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Obama administration denies UN access to Guantánamo, CIA prisons

July 24, 2009 2 Comments

Guantánamo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The US government has turned down calls by United Nations human rights monitors for access to the US Pentagon’s Guantánamo Bay prison camp and to CIA prison sites around the world. It is the second time that Obama administration officials have declined this request by UN monitors, despite the administration’s rhetorical commitment to increasing its collaboration on human rights issues with the international agency. Commenting anonymously to The Washington Post, which is one of a handful of US news outlets that are running this story, US government officials said that the Obama administration “support[s] the work of the UN human rights researchers”, but is “constrained in releasing information on sensitive intelligence matters”. The news comes ten days after unconfirmed reports that the US Department of Justice is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agencies after September of 2001.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Cuba, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, human rights, News, Obama Administration, secret prisons, torture, United Nations, United States, US DoD, War on Terrorism

Cambridge spy ring member’s memoir reveals motives behind actions

July 24, 2009 Leave a comment

Anthony Blunt

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The British Library kept its promise and released yesterday the closely guarded, incomplete autobiographical manuscript of Anthony Blunt, fourth member of the Cambridge spy ring. The group of British spies, which worked secretly for the Soviet Union from the 1930s until the 1960s, included Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and H.A.R. “Kim” Philby, all of whom eventually defected to the Soviet Union. In his 30,000-word memoir, Blunt, an art history professor who in 1945 became Surveyor of the King’s Pictures and was knighted in 1954, describes his recruitment to spy for the Soviets as “the most important decision of my life”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Anthony Blunt, Cambridge Five, Cold War, counterintelligence, defectors, Donald Maclean, espionage, Guy Burgess, H.A.R. "Kim" Philby, Margaret Thatcher, Melita Norwood, MI5, News, The British Libary, USSR

News you may have missed #0039

July 24, 2009 Leave a comment

Russians suspect sabotage behind ICBM test failure. The FSB is investigating the reasons behind the test failure earlier this month of a Russian Navy Bulava-30 (SS-NX-30) sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile, which disintegrated 28 seconds after launch. The Russian Navy developed the ICBM specifically to avoid future US ballistic missile defenses.
CIA kept bin Laden son’s death secret for months. US officials think that Saad bin Laden was killed in a Predator drone strike earlier this year in Pakistan, but CIA has tried to keep the news secret, allegedly in an attempt to confuse al-Qaeda. You may recall that some time ago intelNews reported that some in US intelligence believed Saad had been given government protection in Iran.
US DNI sees signs of North Korean succession. The Open Source Center of the US Directorate of National Intelligence adds its voice to widespread speculation that Kim Jong il may be preparing to hand power to his third son, Kim Jong Un.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, assassinations, CIA, DNI, FSB, ICBM, Iran, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, R-30 Bulava missile (Russia), Russia, Russian Navy, Saad bin Laden, sabotage, US DNI Open Source Center, US Missile Defense Shield

News you may have missed #0038

July 23, 2009 Leave a comment

NZ spy satellite dish to be repaired after activists’ raid. New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau says it is preparing to mend a spy satellite dish in Waihopai Spy Base, which was “totalled” by Ploughshares peace group activists last year.
Group plans lawsuit to reveal CIA’s Pentagon Papers. The Washington-based Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to force the CIA and other US intelligence agencies to come clean on their “war on terrorism” practices under the Bush administration.
NSA using cloud model for intelligence sharing. The US National Security Agency is implementing cloud-computing technologies in a new intelligence collection system. The new system, currently in testing, will be geographically distributed in data centers around the United States.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, CIA, cloud computing, ECHELON, Electronic Frontier Foundation, GCSB (New Zealand), lawsuits, New Zealand, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Ploughshares, political activism, Waihopai (New Zealand), War on Terrorism

Could Order 65 signify the end of communications privacy in Russia?

July 23, 2009 1 Comment

FSB agent

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
As of July 21, Russian postal services and Internet providers are required by law to provide Russian intelligence agents with on demand access to the dispatch information and content of private correspondence. This is stipulated in Order 65, which the Russian government and the Russian Ministry of Communications made public on July 6. Apart from granting automatic communications inspection rights to officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and seven other intelligence and security organizations of the Russian state, the new law requires all Russian post office sorting facilities to set up “special rooms where security officers will be able to open and inspect private mail”. Additionally, all Internet service providers are now required to grant the FSB and other intelligence and security agencies complete access to their electronic databases. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with domestic intelligence, FSB, intelligence legislation, Internet, KGB, News, Order 65, postal interception, privacy, Russia, Russian Ministry of Communications

News you may have missed #0037

July 23, 2009 Leave a comment

Gambian Army chief accused of spying. A newspaper claims that the chief of Gambia’s armed forces, Lt. Colonel Sainey Bayo, who recently fled to the United States, did so while being “investigated for supplying sensitive state secrets to an unnamed Western country”.
US Secretary of State violates declassification statute. The latest historical records release of the Foreign Relations of the United States, which is the official record of US foreign policy, has failed once again to abide by a 1991 statute which requires the Secretary of State to publish records “not more than 30 years after the events recorded”.
Intelligence report says Canada is key cash source for Tamil Tigers. A Canadian intelligence report released under the country’s Access to Information Act claims that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka receive millions each year in backing from Canada’s Tamil diaspora.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Canada, declassification, defectors, espionage, Foreign Relations of the United States, Gambia, Gambian armed forces, government secrecy, informants, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, News, news you may have missed, Sainey Bayo, Sri Lanka, United States, US Department of State

Spy services threaten South African democracy, warns researcher

July 23, 2009 Leave a comment

Laurie Nathan

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A former member of South Africa’s ministerial Review Commission on Intelligence has warned that a steadily declining culture of accountability in South Africa’s spy services is threatening the country’s constitutional order. Laurie Nathan, who is currently a research fellow at the University of Cape Town and the London School of Economics, has written an article for Chatham House’s The World Today magazine, in which he summarizes the results of the Commission’s a study into the South African intelligence services. According to Nathan, the study found a “striking absence of executive policy on many critical intelligence issues” and “major weaknesses in control and oversight systems” of intelligence practices. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Africa, ANC, government secrecy, intelligence oversight, intelligence reform, Laurie Nathan, Ministerial Review Commission on Intelligence (South Africa), News, South Africa

News you may have missed #0036

July 22, 2009 Leave a comment

Hungary’s security head resigns in wake of spying scandal. Sandor Laborc has resigned as head of Hungary’s National Security Office (NBH) after NBH agents were caught spying on politicians.
Austria to try Kazakh spy for kidnap attempt. Austrian officials say they will put a suspected Kazakh spy, identified only “Ildar A.”, on trial for attempting to kidnap from Austria former Kazakh National Security Committee (KNB) chief Alnur Musaev last September. See previous intelNews reporting on the ongoing Austrian-Kazakh intelligence imbroglio.
Obama’s unwilling cyber czars. Barack Obama is expected to soon appoint a national cybersecurity adviser. But Andy Greenberg argues that the appointee’s name may not be as important as the names of those who have “politely declined” the role.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Alnur Musaev, Austria, cybersecurity, Hungary, Ildar A., Kazakh National Security Committee, Kazakhstan, KNB (Kazakhstan), National Security Office (Hungary), NBH (Hungary), News, news you may have missed, Obama Administration, Sandor Laborc, US National Cyber Security Center

US drone strikes inside Pakistan increasingly lethal, study finds [updated]

July 22, 2009 Leave a comment

Predator drone

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Strikes by CIA or Pentagon unmanned Predator drones in Pakistan have increased in frequency and lethality, according to a study published yesterday. Some may question the study, which was conducted on behalf of The Long War Journal, a news and analysis outlet edited by retired US Navy Intelligence Specialist D.J. Elliott, who maintains strong ties to the US Department of Defense [*] Bill Roggio, who also contributes to Bill Kristol’s neoconservative Weekly Standard. Despite its limitations, the report provides an almost unique public record of the frequency and tactical outcomes of the US airstrikes in Pakistan. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, CIA, News, North Waziristan, Pakistan, Predator drones, South Waziristan, Taliban, US DoD, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0035

July 22, 2009 Leave a comment

Ex-Peruvian president sentenced for bribing spy chief. Peru’s former President, Alberto Fujimori, has been given a 7.5 years prison sentence for giving his right-hand man, spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, $15 million from government coffers.
Was there ever a CIA interrogation facility in Thailand? CIA records indicate that waterboarding was practiced by US government agents in secret detention facilities in Thailand. Thailand’s Prime Minister says there is no secret CIA detention center for suspected terrorists under his government. But could a facility have been there under the previous government?
“Adoptive father” of Israeli intelligence pioneered the “honey trap”. Meir Amit, who revolutionized Israeli intelligence in the 1960s, and has died at the age of 88, pioneered the use of female agents to gain access to classified information, says an Israeli intelligence history author.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alberto Fujimori, CIA, honey traps, Israel, Meir Amit, News, news you may have missed, Peru, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional (Peru), Thailand, torture, Vladimiro Montesinos, waterboarding

Judge accuses CIA of fraud in 15-year court case

July 22, 2009 Leave a comment

Judge Lamberth

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A 15-year old lawsuit against the CIA unexpectedly resurfaced yesterday, after a US federal judge accused the CIA attorneys of fraud and warned the former and current CIA leadership of serious legal sanctions. US District Judge Royce Lamberth said the CIA misled him on several occasions by falsely claiming that the “state secrets” clause applied to the case, which three consecutive US administrations have tried to bury. The case was filed in 1994 by retired Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officer Richard A. Horn, who claimed that CIA agents illegally wiretapped his conversations while he was stationed in Burma. It appears that, at the time, the US diplomatic representation in Burma and the CIA station in Rangoon were at loggerheads with the DEA. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Arthur Brown, Bill Clinton, Burma, Bush Administration, CIA, corruption, DEA, Franklin Hurdle Jr., George Tenet, Jeffrey Yeates, John A. Rizzo, Judge Royce C. Lamberth, lawsuits, Leon Panetta, News, Obama Administration, Rangoon (Burma), Richard A. Horn, Robert T. Eatinger, State Secrets clause, United States, war on drugs, wiretapping

Japanese intelligence history discussed in new books

July 21, 2009 Leave a comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
In comparison to their Asian counterparts, Western intelligence organizations are oases of transparency and openness. In such Asian countries as Japan, governments have yet to recognize the existence –let alone operations– of their espionage agencies. This attitude is slowly changing in Japan, however, through a new trend of published books authored by former intelligence operatives. An article in Japan’s second-largest newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, available here in English, discusses this new trend, as well as some of the new information provided in several new memoirs by Japanese ex-intelligence professionals. One interesting aspect of postwar Japanese intelligence, revealed in such books, is its overwhelming concentration on Japan’s communist neighbors. Another is the substantial degree to which US intelligence agencies were involved in the day-to-day running of Japanese intelligence operations. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with book news and reviews, Cold War, Hiromasa Ao, history, Japan, Musashi intelligence unit (Japan), News, Southeast Asia

Wiretap whistleblower shunned by US Congress, media

July 21, 2009 Leave a comment

Mark Klein

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Those of you who have been following the ongoing revelations about STELLAR WIND, the National Security Agency (NSA) warrantless wiretapping scheme authorized by the Bush Administration in the wake of 9/11, will know about Thomas M. Tamm. Tamm was the Justice Department official who in 2005 first notified The New York Times about the existence of the project. But Tamm was not the only whistleblower in the case. He was joined soon afterwards by another insider, Mark Klein. Klein had just retired from AT&T as a communications technician when he read The New York Times revelations about STELLAR WIND. As soon as he read the paper’s vague description of the NSA project, Klein realized he had in his possession AT&T documents describing exactly how the company shared its customers’ telephone communications with the NSA, through a secret room at the AT&T Folsom Street facility in San Francisco. To this day, Klein remains the only AT&T employee to have come forward with information on STELLAR WIND. But, apparently, nobody cares. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with AT&T, AT&T Folsom Street facility, communications interception, Dianne Feinstein, James Bamford, Mark Klein, National Security Agency, News, NSA, operation STELLAR WIND, San Francisco, telecommunication service providers, telecommunications, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), Thomas M. Tamm, United States, US Department of Justice, warrantless communications interception, whistleblowing, wiretapping

News you may have missed #0034

July 21, 2009 2 Comments

Busting of Israeli spy ring in Lebanon continues. Lebanese authorities have announced the arrest of yet another suspected member of Mossad’s alleged spy ring in southern Lebanon.
Secret space shuttles. Excellent primer on the longstanding secret collaboration between NASA and the super-clandestine National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in the United States.
Israelis jail man accused of joining Palestinian intelligence. An Israeli court has jailed Muhammad Jayusi for 42 months for being a member of the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence (GI), for “tailing Israeli citizens and [for] transmitting information on them” to GI.
Will Obama administration end the over-classification of US defense information? Pentagon classification authorities are treating classified historical documents as if they contain today’s secrets, rather than decades-old information that has not been secret for years, says the National Security Archive.
What did CIA director Panetta tell Philippine President Arroyo? Writing from the Philippines, Ramon Farolan says Leon Panetta did not go to Manila on a “social visit. CIA directors don’t make social visits to any place, and frankly, I can’t recall any CIA director ever visiting the Philippines”, he says. IntelNews has covered Panetta’s recent trip to the Philippines here.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, declassification, General Intelligence (Palestinian National Authority), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, informants, Israel, Leon Panetta, Muhammad Jayusi, NASA, News, news you may have missed, NRO, Obama Administration, Palestinian National Authority, Pentagon, Philippines, United States

Post-9/11 torture sparked internal dissent, rift between FBI and CIA

July 20, 2009 Leave a comment

Abu Zubaida

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Citing interviews with almost “two dozen [anonymous] current and former US officials” The Washington Post has revealed crucial new background information on the CIA’s torture methodology after 9/11. The exposé, by reporters Joby Warrick and Peter Finn, helps piece together some of the complex puzzle of internal decisions that led US interrogators to resort to waterboarding and other forms of torture against “war on terrorism” detainees. The article focuses on Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, two psychologists who were hired by the CIA to design an elaborate ten-stage harsh interrogation program (see previous intelNews report). According to The Washington Post, Mitchell, who was the program’s mastermind, told associates he had modeled it on the theory of “learned helplessness”, used by professional psychologists “to describe people or animals reduced to a state of complete helplessness by some form of coercion or pain, such as electric shock”. Read more of this post