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Obama administration opposes release of Cheney records in Valerie Plame case

July 30, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Valerie Plame

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Obama administration officials are pressuring a US judge to stop the release of former US Vice President Dick Cheney’s records in the case of ex-CIA agent Valerie Plame. Plame sought compensation after she was publicly named as a secret CIA operative. Along with her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, she has fought a legal campaign, arguing that several Bush administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, and even President George W. Bush himself, were behind the leak of her CIA role. Cheney had a lengthy interview with prosecutors pursuing the leak case, but the transcripts of the exchange have so far remained secret, on national security grounds. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Dick Cheney, Emmet Sullivan, George W. Bush, government secrecy, Joseph Wilson, lawsuits, News, Obama Administration, United States, US Department of Justice, Valerie Plame-Wilson

News you may have missed #0048

July 30, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Spy charges against I.F. Stone nonsense, says biographer. D.D. Guttenplan, biographer of American journalist and scholar I.F. Stone, says charges made in the new book Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America that Stone was a Soviet spy are historically unfounded and politically suspicious.
NSA releases pre-WWII COMINT history without redactions. Declassification of complete text follows successful appeal by researcher Michael Ravnitzky.
Philippine protesters allege military surveillance. Anti-government protesters in Quezon City say they caught eight men spying on them on behalf of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. But military officials have denied the charges.
Canada court to review Ex-KGB agent’s expulsion order. Mikhail Lennikov has a date for a judicial review of a decision to expel him from Canada on security grounds.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Armed Forces of the Philippines, Canada, COMINT, communications intelligence, D.D. Guttenplan, declassification, domestic intelligence, espionage, history, I.F. Stone, informants, KGB, Michael Ravnitzky, Mikhail Alexander Lennikov, national security, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Philippines, Russia, United States

Kim Philby’s granddaughter describes memories of her grandfather

July 30, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

Charlotte Philby

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Charlotte Philby, daughter of John Philby, H.A.R. “Kim” Philby’s oldest son, has penned an extensive account of her memories of her grandfather. In her article, published yesterday in British daily The Independent, she describes Kim Philby as “a proud man, and one who chose to publicly stand by his actions”. Kim Philby was probably the most successful double spy in history. While working as a senior member of British intelligence, he spied on behalf of the Soviet KGB and NKVD from the early 1930s until 1963, when he defected to Moscow. Two years later he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The Soviet authorities buried him with honors when he died in 1988. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Cambridge Five, Charlotte Philby, Cold War, double agents, espionage, H.A.R. "Kim" Philby, John Philby, KGB, MI6, Moscow (Russia), News, NKVD, Order of the Red Banner, Sheremetyevo International Airport, UK, USSR

FOIA request reveals US Army spying on activists

July 29, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Eileen Clancy

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
US government documents released through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by activists in Washington state have helped unmask a US Army informant operating amidst their ranks. John Towery, a member of the US Army’s Force Protection Service at Fort Lewis in Washington, claimed to be an anarchist named “John Jacob” in order to join Students for a Democratic Society and Port Militarization Resistance. He then spied on the groups on behalf of several regional and federal government agencies, including Immigration Customs Enforcement, Joint Terrorism Task Force, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and the US Army. This is the latest in a long line of similar incidents, which inevitably point to a systematic campaign of domestic intelligence gathering against antiwar groups. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with domestic intelligence, Eileen Clancy, FBI, FOIA, Fort Lewis, Immigration Customs Enforcement, John Jacob, John Towery, Joint Terrorism Task Force, News, political activism, political policing, Port Militarization Resistance, Posse Comitatus, Students for a Democratic Society, surveillance, United States, US Army, US Army Force Protection Service, US Department of Homeland Security, Washington state

News you may have missed #0047

July 29, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Bin Laden still alive, says terrorism expert. Jere Van Dyk, who is CBS News’ consultant on terrorism, weighs rumors that Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or even Europe.
Sri Lanka authorities claim arrest of LTTE spy commander. Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division says it arrested the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam intelligence chief on Monday. The LTTE appears to be in shambles, having lost its entire intelligence network.
CIA Director praises Bill Clinton during visit. CIA Director Panetta “complimented Mr. Clinton for his understanding of the CIA’s role in intelligence gathering in the post-Cold War era” and praised “the experience and perspective of a man who for eight years worked to defuse those dangers, protect our nation, and share the best of its ideals with the rest of the world”. Panetta was Clinton’s White House aide in the 1990s.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bill Clinton, CIA, Leon Panetta, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, News, news you may have missed, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Terrorist Investigation Division (Sri Lanka), Yemen

Mystery surrounds conviction of alleged Belgian spy in Morocco

July 29, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Belliraj

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A court in Sale, Morocco, has sentenced to life a Belgian national of Moroccan origin, who Belgian media claim was a “golden informant” for the Belgian secret services. Moroccan authorities arrested Abdelkader Belliraj, 50, in early 2008, and charged him with a plethora of criminal offenses, including armed robbery, money laundering and arms smuggling. More importantly, Belliraj is accused of participating in at least six killings carried out in Belgium by Abu Nidal in the 1980s and early 1990s, supplying arms to the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front, and leading a militant group aiming to overthrow the government of Morocco. Interestingly, however, in March of 2008, Belgian newspaper De Tijd reported that Belliraj had acted as an invaluable informant for Belgium’s State Security Service (SV/SE) and had recently supplied information that helped foil a bomb attack in a Western European country. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdelkader Belliraj, Abu Nidal Organization, Alain Winants, Algeria, Belgium, double agents, informants, Islamic Salvation Front (Algeria), money laundering, Morocco, News, SV/SE (Belgium), War on Terrorism, weapons smuggling

News you may have missed #0046

July 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA documents reveal Chilean candidate’s ties to Pinochet. CIA documents declassified last Friday allegedly point to ties between the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and presidential candidate Sebastián Piñera, who lost the 2005 elections to Chile’s current President, Michelle Bachelet.
US officials claim increased intelligence sharing with Pakistan. In a report that reads too much like a Pentagon public relations briefing, UPI reports that increasing US-Pakistani intelligence cooperation is “yielding results” along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, Augusto Pinochet, Chile, CIA, Cold War, intelligence sharing, Michelle Bachelet, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, Sebastián Piñera, United States, War on Terrorism

Analysis: Can Obama’s inter-agency interrogation unit overcome turf-wars?

July 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The task force set up by President Barack Obama to reform US interrogation policies will shortly be unveiling its long-awaited report. There are rumors in the US intelligence community that the report will call for a new inter-agency interrogation unit that will combine experts from several US military and intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI. But in a well-argued article in Time magazine, Bobby Ghosh asks the important question of whether such a plan is represents mere wishful thinking, by ignoring the “brief and bleak” history of inter-agency cooperation on interrogation. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abu Zubaida, al-Qaeda, Analysis, CIA, FBI, interrogation techniques, Obama Administration, Pakistan, torture, turf wars, United States, US DoD, War on Terrorism, Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn

Documents reveal CIA meddling in Japanese elections

July 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Taketora Ogata

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Researchers from three Japanese universities have unearthed US documents that detail CIA activities to monitor and influence Japanese politics in the early 1950s. Dubbed “The Ogata File”, the five-volume, 1,000-page document collection, which was declassified in 2005, relays CIA efforts to assist the electoral campaigns of Japanese conservative politician Taketora Ogata. Ogata led the Japan Liberal Party in the early 1950s and in 1955 was instrumental in merging his party along with other conservative groups into the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan for most of the post-war period. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Cold War, declassification, diplomacy, history, Ichiro Hatoyama, informants, Japan, Japan Democratic Party, Japan Liberal Party, Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), News, Operation POCAPON, Shigeru Yoshida, Southeast Asia, Taketora Ogata, The Ogata File, United States, USSR

News you may have missed #0045

July 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ex-CIA, -NSA director defends warrantless wiretapping. Michael Hayden, who was director of the CIA from 2006 to 2009 and of the NSA from 1999 to 2005, has penned an article in The New York Times, in which he says that the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program helped the US intelligence community “connecting the dots, something for which we were roundly criticized after Sept[ember] 11 as not sufficiently doing”.
US House intelligence panel member calls for new Church Committee. Rush Holt (D-NJ) a senior member of the US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has called for a resuscitation of the Church and Pike investigations into intelligence practices of the 1970s.
BBC radio launches series on MI6. The BBC’s Radio 4 has launched today a new three-part series examining the 100-year history and operations of MI6, Britain’s foremost external intelligence agency. The programs, which can also be listened to online, include interviews with senior intelligence officers, agents and diplomats.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 9/11, Church Committee, CIA, MI6, Michael Hayden, News, news you may have missed, NSA, operation STELLAR WIND, Rush Holt, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), UK, US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, US House of Representatives Select Committee on Intelligence (Pike Committee), US Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, War on Terrorism, warrantless communications interception, wiretapping

News you may have missed #0044

July 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Attorney behind CIA lawsuit gives interview. Brian C. Leighton, the attorney representing former Drug Enforcement Agency officer Richard A. Horn, who claims that CIA agents illegally wiretapped his conversations, has given an interview to The Merced Sun-Star.
Germany accuses China of industrial espionage. A senior German counterintelligence official has said Germany is under attack from an increasing number of state-backed Chinese spying operations that are costing the German economy tens of billions of euros a year. Similar claims were made in May.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Brian C. Leighton, Burma, China, CIA, DEA, espionage, Germany, industrial espionage, Internet, lawsuits, News, news you may have missed, Rangoon (Burma), Richard A. Horn, wiretapping

Fifth man in German Islamist cell may have been Turkish spy

July 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Attila Selek

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The missing fifth member of an Islamist cell in Germany, which is accused of trying to target Western targets in the country, had connections with Turkish intelligence, according to unconfirmed German media reports. Four members of the group were arrested in 2007 while allegedly planning bomb attacks on US military bases in Germany. Two of them, Fritz Gelowicz and Martin Schneider, are German converts to Islam, while two others, Adem Yilmaz and Attila Selek, are of Turkish descent. But German news magazine Focus revealed on Saturday that Selek, who is accused of having ties with al-Qaeda, claimed in his trial last month that the group’s fifth man, who is still at large, had ties with Turkish intelligence. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Adem Yilmaz, al-Qaeda, Attila Selek, Fritz Gelowicz, Germany, Martin Schneider, Mevlut K., MİT (Turkey), News, Turkey

News you may have missed #0043

July 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Iran government fires intelligence minister. Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie was fired on Sunday. No reason has officially been given for the dismissal.
What the CIA hid from Congress. Jane Harman was a member of the US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 2003 to 2006. Now she has authored an article in The Los Angeles Times, in which she comes out in support of the new House and Senate intelligence authorization bills.
Satellite photos of NSA’s new cryptology center in San Antonio, courtesy of TerraServer and Cryptome. See here for previous intelNews coverage of this data-mining facility in Texas.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, intelligence oversight, Iran, Jane Harman, News, news you may have missed, NSA, San Antonio (Texas), Texas Cryptology Center, United States, US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

US spy services hiding true employee numbers, says Senate panel

July 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Dennis Blair

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has voiced disapproval of the high numbers of contractors employed by America’s intelligence organizations, and has censured US intelligence agencies for hiding their actual personnel numbers. The criticism follows a Congressional testimony last week by Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dennis Blair, who claimed that the intelligence community has come up with its own definition of inherently governmental. The term refers to government jobs that are too sensitive to be outsourced. In his presentation, Blair revealed that private contractors now constitute 25% of the entire US intelligence force in all 16 agencies of the US intelligence community, but he said this share shrunk by 3 % last year, as the intelligence agencies revised their definition of jobs that cannot be outsourced. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, inherently governmental jobs, intelligence budget, intelligence funding, intelligence outsourcing, intelligence oversight, News, United States, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

NSA spying more aggressive than ever, says Bamford

July 26, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

James Bamford

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The US National Security Agency (NSA) has for the first time in its history appointed a “director of compliance”, whose office will supervise the lawfulness of NSA’s communications surveillance and other spy activities. The Agency, America’s largest intelligence organization, which is tasked with worldwide communications surveillance as well as communications security, has appointed John DeLong to the new post. But in a new column for Salon magazine, James Bamford argues that the gigantic agency is still overstepping its legal framework in both domestic and international spying. Read more of this post