Embattled Libyan government announces surprise visit by CIA director
January 13, 2023 Leave a comment
THE GOVERNMENT OF WAR-torn Libya announced on Thursday that William Burns, director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was in capital Tripoli for discussions with senior Libyan officials. By visiting Tripoli, Burns became the highest-ranking American government official to travel to the North African country under the presidency of Joe Biden.
According to reports in the Libyan media, Burns spent most of Thursday in Tripoli, where he met with Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, a controversial businessman who is serving as prime minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU). Burns also met with GNU Minister of Foreign Affairs Najla al-Mangoush, as well as with Hussein al-Ayeb, who leads the GNU’s intelligence agency. The CIA director also met with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar (pictured), head of the Libyan National Army (LNA). The LNA nominally supports the GNU’s rival government in eastern Libya, the Government of National Stability (GNS). However, Haftar is seen by many as Libya’s de facto strongman. Notably, Burns did not meet with Fathi Bashagha, the self-styled ‘prime minister’ of the GNS, which, unlike the GNU, is not recognized by the United Nations, but is supported by a number of regional powers, including NATO member Turkey.
Al-Monitor reported that the subject of the GNU’s relations with Russia was high on the agenda during Burns’ visit, as was the subject of Libya’s energy exports to Europe. Counterterrorism was also discussed, which is unsurprising, given that last month the GNU surrendered Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi to American authorities. Washington alleges that Al-Marimi was involved in the 1988 downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which was conceived and plotted by the regime of the late Colonel Moammar al-Gadhafi. The move was seen as an attempt by the GNU to strengthen relations with Washington, in light of the challenge it faces from the GNS and the LNA.
► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 13 January 2023 | Permalink
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MULTIPLE NEWS OUTLETS CLAIMED on Wednesday that Monday’s search by authorities of a Florida residential compound belonging to former United States President Donald Trump was based on information provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation by a confidential human source. The source reportedly gave the FBI details about a number of classified documents that were allegedly hidden in Trump’s Florida estate, as well as their precise location.
THE POLITICAL FALLOUT OF the Russian invasion of Ukraine is prompting the European Union (EU) to radically upgrade the security of its facilities, according to a series of internal memoranda. On July 14, the EUObserver, an EU-focused news agency based in Brussels, 
IN A RARE MOVE, Israel released the identity last weekend of a special operations officer who was killed by Islamic Hamas during a 2018 covert mission in the Gaza Strip. As intelNews 
RUSSIAN STATE COMPANIES, BUSINESSES and individuals are being targeted in an unprecedented wave of attacks by digital assailants, according to observers, who say they are surprised by its ferocity. Since February of this year, hackers have accessed the personal financial data of pro-Kremlin oligarchs, stolen millions of internal emails stored on Russian government severs, and defaced high-profile websites across the nation. The Washington Post, which 
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CHINESE STATE-OWNED MEDIA has stepped up warnings of an alleged Western espionage offensive, to mark China’s annual “national security education day”, a new initiative promoted by the Chinese Communist Party (CPC). The decision to designate April 15 “national security education day” was adopted by the CPC in 2015, during its 12th National People’s Congress. Since then, the Chinese government has promoted the day as an effort to create a “positive atmosphere of national security” across the nation.
More than 150 officers have been purged form the ranks of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), as President Vladimir Putin is placing blame on his intelligence agencies for the setbacks experienced during the invasion of Ukraine. This assessment was communicated to the London-based Times newspaper by British intelligence sources, who added that many of those purged have been dismissed from the service, while others remain under house arrest. A few —among them senior FSB officials— are in prison. The FSB is tasked with domestic security and counterintelligence operations, which were carried out by the KGB during the Cold War.
THE KREMLIN IS PROVIDING “indirect and passive support” to Western neo-Nazi, white supremacist and other far-right groups, in an effort to subvert Western security, according to a leaked report produced by United States intelligence agencies. The report is titled “Russian Federation Support of Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists”. It was produced in July of 2021 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), with information provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency.
A UNITED STATES ARMY veteran and government informant, who infiltrated the white supremacist organization known as the Ku Klux Klan for over a decade, has spoken publicly about his work for the first time. The informant’s birth name is Joseph Moore, but in 2018 he changed it in order to evade detection by KKK members who might be tempted to track him down. Today the 50-year-old former Army sniper lives with his wife and four children somewhere in Florida, 
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TURKISH AUTHORITIES HAVE LAUNCHED an investigation after a makeshift explosive device was found under the car of a police officer guarding an open-air speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The rally took place on Saturday in Siirt, a Kurdish-majority town located about 90 miles from the Turkish-Syrian border. The town has a symbolic significance for Erdoğan, as it is the hometown of his wife, Emine Erdoğan, and was his constituency for four years. In 2003 he won a by-election there and entered the Turkish Grand National Assembly as a member.
INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS IN THE United States are becoming increasingly convinced that Russia is contemplating extensive military action in Ukraine, according to Western insiders. Russian troop concentrations near the Ukrainian border have been “large and unusual” for several weeks, 
intelNews.org 
[Updated] Self-styled creator of pro-Russian ‘Z’ symbol reportedly assassinated
February 7, 2023 1 Comment
By the late 2010s, Mangushev had spent nearly a decade in Russian ultra-nationalist street gangs. Eventually a pro-Kremlin paramilitary group he founded and led, known as Svetlaya Rus (Light Rus), was conscripted by the Russian military to assist in grey zone operations in the separatist regions of eastern Ukraine. It was in Ukraine that Mangushev’s group merged with other armed ultra-nationalist clusters to form the so-called Yenot (Raccoon) private military company, or Yenot PMC. Soon after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Mangushev began to describe himself (without evidence) as the creator of the ‘Z’ symbol that the Kremlin uses as a sign of support for the Russian military campaign.
In the ensuing years, Yenot PMC paramilitaries saw action in several battles in Ukraine and in Syria. In the meantime, Mangushev worked alongside close Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, the alleged owner of the Wagner Group, one of the world’s largest private military companies. There was much fanfare in Russian nationalist social media circles last year, when Mangushev (using the moniker “Bereg”) announced he had joined the Russian Armed Forces at the rank of captain. It is believed, however, that Mangushev’s Russian military title was nominal, and that continued to operate as leader of the Yenot PMC. Read more of this post
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, assassinations, Igor Mangushev, Russia, Svetlaya Rus, Yenot PMC