US had secret role in attack on Lord’s Resistance Army

February 11, 2009 by Leave a comment

Joseph Kony

Joseph Kony

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
After its clandestine involvement in central Africa, in the late 1990s, and in Somalia, in 2006, the US is now actively assisting military and security operations in the Congo and Uganda. In an article published on February 7, The New York Times revealed that the US Pentagon assisted in the planning of an attack by Ugandan government forces on the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a notorious Ugandan Christian terrorist group. The attack on the LRA took place inside the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, formerly known as Zaire), where LRA militants have been hiding in one of the many Congolese national parks. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Russian intelligence notes influx of foreign spies into Siberia

February 10, 2009 by 2 Comments

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The press office of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has announced a noticeable increase in espionage activity by agents of foreign governments in Siberia. Russian counterintelligence agents have apparently detected increased presence of operatives from Asian-Pacific countries in and around Siberian scientific centers in Novosibirsk, and especially in its suburb of Akademgorodok, nicknamed “science city” by the Russians. The head of FSB’s local directorate in Novosibirsk, Sergey Savchenkov, said that “dozens of foreign spies” had been discovered in the region in 2008″, and that most of them were targeting Russian scientists using “all possible means” to extract confidential information. Siberian academic facilities are noted for their research in the fields of oil and gas geology, nanotechnology, creation of new materials, and biochemistry, among other subjects. This is not the first time in recent months that the FSB has drawn attention to scientific and technical espionage on Russian soil. In December of 2008, Major-General Valeriy Beklenishchev, who heads the FSB’s Saratov branch, said nanotechnology research projects conducted at regional universities, as well as research on “heat and power engineering and electronics” were prime espionage targets of foreign operatives.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Kosovo names first Director of new intelligence agency

February 10, 2009 by 6 Comments

Bashkim Smakaj

B. Smakaj

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Kosovo, a tiny Balkan nation that unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia in February of 2007, has named the first Director of its newly launched intelligence agency. He is 32-year-old Bashkim Smakaj, an ethnic Albanian who until recently was a colonel in the Strategic Planning Unit of the country’s police force. The establishment of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA), which Mr. Smakaj will be heading, was announced several months ago, but no Director had been named until last Wednesday. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , ,

CIA sees British Muslims as most dangerous threat

February 10, 2009 by Leave a comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On January 4, intelNews relayed reports from officials in Washington and London of an “unprecedented intelligence-gathering operation in Britain” by the CIA. The reason behind this intense activity appears to be that the Agency considers militants in Britain’s one-million-strong Muslim community to be “the most likely source of another terrorist spectacular on US soil”. Now a follow-up report in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reveals that US President Barack Obama has been briefed in detail by CIA officials about the “dramatic escalation in American espionage in Britain” in recent months. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Are New Zealand secret services spying on elected parliamentarians?

February 9, 2009 by Leave a comment

Keith Locke

Keith Locke

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Green Party of New Zealand is a sizeable political coalition representing around 150,000 voters in the country’s parliament. A few days ago, it was revealed that the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has been keeping a file on an elected Green Party Parliament Member since he was 11 years old. The Parliamentarian, Keith Locke, first entered Parliament on the Green Party ticket in 1999. The reported reason for the spying is that Mr. Locke’s parents, Elsie and Jack Locke, both prominent environmentalists, were members of the Communist Party of New Zealand in the 1950s and 1960s. Interestingly, NZSIS continued to spy on Mr. Locke even after he was elected to Parliament, even as recently as 2006. His NZSIS file reportedly contains covert photographs of him and notes on “his private work with constituents”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Oak Ridge employee admits espionage charges

February 9, 2009 by 2 Comments

Roy Oakley (court illustration)

Roy Oakley (court illustration)

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On February 6, Roy Lynn Oakley, of Harriman, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to espionage charges under the US Atomic Energy Act. From 2006 to 2007, Oakley worked for Bechtel Jacobs, a contractor at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge. He had apparently been granted a security clearance and thus had access to a host of classified materials and data relating to uranium enrichment. In 2006, US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (OIC) officers in Oak Ridge were tipped that “Oakley may have been in possession of protected materials that belonged to the DOE and was offering to sell the materials to a foreign government”. Along with FBI agents, they initiated a counterintelligence sting operation. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Britain says at least 20 countries spying on it

February 9, 2009 by Leave a comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper has revealed a government report, which states that the UK is a “high priority espionage target” for “at least 20 foreign intelligence services”. The report, issued to UK government departments on January 19, 2009, warns against overlooking traditional espionage threats while focusing almost solely on the activities of al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups. Authored by a group of British Army Intelligence Corps officers, the report identifies Chinese and Russian espionage networks as the most active on British soil, and discloses that “[t]he number of Russian intelligence officers in London has not fallen since the Soviet times”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New spy tech agency developing advanced biometrics systems

February 8, 2009 by Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which was developed by the US Pentagon in 1958, following the shock caused by the successful launch of Soviet satellite Sputnik, is well known. What is much less well known is the corresponding agency for the US intelligence community: IARPA. Its initials stand for Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, and its mission is to work under the Director of National Intelligence to create hi-tech applications for America’s intelligence agencies. Established quietly in 2007, IARPA is currently located at the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Study of Language (CASL), but is projected to move to a new facility at the University’s College Park before the end of 2009. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , ,

Another CIA agent gone wild, denied bail

February 7, 2009 by Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Just hours after intelNews examined the growing number of cases of out-of-control CIA agents, another incident has been added to the long list. Steven J. Levan, a 16-year CIA veteran, pleaded guilty last Thursday to fraud charges, after he was caught using CIA credit cards to pay for over $75,000 in personal expenses, which included pricey hotel stays and a $700 Raymond Weil watch. Levan was a high-paid CIA case agent residing in Virginia, and participated in several overseas CIA tours in the 1980s and 1990s. Recently, however, he was arrested and terminated from the Agency on January 12, after he was caught using credit card accounts customarily used by the CIA for undercover purposes, to fund unauthorized expenses. Interestingly, Levan has been refused bail since his arrest, to prevent him from “peddling national security secrets to foreign powers to raise more money”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , ,

Suspicious FSB inquiries preceded Politkovskaya assassination

February 6, 2009 by 2 Comments

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) filed several inquiries about journalist Anna Politkovskaya’s place of residence in the days before she was gunned down in the elevator of her apartment block, a Moscow district court heard yesterday. The allegation, made several days ago by former FSB officer Lt. Col. Pavel Ryaguzov, appeared to corroborate information discovered in an archived written request by the FSB to Russia’s Federal Migration Service, inquiring as to Mrs. Politkovskaya’s residence address in Moscow. The FSB request, dated September 18, 2006, 19 days prior to the journalist’s assassination, sought to clarify an apparent discrepancy between Mrs. Politkovskaya’s registered address and actual residence in the Russian capital. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , ,

US threatened to end UK spy cooperation, say judges

February 5, 2009 by 1 Comment

David Miliband

David Miliband

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Two British judges published scathing criticism yesterday of the British government’s decision to withhold documents on the case of a Guantánamo detainee who says he was tortured, thus giving in to alleged pressure by the US to keep the information secret. The two high court judges, Justice Lloyd Jones and Lord Justice Thomas, accused the British government of keeping “powerful evidence” secret after being threatened by Washington that it would “stop sharing intelligence about terrorism with the UK”. The judges also dismissed claims by the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, that “the public of the United Kingdom would be put at risk” if the American threats were to materialize. The court case involves allegations of torture by Binyam Mohamed, a resident of Britain, who is currently imprisoned by US authorities at the Guantánamo Bay camp. Mr. Mohamed was abducted in 2002 by Pakistani authorities, who delivered him to US intelligence agents. The latter employed the controversial practice of extraordinary rendition and had Mr. Mohamed secretly imprisoned in Morocco and Afghanistan before taking him to Guantánamo. The Ethiopian-born Mohamed says he was brutally tortured while in Moroccan and US custody. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

France’s former spy chief refuses to testify in Angolagate trial

February 4, 2009 by Leave a comment

Yves Bertrand

Yves Bertrand

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
France’s former spy chief has refused to testify as a defense witness in the infamous Angolagate trial, which probes illegal arms shipments from France to Angola in the early 1990s. The arms scandal, which was uncovered in 1995 by the French authorities, involved unauthorized shipments of over $600 million-worth of weapons to the MPLA-dominated government in post-civil-war Angola. Forty-two people are implicated in the case, some of whom are facing charges of money laundering, tax evasion, as well as bribery of French government officials responsible for overseeing commercial shipments to Angola. The 42 include Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, son of the late French President Francois Mitterrand, former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, and two businessmen, Pierre Falcone, from France, and Israeli-Russian tycoon Arkady Gaydamak. Interestingly, Falcone and Gaydamak stated during the trial that they planned the illegal weapons shipments to Angola with the secret approval of the French government, which was hoping to gain access to Angolan oil in return for the weapons handout. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Obama insiders already in secret talks with Iran, Syria

February 3, 2009 by Leave a comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
French news agency AFP is reporting that individuals associated with the Administration of US President Barack Obama have held several secret meetings with Iranian and Syrian officials during the past several months. The Agency describes the clandestine meetings as “high-level” and notes that the Obama team approved them “even before winning the November 4 election”. Some of the meetings appear to have been coordinated by the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, a Nobel Prize-winning anti-nuclear proliferation group. The Executive Director of the group’s US branch, Jeffrey Boutwell, describes the US-Iranian contacts, which took place in The Hague and in Vienna, as “”very, very high-level”, and notes that they covered issues beyond Iran’s nuclear program, including “the Middle East peace process [and] Persian Gulf issues”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Belgian intelligence concerned about increasing spy presence

February 3, 2009 by Leave a comment

Alain Winants

Alain Winants

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Despite Belgium’s strategic location and central role in the Cold War, the Belgian secret services have historically had a very limited presence in the country. Their postwar function has been primarily one of information analysis, and it was not until 2006 that they were given powers to intercept communications, conduct authorized breaking-and-entry operations, or detain and question suspects. This situation is changing, however, as the Belgian Federal Parliament prepares to consider a bill on “special intelligence methods” that will further expand the powers of Belgian intelligence services. Last week, Alain Winants, Director of Belgium’s State Security Service (SV/SE) said his agents required expanded investigative powers to combat the increasing presence of foreign spies in the country. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

British MPs to consider torture allegations of MI5 detainees

February 2, 2009 by Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
In 2007, British newspaper The Guardian disclosed that several Pakistani “war on terror” detainees in Pakistan were severely tortured by Pakistani intelligence agents before being interrogated by British security officers. Nearly two years after the revelations, a joint British Parliament committee has agreed to consider the allegations. On Tuesday, February 3, the British Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights will hear evidence that interrogators with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) brutally tortured a number of prisoners before handing them over to interrogators working for MI5, Britain’s foremost counterintelligence agency. In exposing the story in 2007, The Guardian suggested that the MI5 agents were aware of the torture, which involved severe beatings, fingernail extractions, and even physical threats with electric drills. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →