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News you may have missed #0072

August 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Analysis: Government secrecy alive and well under Obama. The Obama administration has not reduced the volume of security and safety-related US government information that is withheld from the public.
Emirates to go after former French spy. Malika Karoum, the former Dutch intelligence agent, is not the only ex-spy to have fallen out with Dubai’s oil-rich elite. The city’s police force says it will issue an arrest warrant for Herve Jaubert, a former French spy convicted in absentia of embezzling $3.8million, after he fled the country in a rubber dingy. He now lives in the US.
Was US man caught in FSB honey trap operation a CIA agent? It doesn’t appear so, say some Cryptome correspondents.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with CIA, DGSE (France), Dubai, France, FSB, government secrecy, Herve Jaubert, honey traps, News, news you may have missed, Obama Administration, Russia, United Arab Emirates, United States

News you may have missed #0071

August 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA dismisses rumors Panetta is about to resign. The CIA is pushing back hard on insider rumors that Director Leon Panetta is frustrated and thinking about leaving at his one-year mark in February.
Burma denies pursuing secret nuclear plans. The government of Myanmar has reportedly rebuffed claims that it is pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program.
Is US war in Afghanistan turning into a counter-narcotics operation? Timely information about the Afghanistan Intelligence Fusion Center, an outsourced US operation based at the offices of the Afghan counternarcotics police in Kabul.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, Afghanistan Intelligence Fusion Center, Burma, Burmese nuclear program, CIA, intelligence outsourcing, Leon Panetta, narcotics trade, News, news you may have missed, United States, war on drugs

Botched CIA mission in Siberia revealed

August 18, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ulan Ude

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Five American “tourists” temporarily detained in 2001 by Russian border agents were in fact CIA agents on a covert mission to Siberia, court documents have revealed. The five were among thirteen agents traveling to Siberia on a chartered CIA flight. They were detained in the far-eastern Russian city of Petropavlovsk by Russian authorities, because Langley had failed to secure visas for them in time for their departure. The Americans’ CIA cover was revealed last week during a court case involving alleged fraud by a US government contractor involved in the operation. The CIA group was apparently traveling to Ulan Ude, Siberia in order to purchase two Russian helicopters for use in CIA missions in Afghanistan. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, aviation, CIA, covert operations, front companies, News, Petropavlovsk (Russia), Russia, Siberia, Ulan Ude (Russia), United States

Brazil conspired with US to overthrow Allende, memos show

August 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Richard Nixon

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Four official documents from 1971, recently declassified by the US Department of State, show high-level collaboration between the US and Brazil in plans to overthrow the lawfully elected government of Chile. The documents include accounts of a frank discussion between US President Richard Nixon and Brazilian President Emilio Médici on ways to bring down the democratically elected Chilean leader Salvador Allende, as well as the government of Cuba, so as to “prevent new Allendes and Castros”, in Nixon’s words. The memorandum, which contains the official State Department account of the discussion between the two men, is dated December 9, 1971. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Brazil, Chile, Cold War, coup plots, Cuba, declassification, Emilio Médici, Fidel Castro, Ignacio Lula da Silva, News, Richard Nixon, Salvador Allende, United States, US Department of State

News you may have missed #0069

August 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Book claims Mossad considered murdering Swedish journalist. The Mossad considered assassinating renowned Swedish left-wing journalist Jan Guillou in the 1970s, according to a book just published in Sweden.
Romania denies allegations it hosted secret CIA prisons. The Romanian Foreign Ministry rejects revelations in a New York Timesarticle that a downtown Bucharest building served as a major secret CIA prison after 9/11.
Iran releases on bail French woman accused of spying. Clotilde Reiss had been held in Tehran’s Evin jail since being arrested on July 1. She will now have to stay at the French embassy in Tehran while she awaits the verdict in her trial, which was heard on August 8.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, CIA, Clotilde Reiss, espionage, French embassy in Iran, Iran, Jan Guillou, Mossad, News, news you may have missed, Romania, secret prisons, Sweden, Tehran (Iran), United States

Ex-FBI translator alleges Turkish intelligence activities in US

August 13, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Sibel Edmonds

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A former FBI translator has alleged that agents acting at the behest of the Turkish government have bugged, blackmailed and bribed US politicians. Sibel Edmonds has spent seven years trying to get a US court to hear her allegations that Turkish intelligence agents penetrated her unit, the State Department, the Pentagon and Congress. On August 8, she gave a public testimony at the Washington headquarters of the National Whistleblowers Association, in an attempt to keep her case alive in the public eye. Among other allegations, she said that Turkish intelligence agents bugged the apartment of a female member of Congress and then blackmailed her, threatening to expose her extra-marital affair. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Armenian Genocide, blackmail, corruption, FBI, MİT (Turkey), National Whistleblowers Association, News, Sibel Edmonds, Turkey, United States, US Congress, whistleblowing, wiretapping

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

Intelligence sources speak of clashes between rival Pakistani militias

August 12, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Mehsud

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Exactly one week after Pakistani officials announced the assassination of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, there are unconfirmed reports of serious clashes between rival armed factions in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Canadian sources are quoting unnamed intelligence officials who claim that Mehsud’s Taliban fighters are engaged in an all-out offensive against militia followers of Turkistan Bitani, a tribal warlord backed by the Pakistani government. Bitani spoke to the Associated Press saying that 90 fighters have so far died in the offensive and that at least 40 houses have been destroyed. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Baitullah Mehsud, CIA, Jandola (Pakistan), News, Pakistan, Predator drones, South Waziristan, Taliban, Turkistan Bitani, United States, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0065

August 12, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA investigator admits to fabricating reports. CIA employee Kerry Gerdes has pleaded guilty to falsifying interview reports while performing background checks on Agency employees and potential employees.
Mehsud killed while getting leg massage, say US sources. American officials have dismissed rumors that Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban chief, is alive, and say he was killed while on the roof of his father-in-law’s home in South Waziristan.
Paris furious at French woman’s espionage confession on Iranian TV. Iranian state television has aired footage of Clotilde Reiss, a French student who was arrested in Iran last July, confessing to spying for France. Soon afterward, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced he would take time off from his holiday to make her release his priority.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Baitullah Mehsud, CIA, Clotilde Reiss, France, intelligence recruitment, Iran, Kerry Gerdes, News, news you may have missed, Nicolas Sarkozy, Pakistan, Predator drones, South Waziristan, Taliban, United States

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

Is Mehsud dead, and if so, who or what killed him?

August 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Baitullah Mehsud

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
There is confusion about the fate of Pakistan’s senior Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud. On August 7, the Pakistani military told the world’s media that an unmanned drone air strike (probably operated by the CIA) had killed Mehsud. The Associated Press reported that a Taliban commander in Pakistan, Kafayat Ullah, had confirmed that “Mehsud and his wife died in the American missile attack in South Waziristan”. Pakistani military officials said they were “reasonably sure” of the accuracy of these reports, but that they did not possess irrefutable “forensic evidence” of Mehsud’s death. Over the weekend, however, other Taliban leaders came forward to contest Ullah’s account. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, Baitullah Mehsud, CIA, Hakimullah Mehsud, Kafayat Ullah, Maulvi Umar, News, Pakistan, Predator drones, South Waziristan, Taliban, United States, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0062

August 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Hacking, Lock-Picking, Booze and Bacon. Excellent illustrated review of some of the highlights of DefCon 17, the world’s largest hacking convention, which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Were NC terror suspect’s stories an exaggeration? There are more doubts over the genuineness of the Afghan exploits of Daniel Boyd, who was recently arrested along with seven others in North Carolina on domestic terrorism charges.
Ex-DHS boss comes out in support of controversial NSA project. Michael Chertoff, who directed the US Department of Homeland Security under the Bush Administration, has come out in support of EINSTEIN 3, a rumored joint project between the NSA and US telecommunication service providers, which requires the latter to route government data carried through their networks to the NSA, via secret rooms installed in exchange sites. Critics have condemned the project as “antithetical to basic civil liberties and privacy protections” in the United States.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with American Muslims, Bush Administration, civil liberties, communications intelligence, computer hacking, Daniel Boyd, DefCon conference, domestic intelligence, EINSTEIN 3, Michael Chertoff, News, news you may have missed, NSA, telecommunication service providers, United States, US Department of Homeland Security

News you may have missed #0061

August 7, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Finland police identify body of WWII Soviet spy. Police believe a body found near Kouvola, Finland, to be the World War II remnants of a Soviet spy. The man apparently parachuted to his death. The body will be offered to the Russian Embassy for repatriation –an offer that is expected to be refused.
Hacker conferences attract spies, thieves. Interesting account of Defcon conference anecdotes by CNET correspondent Elinor Mills, who has been attending Defcon since 1995.
Interesting interview with lawyer behind CIA lawsuit. McClatchy news agency has published a rare interview with Brian Leighton, the lawyer representing retired Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officer Richard A. Horn, who in 1994 claimed that CIA agents illegally wiretapped his conversations while he was stationed in Burma.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Brian Leighton, CIA, computer hacking, DEA, DefCon conference, espionage, Finland, Kouvola (Finland), lawsuits, News, news you may have missed, Richard A. Horn, Russian embassy in Finland, United States, USSR, World War II

DNI responses to Senate questions declassified

August 7, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Dennis Blair

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Don’t bother reading through the 40 pages (.pdf) of responses given last February by the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to questions by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. There’s not that much new information in it, and it turns out DNI Dennis C. Blair even resorted to plagiarizing part of an article on an alleged Russian attack on US satellites originally printed in Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, with no attribution. Instead, you can save time by taking a look at the observations made on the 40-page document by Steven Aftergood, editor of the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy News bulletin. It was, in fact, a Freedom of Information Act request by Aftergood that prompted the release of the document in the first place. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, CIA Directorate of Intelligence, declassification, Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, economic espionage, Economic Intelligence Brief (CIA), FOIA, Hezbollah, Iran, Lebanon, News, plagiarism, Russia, satellite reconnaissance, United States, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

News you may have missed #0060

August 6, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ex-FBI translator tests US Justice Department again. Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds has spent seven years trying to get a court to hear her allegations that Turkish intelligence agents had penetrated her unit, the State Department, the Pentagon and Congress. This weekend she’s going to try again.
Bulgaria appoints new National Security Agency director. Tsvetelin Yovchev is the new head of the State National Security Agency (DANS). The Agency’s previous director, Petko Sertov, recently handed his resignation, allegedly after Bulgaria’s “American partners were said to have lost faith” in him. He will now serve as Bulgaria’s general consul in Thessaloniki, northern Greece.
US paper sees power struggle inside Iranian intelligence. The Washington Times claims the recent firing of intelligence minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, two other Ali Khamenei loyalists and nearly 20 other high-ranking officials, has weakened Khamenei’s hold over the Iranian intelligence ministry and has strengthened the power of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.