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News you may have missed #358

May 25, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ex-CIA analyst to lead US declassification center. Sheryl Jasielum Shenberger, who currently serves as a Branch Chief at the CIA Declassification Center, has been named as the first director of the recently established US National Declassification Center. The Center’s aim is to eliminate the backlog of over 400 million pages of classified records by the end of 2013.
Hamas expels Egyptian spy from Gaza. A senior Egyptian intelligence officer, who had allegedly “infiltrated the region to collect information on residents and the Hamas government” was arrested and expelled from Gaza on Monday.
Israeli nuclear whistleblower back in prison. More than six years after his release from 18 years in solitary confinement, Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has been sentenced to another three months in prison for allegedly “contacting foreign agents”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 0 Ex-CIA analyst to lead US declassification center, 0 Hamas expels Egyptian spy from Gaza, 0 Israeli nuclear whistleblower back in prison, CIA, CIA Declassification Center, declassification, diplomatic expulsions, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Israel, Israel's nuclear arsenal, lawsuits, Mordechai Vanunu, News, news you may have missed, nuclear proliferation, Palestine, Sheryl Jasielum Shenberger, US National Declassification Center, whistleblowing

UK barring replacement of London’s Mossad resident

May 5, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

Mossad seal

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The British government is officially preventing the replacement of Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s London representative, after it expelled his predecessor six weeks ago. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced the expulsion in March, in response to the use of at least 12 forged British passports by a Mossad hit squad, whose members traveled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, last January, to assassinate Hamas weapons procurer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. According to Israeli media, the British Foreignand Commonwealth Office has requested written assurances from Israel that it will refrain from using British travel documents in future intelligence operations. But the Israeli government is so far refusing to comply with Britain’s request, claiming that doing so would amount to “an admission of culpability” in the assassination of al-Mabhouh. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, diplomatic expulsions, Dubai, forgery, Hamas, Israel, Israeli embassy in the UK, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, MI6, Mossad, News, travel documentation, UK, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, United Arab Emirates

News you may have missed #342

May 4, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Kuwaitis want Iranian envoy expelled over spy ring. Several Kuwaiti parliamentarians have called on the government to expel the Iranian ambassador over an alleged Iranian spy ring that was busted in Kuwait last week.
Mystery behind ex-ISI officer’s killing in Pakistan. Former Inter-Services Intelligence directorate officer Khalid Khawaja was known as a fervent supporter of the Taliban. So why did the Asian Tigers, a Taliban sect kidnap him and kill him? Some say the killing was actually India’s work.
Honey trap caused Indian diplomat to spy for Pakistan. It seems that Madhuri Gupta, a second secretary at the Indian high commission in Islamabad, Pakistan, who was arrested for working for Pakistan’s ISI spy agency, had a “relationship of personal affection” with an aide of her Pakistani handler.

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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 #316

March 28, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

News videos on UK expulsion of Israeli ‘diplomat’. Commendable video-based amalgamation by Newsy.com of worldwide media comments on the recent expulsion of an Israeli intelligence officer by the British government. The expulsion was in response to the forging of British passports, employed by the Mossad in the killing of Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last January.
How Khost suicide bomber lured CIA agents to their deaths. According to the CIA’s internal investigation of the killing of seven CIA officers by Humam al-Balawi, in Khost, Afghanistan, last December, the fatal explosion happened as the CIA officers had gathered around Balawi to present him with a cake as a present for his birthday.

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Breaking news: UK expels Israeli diplomat over Dubai assassination

March 23, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Al-Mabhouh

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS| intelNews.org |
While Israel continues to insist that “there is no proof” of its involvement in January’s assassination of a top Hamas military official, Britain has announced the pending expulsion of an Israeli diplomat over the killing. At least 12 forged British passports were used by a Mossad hit squad, whose members traveled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to assassinate Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, on January 19. Announcing the decision, British foreign secretary David Miliband said that the high quality of the forged passports made it almost certain that “a state intelligence service” was behind the operation, and that London had “compelling reasons” to suspect Israel. He told the British Parliament that “such misuse of British passports is intolerable” and that the fact that it was perpetrated by an ally of the UK added “insult to injury”. Read more of this post

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EU foreign minister’s husband shunned KGB approaches in 1980s

December 8, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Peter Kellner

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The husband of the recently appointed European Union minister for foreign affairs has acknowledged that the KGB tried to cultivate a relationship with him in the 1980s. Peter Kellner, who now presides over influential British polling company YouGov, is married to Baroness Ashton of Upholland (born Catherine Margaret Ashton), who assumed the prominent EU post on November 19. Intelligence documents show that British domestic intelligence agency MI5 had tagged Kellner and his wife as “communist sympathizers”, because of their anti-apartheid activism and long-term involvement with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, considered a “subversive” movement within the intelligence services. Read more of this post

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Iraqi agents planned to bomb US radio station, claim Czech spies

December 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

RFE old Prague HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Czech counterintelligence officials have alleged that Iraqi agents planned in 2000 to attack the Prague headquarters of US government-funded radio station broadcasting to Iraq, among other countries. Intelligence observers may remember that, in April of 2001, the Czech government expelled Iraqi diplomat Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani Ibrahi, who was caught photographing the headquarters of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). RFE/RL is a radio station established by the US government during the Cold War, to broadcast anti-communist messages to Eastern Europe. It began broadcasting to Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries in 1998. Now Jan Subert, a representative of the Czech Security Information Service (BIS), has alleged that Ibrahi’s expulsion was connected to a secret plan by Iraqi agents to silence RFE/RL’s Iraqi program by attacking the station with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and machine guns, from an apartment building across the street from RFE/RL’s downtown Prague headquarters. Read more of this post

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News you may have missed #0202

December 2, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Russia claims intel agents have left Crimea base. Alleged move follows last June’s expulsion by the Ukrainian government of several Russian FSB operatives stationed in the Russian naval base in Sevastopol.
Here’s how US communications providers make money by spying on users. One provider, Cox Communications charges the US government $2,500 to fulfill a pen register/trap-and-trace order for 60 days, and $2,000 for each additional 60-day-interval. It also charges $3,500 for the first 30 days of a wiretap, and $2,500 for each additional 30 days.

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South Africa busts Shin Bet operation, expels Israeli agent

November 24, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

El Al logo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The South African government has expelled an Israeli intelligence agent posing as an airline worker, after the discovery of a major Israeli undercover operation at the Oliver R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. The operation was uncovered by Carte Blanche, South African television’s most respected investigative news program, based on testimony by Jonathan Garb, a former guard at El Al, Israel’s national airline, who became a whistleblower after being fired from his job. Garb told Carte Blanche that El Al offices in South Africa and around the world have acted as fronts for Shin Bet, Israel’s General Security Service, for a long time. He also told the program that Shin Bet officers in Johannesburg used their El Al employee cover status to infiltrate the airport and gather information on black and Muslim South African travelers to Israel. Read more of this post

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News you may have missed #0167

November 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

DAS official confirms Colombia spying on Ecuador. An official of Colombia’s DAS intelligence service has admitted Colombia “had an informant in the Ecuadorean security forces”. The revelation comes days after Venezuelan officials claimed they had uncovered Operation SALOMON, a joint Colombian-US espionage operation against Ecuador.
Clinton meets Libyan ex-intelligence chief. While attending a regional-development conference in Morocco, US secretary of state Hilary Clinton met briefly with Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa. Kusa, who served as Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi’s intelligence chief during the 1990s, was expelled from Britain in 1980 for his alleged involvement in assassinating a Gaddafi opponent in London. Clinton has a talent for meeting with controversial foreign spies.
Ex-Yugoslav secret agent arrested in Germany. German authorities have arrested a man with Croatian and Swedish citizenships, identified only as “Luka S.”, who allegedly participated in the 1983 murder of Stjepan Durekovic, an exiled Yugoslav dissident living in Germany. Another accomplice in Durekovic’s assassination, identified only as “Kronoslav P.”, was jailed in 2008.

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Conflicting information on expulsion of Israeli diplomat from Russia

October 2, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Nativ logo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
There is conflicting information about the reasons that led to the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat from Russia. The Russian government said on Thursday that Israeli diplomat Shmuel Polishuk was apprehended by Russian security forces and was asked to leave the country on charges of espionage. But Israeli diplomats claim that Polishuk was not expelled due to espionage activities, but because of “personal behavior inappropriate for a diplomat”, which does not relate to his official work. Other sources said that the Russians agreed not to expel Polishuk on espionage charges after Israel threatened “a counter move”. Interestingly, until his expulsion, Polishuk headed Israel’s Nativ delegation in Russia. Read more of this post

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News you may have missed #0079

August 26, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Berlin football club cancels deal over Stasi controversy. FC Union Berlin has dumped its main sponsor, International Sport Promotion, over allegations that its CEO, Juergen Czilinsky, was a member of the Stasi, the East German secret police.
US officials targeted by fake emails. Malicious emails claiming to be from the US Department of Homeland Security, but which actually originate from Latvia and Russia, are being sent to Pentagon and state and local officials in the US. Similar news emerged from Australia last week.
Emirates expel Thai ex-premier. Ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra was expelled by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday, and has gone to Montenegro. Interestingly, Montenegrin authorities have supplied Thaksin with a Montenegrin passport.

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Czechs, Russians expel diplomats in escalating spy row

August 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Russian Foreign Ministry ordered two Czech diplomats out of Russia on Tuesday, one day after the Czech Republic expelled two members of staff of the Russian embassy in Prague. On August 17, Czech websites reported the expulsion of Russia’s deputy military attaché in Prague, and another Russian embassy official, who was told not to return to the Czech Republic from his vacation. The move came after the Czech Military Intelligence Service (VZ) allegedly verified that the two diplomats are paid employees of the Russian secret services. According to one report, VZ was able to establish that the two Russian embassy officials “tried to develop close ties with people from the Czech Defense Ministry and [had] shown a particular interest in the planned construction of a US radar base on Czech soil”, a reference to Washington’s missile defense shield plans for Eastern Europe. Read more of this post

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News you may have missed #0053

August 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

[UNCONFIRMED] Saudi opposition group claims Prince Bandar under house arrest. Saad al-Faqih, head of the Saudi opposition group Islamic Reform Movement, claims that Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the kingdom’s former ambassador to the United States, and a close ally of the Bush family and former CIA leadership, is under house arrest after reportedly trying to “provoke 200 agents working for the Saudi security service to stage a coup against King Abdullah”.
Ukrainian diplomat expelled from Russia named. An Ukrainian source has named one of the two Ukrainian diplomats to be expelled by Russia as part of the tit-for-tat row as Igor Berezkin. The expulsions follow a similar move by Ukrainian authorities who requested that Russia’s consul general in Odessa, Alexander Grachev and a senior counselor at the Russian embassy, Vladimir Lysenko, leave Ukraine over accusations that they had been involved in work in violation of their diplomatic status (i.e. espionage).
Book claims Secret Service took psychic’s advice. Ronald Kessler claims in a new book that the US Secret Service changed a motorcade route for the first President George Bush based on a psychic’s vision that he would be assassinated.