United States | intelNews.org

We have spies, but not troops in Pakistan, says US

December 25, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Predator drone

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
American spies, but not combat troops, are active on Pakistani soil, according to Washington’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Speaking last Tuesday on PBS’ Charlie Rose, Richard Holbrooke said “there are no American troops in Pakistan”, but that the US has “members of our intelligence services in every country in the world”. Asked to clarify whether “[n]o members of the American military or CIA are in Pakistan”, the American diplomat responded: “I only said there are no American troops in Pakistan”. His comments appear to contradict several reports in Western media that US military forces are secretly operating in Pakistan, including a report last February in The New York Times, which stated that over 70 US “military advisers […] and technical specialists” were helping Pakistan’s armed forces fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the remote Pakistani areas bordering Afghanistan. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Afghanistan, CIA, News, Pakistan, Predator drones, Richard Holbrooke, United States, War on Terrorism

Venezuelan-Dutch spat over Caribbean islands spying

December 24, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Antilles

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A diplomatic rift between Venezuela and Holland that began three years ago has flared up again, after Caracas accused the Dutch government of helping the US spy on Venezuela. Speaking last week at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez said the US had been granted use of Holland’s Caribbean possessions to spy on Venezuelan communications and to “prepare a possible military attack against his country”. He was referring to Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, the three Netherlands Antilles islands closest to the Venezuelan coast. The Dutch government has authorized the US military to use civilian airports on the islands, which form a self-governing overseas possession of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Aruba, Bonaire, Caribbean, Copenhagen (Denmark), Curacao, Denmark, Hugo Chávez, Maxime Verhagen, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, News, United States, US Department of State, Venezuela

News you may have missed #0230

December 23, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

Ukrainians claim netting ‘spies among diplomats’. In the last 6 months of 2009, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has “exposed 7 spies among diplomats”, according to its director, Valentyn Nalyvajchenko. He apparently cited “a case of a Russian spy who was charged with obtaining defense industry secrets for a Chinese special service”. If anyone out there has information on this case, please contact us.
France launches new spy satellite. France has launched a military spy satellite, Helios 2B, part of a boost in spending on independent surveillance. The satellite can reportedly tell whether a truck convoy is moving or halted and whether a nuclear reactor is operational or not.
Seized N. Korean weapons destined for Middle East: US spy chief. An illicit North Korean arms shipment seized in Thailand last week was destined for the Middle East, US director of national intelligence Dennis Blair, has claimed. Blair’s comment, which was meant to tout improved cooperation among America’s 16 intelligence agencies, was the first official confirmation of the US role in the case.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with China, Dennis Cutler Blair, DNI, espionage, France, Helios 2B, News, news you may have missed, North Korea, Russia, satellite reconnaissance, Security Service of Ukraine, Thailand, Ukraine, United States, Valentyn Nalyvajchenko, weapons smuggling

US media under-report US missile attack on Yemen

December 22, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

Airstrike victims

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Last Friday, a handful of US websites reported “an airstrike” in Yemen against “a leading al-Qaeda figure there”. The incident, which made headline news along the Arab peninsular, was quickly forgotten in the US. But it now turns out that there were two airstrikes, not one; and they were not carried out by “Yemeni forces”, but rather by the US military, which fired cruise missiles at targets in Yemen on direct orders from US President Barack Obama. And yet the revelation, made by ABC News on Friday, appears to have failed to arouse the interest of US news outlets, the vast majority of which are blatantly ignoring this report. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, Barack Obama, News, Sana'a (Yemen), United States, War on Terrorism, Yemen

News you may have missed #0228

December 21, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Irish nationalists planting honey traps on British troops? The Belfast Telegraph reports that British Army personnel have been “warned about the recruitment by dissidents of attractive females to identify soldiers at popular nightspots and lure them into ambushes” in Northern Ireland. This is highly unnecessary. Usually British troops in the North are easily identifiable by their haircuts, accents, even by their choice of beer!
Egyptian spy chief meets Israeli defense minister. Ehud Barak and Omar Suleiman, director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services, met in Jerusalem on Sunday. The meeting included a “private 30-minute session” between the two men (and the eavesdroppers on either side, presumably –ed.).
Terror suspect David Headley was ‘rogue US secret agent’. The London Times has woken up to the rumors circulating about David Headley, a full month after Indian media began reporting them, and nearly three weeks after intelNews alerted its readers. Nice of them to catch up.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with David Coleman Headley, Egypt, Egyptian General Intelligence Services, Ehud Barak, honey traps, India, informants, Israel, Jerusalem, News, news you may have missed, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, United States

News you may have missed #0227

December 20, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

British politicians sue CIA over rendition flights. A group of British members of parliament, led by Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, has filed a complaint in a district court in Washington, DC, asking for a judicial review of secret agreements between the US and UK on renditioning terrorism suspects.
US DHS broke domestic spying rules. The US Department of Homeland Security gathered intelligence on the Nation of Islam for eight months in 2007, and broke the law by taking longer than 180 days to determine whether the US-based group or its American members posed a terrorist threat.
Expert says UK ex-spy chief misled Iraq War probe. Sir John Scarlett, Britain’s former spy chief has misled the Iraq inquiry by exaggerating the reliability of crucial claims about Saddam Hussein’s ability to launch weapons of mass destruction, according to Dr. Brian Jones, the leading UK Ministry of Defense expert who assessed the intelligence behind London’s decision to go to war in 2003.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Andrew Tyrie, Brian Jones, Chilcot Inquiry (UK), CIA, domestic intelligence, extraordinary rendition, Iraq Inquiry (UK), Iraq War, lawsuits, Nation of Islam, News, news you may have missed, Saddam Hussein, Sir John Scarlett, UK, UK Ministry of Defence, United States, US Department of Homeland Security, Washington DC

News you may have missed #0226

December 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

CIA tries to increase numbers of women leaders. CIA Director Leon Panetta is taking steps to increase the number of women at the Agency’s highest levels. The US is apparently “behind the curve when it comes to promoting women to the top ranks of intelligence services”.
CIA denies employing David Headley. CIA spokesperson Marie E. Harf said that “any suggestion that [David Coleman Headley] worked for the CIA is flat wrong”. The comment was in response to persistent rumors that Headley, who was arrested by the FBI in October, for plotting to attack a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, is in fact an undercover CIA agent gone wild.
Taiwan wants to swap jailed spies with China. The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, which proposed the exchange, said the plan follows its policy of “do[ing] our best to take care of agents and their family members in accordance with the law and regulations”. There have been several espionage-related arrests involving the two bitter rivals in recent months.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with China, CIA, David Coleman Headley, Denmark, double agents, FBI, imprisoned spy swaps, intelligence recruitment, Leon Panetta, Marie E. Harf, News, news you may have missed, Taiwan, Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, United States

Comment: US-Pakistani Spy Relations Just Short of Open War

December 19, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

ISI HQ

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS* | intelNews.org |
Officially, the United States and Pakistan are allies in the so-called “war on terrorism”. But diplomats and intelligence agents on the ground tell a very different story. For several months now, Washington and Islamabad have engaged in a low-intensity intelligence war, with the Pakistanis accusing the Americans of failing to share actionable intelligence, and the Americans blaming Pakistani security services for maintaining clandestine links with Taliban groups. On at least one occasion, a senior advisor to the US-backed Afghan leadership has claimed that Pakistani intelligence services provide assistance to suicide bombers willing to strike targets in Kabul and other cities and towns in Afghanistan.

Comment: Saudi Spies Take Over Yemen Border War

December 18, 2009 by intelNews 4 Comments

Saudis in Yemen

By IAN ALLEN* | intelNews.org |
Perceptive Middle East observers have been following the under-reported but escalating conflict along the Yemeni-Saudi border, in which Saudi and Yemeni government forces have joined forces in combating al-Qaeda-linked Yemeni rebels. It now appears that Saudi Arabia’s preeminent intelligence agency, the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP) has assumed direct command of the conflict. What exactly is going on?

News you may have missed #0224

December 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Parts 6 and 7 of CIA defector’s writings now available. Former FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Eringer has published the sixth and seventh installments (chapters 2 and 3 of “The Spy’s Cookbook”) of the writings of Edward Lee Howard, a CIA officer who defected to the USSR in 1985 (see here for previous intelNews coverage). In part six, Howard writes about the methodology of visiting (among other places) the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, DC. In part seven, he advises that the only time a double agent’s handlers should call the agent’s home is to tell him or her to “get out and leave the country!”.
Congressional vote on US PATRIOT Act delayed. The US House of Representatives tabled on Wednesday legislation to reform US domestic surveillance law. The Senate is likewise expected to delay the matter. The delays will automatically extend provisions of the PATRIOT Act that would otherwise expire at year’s end.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Cold War, defectors, domestic intelligence, Edward Lee Howard, history, intelligence legislation, Interests Section of the Republic of Cuba in Washington DC, News, news you may have missed, Robert Eringer, United States, US Congress, US House of Representatives, US Senate, USA PATRIOT Act, USSR

A veteran British envoy on diplomacy, sex and espionage

December 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Christopher Meyer

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
British newspaper The Daily Mail has published a well-written and entertaining essay by a longtime UK government envoy, explaining the close links between diplomacy, sex and espionage. Sir Christopher Meyer, a career diplomat with the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, served in several countries during his career, including the Soviet Union and Spain, as well as in Germany and the United States, where he was ambassador from 1997 to 2003. He argues in his article that “sex and diplomacy have long been bedfellows”, and recounts some of his personal experiences in the former USSR, where he began his 35-year diplomatic career in 1968, as “an innocent, unmarried 24-year- old”. He arrived in Moscow along with Sir Duncan Wilson, Britain’s ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1968 to 1971. Sir Christopher is bold enough to recount that Sir Duncan’s predecessor, Sir Geoffrey Harrison (ambassador from 1965 to 1968), “had to leave [Moscow] in a hurry, having fallen for the charms of his Russian maid –trained and targeted, of course, by the KGB”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Analysis, British embassy in the US, British embassy in the USSR, Cold War, diplomacy, eavesdropping, Germany, Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service (UK), history, honey traps, KGB, NATO, Sir Christopher Meyer, Sir Duncan Wilson, Sir Geoffrey Harrison, Spain, UK, United States, USSR

News you may have missed #0223 (Iran special)

December 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US tells China it can’t stop Israel from striking Iran indefinitely. Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz claims that “senior officials in Jerusalem” said US President Barack Obama recently warned his Chinese counterpart that “the United States would not be able to keep Israel from attacking Iranian nuclear installations for much longer”.
Iranian memo puzzles Western spy agencies. Does this two-page memorandum, written in Persian, provide an accurate account of the status of Iran’s nuclear program? “Some people think this is the smoking gun”, one senior European official said on Tuesday, “and others say it will be very hard to prove if it’s authentic”.
Iran claims capture of Western spy in Qom. An Iranian state-owned television station has announced the alleged capture two months ago of a spy for a Western intelligence agency who is said to have gathered information on Iran’s uranium enrichment site at Qum. But some observers have questioned the report.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with China, espionage, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Israel, News, news you may have missed, Qum (Iran), United States

Lithuania’s spy chief resigns over secret CIA prison probe

December 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Malakauskas

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The director of Lithuania’s intelligence service unexpectedly resigned on Monday, reportedly in connection with a parliamentary investigation into a reputed CIA secret prison site in the country. IntelNews regulars will remember that last November ABC News cited CIA officials in alleging that the Lithuanian government provided the CIA with an unmarked building located in Lithuanian capital Vilnius, with the understanding that it would be used as a so-called black site for secretly detaining high-value al-Qaeda suspects. Lithuanian government officials denied the allegation, but promised to set up a high-level probe into the matter. But the members of the parliamentary committee that was established to examine the ABC News revelations soon found themselves shunned by Lithuanian intelligence officials. According to the committee head, Arvydas Anusauskas, the parliamentarians were offered ambiguous answers or no answers at all by Lithuanian secret service agencies. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with al-Qaeda, Arvydas Anusauskas, CIA, Eastern Europe, extraordinary rendition, intelligence oversight, Lithuania, News, Paul Gimigliano, Povilas Malakauskas, resignations, secret prisons, State Security Department (Lithuania), United States, Vilnius (Lithuania), War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0222

December 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UN investigates claims Iran using Taiwan as nuclear conduit. United Nations officials are investigating intelligence claims that Iran has established a smuggling network using front companies in Taiwan to acquire equipment that it could use to make nuclear weapons.
Blackwater tied to secret CIA raids, say employees. “There was a feeling that Blackwater eventually became an extension of the agency”, said one former top CIA officer. IntelNews regulars will remember that we described last summer’s revelations of Blackwater’s participation in US special operations as “just the tip of the iceberg”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Blackwater, CIA, intelligence outsourcing, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, mercenaries, News, news you may have missed, nuclear proliferation, Taiwan, United Nations, United States, weapons smuggling, Xe

Spy agencies closely monitoring climate change talks

December 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

DSD logo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
I have written before about the increasing involvement of intelligence agencies in ongoing climate change negotiations between the world’s governments. In October, the CIA announced the establishment of its Center on Climate Change and National Security, despite fierce opposition by Republican lawmakers. Earlier this month, it was alleged that the hackers who stole and leaked onto the Internet hundreds of University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit emails were operating via a Russian military and security network, a claim that has been disputed by the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service). However, a recent article in Australian daily The Canberra Times provides the first mainstream indication that a Western intelligence agency is “giving top priority” to the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference currently taking place in Denmark. Read more of this post