Hezbollah uncovered CIA network in Lebanon, admit US officials
November 22, 2011 1 Comment

Hezbollah rally
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
In June of this year, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah claimed it had rooted out three of its members who were allegedly spying for the United States Central Intelligence Agency. The US State Department refused to comment on the allegations, and the US embassy in Lebanon issued a statement denying Hezbollah’s accusation. But the Associated Press now says that the Lebanese Shiite group’s claims were accurate, and that the CIA has had to significantly scale back its operations in Lebanon, as a result of Hezbollah’s counterintelligence success. The news agency cites current and former US officials, who say that the Agency’s operations in Lebanon were “badly damaged” after Hezbollah identified and captured several CIA ‘assets’. It appears that the militant group, which controls large parts of southern Lebanon, was able to capture CIA agents —local ‘assets’ recruited by CIA case officers to spy on behalf of Washington— but not actual CIA officers. Still, according to the Associated Press, the operational blow suffered by the Agency’s station in the Near Eastern country has been substantial, and local CIA case officers “have secretly been scrambling to protect their remaining spies […] before Hezbollah can find them”. The agency quotes an unnamed government source, who claims that the damage to the CIA’s network of agents in Lebanon has been “greater than usual”. Many attribute the Shiite group’s counterintelligence success to a relatively new counterespionage apparatus, which Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Hasrallah often calls the “spy combat unit”. The group, which is said to have gone operational in 2004, is responsible for essentially decimating Israel’s intelligence network in southern Lebanon, having conducted over 100 arrests since 2009. Read more of this post



By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |














Did US agencies fail to heed warnings of 2008 Mumbai attacks?
November 24, 2011 6 Comments
David Headley
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
We have written before that the CIA alerted Indian authorities prior to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people, including six American citizens. The incident, which was perpetrated by Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, is routinely described as the most sophisticated and spectacular terrorist strike since 9/11. But there are numerous questions about the complex relationship between the United States, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, which is widely believed to be protecting the terrorist group. Many of these questions center on David Coleman Headley, an American citizen, born in Washington, DC, who is currently in US custody, having confessed to helping plan the Mumbai attacks. According to Headley’s own court testimony, he worked for the ISI; moreover, despite early denials, the US government eventually admitted that Headley was a paid informant for the US Drug Enforcement Administration. There is, however, intense speculation in India and Pakistan that Headley, who is of Pakistani background, is in fact a CIA agent-gone-rogue, who used his CIA connections to pursue his militant plans undisturbed (something with the CIA flatly denies). Such rumors are reinforced by the US authorities’ puzzling refusal to allow Indian government investigators of the Mumbai attacks access to Headley. The curious relationship between US intelligence agencies and David Headley has been probed by several media outlets, including The New York Times, which in March of 2010 pointed out that Headley “moved effortlessly between the United States, Pakistan and India for nearly seven years, training at a militant camp in Pakistan on five occasions”. Now a new documentary by investigative group ProPublica, which aired on Tuesday as part of PBS’ Frontline television series, has unearthed new information that shows US government agencies failed to heed “repeated warnings over seven years”, which might have helped prevent the Mumbai attacks. Read more of this post
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008 Mumbai attacks, Analysis, Charles "Sam" Faddis, Charles Faddis, Charles S. Faddis, CIA, David Coleman Headley, DEA, double agents, Gopal Krishna Pillai, India, informants, ISI, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan, United States