Counterintelligence News for the week of:

February 13-19, 2005

Translator sentenced in Guantanamo documents case

An Arabic translator who took classified documents from the US military base at Guantanamo Bay yesterday received a 20-month sentence in US District Court in Boston and said he was trying to do a good job by working on the material at home….(Boston Globe, 19 Feb 05)

Latin America Considers New US Intelligence Chief a Terrorist

Latin America is shocked with the appointment of John Dimitri Negroponte as director of intelligence, a man that helped write the worst pages of US imperial diplomacy with his support to governments charged with gross human right abuses….(19 (Prensa, 19 Feb 05)

CIA to Cede President's Brief to Negroponte

The White House has decided that the new director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, will take over from CIA Director Porter J. Goss the responsibility for producing the intelligence material given to President Bush each morning, Bush Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. said yesterday….(Washington Post, 19 Feb 05)

Intelligence Nominee Comes Under Renewed Scrutiny on Human Rights

Human rights advocates repeated longstanding criticisms on Friday of John D. Negroponte, President Bush's nominee as director of national intelligence…..(New York Times, 19 Feb 05)

President Names New Director of Intelligence

Syrian President Bashar Assad replaced the chief of military intelligence with his brother-in-law, a Syrian official said, four days after the assassination in Beirut of Lebanon's former prime minister…..(LA Times, 19 Feb 05)

New Nuclear Sub Is Said to Have Special Eavesdropping Ability
The submarine Jimmy Carter, which joined the Navy's fleet on Saturday, has a special capability, intelligence experts say: it is able to tap undersea cables and eavesdrop on the communications passing through them….(AP, 19 Feb 05)

Sex for secrets

AN Israeli spy was kicked out of Australia for trying to seduce female spies, diplomats and defence specialists employed by some of the most sensitive national security agencies, security sources said yesterday. Amir Laty, expelled on December 28, even targeted journalists in the hope of cultivating young women with access to government secrets.....(Daily Telegraph, 18 Feb 05)

ASIO detected danger in diplomat's liaisons

AMIR Laty had spent little more than a year in Australia before ASIO determined his behaviour in Canberra went well beyond his status as a consular officer with the Israeli embassy. In diplomatic parlance, the Howard Government concluded that Laty's conduct was "incompatible with his status as a diplomat"…..(The Australian, 18 Feb 05)

Spy who tried to steal secrets from the bedroom

AN ISRAELI spy was expelled from Canberra for trying to seduce women employed by some of Australia's most sensitive national security, defence and spy agencies. Amir Laty was kicked out of the country in late December after spending most of his 18 months in Canberra trying to bed female spies, diplomats, defence specialists and even journalists…..(The Advertiser, 18 Feb 05)

The Romeo spy

AN expelled Israeli secret agent who befriended Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's daughter was a persistent womaniser on a mission to recruit spies, intelligence sources say…..(Herald Sun, 18 Feb 05)

Expelled diplomat spooked women

The Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, has insisted his daughter's relationship with an expelled Israeli consul was irrelevant to the diplomat's departure, because the consul's replacement bowed out of the posting because of an alleged sex scandal…..(Sydney Morning Herald, 18 Feb 05)

Ruddock a key target for spooks

WHILE a diplomat getting close to Phillip Ruddock's daughter may seem like trifling gossip, the full ramifications are worth considering. Mr Ruddock has become a central espionage target through his key role in Australia's national security strategy…..(Daily Telegraph, 18 Feb 05)

Talk of dalliances cloaks sinister reason for expulsion

If Amir Laty is a spy, his actions have blown his cover and dented the once-impressive reputation of Israel's Mossad agency. …..(The Age, 18 Feb 05)

Spy' was friend of Ruddock daughter

A SECRET agent thrown out of Australia for spying had befriended Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's daughter and was due to spend Christmas dinner with the Ruddocks just three days before he was expelled. …..(The Advertiser, 18 Feb 05)

Envoy quits, Ruddock hits back

…. Government sources and intelligence insiders also played down the role of the Ruddock connection, pointing to Mr Laty's links to Sydney travel agent Eli Cara. Mr Cara and a colleague were exposed as Mossad agents after being arrested in New Zealand attempting to obtain a false passport…..(The Age, 18 Feb 05)

Secret world of spying in Australia

FIVE years ago Australian Federal Police agents identified a suspected Lebanese terrorist living in suburban Guildford. The man had allegedly murdered nine people, including a monk, and bombed a church. He was sentenced, in absentia, by a Lebanese court to death by firing squad. More extraordinary than the fact that the fundamentalist was living in Australia on full refugee status and was therefore untouchable, was intelligence a "death squad" of Israeli-backed secret service agents were in Sydney hunting the man…..(Daily Telegraph, 18 Feb 05)

Claims Israel uses Australia as spy base

Israel uses Australia as a base to monitor the activities of potential enemies in the region, according to an American security expert…..(Sydney Morning Herald, 18 Feb 05)

Israel ready to say sorry

Israel is ready to say sorry to New Zealand over last year's spy scandal, with diplomats negotiating the text of the apology. The move would end a diplomatic standoff over New Zealand's demand for an explanation and apology for the attempt by two suspected Mossad agents to get a New Zealand passport…..(Manawatu Standard, 18 Feb 05)

Israel contacts New Zealand over suspected spies' case

Israel has approached New Zealand to thaw the chill cast over relations by two suspected Israeli spies who were jailed in New Zealand for passport fraud, an official said Friday…..(AP, 18 Feb 05)

Former KGB reserve officer summoned to Lithuanian parliament

Arvydas Pocius, the general director of Lithuania’s State Security Department, was summoned to parliament on Thursday to testify to the interim commission on his links to the Soviet KGB. The commission was set up to decide whether former KGB reserve officers should remain in power and whether it threatens Lithuania’s national interests…..(ITAR-TASS, 18 Feb 05)

The Bear Is Back

For decades, serious students of the Soviet Union and Russia have had one enduring credo: Watch Yevgeny Primakov. Since his days as the USSR's chief Middle East hand in the 1970s and 1980s, the wily KGB spymaster has been an accurate barometer of the Kremlin's strategic priorities, as well as Moscow's most adept practitioner of geopolitics…..(National Review, 18 Feb 05)

Former Spy Master Was Murdered by Paris Gang

Missing former KCIA Director Kim Hyung-wook was murdered in Paris in 1979 by a local crime syndicate at the orders of a KCIA operative, the Monthly Chosun reports. It said the KCIA lured Kim to the French capital, where the gang disposed of his body, a service for which it was paid by the operative…..(Daily Chosun, 18 Feb 05)

An Intelligence Director, Finally

John Negroponte, nominated yesterday by President Bush to be the first director of national intelligence, would bring many strong qualifications to the job: decades of diplomatic experience, a reputation for successful bureaucratic infighting and some relevant managerial experience. …..(New York Times editorial, 18 Feb 05)

Spy vs.spy

With the Prime Minister's backing, Meir Dagan is trying to shake up the Mossad and make it relevant to the realities of the 21st century. But with all the big espionage agencies in the West chasing the same targets from the world of international terrorism, is the Mossad still competitive?….(Haaretz, 17 Feb 05)

Retired pilot to get award for once-secret CIA rescue missions

He's no hero. Willis Hobbs was only doing his job. So the retired pilot says, mostly because it's just not his style to brag. No, Hobbs says he has always been the type to listen, then get in his plane and finish the mission. And, keep his mouth shut. Just the way the CIA liked it…..(Sun Sentinel, 18 Feb 05)

Negroponte Named National Intelligence Chief

President Bush nominated John D. Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, yesterday to be director of national intelligence, ending a long search to fill the newly created job overseeing the nation's 15 spy agencies……Bush also named Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, head of the National Security Agency, which collects electronic intelligence, to be Negroponte's deputy. …….(Washington Post, 18 Feb 05)

Bush Picks Longtime Diplomat for New Top Intelligence Job

President Bush nominated John D. Negroponte on Thursday as the first director of national intelligence, to take charge of American intelligence agencies at a crucial juncture as they try to recover from serious missteps on Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks. …..(New York Times, 18 Feb 05)

Negroponte Selected As Intelligence Chief

……(AP, 18 Feb 05)

Relationship With Bush Will Be Key

When John D. Negroponte takes over as the nation's first intelligence czar, he will confront a set of challenges that could make his last post -- U.S. ambassador to Iraq -- look tidy. …….(Washington Post, 18 Feb 05)

An Old Hand in New Terrain of Top Intelligence Job

Few officials in the Bush administration better understand the damage that can be wreaked by faulty or politicized intelligence than John D. Negroponte. . …..(New York Times, 18 Feb 05)

Spy Chief Faces Huge Burdens, Meager Authority

As U.S. ambassador to Iraq for the last eight months, John D. Negroponte deftly maneuvered between warring factions, deadly ambushes and dubious allies in a brutal combat zone. Negroponte will need those skills and more for the bureaucratic wars he will face in Washington if he is confirmed as the first director of national intelligence….(Los Angeles Times, 18 Feb 05)

The Thinking Man's Spy: Michael Vincent Hayden

Though the White House had to scramble to find a director of national intelligence to corral the nation's scheming, competing intelligence agencies, the choice for deputy director was all but certain weeks ago. As chief of the National Security Agency, the eavesdropping and code-breaking operation that is the largest American spying enterprise, Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden has made himself the indispensable man…..(New York Times, 18 Feb 05)

New intelligence chief must unite agencies

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte, tapped Thursday by President Bush to be the first director of national intelligence, will be taking on one of the most difficult jobs in government as he oversees a sweeping reorganization of the U.S. intelligence community…..(Knight-Ridder, 18 Feb 05)

Israeli spy's successor in disgrace

….. The developments came as Attorney-General Philip Ruddock continued yesterday to reject suggestions that a friendship between his daughter Caitlin and Mr Lati had resulted in the Israeli diplomat's expulsion from Australia. "…..(The Australian, 18 Feb 05)

Accused spy's replacement canned

AN Israeli diplomat allegedly involved in a child-sex scandal five years ago has withdrawn his application to serve in Israel's embassy in Canberra…..(Daily Telegraph, 18 Feb 05)

IRA Spy Fears For Life After Exposure

An IRA spy, who once operated in the North West, has accused the police of ignoring fears for his life after his identity was exposed in a Belfast-based newspaper……(Derry Journal, 18 Feb 05)

Mossad's Christian Heroine Dies

The Mossad, Israel's spy agency, this week brought home to her final rest one of its legendary female operatives, Sylvia Raphael……(New York Post op-ed, 18 Feb 05)

France to honor CIA's Dien Bien Phu pilots

In the spring of 1954, Allen Pope risked life and limb to fly covert Central Intelligence Agency resupply missions to besieged French forces in what is now Vietnam. But the thing he recounts most vividly is not the dangers he faced. It's the heroism of the French troops he was helping……(AP, 17 Feb 05)

List of Ex-KGB Reservists Published in Lithuania

Lithuanian media published a list Thursday of local nationals who had been members of a KGB reserve list in the past….(MosNews, 17 Feb 05)

The spy and minister's daughter

AN Israeli diplomat thrown out of Australia because he was suspected of being a spy befriended Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's daughter and was due to spend Christmas dinner with the Ruddocks just three days before he was expelled. Former Israeli consul to Australia Amir Laty had a reputation for pursuing women in high places……(Daily Telegraph, 17 Feb 05)

Ruddock's spy scandal link

THE Israeli diplomat at the centre of a spy scandal has claimed his friendship with Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's youngest daughter, Caitlin, was behind a decision to expel him from Australia. The claims have emerged in a debriefing that Amir Lati reportedly gave to the Israeli Foreign Ministry……(Sunday Mail, 17 Feb 05)

Spy who bungled

IF Amir Laty was indeed an agent of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, then his masters should be mightily displeased with him. ……(Daily Telegraph, 17 Feb 05)

Espionage Attorney John Davitt Dies

John H. "Jack" Davitt, 81, a retired Department of Justice attorney who was responsible for reviewing all espionage cases from 1951 to 1980, died of pancreatic cancer Feb. 14 at home in Cotuit, Mass. He was a former resident of Chevy Chase….(Washington Post, 17 Feb 05)

Bush Names Iraq Envoy as Nation's 1st Intelligence Chief

President Bush today named John D. Negroponte as the director of national intelligence, a new position that will oversee the country's 15 intelligence agencies and exercise broad control over a multi-billion dollar intelligence budget….(New York Times, 17 Feb 05)

Bush Names Negroponte as New Intelligence Chief

President Bush on Thursday nominated John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, to fill the new position of director of national intelligence…..(Reuters, 17 Feb 05)

Transcript: Bush Announces New Intel Chief

President Bush named veteran diplomat and John D. Negroponte to the new post of national intelligence chief….(FDCH E-Media, 17 Feb 05)

Peru ex-spy chief 'to sue Garzon'

The former Peruvian spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, is planning to sue Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon….(BBC, 17 Feb 05)

ADF accused of spying on PNG Defence Force

A senior Papua New Guinea MP has accused the Australian Defence Force of gathering secret intelligence information from the PNG Defence Force…..(ABC, 17 Feb 05)

No excuses for the security breaches

...The implications are widespread: breaches of the Data Protection Act; legal liabilities for organisations revealing potentially libellous information; not to mention industrial espionage or the worst-case scenario of children's personal details being leaked….(Computing, 17 Feb 05)

CIA Still Trying to Get Access to Pakistani Nuclear Scientist

CIA Director Porter J. Goss said Wednesday that the United States was making a renewed push for access to Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, and acknowledged that U.S. intelligence agencies had yet to track down and eradicate certain pieces of Khan's vast proliferation network….(LA Times, 17 Feb 05)

Goss Plan to Strengthen CIA Is Ready

CIA Director Porter J. Goss plans to deliver to President Bush today his plans for increasing by 50 percent the number of clandestine operations officers and analysts to expand U.S. intelligence on terrorist networks and to counter the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, according to senior intelligence officials…(Washington Post, 16 Feb 05)

A Shield for a Free Press

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit yesterday affirmed a lower-court ruling that holds two reporters in contempt for refusing to testify in the federal investigation of the leak of Valerie Plame's identity as a covert CIA operative…..(Washington Post, 16 Feb 05)

Iran nuclear weapons program: myth or reality

France, Britain and Germany, on behalf of the European Union, have been trying to persuade Iran to scrap potentially weapons-related activities in return for economic incentives….(News From Russia, 16 Feb 05)

Senate Extends Life of CIA Nazi Documents Panel

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted to extend by two years the life of a government panel charged with declassifying CIA documents that detail U.S. relations with former Nazis and war criminals….(Reuters, 16 Feb 05)

Senate Passes Bill on Nazi War Crimes

The Senate voted on Wednesday to allow more time for the declassification of government documents about Nazi war criminals. The legislation's approval followed a recent agreement by the CIA to turn over papers about agents hired despite their Nazi ties….(AP, 16 Feb 05)

Shadow of the Files

….. At stake was a list of actual and potential secret police informers, preserved intact from the communist era, discovered in an archive, electronically copied by a journalist, and then somehow posted, in an unverifiable form, on the Internet…..(Washington Post, 16 Feb 05)

Panel to Hold Hearing on Global Threats

The Bush administration has yet to name a new national intelligence director, and the Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat says he wants an explanation…(AP, 16 Feb 05)

Russia's FSB recruits whistleblowers with the help of street ads

…..The FSB welcomes any kind of information, because Russian citizens cooperating with foreign intelligence services can contact the Russian FSB with a view to become double-agents.”….(Pravda, 16 Feb 05)

Iran Says U.S. Spy Drones Flew Over Its Nuclear Sites

The United States has been flying spy drones over Iran's nuclear sites, Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi said Wednesday, commenting for the first time on media reports of U.S. unmanned surveillance craft over Iran…..(AP, 16 Feb 05)

Jailing of Reporters in C.I.A. Leak Case Is Upheld by Judges

Two reporters who have refused to name their sources to a grand jury investigating the disclosure of the identity of a covert C.I.A. officer should be jailed for contempt, a unanimous three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington ruled yesterday….(New York Times, 16 Feb 05)

Judges Order 2 Reporters to Testify on Leak

Reporters at the New York Times and Time magazine may be jailed if they continue to refuse to answer questions before a grand jury about their confidential conversations with government sources regarding the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday…(AP, 16 Feb 05)

Taiwan government raids UMC offices over China fab links
….While similarities between foundries sparked a lawsuit alleging IP theft and corporate espionage between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., UMC instead seems to have cultivated a close co-operative relationship with Hejian, acknowledging that it sometimes refers orders to the Suzhou-based foundry…..(EE Times, 16 Feb 05)

US Spying on Iran Nuclear Sites from Space

…."We believe the United States has been spying against Iran for some time using satellites and other tools," he was quoted as saying on the official IRNA news agency, when asked about U.S. denials that it was using drones over Iran…..(Reuters, 16 Feb 05)

FBI Said Conducting Intelligence Abroad

The FBI is conducting intelligence operations abroad without notifying colleagues at the CIA and State Department, current and former government officials say……(AP, 15 Feb 05)

Sternies hired to make spy ads

… The class, taught by Stern Professor Jack Jacoby, was hired by the agency to develop a marketing campaign to inform college students about opportunities to work at the CIA, while giving students a hands-on opportunity to learn the rigors of running a marketing agency….(New York Times, 15 Feb 05)

Moroccan king names new counter-espionage chief

Morocco's King Mohammed on Monday appointed a civilian to lead the country's counter-espionage unit for the first time in the DGED's 32-year history, the state news agency Maghreb Arab Press reported…..(Reuters, 15 Feb 05)

Poland's Communist informers caught red-handed on the Net

Poles have been logging on to the internet in record numbers this week after a journalist accidentally posted the names of tens of thousands of Communist-era police informers on a website….(Independent, 15 Feb 05)

Covert U.S. Aviators to Get French Award

Allen L. Pope risked life and limb to fly CIA supply missions in 1954 to besieged French forces in what is now Vietnam. But the thing he recounts most vividly is not the danger he faced. It's the bravery of the French troops….(AP, 15 Feb 05)

Eclectic Author Edmund Applewhite Dies

Edmund Jarratt Applewhite, 85, a protege of the philosopher-inventor R. Buckminster Fuller, a retired Central Intelligence Agency officer and a writer, ruminator and cataloguer of broadly eclectic information, died Feb. 10 of multiple myeloma at his home in Georgetown. He had lived in Washington since 1947….(Washington Post, 15 Feb 05)

Bush to Name Intelligence Chief Today

President Bush is naming the nation's first new national intelligence director, the powerful overseer of 15 separate intelligence agencies including the CIA….(AP, 17 Feb 05)

Russia Still Fields Cold War Army of Spies

In the five years since former KGB spy Vladimir Putin assumed power, the number of Russian spies has swelled to meet or exceed Cold War levels in the United States and Germany, according to Western media reports and a former KGB agent in London….(St. Petersburg Times, 15 Feb 05)

Appeals Court Upholds Ruling in CIA Leak

The lawyer for two reporters facing jail for refusing to divulge their sources about the leak of an undercover CIA officer's name says he will challenge an appeals court ruling ordering them to talk…..(AP, 16 Feb 05)

China's Big Export
…..A hotbed of activity is Silicon Valley, where the number of Chinese espionage cases handled by the bureau increases 20% to 30% annually. Says a senior FBI official: "China is trying to develop a military that can compete with the U.S., and they are willing to steal to get [it]." ….(Time Magazine, 14 Feb 05)

Chinese high-tech espionage growing in US

The number of US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) probes into Chinese espionage in California's technology corridor has soared, as Beijing allegedly recruits civilians to steal US know-how…(Agence France Presse, 14 Feb 05)

Our Intelligence Services; Tale of Many Mistakes And One Moment of Brilliance

….Timothy Kalyegira looks at the workings of Uganda's intelligence services, some of which have been murderous, over the years. This is Part I covering 1964-1979. Part II runs next Sunday….(The Monitor, 14 Feb 05)

One held on espionage charge

Mohammed Untoo, hailing from Kashmir, was arrested from R K Puram area of South West District on Saturday when he was allegedly passing on some secret documents to another person, police sources said today, adding the other person managed to escape…(Chennai Online, 14 Feb 05)

NSA May Be 'Traffic Cop' for U.S. Networks

The Bush administration is considering making the National Security Agency - famous for eavesdropping and code breaking - its "traffic cop" for ambitious plans to share homeland security information across government computer networks, a senior NSA official says….(AP, 14 Feb 05)

Mossad agent involved in mistaken assassination dies at 67

Sylvia Raphael, an operative of Mossad intelligence service who was convicted in the mistaken assassination of a Moroccan waiter in Norway in 1973, has died of cancer in South Africa on Sunday…..(AP, 13 Feb 05)

Report paints gloomy future for Pakistan
U.S. intelligence officials have said Pakistan will be a failed state by 2015, the Times of India reported Sunday. An assessment report compiled by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies forecasts a "Yugoslavia-like fate" for Pakistan, thanks to civil war, Talibanization and a struggle for control of nuclear weapons…..(UPI, 13 Feb 05)

Controversial Pentagon Espionage Unit Loses Its Leader

The leader of a new Pentagon espionage unit has resigned his position, shortly after public disclosure that the Defense Department is expanding into clandestine operations traditionally undertaken by the CIA….(Washington Post, 13 Feb 05)

Tailor-Made for the CIA

Kamal -- a pseudonym -- is not a creation of John le Carre or John Grisham, though the three-page treatment of the tailor's life and times circulating here is said to have the crackle of a spy novel in places. No wonder: It was written by spies for other spies and for the most senior policymakers in the Bush administration…..(Washington Post, 13 Feb 05)

Spookspeak

“I don't take lightly the distinction between clandestine and covert,'' said Senator Jay Rockefeller, ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. ''It makes all the difference in the world.'' ….(New York Times, 13 Feb 05)

Pakistan will be a failed state by 2015: CIA
Pakistan will be a "failed" state by 2015, as it would be affected by civil war, complete Talibanisation and struggle for control of its nuclear weapons, premier US intelligence agencies have said in an assessment report….(Hindustan Times, 13 Feb 05)

Report: U.S. Using Drones to Check on Iran

The United States has been flying surveillance drones over Iran since last year to look for evidence of nuclear weapons programs and probe air defenses, The Washington Post reported Sunday. …(AP, 13 Feb 05)

U.S. Uses Drones to Probe Iran For Arms

The Bush administration has been flying surveillance drones over Iran for nearly a year to seek evidence of nuclear weapons programs and detect weaknesses in air defenses, according to three U.S. officials with detailed knowledge of the secret effort…..(Washington Post, 13 Feb 05)