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Feinstein causes furor as CIA assassinations continue

February 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN| intelNews.org |
Thirty more people were killed this past weekend in Pakistan by US missiles fired from unmanned CIA drone planes, in the second such strike on Barack Obama’s watch. In late January, two more missiles killed at least 20 people, according to international news agencies. That these drone attacks by the CIA are authorized by the US and Pakistani governments has been well known and well reported for some time. IntelNews is among several news outlets that have reported on a high-level US-Pakistani agreement by which “the US government refuses to publicly acknowledge the [US missile] attacks [on Pakistani soil] while Pakistan’s government continues to complain noisily about the politically sensitive strikes”. This website has repeatedly questioned the legality of these extrajudicial assassinations, which apparently is an issue that does not concern the Obama administration or most US intelligence experts. The more important question in the minds of intelligence observers appears to be why the US is unable to hold its side of their bargain. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, CIA, Dianne Feinstein, Obama Administration, Pakistan, Predator drones, Robert Gates, United States, War on Terrorism

Disgraced CIA officer held far more important post than initially thought

February 15, 2009 by intelNews 10 Comments

By IAN ALLEN| intelNews.org |
On February 7, intelNews reported on the indictment of Steven J. Levan, a 16-year CIA operative who was caught using Agency credit cards to pay for over $75,000 in personal expenses, including luxury hotel stays and a $700 watch. It has now emerged that Levan was “a far more important official at the agency than previously reported”. His office is allegedly located at the CIA’s senior executive suite on the seventh floor of the Agency’s Langley, VA, headquarters, and he has also served as CIA station chief at an unidentified country. Investigative reporter Jeff Stein quotes an unnamed intelligence source who describes Steven Levan as a rising agent serving “in one of the high visibility staff aide positions which are usually reserved for folks expected to move on into top echelons”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, corruption, News, Steven J. Levan

Obama officials toe Bush Administration secrecy line in rendition lawsuit

February 12, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Eric Holder

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Last Monday it emerged that the new US Attorney General, Eric H. Holder, ordered “a review of all claims of state secrets used to block lawsuits into warrantless spying on Americans and the treatment of foreign terrorism suspects”. US Justice Department spokesperson, Matt Miller, said the directive “will ensure the [state secrets] privilege is not invoked to hide from the American people information about their government’s actions that they have a right to know”. Despite Mr. Holder’s review order, however, the Obama Administration has chosen to retain the previous government’s “state secrets” clause to block a lawsuit filed by victims of CIA’s extraordinary rendition program. The case is Binyam Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen Dataplan, a Colorado-based Boeing Corporation subcontractor that provided logistical support to the CIA’s prisoner transfer scheme. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ACLU, Barack Obama, Binyam Mohamed, Boeing Corporation, CIA, Eric Holder, extraordinary rendition, government secrecy, Jeppesen Dataplan, Matt Miller, national security, News, torture, UK, United States, US Department of Justice, War on Terrorism

CIA sees British Muslims as most dangerous threat

February 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On January 4, intelNews relayed reports from officials in Washington and London of an “unprecedented intelligence-gathering operation in Britain” by the CIA. The reason behind this intense activity appears to be that the Agency considers militants in Britain’s one-million-strong Muslim community to be “the most likely source of another terrorist spectacular on US soil”. Now a follow-up report in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reveals that US President Barack Obama has been briefed in detail by CIA officials about the “dramatic escalation in American espionage in Britain” in recent months. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with British Muslims, CIA, informants, Lashkar-e-Taiba, MI5, News, UK, United States, War on Terrorism

Another CIA agent gone wild, denied bail

February 7, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Just hours after intelNews examined the growing number of cases of out-of-control CIA agents, another incident has been added to the long list. Steven J. Levan, a 16-year CIA veteran, pleaded guilty last Thursday to fraud charges, after he was caught using CIA credit cards to pay for over $75,000 in personal expenses, which included pricey hotel stays and a $700 Raymond Weil watch. Levan was a high-paid CIA case agent residing in Virginia, and participated in several overseas CIA tours in the 1980s and 1990s. Recently, however, he was arrested and terminated from the Agency on January 12, after he was caught using credit card accounts customarily used by the CIA for undercover purposes, to fund unauthorized expenses. Interestingly, Levan has been refused bail since his arrest, to prevent him from “peddling national security secrets to foreign powers to raise more money”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, corruption, Kyle “Dysty” Foggo, News, Steven J. Levan

Panetta uses Senate hearing to send message to CIA

February 6, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Leon Panetta

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Reassuring CIA’s rank-and-file that he does not represent a coup d’état from the “left flank” of the Democratic Party appeared to be at the top of Leon Panetta’s agenda in yesterday’s Senate hearing. Barack Obama’s nominee for the post of CIA Director emphasized that he does not intend to replace officials currently at senior positions in the Agency, including Deputy Director Stephen Kappes, who was favored by CIA hawks to lead the Agency. He also confirmed earlier rumors, reported by intelNews on January 15, that the Obama Administration has no intention to punish CIA officers involved in torturing terrorism detainees. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bill Clinton, CIA, extraordinary rendition, intelligence oversight, Leon Panetta, torture, United States, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Former CIA Director stripped of security clearance asked to join panel

February 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

John Deutch

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
John M. Deutch was Director of Central Intelligence (CIA) from 1995 to 1996, under US President Bill Clinton. In 1997, the CIA initiated an internal security investigation over Deutch’s handling of classified material and discovered that he routinely stored and worked on hundreds of CIA top-secret files on his unprotected home laptop computer. This was allegedly the same computer that Deutch’s wife and children used to view their email and browse the Internet. Following the results of the CIA investigation, Deutch was stripped of his top-secret security clearances by George Tenet, who in 1996 had succeeded him as DCI. In January 2001, shortly before leaving office, President Clinton pardoned Deutch, sparing him from prosecution by the Justice Department. It has now emerged, however, that the Obama Administration’s new National Intelligence Director, Admiral Dennis Blair, has asked the former DCI to join a National Reconnaissance Office advisory panel on surveillance satellites. President Barack Obama’s CIA Director nominee, Leon Panetta, was asked about this during his Congressional hearing earlier today, but refused to comment before having an opportunity to “sit down and talk with Admiral Blair about just exactly what he had in mind” when he asked Deutch to join the panel.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bill Clinton, CIA, DCI, Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, George Tenet, John Deutch, Leon Panetta, NRO, security clearance, United States

Analysis: Rare film on National Security Agency aired

February 5, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The Nova documentary series on PBS has aired a rare look at the National Security Agency (NSA), America’s signals intelligence and cryptological organization that rarely releases information to outsiders. The ultra-secret Agency is said to be the world’s largest intelligence institution, employing tens of thousands of technicians, analysts and mathematicians. The PBS film, titled The Spy Factory, features veteran author James Bamford, who has authored books on NSA for nearly 30 years. The primary focus of the documentary is on NSA’s share of the intelligence failure in detecting and preventing the 9/11 attacks. The film also examines NSA’s STELLAR WIND program, a warrantless eavesdropping scheme targeting communications of American citizens, which the Bush Administration authorized shortly after 9/11. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 9/11, al-Qaeda, Analysis, CIA, CIA Counterterrorism Center, communications interception, FBI, James Bamford, Mark Rossini, NSA, operation STELLAR WIND, Osama bin Laden, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), warrantless communications interception

Analysis: Are CIA Agents out of Control (Again)?

February 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
What’s going on at the CIA? As the corruption trial of Kyle “Dysty” Foggo, the Agency’s no. 3 under former CIA Director Porter Goss, continues this week, news has emerged that the Agency’s station chief in Algeria has been unceremoniously recalled back to Washington after being accused of drugging and raping two Algerian women at his residence. Meanwhile, an unidentified “former CIA station chief in Baghdad, allegedly ‘notorious’ for womanizing and the licentious behavior of his aides, is in line to become chief of the spy agency’s powerful Counterterrorism Center”. One might be excused for wondering what’s next for the troubled agency. Read article→

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Algeria, Algiers, Art Brown, Baghdad (Iraq), Brent Wilkes, CIA, CIA Algiers station, CIA Counterterrorism Center, corruption, Ian Allen, Iraq, Kyle “Dysty” Foggo, Mark Zaid, Porter Goss, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Robert Baer

Confirmed: CIA extraordinary renditions to continue under Panetta

February 2, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Leon Panetta

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On January 22, I examined the possibility that Leon Panetta, Barack Obama’s nominee for CIA Director, may favor the controversial practice of extraordinary rendition. The Los Angeles Times has now confirmed that the new US President has authorized the CIA to continue its policy on renditions under Mr. Panetta –a Clinton-era administrator who has publicly come out against the use of torture in interrogations. Extraordinary rendition involves extrajudicial kidnappings of wanted terrorism suspects by CIA or FBI paramilitaries, often abroad, followed by extrajudicial transfers of same suspects to third countries, such as Egypt or Syria, where they are usually tortured. The extracted information is then utilized by US law enforcement and intelligence agencies in their pursuit of the “war on terrorism”. This notorious practice became widespread under the first George W. Bush Administration, but it was first implemented under former US President Bill Clinton. As White House aide to Mr. Clinton at the time, Leon Panetta was reportedly “a consumer of intelligence at the highest level”. It follows that he must have known about the practice, though he apparently failed to speak out against it. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, CIA, extraordinary rendition, Leon Panetta, News, torture, United States, War on Terrorism

Analysis: Behind the Recent CIA Espionage Indictments

January 31, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

H.J. Nicholson

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
In 1997, when Harold James Nicholson was convicted for working for Russian intelligence, he became the highest-ranking CIA officer to be convicted of spying on behalf of a foreign agency. Last Thursday, it emerged that 24-year-old Nathaniel James Nicholson, Harold Nicholson’s youngest son, was arrested by FBI counterintelligence officers and charged with repeatedly contacting Russian officials on behalf of his imprisoned father. According to the court documents (.pdf) released Thursday, the purpose of Nathaniel Nicholson’s contact with the Russians was “to collect moneys from the Russian Federation for his [father’s] past espionage activities”. In reporting on the Nicholsons’ case, The New York Times quoted an anonymous “intelligence official” who played down Harold Nicholson’s importance for the Russians and suggested that “[t]his just shows that the Russians are either sentimental or stupid”. In fact, the Russians are neither, and The New York Times‘ sources should know better than to downplay Nicholson’s continued contact with his Russian handlers. Read article→

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Camp Peary, CIA, counterintelligence, Cyprus, double agents, espionage, FBI, Harold James Nicholson, Joseph Fitsanakis, Mexico, Nathaniel James Nicholson, Peru, SVR (Russia), United States

Analysis: Iranian Terrorist Group Enjoys US, EU Protection

January 29, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), also known as the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, is one of several armed groups deemed terrorist by Washington and the European Union (EU). On January 26, however, the EU decided to remove MEK from its official list of terrorist organizations, a move that some observers believe was secretly supported by the US. This is because, despite MEK’s terrorist designation, Washington has routinely collaborated with it since 2003, prompted by the group’s fierce opposition to the regime in Tehran. In 2003, when the US invaded Iraq, American forces entered Camp Ashraf, MEK’s main military base in Iraq, to find “armored personnel carriers, artillery, anti-aircraft guns and vehicles […] along with more than 2,000 well-maintained tanks”. However, even though the group if officially classified by the US as terrorist, US troops were ordered by the Pentagon to give military protection to MEK armed groups in Iraq. Since then, Western correspondents in Iraq have frequently reported that US military personnel “regularly escort MEK supply runs between Baghdad and […] Camp Ashraf”. Read article →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 1979 Iranian Revolution, Camp Ashraf, CIA, covert operations, EU, Iran, Iraq, Joseph Fitsanakis, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Mujahedeen-e Khalq, People's Mujahedeen Organization, terrorism, United States, Zahedan

Gates confirms CIA deal with Pakistan on missile strikes

January 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
On November 16, 2008, intelNews cited a report in The Washington Post, which revealed that the CIA unmanned drone airstrikes and military incursions in Pakistan are part of a secret US-Pakistani high-level deal. According to the agreement, “the US government refuses to publicly acknowledge the attacks while Pakistan’s government continues to complain noisily about the politically sensitive strikes”. Last Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates appeared to break Washington’s part of the deal, by publicly admitting that Islamabad was indeed aware of the missile strikes. Mr. Gates was asked by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) during an open-door hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, whether the CIA decisions to fire missile missiles on Pakistani territory were “conveyed to the Pakistani government”. The Defense Secretary replied “[y]es, sir”. It is unclear whether he intended to acknowledge Islamabad’s cooperation. The Pakistani government responded on Wednesday through Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq, who denied the existence of a deal on the CIA missile strikes. The US Pentagon has so far refused to comment on Secretary Gates’ admission.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Carl Levin, CIA, Mohammad Sadiq, News, Pakistan, Robert Gates, United States, US Senate Armed Services Committee, War on Terrorism

Analysis: Why Did Bush Not Pardon Israeli Spy?

January 26, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
In his latest article for The Santa Barbara News Press, Robert Eringer, the former FBI counterintelligence agent who now works for Prince Albert II of Monaco, reminds intelligence observers of the case of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Jay Pollard. Pollard, who has so far served 24 years of a life sentence, was found guilty in 1987 of spying on the US on behalf of Israel, while working as a US Navy intelligence analyst. Since his arrest and conviction, Pollard has been considered something of a national hero in Israel, and an enormous effort has been launched to secure his release. Israeli newspapers, whose articles routinely liken Pollard to Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, who was captured by Hamas in 2006, disclosed earlier this month that a “massive campaign was conducted behind the scenes in Washington to persuade US president George W. Bush to commute Pollard’s sentence”. The effort, which included “tens of thousands of phone calls” that “flooded the White House”, was so enormous that several Israeli insiders considered Pollard’s release almost certain. Pollard remained imprisoned after all, and the question is, why did George W. Bush not succumb to these lobbying pressures? Read article →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bill Clinton, CIA, espionage, George Tenet, George W. Bush, Israel, Jonathan Jay Pollard, Joseph Fitsanakis, Robert Eringer, Ronald Olive, United States, US Naval Criminal Investigative Service, US Navy

Former UN prosecutor says CIA prevented Serb war criminals’ arrest

January 25, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Carla Del Ponte

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Observers of the most recent Balkan Wars in the former Yugoslavia will remember Carla Del Ponte, who was the United Nations’ Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Ms. Del Ponte, who is now Switzerland’s Ambassador to Argentina, has always regretted the UN’s failure to arrest during her ICTY tenure wanted Serb war criminals Radovan Karadzic (who was eventually captured in 2008 ) and General Ratko Mladic. She relays these regrets in her new book, Madame Prosecutor, which was published on January 20 by Other Press. Interestingly, the book has been essentially ignored by the mainstream Western media. A single review was published on January 22 in The Economist. Amazingly, the British journal, which is known for its attention to detail, omitted one stunning revelation in Ms. Del Ponte’s book. Namely that, during her ICTY tenure, the UN’s hunt for Karadzic and Mladic was actually obstructed by the CIA and by its then Director George Tenet. Read more of this post