Joseph Fitsanakis | intelNews.org

Analysis: Strange Case of Philippine Spy in US Gets Stranger

April 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Aquino

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A Philippine former intelligence officer, who was arrested in New York for passing classified US documents to his Philippine contacts, has had his sentence reduced by a US court. Michael Ray Aquino was apprehended in 2005 and charged with collaborating with an FBI intelligence analyst who spied on the US. Aquino’s recent history is complicated. For several years, he worked for the (now defunct) Philippines National Police Intelligence Group (NPIG), where he quickly rose to the post of Deputy Director, under the Presidency of Joseph Estrada. In 2001, however, when Estrada was ousted from the Presidency amidst extensive corruption allegations, Aquino was one of several military and intelligence officials who were removed by the new government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Soon afterwards, Aquino was among several suspects charged with the politically motivated murder of Salvador “Bubby” Dacer, a well-known public relations manager who had helped oust Estrada. The ousted intelligence officer escaped justice by fleeing with his family to the US, in 2001. Read article →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abu Sayyaf Group, Anne Roberts, assassinations, Barack Obama, espionage, FBI, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Joseph Estrada, Joseph Fitsanakis, Judge William Walls, Leandro Aragoncillo, Michael Ray Aquino, Moro ethnic group, NPIG (Philippines), Philippines, RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement, Salvador Dacer, Southeast Asia, United States, US Joint Civil Military Operation Task Force

Analysis: Early Thoughts on Medhat’s Assassination

March 25, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Kamal Medhat

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Kamal Medhat, 58, was a senior Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) official. He was assassinated on March 23 by a roadside bomb that struck a PLO convoy outside the entrance to the Mieh Mieh refugee camp, located near Sidon in southern Lebanon. Since Medhat’s assassination, intelNews has received several emails from readers pointing the finger at Israel’s intelligence services. There is no doubt that Medhat’s assassination is a significant setback for the broader secular Palestinian movement, and especially for Fatah, of which Medhat was a senior member. A former aide to the late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Medhat had previously served as Fatah’s director of intelligence in Lebanon, and was a key supporter of Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. To my knowledge, Medhat was the most senior Palestinian official (of any faction) assassinated in Lebanon in nearly 30 years. Nevertheless, although an Israeli role in his assassination should not be ruled out, it would be premature to conclude at this stage that Israeli intelligence services were behind the operation. Read article →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 1969 Cairo Agreement, Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades, As-Safir (newspaper), assassinations, Fatah, Fatah al-Islam, Imad Mughniyah, Israel, Joseph Fitsanakis, Kamal Medhat, Lebanese Internal Security Forces, Lebanon, Mahmoud Abbas, Mieh Mieh refugee camp, Munir al-Maqdah, Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, Palestinian National Authority, PLO, Sidon, Syria, Tripoli, Yasser Arafat

Analysis: Israel Lobby Ousts US Intelligence Nominee

March 11, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Chas Freeman

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The near-hysterical reaction by Washington’s pro-Israel lobby against Charles “Chas” Freeman’s candidacy for National Intelligence Commission (NIC) Director has paid off. On Monday, Freeman, a State Department official with 44 years’ experience in the US diplomatic service, decided to withdraw his nomination to head the NIC –the government agency that works with the US intelligence community to compile national intelligence estimates. On February 26, Freeman, who was US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the 1990-1991 Gulf War, was nominated for the job by Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair. Blair had said the veteran diplomat would bring with him to the post “a wealth of knowledge and expertise in defense, diplomacy and intelligence”. But Freeman’s nomination was met almost immediately with vehement opposition from pro-Israeli lobby groups in Washington. Republican members of the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as at least ten House Representatives, began a vocal campaign to stop Freeman’s NIC candidacy. Chief among the pro-Israel lawmakers were two Jewish Democrats from New York, Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Steve Israel. Along with another usual suspect, “independent” Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, they described Freeman as a “controversial” diplomat with “strong political opinions”, who “appear[s] inclined to lean against Israel” with “statements against Israel [that] were way over the top”. Read article →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Barack Obama, Charles Freeman, Charles Schumer, Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, Ehud Olmert, Gaza Strip, George Bush Sr., George W. Bush, Ira Forman, Israel, Joseph Fitsanakis, Joseph Lieberman, National Jewish Democratic Council, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Steve Israel, United Nations, US National Intelligence Commission, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Analysis: Real IRA Attacks Part of Broader N. Ireland Military Buildup

March 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

RIRA gunman

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On Saturday, March 7, two unarmed British soldiers were executed and two others seriously injured when three guerillas opened fire on them with semi-automatic weapons outside the British Army’s Massereene Barracks in Northern Ireland. Two nights later, a police officer was shot and killed in Craigavon, County Armagh, as he investigated reports of “suspicious activity” in the area. Northern Irish politics entered a new phase after these strikes, which have so far left three people dead and at least two seriously injured. Yet the attacks, which have been attributed to Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA) paramilitaries, were hardly unexpected; on the contrary, they are part of a broader pattern of intensification of covert military and paramilitary activity in the troubled region. Read article →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Antrim town, Brian Nelson, British Army, County Armagh, Craigavon, Dolores Kelly, Gerry Adams, Gordon Kerr, Joseph Fitsanakis, Massereene Barracks, MI5, Northern Ireland, Police Service of Northern Ireland, RIRA, SDLP, SIGINT, Sinn Féin, Sir Hugh Orde, Special Reconnaissance Regiment (UK), UK

Comment: Former Serb head spy was CIA collaborator

March 2, 2009 by intelNews 5 Comments

Jovica Stanišić

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
From 1990 until 1998, Jovica Stanišić was the Director of Serbia’s State Security Service, a notorious intelligence unit operating within Serbia’s Interior Ministry. As intelligence chief for Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, Stanišić was responsible for thousands of agents, who were seen as forming the core of Milošević’s security state. In 2003, following the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, who had extradited Milošević to The Hague, Stanišić was arrested and delivered to The Hague. He is currently being tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for his role in war crimes during the Yugoslav Wars. Jovica Stanišić has denied any wrongdoing and, remarkably, his defense rests on his claim that he was in fact “the CIA’s man in Belgrade” from 1991 until 1998.

Analysis: Ex-CIA Agent Involved in Arms Scandal

February 23, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Imants Liepiņš

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS| intelNews.org |
Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has heard allegations that a retired agent of the CIA was instrumental in facilitating a vast diamonds-for-arms smuggling operation on behalf of Liberian warlord Charles Taylor. Taylor, who headed the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), became the country’s President in 1997. He is currently held by the United Nations in The Hague, pending trial for crimes against humanity. Roger D’Onofrio Ruggiero, an Italian-American 40-year veteran of the CIA, worked with Charles Taylor and others to channel diamonds into Europe through a number of front-companies. According to the allegations, D’Onofrio helped organize the smuggling operation with Ibrahim Bah, a Senegalese with Libyan connections, who was connected with D’Onofrio in the 1970s, when the former was funded by the CIA to join the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan in the war against the Soviet Red Army. In the early 1990s, Bah, who by then had established al-Qaeda connections, became Charles Taylor’s “Minister for Mineral Resources”, a post that enabled him to handle the majority of NPFL’s diamonds-for-arms deals. Read article →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Africa, al-Qaeda, Australia, Bulgaria, Charles Taylor, CIA, diamonds smuggling, First Liberian Civil War, former Yugoslavia, Ibrahim Bah, Imants Liepiņš, International Business Consultant Ltd, Joseph Fitsanakis, Kintex, Kosovo, Liberia, Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Nicolas Oman, Nill Taylor, NPFL (Liberia), Public Investigation Bureau (Latvia), Roger D’Onofrio Ruggiero, Rudolf Meroni, RUF (Liberia), Slovenia, weapons smuggling

Analysis: US issues financial warfare warnings against China, Russia

February 20, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS| intelNews.org |
It turns out that Admiral Dennis Blair wasn’t kidding when he said last week that “the primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications”. Barack Obama’s Director of National Intelligence warned during his annual threat assessment that “the longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to US strategic interests”. The continuing credit vulnerability of the US economy is central to these fears, and it appears to be forcing the rapid rise of microeconomic concerns to the top of the US intelligence community’s threat list. A major aspect of these concerns centers on the hard-to-ignore fact that China currently holds close to $1 trillion-worth of US monetary debt. Trade experts suggest that, should China suddenly decide to offer these securities for sale, “the US dollar would tank”. The chances of this happening are slim -the Chinese economy would also suffer from such a move- but US intelligence agencies are taking no chances. On February 19, the office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a public warning to the Chinese government that it would consider any attempts to sell US Treasury bonds an act of “financial warfare”. Keep reading →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with China, CIA, CIA Office of Transnational Issues, David Gordon, Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, Eastern Europe, economic espionage, financial warfare, James Rickards, Joseph Fitsanakis, Russia, threat finance, United States

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

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

Comment: Is CIA Director Nominee a Hypocrite?

January 22, 2009 by intelNews 11 Comments

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On January 6, I wrote that the President’s nominee for CIA Director, Leon Panetta, draws many of his intellectual positions from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party –most notably in the case of torture, of which he is a strong opponent. It is for this reason that many in the CIA hesitate to embrace Panetta, who is seen as representing “the left flank of the Democratic Party”. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that what passes as “left” in the eyes of the CIA is not necessarily –and should not be– considered “left” in the real world of politics. Leon Panetta’s stance on the practice of extraordinary rendition might be a case in point. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bill Clinton, CIA, extraordinary rendition, Joseph Fitsanakis, Leon Panetta, torture, United States

Comment: Carter confirms IDF broke June 2008 truce

January 10, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On December 29, I explained the fact –well-known within Israel– that it was the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), not Hamas, which broke the June 2008 truce brokered by Egypt. Specifically, I mentioned the November 4, 2008, illegal incursion into Gaza by a sizeable IDF team, reportedly to take out a “strip tunnel intended for terror attack”, which unilaterally broke the truce. Israel has offered no proof for its justification of the incursion, either domestically or internationally. The Israeli press has long recognized that it was after this unilateral breaking of the ceasefire by the IDF that “[t]he fragile five-month truce began to unravel”. On November 13, Ha’aretz noted that it was in response to this action that Hamas forces resumed their rocket fire against Israeli settlements. It has now come to my attention that a January 8, 2009, article in The Washington Post by former US President Jimmy Carter has also pointed out this fact. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict, AIPAC, Hamas, IDF, Israel, Jimmy Carter, Joseph Fitsanakis, Palestine

Analysis: Why is Yemen Accusing Israel of Ties to Islamist Groups?

January 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

There is admittedly nothing new about the discovery of yet another Islamic militant cell in Yemen. Significant al-Qaeda presence has long been detected in that country. Eyebrows are bound to be raised, however, at news of a recent formal accusation by the Yemeni government that Israel offered to assist Islamist militants who had “prepared […] car bombs to attack governmental buildings and embassies”. Bizarrely, three Islamist militants arrested last week have been accused by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh of working for “a terrorist cell with links to Israeli intelligence, [which] ha[s] been dismantled”. On January 10, a Yemeni court heard that one of the accused militants communicated with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert via email, offering to collaborate with Israeli authorities in 2008. These allegations may seem ludicrous, to say the least. However, if true, they will not signify the first time that Israeli intelligence agencies have actively supported militant Islamist groups in the Middle East. Surprised? Joseph Fitsanakis explains.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Ali al-Mahfal, Anthony H. Cordesman, Avram Dar, Bassam al-Haidari, David Ben-Gurion, Ehud Olmert, Fatah, Hamas, Imad al-Rimi, Iran, Iran-Contra Scandal, Islamic Jihad of Yemen, Israel, Joseph Fitsanakis, Lavon Affair, Marcelle Ninio, Moshe Katzav, Muslim Brotherhood (Egypt), Operation Susannah, Palestine, Pinhas Lavon, PLO, Richard Sale, Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin, War on Terrorism, Yemen

Comment: CIA Insiders Issue Political Threats Against Obama, Panetta

January 8, 2009 by intelNews 14 Comments

Panetta

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On January 6, I explained that US President Elect Barack Obama’s nomination of Leon Panetta to head the CIA will intensify his ongoing quarrel with the troubled agency. I further stated that the CIA, which is not known for welcoming previous Directors it perceives as outsiders, has already “shown signs of refusing to cooperate with the incoming Administration”. This is now becoming clearer, as numerous CIA sources come forward to sharply denounce Panetta’s nomination and, in some cases, even hurtle political threats at the Obama Administration and its nominee. In one such case, a “former intelligence official” speaking to The Washington Post reminded Obama and Panetta that “many of the people Panetta will be expected to lead [at the CIA] would have participated in implementing [torture-based] interrogation polic[ies]”. Another “former senior official” warned Obama and Panetta to “think twice about pledges they make now [about the handling of terrorism detainees] because they may come back to haunt them in the future if some dire circumstances occur”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Barack Obama, Charles "Sam" Faddis, CIA, Joseph Fitsanakis, Leon Panetta, United States

Analysis: Panetta’s CIA Nomination Part of Broader Obama Plan

January 6, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
America’s largest newspapers describe US President Elect Barack Obama’s choice of Leon E. Panetta as CIA’s next Director as “a surpris[ing] and unusual choice” that has “stunned the national intelligence community“. These descriptions are not far from the truth. More importantly, however, the selection of the former Bill Clinton aide to head the nation’s most powerful intelligence agency reveals the continuing rift between the incoming Democratic Administration and many conservative hawks at the CIA. The latter openly warned the President Elect last month that he “may have difficulty finding a candidate who can be embraced by both veteran officials at the agency and the left flank of the Democratic Party”. Keep reading →