SA Intelligencer Number 76
1 May 2010 Initiator: Johan Mostert Editor: Dalene Duvenage Contributions and enquiries dalene@4knowledge.co.za
Reports from 18 - 30 April 2010 Asia: 1.
3. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 12.
Behind India’s bust of a Pakistan spy Tradecraft Notes The list of Indian officials and spying cases Indian Navy Chief caught in Russian honey trap Phone-tapping scandal engulfs India government In response… India: relook at info grid Books on Indian intelligence China: US officials worry about World’s Expo Chinese define what is a “secret” South Korea: Authorities on lookout for more North Korean spies Russia considers new powers for KGB successor Russian model “secret agent for the Kremlin” Iranian technocrats, disillusioned with government, offer wealth of intelligence to US
Americas 14. Top brass from CIA, FBI reflect on challenges 15. CIA Director Panetta unveils blueprint for Agency’s future 16. Author gets subpoenaed to reveal CIA sources 16. Dept of Justice announces new AA and FBI agents to combat intellectual property crimes 17. US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence documents published 17. Army reorganizes training for Intelligence units 18. 30 Terrorists plots foiled: how the system worked 19. Mexico indicts cartel suspect; authorities say man managed intelligence for group Europe 21. Dutch spies become more active abroad
An Open Source Intelligence Digest on developments in the international intelligence arena: events, leaders, studies and literature
Asia Espionage activities in India overshadow other intelligence related development worldwide…
Behind India's Bust of a Pakistan Spy
By Sumon K. Chakrabarti / New Delhi and Omar Waraich / Islamabad, Apr. 28, 2010
"At 53, she was bored, alone and attractive. Single, but definitely one step ahead to mingle." That's how the man who led the operation to bust Madhuri Gupta, the first Indian diplomat to be found spying for Pakistan, described her. For most of her two years in espionage, Gupta was a lone wolf, conducting a classic spy operation from her base in Islamabad. Old-school "dead drops," in which she passed off information without even meeting her Pakistani handlers, were her signature style. Yet it was a silly indiscretion — sending e-mails to her spy bosses from her office computer — that finally led to her arrest. Gupta had not exactly been near the center of Indian decisionmaking, posted as a second secretary in the media section of India's high commission in Pakistan's capital, where her job was to provide English and Hindi summaries of Pakistan's Urdu-language newspapers. On April 22, the 53-year-old was summoned back to New Delhi ostensibly to help colleagues prepare for the ongoing South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) summit in Bhutan. After landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport, she was whisked away by officials of the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (IB), India's internal intelligence agency, to an interrogation chamber in an undisclosed location. Twenty-four hours later, she was handed over to Delhi police and charged with treason and accessing confidential documents under India's Official Secrets Act.
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Mahmood Qureshi told India's CNN-IBN "Her spy game was up the moment a joint network on Tuesday, "We need to go beyond secretary — an IB officer — inside the a handshake." Asked whether the two Prime Islamabad mission suspected her around Ministers would still hold talks in Bhutan this October 2009 and reported back," a highweek, Pakistan's Deputy Foreign Minister, level IB case officer in New Delhi told TIME. Malik Amad Khan, told TIME, "Maybe, maybe The IB launched a massive not, but that's totally independent of [the counterintelligence operation, in which even spying] allegations." its counterparts in the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), the country's external Almeida notes that espionage efforts to intelligence agency, were kept out of the "turn" the other country's diplomats are par loop. for the course between the longtime rivals, but "given [Gupta's] relatively junior position, Over the next six months, Gupta's every step it is unlikely that she would have had access was monitored. She was found to be taking to sensitive documents, unless there was a undue interest in informal discussions among real breakdown internally." the senior embassy officials regarding important policy matters, including India's Indian government sources say Gupta had strategic plans in Afghanistan and resuming a been spying for Pakistan since September dialogue with Pakistan. She was even fed with 2008. "We have reasons to believe that she incorrect information to be passed on to her was not recruited inside Pakistan," says a Pakistani handlers, suspected to be from the senior officer in R&AW. "Possibly she was Inter-Services Intelligence agency. picked up and nurtured either in Baghdad or Kuala Lumpur, where Pakistani authorities refused to she was posted earlier." The agency comment on the case, but analysts says this could have been a reason in Islamabad saw her arrest as an why she was keen for a Pakistan attempt to scupper upcoming posting — usually a last choice planned talks between India's and among Indian diplomats and Pakistan's Prime Ministers. "The intelligence officials. timing was supposed to send a signal that India is not ready to talk Vishnu Prakash, a spokesman for to Pakistan yet," says Cyril Almeida, India's Ministry of External Affairs, Gupta an editor and analyst at Pakistan's says Gupta is "co-operating with the Dawn newspaper. "India has not moved investigations and inquiries." Sources tell beyond its post-Mumbai phase," she TIME that she has told interrogators that she continued, referring to the 2008 terrorism spied for Pakistan to settle scores with senior attacks that Indian and Western authorities Indian diplomats who mistreated her early in say originated in Pakistan. "It is not looking her career. She has also reportedly confessed for talks with Pakistan anytime soon." that a prominent Pakistani journalist put her in touch with Pakistani intelligence officers. India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, was scheduled to meet his Pakistani counterpart, Her bank-account records are being scanned, Yousuf Raza Gilani, this week, though the her official computer and personal laptop purpose of the talks has been contested. have been brought back to Delhi for analysis, After breaking off all dialogue with Pakistan and her personal relationship with a Pakistani after the Mumbai attacks, Indian officials intelligence officer, identified thus far only as suggested a bilateral meeting on the sidelines "Rana," is being investigated. Gupta claims of the SAARC summit to discuss a longshe was romantically involved with Rana, but running water dispute, but Pakistan has made she was also being blackmailed by him into clear that it wants formal, open-ended peace sharing information. Gupta now faces talks. As Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah dismissal from service, an in-camera trial and
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a maximum of 10 years of rigorous "partial information on [India's] strategic imprisonment. plans in Afghanistan." That has come as a relief to Delhi, though investigators are still The IB investigator who spoke to TIME says checking as to whether Gupta was used to the only sensitive material that Gupta plant bugs in the Indian mission in Islamabad. managed to pass on to Pakistan concerned http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1985339,00.html
Tradecraft Notes:
diplomats, attaching transmitting devices for If the allegations against her are correct, transmitting the telephone conversations of Gupta might have been recruited by the the high commissioner and others to the agency which was using her either as an officer who recruited her etc. information agent or as a service agent. An If she had been working as a service agent, information agent consciously supplies she would have caused immeasurable intelligence to which he or she has access. A damage by enabling the agency that recruited service agent facilitates an intelligence her to collect electronically a lot of sensitive operation of the recruiting agency in various intelligence. It would never be possible to ways. quantify and assess the extent of damage As a Second Secretary in the Press and caused by her. She herself would not know Information Wing, Gupta might not have had since she would be unaware what kind of much access to sensitive intelligence. But, as intelligence had been going on to her she was working in the high commission, she controlling officer through the gadgets which would have had access to various offices in she had planted in the Indian High the Indian High Commission for performing Commission on his direction. furtive tasks such as planting bugs in the offices of the high commissioner and other http://ramanstrategicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/04/she-mole-in-islamabad.html
The list of Indian officials and spying cases New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI): Diplomat Madhuri Gupta, arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan, joins a list of several top Indian officials accused of leaking sensitive information or falling into honey trap in the past few decades. The last such case is that of Navy officer Commodore Sukhjinder Singh, now being probed for his alleged liaison with a Russian woman between 2005 and 2007 -- when he was posted in Russia as the head of Indian team overseeing the refit of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. A board of inquiry, set up against Singh after his objectionable photographs with the unidentified woman surfaced, is now probing whether his "loose moral conduct" and indiscretions have any connections with the
Editor: Dalene Duvenage
Gorshkov deal which has been signed after a lot of negotiations due to the cost hike of the carrier. In May 2008, a senior Indian Embassy official in Beijing was called back to New Delhi for falling to the charms of a Chinese honey trap. Manmohan Sharma, a senior Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer, was alleged to be in a romantic affair with his Chinese language teacher. Indian authorities suspected the woman could be an informant of the Chinese government and gathered information about India's moves and countermoves on the border talks. In October 2007, a 1975 batch Research and Analysis Service (RAS) officer Ravi Nair was called back from Hong Kong for his 'friendship' with a girl believed to be working
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for a Chinese spy agency. However, within a Then a personal assistant to a very senior brief time Nair was again given a foreign RAW official disappeared in London in the posting in Colombo where the woman also early 90s. Ashok Sathe, another official was came and allegedly started staying with him, also believed to have defected to the US after raising suspicion. The officials of other his mysterious disappearance. Sathe was said departments, posted at the Indian High to be behind burning down of RAW office in Commission, sent reports about Nair to their Khurramshahr in Iran. In the early 1980s, a respective departments paving way for his senior field officer disappeared in London. As recall. attache in Kathmandu, he was alleged to be Like any other snooping agency, India's liaisoning with foreign intelligence agencies external Intelligence agency RAW has also a In another case, a senior Intelligence Bureau history of officials switching their (IB) official, who was due to take over loyalties to foreign agencies. The as the chief of counter-intelligence, most infamous case which shook had an "unauthorised" relationship RAW out of reverie was that of with a female US consular officer. His Rabinder Singh who became a meetings with her were recorded on mole of American intelligence camera by the IB, and he was forced agency CIA and flew to the US to retire following interrogation. despite being under RAW Logo of the Research and However, in the history of Indian surveillance. Analysis Wing (RAW) of intelligence, the most written about India Singh initially worked with the case was that of K V Unnikrishnan, a Indian Army and held a very senior position RAW officer dealing with the LTTE. He had with RAW handling Southeast Asia. By the developed a relationship with an air hostess time the agency sensed his affiliations, Singh believed to be an intelligence scion. He was escaped to the US through Nepal in 2004. arrested just ahead of a peace accord signed The second blow came in 2006 with the between India and Sri Lanka. discovery of another alleged CIA mole in The oldest case of 'honey trapping', when an India's National Security Council Secretariat, Indian diplomat during the time of the first which is part of the Prime Minister's Office. prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was trapped In the early 90s, an Indian Naval attache by a Russian girl in Moscow. posted in Islamabad reportedly fell in love When the Russian spy agency KGB presented with a Pakistani woman working in the him with the pictures of his activities with the Military Nursing Service in Karachi. girl, the diplomat informed his ambassador The attache was interrogated and then forced about his relationship and the KGB's attempts to resign. Reports said the official, who had to blackmail him. The ambassador raised the initially claimed having recruited the woman issue with Nehru, who was himself in charge as a spy, was being blackmailed by the ISI, of the External Affairs Ministry. Nehru just which wanted his services after his return to laughed it off, warning the young diplomat to the Naval Headquarters in Delhi. be more careful in future. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/66461/list-indian-officials-spying-cases.html
Indian Navy chief caught in Russian 'honeytrap' New Delhi, 22 Apr 2010: An Indian Navy chief caught in a Russian "honeytrap" may have helped inflate the cost of an aircraft carrier deal by up to ÂŁ1 billion to stop explicit photographs taken during the negotiations being released.
Commodore Sukhjunder Singh has been under investigation by a military Board of Editor: Dalene Duvenage
Inquiry since a CD containing the images of him in bed with a blonde Russian woman
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were sent to New Delhi's Naval Headquarters last month. It is understood there is, as yet, no evidence that the 'honeytrap' influenced Commodore Singh's behaviour in negotiations to buy the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier from Russia, but investigators have not ruled out the possibility. Investigators believe the photographs were taken between 2005 and 2007 when he was a captain posted as an observer to Severodvinsk base on the country's NorthWest coast. At that time he was head of a large technical delegation sent to oversee repairs and the refitting of the vessel in the run-up to it being commissioned as the INS Vikramaditya. Then,
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of honeytrap stings in which senior diplomats have been filmed in compromising situations with Russian women. Last year Britain's deputy consul-general in Ekaterinberg, James Hudson, after footage of him in bed with two women was posted on the internet under the title 'The Adventures of Mr Hudson in Russia.' He was exposed a few months after American diplomat Kyle Hatcher was caught in a similar honeytrap in Moscow. Both cases were believed to have been part of blackmail attempts by Russian intelligence agencies. While both Mssrs Hudson and Hatcher were caught by hidden cameras, Commodore Singh, who is married, appears to have willingly been photographed. In one shot both he and his partner smile directly into the
India had agreed to The former Russian Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier camera. This fact has buy the Soviet-era persuaded some renamed the INS Vikramaditya Photo: EPA carrier, launched in investigators that he may 1982, for $800 million, be guilty only of "bad including a full refit. But costs quickly began judgement." Commodore Singh is understood to rise and eventually led to a diplomatic to have denied suggestions that his dispute between India and Russia. "indiscretion" had had any impact on the price increase negotiations with the Russians. Now the costs have reached an estimated $2.33 (ÂŁ1.5 billion), almost ÂŁ1 billion higher Sources close to India's defence than originally agreed and military chiefs fear establishment however believe he is now Commodore Singh's honey trap may have facing dismissal from his Navy post for been part of a campaign to influence Indian "immoral conduct unbecoming of an officer." Navy specialists assessing the repairs and The newly refitted INS Vikramaditya is upgrades. expected to be formally commissioned into the Indian Navy in 2012. Russia's intelligence agencies and criminal gangs are suspected of being behind a series http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/7619501/Indian-Navy-chief-caught-inRussian-honeytrap.html
Phone-tapping scandal engulfs India government By AFP Monday, April 26th, 2010 (ed: excerpted) NEW DELHI (AFP) – India's opposition warned Monday that democracy was in danger as it demanded answers from the government Editor: Dalene Duvenage
over allegations that senior politicians' telephones had been tapped.
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Press reports that government intelligence The latest controversy threatens to further agencies secretly listened in to mobile sap the left-leaning government at a time telephone conversations of leading public when it is looking to pass key legislation. figures have united opposition rivals and It is seeking support from its allies for a plunged the government into a new scandal possible no-confidence vote over high food at a crucial time. prices, as well as passing the budget and "Democracy has to be defended," L.K Advani, other key bills, and has been embroiled for a veteran leader of the main opposition the last two weeks in a cricket scandal. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), told the lower The government has a comfortable majority house of parliament, which was repeatedly in parliament but has struggled to push adjourned amid uproar on the opposition through its legislative programme in the face benches. of rising food and fuel prices, Maoist violence "This house will not be satisfied until the and the IPL scandal. prime minister comes to the house and Other opposition parties also decried the makes a statement," Advani added, alleged phone tapping as an assault on demanding new legislation to prevent such democratic and civil rights. abuses of personal privacy. "We are not living in a military regime," Home Minister P.Chidamabaram promised a Communist Party of India national secretary probe into the scandal, which surfaced in a D. Raja told reporters at the weekend. magazine last week. Prime Minister Advani said the phone tapping reports Manmohan Singh was to address the issue in recalled the time when former Indian parliament at 3:30 pm (1000 GMT), NDTV Congress premier Indira Gandhi clamped a television reported. state of emergency on the country in 1975, The magazine Outlook was the first to report censoring the press and jailing hundreds of that intelligence officers had been tapping opposition politicians. the phones of politicians including Agriculture "We must ensure there is no such emergency Minister Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of (rule) in the country," Advani said. India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat and Bihar state chief minister Nitish Kumar. http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0426/phonetapping-scandal-engulfs-india-government/
In response‌ (Ed: excerpted) However, B Raman, former R&AW officer says, "While there is no reason to doubt the authenticity of the reports carried by Outlook about the functioning of the NTRO and the genuineness of the intercepts of some telephone conversations of some political leaders, I have difficulty in accepting that these intercepts necessarily show that the NTRO has been tapping the telephone conversations of these political personalities." Raman says, "Tapping is a process. When there is tapping, there will be a series of
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intercepts of the conversations involving the same person. When there is only an isolated message, it does not show malafide tapping. It only shows accidental interception of telephone conversations of political leaders cited by Outlook while doing a random communications intelligence sweep." Raman's contention is that while tapping phones of people who are at national security risk, many other people's conversation also gets recorded and "this happens all the time while doing a random sweep". A random sweep is not done manually. It is done by a machine which records every
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conversation within a certain radius when the they do not have sensitive or compromising machine is on. content in taped material they, normally, shred the conversations. However, Raman suggests, "From time to time, intelligence officers play back the The security expert adds, "The so-called recording of the intercepts. If they find that if intercepts cited by the magazine do not have any of the intercepts is of a political nature any sensitive or compromising material. My unrelated to national security and contains feeling is that these were intercepted politically sensitive or compromising material, accidentally during the course of a random the careerists among intelligence officers may search and the person to whom these were show it to political leaders to cut favour with given for shredding has passed them on to them."When intelligence agencies find that the journalist." http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/apr/26/there-was-no-malafide-tapping-says-expert.htm
India: Relook at info grid
citizens’ daily lives. Further, a link-up with a New Delhi, April 25: foreign agency database would help the The home ministry is reworking the project home ministry keep tabs on foreign visitors as report on the ambitious National Intelligence well. Grid after running into hurdles within the A security source said Natgrid, a project government over questions of privacy and headed by Raghu Raman, an information safeguards. security expert, could be compared to the Top sources told The Telegraph the report railway reservation system where tickets can would be ready by August and would then be be booked from any station or over the sent to the cabinet committee on security Internet. “Intelligence agencies will no longer (CCS). have an excuse to say that they did The grid is expected to be a not know about something,” the network of 21 databases that can source said. be viewed in real time by 11 select Sources said even bank and agencies including the Intelligence insurance company data would be Bureau, Research and Analysis available in real time to the Wing, Director General of Military government through Natgrid. Intelligence and components of Today, instances of money-laundering come the Enforcement Directorate. to the government’s notice only after a When a CCS meeting in February discussed tedious process. the Natgrid proposal, objections were raised Even telecom and Internet service providers mainly over safeguards and privacy. Now, will be linked with Natgrid, the sources said, with the report being reworked, the phonewhich could help intelligence agencies trace tapping scandal should also be on the minds credit card and debit card transactions or of the architects of the project, which aims to property transfers. create a channel for seamless flow of What is anyone’s guess, however, is whether intelligence from a variety of sources. the agencies will actually enter data and While phone-tapping has been practised for share details with the entire establishment. decades as an eavesdropping tool, Natgrid — Home ministry sources, though, said it would conceived after the 26/11 attacks exposed be ensured that all who have intelligence do poor co-ordination among various agencies — share it. is expected to keep track of other aspects of http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100426/jsp/nation/story_12380816.jsp
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Books on Indian intelligence: Inside IB and RAW: The Rolling Stone that Gathered Moss, K. Sankaran Nair, 2007, ISBN: 9788170493051, Open Secrets: India's Intelligence Unveiled by M.K. Dhar, 2005 India’s external intelligence: Secrets of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) by Maj. Gen. VK Singh. 2007
China: US Officials Worry About World’s Expo April 30, 2010 Fox News, Mike Levine (Ed: excerpted) collection in such "open forums accounted for China says it's an "opportunity to showcase over four percent of reported suspicious great achievements and diverse cultures," but incidents" in the previous year. the World's Expo, which opens in Shanghai on A U.S. intelligence official said the threat Friday night, is also an opportunity for China environment has not changed much since to spy on Americans and even recruit new then, pointing out that the offices of the intelligence sources, according to current and Director of National Intelligence and National former U.S. officials. Counterintelligence Executive, which More than 70 million people from jointly issued the 2008 report, have China and abroad, including some of not retracted it. the world's most powerful Intelligence officials often urge businessmen, are expected to visit traveling business executives to take a the Expo before it closes in six "throw away" cell phone instead of months. Nearly 200 countries have their "normal" devices, and to leave set up pavilions, displays and food their laptops at home, or "at least let your IT stands representing their singular cultures folks scrub the hell out of them when you and history, according to event organizers. come back," according to Bowman. "These public venues are laden with China is likely to become the world's second opportunities for foreign collectors to interact largest economy later this year, according the with U.S. experts and glean information U.S. intelligence community's annual threat regarding dual-use and sensitive assessment for 2010. Presenting the technologies," said a 2008 report issued by assessment to Congress in February, Director the U.S. intelligence community to Congress. of National Intelligence Dennis Blair noted "Such events offer host-country intelligence that China has played a "central role" in the agencies the opportunity to spot, assess, and response to the global economic crisis. even recruit new intelligence sources within the U.S. private sector and to gain electronic "[China] has served as one of the key engines access to companies' virtual networks and for global recovery, reinforcing perceptions of databases through technology brought to the its increasing economic and diplomatic events by corporate personnel." influence," he said. Fox News requested comment for this article from the Chinese The report, titled "Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage," Embassy in Washington, but no response was mentioned the World's Expo specifically, provided. noting that intelligence and information http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/04/30/officials-worry-about-worlds-expo-inchina/?test=latestnews
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Chinese define what is a 'secret' JOHN GARNAUT, April 28, 2010 (Ed: excerpted) CHINA has taken a hesitant step towards clarifying what is and is not a commercial secret, following global controversy over the Stern Hu/Rio Tinto espionage case. And the answer appears to be that obtaining almost any information from a Chinese enterprise poses some risk. Categories of potential secrets include management methods and business models, according to a regulation published this week by the agency that supervises central government-controlled enterprises. A puzzling aspect of the announcement is that it was issued internally on March 25, the last day of the Stern Hu trial and before the verdict, but was not published externally until this week. The arrests and convictions of Stern Hu and three other Rio Tinto executives for receiving bribes and obtaining commercial secrets have led many companies to curtail or stop their market intelligence gathering in China. This week's regulation by the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission says the 128 companies under its umbrella must "strengthen commercial secrets protection work". It orders them to sort "core secrets" from "general secrets" and indicate the dates at which secrets will change into mere information.
It said commercial secrets included: ''management information like strategic plans, management methods, business models, reform and stockmarket listing, M&A and restructuring, property transactions, financial information, investment decisions and financing, production plans, purchase and sale, resource reserves, client information, bidding information and technical information like designs, programs, product specifications, production techniques, production methods, and technical know-how etc." Antony Dapiran, a Beijing partner with law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, said foreign companies had few reference points to guide them on how to steer clear of Chinese secrets laws. ''Generally speaking, violation of commercial secrets elsewhere in the world is not a criminal matter,'' he said. ''It is difficult to provide concrete guidelines but foreign executives need to be cautious with the information they obtain, the context in which they receive it, and how they use it. And this may change with the political winds.'' He said the Rio case might be an example of such a political change given its context of fraught iron ore deals, weakened state control over privately owned steel companies and maybe bad blood over the Rio-Chinalco deal. http://www.theage.com.au/business/chinese-define-what-is-a-secret-20100427-tq5y.html
South Korea: Authorities on Lookout for More North Korean Spies CICentre.net, 22 April 2010 Chosun Ilbo, 22 April 2010: Intelligence officers and prosecutors are on the lookout for any other North Korean spies who disguise themselves as defectors after they
on Tuesday arrested two agents who had orders to assassinate a senior North Korean defector here.
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educations” by the North to help spies settle down in the South. . . . Is Seoul Prepared to Deal with the N.Korean Spy Threat? (Chosun Ilbo, 22 April 2010) President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday said the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan near the tense maritime border with North Korea is a wake-up call to the dangers South Korea faces. “Sixty years after the division, I think the military has gotten caught up in old habits,” Lee said in a meeting with officials. “We must use this crisis to realize that we live just less than 40 miles from one of the world’s most belligerent countries.” . . . . . . . . But the NIS said in a report to the National Assembly in 2005 that it had detected 670 orders sent by North Korea to agents in the South over the previous five years. Military intelligence officials told the defense minister in 2008 that there were around 170 communist sympathizers within the South’s military, around 50 soldiers caught passing on classified information, and internal probes focusing on 100 such cases. A North Korean spy ring nabbed in 2006 consisted of agents who had infiltrated various areas of South Korean society as staff of high-tech companies, a developer of English teaching materials, a private crammer and even political parties. There is a strong possibility that the agents North Korea has planted in South Korean society over the last 10 years have grown into real threats to the South. A military officer who passed on sensitive information to a female North Korean spy in 2008 failed to report her to authorities. The woman had toured military bases to give troops lessons on national security by playing CDs praising the North Korean regime. http://cicentre.net/wordpress/index.php/2010/04/22/authorities-on-lookout-for-more-n-koreanspies/ “We’re keeping track of a few suspicious refugees who are suspected to have sneaked into the South disguised as defectors to gather intelligence, unlike the two agents arrested recently who came to commit terror,” a source told the Chosun Ilbo. Agents have infiltrated the South since the North launched the new integrated Reconnaissance Bureau early last year, the source added. The arrest of the two would-be killers of Hwang Jang-yop, a former secretary of the North Korean Workers Party, will probably cause any other North Korean agents to lie low for the time being, the source said, “but there’s always a chance that they will attempt to contact sleeper spies in the South.” . . . . NK Assassins Spent 6 Years Prepping for Mission (Dong A Ilbo, 22 April 2010) Two North Korean spies who plotted to assassinate the highest-ranking North Korean official to defect to South Korea spent six years preparing for their mission. The two men were meticulous in learning how to adapt to life in South Korea before posing as defectors in their attempt to kill Hwang Jang-yeop, former secretary of the ruling North Korean Workers’ Party. For example, they learned how to repair South Korean cars in the North. Seoul prosecutors and the National Intelligence Service yesterday said they got a confession from Kim Myung Ho, who said he belongs to the intelligence unit of the North’s Defense Ministry. According to prosecutors, Kim learned how to repair South Korean cars to get mechanic certificates and settle down in South Korea, and after being selected as a spy, he had watched South Korean soap operas to gain a better understanding of South Korean society. Training in automotive repair is considered one of “special
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Russia considers new powers for KGB successor By MANSUR MIROVALEV, AP, April 27, 2010
Lubyanka subway station, beneath the MOSCOW -- Russia's parliament is considering headquarters of the security service. a government-drafted bill that would increase the power of the security services and restore The speaker of parliament's lower house, practices once associated with their Soviet Boris Gryzlov, had sharply criticized two predecessor, the KGB. major Russian newspapers for their coverage, implying they had taken the side of the The legislation would allow Federal Security terrorists by noting that the attacks may have Service officers to summon individuals for been motivated by the Kremlin's harsh policy informal talks and issue written warnings in the North Caucasus. about "inadmissible" participation in antigovernment activities such as protest rallies. Human rights advocates and opposition It also appeared aimed at tightening controls leaders said the new measures could be used on journalists. to violate the rights of government critics and further It was unclear when the bill curtail media independence. would come up for a vote, and in the meantime it "I am shocked by how brazen they could be amended or even are," said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the scuttled. But in its current 82-year-old head of the Moscow form the legislation continues a trend under Helsinki Group. "It's not even like Soviet Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, who has times, when they (KGB officers) were under allowed the security services to steadily Communist Party control." regain power and influence at the expense of An opposition leader who has faced Russia's nascent democracy. intimidation and pranks by pro-Kremlin youth Since coming to power in 2000, Putin, now groups said the law would only legitimize FSB prime minister, has created an obedient officers' abusive treatment of Kremlin critics parliament, abolished direct gubernatorial and ordinary Russians. elections, presided over the reining in of non"The FSB has had these rights without these state national television and cracked down on laws," said Ilya Yashin, who leads the youth political dissent. movement of the liberal party Yabloko. "The Like many of the past restrictions, the situation is sickening, the public has no way of proposed new measures were described as controlling them." part of an effort to combat extremism. A Communist Party lawmaker said he was An explanatory note said some news concerned about vague wording that would organizations "propagate the cult of leave the legislation open to interpretation. individualism, violence and mistrust in the "The law is written in such a way that makes government's capacity to protect its citizens, it hard to guess how it would work in virtually drawing the youth to extremism." practice," said Viktor Ilyukhin, a former Journalists who refuse to follow the demands prosecutor. "I have no doubts that it would of security officers or prevent them from open the way for arbitrary interpretations." fulfilling their duties could face charges under The Communist Party is the last remaining the legislation. faction that occasionally opposes KremlinThe bill, submitted Saturday, followed the backed bills in the State Duma, the lower twin subway bombings last month that killed house. 40 people. One of the bombers hit the http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/AR2010042701471.html Editor: Dalene Duvenage
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Russian model 'secret agent for the Kremlin' April 29, 2010, 2:46 pm denying any of it, they answered with their A Russian model has been accused of being a typical, illegal filth," Shenderovich said. secret agent for the Kremlin after reportedly luring at least six of Vladimir Putin's Footage of Shenderovich in a Moscow flat detractors into sex "honeytraps". Ekaterina with Katya was released on the web as critics "Katya" Gerasimova allegedly tempted warned the days of the Soviet era KGB are government critics with the promise of sex returning. In total, six men are reported to and drugs, the Daily Mail reports. have received "Katya's treatment", all in the same Moscow flat. The video featuring The 19-year-old has been described as a Shenderovich included clips involving modern day Mata Hari with "piercing blue nationalist politicians Alexander Potkin and eyes" who ended up in bed with some of Eduard Limonov. Moscow's most influential men.Her latest victim is Radio journalist Viktor Shenderovich, Ilya Yashin, another of Gerasimova's victims, 52, who is married with a daughter. He's has also claimed the woman is a secret admitted cheating on his wife with service agent. Gerasimova while accusing the secret service News of Shenderovich's admission follows the of setting him up. circulation of a video featuring Mikhail "Putin's administration was listening to these Fishman, who edits Russian Newsweek, which allegations with enormous cool, and without has run stories critical of the Kremlin. http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/7127140/russian-model-secret-agent-for-the-kremlin/
Iranian technocrats, disillusioned with government, offer wealth of intelligence to U.S. Washington Post, April 25, 2010 (Ed: excerpted) Iran's political turmoil has prompted a growing number of the country's officials to defect or leak information to the West, creating a new flow of intelligence about its secretive nuclear program, U.S. officials said. The gains have complicated work on a longawaited assessment of Iran's nuclear activities, a report that will represent the combined judgment of more than a dozen U.S. spy agencies. The National Intelligence Estimate was due last fall but has been delayed at least twice amid efforts to incorporate information from sources who are still being vetted. Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair said in a brief interview last week that the delay in the completion of the NIE "has to do with the information coming in and the pace of developments."
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Some of the most significant new material has come from informants, including scientists and others with access to Iran's military programs, who are motivated by antipathy toward the government and its suppression of the opposition movement after a disputed presidential election in June, according to current and former officials in the United States and Europe who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the intelligence gains. "There is a wealth of information-sharing going on, and it reflects enormous discontent among Iranian technocrats," said a former U.S. government official who until recently was privy to classified reports about intelligence-gathering inside Iran. He said that among senior technocrats in the nuclear program and other fields, "the morale is very low."
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In recent weeks, U.S. officials have acknowledged that an Iranian nuclear scientist defected to the West in June. Shahram Amiri, 32, vanished while on a religious pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia and has provided spy agencies with details about sensitive programs, including a long-hidden uranium-enrichment plant near the city of Qom, intelligence officials and Europe-based diplomats said. Amiri is described by some as the most significant Iranian defector since Brig. Gen. Ali Reza Asgari, a former deputy defense minister and Revolutionary Guard Corps commander who switched sides during a 2007 trip to Turkey. But sources said there has been a spate of other recent defections by diplomatic and military officials, some of which have not been made public. Among the defectors was a top diplomat at the Iranian mission in Oslo, who said he was pressured to falsify election returns for Iranian nationals who had cast votes at the embassy. The revisions to the NIE underscore the pressure on the U.S. intelligence community to produce an accurate assessment of Iran's nuclear ambitions as President Obama pursues a policy aimed at preventing the country from acquiring an atomic bomb. The community's 2007 assessment presented the startling conclusion that Iran had halted its work on developing a nuclear warhead, provoking enduring criticism that the report had underestimated the Iranian threat. The Iranian diplomat who defected, Mohammed Reza Heydari, said in a telephone interview from Norway that he represents thousands of young, educated Iranians who are increasingly discouraged by developments in their country. The departures of Amiri and others have given new momentum to a "brain drain" program set up by the CIA in recent years as part of a broader effort to slow Iran's nuclear progress by sabotaging equipment being Editor: Dalene Duvenage
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shipped into the country and enticing key scientists to defect. Art Keller, a retired CIA officer, said the agency's goal in recruiting agents is almost always to "run them in place." But in Iran -where the government uncovered a network of CIA informants and executed its members more than a decade ago -- recruiting spies is regarded as extremely dangerous. "Particularly when it comes to clandestine weapons programs," Keller said, "where the scientists are watched like a hawk." The CIA declined to discuss the brain-drain program or characterize the information provided by defectors such as Amiri. It also declined to comment on an ABC News report that Amiri has been resettled in the United States. Some observers say the Tehran government has been unnerved by the defections and point to the death of an Iranian physics professor more than three months ago as a sign that it has begun a crackdown designed to frighten would-be spies. The professor, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, was killed Jan. 12 when a bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded as he passed nearby. Iranian officials accused Israeli and Western intelligence operatives in the killing, but news accounts indicated that Mohammadi had been sympathetic to the opposition movement and had attended antigovernment demonstrations. The day before his death, Iranian intelligence agents had searched his home and confiscated documents and notes, according to a report by the NCRI. Learning from mistakes In public testimony over the past three years, senior U.S. intelligence officials have avoided contradicting the language used in the 2007 NIE, despite privately asserting that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon. An unclassified U.S. military report submitted to Congress this month concluded: "Iran is developing technological capabilities applicable to
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nuclear weapons and, at a minimum, is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons." The 2007 report stressed that Iran was still taking other steps that could help it acquire nuclear arms, but any nuance was lost in the fierce debate that followed. Like the new version, the 2007 estimate was revised repeatedly as its release date neared. Indeed, it was essentially scrapped and rewritten after the United States obtained secret computer records that described a decision by Iranian leaders to cancel work on a warhead around the time U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003. Critics blamed the document -- a version of which was released to the public -- for creating the impression that the Iranian threat had subsided and for derailing the George W. Bush administration's hard-line approach.
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The report's authors subsequently acknowledged that it was poorly written for a public audience and, as a result, was widely misunderstood. A U.S. official briefed on the progress of the new NIE said analysts are under pressure to avoid their predecessors' mistakes. The document is now scheduled to be delivered by August, the official said, adding that "there is an expectation that the previous one will be corrected." U.S. officials said there will be a major difference in how the new estimate is presented. The previous document triggered headlines that Iran had backed away from its pursuit of the bomb largely because officials decided to release a version to the public. The officials said they now see that decision as a mistake and have no plans this time to make portions of the estimate public.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/24/AR2010042402710_pf.html
Americas Top Brass From CIA, FBI Reflect On Challenges April 24, 2010 , Tejinder Singh – AHN News Correspondent American people – not only in what we do, Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – but how we do it; if we can do all of that, America’s top spies last week reiterated the we’ll be the best.” At the same time, the need for a pragmatic and vigilant approach to group warned: “But if analyze and utilize teamwork, integration or information gathered from trust falters, we’ll be left different sources. behind. It’s that simple. So, Director of National we can’t allow that to Intelligence Dennis C. Blair happen. Ever.” was joined by the leaders The intelligence organization of 16 intelligence community organizations in heads were present with Director of National Intelligence, highlighting the the need to hundreds of employees of Dennis Blair combine “human the Office of the Director of intelligence, geospatial intelligence, lawNational Intelligence to celebrate the fifth enforcement information, open-source anniversary of the ODNI. intelligence, new kinds of intelligence that “…We are the only intelligence organization haven’t even been invented yet.” that wakes up every morning and thinks: The top intelligence officials called for ‘How can we make this entire intelligence maintaining and increasing “the trust of the enterprise better? How can we combine the
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magnificent, individual agency skills into the effective and more integrated than would very best intelligence team?,’” Blair told the otherwise be possible.” audience. The ceremony followed a meeting of the The ODNI was created to make the Intelligence Community Executive intelligence community more integrated, Committee, a forum the DNI convenes every agile and effective with the Intelligence other week with the heads of each IC Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of organization to flag, flesh out and resolve a 2004. host of issues. In opening remarks, Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, Striving for excellence is a daily goal at the director of the ODNI’s intelligence staff, said ODNI, said Andrew Towne, an analyst from “unprecedented threats to our homeland and the Central Intelligence Agency, now assigned way of life” underscore the need for the to the office. “It’s a place where smart people ODNI. work hard to find solutions to some extremely tough problems.” “No single agency, no single intelligence element in our community can do what needs Present at the meeting and later ceremony, to be done across the entire enterprise,” he among others were CIA director Leon said. “If they could, it would be done already. Panetta, FBI director Robert Mueller and NSA If we do our jobs right, every intelligence director Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander. agency and element is more successful, more http://gantdaily.com/2010/04/24/top-brass-from-cia-fbi-reflect-on-challenges/
CIA Director Leon E. Panetta Unveils Blueprint for Agency’s Future April 26, 2010 (Ed: excerpted) In remarks this morning to the Agency workforce, Director Leon E. Panetta unveiled CIA 2015, his blueprint for the organization’s future. CIA 2015 is an aggressive plan that builds on outstanding work done since 9/11. Its goal is to ensure that the Agency continues to act decisively on today’s national security challenges—such as terrorism, the proliferation of dangerous technology, cyber threats, and the actions of rogue states—while pivoting more easily toward emerging priorities. Director Panetta outlined CIA 2015’s three pillars. The first is investing in people. The CIA will recruit, train, and retain a highly talented and diverse workforce with the strengths to tackle any mission that arises. Bolstering the Agency’s foreign language capabilities is essential to that objective. The plan doubles the number of clandestine officers—and triples the number of analysts— enrolled in language training.
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The CIA will enhance its use of more flexible and innovative deployments overseas— including new approaches to cover—paving the way for even better intelligence collection. More co-location of analysts and operators at home and abroad will both enrich the information provided to policymakers and lead to even more operational success in the field. This sort of fusion has more than proved its value over the years, and has been key to victories in counterterrorism and counterproliferation, among other disciplines. The second pillar is investing in technology to extend the CIA’s operational and analytic reach and become more efficient. Agency personnel must be able to operate effectively and securely in a rapidly changing global information environment. The plan boosts the CIA’s potential for human-enabled technical collection and provides advanced software tools to help Agency officers tackle
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the huge volume of data they encounter in commended the Agency’s tradition of their work. minimal bureaucracy, a key ingredient in its responsiveness and impact. “When we’re told The third pillar is to achieve a new level of to get a job done, we can do it,” he said. “But agility in maintaining the Agency’s global we can’t take anything for granted. As good presence and surging for emergencies. The as we are, we can be better. As capable as we Agency will transform its support platforms are, we can do more. As smart as we are, we around the world and consolidate certain can be tougher.” business functions. Director Panetta https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/press-release-2010/directorpanetta-unveils-blueprint-for-agency-future.html
Author gets subpoenaed to reveal CIA sources April 30, 2010 intelNews.org travel to Vienna, Austria, in early 2000, and The US government has issued a subpoena offer to sell the documents to the Iranians. against a journalist who authored a book on But the documents contained a deliberate the CIA’s operations during the years of the technical flaw, which, Risen alleges, the Bush administration. The move has surprised Russian CIA operative thought was so obvious many, because the book in question, State of that it could endanger the entire mission, by War: The Secret History of the CIA and the making him look untrustworthy in the eyes of Bush Administration, by New York Times the Iranians. The Russian scientist ended up journalist James Risen, has been out since letting the Iranians know about the flaw, 2006. The subpoena, which Risen received reveals Risen. He further alleges that the CIA last Monday, requests him to testify before a operation may have actually helped the grand jury about his confidential sources for Iranian nuclear weapons program, as Iranian chapter 9 of his book (pages 193-218), scientists would have been able to “extract entitled “A Rogue Operation”, in which he valuable information from the blueprints describes in relative detail an attempt by the while ignoring the flaws”. Risen’s legal team CIA to sabotage the Iranian nuclear weapons has expressed its intent to have the subpoena program. In the chapter, Risen writes of a dismissed, saying that The New York Times thwarted CIA operation to pass to the journalist “intends to honor his commitment Iranians a series of faulty nuclear bomb of confidentiality to his source or sources”. design documents. To do this, the Agency Chapter 9 of Risen’s book has been reposted apparently recruited a Russian former nuclear on Cryptome. scientist, who had defected to the United States. The unnamed scientist was told to http://intelligencenews.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/01-451/
Department of Justice Announces New Assistant United States Attorneys and FBI Agents to Combat Intellectual Property Crimes As part of the Department of Justice’s ongoing initiative to confront intellectual property (IP) crimes, Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler announced today the appointment of 15 new Assistant U.S. Editor: Dalene Duvenage
Attorney (AUSA) positions and 20 FBI Special Agents to be dedicated to combating domestic and international IP crimes. These new positions – announced on the 10th annual World Intellectual Property Day – are
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part of the department’s continued ever vigilant in this pursuit as American commitment to combat the growing number entrepreneurs and businesses continue to of IP crimes here at home, and develop, innovate and create.” abroad. The new AUSA positions The 15 new Assistant U.S. Attorneys will will be part of the department’s work closely with the Criminal Division’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Computer Crime and Intellectual Property (CHIP) program. Property Section (CCIPS) to aggressively “Intellectual property law pursue high tech crime, including enforcement is central to protecting computer crime and intellectual our nation’s ability to remain at the forefront property offenses. The new positions will be of technological advancement, business located in California, the District of Columbia, development and job creation,” said Acting Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Deputy Attorney General Grindler. “The Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, department, along with its federal partners Virginia and Washington. throughout the Administration, will remain http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/April/10-dag-480.html
The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence published all their documents from 2001 to 2009 at http://intelligence.senate.gov/pubactivities.html
US Army Reorganizes Training for Intelligence Units May 2010 , by Sandra I. Erwin (Ed: excerpted) Every day in Afghanistan, thousands of U.S. soldiers patrol through villages. In the process, they capture loads of information that commanders might consider useful intelligence. But soldiers don’t necessarily know what to make of the information, how it fits into the larger picture of the war or whether it’s really valuable. That in essence is the “biggest gap” the Army now has in its intelligence-gathering efforts in Afghanistan, says Army Maj. Eric Butler, a military intelligence officer. Soldiers are trained to spot threats such as snipers or roadside bombs but they also need to learn how to capture information that typically soldiers wouldn’t care about, such as the ambiance of a particular area, the politics and the infrastructure, Butler says. That data is more difficult to capture but it can provide important clues about enemy tactics in a counterinsurgency war.
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The Army’s top intelligence officer in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn, has been seeking ways to bridge those gaps. Much of the blame goes to the Army’s outdated and ineffective methods for gathering intelligence, Flynn wrote in a paper that was published in January by the Center for a New American Security.“Many decisionmakers rely more upon newspapers than military intelligence to obtain ‘ground truth,'” said Flynn. Credible intelligence is tough to come by in Afghanistan because the local culture — or "human terrain" in military-speak — is not well understood. One problem with current intelligence gathering and analysis is that these functions are concentrated in the higher echelons of command and the information does not rapidly reach the smallunit commanders who lead the day-to-day fighting. “The demand for intelligence analysis is at echelons below brigade,” said
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the Pentagon’s top acquisition executive, than type up old-fashioned intelligence Ashton Carter. “But it is still the case that reports, they use a digital map based system, most of the analytical expertise is associated called TIGR, where they can input audio, with the division and brigade levels,” he said video and still images. “It’s a map based at a recent Center for Strategic and Wikipedia,” said Hutchison. International Studies conference. Once they capture all the data, they begin the “In this fight, which is so local and so analysis. That is the most difficult piece, said information intensive, soldiers are used to Hutchison. “You can certainly teach soldiers having information and acting on it,” Carter and leaders how to do ‘buttonology,’” he said. In response to intelligence added. “They can run the heck out shortfalls, the Army has of those computer systems as revamped the company-level individuals. Even when you talk command post. “It is not your about interoperability, we can company command post of 20 teach them how to do that and they years ago. They’re all at laptops, can do that all day long. But just expecting information. They know because you have a synchronized how to be effective with system of systems does not mean information,” Carter said. At the that you have situational company level, “They need intelligence understanding.” analysts who can tell them about good guys, Soldiers have to grasp fuzzy concepts such as bad guys in different towns,” he said. But “knowledge management” and “common they often don’t have enough analysts, or the operating picture” in order to properly ones they do have may not be producing the analyze the intelligence, said Hutchison. “That data that commanders need. “It’s important is the challenge in the current environment … to get people down in the echelons where the producing knowledge, know what to do with analysis can be useful and you’re not just the information, and understand why it is writing reports as they do in divisions and important.” brigades,” Carter said. Company officers Butler, the intelligence officer, said he has practice how to collect and analyze seen some progress in the past several years. information, such as the contacts made by “The capabilities are there. We’re getting patrol leaders, who are the guys with the there,” he said. He credits the Army for slowly boots on the ground, Hutchison said. “All that working to downgrade the classification of information helps understand the human material that soldiers collect from the field. terrain.” “We’ve always had a tendency to overSoldiers nowadays use digital cameras and classify information,” he said. “I think we’ve biometrics data readers when they go out on gotten better at [discriminating] intelligence patrols. To capture the information when we can share with everyone.” they return to the operations center, rather http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2010/May/Pages/ArmyReorganizesTrainingforI ntelligenceUnits.aspx
30 Terrorist Plots Foiled: How the System Worked Published on April 29, 2010 by Jena Baker McNeill , James Carafano, Ph.D. and Jessica Zuckerman In 2009 alone, U.S. authorities foiled at least six terrorist plots against the United States. Since September 11, 2001, at least 30 planned terrorist attacks have been foiled, all but two of them prevented by law enforcement. The two notable exceptions are the passengers and flight attendants who subdued the "shoe bomber" in 2001 and the "underwear bomber" on Christmas Editor: Dalene Duvenage
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Day in 2009. Bottom line: The system has generally worked well. But many tools necessary for ferreting out conspiracies and catching terrorists are under attack. Chief among them are key provisions of the PATRIOT Act that are set to expire at the end of this year. It is time for President Obama to demonstrate his commitment to keeping the country safe. Heritage Foundation national security experts provide a road map for a successful counterterrorism strategy. (see the graphic on the next page) http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/04/30-Terrorist-Plots-Foiled-How-the-SystemWorked
Mexico indicts cartel suspect; authorities say man managed intelligence for group April 20, 2010 ; THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD A Mexican Federal judge assigned to organized crime cases has indicted a man accused of running an intelligence-gathering cell for the Gulf Cartel. Oscar Abel Juarez Paredes, aka El Aguila was indicted Tuesday morning on the charges of engaging in organized criminal activity, crimes against health and possession of weapons restricted for military use, said a press release from Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office—PGR. Mexican marines arrested Juarez on Saturday in the city of Valle Hermoso, approximately
86 miles south of Brownsville, the release stated. According to the PGR, Juarez led a cell of Halcones, an intelligence gathering unit, that worked for the Gulf Cartel. At the time of his arrest, Juarez was in possession of a .45 caliber handgun, a bundle of marijuana and a radio communication console, the release stated. After the arrangement, Juarez was taken to a Federal Detention Center in Tamaulipas where he will be held for 40 days until a Mexican court gathers the evidence for his trial, the agency stated. http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/organized-111205-cartel-indicted.html
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Europe Dutch spies become more active abroad 21 April 2010 By Steven Derix Lacking domestic threats, the Dutch intelligence agency is expanding its foreign operations. The Dutch secret service, the AIVD, has announced a shift in strategy that will take it further into the realm of James Bond. At the presentation of its annual report on Tuesday, chief officer Gerard Bouman said his agency had been spending less time conducting domestic operations. Instead, more and more Dutch secret agents are being deployed abroad: in Yemen, Somalia, and the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the future, their number “will only increase,” Bouman said. He even introduced a catchy term to describe the agency’s new strategy: “forward defence”. According to the AIVD
the AIVD’s top priority. The agency was expanded to combat home-grown terrorism. In the mid 1990s, the AIVD’s main predecessor employed only a few hundred people. At last count, the service had 1,495 employees. But as the AIVD expanded, the domestic terror threat all but disappeared. As recently as 2006, the AIVD reported the existence of 10 to 15 radical networks within the Netherlands, incorporating some 200 extremist Muslims. Last year, terrorism experts working for the service admitted they assumed these networks no longer posed any real threat. AIVD analysts have since become absorbed by a ‘new’ threat: foreign terrorism. The arrest of Akeel Abbasi in 2008 in the Netherlands, a suspected member of a Spanish terrorist cell, may have gotten little attention in
chief, his service Dutch media, but Queen Beatrix opens the new AIVD office in needs better terrorism fighters say his Zoetermeer. Photo Roel Rozenburg intelligence on foreign arrest is ominous evidence terrorist groups to “prevent attacks from that the newest threats would be foreign taking place in the Netherlands”. The AIVD, rather than domestic. the national intelligence agency, has a wideA new foreign threat ranging set of responsibilities. For one, it Intelligence chief Bouman explicitly tried to keeps tabs on organisations and individuals claim the reduced domestic threat as an AIVD that pose a threat to the democratic rule of success. “I do believe we have contributed to law in the Netherlands, such as young Muslim it,” he said Tuesday. He also pointed out the radicals and neo-fascists. growing foreign threat, mentioning last Domestic enemies took precedence Christmas’ failed attack on a plane flying from In recent history, the intelligence agency Amsterdam to Detroit by the young Nigerian, focused most of its attention on domestic Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The AIVD’s threats. The attacks in Madrid (2004) and annual report contains a few others, such as London (2005) proved that Europe harboured the arrest of a Somali at a centre for asylum a home-grown version of Islamic terrorism. seekers, and the detention at Schiphol airport After the Dutch filmmaker, Theo van Gogh, of five American youths returning from a was murdered in Amsterdam in November jihadist training camp in Somalia. 2004, autonomous terrorist networks became In the future, the AIVD hopes to apprehend terrorists before they even arrive in the Editor: Dalene Duvenage
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Netherlands. “The ultimate goal would be to stop a terrorist before he boards a plane in Nairobi,” Bouman said, referring to the case of the Detroit bomber. But the AIVD’s increased foreign scope extends beyond terrorism. By stationing people in countries like Iran and Syria, the agency hopes to fight the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Earlier this month, acting on a tip from intelligence agencies, Dutch authorities arrested four people who worked for a turbine manufacturer on suspicion of delivering military supplies to Iran. Espionage by foreign powers like China and Russia, another foreign threat that seems to be back in the picture, has been the focus of the AIVD for some time now. The service recently published an analysis of vulnerabilities to foreign intelligence
gathering, pointing out the threat posed by internet-based ‘cyberespionage’. In response to questions, Bouman said that while the AIVD could reduce costs, he thought his agency did not have any trouble proving its worth. He cited a recent government report regarding the run-up to the Iraq war that stated the Dutch government leaned heavily on American and British intelligences services for information regarding Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. This proved the Netherlands needed its own source of intelligence, Bouman said. According to Bouman, the agency has a hard enough time satisfying the government’s insatiable appetite for information as it is. “High expectations demand a service able to meet them,” he said. http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2529342.ece/Dutch_spies_become_more_active_abroad
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