Polonium Traced to 4 New Sites

British authorities on Friday disclosed four new London locations, including a Moroccan restaurant and a lap-dancing club, at which investigators have found the kind of radiation that killed former Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko in November. The investigation stretched over 47 locations…..(Washington Post, 18 Aug 07)

Arnold Shostak Physicist

Arnold Shostak, 93, a physicist who promoted many of the early developments in radio astronomy, died of respiratory failure Aug. 4…in 1936. He landed a job with the Federal Communications Commission's office in Kansas City, Mo., which led to his position as a regional officer in charge of the FCC's Radio Intelligence Division during World War II. He used radio direction-finding equipment to locate spies transmitting reports to Germany…..(Washington Post, 18 Aug 07)

Secret Court Asks For White House View on Inquiry

A secret U.S. intelligence court has ordered the Bush administration to register its views about a records request by the American Civil Liberties Union, which wants the court to release a series of pivotal orders issued earlier this year about the National Security Agency's wiretapping program. The move is highly unusual….(Washington Post, 18 Aug 07)

"Truth Was Expendable"

Comrades and Commissars: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War, by Cecil D. Eby

Between the Bullet and the Lie, by Cecil Eby, appeared in 1969 as a welcome change from the politically correct line on the Spanish Civil War and the role of the International Brigades in that conflict. Eby never considered a sequel but the material kept coming, including new revelations from the Soviet Union. The result is Comrades and Commissars, by far the best work on the subject… The Old Left handlers of Lincoln Battalion lore, Eby found, are not interested in what happened but what should have happened, and why. The men themselves, in this view, were "nothing" but "the cause was everything." The cause, handled by the Comintern and Communist Party, was to make Spain the first Soviet colony……(Front Page, 17 Aug 07)

Curator of spies
Yes, Peter Earnest tells the children and their parents gathered in a room at the International Spy Museum, he was once an operative for the U.S. government...These days, Mr. Earnest, a former operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, gets his adrenaline rush from a different position, as executive director of the museum, where he hopes Americans can go to learn about the traditionally secretive world of spies….(Washington Times, 17 Aug 07)

Absurdity and Pain in Secret Police File

…Dumitru Motoc's file is No. 1161919. Information in it begins with 1942. Seven years later, he was arrested and sent to prison for allegedly having belonged to Romania's fascist Iron Guard, based on the testimony of an informant. The file's last entry was made a few months before his death in 1985. He was one of millions of Romanians who spied and were spied on by the communist regime, creating an atmosphere of fear and distrust. The Securitate was created on the model of the Soviet Union's NKVD secret service, the predecessor of the KGB…..(AP, 17 Aug 07)

Iran regime's victims waiting for justice

…While visiting her 93-year-old mother in Tehran, Esfandiari was robbed at knifepoint of her luggage, which included her U.S. and Iranian passports. When she tried to apply for a new passport, she was detained by authorities there and interrogated about the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Middle East Program, of which she is the director. She eventually was whisked away to Iran's notorious Evin Prison, where she has been repeatedly accused of being an American and Israeli agent….(Seattle Times, 17 Aug 07)

Case of Spy vs. Vote Monitor in Kazakhstan? Some Clues Surface

What appear to be internal documents detailing an exchange between Kazakhstan’s intelligence service and President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev suggest that Kazakhstan conducted intelligence operations against international monitors during the presidential election in 2005, aimed at swaying the conclusions of the monitors’ reports…The documents include an operations summary under the letterhead of Nartay Dutbayev, former head of the National Security Committee, or K.N.B., Kazakhstan’s successor to the K.G.B. Mr. Dutbayev resigned in 2006 when five of his subordinates were accused of murdering a prominent opposition politician and two members of his staff. He has left public life…The documents were sent this summer by someone with connections inside the Kazakh intelligence service to European diplomats, including those in the Office of Democratic Initiatives and Human Rights in Poland, according to a Western diplomat who received copies and declined to be identified, citing diplomatic protocol. Their authenticity could not be determined…..(New York Times, 17 Aug 07)

Chinese Deploy Superior Avionics

…It's no accident that the J10 resembles the F-16, because Israel apparently sold them technology for the Israeli Lavi jet fighter. Israel abandoned the Lavi project, because of the high cost and availability of cheaper alternatives (buying F-16s and F-15s from the United States.) But the Lavi was meant to be a super F-16, and incorporated a lot of design ideas from the F-16 (which the Israelis were very familiar with, as they used them, and had developed new components for them.) China has about a dozen J10As in service, and will probably increase production once their WS10A engine is operational (which may be in a year or two.) China's extensive espionage efforts in the U.S. has long sought jet engine and AESA technology…..(Strategy Page, 17 Aug 07)

Iran Arrests 2 Chinese on Charges of Spying

Iran has arrested two Chinese citizens on charges of spying for taking pictures of a military complex in the central city of Arak, where Iran is building a nuclear reactor, the judiciary spokesman said Wednesday. “The Chinese nationals were detained while photographing and recording video of a military complex in Arak city,” said the spokesman…The heavy-water reactor in Arak is one of the Iranian nuclear facilities that have been criticized by Western nations, and the government recently reversed its refusal to allow inspectors at the site. Iran insists that the reactor is only for peaceful purposes, but the reactor would eventually be capable of producing plutonium, which the United States and other countries say is a crucial part of a drive by Iran to make nuclear weapons…..(AP, 16 Aug 07)

Chinese pair face Iran spy claims

Iran has arrested two Chinese nationals for allegedly spying on military and nuclear facilities. A judiciary spokesman said the two had been detained while taking photographs of a military complex in the town of Arak, in central Iran. Tehran is building a controversial nuclear reactor near the town...Spokesman Ali Reza Jamshid said the two entered Iran via the beach resort of Kish island which lies off Iran's southern coast.....(BBC, 16 Aug 07)

Denmark investigates threatening calls to relatives of soldiers in Iraq

Denmark's military intelligence agency is investigating whether Iraqi insurgents have used mobile phone records to track down and threaten relatives of Danish soldiers in Iraq…Family members of several soldiers have told Danish media that they received threatening phone calls from unidentified callers in Iraq. The Iraqi callers may have tracked down the numbers by monitoring private phone calls made by the soldiers to their relatives in Denmark, according to the Danish Defense Intelligence Service, or DDIS…..(AP, 16 Aug 07)

Iranian court orders five former Argentinean officials to Iran on security charges

An Iranian court has summoned five former Argentinean government officials to journey to Iran and answer charges of working against the security of the country, state television announced Thursday. The five officials were all involved in an investigation that implicated Iran in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in the Argentinean capital of Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and wounded 200…..(AP, 16 Aug 07)

Spy agency accused of black magic murder

The Indonesian intelligence agency BIN ordered several assassination attempts against the human rights activist Munir Thalib, including the use of black magic, before poisoning him on a trip to Europe, a police investigation has found. The revelations, presented to a Jakarta court yesterday, reopened hearings into the controversial murder case…..(Sydney Morning Herald, 16 Aug 07)

Did he fall or was he pushed?

When a man falls to his death from a balcony, some cynics wonder: was he pushed? When that man happens to be the most infamous spy in the history of the modern Middle East, it’s the first question on everyone’s lips. On 27 June the body of Ashraf Marwan was found on the pavement below his flat in Carlton House Terrace, one of London’s most expensive streets, which overlooks the Mall and St James’s Park…..(Spectator, 16 Aug 07)

China launches new spy system

The government will use the chips to control the where-abouts of its hundreds of millions of migrant workers. But they will also store data on the number of their children under the one-child policy, education records and ultimately medical and credit histories…..(Independent, 16 Aug 07)

Moscow 'unmasks' MI6 spy

…The FSB, the KGB's domestic successor, claimed that the diplomat had recruited Vyacheslav Zharko, a shadowy figure who has played a small but significant cameo in the Litvinenko saga since he "confessed" to working for British intelligence in June. Mr Zharko alleged that he approached MI6 in 2002 at the suggestion of Mr Litvinenko, who had defected to London and was living under the protection of his friend, the tycoon and prominent Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky……(Telegraph, 16 Aug 07)

As It Happened: The Princess Spy

Documentary: Channel: SBS, Friday August 17, at 8:30 PM

The story of Noor Inayat Khan, an Indian princess and pacifist who became a British spy…Featuring classified information only recently released, interviews with surviving British operatives and a chilling visit to Dachau concentration camp, this is a compelling account of Noor and her Gestapo pursuers…..(Sydney Morning Herald, 16 Aug 07)

Why the Stasi came to Sweden

Sweden’s relationship with East Germany in the late 1960s was less straightforward than that of many of its nearest neighbors. Just a short ferry ride from Rostock on the GDR's Baltic coast, the Kingdom of Sweden seemed somehow to stand apart from the ideological rift that divided much of Europe…The high level of interest in international socialism among sections of the Swedish populace intrigued the East Germans, causing them to believe that Sweden might feasibly provide fertile ground for good diplomatic relations with a highly regarded western nation……(Local, 16 Aug 07)

FSB Levels Spy Charge at Briton

The Federal Security Service accused one-time British diplomat Pablo Miller on Wednesday of recruiting former tax inspector Vyacheslav Zharko on behalf of British intelligence. Zharko, who turned himself over to the FSB in June, has said he was introduced to British intelligence officers by former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko and later handed over information about the Russian economy…..(Moscow Times, 16 Aug 07)

Push by Chávez to Abandon Term Limits on Presidency

President Hugo Chávez outlined a proposed overhaul to the Constitution on Wednesday night that would allow him to remain in power indefinitely through perpetual re-elections, an intensification of his efforts to assert greater state control over political and economic institutions…..(New York Times, 16 Aug 07)

CIA, FBI Computers Used for Wikipedia Edits

People using CIA and FBI computers have edited entries in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia on topics including the Iraq war and the Guantanamo prison, according to a new tracing program. The changes may violate Wikipedia's conflict-of-interest guidelines….(Reuters, 16 Aug 07)

Feds Face Tough Questioning in Spy Case

Government lawyers faced tough questioning from an appeals court asked to toss out two legal challenges to a Bush administration anti-terror program that allowed government spies to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants. Deputy U.S. Solicitor General Greg Garre said the government will be forced to reveal sensitive "state secrets" if the two lawsuits are allowed to proceed and it has to defend itself in court…..(AP, 16 Aug 07)

The Rules of the New Game of Information Warfare

...Every now and then we see glimpses of subtle battles for information control in stories such as the alleged claims that machines belonging to organizations including Wal-Mart, Disney, Sony, the Labor Party, the CIA and the Vatican, have been used to rewrite Wikipedia entries. It raises the important question of what is fair, ethical and legal in a world dominated by information warfare…..(Computer Weekly, 16 Aug 07)

U.S. Seeks to Dismiss E-Mail Spying Case

A U.S. appeals court agreed on Wednesday to weigh a government motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the National Security Agency (NSA) monitored phone lines and e-mails without a warrant, but judges asked a government lawyer tough questions over the issue. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class action lawsuit against AT&T Inc. claiming the company violated the privacy rights of its customers when it cooperated with an NSA program of monitoring AT&T customer phone calls and e-mail traffic without warrants….(PC World, 16 Aug 07)

Judges Skeptical of State-Secrets Claim

Lawyers for the Bush administration encountered a federal appeals court Wednesday that appeared deeply skeptical of a blanket claim that the government's surveillance efforts cannot be challenged in court because the litigation might reveal state secrets. "The bottom line here is the government declares something is a state secret, that's the end of it. No cases. . . . The king can do no wrong," said Judge Harry Pregerson, one of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit….(Washington Post, 16 Aug 07)

U.S. Defends Surveillance to 3 Skeptical Judges

Three federal appeals court judges hearing challenges to the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs appeared skeptical of and sometimes hostile to the Bush administration’s central argument Wednesday: that national security concerns require that the lawsuits be dismissed…..(New York Times, 16 Aug 07)

Domestic Use of Spy Satellites To Widen

 The Bush administration has approved a plan to expand domestic access to some of the most powerful tools of 21st-century spycraft, giving law enforcement officials and others the ability to view data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers……(Washington Post, 16 Aug 07)

Senator Says He Will Block C.I.A. Nomination

A Democratic senator said he would indefinitely block President Bush’s nominee to become the C.I.A.’s top lawyer…Mr. Wyden said he was troubled that John Rizzo, who is the Central Intelligence Agency’s interim general counsel, did not object to a 2002 memo authorizing interrogation techniques that stop just short of inflicting pain equal to that accompanying organ failure or even death….(AP, 16 Aug 07)

Analysis: India's integrated defense plan

…The committee said the study group, after conducting a detailed study of India’s defense system and security infrastructure, could suggest measures to improve defense efficiency and a new system for national security and border management as western and eastern borders of the country are considered vulnerable. Despite the fencing all along the borders, illegal migration from Bangladesh and cross-border terrorism from Pakistan continue….UPI, 16 Aug 07)

Venezuela to Purchase Thousands of Russian Rifles

A proposed contract between Russia and Venezuela that could transfer thousands of sniper rifles to Venezuela has raised concerns in the United States about the potential use or regional distribution of the weapons by the socialist-inspired government of President Hugo Chavez. The rifle in question is the latest variant of the Dragunov, a long-barreled, semi-automatic design with a telescopic sight….(New York Times, 16 Aug 07)

Spy tour of sleuthing museum hands on

When visiting the city administering the global war on terror, adding the International Spy Museum (adjacent to the FBI building) to your itinerary makes for an interesting sidebar. Visitors to Washington, DC, are there for the White House, museums, monuments and memorials. But I want the lowdown on real-life espionage and skulduggery and so take a former CIA agent with me to check out if a specialist espionage museum really lives up to the hype….(Australian, 16 Aug 07)

The CIA papers

…The publication in May of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Staff Study, entitled “The Sino-Indian Border Dispute”, covering the period 1959-1962, triggered off familiar reactions in familiar tunes – China’s “perfidy”, Nehru’s “idealism”, both confirming the proposition engraved on rock – we were always right, the Chinese were always wrong. It was of a piece with the reactions to Jack Anderson’s disclosures on December 13, 1971 and January 14, 1972 published with other documents in 1973 as The Anderson Papers and Thomas Powers’ book on the CIA Director Rich ard Helms, The Man Who Kept the Secrets, not to overlook Tad Szulc’s report on the Indo-Soviet Treaty in The New York Times of August 13, 1971, based on intelligence reports…..(Frontline, Vol. 24, Issue 16, 11-24 Aug 07)

Toxic shocker

THE LITVINENKO FILE: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A RUSSIAN SPY by Martin Sixsmith

It was one of the most sensational political assassinations plotted in Moscow since Stalin sent his secret service killers to Mexico City and Leon Trotsky's skull was split with the pick of an ice axe. The murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London last year via a deadly dose of radioactive polonium, and the mystery of who and what was behind it, is ably told by former BBC Moscow correspondent Martin Sixsmith in his quickie book The Litvinenko File…..(New Toronto, 16 Aug 07)

Is It Time to Rein in AIPAC?

Foreign Agents: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee From The 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal, by Grant F. Smith

…The Larry Franklin case, mentioned above, is Mr. Smith’s main hammer against AIPAC. Franklin, who was working in the Pentagon, pleaded guilty on Oct. 5, 2005, to passing “classified” and highly sensitive documents to two officials of AIPAC, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman. The documents were then passed on to an Israeli diplomat. In other words, Franklin was “spying” for Israel. He received a sentence of 12 years and 7 months. Rosen and Weissman were fired by AIPAC. However, AIPAC was never indicted in the federal case. The duo, however, Rosen and Weissman, have been charged with violating the 1917 Espionage Act…..(American Chronicle, 15 Aug 07)

Russia finds Briton allegedly tried to recruit spy

…The service, known by its Russian acronym FSB, in June announced that Zharko had reported being recruited by MI6, the British foreign intelligence agency, and it has opened a criminal investigation into the case. On Wednesday, an FSB duty officer confirmed news agency reports that Zharko had recognized Pablo Miller as his recruiter. Miller allegedly was involved in the case of Defense Ministry Colonel Sergei Skripal, who last year was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for spying for Britain….(AP/Jerusalem Post, 15 Aug 07)

Wikipedia Editors Now Unmasked

…Wikipedia edits in the past five years. By combining that with public information about which IP addresses belong to whom, the Scanner reveals Wikipedia changes made from computers assigned to a bevy of organizations, including, um, The Associated Press. Many of the edits are predictably self-interested: PCs in Scientology officialdom were used to remove criticism in the church's Wikipedia entry. But others hint at procrastinating office workers, such as the tweaks to Wikipedia articles on TV shows being made from CIA computers…..(Time Magazine, 15 Aug 07)

Dossier links Indonesian intelligence to activist murder

Indonesian state prosecutors have compiled an array of fresh evidence that implicates the powerful state intelligence agency in the murder of a rights activist, according to a document obtained by AFP. Munir Said Thalib, Indonesia's most prominent rights activist, was poisoned as he travelled from Jakarta to Amsterdam in September 2004……(Agence France-Presse, 15 Aug 07)

'I spied for the Stasi'

…The Local managed to track down one Swede who spent two decades in the service of the Stasi’s foreign subdivision, the Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung (HVA), where he operated under the codename 'König' ('King'). As a journalist and lifelong member of the Social Democrats, König was perfectly placed to gather information on the Swedish government...In an essay focussing on the HVA’s Swedish contacts, the Berlin-based historian lists some of the documents in König’s extensive Stasi file. For example: “The SAP’s (Social Democratic party) election strategy and tactics and planned personnel changes in the Swedish government.” Intelligence expert Joakim von Braun does not rule out the possibility of König having had access to plans for a ministerial reshuffle in 1985…According to Christian Halbrock (German historian), the list of König’s alleged intelligence operations also included files with titles such as the following...(Local, 15 Aug 07)

Stasi spy has 'no regrets'

The story of the Swedish journalist König’s involvement with East Germany’s notorious foreign intelligence agency - the Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung (HVA) - begins at the GDR Cultural Centre in central Stockholm at the end of the 1960s. It ends twenty years later with a solemn handshake as ‘König’ – ‘King’ in English - takes leave of his HVA handler for the last time and the country they once proudly served ceases to exist…"My job was to help prevent a conflict between East and West, which the leaders of both countries - Erich Honecker and Helmut Schmidt - were eager to avoid. I was kept busy running around to various meetings and committees and reporting on any tensions that arose," says König…When asked whether now - in the light of all that is known about the horrors of the East German system - he has any regrets, König's response could not be more emphatic. "No, no, no! I was working for the ones with the handicap, I was on the side of the weak," he says…..(Local, 15 Aug 07)

Mysterious disappearances in Pakistan

Musharraf's Pakistan and his unchecked intelligence agencies reek havoc on human rights, as over 400 families struggle for information about their missing loved ones…..(ISN, 15 Aug 07)

China Launches New Crackdown on Media

China announced Wednesday that it would carry out a wide-ranging crackdown on "false news" and illegal publications ahead of the ruling Communist Party's most important meeting in five years. The crackdown, to run through mid-October, appears aimed at ratcheting up the Communist Party's already tight media controls to prevent any disruptions that would marring the 17th Party Congress…..(AP, 15 Aug 07)

Security Gag Orders Unconstitutional: ACLU

…An FBI letter requesting information -- called a National Security Letter (NSL) -- is effectively a gag order because it tells the recipient the request must remain a secret, even though it needs no authorization by a judge, said Jameel Jaffer, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer. Recipients have the right to challenge the secrecy order in court under a 2006 congressional amendment to the NSL law…..(Reuters, 15 Aug 07)

Spy satellites need upgrade to halt threats, general says

Stopping terror attacks depends on accurate information, but getting it can be a challenge to intelligence agencies such as Redstone Arsenal's Missile and Space Intelligence Center that are using outdated spy satellites and computers, the four-star general in charge of the Air Force Space Command said Tuesday…We had a great intelligence focus during the Cold War, but we dismantled that" in the early 1990s, Chilton said. "Not much attention has been paid to intelligence. Now we have to reassemble that capability."  Also needed, Chilton said, are intelligence recruitment and training programs that would fill vacant posts and hire younger workers to stay with programs…..(Times Aerospace, 15 Aug 07)

U.S. to Expand Domestic Use Of Spy Satellites

…Access to the high-tech surveillance tools would, for the first time, allow Homeland Security and law-enforcement officials to see real-time, high-resolution images and data, which would allow them, for example, to identify smuggler staging areas, a gang safehouse, or possibly even a building being used by would-be terrorists to manufacture chemical weapons. Overseas -- the traditional realm of spy satellites -- the system was used to monitor tank movements during the Cold War. Today, it's used to monitor suspected terrorist hideouts, smuggling routes for weapons in Iraq, nuclear tests and the movement of nuclear materials, as well as to make detailed maps for U.S. soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq...Unlike electronic eavesdropping, which is subject to legislative and some judicial control, this use of spy satellites is largely uncharted territory…..(Wall Street Journal, 15 Aug 07)

American Spy Satellites To Snoop On U.S.

…Officials have been mulling the plan for a couple years, but often bumped up against questions about whether this kind of snooping would violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars military for engaging in law-enforcement activity within the U.S., since the satellites are built for and owned by the Defense Department. The decision was made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnel, and OKed in May by DHS chief Michael Chertoff…..(CBS, 15 Aug 07)

Intelligence Agencies Urged to Hire Minorities

U.S. spy agencies need to recruit more racial and ethnic minorities, especially first-generation Americans whose language skills and cultural backgrounds could help fill critical gaps in knowledge and analysis, two top intelligence officials said. Despite efforts in the past six years to diversify the workforce, only 14 percent of those in the CIA's officer corps are minorities, said Jose Rodriguez, director of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, the agency's foreign espionage unit…..(Washington Post, 15 Aug 07)

Saudi at Heart of Eavesdropping Case

Soliman al-Buthi is a prominent religious leader in Saudi Arabia, a father of three and a ranking government official. He's also a terrorist, according to the United States and United Nations. His lawyers argue that much of the evidence against al-Buthi was misinterpreted by National Security Agency officials who eavesdropped on conversations between al-Buthi and his American attorneys. Those intercepted communications are at the heart of a constitutional challenge to the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program, which was to be heard Wednesday by a federal appeals court in San Francisco…..(AP, 15 Aug 07)

Justice, civil liberties groups battle over spy tactics

Privacy and civil liberties advocates met with Justice Department officials on Monday for what was characterized by some as a contentious conversation about the impact of a recently passed law that enhances the executive branch's authority to spy on U.S. citizens…..(National Journal’s Technology, 15 Aug 07)

The Saga of Sacco and Vanzetti

Sacco and Vanzetti, by Bruce Watson

The 1927 executions of anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti had important elements in common with the Cold War executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and the espionage conviction of Alger Hiss. All three cases caused an international furor, aggravated domestic political divisions, and provided a rallying point and short-term propaganda advantage for the left. Disputes over the evidence in each of these trials divided scholars, even families, and persisted for decades….(New York Sun, 15 Aug 07)

Prejudice and Politics: Sacco, Vanzetti and Fear

Sacco and Vanzetti, by Bruce Watson

Precisely 80 years on, the Sacco-Vanzetti case still resonates like a mournful chord. Almost instantly elevated to the status of myth, the trial and execution of the anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti remains one of the blackest pages in the American national story, a cautionary tale of lethal passions fueled by political fear and ethnic prejudice……(New York Times, 15 Aug 07)

Security clearance challenges defy easy fixes

Some problems just won't go away. Back in 1981, congressional investigators took a long, hard look at the government's program for processing security clearances for Defense Department and military contractor personnel who needed access to classified information. The investigators' bottom line: "Processing delays -- some averaging 220 days -- are costly and could weaken national security."… Fast-forward to a new century in which the United States is battling terrorist networks and seeking to guard against an array of global threats. A six-member federal advisory task force of officials, including Defense Department and industry executives, recently put together a report analyzing how long it takes the government to process clearances for contracting personnel…..(National Journal, 14 Aug 07)

Jeff Richelson's U.S. Intelligence Community

The U.S. Intelligence Community, by Jeffrey T. Richelson

…The fifth edition has just been published. When I encounter an unfamiliar intelligence term, an odd acronym or a reference to an obscure office somewhere in the bowels of U.S. intelligence, I find that Richelson's book more often than not -- more often than Google -- provides the explanation and the needed background, typically with a footnote to an official source…..(FAS, 14 Aug 07)

9/11: Mystery Men

As we wait for the unclassified version of the report of CIA 9/11 miscues to be released later this month, we now see the airlines sueing the FBI and CIA to depose agents they think will help absolve them of liability. So far, it is the same cast of characters from the Moussaoui trial, like FBI agents Erik Rigler, Coleen Rowley and Harry Samit, to mention a few. But, there has been no mention made of Jack Salata, the FAA's liaison to the FBI in the lead up to 9/11, or Robert White, the FAA's liaison to the CIA's Counter Terrorism Center during that time. What information did they give to the 9/11 Commission and the Joint Intelligence Committee?....(Opinion Editorials, 14 Aug 07)

Spy Wars: Washington's Bitterly Divisive Battle

…Because America has the world's most efficient telecom networks, a huge volume of foreign-to-foreign phone calls and e-mails are routed in transit through the United States. The FISA statute could be read to require that NSA surveillance of this foreign traffic thus required domestic warrants; although no U.S. federal court has ever ruled against a president's inherent constitutional power to monitor a foreign enemy's communications overseas without a warrant, especially in wartime….(Human Events, 14 Aug 07)

Liberty University Kicks Off Intelligence Analysis Center

A new collaborative program under development at Liberty University will seek to improve law enforcement officers’ methods of analyzing evidence and ultimately combating terrorism. Intelligence analysis is one of the greatest issues that officers and prosecutors face, said Charles Murphy, professor of government at LU. He is helping develop the Center for Intelligence Analysis for Law Enforcement, a collaboration between LU, the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office and the National White Collar Crime Center, to help fight that problem……(Lynchburg News, 14 Aug 07)

Here's a nutty idea

Flash! "Iranian news agencies this week reported the capture of 14 squirrels equipped with espionage systems . . ." (Reported on NPR's "All Things Considered" July 20). The Iranian government complained bitterly about the latest U.S. outrage against its sovereignty. But if the United States is struggling with its espionage efforts in Iran, we can help......Monticello squirrels are clever and fast. All the slower, dumber squirrels were killed off years ago and not allowed to breed. Thus, we in Jefferson County wish to offer our clever rodents to the U.S. war effort as part of our patriotic service. If any squirrel can find out Iranian nuclear capacity or assess enemy strength, Monticello squirrels are your "man."….(Tallahassee Democrat, 14 Aug 07)

Nazi war criminal dies in Germany

Heinz Barth, a Nazi war criminal convicted for World War II atrocities, has died in Germany. He was 86. Barth's SS division killed 642 people on 10 June 1944 at Oradour-sur-Glane, near Limoges, France….(BBC, 14 Aug 07)

Defendant Vadim Benyatov Can Leave Romania

International consultant Vadim Benyatov, accused of leading the network of spies and traitors that seem to have worked against the national economy, is free to go wherever in this world.....(Jurnalul, 14 Aug 07)

Court Rules U.S Banker Can Leave Romania

A Romanian court has ruled that a U.S. banker arrested nine months ago can leave the country while an investigation continues into alleged commercial espionage, his bank, Credit Suisse…Prosecutors allege that Vadim Benyatov headed a group suspected of obtaining confidential commercial documents and giving them to foreign companies involved in the sale of state-owned companies. Benyatov has denied any wrongdoing….(AP, 14 Aug 07)

Retired CIA operative's rescue ruse to be retold in movie—

Actor George Clooney's production company plans to make a film about a real-life hostage rescue orchestrated by a now-retired CIA operative from Washington County -- and it's possible Clooney could play the lead. Tony Mendez helped get six Americans out of Iran in January 1980 and first went public with the details of the rescue in 1997. The movie is to be called Escape From Tehran and was inspired by an interview Mendez gave this year to Wired magazine. The six Americans fled the U.S. embassy in Iran when it was overrun 1979…..(AP, 14 Aug 07)

Intelligence Bureau opens multi-agency centre

The Intelligence Bureau has created a multi-agency centre and a joint task force on intelligence to optimize intelligence flow and coordination between different agencies. Providing details of this new venture, Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal told the Lok Sabha Tuesday that subsidiary multi-agency centers would also be set up at almost all state capitals…..(New Kerala, 14 Aug 07)

10 things to do on a rainy day

…At home: Practice your spying techniques by writing messages in code, using mirrors to write in reverse and making tin-can phones connected with string (yogurt pots can be used if you have no tins).  Make your own codewheel by downloading instructions from the Science Museum's espionage website (www.scienceofspying.com). Lemon juice is a good substitute for invisible ink….(Telegraph, 14 Aug 07)

East Germany had spies in Sweden

East Germany's secret police, the Stasi, had a wider network of spies than previously believed. Sweden over the weekend revealed that in the mid 1990s, the Swedish security police SAPO uncovered and identified a network of some 50 Swedish spies that worked for East Germany's notorious secret police during the Cold War. Cases were launched against a number of Stasi spies on the list, but the charges were dropped because too much time had passed….(UPI, 14 Aug 07)

Lawsuits May Illuminate Methods of Spy Program

In 2003, Room 641A of a large telecommunications building in downtown San Francisco was filled with powerful data-mining equipment for a "special job" by the National Security Agency, according to a former AT&T technician. It was fed by fiber-optic cables that siphoned copies of e-mails and other online traffic from one of the largest Internet hubs in the United States, the former employee says in court filings. What occurred in the room is now at the center of a pivotal legal battle in a federal appeals court over the Bush administration's controversial spying program, including the monitoring that came to be publicly known as the Terrorist Surveillance Program…Neither AT&T nor the federal government has admitted even the existence of a secret room, and the Justice Department is arguing that the cases should be dismissed because their subject matter is a state secret. The communications company, meanwhile, says it is prevented from properly defending itself because of national security reasons and dismisses the employee who briefly saw the room and worked on supporting equipment….(Washington Post, 14 Aug 07)

Top spy drops cover to speak about diversity

…Jose Rodríguez, director of the National Clandestine Service for the CIA, said he wanted to encourage diversity recruiting to improve intelligence gathering…"In my service, 14 percent of the work force are minority. We are working very hard to turn this around. Simply put, we need people with diverse ethnic backgrounds to support data collection around the world," he said. Other speakers at the conference Monday said agencies such as the CIA and the FBI are part of a recent recruiting effort targeting minority applicants....(El Paso Times, 14 Aug 07)

5 Reporters Ordered to Testify About Government Sources

The suit, filed by Steven J. Hatfill, a bioterrorism expert, contends that the government violated the federal Privacy Act by providing journalists with information about him in the F.B.I.’s investigation of the deadly anthrax mailings in 2001. The reporters — Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman of Newsweek; Allan Lengel of The Washington Post; Toni Locy, formerly of USA Today; and James Stewart, formerly of CBS News — have acknowledged receiving information from the Justice Department and the F.B.I. about Dr. Hatfill…..(New York Times, 14 Aug 07)

Intelligence gaining clearer picture of Syria's intentions

…"As far as we can assess, Assad does not really want war with us," a senior security source told Haaretz on Monday. "He is concerned about a scenario that will drag us and them [Syria] to war, either through mutual escalation on the Golan Heights, or through growing tensions between the United States and Iran." However ambiguity still exists among intelligence reports and projections. In closed meetings between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said that intelligence reports on the probability of war with Syria are constantly changing….(Israel Insider, 14 Aug 07)

Analysis: Iran's soft power pays off

At a time when the United States is widely regarded in the Middle East as a military aggressor, and faces plummeting popularity around the world, Iran is taking advantage of those military adventures to boost its own image and forge closer ties to its neighbors….(UPI, 14 Aug 07)

Fighting radicals, and a reporter-spy

Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties, by Kenneth D. Ackerman

In early 1919, radical leftists disgusted with the perceived moderation of the Socialist Party decided to heat up politics with a ringing "Left Wing Manifesto," which Kenneth D. Ackerman, author of the book at hand, termed "a call to arms for America's militant working class . . . to demolish and replace the American government."…So Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer mobilized the Justice Department to round up immigrant radicals — the core of the socialist movement, with some notable exceptions — and toss illegals out of the country… The field marshal of the campaign was J. Edgar Hoover, only 24 at the time, who had earned a reputation in the War Alien Enemy Bureau, tracking German residents in the United States…..(Washington Times, 13 Aug 07)

Missing memoirs fuel spy death mystery

Detectives investigating the mysterious death in London of an Egyptian billionaire who had been accused of being an Israeli secret agent are examining claims that an explosive account of his life disappeared from his flat on the day that he died. The Times has learnt that the only known copy of a book written by Ashraf Marwan vanished when he fell four floors to his death from his apartment in St James’s Park. The disclosure came as Dr Marwan’s son spoke for the first time of his family’s belief that his father was murdered. His claims will increase speculation that another former foreign agent may have been murdered on British soil after the poisoning last year of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent…Three volumes of the book, each about 200 pages, were taken as well as the tapes on to which they had been dictated. A source said that on the day he died, Dr Marwan was due to fly to the United States to finalise the last chapter. The book was expected to be released in October on the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War....(Times Online, 13 Aug 07)

Iranian Official Says Inquiry Into U.S. Scholars Has Ended

A senior judiciary official said Sunday that Iran had finished its investigation into two Iranian-American academics who were arrested in May on espionage charges… But the official, Hassan Haddad, who is Tehran’s deputy prosecutor, did not disclose the conclusions of the investigation into the detainees, Haleh Esfandiari, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in Washington, and Kian Tajbakhsh, an urban planner with ties to the Open Society Institute, a pro-democracy policy planning organization financed by George Soros…..(New York Times, 13 Aug 07)

Two suspected spies killed by extremists

Islamic extremists killed two Afghan nationals accused of being US spies in the restive Pakistani tribal belt yesterday, officials said. The beheaded and limbless body of an Afghan national identified as Habibur Rehman was found in waste ground near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan…"The militants beheaded the man and also chopped off his legs and arms,"….(Taipei Times, 13 Aug 07)

Secrecy May Be Spy Program's Defense

The Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program has a built-in feature the Justice Department believes may shield it from ever being challenged as unconstitutional: secrecy…Unless the government decides to release information about its wiretaps -- as part of a criminal case, for example -- the Justice Department said Monday the constitutional question may never be answered…..(AP, 13 Aug 07)

Anti-terror system is up to five years late

A mission-critical IT project to replace hard copy intelligence on threats to UK security with a secure network that links government offices in the UK and overseas is due for completion in 2009 - five years later than originally planned. The web-based "Scope" system is designed to link the main producers and consumers of government intelligence: central departments, agencies and the ­intelligence services….(Computer Weekly, 13 Aug 07)

Durrani admits to differences between Pak-US intelligence services

Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani, has said that the intelligence services of the two countries might be working together to root out Al Qaeda from the Pak-Afghan border areas, but differences exist between the two.

Durrani said that the war against terrorism was being effectively conducted after the two countries came together, and stressed the need for sorting out differences….(Daily India, 13 Aug 07)

Fireworks Mark Castro's 81st Birthday

Fireworks exploded over Havana Bay and five Cuban agents imprisoned in the United States sent greetings as ailing leader Fidel Castro turned 81 on Monday, spending his second consecutive birthday convalescing at an unknown location….(AP, 13 Aug 07)

Russia said flying more missions near U.S. territory

Russian bombers are flying more missions than normal near U.S. territory, including Alaska, demonstrating their long-range strike capability…Russian aircraft carrying cruise missiles ran an aviation exercise near Alaska two weeks ago, according to Canadian Col. Andre Dupuis, an officer at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a U.S.-Canadian operation responsible for protecting both countries' airspace….(Reuters, 13 Aug 07)

CIA Top Dirty Spy Dangles Bait

…Rodriguez is the most important man in the U.S. spy game whose name you probably never knew. When he was mentioned publicly before now, he was referred to only as "Jose." However, we published an article about him on Wikipedia over a year ago. Rodriguez became head of the CIA's clandestine service in November 2004…..(Oracle Syndicate, 13 Aug 07)

Noriega to Appear Before His Trial Judge

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega wants U.S. officials to send him back to his home country when he finishes his drug trafficking and racketeering sentence next month, but American prosecutors are pushing for him to be extradited to France to face another trial...U.S. forces captured Noriega after a 1989 military invasion ordered by then-President George H.W. Bush in part because of the Panamanian's links to drug traffickers. It later emerged that Noriega had been on the CIA payroll for years, assisting U.S. interests throughout Latin America, including acting as liaison to Cuban President Fidel Castro….(AP, 13 Aug 07)

Concern over exodus of intelligence officers

Anti-terror operations are being hampered by an exodus of intelligence experts from the military, according to today's Daily Telegraph. Around 20% of officers have quit the intelligence corps in the past three years, with many defecting to the private sector for lucrative security jobs…..(Guardian, 13 Aug 07)

Spy agencies in linguistic Catch 22

Australia's intelligence agencies are caught in a Catch 22 as they try to recruit staff with needed language skills. It's difficult, if not impossible, to give security clearances to some potential recruits because of the country where they learnt their language…..(Age, 13 Aug 07)

How the Noriega Drama Unfolded

Manuel Noriega was a career soldier who rose through the ranks as a CIA operative and protégé of Omar Torrijos, known as "the benevolent dictator" for his work in favor of Panama's poor. After Torrijos was killed in a plane crash in 1981, Noriega seized the military, became Panama's de facto leader in 1983 and held power through rigged elections….(AP, 12 Aug 07)

Iran Completes Espionage Investigation of 2 Academics

The Iranian government has completed its investigation of two Iranian-American academics who were arrested in May on espionage charges, a prosecutor told the state-run IRNA news agency today. The development may move the case, which has worsened tensions between the United States and Iran, closer to resolution….(New York Times, 12 Aug 07)

Concerts to Squeeze Into Your Schedule

Starting Monday, citizens from around the globe will descend on Old Town Alexandria at the invitation of the CIA to face off against their international counterparts….(Washington Post, 12 Aug 07)

Who's on the Line? These Days, It Could Be Everyone

…Wiretapping thus becomes swashbuckling and romantic, as if it were a national security technique to be deployed whenever necessary, without hindrance, by those supremely smart, exceptionally gifted and oh-so-moral people who walk the proverbial wall protecting our freedom from certain demise. It's a far cry from the reality of wiretapping -- so routine, so tedious, like watching dripping water. Who would want to sit and watch National Security Agency supercomputers intercept voice data from millions of phone calls coursing through fiber optic cables? Don't all rush to the multiplex at once!....(Washington Post, 12 Aug 07)

How the Fight for Vast New Spying Powers Was Won

…McConnell wanted no such limits. "All foreign intelligence" targets in touch with Americans on any topic of interest should be fair game for U.S. spying, he said, according to two participants in the Aug. 2 conversation. McConnell won the fight, extracting a key concession despite the misgivings of Democratic negotiators. Shortly after that exchange, the Bush administration leveraged Democratic acquiescence into a broader victory….(Washington Post, 12 Aug 07)

What Is This Man Thinking?

When Robert M. Gates, one of our nation's most dedicated and competent public servants, agreed to serve as Donald Rumsfeld's successor as secretary of defense last November, he seemed to do so more out of a sense of duty than out of desire. And why not? His tenure would be short and his mission nearly impossible.....(Washington Post, 12 Aug 07)

Reported Drop in Surveillance Spurred a Law

At a closed-door briefing in mid-July, senior intelligence officials startled lawmakers with some troubling news. American eavesdroppers were collecting just 25 percent of the foreign-based communications they had been receiving a few months earlier….(New York Times, 12 Aug 07)

Reviews: 'Death of a Dissident,' 'Litvinenko File'

DEATH OF A DISSIDENT: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB, by Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko
THE LITVINENKO FILE: The Life and Death of a Russian Spy, by Martin Sixsmith

…Both books provide rich "inside Russia" details to help readers make up our own minds. Perhaps the most important context both books deliver is that all the characters in this drama knew or know one another, in some cases very well. Berozovsky, once a close adviser to Boris Yeltsin, skied and dined with Putin and advocated on his behalf as Yeltsin's successor before they fell out. Lugovoi worked for Berezovsky as security head for ORT, his TV channel. Litvinenko personally brought a dossier of criminal FSB activities to Putin in 1998 in the hope that the Putin, who was then running the FSB, would reform it….(Newsday, 12 Aug 07)