READ BY THE WORLD’S INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY
EYE SPY
INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE
A BRIEF REVIEW
ISSUE NUMBER 88 PUBLICATION DATE DECEMBER 2013
Your Gateway to the Secret World of Espionage and Intelligence
EYE SPY 88 VOLUME XI NUMBER EIGHT (ISSUE 88) ISSN 1364 8446 publication date: DECEMBER 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
THE EDWARD SNOWDEN LEAKS Former NSA and CIA contractor Edward Snowden has recently found employment with an Internet company in Moscow, believed to be Russia’s equivalent of Facebook. Snowden, of course, stole as many as 200,000 intelligencerelated files from a variety of USIC (United States Intelligence Community) computer systems, including some threaded to all arms of the Department of Defense. He tried to justify his actions by claiming the NSA has practised and perfected global surveillance on a scale which is tantamount to ‘big brother’. Just as controversial, Snowden has endeavoured to prove that the Agency, via American embassies and field stations, has also intercepted the calls of many world leaders. This has created a plethora of political problems for Washington and London which have led to a multitude of counter-measures being introduced - including some from Internet firms such as Google and Microsoft. World Wide Web Monitoring The truth of the matter is, 99.9% of all traffic ‘digested’ by the NSA and its sister organisation here in the UK, GCHQ, is ejected at a ferocious rate. What remains is fed through machines seeking only data which is useful to those engaged with intelligence collection, and that which effects national security. Cell Phone Interception Around thirty years ago, details of an NSA-GCHQ listening programme code-named ECHELON surfaced. Recording was effectively triggered by key words spoken over telephone landlines. Again, it was intended as a security measure and came as no surprise to those working in the field of intelligence and journalists reporting on espionage. Today, the programme has been widened to encompass the World Wide Web, e-mail and cell phone communications. Does it record caller content? The short answer is no, but it does provide a useful data base which allows analysts to focus on specific ‘numbers of interest’. This then allows analysts to look at the activity of ‘persons of interest’, and aid counter-intelligence and counter-terrorist programmes. I have no doubt some searches do target individuals, companies and government departments of foreign nations; it will also focus on adversaries, foreign spy agencies and armed forces. But let us be truthfully honest here, all spies spy and the United States and Britain are not the only countries to operate electronic intelligence collection agencies. Indeed, Snowden’s current country of occupancy has a powerful global eavesdropping system, so too many nations in Europe which have been outspoken in their criticism of the NSA and GCHQ. The NSA does not have the ability to listen and examine the content of every recording. And to put this in context, the Agency’s computers, the most powerful in the world, allegedly ‘receive’ data on FIVE BILLION locations A DAY where cell phone calls are made. I am satisfied the data, collected by a system code-named CO-TRAVELER, is used mainly for counter-terrorist work. It’s probably true that other initiatives are also operated, monitoring the movements and calls of a variety of people and whom they engage in conversation; from Germany’s Chancellor Merkel to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Cables Besides satellite communications, the world is connected by an extensive undersea cable network. Cables have been targeted for the best part of a century - the earliest secret programmes initiated following the outbreak of war. Interception via these cables undoubtedly occurs today. In relation to this, in this edition of Eye Spy we report on a very unusual structure built on the mainland of Britain (now dismantled) that was disguised in such a fashion as not to attract attention. Two decades ago the tower was used to receive intercepted communications which were then forwarded to London via optical cables. Its primary function was one of counter-terrorism data collection. Interestingly, some features evident on the tower are identical to those which can be found atop many US embassies today known as ‘SHEDS’. It is but one of a number of fascinating features contained within Eye Spy 88. A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE 88 FOLLOWS...
THE TRIPOLI SANCTION US SPECIAL FORCES’ OPERATIONS IN LIBYA
US Special Forces seize Abu Anas al-Liby - wanted in connection with the 1998 US Embassy attacks - this as a simultaneous Navy SEAL raid targeted al-Shabaab commanders.
Full background and aftermath, plus an examination of the disturbing influence and growing strength of al-Qaida in Libya.
MI5 REACT SECURITY SERVICE OPERATIONS IN THE UK Nationwide arrests as Security Service initiates ‘end game’ of multiple and critical on-going operations - including the derailing of an emerging plot that some intelligence watchers believe was a replica of the recent Westgate Shopping Mall attack in Kenya
BROKEN: MOSSAD SPY NETWORK EXPOSED BY TURKISH INTELLIGENCE? NATO concern as intelligence protocol breached - this as allegations abound that Turkey’s MIT has reached a secret agreement with MOIS - the Iranian intelligence service Iranian President Hassan Rohani
AL-QAIDA’S GATEWAY WORLDWIDE INTELLIGENCE AND MEDIA REACTION A comprehensive look at how the world of intelligence is reacting to the Edward Snowden leaks of US, UK and ‘Five Eyes’ documents. Feature includes commentary and opinions of a number of leading intelligence, military, political and media figures. Plus opinion on the likely damage caused to national security. Also discussed the subject of future leaks by Snowden. A fascinating and indepth feature not to be missed.
MI5’s Director-General Andrew Parker said the former NSA contractor’s actions have “opened a gateway for al-Qaida”
TOMMMY FLOWERS CODEBREAKER AND FATHER OF THE COMPUTER The unsung WWII hero of Bletchley Park honoured
•THE PROGRAMMES •FIELD STATIONS •INTEL COLLECTORS •CELL PHONE TAPPING AND SECURITY •NUMBER CORRELATION •A MOSSAD CONNECTION?
Europe warns on intel relations as Washington plays down new allegations of widespread phone tapping and e-mail interception
BUGS: PART TWO AND THE CULTURE OF INTERCEPTION
AN EYE SPY TRADECRAFT FEATURE
Eye Spy examines a number of case files which expose the dark and often dangerous world created when professional buggists interact - both inadvertently and deliberately - with the world of intelligence
ASSASSINATION, DARK ARTS AND CORPORATE ESPIONAGE
An external telephone box provides a professional buggist with easy access to a landline
DIA INTELLIGENCE THE DOOMSDAY CASHE OF INTELLIGENCE FILES Foreign operations threatened as it is revealed former NSA contractor Edward Snowden has stolen as many as 40,000 US armed forces intelligence documents. The inside story
THE NORWEGIAN TERROR PIPELINE As MI6 continues its hunt to track down the notorious British ‘Black Widow’ Samantha Lewthwaite, and probe the September Westgate Shopping Mall attack in Kenya, evidence begins to emerge that the attack gang had ‘international dimensions’.
DEATH OF A BRITISH SPY NO CLOSURE FOR FAMILY OF GARETH WILLIAMS New Scotland Yard statement on the strange death of Gareth Williams in 2010 rejected by family and intelligence figures
UAV ON-LINE CIA STATION CHIEF OUTED OVER DEADLY PROGRAMME • UAV STATISTICS • HOURS ON-LINE • HOURS IN FLIGHT • CASUALTIES • OPERATIONS • IMPACT • LEGALITY
TICOM TARGET INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE
TICOM WORLD EXCLUSIVE
Peter Matthews, author of the important new book - SIGINT - was involved in the tale end of the little known TICOM operations in Berlin in the late 1940s and witnessed the analysis of German signals intelligence operations - both their successes and failures. In this exclusive feature, Peter examines some pivotal moments and looks at the primary German agencies involved with various aspects of codebreaking, communications, interception, surveillance and electronic intelligence collection
ENCOUNTER CONTROL IN THE INTELLIGENCE CYCLE Eye Spy Security Editor - Mike Finn begins his new series on the complex, but often necessary discipline of Encounter Control in the Intelligence Cycle. Although most intelligence agencies teach some form of defence skills and personal security awareness to their field operatives during initiation, Encounter Control differs considerably from agency to agency and does include being aware of one’s personal surroundings, understanding developing situations and analysis of body language In this feature the author provides an introductory explanation of the term
NEW SERIES
REWARDS AND AWARDS SNOWDEN AND THE GUARDIAN In Moscow, Edward Snowden has been honoured for his activities, this as the Guardian received multiple awards for its reporting of the spy affair. Eye Spy asks are they really justified?
SHEDS A NEST OF SPIES Eye Spy provides a fascinating insight into the collection and submission of intelligence via the strange buildings often seen atop embassies, this as Germany accuses the United States of operating a ‘nest of spies’ from its Berlin Embassy. Also an explanation of the structures that can be seen on the roof of the biggest US embassy in the western hemisphere
Germany’s Reichstag. Berlin has complained about the US Embassy housing a ‘nest of spies’ and spying on its government
IRAN’S N-BOMB QUEST GENEVA DEAL STALLS TEHRAN’S AMBITION Analysts divided over uranium enrichment agreement
Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN discusses Iran’s nuclear bomb programme
LITVINENKO CONTROVERSY AHEAD OF INQUEST Important documents examined and analysed ahead of inquest into the assassination of MI6 agent and former FSB officer Alexsander Litvinenko in 2006
INTEL DIGEST REVIEW AND BREAKING NEWS FROM INTEL WORLD
REVEALED
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