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News you may have missed #315

March 25, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Nuclear bunker spy comes out of hiding. A British retiree named Mike Lesser has revealed he was one of the so-called “spies for peace”, a group of peace activists who in the 1960s helped uncover Britain’s secret network of underground bunkers built to protect the government in case of nuclear war.
Aussie spy agency spied on little girls. Secret files kept by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation reveal spooks tailed the teenage children of suspected socialists and communist sympathizers during the late 1960s, and anyone with whom they associated, including school friends and boyfriends.
Analysis: Under Panetta, a more aggressive CIA. Expectations among CIA hardliners were low when Leon Panetta arrived at the Agency’s headquarters in February 2009. But almost from the first week, Panetta positioned himself as a strong advocate for the CIA, to the extent that critics worry that Panetta has become a captive of the agency he leads.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 0 Aussie spy agency spied on little girls, 0 British nuclear bunker spy comes out of hiding, 0 Under Panetta a more aggressive CIA, Analysis, ASIO, Australia, CIA, civil liberties, Cold War, communism, domestic intelligence, Leon Panetta, Mike Lesser, News, news you may have missed, nuclear proliferation, political activism, UK, United States

News you may have missed #307

March 12, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Aussie spy agency feels the strain as new recruits take key jobs. The staff of the Australian Security Intelligence Service (ASIO) has doubled in the past six years, but two-thirds have less than five years’ experience, according to a report presented to Australia’s Joint Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee.
Secrets, spies and steel in the Rio Tinto Case. Finally, somebody is paying some serious attention to the Rio Tinto spy case in China. Four senior staff members of Rio Tinto, an Anglo-Australian mining concern, who were arrested last July by Chinese authorities on espionage charges.
Former Canadian National Research Council scientist denies spying for Iran. Mohammad Jahazi held a high-level post at the NRC’s Institute for Aerospace Research, but left Canada in 2008 after Ottawa rejected him as an immigrant for security reasons. He is now battling the Canadian government over allegations he participated in Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

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Australia investigates more alleged Israeli spies

March 1, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

ASIO HQ

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is among a number of Western intelligence agencies investigating at least three dual Australian-Israeli citizens, who are suspected of being Israeli spies. Citing “two Australian intelligence sources”, the Sydney Morning Herald said that the investigation into the three suspects began last year and is not connected to the January 19 assassination of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. At least three of the 26-member Mossad hit squad that killed al-Mabhouh used forged Australian passports to enter and exit the United Arab Emirates. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ASIO, assassinations, Australia, espionage, Iran, Israel, Israeli embassy in Australia, Kidon, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Mossad, name changes, News, Syria

News you may have missed #297

February 25, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Australia to use spy agency to combat human smuggling. The Australian government is preparing to afford increased powers to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), in order to direct its resources against human smuggling. Among the changes are proposals to alter the official government definition of “foreign intelligence”, so as to cover human smuggling practices.
Three Lebanese charged with spying for Israel. Lebanon’s military prosecutor indicted three Lebanese with spying for Israel on Wednesday, as part of a broader espionage investigation lasting nearly a year, in which at least 27 suspects have so far been detained.
Analysis: CIA and Pakistan work together, but do so warily. The CIA and its Pakistani counterpart, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, have a long and often tormented relationship. And even now, they are moving warily toward conflicting goals, with each maneuvering to protect its influence after the shooting stops in Afghanistan.

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Iran monarchists, foreign spies, behind suspicious news reports

January 4, 2010 by intelNews 3 Comments

M.R. Madhi

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
There is no question that the domestic security situation in Iran is critical, and that we may soon witness crucial political shifts in the Islamic Republic. At the same time, however, observers should be cognizant of what Politico’s Laura Rozen calls “a notable uptick […] in very fishy stories” forecasting the immediate end of the Islamic government by supposed radical Western-aligned forces. IntelNews has detected several such stories in recent days, such as this unconfirmed December 31 report in Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, which stated that the Iranian government was moving “[h]undreds of military forces and tens of armored vehicles towards Tehran”, something which never actually occurred. Two days earlier, a report in Dutch government-owned Radio Netherlands had suggested that members of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, including Supreme Leader Sayyid Ali Khamenei, were preparing to abandon the country and seek political asylum in Russia. Read more of this post

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News you may have missed #0158

October 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Former Los Alamos scientist is no spy, say physicists. US scientists familiar with the work of P. Leonardo Mascheroni, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear physicist whose house was recently searched by the FBI, insist he is not a spy. Mascheroni says he was told by the FBI that he is suspected of possible involvement in “nuclear espionage”.
Analysis: The West’s intelligence deficit on Iran. The fact is that neither a single intelligence agency nor the collective wisdom of the Brits, Israelis, French and Americans, has given Western countries a full picture of what is going on either in Iran’s nuclear program or in the minds of the leadership in Tehran.
Australia hires more spies. The Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) has said in its annual security review that “hostile intelligence agencies” are increasingly using the Internet to gather intelligence from Australian government computer networks. Interestingly, ASIO also noted that the number of its staff members increased from 1492 in 2008 to 1690 today.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ASIO, Australia, FBI, France, intelligence penetration, intelligence recruitment, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Israel, Los Alamos National Laboratory, News, news you may have missed, nuclear espionage, P. Leonardo Mascheroni, UK, United States

News you may have missed #0116

September 26, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Australia blocks Chinese mining investment on security grounds. The Australian government has for the second time this year vetoed a multi-billion dollar mining project involving a Chinese company, on national security grounds (did someone say Rio Tinto?). The veto follows news earlier this month that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) investigated the Australian subsidiary of Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies because of its rumored links with China’s intelligence establishment.
Declassified files reveal massive FBI data-mining project. An immense FBI data-mining system billed as a tool for hunting terrorists is being used in hacker and domestic criminal investigations, and now contains tens of thousands of records from private corporate databases, including car-rental companies, large hotel chains and at least one national department store, according to declassified documents.
Book by Danish special forces soldier reveals dirty tricks. A Danish court has turned down an appeal by the country’s military to ban the publication of a book by Thomas Rathsack, former member of Jaegerkorps, an elite army unit. Among other things, the book reveals systematic breach of Geneva Convention directives by members of the unit deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Australians investigate Chinese telecom over suspected spy links

September 7, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Huawei HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), has admitted it is investigating an Australian-based subsidiary of a Chinese telecommunications firm because of its rumored links to China’s intelligence establishment. Several intelligence insiders see Huawei Technologies, based in Shenzen, China, as a covert arm of Chinese military intelligence. The company, which has business concerns in several countries around the world, has attracted the attention of American, Indian and British counterintelligence agencies, among others. As intelNews reported last December, in 2005 the government of India cancelled an initial investment of $60 million on its telecommunications superhighway by the Chinese company. Read more of this post

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News you may have missed #0076

August 22, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Australia’s domestic spy agency considers FBI model. There are reports that Australia’s domestic spy agency could be expanded to become more like its US counterpart, the FBI.
Weapons manufacturers planted spy on Swiss anti-military group. The Group for Switzerland without an Army, a campaign group calling for Switzerland to disband its military, has accused the weapons industry of planting a spy within its membership.
Retired Lebanese security official “confesses” to spying for Israel. Lebanon’s counterespionage operations continue after Mahmoud Qassem Rafeh, a 62-year-old retired Internal Security Forces official, has allegedly confessed to having “collaborated with Israeli intelligence agents” between 1993 and 2006.

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Australian diplomats targeted by fake email

August 20, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

David Irvine

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Australian government has issued a warning to its diplomats around the world about a fake email, which it says could be part of an organized cyberespionage campaign. The email began appearing in Australian diplomatic staff’s email inboxes late last month. It is titled “Australia-China Free Trade Agreement Negotiations Update” and its sender(s) reportedly targeted Australian diplomats specializing in Australia’s economic and security relations with China. The email’s title and focus has led some observers to speculate that it originated from groups with Chinese intelligence connections. But the Australian government remains silent on the matter, saying simply that the source of the suspicious email “is under investigation”. Earlier this month, David Irvine, the recently appointed director of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, identified cyberespionage as “a growing national security risk”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ASIO, Australia, China, computer hacking, cyberespionage, David Irvine, News

News you may have missed #0051

August 1, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Instigator of Church committee hearings speaks about domestic intelligence. Christopher Pyle, the American whistleblower who in the 1970s sparked the Church Committee hearings on intelligence activities, has spoken about the recent revelations of US Army personnel spying on activist groups in Washington state. Pyle provided interesting historical context linking domestic espionage in the 1960s and 1970s with current developments in the so-called “war on terrorism”.
Declassified US President’s Daily Brief is reclassified. The CIA says that extracts of the President’s Daily Briefing (PDB) that were declassified in 2006, during the prosecution of former vice presidential aide Scooter Libby, are “currently and properly classified”. PDB declassifications occur extremely rarely.
Australian intelligence to focus on cybersecurity. David Irvine, the recently appointed director of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, has identified cyberespionage as “a growing national security risk”.

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Australian ex-intelligence agent tried for leaking documents

April 7, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Bali bombings

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The trial has begun in Australia of a former intelligence agent accused of conspiring to leak classified documents to the press. The prosecution is accusing James Paul Seivers, a former surveillance expert with the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), of photocopying secret intelligence reports about the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia, and leaking them to the Australian press, with the help of his co-tenant. The secret reports, which had been compiled a few weeks before the Bali bombings, contained warnings by American intelligence agents that jihadist groups in Indonesia were preparing large-scale attacks on popular tourist nightspots. The leaked documents were published in the Australian press and led to strong criticism of Australian intelligence authorities; the latter were widely seen as having failed to prevent the bombings, which killed over 200 people, among them 88 Australian citizens. Read more of this post