Counterintelligence News for the week of: Feburary 18-24, 2007

Counterintelligence News for the week of:

February 18-24, 2007

Documents Show Czechs Had Spy Troops in Germany

The Czechoslovak communist military counter-intelligence trained secret commando units to infiltrate West Germany in the early 1970s, according to newly found documents. Some 100 agents in this top secret setup were meant to carry out tasks such as sabotage, kidnappings and murders in the event of a World War III.....(Deutsche Welle, 24 Feb 07)

New movie shows FBI rookie's role in catching spy

....O'Neill was assigned to FBI headquarters in January 2001 in an undercover role to assist veteran FBI special agent Robert Hanssen, a suspected mole who had been compromised by the Russians.....(Reuters, 24 Feb 07)

'Breach' shows hunt for a traitor, how spying can cause real damage

Sometimes spy movies deceive us into romanticizing the world of espionage. Agents live luxurious yet dangerous lives, and we admire their cleverness and deft abilities. Often we forget that, unlike Spy vs. Spy comics and Bond movies, real spies may cause great damage by selling secrets. "Breach" explores this side of espionage, painting a clear picture of a world of deception and the hunt for a traitor.....(Charlotte Observer, 24 Feb 07)

Japan launches spy satellite

Japan launched its latest satellite Saturday, giving Tokyo the ability to spy on any location in the world.....(AFP. 24 Feb 07)

KGB trumped OS on UK mapping

Detailed maps of the UK created by the KGB between 1950 and 1990 have gone on sale in digital format for the first time. The maps show 16,000 square kilometres and 103 UK town and cities in more detail than Ordnance Survey maps. The Russians used satellite images and spies on the ground to create the maps, which include army camps and warehouses that don't appear on other maps.....(The Register, 23 Feb 07)

North KGB target.....(The Sun, 25 Feb 07)

City was mapped by KGB....(Cambridge Evening News, 24 Feb 07)

Russians mapped out Manchester....(Manchester Evening News, 23 Feb 07)

Spy release

Former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) analyst Ronald Montaperto, convicted last year on espionage-related charges that involved passing secrets to China, is scheduled to get out of federal prison Sunday. Prosecutors say he will be barred from meeting any Chinese intelligence personnel as a condition of his release.....(Washington Times, 23 Feb 07)

More on the Montaperto Case

Declassified CIA records reveal American hand in birth of Japan's right wing

Col. Masanobu Tsuji was a fanatical Japanese militarist and brutal warrior, hunted after World War II for massacres of Chinese civilians and complicity in the Bataan Death March. And then he became a U.S. spy. Newly declassified CIA records, released by the U.S. National Archives and examined by The Associated Press, document more fully than ever how Tsuji and other suspected Japanese war criminals were recruited by U.S. intelligence in the early days of the Cold War. The documents also show how ineffective the effort was, in the CIA's view… The CIA also cast a harsh eye on its counterparts -- and institutional rivals -- at G-2, the occupation's intelligence arm, providing evidence for the first time that the Japanese operatives often bilked gullible American patrons, passing on useless intelligence and using their U.S. ties to boost smuggling operations and further their efforts to resurrect a militarist Japan….(Mainichi Daily, 23 Feb 07)

Max Hugel, 81; Led Reagan Effort in N.H.

Max Hugel, 81, a businessman who helped guide Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign in New Hampshire and then briefly served as deputy director of the CIA in 1981, died Feb. 19 of complications from cancer at his home in Ocala, Fla....(Washington Post, 23 Feb 07)

Litvinenko inquiry 'nearing end'

The British envoy in Russia says that he expects the probe into the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko to end within weeks.....(BBC, 23 Feb 07)

Nazi Hatred Dwells in the Arab World
.....The Mufti developed a world headquarters in Germany. In an office in Berlin, his activities included: 1. radio propaganda; 2. espionage and fifth column activities in the Middle East; 3. organizing Muslims into military units in Axis-occupied countries and in North Africa and Russia; and 4. establishment of the Arab Legions and the Arab Brigade....(Israel Insider, 23 Feb 07)

Senate effort to pass intelligence legislation stalls again

The annual legislation that governs the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies and their new boss, the director of national intelligence, is stalled again in the Senate, where efforts to pass it in the past two years also died….(UPI, 23 Feb 07)

Former agent, director conspire on spy story
.....The best green light was the FBI affidavit on the case. It was, says O'Neill, "the most comprehensive and revealing affidavit the FBI has ever put out. It reads like a Tom Clancy novel, laying out the history better than any book on Hanssen....(Bend Weekly, 23 Feb 07)

FBI May Reopen Cold Cases

The FBI is considering reopening dozens of cold cases involving slayings suspected of being racially motivated in the South during the 1950s and '60s.....(AP, 23 Feb 07)

Ridiculous efforts to protect museum-piece intelligence methods

Australia’s spooks are often aghast at the way highly classified intelligence material and techniques leak out into the public domain in the United States. For example, a year or two into the "war on terror" it became quite widely known that US agencies were using speech recognition software on huge volumes of mobile and satellite phone traffic to pick out the voices of known al-Qaeda operatives, some of whom had conveniently given samples on Al-Jazeera TV….(Sydney Morning Herald, 23 Feb 07)

Balibo Five 'shot on army orders'

A former Australian government officer has told a coroner he saw an intercepted intelligence document from East Timor that indicated five Australian journalists had been shot according to Indonesian army orders….(Australian, 23 Feb 07)

Former Colombia Spy Chief Arrested

A former director of the secret police under President Alvaro Uribe was arrested Thursday and charged in connection with the murders of labor leaders and academics while collaborating with far-right militias responsible for some of Colombia's worst massacres…(AP, 23 Feb 07)

Rendition cases test trans-Atlantic relations

...Criminal investigations are also underway in Portugal and Switzerland, and the European Parliament last week adopted a report urging EU member nations to investigate the cases of as many as 21 terror suspects who were "transferred through a European country or were residents [of] a European state at the time of their kidnapping" by US authorities…..(ISN, 23 Feb 07)

What was CORONA reconnaissance satellites system?

Corona was the name of a series of US military reconnaissance satellites operated under a CIA program with substantial assistance from the US Air Force, used for photographic surveillance of the Soviet Union, China and other areas from June 1959 until May 1972….(AvioNews, 23 Feb 07)

Computers Reading the Troops Email

The U.S. Department of Defense is quietly introducing a censoring system for email. Or trying to. Internet security is not just about keeping hackers out, but also about keeping an eye on what normally goes out. In a word, watching what's contained in email…..(Strategy Page, 23 Feb 07)

Kutch police arrest two Pakistani ISI agents for espionage

The Kutch police on Thursday arrested two Pakistani and two Indian agents engaged by the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI for spying in India. Since the police could get only a day’s remand, they would again be produced in the court for further remand on Friday….(Express India, 23 Feb 07)

Ambassador Rusi demands Finland to look into espionage by KGB, Stasi

Ambassador Alpo Rusi said Thursday that he wanted investigations opened on cases of Finnish cooperation with the intelligence agencies of the former Soviet Union and East Germany, the KGB and Stasi…..(NewsRoom Findland, 23 Feb 07)

VOA Says Goodbye to Uzbek, Other Tongues

…For the second year running, the board overseeing the government-funded VOA has plans to wipe out news in several languages, including its flagship English-language "News Now" programming…VOA advocates and employees said that among the more dire changes being planned is elimination of "News Now," which feeds the broadcaster's 45 language services and includes reports from Washington and around the world….(Washington Post, 23 Feb 07)

Cleric Says CIA Agents Tortured Him

An Egyptian cleric, speaking publicly for the first time, said Thursday that Egyptian officials tortured him in prison after he was kidnapped in Italy _ allegedly by CIA agents _ and sent here for interrogation….(AP, 22 Feb 07)

Spies in our midst, says SIS

…In its 2006 annual report issued yesterday, now-retired SIS director of security Richard Woods said international terrorism had dominated his past five years and would continue to do so for the foreseeable future. However, espionage and intelligence gathering by other countries continued to be a problem….(Dominion Post, 22 Feb 07)

Key piece of Balibo case kept secret, say officials

Two former officials privy to some of Canberra's deepest secrets yesterday gave a Sydney court lessons on how sensitive intelligence could be hidden and kept "deniable"…..(Sydney Morning Herald, 22 Feb 07)

Egyptian Cleric Wants to Return to Italy

An Egyptian cleric allegedly kidnapped by CIA agents off the streets of an Italian city and taken to Egypt said Thursday he was tortured in an Egyptian prison and that he wants to return to Italy. Osama Hassan Mustafa Nasr, known as Abu Omar, made his first public appearance since he was released from Egyptian custody last week….(AP, 22 Feb 07)

The Industrious Spies

......The American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) estimated a few years ago that the damage caused by economic or commercial espionage to American industry between 1993-5 alone was c. $63 billion.....(American Chronicle, 22 Feb 07)

Romania Finds No Proof of C.I.A. Prisons

The Romanian government has found no proof that the Central Intelligence Agency set up secret detention facilities in Romania or used Romanian airspace to fly terrorism suspects across Europe, a parliamentary commission investigating the flights said on Wednesday….(Reuters, 22 Feb 07)

The Industrious Spies

The Web site of GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System) lists 18 "state of the art equipments (sic) used for advanced spying". These include binoculars to read lips, voice activated bugs, electronic imaging devices, computer taps, electromagnetic induction detectors, acoustic stethoscopes, fiber optic scopes, detectors of acoustic emissions (e.g., of printers), laser mikes that can decipher and amplify voice-activated vibrations of windows, and other James Bond gear. Such contraptions are an integral part of industrial espionage. The American Society for Industrial Security (ASIC) estimated a few years ago that the damage caused by economic or commercial espionage to American industry between 1993-5 alone was c. $63 billion. The average net loss per incident reported was $19 million in high technology, $29 million in services, and $36 million in manufacturing. ASIC than upped its estimate to $300 billion in 1997 alone - compared to $100 billion assessed by the 1995 report of the White House Office of Science and Technology. This figures are mere extrapolations based on anecdotal tales of failed espionage. Many incidents go unreported.….(American Chronicle, 22 Feb 07)

Still No Verdict in CIA Leak Trial

Jurors reached no verdict Thursday on whether former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby obstructed the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative married to a prominent Iraq war critic….(AP, 22 Feb 07)

Libby's Fate Now Rests In the Hands Of the Jury
A federal jury ended its first day of deliberations yesterday in the perjury trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby after the presiding judge urged jurors to rely on their "life experiences" in deciding whether the vice president's former chief of staff lied to investigators -- or made an honest mistake -- about his role in a CIA leak. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton's instructions to the jury of eight women and four men reinforced the issue of the fallibility of human memory that has been central to one of Washington's most celebrated trials in years…(AP, 22 Feb 07)

Jury in Libby Case Begins Deliberations

The jury deciding the perjury case against I. Lewis Libby Jr. began deliberating late Wednesday morning. The jury, eight women and four men, heard nearly a month of evidence and testimony, capped Wednesday with an hourlong set of instructions from Judge Reggie B. Walton….(New York Times, 22 Feb 07)

Politics Meets Intelligence at Trial

…the Pentagon report said that as Mr. Feith assembled his intelligence reports -- highlighting, in particular, alleged links between Iraq and al Qaeda terrorists -- his office briefed four key officials, Mr. Libby among them. The report said the Pentagon office presented its findings to the White House as a conclusive intelligence assessment, though the CIA strongly opposed those findings.…(Wall Street Journal, 22 Feb 07)

Mossad chief to stay on

…Security sources said Tuesday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked Meir Dagan to stay on as Mossad chief until late 2008, a year more than the standard five-year term….(JTA, 21 Feb 07)

The National Security Legislation Affects Our Function – Romanian Intelligence Chief

The director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, or SRI, George Maior said Sunday before the hearing in the SRI commission in Parliament, that he wishes to discuss the national security laws, as they affect the function of SRI, because they are obsolete and fail to stipulate certain clear principles…..(Mediafax, 21 Feb 07)

In Closing Pleas, Clashing Views on Libby’s Role

Defense lawyers and prosecutors in the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr. made their final summations on Tuesday, offering the jury two starkly different ways to evaluate the evidence presented over the last few weeks…..(New York Times, 21 Feb 07)

Libby 'Told a Dumb Lie,' Prosecutor Says in Closing Argument

Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff lied to investigators about his role in leaking a CIA officer's identity in order to keep his job and protect the White House from political embarrassment, prosecutors told jurors yesterday in the closing arguments of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's perjury trial….(Washington Post, 21 Feb 07)

Retired Admiral Sworn In As Director of Intelligence

Retired Vice Adm. John M. McConnell, sworn in yesterday as the second director of national intelligence, said new technologies and capabilities are needed to collect and analyze intelligence "because today's threats move at increasing speeds."…(Washington Post, 21 Feb 07)

Berger Case Still Roils Archives, Justice Dept.

...The commission's former general counsel, Dan Marcus, now an American University law professor, separately expressed surprise at how little the Justice Department told the commission about Berger and said it was "a little unnerving" to learn from the congressional report exactly what Berger reviewed at the Archives and what he admitted to the FBI -- including that he removed and cut up three copies of a classified memo….(Washington Post, 21 Feb 07)

Judge keeps spying documents sealed

…The suits accuse telecommunications companies of illegally cooperating with the National Security Agency to make e-mail and telephone communications available to the spy agency without warrants……(AP, 21 Feb 07)

Russians, British Meet Over Spy Death

Scotland Yard said that investigators from Russia were in London on Tuesday to discuss the inquiry into the poisoning death of a former KGB agent turned Kremlin critic. The former agent, Alexander Litvinenko, was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in London and died Nov. 23..….(AP, 20 Feb 07)

Updated Intelligence, Clear Guidance, and Consistent Priorities Needed to Guide Investments in Collective Protection

The intelligence community is struggling with the changing security environment and communicating the uncertainties in the quality of chemical and biological threat information… The intelligence community has recognized the need to communicate more candidly about the uncertainties in intelligence regarding the type and amount of agents, the number of missiles likely armed with chemical and biological warheads, and the method of dissemination…..(EPICOS, 21 Feb 07)

Full GAO Report

FBI Translating Over 1,000 Wiretap Conversations a Day

Spurred by adding hundreds of new linguists and help from allies overseas, the FBI is translating a record 34,000 wiretapped conversations a month…Long criticized for its lack of language specialists, the FBI, they say, is finally catching up to an unprecedented intake of foreign-language surveillance recordings, electronic data, and text since 9/11. Most of the wiretaps are tied to counterterrorism and counterintelligence cases, officials say. Since 9/11, the FBI's counterterrorism agents, in particular, have collected a mother lode of intelligence....(US News, 20 Feb 07)

AFCEA's Homeland Security Conference Focuses On Intelligence And Information Fusion

AFCEA's sixth annual Homeland Security Conference returns to the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, Washington, D.C., February 28-March 1, 2007. The conference and exposition will focus on "Intelligence and Information Fusion. Beyond Sharing" and is unique because it focuses on the IT issues surrounding homeland security....(Press Release, 20 Feb 07)

Iran’s Interior Ministry launches new intelligence network

Iran’s Interior Ministry has set up a new intelligence-gathering directorate across the country, the semi-official daily Kayhan reported on Monday….(Iran Focus, 20 Feb 07)

Italian government split on CIA case

…The Italian government has sued magistrates in Milan who opened the case, claiming that they have put intelligence officers at risk and overstepped their authority, ANSA reports. If the Constitutional Court rules against the magistrates, the criminal case could be derailed….(UPI, 20 Feb 07)

McConnell takes over as new U.S. intelligence chief

Retired Adm. Mike McConnell was sworn in on Tuesday as the U.S. national intelligence director, taking over at a time when the al Qaeda organization appears to be regrouping….(Reuters, 20 Feb 07)

Bush Urges Diversity in Spy Recruitment
President Bush instructed the nation's new spy chief to focus on finding more recruits with the language skills and cultural background to collect information on al-Qaida and other terrorist groups…..(AP, 20 Feb 07)

Britain's Spy Blunders

…More than 4,000 errors were recorded in a 15-month period, including tapping the wrong telephones and intercepting post from a suspect's address even though he had moved house….(Sky, 20 Feb 07)

Iranian spy 'still on the loose'

An Iranian spy continues to roam free despite the fact that the Swedish Security Service has known of his activities for over a year. The man is said to have reported back to the Iranian embassy after infiltrating a number of groups opposed to the Tehran regime…..(Local, 20 Feb 07)

German Intelligence Agency 'Misplaces' Kurnaz Files

Important documents relating to the case of German-born Turkish citizen Murat Kurnaz have disappeared. Germany's BND intelligence agency is reported to have misplaced transcripts of CIA interrogations that could have finally exonerated the former Guantánamo inmate….(Spiegel, 20 Feb 07)

Closing Arguments Set in CIA Leak Case

Prosecutors who spent more than three years on the CIA leak case, like the defense lawyers on the other side, have been given just three hours to make their final arguments to jurors….(AP, 20 Feb 07)

Trial Spotlights Cheney’s Power as an Infighter

A picture taking shape from hours of testimony and reams of documents in the trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr. shatters any notion that the White House was operating as a model of cohesion throughout President Bush’s first term….(New York Times, 20 Feb 07)

British NGO Campaigner Jailed in Angola

A British woman working for the international organization Global Witness has been arrested and accused of espionage, her attorney told a local radio station on Monday. Sarah Wykes was in Cabinda gathering information for a report on the Angolan extractive industry _ oil and diamonds. She was arrested at her hotel early Sunday and taken to prison, David Mendes said. "We think we have enough arguments to prove the imprisonment was arbitrary,"….(AP, 19 Feb 07)

British woman charged with spying in Angola: group

A British woman working for the human rights organization Global Witness has been arrested and charged with espionage in Angola, the London-based group said on Monday. Sarah Wykes, an anti-corruption campaigner who was in Angola to meet with representatives of civil organizations….(Reuters, 19 Feb 07)

US $400 million corporate espionage incident at DuPont

…According to their records, (Gary) Min was in the process of shredding garbage bags full of DuPont documents and there were remnants of documents in his fireplace where he had set some of them ablaze. There was also hard drive deletion software installed on his computer….(SC Magazine, 19 Feb 07)

Germany probes spy death

German prosecutors are probing the mysterious death of a high-ranking German intelligence agent. Ulrich Woessner, a 57-year-old agent of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, was since 2003 responsible for cooperation with foreign intelligence services, mainly with the U.S. service...He was to testify in a parliamentary inquiry probing Germany's intelligence role in the war in Iraq.…(UPI, 19 Feb 07)

Arab countries request files on spying suspect

…Mohamed el-Attar, a 31-year-old dual national, was stopped in Cairo's International Airport on Jan. 1 by Egyptian security services, who charged him with being part of an Israeli spying network assigned with infiltrating Arab immigrant communities in Turkey and Canada. According to Mr. el-Attar's confessions, published by the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, he had written reports about 20 Arab citizens, including eight Egyptians and a Saudi prince. The paper reported yesterday that Syria, Lebanon, Libya and Jordan had requested a copy of the Egyptian High State Security interrogation files…..(Globe & Mail, 19 Feb 07)

Fast-Changing CIA Puts New Emphasis On Recruiting

…Workplace restrictions like these are among the smaller sacrifices that CIA employees make on behalf of the nation's security. But a wave of new hires at the agency are very, very tech savvy and, it seems, not shy about their interests….(Washington Post, 19 Feb 07)

Italy May Not Seek CIA Case Extraditions

The Italian government is signaling it will not press Washington for the extradition of 26 Americans _ mostly CIA agents _ who were indicted in the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in Milan, according to remarks published Monday….(AP, 19 Feb 07)

Egyptian Charged With Spying for Israel in Turkey; Israel Denies It

An Egyptian student who fled the country six years ago is now sitting in jail, arrested upon his return to Cairo on charges of spying for Israel. According to his former lawyer, the man, Mohamed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar, has confessed and is “regretting everything he has done.” Mr. Attar, who has dual citizenship in Egypt and Canada, is facing a likely sentence of 15 to 25 years….(New York Times, 18 Feb 07)

Pilots traced to CIA renditions

…The names they used were all aliases, but The Times confirmed their real identities from government databases and visited their homes this month after a German court in January ordered the arrest of the three "ghost pilots" and 10 other alleged members of the CIA's special renditions unit on charges of kidnapping and causing serious bodily harm to Khaled Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, three years ago….(LA Times, 18 Feb 07)

Espionage network at Iranian ICT Ministry destroyed

An informed source at Intelligence Ministry said here Tuesday that an espionage network within the country’s economic network has been identified and destroyed. He declared, “The said network was involved in acquiring and selling sensitive and expansive information of the country’s telecom companies and selling them to the foreign firms with which it had contracts…..(Taliya, 18 Feb 07)