Leon Panetta | intelNews.org

News you may have missed #0187

November 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Cambodia arrests Thai for spying on exile leader. Cambodian authorities said the man, Siwarak Chothipong, who works for the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, spied on the flight itinerary of visiting former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been living in exile since a 2006 military coup in Thailand. The Thai government has rejected the charge.
CIA’s Panetta to visit India, Pakistan. CIA director Leon Panetta will visit Pakistan and India for three days, starting on November 20. IntelNews will be keeping an eye on his visit.
Former Monaco spymaster says prince invokes immunity. More on the saga of former FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Eringer, who until recently was spymaster to prince Albert II of Monaco, and is now suing him for €360,000 ($542,000) in alleged unpaid income. Eringer’s lawyers have accused Albert of invoking head-of-state immunity, “an absolute defense used by dictators around the world to avoid accountability in US courts”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Cambodia, Cambodia Air Traffic Service, CIA, espionage, head-of-state immunity, India, lawsuits, Leon Panetta, Monaco, Monaco Intelligence Service, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Robert Eringer, Siwarak Chothipong, Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, United States

CIA reportedly wins turf battle with DNI office

November 13, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Leon Panetta

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The CIA has reportedly won a turf battle with the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), after the White House came down in support of the CIA position on Thursday. This blog has kept tabs on the dispute, which started last May, when DNI Dennis Blair argued in a still-classified directive that his office should have a say in certain cases over the appointment of senior US intelligence representatives in foreign cities. Former CIA officials publicly denounced the directive, which would allow the appointment of non-CIA personnel to these positions for the first time in 60 years, as “simple insanity”. Since then, various actors have sided with the two antagonists, with the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence committee supporting the DNI and Vice President Joe Biden backing the CIA’s position. But the stalemate reportedly ended on Thursday, after the White House ruled that the CIA, not the DNI, should appoint senior US intelligence representatives abroad. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, CIA, Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, Joe Biden, Leon Panetta, News, Obama Administration, turf wars, United States, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

New CIA TV ads try to recruit Arab-, Iranian-Americans

November 11, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

CIA ad

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The CIA is preparing to launch two new television commercials in an attempt to increase Arab-American and Iranian-American CIA recruits. The commercials will specifically target US cities with significant Middle Eastern populations, such as Detroit and Newark. They will be premiered at a private screening on November 18 in Dearborn, Michigan, which is often described as “the heart of Michigan’s large Middle Eastern community”. The move follows a recent public-relations visit to Michigan by CIA director Leon Panetta, aimed at improving the tense relations between the US intelligence community and Muslim groups in the state. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Arab-Americans, Arabic, CIA, Dearborn (Michigan), Detroit, Farsi, intelligence recruitment, Iranian-Americans, languages, Leon Panetta, Michigan, New Jersey, Newark (New Jersey), News, United States

CIA-DNI turf war over embassy posts continues

November 9, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

Joe Biden

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
This blog has kept tabs on the latest US bureaucratic turf war between the CIA and the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). It started last May, when when DNI Dennis Blair argued in a still-classified directive that his office should have a say in certain cases over the appointment of senior US intelligence representatives in foreign cities. Former CIA officials publicly denounced the directive, which would allow the appointment of non-CIA personnel to these positions for the first time in 60 years, as “simple insanity”. The turf war appeared to be close to an end in July, when the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence came out in support of the DNI, arguing that “some locations may give rise to circumstances where th[e CIA station chief’s] responsibility is best met by an official with expertise derived from another I[ntelligence] C[ommunity] element”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, intelligence cooperation, intelligence sharing, Joe Biden, Leon Panetta, News, turf wars, United States, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Wendy Morigi

Comment: Why the Italian Convictions of CIA Officers Matter

November 6, 2009 by intelNews 5 Comments

Sabrina De Sousa

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
An Italian court has convicted 22 CIA officers and a US Air Force officer involved in the abduction of a Muslim cleric from Milan in 2003. All but three Americans tried in the case received jail sentences ranging from five to eight years, for kidnapping Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in broad daylight and for illegally renditioning him to Egypt, where he says he was brutally tortured before being released without charge. As intelNews has previously reported, it is extremely unlikely that the US will agree to extradite the convicted abductors to Italy. Washington has formally invoked the NATO Status of Forces Agreement, arguing that the offenders were operating “in the course of official duty” and fall therefore under US, not Italian, jurisdiction. But the convictions are important nonetheless, for three reasons.

CIA misled, lied to Congress several times since 2001, say lawmakers

October 29, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Jan Schakowsky

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The two Democrats chairing the US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have accused the CIA of misleading Congress on at least five instances during the last eight years. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Representatives Jan Schakowsky (CA, photo) and Anna Eshoo (IL.) said an investigation by the Committee had uncovered several examples “where the committee actually has been lied to” by the CIA. The two chairwomen described the investigation findings as “symptom[s] of a larger disease” involving the routine practice of “incomplete and often misleading intelligence briefings”. However, commenting on Schakowsky and Eshoo’s allegations, Robert Litt, the senior attorney in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the conduct of all 16 US intelligence agencies, said Congress was not adequately briefed on “a small number of intelligence activities”, but “has since been brought up to date”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Anna Eshoo, CIA, DNI, intelligence oversight, Jan Schakowsky, Leon Panetta, Robert Litt, Silvestre Reyes, United States, US Congress, US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

News you may have missed #0127

October 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Is China using Nepal as a base to spy on India? India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has accused Beijing of using the so-called Nepal-China study centers in Nepal to spy on India. The centers, which are located all along the Indo-Nepal border, are being used to clandestinely gather information on Indian activities, says RAW. It also rumored that RAW is monitoring around 30 Chinese firms which have set up base in Nepal and may be involved in spying on India.
Italian lawyers seek jail for CIA agents. Public prosecutors in Italy have urged a court in Milan to jail 26 Americans for the kidnapping of a terrorism suspect in a 2003 CIA operation on Italian soil. They also want a 13 year prison sentence for the former head of Italy’s secret service, Nicolo Pollari. Last week the US government moved for the first time to officially prevent Italian authorities from prosecuting American citizens involved in the CIA operation.
CIA director meets Pakistani spy chief. The director of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Ahmed Shuja Pasha, has met with CIA director Leon Panetta in Washington. Last week, Lieutenant General Pasha yelled at a US journalist for daring to utter the CIA’s allegations that the ISI is withholding crucial intelligence information on al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Ahmed Shuja Pasha, China, CIA, CIA Milan station, espionage, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, India, ISI, Italy, Leon Panetta, Milan (Italy), Nepal, Nepal-China study centers, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, RAW

US Looks Away from Worsening Philippines Rights Record

October 1, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Lumbera

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS and IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Just days after Filipino prizewinning poet and dramatist Bienvenido Lumbera caught a Naval Intelligence Security Force agent spying on him outside his home, another Filipino intellectual has come forward with allegations of government spying. Pedro “Jun” Cruz Reyes, professor of creative writing at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, said he has been the subject of surveillance investigations by government agents since 2006. Such incidents are not a new phenomenon in the Philippines. In 2005, the US State Department noted in its annual human rights report that the Philippines National Police was the country’s “worst abuser of human rights” and that government security elements often “sanction extrajudicial killings and vigilantism”. However, the report adds that these practices are utilized “as expedient means of fighting crime and terrorism”, which may explain why no discernable action has been taken by US authorities to prevent them. In an article published today in The Foreign Policy Journal we examine the recent record of US-Philippine relations. Continue reading at The Foreign Policy Journal →

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News you may have missed #0104

September 11, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Pro-secrecy ex-NSA/CIA director joins declassification board. Michael V. Hayden is not exactly an advocate of declassifying US government records. But he is the latest appointee to the Public Interest Declassification Board, an official body that advises the President on declassification policies, priorities and potential reforms.
CIA agent who headed plan to lift sunken Soviet submarine dies. CIA agent Christopher Fitzgerald led a 1974 CIA project to recover a Soviet submarine that had sunk in 17,000 feet of water about 750 miles northwest of Hawaii in 1968. But the recovery team nearly caused a nuclear explosion when the submarine split while being raised, and its body hit the ocean floor.
CIA director heads agency recruiting drive of US Muslims. CIA chief Leon Panetta is to meet with Arab-Americans in Michigan, in an effort “to promote diversity within the intelligence agency”. But, as intelNews has noted before, this will not be easy, especially in Michigan.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Christopher Fitzgerald, CIA, declassification, intelligence recruitment, Leon Panetta, maritime intelligence, Michael Hayden, Michigan, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Project JENNIFER, US Muslims, US Public Interest Declassification Board

News you may have missed #0103

September 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Iran deliberately delaying nuclear bomb plans. US intelligence agencies believe that Iran “has deliberately stopped short of the critical last steps to make a bomb”, claim The New York Times. Could the recent political violence in the country have something to do with this delay?
CIA sets up new External Advisory Board. Panetta says the new Board the Board will serve as “informal advisors to me and other senior leaders of our Agency”. Interestingly the group includes lots of business representation (Lazard Frères, Scowcroft Group, Bell Labs, Computer Sciences Corporation, Arnold & Porter).
Is the CIA’s Excessive Secrecy Near an End? Although stopping short of pre-election promises, Barack Obama’s plans for administrative transparency will mark an “unprecedented level of openness” in US government agencies, especially the CIA, argue former US House Government Operations Committee spokesman Robert Weiner, and policy analyst Jordan Osserman.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Arnold & Porter, Barack Obama, Bell Labs, CIA, CIA External Advisory Board, Computer Sciences Corporation, declassification, intelligence oversight, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Jordan Osserman, Lazard Frères, Leon Panetta, News, news you may have missed, NIE, Robert Weiner, Scowcroft Group

Panetta not about to resign, says US Senate intel panel head

September 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Leon Panetta

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Insider rumors have been circulating for at least a month now, that CIA Director Leon Panetta is frustrated and is considering resigning in February, after just one year at the post. On Tuesday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, issued a bizarre statement saying that she spoke to Panetta on Monday, and that the Obama Administration appointee “has no intention of resigning, nor should he. I believe he has an important role to play”, added the Congresswoman. The CIA and the White House have both denied reports that Panetta, who last month publicly came out against a planned probe into CIA torture practices by the US Department of Justice, threatened to resign over the investigation. What is certain is that Senator Feinstein’s statement about his future will fuel, not squelch, whispers of Panetta’s impending departure, which are in fact getting stronger.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Dianne Feinstein, Leon Panetta, News, Obama Administration, United States, US Department of Justice, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

News you may have missed #0088

August 31, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US state governors receiving suspicious laptops. Why are state governors’ offices in West Virginia, Vermont, Wyoming and Washington, receiving laptops which they have not ordered? Could there be a connection with malicious emails received recently by several US local officials?
Blackwater training foreign mercenaries in the Philippines. US military contractor Blackwater is now training mercenaries for covert operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The Philippine government is denying it. What does Leon Panetta, who visited the country not long ago, know about this?
Swiss government agency is able to wiretap Skype. What about NSA? A Swiss software developer who released what he claims is the source code of a program for tapping into encrypted Skype communications, had previously sold it to the Swiss Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (UVEK) “to use in remote surveillance activities”. Does this mean that the NSA has been wasting its money?

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Blackwater, communications interception, computer hacking, Energy and Communications, Leon Panetta, mercenaries, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Philippines, Skype, Swiss Department of the Environment, Switzerland, Transport, United States, VOIP

News you may have missed #0075

August 21, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Release of Libyan convicted bomber raises questions. To some, Libyan Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was released by British authorities a few days ago on compassionate grounds, isn’t the Lockerbie bomber, but a scapegoat being used to hide the truth.
Analysis: Killing The KGB myth. Western pundits and journalists like to throw around the idea that Russia is currently being run by veterans of the Soviet era KGB. But a check of the public record quickly reveals that this is not so.
Second ranking US intelligence official to visit Philippines. After a recent visit to the Philippines by CIA director Leon Panetta, the US has dispatched to the country a second ranking intelligence official “to discuss with key officials anti-terrorism and development efforts”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, Analysis, CIA, KGB, Leon Panetta, Libya, Lockerbie air disaster, News, news you may have missed, Pan Am Flight 103, Philippines, Russia, Southeast Asia, UK, United States

Comment: Blackwater’s role in CIA ops runs deep

August 21, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

Blackwater/Xe

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
North Carolina-based military and intelligence contractor Xe had a major role in the CIA’s rumored post-9/11 assassination program and is active today in the Agency’s Predator drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The New York Times and The Washington Post cited “government officials and current and former [Xe] employees” in revealing that the CIA worked briefly with Xe –formerly known as Blackwater– in the context of a top-secret program to locate and murder senior al-Qaeda leaders. According to The Washington Post, Blackwater’s role in the operation was far from consultative, and included “operational responsibility for targeting terrorist commanders [and awards worth] millions of dollars for training and weaponry”. The New York Times alleges that Blackwater’s central role in the operation was “a major reason” in CIA director Leon Panetta’s decision last June to inform Congress about the program, which CIA had kept hidden from Congressional oversight for seven years. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, assassinations, black operations, Blackwater, CIA, intelligence outsourcing, intelligence oversight, Iraq, John Kiriakou, Joseph Fitsanakis, Leon Panetta, national security, Pakistan, Porter Goss, Predator drones, R.J. Hillhouse, Taliban, United States, US Congress, War on Terrorism, Xe

News you may have missed #0071

August 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA dismisses rumors Panetta is about to resign. The CIA is pushing back hard on insider rumors that Director Leon Panetta is frustrated and thinking about leaving at his one-year mark in February.
Burma denies pursuing secret nuclear plans. The government of Myanmar has reportedly rebuffed claims that it is pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program.
Is US war in Afghanistan turning into a counter-narcotics operation? Timely information about the Afghanistan Intelligence Fusion Center, an outsourced US operation based at the offices of the Afghan counternarcotics police in Kabul.