intelNews

CIA sues former officer for publishing unauthorized book

October 21, 2010 Leave a comment

The Human Factor

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The US Central Intelligence Agency has announced a lawsuit against a former officer who authored a book without the Agency’s prior approval. The book, The Human Factor: Inside the CIA’s Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture (published in 2008), was written by a former CIA deep cover operative going by the pseudonym Ishmael Jones. Jones first submitted the book’s manuscript, which offers a highly unsympathetic account of the CIA, to the Agency’s review board. However, when it became clear that the board’s decision would have been unfavorable, he published the book without approval, thus breaking what the CIA claims is his legal obligation to abide by the review board’s decisions. The CIA filed a lawsuit against Jones in July, but only announced it this week. It seeks access to the financial proceeds of The Human Factor, as well as to prohibit further exposés from Jones. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with book news and reviews, censorship, CIA, Ishmael Jones, News, Paula Weiss, United States, whistleblowing

News you may have missed #441

October 20, 2010 2 Comments

US officials admit terrorist suspect was DEA informant. US government officials have told The Washington Post what the world’s media has been saying for almost a year, namely that Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, who was arrested by the FBI in October for plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper, was working as a Drug Enforcement Administration informant while training with Islamist insurgents in Pakistan.
Ex-CIA officer decries Israeli policies. Philip Giraldi, a former counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer at the CIA, has said in an interview that Israel’s policies in Palestine “are manifestly evil”.
Bomber who killed seven at CIA base was not vetted. Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian al-Qaeda sympathiser who killed himself and seven CIA agents at a remote base in eastern Afghanistan in January had not been properly vetted, the CIA has said.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 0 Bomber who killed seven at CIA base was not vetted, 0 Ex-CIA officer decries Israeli policies, 0 US officials admit terrorist suspect was DEA informant, Afghanistan, CIA, David Coleman Headley, DEA, double agents, FBI, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, Humam Khalil al-Balawi, informants, intelligence vetting, Israel, Jordan, Khost, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, Palestine, Philip Giraldi, suicide bombings

British citizen among Mossad assassins intrigues investigators

October 20, 2010 Leave a comment

Lockwood

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Only a handful of the 33 members of an Israeli assassination squad, who killed a senior Hamas member in Dubai last January, carried non-fraudulent passports. Most of the assassins, who in all probability worked for Kidon, an elite assassination unit within Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, used forged British, Irish, German, Australian, and other passports. Dubai officials investigating the murder of Hamas weapons procurer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh have identified at least one British citizen among non-fraudulent passport holders in the Mossad assassination team: he is 62-year-old Christopher Lockwood (photo), who helped facilitate al-Mabhouh’s assassination by transporting some of the Mossad members around Dubai “in a [rented] white minivan with tinted windows”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Australia, Christopher Lockwood, Dubai, false identity, forgery, France, Germany, Hamas, Interpol, Ireland, Israel, Kidon, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Mossad, News, Palestine, Scotland, travel documentation, UK, United Arab Emirates, Yehuda Lustig

News you may have missed #440 (USA edition)

October 19, 2010 Leave a comment

US DNI scraps Intelligence Science Board. The newly appointed US Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has disbanded an advisory panel set up after 9/11, and tasked with providing him with scientific advice, ranging from nuclear physics to forensics to the psychology of interrogation. There are rumors that Clappers intends to disband another 19 advisory boards, believing them to be inefficient.
Analysis: Uses and misuses of intelligence in four US wars. Former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman assesses the success of the CIA’s intelligence analysis by measuring the Agency’s performance before and during four controversial wars: Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
US Army awards medal to 95-year-old ex-OSS agent. George Vujnovich, a former agent of the US Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA, is to be awarded the US Army’s Bronze Star for helping rescue 512 American airmen in the former Yugoslavia during World War II.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 0 Analysis: Uses and misuses of intelligence in four US wars, 0 US Army awards medal to 95-year-old ex-OSS agent, 0 US DNI scraps Intelligence Science Board, Afghanistan War, DNI, George Vujnovich, history, intelligence reform, Iraq War, James R. Clapper, Korean War, Melvin A. Goodman, military awards, military intelligence, News, news you may have missed, OSS, United States, US Army, US Intelligence Science Board, Vietnam War, World War II

CIA sued for allegedly discriminating against covert officer

October 19, 2010 Leave a comment

CIA HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A former CIA officer, who served the Agency in a covert capacity, has sued his former employer claiming he was discriminated against because he is married to an Asian woman. According to the lawsuit, filed recently at a San Francisco court, covert CIA employee Walter Roule claims the his CIA supervisor favored junior officers with Caucasian wives for overseas postings, thus giving them more opportunities for promotion. Roule also claims that his supervisor threatened the careers of other CIA officers of Asian background, or with Asian partners, if they supported Roule’s discrimination complaint. In his court filing, the former covert CIA officer alleges that the discriminatory behavior started in 2006, when he was covertly posted in “the Northern District of California in a hybrid position”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with California, CIA, covert operations, lawsuits, News, racism, San Francisco, United States, Walter Roule

News you may have missed #439

October 18, 2010 Leave a comment

Book critical of Russian FSB published. In a new book entitled The New Nobility, Russian journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan claim that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) is less repressive but ultimately more dangerous than its predecessor, the Soviet KGB.
Senior-most North Korean defector dies. Hwang Jang-yop, the theoretician behind North Korea’s Songun and Juche state doctrines, who defected to South Korea in 1997, has died at his home in Seoul, aged 87. Last April, South Korea charged two North Korean government agents with attempting to assassinate Hwang.
‘Low morale’ leads MI6 spies to apply for Australian jobs. More than 50 spies at Britain’s MI6 have allegedly responded to a recruitment drive by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS). According to insiders, there has been growing uncertainty among MI6’s 2,600 staff over looming budget cuts and inquiries into alleged complicity in the torture of terrorism suspects.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 0 'Low morale' leads MI6 spies to apply for Australian jobs, 0 Book critical of Russian FSB published, 0 Senior-most North Korean defector dies, Andrei Soldatov, ASIS, Australia, Australian Secret Intelligence Service, book news and reviews, defectors, FSB, Hwang Jang-yop, Irina Borogan, KGB, MI6, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, UK

Israel may have helped FBI nab American Jewish informant

October 18, 2010 Leave a comment

Akamai logo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The government of Israel may have tipped off US federal agents about the activities of an American Jew, who was arrested by the FBI earlier this month for sharing confidential information with an undercover FBI agent. Elliot Doxer, a 42-year-old finance department employee of Massachusetts-based Akamai Technologies, is charged with providing inside company information to a Bureau agent posing as an Israeli spy. According to court papers, the FBI counterintelligence operation against Doxer began after he emailed Israel’s consulate in Boston, in 2006, identifying himself as a Jewish American “offering the little [information] I may have […] to help our homeland and our war against our enemies”. A year later, an FBI counterintelligence team posing as Israeli Mossad operatives contacted Doxer and offered to satisfy his request for $3,000 in return for inside information on Akamai, a company whose role in the architecture of Internet’s worldwide infrastructure is instrumental. But how did the FBI know about Doxer’s attempt to contact the Israeli consulate in Boston? Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Akamai Technologies, Boston, counterintelligence, dangling, Elliot Doxer, espionage, FBI Counterintelligence Division, Israel, Israeli consulate in Boston, Massachusetts, News, United States, US Department of Homeland Security

News you may have missed #438 (Stuxnet edition)

October 5, 2010 Leave a comment

Stuxnet cyber superweapon moves to China. The Stuxnet computer virus, dubbed the world’s “first cyber superweapon” by experts, and which may have been designed to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, has found a new target: China. The computer worm has infecting millions of computers around the country, Chinese state media reported this week.
Stuxnet worm heralds new era of global cyberwar. The Stuxnet worm, which Iran admits has affected 30,000 of its computers, was a sophisticated attack almost certainly orchestrated by a state. It also appears that intelligence operatives were used to deliver the worm to its goal.
Israeli cyber unit allegedly responsible for Iran computer worm. Some experts claim that Unit 8200, an elite Israeli military group responsible for cyberwarfare, has been accused of creating a virus that has crippled Iran’s computer systems and stopped work at its newest nuclear power station.

[Research credit to Arthur Sbygniew]

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 0 Israeli cyber unit allegedly responsible for Iran computer worm, 0 Stuxnet cyber superweapon moves to China, 0 Stuxnet worm heralds new era of global cyberwar, China, cyberwar, Internet, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Israel, News, news you may have missed, Stuxnet, Unit 8200

Iran announces arrests of alleged nuclear spies

October 4, 2010 Leave a comment

Heidar Moslehi

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Iranian government has announced the arrest of an unspecified number of alleged nuclear spies, reportedly in connection with a sophisticated virus that infected computers used in Iran’s nuclear energy program. The arrests were publicized on Sunday by Heidar Moslehi, Iran’s Minister of Intelligence, who said those arrested had helped facilitate the spread of the so-called Stuxnet virus last June. The malicious program, which appears to have been designed to sabotage sensitive hardware components found specifically in nuclear centrifuges, has infected at least 100,000 computer systems worldwide, most of which are located in Iran. Speaking to Iranian media, Moslehi accused Israel and the United States of trying to sabotage the Iranian nuclear energy program, but noted that Iran’s intelligence services have resumed “complete supervision of cyberspace” and will successfully prevent “any leak or destruction” of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear research and development program by outside forces. But elsewhere in Tehran, Hamid Alipour, an Iranian government Senior Information and Technology official, admitted that technical experts are still working on containing the virus, which appears to be mutating. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with computer hacking, Habib Elghanian, Hamid Alipour, Heidar Moslehi, Heydar Moslehi, Internet, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Israel, News, Queen Esther, Stuxnet, United States

News you may have missed #437

October 1, 2010 Leave a comment

Huge demand for spy balloons in Afghan war. The hottest US weapon in Afghanistan lacks a lethal capability, floats thousands of feet in the air and doesn’t carry troops. It’s a spy balloon. Similar contraptions have been making appearances at the Lebanese-Israeli border.
One, two, many WikiLeaks. Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a defector from the WikiLeaks website has said he has decided to jump ship and is thinking of creating a competitor site to Julian Assange’s whistleblower platform.
Is publication of classified info a criminal act? When WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of classified US military records concerning the war in Afghanistan last July, did it commit a criminal act under US law? A US Congressional Research Service report argues that it did not.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 0 Huge demand for spy balloons in Afghan war, 0 Is publication of classified info a criminal act?, 0 One two many WikiLeaks, aerial reconnaissance, Afghanistan, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, Israel, Julian Assange, Lebanon, News, news you may have missed, United States, Wikileaks

News you may have missed #436

September 30, 2010 1 Comment

Iran crosses into Iraq to hit bombing suspects. Iranian forces crossed into neighboring Iraq and killed 30 Kurdish fighters from a group it says was involved in last week’s bombing of a military parade, Iran’s state TV reported Sunday. The group in Iran is a wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and sometimes operates inside friendly territory in Iraqi Kurdistan.
German trial of Libyan spies starts in Berlin. Two Libyans, identified only as 42-year-old ‘Adel Ab’ and 46-year-old ‘Adel Al’, have gone on trial in Berlin, accused of gathering information on Libyan opposition members living in Germany. Prosecutors say the spying was “on a personal level” and “there was no technical eavesdropping involved”.
Nine years after 9/11, US intel sharing still hobbled. More than nine years after 9/11, America’s intelligence-sharing system continues to be impeded by legal and technical difficulties. The newly created National Counterterrorism Center

(NCTC) is a good case in point.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 0 German trial of Libyan spies starts in Berlin, 0 Iran crosses into Iraq to hit bombing suspects, 0 Nine years after 9/11 US intel sharing still hobbled, 9/11, Adel Ab, Adel Al, Berlin (Germany), espionage, Germany, immigration intelligence, intelligence cooperation, Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, Kurdistan Workers Party, Libya, News, news you may have missed, PKK, United States, US National Counterterrorism Center

Experts see nation-state behind sophisticated computer virus attack

September 29, 2010 2 Comments

Ahmadinejad

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Computer forensics specialists are split as to the purpose and initial target of a sophisticated computer virus that infected computers used in the Iranian government’s nuclear energy program. The virus, named Stuxnet, was discovered in Iran in June by a Belarusian computer security firm doing business in the Islamic Republic. It has since infected at least 100,000 computer systems in countries such as Brazil, India, Russia and the United States. But the primary target of the virus appears to have been the Iranian nuclear energy program, specifically computers located at the Islamic Republic’s nuclear reactor facility in Bushehr and the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Several commentators, including Wired magazine, dispute the existence of any evidence pointing to a clear target inside Iran. But Israeli media maintain that computers at Natanz were the primary target of Stuxnet, and that subsequent infections at computer labs at Bushehr were in fact an unintended side effect. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Belarus, Bushehr nuclear power plant, cybersecurity, cyberwar, Iran, Israel, Israeli military, Middle East, Mossad, Natanz Enrichment Facility, News, nuclear proliferation, sabotage, Stuxnet, Unit 8200

News you may have missed #435 (cyberwarfare edition)

September 28, 2010 Leave a comment

Analysis: Cyber attacks test US Pentagon. US military and civilian networks are probed thousands of times a day, and the systems of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters are attacked at least 100 times a day. Meanwhile, more than 100 countries are currently trying to break into US defense networks.
US should be able to shut Internet, ex-CIA chief says. Cyberterrorism is such a threat that the US President should have the authority to shut down the Internet in the event of an attack, Former CIA Director Michael Hayden has said.
Iran battling alleged ‘spy virus’. Iranian officials have confirmed reports that a malicious computer code, called Stuxnet, was spreading throughout the nation’s nuclear infrastructure. But they have given differing accounts of the damage, said to be capable of taking over computers that operate huge facilities, including nuclear energy reactors. Did someone say ‘Israel‘?

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 0 Analysis: Cyber attacks test US Pentagon, 0 Iran battling alleged 'spy virus', 0 US should be able to shut Internet ex-CIA chief says, Analysis, CIA, computer hacking, cyberterrorism, cyberwar, Internet, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Israel, Michael Hayden, NATO, News, news you may have missed, sabotage, Stuxnet, United States

Lawsuit claims CIA uses pirate software in drone assassinations

September 28, 2010 1 Comment

Predator drone

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The Central Intelligence Agency is using stolen software code in its covert Predator drone assassination program in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a lawsuit filed by a software company in the US state of Massachusetts. The software company, Intelligent Integration Systems, Inc. (IISi), which is based in Boston, accuses the CIA of unlawfully using proprietary coding, purchased through Netezza Corporation, a former partner of IISi. The latter claims Netezza sold the CIA a software application called Spatial, which the CIA uses to perform targeted killings through its unmanned drone program. But IISi alleges that Spatial contains stolen coding initially developed by its programmers. What is more, the company claims that the pirated coding is in fact defective, and that the CIA runs the risk of its unmanned Predator drone strikes “being off by about 40 feet”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, assassinations, CIA, covert operations, Intelligent Integration Systems Inc., Netezza Corporation, News, Pakistan, Predator drones, Richard Zimmerman, United States

News you may have missed #434 (book news edition)

September 27, 2010 Leave a comment

CIA drone strikes have killed Americans, claims journalist. In his new book, Obama’s Wars, veteran US journalist Bob Woodward claims that CIA drone strikes in Pakistan have killed many Westerners, including some US citizens.
Norway’s greatest spy case to be re-examined. The case of former Norwegian diplomat Arne Treholt, who was sentenced during the end of the Cold War in Norway’s most famous spy case, is to be re-opened, after the publication of book called Counterfeit, whose authors charge that Norwegian police fabricated evidence against Treholt.
US Pentagon censors widely used acronyms in book. Pentagon censors, who recently struck a deal to redact portions of Operation Dark Heart, a book written by US Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, have blacked out from the text widely used terms such as SIGINT, which means signals intelligence.