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News you may have missed #0064

August 11, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US battling CIA rendition case in three courts. Useful legal status summary of the case of Binyam Mohamed and four other former or current CIA detainees, who allege they were tortured at Guantánamo Bay.
Iran purges Intelligence Ministry officials. More information on an apparent purge in the ranks of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security, which we first noted a few days ago.
US Pentagon monitoring Twitter, YouTube. Newly released government documents show the US military is monitoring activity on popular websites such as YouTube and Twitter to scrutinize and react to coverage of “high-profile events”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Binyam Mohamed, CIA, extraordinary rendition, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, Iran, lawsuits, Ministry of Intelligence and National Security of Iran, News, news you may have missed, social networking, surveillance, torture, Twitter, United States, US DoD, YouTube

News you may have missed #0063

August 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UK government ministers, MI6 boss, reject torture accusations. Britain’s home secretary, Alan Johnson, and foreign secretary, David Miliband, have rejected claims that the UK operated a “policy to collude in, solicit, or directly participate in abuses of [war on terrorism] prisoners” or to cover up abuses. The outgoing director of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, has also said that there has been “no torture and there is no complicity with torture” by British agents.
Ex-spy may succeed Kazakh leader. An unnamed senior security official may eventually succeed Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled Kazakhstan for 20 years.
Congressman tells Holder to widen torture probe. Several news outlets are verifying earlier rumors (reported on by intelNews on July 13) that the Obama Administration is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agencies after September 11, 2001. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, has said he wants US Attorney General Eric Holder to extend the rumored investigation beyond CIA interrogators, and determine whether high-level officials of the Bush administration committed war crimes.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alan Johnson, Bush Administration, Central Asia, CIA, David Miliband, Eric Holder, Jerrold Nadler, Kazakhstan, MI6, News, news you may have missed, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Sir John Scarlett, torture, UK, War on Terrorism

Is Mehsud dead, and if so, who or what killed him?

August 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Baitullah Mehsud

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
There is confusion about the fate of Pakistan’s senior Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud. On August 7, the Pakistani military told the world’s media that an unmanned drone air strike (probably operated by the CIA) had killed Mehsud. The Associated Press reported that a Taliban commander in Pakistan, Kafayat Ullah, had confirmed that “Mehsud and his wife died in the American missile attack in South Waziristan”. Pakistani military officials said they were “reasonably sure” of the accuracy of these reports, but that they did not possess irrefutable “forensic evidence” of Mehsud’s death. Over the weekend, however, other Taliban leaders came forward to contest Ullah’s account. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Baitullah Mehsud, CIA, Hakimullah Mehsud, Kafayat Ullah, Maulvi Umar, News, Pakistan, Predator drones, South Waziristan, Taliban, United States, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0061

August 7, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Finland police identify body of WWII Soviet spy. Police believe a body found near Kouvola, Finland, to be the World War II remnants of a Soviet spy. The man apparently parachuted to his death. The body will be offered to the Russian Embassy for repatriation –an offer that is expected to be refused.
Hacker conferences attract spies, thieves. Interesting account of Defcon conference anecdotes by CNET correspondent Elinor Mills, who has been attending Defcon since 1995.
Interesting interview with lawyer behind CIA lawsuit. McClatchy news agency has published a rare interview with Brian Leighton, the lawyer representing retired Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officer Richard A. Horn, who in 1994 claimed that CIA agents illegally wiretapped his conversations while he was stationed in Burma.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Brian Leighton, CIA, computer hacking, DEA, DefCon conference, espionage, Finland, Kouvola (Finland), lawsuits, News, news you may have missed, Richard A. Horn, Russian embassy in Finland, United States, USSR, World War II

CIA whistleblower’s memo on Peru declassified after eight years

August 6, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

V.L. Montesinos

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A memorandum drafted in 2001 by a CIA officer, detailing assistance illegally provided by the CIA to the former chief of Peruvian intelligence, has been declassified following an eight-year court battle. In the memorandum, CIA employee Franz Boening argued that the Agency violated US law by providing material and political assistance to Vladimiro Ilich Montesinos Torres, a graduate of the US Army’s School of the Americas and longtime CIA operative, who headed Peru’s Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional (SIN) under the corrupt administration of President Alberto Fujimori. Fujimori is now in prison, as is Montesinos himself. But in 2001, the CIA Inspector General, to whom Boening’s memorandum was addressed, took no action in response to the officer’s allegations. What is more, the CIA proceeded to classify Boening’s memorandum, claiming that its disclosure “reasonably could be expected to cause damage to national security”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alberto Fujimori, censorship, CIA, CIA Inspector General, corruption, declassification, Franz Boening, government secrecy, informants, lawsuits, News, Peru, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional (SIN), United States, US Army School of the Americas, Vladimiro Montesinos, whistleblowing

News you may have missed #0058

August 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Were Americans in Iran spying or in wrong place at wrong time? Officials in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region said Sunday that the three, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal, were tourists who inadvertently crossed into Iran on Friday while hiking in the region. But the head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Committee said on government-run Arabic television that the three came as spies.
British lawmaker challenges US threats to suppress CIA torture evidence. Conservative British parliamentarian David Davis is on a visit to the United States to speak with US lawmakers about the case of Binyam Mohamed.
Al-Qaeda will pose a threat for 20 years, says Dennis Blair. The US Director of National Intelligence has said al-Qaeda will continue to rely mostly on conventional explosives in its attacks.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, Binyam Mohamed, CIA, David Davis, Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, espionage, Iran, Iranian Parliament National Security Committee, Joshua Fattal, Kurdistan, News, news you may have missed, Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, torture, UK, UK House of Commons, United States, War on Terrorism

Mysterious “CIA spy in Iran” calls for stronger US policy

August 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A mysterious CIA informant, who claims he worked for the CIA inside the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the 1980s, has called for “a strong Western hand” against the Iranian government. In an article published earlier today in The Christian Science Monitor, the informant, who uses the pseudonym “Reza Kahlili”, says that defending “what remains of democracy and freedom in Iran” is one of the West’s “most important decisions of our era”. “Kahlili” makes vague mentions of working “for years alongside” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, “as a CIA spy working undercover […], starting in the 1980s”. In arguing for a stronger Western stance against Iran, “Kahlili” alleges that, in the 1980s, unnamed European governments made secret pacts with the Iranian government, allowing them “to assassinate opposition members abroad without interference, as long as European citizens were not at risk”, in exchange for steady supplies of Iranian oil. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, informants, Iran, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, News, Reza Kahlili, United States, Wally (codename)

News you may have missed #0057

August 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

India says Pakistani intelligence smuggling counterfeit currency. The Indian government has accused Pakistani intelligence agencies of “flooding the [Indian] market with counterfeit currency notes”.
Building plans show magnitude of proposed NSA building. A draft environmental assessment obtained by a television station in Utah gives some idea of the magnitude of a proposed NSA intelligence facility to be built at Camp Williams. Plans call for approximately 1.5 million square feet of building space.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with bribing, Camp Williams (Utah), Christian evangelism, Christianity, CIA, counterfeiting, India, Iran, Iraq, Mossad, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Pakistan, United States, Utah

CIA director says Congress should let go of CIA’s past actions

August 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Leon Panetta

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
CIA director Leon Panetta has criticized Congress for its “focus on the past” that “threatens to distract the CIA from its crucial core missions”. In an editorial published last weekend in The Washington Post, Panetta says he is becoming “increasingly concerned” that “wrong judgments” made by the Bush Administration after 9/11 have damaged the broad agreement between the executive and legislative branches of the US government about the CIA’s role and activities. But the CIA director says the “sincerity or the patriotism” of Bush Administration officials should not be questioned, as they “were trying to respond as best they could” in the aftermath of 9/11. Instead, Panetta argues for learning “lessons from the past without getting stuck there”, and warns that “classified information that shapes […] conversations” between the CIA and Congress must be protected. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 9/11, Bush Administration, Chile, CIA, extraordinary rendition, intelligence oversight, Leon Panetta, Melvin A. Goodman, News, Richard Helms, Salvador Allende, torture, United States, War on Terrorism

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”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ASIO, Australia, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Christopher Pyle, Church Committee, CIA, cybersecurity, David Irvine, declassification, domestic intelligence, News, news you may have missed, President's Daily Brief, surveillance, United States, US Army, US Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, War on Terrorism, whistleblowing

News you may have missed #0050

July 31, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Cuban Five to be given new sentences in October. Washington accuses the Five of spying on the US for Cuba. But an appeals court has ruled that the sentences they received (ranging from life to 19 years) were too long. New sentences will be imposed on October 13. The Cuban government has said that it would be willing to swap jailed political dissidents for the Five.
CIA invests in web-based software company –again. The CIA’s venture-capital investment arm, In-Q-Tel, appears to be really fond of Lingotek, a tiny software company in Draper, Utah. Last month, In-Q-Tel funded another software start-up, Lucid Imagination.
Canada to investigate spy service’s role in Abdelrazik’s torture. Canada’s Security Intelligence Review Committee has agreed to probe the case of Abousfian Abdelrazik, who was renditioned to Sudan by Canada’s Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). He says he was severely tortured by Sudanese guards and interrogators.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abousfian Abdelrazik, Canada, CIA, CSIS (Canada), Cuba, Cuban Five, espionage, extraordinary rendition, In-Q-Tel, Lingotek, News, news you may have missed, Security Intelligence Review Committee (Canada), Sudan, torture, United States

News you may have missed #0049

July 31, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Return to court for ex-CIA station chief accused of rape. Andrew M. Warren has been free on bail since February of 2009, when he was unceremoniously recalled to the US from the CIA’s Algiers station. He is accused of having drugged and raped two Algerian women at his official residence. On Tuesday he was back at a federal courtroom in Washington for a status hearing.
Swedish spy threat at Cold War levels, claims report. A study by the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST), says spying on Sweden by “several countries, including those in our immediate surroundings” is “at the same level […] as during the Cold War”.
Former CIA station chief doubts Daniel Boyd story. Milt Bearden, former CIA station chief in Pakistan, doubts that Boyd, who was arrested along with seven others in North Carolina on domestic terrorism charges, ever saw action in Afghanistan, as stated by his prosecutors.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, Algeria, Algiers, Andrew M. Warren, CIA, CIA Algiers station, Cold War, Daniel Boyd, espionage, Milt Bearden, MUST (Sweden), News, news you may have missed, North Carolina, Sweden, Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service, terrorism, United States

Obama administration opposes release of Cheney records in Valerie Plame case

July 30, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Valerie Plame

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Obama administration officials are pressuring a US judge to stop the release of former US Vice President Dick Cheney’s records in the case of ex-CIA agent Valerie Plame. Plame sought compensation after she was publicly named as a secret CIA operative. Along with her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, she has fought a legal campaign, arguing that several Bush administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, and even President George W. Bush himself, were behind the leak of her CIA role. Cheney had a lengthy interview with prosecutors pursuing the leak case, but the transcripts of the exchange have so far remained secret, on national security grounds. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Dick Cheney, Emmet Sullivan, George W. Bush, government secrecy, Joseph Wilson, lawsuits, News, Obama Administration, United States, US Department of Justice, Valerie Plame-Wilson

News you may have missed #0047

July 29, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Bin Laden still alive, says terrorism expert. Jere Van Dyk, who is CBS News’ consultant on terrorism, weighs rumors that Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or even Europe.
Sri Lanka authorities claim arrest of LTTE spy commander. Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division says it arrested the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam intelligence chief on Monday. The LTTE appears to be in shambles, having lost its entire intelligence network.
CIA Director praises Bill Clinton during visit. CIA Director Panetta “complimented Mr. Clinton for his understanding of the CIA’s role in intelligence gathering in the post-Cold War era” and praised “the experience and perspective of a man who for eight years worked to defuse those dangers, protect our nation, and share the best of its ideals with the rest of the world”. Panetta was Clinton’s White House aide in the 1990s.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bill Clinton, CIA, Leon Panetta, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, News, news you may have missed, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Terrorist Investigation Division (Sri Lanka), Yemen

News you may have missed #0046

July 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA documents reveal Chilean candidate’s ties to Pinochet. CIA documents declassified last Friday allegedly point to ties between the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and presidential candidate Sebastián Piñera, who lost the 2005 elections to Chile’s current President, Michelle Bachelet.
US officials claim increased intelligence sharing with Pakistan. In a report that reads too much like a Pentagon public relations briefing, UPI reports that increasing US-Pakistani intelligence cooperation is “yielding results” along the Afghan-Pakistani border.