May 2008

 

 

Sudanese convicted of espionage at trial in Germany

At the start of his trial last month, he admitted observing the other Sudanese, and making video films of them, for a fee of 100 euros (155 dollars) monthly. The accused, 40, has been in custody since his arrest six months ago. The court said he was in the pay of an official at the Sudanese embassy in Berlin from August 2006 till his arrest in October 2007. Evidence showed Khartoum wanted to know about the actions of German-based opponents of its Islamist policies and actions in Darfur……(Top News, 9 May 08)

 

Ex-911 operator accused of illegal database searches

…The fired employee, Nadire P. Zenelaj, 32, of Rochester insists she did nothing wrong and is being singled out because she is Muslim… At least one of the 227 names that Zenelaj searched for was on the terrorist watch list, according to police. She was fired in December, arrested Tuesday and pleaded not guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor official misconduct and 232 felony counts of computer trespass — one for each allegedly illegal search. As for knowing someone on the watch list, Zenelaj said: "Regardless of that person, I've seen many people on many lists." In a telephone interview, she said that when she was trained on the database systems, instructors told her that she needed to practice and that was all she was doing… The databases, according to the city, include "highly sensitive" confidential information, such as outstanding arrest warrants and restricted law enforcement records……(Democrat & Chronicle, 8 May 08)

 

 

Nadire ZELENAJ - a Muslim 911 Dispatcher Arrested

The FBI charged Nadire ZELENAJ, a 9-1-1 dispatcher in Rochester, (Monroe County) New York with 232 counts of computer trespassing for unauthorized access of law enforcement sensitive databases containing information about terrorist suspects and related investigations. ZELENAJ, pictured at left, also allegedly accessed other secure databases containing proprietary data, including but not limited to New York State drivers license data.

According to information provided by sources exclusive to the Northeast Intelligence Network, ZELENAJ is part of a larger investigation involving at least ten-(10) others, some who are members of a local Islamic Center…..(Network Intelligence Network, 8 May 08)

 

Trial set for German engineer Werner Franz G. charged with spying for Russians

A German engineer who worked for the European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co.'s Eurocopter unit will go on trial next month on charges of selling information to a Russian intelligence agent, a Munich court said Thursday.

The suspect — identified only as Werner Franz G. — is accused of providing "predominantly civil but also military" information to an "agent of a Russian intelligence service," the Munich state court said without being more specific.The mechanical engineer allegedly received ?13,000 (US$20,000) in exchange for documents, handbooks and other information for "technical products,"…..(AP, 8 May 08)

 

Truth unwritten on socialite spy - Moura Budberg

TV Review: My Secret Agent Auntie, BBC4

…Moura Budberg was a glamorous socialite, a Russian baroness who, after two husbands, became a lover of Maxim Gorky… she was under surveillance by MI5 who thought she wasn't quite the thing, chaps, especially when her friend Guy Burgess turned out to be a spy. Nothing stuck, but after her death stories came out that suggested everything from knowing, well in advance, that Anthony Blunt was also a spy to having been involved in a plot to overthrow the Bolshevik government in 1917. Perhaps with accordions……(Scotsman, 8 May 08)

 

Lots of speculation regarding Kadish arrest rationale
Is it connected to the classified information case against two former AIPAC staffers? A bid to pressure Israel to concede more to the Palestinians ahead of a new round of peace talks? Connected to the murky circumstances of Israel's mysterious airstrike in Syria last September? For now, the main question surrounding the case of Ben- Ami Kadish, the octogenarian New Jersey man arrested this week for allegedly sharing classified information with Israel decades ago is: Why now?  The charges against Kadish are serious. He is accused of having shared with his Israeli handler U.S. nuclear secrets, plans for combat aircraft improvements and missile defense information. But they should be way past their due date: The statute of limitations on the charges is 10 years, unless they incur the death penalty. Prosecutors have yet to say whether or not they intend to pursue the death penalty against Kadish, who has not been indicted……(JTA, 7 May 08)

 

Falcon and the Snowman trying to live quiet lives

…Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee had met while serving as altar boys at St. John Fisher Catholic Church in the upscale community of Rancho Palos Verdes…Lee, the adopted son of a wealthy physician, found acceptance among his peers through drugs. It was his addiction to powdery white cocaine from which the moniker "the Snowman" was born. Boyce drifted for a while, until his father, a former FBI agent, secured him a job at TRW, an aerospace firm with offices in Redondo Beach…As Boyce's disgust with the government escalated, he saw a way to act on it and make some money at the same time. He began smuggling sensitive documents out of the vault, then passing them to Lee, who had made contact with the KGB on his behalf. In 1973, TRW had won a CIA contract to design a communications satellite dubbed "The Pyramid." It was while Lee was trying to deliver photographs of its secret design to the Soviet Embassy in Mexico that he was apprehended by authorities. Boyce was arrested and confessed several days later. Each was convicted of espionage in 1977. Lee was sentenced to life in federal prison, but was paroled in 1998. While in prison, he learned woodworking, a skill he continued after he returned to the South Bay…For his role, Boyce was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison. He escaped from prison and lived on the lam for 19 months, robbing banks before he was finally caught in Washington… Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols and Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski. After spending six months at a halfway house in San Francisco, Boyce became a free man at age 50. He married shortly before his parole and left custody to live a quiet life with his new wife……(LA Daily, 6 May 08)

Capture of Christopher Boyce   

Christopher Boyce sold secrets to Soviets  

 

Belarusian KGB Details American Spying

The Belarusian state television station Channel One ran more programming on Sunday about the activities of the network of American spies uncovered in March by the Belarusian KGB. The head of that agency's Center for Public Relations and Information Valery Nadtochaev told viewers of the program Panorama that Belarusian citizens working for the U.S. embassy security service in an “observation and detection group” were managed by the embassy security attachй Curt Finley….(Kommersant, 6 May 08)

 

India recalls its amorous spy from Beijing

…According to reports, top intelligence officials believe that the spy’s beloved could be an informant of the Chinese government and that Sharma might have passed on information on India’s moves and counter-moves regarding border talks with China over the past year. Sharma has been reverted to the RAW headquarters after his ‘affair’ was exposed late February. Over the past few years, Indian diplomats and intelligence officers posted in Beijing and its surroundings have embarked on relationships with Chinese women. A young Indian diplomat also reportedly fell in love with his Chinese language teacher in early 2000. The young officer was removed from his post and posted at an academy in India….(Daily Times, 5 May 08)

 

Marcus Klingberg

Marcus Abraham Klingberg was born in 1918, in Poland, to an ultra-Orthodox family. In 1935 he began medical school and when World War II broke out, he fled to the Soviet Union. His family stayed in Poland and perished in the Holocaust. Klingberg joined the Red Army during the war and spent most of his service in various medical units, where he gained substantial expertise in contagious diseases. He returned to Poland after the war and was soon married. Shortly after, the Klingbergs immigrated to Sweden. It is believed that his contacts with Soviet intelligence began around that time.  In 1949, the Klingbergs immigrated to Israel. Klingberg enlisted in the Medical Corps, where he climbed the ranks to lieutenant-colonel and was named head of the preventive medicine bureau. Around that time, he renewed his contacts with Soviet intelligence and began providing his handlers with sensitive information……(YNet, 5 May 08)

 

Hezbollah in airport spying row

A fierce political row has broken out in Lebanon over claims that the radical Shia movement, Hezbollah, secretly filmed aircraft at Beirut's airport. Heads of the Western-backed government accused Hezbollah of preparing for some kind of terrorist attack. Hezbollah dismissed the accusations as scare mongering. The exchanges reflect the divisions that have paralyzed Lebanon for eight months and left the country without a president for much of that time, BBC 5 May 08)

 

Passing state secrets is not always spying: FSB!

According to the draft law, giving away military or state secrets accidentally will not lead to a conviction for spying. The authors of the draft law believe that if approved by Russia's State Duma, the law will rule out any possibility of prosecuting innocent people…In April alone, the Moscow City Court found lawyer Boris Kuznetsov and academic Igor Reshetin guilty of committing crimes against the state. Kuznetsov was accused of divulging state secrets, while Reshetin was charged with illegal delivery of dual-purpose data to a Chinese corporation…..(Russia Today, 5 May 08)

 

Belarus accuses US of running spy ring amid escalating tensions

Belarus is accusing the United States of recruiting citizens into a spy ring aimed at undermining the authoritarian ex-Soviet republic… KGB spokesman Valery Nadtachayev told Belarusian television Monday that the US Embassy had hired 10 local citizens to take photographs of police officials, airports and villages near the state border…..(AP, 5 Nov 08)

 

India recalls its amorous spy from Beijing

…According to reports, top intelligence officials believe that the spy’s beloved could be an informant of the Chinese government and that Sharma might have passed on information on India’s moves and counter-moves regarding border talks with China over the past year. Sharma has been reverted to the RAW headquarters after his ‘affair’ was exposed late February. Over the past few years, Indian diplomats and intelligence officers posted in Beijing and its surroundings have embarked on relationships with Chinese women. A young Indian diplomat also reportedly fell in love with his Chinese language teacher in early 2000. The young officer was removed from his post and posted at an academy in India….(Daily Times, 5 May 08)

 

Belgium Names China in Hacking Incidents

One good spy is worth 10,000 men.  --Chinese Provebr

Over the last few weeks, hackers have repeatedly attempted to break inside the computer network of the Belgium Federal Government as well as other organizations located in Belgium.  On Friday, May 2, Jo Vandeurzen, the Belgian minister of justice, announced that his government believes the attacks were conducted from China, most likely at the request of Beijing. He admitted that he could not provide irrefutable evidence…..(Oh My News, 4 Apr 08)

 

Fake U.S. citizen worked on major terror cases, lawyer says

Nada Prouty, the Lebanese immigrant who parlayed a sham marriage into U.S. citizenship and key jobs at the FBI and CIA, worked on several counter-terrorism investigations, including the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen, her lawyer said in court documents Thursday. "Nada Nadim Prouty accepts full responsibility for her actions and is deeply sorry for her misconduct," attorney Thomas Cranmer of Troy wrote in a 32-page sentencing memo filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, for her sentencing May 13. Thursday's filing offered the first details of what the former Taylor resident did for the government. "With her language skills and cultural background, Ms. Prouty made invaluable contributions working on highly sensitive and often dangerous counter-terrorism cases," Cranmer wrote, urging U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn to sentence her to probation rather than 6-12 months in prison as recommended by federal sentencing guidelines…..(Detroit Free Press, 2 May 08)

 

The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered?

Alexander Litvinenko died on 23 November 2006, after a mysterious and painful illness. The cause was identified, less than two hours before his death, by scientists at the British government's Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. They found that he had been poisoned, with the radioactive isotope polonium-210…Now, maybe the simple and obvious explanation is the correct one. Maybe Putin, a former KGB man – "once a chekist, always a chekist", as the saying goes (Lenin's Cheka was the forerunner of the KGB) – had personally issued the order to punish Litvinenko as the traitor that, in his eyes, he undoubtedly was. If you think it a stretch to believe that Putin himself commissioned the dirty deed, how about a splinter group of resentful erstwhile KGB colleagues?....(Independent, 2 May 08)

 

Sudanese admits to espionage at trial in Germany

A Sudanese man admitted in a German courtroom Wednesday to espionage, saying he conducted surveillance of Sudanese exiles and human-rights activists for 100 euros (155 dollars) monthly.  The accused, 40, has been in custody since his arrest…Federal prosecutors said he was in the pay of an official at the Sudanese embassy in Berlin from August 2006 till his arrest in October 2007….(DPA, 1 May 08)

 

April 2008

 

Espionage in Western New York
The soviets thought Barbara and Eugene Makuch worked for them. Barbara Makuch, former spy, "I got my directions from the soviets." In reality, they were double agents working for the United States. At one point they knew something was wrong. In the late 1980's, during a U.S.-Soviet Peace Summit at the Chautauqua Institution, they were interrogated intensely by visiting soviets… While the Makuch's worked as double agents for the FBI, they had no idea that one of the agency's own people, Special Agent Robert Hanssen, was selling secrets, and the names of agents to the Soviet Union and later Russia.  Eugene Makuch, "Everywhere we were. Where we were working he was there. When Hanssen was uncovered. There was a lot of fear, both of us. We just thought. How close we were to being caught." Hanssen was eventually caught. The attached video surveillance tape of his arrest at a park in Virginia in 2001. He had just left classified documents for his Russian handler … Barbara Makuch, former spy, "It was a huge shock to the soviets to find that I was a double agent." For over two decades Barbara worked to gain the confidence of the former KGB. Along the way she met and married Eugene and recruited him to spy work…..(WIVB, 30 Apr 08)

Video: Espionage in Western New York

Video: Luke Moretti Investigates Espionage

 

Canada 'risk averse' on spies, ex-MI-6 head says

The former head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service says a recent Federal Court decision that may block Canadian agents from intercepting conversations of domestic targets abroad cements Canada's reputation as a "risk averse" nation…Sir Richard acknowledged during a phone interview that he's heard the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has been doing some good strategic work, including clandestine activities in Afghanistan and dredging up valuable intelligence sources from within Canadian ethnic communities. But he says a much broader rethinking is in order, as CSIS's relatively few foreign agents remain legally obliged to operate as passive receptacles of information…..(Globe & Mail, 30 Apr 08)

 

E. J'lem money changer jailed for laundering money for Bishara

An east Jerusalem money changer who helped Azmi Bishara receive hundreds of thousands of shekels from various sources in Arab countries was sentenced to six months in jail on Wednesday. The money changer, Firas Asila, 29, of Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighborhood, was convicted of money laundering in a plea bargain agreement six months ago…Bishara, a former Israeli Arab lawmaker, is suspected of treason and espionage for aiding Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon War. He fled the country in 2007……(Jerusalem Post, 30 Apr 08)

 

Trial for Pro-Israel Lobbyists Slips

The trial of two pro-Israel lobbyists for trafficking in classified information is likely to be delayed until September or later, based on the schedule a federal court issued yesterday in an unusual mid-case appeal filed by prosecutors. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., set dates through the end of July for the filing of legal briefs by the prosecution and lawyers for the two former staffers of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman…..(New York Sun, 29 Apr 07)

 

New York's Gray Lady: Times Editors and Staff May See New Era of Cloak and Dagger

A pocket stuffed with a wad of bills, free poker games in Vegas, a wallet suddenly flush with cash. There were bogus cover stories for trips to the “motherland” where secrets were passed and clandestine couriers who helped deliver materials into foreign hands. If it all sounds very cloak and dagger, that's because it is. Two recent cases worked by the FBI and its partners -- and brought to fruition with four arrests on opposite coasts had all the intrigue of a good spy novel -- according to reports obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police's National Security Committee……(Hawaii Reporter, 29 Apr 08)

 

Timing suspicious in spy case

…Ben-Ami Kadish, 84, and a Second World War veteran, is accused of copying classified U.S. military documents for six years for the same Israeli consular attache in New York who handled Jonathan Pollard, currently serving a life sentence handed down in 1986 for spying on the United States. Mr. Kadish's case is unusual in that the papers he allegedly copied about nuclear weaponry, fighter planes and air-defence missile systems for an official from the Israeli Defence Ministry's innocent-sounding Scientific Liaison Bureau stopped more than 20 years ago…..(National Post, 29 Apr 08)

 

Cuban paper says Czech diplomat is CIA agent - press

Cuba's pro-regime weekly Granma Internacional says Petr Kolar, Czech Ambassador to the United States, has been a CIA agent in an article titled "Agent Kolar, Bush's new hope for destabilizing Cuba," the Czech daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) writes today. Kolar was "selected and recruited by the CIA in the late 1980s," Granma claims. According to the paper, Kolar started working for the Czech Defence Ministry in the past "thanks to a little push forward by his friend Vaclav Havel, also connected to the U.S. intelligence pipelines."……(Ceske Noviny, 29 Apr 08)

 

Hanging of Indian 'spy' deferred

Pakistan has deferred the hanging of an Indian man convicted for spying and carrying out bomb attacks.

Sarabjit Singh, lodged in Lahore jail, was to be executed on 1 May. His hanging has been put off by 21 days.

Singh says he is a poor farmer and victim of mistaken identity who strayed drunk from his border village into Pakistan. He was convicted in 1991…..(BBC, 29 Apr 08)

 

Aldrich Ames Sentenced for Role as Soviet Spy in the CIA

On April 28, 1994, CIA counterintelligence analyst Aldrich Ames was sentenced to life in prison for providing the KGB with confidential information. During his trial, Ames admitted to the court that he sold confidential information to the Soviet Union and later Russia from April 1985 until his arrest in February 1994.
Ames was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole….(Finding Dulcinea, 28 Apr 08)

 

The new spy game

What motivates people to turn to the dark side and risk all by spying for the enemy? We thought we knew. Counter-spy types had an acronym at hand, generated through the experience of many Cold War cases. The acronym was M.I.C.E. It stood for the assumed motives of the traitor: Money, Ideology, Compromise, Ego.

Cold War depictions of the spy/ traitor are being turned on their heads. The notion of a gangster-like underworld in which money was the main factor, sometimes abetted by ideological rationales, twisted egos, and inescapable sexual or financial blackmail traps, may have suited the Cold War. But there is a new spy out there, driven by a new psychology. Such are the findings of a study recently released by an obscure branch of the Pentagon, the Defense Personnel Security Research Center. Combing through historical evidence from open sources (books, newspapers, magazine articles, trial records) the Center has compiled a database of 173 individuals who, between 1947 and 2007, turned against the U.S. and spied for a foreign power……(Ottawa Citizen, 28 Apr 08)

Full Report: Changes in Espionage by Americans: 1947-2007

 

A new style of turncoat

During much of the Cold War, the typical American spy -- spy for the enemy, that is -- was a single, native-born, high-school-educated white male in his 20s, employed by a branch of the military and with top-secret security clearance…Among the spies of that period was John Walker. His capture in 1985 touched off what later became known as the "year of the spy" because of the 11 espionage arrests that year. A Navy radioman, Walker began spying in the late 1960sand passed on to the KGB top-secret key cards that enabled the Soviets to decrypt much of the Navy's most highly classified communications. In return, he received, by some estimates, more than $1 million over his 17 years as an active spy. He was eventually sentenced to life in prison. Today's spies, it turns out, are different. The spies of the 1990s and the 21st century are more politically motivated and they have turned the Internet, the newest tool in espionage tradecraft, to their advantage. And they have "grayed."…..(LA Times, 27 Apr 08)

 

Militants behead 'spy' in Pakistani tribal area: police

Pro-Taliban militants beheaded a policeman in Pakistan's troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan on Monday after accusing him of spying for security forces, police said. The body of 35-year-old Shaukat Khan was found dumped in a field at Dabar village in the tribal zone of South Waziristan, a day after he was abducted by gunmen…"He had admitted his role in providing intelligence to the authorities," the note said. "We have repeatedly said we will teach such people a lesson."….(AFP, 28 Apr 08)

 

Jewish War Veterans suspend alleged spy

The Jewish War Veterans of the USA reportedly has suspended suspected spy Ben-Ami Kadish. The move was ordered by the group's national commander, Lawrence Schulman on Thursday, the New Jersey Jewish News reported. Kadish was arrested this week for allegedly passing U.S. military secrets to Israel from 1979 to 1985, while he was an employee at the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, N.J. Kadish, 84 and a veteran of World War II who fought with both the Americans and the British and later in Israel's Haganah, is a former commander of the Jewish War Veteran's Post 609 in Monroe, N.J., where he lives…..(JRA, 28 APR 08)

 

ISRAEL: What is behind spy arrest?

A fascinating article in the Congressional Quarterly puts forth another possibility. Kadish wasn't fully retired from spying. The article said Kadish remained in contact with his former Mossad handler, a man identified here as Yossi Yagur, who also handled Pollard and fled the U.S. after Pollard's arrest. Kadish even apparently visited Yagur in Israel in 2004, a meeting that only makes sense if Kadish was still Yagur's agent, author Jeff Stein writes. "One role Kadish could play was as a 'spotter' who could size up possible recruits for Israeli intelligence even while living in retirement," the article says……(LA Times Blogs, 28 Apr 08)

 

Israel Might Have Many More Spies Here, Officials Say

The elderly New Jersey man arrested last week on charges of spying for Israel years ago was probably still working for the Jewish state’s espionage service in tandem with another, as yet unidentified spy, former American intelligence officials say...A former senior CIA counterintelligence operative believes the case “will never go to trial, because of all the ugly stuff that would come out” about Israeli activities in the United States. Indeed, Justice Department attorneys have fought to keep “ugly stuff” from emerging in the trial of two officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, charged with accepting classified documents from Pentagon official Larry Franklin.....(Congressional Quarterly, 25 Apr 08)

 

Army interpreter faces spy trial

An Iranian-born Army interpreter accused of spying will face trial in October. Daniel James denies allegations under the Official Secrets Act that he collected and communicated information useful to an enemy…James, a Territorial Army soldier, worked as a translator for General David Richards, British commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan. He is accused of divulging secrets to Iran.…..(UK Press, 24 Apr 08)

From the Archives:

Top British Army aide accused of spying

.....(Telegraph, 21 Dec 07)

British soldier 'gave Army secrets to Iran'

….(Times Online 21 Dec 07)

British soldier accused of spying

…..(BBC, 21 Apr 08)

Salsa club career of corporal held on Iran spying charge

….Times Online 22 Dec 07)

'Daniel James' - soldier, spy and salsa teacher

…..(This is London, 25 Dec 07)

 

Jacob’s Jottings: Israeli Imbroglio

…Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Aryeh Mekel preemptively sought to douse the looming verbal conflagration by declaring, “Since 1985, there has been strict adherence to the prime minister's instructions against involvement in these kinds of activities. The relationship between Israel and United States has always been based upon true friendship, respect and a recognition of mutual interests.”

Not exactly…After Pollard came accusations of illegal spying by Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin and Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, formerly officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). All three were indicted in 2005 by a federal grand jury for violating the Espionage Act. Franklin has been sentenced to twelve years in prison. The trial of Rosen and Weissman has been indefinitely postponed—adding to the general murkiness. Is the U.S. government unfairly targeting Israel’s advocates or are there serious grounds for this case?....(National Interest, 24 Apr 08)

 

Critics see State Dept. behind timing of Israeli spy arrest

…Diplomatic sources and analysts said the circumstances of the arrest and prosecution of Ben-Ami Kadish, charged with relaying classified military and nuclear data to Israel from 1980 to 1985, were linked to Bush's visit to Israel for its 60th anniversary. They said the administration, particularly Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, would use the Kadish case to prepare for a major announcement of an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank by 2009…..(World Tribune, 24 Apr 08)

 

The Timing / Conspiracy theories abound

…The explanations can be divided into two categories. The first can be called the rational-bureaucratic camp. The FBI, the CIA and the Department of Defense believed after the Pollard affair that Israel had another agent in the U.S., even more senior than Pollard, whose identity was never revealed…According to the second, "conspiratorial" category, supporters believe that a hidden motive and not chance is behind the decision - 23 years after the fact - to investigate an 80-something man for crimes, some of which are beyond the statute of limitations. One possible motive, they suggest, is a desire to undermine President George Bush's planned visit to Israel next month.…Another theory is the upcoming trial of two AIPAC officials, also for espionage; while the most important hypothesis being floated is that it is an attempt to prevent Bush's possible pardoning of Pollard before the end of his presidential term……(Haaretz, 24 Apr 08)

 

New Jersey Neighbors Sift Memory for Evidence That a Spy Was Among Them

Some men retire to a life of anonymity. Not Ben-Ami Kadish… There seemed to be no end to Mr. Kadish’s public activity… Which is why the notion that he had engaged in espionage 25 years earlier was so hard to swallow for his white-haired neighbors in this gated community of 600 homes set among golf courses and nature trails an hour southwest of New York City…..(New York Times, 24 Apr 08)

 

Spy case poses questions on size of Israeli ring

The case of an 84-year-old New Jersey man charged with passing secrets to an Israeli agent a quarter-century ago has created speculation that more Americans may have been serving Israeli intelligence than previously thought. Jonathan Pollard, a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy, was arrested by FBI agents in Washington D.C. in 1985 and pleaded guilty to spying charges, receiving a life sentence. Now, retired U.S. military engineer Ben-ami Kadish faces similar charges. The link between Pollard and Kadish is a now-defunct Israeli intelligence agency enigmatically known as the Scientific Relations Office. The office was run by Rafi Eitan, a former officer of the Mossad spy agency who is now an octogenarian Israeli Cabinet minister in charge of pensioners' affairs….(AP, 24 Apr 08)

 

U.S. to demand Jerusalem acknowledge Kadish was an Israeli agent

The United States' demands of Israel following the arrest and subsequent indictment Tuesday in the U.S. of Ben-Ami Kadish on charges of spying for Israel recalled similar demands following the 1985 arrest of Jonathan Pollard, American sources familiar with the case have told Haaretz. At that time, Israel announced its full cooperation and handed over information to the American investigators, in effect greatly aiding the case against Pollard…Another interesting question, which remains to be answered, is the issue of who will pay for Kadish's legal fees. At the beginning of the Pollard affair, a public committee was founded that was supposedly composed of volunteers who collected money to pay for the defense of Pollard and his wife at the time, Anne Pollard. It later became clear that the public committee was actually a front for the Israeli government and intelligence community…..(Haaretz, 24 Apr 08)

 

Ex-prosecutor: New arrest shows reach of 1980s spy ring

…Ben-Ami Kadish, an 84-year-old from New Jersey, was arrested Tuesday and charged with four conspiracy counts. Prosecutors said he confessed to FBI agents that in order to help Israel, he gave his Israeli contact 50 to 100 classified documents between 1979 and 1985, including information about America's nuclear weapons, fighter jets and missiles…DiGenova, now in private practice in Washington, said he and other investigators in the 1980s were so convinced there were other Americans involved in the espionage that they nicknamed the phantom individuals "Mr. X." He noted that Yagur knew exactly what documents he was seeking from Pollard and Kadish…Leeper and diGenova agreed that it did not matter that classified materials were provided to a U.S. ally. Investigators in the Pollard case suspected his information was traded by the Israelis to South Africa, which then provided it to the Soviet Union in return for helping Israel get Jews out of the then-Communist superpower….(AP, 24 Apr 08)

 

Militants kill ‘US spy' in Pakistan tribal area

Islamic militants shot dead a shopkeeper in a Pakistani tribal region, accusing him of spying for US forces across the border in Afghanistan, an official said on Thursday. The bullet-riddled body of the tribesman, who ran a grocery store in a town near the Afghan border, was dumped in Miranshah, the main city in the Taliban and Al-Qaeda heartland of North Waziristan district…..(AFP, 24 Apr 08)

 

Man Pleads Guilty in Smuggling Case

A Uruguayan man pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges by the United States involving an attempt to conceal the source of $800,000 allegedly intended for the campaign of Argentina’s president. American officials say the Venezuelan government was trying to secretly deliver the cash to the campaign of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was handily elected president in October. The Uruguayan, Rodolfo Wanseele, 40, pleaded guilty to acting in the United States as an illegal foreign agent and admitted working with Venezuela’s intelligence service….(AP, 24 Apr 08)

 

Third guilty plea in Venezuela spy case

…Rodolfo Edgardo Wanseele Paciello, 40, admitted in federal court to providing counter-surveillance for a Venezuelan intelligence (DISIP) official who traveled to South Florida last October to organize the alleged coverup. Wanseele was among five defendants -- including two wealthy oil men, a lawyer and a DISIP official from Venezuela -- who participated in the plot to silence a Key Biscayne man who got caught with the money in Argentina last August…..(Miami Herald, 24 Apr 08)

 

Guilty plea in 'suitcase scandal'

Rodolfo Wanseele, the third person to admit involvement, pleaded guilty to working with Venezuelan intelligence… The alleged plot first came to light when a Venezuelan-American businessman, Guido Antonini Wilson, was stopped as he tried to enter Argentina with the money in a suitcase last August… He admitted a relatively minor role in the alleged plot. He drove a suspected Venezuelan intelligence agent, Antonio Jose Canchica Gomez, from Miami airport to a meeting with Mr Antonini at a Starbucks restaurant in Florida…..(BBC, 24 Apr 08)

 

Miami Man Pleads Guilty In Venezuela Spy Case

…Wanseele was among five defendants -- including two wealthy oil men, a lawyer and a DISIP official from Venezuela -- who participated in the alleged plot to silence a Key Biscayne man caught with the money in Argentina in August, prosecutors said. But the campaign money, stashed in a suitcase, did not belong to the businessman, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, prosecutors said. Antonini, who assisted the FBI in the South Florida spy probe, is wanted on related customs charges in Argentina……(Washington Post, 24 Arp 08)

 

Arrest of N.J. Retiree Rekindles Suspicions of Israeli Spy Ring

The arrest this past week of a retired Army engineer is refocusing attention on claims in Washington that Jonathan Pollard was not the only Israeli spy planted in the American military. Ben-Ami Kadish, 84, was released on bond April 22 and is back at his home in The Ponds retirement community in Monroe Township, N.J.

The indictment includes four counts of conspiracy relating to the passing of classified information to an Israeli official in New York between 1979 and 1985 and makes direct reference to the case of Pollard, a former naval intelligence analyst who was convicted of espionage in 1986. According to the indictment, Pollard and Kadish shared the same operator: an Israeli official referred to in the indictment as “co-conspirator-1 (CC-1)” and since named in the press as Yosef Yagur…..(Forward, 23 Apr 08)

 

Uruguayan pleads guilty in Argentine cash smuggling case

Rodolfo Wanseele, 40, pleaded guilty to acting in the U.S. as an illegal foreign agent and admitted working with Venezuela's intelligence service. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years but will likely get less time because he is cooperating in the investigation, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard set sentencing for July 14…The alleged leader of the group, wealthy Venezuelan citizen Franklin Duran, still intends to fight the charges at a trial now scheduled for Sept. 2, his attorney Ed Shohat said. Duran, 40, and fellow defendant Carlos Kauffmann, 36, are shareholders in the Venezuelan petrochemical company Venoco and have done business with Venezuela's state oil company, which bankrolls the Chavez government. Kauffman and Moises Maionica, 36, have also pleaded guilty to acting as illegal foreign agents and await sentencing. They also are cooperating with U.S. investigators. Wanseele, who has lived in the Miami area for eight years and works for an export-import business, agreed to be deported from the U.S. after serving his prison sentence.

The fifth person charged in the case, suspected Venezuelan intelligence agent Antonio Jose Canchica, remains at large…..(AP, 23 Apr 08)

 

Man Pleads Guilty to Acting as Venezuelan Agent

Rodolfo Wanseele Paciello, 40, one of five foreign nationals accused of acting and conspiring to act as an agent of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ("Venezuela") within the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General of the United States, pleaded guilty earlier today to acting as an unregistered Venezuelan agent before U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lenard in Miami…Wanseele Paciello is the third defendant to plead guilty in this case. On Jan. 25, 2008, Moises Maionica, 36, pleaded guilty to acting and conspiring to act as an illegal agent of the Venezuelan government. Defendant Carlos Kaufmann, 36, pled on March 3, 2008, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 12, 2008, at 2 PM. The case against co-defendants Franklin Duran, 40, and Antonio Jose Canchica Gomez, 37, who remains a fugitive, is still pending. Trial is currently scheduled for Sept. 2, 2008…..(DOJ, 23 Apr 08)

 

FBI: Contractor offers Navy info to fake spy

A U.S. Navy civilian contractor has been charged with trying to sell personal information about thousands of military personnel and reservists to a person he thought was a foreign spy, the FBI said. Randall G. Craig Jr., 41, was scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday after his arrest last week, said FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap. She added that no information was compromised during the agency's investigation….(CNN, 23 Apr 08)

 

Federal judge sentences China television exec to 10 years in espionage case

US District Judge Cormac J. Carney of the Central District of California on Monday sentenced former Chinese television executive Tai Wang Mak [CI Centre backgrounder] to 10 years in prison for conspiring with his brother, Chi Mak, to smuggle sensitive naval intelligence data to China… Tai Mak, along with his brother and brother's wife, in November 2005 for both acting as, and failing to register as, an agent of a foreign government in violation of 18 USC 951…..(Jurist, 23 Apr 08)

 

Family of alleged Indian spy facing execution in Pakistan seeks pardon

The family of an Indian prisoner facing execution in Pakistan made an emotional appeal to authorities Wednesday to pardon him after letting him languish in jail for 18 years. Sarabjit Singh was sentenced to die after a Pakistan court found him guilty of spying and involvement in several bomb attacks in 1990 that killed 27 people in eastern Pakistan. Authorities eventually scheduled his hanging for April 1 this year, but President Pervez Musharraf delayed it for a month following an appeal from India's government….(AP, 23 Apr 08)

 

The espionage connection / Anything is possible

When the Jonathan Pollard case broke in November 1985, journalists who had the scoop hesitated: Could it be that at a time when the Reagan administration had bolstered strategic cooperation with Israel, a Jewish American naval officer would spy for Israel?... A strange duality continues to characterize U.S.-Israel relations. The Israel Defense Forces and the military industries have professional ties with Picattiny Arsenal, an armaments development and testing facility in New Jersey, where the suspect in the current espionage case, Ben-Ami Kadish, worked….(Haaretz, 23 Apr 08)

 

Man, 84, Is Charged With Spying for Israel in 1980s

…Until yesterday, that is, when Kadish, 84, was arrested at his home, taken to a federal courthouse in Manhattan and charged with four counts of conspiracy allegedly for serving as an foreign agent and allegedly for lying to the FBI about a recent telephone conversation he had with his alleged Israeli handler. Kadish, a mechanical engineer, worked at the U.S. Army's research arsenal in Dover, N.J., in the early 1980s…said the espionage, which the charging documents indicate ceased in 1985, doubtless have come to the government's attention because of wiretap evidence obtained by the FBI and federal prosecutors in Manhattan. FBI agents first interviewed Kadish last month about his activities at the Army's Picatinny Arsenal, where he worked between 1963 and 1990, according to the filing. Kadish, a U.S. citizen who was born in Connecticut, told the agents that he "borrowed" classified documents at the urging of his handler….(Washington Post, 23 Apr 08)

 

Ex-Engineer for Army Is Accused of Spying for Israel in 1980s

…The engineer, Ben-Ami Kadish of Monroe Township, could face life in prison or possibly the death penalty if convicted on the most serious charge… According to the article, Mr. Kadish grew up in Palestine, fought for the creation of Israel and served in both the British and American military during World War II. Mr. Kadish, who was ordered on Tuesday to surrender his passport and not travel beyond New Jersey and New York, is due back in court on May 22…..(New York Times, 23 Apr 08)

 

'Kadish arrest might cloud Bush visit'

Senior government officials are worried that the arrest of a former US Army mechanical engineer on Tuesday on suspicion that he slipped classified documents about nuclear weapons to an employee of the Israeli Consulate may negatively affect US President George W. Bush's upcoming visit to Israel. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has therefore ordered his staff to investigate the details of the affair, and to determine if indeed Ben-Ami Kadish had any contact with an Israeli official…However, US officials said that at this point evidence suggested the classified material that Kadish allegedly supplied to Israel was far less important or voluminous than the boxes full of highly secret material supplied to the Israelis by Pollard, who worked at sensitive Navy intelligence bases in the Washington area. Pollard had clearances for top secret and even more highly classified material, including some of the most sensitive US counterterrorism information. According to the FBI complaint, Kadish was never cleared for information higher than the "secret" level….(Jerusalem Post, 23 Apr 08)

 

Feds allege Jersey man spied on U.S.

After serving as a mechanical engineer at Picatinny Arsenal for 27 years, Ben-Ami Kadish retired to a quiet senior citizens' community in Middlesex County. A World War II veteran, he hung a large U.S. flag from the porch of his tidy one-story home. He and his wife Doris often hosted friends for coffee, cake and meals. She baked and collected canned goods for a local charity; he served a stint as commander of Jewish War Veterans Post 609. But on March 20 of this year, Kadish knew his past was catching up to him as he accepted a phone call, federal law enforcement officials allege. ….(Star-Ledger, 23 Apr 08)

 

Nuclear secrets allegedly slipped

Ben-Ami Kadish, 85, was arrested Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Kadish was charged with four counts of conspiracy for allegedly disclosing documents related to the national defense of the United States to the Israeli government; acting as an agent for the Israeli government; hindering a communication to a law-enforcement officer; and making a materially false statement to a law-enforcement officer. Kadish, a U.S. citizen, was first employed at the arsenal in 1963 and retired in 1990 as a supervisory engineer in the installation's Fuze Division, according to the arsenal…..(Home News Tribune Online, 23 Apr 08)

 

FBI Claims a Confession in Israel Spy Case

…A criminal complaint filed yesterday against the man, Ben-Ami Kadish, offers no clues about when law enforcement officials first learned of the alleged spying or what prompted them to investigate the case at this late date. Yet FBI agents managed to get a confession out of Mr. Kadish last month, the complaint claims. A former Justice Department official who has investigated Israeli spying told The New York Sun that he believes the government's investigation of Mr. Kadish's arrest was likely triggered by a wiretap of a former Israeli consular official, Yosef Yagur, who allegedly served as Mr. Kadish's handler… The complaint indicates that law enforcement has intercepted phone conversations between Mr. Kadish and Mr. Yagur, although no information about a wiretap warrant was publicly available……(New York Sun, 23 Apr 08)

 

The Kadish-Pollard link

…According to the report, the US intelligence services intercepted a telephone conversation between Kadish and his handler, referred to in the investigation as CC1 – in which he instructs Kadish to "say nothing. Let them do all the talking. You haven't done anything. You can't remember something that happened 25 years ago." According to intelligence sources quoted in Newsweek, Kadish's arrest may indicate the long-term fallout from the Pollard case is not necessarily a thing of the past; since his alleged activities, which were only recently discovered – more than 20 years after they occurred – surfaced as part of secret intelligence monitoring related to ongoing inquiries about the Pollard case...Ironically, Kadish's arrest came just as federal prosecutors are preparing to begin the long-delayed trial of two former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, which are accused of violating the US Espionage Act for allegedly sharing classified information they received from US officials, with both the media and the Israeli government. Both men entered a plea of not guilty …..(YNet, 23 Apr 08)

 

ANALYSIS: New espionage affair may be old story, but will greatly damage Israel

The new U.S.-Israel espionage affair revealed Tuesday is in fact an old story. Nothing in this fact, however, can reduce the gravity of damage it will cause Israel, nor lead to expectations that suspect Ben-Ami Kadish's punishment will be eased - if he is indeed to be convicted in a court of law. A number of conclusions can be drawn from the case, which points to a pattern that has characterized Israel's security and intelligence establishments for many years. First, the American judicial memory is very long, and the long arm of justice there does not withdraw, even after a quarter-century or more. Colonel (res.) Aviam Sela, who was involved in recruiting American Jonathan Pollard to spy for Israel, and Jackob Nimrodi, who was involved in Irangate, the sale of Israeli arms to Iran, with U.S. cooperation, both know this well. Since the 1980s, both have avoided the U.S. for fear of being arrested upon their arrival…..(Haaretz, 23 Apr 08)

 

There was no second Pollard, says Eitan Haber

(Video) Man who served as Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assistant at the time of first espionage affair believes revelation of 'new Israeli spy' aimed at thwarting any chances of seeing Pollard released. 'One would be a fool to believe that the timing is a coincidence,'…… (YNet, 23 Apr 08)

 

Ex-worker at arsenal faces spy charges

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Ben-Ami Kadish, 84, is accused of spying from 1979 to 1985, during which time he gave U.S. national defense information to an official from the Israeli Consulate in New York — identified by law-enforcement officials as the same Israeli handler who received documents from convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. The new information included restricted nuclear weapons data, classified jet fighter weapons system information and key data on the Patriot missile system, according to court records. Mr. Kadish, according to the records, admitted his spying activities during FBI interviews, saying he thought he was helping Israel… One of the classified documents that Kadish provided to [the co-conspirator] contained information concerning nuclear weaponry and was classified as 'restricted data,' a specific designation by the U.S. Department of Energy, because the document contained atomic-related information,"…..(Washington Times, 23 Apr 08)

 

US to raise fresh espionage case with Israel

The United States will express concern to key ally Israel over a fresh espionage case involving an American accused of passing secret nuclear weapons information to the Jewish state, the State Department said Tuesday....(AFP, 22 Apr 08)

 

American Accused of Spying for Israel

A former civilian employee of a military arsenal in New Jersey has been indicted by the federal government for allegedly conspiring to pass U.S. military secrets to the Israeli government more than 20 years ago. According to court documents, Ben-Ami Kadish allegedly spied for Israel from 1979-1985 and provided an official from the Israeli consulate in New York with U.S. national defense information, including restricted nuclear weapons data, classified jet fighter weapons system data and key information on the Patriot missile system. Government sources say Kadish's Israeli handler is also the same man who handled convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. Pollard and his wife pleaded guilty in 1986 to charges of passing information to Israel and China. According to the FBI, Pollard had provided Israel with about 800 classified documents and more than 1000 cables while he was working as an analyst at the Navy's Anti-Terrorist Alert Center. After Pollard was exposed, his handler left the United States and Kadish went underground. Pollard is serving a life sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina. Kadish allegedly kept in contact with his Israeli handler until last month, when the handler, who is only identified as "Co-conspirator 1" in court documents, allegedly instructed Kadish to lie to U.S. investigators in the case. The Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey released a statement confirming that Kadish, whom an Army official described as an elderly widower in failing health, worked at the facility "more than 18 years ago.".....(ABC News, 22 Apr 08)

 

ANALYSIS: New espionage affair may be old story, but will greatly damage Israel

The new espionage affair revealed Tuesday is in fact an old story. Nothing in this fact, however, can reduce the gravity of damage it will cause Israel, nor lead to expectations that suspect Ben-Ami Kadish's punishment will be eased - if he is indeed to be convicted in a court of law. One can draw a number of conclusions from this affair: To begin with, the memory of American law and justice is very long and will not leave alone a violation even if a quarter of a century has passed.......(Haaretz, 22 April 08)
 

American charged with giving secrets to Israel

A former U.S. Army mechanical engineer was arrested Tuesday on charges he slipped classified documents about nuclear weapons to an employee of the Israeli Consulate who also received information from convicted Pentagon spy Jonathan Pollard, authorities announced.....(MSNBC, 22 Apr 08)

VIDEO: American charged with giving secrets to Israel

 

N.J. man accused of spying for Israel

The arrest this week of a retired a New Jersey man on charges of transmitting classified information to Israel two decades ago shows how the Jonathan Pollard spy case continues to haunt the U.S.-Israel relationship. Ben-Ami Kadish, a former U.S. Army engineer, had a court appearance in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday, facing four charges of conspiracy to share classified information with Israel.....(JTA, 22 Apr 08)

 

Feds Say Vet Gave Secrets to Israel

 

Army engineer charged with passing secrets to Israel in '80s

A former U.S. Army mechanical engineer was arrested Tuesday on charges he slipped classified documents about nuclear weapons to an employee of the Israeli Consulate who also received information from convicted Pentagon spy Jonathan Pollard, authorities announced. Ben-ami Kadish faces four counts of conspiracy, including allegations that he conspired to disclose U.S. national defense documents to Israel and that he acted as an agent of the Israeli government, U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia and FBI officials said......(AP, 22 Apr 08)

 

US Army engineer arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel

A US Army veteran has been charged with slipping classified documents about nuclear weapons to an Israeli Consulate worker in New York. The US attorney in Manhattan and FBI officials Tuesday described the arrest of Ben-ami Kadish......(Jerusalem Post, 22 Apr 08)

 

'Jonathan doesn't know accused spy'

Esther Pollard says US Justice Department wrong to link her husband with American charged Tuesday with spying for Israel in 1980s. 'Neither I nor Jonathan know this man,' she tells Ynet.....(YNet, 22 Apr 08)

 

American accused of giving nuclear secrets to Israel

United States authorities arrested an American engineer on Tuesday on suspicion of giving military secrets involving nuclear weapons, fighter jets and air defense missiles to Israel during the 1980s, the Justice Department said.The suspect was employed at the time at a US army facility in New Jersey and had access to a large volume of sensitive information regarding weapons systems, including the sale of F-15 fighter planes which were sold to a Middle East country other than Israel. The information provided by the agent included the various modifications that had been made to those jets. The man's name has been reported as Ben-Ami Kadish, a Connecticut-born US citizen who worked at an Army engineering center in New Jersey…..(YNet, 22 Apr 08)

 

US man charged with disclosing nuclear information to Israel

US authorities have arrested an American man on charges that he disclosed classified US defense information, including on nuclear weapons, to Israel....(AFP, 22 Apr 08)

 

Campaign to save accused Chinese spy stretches to Pasadena

Wo Weihan is accused of spying for Taiwan and awaits execution in a prison hospital.
With weeks or even days left before his final appeal could be exhausted, a worldwide campaign to save the 58-year-old father of three stretches from the Chinese capital to Pasadena, where a family in-law whom Wo met only once is trying to generate support in the U.S. to halt his execution…China routinely executes far more prisoners than any other nation -- generally in secrecy and with little if any outside scrutiny. The exact number is secret. About 8,000 people were executed in 2006, according to the official New China News Agency….(LA Times, 22 Apr 08)

 

Espionage and national security

The men of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Restore Hope, in the Niger Delta recently arrested four Americans and a Nigerian for alleged espionage in the creeks of the Niger Delta region. The Commander of the JTF, Brig-Gen. Wuyep Rintip, said that the four Americans were arrested along with a Nigerian, Mr. Joel Bisina, in the creeks of Sapele in Delta State… Bisina, the leader of the group, said that their visit was with the knowledge of the CDS. But, the military authorities stoutly denied it saying that there was no record of any appointment with the group or individual with the CDS. The current espionage is coming on the heels of an earlier one involving Dr. Judith Asuni, two Germans and a Nigerian. They were arrested and arraigned on espionage charges, which were later dropped, and the suspects released for want of evidence. We hope that the present one does not turn out to be a ruse like the previous one…..(Daily Sun 22 Apr 08)

 

The Real Joe McCarthy

Fifty-four years ago today, Sen. Joseph McCarthy started his televised hearings on alleged Soviet spies and communists in the Army. The spectacle grabbed the country's attention for the next two months…Robert J. Lamphere, who participated in all the FBI's major spy cases during the McCarthy period, was one. Lamphere also was the FBI liaison to the U.S. Army's Signal Intelligence Service's Venona program, which was intercepting secret Soviet communications…Lamphere (who died in 2002), told me in an interview that agents who worked counterintelligence were appalled that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover initially supported McCarthy. True enough, the Venona intercepts revealed that hundreds more Soviet spies had operated in the government than was believed at the time. "The problem was that McCarthy lied about his information and figures," Lamphere said. "He made charges against people that weren't true…..(Wall Street Journal, 22 Apr 08)

 

A Soviet Spy Caper: 25 Years Later

Dr. Paul Kengor: Marc, this is a pleasure. When we typically do our “V&V Q&A,” we interview a well-known expert on some major historical event that everyone remembers. No disrespect intended, but most people who have read this far into this interview are wondering, who is Marc Zimmerman, and what in the world did he do 25 years ago?... Zimmerman: Mikheyev was a Russian who served as a tour guide to my college buddy, Bob McGee, from New York, who had gone on a “Can’t-We-All-Just-Get-Along” excursion to the Soviet Union. Later in the year, Alex Mikheyev came to visit the United States by way of the United Nations and Bob asked me to show Mikheyev around D.C. when he visited…..(FrontPage, 22 Apr 08)

 

The Last Spy Who Did It for Greed Alone

…Since 1990, only one person was driven by cold, hard cash alone: Shaaban Shaaban, a 52 year-old Palestinian immigrant. Aside from never getting paid for his work with the Iraqi government in 2002, his failures as a spy were many, according to the study [pdf]: At a secretly taped meeting with Iraqi intelligence, Shaaban offered to sell them the names of 60 CIA operatives then undercover in Iraq for $5 million—names he claimed he could procure on the Russian black market. He later lowered his price to $3 million, and the Iraqis expressed interest if he could show them a convincing sample.[…]Shaaban proved unable to provide the names of the CIA agents he had promised, and it is unclear if he ever could have….(Lede, 21 Apr 08)

 

Man gets 10 years in China spy case

A Chinese citizen who conspired with family members to steal U.S. military technology for the People's Republic of China was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Monday, the maximum he could have received…Mak, 58, who was an Alhambra resident, pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to violate export-control laws.  Prosecutors said he was carrying a disk encrypted with information about U.S. naval technology when he and his wife attempted to board a flight to China at Los Angeles International Airport in 2005. Mak's wife and son pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the violation of export-control laws…Chi Mak, a Chinese American engineer who is Tai Mak's brother and who was portrayed by prosecutors as the central figure in a family of spies, was sentenced to 24 years and five months last month. He worked at the Anaheim-based defense firm Power Paragon Inc., which handles Navy contracts. Chi Mak's wife, also a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty in 2007…..(LA Times, 22 Apr 08)

 

Brother Gets 10 Years For Carrying Military Secrets

An Alhambra man arrested as he boarded a plane to Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, in 2005 carrying U.S. defense technology on an encrypted disk was sentenced in Santa Ana on Monday to 10 years in prison. Tai Mak pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge after his brother Chi Mak, an engineer with Power Paragon in Anaheim, was convicted of conspiracy to export defense articles, operating as an agent of a foreign government and lying to a federal agent...Tai Mak was arrested the night of Oct. 25, 2005, along with his wife, Fuk Li. Their son, Billy Mak, a UCLA student, was later arrested for his role in encrypting the information…..(KNBC, 22 Apr 08)

 

Chinese Spy Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

A Chinese television executive, Tai Wang Mak, was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday for conspiring with his brother and other family members to send information about American defense technology to the People's Republic of China.  In imposing the maximum 10-year sentence, Judge Cormac Carney rejected a probation officer's recommendation for a six-and-a-half-year term for the former broadcast engineering director for the American branch of a Hong Kong-based satellite channel, Phoenix TV….(New York Sun, 22 Apr 08)

 

A Spy’s Motivation: For Love of Another Country

…Mr. Mak’s case, described by prosecutors as involving a spy ring that included four relatives, is part of a historic shift in the nature of spying against the United States. A new study by a Defense Department contractor shows that divided loyalty, usually on the part of naturalized Americans with roots in a foreign land, has become the dominant motive. From 1947 to 1990, the study found, fewer than 1 in 5 Americans charged with spying were acting solely or primarily out of patriotic, as opposed to ideological, loyalty to a foreign country. Since 1990, according to the study’s author, Katherine L. Herbig, divided loyalty has been the sole or primary motive in about half of all cases. “Dual loyalty is a problem we haven’t seen on such a scale since the Revolution,” when many colonists swore allegiance to the British king, said Joel F. Brenner, the top counterintelligence official in the office of the director of national intelligence….(New York Times, 20 Apr 08)

 

Grads charged with espionage

Two Oxford graduates are facing jail sentences after being charged with industrial espionage by Russian security services. Alexander Zaslavsky, 33, and IIya Zaslavsky, 29, were charged on March 20 after allegedly attempting to obtain classified information from a Russian employee of a “national hydrocarbon institution.” The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), whose predecessor was the KGB, said the accused “were illegally collecting classified commercial information for a number of foreign oil and gas companies to gain advantages over Russian competitors.” The case is connected to an investigation by the Russian Government into the Russian-British oil firm TNK-BP, whose premises were raided on March 19. FSB said, “The search produced material evidence of industrial espionage . . . and business cards of representatives of foreign defence departments and the Central Intelligence Agency”. If found guilty of industrial espionage, the Oxford-educated brothers face up to three years in jail. However, because the charges involve strategic natural resources, which may be classed as state secrets, the men could be charged with espionage and face a longe