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We have spies, but not troops in Pakistan, says US

December 25, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Predator drone

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
American spies, but not combat troops, are active on Pakistani soil, according to Washington’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Speaking last Tuesday on PBS’ Charlie Rose, Richard Holbrooke said “there are no American troops in Pakistan”, but that the US has “members of our intelligence services in every country in the world”. Asked to clarify whether “[n]o members of the American military or CIA are in Pakistan”, the American diplomat responded: “I only said there are no American troops in Pakistan”. His comments appear to contradict several reports in Western media that US military forces are secretly operating in Pakistan, including a report last February in The New York Times, which stated that over 70 US “military advisers […] and technical specialists” were helping Pakistan’s armed forces fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the remote Pakistani areas bordering Afghanistan. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, CIA, News, Pakistan, Predator drones, Richard Holbrooke, United States, War on Terrorism

Is CIA collaborating with Palestinian spy agencies?

December 23, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

West Bank

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A British newspaper has alleged that Palestinian security agencies in the West Bank are working with the CIA so closely that CIA officials “consider them as their property”. London-based quality broadsheet The Guardian said that CIA agents routinely advise and supervise the work of the two main security agencies of the Fatah-aligned Palestinian National Authority, namely the General Intelligence service and the Preventive Security Organization. The trouble with this arrangement is that both services have been documented to resort to severe torture of West Bank members of rival Palestinian group Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2006. And the CIA has had more than a little trouble with torture in recent times. So is the CIA guiding overzealous Palestinian National Authority security agents in extracting intelligence by torturing Hamas sympathizers? Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Adnan Damiry, CIA, Fatah, Gaza Strip, General Intelligence (Palestinian National Authority), Hamas, intelligence cooperation, interrogation techniques, Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, News, Palestine, Palestinian National Authority, Paul Gimigliano, Preventive Security Service (Palestinian National Authority), Sa'id Abu-Ali, Salam Fayyad, Shin Bet, torture, West Bank

News you may have missed #0227

December 20, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

British politicians sue CIA over rendition flights. A group of British members of parliament, led by Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, has filed a complaint in a district court in Washington, DC, asking for a judicial review of secret agreements between the US and UK on renditioning terrorism suspects.
US DHS broke domestic spying rules. The US Department of Homeland Security gathered intelligence on the Nation of Islam for eight months in 2007, and broke the law by taking longer than 180 days to determine whether the US-based group or its American members posed a terrorist threat.
Expert says UK ex-spy chief misled Iraq War probe. Sir John Scarlett, Britain’s former spy chief has misled the Iraq inquiry by exaggerating the reliability of crucial claims about Saddam Hussein’s ability to launch weapons of mass destruction, according to Dr. Brian Jones, the leading UK Ministry of Defense expert who assessed the intelligence behind London’s decision to go to war in 2003.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Andrew Tyrie, Brian Jones, Chilcot Inquiry (UK), CIA, domestic intelligence, extraordinary rendition, Iraq Inquiry (UK), Iraq War, lawsuits, Nation of Islam, News, news you may have missed, Saddam Hussein, Sir John Scarlett, UK, UK Ministry of Defence, United States, US Department of Homeland Security, Washington DC

News you may have missed #0226

December 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA tries to increase numbers of women leaders. CIA Director Leon Panetta is taking steps to increase the number of women at the Agency’s highest levels. The US is apparently “behind the curve when it comes to promoting women to the top ranks of intelligence services”.
CIA denies employing David Headley. CIA spokesperson Marie E. Harf said that “any suggestion that [David Coleman Headley] worked for the CIA is flat wrong”. The comment was in response to persistent rumors that Headley, who was arrested by the FBI in October, for plotting to attack a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, is in fact an undercover CIA agent gone wild.
Taiwan wants to swap jailed spies with China. The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, which proposed the exchange, said the plan follows its policy of “do[ing] our best to take care of agents and their family members in accordance with the law and regulations”. There have been several espionage-related arrests involving the two bitter rivals in recent months.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with China, CIA, David Coleman Headley, Denmark, double agents, FBI, imprisoned spy swaps, intelligence recruitment, Leon Panetta, Marie E. Harf, News, news you may have missed, Taiwan, Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, United States

Comment: US-Pakistani Spy Relations Just Short of Open War

December 19, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

ISI HQ

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS* | intelNews.org |
Officially, the United States and Pakistan are allies in the so-called “war on terrorism”. But diplomats and intelligence agents on the ground tell a very different story. For several months now, Washington and Islamabad have engaged in a low-intensity intelligence war, with the Pakistanis accusing the Americans of failing to share actionable intelligence, and the Americans blaming Pakistani security services for maintaining clandestine links with Taliban groups. On at least one occasion, a senior advisor to the US-backed Afghan leadership has claimed that Pakistani intelligence services provide assistance to suicide bombers willing to strike targets in Kabul and other cities and towns in Afghanistan.

Lithuania’s spy chief resigns over secret CIA prison probe

December 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Malakauskas

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The director of Lithuania’s intelligence service unexpectedly resigned on Monday, reportedly in connection with a parliamentary investigation into a reputed CIA secret prison site in the country. IntelNews regulars will remember that last November ABC News cited CIA officials in alleging that the Lithuanian government provided the CIA with an unmarked building located in Lithuanian capital Vilnius, with the understanding that it would be used as a so-called black site for secretly detaining high-value al-Qaeda suspects. Lithuanian government officials denied the allegation, but promised to set up a high-level probe into the matter. But the members of the parliamentary committee that was established to examine the ABC News revelations soon found themselves shunned by Lithuanian intelligence officials. According to the committee head, Arvydas Anusauskas, the parliamentarians were offered ambiguous answers or no answers at all by Lithuanian secret service agencies. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, Arvydas Anusauskas, CIA, Eastern Europe, extraordinary rendition, intelligence oversight, Lithuania, News, Paul Gimigliano, Povilas Malakauskas, resignations, secret prisons, State Security Department (Lithuania), United States, Vilnius (Lithuania), War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0222

December 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UN investigates claims Iran using Taiwan as nuclear conduit. United Nations officials are investigating intelligence claims that Iran has established a smuggling network using front companies in Taiwan to acquire equipment that it could use to make nuclear weapons.
Blackwater tied to secret CIA raids, say employees. “There was a feeling that Blackwater eventually became an extension of the agency”, said one former top CIA officer. IntelNews regulars will remember that we described last summer’s revelations of Blackwater’s participation in US special operations as “just the tip of the iceberg”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Blackwater, CIA, intelligence outsourcing, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, mercenaries, News, news you may have missed, nuclear proliferation, Taiwan, United Nations, United States, weapons smuggling, Xe

Spy agencies closely monitoring climate change talks

December 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

DSD logo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
I have written before about the increasing involvement of intelligence agencies in ongoing climate change negotiations between the world’s governments. In October, the CIA announced the establishment of its Center on Climate Change and National Security, despite fierce opposition by Republican lawmakers. Earlier this month, it was alleged that the hackers who stole and leaked onto the Internet hundreds of University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit emails were operating via a Russian military and security network, a claim that has been disputed by the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service). However, a recent article in Australian daily The Canberra Times provides the first mainstream indication that a Western intelligence agency is “giving top priority” to the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference currently taking place in Denmark. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Australia, Australian National Intelligence Collection Committee, CIA, CIA Center on Climate Change, climate change, climategate, Copenhagen (Denmark), Defence Signals Directorate (Australia), Denmark, FSB, Kevin Rudd, News, Russia, SIGINT, UK, United States, University of East Anglia (UK), University of East Anglia Climatic Reseach Unit (UK)

US government agent detained in Cuba for ‘aiding opposition groups’

December 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

DAI logo

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
American authorities have revealed the arrest in Cuba of a US government worker, who was allegedly supplying telecommunications equipment to opposition groups. The unidentified man, who was reportedly detained in Havana on December 5, is said to work for a Maryland-based international aid group called Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI). This little-known organization works closely with the government-owned United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and last year was awarded a major government contract in “support [of] the rule of law and human rights, political competition and consensus building” in Cuba. There are reports, however, that the contract involved the clandestine supply of laptop computers and cell phones to Cuban groups antagonistic to the government in Havana. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, CIA, Cuba, Development Alternatives Inc., espionage, Havana (Cuba), Hugo Chávez, Maryland, News, telecommunications hardware, United States, US Department of State, US DoD, USAID, Venezuela

Iranian defector briefed UN inspectors on Iran nuclear program

December 14, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Qum facility

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
An Iranian nuclear scientist who vanished during a pilgrimage to Mecca last June has defected to the West and has briefed American and United Nations officials about Iran’s nuclear program. As intelNews reported on October 9, rumors have been circulating in the Arab press that Shahram Amiri, a senior figure in the Iranian nuclear research program, was not abducted by Saudi and Western intelligence agencies, as Iran claims, but actually defected to the West. Now British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph has cited “a source close to France’s overseas secret service, the DGSE”, who claims that Amiri’s defection was facilitated through a carefully planned intelligence operation involving the CIA, as well as French and German operatives. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, CIA 'brain drain' program, defectors, DGSE (France), France, Frankfurt (Germany), Germany, IAEA, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, News, Qum (Iran), Saudi Arabia, Shahram Amiri, United Nations, United States

News you may have missed #0218

December 13, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US Pentagon joins CIA drone war in Pakistan (yes, we know). Wired magazine’s Noah Shachtman (Danger Room blog) reports that the US military is gradually joining the CIA’s unmanned drone war in Pakistan –but this is old news, Noah.
Part 4 of CIA defector’s writings now available. Former FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Eringer has published the fourth installment of the writings of Edward Lee Howard, a CIA officer who defected to the USSR in 1985 (see here for previous intelNews coverage). In this part, he advises the reader to “never wear a disguise past police or immigration unless it is a dire emergency”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Cold War, defectors, Edward Lee Howard, history, KGB, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, Predator drones, United States, US DoD, USSR

Silence over sudden death of Jordan’s ex-spy chief in Vienna

December 11, 2009 by intelNews 5 Comments

Imperial Hotel

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
There is widespread silence in Jordan about the sudden death of the country’s former intelligence chief, at his luxury Vienna hotel room, on Wednesday. The country’s tightly controlled press barely mentioned the news of the death of Field Marshal Said Bashir Saad Kheir, 56, whose body was reportedly discovered in bed by a maid in Vienna’s Imperial Hotel. Austrian police representatives have ruled out foul play in Kheir’s death, which they attributed to heart failure. But there is conflicting information about the purpose of the former spy chief’s visit to the Austrian capital, which is considered the world’s largest espionage hub, with the highest density of foreign intelligence agents on Earth. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdullah II bin al-Hussein of Jordan, Austria, CIA, General Intelligence Department (Jordan), George Tenet, Imperial Hotel (Vienna), Jordan, Marouf al-Bakhit, News, Said Bashir Saad Kheir, suspicious deaths, United States, Vienna

News you may have missed #0214

December 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Cuban Five member’s prison term cut to 30 years. A Miami court has reduced the earlier prison sentence of yet another member of the Cuban Five. Ramon Labanino has had his original sentence of life imprisonment cut to 30 years. The Cuban Five were sentenced in 2001 for spying on US soil for Cuba.
Part 3 of CIA defector’s writings now available. Former FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Eringer has published the third installment of the writings of Edward Lee Howard, a CIA officer who defected to the USSR in 1985 (see here for previous intelNews coverage). Did you know that “KGB officers always preferred Malév (Hungary’s national airline) whenever they crossed to [Western] Europe”?

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Cold War, Cuba, Cuban Five, defectors, Edward Lee Howard, espionage, history, Hungary, KGB, lawsuits, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Miami (Florida), News, news you may have missed, Robert Eringer, United States, USSR

Suspects arrested for 1981 poisoning of Chilean ex-president

December 10, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Eduardo Frei

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A Chilean judge this week charged several people connected with the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, of complicity in the 1981 murder by poisoning of former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva. With the help of the CIA, Frei, a conservative centrist, became Chile’s elected leader from 1964 to 1970. In 1973, he supported the Augusto Pinochet junta movement against Chile’s elected President, Salvador Allende, but soon became disillusioned and opposed the military regime’s widespread human rights abuses. In November 1981, Frei checked into Santiago’s Santa Maria Clinic for a routine hernia operation. It was there, according to the court indictment, that several doctors connected with the Pinochet junta systematically poisoned the former Chilean President with thallium and small doses of mustard gas, which eventually killed him. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Augusto Pinochet, Carmen Frei, Chile, CIA, DINA (Chile), Eduardo Frei Montalva, Eugenio Barrios, mustard gas, National Intelligence Directorate (Chile), News, poisoning, Salvador Allende, Santa Maria Clinic (Chile), Santiago (Chile), thallium, United States

News you may have missed #0210

December 8, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Turkey arrests secret service officials over coup allegations. The head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization’s (MİT) branch in the city of Erzincan, identified only as Ş.D., and two other regional MİT officials, are under arrest in connection with the ongoing investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine network charged with plotting to overthrow the Turkish government.
European Union gives CIA access to Europe bank records. Some have condemned the agreement, due to come into force in two months’ time, because it contains no reciprocal arrangement under which European authorities can easily access the bank accounts of US citizens in America.