News you may have missed #0167

November 5, 2009 by Leave a comment

  • DAS official confirms Colombia spying on Ecuador. An official of Colombia’s DAS intelligence service has admitted Colombia “had an informant in the Ecuadorean security forces”. The revelation comes days after Venezuelan officials claimed they had uncovered Operation SALOMON, a joint Colombian-US espionage operation against Ecuador.
  • Clinton meets Libyan ex-intelligence chief. While attending a regional-development conference in Morocco, US secretary of state Hilary Clinton met briefly with Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa. Kusa, who served as Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi’s intelligence chief during the 1990s, was expelled from Britain in 1980 for his alleged involvement in assassinating a Gaddafi opponent in London. Clinton has a talent for meeting with controversial foreign spies.
  • Ex-Yugoslav secret agent arrested in Germany. German authorities have arrested a man with Croatian and Swedish citizenships, identified only as “Luka S.”, who allegedly participated in the 1983 murder of Stjepan Durekovic, an exiled Yugoslav dissident living in Germany. Another accomplice in Durekovic’s assassination, identified only as “Kronoslav P.”, was jailed in 2008.

Bookmark and Share

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

Swedish journalist, author, admits KGB ties

October 27, 2009 by 1 Comment

Jan Guillou

Jan Guillou

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
One of Sweden’s most famous journalists has admitted having had ties with the KGB in the 1960s and 1970s. Jan Guillou, a veteran newspaper correspondent known in Sweden for his hugely popular spy novels, admitted meeting with a KGB handler after allegations surfaced in a Swedish newspaper. Stockholm-based daily Expressen said it had in its possession several declassified files belonging to Sweden’s security service (SAPO), which revealed that Guillou was recruited by the KGB in 1967. The files are reportedly based on the testimony of the late Arne Lemberg, Guillou’s friend and fellow-reporter, who told SAPO that Guillou held regular meetings with KGB rezident in Stockholm Yevgeny Ivanovich Gergel. Read more of this post

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

News you may have missed #0146

October 18, 2009 by Leave a comment

  • RAND wants the US to abstain from cyberattacks. A new report by the US Pentagon’s research arm, RAND Corporation, suggests the US may be better off playing cyber-defense instead of resorting to cyberattacks. On offense, cyberwar might be better relegated to support roles, and then only “sparingly and precisely”, according to the report. The study comes as the US military fires up its new unified Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) program this month.
  • Turkey says it foiled al-Qaida plot against Israeli, US targets. Turkish security forces detained on Thursday 32 suspected members of al-Qaeda, believed to have been planning attacks on Israeli, US and NATO targets. The suspects, some of whom are said to have been trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, were detained in simultaneous raids across eight provinces.
  • South Korea arrests alleged Swedish-handled spy. A former South Korean air force major general, identified only as Kim, was arrested last Friday on charges of leaking classified military information to Swedish defense and aviation company Saab, between August 2008 and May this year.

Bookmark and Share

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

New documents point to innocence of convicted Swedish “spy”

September 29, 2009 by 1 Comment

Bertil Ströberg

Bertil Ströberg

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A man who was jailed in Sweden in 1983 for spying on behalf of the Eastern Bloc may be innocent, according to an investigation by Sweden’s TV4 channel. On May 20, 1983, Bertil Ströberg was arrested in Stockholm’s main post office, while picking up correspondence for a ‘Sven-Roland Larsson’. What he didn’t know is that Sweden’s Security Service (SAPO) was looking for Larsson after it had surreptitiously opened a letter addressed to the Polish embassy in Stockholm. The letter, which was signed by Larsson, contained a number of classified Swedish security documents and requested $25,000 Swedish kronor ($3,500) in return for further secret information. During his closed-door trial, Ströberg claimed he had made the acquaintance of someone calling himself ‘Sven-Roland Larsson’ in Stockholm, who later sent him a letter asking him to pick up a delivery in his name from the city’s main post office. Read more of this post

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

News you may have missed #0069

August 17, 2009 by Leave a comment

Bookmark and Share

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

News you may have missed #0049

July 31, 2009 by Leave a comment

  • Return to court for ex-CIA station chief accused of rape. Andrew M. Warren has been free on bail since February of 2009, when he was unceremoniously recalled to the US from the CIA’s Algiers station. He is accused of having drugged and raped two Algerian women at his official residence. On Tuesday he was back at a federal courtroom in Washington for a status hearing.
  • Swedish spy threat at Cold War levels, claims report. A study by the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST), says spying on Sweden by “several countries, including those in our immediate surroundings” is “at the same level […] as during the Cold War”.
  • Former CIA station chief doubts Daniel Boyd story. Milt Bearden, former CIA station chief in Pakistan, doubts that Boyd, who was arrested along with seven others in North Carolina on domestic terrorism charges, ever saw action in Afghanistan, as stated by his prosecutors.

Bookmark and Share

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

Sweden expels Chinese diplomat after uncovering Uighur spy

July 16, 2009 by Leave a comment

Babur Mehsut

Babur Mehsut

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On June 16, intelNews drew attention to a little-noticed news report from Sweden concerning the arrest of an unidentified spy who was caught keeping tabs on an undisclosed immigrant group in the country. The spy turned out to be Babur Mehsut, a Uighur exile with dual Chinese-Swedish nationality, who was apparently monitoring the political activities of Sweden’s Uighur community on behalf of Beijing. Sweden’s security service (SAPO) and the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have declined commenting on the case. However, Swedish authorities have charged Mehsut with “unlawful acquisition and distribution of information relating to individuals for the benefit of a foreign power”, and earlier this week ordered the expulsion of a Chinese diplomat stationed in Stockholm. China responded a day later with the expulsion of a Swedish diplomat from Beijing. Read more of this post

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

News you may have missed #0002

June 16, 2009 by Leave a comment

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

Swedish NATO troops covertly approached on Facebook

April 21, 2009 by Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Members of Sweden’s armed forces serving with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan have been systematically approached via online networking application Facebook, and asked to provide details on NATO’s military presence in the country. According to Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter newspaper, several such incidents have occurred in recent weeks, leading Swedish intelligence officials to the conclusion that the online courting is part of a wider intelligence operation directed against NATO. The incidents have been confirmed by Mårten Wallén, who heads the Information Security Unit of Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST). Read more of this post

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

Newer posts →