See Special Training Announcement

Counterintelligence News for the week of:

February 25-March 3, 2007

NATIONAL ARCHIVE LINKS:

Atom spy Alan Nunn May and related files

German Intelligence Agents and suspected Agents

Japanese Security Service home organisation

Communists and suspected communists

Right wing extremists

Soviet intelligence officers

Other subjects of Security Service enquiries

The German Anti-Nazi movement

Libby Jury Seeks Clarity On 'Reasonable Doubt'

Jurors in the perjury trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby asked the presiding judge for help yesterday defining a core issue in their deliberations: how to set a standard for determining whether the vice president's former chief of staff is guilty beyond a "reasonable doubt."…(Washington Post, 3 Mar 07)

Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of Abuse Suit

…There is substantial evidence that the plaintiff in the suit, Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, was subjected to the C.I.A.’s practice of extraordinary rendition, in which terrorism suspects are seized and sent for interrogation to other countries….(New York Times, 3 Mar 07)

The power of denial

The case of Mohamed El-Attar appears to have everything necessary -- apostasy, espionage and homosexuality -- to keep public attention rapt.....(Al-Ahram, 2 Mar 07)

Lebanese officer accused of spying

A Lebanese security officer has been detained and charged with spying on the powerful militant group Hezbollah for a European country...(Turkish Daily News, 2 Mar 07)

A “FAREWELL” Message from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush

A central factor in how Ronald Reagan won the Cold War, and did so with greater support along the way than the current president, was his ability to find means to undermine the enemy without losing thousands of American lives. An intriguing example, one that has eluded history, is the Farewell Dossier....(TownHall, 2 Mar 07)

U.S. spy agencies now admit they don't know it all

For more than three years, American intelligence officials have insisted that they learned from their mistakes in the months leading to the Iraq war, when murky information about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs was presented as fact and inconclusive judgments were hardened into statements of near certainty....(International Herald Tribune, 2 Mar 07)

Concern is damage to national security

Prosecutors in the corruption case against Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes and former CIA official Kyle “Dusty” Foggo asked a judge yesterday to limit dissemination of intelligence secrets that, if made public at trial, could damage national security....(San Diego Union Tribune, 2 Mar 07)

Release of Security Service files to The National Archives

This is the fifth release of Security Service records since the full implementation of the Freedom of Information Act in January 2005. Though exempt from the Act, the Security Service will continue to make its records available to researchers....(MI5, 2 Mar 07)

Mystery over UK atomic spy solved

The first atomic spy, Briton Alan Nunn May, was recruited to work for the Russians by fellow spy Engelbert Broda, documents reveal. It had not been known how physicist Alan Nunn May - who passed secrets on the Anglo-US programme to build the first atomic bomb - had been recruited. Files show Nunn May, imprisoned in 1946, met Austrian spy Broda when they worked at a Cambridge laboratory.......After his imprisonment, Nunn May was interviewed by agent William Skardon in Wakefield Prison on 21 March 1949. Mr Skardon noted: "The only real information that I could obtain was that his recruitment, if that be the right word, took place literally a few hours before he left England for Canada."......(BBC, 2 Mar 07)

Atom spy papers point to Austrian connection

A British scientist jailed in 1946 for leaking atomic secrets to Russia was probably recruited as a spy by his Austrian wife's first husband, according to Security Service documents declassified on Friday....(Reuters, 2 Mar 07)

Spy Caused British Nuclear Fears

Stunned by the revelation that a British scientist was passing American nuclear secrets to the Soviets immediately after World War II, diplomats feared the scandal could result in Britain's exclusion from U.S. atomic weapons programs, documents released Friday revealed....(AP, 2 Mar 07)

Alan Nunn May 2003 London Times obit | Obit from The Independent | Alan Nunn May (KV 2/2209-2226; 2563-2564)

Revealed: How Auden may have helped Burgess to flee Britain

As the author of iconic verse from Funeral Blues to Night Mail, Wystan Hugh Auden is one of Britain's most popular poets. Less well known is his unlikely role as a suspect in one of the most high-profile Cold War defections by a Soviet spy. Secret documents released today show how the author - loved and loathed during his lifetime by the literary and political Establishment - was closely questioned over the disappearance of Guy Burgess, the famously dissolute member of the Cambridge Five spy ring which passed key secrets to the Soviet Union. MI5 and the FBI ordered the interrogation of the poet when it emerged that Burgess, who fled Britain in May 1951 with fellow diplomat and double-agent Donald Maclean, had urgently tried to phone Auden the night before the defection. Maclean, who had knowledge of Anglo-American atom bomb research, and Burgess boarded a ferry to France on 25 May before being flown secretly to Moscow. They had been tipped off by fellow Cambridge spy, Kim Philby, who was working for MI6 in Washington, that they were about to be unmasked......(The Independent, 2 Mar 07)

Auden fled to avoid Cambridge spy interrogation, files reveal

The poet WH Auden evaded questioning by British intelligence over his possible link to the escape of the Cambridge spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, according to secret files made public today....(Yorkshire Post, 2 Mar 07)

Defection probe over poet Auden

MI5 failed to prove its belief that poet WH Auden was involved in the defection of two of the "Cambridge spies"....(BBC, 2 Mar 07)

The China connection: Aiding & abetting

What kind of American passes top secrets to the Chinese?.....(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 2 Mar 07)

A Long Enough Sentence

This Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the unprecedented life sentence meted out to Jonathan Pollard, an American naval intelligence officer who transmitted to Israel classified documents in the mid-1980s concerning Iraq, Syria, and other Arab states....(New York Sun, 2 Mar 07)

Another Intelligence Twist

The CIA may have overstated North Korea's uranium program....(Washington Post, 2 Mar 07)

DuPont spy case hints at Chinese connection

....DuPont officials charge the information Min stole about some of DuPont's most well-known products, including Kevlar, Teflon and Nomex, was almost certainly bound for Chinese companies or the government. .....Prosecutors charged Min downloaded some 22,000 files from a high-security library and hundreds of documents were recovered at his house and in storage.......(NewsJournal, 2 Mar 07)

Boffins store data in bacterial DNA

......Some commentators have raised concerns about the technique being used in industrial or international espionage and data smuggling should it become mainstream.....(Computing, 2 Mar 07)

Hollywood studio making CIA leak movie

Warner Bros. Pictures is developing a feature on the lives of Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson, the Washington couple at the center of the CIA leak scandal....(Reuters, 2 Mar 07)

Angola aid worker held on espionage charges

Less than a month after Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) from Africa, Asia and Latin America appealed for greater protection for those working to end corruption an aid worker working for a Catholic-backed organization has been charged with espionage in Angola...(Total Catholic, 2 Mar 07)

Our passport no shield

...Mohamed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar is but the most recent example of a person who should have stayed put, or at least avoided the potential dangers of a country where his presence was provocative....(Toronto Star, 2 Mar 07)

Spying game keeps its peace

The Federal Government's abiding secrecy in the Balibo Five case seems more about avoiding embarrassment than protecting national security....(Sydney Morning Herald, 2 Mar 07)

'Please keep an eye on your spies'

.....Masetlha is facing a charge of withholding crucial intelligence information required in terms of the Intelligence Services Oversight Act....(Daily News, 2 Mar 07)

Spy maps go from espionage to real estate

Spy maps of Britain compiled by the Soviet Union during the Cold War contain such a wealth of information that a digital mapping firm has bought them for use by property developers…..(CNN, 2 Mar 07)

Mr Toad the German spy

.....He was recruited in 1934 by the Nest Bremen espionage unit, which used agents pretending to be businessmen and commercial travellers, to gather information from Allied countries....(Evening Standard, 2 Mar 07)

How to Stay Out of the Penalty Box

An acrimonious court case between two athletic gear companies provides strategies for discouraging intellectual property theft—and dealing with accusations when they arise....(CSO, 1 Mar 07)

Early pushback on classified-leak crackdown scores a win

A possible Senate Judiciary Committee flare-up in the battle between media and government over reporting on White House anti-terrorism strategies cooled down yesterday amid early pushback from press groups....(The Hill, 1 Mar 07)

An intelligence disaster in Iraq
In the U.S. Eastern District Court in Brooklyn on Valentine's Day, a Muslim and naturalized American citizen with five different aliases – stretching from Mauritania to Morocco to Lebanon – pleaded guilty to a charge of illegally possessing classified documents and was sentenced to 13 years, according to a report in the New York Sun – a light sentence for committing espionage and passing classified documents to Iraqi Sunni insurgents during one of his two stints in Iraq. Federal prosecutors allege he did this when deployed at Al Taqqadam Air Base west of Baghdad in March 2004. The irony is that his military superiors reportedly gave him high marks for his work with an intelligence unit in Iraq. Little did they know what he really was doing. He was found out when he applied for a security clearance. He even entered the U.S. back in 1989 under false pretenses seeking "political asylum."....(World Net Daily, 1 Mar 07)

Alleged spy pleads for Ottawa's assistance

Canada has asked Egypt to comply with international standards in its treatment of a Toronto man arrested in Cairo on espionage charges, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said yesterday....(National Post, 1 Mar 07)

Judge ignores prisoner's plea for envoy help

A judge ignored a plea from Mohamed el-Attar for a Canadian lawyer yesterday at a hearing in which the Canadian-Egyptian spying suspect said his confession was extracted under torture....(Globe and Mail, 1 Mar 07)

KGB had spy charts of Scottish cities during Cold War

They are the maps that came in from the cold. But unlike the characters who populate the shadows of John Le Carre's espionage thrillers they belong to the real world....(The Herald, 1 Mar 07)

Discovery of Russian maps proves that an invasion was considered

SOVIET spies drew up plans to take over Bolton if they ever went to war with Britain, it has been revealed....(This is Lancashire, 1 Mar 07)

Spy maps go from espionage to real estate

Spy maps of Britain compiled by the Soviet Union during the Cold War contain such a wealth of information that a digital mapping firm has bought them for use by property developers...(Reuters, 1 Mar 07)

Overboard on official secrets

Nobody disputes the need to protect sensitive information, especially when it pertains to national security. But U.S. Sen. John Kyl's proposal to create an American version of Britain's Official Secrets Act goes too far and undermines basic American liberties....(Daily Herald, 1 Mar 07)

HP denies spying on former employee

In 2005, HP sued Karl Kamb, a former vice president of business development and strategy, alleging he stole company trade secrets.....(ZDNet, 1 Mar 07)

Dunn's lawyer blasts Perkins

The spying scandal that dragged Hewlett-Packard's name through the mud last fall seems destined never to fade away....(Mercury News, 1 Mar 07)

Key documents withheld in German CIA probe: lawmakers

German lawmakers investigating the case of a man held for nearly five years at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay said on Thursday an inquiry was being held up as some official documents were being withheld and others had been delayed...(Reuters, 1 Mar 07)

Doug Feith's Web Counterattack

.....Feith chooses to argue that the debate shouldn't be over whether he and his staff got it right, but whether or not the CIA — which looked but could find no links between Saddam and al-Qaeda — should be immune from outside criticism....(Time, 1 Mar 07)

DouglasFeith website

Private sector ‘can bribe state spies’

MEMBERS of a local technology security group fear that the state condoned interception of information is being used for corporate espionage....(MyADSL, 1 Mar 07)

MI5's role in hounding of Met officer revealed
One of Britain's most senior police officers has accused MI5 of "smearing" him after it emerged that the security service told Scotland Yard it suspected him of being an Iranian spy....(DB, 1 Mar 07)

'Despite everything I remain determined to be a chief constable'

Ali Dizaei has been spied on, bugged, wrongly accused, charged and prosecuted — all by his fellow police officers......(Times of London, 1 Mar 07)

How investigation got nothing and turned desperate

Ali Dizaei tells how the team investigating him drew a blank - then grew desperate.....(Times of London, 1 Mar 07)

The KGB's good spy guide to British cities

Russian spy maps of the UK produced by the KGB during the Cold War have been released for the first time.....(Daily Telegraph, 1 Mar 07)

ESPIONAGE, the Sequel
......Even though the Cold War is over, military espionage, at least, continues to thrive. In fact, it never slackened at all. Increasingly, foreign spies are hidden among us, recruited from among the more than 30 million foreign businessmen, scientists, students, researchers, academics, and tourists entering the United States each year.....(Air Force magazine, 1 Mar 07)

El-Attar affair 'an exact copy' of earlier case

For Azzam Azzam, the fate that lies ahead for an Egyptian-Canadian on trial for spying for Israel is all too familiar....(Globe and Mail, 1 Mar 07)

Britons resist trash spying

The British tolerate millions of surveillance cameras watching their every public move. They agreed to let roadside cameras record their vehicular movements and store the information for two years......(McClatchy Newspapers, 1 Mar 07)

Lebanon Hunts ‘Spy Gang’

Lebanese authorities are hunting for additional members of a suspected spy gang that was monitoring the activities of the Shi’ite Hizbullah...(Media Line, 1 Mar 07)

Politkovskaya’s Colleagues Criticize Kadyrov for Accusing Berezovsky of Recent Murders

Colleagues of murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya have criticised Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s claim that exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky ordered the killings of Anna Politkovskaya and former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko.....(MosNews, 1 Mar 07)

February 28, 1997: former FBI agent Earl Pitts pleaded guilty to spying for the Soviet Union/Russia

Professor in Spying Case Gets 5 Years

A college professor was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to lesser charges in a case alleging that he and his wife spied for the Cuban government. Carlos Alvarez, 61, and his wife, Elsa, 56, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore on reduced charges they received in a federal plea agreement. Elsa Alvarez was sentenced to three years in prison and one year of probation. Carlos Alvarez also received three years' probation.....(AP, 28 Feb 07)

More on the Alvarez Case

FORMER FIU PROFESSORS SENTENCED ON CONSPIRACY AND MISPRISION CHARGES....(USAO Press Release, 27 Feb 07)

FIU couple heading to jail

Convicted ex-Florida International University academics Carlos and Elsa Alvarez apologized Tuesday as a pair of tearful defendants, expressing regret for a secret life of informing on Miami's exile community for Cuba....(Miami Herald, 28 Feb 07)

Former red spies were in key posts

Some 14 years after the Velvet Revolution — and four years after the Czech Republic joined NATO — the country’s military intelligence service (VZ) was still stacked with former members of the communist-era secret police, or StB....(Prague Post, 28 Feb 07)

College prof sentenced to 5 years in prison for spying for Cuba

A college professor who pleaded guilty in a federal case involving allegations that he and his wife spied for Cuba's communist government and betrayed their fellow Cuban-American exiles by passing along information about community figures was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison.....(AP, 28 Feb 07)

Florida couple sentenced as Cuban spies

A Cuban-American couple who worked at a Florida university were sentenced on Tuesday to prison terms for funneling information about Miami's Cuban exiles to the Havana government....(Reuters, 28 Feb 07)

Militants behead 'US spy', carve grisly message

Taliban militants decapitated an Afghan accused of spying for US forces and scrawled the word "hypocrite" across his forehead...(AFP, 28 Feb 07)

Accused spy's trial adjourned

The trial of an alleged Egyptian-Canadian spy was adjourned Wednesday to March 26 by a Cairo High State Security judge, who also refused the defendant's request to meet with Canadian embassy officials. Mohamed el-Attar, 31, was stopped at Cairo's International Airport on Jan. 1. Egyptian intelligence charged him with being part of an espionage cell affiliated with Israel's Mossad. The defendant was locked up incommunicado for more than 30 days, during which time Egyptian authorities say he confessed to a State Security interrogator that he was a spy.....(Globe and Mail, 28 Feb 07)

Friends stunned by spy charges

Before leaving his Toronto home for the last time two months ago, Mohamed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar excitedly told friends of his holiday plans in the Middle East and promised to bring back souvenirs. The 31-year-old Egyptian-Canadian first planned to visit family in Egypt and then go to Ankara, Turkey, where he once lived and still owns a home. And maybe, he said, he would spend New Year's Eve in Tel Aviv. But instead of being greeted by relatives after landing in Cairo, Attar was met by Egyptian officials and accused of being a gay Zionist who spied for the Israeli secret service....(Toronto Star, 28 Feb 07)

'Mossad' trial resumes in Cairo

The trial has resumed in Cairo of an Egyptian accused of spying for Israel....(BBC, 28 Feb 07)

Egyptian 'spy' repeats torture claims
An Egyptian-Canadian man accused of spying for Israel repeated his claims Wednesday that he was forced to confess while authorities tortured him by electrocution and other extreme measures....(AP, 28 Feb 07)

Egyptian-Canadian shouts claim of torture in Cairo spy trial

The trial of a 31-year-old Egyptian-Canadian charged with spying for Israel resumed in Cairo Wednesday amid a fractious courtroom scene where media and the accused shouted at the judge....(CBC News, 28 Feb 07)

Historians, diplomats cast doubts on KGB plot against Pope Pius XII

Historians and communist-era diplomats have cast doubts on a former Romanian general's claim that he helped with a KGB plot to portray Pope Pius XII as a Nazi sympathizer in order to weaken the Catholic Church. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, a Romanian intelligence chief under dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, said that between 1960 and 1962 he recruited three Romanian spies to disguise themselves as priests and gain access to the Vatican Secret Archives. Their objective was to steal documents for the KGB, the former Russian secret police and intelligence agency, so the documents could be manipulated as evidence against Pope Pius, who died in 1958, said Pacepa.....(Catholic News Service, 28 Feb 07)

Ansar al-Sunnah Claims Responsibility for Killing a Female Spy in Baghdad

....This assassination, executed on Sunday, February 11, was the result of the women informing the Iraqi National Guard about the movement of the Mujahideen......(SITE, 28 Feb 07)

Rabbis Elyashiv, Schteinman send unprecedented letter to President Bush

Two prominent Torah Sages, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv of Jerusalem, and Rabbi Aron Leib Schteinman of Bnei Brak, have signed an unprecedented letter to President George Bush, calling for the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard....(Israel Insider, 28 Feb 07)

Top Rabbis Send Personal Plea to President Bush for Pollard

......(Israel National News, 28 Feb 07)

Dem named chair of NSA oversight panel

A Maryland Democratic congressman and former prosecutor has been made chairman of the House subcommittee overseeing the super-secret National Security Agency....(UPI, 28 Feb 07)

Many Houston Muslims coping with fear, frustration

....It's no secret the FBI is conducting counterintelligence here and abroad. "We have a lot of folks that are sympathizers to what is going on overseas and we definitely have a concern about that here," said FBI Supervisor Russell Robinson. ....(KHOU, 28 Feb 07)

'US spy' killed by Afghan border

Suspected pro-Taleban militants in Pakistan's tribal areas have killed a cleric they accused of spying for US forces in Afghanistan....(BBC, 28 Feb 07)

Afghan Teacher, Alleged Spy, Beheaded

Suspected Islamic militants captured and beheaded an Afghan teacher whom they accused of being a spy for the United States....(AP, 28 Feb 07)

Lebanon Security uncovers spy network on Hezbollah

Lebanese security experts have uncovered a European intelligence-run network spying on Hezbollah.....(YaLibnan, 28 Feb 07)

U.S. Warns Against EU's CIA Flight Probe

A senior U.S. administration official on Wednesday warned that ongoing inquiries into secret CIA activities in the European Union may undermine intelligence cooperation between the United States and European nations.....(AP, 28 Feb 07)

How C-level executives can keep intellectual property out of the wrong hands

For years the U.S. has complained that other countries are stealing U.S. trade secrets, leaving U.S. companies and their products vulnerable to knock-offs and counterfeiting. How can U.S. companies ensure that their intellectual property is safe and doesn't get into the wrong hands?....(SC Magazine, 28 Feb 07)

'Foreign states are planting spies in SA'

A Muslim organisation in South Africa claims that foreign intelligence agencies have planted spies within the South African Muslim community....(The Star, 28 Feb 07)

Senate Proposal to Criminalize Leaks Sparks Opposition

A legislative proposal by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) that would criminalize the unauthorized disclosure or publication of classified information "concerning efforts by the United States to identify, investigate, or prevent terrorist activity" is drawing strong opposition even before it has been formally introduced......(Secrecy News, 28 Feb 07)

Senator presses FBI for disciplining

A senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday asked the FBI whether it planned to discipline senior supervisors after a ruling by a federal jury that the bureau retaliated against a former veteran agent. ....(Washington Times, 28 Feb 07)

Accounting sought from FBI director......(StarTribune, 28 Feb 07)

Skullduggery at Skoda as Leaker of Photos Is Arrested

A contract worker has been arrested for leaking photos of the new Skoda Superb to a tabloid publication here....(Inside Line, 28 Feb 07)

Google Searches For Government Work

.....Google has ramped up its sales force in the Washington area in the past year to adapt its technology products to the needs of the military, civilian agencies and the intelligence community.....(Washington Post, 28 Feb 07)

Lebanese Authorities Arrest Officer For Alleged Spying On Hezbollah

A Lebanese security officer has been detained by local authorities on charges of spying on the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.....(DPA, 28 Feb 07)

Europe's Runaway Prosecutions

An Italian court announced this month that it is moving forward with the indictment and trial of 25 CIA agents charged with kidnapping a radical Muslim cleric....(Washington Post, 28 Feb 07)

Release hope for spy claim woman

The family of a Cumbrian human rights worker who is being been held in Angola on suspicion of espionage hope she may soon be allowed to return home....(BBC, 28 Feb 07)

"Breach" leaves unanswered questions

"Breach" is a true-life thriller about one of the most treasonous agents in the history of American espionage....(Entertainment Weekly, 28 Feb 07)

U.S. says will not extradite CIA agents to Italy

The United States will reject any request by Italy to extradite CIA agents for the first criminal trial over controversial U.S. "renditions" of terror suspects, a U.S. government lawyer said....(Reuters, 28 Feb 07)

Spy chief to replace intelligence expert on Cuba, Venezuela

The nation's new spy chief is replacing Norman Bailey as the intelligence community's point man on Cuba and Venezuela just three months after Bailey took the job.....(Miami Herald, 28 Feb 07)

Ex-CIA official urges silence after spy 'sting'

A former high-ranking CIA official refused FBI appeals for help in tracking Chinese spies and urged others via e-mail not to cooperate because of the recent prosecution of former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Ron Montaperto. Robert G. Sutter, a former national intelligence officer for East Asia and holder of a security clearance, told a mailing list of current and former government officials that a 2003 FBI "sting" operation against Montaperto, who was convicted in June of mishandling classified documents, raised fears that he and other officials could be damaged for discussing their contacts with Chinese officials. The FBI and other U.S. counterintelligence agencies are stepping up efforts, including outreach to academics, to counter Chinese intelligence efforts after a string of damaging spy cases over the past five years, U.S. officials said.....(Washington Times, 27 Feb 07) More on the Montaperto Case

Prosecutors seek max penalty for professor in Cuba spy case

A college professor who pleaded guilty in a federal case involving allegations that he and his wife spied for Cuba should receive the maximum five years in prison because he did "classic intelligence work" for Fidel Castro's communist government, prosecutors said Monday. Carlos Alvarez, 61, and his 56-year-old wife Elsa were set to be sentenced today. Both pleaded guilty Dec. 19 to reduced federal charges in the case involving accusations of exchanging coded messages with Cuban intelligence services about Cuban-American exile groups and prominent figures in Miami......A written report cited by prosecutors stated that one of Carlos Alvarez's contacts met personally with Richard Nuccio, then-President Clinton's special adviser to Cuba, in 1996. The report said Nuccio was "very depressed" and "devastated" by the signing of the Helms-Burton Act, which strengthened U.S. sanctions against Cuba....(AP, 27 Feb 07)

Widespread Demands for Pollard's Release

American Jewish organizations have organized a massive nationwide campaign to call the White House every afternoon for the next two months and request/demand freedom for Pollard. The campaign is to last, if it does not succeed in attaining its goal beforehand, until after Passover, the holiday of freedom...(IsraelNN, 27 Feb 07)

Spy chief casts doubt on Russian democracy

Russia has taken a step backward in its democratic progress and could be heading toward a controlled succession to President Vladimir Putin, the top U.S. intelligence official said .....(Reuters, 27 Feb 07)

McConnell: Repression in Cuba Increases

epression is increasing in Cuba under the control of Raul Castro, and the domination of the government by his brother, Fidel, is nearing an end, Bush administration officials said....(AP, 27 Feb 07)

Spy Chief to Appear Before Senate Panel

The nation's newly installed spy chief, Mike McConnell, told CIA personnel at a town-hall style meeting last week that he intends to establish personal relationships with Congress.....(AP, 27 Feb 07)

Feb. 27, 1940: Want a Date?

.....In 1944, he was fired from the Manhattan Project after he was overheard discussing atomic research with a KGB officer stationed at the Soviet consulate in San Francisco. A congressional investigation concluded that Kamen had, in fact, passed classified information on uranium stockpiles to Moscow's man.....(Wired News, 27 Feb 07)

Solzhenitsyn: Russia dogged by problems similar to those that led to 1917 revolution

Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn warns in the preface to a newly republished article that Russia is still struggling with challenges similar to those of the revolutionary turmoil of 1917 that led to the demise of the czarist empire.....(The Independent, 27 Feb 07)

Taliban launch violent purge

Taliban fighters say they have executed dozens of suspected informants, as they hunt for the spies who helped NATO target several of their leaders in recent weeks....(Globe and Mail, 27 Feb 07)

BAE ordered to identify 'mole' who passed details on arms protesters

BAE Systems, the weapons manufacturer, has been ordered by the High Court to disclose how it obtained "extremely confidential" information on the protest group Campaign Against Arms Trade.....(The Independent, 27 Feb 07)

Three-Day March for Pollard

Israel's youth is increasingly leading the struggle to free Jonathan Pollard - and now, a yeshiva high school class in Tiberias is planning a three-day march to Jerusalem calling for his release...(IsraelNN, 27 Feb 07)

Putin delivers for the former KGB

Russian President Vladimir Putin certainly surprised many at the 43rd Munich Security Conference by re-evoking echoes of the Cold War.....(Jane's, 27 Feb 07)

Russia vs. America- Again

It was just like old times, specifically the Cold War, There was a Russian leader lambasting American imperialism.....(TownHall, 27 Feb 07)

ASIO concerned at extremists' conversion

THE varying scale of the current terrorist threat to Australia and the speed at which extremists could become radicalised is causing alarm in Australian intelligence circles.....(The Australian, 27 Feb 07)

Estonia military intelligence head sacked on spying allegations

Commander of Estonian Defense Forces, General-Major Ants Laaneots relieved on Tuesday the head of the military intelligence branch from his duties following allegations of spying on government officials...(27 Feb 07)

RCMP spied on ex-minister

The RCMP conducted a "massive" surveillance operation to spy on a meeting involving former finance minister Gary Collins as part of the investigation that led to the 2003 raid on the B.C. legislature....(CanWest News, 27 Feb 07)

A Change Of Focus At The SIS

...At the end of October 2006 Ambassador Woods retired and passed the director general’s job to Warren Tucker, former head of the Government Security Communications Bureau (GCSB).....(Scoop New Zealand, 27 Feb 07)

Namibia: Nujoma Says Spy Agency 'Not Into Wire-Tapping'

THE Ministry of Justice says it is not aware of any tapping of telephones by the Namibia Central Intelligence Service (NCIS) since the spy service came into force....(The Namibian, 27 Feb 07)

DoJ Sued For Release Of FISA Court Rules On Spy Program

The EFF filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking information on changes to the National Security Agency's surveillance program....(InformationWeek, 27 Feb 07)

Ex-FIU prof, wife face sentencing

One-time Florida International University professor Carlos Alvarez and his wife Elsa supplied agents in Castro's government with classic intelligence information that went far beyond the ''harmless gossip'' the couple said they gathered on the Cuban exile community, federal prosecutors said today....(Miami Herald, 26 Feb 07)

More on the Alvarez Case

Accused spy faces swift justice in Egypt

.....But human-rights activists, local media and even his own lawyer think that Egyptian Canadian Mohamed el-Attar will be convicted when his charges of spying for Israel come up for trial in an Egyptian state security court on Wednesday......"This is a public-opinion case. Even the judge, who is supposed to be a neutral party, when he hears it's a case of espionage for Israel, he may be inclined to pass a harsh sentence," said Mr. Basyouni, a criminal lawyer who normally handles finance cases and drug dealers......Mr. el-Attar is charged with spying for Israel to harm Egypt's national interests. But in his first public words since his Jan. 1 detainment, the 31-year-old shouted at television cameras after a court hearing Saturday that he had been "tortured by the mukhabarat [Egyptian secret service]" into confessing, and that the charges against him are "fabrications.".....(Globe and Mail, 26 Feb 07)

Egyptian charged with spying 'confessed under torture'

An Egyptian man charged with spying for Israel pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial on Saturday and claimed he had confessed under torture....(AP, 26 Feb 07)

Book IDs Polish Priests As Informants

A book released Monday has dredged up more painful allegations from Poland's Communist era, naming some 30 Roman Catholic priests, including several bishops, as registered informants with the secret police...(AP, 26 Feb 07)

German film about secret police wins Oscar

Germany's "The Lives of Others," a searing look at totalitarian powers once wielded by East German secret police, the Stasi, won the Oscar for best foreign language film on Sunday.....(Reuters, 26 Feb 07)

Stasi spies were worse than in Oscar film: historian

Spies for communist East Germany's feared secret police had little in common with the "good Stasi agent" at the center of an Oscar-winning German film, a German historian and Stasi expert said ....(Reuters, 26 Feb 07)

Going Backstage with a Professional Speaker

On Tuesday, February 20, 2007, Ray Semko, also known as the D*I*C*E Man, spoke to an audience of about 150 students and executive education participants at Spangler Auditorium. The event was the third of the HBS Public Speaking Club's Outstanding Speaker Series for 2007.....(Harvard Business School 'The Harbus', 26 Feb 07)

VCU hears from Homeland Security Intel Chief

America is the No. 1 terrorist target, and "we might as well get used to it" in keeping the country safe, Charles Allen, chief intelligence officer in the Department of Homeland Security, told a packed room Thursday.....(Commonwealth Times, 26 Feb 07)

Swedish Government, Military Dispute Russian ‘Threat’
A Feb. 13 strategic assessment by the Swedish Armed Forces Strategic Analysis Unit (SAFSAU) that classified Russia as a potential “military threat” has caused a minor rift between the unit and the Swedish government....(Defense News, 26 Feb 07)

Japan Establishes Spy Satellite Network

After nearly a decade of trying, Japan has succeeded in establishing a network of spy satellites that can peer at any point on the globe...(AP, 26 Feb 07)

Efforts to Coordinate Spy Activities Difficult, Slow

The National Clandestine Service is supposed to coordinate all overseas spying activities, and keep CIA, FBI and Pentagon spies from working at cross purposes....(NPR, 26 Feb 07)

The Soviet Silicon Valley

Engineering Communism: How Two Americans Spied for Stalin and Founded the Soviet Silicon Valley

...Joel Barr, an American born scientist who defected to and then spent decades literally arming the Soviet Union....(FrontPage, 26 Feb 07)

Intel employees first to test performance pay system at Homeland Security

Two years ago, the White House had expected pay for performance to be spread throughout most major Homeland Security Department agencies by 2008 and to be well on its way to becoming a common practice across the government.....(Federal Times, 26 Feb 07)

FBI unsure if missing notebook PCs contain sensitive data

...This information could include counterintelligence or counterterrorism case information, personal identifying information or classified information on FBI operations, the report said....(GCN, 26 Feb 07)

Office Overseeing Spy Agencies Emphasizes Lessons Learned

In one of his last moves as director of national intelligence before leaving for the State Department, John D. Negroponte signed off on a new and unusually detailed policy directive that sets out common principles for intelligence analysis for the nation's 16 spy agencies....(Washington Post, 26 Feb 07)

Diplomats: Iran intel thin

Despite growing international concern about Iran's nuclear program and its regional ambitions, most U.S. intelligence shared with the UN nuclear watchdog agency has proved inaccurate and none has led to significant discoveries inside Iran, diplomats here say.....(Los Angeles Times, 26 Feb 07)

Spy academy would ease turf wars in intelligence

.....After 30 years of military service and experience, many in an intelligence capacity, I believe one answer is a unified professional intelligence corps — trained in a National Intelligence Academy.....(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 26 Feb 07)

Lugovoi Skeptical Fair Trial Possible

Former FSB officer Andrei Lugovoi said Friday that he doubted he could get a fair trial in Britain if he was prosecuted for the poisoning of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko....(Moscow Times, 26 Feb 07)

Illness of 2 U.S. Citizens Prompts a Police Inquiry

Police are investigating the suspected poisoning of two U.S. citizens who were hospitalized in Moscow on Saturday.....(Moscow Times, 26 Feb 07)

Senator seeks to broaden espionage law

A U.S. senator is pushing a law so broadly drafted it could leave journalists exposed to criminal liability for publishing information concerning the government's counterterrorism efforts, open government advocates warn...(RCFP, 26 Feb 07)

Jonathan Pollard, remembered and forgotten
For the last twenty-two years, Jonathan Pollard is a name that has been remembered, forgotten, remembered, and forgotten.....(Israel Insider, 26 Feb 07)

Chinese spying in Pacific

.....He said China was using members of its expatriate community as spies to monitor areas of economic, political and military interest.....(NZPA, 27 Feb 07)

Balibo inquest keeps lid on old spy methods

THE Federal Government has brought down the cone of silence over the Balibo inquest, shielding key intelligence evidence from the public and the media.....(Sydney Morning Herald, 26 Feb 07)

Bulgarian Ministers Monitored by Romanian Intelligence Services

Several Bulgarian ministers were caught by the Romanian and Austrian intelligence services meeting with various people under investigation for financial crimes.....(News.bg, 25 Feb 07)

Covert Question, Open Controversy

Was Valerie Plame covert or not? It's hard to tell from reading The Post....(Washington Post, 25 Feb 07)

Spies oblivious to Attorney General's affair

.....Details of the affair, of which the Prime Minister also claimed to be ignorant, immediately raised concerns over the potential threat to national security due to the highly sensitive nature of the Attorney General's position.....(Daily Telegraph, 25 Feb 07)

Neville Chamberlain's Real Mistake

......But Chamberlain should have known better. British intelligence had developed dramatic and damning evidence of Nazi duplicity in the weeks leading up to the Prime Minister's crucial meeting with Hitler at Munich. An MI6 agent, we now know, produced actual maps of Nazi war objectives.....(History News Network, 26 Feb 07)

Juror Dismissed in CIA Leak Trial

The jury considering whether I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is guilty of perjury lost one of its members this morning but will continue working to reach a decision, a judge decided....(Washington Post, 26 Feb 07)

Deliberations to Resume in CIA Leak Case

jury is moving into its second week of debate on whether former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby obstructed the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative married to a prominent Iraq war critic.....(AP, 26 Feb 07)

Egyptian denies spying in Toronto

...Attar is charged with harming Egyptian national interests by supplying the Mossad with information; receiving $56,000 in Canadian and U.S. currencies for information on Arabs and Egyptians living in Turkey and Canada and providing his co-accused with that information.....(Toronto Star, 25 Feb 07)

The PDA Guerrilla: Breach

....My special interest in it is that Hanssen kept the records of his espionage in his Palm PDA, supposedly either a Palm III (according to the film's director and screen writer, Billy Ray) or a Palm VII (according to Hanssen's arrest warrant). That PDA plays a crucial role in his eventual arrest.....(ComputerWorld, 25 Feb 07)

Cooper did some probing of his own for 'Breach' role

....."Frankly, when I saw a rough cut of the movie, it creeped me out," the Oscar-winning (for "Adaptation") actor Chris Cooper said in a recent phone conversation from Los Angeles, where a press junket for the movie was held. "This was not a pleasant guy to hang with."....(McClatchey Newspapers, 25 Feb 07)

Ryan Phillippe and Eric O'Neill Talk About The Story Behind 'Breach'

.....“The movie is my fault,” O’Neill tells MediaBlvd Magazine. “It’s not like I got approached and they said, ‘Hey, we want to make a movie of your life.’ Nobody knew about me.....(MediaBlvd, 25 Feb 07)

Egyptian denies spying for Mossad

....Mohamed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar, 31, standing trial on the outskirts of Cairo, denied any links with three people charged in absentia with recruiting him to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.....(Gulf Times, 25 Feb 07)

What intelligence assessments don't say
Only a year ago, the annual national intelligence assessment was an exclusive affair. The sole purview of the commander of IDF Military Intelligence, it was presented to the security cabinet, its contents secret....(Jerusalem Post, 25 Feb 07)

The Quds Force is Iran's secret weapon

....The Quds Force, a secretive overseas arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has operatives in Iraq and Afghanistan; runs Shiite extremist networks in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Europe; trains and arms Hezbollah and other Shiite radicals in Iran and Lebanon; and funds the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group. Now it's arming Iraqi Shiite Muslims with armor-piercing bombs.....Experts say the force is a highly compartmentalized and disciplined contingent of several thousand men who are trained in espionage, military operations and political analysis, and that it reports directly to supreme leader Ali Khamenei. It's like taking the CIA, special forces and the State Department and rolling them all into one," said the U.S. official........(Seattle Times, 25 Feb 07)

FBI building database on victims slain amid civil rights-era violence

....The most recent of the 22 convictions came in 2005 when a Neshoba County jury convicted Edgar Ray Killen of Union of orchestrating the 1964 killings of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney.....(Clarion-Ledger, 25 Feb 07)

Hackers are ringing the changes

....New research has emerged about the dangers of security breaches in cyberspace and there are concerns that theft of critical data or company and individual identification can go unnoticed until irreversible damage is done.....(Scotsman, 25 Feb 07)

Pentagon Reporter Raymond A. Cromley; Syndicated Columnist Served 200 Papers

......With his Japanese and Chinese language skills, he was assigned to an intelligence unit and sent on the top-secret Dixie Mission to establish the first relations with the Chinese Communists led by Mao Zedong.....(Washington Post, 25 Feb 07)

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