Read article--The Crossroads of History: The Struggle against Jihad and Supremacist Ideologies

"....The true challenge of Islamic supremacism to America and the free world is not about Islam, Islamism, or terrorism, but about us.

It is a historic challenge to determine whether we truly have the courage of our convictions on equality and liberty and we are willing to fight for these ideals, or if we will instead accept the continuing growth of anti-freedom ideologies here and around the world...."

Counterintelligence News for the week of:

December 17-23, 2006

Archive Helps Detail Scope of Nazi Camps

…Holocaust historians are only now piecing together the scattered research in many languages to understand the vast scope of the camps, prisons and punishment centers that scarred German-ruled Europe, like a pox on the landscape stretching from Greece to Norway and eastward into Russia…..(AP, 23 Dec 06)

Human rights group want to investigate British intelligence services

In the North, the Human Rights Commission wants to be allowed to investigate allegations of human rights abuses involving MI5 or MI6…..(Belfast Telegraph, 23 Dec 06)

Gunmen Slay Iraqi Intelligence Officer

An Iraqi military intelligence officer was slain in a drive-by shooting on Saturday south of Baghdad, police said. Gunmen attacked 1st Lt. Hussein Jabir at 7:30 a.m. as he was leaving his home…(AP, 23 Dec 06)

Former Economy Minister charged with treason, espionage
The former Economy Minister, Codrut Seres, declared on Thursday, while leaving the Prosecutor General's Office he had been charged with treason by divulging secret information….(Hot News, 23 Dec 06)

Lives spent in Gathering Secrets

The Enemy Within: A History of Espionage, by Terry Crowdy

…Spying, writes Crowdy, is the world’s “second oldest profession”. The earliest record of espionage dates back to Rameses’ war against the Hittites, in which Muwatallis, the Hittite king, sent two spies to spread false information in the Egyptian camp. Even the Old Testament is rich in similar tales of deception. Moses had sent 12 spies to gather information before leading his men into Canaan…..(Telegraph India, 22 Dec 06)

Ex-spy loses lawsuit over Canada's refusal to let her return

…Elena Miller, a 43-year-old ex-spy, was deported in 1996 after her cover was blown by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Her second husband, Toronto physician Peter Miller, has tried for eight years to sponsor his wife, only to see the application rejected by Citizenship and Immigration Canada….(Globe & Mail, 22 Dec 06)

More Details About Archives Case

…A newly released report by the National Archives' Office of the Inspector General contains fresh details of the incident, which involved a classified Clinton administration study called the Millennium Alert After Action Review (MAAR)….(Washington Post, 22 Dec 06)

Spy charge hits Afghan mission

…The nature of the charges against Cpl. James, 44, is so sensitive that at a two-hour hearing in London after his arrest, all but a few minutes of it were closed to the public and press, news reports said yesterday. Cpl. James was arrested in London on Tuesday. Cpl. James, dressed in a green jacket and white T-shirt, spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth. He was charged with passing information "calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy"….(Globe & Mail, 22 Dec 06)

Professor, wife plead guilty after spy charges reduced

The couple's arrests in January followed years of FBI surveillance, which included placing a listening device in the bedroom of their Miami home and wiretaps on their telephone. The FBI said Carlos Alvarez, known to the Cubans by the code name "David," used a short-wave radio and encryption techniques to communicate with his Cuban handlers….(AP, 22 Dec 06)

Bigamist who claimed to be secret agent is jailed

HERE is the redacted version of a draft Op-Ed article we wrote for The Times, as blacked out by the Central Intelligence Agency’s Publication Review Board after the White House intervened in the normal prepublication review process and demanded substantial deletions….(New York Times, 22 Dec 06)

The Iraq Study Group has added its voice to a burgeoning chorus of commentators, politicians, and former officials calling for a limited, tactical dialogue with Iran regarding Iraq….(New York Times, 22 Dec 06)

The debate centers on an opinion piece that former National Security Council official Flynt Leverett and former Foreign Service officer Hillary Mann sought to publish in The New York Times….(AP, 22 Dec 06)

Salsa club career of corporal held on Iran spying charge

The soldier accused of passing military secrets to Iran is a salsa-dancing former nightclub owner, it emerged yesterday. Corporal Daniel James, 44, of Iranian descent, has been in the Territorial Army for up to 20 years and has served in Northern Ireland….(Times Online, 22 Dec 06)

The 'spy' who danced the salsa

Tight white singlet barely covering his muscular torso, "Danny J" puts his salsa class through its paces….(This Is London, 22 Dec 06)

Top British Army aide accused of spying

...Cpl Daniel James, 44, is charged under the 1911 Official Secrets Act with "prejudicing the safety of the state" by passing information "calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy". It was said he had communicated with a "foreign power" in the incident on Nov 2, believed to be Iran…The Daily Telegraph has learned that he acts as an interpreter for Gen David Richards, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan and one of the most senior officers in the Army. If the trial goes ahead, it will be the first espionage prosecution under Section 1 of the 1911 Act for a generation.…(Telegraph 21 Dec 06)

British soldier 'gave Army secrets to Iran'

…The Times has learnt that the soldier was charged in relation to the passing of confidential information about British activities in Afghanistan to Iran, which shares a border with western Afghanistan, and has a strategic interest and influence in the region. Corporal James speaks fluent Pashtun, the language of most Afghans, and acts as an interpreter for Lieutenant-General David Richards, the British commander of the NATO forces in Afghanistan….(Times Online, 21 Dec 06)

Paper: Brit Commander's Aide Faces Charges

… James, 44, spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth during his brief appearance Wednesday at a magistrates court. He did not ask for bail and returns to court Dec. 27. The charge against him alleges that on Nov. 2 James "communicated to another person information calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy."…(AP, 21 Dec 06)

Soldier accused over 'Iran secrets'

…Corporal Daniel James, 44, was an interpreter for General David Richards, according to newspapers….(Guardian, 21 Dec 06)

Otto Kundert, 88; Musician, CIA Analyst and Teacher

Otto Robert Kundert, 88, a musician and retired analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, died Dec. 10….(Washington Post, 21 Dec 06)

Berger Hid Archives Papers Under a Trailer, Probe Shows

On the evening of Oct. 2, 2003, former White House national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger stashed highly classified documents he had taken from the National Archives beneath a construction trailer at the corner of Ninth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW so he could surreptitiously retrieve them later and take them to his office, according to a newly disclosed government investigation….(Washington Post, 21 Dec 06)

U.S. to Declassify Secrets at Age 25

…At midnight on Dec. 31, hundreds of millions of pages of secret documents will be instantly declassified, including many F.B.I. cold war files on investigations of people suspected of being Communist sympathizers….(New York Times, 21 Dec 06)

Bar investigating lawyer with possible link to CIA

…Scott Caplan represents Bayard Foreign Marketing, an Oregon company that took ownership of a Gulfstream V jet in 2004. Human rights activists say the CIA used the jet to ferry terrorism suspects to countries that practice torture….(Oregonian, 21 Dec 06)

The Agent Who Was Left Out in the Cold

When prosecutors went to search Boris Berezovsky's Moscow mansion in 1995 to investigate the murder of an executive at state-controlled ORT television, a determined armed guard barred the door. The guard was Alexander Litvinenko, then an officer in an FSB counter-terrorism unit. Litvinenko was protecting Berezovsky, who consolidated his hold over the channel after the executive, Vladislav Listyev, was shot to death…(Moscow Times, 21 Dec 06)

Germany urges Russia to help investigate Litvinenko's death

Germany's foreign minister warned Thursday that the assassinations of two vocal Kremlin critics had the potential to damage Moscow's reputation and urged Russia to help with the investigations into their deaths. His Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, warned against "politicizing" the case….(AP, 21 Dec 06)

Archbishop Wielgus a former communist spy
According to the weekly Gazeta Polska, Archbishop Stanisław Wielgus, who is to succeed Cardinal Józef Glemp as the metropolitan of Warsaw, has in the past been a secret collaborator of the communist intelligence….(Polskie Radio, 21 Dec 06)

Report: Portuguese foreign minister withheld information on secret CIA flights

A news magazine reported Thursday that Portugal's foreign minister withheld information from European Parliament officials investigating alleged CIA flights in Europe while he was defense minister….(AP, 21 Dec 06)

Spain Could Sue US Agents Over CIA Flight

Spain could sue 13 agents of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) travelling on a plane which is thought to have transported terrorist suspects and which made stopovers in Palma de Majorca….(Playfuls, 21 Dec 06)

Grumbles, revelations of a Thai coup maker
…In response, the former head of the National Security Council and US Central Intelligence Agency-trained old military intelligence hand would take a puff from his ever-present pipe and smile wryly: "Not until I have accomplished my mission, and that is to get Thaksin out of power."…(Asia Times, 21 Dec 06)

Spies who sold out Britain to its enemies

Prosecutions under the Official Secrets Act - and, especially under its most draconian provision, Section I - are rare…The most notorious spy of modern times was George Blake, a double agent working for MI6 who passed on secrets to the Soviets. He was charged on five counts of espionage under the Official Secrets Act in 1961….(Telegraph, 21 Dec 06)

Poison spy's friend mocks Russian extradition talk

An exiled Chechen leader and friend of poisoned ex-Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko accused Moscow on Wednesday of trying to frighten him by resuming a criminal investigation aimed at extraditing him. Russian media said prosecutors had resumed a criminal investigation into Chechen Akhmed Zakayev, whom Moscow accuses of a string of terrorist offences which he vehemently denies…..(Reuters, 20 Dec 06)

Litvinenko Said to Have Been in Desperate Need of Money

In the months preceding his death, former Federal Security Service agent Alexander Litvinenko desperately needed money due to his "allowance" having been dramatically cut, Dmitry Kovtun, a Litvinenko associate, was reported by Izvestia as saying. "He was telling me back in the summer that his allowance had been cut down by three times ... to 1,500 [British pounds]," Kovtun said of Litvinenko. That figure equals about $2,930. …(Moscow Times, Part One,  20 Dec 06)

FBI releases last of secret John Lennon files

…The files turn out to contain only well known information about Lennon's ties to left-wing leaders and antiwar groups in London in 1970 and 1971, said Jon Wiener, a history professor at the University of California, Irvine, and the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union….(Reuters, 20 Dec 06)

Alleged spy's deportation delayed

A Montrealer who is alleged to be a Russian spy might have to spend Christmas behind bars even though his native country's consular staff have now confirmed his Russian citizenship and are ready to give him travel papers, the man's lawyer says. Canada Border Services Agency says the man formerly known as Paul William Hampel cannot be deported to Russia until Dec. 27…(Globe and Mail, 20 Dec 06)

Canada Delays Expulsion of Russian Spy — Lawyer

…Stephane Handfield told AFP that the alleged spy known as Paul William Hampel was supposed to be expelled following the 04 December 2006 judge’s decision on his case.…(MosNews, 20 Dec 06)

Patrushev Says More Spies Work in NGOs

Foreign intelligence services are increasingly using international nongovernmental organizations and foreign press bureaus in Russia as cover for their agents, Federal Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev said Tuesday. Patrushev said a "sharp increase" had been observed in information-gathering activities carried out by agents who work in Russia legally…(Moscow Times, 20 Dec 06)

Couple strikes plea deal in Castro 'spy' case

Almost one year after his arrest jolted Miami, former Florida International University professor Carlos Alvarez pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to be an unregistered agent who informed on the Cuban exile community for the communist government of Fidel Castro. His wife, Elsa, an FIU counselor on leave, also pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami to being aware of his illegal activity, harboring him and failing to disclose it to authorities.…(Miami Herald, 20 Dec 06)

Professor, wife plead guilty after spy charges reduced

…The couple's arrests in January followed years of FBI surveillance, which included placing a listening device in the bedroom of their Miami home and wiretaps on their telephone. The FBI said Carlos Alvarez, known to the Cubans by the code name "David," used a short-wave radio and encryption techniques to communicate with his Cuban handlers….(AP, 20 Dec 06)

Florida professor pleads guilty to conspiring to spy for Cuba

Former Florida International University professor Carlos Alvarez came to regret collaborating with Cuban intelligence agents. The secret meetings, code names and encrypted messages about prominent Cuban exiles - all of which Alvarez has admitted - began as an attempt to foster dialogue between Cuban-Americans and Cubans on the island. But he was never a communist or a Castro supporter…(Sun-Sentinel, 20 Dec 06)

Spy ‘Handed over secrets to Al Qaeda’

A British spy appeared in court today accused of giving secrets to al Qaeda.

Daniel James, 44, appeared before City of Westminster magistrates over allegations that he divulged secret information to “the enemy”. He has been charged under the Official Secrets Act…(This is London, 20 Dec 06)

Pakistan denies afghan allegation on spying

Pakistan has rubbished as “fabricated” a claim by Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai`s spokesman that Kabul security forces had apprehended a Pakistani intelligence officer for espionage.  “This is all fabricated. They could have used coercive measures to make him say things which have no relevance to reality”…(Zee News, 20 Dec 06)

Russia launches German military spy satellite

…A Russian Cosmos 3M booster has successfully put Germany's SAR-Lupe satellite into orbit, Alexei Kuznetsov, a spokesperson for Russia's Space Forces, was quoted as saying by the Ria Novosti news agency Tuesday…(Xinhua, 20 Dec 06)

Jailed Chinese Journalist Is Freed Early

A journalist serving a 13-year jail term for reporting about a bogus irrigation project has been released five years early to unusually vocal official acclaim for his determination to fight corruption. Gao Qinrong, previously an investigative journalist for a state-run newspaper in northern China's Shanxi province, was imprisoned in 1998 and released earlier this month, according to media activists and state news reports….(AP. 20 Dec 06)

Foreign Consultant Probed In Romanian Assets Sales To Be Released-Lawyer

The Bucharest Court of Appeals Wednesday admitted a repeal request for the preventive arrest warrant for foreign consultant Vadim Beyatov Don, one of the four men arrested for economic espionage related to the sale of government assets….(Mediafax, 20 Dec 06)

London hotel staff test positive for polonium-210

Three more London hotel workers have tested positive for low level exposure to the radioactive isotope that killed Alexander Litvinenko, health officials said today. The news came as British police finished two weeks of investigations in Moscow into the suspected murder of the Russian former spy….(Guardian, 20 Dec 06)

Wilson Challenges Subpoena in CIA Case

Former ambassador Joseph Wilson asked a federal judge Wednesday not to force him to testify in the CIA leak case and accused former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of trying to harass him on the witness stand….(AP, 20 Dec 06)

Military Role in U.S. Embassies Creates Strains, Report Says

…As the Pentagon takes on new roles collecting intelligence, initiating information operations and conducting other “self-assigned missions,” the report found that some embassies have effectively become command posts, with military personnel in those countries all but supplanting the role of ambassadors in conducting American foreign policy…Andrew J. Bacevich, a retired Army colonel who is a professor of international relations at Boston University, said the report provided further evidence that American foreign policy was becoming “progressively militarized.” ….(New York Times, 20 Dec 06)

Info-sharing is work in progress
Negroponte’s plan to link federal agencies could run into millions. Three years from now, scores of federal agencies, not only those focused on homeland security and justice, but also medical, agricultural, educational and others, will be connected in the government’s information-sharing environment, where they will seamlessly exchange terrorism-related information….(Washington Technology, 20 Dec 06)

Cheney Willing to Testify at Libby Trial

...Lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former top aide, told a federal judge yesterday that the defense plans to call the vice president and expects him to cooperate. That would make Cheney the first sitting vice president to testify in a criminal case…(Washington Post, 20 Dec 06)

Cheney Will Testify in C.I.A. Leak Case

….(New York Times, 20 Dec 06)

A modern-day spy story

When Alexander Litvinenko was buried in London earlier this month, his body was so corrupted by polonium-210 it had to be encased in a lead coffin. By then, the Russian ex-spy's surreal death by radiation poisoning had already started not one, but two, rival murder inquiries in different countries….(Newsday, 20 Dec 06)

Media coverage of ex-spy case shows West's bias to Russia - Lavrov

…"Biased appraisals dominate [the coverage]. The recent events surrounding Litvinenko's death have demonstrated that leading Western media have the ability to talk about anything at all, to find witnesses known neither in Russia nor in Britain and include such evidence in their reports," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow….(RIA Novosti, 20 Dec 06)

Scotland Yard detectives investigating ex-spy's death return from Moscow

…Police officials confirmed that two Russian businessmen who met Litvinenko in a London hotel on Nov. 1 - the day he fell ill - had been questioned by the Russian and British investigators. They are Dmitry Kovtun, who is undergoing treatment for radiation poisoning at a Moscow clinic, and Andrei Lugovoi, also an ex-KGB spy…(AP, 20 Dec 06)

Spy poisoning investigators return to London

…Moscow's Prosecutor General's office has opened a case of attempted murder in connection with Mr. Kovtun's poisoning. In Germany, authorities have found traces of polonium-210 in several locations in Hamburg visited by Mr. Kovtun just before he flew to London for the Nov. 1 meeting….(Globe and Mail, 20 Dec 06)

Germany Plays Central Role in Polonium Investigation

…Most Russians associate a municipal authority with a long wait. That made it even more surprising to Dmitry Kovtun, 41, when, after arriving on Monday, October 30, at the city hall in Hamburg's Altona neighborhood -- a classic structure with a view of the Elbe -- he only had to spend a few minutes submitting his application for a permanent residency permit. He signed a form, and that was it. But his signature was not the only thing Kovtun left on the form. He also left a passport photo -- one that investigators have confirmed was contaminated with the deadly radioactive rays of Polonium 210….(Spiegel, 19 Dec 06)

Credit Suisse manager, 3 others lose Romanian detention appeal

A Credit Suisse Group manager, two Romanian officials and a Bulgarian citizen lost an appeal at Romania's High Court of Justice against an order extending their detention during a probe of state asset sales….(Bloomberg, 19 Dec 06)

Finns provided intelligence to U.S. nuclear interests during Cold War

…In the 1940s and 1950s, the U.S. recruited several eminent Finnish scientists to assist in clandestine research on nuclear arms and Soviet nuclear testing. Among other tasks, the Finnish scientists monitored the Soviet nuclear test program, drafted calculations for the flight routes of intercontinental bombers, and plotted trajectories for missiles - ICBMs - aimed at targets inside the Soviet Union.…(Helsingin Sanomat. 19 Dec 06)

Oversight of German intelligence blasted

A member of the committee overseeing Germany's secret service says that the Parliamentary Control Committee is ineffective. Wolfgang Neskovic, in an interview published Monday in Der Spiegel, said the nine members of the committee do not know what the secret services are doing…(UPI, 19 Dec 06)

FSB catches 27 foreign spies in 2006

The Federal Security Service said Tuesday it has exposed 27 foreign intelligence officers and 89 Russian agents this year. "Of this number, one career intelligence officer and eight agents were caught red-handed," FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev said. "Twenty-one foreign nationals involved in intelligence operations were deported from Russia."….(RIA Novosti, 19 Dec 06)

Belarussian Man Suspected of Spying

The Polish government has requested that Lithuania hand over a citizen of Belarus whom it suspects of espionage. A court in Vilnius on Monday considered the extradition request for suspected spy Sergei Monich. The judge in the case, Linas Zukauskas, told Interfax that he would issue a ruling Friday….(Moscow Times, 19 Dec 06)

China jails sociologist for 20 years

A Chinese court jailed a sociologist 20 years for leaking state secrets, a human rights watchdog said today, a case that may be linked to a Hongkong-based reporter jailed for espionage. Lu Jianhua, 46, a sociologist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think-tank, was convicted by the No. 2 Intermediate People's Court yesterday….(Reuters, 19 Dec 06)

Afghanistan 'holds Pakistani spy'

Afghanistan says it has arrested a Pakistani intelligence agent who acted as a key link with al-Qaeda leaders….(BBC, 19 Dec 06)

White House Basement Nerve Center Gets Makeover

Deep inside the West Wing, across from the take-out window for the White House cafeteria is a dark-paneled door that only the truly secure can enter. It opens into the Situation Room.…(Reuters, 19 Dec 06)

Defense Chief Gates Sworn In
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates took the oath of office yesterday, warning that the nation cannot afford failure in Iraq and promising that the war there will be his top priority….(Washington Post, 19 Dec 06)

Biographical Information on Robert Gates

State Dept. Losing a Top Figure In Terror War

…( Henry A. "Hank") Crumpton was a career covert CIA officer with a secret identity who stepped out of the shadows in August 2005 to take the State Department job. He gained almost mythical fame after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when he headed the CIA's campaign in Afghanistan, crafting a strategy that partnered elite intelligence and military officers in teams that worked with Afghan opposition to oust the Taliban….(Washington Post, 19 Dec 06)

Iran Article Is Blocked Amid Dispute on Cause

Two former government Mideast experts accused the White House on Monday of abusing secrecy rules to block the publication of an article they had written for the Op-Ed page of The New York Times that criticized Bush administration policy toward Iran…They said the draft article called for a new diplomatic approach to relations with Iran and pointed out that the United States had worked fruitfully with Iran after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and in the Afghanistan conflict in 2002….(New York Times, 19 Dec 06)

19 December 2006 Litvinenko detectives may follow German toxic trail

…Traces of radiation have been found in Hamburg, where the witness, Dmitry Kovtun, is said to have visited before flying to London to meet Mr Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair. Mr Kovtun, who is in Moscow receiving treatment for suspected radiation poisoning, met British detectives again yesterday….(Independent, 19 Dec 06)

The Smoky Bomb Threat

The exotic murder-by-polonium of the former K.G.B. spy Alexander Litvinenko has embroiled Russia, Britain and Germany in a diplomatic scuffle and a hunt for more traces of the lethal substance. But it also throws into question most of the previous analyses of “dirty bombs,” terrorist attacks using radioactive isotopes wrapped in explosives …(New York Times, 19 Dec 06)

Ex-NSC Official Says White House Is Stifling His Criticism of Iran Policy

….(Washington Post, 19 Dec 06)

For ACLU, A Victory In Standoff With U.S.

…The government's unprecedented legal move demanded "any and all copies of the document" in an apparent attempt to keep the ACLU from using the information. It was part of a broader grand jury investigation into leaks of classified information….(Washington Post, 19 Dec 06)

Prosecutors Drop A.C.L.U. Subpoena in Document Fight

….(New York Times, 19 Dec 06)

Naked To Our Enemies

…So it appears that neither the watchers (our counter intelligence officials) nor their watchers, the Congressmen selected to oversee them have a clue as to what they ought to know to do their work effectively…..(American Thinker, 18 Dec 06)

Intelligence: Why Spy

U.S. seeks to rein in its military spy teams

U.S. Special Forces teams sent overseas on secret spying missions have clashed with the CIA and carried out operations in countries that are staunch U.S. allies, prompting a new effort by the agency and the Pentagon to tighten the rules for military units engaged in espionage, according to senior U.S. intelligence and military officials….(LA Times, 18 Dec 06)

Litvinenko's killers used polonium worth $10m to give massive overdose

British investigators believe that Alexander Litvinenko’s killers used more than $10 million of polonium-210 to poison him. Preliminary findings from the post mortem examination on the former KGB spy suggest that he was given more than ten times the lethal dose….(Times Online, 18 Dec 06)

Litvinenko case witness Kovtun gives further testimony

A key witness in the poisoning death of former Russian security service defector Alexander Litvinenko said Monday he has again been questioned by investigators probing the case…(RIA Novosti, 18 Dec 06)

'He was never a top spy, simply a prison guard'

High-ranking Kremlin officials spent the weekend mocking Alexander Litvinenko’s boasts after he fled to Britain about his role in their security services. Sergei Ivanov, the Minister of Defence, claimed that far from being a top KGB spy as he liked to claim, Litvinenko was merely a prison guard….(Times Online, 18 Dec 06)

Threat to end intelligence sharing ended UK probe

Saudi Arabia threatened to stop sharing vital intelligence -- particularly intercepted communications between al-Qaeda members active there -- unless Britain suspended its investigation into a controversial arms deal. Senior British government sources said the Saudis warned they would also kick out British military and intelligence personnel based in the country….(Observer, 18 Dec 06)

Former FIU Teacher And Cuban Spy Pleads To A Lesser Charge
A former professor at Florida International University (FIU) and his wife, will plead guilty to charges of spying for the Cuban government. Local television station WFOR, confirms Carlos Alvarez, 61, has agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of conspiring to act as a foreign agent, while his wife, Elsa, will plead guilty to a lesser criminal charge as well. It's a charge of "misprision of a felony" which means she knew that her husband was talking to the Cuban government and didn't report it to authorities….(AHN, 18 Dec 06)

FIU prof, wife plead guilty to reduced charges in Cuba spy case

…The guilty pleas came after a federal judge last month upheld as evidence a lengthy statement given by Carlos Alvarez to the FBI in 2005. Alvarez admitted in those interviews to being a ''collaborator'' with Cuba's intelligence service beginning in 1977, insisting he was mainly interested in opening dialogue with the communist government of President Fidel Castro….(AP, 18 Dec 06)

Today In History - Dec. 18

Ten years ago: FBI agent Earl Edwin Pitts was arrested, accused of selling secrets to the Russians. (Pitts was sentenced in June 1997 to 27 years in prison after admitting that he’d conspired and attempted to commit espionage.)

Litvinenko 'killed over dossier' on senior Putin ally

…More than three weeks after Mr Litvinenko died agonisingly, and a month and a half after he first complained of being poisoned, the trail constantly leads back to Russia, where he served in the KGB and its successor organisation, the FSB. He came to Britain in 2000 after alleging that he had been ordered to assassinate Boris Berezovsky, a hugely rich oligarch who fell out with the Kremlin and also sought refuge in Britain…..(Independent, 17 Dec 06)

Poisoned Spy’s Wife Says He Feared Kremlin’s Long Reach

Marina Litvinenko, the widow of the former K.G.B. agent who died of radiation poisoning in London, said Friday that he began to worry about the safety of Russian exiles like himself in July, when the Parliament in Moscow, with little overseas fanfare, approved a law legalizing strikes beyond Russia’s borders against those the Kremlin considered to be extremists or terrorists…After the new law was passed in July, “Sasha said: They are going to kill us,” Mrs. Litvinenko said, using his Russian nickname…(New York Times, 17 Dec 06)

Showdown Looms Over Domestic Spying

Federal agents continue to eavesdrop on Americans' electronic communications without warrants a year after President Bush confirmed the practice, and experts say a new Congress' efforts to limit the program could trigger a constitutional showdown….(AP, 17 Dec 06)

U.S. will not pursue spy charges against Keyser

Federal prosecutors are no longer seeking to bring more serious charges, including possible espionage charges, against a former top U.S. diplomat who admitted mishandling documents and giving false statements. Donald Keyser, 63, of Fairfax, Virginia, admitted that he concealed from his superiors a relationship with a Taiwanese intelligence officer and struck a plea bargain with prosecutors in December 2005….(AP, 17 Dec 06)

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