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FBI allegedly looking for Russian spy inside NSA

December 3, 2010 by intelNews 4 Comments

NSA HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
American counterintelligence investigators are allegedly trying to uncover at least one Russian-handled double agent operating inside the US National Security Agency (NSA), according to information published on Wednesday in The Washington Times. The paper based its allegation on an interview with an anonymous “former intelligence official” with close ties to the NSA —America’s largest intelligence agency, which is tasked with worldwide communications surveillance as well as communications security. The anonymous source told the Times that the probe is directly connected to the arrest of nearly a dozen Russian deep-cover operatives by the FBI last summer. Washington eventually exchanged the Russian spies with several Western-handled Russian operatives captured by Moscow and held in Russian prisons. But the FBI allegedly believes that the deep-cover operatives, most of whom used false identity papers and had lived in the US for years, were primarily tasked with aiding at least one Russian-handled double spy operating inside the NSA’s Forge George F. Meade headquarters, in the US state of Maryland. Read more of this post

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with counterintelligence, DIA, double agents, espionage, FBI, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, News, NSA, Russia, Russian illegals program spy ring, United States

Cash register ringing for NSA’s corporate suitors

January 18, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

NSA HQ

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The decision by the US National Security Agency to build 5.8 million square feet of data-storage and office space by 2029 has drawn mixed reactions by intelligence observers. But for businesses in northern Utah, where the NSA is preparing to build a million-square-foot facility, at Camp Williams, it’s party time, in the middle of a crippling word-wide economic recession. The gigantic government Agency, which is tasked with worldwide communications surveillance, as well as communications security, will build the billion-dollar facility within the next two years, and is already consulting with building contractors. But how does one do business with the notoriously secretive NSA? Read more of this post

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Camp Williams (Utah), databases, intelligence outsourcing, lobbyists, Maryland, News, NSA, Shawn Justice, United States, Utah

US government agent detained in Cuba for ‘aiding opposition groups’

December 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

DAI logo

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
American authorities have revealed the arrest in Cuba of a US government worker, who was allegedly supplying telecommunications equipment to opposition groups. The unidentified man, who was reportedly detained in Havana on December 5, is said to work for a Maryland-based international aid group called Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI). This little-known organization works closely with the government-owned United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and last year was awarded a major government contract in “support [of] the rule of law and human rights, political competition and consensus building” in Cuba. There are reports, however, that the contract involved the clandestine supply of laptop computers and cell phones to Cuban groups antagonistic to the government in Havana. Read more of this post

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, CIA, Cuba, Development Alternatives Inc., espionage, Havana (Cuba), Hugo Chávez, Maryland, News, telecommunications hardware, United States, US Department of State, US DoD, USAID, Venezuela

Analysis: NSA emerging as the world’s most powerful spy agency

October 17, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

James Bamford

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Regular readers of this blog know that the US National Security Agency is in the process of renovating its soon-to-be-unveiled Texas Cryptology Center, a 470,000-square-foot facility that will cost “upwards of $130 million” and be used primarily to store intercepted communications data. They also know that the gigantic Agency, which is tasked with worldwide communications surveillance, as well as communications security, is also building a 1 million square foot data center at Utah’s Camp Williams. Finally, as we reported last August, the NSA is currently laying out a 20-year plan to construct 5.8 million square feet of new working and storage space on its Fort George G. Meade headquarters in Maryland, and staff it with 11,000 people. What does all this mean? Read more of this post

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Analysis, book news and reviews, Camp Williams (Utah), databases, Fort George G. Meade, James Bamford, Maryland, Matthew M. Aid, NSA, San Antonio (Texas), Texas Cryptology Center, United States, Utah

NSA looking to build 5.8 million square feet by 2029

August 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

NSA HQ

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The US National Security Agency filed a notice in last month’s Federal Register, laying out a 20-year plan to construct 5.8 million square feet of new working and storage space on its Fort George G. Meade headquarters, and staff it with 11,000 people. The Baltimore Business Journal and The Baltimore Sun, which first spotted the notice, said the NSA will not say how many of the 11,000 jobs will be new. The Sun asked the gigantic agency, which already employs over 25,000 people around Baltimore alone, for more details on its plans. But the NSA, which is tasked by the US government with worldwide communications surveillance as well as communications security, merely repeated the information contained in the Federal Register, saying it needs new buildings to “meet mission growth requirements” and to “consolidate” its output. Read more of this post