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News you may have missed #0191

November 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Peru-Chile spy dispute deepens. Not only was senior Peruvian Air Force officer Victor Ariza Mendoza, who was arrested in Lima last Saturday, a spy for Chile, but there were six other individuals involved in the ring, according to Peruvian authorities. Peru has even asked Interpol to get involved in the affair.
UN-Iran in secret nuclear negotiations, says paper. The London Times has alleged that the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency is secretly negotiating a deal to persuade world powers to lift sanctions against Iran and allow Tehran to retain the bulk of its nuclear energy program, in return for co-operation with UN inspectors.
Analysis: The real spy war between CIA and DNI. For months, the CIA and the office of the Director of National Intelligence fought an intense and acrimonious turf battle over covert action oversight and access to White House officials. Now new details are emerging about deeper and more sensitive conflicts between the two agencies, including which agency is responsible for oversight of the CIA’s controversial and classified Predator drone program.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Analysis, assassinations, Chile, CIA, DNI, espionage, IAEA, Interpol, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, News, news you may have missed, Peru, Predator drones, secret meetings, turf wars, United Nations, United States, Victor Ariza Mendoza, Victor Ariza Mendoza spy ring

News you may have missed #0190

November 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Indicted Liberian leader continues to allege CIA complicity. Former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, who is being tried at The Hague for war crimes, said his rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, exchanged information with the CIA, and continued to do so into his presidency. Talylor has made similar allegations before, but the US media is ignoring it.
Debate on who should protect US computer networks continues. Cyber experts and intelligence officials continue to debate about whether the National Security Agency is the best-suited US agency for protecting the country’s critical computer networks from cyberattacks.
Case of Pakistani ‘spy’ arrested in India gets thicker. A Pakistani man arrested in India just as he was set to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, using a fake passport, “was a leader of some bigger ring spread across central and western Uttar Pradesh”, according to Indian officials. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has arrested two more individuals in connection with the case.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Aamir Ali, Africa, Charles Taylor, CIA, cybersecurity, cyberwar, Delhi Police, espionage, First Liberian Civil War, India, Liberia, News, news you may have missed, NPFL (Liberia), NSA, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, travel documentation, Uttar Pradesh (India)

FBI kept tabs on Pulitzer-winning author Studs Terkel for 45 years

November 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Studs Terkel

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The FBI, which acted as America’s political police during the Cold War, spent several decades watching Pulitzer Prize-winning author Studs Terkel, who died earlier this year at age 96. The revelation was made by the City University of New York’s NYCity News Service, which acquired 147 of the 269 pages in Terkel’s FBI file through a Freedom of Information Act request. The FBI said that it intends to keep the remaining 122 pages kept secret “because of privacy and other reasons”. The FBI appears to have opened a file on Terkel in 1945, in an attempt to discern whether he was affiliated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Cold War, Communist Party USA, declassification, domestic intelligence, FBI, FOIA, government secrecy, News, political policing, Studs Terkel, The Daily Worker, United States

News you may have missed #0189

November 18, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Somali youths from Canada may have joined Al-Shabab militant group. It’s not only Somali-Americans who are going back to Somalia to join Al-Shabab. Canadian officials are worried the same thing may be happening in Toronto.
New website examines intelligence contractors. The website Spies for Hire is a new project by Tim Shorrock, which aims to track the America’s most important intelligence contractors. The website expands on Shorrock’s 2008 book, Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing.
MI6 chiefs to testify about Iraq War fiasco. Past and present chiefs of MI6, including Sir John Scarlett and Sir John Sawers, will be among the first witnesses to give evidence to the official inquiry into Britain’s entry into the Iraq War, it was disclosed on Monday.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Shabaab, Canada, intelligence outsourcing, Iraq War, MI6, News, news you may have missed, Sir John Sawers, Sir John Scarlett, The Party of Youth (Somalia), Tim Shorrock, Toronto (Canada), UK, United States

A terrible week for German spy agencies

November 18, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

BND logo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Germany’s largest intelligence agencies are in for a challenging few days, as two spy scandals are making headlines in the country’s media. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s foremost domestic intelligence organization, is firmly in the hot seat after it emerged that a woman it employed as an undercover informer was among seven extremists indicted for helping operate a hardcore neo-Nazi online radio station. The woman, who has been identified only as “Sandra F.”, had been hired by the spy agency to monitor the German People’s Union (DVU), a national socialist political grouping with substantial following in Brandenburg and Saxony. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Albania, Anton K., Anton Robert K., BND, DVU (Germany), espionage, European Brotherhood Station, Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Germany), German People's Union, Germany, homosexuality, informants, Internet, Kosovo, lawsuits, Macedonia, Murat A., national socialism, neo-Nazis, News, Sandra F.

CIA-DNI turf war enters new phase

November 18, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Dennis Blair

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The CIA may have won a lengthy turf battle against the office of the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI), but the war between the two agencies continues. As intelNews reported last July, the dispute started when DNI Dennis Blair argued in a still-classified directive that his office, and not the CIA, as has been the case for over 60 years, should have a say in certain cases over the appointment of senior US intelligence representatives in foreign cities. A few days ago, when the White House finally came down in favor of the CIA, the imbroglio appeared to be ending. But now the DNI has hit back by announcing it will be evaluating all “[s]ensitive CIA operations overseas” including all of the CIA’s active paramilitary and espionage operations abroad. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, Leon Panetta, News, turf wars, United States

News you may have missed #0188

November 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

India arrests Pakistani ‘spy’ carrying documents at airport. The Delhi Police says it arrested a Pakistani spy just as he was set to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, carrying with him a set of vital documents on Indian defense installations. The man was reportedly using a fake passport bearing the name “Aamir Ali”.
Hezbollah claims infiltration of Israel. Lebanese militant group Hezbollah says it has infiltrated the security services of Israel and obtained vital documents regarding military activity, by “taking pictures and copying sensitive documents”.
Spy arrest causes major Peru-Chile diplomatic row. A senior Peruvian Air Force officer was arrested in Lima on Saturday, on charges of spying for Chile. The spying affair caused the Peruvian delegation to pull out of an Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore on Sunday.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Aamir Ali, Chile, Delhi Police, espionage, Hezbollah, India, Israel, Lebanon, Lima (Peru), News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, Peru, Peruvian Air Force, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, travel documentation, Victor Ariza Mendoza, Victor Ariza Mendoza spy ring

One third of Pakistani spy budget comes from CIA, say officials

November 17, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

ISI HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
As much as one third of the annual budget of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence has come from the CIA in the last eight years, according to a new report in The Los Angeles Times. The paper says that even more US dollars have been supplied to the ISI through a secret CIA monetary rewards program that pays for the arrest or assassination of militants wanted by Washington. The payments reportedly began during the early years of the George W. Bush administration, and are now continuing under the Obama administration, despite “long-standing suspicions” that the ISI and the Pakistani military maintain close links with the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and elsewhere. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, Bush Administration, CIA, intelligence cooperation, intelligence funding, intelligence sharing, ISI, News, North Carolina, Obama Administration, Pakistan, Taliban, United States, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0187

November 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Cambodia arrests Thai for spying on exile leader. Cambodian authorities said the man, Siwarak Chothipong, who works for the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, spied on the flight itinerary of visiting former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been living in exile since a 2006 military coup in Thailand. The Thai government has rejected the charge.
CIA’s Panetta to visit India, Pakistan. CIA director Leon Panetta will visit Pakistan and India for three days, starting on November 20. IntelNews will be keeping an eye on his visit.
Former Monaco spymaster says prince invokes immunity. More on the saga of former FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Eringer, who until recently was spymaster to prince Albert II of Monaco, and is now suing him for €360,000 ($542,000) in alleged unpaid income. Eringer’s lawyers have accused Albert of invoking head-of-state immunity, “an absolute defense used by dictators around the world to avoid accountability in US courts”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Cambodia, Cambodia Air Traffic Service, CIA, espionage, head-of-state immunity, India, lawsuits, Leon Panetta, Monaco, Monaco Intelligence Service, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Robert Eringer, Siwarak Chothipong, Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, United States

Abducted Iranian defense official reportedly held in Israel

November 17, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

Ali-Reza Asgari

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Iran’s former deputy defense minister, who went missing during a 2006 official visit to Turkey, was kidnapped in a joint Israeli-German-British operation, according to an Iranian newsmagazine. Brigadier general Ali-Reza Asgari, who once commanded Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, disappeared on December 9, 2006, from his hotel room in Istanbul, Turkey. Little more than a year later, Hans Rühle, former Director of Policy Planning in the German Ministry of Defense, wrote in Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung that Asgari was in Western hands and that “information was obtained” from him. Since then, other sources have alleged that Asgari defected willingly, including Dafna Linzer of the Washington Post and intelligence historian Gordon Thomas, in his 2009 book Secret Wars: One Hundred Years of British Intelligence (see intelNews book review). Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Ali-Reza Asgari, Dafna Linzer, defectors, German Ministry of Defense, Germany, Gordon Thomas, Hans Rühle, Iran, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Israel, Istanbul, Mossad, News, Switzerland, Turkey, UK

News you may have missed #0186

November 16, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UN shares intel with Rwandan rebels, says paper. Rwandan daily The New Times has aired allegations that the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) has an intelligence-sharing relationship with Hutu FDLR rebels, which runs “even deeper than earlier thought”.
Pakistan militants target spy agency. Militants have stepped up their fight against the Pakistani government in western Pakistan, by ramming a truck bomb into the Peshawar regional office of the Inter-Services Intelligence, the country’s main spy agency. This is the first large-scale specific targeting of intelligence agents in the region, outside of Afghanistan.
US bases in Colombia to be used for spying, says Chávez. Venezuela’s President says he does not think that the new US bases will be used for counternarcotics efforts, but rather for “electronic spying”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, Africa, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, ELINT, FDLR, Hugo Chávez, Hutus, ISI, military bases, MONUC, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, Rwanda, suicide bombings, United Nations, United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, United States, Venezuela

Book claims CIA turned blind eye on Pakistan’s post-9/11 terror links

November 16, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

J.L. Bruguiere

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A new book by France’s former leading investigating magistrate on counterterrorism affairs alleges that the CIA allowed the Pakistani army to train members of a notorious Islamist militant group, even after 9/11. In the book, entitled Ce que je n’ai pas pu dire (The Things I Would Not Utter), Jean-Louis Bruguiere says the US spy agency was aware that Pakistani army trainers worked with Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani group responsible for a series of sophisticated strikes in India, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The former magistrate bases his allegations on official testimony provided by Willy Brigitte, a French citizen from Guadeloupe, who was arrested in Australia in 2003, in connection with Lashkar-e-Taiba activities there. Soon after the US invasion of Afghanistan, Brigitte traveled to Pakistan aiming to join the Taliban insurgency, but was unable to cross the Pakistani-Afghan border. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008 Mumbai attacks, Afghanistan, Australia, CIA, France, Guadeloupe, India, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, Lahore (Pakistan), Lashkar-e-Taiba, News, Pakistan, Pakistani armed forces, Punjab (Pakistan), Taliban, terrorism, United States, War on Terrorism, Willy Brigitte

News you may have missed #0185

November 16, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Article claims US employed cyberwar in 2007. A cover story in the Washington-based National Journal claims former US President George W. Bush authorized the National Security Agency to “launch a sophisticated attack […] on the cellular phones and computers that insurgents in Iraq were using to plan roadside bombings”. IntelNews regulars will remember that we had suspected as much.
Somali suicide bomb recruiter had US residency. Somali Mohamud Said Omar, who was arrested a week ago in Holland on suspicion of recruiting youth in Minneapolis for suicide missions in Somalia, has a US green card, Dutch media reported Friday.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial a huge challenge for US judiciary. The alleged 9/11 mastermind’s case poses the question of how to deal with what is likely to be an extremely large body of classified evidence that the prosecution will want to present.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, cyberwar, government secrecy, Iraq, Iraq War, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, lawsuits, Minneapolis, Mohamud Said Omar, Netherlands, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Somalia, United States

Happy birthday, IntelNews

November 16, 2009 by intelNews 11 Comments

1 year intelNews

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A year ago today, on November 16, 2008, intelNews began its beta period, with a brief note I wrote on “Obama’s intelligence policy”. A year and over 750 postings later, Joseph Fitsanakis and I are still here, typing away on the ins and outs of the intelligence world. In these 12 months, we have enjoyed some welcome coverage in both the scholarly and popular press. We have also been threatened with a lawsuit, had our identities questioned, and denounced as “a very naive lot”, or as “spies” and “agent provocateurs” (in private correspondence). At the same time, we have seen visitor numbers rapidly exceed the 1,000-a-day mark and our email inboxes overfilled with messages, day after day. After 12 months of systematic blogging, one thing is clear: people around the world want to make sense of intelligence –that important, yet routinely unseen, parameter that shapes our lives through systems and techniques that remain largely unknown to the non-expert. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with intelNews, press room

News you may have missed #0184

November 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Rumors of joint US-Israel-Egypt-Jordan spy meeting. Israeli site DEBKAfile is one of several Middle Eastern news outlets alleging that a secret meeting was held earlier this month between senior intelligence officials of the US, Israel, Egypt and Jordan.
Germany won’t prosecute suspect in Litvinenko murder. Germany has dropped attempts to prosecute Dmitri Kovtun, a former Soviet military intelligence officer implicated in the 2006 killing in London of Russian former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. Meanwhile the primary suspect in the case, former KGB bodyguard Andrey Lugovoy, who lives in Russia, said he may be ready to face questioning in the UK “under certain conditions”.
FBI charged terrorism suspect after trying to recruit him. Tarek Mehanna, a Massachusetts man accused of plotting to kill Americans, was charged by the FBI only after he refused to work as an informant against Muslims, according to his lawyer. This is not the first time such allegations have surfaced.