READ BY THE WORLD’S INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY
EYE SPY
INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE
A BRIEF REVIEW
ISSUE NUMBER 87 PUBLICATION DATE SEPTEMBER 2013
Your Gateway to the Secret World of Espionage and Intelligence
EYE SPY 87 VOLUME XI NUMBER SEVEN (ISSUE 87) ISSN 1364 8446 publication date: SEPTEMBER 2013
Each print edition of Eye Spy Intelligence Magazine is 84pp - full colour throughout. The images contained in this brief overview are very low resolution
Subscribed to by all the world’s leading intelligence and security agencies FROM THE EDITOR - MARK BIRDSALL
AN INEVITABLE ATTACK When terrorists aligned to the al-Qaida franchise known as al-Shabaab (the Youth) stormed the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in September, it marked a dangerous turning point for those charged with combating international terrorism. Unlike most such complexes, Westgate did support a lightly armed guard, but with cunning planning, a determined attack force and with no regard for human life, the thugs moved with lightening speed to murder over 70 civilians, including several children, the youngest being a two-yearold toddler. For the Kenyan security services, this was truly the nightmare scenario they had feared. The Somali-based outfit had carefully stored their weapons in a shop which they had hired, thus entry was made without arousing suspicion. What followed is of course history, though for al-Qaida this operation ranks as its most ‘successful’ since the attack in Mumbai where another franchise stormed the city killing over 170 people in 2008. The shopping mall operation has its roots in a plan conceived by al-Qaida well over a decade ago in northern England, thankfully MI5 disrupted a plot to attack the huge Trafford Shopping Centre in Manchester. And since then, documentation shows a further three operations have been foiled targeting similar complexes in the UK. Much attention in the press has been focused on a Briton called Samantha Lewthwaite, a 29-year-old who MI6 has hunted for the best part of two years. She appears central or at the very least connected to events in Kenya. Interestingly, Eye Spy had prepared a report prior to the Westgate attack on the woman, this in connection with an operation that resulted in the deaths of British and American al-Shabaab terrorists in a feature we called ‘Al-Qaida Housekeeping’. This can be found in issue 87, as well as an overview of the shopping centre attack. The real fear amongst counter-terrorist officials around the world, is that Westgate will inspire other supporters of al-Qaida to redouble their efforts and target malls again. And it is my understanding, that discussions have already begun to analyse the sensitive subject of using covert armed patrols in the larger of the malls in some countries. In the UK, the public have been given the sense of security that such units create in airports, transport hubs and on the streets of major cities (sensitive locations), thus it would not surprise me in the least that governments now adopt this ‘assurance policy’ in busy shopping malls. On a lighter note, this edition examines the tradecraft known as ‘silent communication’ - a skill used by those involved in the dark arts of espionage. We also include the secret terminology assigned to the craft by organisations such as MI6 and the CIA - ‘deadground’ being just one. Another tradecraft series also begins; this focused on the history and evolution of bugs and interception. Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor who stole so many secrets from America’s communications intelligence agency, continues to feed a selected media with state secrets. His partner, acting as a courier was tracked and stopped at Heathrow Airport by MI5. The Security Service removed from his person some 58,000 files from a hard drive, believed to be the bulk of Snowden’s ‘in-house espionage’. Thus the NSA and other intelligence services will at the very least be aware of the type of story and leaks that will undoubtedly follow in future months. Former MI5 Director-General Dame Stella Rimington recently said the intelligence services must do more to convince the public that people like Snowden, who along with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange she referred to as “mistaken twerps,” as not “uncovering scandal.” She is quite right of course. Snowden is being selective and deliberately creating mischief. Readers can read his latest offerings in this edition and make up their own minds. A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE - ISSUE 87 FOLLOWS...
THE INCREMENT DEATH OF PRINCESS DIANA As new allegations of MI6-SAS involvement in the death of Princess Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed in Paris in 1997 emerge, Eye Spy reveals from where the rumour almost certainly originated from
BENGHAZI ‘COVER-UP’? POST-ATTACK EVENTS LIKE ‘WATERGATE’
CIA agent in city on night of Benghazi attack suspended as pressure mounts over White House non-action during US Consulate incident, this as evidence emerges US Special Forces were deployed just two hours journey time away
SILENT SPIES AND COMMUNICATION AN EYE SPY TRADECRAFT FEATURE Eye Spy examines the often dangerous world of agent liaison and some of the fascinating and diverse methods initiated, performed and taught by the world’s leading intelligence services to communicate, signal and exchange information in absolute silence...
GERMAN-US SPY LIAISONS SECRET PROJECT UNCOVERED
BfV headquarters, Cologne
AL-QAIDA’S NEW TARGETS NSA INTERCEPTS EXPOSE FRIGHTENING OBJECTIVES Eye Spy reveals al-Qaida’s new objectives, some of its emerging players and a plot to attack high speed trains
THE WHITE WIDOW AL-QAIDA HOUSEKEEPING
The incidents involving ‘white widow’ Samantha Lewthwaite prior to the al-Qaida attack on Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya
As the century unfolds Eye Spy examines some key factors that will need to be addressed by intelligence and counter-terrorism officials
“...the ghosts of the original group, Osama bin-Laden et. all, continue to attract followers..”
THE HIDDEN HAND A 21ST CENTURY OVERVIEW
THE WORLD OF COUNTER TERRORISM AND INTELLIGENCE
New FBI Director James Comey attended the 12th anniversary ceremony of 9/11. Comey has warned about the impact of automatic proposed cuts to the Bureau’s funding. He admitted that the FBI had already stopped training new agents. Comey explained he was happy to discuss the matter but refused to say which part of the Bureau’s operation would be affected most, but many observers note his comments were issued shortly after visiting the site of the twin towers attack. For the record, the FBI has 36,000 employees
RETURN TO SPY CYPRUS SPIES AND SUBMARINE CABLES: INTERCEPTION For decades the strategically important island of Cyprus has been the battleground for numerous spy encounters. Its importance to the West in the field of SIGINT and ELINT are well known in intelligence circles, and as events unfold in the Middle East, the UK spy bases on Cyprus are once again in the headlights of the media. Eye Spy looks back at a number of notable case files, and a new and emerging story which is making international news...
This impressive graphic reveals the truly enormous nature of the submarine cable network
A VERY BRITISH COUP OPERATION BOOT AND AJAX New documents surface from the early 1950s, showing how the CIA and MI6 were authorised by Washington and London to formulate a plan to overthrow Iran’s ultranationalist leader - Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh
SAS IMPLICATED IN DEATH ENDURING MYSTERY OF RUDOLF HESS New Scotland Yard received information on alleged assassination of Rudolf Hess by British Agents in Spandau Prison disguised as US Army guards. Eye Spy examines evidence and presents additional and most revealing information from a former SAS officer who looked after Hess in Berlin and befriended his family
OPENING PANDORA’S BOX SYRIA: INTEL AGENCIES WARN OF AL-QAIDA MENACE As Syrian war intensifies, spy agencies from around the world drawn to Damascus following sarin gas attacks - this as MI6 warn between 40-50% of those opposed to Assad regime are aligned to al-Qaida and as many as 40 terror franchises now operating in country
President Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron. Cameron wanted to launch a military strike with the US against Syria, but lost a crucial vote in Parliament against action. Obama too sought support from politicians. The threat of an attack diminished thereafter as President Assad agreed to dismantle his chemical weapons stockpiles
AL-HILLI ASSASSINATION ANNECY SHOOTING - SECRET SERVICE CONNECTIONS
CIA STING OPERATION KGB UMBRELLA ASSASSIN GEORGI MARKOV INVESTIGATION ENDS
WESTGATE MALL INCIDENT AL-QAIDA STRIKES SOFTEST OF TARGETS • Anatomy of an attack that was first conceived by al-Qaida in 2002 in northern England... • The role played by Samantha Lewthwaite the ‘white widow’ • Implications for shopping centres and security around the world
MAJOR INTEL DIGEST REVIEW AND BREAKING NEWS FROM INTEL WORLD
FAIR GAME? MI5 TRACK COURIER AND SEIZE 58,000 INTEL DOCS British security services detain partner of journalist who is collaborating with NSA contractor Edward Snowden - 58,000 files recovered but duplicate sets exist elsewhere. Content forces MI6 to relocate and withdraw a number of officers and agents whose identity has been exposed...
‘NSA/CIA contractor Edward Snowden has surrounded himself with a plethora of powerful media, political, legal and civil rights’ people’
BUGS: PART ONE AND THE CULTURE OF INTERCEPTION AN EYE SPY TRADECRAFT FEATURE
NEW SERIES
Communications expert PAUL BEAUMONT provides an historical insight into operations and methods used by both the intelligence world and private operators to intercept communications and eavesdrop
‘For five years we bugged and burgled our way across London at the State’s behest, while pompous bowler hatted civil servants in Whitehall pretended to look the other way’. Peter Wright - senior MI5 officer
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