Senior representatives of dozens of spy agencies held secret meeting in Singapore
June 5, 2023 2 Comments
SENIOR REPRESENTATIVES FROM OVER 20 intelligence agencies from around the world, including the United States and China, reportedly participated in a secret meeting in Singapore last week. The meeting allegedly took place in parallel to the Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-level security conference held annually in Singapore. The conference, focused on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region, has been organized since 2002 by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based think-tank.
The Shangri-La Dialogue is typically attended by defense ministers of major Western powers and regional Asian powers, along with security and intelligence representatives from participating nations. However, the existence of a separate closed-door meeting of intelligence officials has never been reported before. On Saturday, the Reuters news agency cited discussions with “five sources”, who claimed that such a meeting occurred between June 2 and 4.
According to Reuters, the meeting was discreetly organized by the Singaporean government and held at a separate venue alongside the security summit. This type of meeting has reportedly been taking place annually for several years, but was previously undisclosed. The secret meeting is believed to have included representatives from approximately two dozen major intelligence agencies from countries such as the United States, China, and India. The United States intelligence community was represented by Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, according to the news agency.
The Reuters report did not mention whether the Russian intelligence community participated in the event. When asked about the alleged secret meeting, a spokesperson from the Singapore Ministry of Defense said that participants at the Shangri-La Dialogue included “senior officials from intelligence agencies”, who “also take the opportunity to meet their counterparts”. The spokesperson added that the Singapore Ministry of Defense “may facilitate some of these bilateral or multilateral meetings”, because “participants have found such meetings held on the sidelines of the [main event] beneficial”.
The governments of the United States, China and India did not respond to requests for comment by Reuters.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 05 June 2023 | Research Credit: C.E. | Permalink
THE DIRECTOR OF THE United States Central Intelligence Agency has returned to Washington from a surprise visit to Russia, where he led a high-level team of American officials in meetings with their Russian counterparts. The two-day visit was 
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The head of Italian intelligence paid a secret visit to Syria earlier this month, a week after his Syrian counterpart visited Rome, according to reports from the Middle East. The Dubai-based newspaper Gulf News, which first reported the alleged behind-the-scenes exchange, said the visits focused on counter-terrorism cooperation between Syria and the European Union. The paper said that the initial contact was made in late June by Major General Deeb Zeitoun, head of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate, who paid a secret visit to Rome. General Zeitoun’s visit was allegedly in response to an official invitation issued by the Italian government. The general is believed to have stayed in a secluded private villa, which was provided by the Italian External Intelligence and Security Agency, known as AISE. He subsequently met with several Italian intelligence officials, including AISE Director, General Alberto Manenti.
Newly declassified files show that Ayatollah Khomeini, who led Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, had a secret channel of communication with the United States, and even sent a personal letter to US President Jimmy Carter. On January 16, 1979, after nearly a year of street clashes and protests against his leadership, the king of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, fled the country for the US. His decision to leave was strongly influenced by his American advisors, who feared that Iran was heading toward a catastrophic civil war. The Shah’s departure did little to calm tensions in the country. Protesters —many of them armed— engaged in daily street battles with members of the police and the military, who remained loyal to Pahlavi. Meanwhile, a national strike had brought the Iranian oil sector to a standstill, thereby threatening to bring about a global energy crisis. Moreover, the country was home to thousands of American military advisors and the Iranian military was almost exclusively funded and supplied by Washington. The Carter administration worried that the weaponry and technical knowledge might fall into the hands of a new, pro-Soviet government in Tehran.
Nine days later, on January 27, Dr. Yazdi gave Zimmerman a letter written by Khomeini and addressed to President Carter. The letter, which addressed Carter in the first person, was cabled to the Department of State from the US embassy in Paris and, according to the BBC, reached the US president. In the letter, Khomeini promises to protect “America’s interests and citizens in Iran” if Washington pressured the Iranian military to stand aside and allow him and his advisers to return to Iran. Khomeini’s fear was that the royalist Iranian military would not allow a new government to take hold in Tehran. But the exiled cleric was aware of America’s influence in Iranian military circles, which at the time were effectively under the command of General Robert Huyser, Deputy Commander of US Forces in Europe, who had been dispatched to Tehran by President Carter. Before answering Khomeini’s letter, the White House sent a draft response to the embassy in Tehran for input and advice. But Khomeini did not wait for Washington’s response. On February 1, he returned to Iran, where he was greeted by millions of people in the streets and welcomed as the next leader of the country. Meanwhile, Washington had already instructed General Huyser to rule out the so-called “option C”, namely a military coup carried out by the Iranian armed forces.
Switzerland secretly agreed in the 1970s to support calls for Palestinian statehood, in return for not being targeted by Palestinian militants, according to a new book. Written by Marcel Gyr, a journalist with the Zurich-based Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the book 
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By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
intelNews.org 
CIA director secretly visits Somalia and Kenya amidst rising tensions in East Africa
January 22, 2024 by Ian Allen 5 Comments
Reports indicate that Burns held a high-level meeting on Monday in Nairobi with Kenyan President William Ruto and Noordin Haji, the director of Kenya’s National Intelligence Service. The United States Ambassador to Kenya, Margaret Whitman, was also reportedly present at the meeting. Later in the week, on Thursday, the CIA director met with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Mogadishu before departing for the United States.
The specific details of the discussions during Burns’ visit remain undisclosed, leading to considerable speculation. Notably, it is highly unusual for senior American intelligence officials to personally visit sub-Saharan Africa, as the CIA typically communicates with the local governments through station chiefs or American ambassadors. Burns’ in-person visit suggests compelling reasons for the direct engagement.
According to some Kenyan news outlets, discussions encompassed the escalating instability in sub-Saharan Africa, which are stemming from various sources. These include the ongoing conflict in Sudan between government-aligned forces and militias loyal to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Additionally, there is growing turmoil in the Democratic Republic of Congo after last month’s elections, resulting in the re-election of President Félix Tshisekedi. Disputes over the election’s fairness have led to military deployments to maintain peace amid rising tensions throughout the country.
Washington’s concerns also revolve around the continuing presence of al-Shabaab in East Africa. Operating in Somalia, al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked armed group, engages in conflict with the Somali government and is responsible for several terrorist attacks in Kenya. The United States currently has around 500 military advisors in Somalia, supporting the Somali government in its efforts against al-Shabaab.
Notably, the CIA has not issued an official statement regarding Burns’ visit to East Africa.
► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 22 January 2024 | Permalink
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Africa, al-Shabaab, CIA, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Kenya, National Intelligence Service (Kenya), News, Noordin Haji, secret meetings, Somalia, William Burns, William Ruto