AT&T wiretapping case headed for hearing
Federal appeals court will hear arguments next Wednesday on whether to stop a class-action privacy suit based on allegations that the government and AT&T Inc. have been working together in an illegal wiretapping program… On Wednesday, a three-judge panel at the circuit court will hear arguments on whether to halt each case. If it does so, the EFF may take the cases to the U.S. Supreme Court, Cohn said. The government could do the same if the judges reject its appeal……(PC World, 11 Aug 07)

Janice J. Cram NSA Cryptolinguist

Janice Jayne Cram, 87, a cryptolinguist for the National Security Agency and its forerunners, died Aug. 3…She spent much of her career on a Cold War project code-named "Venona," for which U.S. intelligence cryptolinguists deciphered Soviet espionage messages. Their work, said to have ended in 1980, showed how the Soviets for decades had recruited dozens of agents throughout the U.S. government…..(Washington Post, 11 Aug 07)

Naxal ‘spy’ held
A senior member of CPI (Maoist)’s intelligence wing was arrested by police on Thursday night from MV 108 village. The Left Wing extremist outfit has, of late, been planning attacks on some of the sensitive government installations such as hydro power plants, which makes the arrest of Gopinath alias Sheetal Mandal significant…..(New India Press, 11 Aug 07)

A Year Ago Today--Aug. 10, 2006

British authorities announced they had thwarted an Islamic terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 commercial aircraft over the Atlantic heading to the US using explosives smuggled in hand luggage. August 16 was the planned day for the attacks.

Spies and Revolutionaries – Ch: 8 - Petrov’s dog

The history of New Zealand's intelligence agencies and those it has spied on have been laid bare in a book by Auckland-based journalist, author, and historian Graeme Hunt. Spies And Revolutionaries – A History of New Zealand Subversion details how several prominent New Zealanders, all of whom are dead, spied for the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. Accusations and suspicions are laid bare before files and information that has never before been made public. This book will clearly recharge debate as to whether Dr Bill Sutch, diplomat Paddy Costello, and public servant Ian Milner were spies acting against New Zealand's national interest……(Scoop.NZ, 10 Aug 07)

Tinker, Tailor, Traitor – Spy

…..A genuine John le Carré-type spy was arrested in Puerto de la Cruz! At 8 pm on Monday, 22 July an ex-Civil Guard, Roberto Flórez García, who had belonged to the CNI (Centro de Inteligencia Nacional – ex CIS) for nearly fifteen years was detained by members of the National Police and the CNI itself. I should explain that the CNI is Spain’s version of Britain’s MI6 or America’s CIA……(Tenerife News, 10 Aug 07)

Canada Declassifies Papers on Rendition

Canadian intelligence officials suspected that a Syrian-born Canadian citizen detained by the U.S. in 2002 as a terror suspect and deported had been sent to a third country for torture as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program….(AP, 10 Aug 07)

In intelligence work, foreign spies are kept under cover

The RCMP yesterday admitted for the first time that it worked with the CIA during the Maher Arar affair. Suggestions of CIA involvement have been public since the Ottawa engineer provided convincing evidence he was flown to the Middle East on a CIA Gulfstream jet after his arrest in a U.S. airport, but yesterday was the first occasion there has been official confirmation to support his accusations……(Globe and Mail, 10 Aug 07)

Arar documents confirm role of CIA, FBI

A secret portion of the Maher Arar report that was finally uncensored Thursday morning confirmed that the CIA and the FBI were the American law enforcement agencies that handled his deportation to Syria and that they likely sent him there so that he could be questioned in a "firm manner."…..(CanWest, 10 Aug 07)

Harassing Germany’s Media

...the government is investigating at least 17 German journalists from top publications, like Der Spiegel and Die Welt, for their articles about a parliamentary committee investigating these renditions. World news media organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, have rightly demanded an end to what amounts to political intimidation by the German authorities in these cases.....(New York Times, 10 Aug 07)

More at stake in Beijing in 2008 than outcome of Olympic Games

…Symptomatic of the country's totalitarian mindset, various Chinese intelligence agencies have been aggressively monitoring the activities of many of these groups; and the odds of any of the protesters getting a visa to attend the Games are worse than buying a winning lottery ticket. Against this backdrop of protest and espionage, China also faces at least two other headaches as it prepares for what many see as China's coming-out party to the world……(San Jose Mercury News, 10 Aug 07)

Supreme Police Command to study Stasi material of Security Police

The Supreme Police Command has begun to investigate the material held by the Security Police (SUPO) concerning contacts between Finnish citizens and the East German security service Stasi…….(Helsingin Sanomat, 10 Aug 07)

Ex-MI5 agent Shayler claims to be chav messiah

Well-known former MI5 officer and 9/11 conspiracy theorist David Shayler has taken a further step along the path to fruitcakeville, suggesting to a TV news interviewer that he is the Messiah. Describing an occasion on which he had been anointed by a mystic representing biblical figure Mary Magdalene, the confused ex-spook told More4 News:.....(The Register, 10 Aug 07)

Alfred Molina Shares Intel About The Company's Next Twists

One CIA mole down, one to go? On Night 1 of TNT's The Company, Alfred Molina's Harvey Torriti made clever use of a few "Barium meals" to suss out a deep-placed snitch within the spy group's ranks…….(TV Guide, 10 Aug 07)

FBI Orders '24' Lite From Hollywood Menu

Imagine Entertainment -- the production house that has done so much to improve the image of torture with its CIA-but-not-really drama series "24" -- has gotten into bed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to develop a drama series based on bureau cases and incidents, tentatively called "The FBI." It all started about a year and a half ago when the assistant director of the FBI's Office of Public Affairs, John Miller, made a trip to Los Angeles to meet with various producers to see if he could get a series developed about the bureau….(Washington Post, 10 Aug 07)

China espionage

Chinese military intelligence collectors scored a recent coup in stealing valuable U.S. simulation technology that will boost Beijing's combat training. Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, 42, a former Beijing resident, pleaded guilty Aug. 1 in California to illegally providing China's military with embargoed software used in air force and navy training…"The software stolen by Meng will improve the PLA's ability to achieve more sophisticated military simulation for training and mission planning purposes, that is, to help them to better kill us," said Richard Fisher, a specialist at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, referring to the acronym for China's People's Liberation Army........(Washington Times, 10 Aug 07)

Former Chinese National Convicted of Economic Espionage
to Benefit China Navy Research Center (DOJ Press Release)

Puerto Ricans demand release of Cuban patriots from U.S. prisons

Puerto Rican intellectuals, students, politicians and social activists are planning a demonstration outside a federal court in this capital to demand the release of Cuban Five, imprisoned in the United States for fighting terrorism…..(Granma, 10 Aug 07)

The Cuban Five were arrested by the FBI for espionage against the US.

Swedes spied for Stasi

A network of Swedes delivered information to the Stasi during the Cold War, it has been revealed. Swedish Security Service Säpo has confirmed that it has identified a number of Swedes who informed for the East German secret police, but has refused to make their names public……(The Local, 9 Aug 07)

Courses in espionage offer glimpse of life as a spy

…The courses, History 300: Special Topics and University Honors 300, will explore myth versus reality in the world of espionage. The course follows a lecture and discussion format, and it will focus on the spy storyteller's craft, with special attention paid to the work of Graham Green and John Le Carr. Schwab developed the course with the assistance of Frederick Hitz, a professor at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, who first got the idea for the class as a way to develop critical thinking and analytical skills. Hitz, the former CIA inspector general, also worked as an assistant to the director of operations for the CIA and as an attorney. Hitz is also recognized internationally for his investigation of the CIA's role in alleged cocaine trafficking in the United States and Central America during the Reagan administration…..(Crimson White, 9 Aug 07)

Sweden under pressure to reveal names of former Stasi agents

Swedish authorities have come under pressure to release the names of Swedes suspected of working for East Germany's notorious secret police, Stasi, during the Cold War. The Swedish security police, or SAPO, confirmed Thursday that it investigated about 50 people during the 1990s for possible links to Stasi, but was only able to identify a handful of them as agents working for the East Germans…….(AP, 9 Aug 07)

Stasi had web of spies in Sweden

Sweden has revealed that it uncovered a network of informers during the 1990s that had supplied information to East German secret police in the Cold War. Sapo, the security service branch of Sweden's police force, said it found 50 spies who had worked for the Stasi. Prosecutions were brought against a number of the informers on the list but the charges were thrown out because too much time had passed…..(BBC, 9 Aug 07)

Espionage case transferred to Supreme Court

Another supposed “espionage case” which was open by the Belarusian KGB in July this year has been transferred to the Supreme Court of Belarus……(Charter97, 9 Aug 07)

David Shayler: spook or psychic?

For years, David Shayler has been a thorn in the flesh of Britain's intelligence establishment. An MI5 officer for six years, he went to jail after leaking secret documents to the press. ……(Channel 4 UK, 9 Aug 07) includes his interview

Iran heaps scorn on UK after 'spy tunnel' find

…But now the criticism has been cranked up further with the alleged discovery of a secret tunnel used to sneak "spies and prostitutes" into the British embassy in Tehran. The passage was been uncovered by workmen, according to reports. Labourers digging foundations for a carpet shop opposite the embassy on an avenue in the heart of the capital stumbled across what was described as a "huge" underground passageway. A blogger who used to work at the embassy was reported as saying: "The British embassy is using the tunnel for the comings and goings of spies linked to the embassy, and prostitutes." ….(Scotsman, 9 Aug 07)

Courses in espionage offer glimpse of life as a spy

A few UA students will get to find out who the real James Bond is thanks to two espionage courses UA professor Steven Schwab will teach this fall. The courses, History 300: Special Topics and University Honors 300, will explore myth versus reality in the world of espionage. The course follows a lecture and discussion format, and it will focus on the spy storyteller's craft, with special attention paid to the work of Graham Green and John Le Carr…..(Crimson White, 9 Aug 07)

A German documentary profiles 'the Johnny Cash of communism' – Feature

A documentary film titled The Red Elvis dealing with the life of Denver-born crooner Dean Reed, who became the darling of pop fans from East Berlin to the Urals during the communist era, but later drowned in mysterious circumstances, is currently showing in German movie houses…..(Earth Times, 9 Aug 07)

A Gateway for Hackers

The Security Threat in the New Wiretapping Law…Most calls outside the country involve foreigners talking to foreigners. Most communications within the country are constitutionally protected -- U.S. "persons" talking to U.S. "persons." To avoid wiretapping every communication, NSA will need to build massive automatic surveillance capabilities into telephone switches. Here things get tricky: Once such infrastructure is in place, others could use it to intercept communications. Grant the NSA what it wants, and within 10 years the United States will be vulnerable to attacks from hackers across the globe, as well as the militaries of China, Russia and other nations. Such threats are not theoretical. For almost a year beginning in April 2004, more than 100 phones belonging to members of the Greek government, including the prime minister and ministers of defense, foreign affairs, justice and public order, were spied on with wiretapping software that was misused. Exactly who placed the software and who did the listening remain unknown. But they were able to use software that was supposed to be used only with legal permission. The United States itself has been attacked. In six hours in August 2006, remote attackers entered computers at the Army Information Systems Engineering Command at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; the Defense Information Systems Agency in Arlington; the Naval Ocean Systems Center in San Diego; and the Army Space and Strategic Defense Command in Huntsville, Ala. The hackers transported more than 10 terabytes of data to South Korea, Hong Kong or Taiwan, and from there to the People's Republic of China……(Washington Post, 9 Aug 07)

Court lifts lid on secret Arar details

Newly declassified information shows that Canadian agencies worked directly with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and also received information known to be likely derived from Syrian torture during a post-9/11 investigation that culminated in the Maher Arar scandal…Truck driver Ahmad Abou El Maati, just two months after 9/11, “confessed” in Syria to plotting a truck bomb attack in Canada at the behest of his brother, who is still considered a fugitive al-Qaeda suspect. The truck driver has since returned to Canada, uncharged, and recanted his statements as purely the product of torture. He has also expressed regret that he was forced into naming Canadian associates of his, including Maher Arar, including saying that he saw the telecommunications engineer in Afghanistan in the early 1990s …(Globe & Mail, 9 Aug 07)

Arar documents confirm role of CIA, FBI

A secret portion of the Maher Arar report that was finally uncensored Thursday morning confirmed that the CIA and the FBI were the American law enforcement agencies that handled his deportation to Syria and that they likely sent him there so that he could be  questioned in a "firm manner."… The unsanitized report revealed that a Canadian anti-terrorism task force was in contact with both the CIA and the FBI prior to Arar's deportation and Canadian officials were aware that the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service was "processing Arar for removal." Arar was jailed and tortured for a year in Syria after false information provided to American authorities by the RCMP led to his deportation from the States…..(CanWwest, 9 Aug 07)

Albert B. Doyon Sr. Intelligence Officer

Albert B. Doyon Sr., 87, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who later worked as a counterintelligence officer, died Aug. 1…After the war (WWII) , he transferred to the Army's counterintelligence branch and commanded a unit based in Munich before retiring from the Army in 1964. He then remained with the counterintelligence service as a civilian employee, working at the Pentagon and Fort Meade, with assignments in the Middle East and Europe. He retired in 1985…..(Washington Post, 9 Aug 07)

Court lifts lid on secret Arar details

Newly declassified information shows that Canadian agencies worked directly with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and also received information known to be likely derived from Syrian torture during a post-9/11 investigation that culminated in the Maher Arar scanda…(Globe & Mail, 9 Aug 07)

A Gateway for Hackers

........Most calls outside the country involve foreigners talking to foreigners. Most communications within the country are constitutionally protected -- U.S. "persons" talking to U.S. "persons." To avoid wiretapping every communication, NSA will need to build massive automatic surveillance capabilities into telephone switches……(Washington Post, 9 Aug 07)

Wiretapping Bill Puts Telcos on Hold

…in practice telecoms are still skittish about their role in the intelligence gathering, and that could hamper the Administration's ongoing efforts. Bush tried and failed to get retroactive immunity for the telecoms' cooperation with the warrant-free program since 9/11, something the industry has lobbied hard for in the past three months. And he also failed to get the blanket immunity the telecoms were seeking for future cooperation……(Time Magazine, 9 Aug 07)

USGIF Launches Geospatial Intelligence Certificate Program

The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) today announced the launch of its Geospatial Intelligence Certificate Program to support the professional education needs of the geospatial intelligence tradecraft. Colleges and universities are encouraged to apply to accredit their geospatial intelligence certificate program based on the criteria developed by USGIF….(Directions Magazine, 9 Aug 07)

FIA to hear McLaren spy appeal

The FIA international court of appeal will meet in Paris on Thursday (local time) to hear an appeal from FIA president Max Mosley over the decision by world motorsport's governing body to exonerate British team McLaren after it was found guilty of spying on Ferrari…..(AFP, 8 Aug 07)

A Spy Chief’s Political Education

They questioned whether Mr. McConnell had succumbed to pressure from the White House and Republican lawmakers. He denied those accusations, but admitted that intense pressure from Congressional leaders of both parties had taken a toll. “I’ve spent 40 years of my life in this business, and I’ve been shot at during war,” Mr. McConnell responded, according to people who participated in the conference call. “I’ve never felt so much pressure in my life.”….(New York Times, 8 Aug 07)

Longtime CIA Spy Unmasks for Retirement

…With little fanfare, Jose Rodriguez, who heads the National Clandestine Service, had his cover lifted about a month ago. CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield said the driving factor was his interest in publicly participating in minority recruitment events. He's also retiring later this year after more than three decades with the agency. 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." Rodriguez became head of the CIA's clandestine service in November 2004. With the creation of the National Clandestine Service the following year as part of an intelligence reorganization, Rodriguez rose to be chief of "human intelligence" operations, overseeing the classic spycraft that takes place at a variety of U.S. spy agencies…..(AP, 8 Aug 07)

Redacted CIA Report On 9/11 Failings To Be Released By Early September

A much-awaited CIA internal report revealing how individual agent's performed in the months leading up to the 9/11 attacks is slated to be released by September 3. Government accountability activists and widows of 9/11 victims have been advocating for the report's release since it was completed two years ago. The mandate comes from a little-noticed addendum to the massive 9/11 bill signed into law last Friday….(All Headline News, 8 Aug 07)

CIA report on 9/11 due Labor Day

The CIA has been ordered to release by Labor Day a declassified summary of an internal report on the agency’s performance prior to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, possibly shedding light on whether senior officials made fundamental lapses in judgment. Under the 9/11 bill that President Bush signed into law Friday, the agency must release a public summary within 30 days of the law’s enactment, along with a classified annex for Congress that explains the report’s redactions…..(The Hill, 8 Aug 07)

Secrets of the Police

…If the decision by Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV stands, the documents may figure in scores of lawsuits challenging police tactics that included the heavy-handed: rounding up suspects on the streets, fingerprinting them and putting them in holding pens until the convention was all but over…Along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s denial of permits for protests on Central Park’s Great Lawn, the police action helped to all but eliminate dissent from New York City during the Republican delegates’ visit. If that was the goal, then mission accomplished. And civil rights denied….(New York Times, 8 Aug 07)

Civil rights group seeks court's spying rulings

A U.S. civil liberties group said on Wednesday it is asking a federal court to disclose its recent legal opinions on the Bush administration's authority to engage in secret wiretapping of Americans. The American Civil Liberties Union said such an unusual disclosure was needed because of legislation adopted by the U.S. Congress over the weekend to temporarily expand the government's power to conduct electronic surveillance without a court order in tracking foreign enemy suspects…..(Reuters, 8 Aug 07)

Jenny Andrée Howe Actress, CIA Analyst

Jenny Andrée Howe, 80, a former French actress, a homemaker and a retired analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, died of breast cancer July 27… From 1974 to 1989, she worked as a CIA operations analyst, dealing with Soviet espionage. A son recalled that on one occasion the agency dispatched her to New York to drop off money…..(Washington Post, 8 Aug 07)

Congress Seeks Surveillance Documents

Though Congress is on vacation, majority Democrats are keeping alive various fights with the White House with one common thread: Congress' access to administration documents and testimony to which President Bush has claimed executive privilege…..(AP, 8 Aug 07)

ABA Recommendation to Shut Court Records

Text of a proposed American Bar Association resolution urging state and federal officials to close public access to criminal court records…..(AP, 8 Aug 07)

Spy chief's role in espionage bill questioned

In handling those negotiations, McConnell was thrust into a delicate position. By tradition, the nation's top intelligence official is supposed to be insulated from political pressure or from debates over policy. But at the same time, the director is appointed by the president and serves as his top intelligence aide. "He is the president's senior intelligence advisor, not Congress' senior intelligence advisor," said Mark Lowenthal, a former top CIA official and intelligence historian…..(LA Times, 8 Aug 07)

The spy who wowed all

Spy Princess, by Shrabani Basu

She was Tipu Sultan’s great-granddaughter’s granddaughter. But like her illustrious ancestor, Noor Inayat Khan did not live to see old age, dying young as she did. Or rather was shot dead as a spy, betrayed by a colleague in occupied France in the heat of World War II. But to tell the fascinating story of this descendent of Tipu Sultan and only Asian secret agent, it took the skilled labor of Indian journalist Shrabani Basu…..(Hindu, 8 Aug 07)

Music Found in Moscow May Be Hitler’s

… The former Soviet intelligence officer, Lev Besymenski, described pilfering the records from the Chancellery at the end of World War II. They remained hidden until last week when his daughter, Aleksandra Besymenskaya, showed them to Der Spiegel. Mr. Besymenski died in June at the age of 86……(New York Times, 8 Aug 07)

‘Top Pakistani spy in London to meet Bhutto, Sharif’

An intelligence chief, considered to be eyes and ears of Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf in wake of recent developments, has flown to London, presently home to the exiled leadership of Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N and Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party..."I am not in knowledge," Maj Gen Waheed Arshad, spokesman for the military, said when contacted to confirm his departure to London and tell about his engagements there….(InterNews, 8 Aug 07)

How the American Embassy in Warsaw was Spied on by the Polish Special Services

In Winter of 1985 Robert Maxwell sold an Israeli-doctored version of PROMIS to General Wojciech Jaruzelski the then top ruler of Communist Poland. It was supposed to be used against the Solidarity Trade Union (illegal from December 1981) and the democratic opposition in Poland. But it also might be used to trace people and money passing through the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw. The communist regime in Poland was extremely sensitive about any links of the Polish opposition to the CIA, the Warsaw Station in particular. The successful exfiltration from Poland of Colonel Ryszard J. Kuklinski – the top CIA spy in the Polish Army General Staff (1972 – 1981) – in November 1981 – put all the Special Services on a high alert… There’s also an evidence that a Soviet-doctored version of PROMIS was offered to Poland at the end of the 1980s and that it was used to spy on the U.S. Embassy and on the Department of State at least until 1996, when the software was removed from the State’s computers…..(Oracle Syndicate,  7 Aug 07)

Prosecutor's Management Information System (PROMIS)

Promisgate: World's longest spy scandal still glossed over / Part I

Promisgate: World's longest spy scandal still glossed over /Part II

Promisgate: World's longest spy scandal still glossed over /Part III

Robert J. Garrity Named SAC in Denver

Robert J. Garrity has been named Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Denver Field Office. Director Robert S. Mueller, III, appointed him to this position to replace former SAC Richard C. Powers. Most recently, Mr. Garrity served as the FBI’s Deputy Chief Information Officer and Business Process Reengineering Executive…..(FBI Press Release, 7 Aug 07)

Congress Rethinks New Intel Budget Law

…The requirement that the president disclose the intelligence total was a provision of a broad security measure carrying out recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission. Bush signed it last Friday. The commission, in making its recommendations in 2004, argued that over-classification does not contribute to good government, and that revealing the overall spending for intelligence activities would help Congress in its oversight duties…..(AP, 7 Aug 07)

Bush administration defends spy law

…"They are trying to shift the terms of the debate to their intentions and away from the meaning of the new law," said Steven Aftergood, an intelligence policy analyst at the Federation of American Scientists. "The new law gives them authority to do far more than simply surveil foreign communications abroad," he said. "It expands the surveillance program beyond terrorism to encompass foreign intelligence. It permits the monitoring of communications of a U.S. person as long as he or she is not the primary target. And it effectively removes judicial supervision of the surveillance process."….(LA Times, 7 Aug 07)

Middle America, Meet The Hackers

…DefCon's more than 6,000 attendees hack everything: their cars, to increase horsepower and remove pesky safety and emissions controls; their brains, using biofeedback receptors attached to videogames to relieve anxiety disorders; even the war in Iraq. One Navy engineer gave a presentation detailing the nine months he spent hacking insurgent bombs, jamming their radio frequencies to prevent detonation…..(Forbes, 7 Aug 07)

Ethiopia executes spy boss killer

A major in the Ethiopian army has been executed for murdering the head of the intelligence and security services six years ago, the authorities say. Tsehaye Woldeselassie was found guilty of shooting dead Kinfe Gebremedhin in a case which shocked the country….(BBC, 7 Aug 07)

Govt. Looks for Leaker on Warrantless Wiretaps

The controversy over President Bush's warrantless surveillance program took another surprise turn last week when a team of FBI agents, armed with a classified search warrant, raided the suburban Washington home of a former Justice Department lawyer. The lawyer, Thomas M. Tamm, previously worked in Justice's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR)—the supersecret unit that oversees surveillance of terrorist and espionage targets. The agents seized Tamm's desktop computer, two of his children's laptops and a cache of personal files…..(Newsweek, 13 Aug 07 Issue)

City Is Rebuffed on the Release of ’04 Records

A federal judge yesterday rejected New York City’s efforts to prevent the release of nearly 2,000 pages of raw intelligence reports and other documents detailing the Police Department’s covert surveillance of protest groups and individual activists before the Republican National Convention in 2004.....(New York Times, 7 Aug 07)

Airlines, Others Sue FBI, CIA To Depose Agents In 9-11 Cases

Airline manufacturer Boeing Co. (BA), major airlines and several airport operators sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday in a bid to question current and former agency employees in connection with negligence litigation over the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks. In separate lawsuits, the airlines and others are challenging decisions by the FBI and the CIA that prevent them from conducting depositions of those employees…..(CNN, 7 Aug 07)

U.S. Airlines Seek FBI, CIA September 11 Testimony

Airlines sued by victims of the September 11 attacks filed complaints with a U.S. court on Tuesday to compel testimony from FBI and CIA agents in a bid to make the federal government more culpable for not preventing the attacks. In separate complaints filed in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York, seven U.S. airlines sought testimony from two members of a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency unit that investigated Osama Bin Laden and five current and former FBI agents who investigated al Qaeda…..(Reuters, 7 Aug 07)

Airlines Sue FBI, CIA Over Sept. 11

…In the CIA lawsuit, companies including American Airlines Inc., United Airlines Inc., US Airways Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., Continental Airlines Inc. and The Boeing Co. asked to interview the deputy chief of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit in 2001 and an FBI special agent assigned to the unit at that time. In the FBI lawsuit, the companies asked to interview a "limited number of former and current FBI employees" who had participated in investigations of al-Qaida and al-Qaida operatives before and after Sept. 11, 2001…..(AP, 7 Aug 07)

FBI Bows to Modern Realities, Eases Rules on Past Drug Use

Under a little-noticed new hiring policy introduced this year, job applicants with a history of drug use will no longer be disqualified from employment throughout the bureau. Old guidelines barred FBI employment to anyone who had used marijuana more than 15 times in their lives or who had tried other illegal narcotics more than five times….(Washington Post, 7 Aug 07)

Albert Dawson; Officer In Air Force Intelligence

Albert E. Dawson, 87, a lieutenant colonel in Air Force intelligence who died July 11 of congestive heart failure at his Alexandria home, kept a secret for decades: that he had posed for a photograph with two Chinese Communist leaders on an Asian mountain in the post-World War II years…..(Washington Post, 7 Aug 07)

Same Agencies to Run, Oversee Surveillance Program

…The law, which permits intercepting Americans' calls and e-mails without a warrant if the communications involve overseas transmission, gives Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales responsibility for creating the broad procedures determining whose telephone calls and e-mails are collected. It also gives McConnell and Gonzales the role of assessing compliance with those procedures……(Washington Post, 7 Aug 07)

White House Challenges Critics on Spying

The White House maintained Monday that the surveillance measure signed into law by President Bush over the weekend did not give the government any sweeping new powers to eavesdrop on Americans without court warrants…The new measure, signed into law by the president on Sunday, allows intelligence officials to eavesdrop without a warrant on international phone calls or e-mail messages to or from an American inside the United States, but only if they conclude that the “target” is outside this country….(New York Times, 7 Aug 07)

Russia's Deep-Sea Flag-Planting at North Pole Strikes a Chill in Canada

…Canada and the United States scoffed at the legal significance of the dive by a Russian mini-sub to set the flag on the seabed Thursday. "This isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and just plant flags" to claim territory, Canada's minister of foreign affairs, Peter MacKay, told reporters. But the government here has been thrown on the defensive by the Russian action…..(Washington Post, 7 Aug 07)

Courts Asked for 3rd Shot at Zhak

…Some lawyers claim that state security agencies infiltrate juries with operatives who will vote to convict, or blackmail jurors into providing information that can be used to challenge acquittals...Igor Sutyagin, an arms-control researcher accused of selling secrets to an alleged CIA front company, was hauled into court on treason charges. Midtrial, the jury was mysteriously dismissed and a second impaneled — one that included a former intelligence agency employee. Sutyagin was convicted in 2004…Valentin Danilov, a physicist accused of espionage, had his acquittal by a jury thrown out by the Supreme Court and is serving a 14-year prison term after being convicted in his second trial……(St. Petersburg Times, 7 Aug 07)

The Strange, But True Tale of a Communist Cowboy

A new German documentary, "The Red Elvis", tells the extraordinary tale of Dean Reed from Denver, Colorado who became a star behind the Iron Curtain. It's common knowledge that thousands of people fled communist East Germany for the West. The fact that a few hardy souls traveled in the opposite direction is far less well-known. The American musician, actor and film director, Dean Reed was one of them.....(Deutshe Welle, 7 Aug 07)

Chinese Immigrant Admits Industrial Espionage In U.S.

Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, 42, a Chinese immigrant working for a Quantum3D, a San Jose, Calif. computer firm has pleaded guilty to industrial spying on behalf of the Chinese navy…Meng was charged in December 2006 with violating the Foreign Economic Espionage and Arms Export Control acts by exporting industrial secrets pilfered from Quantum3D. The trade secret he stole, known as "Mantis," is a Quantum3D product used to simulate real world motion for military training purposes….(Agence France-Presse, 6 Aug 07)

Former Chinese National Convicted of Economic Espionage to Benefit China Navy Research Center

Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, 42, formerly a resident of Beijing, China, and resident of Cupertino, Calif., pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the Economic Espionage Act (EAA) and violating the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)… The defendant entered into a plea agreement whereby he pleaded guilty to Count Five (EEA) and Count Seven (AECA) of a superseding indictment that had been filed on December 13, 2006…..(Web Wire, 6 Aug 07)

Algerian accused of spying for Algeria in Germany

An Algerian man who has German nationality has been accused of spying for Algeria. He is an employee at Algeria’s embassy in Berlin (Germany), the federal prosecutor's office said Monday. The 44-year-old man, whose name was revealed as Lakhdar.A has admitted sending information to the Algerian Secret service from December 2005 to April 2006….(AP/AFP, 6 Aug 07)

Iran rights lawyer seeks UN action in detention of Iranian-American scholar

Iranian 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi requested the assistance of the UN Human Rights Council to end Iran's "arbitrary detention" of Iranian-American scholar Dr. Haleh Esfandiari [WWC profile] in a letter sent Monday to the UN body's Arbitrary Detention Working Group…..(Jurist, 6 Aug 07)

George Blake Shares Spy Secrets

A well-known Soviet-Russian spy George Blake gave some interviews to FSB in Altai Krai. This year the legend of Russian Intelligent Service celebrates 85th anniversary and he is still working. During his visit to Altai Mr. Blake told about the most interesting moments of his life: his participation in Dutch resistance during the WW II, his work in Seoul, London and Berlin, his imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs and his escape…..(Russia-IC, 6 Aug 07)
 

German charged with spying for Algeria

A German employee at the Algerian embassy in Berlin was been charged with espionage, the federal said Monday. A statement said the 44-year-old man is accused of providing the Algerian intelligence service with information on the activities of Algerian government critics in Germany…..(Expatica, 6 Aug 07)

New boss for Denver FBI office

Robert J. Garrity Jr., a counterintelligence and information security expert with 30 years of experience, has been named special agent in charge of the Denver FBI office. The Baltimore native takes over for Richard C. Powers, who left in June to become assistant director of the FBI's Office of Congressional Affairs…..(Rocky Mountain News, 6 Aug 07)

CIA Statement on book “Legacy of Ashes”

The CIA is no stranger to criticism. Intelligence work, focused as it is on the uncertain, the unknown, and the deliberately hidden, comes with great difficulty and risk. There will be shortcomings and unpleasant surprises. That said, Tim Weiner’s recently published book, Legacy of Ashes, paints far too dark a picture of the agency’s past. Backed by selective citations, sweeping assertions, and a fascination with the negative, Weiner overlooks, minimizes, or distorts agency achievements. In 1948, the CIA accurately assessed the chances of war with the Soviets as nil. According to Weiner, that was a failure “because no one listened.” The development of the U-2 spyplane was a stunning technological achievement that offered a unique look behind the Iron Curtain. To Weiner, it is tied to failure, because the CIA should have had better human sources inside the Soviet Union. Through analytic rigor, the agency made a near-perfect forecast of the 1967 Mideast War. Weiner attributes it wholly to information from a foreign intelligence service. The CIA offered accurate and timely warning of Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, a fact Weiner obscures in his narrative…Despite its claims to be “the” history of the CIA, the book is marked by errors great and small. Here is a relatively brief, and admittedly incomplete, catalogue:….(CIA Press Release, 6 Aug 07)

Zimbabwe introduces ‘super snooper’ law

… The Interception of Communication Act, published in the Government Gazette, provides for the setting up of an interception centre to listen into telephone conversations, open mail and intercept e-mails and faxes, says a report on the News24 site. The law also compels Internet service providers to install equipment to facilitate interception ‘at all times or when so required’ and ensure that its equipment allows full-time monitoring of communications……(Legal Brief Today, 6 Aug 07)

Russian Navy to operate from Syria

For first time since fall of Iron Curtain, Russia plans to build permanent bases on Syrian soil as part of large arms deal between two countries. Defense establishment officials fear Russian ships may try to spy on Israel's weapon systems…..(YNet, 6 Aug 07)

Nonproliferation flourishes at Los Alamos lab

…given that LANL (Los Alamos National Lab) is ensuring that the United States is capable, at any time, of engaging in a nuclear war, it might surprise some people to find out that another chief task of many of its scientists and researchers is nonproliferation: studying ways to prevent the bad actors of the world from suddenly using weapons of mass destruction--nukes or something else--against innocent populations…That said, the world is moving into a new nuclear age, and White said the lab is readying itself to help the transition. That is because countries like Russia, China and India are turning increasingly to nuclear as a way to meet their populations' energy needs….(CNet, 6 Aug 07)

White House Statement: N.Y. Times FISA Story 'Misleading'

The White House issued the following statement Monday in response to a New York Times story about updates to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that President Bush signed into law this weekend….(Fox, 6 Aug 07)

Eavesdropping Reforms Empower Spy Chief

For the first time in nearly four decades, a senior intelligence official _ not a secretive federal court _ will have a decisive voice in whether Americans' communications can be monitored when they talk to foreigners overseas…..(AP, 6 Aug 07)

FAQ: How far does the new wiretap law go?

Just before leaving town for a month's vacation, a divided U.S. Congress acceded to President George Bush's requests for expanded Internet and telephone surveillance powers…To help explain what the Protect America Act of 2007 means, CNET News.com has prepared the following Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQ list……(CNet, 6 Aug 07)

Hackers sought as allies in war on terrorism and cyber crime

US federal agents are reaching out to computer hackers for help fighting crime and terrorism as a tug-of-war between privacy and public safety continues on the Internet. The National Security Agency (NSA), the Department of Defense and the FBI were among the spy, military and police agencies represented at DefCon, an international gathering of hackers in Las Vegas… NSA vulnerability analysis chief Tony Sager gave a talk at DefCon, saying the agency was increasingly sharing information with the public in the hope computer wizards wherever they may be become allies in cyber security. "I'm not sure I can convince them to trust me,"….(Agence France-Presse, 6 Aug 07)

Bush Signs Law to Widen Legal Reach for Wiretapping

…They (Congressional aides and others familiar with the details of the law) also said that the new law for the first time provided a legal framework for much of the surveillance without warrants that was being conducted in secret by the National Security Agency and outside the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law that is supposed to regulate the way the government can listen to the private communications of American citizens……(New York Times, 6 Aug 07)

Boeing to Upgrade Systems for Marines

…The new award calls for several system upgrades and includes a number of options detailing additional support tasks that, if all of them were to be exercised, could increase its value to $381.5 million, Langness said. The options could expand the surveillance program from 12 hours a day seven days a week to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and increase the number of unmanned aircraft systems…..(Washington Post, 6 Aug 07)

House Approves Wiretap Measure

…It also would allow the monitoring, under certain conditions, of electronic communications between people on U.S. soil, including U.S. citizens, and people "reasonably believed to be outside the United States," without a court's order or oversight. White House spokesman Tony Fratto emphasized that the bill is not meant to increase eavesdropping on Americans or "to affect in any way the legitimate privacy rights" of U.S. citizens…..(Washington Post, 6 Aug 07)

Bush signs expanded wiretap bill

…It revises a 1978 law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which has been amended at least eight times since 2001. The original law requires the government to obtain a warrant from a secret national security court for all surveillance in the United States. The issue is complicated by the challenges of determining the location of a person sending or receiving e-mail and some types of phone calls…..(Baltimore Sun, 6 Aug 07)

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Over the past century, certain initials have become world-famous, with resonances either good, like the BBC, or loathsome: KGB, SS, IRA. Between those two extremes, the CIA is now at least as celebrated as any of the others…Created in 1946 out of the remnants of the wartime Office of Strategic Services (renowned for its derring-do and its ineptitude), the CIA expanded rapidly as the cold war developed. Harry Truman said that he never wanted it “to act as a spy organization” rather than as a bureau collecting and collating intelligence in the broadest sense, and was even worried that he might be creating some kind of Gestapo….(Times Online, 5 Aug 07)

Fate of 5 in U.S. Prisons Weighs on Cubans’ Minds

In Cuba, they call them “the five.” Their faces are plastered on walls and billboards everywhere. Merely being a relative of the five grants celebrity status…All five — Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, René González and Fernando González — were convicted of acting as unregistered foreign agents and conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States. Three were also convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, on the strength of evidence that they had gathered information on military activity at a naval air station in Key West…..(New York Times, 5 Aug 07)

The exotic dancer and alleged spy wasn't pure, but she may have been innocent

FEMME FATALE: Love, Lies, and the Unknown Life of Mata Hari, by Pat Shipman

These days Mata Hari's name probably pops up most frequently in crossword puzzles, where solvers come across clues such as "Spy Mata" or "Infamous Hari" or, for the full eight letters, "Executed WWI spy."… her life's story is a humdinger and because the charge that sent her before the firing squad and into popular lore -- that she actively and effectively spied for Germany -- almost certainly was false……(Washington Post, 5 Aug 07)

Law widens government's right to listen in

…The new law gives broad power to the National Security Agency to collect intelligence without taking individual cases before a secret national security court established in 1978 by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Under the newly amended FISA Act, federal agents need only show that the suspect is likely to be outside the USA to begin surveillance of phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States. The government would need to seek a warrant from the secret court once it becomes clear that the intercepted phone calls and e-mails involve a person in the USA…..(USA Today, 5 Aug 07)

5 Myths About the Japan That Just Said No

Just a few weeks ago, the Bush administration seemed convinced that it could rely on a newly assertive Japan to contain China's rise and help prosecute the global fight against terrorism. Then last weekend, Japan's voters just said "No." The stinging electoral rebuke to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (which lost control of the upper house of the Diet for the first time since the party was founded in 1955) does more than usher in a new era of drift and unpredictability in Japanese politics.....(Washington Post, 5 Aug 07)

Affordable Audio and Video Surveillance and Counter-Surveillance Tech: Part One

Covert surveillance and counter-surveillance technology technologies are an important component in the global war on terror…One of the print publications we read is Eye Spy intelligence magazine, a British publication that's self-billed as "the world's leading newsstand magazine on intelligence and espionage", which is "read by the global intelligence community." In every issue, we've seen a number of covert surveillance, counter-surveillance and espionage products that are actually affordable to security-conscious individuals (civilians)…..(Defense Review, 5 Aug 07)

Secret Log at Heart of Wiretap Challenge

 In open court and legal filings it's referred to simply as "the Document." Federal officials claim its contents are so sensitive to national security that it is stored in a bombproof safe in Washington and viewed only by prosecutors with top secret security clearances and a few select federal judges. The Document, described by those who have seen it as a National Security Administration log of calls intercepted between an Islamic charity and its American lawyers, is at the heart of what legal experts say may be the strongest case against the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program. The federal appeals court in San Francisco plans to hear arguments in the case Aug. 15……(AP, 5 Aug 07)

Report: Harsh Methods Used On 9/11 Suspect

Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was subjected to the CIA's harshest interrogation methods while he was held in secret prisons around the world for more than three years, part of an interrogation regimen that the International Committee of the Red Cross has called "tantamount to torture," according to a New Yorker article to be published on the magazine's Web site today…..(Washington Post, 5 Aug 07)