Peru wiretapping scandal involves Norwegian oil company

January 12, 2009 by 1 Comment

Alan Garcia

Alan Garcia

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Last October, a television station in Peru aired intercepted telephone conversations in which high-level politicians were heard accepting payments by lobbyists in return for awarding state oil contracts to a Discover Petroleum, a small Norwegian oil company. The revelation caused one of the worst crises in modern Peruvian political history, prompting the entire cabinet of President Alan Garcia to resign. Now the country’s Department of Justice is investigating charges of corruption against the president of Discover Petroleum, several lobbyists, numerous government oil executives, and three former government ministers. Meanwhile, the Peruvian police is targeting the people responsible for…intercepting the revelatory telephone calls. Six people were arrested late last week for illegally recording the telephone discussions on behalf of Business Track SAC, a private security company. Interestingly, five of the six are either retired or active counterintelligence officers of the Peruvian Navy. Read more of this post

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Indians arrest second alleged Pakistani spy in Uttar Pradesh

January 12, 2009 by Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Less than a month after India’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested Abdul Jabbar, an alleged Pakistani Military Intelligence agent operating in Lucknow, Indian authorities have announced the capture of a second alleged operative in Meerut, a city 400 kilometers from Lucknow, in the region of Uttar Pradesh. Like Jabbar, who was said to possess “secret information regarding [Indian] Central command”, the second arrestee, Ameer Ahmad, was found to possess “[m]aps of [Indian] army units in Meerut and Dehradun”. On December 17, we speculated that Jabbar’s arrest was “part of an elaborate counterintelligence sting, possibly involving Indian moles inside Pakistani Military Intelligence”. Speculation aside, it would be logical to infer at this stage that Ahmad’s capture is directly related to Jabbar, who appears to be talking to his Indian interrogators.

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Hamas map discovery shows advanced preparations for ground war

January 11, 2009 by 2 Comments

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The increasingly sophisticated deception and propaganda operations by all sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been extensively detailed in the relevant specialized literature. But if the recent revelation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of a Hamas urban warfare map is indeed genuine, it signifies well-timed anticipation by the Palestinian faction of Israel’s current offensive in the Gaza Strip. The map, which was allegedly discovered by IDF paratroopers in Beit Lahia, north of Gaza, is said to portray a detailed diagram of the al-Atatra neighborhood, with locations of booby traps. The latter include the use of dolls to lure IDF soldiers, with the intention of killing or –more beneficially from Hamas’ strategic viewpoint– kidnapping them. Read more of this post

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Vietnam veterans sue CIA for mind control experiments

January 9, 2009 by 1 Comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) have filed a federal lawsuit against the CIA, the US Department of Defense and numerous other government entities and individuals, for subjecting US military personnel to chemical, biological and mind control experiments from 1953 until 1976. The Washington, DC-based group said it filed the lawsuit on behalf of six elderly veterans “with multiple diseases and ailments”, who were subjected to “secret experiments to test toxic chemical and biological substances under code names such as MKULTRA”. The codeword refers to a lengthy research program by the CIA’s Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI, a.k.a. Technical Services Division) to test the effects of various types of drugs in altering the brain function of unsuspecting subjects. Read more of this post

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Obama to restructure White House oversight of domestic security

January 9, 2009 by Leave a comment

Brennan

Brennan

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Almost immediately following the 9/11 attacks, President George Bush reorganized the White House supervision of domestic security issues by appointing a new Homeland Security Advisor to the President. Shortly afterwards he issued a directive creating a Homeland Security Council operating inside the White House, and tasked it with overseeing domestic security efforts. The main idea behind the reorganization was to allow the National Security Council (NSC) to concentrate on international security issues by transferring responsibility for domestic security to the new Homeland Security Council. Bush’s plan has been criticized as reflecting a simplistic and artificial separation of domestic versus international security. It now appears that US President Elect Barack Obama is intent on scrapping the majority of Bush’s 2001 reorganization, by eliminating the Homeland Security Council and reassigning the task of domestic security to the National Security Council. Furthermore, under Obama’s plan, the Homeland Security Advisor will be replaced by a new National Security Advisor who will be reporting to the President on domestic security issues, as instructed by the NSC.  Read more of this post

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Hamas-IDF cell phone war continues

January 9, 2009 by Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Since the beginning of the ongoing war in Gaza, IntelNews has frequently reported on the peculiar cell phone war that has been taking place between Palestinian group Hamas and the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces. Specifically, the IDF and Israeli intelligence appear to be randomly calling cell phones belonging to Gaza residents with messages prompting them to evacuate Hamas-affiliated targets. The tactic appears to have resulted in a backlash for the IDF, as Gazans receiving these calls often rush to roofs of potential target buildings in efforts to prevent the attacks. Moreover, Hamas seems to be employing a similar tactic to warn Israeli cell phone subscribers that Qassam rockets will fall “on all cities” and that “shelters [will] not protect” them. It now looks like Hamas is employing the cell phone trick to cause confusion in the ranks of IDF reservists. Israeli newspaper Ha’aretzi is reporting that Israeli reservists waiting to be called into action are receiving “numerous fictitious […] ’emergency call for duty’ messages” on their mobile phones. Read more of this post

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Pakistan fires pro-US national security adviser

January 8, 2009 by 2 Comments

Durrani

Durrani

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
News has emerged from Islamabad that the government of Pakistan has fired national security advisor Mahmood Ali Durrani. Durrani was fired late yesterday, reportedly after publicly confirming that the sole surviving attacker of the 2008 Mumbai attacks is indeed a Pakistani citizen, a claim that the Pakistani government has fervently denied. However, the confirmation was independently backed by other senior Pakistani government officials, none of whom appear to have been disciplined. The Associated Press quotes independent Pakistani political analyst Talat Masood as saying that Durrani, who was previously Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, and is known for his dovish stance vis-à-vis India, was seen by some critics in Pakistan as “too pro-American”. Masood suggested that the Pakistani government has been searching for a pretext to get rid of Durrani. If his observation is accurate, then Durrani’s ousting will be interpreted by American government officials as a clear signal of Islamabad’s refusal to abide by Washington’s policy directives in the so-called “war on terrorism”.

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US rewarding Colombia despite knowledge of military abuses, declassified records show

January 8, 2009 by Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Earlier this year, the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation nominated Colombia as a leading candidate for economic assistance under the Millennium Challenge Act. The Act provides financial rewards to US allies “that enter into compacts with the United States to support policies and programs that advance the progress of such countries [toward] demonstrated commitment to just and democratic governance”. However, internal US government documents published yesterday by researchers at The National Security Archive, show that Colombia’s favored treatment by the US comes despite knowledge of serious and systematic abuses by the Colombian military and security establishment. According to the declassified documents, the CIA and senior US diplomats in Bogotá have known since at least 1994 that the country’s security forces (largely trained and backed by the US) systematically engage in “death squad tactics”, and collaborate with drug running cartels. Read more of this post

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MI5 Director in rare public interview

January 8, 2009 by Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The head of MI5, Britain’s foremost counterintelligence agency, has given the first public interview of an MI5 serving Director General in the organization’s 100-year history. Jonathan Evans, who became Director General of MI5 last April, answered questions in a face-to-face interview, on January 6, with a carefully selected group of security correspondents representing a handful of British media outlets. Among other things, Evans confirmed that al-Qaeda’s Pakistan-based leaders are actively trying to recruit British-born Muslims to stage attacks inside the UK. He estimated at “around 2,000” the number of individuals in Britain who are actively involved in such efforts, with many more involved in “fundraising, helping people to travel to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia. Sometimes they provide equipment, support and propaganda”, he said. Read more of this post

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Further technical details emerge on Mumbai attacks

January 7, 2009 by Leave a comment

Mumbai attacker

Mumbai attacker

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
On December 9, we reported that the Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, used voice-over-Internet-protocol (VOIP) software to communicate with the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on the ground and direct the operation on a real-time basis. We further noted that VOIP signals pose severe barriers to communications interception, as well as to the ability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to locate the source of target calls. The Mumbai attacks were a typical example of this. Thus, even though Indian intelligence services know that the handlers of the Mumbai attackers were located in Pakistan, their VOIP communications data pointed to companies in New Jersey and Austria. Further details have now emerged of a virtual number, 1-201-253-1824, which the handlers of the Mumbai attackers actually generated via a California-based VOIP provider. Read more of this post

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DoJ continues criminal investigation of NSA whistleblower

January 7, 2009 by 1 Comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Last month, Thomas M. Tamm, a former US Justice Department official, revealed himself as the source who initially tipped off The New York Times about NSA’s operation STELLAR WIND, a domestic warrantless spying program, which was secretly authorized by the Bush Administration in the wake of 9/11. New York Times journalists James Risen and Eric Lichtblau eventually revealed the program in a front page article, relying on interviews with nearly a dozen undisclosed insiders. Despite numerous indications that STELLAR WIND may be unconstitutional, and despite the impending change of guard at the White House, the US Department of Justice appears to be actively pursuing its criminal investigation of Tamm. Read more of this post

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Obama to nominate wiretapping critic for critical DoJ post

January 7, 2009 by Leave a comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Yesterday we wrote that Leon Panetta’s nomination to direct the CIA is part of a broader effort by US President Elect Barack Obama to reestablish governmental “oversight over the intelligence community, which […] was effectively terminated [after] 9/11”. Now rumors of yet another nomination come to support the view of a broader plan by Barack Obama “to depart from some of the most controversial legal policies of the Bush administration”. The President Elect is shortly expected to nominate David Kris, a former national security legal adviser in the Department of Justice, to lead the DoJ’s National Security Division. The Division was established in 2006 to oversee intelligence activities by US government agencies relating to counterespionage and counterterrorism. Read more of this post

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British authorities admit to hacking computers

January 7, 2009 by Leave a comment

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The British Home Office has joined an EU-wide agreement that prompts European law enforcement agencies to resort to computer hacking (termed “remote searching” in the official document) in order to combat cyber crime. Commenting on the move, a spokesman for the UK Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) admitted that British law enforcement and intelligence agencies already conduct “a small number” of such operations every year. Specifically, the spokesman said that “remote searching”, which allows the authorities to covertly examine the contents and activity of targeted computers, was employed during “194 clandestine searches […] of people’s homes, offices and hotel bedrooms”. Read more of this post

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US Judge allows legal challenge of warrantless wiretapping

January 7, 2009 by Leave a comment

Pete Seda, fmr head of Al-Haramain

Pete Seda, fmr head of Al-Haramain

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Ever since September 2004, when they were taken to court accused of terrorist links by the US government, the directors of Al-Haramain, a Saudi-based Islamic charity with offices in Oregon and Missouri, have suspected their telephones had been tapped under the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. Their suspicions were confirmed last July, when US government prosecutors mistakenly gave the charity’s legal team a classified document showing that the FBI had indeed tapped the group’s office phones. The group’s legal team used the classified document as a basis to sue the Bush Administration, claiming that warrantless wiretapping violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). However, the presiding Judge, Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker, ruled that the lawsuit rested on a classified document that Al-Haramain’s lawyers were not supposed to have access to in the first place. He therefore dismissed the case and ordered the Islamic charity’s legal team to return the document to the FBI. Read more of this post

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Austin activist reveals himself to be FBI informant

January 6, 2009 by Leave a comment

Brandon Darby

Brandon Darby

In the days just prior to last year’s Republican National Convention in St. Paul, two activists from Texas used a rented U-Haul trailer to transport dozens of homemade shields, helmets and batons to Minnesota’s capital. The two activists, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, presumably intended the homemade protection gear to be used in street demonstrations during the RNC. They were eventually intercepted by St. Paul police officers who appeared to know what the two men were hauling. The officers, who did not use a warrant, proceeded to smash the trailer’s lock and seize its contents. This incident appears to have failed to convince McKay and Crowder of the obvious existence of an informant in their ranks. Read more of this post

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