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News you may have missed #0265

January 23, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Plans for motion picture on life of famous Israeli spy. A US production company plans to make a feature motion picture about the life of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who operated in Damascus in the 1960s until he was executed in 1965. Cohen is known as the greatest Israeli spy of all time. He penetrated Syria’s power hubs and rose through the ranks to become part of the country’s ruling establishment.
CIA report ‘a declaration of war’, says Venezuela. President Hugo Chávez said on Wednesday that the latest entry for Venezuela in the CIA World Factbook represents a declaration of war on his country. The CIA publication describes Chávez’s government as an administration that “purports to alleviate social ills while at the same time attacking globalization and undermining regional stability”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, CIA World Factbook, Eli Cohen, espionage, Hugo Chávez, Israel, motion pictures, News, news you may have missed, Syria, United States, Venezuela

Venezuela silent as Colombia expels two alleged spies

January 23, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Valledupar

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
On Tuesday, the Colombian government announced the expulsion of two alleged Venezuelan intelligence agents, reportedly for conducting espionage operations on Colombian soil. The two, Jose Vicente Marquez and Diego Jose Palomino, were nabbed by counterintelligence agents of Colombia’s Administrative Department of Security (DAS) in the northwest city of Valledupar, just a few miles from the Colombian-Venezuelan border. The two were reportedly found in possession of video footage of homes and vehicles, as well as “other types of material”, which so far remains unspecified. DAS director, Felipe Muñoz, said the two alleged agents appeared to be illegals –i.e. not affiliated with the Venezuelan embassy in Bogotá– having entered the country clandestinely on January 12, via Paraguachon, on the northernmost tip of the Colombian-Venezuelan border. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Colombia, DAS (Colombia), Diego Jose Palomino, espionage, Felipe Muñoz, illegal residents, Jose Vicente Marquez, Latin America, News, Paraguachon (Colombia), Valledupar (Colombia), Venezuela, Venezuelan embassy in Colombia, Venezuelan Ministry of External Relations

News you may have missed #0264

January 22, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

India jails two Pakistanis on spying charges. India has jailed Adil Anjum Nazir Ahmed and Abdul Shakur Hafiz, claiming they spied on behalf of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. The two were arrested in Lucknow in 2006.
US Pentagon re-examines PsyOp doctrine. The field of Psychological Operations (PsyOps) is among the oldest of military disciplines, but a new US Department of Defense report on the subject shows that the DoD continues to wrestle with basic definitional issues.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdul Shakur Hafiz, Adil Anjum Nazir Ahmed, espionage, India, ISI, Lucknow (India), News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, psyops, United States, US DoD

News you may have missed #0263

January 22, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Up to 30,000 Chinese spies in Germany, say newspapers. According to German media, Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution says that up to “thirty thousand Chinese residents residing in Germany are spies”, and that “60 percent of industrial spies residing in Germany are Chinese”.
Israeli agencies see Turkey moving toward radicalization. Israel’s chief intelligence official, General Amos Yadlin, has told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Turkey’s recent diplomatic moves are indicative of its shift toward radical Islam.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with China, diplomacy, espionage, Germany, industrial espionage, informants, Israel, News, news you may have missed, Turkey

News you may have missed #0260

January 20, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Senior Iran military official says foreign correspondents “clearly spying”. Speaking at a gathering of Iranian armed forces personnel, Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said individuals who have links with some foreign radio and television networks are “clearly spying on Iran in a modern way”. This comment comes after last year’s arrest in Iran of Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari, who was accused by Tehran of being a “media spy”.
Protest organized near CIA headquarters. Activists led by antiwar campaigner Cindy Sheehan have staged a rally near the CIA’s headquarters and former Vice President Dick Cheney’s home in northern Virginia, protesting the use of unmanned drone aircraft to assassinate al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, assassinations, CIA, Cindy Sheehan, Dick Cheney, espionage, Iran, Iranian armed forces, journalism, Massoud Jazayeri, Maziar Bahari, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, political activism, Predator drones, United States

News you may have missed #0258

January 18, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Cambridge University exhibition documents famous spy ring. Called Under Covers: Documenting Spies, the exhibition features previously unseen student records of the Cambridge Five Soviet spy ring (Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, and John Cairncross).
CIA Abdulmutallab report not distributed, awaiting photo. On Christmas Day, 2009, as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was preparing to bomb an inbound flight to Detroit, a draft CIA memorandum on him was “still sitting in the computer of a junior CIA analyst, waiting until a photo of the young Nigerian was located. Unbeknownst to the analyst”, however, a photo of Abdulmutallab “had already been delivered to other counterterrorism agencies”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Anthony Blunt, Cambridge Five, CIA, Cold War, Donald Maclean, espionage, exhibitions, Guy Burgess, H.A.R. "Kim" Philby, history, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing, John Cairncross, News, news you may have missed, UK, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, United States, University of Cambridge, USSR

News you may have missed #0256

January 17, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Descendant of Richard Sorge’s accomplice receives Soviet-era award. The 81-year-old niece of Yotoku Miyagi, a Japanese accomplice of famous German-born Comintern spy Richard Sorge, has been awarded the Soviet Order of the Patriotic War medal in a ceremony at the Russian embassy in Tokyo, Japan. The medal was originally granted in 1965, but Miyagi was unable to collect it, as he had been executed, along with Sorge, by the Japanese in 1944.
Analysis: Alleged US spy’s arrest in Cuba affects bilateral relations. Cuban officials say that a US citizen working for Maryland-based aid group Development Alternatives Inc., who was arrested in Havana last month, was actually recruiting local Cubans to spy on the government. This development means that initial hopes for better US-Cuban relations after Barack Obama’s election success may be fading.
CIA, DoD drone attacks in Afghanistan intensify under McChrystal. Under the command of US and NATO forces by US Army general Stanley McChrystal, unmanned drone strikes in Afghanistan have been steadily increasing. A good question to ask is who is in charge of similar strikes in Pakistan, which are also on the increase.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CIA, Comintern, Cuba, Development Alternatives Inc., diplomacy, espionage, history, Japan, NATO, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, Predator drones, Richard Sorge, Russian embassy in Japan, Sorge spy ring, Stanley McChrystal, Tokyo, United States, US DoD, USSR, World War II, Yotoku Miyagi

News you may have missed #0255 (espionage edition)

January 15, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

South Korea jails alleged spy for 10 years. A 37-year-old college professor, identified only as Lee, has been handed a 10-year prison sentence for allegedly spying undercover on behalf of North Korea for 17 years. South Korean authorities said Lee, who was charged in November, was recruited by the North in 1992, while studying in New Delhi, India.
New details in Nozette spy case. Maryland scientist Stewart Nozette, who is accused of giving classified defense information to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer, may have impersonated a naval research official in order to acquire classified information, according to new court documents.
“I didn’t kill Islamic Jihad members because I was busy spying for Israel“. Mahmoud Qassem Rafeh, a retired Lebanese Internal Security Forces official, has already confessed to having “collaborated with Israeli intelligence agents” between 1993 and 2006. But he denies having participated in the 2006 assassinations of two Islamic Jihad leaders in Lebanon, because on the night of the assassinations he was conducting a reconnaissance mission in Lebanon on behalf of Israeli spy agency Mossad.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, counterintelligence, espionage, FBI, India, informants, Islamic Jihad of Lebanon, Israel, Lebanese Internal Security Forces, Lebanon, Lee, Mahmoud Qassem Rafeh, Mossad, New Delhi, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, South Korea, Stewart David Nozette

News you may have missed #0250

January 12, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Pakistanis ask US to quit drone strikes. A Pakistani intelligence official has told the Associated Press that the response to the December 30 suicide bombing that killed seven CIA agents should not include intensifying unmanned drone strikes inside Pakistan. However, the CIA has reportedly “stepped up drone strikes” since the bombing.
Bush, Obama administrations guilty for neglecting info sharing. Thomas E. McNamara, former head of the US federal Information Sharing Environment, says the Bush and Obama administrations are both guilty of either losing interest or not focusing at all on promoting information sharing among often-secluded US government agencies.
China ends probe into Rio Tinto espionage case. Chinese prosecutors have now taken over the case of Stern Hu, the jailed boss of Anglo-Australian mining corporation Rio Tinto, after officials ended their investigation. Hu was arrested last July on espionage charges.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, Australia, Bush Administration, China, CIA, energy resources, espionage, intelligence sharing, News, news you may have missed, Obama Administration, Pakistan, Predator drones, Rio Tinto, Stern Hu, Thomas E. McNamara, UK, United States, US Information Sharing Environment

News you may have missed #0248

January 10, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Cuba insists jailed US contractor is secret service agent. Cuban officials say that a US citizen working for Maryland-based international aid group Development Alternatives Inc., who was arrested in Havana last month, was actually recruiting local Cubans to spy on the government.
Analysis: Spying in Eastern Europe heats up again. The Cold War may be 20 years dead and buried, but it seems that the old East-West spying game is not only alive and kicking, but gaining vigor in places like Warsaw, Prague and Tallinn.
Obama designates new list of secrecy gatekeepers. The US president has designated over two dozen officials as “original classification authorities” (OCAs), who have the power to classify government information as Top Secret or Secret, and (in most cases) to delegate such authority to their subordinates. Importantly, the directive says that OCAs will lose their job if they fail to “receive training in proper classification […] at least once a calendar year”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Analysis, Barack Obama, classified Secret, classified Top Secret, Cuba, Czech Republic, Development Alternatives Inc., Eastern Europe, espionage, Estonia, government secrecy, Havana (Cuba), News, news you may have missed, Original Classification Authorities, Poland

News you may have missed #0246

January 8, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

No immediate firings expected over US intel failures. Should some US intelligence officials lose their jobs over the three recent security failures, i.e. the Ford Hood shooting, the Christmas Day bomber, and the Forward Operating Base Chapman suicide bombing? It doesn’t look like it.
Tajikistan sentences alleged Uzbek spy. The Tajik government has sentenced Tajik citizen Boymurod Anarov to 20 years behind bars for gathering “information about energy projects in Tajikistan” on behalf of Uzbek intelligence. Last July, the government leveled similar charges against the director of the country’s Vostokredmet uranium-reprocessing plant.
Nozette first came to FBI attention in 2002. Maryland scientist Stewart Nozette, who is accused of giving classified defense information to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer, was under suspicion of breaching top-secret protocols as early as 2002, according to court documents.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, Boymurod Anarov, Central Asia, CIA, espionage, FBI, Fort Hood, Forward Operating Base Chapman, Israel, Killeen (Texas), scientific intelligence, Stewart David Nozette, suicide bombings, Tajikistan, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, Uzbekistan, Vostokredmet uranium-reprocessing plant (Tajikistan)

Polish officials reveal arrest of alleged Russian spy

January 7, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

V. Korabelnikov

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Polish government has announced the arrest of a Russian resident of Warsaw, on charges of spying for Russia. The man, whose identity has not been released, was apparently arrested last February or March, after a six-month surveillance operation by Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW). Polish officials did not say why the arrest was kept secret for so long, but revealed that the alleged spy’s capture was known only to Poland’s president, the prime minister and the office of the prosecutor. The alleged spy is said to be a Russian citizen and a fluent Polish speaker, who has lived in Poland under permanent residency status for at least decade. His legal income appears to have come from his ownership of a hunting-rifle accessories store. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ABW (Poland), counterintelligence, Eastern Europe, espionage, GRU, News, Poland, Russia, Russian embassy in Poland, Russian Ministry of Defense, Valentin Korabelnikov, Warsaw (Poland)

Files reveal previously unknown UK-Soviet diplomatic scuffle

January 5, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Aubone Pyke

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A previously unknown fracas between two British diplomatic officials, their wives, and a team of Soviet intelligence agents, has been revealed in declassified British government reports. The documents, which were released last weekend, show that two employees of the British embassy in Moscow were detained, along with their wives, allegedly for photographing a Soviet military installation. The British diplomats were Lieutenant-Commanders Ian Clapham and Aubone Pyke, who was the embassy’s assistant military attaché. Escorted by their wives, the two officials were allegedly taking a tour of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), in February of 1979, when a group of “about 25” Soviet intelligence agents rapidly approached them. The agents proceeded to confiscate a cameral belonging to Pyke, after rapidly pulling down his trousers, an old trick aimed to prevent a suspect from running away. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Aubone Pyke, British embassy in the USSR, Cold War, counterintelligence, diplomacy, espionage, Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service (UK), history, Ian Clapham, James Callaghan, KGB, Leningrad (USSR), News, photographic intelligence, Saint Petersburg (Russia), UK, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, USSR

News you may have missed #0240

January 3, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Major purge in Gambian security services continues. Ngorr Secka, the former deputy director general of Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency, has reportedly been arrested. The arrest marks the latest development in a major purge that began last July, after the chief of the country’s armed forces, Lt. Colonel Sainey Bayo, fled to the United States reportedly while being “investigated for supplying sensitive state secrets to an unnamed Western country”.
Jerusalem memorial may honor British Auschwitz spy. The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem may honor Denis Avey, 91, who as a British prisoner of war in Monowitz (a.k.a. Monowice or Auschwitz III) prisoner camp, convinced Ernst Lobethall, a Jew held at nearby Auschwitz concentration camp, to give him his ID badge and concentration camp uniform. He then walked back to Auschwitz on two occasions, gathering valuable evidence about the Nazis’ Final Solution.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Africa, Analysis, Auschwitz concentration camp, Denis Avey, espionage, Final Solution, Gambia, Gambian armed forces, Germany, history, Jerusalem, Monowitz concentration camp, National Intelligence Agency (Gambia), News, news you may have missed, Ngorr Secka, Poland, prisoners of war, Sainey Bayo, World War II, Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial

News you may have missed #0237

December 31, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

Christmas Day bomb plot exposes fissures in US spy community. As intelNews regulars know, turf wars between US intelligence agencies are nothing new. But lapses that allowed Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab to board a Detroit-bound plane with a bomb on Christmas Day, and the finger-pointing that followed, have raised questions about supposedly sweeping changes made to improve intelligence-sharing after the 9/11.
Mysterious life of Soviet spy couple unveiled. Soviet agents Mikhail and Yelizaveta Mukasey were legends among illegals –i.e. international spies operating without diplomatic credentials. Now the Russian government is carefully releasing information on their activities and missions, which ranged from the US to Israel, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere.