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News you may have missed #388

July 8, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Political policing rising in US, ACLU report warns. A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union chronicles government spying and what it describes as the detention of groups and individuals “for doing little more than peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights”.
Mistrust still marks ISI-CIA ties, say US officials. John Tierney, chairman of the US House Armed Services Committee, told a Pakistani delegation that there is mistrust between the CIA and ISI, according to a report by the Pakistan Senate’s Standing Committee on Defence. Regular intelNews readers should not be surprised.
Britain releases secret document at heart of UKUSA agreement. Authorities in the UK have released a six-page document dating from 1946, which describes the “British-US Communication Intelligence Agreement”, known as BRUSA, later UKUSA. The deal has tied the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand into a worldwide network of electronic listening posts.

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Analysis: Israel Suffers Strategic Blowback in Flotilla Raid

June 12, 2010 by intelNews 4 Comments

Flotilla raid

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Speaking before a parliamentary committee about last month’s Israeli raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which killed nine and injured over 60 international volunteers, a senior Israeli intelligence official warned that “[e]vents [like this] are likely to go out of control and the situation could deteriorate to extreme scenarios”. The official was no other than Meir Dagan, director of the Mossad, Israel’s foremost external intelligence agency. As I explain in an article published yesterday in Daily News Corner, to some extent, Dagan’s “extreme scenario” has already materialized. The raid’s outrageous death toll has further-worsened Israel’s deteriorating relations with Australia and has caused the outright termination of the Jewish state’s diplomatic contacts with several non-Western countries that used to be among its closest international friends, such as Turkey, South Africa, Ecuador and Nicaragua. More importantly, the flotilla attack has even stigmatized Israel’s relations with the United States, a development that fits into the broader pattern of steadily worsening US-Israeli relations in recent years. It is no coincidence that, on the day after the raid, Mossad chief Dagan said that “Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden”. Read article →

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News you may have missed #371

June 7, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

ASIO tip led to jailing of female Muslim convert in Yemen. Information provided by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation led to the jailing of Australian mother-of-three Shyloh Giddins, 30, who moved to Yemen after converting to Islam. She is suspected of having links to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
New Operation Condor trial starts in Argentina. Five former intelligence and military officials in Argentina have gone on trial on charges of murdering 65 people. They are accused of kidnapping, torturing, and killing left-wing activists under the country’s military rule between 1976 and 1983.
Ex-CIA station chief to plead guilty to rape charges. Andrew M. Warren, the CIA’s former Algiers station chief, who is accused of drugging and raping two Algerian women in his official residence, will plead guilty to the charges, according to court papers.

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Comment: Aussie ex-spies comment on Israeli forged passports affair

June 5, 2010 by intelNews 7 Comments

Australia passport

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Regular IntelNews readers are aware of the current crisis in Israeli-Australian relations, which broke out as a result of the use of several forged Australian passports by the Israeli intelligence services. The passports were among several Western identity documents employed by Israeli Mossad agents in targeting Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was assassinated in a luxury Dubai hotel last January. The revelation prompted Canberra to announce the expulsion of Israel’s senior Mossad representative in the country. The dust has yet to settle, and the recent shooting of an Australian citizen onboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla during last Monday’s bloody raid by the Israeli Defense Forces has the potential to worsen Australian-Israeli relations even further. What is the view of all this from Australia? IntelNews asked two Australian former intelligence officers, who offered their input on an anonymous basis. Read more of this post

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News you may have missed #364 (Gaza flotilla edition I)

June 1, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Israel abducts nine American citizens on Gaza flotilla. As many as nine Americans may have been aboard the Gaza relief flotilla attacked in international waters by the Israeli Navy, and are now being held by Israeli authorities, a US State Department official has said. It is said that among them is former US Ambassador Edward Peck. The White House has so far refrained from issuing a statement on the abducted US citizens.
US blocks Security Council criticism of Israeli raid. Israel faced heavy criticism in an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Monday, in response to its deadly attack on the aid flotilla trying to breach the Gaza blockade, but attempts to issue a formal statement stalled after the United States rejected the strong condemnation.
Australian citizen shot in Israeli raid. Bilateral relations between Israel and Australia, which are already at a low point, are set to worsen after an Australian citizen was shot during the deadly attack by the Israeli Defense Forces on the Gaza relief flotilla on Monday. Australia recently expelled

the Israeli Mossad representative in Canberra, after confirming that the Israeli spy agency had illegally forged at least four Australian passports.

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We use false passports too, Australians admit

May 27, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

Julie Bishop

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Israeli intelligence agencies are not alone in using false passports. In fact, intelligence and law enforcement agencies in Australia, the country that is currently involved in a diplomatic spat with Israel due to the latter’s use of forged Australian passports in spy operations, also use forged travel documents. This admission was made yesterday by Australian senior opposition politician Julie Bishop during a live session in the Australian parliament. The parliamentary debate concerned recent revelations that agents of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad used forged Australian passports during an assassination operation against Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was found murdered in a luxury Dubai hotel last January. Australian government officials were quick to condemn Ms Bishop’s revelation as “a grievous breach of national security”. But Australian daily newspaper The Age reports that the opposition politician “merely made public an inconvenient truth”. Read more of this post

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Israeli envoy ‘in alarm’ after Australia expels Mossad agent

May 25, 2010 by intelNews 3 Comments

Yuval Rotem

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Israeli ambassador to Australia, who was in Israel on business, expedited his return to Canberra yesterday, immediately after Australia announced the expulsion of Israel’s senior Mossad representative in the country. Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reports that ambassador Yuval Rotem decided to cut short his trip to Israel “in alarm”, as the “escalated crisis” between Israel and Australia appears to be deepening. As intelNews readers read on April 14, Australia had announced the pending expulsion after official investigations by Australian law enforcement and intelligence authorities revealed beyond doubt that the Israeli spy agency Mossad had forged at least four Australian passports. The passports were among several Western identity documents employed by Mossad agents in targeting Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was assassinated in a luxury Dubai hotel last January. Read more of this post

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News you may have missed #357

May 22, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

IDF colonel with intelligence duties ‘commits suicide’. An unnamed colonel with the Israel Defense Forces was found dead in a forest in northern Israel Saturday, after allegedly taking his own life. The officer reportedly served in high-ranking positions in the Intelligence Corps.
Australian Wikileak founder’s passport confiscated. Julian Assange, the Australian founder of the whistleblower website Wikileaks, says he had his passport taken away from him at Melbourne Airport and was later told by customs officials that it was about to be cancelled. Wikileaksleaked footage of US forces laughing at the dead bodies of people they had just killed in Iraq in 2007. rose to prominence last month, after posting

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News you may have missed #355

May 20, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

Jones, Panetta, brief Pakistanis on Times Square bomb plot. US President Barack Obama’s national security advisor Jim Jones and CIA Director Leon Panetta are in Pakistan to brief local officials about the failed Times Square bomb plot. A sign of tighter US-Pakistan spy relations? Don’t hold your breath.
Partial history of NSA computers released. The link to the .pdf document that explores the history of US National Security Agency computers up to 1964, is available through Bruce Schneier’s blog.
Rio Tinto employees lose espionage appeal. Three of the four senior staff members of Rio Tinto, an Anglo-Australian mining concern, who were arrested last July by Chinese authorities on espionage charges, have lost an appeal against their convictions.

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Comment: Major changes in Australian, NZ spy agencies

May 14, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

Kevin Rudd

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
This website has been keeping tabs on the ongoing transformation of New Zealand and Australian intelligence agencies. Recent media reports from both countries indicate that the changes, many of which are still underway, will mark the broadest reorganization in New Zealand and Australian intelligence agencies’ operational focus and mission in over half a century. Read more of this post

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India blacklists Chinese phone companies over spying concerns

May 11, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

Huawei HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The government of India has officially barred a number of Chinese telephone equipment providers from operating in India, citing their strong links with the Chinese military. At the center of the move is Huawei Technologies, one of China’s largest telephone equipment manufacturers. Several intelligence insiders see the company, based in Shenzen, China, as a covert arm of the intelligence wing of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The company, which has business concerns in several countries around the world, has attracted the attention of American, British and Australian counterintelligence agencies, among others. In early 2008, the US government prohibited Huawei’s purchase of a significant amount of shares in US network security equipment maker 3Com, which supplies telecommunications hardware to the US Department of Defense. Read more of this post

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Mossad agent in Dubai assassination also wanted in New Zealand

May 7, 2010 by intelNews 2 Comments

Barkan

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
An Israeli Mossad officer wanted by New Zealand authorities is among five suspects recently identified and named by Dubai police in connection with the assassination of a Hamas official. The officer, Zev William Barkan, has been identified as a major suspect in last January’s assassination of Hamas weapons procurer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in a luxury Dubai hotel. In 2004, Barkan was one of three Mossad agents who engaged in an aborted attempt to acquire a New Zealand passport, using the birth certificate of Auckland resident Tony Resnick. New Zealand authorities managed to arrest Barkan’s two associates, Uriel Zoshe Kelman and Eli Cara, both from Israel; but Barkan and Resnick managed to escape arrest by flying to Sydney, Australia, before fleeing to Israel. The case caused a major –albeit temporary– rift in New Zealand-Israel relations. Read more of this post

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Australia to expel Israeli diplomat over Mabhouh assassination

April 14, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Stephen Smith

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Australia has announced that it plans to expel an Israeli diplomat from the country, in connection with forged Australian passports that were used by Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. At least four Australian passports were among several Western passports employed by Mossad agents in targeting Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was assassinated in a luxury Dubai hotel last January. But the Australian government has said it will delay the planned diplomatic expulsion until it has “further advice” about the case from the country’s intelligence authorities. An investigation by the Australian Federal Police, which was completed last week, appears to have failed to yield enough answers. Read more of this post

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News you may have missed #326

April 8, 2010 by intelNews 2 Comments

US spends millions on deception operations. The US Joint Information Operations Warfare Center at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas has a 435-person unit tasked with “development of television commercials and documentaries, focus group and polling services, television air time, posters, banners, and billboards”, as well as “novelty items”. Novelty items? Jeff Stein takes a closer look.
Iranian embassy in Australia spying on activists. The Iranian embassy in Canberra has been accused of spying on Iranian opposition activists in Australia, collecting intelligence on their activities and reporting back to Tehran. The allegations come amid growing concern within Australian security services over the activities of Iranian government-backed militants in Australia.
Newsflash: Israeli, Iranian spies active in Gulf! The profound commentary by Dubai Police continues. Last time they warned all spies “present in the Gulf” to leave the region within a week. This time they are reminding us that “Israel and Iran have their spies active in the Gulf region”. You don’t say.

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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.