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BREAKING NEWS: Bomb blast kills Iranian physicist

January 12, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Dr. Mohammadi

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS| intelNews.org |
Iran’s state broadcaster has said a government physicist was “martyred” earlier this morning in a suspicious blast outside his home. The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) news agency reports that police forces have sealed off the area around the Tehran residence of Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, whom it described as a “dedicated revolutionary professor”. Dr. Ali-Mohammadi was reportedly killed by a remotely controlled explosive device that was planted at the entrance of his residence. Iranian officials hint that the remnants of the device point to the work of “outside intelligence agencies”, and some implicate the Mossad. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Ardeshire Hassanpour, assassinations, CIA, defectors, IAEA, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Israel, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mossad, News, nuclear espionage, nuclear proliferation, Qum (Iran), Shahram Amiri, United States

News you may have missed #0222

December 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UN investigates claims Iran using Taiwan as nuclear conduit. United Nations officials are investigating intelligence claims that Iran has established a smuggling network using front companies in Taiwan to acquire equipment that it could use to make nuclear weapons.
Blackwater tied to secret CIA raids, say employees. “There was a feeling that Blackwater eventually became an extension of the agency”, said one former top CIA officer. IntelNews regulars will remember that we described last summer’s revelations of Blackwater’s participation in US special operations as “just the tip of the iceberg”.

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News you may have missed #0192

November 23, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ex-agent reveals botched CIA operation in Siberia. Former CIA operative Mike Ramsdell has described a botched post-Cold War CIA operation in Siberia, which almost cost him his life. Another, apparently unrelated, botched CIA operation in Siberia was revealed last August.
How secret Operation WEDGE ended Czechoslovak communism. “There are dozens of conspiracy theories about the Eastern European revolutions of 1989: that it was all the work of the CIA, the KGB, or a cabal of Western banks with mafia connections. Most are hokum. But in Czechoslovakia there really was a conspiracy behind the theory”.
Secret US-Japanese nuclear deal comes to light. IntelNews has previously discussed this secret arrangement, which reportedly allows US military vessels and aircraft carrying nuclear weapons to enter Japanese territorial waters, as long as Japan is protected by the US nuclear umbrella.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Cold War, Czechoslovakia, espionage, history, Japan, KGB, Mike Ramsdell, News, news you may have missed, nuclear proliferation, Operation WEDGE, Russia, Siberia, United States

News you may have missed #0143

October 14, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Documents shed light on secret US-Japan nuclear deal. The George Washington University’s National Security Archive has published a number of declassified US government documents, as well as interviews with and memoirs of diplomats, which appear to confirm the existence of a rumored secret nuclear agreement between Washington and Tokyo. Both sides have for years denied the existence of the agreement, which is said to allow US military vessels and aircraft carrying nuclear weapons to enter Japanese territorial waters, as long as Japan is protected by the US nuclear umbrella.
Man killed by Houston Police was not our agent, says CIA. Roland Vincent Carnaby, who was shot dead by police on a Houston highway at the end of a high-speed chase in 2008, was not an undercover CIA operative, Langley has said. It also said that it holds no files or other materials relating Carnaby. But Carnaby’s widow’s lawyer, Randall Kallinena, insists the deceased did “a whole lot of counterintelligence work at the highest level where it was helpful to the United States”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Cold War, declassification, FOIA, Houston (Texas), Houston Police Department, Japan, lawsuits, News, news you may have missed, nuclear proliferation, Randall Kallinena, Roland Vincent Carnaby, United States

Clinton’s mysterious comment raises eyebrows in New Zealand

October 12, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Hillary Clinton

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A comment by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton following a meeting with a senior New Zealand government official has raised questions by intelligence observers in the pacific nation. Speaking last Friday after an official meeting in Washington with her New Zealand counterpart, minister of foreign affairs Murray McCully, Clinton said the US “very much” values its diplomatic partnership with New Zealand. She then proceeded to say “[w]e are resuming our intelligence-sharing cooperation, which we think is very significant”. This latter comment struck many intelligence observers in Wellington as odd, and for a good reason: nobody was under the impression that the US-NZ intelligence cooperation had been disrupted. The mystery deepened when New Zealand prime minister John Key refused to explain Hillary Clinton’s remark when asked, saying simply “I just don’t comment on issues of national security”. Read more of this post

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News you may have missed #0132

October 7, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

Emirates to deport Syrian ex-spy and witness in Hariri assassination probe. A Syrian former spy was on Monday sentenced to six months in jail and deportation for entering the United Arab Emirates on a forged Czech passport. Interestingly, Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, was a prosecution witness in the inquiry into the assassination of Lebanon’s ex-premier Rafiq Hariri. In 2005, Siddiq claimed that Lebanon’s former pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, gave the order to kill anti-Syrian Hariri. It is not clear to which country Siddiq will be deported.
US national security advisor insists Iran cannot currently build the bomb. US National Security Advisor General James Jones has rejected claims by The New York Times that Iraq has enough information to design and build a functional nuclear bomb. Jones also stood by the conclusions of the 2007 US National Intelligence Estimate, which said Iran’s nuclear arms program is inactive.
Book claims CIA-linked network killed anti-drugs campaigner. A new book by Australian researcher John Jiggens claims that a CIA-linked drug smuggling network was responsible for the 1977 murder of Australian anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2007 NIE, assassinations, Australia, Bashar al-Assad, CIA, deportations, Donald Mackay, Emile Lahoud, espionage, General James Jones, Iranian nuclear program, Lebanon, Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, narcotics trade, NIE, nuclear espionage, nuclear proliferation, political activism, Rafiq Hariri, Syria, United Arab Emirates, war on drugs

Analysis: Spy agencies disagree on status of Iran’s nuclear program

October 5, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

M. Ahmadinejad

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Western intelligence agencies agree that Iran’s ultimate aim is to fortify its military posture with nuclear weapons. Putting aside, however, the broad concurrence of opinion about Iran’s long-term goal, very little is clear about the immediate status of the country’s nuclear program. Iran maintains that its goal is peaceful; namely to invest in nuclear energy so as to free up large quantities of oil for exports. It is important to stress that the consensus among America’s intelligence agencies is that this is in fact Iran’s immediate goal. This was pronounced in the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a publicly available annual report cooperatively authored by the heads of all 16 US intelligence agencies. The 2007 report stated “with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program”. The reality is that the existence of Iran’s second uranium enrichment plant –of which, incidentally, Western and Israeli intelligence agencies have been aware for years– does not necessarily contest the findings of the 2007 NIE. IntelNews editor Dr. Joseph Fitsanakis explains why this is so on the website of the Research Institute for European and American Studies. Read article →

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2007 NIE, France, Germany, IAEA, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Joseph Fitsanakis, NIE, nuclear espionage, nuclear proliferation, Qum (Iran), RIEAS, UK, United States

Declassified study sheds new light on Soviet nuclear war thinking

September 20, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Brezhnev

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
US defense analysts exaggerated Soviet aggressiveness and understated Moscow’s fears of a US first nuclear strike, according to a recently released study on Soviet Intentions: 1965-1985, prepared in 1995 by the Pentagon contractor BDM Corporation. The two-volume report, published earlier this week for the first time by the National Security Archive, is based on an extraordinarily revealing series of interviews with former senior Soviet defense officials, conducted during the final days of the Soviet Union. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Andrei Grechko, BDM Corporation, Cold War, declassification, Leonid Brezhnev, News, nuclear proliferation, Soviet nuclear program, United States, US DoD, USSR

News you may have missed #0100

September 8, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Iran says US is forging nuclear intelligence. Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, says the US government is using forged intelligence to make the case to the UN’s nuclear watchdog group that Iran is pursuing an atomic weapons program. What is arguably missing in the Iranian nuclear debacle is conclusive IAEA confirmation of the existence of Iran’s nuclear arms program, as in the case of Syria.
Pakistanis call for intelligence dialogue with India. Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan’s former national security adviser, has called for a “frank dialogue” between Pakistani and Indian security services. As intelNews reported earlier this year, Durrani was fired for his dovish stance vis-à-vis India and for being “too pro-American”.
US official was investigated for espionage. Alberto Coll, a Cuban-American who lost a senior job at the Navy War College after he was convicted of lying about a 2004 trip to Havana, was also investigated for espionage, according to an FBI document.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alberto Coll, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, counterintelligence, Cuba, espionage, FBI, IAEA, India, intelligence cooperation, intelligence failures, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Mahmood Ali Durrani, News, news you may have missed, nuclear proliferation, Pakistan, Syria, United Nations, United States

News you may have missed #0096

September 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Iranian bodyguard detained for espionage. All Iranian authorities will say is that the man belonged to a “senior official security squad” and that he was arrested on suspicion of “espionage and anti-security activities”. No word yet as to which country or group he was allegedly spying for.
Secret US-Japanese nuke pact still valid, say sources. American military vessels and aircraft carrying nuclear weapons can enter Japanese territory as long as Japan is protected by the US nuclear umbrella, says a former high-ranking Japanese government official.
US ex-attorney general now says he doesn’t support CIA probe. Alberto Gonzales, who served as US Attorney General under the Bush Administration, now says the US press was wrong to suggest that he supports a rumored investigation into CIA practices after 9/11.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alberto Gonzales, CIA, diplomacy, espionage, Iran, Japan, News, news you may have missed, nuclear proliferation, United States

Tinner nuclear smuggling ring documents may prove CIA connection

September 1, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Urs Tinner

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Last January I wrote about 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”. In 2003, Tinner was arrested, along with his father Friedrich and brother Marco, in connection with an attempt to smuggle centrifuges into Libya. Many were surprised, however, when in 2008 Tinner was released from prison, after the CIA, whose tip led to his arrest in Germany, said it was not interested in prosecuting him. Earlier this year, Tinner went on Swiss television and acknowledged that he had worked as an informant for the CIA –some say he was recruited in as early as 2000. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdul Qadeer Khan, CIA, Germany, Libyan nuclear program, News, nuclear proliferation, Swiss Ministry of Justice, Tinner nuclear smuggling ring, Urs Tinner, weapons smuggling

Does this satellite image show a Burmese nuclear facility?

August 12, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Click for larger

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Amateur satellite imagery observers say they have discovered a suspicious structure deep inside Burma’s thick jungle, which may be part of Rangoon’s rumored secret nuclear military program. The images, obtained through Google Earth, show a large structure, measuring 82 by 84 meters, which some say fits the requirements of a secret nuclear facility. The structure is located in central Burma, near the small jungle town of Pin Oo Lwin. Interestingly, this region, near Mandalay, is precisely where two Burmese defectors (one of whom is now dead) told two Australian researchers that they thought the Burmese army was building “a nuclear research and engineering center”. The two researchers, Phil Thornton, a journalist based in Thailand, and Desmond Ball, strategic studies expert at the Australian National University, published their claims earlier this month in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Australia, Australian National University, Burma, Burmese nuclear program, defectors, Desmond Ball, Google Earth, Mandalay (Burma), News, nuclear proliferation, Phil Thornton, Pin Oo Lwin (Burma), satellite reconnaissance

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 #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 #0020

July 7, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Social media is ruining spy industry, says IT security group. IT security consultancy NCC Group says that intelligence “agencies are concerned that Facebook and other social networking tools are ruining the spy industry”. The comments come just hours after British newspaper The Mail on Sunday revealed that personal details about the future head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, had been accessible to 200 million online users through his wife’s Facebook account.
Pakistan’s nukes face insider threat, says ex-CIA official. Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a 23-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, argues in Arms Control Today that “[t]he greatest threat of a loose nuke scenario stems from insiders in the nuclear establishment working with outsiders, people seeking a bomb or material to make a bomb […]. Nowhere in the world is this threat greater than in Pakistan. Pakistani authorities have a dismal track record in thwarting insider threats”, claims the retired US intelligence agent.
Hamas says Israeli spy cell in Ramallah busted. Hamas says it has dismantled an Israeli spy network, which served through the West Bank-based administration of Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas. The group claims that the network “channeled […] false information to Ramallah [in the Fatah-dominated West Bank] and then to the Israeli occupation”, in order to create “target bank” in Gaza.