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News you may have missed #0189

November 18, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Somali youths from Canada may have joined Al-Shabab militant group. It’s not only Somali-Americans who are going back to Somalia to join Al-Shabab. Canadian officials are worried the same thing may be happening in Toronto.
New website examines intelligence contractors. The website Spies for Hire is a new project by Tim Shorrock, which aims to track the America’s most important intelligence contractors. The website expands on Shorrock’s 2008 book, Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing.
MI6 chiefs to testify about Iraq War fiasco. Past and present chiefs of MI6, including Sir John Scarlett and Sir John Sawers, will be among the first witnesses to give evidence to the official inquiry into Britain’s entry into the Iraq War, it was disclosed on Monday.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Shabaab, Canada, intelligence outsourcing, Iraq War, MI6, News, news you may have missed, Sir John Sawers, Sir John Scarlett, The Party of Youth (Somalia), Tim Shorrock, Toronto (Canada), UK, United States

CIA documents shed light on eventful 1956 Soviet visit to Britain

November 10, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Hugh Gaitskell

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A batch of declassified CIA reports obtained by the BBC sheds light on the diplomatic angle of a historic and eventful Soviet high-level visit to Britain in 1956. In April of that year, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev, and Nikolai Bulganin, Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars, arrived in Britain aboard Russian warship Ordzhonikidze, which docked at Portsmouth harbor. Their eight-day tour of Britain marked the first-ever official visit by Soviet leadership to a Western country. The tour ended badly, however, after a botched CIA/MI6 undersea operation, aiming to explore the then state-of-the-art Ordzhonikidze, ended in the disappearance of MI6 diver Lionel “Buster” Crabb. The body of Crabb, one of several MI6 agents involved in the operation, was never recovered. In 2007, Eduard Koltsov, a retired Russian military diver, said he killed a man he thinks was Crabb, as he was “trying to place a mine” on the Soviet ship. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Cold War, Conservative Party (UK), declassification, Eduard Koltsov, history, Hugh Gaitskell, Labour Party (UK), Lionel Crabb, MI6, News, Nikita Khrushchev, Nikolai Bulganin, Ordzhonikidze (ship), UK, United States, USSR

UK spy agencies argue for torture trial behind closed doors

October 29, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Binyam Mohamed

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The two primary intelligence agencies in the British Isles have argued that any evidence presented in a lawsuit accusing them of torture should remain secret. The request, which is unprecedented in British legal history, was made on Monday before Britain’s High Court by MI5, MI6, as well as by a number of government ministers. The court case in point centers on a lawsuit filed jointly by seven British citizens or residents, all of whom were held in the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp and claim they were tortured by the CIA with British complicity. The seven are Moazzam Begg, Bisher Al Rawi, Jamil El Banna, Richard Belmar, Omar Deghayes, Martin Mubanga, and Binyam Mohamed, whose case is perhaps the most well known. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Binyam Mohamed, Bisher Al Rawi, CIA, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, High Court of Justice of the United Kingdom, Hillary Clinton, intelligence cooperation, Jamil El Banna, lawsuits, Martin Mubanga, MI5, MI6, Moazzam Begg, News, Omar Deghayes, Richard Belmar, torture, UK, United States

News you may have missed #0155

October 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

NSA confirms rumors of new Utah data center. IntelNews readers have known about this since last July. Despite the new center, NSA still cannot process all the information it intercepts. But officials told a press conference on Friday that the Agency “has no choice but to continue enhancing its data processing efforts”.
UK intel agents to train West Bank security forces. Britain is sending intelligence officers from MI5 and MI6 to the West Bank, to train the Palestinian Authority’s Mukhabarat intelligence agency. According to The Daily Mail, the move is aimed to “stop a wave of brutal torture by Palestinian security forces”. How ironic is it, then, that both MI5 and MI6 are currently under investigation by British police for complicity to torture?

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Camp Williams (Utah), communications interception, databases, intelligence training, MI5, MI6, Mukhabarat (Palestine), News, news you may have missed, NSA, Palestine, Palestinian National Authority, torture, UK, United States, Utah, West Bank

News you may have missed #0148

October 20, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Secret special service held to commemorate 100 years of MI5 and MI6. The Queen has attended an unpublicized special service at London’s Westminster Abbey to mark the centenary of MI5 and MI6. It appears that the heads of the security and intelligence services were present for the unique ceremony in the cloisters of the Abbey. The service was also attended by prime minister Gordon Brown, foreign secretary David Miliband, and home secretary Alan Johnson, among others.
Canadian court ends spy services’ free rein in deporting foreigners. The Federal Court has dealt the government another setback in its attempts to deport alleged terrorists, based on the controversial security-certificate provision, which allows the government to use secret evidence in order to detain and deport foreigners. Thus, the deportation from Canada of Moroccan-born Adil Charkaoui has been halted. Last July another deportation case, that of Hassan Almrei, a Syrian immigrant who was arrested in 2001 on suspicion of belonging to an Islamist-tied forgery group, was also halted on similar grounds.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Adil Charkaoui, Alan Johnson, Canada, CSIS (Canada), David Miliband, deportations, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Federal Court of Canada, forgery, Gordon Brown, Hassan Almrei, lawsuits, MI5, MI6, News, news you may have missed, security certificates (Canada), UK, Westminster Abbey (London)

News you may have missed #0125

October 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US officials deny deal with Russia on missile shield. Officials from the US Department of Defense have denied persistent rumors that Washington’s decision to scrap the controversial missile defense shield was part of a secret deal with Moscow. They also continue to insist that “[t]his is not about Russia. It never has been about Russia”, according to US defense undersecretary Michele Flournoy.
US DHS is hiring cyber experts. The Obama Administration has approved a request by the US Department of Homeland Security to hire of up to 1,000 cyber experts over the next three years. The recruits will include “cyber analysts, developers and engineers”. One hopes the move will also patch the countless holes in the Department’s cyber defense posture, which were revealed last month in an internal report, to little media attention.
MI6 is also hiring. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service –also known as MI6– is hiring and has uploaded a snap test (called “selection tool”) on its website to test whether those interested have what it takes to be a spy. The test, which evaluates how well potential candidates can lie, is located here.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with cybersecurity, intelligence recruitment, MI6, Michele Flournoy, News, news you may have missed, Obama Administration, Russia, UK, United States, US Department of Homeland Security, US DoD, US Missile Defense Shield

News you may have missed #0119

September 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA opens center on climate change. The CIA Center on Climate Change and National Security is a small unit led by senior specialists from the Directorate of Intelligence and the Directorate of Science and Technology. It focuses on “the national security impact of phenomena such as desertification, rising sea levels, population shifts, and heightened competition for natural resources”. Methinks the emphasis will probably be on the latter.
Brazilian political figures spied on after dictatorship. Senior Brazilian politicians, religious leaders and activists were spied on illegally for 16 years after the 1964-1985 military regime, according to recent allegations in the country’s press. Major surveillance targets included Brazil’s current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, opposition leader and Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, and others.
New book examines life of Franco-sympathizer British spy. Jimmy Burns has written a biography of his father, Tom Burns, an anti-communist sympathizer of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who organized the British intelligence network in Spain during and after World War II.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Brazil, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, CIA, CIA Center on Climate Change, CIA Directorate of Intelligence, CIA Directorate of Science and Technology, climate change, domestic intelligence, energy resources, espionage, Francisco Franco, Ignacio Lula da Silva, Jose Serra, MI6, News, news you may have missed, political policing, São Paulo (Brazil), Spain, Spanish Civil War, surveillance, Tom Burns, UK, World War II

Portrait of ex-spy said to be “close with militant Islamists”

September 27, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Alastair Crooke

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Writing for Mother Jones magazine, David Samuels presents an interesting portrait of Alastair Crooke, a former British intelligence agent who brokered deals with the Irish Republican Army, funneled arms to the mujahideen in Afghanistan, spent time with rebel groups in the jungles of Colombia, and later served as British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s eyes and ears in the Middle East. In late 2003, after three decades as an MI6 field officer, he was called home and, in classic British bureaucratic fashion, given a royal honor for his service and then fired from his job. It was rumored in London and in Jerusalem that Crooke had alienated the British prime minister by becoming too closely affiliated with militant Islamists. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alastair Crooke, Beirut, Conflicts Forum, David Samuels, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, MI6, Palestine, Tony Blair, UK

News you may have missed #0114

September 23, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US Senate Democrats seek stronger wiretap law. Led by Russ Feingold (WI) and Dick Durbin (IL), the Senate group proposes stronger safeguards and higher standards of judicial oversight for surveillance activity, including withdrawing immunity to telecom companies that participated in warrantless communications surveillance during the Bush Administration.
South Korean spy agency in trouble over expenses. The scandal-prone National Intelligence Service of South Korea is being scrutinized again for spending billions of wons in unaccounted “special activities”.
Movie script tells story of British police detective turned KGB spy. Daniel Craig and Jude Law are said to be in the running to play the lead role in a new film about the story of John Symonds, a British former police detective who worked for the KGB from 1972 until 1980. In 1981, when he approached MI5 and MI6 and offered to turn into a triple agent for the UK spy services, he was dismissed as a fantasist.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, Cold War, communications interception, corruption, Dick Durbin, double agents, espionage, honey traps, intelligence budget, John Symonds, KGB, MI5, MI6, National Intelligence Service (South Korea), News, news you may have missed, operation STELLAR WIND, Russ Feingold, South Korea, telecommunication service providers, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), UK, United States, USSR, warrantless communications interception

Gaddafi’s son employed former spies’ firm to research PhD thesis

September 16, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Saif al-Gaddafi

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
One of Libyan ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi’s seven sons employed a firm staffed by former British intelligence agents to carry out research for his PhD thesis. Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, 37, who is seen as the leading candidate to succeed his father, recently submitted his doctoral thesis at the London School of Economics, where he was a PhD candidate for four years. A preliminary note in his thesis, which is now available at the Senate House library of the University of London, reveals that he employed the Monitor Group, a research and consultancy company that includes at least two well-known former British spies among its ranks, to conduct interviews required for his thesis. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, BP, British Petroleum, Libya, Lockerbie air disaster, MI6, Muammar al-Gaddafi, News, Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, Sir Mark Allen, Sir Richard Dearlove, The London School of Economics, The Monitor Group, The University of London, UK

British police investigating secret services in torture cases

September 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

MI6 HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Britain’s attorney general has asked London’s Metropolitan police to investigate the role of the country’s external intelligence agency in the torture of a foreign detainee. MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service, is the second British intelligence organization to be investigated by police, since MI5, the country’s main domestic intelligence service, is already under investigation for its alleged role in the torture of Binyam Mohamed. An Ethiopian resident of Britain, Mohamed said he was severely tortured with MI5’s collaboration, after he was renditioned to Morocco. According to MI6 sources, the police investigation into SIS activities is not related to the Binyam Mohamed case, but rather to a yet unnamed foreign detainee of an unnamed country. The MI6 investigation marks the first time in British history that the two main arms of the country’s intelligence establishment, MI5 and MI6 are the subject of simultaneous police investigations.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Binyam Mohamed, London Metropolitan Police, MI5, MI6, Morocco, News, torture, UK

Ex-MI6 spy at center of Lockerbie prisoner release deal

September 7, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Sir Mark Allan

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A British former intelligence official has been identified as having had a major role in the recent release from a Scottish prison of a Libyan intelligence agent convicted for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who is now back home in Tripoli, was released by British authorities on August 19 on compassionate grounds, after medical tests allegedly showed he is suffering from terminal cancer. Many observers, including former CIA agent Robert Baer, voiced suspicion about the reasons behind al-Megrahi’s release, while several British newspapers, including The London Times, alleged that the release was part of a lucrative oil exploration deal between British Petroleum (BP) and the Libyan government. Now The Sunday Mail has identified Sir Mark Allen, a former senior intelligence official who works for BP, as “the driving force” behind al-Megrahi’s release. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, Africa, BP, British Petroleum, CIA, energy resources, Jack Straw, Libya, Libyan nuclear program, MI6, News, Sir Mark Allen, UK

News you may have missed #0063

August 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UK government ministers, MI6 boss, reject torture accusations. Britain’s home secretary, Alan Johnson, and foreign secretary, David Miliband, have rejected claims that the UK operated a “policy to collude in, solicit, or directly participate in abuses of [war on terrorism] prisoners” or to cover up abuses. The outgoing director of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, has also said that there has been “no torture and there is no complicity with torture” by British agents.
Ex-spy may succeed Kazakh leader. An unnamed senior security official may eventually succeed Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled Kazakhstan for 20 years.
Congressman tells Holder to widen torture probe. Several news outlets are verifying earlier rumors (reported on by intelNews on July 13) that the Obama Administration is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agencies after September 11, 2001. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, has said he wants US Attorney General Eric Holder to extend the rumored investigation beyond CIA interrogators, and determine whether high-level officials of the Bush administration committed war crimes.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alan Johnson, Bush Administration, Central Asia, CIA, David Miliband, Eric Holder, Jerrold Nadler, Kazakhstan, MI6, News, news you may have missed, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Sir John Scarlett, torture, UK, War on Terrorism

Analysis: How vital was spying during the Cold War?

August 6, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

Gordon Corera

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The BBC’s security correspondent, Gordon Corera, asks a very basic yet very intriguing question about the history of the Cold War: did espionage actually make a difference in ts outcome? This question stems out of BBC Radio 4’s three-part documentary series examining the 100-year history and operations of MI6, Britain’s foremost external intelligence agency. Corera’s article on the BBC website provides conflicting answers by intelligence defenders and intelligence skeptics, including Rodric Braithwaite, former British ambassador to the USSR, and David Owen, Britain’s former Foreign Secretary, who says that, barring a few important exceptions, UK policy makers “didn’t really […] know exactly what was going on” in the Communist Bloc. Other commentators include former MI6 deputy director Sir Gerry Warner, and Sir David Omand, who argues that most of the intelligence collected during the Cold War was of a military or tactical nature and would therefore have proven effective only “if the Cold War had gone hot”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Analysis, Cold War, David Owen, espionage, Gordon Corera, history, MI6, military intelligence, Rodric Braithwaite, Sir David Omand, Sir Gerry Warner

News you may have missed #0059

August 6, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Torture report says UK government ministers shielded MI5, MI6. A new report from Britain’s parliamentary human rights committee accuses senior cabinet ministers of “hiding behind a wall of secrecy” to avoid being held to account over allegations of British intelligence agents’ collusion in torture.
US cyber czar resigns. Senior intelligence official Melissa Hathaway, who was US President Barack Obama’s choice to monitor America’s online security, said in an interview that she is leaving “for personal reasons”.
South Korean opposition skeptical of request for new intelligence powers. Opposition parties in South Korea are critical of the National Intelligence Service’s (NIS) recent request to gain access to information on financial transactions amounting to 20 million won or more without a warrant.