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CIA loses turf war as new US interrogation unit is unveiled

August 27, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

CIA HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The CIA appears to have been stripped of its senior role in America’s post-9/11 interrogation program, as the Obama Administration announced this week the creation of a new interrogation unit. The new High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) will be an elite interagency squad, which will report to the National Security Council and answer directly to the White House. But, according to several insiders, the unit will be housed at the FBI, and not the CIA. The two agencies have been fighting a bitter turf war after 9/11. Officials at Langley view this development as a severe blow to the Agency, which the Bush Administration had tasked with overseeing America’s post 9/11 interrogation program. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 9/11, Bush Administration, CIA, FBI, High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, intelligence outsourcing, interrogation techniques, Ishmael Jones, National Security Council, News, Obama Administration, torture, turf wars, United States, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0081

August 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Russians arrest “spies” at air show. The FSB says it uncovered two Dutch spies at the MAKS 2009 aviation and space show in Moscow.
Interview with Israeli intelligence minister. Dan Meridor gave a rare interview to German magazine Der Spiegel, saying he doesn’t “want to get into details” about rumors that Israel is considering bombing Iran.
Karadzic asks for French intelligence documents. Karadzic claims France has documents confirming that the USA and several Muslim countries supplied weapons to the army of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s, despite an international embargo.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian War, counterintelligence, Dan Meridor, France, FSB, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Israel, MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon, Moscow (Russia), Netherlands, News, news you may have missed, Radovan Karadzic, Russia, United States, weapons trade

World poring over released CIA documents

August 26, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA report cover

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
It will take some time before the world’s media and other interested parties manage to comb through the recently released report (.pdf) by the CIA inspector general, as well as a host of other newly declassified documents pertaining to the Agency’s post-9/11 interrogation program. The volume of data is so extensive that some news outlets are apparently requesting assistance from readers. The report on the CIA’s counterterrorism detention and interrogation activities between 2001 and 2003 is not new. It was originally produced in May of 2004 and was released in 2008 by the Bush Administration, in a heavily redacted version. Although the current release is less heavily redacted, several observers have questioned the wisdom of remaining redactions (the National Security Archive has published a useful side-by-side comparison of the Bush and Obama Administration versions of the report). Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, CIA, declassification, interrogation techniques, News, Obama Administration, torture, United States, War on Terrorism

CIA certified interrogators after two-week training

August 26, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Dick Cheney

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Among numerous revelations in the CIA interrogations documents, released Monday, is information which suggests that the Agency haphazardly certified spies as “interrogators” after training them for only two weeks. Canadian newspaper The Toronto Star appears to be the only news source that has picked up on the revelation, noting that it takes twice that long to train an individual to drive a truck in the United States. It appears that the CIA resorted to the haphazard certification process shortly after 9/11; never prior to that time had the Agency been involved in the interrogation business on a large scale. The documents also show that, until 2003, Langley routinely supplied CIA interrogators with conduct rules that tended to change from case to case. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, declassification, Dick Cheney, intelligence training, interrogation techniques, News, torture, United States, War on Terrorism

Libyan’s release prevented “explosive” appeal hearing, says ex-CIA agent

August 25, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Robert Baer

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
As intelNews anticipated, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was released last week by British authorities. Al-Megrahi, who allegedly has terminal cancer, was convicted in 2001 for his role in the Lockerbie air disaster, but has now been allowed to return to Libya in order to die in his homeland. But former CIA agent Robert Baer has repeated charges that the Libyan prisoner was released so at to prevent his legal team from filing an appeal, which Baer believes would have proven beyond doubt that Iran, not Libya, was behind the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103. As The London Times has reported before, al-Megrahi’s legal team is in possession of several US government documents on the case, including a report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which says that the attack was “conceived, authorized and financed” by Ali-Akbar Mohtashemi-Pur (alternative spelling: Ali-Akbar Mohtashamipur), Iran’s Minister of Interior during the early years of the Islamic Revolution. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, Ahmad Jibril, Ali-Akbar Mohtashemi-Pur, CIA, Hezbollah, Iran, Libya, Lockerbie air disaster, News, Palestine, Pan Am Flight 103, PFLP-GC, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, Robert Baer, UK, United States

More information on ex-French spy’s escape from Dubai

August 25, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

Herve Jaubert

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
New information has emerged on former French spy Herve Jaubert’s alleged secret escape from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which intelNews reported last week. British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph has published an article with details of Jaubert’s escape, including a photograph of the former spy dressed in a black abaya, a head-to-toe burka traditionally worn by Muslim women in the Persian Gulf. Jaubert left Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), France’s foreign intelligence agency, in 1993, to pursue a career in the luxury tourist market, first in Florida and then in Dubai. But less than a year ago, Emirates authorities accused the Frenchman of embezzling nearly $4 million from Dubai World, a company he helped found in the country. Jaubert says he was threatened with torture by overzealous Emirates authorities and decided to escape, despite having been forced to surrender his French passport. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with DGSE (France), Dubai, Dubai World, Florida, France, Herve Jaubert, India, News, United Arab Emirates, United States

News you may have missed #0077

August 24, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US military to stay in Philippines. This probably partly explains the frequent visits to the Philippines by US intelligence officials in recent weeks.
Egypt begins trial of 26 alleged Hezbollah spies. Egypt began the trial on Sunday of 26 men suspected of links with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and accused of planning attacks inside Egypt.
Obama administration renews efforts to quash wiretap lawsuit. The Obama administration is again urging a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by now-defunct Saudi-based charity, Al-Haramain, against the Bush Administration’s post-9/11 warrantless wiretapping scheme.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Al-Haramain, Bush Administration, Egypt, espionage, Hezbollah, lawsuits, Lebanon, News, news you may have missed, Obama Administration, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, United States, warrantless communications interception

News you may have missed #0076

August 24, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Revealing CIA report published today. The CIA is expected to come under some of its toughest scrutiny for years, after the publication today of a report detailing the agency’s use of mock executions, and the threatening of detainees with power drills and guns during interrogations.
North Korean spy director meets South Korean officials. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met a delegation of visiting North Korean officials on Sunday, including Kim Yang Gon who heads the United Front Department (UFD), an intelligence agency under the Korean Worker’s Party (KWP) of the DPRK.
Changes imminent at South African spy agency. The administration of President Jacob Zuma intends to move to restructure South Africa’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the country’s primary domestic spy organization. In July, a former member of South Africa’s ministerial Review Commission on Intelligence warned that a steadily declining culture of accountability in the country’s spy services is threatening the country’s constitutional order.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, intelligence reform, Kim Yang Gon, Korean Workers' Party (North Korea), Lee Myung-bak, National Intelligence Agency (South Africa), News, news you may have missed, North Korea, South Africa, South Korea, torture, United Front Department (North Korea), United States, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0077

August 23, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US Army documents reveal Mexican military’s role in massacre. Newly declassified documents from the US Defense Intelligence Agency describe the Mexican Army’s role in backing paramilitary groups in Chiapas at the time of the Acteal massacre. The massacre involved the killing of 45 people attending a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic indigenous townspeople, including a number of children and pregnant women, who were members of the pacifist group Las Abejas (“The Bees”).
Tamils in the UK continue fundraising despite spy fears. Members of the Tamil community in Oxford, England, have vowed to continue fundraising despite fears that the Sri Lankan government is spying on them.
Major purge at Bulgarian intelligence agency. More key officials of Bulgaria’s State National Security Agency (DANS) have submitted their resignations after its director, Petko Sertov, was recently replaced. Sertov was allegedly axed because Bulgaria’s “American partners were said to have lost faith” in him.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 1997 Acteal Massacre, Bulgaria, Chiapas state (Mexico), DANS (Bulgaria), DIA, espionage, Las Abejas, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mexican Army, Mexico, News, news you may have missed, Petko Sertov, Sri Lanka, UK, United States

Lithuania also hosted CIA black sites, says ABC News

August 22, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Dick Marty

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
After Poland and Romania, the former Soviet republic of Lithuania has been identified by US information outlet ABC News as another European nation that secretly hosted CIA prisons after 9/11. ABC News reporter Matthew Cole says former CIA officials told him that the Lithuanian government provided the CIA with a building located in suburban Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, with the understanding that it would be used as a so-called black site for secretly detaining high-value al-Qaeda suspects. The CIA reportedly used the building to detain up to eight suspects for over a year each, until December of 2005, when public rumors about the existence of the prison forced the CIA to abandon it. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, CIA, Dick Marty, Eastern Europe, extraordinary rendition, Lithuania, News, Paul Gimigliano, secret prisons, Switzerland, United States, Vilnius (Lithuania), War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0076

August 22, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Australia’s domestic spy agency considers FBI model. There are reports that Australia’s domestic spy agency could be expanded to become more like its US counterpart, the FBI.
Weapons manufacturers planted spy on Swiss anti-military group. The Group for Switzerland without an Army, a campaign group calling for Switzerland to disband its military, has accused the weapons industry of planting a spy within its membership.
Retired Lebanese security official “confesses” to spying for Israel. Lebanon’s counterespionage operations continue after Mahmoud Qassem Rafeh, a 62-year-old retired Internal Security Forces official, has allegedly confessed to having “collaborated with Israeli intelligence agents” between 1993 and 2006.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Al-Alam spy ring, ASIO, Australia, corporate espionage, domestic intelligence, espionage, FBI, ISF (Lebanon), Israel, Lebanon, Mahmoud Qassem Rafeh, News, news you may have missed, Switzerland, The Group for Switzerland without an Army, United States, weapons trade

News you may have missed #0075

August 21, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Release of Libyan convicted bomber raises questions. To some, Libyan Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was released by British authorities a few days ago on compassionate grounds, isn’t the Lockerbie bomber, but a scapegoat being used to hide the truth.
Analysis: Killing The KGB myth. Western pundits and journalists like to throw around the idea that Russia is currently being run by veterans of the Soviet era KGB. But a check of the public record quickly reveals that this is not so.
Second ranking US intelligence official to visit Philippines. After a recent visit to the Philippines by CIA director Leon Panetta, the US has dispatched to the country a second ranking intelligence official “to discuss with key officials anti-terrorism and development efforts”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, Analysis, CIA, KGB, Leon Panetta, Libya, Lockerbie air disaster, News, news you may have missed, Pan Am Flight 103, Philippines, Russia, Southeast Asia, UK, United States

Comment: Blackwater’s role in CIA ops runs deep

August 21, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

Blackwater/Xe

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
North Carolina-based military and intelligence contractor Xe had a major role in the CIA’s rumored post-9/11 assassination program and is active today in the Agency’s Predator drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The New York Times and The Washington Post cited “government officials and current and former [Xe] employees” in revealing that the CIA worked briefly with Xe –formerly known as Blackwater– in the context of a top-secret program to locate and murder senior al-Qaeda leaders. According to The Washington Post, Blackwater’s role in the operation was far from consultative, and included “operational responsibility for targeting terrorist commanders [and awards worth] millions of dollars for training and weaponry”. The New York Times alleges that Blackwater’s central role in the operation was “a major reason” in CIA director Leon Panetta’s decision last June to inform Congress about the program, which CIA had kept hidden from Congressional oversight for seven years. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, assassinations, black operations, Blackwater, CIA, intelligence outsourcing, intelligence oversight, Iraq, John Kiriakou, Joseph Fitsanakis, Leon Panetta, national security, Pakistan, Porter Goss, Predator drones, R.J. Hillhouse, Taliban, United States, US Congress, War on Terrorism, Xe

FBI investigates attorneys for trying to identify CIA torturers

August 21, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The Washington Post and The New York Times are reporting three military attorneys at Guantánamo Bay have been questioned by the FBI for allegedly showing pictures of CIA operatives to prisoners accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks. In some cases, the pictures were taken surreptitiously outside the operatives’ homes. The lawyers were apparently trying to identify agents who may have been involved in torturing prisoners at US jails overseas. But US military officials say the lawyers could have broken laws shielding the identity of classified intelligence. The FBI investigation is reportedly headed by John Dion, head of the US Justice Department’s counterespionage section. Dion has worked on several high-profile national security cases, including the prosecution of Aldrich H. Ames, the CIA double agent who spied for the USSR. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ACLU, Aldrich H. Ames, Anthony Romero, CIA, FBI, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, John Adams Project, John Dion, lawsuits, News, torture, United States, US Department of Justice, USSR, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0074

August 20, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Captured Real IRA operative tried to buy weapons in Lithuania. An Irishman accused of attempting to buy weapons for the Real IRA in Lithuania appeared in court on Tuesday, in Lithuania’s first terrorist trial.
CIA lawyers accused of “deception” in contract dispute. Only three weeks after a federal judge ruled that CIA lawyers committed fraud in a lawsuit, another top agency lawyer is being accused of unethical conduct in another case.
Western spy agencies develop “terrorist Facebook”. Western spy agencies are turning to complex social network analysis. They plan to amass intelligence on a large range of people, even those who seem obscure or irrelevant, and feed it into a computer which will use an algorithm to investigate associations or connections that could be missed by a human.