torture | intelNews.org

News you may have missed #0067

August 13, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

David Wise on CIA assassinations. Author of The Invisible Government and The Spy Who Got Away speaks about the long history of CIA assassinations.
These are the architects of torture in 9/11’s wake. The New York Times has published a detailed investigation into the works of Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, two psychologists hired by the CIA to design an elaborate ten-stage harsh interrogation program after 9/11.
Defector recounts torture, terrorism by Uzbek government. The BBC’s Peter Marshall interviews Ikram Yakubov, a former Major in Uzbekistan’s National Security Service (SNB), who recently defected to Britain.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Bruce Jessen, CIA, David Wise, defectors, Ikram Yakubov, Jim Mitchell, Mitchell Jessen and Associates, National Security Service (Uzbekistan), News, news you may have missed, psychology, SNB (Uzbekistan), torture, UK, United States, Uzbekistan

News you may have missed #0066

August 12, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US court upholds conviction of CIA contractor. A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of David Passaro, the first US civilian found guilty of abusing a detainee in Afghanistan.
US ex-Attorney General comes out against CIA probe. In a move that is hardly surprising, US Attorney General under the Bush Administration, Alberto Gonzales, said yesterday that investigating past interrogation practices “could discourage” CIA operatives from “engaging in conduct that even comes close” to more stringent guidelines.
Rare Chinese view on the Rio Tinto spy case. A rare article in English, by Jiang Ruqin, an official in the Bureau of National Secrecy of China’s Jiangsu Province.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, Alberto Gonzales, Australia, Bureau of National Secrecy (China), China, CIA, David Passaro, energy resources, intelligence outsourcing, Jiang Ruqin, News, news you may have missed, Rio Tinto, torture, US Attorney General, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0064

August 11, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US battling CIA rendition case in three courts. Useful legal status summary of the case of Binyam Mohamed and four other former or current CIA detainees, who allege they were tortured at Guantánamo Bay.
Iran purges Intelligence Ministry officials. More information on an apparent purge in the ranks of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security, which we first noted a few days ago.
US Pentagon monitoring Twitter, YouTube. Newly released government documents show the US military is monitoring activity on popular websites such as YouTube and Twitter to scrutinize and react to coverage of “high-profile events”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Binyam Mohamed, CIA, extraordinary rendition, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, Iran, lawsuits, Ministry of Intelligence and National Security of Iran, News, news you may have missed, social networking, surveillance, torture, Twitter, United States, US DoD, YouTube

News you may have missed #0063

August 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UK government ministers, MI6 boss, reject torture accusations. Britain’s home secretary, Alan Johnson, and foreign secretary, David Miliband, have rejected claims that the UK operated a “policy to collude in, solicit, or directly participate in abuses of [war on terrorism] prisoners” or to cover up abuses. The outgoing director of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, has also said that there has been “no torture and there is no complicity with torture” by British agents.
Ex-spy may succeed Kazakh leader. An unnamed senior security official may eventually succeed Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled Kazakhstan for 20 years.
Congressman tells Holder to widen torture probe. Several news outlets are verifying earlier rumors (reported on by intelNews on July 13) that the Obama Administration is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agencies after September 11, 2001. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, has said he wants US Attorney General Eric Holder to extend the rumored investigation beyond CIA interrogators, and determine whether high-level officials of the Bush administration committed war crimes.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alan Johnson, Bush Administration, Central Asia, CIA, David Miliband, Eric Holder, Jerrold Nadler, Kazakhstan, MI6, News, news you may have missed, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Sir John Scarlett, torture, UK, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0059

August 6, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Torture report says UK government ministers shielded MI5, MI6. A new report from Britain’s parliamentary human rights committee accuses senior cabinet ministers of “hiding behind a wall of secrecy” to avoid being held to account over allegations of British intelligence agents’ collusion in torture.
US cyber czar resigns. Senior intelligence official Melissa Hathaway, who was US President Barack Obama’s choice to monitor America’s online security, said in an interview that she is leaving “for personal reasons”.
South Korean opposition skeptical of request for new intelligence powers. Opposition parties in South Korea are critical of the National Intelligence Service’s (NIS) recent request to gain access to information on financial transactions amounting to 20 million won or more without a warrant.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with cybersecurity, economic espionage, Melissa Hathaway, MI5, MI6, National Intelligence Service (South Korea), News, news you may have missed, South Korea, terrorism, torture, UK, UK House of Commons, United States

News you may have missed #0058

August 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Were Americans in Iran spying or in wrong place at wrong time? Officials in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region said Sunday that the three, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal, were tourists who inadvertently crossed into Iran on Friday while hiking in the region. But the head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Committee said on government-run Arabic television that the three came as spies.
British lawmaker challenges US threats to suppress CIA torture evidence. Conservative British parliamentarian David Davis is on a visit to the United States to speak with US lawmakers about the case of Binyam Mohamed.
Al-Qaeda will pose a threat for 20 years, says Dennis Blair. The US Director of National Intelligence has said al-Qaeda will continue to rely mostly on conventional explosives in its attacks.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, Binyam Mohamed, CIA, David Davis, Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, espionage, Iran, Iranian Parliament National Security Committee, Joshua Fattal, Kurdistan, News, news you may have missed, Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, torture, UK, UK House of Commons, United States, War on Terrorism

CIA director says Congress should let go of CIA’s past actions

August 3, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Leon Panetta

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
CIA director Leon Panetta has criticized Congress for its “focus on the past” that “threatens to distract the CIA from its crucial core missions”. In an editorial published last weekend in The Washington Post, Panetta says he is becoming “increasingly concerned” that “wrong judgments” made by the Bush Administration after 9/11 have damaged the broad agreement between the executive and legislative branches of the US government about the CIA’s role and activities. But the CIA director says the “sincerity or the patriotism” of Bush Administration officials should not be questioned, as they “were trying to respond as best they could” in the aftermath of 9/11. Instead, Panetta argues for learning “lessons from the past without getting stuck there”, and warns that “classified information that shapes […] conversations” between the CIA and Congress must be protected. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 9/11, Bush Administration, Chile, CIA, extraordinary rendition, intelligence oversight, Leon Panetta, Melvin A. Goodman, News, Richard Helms, Salvador Allende, torture, United States, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0050

July 31, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Cuban Five to be given new sentences in October. Washington accuses the Five of spying on the US for Cuba. But an appeals court has ruled that the sentences they received (ranging from life to 19 years) were too long. New sentences will be imposed on October 13. The Cuban government has said that it would be willing to swap jailed political dissidents for the Five.
CIA invests in web-based software company –again. The CIA’s venture-capital investment arm, In-Q-Tel, appears to be really fond of Lingotek, a tiny software company in Draper, Utah. Last month, In-Q-Tel funded another software start-up, Lucid Imagination.
Canada to investigate spy service’s role in Abdelrazik’s torture. Canada’s Security Intelligence Review Committee has agreed to probe the case of Abousfian Abdelrazik, who was renditioned to Sudan by Canada’s Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). He says he was severely tortured by Sudanese guards and interrogators.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abousfian Abdelrazik, Canada, CIA, CSIS (Canada), Cuba, Cuban Five, espionage, extraordinary rendition, In-Q-Tel, Lingotek, News, news you may have missed, Security Intelligence Review Committee (Canada), Sudan, torture, United States

Hillary Clinton pressured UK government to conceal torture information

July 31, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

B. Mohamed

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally threatened the British government that Washington would stop collaborating with London on intelligence matters if the latter allowed the release of evidence on an alleged torture case. This has been revealed in London’s high court during the ongoing trial of Binyam Mohamed, a resident of Britain, who is was until recently 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. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Binyam Mohamed, extraordinary rendition, Hillary Clinton, intelligence cooperation, Justice Lloyd Jones, Lord Justice Thomas, News, torture, UK, United States, War on Terrorism

Analysis: Can Obama’s inter-agency interrogation unit overcome turf-wars?

July 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The task force set up by President Barack Obama to reform US interrogation policies will shortly be unveiling its long-awaited report. There are rumors in the US intelligence community that the report will call for a new inter-agency interrogation unit that will combine experts from several US military and intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI. But in a well-argued article in Time magazine, Bobby Ghosh asks the important question of whether such a plan is represents mere wishful thinking, by ignoring the “brief and bleak” history of inter-agency cooperation on interrogation. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abu Zubaida, al-Qaeda, Analysis, CIA, FBI, interrogation techniques, Obama Administration, Pakistan, torture, turf wars, United States, US DoD, War on Terrorism, Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn

Obama administration denies UN access to Guantánamo, CIA prisons

July 24, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Guantánamo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The US government has turned down calls by United Nations human rights monitors for access to the US Pentagon’s Guantánamo Bay prison camp and to CIA prison sites around the world. It is the second time that Obama administration officials have declined this request by UN monitors, despite the administration’s rhetorical commitment to increasing its collaboration on human rights issues with the international agency. Commenting anonymously to The Washington Post, which is one of a handful of US news outlets that are running this story, US government officials said that the Obama administration “support[s] the work of the UN human rights researchers”, but is “constrained in releasing information on sensitive intelligence matters”. The news comes ten days after unconfirmed reports that the US Department of Justice is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agencies after September of 2001.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, Cuba, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, human rights, News, Obama Administration, secret prisons, torture, United Nations, United States, US DoD, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0035

July 22, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ex-Peruvian president sentenced for bribing spy chief. Peru’s former President, Alberto Fujimori, has been given a 7.5 years prison sentence for giving his right-hand man, spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, $15 million from government coffers.
Was there ever a CIA interrogation facility in Thailand? CIA records indicate that waterboarding was practiced by US government agents in secret detention facilities in Thailand. Thailand’s Prime Minister says there is no secret CIA detention center for suspected terrorists under his government. But could a facility have been there under the previous government?
“Adoptive father” of Israeli intelligence pioneered the “honey trap”. Meir Amit, who revolutionized Israeli intelligence in the 1960s, and has died at the age of 88, pioneered the use of female agents to gain access to classified information, says an Israeli intelligence history author.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alberto Fujimori, CIA, honey traps, Israel, Meir Amit, News, news you may have missed, Peru, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional (Peru), Thailand, torture, Vladimiro Montesinos, waterboarding

Post-9/11 torture sparked internal dissent, rift between FBI and CIA

July 20, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Abu Zubaida

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Citing interviews with almost “two dozen [anonymous] current and former US officials” The Washington Post has revealed crucial new background information on the CIA’s torture methodology after 9/11. The exposé, by reporters Joby Warrick and Peter Finn, helps piece together some of the complex puzzle of internal decisions that led US interrogators to resort to waterboarding and other forms of torture against “war on terrorism” detainees. The article focuses on Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, two psychologists who were hired by the CIA to design an elaborate ten-stage harsh interrogation program (see previous intelNews report). According to The Washington Post, Mitchell, who was the program’s mastermind, told associates he had modeled it on the theory of “learned helplessness”, used by professional psychologists “to describe people or animals reduced to a state of complete helplessness by some form of coercion or pain, such as electric shock”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abu Zubaida, al-Qaeda, Bruce Jessen, CIA, FBI, Jim Mitchell, learned helplessness, Mitchell Jessen and Associates, News, psychology, torture, United States, War on Terrorism, Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn

News you may have missed #0026

July 13, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US Attorney General considers torture probe. The Associated Press is among several news outlets reporting that Eric Holder is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agencies after September of 2001.
Iran’s invisible Nicaraguan embassy. The US State Department has been raising alarm bells about the Iranians supposedly “building a huge embassy in Managua”. But nobody in Nicaragua can find any super-embassy, The Washington Post reports.
Kim Jonh Il likely to die soon, CIA tells S. Korean spy agency. According to South Korean sources, the CIA now believes that Kim Jong-Il’s chances of surviving the next five years are less than 30%. Last June, intelNews relayed reports that Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il’s third son, appears to be his father’s most likely successor.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, diplomacy, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Kim Jong Il, News, news you may have missed, Nicaragua, North Korea, South Korea, torture, United States, US Department of Justice, US Department of State

News you may have missed #0023

July 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Spies target Swiss banks for the secrets they hold. Jürg Bühler, acting director of Switzerland’s counter-intelligence agency, says foreign services are increasingly interested in the financial data locked in Swiss banks, especially as the global hunt for undeclared assets stiffens.
South Korea says North was behind cyberattacks on S. Korean, US web sites. South Korean intelligence officials say they believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces committed cyberattacks that paralyzed major South Korean and US government websites last weekend.
British MP accuses government of outsourcing torture. Britain’s former shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, has accused British intelligence services of “outsourcing torture”. He was commenting in the case of Rangzieb Ahmed, who claimed he was offered bribes to drop allegations that he was tortured in Pakistan, while on British custody.
Philippines President to meet CIA chief. Leon Panetta will be meeting Glorya Arroyo next week in Manila, “to discuss security concerns and to map out ways to further strengthen the bilateral partnership between the Philippines and United States”.
Former Turkey intelligence head questioned over alleged coup. The court case concerns Ergenekon, a shadowy ultranationalist network with strong links to the Turkish armed forces, which has reportedly been trying to stage a coup in Ankara.