News you may have missed #509 (Blackwater edition)
May 17, 2011 Leave a comment
- Blackwater founder sets up Emirates mercenary force. Fearing pro-democracy protesters, the United Arab Emirates has paid Blackwater founder and former CIA operative Erik Prince $529 million to set up an 800-strong undercover American-led mercenary army, staffed mostly by Colombian dogs of war.
- US studies legality of US-led private army in UAE. The US state department said on Sunday that it was examining the legality of an American-led private army that is being established in the United Arab Emirates.
- Ex-Blackwater members set up private spy firm. Veterans from Blackwater (now Xe Services) and former members of the US military’s ABLE DANGER intelligence data mining program, have founded a new private intelligence firm called –wait for it– Jellyfish.
intelNews.org 
Did compromised laptop prompt Israel to bomb Syrian nuclear reactor?
May 18, 2011 by intelNews Leave a comment
Al-Kibar reactor
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
One of the Middle East’s biggest mysteries in recent years concerns Operation ORCHARD, the September 6, 2007, attack by Israeli fighter jets on a site deep in the Syro-Arabian Desert. Many observers, including former CIA Director, General Michael Hayden, have called for the secrecy surrounding the covert operation to be finally lifted. But it has been more-or-less confirmed that the attack targeted a plutonium production reactor, which was part of Syria’s secret nuclear weapons program. And officials in Tel Aviv have repeatedly hinted that Israel was behind the operation. The burning question, however, is how did Israel learn of the existence of Syria’s nuclear reactor at Al-Kibar, a secret and isolated site deep in the Syro-Arabian Desert? The authoritative account of the operation, which appeared in German newsmagazine Der Spiegel in 2009, suggested that the initial tip came from the US National Security Agency, which “detected a suspiciously high number of telephone calls between Syria and North Korea”. But it also alleged that the Mossad managed to acquire vital clues about the Al-Kibar building site by installing a stealth “Trojan horse” program on the laptop of a Syrian government official, while the latter was visiting Britain. Read more of this post
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Al-Kibar (Syria), Al-Kibar nuclear reactor (Syria), assassinations, computer hacking, Israel, London, Michael Hayden, Mossad, News, NSA, nuclear proliferation, operation ORCHARD, Syria, Syrian nuclear program, Syro-Arabian Desert, UK, United States