news you may have missed | intelNews.org

News you may have missed #0036

July 22, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Hungary’s security head resigns in wake of spying scandal. Sandor Laborc has resigned as head of Hungary’s National Security Office (NBH) after NBH agents were caught spying on politicians.
Austria to try Kazakh spy for kidnap attempt. Austrian officials say they will put a suspected Kazakh spy, identified only “Ildar A.”, on trial for attempting to kidnap from Austria former Kazakh National Security Committee (KNB) chief Alnur Musaev last September. See previous intelNews reporting on the ongoing Austrian-Kazakh intelligence imbroglio.
Obama’s unwilling cyber czars. Barack Obama is expected to soon appoint a national cybersecurity adviser. But Andy Greenberg argues that the appointee’s name may not be as important as the names of those who have “politely declined” the role.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Alnur Musaev, Austria, cybersecurity, Hungary, Ildar A., Kazakh National Security Committee, Kazakhstan, KNB (Kazakhstan), National Security Office (Hungary), NBH (Hungary), News, news you may have missed, Obama Administration, Sandor Laborc, US National Cyber Security Center

News you may have missed #0035

July 22, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ex-Peruvian president sentenced for bribing spy chief. Peru’s former President, Alberto Fujimori, has been given a 7.5 years prison sentence for giving his right-hand man, spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, $15 million from government coffers.
Was there ever a CIA interrogation facility in Thailand? CIA records indicate that waterboarding was practiced by US government agents in secret detention facilities in Thailand. Thailand’s Prime Minister says there is no secret CIA detention center for suspected terrorists under his government. But could a facility have been there under the previous government?
“Adoptive father” of Israeli intelligence pioneered the “honey trap”. Meir Amit, who revolutionized Israeli intelligence in the 1960s, and has died at the age of 88, pioneered the use of female agents to gain access to classified information, says an Israeli intelligence history author.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alberto Fujimori, CIA, honey traps, Israel, Meir Amit, News, news you may have missed, Peru, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional (Peru), Thailand, torture, Vladimiro Montesinos, waterboarding

News you may have missed #0034

July 21, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Busting of Israeli spy ring in Lebanon continues. Lebanese authorities have announced the arrest of yet another suspected member of Mossad’s alleged spy ring in southern Lebanon.
Secret space shuttles. Excellent primer on the longstanding secret collaboration between NASA and the super-clandestine National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in the United States.
Israelis jail man accused of joining Palestinian intelligence. An Israeli court has jailed Muhammad Jayusi for 42 months for being a member of the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence (GI), for “tailing Israeli citizens and [for] transmitting information on them” to GI.
Will Obama administration end the over-classification of US defense information? Pentagon classification authorities are treating classified historical documents as if they contain today’s secrets, rather than decades-old information that has not been secret for years, says the National Security Archive.
What did CIA director Panetta tell Philippine President Arroyo? Writing from the Philippines, Ramon Farolan says Leon Panetta did not go to Manila on a “social visit. CIA directors don’t make social visits to any place, and frankly, I can’t recall any CIA director ever visiting the Philippines”, he says. IntelNews has covered Panetta’s recent trip to the Philippines here.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, declassification, General Intelligence (Palestinian National Authority), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, informants, Israel, Leon Panetta, Muhammad Jayusi, NASA, News, news you may have missed, NRO, Obama Administration, Palestinian National Authority, Pentagon, Philippines, United States

News you may have missed #0033

July 20, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

China says US media exaggerates Chinese espionage threat. China’s state-owned People’s Daily newspaper dismisses claims that there are over 3,500 Chinese spy operatives currently in the US. Chinese authorities have also dismissed as fabrication the espionage charges in the US against former Boeing engineer Dongfan “Greg” Chung.
“Adoptive father” of Israeli intelligence dies. Meir Amit, who revolutionized Israeli intelligence in the 1960s, has died at the age of 88.
China to drop espionage charges in Rio Tinto case. Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says Beijing is “not interested in what we would regard as espionage” in the Rio Tinto case.
New books on MI5, NSA, reviewed. Writing for The Washington Times, Joseph Goulden reviews Chapman Pincher’s Treachery (on whether MI5 head Sir Roger Hollis was a Soviet agent) and Matthew Aid’s Secret Sentry: The Untold Story of the NSA, which intelNews first mentioned here.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Australia, Boeing Corporation, book news and reviews, China, Dongfan Chung, espionage, Greg Chung, Israel, Matthew M. Aid, Meir Amit, MI5, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Rio Tinto, Sir Roger Hollis, Stephen Smith, Stern Hu, UK, United States

News you may have missed #0032

July 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Russian spy devices found on Norwegian shores. A Russian spy buoy used for monitoring ship traffic in international waters has been discovered on a shore in Arctic Norway. Apparently, it’s the third of its kind found on Norwegian shores this year.
Analysis: Who is the CIA allowed to kill? Some aspects in the recent CIA assassination squad controversy point to the possibility that the plan “imposed no geographical limitations on the agency’s actions”. This raises the likelihood that the program would have violated national sovereignty.
Revisiting ECHELON: The NSA’s clandestine data mining program. Jason Leopold speculates that the NSA’s ECHELON program may have helped facilitate the Bush Administration’s domestic spying efforts after 9/11.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 9/11, Arctic circle, assassinations, Bush Administration, CIA, covert operations, domestic intelligence, ECHELON, maritime intelligence, maritime surveillance, News, news you may have missed, Norway, NSA, Russia, United States, warrantless communications interception

News you may have missed #0031

July 18, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ex-Boeing engineer convicted of spying for China. A US court has convicted Dongfan “Greg” Chung, a Chinese-born Boeing engineer, of multiple counts of espionage and of passing critical trade secrets on the US space program to China.
Second US Marine charged with leaking documents to police. Another US Marine at Camp Pendleton has been charged in a bizarre intelligence leaking case, in which secret military and CIA documents were leaked to an anti-terrorism task force formed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Spy watchdog urges major changes at CSIS. Canadian intelligence is in urgent need of “major changes” to meet legal and public demands in the post-9/11 world, according to a new report by the Security Intelligence Review Committee of the Canadian government.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Camp Pendleton, Canada, China, CIA, corporate espionage, CSIS (Canada), Dongfan Chung, espionage, Greg Chung, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, News, news you may have missed, United States, US Marine Core, US space program

News you may have missed #0030

July 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

German intelligence denies Iran nuclear estimate. The BND has denied reports in the German press that it believes Iran is capable of producing and testing an atomic bomb within six months. A BND spokesperson said that the agency’s view is that Iran would not be able to produce an atomic bomb for “several years”.
Ex-CIA Director Woolsey defends CIA assassination plan. James Woolsey, the Director of the CIA during the Clinton administration has defended the principle, as well as secrecy, behind the rumored post-9/11 CIA plan to set up assassination squads and unleash them after al-Qaeda’s leadership.
India and Pakistan to share more intelligence. India and Pakistan said yesterday that they agreed to increase communication- and information-sharing. But soon afterwards India announced there would be no resumption of formal normalization talks with Pakistan until Islamabad brings those behind last year’s Mumbai attacks to justice.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008 Mumbai attacks, assassinations, BND, CIA, Germany, India, intelligence estimates, intelligence sharing, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, James Woolsey, News, news you may have missed, nuclear proliferation, Pakistan, United States

News you may have missed #0029

July 16, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Iranians revolting against Nokia for alleged spying complicity. Consumer sales of Nokia handsets in Iran have allegedly fallen by up to 50%, reportedly because of the company’s membership in the Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) partnership. As intelNews has been pointing out since last month, NSN allegedly helped supply the Iranian government with some of the world’s most sophisticated communications surveillance systems.
Analysis: Why NSA’s Einstein 3 project is dangerous. This editorial argues that US President Barack Obama’s decision to proceed with a Bush administration plan to task the National Security Agency with protecting government computer traffic on private-sector networks is “antithetical to basic civil liberties and privacy protections” in the United States.
New US government report says Bush secrecy hampered intelligence effectiveness. A new report from the Offices of Inspectors General of the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, CIA, NSA, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence, says that the Bush administration’s decision to keep NSA’s domestic wiretap program secret seriously hampered the broader intelligence community’s ability to use the program’s output.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, civil liberties, communications interception, domestic intelligence, EINSTEIN 3, government secrecy, Iran, News, news you may have missed, Nokia Corporation, Nokia Siemens Networks, NSA, operation STELLAR WIND, privacy, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), United States, warrantless communications interception, wireless communications interception, wiretapping

News you may have missed #0028

July 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Iran could have the bomb in six months, says German intelligence. Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) alleges that if the Iranians “wanted to they could test a nuclear bomb within half a year.”
Australian PM threatens China over Rio Tinto spy case. Kevin Rudd warned China it has “economic interests at stake”, less than a week after Beijing arrested the Australian chief of the Anglo-Australian mine company’s iron ore operations in China.
12 Mexico intelligence officers mutilated and killed. The mutilated bodies of the one female and 11 male federal intelligence officer were left in a heap beside a road in rural Michoacan state. Drug gangsters launched a brutal offensive against the Mexican government last Saturday, after the capture of their senior leader, Arnaldo “La Minsa” Rueda. “We’re waiting for you,” read a taunting sign left with the bodies.
NRO releases unclassified portions of 2009 budget. The super-secretive US National Reconnaissance Office, which is in charge of US satellite spying, has released fragments of its FY2009 Congressional Budget Justification Book. Incidentally, a couple of weeks ago there were rumors circulating in Washington that NRO may be broken up into several smaller agencies.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Arnaldo Rueda, Australia, BND, China, energy resources, Germany, intelligence budget, intelligence estimates, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Kevin Rudd, Mexico, Michoacan state (Mexico), News, news you may have missed, NRO, nuclear proliferation, Rio Tinto, Stern Hu, United States, war on drugs

News you may have missed #0027

July 14, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Former KGB captain still fighting deportation from Canada. IntelNews has been keeping an eye on the case of Mikhail Alexander Lennikov, whose deportation from Canada has been ordered by a court. Lennikov, a former KGB captain, claims that if deported back to Russia he will be treated as a defector by the FSB. IntelNews has also learned that Lennikov now maintains a public blog, which he updates daily.
New book claims Errol Flynn worked as a Nazi spy. The Australian-born star, who became a Hollywood legend in the 1930s, was known for his anti-Semitic views. But now a new book claims that declassified CIA files prove Flynn collaborated with German Nazi intelligence in gathering information on German socialists who fought in the Spanish Civil War.
Iranian spying allegations nonsensical, says France. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that Tehran’s claims that 23-year-old French student Clotilde Reiss was a spy in Iran are “stupid”. “Do you think my country would be so naive and shorthanded as to send a 23-year-old woman to spy in Iran? That’s stupid, it’s not possible”, said Mr. Kuchner during a visit to Lebanon.
Interesting account of Israel’s only spy history memorial. Matti Friedman, of The Associated Press, has written an interesting account of the little known Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center in Tel Aviv.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bernard Kouchner, Canada, Clotilde Reiss, deportations, Errol Flynn, France, history, informants, Iran, Israel, Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center, KGB, Mikhail Alexander Lennikov, Mossad, News, news you may have missed, Russia, Tel Aviv

News you may have missed #0026

July 13, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US Attorney General considers torture probe. The Associated Press is among several news outlets reporting that Eric Holder is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agencies after September of 2001.
Iran’s invisible Nicaraguan embassy. The US State Department has been raising alarm bells about the Iranians supposedly “building a huge embassy in Managua”. But nobody in Nicaragua can find any super-embassy, The Washington Post reports.
Kim Jonh Il likely to die soon, CIA tells S. Korean spy agency. According to South Korean sources, the CIA now believes that Kim Jong-Il’s chances of surviving the next five years are less than 30%. Last June, intelNews relayed reports that Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il’s third son, appears to be his father’s most likely successor.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, diplomacy, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Kim Jong Il, News, news you may have missed, Nicaragua, North Korea, South Korea, torture, United States, US Department of Justice, US Department of State

News you may have missed #0025

July 12, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

BREAKING NEWS: Several news outlets are reporting this morning that it was former US vice-President Dick Cheney who ordered the CIA to conceal from Congress key information about a covert action intelligence program of an undisclosed nature. See here for more.
New book claims Ernest Hemingway was KGB agent. The new book Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (Yale University Press), co-written by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev, alleges that the Nobel prize-winning novelist was on the KGB’s list of agents in America from 1941, when he was given the codename “Argo” by the Soviets.
Thousands of former Stasi spies still working in German civil service. A report in the German edition of The Financial Times claims that over 17,000 former members of East Germany’s Stasi remain employed as civil servants in reunified Germany. Stasi is the name commonly used for the Ministry for State Security, communist East Germany’s secret police.
NSA director’s secret visit to New Zealand revealed. A reporter accidentally spotted Lieutenant-General Keith Alexander, director of the US National Security Agency, entering a Wellington building accompanied by security personnel. The revelation prompted a spokesperson at the US embassy in Wellington to admit that Alexander was indeed in New Zealand “for consultations with government officials”. The close signals intelligence relationship between the US and New Zealand have been known since 1996.
Chinese national caught trying to purchase crypto hardware. Chi Tong Kuok was arrested by the FBI at the Atlanta International Airport en route from Paris to Panama, where he allegedly planned to purchase US military radios. The US government claims Kuok has admitted he was “acting at the direction of officials for the People’s Republic of China”.
Taliban say cell phone SIM cards guide US drone strikes. A Taliban circular says SIM cards planted by informants in cell phones used by militants are used to signal American drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As IntelNews recently explained, there are suspicions that this and similar discoveries are gradually prompting the Taliban and al-Qaeda to stop using cell phones altogether.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, AUSCANZUKUS, book news and reviews, Chi Tong Kuok, China, CIA, Cold War, cryptology, Dick Cheney, ECHELON, Ernest Hemingway, FBI, German Democratic Republic, Germany, Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung, intelligence oversight, Keith Alexander, KGB, Ministry for State Security (GDR), New Zealand, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Pakistan, Predator drones, SIGINT, Stasi (GDR), Taliban, telephony, UK-USA Security Agreement, UKUSA

News you may have missed #0024

July 11, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Guantánamo prisoner asked to spy on homeland radicals. Umar Abdulayev, from Tajikistan, who has been held in Guantánamo for seven years, claims in court filings that he was visited by Tajik intelligence agents in Guantánamo, who asked him to spy on Tajik Muslim radicals in exchange for his release. Abdulayev has refused the offer and has asked for asylum at a third country.
We were not hacked, says NZ spy agency. A New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) spokesman has denied the agency’s website was hacked on July 9. Those visiting the GCSB website on that day were presented with an error message.
Saudi charity lawyers ask federal judge to outlaw NSA wiretap program. Saudi-based charity Al-Haramain was taken to court in September 2004 by the US government, which accused it of maintaining terrorist links. But its lawyers have managed to reverse the case, and may now be close to getting a US federal judge to rule against warrantless NSA wiretapping.
Cyber attacks came from 16 countries. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) officials have disclosed that the cyberattacks that paralyzed major South Korean websites last weekend were mounted from at least 16 different countries. Earlier this week, NIS said it believed North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces were behind the attacks, which also affected US government websites.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Al-Haramain, communications interception, computer hacking, cyberwar, GCSB (New Zealand), Government Communications Security Bureau (New Zealand), Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, informants, Internet, National Intelligence Service (South Korea), News, news you may have missed, North Korea, NSA, South Korea, Tajikistan, Umar Abdulayev, warrantless communications interception

News you may have missed #0023

July 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Spies target Swiss banks for the secrets they hold. Jürg Bühler, acting director of Switzerland’s counter-intelligence agency, says foreign services are increasingly interested in the financial data locked in Swiss banks, especially as the global hunt for undeclared assets stiffens.
South Korea says North was behind cyberattacks on S. Korean, US web sites. South Korean intelligence officials say they believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces committed cyberattacks that paralyzed major South Korean and US government websites last weekend.
British MP accuses government of outsourcing torture. Britain’s former shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, has accused British intelligence services of “outsourcing torture”. He was commenting in the case of Rangzieb Ahmed, who claimed he was offered bribes to drop allegations that he was tortured in Pakistan, while on British custody.
Philippines President to meet CIA chief. Leon Panetta will be meeting Glorya Arroyo next week in Manila, “to discuss security concerns and to map out ways to further strengthen the bilateral partnership between the Philippines and United States”.
Former Turkey intelligence head questioned over alleged coup. The court case concerns Ergenekon, a shadowy ultranationalist network with strong links to the Turkish armed forces, which has reportedly been trying to stage a coup in Ankara.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, cyberwar, DAP (Switzerland), David Davis, economic espionage, Ergenekon, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Leon Panetta, MI6, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Rangzieb Ahmed, Service for Analysis and Prevention (Switzerland), South Korea, Switzerland, torture, Turkey, United States

News you may have missed #0022

July 9, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Australian detained on espionage charge in China. The arrest of Stern Hu, who heads Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto’s iron ore operations in China, comes right after the company backed out of a deal to sell China’s state-owned Chinalco a big stake in Rio Tinto.
US diplomat implicated in CIA abduction in Italy requests immunity. Days after the wife of a of Muslim cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who in 2003 was kidnapped by the CIA in Milan, Italy, announced plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, a CIA agent involved in the affair has come forward requesting immunity. Sabrina De Sousa, who was listed as a “diplomat” at the US consulate in Milan at the time of Nasr’s kidnapping, has made the request through her lawyer. Last week, Robert Seldon Lady, who was the CIA station chief in Milan at the time, came forward making a similar case.
CIA won’t release torture interrogation contracts. The CIA has denied a Freedom of Information Act request for post-9/11 contracts signed between the CIA and Mitchell Jessen & Associates. As intelNews explained last May, Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen were the psychologists hired by the CIA to design an elaborate ten-stage interrogation program of “war on terrorism” detainees, which apparently culminated in waterboarding.