Kerry Gerdes | intelNews.org

News you may have missed #329

Iran insists US hikers had intelligence links. Iran’s intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, has said that Americans Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal and Sarah Shourd, who were arrested on Iranian soil last July, “were in contact with intelligence services”. The evidence would “soon be made public”, he said.
Gerdes case shows difficulty of CIA jobs. The case of CIA employee Kerry Gerdes, who was recently convicted for falsifying interview reports while performing background checks on CIA employees and potential employees, reveals how difficult the job is for young CIA recruits, who expect it to be exciting or glamorous, according to seasoned investigators.
US still denying India access to Headley. There has been intense speculation in India and Pakistan that David Coleman Headley, a former US Drug Enforcement Administration informant, who was arrested by the FBI in October for plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper, is in fact a renegade CIA agent. Could this be why the US is denying India access to Headley?

CIA investigator sentenced. CIA employee Kerry Gerdes, who falsified interview reports while performing background checks on CIA employees and potential employees, has been sentenced to two months in prison and six months of home confinement.
President Ford authorized warrantless wiretaps, memo shows. Even though he replaced Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign the US Presidency over intelligence abuses, Gerald Ford secretly authorized the use of warrantless domestic wiretaps soon after coming into office, according to a declassified document.
Yemeni court upholds alleged spies’ sentences. Three Yemenis, who were accused last year by the government of having “links to Israeli intelligence”, have had their sentences upheld by an appeal court.

CIA investigator admits to fabricating reports. CIA employee Kerry Gerdes has pleaded guilty to falsifying interview reports while performing background checks on Agency employees and potential employees.
Mehsud killed while getting leg massage, say US sources. American officials have dismissed rumors that Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban chief, is alive, and say he was killed while on the roof of his father-in-law’s home in South Waziristan.
Paris furious at French woman’s espionage confession on Iranian TV. Iranian state television has aired footage of Clotilde Reiss, a French student who was arrested in Iran last July, confessing to spying for France. Soon afterward, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced he would take time off from his holiday to make her release his priority.