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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

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008 Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act, communications interception, data mining, domestic intelligence, James Bamford, John DeLong, News, NSA, NSA Director of Compliance, operation STELLAR WIND, surveillance, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), Texas Cryptology Center, United States, Utah

News you may have missed #0042

July 26, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Postcards containing Cold War spy messages unearthed. The postcards, containing chess moves, were posted in 1950 by an unidentified man in Frankfurt, thought to have been an undercover agent, to Graham Mitchell, who was then deputy director general of MI5. The problem is, researchers are not quite sure whether the cryptic text on the postcards is based on British or Soviet codes, because Mitchell was suspected of being a secret Soviet agent at the time.
Is NSA actively mapping social networks? There are rumors out there that NSA is monitoring social networking tools, such as Tweeter, Facebook and MySpace, in order to make links between individuals and construct elaborate data-mining-based maps of who associates with whom.
US Senate bill would disclose intelligence budget. The US Senate version of the FY2010 intelligence authorization bill would require the President to disclose the aggregate amount requested for intelligence each year. Disclosure of the budget request would enable Congress to appropriate a stand-alone intelligence budget that would no longer need to be concealed misleadingly in other non-intelligence budget accounts.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with cloud computing, Cold War, cryptology, data mining, double agents, espionage, Facebook, Frankfurt (Germany), government secrecy, Graham Mitchell, intelligence budget, intelligence funding, MI5, MySpace, News, news you may have missed, NSA, social networking, Twitter, UK, United States, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, USSR

Senate intelligence panel takes sides in DNI-CIA dispute

July 25, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Dennis Blair

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
In a report issued last Thursday, the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has come out in support of the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in its dispute with the CIA over who should appoint CIA station chiefs abroad. This blog has kept tabs on the bureaucratic turf war, which erupted last May, when DNI Dennis Blair argued in a still classified directive that his office should have a say in certain cases over the appointment of CIA’s senior representatives in foreign cities. Former CIA officials have denounced the directive, which would allow the appointment of non-CIA personnel to the position, as “simple insanity”. 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, Robert Baer, turf wars, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

News you may have missed #0041

July 25, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ex-CIA analyst scolds Ignatius for defending CIA’s assassination program. Melvin A. Goodman, author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA, calls The Washington Post‘s David Ignatius “the mainstream media’s leading apologist” for the CIA.
Tajikistan uranium factory boss accused of espionage. The Tajik government has detained Shavkat Bobojonov, director of its Vostokredmet uranium-reprocessing plant, considered by many a strategic facility, of spying for neighboring Uzbekistan.
US says it focuses “new intelligence effort” on Taliban. The US Pentagon says it is consolidating into a unified effort “for the first time” data from several intelligence sources, including unmanned drones and other aircraft, intercepted messages, and ground troops.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, CIA, David Ignatius, espionage, military intelligence, News, news you may have missed, Predator drones, Shavkat Bobojonov, Tajikistan, Taliban, United States, US DoD, Uzbekistan, Vostokredmet uranium-reprocessing plant (Tajikistan)

News you may have missed #0040

July 24, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Top court scolds German government over spy secrecy. Angela Merkel’s government has been rebuked by Germany’s most senior court for withholding information from a parliamentary inquiry into the role of Germany’s intelligence service (BND) in the detention of two Muslims from Germany at a US prison in Afghanistan.
Man implicated in Israeli spy affair says US government “tainted by anti-Semitism”. Larry Franklin, the former Defense Department analyst accused by the US government of handing classified US military information to two American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbyists, has told Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz that “some of the agencies of the US administration, and in particular the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are tainted by anti-Semitism”.
Defense contractors preparing private cyberwarriors? US Defense contractors such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and others, are moving into the lucrative realm of cyberwarfare.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, AIPAC, BND, cyberwar, defense industry, espionage, FBI, German Muslims, Germany, Israel, Lawrence Anthony Franklin, News, news you may have missed, United States

Obama administration denies UN access to Guantánamo, CIA prisons

July 24, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Guantánamo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The US government has turned down calls by United Nations human rights monitors for access to the US Pentagon’s Guantánamo Bay prison camp and to CIA prison sites around the world. It is the second time that Obama administration officials have declined this request by UN monitors, despite the administration’s rhetorical commitment to increasing its collaboration on human rights issues with the international agency. Commenting anonymously to The Washington Post, which is one of a handful of US news outlets that are running this story, US government officials said that the Obama administration “support[s] the work of the UN human rights researchers”, but is “constrained in releasing information on sensitive intelligence matters”. The news comes ten days after unconfirmed reports that the US Department of Justice is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agencies after September of 2001.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Cuba, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, human rights, News, Obama Administration, secret prisons, torture, United Nations, United States, US DoD, War on Terrorism

Cambridge spy ring member’s memoir reveals motives behind actions

July 24, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Anthony Blunt

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The British Library kept its promise and released yesterday the closely guarded, incomplete autobiographical manuscript of Anthony Blunt, fourth member of the Cambridge spy ring. The group of British spies, which worked secretly for the Soviet Union from the 1930s until the 1960s, included Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and H.A.R. “Kim” Philby, all of whom eventually defected to the Soviet Union. In his 30,000-word memoir, Blunt, an art history professor who in 1945 became Surveyor of the King’s Pictures and was knighted in 1954, describes his recruitment to spy for the Soviets as “the most important decision of my life”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Anthony Blunt, Cambridge Five, Cold War, counterintelligence, defectors, Donald Maclean, espionage, Guy Burgess, H.A.R. "Kim" Philby, Margaret Thatcher, Melita Norwood, MI5, News, The British Libary, USSR

News you may have missed #0039

July 24, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Russians suspect sabotage behind ICBM test failure. The FSB is investigating the reasons behind the test failure earlier this month of a Russian Navy Bulava-30 (SS-NX-30) sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile, which disintegrated 28 seconds after launch. The Russian Navy developed the ICBM specifically to avoid future US ballistic missile defenses.
CIA kept bin Laden son’s death secret for months. US officials think that Saad bin Laden was killed in a Predator drone strike earlier this year in Pakistan, but CIA has tried to keep the news secret, allegedly in an attempt to confuse al-Qaeda. You may recall that some time ago intelNews reported that some in US intelligence believed Saad had been given government protection in Iran.
US DNI sees signs of North Korean succession. The Open Source Center of the US Directorate of National Intelligence adds its voice to widespread speculation that Kim Jong il may be preparing to hand power to his third son, Kim Jong Un.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, assassinations, CIA, DNI, FSB, ICBM, Iran, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, R-30 Bulava missile (Russia), Russia, Russian Navy, Saad bin Laden, sabotage, US DNI Open Source Center, US Missile Defense Shield

News you may have missed #0038

July 23, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

NZ spy satellite dish to be repaired after activists’ raid. New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau says it is preparing to mend a spy satellite dish in Waihopai Spy Base, which was “totalled” by Ploughshares peace group activists last year.
Group plans lawsuit to reveal CIA’s Pentagon Papers. The Washington-based Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to force the CIA and other US intelligence agencies to come clean on their “war on terrorism” practices under the Bush administration.
NSA using cloud model for intelligence sharing. The US National Security Agency is implementing cloud-computing technologies in a new intelligence collection system. The new system, currently in testing, will be geographically distributed in data centers around the United States.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, CIA, cloud computing, ECHELON, Electronic Frontier Foundation, GCSB (New Zealand), lawsuits, New Zealand, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Ploughshares, political activism, Waihopai (New Zealand), War on Terrorism

Could Order 65 signify the end of communications privacy in Russia?

July 23, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

FSB agent

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
As of July 21, Russian postal services and Internet providers are required by law to provide Russian intelligence agents with on demand access to the dispatch information and content of private correspondence. This is stipulated in Order 65, which the Russian government and the Russian Ministry of Communications made public on July 6. Apart from granting automatic communications inspection rights to officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and seven other intelligence and security organizations of the Russian state, the new law requires all Russian post office sorting facilities to set up “special rooms where security officers will be able to open and inspect private mail”. Additionally, all Internet service providers are now required to grant the FSB and other intelligence and security agencies complete access to their electronic databases. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with domestic intelligence, FSB, intelligence legislation, Internet, KGB, News, Order 65, postal interception, privacy, Russia, Russian Ministry of Communications

News you may have missed #0037

July 23, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Gambian Army chief accused of spying. A newspaper claims that the chief of Gambia’s armed forces, Lt. Colonel Sainey Bayo, who recently fled to the United States, did so while being “investigated for supplying sensitive state secrets to an unnamed Western country”.
US Secretary of State violates declassification statute. The latest historical records release of the Foreign Relations of the United States, which is the official record of US foreign policy, has failed once again to abide by a 1991 statute which requires the Secretary of State to publish records “not more than 30 years after the events recorded”.
Intelligence report says Canada is key cash source for Tamil Tigers. A Canadian intelligence report released under the country’s Access to Information Act claims that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka receive millions each year in backing from Canada’s Tamil diaspora.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Canada, declassification, defectors, espionage, Foreign Relations of the United States, Gambia, Gambian armed forces, government secrecy, informants, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, News, news you may have missed, Sainey Bayo, Sri Lanka, United States, US Department of State

Spy services threaten South African democracy, warns researcher

July 23, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Laurie Nathan

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A former member of South Africa’s ministerial Review Commission on Intelligence has warned that a steadily declining culture of accountability in South Africa’s spy services is threatening the country’s constitutional order. Laurie Nathan, who is currently a research fellow at the University of Cape Town and the London School of Economics, has written an article for Chatham House’s The World Today magazine, in which he summarizes the results of the Commission’s a study into the South African intelligence services. According to Nathan, the study found a “striking absence of executive policy on many critical intelligence issues” and “major weaknesses in control and oversight systems” of intelligence practices. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Africa, ANC, government secrecy, intelligence oversight, intelligence reform, Laurie Nathan, Ministerial Review Commission on Intelligence (South Africa), News, South Africa

News you may have missed #0036

July 22, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Hungary’s security head resigns in wake of spying scandal. Sandor Laborc has resigned as head of Hungary’s National Security Office (NBH) after NBH agents were caught spying on politicians.
Austria to try Kazakh spy for kidnap attempt. Austrian officials say they will put a suspected Kazakh spy, identified only “Ildar A.”, on trial for attempting to kidnap from Austria former Kazakh National Security Committee (KNB) chief Alnur Musaev last September. See previous intelNews reporting on the ongoing Austrian-Kazakh intelligence imbroglio.
Obama’s unwilling cyber czars. Barack Obama is expected to soon appoint a national cybersecurity adviser. But Andy Greenberg argues that the appointee’s name may not be as important as the names of those who have “politely declined” the role.