News you may have missed #468
January 14, 2011 Leave a comment
- Lawyer says Assange could face death penalty in US. Mark Stephens, a defense attorney for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claims his client could face the death penalty if he is extradited to Sweden, and if that country then passes him to US authorities.
- Uncertain future for CIA’s climate change unit. The future of the CIA’s unit on climate change is “in jeopardy” because of pressure for intelligence budget cuts and resistance from conservative lawmakers, according to a new report by Northwestern University. Here is an excellent report from Canada on the CIA’s climate change endeavors.
- Renault files official espionage complaint. French carmaker Renault has lodged an official complaint on the suspected industrial espionage case that led to the suspension of three executives. Meanwhile, China denies connection with what has become known in France as “L’affaire Renault”.











South African spy chief had secret US talks, embassy cable reveals
January 24, 2011 by intelNews Leave a comment
Moe Shaik
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
South Africa’s spy chief regularly gave the American embassy in Pretoria detailed information on internal African National Congress (ANC) politics, according to a diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks. The cable, entitled “Zuma Advisor Threatens to Expose Political Skeletons”, was authored on September 10 2008 by the embassy and communicated to several recipients, including the State Department, CIA, and the National Security Council. It reveals that Moe Shaik, who heads the South African Secret Service (SASS), the country’s external intelligence agency, met regularly with an unnamed political officer of the US embassy and “always share[d] insights into the motivations and strategies of the Zuma camp”. The reference is to Jacob Zuma, President of the governing ANC, who assumed the organization’s leadership in May of 2009, after a bitter internal party struggle. Several months prior to Zuma’s election as ANC’s President, the organization’s rival faction, which was loyal to Thabo Mbeki, attempted to challenge Zuma’s eligibility by leveling corruption charges against him. Read more of this post
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ANC, CIA, informants, Jacob Zuma, Moe Shaik, National Security Council, News, Operation VULA, SASS, South Africa, South African Secret Service, Thabo Mbeki, US embassy in South Africa, Wikileaks