Military cites risk of abuse by CIA

Top military lawyers have told senators that President Bush's new rules for CIA interrogations of suspected terrorists could allow abuses that violate the Geneva Conventions, according to Senate and military officials. The Judge Advocates General of all branches of the military told the senators that a July 20 executive order establishing rules for the treatment of CIA prisoners appeared to be carefully worded to allow humiliating or degrading interrogation techniques when the interrogators' objective is to protect national security rather than to satisfy sadistic impulses…..(Boston Globe, 25 Aug 07)

Consumer Innovations to Inform Web Site for Spies

Government agents may soon find valuable information through an online-recommendation system like the one on Amazon.com: Spies who read this report, it might say, also found these reports useful. That is one of several features the Office of the Director of National Intelligence might borrow from mainstream technology as it designs its new Web-based information-sharing system. The DNI is working on a new system intended to "tunnel through" the 16 different intelligence-gathering agencies in hopes of streamlining data sharing….(Washington Post, 25 Aug 07)

How to Eliminate Spyware to Protect Your Business

…Spyware is quickly becoming a high level security problem for businesses large and small. It does more than just steal information about your computing habits. It robs you of system speed and Internet access efficiency. Spyware can introduce threats to companies including data theft, legal liability, reduced employee productivity and public relations nightmares…..(PC World, 25 Aug 07)

The CIA and 9/11 - End blame, look ahead

…The attacks occurred on Tenet's watch; obviously he and his subordinates didn't do enough. Nor did the Pentagon, the Federal Aviation Administration, the State Department, the National Security Agency, Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and earlier administrations. There is plenty of blame to go around for not taking the al-Qaeda threat seriously enough before 9/11. But the more important issue now is the pace of progress at the CIA since that day…..(AP, 24 Aug 07)

El Paso Reporter Explains How He Got 'FISA' Scoop from Spy Chief

…Much of Washington is aghast that McConnell addressed what had been confidential information, particularly since Congress was forced to remain mum on the issue until it voted on an amendment to the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) in early August. Civil liberties groups are also up in arms over McConnell's statements. Jameel Jaffer, the director of the ACLU's national security project, asked publicly, "If this ostensibly sensitive information can be released now, why could it not be released two months ago, when the public and Congress desperately needed it?"….(Editor & Publisher, 24 Aug 07)

NIE Cites 'Uneven' Security Gains, Faults Iraqi Leaders

The U.S. intelligence community yesterday provided a mixed picture of the security situation in Iraq but cautioned that a drawdown of U.S. forces there and a scaled-back mission for the remaining U.S. troops "would erode security gains achieved thus far."…When the Bush administration announced the troop increase, officials said that the aim was to provide additional security in Baghdad and elsewhere and to give "breathing space" to the Iraqi government to permit political reconciliation among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.  Yesterday's report, however, concluded that although the increase has temporarily halted the overall security decline of six months ago, political reconciliation has come to a "standstill,"….(Washington Post, 24 Aug 07)

NIE Report: Prospects for Iraq’s Stability: Some Security Progress but Political Reconciliation Elusive

Look at National Intelligence Estimates

…The estimates are developed by a group called the National Intelligence Council, with the help of all 16 U.S. spy agencies and sometimes academics and other private sector experts. They can be written about any national security concern…..(AP, 24 Aug 07)

Role of Telecom Firms in Wiretaps Is Confirmed

The Bush administration has confirmed for the first time that American telecommunications companies played a crucial role in the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program after asserting for more than a year that any role played by them was a “state secret.” The acknowledgment was in an unusual interview that Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, gave last week to The El Paso Times in which he disclosed details on classified intelligence issues that the administration has long insisted would harm national security if discussed publicly……(New York Times, 24 Aug 07)

Spy chief's disclosures stun Congress

…Officials said it was unclear whether McConnell's disclosures were part of a deliberate attempt to defend the program and his efforts to lobby members of Congress to pass new legislation expanding it. Democrats have complained that they were pressured into a hasty rewrite of landmark espionage laws, and the issue is expected to be revisited when Congress reconvenes next month. Describing the scope of the eavesdropping program, McConnell said the number of targets inside the United States was "100 or less. And then the foreign side, it's in the thousands." In disclosing its magnitude, McConnell may have been aiming to counter critics who contend that the government is engaged in widespread spying on Americans…..(LA Times, 24 Aug 07)

Telecom Firms Helped With Government's Warrantless Wiretaps

…"[U]nder the president's program, the terrorist surveillance program, the private sector had assisted us," Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said in an interview with the El Paso Times published Wednesday. His statement could help plaintiffs in dozens of lawsuits against the telecom companies, which allege that the companies participated in a wiretapping program that violated Americans' privacy rights, former Justice Department officials said. Warrantless surveillance began shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and was placed under supervision of a special court in January…..(Washington Post, 24 Aug 07)

Dems plan to monitor spy satellite program

…Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that the House plans to keep a close eye on the Bush administration's use of spy satellites within the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. "I need you to provide me with an immediate assurance that upon its October 1st roll-out, this program will be operating within the confines of the Constitution and all applicable laws and regulations," Thompson wrote….(UPI, 24 Aug 07)

Homeland Security to broaden sharing of visitor data

The Homeland Security Department on Wednesday announced broad changes for using a database that collects and stores information on foreign travelers to the United States.

In one of the biggest changes, the department plans to regularly share information with U.S. intelligence agencies, department officials said in an interview Thursday. "This is a first step to make it clear that we do have the authority to conduct this type of sharing and to make the public know that we do plan to do so in the future," one official said on condition of anonymity.  The database, called the arrival-and-departure information system, contains information collected at U.S. ports of entry and departure on all foreigners who enter, travel within or leave the United States. It was created in 2003 as part of the US-VISIT foreigner-tracking program and does not contain information on U.S. citizens…..(Gov Exec, 24 Aug 07)

Scientist adds to suspicions

A scientist accused of stealing trade secrets from a Durham drug company may have fled the country for good, according to a lawyer in the case. "I have no problem at all drawing that inference," said Jonathan Sasser of Ellis & Winters in Cary. Sasser represents Serenex in its lawsuit against Yunsheng Huang, a former contract scientist for the company, which is developing experimental cancer treatment…In June, Serenex sued Huang for allegedly engaging in "international industrial espionage" and funneling trade secrets to two Chinese companies. The two companies and Tongxiang Zhang of China, who runs the businesses, also are defendants in the case. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory damages for violating state law that protects trade secrets, as well as triple damages under the state's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Secrets Act……(News Observer, 24 Aug 07)

Types of Phishing Attacks

…Data Theft. Unsecured PCs often contain subsets of sensitive information stored elsewhere on secured servers. Certainly PCs are used to access such servers and can be more easily compromised. Data theft is a widely used approach to business espionage. By stealing confidential communications, design documents, legal opinions, employee related records, etc., thieves profit from selling to those who may want to embarrass or cause economic damage or to competitors…..(Computer Associates, 24 Aug 07)

Arch-spy Marcus Klingberg admits his wife was also a spy

Ailing arch-spy Marcus Klingberg, 88, admitted Thursday to Channel 2 that his wife, Wanda, had also been in the business of espionage. Klingberg was released from prison in 1998 after serving more than 15 years of an 18-year sentence for spying for the former Soviet Union….(Jerusalem Post, 24 Aug 07)

How Washington Missed 9/11

…One problem was that communications between FBI and CIA headquarters is ad hoc — usually by telephone, sometimes by a classified telex. An FBI agent assigned to the CIA wrote a telex to the FBI about al-Hazmi and al-Midhar but for reasons that are still unclear it was never sent. There was no mechanism to register the lapse, or that the FBI in fact did not have al-Midhar and al-Hazmi under coverage. The ball was dropped…..(Time Magazine, 24 Aug 07)

The making of a neo-KGB state

On the evening of August 22nd 1991—16 years ago this week—Alexei Kondaurov, a KGB general, stood by the darkened window of his Moscow office and watched a jubilant crowd moving towards the KGB headquarters in Lubyanka Square. A coup against Mikhail Gorbachev had just been defeated. The head of the KGB who had helped to orchestrate it had been arrested, and Mr Kondaurov was now one of the most senior officers left in the fast-emptying building. For a moment the thronged masses seemed to be heading straight towards him. Then their anger was diverted to the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the KGB's founding father. A couple of men climbed up and slipped a rope round his neck. Then he was yanked up by a crane. Watching “Iron Felix” sway in mid-air, Mr Kondaurov, who had served in the KGB since 1972, felt betrayed “by Gorbachev, by Yeltsin, by the impotent coup leaders”. He remembers thinking, “I will prove to you that your victory will be short-lived.”….(Economist, 23 Aug 07)

Business warned: beware the spy

Australia’s chief spy has issued a dire warning to defense contractors about the threat from modern-day spooks. The head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, Paul O'Sullivan, said ASIO had devoted significant new resources to counter-espionage and urged businesses to do so, too. He warned companies the greatest threat might come from technology such as mobile phones, digital thumb drives and personal organizers….(Herald Sun, 23 Aug 07)

Training for the Next Generation of G-Men

They might not be FBI agents yet, but the 27 Washington area students participating in a week-long summer camp sponsored by the FBI looked ready. This was the first year for the camp, and if it is deemed a success, it will be expanded to all 56 FBI offices nationwide. The drill was at Hogan's Alley, a mock town used for training investigators at the FBI Academy on the Marine Corps base in Quantico. The town is complete with a movie theater, coin laundry, used-car dealership and pharmacy….(Washington Post, 23 Aug 07)

David Hinkley Williams NSA Senior Analyst

David Hinkley Williams, 80, who retired as a senior analyst from the National Security Agency in 1985, died of colon cancer Aug. 7… He began working at the NSA in 1953 and was posted in Ethiopia from 1972 to 1975 during the final years of Emperor Haile Selassie's reign. For his work there, he received the Meritorious Civilian Service Award from the NSA in 1975. He retired in 1985…..(Washington Post, 23 Aug 07)

James O. Mayo Rear Admiral, Publishing Executive

Jim Mayo, 87, a Navy rear admiral and publishing executive who was a foreign relations and economic policy specialist, died Aug. 18…Adm. Mayo worked for the Department of State and served as defense attaché to Moscow. He commanded a squadron, a wing, a fleet oiler and an aircraft carrier…..(Washington Post, 23 Aug 07)

Lawyer: Spy boss undercuts security case by confirming AT&T role

…"The government has taken such an extreme position that this information is secret, a substantive part of thir argument that these cases must be dismissed," said Opsahl, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "The director of national intelligence candidly confirmed what had been previously asserted to be secret." Opsahl said the government has discounted statements by members of Congress, an AT&T whistle-blower and others alleging that telecommunications companies had cooperated in the surveillance program, and has insisted that the only meaningful confirmation could come from a member of the administration. "Now we have a statement by a member of the administration,"….(San Francisco Chronicle, 23 Aug 07)

Justice trains guns on Aragoncillo’s accomplices

The justice department will go after politicians and public officials who have conspired with Leandro Aragoncillo in stealing top-secret documents of the US government. Aragoncillo was convicted in the US of espionage, along with former police officer Michael Ray Aquino, one of the deputies of Senator Panfilo Lacson when he was with the National Police. The evidence against the two included documents and compact discs recording their conversations with their local cohorts.  Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said these pieces of evidence will back up the Philippine case against the local conspirators. Gonzalez said that the 12 compact discs were handed over by the US Attorney General….(Manila Standard Today, 23 Aug 07)

The C.I.A. Report

The C.I.A. inspector general’s report on the agency’s failures before Sept. 11 was devastating — but not because it showed that America’s spies missed the rise of Al Qaeda. George Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, rang the Qaeda alarm. He sent a memo to the entire intelligence community saying that he wanted no effort spared in the “war” with Osama bin Laden. He took on the president’s closest advisers to agitate for a strike on a Qaeda base in Afghanistan. The disturbing thing was that this all happened under President Bill Clinton….(New York Times, 23 Aug 07)

White House Declares Office Off-Limits
The Bush administration argued in court papers this week that the White House Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act as part of its effort to fend off a civil lawsuit seeking the release of internal documents about a large number of e-mails missing from White House servers. The claim, made in a motion filed Tuesday by the Justice Department, is at odds with a depiction of the office on the White House's own Web site. As of yesterday, the site listed the Office of Administration as one of six presidential entities subject to the open-records law, which is commonly known by its abbreviation, FOIA….(Washington Post, 23 Aug 07)

NIE: Iraq 'Unable to Govern' Itself Effectively

Iraq remains "unable to govern" itself effectively and hobbled by the absence of strong leadership, but removing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as some critics in Baghdad and Washington have advocated "could paralyze the government," warns a new U.S. intelligence report to be released later today. Seven months after President Bush ordered more U.S. troops to the country, "there have been measurable but uneven improvements in Iraq's security situation," the report concludes….(Washington Post, 23 Aug 07)

Intelligence report details ups and downs in Iraq

…The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which is described as the “Intelligence Community’s most authoritative written judgments on national security issues,” sees greater uncertainty now than six months ago regarding the situation in Iraq. This is attributed to “the unfolding pace and scope of security and political realities in Iraq,” according to the report. Leading a list of the NIE’s key judgments is an assessment of the security situation. It says that “the steep escalation of violence has been checked for now,” even though overall levels of violence remain high. However, the political situation is volatile…..(The Hill, 23 Aug 07)

Intel Report Questions Iraq's Progress

U.S. intelligence agencies have written a mixed report on Iraq, finding some progress but judging that the Baghdad government may not be able to carry it forward, a defense official said Thursday. Declassified portions of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq are to be released Thursday afternoon. Like an earlier report released in February, the document is expected to cover the pressing issues facing Iraq: its ethnic and sectarian strife, the troubles of the elected government, and the meddling of neighboring Iran…..(AP, 23 Aug 07)

Spy chief reveals details of operations

…In an interview with a Texas newspaper, Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnell also disclosed that the number of people in the United States who are under surveillance by the nation's spy services is "100 or less," a figure he said showed that the government was not engaged in widespread spying on Americans. His comments represent an exceedingly rare public description of one of the nation's most closely guarded and controversial espionage operations. Many of the details he described -- such as the deliberations of the special intelligence court and the scope of the surveillance operation -- are usually considered classified……(LA Times, 23 Aug 07)

Top official gives scope of wiretaps

…McConnell made the revelation while visiting El Paso for a conference on border security. In the interview, he explained the distinction between court-sanctioned surveillance of Americans and the kind of warrantless surveillance that U.S. officials can conduct under legislation signed into law by President Bush this month…"On the U.S. persons side, it's 100 or less," he said. "And then, the foreign side -- it's in the thousands. "There's a sense that we're doing massive data mining. In fact, what we're doing is surgical," he said. "A telephone number is surgical. So, if you know what number, you can select it out."….(Chicago Tribune, 23 Aug 07)

Is US Army ordering robot spy blimp?

The US Army seems to be moving to acquire a robotic spy blimp, able to float high in the sky for lengthy periods and monitor activities on the ground below. According to a routine Pentagon summary yesterday, Telford Aviation of Dothan, Alabama was awarded an $11,195,164 contract for "operational support for Medium Airborne Reconnaissance Surveillance Systems."….(Register, 23 Aug 07)

Legal Questions Remain for Freed Scholar in Iran

Haleh Esfandiari, the Iranian-American scholar freed on bail after three months in prison, is waiting for Iranian judicial officials to inform her whether the travel ban against her will be lifted and a new passport issued to allow her to return to the United States…..(New York Times, 23 Aug 07)

DoJ chief hits back at Lacson with CD on US espionage case

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, a loyal ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is matching Senator Panfilo Lacson’s revival of the “Hello Garci” election fraud inquiry with compact disc recordings of evidence that include the alleged involvement of opposition personalities in the theft of US classified documents. The justice department is now rushing to transcribe recorded phone conversations between former spy Leandro Aragoncillo and policeman Michael Ray Aquino and their un-indicted co-conspirators in their espionage case…..(Inquirer, 23 Aug 07)

DoJ forms team to study evidence vs Aquino, Aragoncillo

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has formed a special team of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents to study and transcribe the evidence used against former police officer Michael Ray Aquino and former Federal Bureau of Investigation analyst Leandro Aragoncillo…The Filipino-American Aragoncillo, who once worked under former US vice president Al Gore and current Vice President Dick Cheney, was sentenced to 10 years after pleading guilty to espionage charges…..(Inquirer, 23 Aug 07)

Freed Iranian-American Cannot Leave Iran

An Iranian-American scholar released after months of imprisonment in Iran has no passport and cannot leave the country where she still faces charges of endangering national security, her lawyer said Wednesday. Haleh Esfandiari, 67, was released on bail Tuesday from Iran's notorious Evin prison where she was held since May. Her 93-year-old mother used the deed to her Tehran apartment to post bail…..(AP, 22 Aug 07)

Court Panel Backs FSB In Physicists' Spy Case

A panel of court experts in Novosibirsk has determined that two brothers revealed state secrets in a booklet they wrote about the Novosibirsk Institute of Applied Physics, the Federal Security Service said in a statement Tuesday. In an open letter sent to major news outlets last week, civil liberties activists called for the federal human rights ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, and the Prosecutor General's Office to intervene in the case of the two, physicists Oleg and Igor Minin. The FSB statement said an investigation into the Minins' activities had been opened in April, although neither had yet been charged…..(Moscow Times, 22 Aug 07)

Russian scientists face fake spy probe

Russian rights advocates yesterday accused officials of persecuting two scientists under investigation for divulging state arms secrets in a book to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their institute. The Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had opened a criminal investigation against brothers Oleg and Igor Minins, from Novosibirsk, but said no charges have been filed.  “The case was opened following a preliminary expert report showing that a paper published by these two scientists contained information constituting a state secret in R&D related to the development of armaments,”…..(Peninsula Qatar, 22 Aug 07)

US pokes intelligence agencies into Web 2.0 overhaul

The US intelligence community plans to introduce an information-sharing portal for spies modeled on the operations of well-known parasite advertising operations MySpace and Facebook. The spook web forum, however, will be taxpayer-supported rather than ad-based, and instead of lists of favorite boy bands it will presumably feature favorite terrorists, cells, doomsday plots, secret weapons, mysterious femme fatales, agents of malign foreign powers, martini recipes, and so forth…..(Register, 22 Aug 07)

Iran May Free Another U.S.-Iranian on Bail

…In cases that stoked tension with Iran's old foe, the United States, Tehran in May separately detained dual nationals Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh. Esfandiari walked free on Tuesday after her family paid bail of 3 billion rials ($320,000). "There is a possibility that Tajbakhsh's arrest (status) would be changed to bail," a source in the judiciary office told Reuters. Esfandiari's lawyer had said on Tuesday she could still face trial……(Reuters, 22 Aug 07)

Jailed Academic in Iran Is Released on Bail

…The academic, Haleh Esfandiari, 67, is among four Iranian-Americans whose arrests have caused tension between Tehran and Washington, with two women now released on bail and two men still jailed. It remained murky whether Ms. Esfandiari, the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, would be allowed to leave Iran…..(New York Times, 22 Aug 07)

The Warrantless Debate Over Wiretapping

… In Robert M. Gates, the defense secretary, Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, and Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of central intelligence, we have about as good a team as it is possible to imagine. Most people in Congress know that. Why not assume they are proposing a solution to a real problem?.....(New York Times, 22 Aug 07)

Senior Diplomats Retaking Foreign Policy

Senior career diplomats are retaking control of key elements of U.S. foreign policy and have begun to assert significant influence as the Bush administration enters its waning months eager to salvage a legacy marred by the Iraq war. Since assuming the helm at the State Department in 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has installed veteran foreign service officers with more than 200 years of collective diplomatic experience in seven critical posts from the Middle East to South Asia and the Far East……(AP, 22 Aug 07)

How To Make a Spy

War is the ultimate intelligence failure. When intelligence fails, the consequence is the Korean War in 1950. The consequence is the Vietnam War in 1965. The consequence is 9/11. The consequence is Iraq today. The long war in which we are now engaged is an intelligence war, and we will win it or lose it by virtue of our intelligence…..(Foreign Policy, Aug/Sep 07)

CIA IG Report on CIA Accountability With Respect to the 9/11 Attacks [.pdf]

Director's Statement on the Release of the 9/11 IG Report Executive Summary (CIA press release, 21 Aug 07)

Statement by George J. Tenet on C.I.A. Report (New York Times, 21 Aug 07)

Iran frees detained US academic

An Iranian-American academic jailed during a visit to Tehran in May has been freed, the official state news agency Isna has reported. Detained on security-related charges, Haleh Esfandiari, 67, was released for a bail of 3 billion rial ($320,000; £160,000), according to Isna. Ms Esfandiari, who works for a research institute in Washington, was jailed while visiting her 93-year-old mother. Her release comes amid ongoing tensions between the US and Iran…..(BBC, 21 Aug 07)

Rusi lawyers say Security Police failed in basic task

The lawyers for Ambassador Alpo Rusi, who is suing the state for mental anguish caused by accusations that he had spied on behalf of the East German espionage agency Stasi in the 1970s, say that the Finnish Security Police (SUPO) failed to do its job right…..(Helsingin Sanomat, 21 Aug 07)

5 convicted Cuban spies make new plea for freedom, argue federal misconduct

… Defense attorneys seeking a new trial claim the government wrongly used “Castro's evil” to push for convictions on what they say are overblown charges of conspiracy to commit espionage and murder. Federal prosecutor Caroline Heck Miller dismissed what she called a defense “parade of horrors” and argued the trial was won by hard evidence, not anti-Castro sentiment.  Red baiting. Communism. Your Honor, that was not the record of this case,” Miller said. “It was a soberly tried case.”…..(AP, 21 Aug 07)

U.S. appeals court hears challenge to 'Cuban 5' spy conviction

… This was the third time the case has come before the appeals court. In 2005, a three-judge appeals panel ruled that the men did not get a fair trial in Miami. Last year, the full 12-judge court reviewed the decision again and upheld the sentences. Two of the three judges who overturned the convictions in 2005, Stanley Birch and Phyllis Kravitch, heard the case again Monday. They were joined by a new judge, William Pryor…..(Miami Herald, 21 Aug 07)

Noshir Gowadia: "Order Setting Trial Date and Excluding Time Under the Speedy Trial Act" (18 June 2007)

More on the Gowadi Case

US intelligence launches 'MySpace for Analysts'

Spies and teenagers normally have little in common but that is about to change as America's intelligence agencies prepare to launch "A-Space", an internal communications tool modeled on the popular social networking sites, Facebook and MySpace. The Director of National Intelligence will open the site to the entire intelligence community in December. The move is the latest part of an ongoing effort to transform the analytical business following the failure to detect the 9/11 terrorist attacks or find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  Thomas Fingar, the deputy director of national intelligence for analysis, believes the common workspace – a kind of "MySpace for analysts" – will generate better analysis by breaking down firewalls across the traditionally stove-piped intelligence community. He says the technology can also help process increasing amounts of information where the number of analysts is limited…..(Financial Times, 21 Aug 07)

Today in History - Aug. 21

In 1987, Marine Sgt. Clayton Lonetree, the first Marine court-martialed for spying, was convicted in Quantico, Va., of passing secrets to the KGB. (Lonetree ended up serving eight years, of the 30-year sentence, in a military prison. He was released in 1996)

THE STORY BEHIND THE SCANDAL AT THE U.S. EMBASSY IN MOSCOW

DANCING WITH THE DEVIL :Sex, Espionage and the U.S. Marine: The Clayton Lonetree Story, by Rodney Barker

When news first broke of the arrest of a Marine security guard who had been stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, the media trumpeted it as a sex-for-secrets spy scandal. It was big news. But when Clayton Lonetree, the only Marine ever convicted of espionage, was released from prison on Feb. 27, having served nearly nine years of an original 30-year sentence, he was scarcely noticed…..(Virginian-Pilot, 23 Jun 1996)

Turkish PM calls on army to stay out of politics

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has called on the army to stay out of politics following months of tensions between the Islamist-rooted government and the staunchly secular military…..(Reuters, 21 Aug 07)

Secure Your Email with Encryption

Corporate espionage is big business these days. So it makes sense to deploy some kind of encryption system to ensure that prying eyes can’t decipher anything garnered from intercepted messages or from stolen computers. Whether it is customer data, employee data, intellectual property or confidential financial information, losing anything can be seriously detrimental……(Enterprise IT Planet, 21 Aug 07)

Copies of Nazi files transferred

The keepers of a vast archive of Nazi documents on the Holocaust have transferred copies of millions of files to museums in Israel and the US. The electronic transfer is part of an agreement to open up the Bad Arolsen archive, overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The files, kept in Germany, were found in concentration camps and other Nazi prisons at the end of World War II. Several countries have not yet ratified the agreement, delaying full access….(BBC, 21 Aug 07)

Spy Court Gets New Home of Its Own

…Since its inception in 1978, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has b

een located in a secure area at Justice Department headquarters, where government attorneys armed with secret evidence seek permission to conduct surveillance. "It's always been an anomaly and it suggested to critics that the court was subordinate to its Justice Department hosts," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists…Workers recently began demolition of the old grand jury rooms, which will be replaced by a new, secure facility for the spy court….(AP, 21 Aug 07)

Pentagon to scrap controversial anti-terror database

The Defense Department will close its controversial anti-terrorism database known as TALON and preserve the data collected in accordance with intelligence oversight requirements, officials said Tuesday. The five-year-old system, whose acronym stands for Threat and Local Observation Notices, was established by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to gather and assess possible threats to the U.S. military and civilian workers at military bases domestically and overseas…..(Gov Exec, 21 Aug 07)

Pentagon to shut down controversial database

The Pentagon said Tuesday that it will shut down an anti-terror database that has been criticized for improperly storing information on peace activists and others whose actions posed no threat. It will be closed on Sept. 17 and information collected subsequently on potential terror or security threats to Defense Department facilities or personnel will be sent by Pentagon officials to an FBI database known as Guardian….(AP, 21 Aug 07)

Report: Tenet Failed to Prepare for al-Qaeda Threat

CIA didn’t do enough to stop 9/11, report finds

The CIA’s top leaders failed to use their available powers, never developed a comprehensive plan to stop al-Qaida and missed crucial opportunities to thwart two hijackers in the run-up to Sept. 11, the agency’s own watchdog concluded in a bruising report released Tuesday. Completed in June 2005 and kept classified until now, the 19-page executive summary finds extensive fault with the actions of senior CIA leaders and others beneath them. “The agency and its officers did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner,” the CIA inspector general found. “They did not always work effectively and cooperatively,” the report stated. Yet the review team led by Inspector General John Helgerson found neither a “single point of failure nor a silver bullet” that would have stopped the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.......(AP, 21 Aug 07)

Tenet’s C.I.A. Unprepared for Qaeda Threat, Report Says

The former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, George J. Tenet, recognized the danger posed by Al Qaeda well before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but failed to adequately prepare the C.I.A. to meet the threat, according to an internal agency report that was released in summary form today........(New York Times, 21 Aug 07)

Updated exhibits at Spy Museum in Washington DC get the thumbs up

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 - reports PerthNow… 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…..(MI6, 21 Aug 07)

Dissident Returns After Long Struggle

...Yang Jianli, a green-card holder and permanent resident of the United States, was arrested while traveling across China in 2002 for holding a fake identification card and traveling on a friend's passport. He was accused of spying for Taiwan, sentenced to five years in prison and -- in April of this year -- released into what he described as a Kafkaesque maze of red tape as he tried to obtain permission to rejoin his family in Boston……(Washington Post, 21 Aug 07)

'Cuban Five' appeal to be heard

Almost nine years after their arrest, five Cubans convicted of spying on the U.S. government and South Florida exile groups will appeal Monday to judges in Atlanta, arguing that their sentences are excessive and they should be free. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the latest appeal -- the third time the case has come before that court. The so-called Cuban Five, who are called heroes on the communist-run island, were convicted in 2001 in Miami and handed sentences ranging from 15 years to life. Four years later, a three-judge appeals panel in Atlanta concluded the five did not receive a fair trial in Miami. But the full appeals court reversed that ruling last year, noting no Cuban Americans were part of the jury and that some of the defendants' evidence to show bias was flawed. So the original sentences still stand…..(Miami Herald, 20 Aug 07)

Five convicted Cuban spies to make their latest plea for freedom

…The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta will hear claims that the federal prosecutors made a range of procedural mistakes, including overemphasizing Castro during the 2001 trial. But the court has already tossed out an argument that anti-Castro bias robbed the five of a fair jury trial in Miami, which defense attorneys considered their strongest appeal. Castro's government sent Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez to South Florida to gather information about anti-communist exile groups and send it back to the island using encrypted software, high-frequency radio transmissions and coded electronic phone messages. They were sentenced to terms ranging from 10 years to life in December 2001, but the case has ping-ponged through the court system the last six years thanks to a round of appeals….(AP, 20 Aug 07)

'Deep Throat' lawsuit sent to arbitration

A federal lawsuit involving accusations of fraud and copyright infringement against the former high-ranking FBI official known as "Deep Throat" has been ordered into arbitration proceedings. W. Mark Felt Sr. is being sued by the family of the late Ralph de Toledano, a conservative author based in the District….(Washington Times, 20 Aug 07)

Damages Sought Against State

A civil suit by former presidential aide, Professor Alpo Rusi against the state has opened in a Helsinki court. Rusi is seeking half a million euros in damages. The case is over unfounded allegations that he had spied on behalf of Stasi, the intelligence service of the former East Germany…..(YLE, 20 Aug 07)

Contractors in Iraq Have Become U.S. Crutch

… A Congressional Research Service report published last month titled "Private Security Contractors in Iraq: Background, Legal Status, and Other Issues," puts it this way: "Iraq appears to be the first case where the U.S. government has used private contractors extensively for protecting persons and property in potentially hostile or hostile situations where host country security forces are absent or deficient."….(Washington Post, 20 Aug 07)

Tensions rise as DUP threaten to name 'spy'

Tensions were mounting between Sinn Fein and the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party ) today after MP David Simpson threatened to unveil a senior republican as a police informer during the height of the Troubles. The DUP Upper Bann MP said he is prepared to use parliamentary privilege to reveal the identity of the senior Sinn Fein politician who, he claims, allegedly avoided charges in relation to the murder of an RUC man in 1979 by becoming a British spy….(Belfast telegraph, 20 Aug 07)

Chinese 'spy' pair freed by Iran

Iran has freed two Chinese citizens detained for allegedly taking photos of Iranian military facilities…The ministry said the two were arrested last month during survey work they were carrying out for property owners. According to a Chinese statement the incident had been a misunderstanding. Last year, Iran sentenced two Swedish men to two years in prison for taking pictures of military facilities. They were released early, in April…..(BBC, 20 Aug 07)

Activists Hold Reception on Cuban Five before Court Appearance

Lawyers, jurists and others from across the United States, Latin America, and Europe descended on Atlanta, Georgia, for a reception held Sunday, August 19, 2007, at the Candler Building downtown, to update the public on the legal battle being fought on behalf of the "Cuban Five." In advance of court appearances tomorrow, Monday, August 20, 2007, the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five (NCFCF) thanked activists for the work they have done to help the five men who they believe have been wrongly imprisoned by the US….(Atlanta Progressive News, 19 Aug 07)

Chicago-Born Spy Remains Hero for Cubans

…The five agents are lionized here for infiltrating Cuban-American groups in South Florida that Cuban officials say were intent on terrorizing the island in the 1990s, when tourism was reintroduced to replace lost subsidies from the collapsed Soviet Union. Several Cuban tourism centers were bombed during that decade. The Cuban government lodged a protest with the U.S. over what it said were exiles financing the bombings…..(News Blaze, 20 Aug 07)

Cuban spies appeal for US retrial

A US federal appeals court in Atlanta is due to reconsider whether there are grounds for a retrial of five Cubans convicted of spying for Havana. They were arrested in 1998 and found guilty in a Miami court on charges including using false identities and conspiracy to commit espionage. Three were given life terms, the other two 15 and 19 years in jail. Cuba's government says the trial was political and accuses the US of double standards in the fight against terror……(BBC, 20 Aug 07)

Pentagon sets goals to hit before end of Bush term

The Pentagon has set 25 goals to meet by the end of the Bush administration, including implementation of a long-term plan for detaining terrorism suspects…Among the initiatives, defense intelligence is ordered to quickly improve its ability to track and locate "high value targets" -- language used by military and intelligence officials for top al Qaeda suspects. The military is ordered to expand its Special Operations Forces, the covert units conducting counter-terrorism operations….(Reuters, 20 Aug 07)

Tenn. Nuclear Fuel Problems Kept Secret

A three-year veil of secrecy in the name of national security was used to keep the public in the dark about the handling of highly enriched uranium at a nuclear fuel processing plant _ including a leak that could have caused a deadly, uncontrolled nuclear reaction… In 2004, the government became so concerned about releasing nuclear secrets that the commission removed more than 1,740 documents from its public archive _ even some that apparently involved basic safety violations at the company, which operates a 65-acre gated complex in tiny Erwin, about 120 miles north of Knoxville…..(AP, 20 Aug 07)

Bush answers subpoena with FISA demand

The Bush administration yesterday signaled to Senate Democrats that it will provide the legal rationale for its domestic surveillance program if Democrats reciprocate by permanently updating the key law governing foreign spying…..(Washington Times, 21 Aug 07)

Cheney's Office Says It Has Wiretap Documents

Vice President Cheney's office acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has dozens of documents related to the administration's warrantless surveillance program, but it signaled that it will resist efforts by congressional Democrats to obtain them. The disclosure by Cheney's counsel, Shannen W. Coffin, came on the day that the Senate Judiciary Committee had set as a deadline for the Bush administration to turn over documents related to the wiretapping program, which allowed the National Security Agency to monitor communications between the United States and overseas without warrants……(Washington Post, 21 Aug 07)

Defense Agency Proposes Outsourcing More Spying

The Defense Intelligence Agency is preparing to pay private contractors up to $1 billion to conduct core intelligence tasks of analysis and collection over the next five years, an amount that would set a record in the outsourcing of such functions by the Pentagon's top spying agency. The proposed contracts, outlined in a recent early notice of the DIA's plans, reflect a continuing expansion of the Defense Department's intelligence-related work The DIA did not specify exactly what it wants the contractors to do but said it is seeking teams to fulfill "operational and mission requirements" that include intelligence "Gathering and Collection, Analysis, Utilization, and Strategy and Support." It holds out the possibility that five or more contractors may be hired and promised more details on Aug. 27….(Washington Post, 19 Aug 07)

Concerns Raised on Wider Spying Under New Law

Broad new surveillance powers approved by Congress this month could allow the Bush administration to conduct spy operations that go well beyond wiretapping to include — without court approval — certain types of physical searches on American soil and the collection of Americans’ business records…The dispute illustrates how lawmakers, in a frenetic, end-of-session scramble, passed legislation they may not have fully understood and may have given the administration more surveillance powers than it sought…..(New York Times, 19 Aug 07)

Today in History

Aug. 19, 1960

Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.

Maurice F. Row Sr. FBI Official

Maurice Franklin Row Sr., 96, a retired FBI official, died of congestive heart failure Aug. 10…Mr. Row worked at the FBI for more than 40 years, retiring in 1974 as deputy assistant director of its computer systems division. He was responsible for the early development of computerization at the agency, starting with IBM punch card equipment in 1940 through the installment of its first small computer in the 1950s and the establishment of the National Crime Information Center……(Washington Post, 19 Aug 07)

David O. Close CIA Far East Specialist

David Olaf Close, 76, a Far East specialist who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for 31 years and spent a decade as an independent CIA contractor specializing in training, died Aug. 13…Before his retirement in 1986, Mr. Close worked in the office of the director of intelligence. He had served in the directorates of operations, intelligence and science and technology during his career…..(Washington Post, 19 Aug 07)

Edward W. Krahe Cartographer, Cyclist

Edward Winters Krahe, 79, who spent 36 years as a government cartographer and retired from the Defense Mapping Agency in 1983, died Aug. 10…..(Washington Post, 19 Aug 07)

John Church Renner Foreign Service Officer

John Church Renner, 85, a Foreign Service officer who was a senior staff member on the National Security Council, died of congestive heart failure July 26…..(Washington Post, 19 Aug 07)

Eric Weinmann, 94; Lawyer, Benefactor to D.C. Arts Groups

Eric Weinmann, who escaped Nazi Germany as a young man and became a lawyer with the Small Business Administration and a major benefactor of Washington arts groups, died Aug. 19…his secular Jewish family had to flee its home in 1938. He found his way to Washington in the early 1940s and used a talent for languages -- he was fluent in German, English, French and Spanish -- to land a job with the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA. Hardly a cloak-and-dagger spy, he spent most of World War II in Washington, his family said, reading German newspapers for hints of military actions…..(Washington Post, 19 Aug 07)

Iran to Release U.S. Scholar on Bail

American scholar Haleh Esfandiari is to be released on bail today after more than 100 days in Iran's notorious Evin Prison, according to Iran's Pars news agency. Her family has also been notified that she may be let go today. Esfandiari, director of Middle East programs at the Smithsonian's Woodrow Wilson Center, is one of at least four Americans detained in Iran….(Washington Post, 21 Aug 07)

Iran hangs 30 over 'US plots'

Iran has hanged up to 30 people in the past month amid a clampdown prompted by alleged United States-backed plots to topple the regime, the British Observer newspaper has revealed. Many executions have been carried out in public in an apparent bid to create a climate of intimidation while sending out uncompromising signals to the West. Opposition sources say at least three of the dead were political activists, contradicting government insistence that it is targeting "thugs" and dangerous criminals…..(DPA, 19 Aug 07)

The legendary case that lent eloquence to two men speaking broken English

SACCO & VANZETTI: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind, by Bruce Watson

Eighty years ago this week, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts executed two first-generation immigrants from Italy, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, for crimes they almost certainly did not commit. Before and after the executions, passions aroused by the case, in the United States and around the world, were incredibly intense….(Washington Post, 19 Aug 07)