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Ex-FBI translator alleges Turkish intelligence activities in US

August 13, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Sibel Edmonds

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A former FBI translator has alleged that agents acting at the behest of the Turkish government have bugged, blackmailed and bribed US politicians. Sibel Edmonds has spent seven years trying to get a US court to hear her allegations that Turkish intelligence agents penetrated her unit, the State Department, the Pentagon and Congress. On August 8, she gave a public testimony at the Washington headquarters of the National Whistleblowers Association, in an attempt to keep her case alive in the public eye. Among other allegations, she said that Turkish intelligence agents bugged the apartment of a female member of Congress and then blackmailed her, threatening to expose her extra-marital affair. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Armenian Genocide, blackmail, corruption, FBI, MİT (Turkey), National Whistleblowers Association, News, Sibel Edmonds, Turkey, United States, US Congress, whistleblowing, wiretapping

News you may have missed #0067

August 13, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

David Wise on CIA assassinations. Author of The Invisible Government and The Spy Who Got Away speaks about the long history of CIA assassinations.
These are the architects of torture in 9/11’s wake. The New York Times has published a detailed investigation into the works of Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, two psychologists hired by the CIA to design an elaborate ten-stage harsh interrogation program after 9/11.
Defector recounts torture, terrorism by Uzbek government. The BBC’s Peter Marshall interviews Ikram Yakubov, a former Major in Uzbekistan’s National Security Service (SNB), who recently defected to Britain.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Bruce Jessen, CIA, David Wise, defectors, Ikram Yakubov, Jim Mitchell, Mitchell Jessen and Associates, National Security Service (Uzbekistan), News, news you may have missed, psychology, SNB (Uzbekistan), torture, UK, United States, Uzbekistan

News you may have missed #0066

August 12, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US court upholds conviction of CIA contractor. A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of David Passaro, the first US civilian found guilty of abusing a detainee in Afghanistan.
US ex-Attorney General comes out against CIA probe. In a move that is hardly surprising, US Attorney General under the Bush Administration, Alberto Gonzales, said yesterday that investigating past interrogation practices “could discourage” CIA operatives from “engaging in conduct that even comes close” to more stringent guidelines.
Rare Chinese view on the Rio Tinto spy case. A rare article in English, by Jiang Ruqin, an official in the Bureau of National Secrecy of China’s Jiangsu Province.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, Alberto Gonzales, Australia, Bureau of National Secrecy (China), China, CIA, David Passaro, energy resources, intelligence outsourcing, Jiang Ruqin, News, news you may have missed, Rio Tinto, torture, US Attorney General, War on Terrorism

Does this satellite image show a Burmese nuclear facility?

August 12, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Click for larger

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Amateur satellite imagery observers say they have discovered a suspicious structure deep inside Burma’s thick jungle, which may be part of Rangoon’s rumored secret nuclear military program. The images, obtained through Google Earth, show a large structure, measuring 82 by 84 meters, which some say fits the requirements of a secret nuclear facility. The structure is located in central Burma, near the small jungle town of Pin Oo Lwin. Interestingly, this region, near Mandalay, is precisely where two Burmese defectors (one of whom is now dead) told two Australian researchers that they thought the Burmese army was building “a nuclear research and engineering center”. The two researchers, Phil Thornton, a journalist based in Thailand, and Desmond Ball, strategic studies expert at the Australian National University, published their claims earlier this month in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Australia, Australian National University, Burma, Burmese nuclear program, defectors, Desmond Ball, Google Earth, Mandalay (Burma), News, nuclear proliferation, Phil Thornton, Pin Oo Lwin (Burma), satellite reconnaissance

Intelligence sources speak of clashes between rival Pakistani militias

August 12, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Mehsud

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Exactly one week after Pakistani officials announced the assassination of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, there are unconfirmed reports of serious clashes between rival armed factions in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Canadian sources are quoting unnamed intelligence officials who claim that Mehsud’s Taliban fighters are engaged in an all-out offensive against militia followers of Turkistan Bitani, a tribal warlord backed by the Pakistani government. Bitani spoke to the Associated Press saying that 90 fighters have so far died in the offensive and that at least 40 houses have been destroyed. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Baitullah Mehsud, CIA, Jandola (Pakistan), News, Pakistan, Predator drones, South Waziristan, Taliban, Turkistan Bitani, United States, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0065

August 12, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA investigator admits to fabricating reports. CIA employee Kerry Gerdes has pleaded guilty to falsifying interview reports while performing background checks on Agency employees and potential employees.
Mehsud killed while getting leg massage, say US sources. American officials have dismissed rumors that Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban chief, is alive, and say he was killed while on the roof of his father-in-law’s home in South Waziristan.
Paris furious at French woman’s espionage confession on Iranian TV. Iranian state television has aired footage of Clotilde Reiss, a French student who was arrested in Iran last July, confessing to spying for France. Soon afterward, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced he would take time off from his holiday to make her release his priority.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Baitullah Mehsud, CIA, Clotilde Reiss, France, intelligence recruitment, Iran, Kerry Gerdes, News, news you may have missed, Nicolas Sarkozy, Pakistan, Predator drones, South Waziristan, Taliban, United States

New Zealand union says intelligence services spying on academics

August 11, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

Dr. Jane Kelsey

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Back in February, intelNews reported on allegations, subsequently confirmed through declassification, that the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has been keeping files on several members of the country’s Parliament, some of them since they were children. Now the Wellington-based Tertiary Education Union (TEU) has alleged that NZSIS also spies on academics. The allegations follow a request by Dr. Jane Kelsey for the release of her NZSIS files. Professor Kelsey, a prominent scholarly critic of free trade policies, made the request after NZSIS agreed to release the files of several parliamentarians it had been monitoring for a many decades. Interestingly, NZSIS refused to confirm whether it possessed information on Dr. Kelsey. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with academic freedom, civil liberties, declassification, domestic intelligence, government secrecy, Jane Kelsey, New Zealand, New Zealand Privacy Commissioner, News, NZSIS (New Zealand), TertiaryEducation Union (New Zealand), Tom Ryan

British report reveals over 500,000 domestic spying requests in 2008

August 11, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

ICC report

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
An annual report published Monday by Britain’s Interception of Communications Commissioner has revealed that UK government agencies made 504,073 official requests for communications data of citizens in 2008. The report by Sir Paul Kennedy shows that UK authorities authorized every single one of the half a million requests for access to telephone and email traffic data, such as phone numbers dialed and the dates and times of email exchanges. The authorizations did not cover the content of communications. The total number of requests for 2008 amount to more than 1,400 a day and nearly 10,000 a week. Overall, around 1,2 million official government requests for access to communications data have been made in Britain from 2006 to 2008 –the equivalent of one request for every 21 adults living in Britain.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with civil liberties, communications interception, domestic intelligence, Interception of Communications Commissioner (UK), Internet, News, Sir Paul Kennedy, surveillance, UK

Dutch double agent called “modern-day Mata Hari” in prison

August 11, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Malika Karoum

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Malika Karoum, the 33-year old intelligence operative who has been described as the “modern-day Mata Hari” is in prison in Egypt, a Dutch news magazine has revealed. Karoum, a Dutch citizen of Moroccan descent, joined Holland’s General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) in 2004, and worked as an undercover agent investigating Islamist groups operating on Dutch soil. In 2006, AIVD sent Karoum to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to aid an international investigation into money laundering with possible Islamist links. But Dutch intelligence sources say that Karoum, whose apparent cover was working as a real-estate agent, began “subcontracting” herself to Egyptian and United Arab Emirates intelligence services, and eventually utilized her real-estate cover to enter the murky business world of property development in Dubai. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, AIVD (Netherlands), corruption, covert operations, double agents, Dubai, Egypt, General Intelligence and Security Service (Netherlands), Malika Karoum, Mata Hari, money laundering, Morocco, narcotics trade, Netherlands, News, real estate, renegade spies, United Arab Emirates, weapons trade

News you may have missed #0064

August 11, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US battling CIA rendition case in three courts. Useful legal status summary of the case of Binyam Mohamed and four other former or current CIA detainees, who allege they were tortured at Guantánamo Bay.
Iran purges Intelligence Ministry officials. More information on an apparent purge in the ranks of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security, which we first noted a few days ago.
US Pentagon monitoring Twitter, YouTube. Newly released government documents show the US military is monitoring activity on popular websites such as YouTube and Twitter to scrutinize and react to coverage of “high-profile events”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Binyam Mohamed, CIA, extraordinary rendition, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, Iran, lawsuits, Ministry of Intelligence and National Security of Iran, News, news you may have missed, social networking, surveillance, torture, Twitter, United States, US DoD, YouTube

News you may have missed #0063

August 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UK government ministers, MI6 boss, reject torture accusations. Britain’s home secretary, Alan Johnson, and foreign secretary, David Miliband, have rejected claims that the UK operated a “policy to collude in, solicit, or directly participate in abuses of [war on terrorism] prisoners” or to cover up abuses. The outgoing director of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, has also said that there has been “no torture and there is no complicity with torture” by British agents.
Ex-spy may succeed Kazakh leader. An unnamed senior security official may eventually succeed Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled Kazakhstan for 20 years.
Congressman tells Holder to widen torture probe. Several news outlets are verifying earlier rumors (reported on by intelNews on July 13) that the Obama Administration is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agencies after September 11, 2001. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, has said he wants US Attorney General Eric Holder to extend the rumored investigation beyond CIA interrogators, and determine whether high-level officials of the Bush administration committed war crimes.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alan Johnson, Bush Administration, Central Asia, CIA, David Miliband, Eric Holder, Jerrold Nadler, Kazakhstan, MI6, News, news you may have missed, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Sir John Scarlett, torture, UK, War on Terrorism

Is Mehsud dead, and if so, who or what killed him?

August 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Baitullah Mehsud

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
There is confusion about the fate of Pakistan’s senior Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud. On August 7, the Pakistani military told the world’s media that an unmanned drone air strike (probably operated by the CIA) had killed Mehsud. The Associated Press reported that a Taliban commander in Pakistan, Kafayat Ullah, had confirmed that “Mehsud and his wife died in the American missile attack in South Waziristan”. Pakistani military officials said they were “reasonably sure” of the accuracy of these reports, but that they did not possess irrefutable “forensic evidence” of Mehsud’s death. Over the weekend, however, other Taliban leaders came forward to contest Ullah’s account. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Baitullah Mehsud, CIA, Hakimullah Mehsud, Kafayat Ullah, Maulvi Umar, News, Pakistan, Predator drones, South Waziristan, Taliban, United States, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0062

August 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Hacking, Lock-Picking, Booze and Bacon. Excellent illustrated review of some of the highlights of DefCon 17, the world’s largest hacking convention, which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Were NC terror suspect’s stories an exaggeration? There are more doubts over the genuineness of the Afghan exploits of Daniel Boyd, who was recently arrested along with seven others in North Carolina on domestic terrorism charges.
Ex-DHS boss comes out in support of controversial NSA project. Michael Chertoff, who directed the US Department of Homeland Security under the Bush Administration, has come out in support of EINSTEIN 3, a rumored joint project between the NSA and US telecommunication service providers, which requires the latter to route government data carried through their networks to the NSA, via secret rooms installed in exchange sites. Critics have condemned the project as “antithetical to basic civil liberties and privacy protections” in the United States.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with American Muslims, Bush Administration, civil liberties, communications intelligence, computer hacking, Daniel Boyd, DefCon conference, domestic intelligence, EINSTEIN 3, Michael Chertoff, News, news you may have missed, NSA, telecommunication service providers, United States, US Department of Homeland Security

German provincial spy boss caused bomb scare

August 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Günter Heiss

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The director of German’s domestic intelligence organization in the state of Lower Saxony will receive a fine for instigating a bomb scare by leaving his briefcase unattended during a social gathering. Günter Heiss, who heads the northwester German state’s office of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz), has admitted responsibility for the blunder. He was among 700 guests at a cocktail party hosted in the Hannover city hall by Lower Saxony’s Christian Democratic parliamentary group. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, Christian Democratic Union (Germany), domestic intelligence, Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Germany), Günter Heiss, Germany, Hannover, Hannover City Hall, Lower Saxony, News, social gatherings

News you may have missed #0061

August 7, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Finland police identify body of WWII Soviet spy. Police believe a body found near Kouvola, Finland, to be the World War II remnants of a Soviet spy. The man apparently parachuted to his death. The body will be offered to the Russian Embassy for repatriation –an offer that is expected to be refused.
Hacker conferences attract spies, thieves. Interesting account of Defcon conference anecdotes by CNET correspondent Elinor Mills, who has been attending Defcon since 1995.
Interesting interview with lawyer behind CIA lawsuit. McClatchy news agency has published a rare interview with Brian Leighton, the lawyer representing retired Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officer Richard A. Horn, who in 1994 claimed that CIA agents illegally wiretapped his conversations while he was stationed in Burma.