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News you may have missed #0274

January 31, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Japanese reporter cleared of 1974 espionage charges. A Japanese newspaper correspondent in South Korea, whose life was ruined in 1974, after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of helping fund North Korean espionage activities, has been acquitted in a retrial.
CIA interrogated al-Qaeda suspect in Poland, claims UN. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, suspected of the 2000 al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole, was interrogated in a secret CIA prison in northern Poland, claims a UN report. Similar allegations have also been leveled against 12 nations, among them EU states such as Romania and Lithuania.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, CIA, Japan, lawsuits, Lithuania, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, Poland, retrials, Romania, secret prisons, South Korea

News you may have missed #0270

January 27, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

S. Korean court orders damages in alleged spy case. Lee Soo-geun was a senior North Korean government apparatchik, who defected to the South and joined its intelligence service in 1967. Later, however, when he attempted to flee to a third country, he was arrested by South Korean counterintelligence agents, charged with working as a double agent, and shot. But now a court in Seoul has concluded that Lee’s confession was extracted by force, and has ordered that damages be paid to Lee’s niece, who was imprisoned for allegedly helping him.
Belarus reshuffles KGB leadership. Last week, Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko carried out a major reshuffle in the country’s State Security Committee (KGB), a surprise move which affected all KGB deputy chairs and regional department heads. Retired KGB lieutenant colonel Valery Kostka explains the reasoning behind the reshuffle.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus, Cold War, defectors, double agents, history, KGB (Belarus), lawsuits, Lee Soo-geun, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, South Korea, Valery Kostka

News you may have missed #0269

January 26, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

LeT planning paraglide attacks in India? Indian intelligence officials suspect that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is planning another audacious strike on the country, this time from the air, using suicide bombers flying paragliders. The group is thought to have purchased 50 paragliding kits from Europe for this purpose.
Trial of double agent begins in Spain. The trial has begun in Spain of Roberto Flórez García, a former employee of Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI), who was arrested in September for giving classified documents to Russian intelligence, via Petr Melnikov, political attaché at the Russian Embassy in Madrid.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008 Mumbai attacks, double agents, espionage, India, Lashkar-e-Taiba, lawsuits, Madrid (Spain), News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, Petr Melnikov, Roberto Flórez García, Russia, Russian embassy in Spain, Spain

Analysis: NASA Spy’s Israel Ties Deeper Than Initially Thought

January 25, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

S.D. Nozette

By I. ALLEN and J. FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
New court documents show that Stewart David Nozette, an American scientist arrested for attempted espionage during an FBI sting last October, had deeper ties to Israel than initially believed. Nozette, a former employee of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was arrested for attempting to share classified US government data with an undercover FBI officer posing as a handler of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. At the time of Nozette’s arrest, the US Justice Department argued for keeping him in jail, as he “might flee to Israel if not confined”. Interestingly, however, US officials said at the time that Israel had no role in Nozette’s attempted espionage, and the FBI’s own indictment admitted that the Bureau “does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under US laws in this case”. But is this so? We examine the increasing complexities in the Stewart Nozette espionage case, as well as its significance for US-Israeli relations. Read article →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with espionage, FBI, FBI Counterintelligence Division, FBI National Security Branch, Ian Allen, informants, Israel, Israel Aerospace Industries, Jonathan Jay Pollard, Joseph Fitsanakis, lawsuits, Mossad, NASA, Stewart David Nozette, United States

Released cable reveals CIA decision to destroy torture tapes

January 21, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The US Justice Department’s investigation into the destruction of videotapes by the CIA, which reportedly showed acts of torture committed during interrogations of terrorism detainees, began in 2007, but has stalled. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is spearheading what appears to be the only organized attempt to discover when and why those tapes were destroyed. Last year the ACLU uncovered that the CIA destroyed the videotapes in question after –not before, as the Agency had originally claimed– a spring 2004 report by the Agency’s inspector general, which described the interrogation methods employed on CIA prisoners as “constitut[ing] cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment”. Thanks to the ACLU, we have also known for quite some time that the decision to destroy the incriminating tapes was taken sometime in November of 2005. But now, with the release of a new batch of documents in response to an ACLU Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, we have the exact date that decision was taken: Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ACLU, CIA, declassification, FOIA, government secrecy, intelligence oversight, interrogation techniques, lawsuits, News, torture, United States, War on Terrorism

Who tried to burn down the US embassy in Skopje in 1999?

January 19, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Pavlovic-Latas

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On March 25, 1999, approximately 200 people broke off from a much larger crowd of pro-Serbian demonstrators in downtown Skopje, Macedonia, and, in a military-style operation, tore down the security perimeter around the US embassy and occupied its courtyard for several hours. With the US ambassador, Christopher Hill, and most of the embassy staff inside the building, the occupiers set fire to embassy cars and tried to set the building alight. By the time they were dispersed by police, the rioters had managed to destroy all the cars parked in the embassy’s courtyard, as well as a large part of the embassy building’s exterior. The demonstrators were protesting US and NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia, which had begun on the previous day, sparked by brutal ethnic clashes in the Kosovo region. But the question remains: who, if anyone, organized the attempted burning down of the US embassy? Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Balkans, Christopher Hill, Dragan Pavlovic-Latas, former Yugoslavia, informants, Kosovo, lawsuits, Macedonia, NATO, News, Serbia, Skopje (Macedonia), State Security Service (Serbia), United States, US embassy in FYR Macedonia

US court upholds NSA’s refusal to admit or deny wiretap data

January 3, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

The Glomar

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A US federal appeals court has concluded that the National Security Agency can refuse to admit or deny it possesses information about the US government spying on lawyers representing Guantánamo prison detainees. The decision by the 2^nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York relates to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request under a civil liberties lawsuit challenging post-9/11 warrantless surveillance operations by US agencies. The latter typically respond to most FOIA requests by confirming or denying possession of information relating to particular requests, and then by proceeding to either deny release, or release selected segments of the requested data. It is rare for an agency to refuse even to acknowledge the existence of information sought through FOIA. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, civil liberties, Cold War, domestic intelligence, FOIA, Glomar Explorer, Glomar response, government secrecy, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, Hawaii, history, intelligence legislation, lawsuits, maritime intelligence, New York, News, NSA, Project JENNIFER, United States, USSR, warrantless communications interception

News you may have missed #0227

December 20, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

British politicians sue CIA over rendition flights. A group of British members of parliament, led by Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, has filed a complaint in a district court in Washington, DC, asking for a judicial review of secret agreements between the US and UK on renditioning terrorism suspects.
US DHS broke domestic spying rules. The US Department of Homeland Security gathered intelligence on the Nation of Islam for eight months in 2007, and broke the law by taking longer than 180 days to determine whether the US-based group or its American members posed a terrorist threat.
Expert says UK ex-spy chief misled Iraq War probe. Sir John Scarlett, Britain’s former spy chief has misled the Iraq inquiry by exaggerating the reliability of crucial claims about Saddam Hussein’s ability to launch weapons of mass destruction, according to Dr. Brian Jones, the leading UK Ministry of Defense expert who assessed the intelligence behind London’s decision to go to war in 2003.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Andrew Tyrie, Brian Jones, Chilcot Inquiry (UK), CIA, domestic intelligence, extraordinary rendition, Iraq Inquiry (UK), Iraq War, lawsuits, Nation of Islam, News, news you may have missed, Saddam Hussein, Sir John Scarlett, UK, UK Ministry of Defence, United States, US Department of Homeland Security, Washington DC

News you may have missed #0225

December 18, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Pacific nation recognizes breakaway Georgian republics. The tiny island nation of Nauru has become the fourth nation (after Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela) to recognize the Georgian breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
US relying more on Special Forces in Afghanistan. US Special Forces operations in Afghanistan have been increased as part of a strategy to get faster results, according to US officials. “This is General [Stanley] McChrystal’s play”, said one Pentagon official.
Sweden charges man for spying on Chinese exiles. IntelNews regulars will remember the arrest in June of Babur Mehsut, a Uighur exile with dual Chinese-Swedish nationality, who was apparently monitoring the political activities of Sweden’s Uighur community on behalf of Beijing.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abkhazia, Afghanistan, Babur Mehsut, China, Georgia, immigration intelligence, lawsuits, Nauru, News, news you may have missed, Nicaragua, Russia, South Ossetia, Stanley McChrystal, Sweden, Uighurs, US DoD, US Special Forces, Venezuela

News you may have missed #0214

December 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Cuban Five member’s prison term cut to 30 years. A Miami court has reduced the earlier prison sentence of yet another member of the Cuban Five. Ramon Labanino has had his original sentence of life imprisonment cut to 30 years. The Cuban Five were sentenced in 2001 for spying on US soil for Cuba.
Part 3 of CIA defector’s writings now available. Former FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Eringer has published the third installment of the writings of Edward Lee Howard, a CIA officer who defected to the USSR in 1985 (see here for previous intelNews coverage). Did you know that “KGB officers always preferred Malév (Hungary’s national airline) whenever they crossed to [Western] Europe”?

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Cold War, Cuba, Cuban Five, defectors, Edward Lee Howard, espionage, history, Hungary, KGB, lawsuits, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Miami (Florida), News, news you may have missed, Robert Eringer, United States, USSR

News you may have missed #0212

December 9, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Government investigator gets US passports using fake names. A GAO investigator managed to obtain four genuine US passports using fake names and fraudulent documents. He then used one of the fake passports to buy a plane ticket, obtain a boarding pass, and make it through a security checkpoint at a major US airport. The post-9/11 security environment in all its glory.
Documents on Argentina’s Operation MEXICO declassified. Operation MEXICO was the codename for a clandestine Argentine rendition program aimed at abducting and murdering leaders of the Montonero Peronist Movement, a leftwing militant group, living in exile in Mexico City in the late 1970s.
Mistrial declared in the trial of FBI informant Hal Turner. Turner will still face a single count of unlawfully threatening three Chicago-based federal appeals judges, by writing on his blog that they “deserve to be killed” for upholding a gun control ordinance.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Argentina, FBI, forgery, Harold Turner, informants, lawsuits, Mexico, Mexico City (Mexico), Montonero Peronist Movement, News, news you may have missed, Operation MEXICO, travel documentation, United States, US Government Accountability Office

News you may have missed #0209

December 7, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Court documents strengthen case of alleged FBI informant. Unsealed court records that Craig Monteilh said would prove he was an informant for the FBI, tasked with spying on California mosques, show that he provided “very, very valuable” information to the FBI.
Britain’s ITV to air documentary on MI5. Until a few years ago, the UK government wouldn’t acknowledge MI5’s existence. Now the quasi-governmental ITV television station is preparing to broadcast a documentary on the agency’s 100-year history.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with American Muslims, Craig Monteilh, domestic intelligence, FBI, government secrecy, informants, lawsuits, MI5, News, news you may have missed, UK

News you may have missed #0207

December 6, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Congo court upholds death sentences for Norwegian ‘spies’. A Congolese court has upheld death sentences for Tjostolv Moland and Joshua French, two Norwegians arrested last May in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on spying charges.
Judge unseals records of man claiming to be FBI spy. A Superior Court judge on Thursday lifted a seal on court records and transcripts that Craig Monteilh says will prove he was an informant for the FBI, tasked with spying on area mosques.
Is this a classified CIA drone? A new photo of what appears to be a classified US drone aircraft has been published on a blog belonging to the French newspaper Libération. But some say that the photo might be a deliberate disinformation effort aimed to confuse black ops spotters.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with American Muslims, CIA, Craig Monteilh, Democratic Republic of the Congo, espionage, FBI, informants, Joshua French, lawsuits, News, news you may have missed, Norway, Predator drones, Tjostolv Moland, United States

FBI in hot seat over controversial use of informants

December 2, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Craig Monteilh

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, America’s primary domestic counterintelligence agency, is facing a storm of criticism over allegedly using informants to spy on Muslim and ultra right-wing groups. The most controversial of the two cases is arguably that of New Jersey talk radio host and blogger Harold “Hal” Turner, who has been described as a vocal supporter of white supremacist groups. Turner was charged last June for arguing on his blog that three Chicago federal appeals court judges “deserve to be killed”, and for posting photographs of the judges along with their work addresses and an area map of the Chicago federal courthouse. If convicted, Turner faces a $250,000 restitution fine and up to 10 years in prison. What is interesting, however, is that Turner told a judge that he was a paid FBI informant, code-named “Valhalla”, and was trained by the Bureau to infiltrate and monitor white supremacist groups. The FBI denied any connection to Turner, but The Bergen Record newspaper in New Jersey gained access to court records and verified the truth in Turner’s claims. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ACLU, American Muslims, California, Craig Monteilh, domestic intelligence, FBI, Harold Turner, informants, lawsuits, New Jersey, News, racism, United States, Valhalla

News you may have missed #0199

November 30, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Author insists Sir Hollis was Soviet agent. Last month, Professor Christopher Andrew, author of the recently published In Defense of the Realm, an authorized history of MI5, dismissed allegations that Sir Roger Hollis, former head of MI5, had been a KGB agent. But intelligence author Chapman Pincher insists that “Hollis ha[d] been so deeply suspected of being a Soviet spy […] that he had been recalled from retirement for interrogation” in London.
ACLU supports lawsuit against FBI by alleged informant. The American Civil Liberties Union has joined Craig Monteilh, who says he was an undercover FBI informant, in a lawsuit demanding sealed court records identifying him as a spy be made public.