Swiss intelligence chief to step down following dispute over Crypto AG spy scandal
May 13, 2021 2 Comments
THE DIRECTOR OF SWITZERLAND’S spy service will step down once his mandate ends in August, allegedly over a dispute with the country’s governing council about the Crypto AG affair, which shook Swiss politics last year. Jean-Philippe Gaudin headed Switzerland’s Military Intelligence Service from 2008 to 2015. He then served as a defense attaché at the Swiss embassy in Paris, France, before being appointed by the then-Defense Minister, Guy Parmelin as director of the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS). Founded in 2010, the FIS performs both domestic and external intelligence functions in the Alpine state.
But, according to reports in the Swiss media, Gaudin is not expected to continue in his post once his mandate ends, on August 31. The reason seems to be tensions within the Swiss government over the so-called Crypto AG affair. The scandal centers on the world’s leading manufacturer of cryptologic equipment during the Cold War, Crypto AG, whose clients included over 120 governments around the world. In February of last year, The Washington Post and the German public broadcaster ZDF confirmed reports that had been circulating since the early 1980s, that Crypto AG was a front for American intelligence. According to the revelations, the Central Intelligence Agency and West Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service secretly purchased the Swiss company in the 1950s and paid off most of its senior executives in order to buy their silence.
The secret deal, dubbed Operation RUBICON, allegedly allowed the US and West Germany to spy on the classified government communications of many of their adversaries —and even allies, including Austria, Italy, Spain, Greece, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The revelation about the secret deal shocked Swiss public opinion and embarrassed the government of a nation that bases its national identity and international reputation on the concept of neutrality.
Earlier this year, a parliamentary report into the Crypto AG affair concluded that Gaudin had essentially mishandled the case and had waited too long to inform the nation’s leadership about it. Gaudin’s behavior resulted in tension in his relationship with the Swiss Federal Council —a seven-member executive body that forms the federal government and serves as the collective decision-making body of the Swiss Confederation. According to reports, the spy chief’s relationship with Switzerland’s Defense Minister, Viola Amherd, is beyond repair, and the minister has been pushing for his resignation for several months.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Swiss government gave no reason for Gaudin’s pending career change, saying only that the spy chief would move on to “new challenges” in the private sector. He will reportedly be replaced by Juerg Buehler, who will serve as interim director of the FIS until further notice. Neither the FIS nor Gaudin have made public comments about this sudden development.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 13 May 2021 | Permalink
UNITED STATES JOE BIDEN reportedly told the director of Israel’s external intelligence agency, the Mossad, that Washington has “a long way to go” before rejoining a 2015 agreement aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The meeting between Biden and Mossad director Yossi Cohen reportedly took place last Friday, during Cohen’s visit to Washington last week, to discuss bilateral security issues with a series of American officials. On Thursday Cohen met with a number of Biden administration officials, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Brett McGurk, who is the National Security Council’s Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.
A MEMBER OF THE United States Congress, who previously worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, has called for foreign white supremacist groups to be closely monitored, warning that they have ties to American militants. Democratic Representative Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan, wrote in a letter that the US should apply the label of “terrorist organizations” to a number of foreign white supremacist groups. She argued that the move would allow US authorities to take more aggressive measures against supporters of such groups inside the US.
GERMANY’S DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE AGENCY said on Wednesday it has begun monitoring groups associated with conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19, who are “challenging the legitimacy of the state”. Germany is home to one of the most vocal anti-lockdown movements in the Western world, with public rallies against lockdown measures taking place nearly every week across the country. These rallies attract a peculiar mix of participants who come from a variety of backgrounds, including anti-vaccination proponents, various conspiracy theorists, and supporters of both far-left and far-right parties.
SEVERAL EASTERN EUROPEAN STATES announced plans to expel Russian diplomats this week, as Moscow declared an Italian diplomat persona non grata in a tit-for-tat dispute with Rome over espionage allegations. Earlier this month, the Czech Republic 
JAPAN’S AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRALIA has said he feels optimistic his country could join the Five Eyes intelligence alliance in “the near future”, adding to growing speculation on the topic. Japanese diplomat Shingo Yamagami, who has held the post of ambassador to Australia since late 2020, 
A JOINT INVESTIGATION BY Maltese and British reporters has found alleged loopholes that allow wealthy individuals from the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere to acquire European Union passports with minimum effort, in exchange for cash. The investigation concerns the so-called “cash for passports” scheme, which was launched by the government of Malta in 2014.
ONE OF MEXICO’S MOST powerful drug cartels has reportedly used drones to attack police officers with explosives, according to local media reports. If confirmed, this incident will mark the first recorded use of drones by a Mexican drug cartel to attack law enforcement.
A LEADING CHINESE TELECOMMUNICATIONS firm has strongly denied a claim by a newspaper that its service personnel could listen in on calls made by Dutch telephone users, including senior government officials. The report dates from 2010 and was authored by consultancy firm Capgemini on behalf of KPN, one of Holland’s largest telecommunications service providers. The Rotterdam-based firm had hired Capgemini to conduct a risk analysis on whether more equipment should be purchased from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. By that time the Chinese company, one of the world’s largest in its field, was already supplying KPN with hardware and software equipment.
CZECH GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SAID they would welcome the expulsion of Russian diplomats from European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, in support of Prague’s ongoing diplomatic spat with Moscow. The Czech Republic expelled 18 Russian diplomats last weekend, in order to protest against an explosion at a remote munition depot in the east of the country, which the government claims was part of a Russian intelligence operation.
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US Army Special Forces soldier sentenced to 15 years for spying for Russia
May 17, 2021 1 Comment
A FORMER MEMBER OF the United States Army’s Special Forces has been sentenced for spying for Russia for 15 years, after he was reportedly groomed by Russian military intelligence at a young age. Peter Debbins, 46, born in the US to an American father and a Soviet-born mother, admitted in 2020 to spying for Russia for over 20 years.
Even though he had Russian background from his mother’s side of the family, he had never been to Russia until he traveled there in 1994. On that trip he met his Russian family members for the first time, as well as a young Russian woman who would eventually become his wife. In 1996 Debbins returned to Russia as an exchange student from the University of Minnesota, and reconnected with a Russian woman. She was from the city of Chelyabinsk, located near the Russian-Kazakh border. The woman’s father was reportedly a colonel in the Russian Air Force.
It was during that second trip, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that he was spotted by the Main Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, known commonly as GRU. By 1997, when Debbins returned to Russia to marry his girlfriend, he was already working for the GRU, according to US government prosecutors. It is stated in his indictment that he told his GRU handler he saw himself as a “son of Russia” and sought to limit America’s dominance in the world.
Between 1998 and 2005, Debbins served in the US Army, where he became a Green Beret. He was discharged and lost his security clearance after “violating protocols” while he was stationed in Azerbaijan. Throughout his time in the US Army, Debbins frequently traveled to Russia, where his wife was studying at the time. While there he met with his GRU handlers. The court heard that he gave the GRU information on a variety of classified subjects, as well as private information on other members of the Green Berets. This information was intended to be used to blackmail these soldiers to work for the GRU.
Following his stint in the US Army, Debbins worked as a contractor for the US military, on topics relating to Russian language translation, as well as counterintelligence. Throughout that time, he reportedly continued to apply for dozens of positions in the US intelligence community, but without success. He is believed to have stopped spying for Russia in 2011.
The judge who hand down Debbins’ sentence ordered that his incarceration should begin immediately. Debbins’ legal team has requested that he be incarcerated near the Washington Metropolitan Area, so that he can remain in contact with his wife and four daughters.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 17 May 2021 | Permalink
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