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News you may have missed #0246 (CIA bombing edition)

January 7, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Analysis: Strike on CIA base tests US assessment of al-Qaeda. The militant group appears to have achieved a new level of sophistication and may not be as weakened as US officials had thought.
Photo of CIA suicide bomber published. Qatar-based Arabic news network Al Jazeera has published a photograph of Jordanian doctor Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, 36, who last month killed at least 7 CIA agents in Khost, Afghanistan.
Al-Qaida CIA bomber was furious over Gaza war. Suicide bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi was furious over Israel’s Gaza offensive, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Thursday, citing the man’s sister.
Analysis: The view from Jordan on CIA’s deaths in Khost. For Jordan, far more embarrassing than its role in the Khost suicide bombing, is its connection with the CIA, which while relatively well-known before, has now been put out in the public sphere for all to see –especially the Arab street.
London Arabic newspaper visits home of CIA bomber. The Jordanian authorities have imposed a security cordon around al-Balawi’s family home, which is located in the residential al-Nuzha district, close to the Jabal al-Hussein Palestinian refugee camp in the Jordanian capital of Amman. But a London-based Arabic-language newspaper correspondent managed to visit the location and speak with the bomber’s family members and neighbors.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict, Afghanistan, al-Nuzha (Jordan), Amman (Jordan), Analysis, CIA, Forward Operating Base Chapman, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, Humam Khalil al-Balawi, Israel, Jabal al-Hussein refugee camp (Jordan), Jordan, Khost, London, News, news you may have missed, Palestine, suicide bombings, United States

News you may have missed #0245 (CIA edition)

January 7, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA saw Jordanian double spy as valuable asset. Before detonating a suicide bomb in Afghanistan last week, Jordanian double spy (or was he?) Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi was considered by US spy agencies “the most promising informant in years about the whereabouts of Al Qaeda’s top leaders”.
CIA going through worst spell since 9/11. America’s most recognizable intelligence agency is currently going through its worst time since 9/11, what with Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and the loss of at least seven of its agents in Khost, Afghanistan.
US intel in Afghanistan is broken, irrelevant, says US insider. A new report (.pdf) by US Major General Michael Flynn, the top intelligence aide to International Security Assistance Force Commander General Stanley McChrystal, says the US intelligence community “is only marginally relevant to the overall strategy” in Afghanistan. The report recommends “[s]weeping changes to the way the intelligence community thinks about itself, from a focus on the enemy to a focus on the people of Afghanistan”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, CIA, double agents, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, Humam Khalil al-Balawi, HUMINT, informants, Jordan, Khost, Michael Flynn, News, news you may have missed, Stanley McChrystal, suicide bombings, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, United States

News you may have missed #0243

January 5, 2010 by intelNews 4 Comments

US releases video of Iranian arms dealer caught in Georgia. The CIA has released footage showing Amir Hossein Ardebili, an Iranian arms dealer allegedly working for the government in Tehran, trying to purchase avionics systems from two men, who were reportedly covert US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Numbers of ex-KGB agents in Russian government falling. The numbers of Vladimir Putin-linked ex-KGB agents inside the Russian government hit their apogee in 2007, when they accounted for two out of every three members of the Putin’s administration. But since the accession to the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev, they are now down to one in two.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Amir Hossein Ardebili, CIA, covert operations, Dmitry Medvedev, Georgia, Immigration Customs Enforcement, Iran, KGB, News, news you may have missed, Russia, United States, Vladimir Putin

Comment: Is There a ‘DNA Problem’ in US Spying?

January 5, 2010 by intelNews 8 Comments

Sam Tanenhaus

By IAN ALLEN* | intelNews.org |
The controversy of the apparent ineffectiveness of US intelligence agencies to uncover the so-called Christmas Day bomb plot has reignited the discussion about the operational shortcomings of the US intelligence community. Sam Tanenhaus, editor of of The New York Times Book Review, has authored an interesting commentary, in which he delves into some of what he sees as the design deficiencies in American intelligence.

News you may have missed #0242

January 5, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

US signs record US military aid to Israel. US President Barack Obama has just signed a massive 10-year deal for total of $30 billion to be given to Israel over the next decade (including $2.77 billion in 2010), funds that are mainly to be spent on US military hardware. But the Israelis are loudly complaining about the US also giving weapons to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
Which group perpetrated suicide attack on CIA? Various Taliban factions in Pakistan and Afghanistan are competing for credit for the devastating attack on the CIA last week.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, CIA, Egypt, financial aid, Israel, Jordan, News, news you may have missed, Obama Administration, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, suicide bombings, Taliban, United Arab Emirates, United States, weapons trade

News you may have missed #0241

January 4, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

3 of 7 CIA agents killed in Afghanistan are identified. They are Scott Michael Roberson, 39, from Virginia, Jeremy Jason Wise, 35, from Ohio, and Harold E. Brown Jr., 37, also from Virginia.
Al-Qaeda greater now than on 9/11, says ex-CIA agent. The results of eight years of the so-called US “war on terrorism” are plain to intelligence insiders.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, CIA, Harold E. Brown Jr., Jeremy Jason Wise, News, news you may have missed, Scott Michael Roberson, suicide bombings, United States, War on Terrorism

Breaking news: CIA officers were killed by Jordanian double spy

January 4, 2010 by intelNews 2 Comments

Chapman FOB

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Ever since I posted “The Meaning of the Suicide Attack on the CIA” on this blog, I have been telling reporters who contacted me that the attack at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Chapman was probably carried out by a double agent. I dismissed claims on other websites that the bomber had been just a “potential recruit” who was “not required to go through full security checks [at Chapman FOB] in order to help gain [his] trust”. Instead, as I wrote on Saturday, I suggested that “the bomber was able to evade safety search standards [at the US base] by relying on a long-term informant-handler relationship with CIA personnel stationed at the outpost. This would lead to the strong possibility that the informant-turned-bomber had been groomed as a double agent from the very start by local Taliban operatives”. A news report has just appeared on NBC, which appears to confirm just that: namely that the suicide bomber had been “an al-Qaeda double agent” who was “arrested by Jordanian intelligence more than a year ago”, and turned over to the Americans by his Jordanian handlers, who believed he “had been successfully reformed”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, CIA, double agents, Forward Operating Base Chapman, General Intelligence Department (Jordan), Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, Humam Khalil al-Balawi, informants, Jordan, Jordanian royal family, News, Pakistan, Sharif Ali biin Zeid, suicide bombings, United States, Zarqa (Jordan)

US court upholds NSA’s refusal to admit or deny wiretap data

January 3, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

The Glomar

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A US federal appeals court has concluded that the National Security Agency can refuse to admit or deny it possesses information about the US government spying on lawyers representing Guantánamo prison detainees. The decision by the 2^nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York relates to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request under a civil liberties lawsuit challenging post-9/11 warrantless surveillance operations by US agencies. The latter typically respond to most FOIA requests by confirming or denying possession of information relating to particular requests, and then by proceeding to either deny release, or release selected segments of the requested data. It is rare for an agency to refuse even to acknowledge the existence of information sought through FOIA. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, civil liberties, Cold War, domestic intelligence, FOIA, Glomar Explorer, Glomar response, government secrecy, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, Hawaii, history, intelligence legislation, lawsuits, maritime intelligence, New York, News, NSA, Project JENNIFER, United States, USSR, warrantless communications interception

Analysis: The Meaning of the Suicide Attack on the CIA

January 2, 2010 by intelNews 2 Comments

Chapman FOB

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS* | intelNews.org |
The recent deaths of seven and the serious injury of another six CIA personnel in Afghanistan’s Khost province has undoubtedly shocked an Agency not used to mass casualties. But what exactly is the significance of Wednesday’s suicide attack at the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Chapman, and how will it affect the US military and intelligence presence at the Afghan-Pakistani border? Given that the CIA team at Chapman FOB could not have consisted of more than 15 to 20 agents, it would be logical to conclude that the attack virtually decimated the CIA presence in Khost. But the impact of this development on US operations in Afghanistan will be minimal, in contrast to operations inside Pakistan, which constituted the primary objective of the CIA team at Chapman FOB. Read article →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, assassinations, CIA, double agents, Forward Operating Base Chapman, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, Humam Khalil al-Balawi, HUMINT, informants, Joseph Fitsanakis, Khost, Obama Administration, Pakistan, Predator drones, suicide bombings, Taliban, United States

For second time in history, CIA suffers 8 deaths in a day [updated]

December 31, 2009 by intelNews 4 Comments

US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, after the April 18, 1983 bombing

US Beirut mission

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Update: The CIA now says that seven, not eight, of the “Agency’s workforce” died in the Khost suicide attack. There is, however, some confusion as to the status of the bomber himself, with some Taliban sources in Afghanistan claiming he was already operating as a CIA informant.

Since it emerged last night that eight CIA agents were killed in a suicide bombing in Khost, Afghanistan, intelNews has received several emails asking whether the deaths marked a horrific record for the US spy agency. The unnamed agents were reportedly killed along with at least one Afghan civilian at the US-operated Forward Operating Base Chapman, close to the Pakistani border. The CIA is not known for forwarding details on its agents who perish while on missions around the world. But there is at least one other known instance when the Agency lost eight of its operatives in one day: Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 1983 US embassy bombing, Afghanistan, Beirut, CIA, Forward Operating Base Chapman, Hezbollah, history, Khost, Lebanon, News, Pakistan, suicide bombings, United States, US embassy in Lebanon

Controversy over head of Obama’s terrorism watch-list review

December 31, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

John Brennan

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A veteran CIA official appointed to review the US government’s defective terrorism watch-list system, was actually involved in designing it, and later helped sustain it through a lucrative private-sector contract. John O. Brennan was appointed by President Barack Obama on Sunday to head a “comprehensive interagency review” of travel security measures, after it was revealed that the father of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the Christmas Day airline bomb plot suspect, had notified the CIA about his son’s activities. It turns out, however, that not only was Brennan part of the US National Counterterrorism Center team that designed the terrorism watch-list system, but he also helped sustain it while heading the Analysis Corporation, a scandal-prone private contractor charged with overseeing the watch-list system. Politico’s Carol Lee and Laura Rozen are among the very few reporters who have connected the dots on Brennan. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Analysis Corporation, Barack Obama, CIA, databases, intelligence outsourcing, John Brennan, News, surveillance, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, Umaru AbdulMutallab, United States, US National Counterterrorism Center

News you may have missed #0236

December 30, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Airline bomb plotter’s father warned CIA about his son. Dr. Umaru AbdulMutallab, the father of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the Christmas Day airline bomb plot suspect, visited the US embassy in Nigeria in November, where he told a CIA agent that he believed his son was under the influence of religious extremists and had traveled from London, England, to Yemen.
New book details Stasi spying on Günter Grass. A new book, entitled Guenter Grass im Visier: Die Stasi-Akte (Günter Grass in the Crosshairs: The Stasi Files), is to be published in March in Germany. Among other things, it will detail spying operations against the Nobel Prize-winning author by the East German secret police, the Stasi.
Former Albanian spymaster claiming benefits in Britain. Ilir Kumbaro, Albania’s former spymaster, is wanted by authorities for having kidnapped and tortured three men in his homeland. But after falling out with officials there, he fled to Britain in 1996, where he has lived for 13 years using the alias Shaqa Shatri.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Africa, Albania, book news and reviews, CIA, Cold War, Günter Grass, German Democratic Republic, Ilir Kumbaro, literature, News, news you may have missed, Nigeria, Shaqa Shatri, Stasi (GDR), terrorism, UK, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, Umaru AbdulMutallab, United States, Yemen

News you may have missed #0235

December 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

How the CIA was conned by a compulsive gambler. In 2003, the CIA took seriously the fabricated claims of Dennis Montgomery, co-owner of a software gaming company in Nevada, who claimed he could read messages hidden in barcodes listing international flights to the US, their positions and airports to be targeted by al-Qaeda.
Obama names intel advisory board members. The US President has appointed members to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), a critical oversight group tasked with alerting the White House about US intelligence activities that may be illegal or may go beyond Presidential authorization. The appointees are Roel Campos, Lee Hamilton, Rita Hauser, Paul Kaminski, Ellen Laipson, Les Lyles, and Jami Miscik. For more on PIAB, see here.
Turkey arrests three on espionage charges. Turkish media won’t say which country the arrestees allegedly spied for, but one of them is said to have “often visited Greece”. A tit-for-tat?

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, and Jami Miscik, Barack Obama, CIA, Dennis Montgomery, Ellen Laipson, espionage, Greece, Lee Hamilton, Les Lyles, News, news you may have missed, Paul Kaminski, PIAB (US), President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (US), Rita Hauser, Roel Campos, terrorism, Turkey, United States

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 #0233

December 26, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Lithuanian report uncovers two CIA secret prisons. There was not just one, but two CIA secret prisons in Lithuania between 2004 and 2005, according to a Lithuanian parliamentary report that was concluded this week. The Lithuanian government continues to deny involvement.
Break the CIA in two? A veteran CIA analyst suggests breaking the CIA in two parts, because “covert action and analysis do not belong together in the same agency –never have, never will”.