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News you may have missed #0171

November 7, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Court date for US couple accused of spying for Cuba. Walter and Gwendolyn Myers, who were arrested by the FBI last summer on charges of spying for Cuba for over 30 years, have a court appearance scheduled for Thursday. Meanwhile, the judge overseeing their case is trying to decide how to make evidence available for their trial while protect US intelligence sources and methods.
CIA responds to declassification request…20 years later. The CIA has finally released a small number of documents relating to Manucher Ghorbanifar, a shady weapons trader who mediated between Washington and Tehran during the Iran-Contra scandal. The declassification comes two decades after the Agency was asked to release the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Kalmanovic was Shin Bet informant, says Ha’aretz. It is well known that Shabtai von Kalmanovic, who was gunned down in downtown Moscow on Monday, had worked for the Soviet KGB. He confessed as much and was jailed in Israel in the 1980s for spying. But Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported that Kalmanovic was also “a Shin Bet [Israel’s internal security service] informant”. In a new article, the paper says Kalmanovic “was a low-level informer for the Shin Bet” before his arrest for spying for the KGB.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, CIA, Cold War, Cuba, declassification, espionage, FBI, FOIA, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, informants, Iran-Contra Scandal, Israel, KGB, lawsuits, Manucher Ghorbanifar, News, news you may have missed, Russia, Shabtai von Kalmanovic, Shin Bet, United States, USSR, Walter Kendall Myers, weapons smuggling, weapons trade

S. Korea arrests two for spying for US defense contractor

November 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

NorthropGrumman

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The government of South Korea announced the arrest on Tuesday of two former South Korean army colonels for allegedly leaking defense secrets to US defense contractor giant Northrop Grumman. South Korean authorities identified the individuals simply as “Hwang” and “Ryu”, and said they both worked for the Security Management Institute, a Seoul-based intelligence think-tank with strong connections to South Korea’s armed forces. Details are still sketchy, but it appears the two former army colonels used their military contacts to gain access to classified information on hardware purchase plans and operations of South Korea’s navy and coast guard. They then allegedly passed on this information to employees of Northrop Grumman, the world’s largest builder of military vessels and fourth largest defense contractor in 2008. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with espionage, Hwang, Kim, military intelligence, News, Northrop Grumman, Ryu, Saab, Security Management Institute (South Korea), South Korea, South Korean Army, South Korean Coast Guard, Sweden, United States

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.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis, assassinations, Cold War, Colombia, Croatia, DAS (Colombia), diplomatic expulsions, Ecuador, espionage, Germany, Hillary Clinton, Kronoslav P., Libya, Luka S., Morocco, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Musa Kusa, News, news you may have missed, Operation SALOMON, Raul Reyes, Stjepan Durekovic, Sweden, Venezuela, Yugoslavia

News you may have missed #0166

November 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

JFK Library releases new evidence on Diem assassination. This is a crucial new piece of the puzzle, for the release includes actual tape recordings of White House meetings, when US President Kennedy considered requests from South Vietnamese generals for US backing of the military coup that eventually ended Saigon leader Ngo Dinh Diem’s rule and life. See here for other recent declassifications on the Vietnam War.
The US intelligence community writes the book on collaboration. More praise for Intellipedia, the US intelligence community’s version of Wikipedia, which has grown markedly since its formal launch in 2006.
Israel admits spying on Lebanon. Israel has openly admitted to collecting intelligence in Lebanon, an uncharacteristically frank admission, which comes after Lebanon busted what has been described as the largest Israeli spy operation in the Arab world.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Al-Alam spy ring, assassinations, coup plots, declassification, espionage, intelligence cooperation, Intellipedia, Israel, John F. Kennedy, Lebanon, News, news you may have missed, Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnam, Vietnam War

Ex-KGB agent shot dead in downtown Moscow

November 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Kalmanovic

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A former KGB agent, who was jailed in Israel in the 1980s for spying for the Soviet Union, was gunned down in downtown Moscow on Monday afternoon. Shabtai von Kalmanovic was shot repeatedly from close range in an apparent contract killing operation, as his chauffeur-driven Mercedes car was stopped at a red light a few blocks away from the Kremlin. Kalmanovic, 62, was a citizen of Lithuania, Russia and Israel. He was born in Soviet Lithuania in 1947, and permitted to emigrate to Israel with his Jewish parents in 1971. In 1987, Israeli authorities arrested Kalmanovic for allegedly giving Israeli military secrets to the KGB. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Cold War, double agents, espionage, informants, Israel, KGB, Lithuania, News, Russia, Shabtai von Kalmanovic, Shin Bet, USSR

News you may have missed #0164

November 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Analysis: Is A.W. Karzai the CIA’s man in Kandahar or a gentle benefactor? Since it was (re-)reported last week that Ahmed Wali Karzai has been receiving payments from the CIA, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s younger brother has turned indignant and says the allegations are part of a smear campaign being waged by political opponents.
Italian court to decide on CIA abduction trial this week. An Italian court is to reach a verdict this week in the landmark trial of 26 US CIA agents involved in the 2003 abduction of a Muslim cleric in Milan.
Iran arrests Azerbaijani laser scientist for ‘spying’. Iranian authorities say the scientist, Rashid Aliyev, who works in Belarus, was involved in international espionage. Iranian media report that “contacts between the security services of Azerbaijan and Israel have been dramatically expanded” in recent years.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Afghanistan, Ahmed Wali Karzai, Azerbaijan, Belarus, CIA, espionage, Hamid Karzai, informants, Iran, Israel, Italy, lawsuits, Milan (Italy), News, news you may have missed, Rashid Aliyev, United States

CIA trickery and deception manual revealed in new book

November 3, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

CIA manual

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A CIA manual of surreptitious behavioral and signaling tricks, which was recently discovered by researchers, has been declassified and published in a new book. In The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception, espionage historian H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace, former director of the CIA’s Office of Technical Services, have reproduced the entire manual, which was supposed to have been destroyed by the Agency. Remarkably, the manual’s main author was John Mulholland, a professional magician and editor for 23 years of The Sphinx, America’s authoritative magazine for magicians. In 1953, Mulholland left the stage and The Sphinx to work full time for the CIA, which he did for several years. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with book news and reviews, CIA, CIA Office of Technical Services, declassification, espionage, H. Keith Melton, John McLaughlin, John Mulholland, manuals, MKULTRA, Robert Wallace, spycraft, The Sphinx, United States

News you may have missed #0162

November 2, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

South Korean 1967 spy case was “trumped up”, report finds. A national truth commission set up by South Korea’s primary intelligence organization, the National Intelligence Service, has concluded that the so-called Tongbaengnim spy ring case was “grossly trumped up”. The case culminated in a public show-trial of 194 South Korean academics, artists and students, accused of spying for North Korea.
CIA torture sparked rift with FBI. The Associated Press is reporting what intelNews readers have known since July 20; namely that the CIA’s use of “harsh interrogation techniques” against captured terror suspects made FBI interrogators wary of the legality of the methods. As a result, FBI agents were barred from the interrogations.
Analysis: Friendship is no bar to espionage. As relations between Taiwan and China improve, would it be reasonable to expect that China will temper espionage activity against Taiwan, and vice-versa?

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Analysis, China, CIA, Cold War, declassification, espionage, FBI, history, lawsuits, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Tongbaengnim spy ring, torture, turf wars, United States

Jailed US scientist actually gave secret information to Israel

November 2, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

S.D. Nozette

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
On October 22, shortly after the arrest of US nuclear scientist Stuart David Nozette by an FBI counterintelligence agent, I speculated that Nozette “was already working for Israeli intelligence” when he was arrested by the FBI. My assumption appears to have been correct. On Thursday, the case prosecutor informed a US district court that Nozette told the undercover FBI agent, who was posing as an Israeli spy, that “he had passed information to Israel in the past”. As I have explained elsewhere, Nozette was employed for ten years as a technical consultant by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), an Israeli government-owned company that some believe is routinely involved in espionage operations on behalf of Israel. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Anthony Asuncion, counterintelligence, espionage, FBI, Israel, Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel Aircraft Industries, lawsuits, Mossad, NASA, News, Stewart David Nozette, United States, US Department of Energy, US DoD, US Navy

News you may have missed #0160

November 1, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

South Korean college teacher charged with spying for North. A 37-year-old South Korean college instructor, identified only as Lee, has been charged with spying for North Korea since 1992.
Analysis: The CIA’s Afghan payroll. The revelation by The New York Times Wednesday that Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, has long been on the payroll of the CIA is only the tip of a much bigger iceberg, says IPS correspondent Gareth Porter.
US spy budget up $2 billion since 2008. US spy agencies spent $49.8 billion in fiscal year 2009, $2 billion more than in 2008 and the second such multibillion-dollar increase in as many years.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, Ahmed Wali Karzai, bribing, CIA, espionage, Gareth Porter, Hamid Karzai, informants, intelligence budget, Lee, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, South Korea, United States

Documents allegedly describe joint US-Colombian spy operations

October 31, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Tarek El Aissami

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A day after announcing the arrest of a number of Colombian intelligence agents on Venezuelan soil, Venezuelan officials presented what they described as “irrefutable evidence” of joint US-Colombian spy operations. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Venezuela’s interior minister Tarek El Aissami, said documents acquired in connection with the capture of the Colombian intelligence agents, show that their actions were part of “an ambitious CIA-funded operation”. Venezuelan security forces detained the two Colombians, Angel Jacinto Guanare and Eduardo Gonzalez Muñoz, along with an alleged Venezuelan accomplice, Melvin Argenis Gutierrez, on October 2, 2009, in the city of Maracay, 50 miles west of Venezuelan capital Caracas. El Aissami suggested that documents relating to the activities of the three men reveal that they were part of Operation FALCON, a joint project by the CIA and Colombian intelligence agency DAS, which aimed “to collect information about the Bolivarian National Armed Forces” and recruit informants from anti-government circles. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Angel Jacinto Guanare, Caracas (Venezuela), CIA, Colombia, Cuba, DAS (Colombia), diplomacy, Ecuador, Eduardo Gonzalez Muñoz, espionage, FARC, intelligence cooperation, Maracay (Venezuela), Melvin Argenis Gutierrez, News, Operation FALCON, Operation PHOENIX, Operation SALOMON, Rafael Correa, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Tarek El Aissami, Venezuela

New research reveals extent of East German spying in Canada

October 30, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

Muller-Enbergs

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Previously unknown aspects of East German intelligence-gathering operations in Canada will be presented this coming Saturday at the annual conference of the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies in Ottawa. The new data was unearthed in Berlin by Helmut Müller-Enbergs, a researcher with Germany’s Office of the Federal Commissioner Preserving the Records of the Ministry for State Security of the German Democratic Republic (BStU). His findings show that the Stasi (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung), the main foreign intelligence department of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was able to gain “deep insights into the domestic and foreign affairs of Canada”. The feat appears impressive when considering that the GDR had no embassy in Canada until 1987. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with BStU, Canada, Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies, Cold War, espionage, German Democratic Republic, Germany, Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung, Helmut Müller-Enbergs, history, illegal residents, News, Ottawa (Canada), Siegfried, Stasi (GDR), United States

News you may have missed #0159

October 29, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US Congress wants to change locks in document safes. Some Congress members have revived “a decade-old debate” on replacing security locks on government safes for storing classified documents with new electromechanical locking mechanisms. According to one independent security consultant, existing mechanical locks in classified document safes “can be penetrated surreptitiously within 20 minutes”, and older barlock containers still in use “can be penetrated within seconds”.
A US spy in wartime Ireland. The interesting story of Major Martin S. Quigley, one of three US spies sent by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, CIA’s forerunner) to Ireland, on a mission to find out whether the country’s government, which was officially neutral in the War, was actually siding with Nazi Germany.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, document storage, espionage, Germany, history, intelligence classification, Ireland, lock picking, Martin S. Quigley, News, news you may have missed, OSS, United States, US Congress, World War II

Venezuela announces arrest of Colombian “spies”

October 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Cardenas

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The government of Venezuela announced yesterday the arrest of an undisclosed number of Colombian intelligence agents, who were allegedly “captured carrying out actions of espionage”. The announcement was made by the Venezuelan deputy foreign minister, Francisco Arias Cardenas, who claimed that the detainees were all members of Colombia’s scandal-prone and soon-to-be-dismantled DAS intelligence agency. Cardenas gave no further details yesterday, but said that the Venezuelan government would “soon produce evidence” to back up its claims. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with bribing, Colombia, coup plots, DAS (Colombia), espionage, Francisco Arias Cardenas, Hugo Chávez, News, Rafael García, Venezuela

Swedish journalist, author, admits KGB ties

October 27, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

Jan Guillou

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
One of Sweden’s most famous journalists has admitted having had ties with the KGB in the 1960s and 1970s. Jan Guillou, a veteran newspaper correspondent known in Sweden for his hugely popular spy novels, admitted meeting with a KGB handler after allegations surfaced in a Swedish newspaper. Stockholm-based daily Expressen said it had in its possession several declassified files belonging to Sweden’s security service (SAPO), which revealed that Guillou was recruited by the KGB in 1967. The files are reportedly based on the testimony of the late Arne Lemberg, Guillou’s friend and fellow-reporter, who told SAPO that Guillou held regular meetings with KGB rezident in Stockholm Yevgeny Ivanovich Gergel. Read more of this post