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Comment: Why the Italian Convictions of CIA Officers Matter

November 6, 2009 by intelNews 5 Comments

Sabrina De Sousa

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
An Italian court has convicted 22 CIA officers and a US Air Force officer involved in the abduction of a Muslim cleric from Milan in 2003. All but three Americans tried in the case received jail sentences ranging from five to eight years, for kidnapping Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in broad daylight and for illegally renditioning him to Egypt, where he says he was brutally tortured before being released without charge. As intelNews has previously reported, it is extremely unlikely that the US will agree to extradite the convicted abductors to Italy. Washington has formally invoked the NATO Status of Forces Agreement, arguing that the offenders were operating “in the course of official duty” and fall therefore under US, not Italian, jurisdiction. But the convictions are important nonetheless, for three reasons.

News you may have missed #0168

November 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

1,600 suggested daily for FBI’s terrorist watch list. Newly released data show that, during a 12-month period ending in March this year, the US intelligence community suggested 1,600 names daily for entry on the FBI’s terrorist-watch list. The ever-churning list is said to contain over a million entries and more than 400,000 unique names, of which around 5 percent are US citizens or legal residents.
German spies keep files on leftist politicians. Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, a domestic intelligence service, has kept tabs on 27 elected German lawmakers since 2005. All of those targeted are members of Germany’s Left Party. The news, disclosed during an internal German parliament investigation, is certain to upset members and supporters of the Left Party, which holds 76 seats in the country’s 662-seat federal parliament.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with civil liberties, databases, domestic intelligence, FBI, Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Germany), Germany, Left Party (Germany), News, news you may have missed, political policing, surveillance, terrorism

S. Korea arrests two for spying for US defense contractor

November 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

NorthropGrumman

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The government of South Korea announced the arrest on Tuesday of two former South Korean army colonels for allegedly leaking defense secrets to US defense contractor giant Northrop Grumman. South Korean authorities identified the individuals simply as “Hwang” and “Ryu”, and said they both worked for the Security Management Institute, a Seoul-based intelligence think-tank with strong connections to South Korea’s armed forces. Details are still sketchy, but it appears the two former army colonels used their military contacts to gain access to classified information on hardware purchase plans and operations of South Korea’s navy and coast guard. They then allegedly passed on this information to employees of Northrop Grumman, the world’s largest builder of military vessels and fourth largest defense contractor in 2008. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with espionage, Hwang, Kim, military intelligence, News, Northrop Grumman, Ryu, Saab, Security Management Institute (South Korea), South Korea, South Korean Army, South Korean Coast Guard, Sweden, United States

Convicted gun smuggler ‘worked for French intelligence’

November 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Arcadi Gaydamak

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A shady gun smuggler convicted earlier this year in France for illegally selling weapons to Angola, was a French intelligence agent, according to a French newspaper. Speaking to Le Figaro, Charles Pasqua, France’s former interior minister, said that Arcady Gaydamak, who fled to Israel to escape imprisonment in France, was formerly an agent of DST, France’s domestic intelligence agency. Pasqua even said that Gaydamak, who holds Israeli, Russian and French citizenship, was secretly cited by former French President Jacques Chirac for his secret intelligence work. Speaking to Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, Gaydamak confirmed Pasqua’s revelations, and said his work was “so secret” that “the citations spoke of his contribution to ‘agriculture’ instead”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 1994 Lusaka Protocol, Angola, Angolagate arms scandal, Angolan Civil War, Arkady Gaydamak, Charles Pasqua, double agents, DST (France), France, Israel, Jacques Chirac, lawsuits, MPLA (Angola), News, Russia, weapons smuggling, weapons trade

News you may have missed #0167

November 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

DAS official confirms Colombia spying on Ecuador. An official of Colombia’s DAS intelligence service has admitted Colombia “had an informant in the Ecuadorean security forces”. The revelation comes days after Venezuelan officials claimed they had uncovered Operation SALOMON, a joint Colombian-US espionage operation against Ecuador.
Clinton meets Libyan ex-intelligence chief. While attending a regional-development conference in Morocco, US secretary of state Hilary Clinton met briefly with Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa. Kusa, who served as Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi’s intelligence chief during the 1990s, was expelled from Britain in 1980 for his alleged involvement in assassinating a Gaddafi opponent in London. Clinton has a talent for meeting with controversial foreign spies.
Ex-Yugoslav secret agent arrested in Germany. German authorities have arrested a man with Croatian and Swedish citizenships, identified only as “Luka S.”, who allegedly participated in the 1983 murder of Stjepan Durekovic, an exiled Yugoslav dissident living in Germany. Another accomplice in Durekovic’s assassination, identified only as “Kronoslav P.”, was jailed in 2008.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis, assassinations, Cold War, Colombia, Croatia, DAS (Colombia), diplomatic expulsions, Ecuador, espionage, Germany, Hillary Clinton, Kronoslav P., Libya, Luka S., Morocco, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Musa Kusa, News, news you may have missed, Operation SALOMON, Raul Reyes, Stjepan Durekovic, Sweden, Venezuela, Yugoslavia

News you may have missed #0166

November 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

JFK Library releases new evidence on Diem assassination. This is a crucial new piece of the puzzle, for the release includes actual tape recordings of White House meetings, when US President Kennedy considered requests from South Vietnamese generals for US backing of the military coup that eventually ended Saigon leader Ngo Dinh Diem’s rule and life. See here for other recent declassifications on the Vietnam War.
The US intelligence community writes the book on collaboration. More praise for Intellipedia, the US intelligence community’s version of Wikipedia, which has grown markedly since its formal launch in 2006.
Israel admits spying on Lebanon. Israel has openly admitted to collecting intelligence in Lebanon, an uncharacteristically frank admission, which comes after Lebanon busted what has been described as the largest Israeli spy operation in the Arab world.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Al-Alam spy ring, assassinations, coup plots, declassification, espionage, intelligence cooperation, Intellipedia, Israel, John F. Kennedy, Lebanon, News, news you may have missed, Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnam, Vietnam War

Ex-KGB agent shot dead in downtown Moscow

November 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Kalmanovic

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A former KGB agent, who was jailed in Israel in the 1980s for spying for the Soviet Union, was gunned down in downtown Moscow on Monday afternoon. Shabtai von Kalmanovic was shot repeatedly from close range in an apparent contract killing operation, as his chauffeur-driven Mercedes car was stopped at a red light a few blocks away from the Kremlin. Kalmanovic, 62, was a citizen of Lithuania, Russia and Israel. He was born in Soviet Lithuania in 1947, and permitted to emigrate to Israel with his Jewish parents in 1971. In 1987, Israeli authorities arrested Kalmanovic for allegedly giving Israeli military secrets to the KGB. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Cold War, double agents, espionage, informants, Israel, KGB, Lithuania, News, Russia, Shabtai von Kalmanovic, Shin Bet, USSR

Details emerge on Israeli bombing of Syrian nuke reactor

November 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ibrahim Othman

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
German newsmagazine Der Spiegel has published a most detailed examination of the background to Operation ORCHARD, the 2007 Israeli air attack on what is thought to have been a Syrian nuclear reactor. The attack was carried out by Israeli fighter jets in the night of September 6, 2007, at Al-Kibar, a site deep in the Syro-Arabian Desert, twenty miles from Deir al-Zour. Neither Syria nor Israel have commented on the attack, which is widely thought to have targeted Syria’s so-called Al-Kibar nuclear reactor. Der Spiegel’s article is based on interviews with nuclear and security experts, as well as “with individuals involved in the operation, [and] have only now agreed to [speak], under conditions of anonymity”, according to the authors. The article claims that the initial tip about Al-Kibar was given to the Israelis in 2004 by the US National Security Agency, which “detected a suspiciously high number of telephone calls between Syria and North Korea”. 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), Chon Chibu, communications interception, computer hacking, Deir al-Zour (Syria), Ibrahim Othman, Israel, Mossad, News, North Korea, North Korean nuclear program, NSA, operation ORCHARD, Syria, Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, Syrian Desert, Syrian nuclear program, Syro-Arabian Desert, UK, United States

News you may have missed #0165

November 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UK demands Russians deliver spy assassin. David Miliband, Britain’s foreign secretary pressed Russia during a visit to Moscow on Monday to turn over Andrey Lugovoi, the main suspect in the 2006 killing in London of Russian former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. But, as before, Russia rejected the demand on legal grounds.
Analysis: Confusion in US intelligence secrecy policy. The decision last week by the Director of National Intelligence to declassify the FY2009 budget for the National Intelligence Program is inconsistent with other ODNI classification actions and highlights the confusion over the proper scope of national security secrecy that prevails in the US intelligence community today.
Equatorial Guinea pardons Western coup plotters. Four whites jailed for leading an alleged 2004 coup attempt in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea have been unexpectedly pardoned. They include Simon Mann, a British former Special Forces officer, and Nick du Toit, a South African mercenary. The Guinean government cited…”Jesus Christ” in making the decision to pardon the coup plotters.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alexander Litvinenko, Analysis, Andrey Lugovoy, assassinations, coup plots, David Miliband, declassification, DNI, Equatorial Guinea, intelligence budget, KGB, London, mercenaries, News, news you may have missed, Nick du Toit, Russia, Simon Mann, South Africa, UK

News you may have missed #0164

November 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Analysis: Is A.W. Karzai the CIA’s man in Kandahar or a gentle benefactor? Since it was (re-)reported last week that Ahmed Wali Karzai has been receiving payments from the CIA, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s younger brother has turned indignant and says the allegations are part of a smear campaign being waged by political opponents.
Italian court to decide on CIA abduction trial this week. An Italian court is to reach a verdict this week in the landmark trial of 26 US CIA agents involved in the 2003 abduction of a Muslim cleric in Milan.
Iran arrests Azerbaijani laser scientist for ‘spying’. Iranian authorities say the scientist, Rashid Aliyev, who works in Belarus, was involved in international espionage. Iranian media report that “contacts between the security services of Azerbaijan and Israel have been dramatically expanded” in recent years.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Afghanistan, Ahmed Wali Karzai, Azerbaijan, Belarus, CIA, espionage, Hamid Karzai, informants, Iran, Israel, Italy, lawsuits, Milan (Italy), News, news you may have missed, Rashid Aliyev, United States

Australian premier in ministerial spying scandal

November 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Nathan Rees

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The premier of Australia’s state of New South Wales has been accused of trying to spy on local government officials by planning to install telephone surveillance equipment in their work offices. Nathan Rees, a Labour Party politician, who is one of six Australian state chief executives, is reportedly planning to employ phone-tracking software in an attempt to “put the screws on suspected dissidents” within his cabinet. The technology in question appears to be a real-time phone call data monitoring system, which records basic information of telephone exchanges (i.e. who calls whom, at what time, etc), but not their content. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Rees’ envoys have already contacted at least one telephone surveillance equipment provider, KNet Technology, whose representatives say they briefed the Premier’s people. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Australia, Australian Labor Party, call data, communications surveillance, KNet Technology, New South Wales, News, telephone surveillance, telephony

CIA trickery and deception manual revealed in new book

November 3, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

CIA manual

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A CIA manual of surreptitious behavioral and signaling tricks, which was recently discovered by researchers, has been declassified and published in a new book. In The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception, espionage historian H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace, former director of the CIA’s Office of Technical Services, have reproduced the entire manual, which was supposed to have been destroyed by the Agency. Remarkably, the manual’s main author was John Mulholland, a professional magician and editor for 23 years of The Sphinx, America’s authoritative magazine for magicians. In 1953, Mulholland left the stage and The Sphinx to work full time for the CIA, which he did for several years. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with book news and reviews, CIA, CIA Office of Technical Services, declassification, espionage, H. Keith Melton, John McLaughlin, John Mulholland, manuals, MKULTRA, Robert Wallace, spycraft, The Sphinx, United States

News you may have missed #0163

November 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

South Korean ex-spy master dies. Lee Hu-rak, who has died at age 85, headed the Korea Central Intelligence Agency, a predecessor of today’s National Intelligence Service, from 1970-1973. He was best known for brokering the signing of a historic 1972 peace document with North Korea, after an unprecedented secret trip to Pyongyang, during which he met North Korean leader Kim Il Sung.
Spy like us. How a mild-mannered Baltimore antique dealer became one of the FBI’s best undercover agents.
Bulgaria quits plans to disband State National Security Agency. Bulgaria’s government has made clear it does not plan to suspend, but just to “streamline”, the operations of the scandal-prone State National Security Agency DANS.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bulgaria, DANS (Bulgaria), Eastern Europe, FBI, KCIA (South Korea), Kim Sung Il, Korea Central Intelligence Agency (South Korea), Lee Hu-rak, National Intelligence Service (South Korea), News, news you may have missed, North Korea, secret meetings, South Korea

News you may have missed #0162

November 2, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

South Korean 1967 spy case was “trumped up”, report finds. A national truth commission set up by South Korea’s primary intelligence organization, the National Intelligence Service, has concluded that the so-called Tongbaengnim spy ring case was “grossly trumped up”. The case culminated in a public show-trial of 194 South Korean academics, artists and students, accused of spying for North Korea.
CIA torture sparked rift with FBI. The Associated Press is reporting what intelNews readers have known since July 20; namely that the CIA’s use of “harsh interrogation techniques” against captured terror suspects made FBI interrogators wary of the legality of the methods. As a result, FBI agents were barred from the interrogations.
Analysis: Friendship is no bar to espionage. As relations between Taiwan and China improve, would it be reasonable to expect that China will temper espionage activity against Taiwan, and vice-versa?

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Analysis, China, CIA, Cold War, declassification, espionage, FBI, history, lawsuits, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Tongbaengnim spy ring, torture, turf wars, United States

Obama reestablishes critical intelligence oversight board (finally!)

November 2, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Exec. Order 13516

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On June 19, I alerted intelNews readers to the fact that US President Barack Obama had yet to appoint any members to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB). First established in 1956 by President Eisenhower, the PIAB, is a critical oversight group tasked with alerting the White House about US intelligence activities that may be illegal or may in any way go beyond Presidential authorization. Now, after months of inexcusable delays, not only has US President Barack Obama restored PIAB, but has also restored its original oversight role, which had been curtailed by the Bush administration since 2008. Specifically, on October 28, the President appointed former Senators David Boren and Chuck Hagel as co-chairs of PIAB, a move that effectively ended the Board’s hiatus. Read more of this post