that pure nation-state cyberspies rarely dabble in traditional financial cybercrime. Dell SecureWorks Wednesday shared details of a complex study it conducted of two families of espionage malware that have infected government ministry computers in Vietnam, Brunei, Myanmar, Europe, and at an embassy in China.
intelNews.org 
i have a question. where does the money that pays for the private intelligence sector, like stratfor, come from? is it part of the gov budget that pays for the CIA, or military intelligence, or national security..or what?
another question. what of significance do the emails show? like..do they indicate that the swedish pm was passing questionable info to the usa gov?
Good questions. I think you will find that plenty of answers are provided by R.J. Hillhouse in this enlightening interview on outsourcing intelligence. As for the emails, there are numerous interesting tidbits, though I think in their totality the emails show that the breadth, sophistication, and scope of private intelligence companies the size of Stratfor can often match those of small countries. This realization can lead to several interesting conclusions about the privatization of intelligence. [IA]
Stratfor is CIA disinformation wall to wall, Texas funded and Texas based. No credibility whatsoever should be accorded to Stratfor, it’s like Sorcha Faal & Debkafile….despite the razzmatazz in their maps and graphs….