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News you may have missed #0234

December 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA insider speaks about US “war on terrorism”. Henry Crumpton, a CIA operative who spent years on the ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan, says “[t]his is not going to be a war that we [the US] win, certainly in a conventional sense, anytime soon […. W]e must be the insurgents”, he says.
CIA operative says US should have shielded her in Italy kidnap case. Sabrina De Sousa is a CIA operative who was involved in the 2003 kidnapping of Muslim cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr by the CIA in Milan, Italy. Now she says the US should have shielded her from conviction in an Italian court by invoking her “diplomatic” immunity.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Afghanistan, CIA, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, Henry Crumpton, Italy, Milan (Italy), News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, Sabrina De Sousa, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0198

November 29, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Walesa libel trial over spy claim starts in Poland. A libel trial has started in Poland over allegations that former President Lech Walesa once worked as a communist spy.
Japanese abductee’s son releases correspondence with North Korean ex-spy. The son of Yaeko Taguchi, a Japanese woman abducted thirty years ago by North Korean agents, has released personal letters he exchanged with Kim Hyun-Hee, a North Korean former spy, who told him his mother is still alive.
Israeli police arrest…Mossad spy apprentice. A trainee of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service was arrested by Israeli police during a spying exercise in Tel Aviv, after he was spotted behaving suspiciously. Interestingly, “[t]he Mossad never warns Israel’s uniformed security services in advance of its exercises in a bid to give the training an element of reality”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, defectors, Israel, Japan, Kim Hyun-Hee, lawsuits, Lech Walesa, Mossad, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, Poland, Tel Aviv, Yaeko Taguchi

Blackwater aids US covert assassination, kidnapping ops

November 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Jeremy Scahill

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Private mercenary firm Blackwater (recently renamed Xe) is part of a covert US program in Pakistan that includes planned assassinations and kidnappings of Taliban and al-Qaeda suspects. Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill published earlier this week in The Nation magazine an in-depth study of the controversial firm’s role in the outsourced operation, which was first revealed by The New York Times and The Washington Post last August (see previous intelNews commentary). The close operational association between US Special Forces, the CIA, and the private mercenary firm is well known, largely thanks to Scahill’s prior work. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, assassinations, Blackwater, CIA, intelligence outsourcing, Jeremy Scahill, mercenaries, News, Pakistan, United States, US Special Forces, War on Terrorism

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

Suspected IRA militant charged in undercover agent’s killing

November 14, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Robert Nairac

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A man suspected by British authorities to be a former member of the Irish Republican Army has been charged with participating in the killing of a British army undercover agent, who tried to infiltrate the IRA in the 1970s. Robert Nairac, a captain of the British Army’s Intelligence Corps, was among numerous British government agents who attempted to infiltrate the IRA from the 1960s onwards. Although educated at Oxford, Nairac studied Irish republican culture and put on a convincing Northern Irish accent in order to carry out the infiltration. His activities centered on patronizing various pubs in Catholic stronghold areas of Belfast, using the cover name “Danny McErlaine”, and pretending to be a member of the Official IRA (an IRA splinter faction) from north Belfast. But on May 14, 1977, a group of IRA members abducted Nairac from a pub in South Armagh and drove him to a remote location, where they interrogated him prior to executing him. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 1998 Good Friday Agreement, abductions, Belfast (UK), British Army, British Army Intelligence Corps, covert operations, Danny McErlaine, Declan Parr, infiltration operations, Kevin Crilly, lawsuits, News, Northern Ireland, Official IRA, Oxford University, Provisional IRA, Robert Nairac, South Armagh (Belfast), UK

News you may have missed #0174

November 9, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

West feared German reunification in 1989, documents show. The fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago caused major anxiety in not only Eastern, but also Western capitals, to the point of outright opposition to a possible German unification, according to documents published last Friday by the National Security Archive.
Convicted CIA agents also in Norway. At least two of the 22 (not 23, as the article mistakenly states) CIA agents convicted last week for the 2003 abduction from Italy of Muslim cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, were also active in Norway, according to Norwegian daily Stavanger Aftenblad.
Shin Bet tried to recruit alleged Israeli terrorist. Jack Teitel, an American-born Jewish settler who was recently arrested for allegedly having murdered two Palestinians, was asked by Israel’s internal intelligence agency to inform on extremist Israeli groups after the attacks, the agency said Friday.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Berlin Wall, CIA, Cold War, declassification, Federal Republic of Germany, German Democratic Republic, German reunification, Germany, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, history, informants, Israel, Italy, Jack Teitel, lawsuits, News, news you may have missed, Norway, Palestine, Shin Bet, United States

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 #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

News you may have missed #0134

October 8, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

S. Korean government tries to silence anti-surveillance activist. Park Won-sun, the executive director of the Hope Institute, a civic think tank, says he will continue to criticize the country’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) for spying on civilians, despite charges filed against him by the government.
Cleric in CIA kidnap trial seeks millions. Hassan Moustafa Osama Nasr, an Egyptian cleric kidnapped by the CIA from a Milan street in 2003, has asked for €10 million ($15 million) in damages from the American and Italian defendants charged in his abduction.
Three US-based Chinese nationals accused of selling arms to China. Chinese nationals Zhen Zhou Wu, Yufeng Wei, Bo Li and Chitron Electronics and Shenzhen Chitron Electronics Co. Ltd., face a 38-count indictment for conspiring to violate the US Arms Export Control Act for allegedly exporting defense weapons and electronics, money laundering and filing false documents with the US Department of Commerce.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Bo Li, China, Chitron Electronics, CIA, domestic intelligence, Egypt, extraordinary rendition, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, Hope Institute (South Korea), Italy, lawsuits, Milan (Italy), National Intelligence Service (South Korea), News, news you may have missed, Park Won-sun, Shenzhen Chitron Electronics Co. Ltd., South Korea, surveillance, torture, United States, US 1976 Arms Export Control Act, US Department of Commerce, weapons trade, Yufeng Wei, Zhen Zhou Wu

News you may have missed #0127

October 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Is China using Nepal as a base to spy on India? India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has accused Beijing of using the so-called Nepal-China study centers in Nepal to spy on India. The centers, which are located all along the Indo-Nepal border, are being used to clandestinely gather information on Indian activities, says RAW. It also rumored that RAW is monitoring around 30 Chinese firms which have set up base in Nepal and may be involved in spying on India.
Italian lawyers seek jail for CIA agents. Public prosecutors in Italy have urged a court in Milan to jail 26 Americans for the kidnapping of a terrorism suspect in a 2003 CIA operation on Italian soil. They also want a 13 year prison sentence for the former head of Italy’s secret service, Nicolo Pollari. Last week the US government moved for the first time to officially prevent Italian authorities from prosecuting American citizens involved in the CIA operation.
CIA director meets Pakistani spy chief. The director of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Ahmed Shuja Pasha, has met with CIA director Leon Panetta in Washington. Last week, Lieutenant General Pasha yelled at a US journalist for daring to utter the CIA’s allegations that the ISI is withholding crucial intelligence information on al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Ahmed Shuja Pasha, China, CIA, CIA Milan station, espionage, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, India, ISI, Italy, Leon Panetta, Milan (Italy), Nepal, Nepal-China study centers, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, RAW

US moves to shield operatives in CIA abduction case

September 24, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Hassan Nasr

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The US government has moved to officially prevent Italian authorities from prosecuting an American Colonel who in 2003 was involved in the illegal kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan. If the Reuters report is accurate, it will be the first time that Washington moves officially to shield its covert operatives from prosecution in the Italian court system. Colonel Joseph Romano is one of 26 Americans, many of them CIA agents, believed to have been involved in the daylight abduction of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr from a Milan street. Nasr, who is also known as Abu Omar, says he was brutally tortured and held illegally for years without charge in Egypt, where he was renditioned by his American abductors. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Aviano (Italy), CIA, CIA Milan station, Egypt, extraditions, extraordinary rendition, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, Italy, Joseph Romano, Milan (Italy), NATO, NATO SOFA, NATO Status of Forces Agreemen, News, Robert Seldon Lady, Sabrina De Sousa, torture, USAF Aviano Air Base

News you may have missed #0102

September 9, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

NSA helped UK arrest convicted bomb plotters. Email correspondence intercepted by the US National Security Agency in 2006 helped lead to the arrest and conviction of three Muslim militants, who were planning attacks in Britain. IntelNews learns that this case was brought up by American intelligence officials who recently threatened to terminate all intelligence cooperation with the UK, in reaction to the release from a Scottish prison of convicted Libyan bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Bush Administration tried to alter “enforced disappearances” international treaty standards. The aim of the global treaty, long supported by the United States, was to end official kidnappings, detentions and killings like those that plagued Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s, and that allegedly still occur in Russia, China, Iran, Colombia, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. But the documents suggest that initial US support for the negotiations collided head-on with the then-undisclosed goal of seizing suspected terrorists anywhere in the world for questioning by CIA interrogators or indefinite detention by the US military at foreign sites. So the Bush Administration tried to alter the language of the treaty from 2003 to 2006, reveals The Washington Post.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, abductions, British Muslims, Bush Administration, CIA, communications interception, domestic intelligence, extraordinary rendition, intelligence cooperation, Internet, Libya, Lockerbie air disaster, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Pan Am Flight 103, UK, United States, War on Terrorism

French spy escapes Somali captors, allegedly killing three

August 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Hotel Sahafi

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
One of two French intelligence agents arrested by a Somali militia in July has escaped, after allegedly killing three of his captors. Somali military officer Farhan Asanyo told British newspaper The Daily Mail that the Frenchman approached government soldiers in Mogadishu early yesterday morning, identified himself and said he had escaped. He was then taken to the Presidential Palace in Mogadishu, where he now remains. The French Foreign Ministry has disputed Asanyo’s account, saying that the French intelligence agent escaped without resorting to violence and without a ransom having been paid by Paris. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Africa, al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, France, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hezb-ul Islam, Hizbul Islam, Islamic Courts Union, Islamic Party (Somalia), Jean-Francois Julliard, Mogadishu (Somalia), Mohamed Abdi Gandi, News, Sahafi Hotel International, Somali Ministry of the Interior, Somalia, The Party of Youth (Somalia)

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 #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.