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News you may have missed #0275

February 1, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

Over 3,000 paid informants work for Colombian security apparatus. This according to the country’s Defense Minister, Gabriel Silva, who said that the 3,000 are paid monthly and are among “2.2 million cooperating civilians” (whatever this means).
Interview with Canadian ambassador who worked for the CIA. Iran’s Press TV has published the first part of an extensive interview with Ken Taylor, Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, who recently admitted that he secretly worked for the CIA in the late 1970s, after the US embassy in Iran was taken over by students during the Islamic Revolution.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 1979 Iranian Revolution, Canada, Canadian embassy in Iran, CIA, Colombia, Gabriel Silva, informants, Iran, Ken Taylor, News, news you may have missed, United States, US embassy in Iran

Obama extends ‘war on terrorism’ theater to Yemen

February 1, 2010 by intelNews 2 Comments

Sa’dah rebels

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Think what you like about Barack Obama. The fact is, his administration is currently overseeing the most rapid expansion in the nine-year history of Washington’s so-called ‘war on terrorism’. The operations theater of this ever-expanding war now includes territories deep inside Pakistan (not just near the Afghan borderlands), as well as parts of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. With respect to the latter, intelNews is one of a handful of specialized outlets that began paying attention to US involvement there before the US airstrikes of last December, which in the eyes of the Arab world, formalized America’s military presence in the country. As predicted at the time, the strikes, which were accompanied by a Saudi military invasion of Yemen, became a rallying cry for both Sunni and Shiite Islamists in the Yemen-Saudi border, and have caused increased activity by both Shiite (Sa’dah insurgency) and Sunni (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP) militants. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ali Abdullah Saleh, AQAP, Barack Obama, CIA, Joint Special Operations Command, JSOC, News, NSA, Obama Administration, Pakistan, Sa'dah insurgency, Saudi Arabia, United States, War on Terrorism, Yemen

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 #0273

January 30, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Tinner nuclear spy ring worked for CIA, documents confirm. IntelNews has been reporting for more than a year that Urs Tinner, a Swiss engineer who worked under Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, and was said at the time to be leading “the world’s biggest nuclear smuggling ring”, was in fact a CIA informant. Now documents submitted in a Swiss federal court appear to confirm Tinner’s CIA connection.
Son of Georgia’s former president charged with spying for Russia. Some say that Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgia’s first post-communist president, was assassinated in 1993. Now his son, Tsotne Gamsakhurdia, has been formally charged with “collaborating with Russian intelligence services”. The former president’s son’s arrest appears to be the latest episode in an ongoing intelligence war between Russia and Georgia.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdul Qadeer Khan, CIA, espionage, Georgia, informants, News, nuclear espionage, Russia, Switzerland, Tsotne Gamsakhurdia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia

News you may have missed #0272

January 29, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

Outcry in Turkey over revealed coup plot. Turkish daily Taraf has revealed a military coup plot, which included detailed plans to trigger chaos in the country with the ultimate goal of a military takeover. This appears to be a new plot, not associated with the ongoing Ergenekon coup plot investigation.
US jails Sri Lankan LTTE operatives. A US federal court has sentenced Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam and Sahilal Sabaratnam to 25 years in prison for trying to purchase almost $1 million worth of high-powered weaponry for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which the US considers a terrorist organization.
Czechoslovakian spy lookout to be opened to public. The bell tower on St. Nicholas’ Church in Prague, where 20 years ago the Czechoslovakian secret police, the StB, kept a hidden lookout on activities outside nearby embassies, especially that of the US, is to be opened to the public later this year.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Cold War, coup plots, Czechoslovakia, Ergenekon, history, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, News, news you may have missed, Prague (Czech Republic), Sahilal Sabaratnam, Sri Lanka, StB (Czechoslovakia), Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam, Turkey, United States, US embassy in Czechoslovakia, weapons smuggling

US report sheds light on mysterious Chinese front company

January 29, 2010 by intelNews 2 Comments

Lev Leviev

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A new report by a US Congressional commission sheds light on a mysterious Chinese corporate group, which intelligence observers have long-suspected to be a front company for Chinese spy agencies. Named after the street address of its headquarters, the Hong Kong-registered 88 Queensway Group is noted for its dynamic investments around the world, particularly in Africa, where the Chinese government has been extremely active in recent years. But new information (.pdf) compiled by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission of the US Congress, alleges that the 88 Queensway Group “falsely represents itself as a private business when it actually is [an arm of the] Chinese intelligence community [and] public security apparatus”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 88 Queensway Group, Africa, Angola, Argentina, Arkady Gaydamak, China, economic espionage, France, front companies, Helder Battaglia, Hong Kong, Israel, Lev Leviev, News, Pierre Falcone, Russia, United States, US Congress, US Congress US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Venezuela

US officials sought ‘national security’ clause to keep bailout details secret

January 28, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

SEC logo

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
US officials in charge of regulating securities exchanges sought to apply a ‘national security’ clause to information relating to the government’s bailout of giant insurance company American International Group (AIG). Emails obtained by Reuters show that, in November of 2008, the New York Federal Reserve (NYFR), which administered the bailout, collaborated with AIG in requesting that US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officials apply “special security procedures” to shield bailout-related information from public scrutiny. Instead of dismissing the –possibly illegal– request, SEC officials advised NYFR and AIG to publicly file heavily redacted versions of the documents in question, and request “confidential treatment” for the redacted portions, citing ‘national security’ clauses. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with AIG, American International Group, corporate secrecy, Darrell Issa, economics, FOIA, government secrecy, national security, New York Federal Reserve, News, Securities and Exchange Commission, US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

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

Uproar as UK government classifies details of weapon expert’s death

January 26, 2010 by intelNews 2 Comments

Dr. David Kelly

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Public speculation over the alleged suicide of UK biological weapons expert Dr. David Kelly is bound to increase, after a senior state official secretly ordered that details of his death be kept secret for 70 years. Dr. Kelly, a British Ministry of Defense scientist, who had been employed by the United Nations as a weapons inspector, caused a major stir by becoming one of the sources of a 2003 BBC report disputing the British government’s claim that Iraq could deploy chemical or biological weapons at 45 minutes’ notice. He was later called to appear before a Parliamentary committee investigating the government’s claims about Iraq’s purported ‘weapons of mass destruction’. But on July 18, 2003, four days after appearing before the committee, Dr. Kelly’s was found dead at a wooded area near his home. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with BBC, biological weapons, British Houses of Parliament, David Kelly, government secrecy, intelligence classification, Iraq War, Iraq weapons of mass destruction, Lord Hutton, News, scientific intelligence, suicides, suspicious deaths, UK, UK Ministry of Defence

Canada’s ambassador in Iran was ‘CIA asset’ in 1970s

January 26, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ken Taylor

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Canada’s former ambassador to Iran has admitted that he and the embassy’s head of security secretly worked for the CIA in the late 1970s. Ambassador Ken Taylor and Canadian fellow-diplomat Jim Edward became the CIA’s “most valuable asset[s]” in Iran, following the November 4, 1979, seizure of the US embassy in Tehran by student groups allied to the Islamic Revolution. The revelation was made public last weekend in a new book entitled Our Man in Tehran, by Trent University historian Robert Wright, which examines intelligence aspects of the Iranian Revolution. In it, Dr. Wright says that ambassador Taylor became “the de facto CIA station chief” in the Iranian capital, after he and Edward accepted an American request to do so, which was communicated personally to Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark by US President Jimmy Carter. Until he left the country, on January 27, 1980, Taylor and Edward provided the US with “aggressive intelligence” and an operations base for CIA agents, authorized the CIA’s use of false Canadian travel documents, and helped the Agency plan an “armed incursion” into Iran. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 1979 Iranian Revolution, Canada, Canadian embassy in Iran, CIA, diplomacy, Iran, Jim Edward, Jimmy Carter, Joe Clark, Ken Taylor, News, Robert Wright, travel documentation, United States, US embassy in Iran, Wesley Wark

News you may have missed #0268

January 25, 2010 by intelNews 2 Comments

Lithuanian foreign minister resigns over CIA black sites. After Lithuania’s intelligence director, Povilas Malakauskas, who resigned last month following the revelation that two CIA black sites operated in Vilnius between 2004 and 2005, the country’s foreign minister, Vygaudas Usackas, has said he will step down in connection with the case.
UK prime minister urges co-operation between spy agencies. It is not just US intelligence agencies that seem to have trouble cooperating with each other. Britain’s leader Gordon Brown says MI5, MI6 and GCHQ need “to be able seamlessly to track and disrupt terrorist activity and movements, whether within the UK or beyond”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, GCHQ, Gordon Brown, intelligence cooperation, Lithuania, MI5, MI6, News, news you may have missed, Povilas Malakauskas, resignations, secret prisons, UK, United States, Vilnius (Lithuania), Vygaudas Usackas

News you may have missed #0267

January 25, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

US Pentagon outsources kidnap rescue missions. In the US military, few missions are considered more important than rescuing missing or kidnapped troops. So it’s more than a little odd that US forces in Iraq have decided to outsource that operation to Blackbird Technologies Inc., a private company, for $11.3 million a year.
US to give spy drones to Pakistan. The United States will provide a dozen unarmed Shadow aerial spy drones to Pakistan for the first time. As we have reported before, the Pakistanis are trying to build their own drones, but the process is taking much longer than initially planned.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Blackbird Technologies, intelligence outsourcing, News, news you may have missed, Pakistan, rescue operations, Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle, United States

FBI wiretaps broke the law thousands of times from 2002 to 2006

January 25, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

FBI memos

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Considering the extent of illegal domestic telephone surveillance practiced by US intelligence agencies after 9/11, the disclosure of yet another wiretap scandal can hardly surprise anyone. But the latest revelation by The Washington Post points to an alarming collusion between FBI agents, their supervisors, as well as telephone industry employees, all of whom consciously disregarded even the severely lax standards of the USA PATRIOT Act. The paper says it acquired several internal FBI memos (.pdf), through “a government employee outside the FBI, who gained access to them”. These memos appear to show widespread abuse of more than 2,000 US telephone call records (but not content, it appears), which FBI agents obtained between 2002 and 2006, by presenting telephone companies with fake National Security Letters (NSLs). The NSLs claimed the records were required for emergency counterterrorism investigations. But in reality these investigations bore no connection to terrorism, and the NSLs were never followed up with actual subpoenas, as they were supposed to. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with civil liberties, communications interception, FBI, National Security Letters, News, telephone surveillance, telephony industry, United States, US Electronic Communications Privacy Act, USA PATRIOT Act, Valerie Caproni, warrantless communications interception, whistleblowing

News you may have missed #0266

January 24, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Convicted US Pentagon official’s mom introduced him to Chinese spy. Retired US Air Force officer James W. Fondren Jr., who was convicted in September of selling classified US government information to China, was apparently introduced to his Chinese spy handler, Tai Shen Kuo, by his mom.
CIA contractor flying surveillance missions over Haiti. Evergreen International Aviation, a controversial Oregon-based CIA contractor, is flying at least one ScanEagle surveillance drone over Haiti, supposedly on disaster recovery duty.