June 4 date set for AIPAC staffers case

…The trial date is three months shy of three years since Steve Rosen, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s former foreign policy chief, and Keith Weissman, its top Iran analyst, were made aware of the case when FBI agents raided AIPAC offices on Aug. 27 2004, and almost two years after their August 2005 indictment. AIPAC fired the two men in March 2005….(Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 27 Jan 07)

Video Shows Coke Worker Taking Documents

The surveillance video, played for the jury on Friday, was made after Pepsi received a letter last May purportedly from a co-defendant in the case stating that the person was willing to sell confidential Coca-Cola documents and samples of products that Coca-Cola was developing to the highest bidder. The government has alleged that Williams stole the materials from The Coca-Cola Co. and gave them to co-defendants Ibrahim Dimson and Edmund Duhaney as part of a conspiracy to sell the items to Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo Inc. for at least $1.5 million ….(AP, 27 Jan 07)

The Plot Thickens
Into one of the most sordid episodes in Russian literary history, the Soviets' persecution of Boris Pasternak, author of "Doctor Zhivago," a Russian historian has injected a belated piece of intrigue: the CIA as covert financier of a Russian-language edition of the epic novel. Ivan Tolstoy, who is also a broadcaster for Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, writes in a forthcoming book that the CIA secretly arranged for the publication of a limited Russian-language edition of "Doctor Zhivago" in 1958 to help Pasternak secure the Nobel Prize in Literature that year… A CIA role in printing a Russian-language edition has been rumored for years. Tolstoy offers the first detailed account of what would rank as perhaps the crowning episode of a long cultural Cold War, in which the agency secretly financed literary magazines and seminars in Europe in an effort to cultivate anti-Soviet sentiment among intellectuals….(Washington Post, 27 Jan 07)

Ex-Cheney Aide Details Media Tactics

…The uses of leaks and exclusives. When to let one's name be used and when to hide in anonymity. Which news medium was seen as more susceptible to control and what timing was most propitious. All candidly described. Even the rating of certain journalists as friends to favor and critics to shun _ a faint echo of the enemies list drawn up in Richard Nixon's White House more than 30 years ago….(AP, 27 Jan 07)

Russian Denies Role in Ex-Spy's Death

…Andrei Lugovoi told The Associated Press that he viewed the reports in Britain's Guardian newspaper and Sky News that he is a suspect in the murder as an attempt by the British authorities to make up for the lack of evidence against him….(AP, 27 Jan 07)

Lawyers Probe Fleischer's Immunity Deal

Attorneys for former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby want more information about an unusual immunity-from-prosecution deal that government lawyers gave former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer in the CIA leak case….(AP, 27 Jan 07)

Ex-Aide Says Cheney Led Rebuttal Effort

Vice President Cheney personally orchestrated his office's 2003 efforts to rebut allegations that the administration used flawed intelligence to justify the war in Iraq and discredit a critic who Cheney believed was making him look foolish, according to testimony and evidence yesterday in the criminal trial of his former chief of staff…(Washington Post, 26 Jan 07)

Litvinenko murderer will die from poison, ex-spy says

The shadowy figure who poisoned former Russian counter-intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko in London will pay the ultimate price for his crime and die of radiation poisoning within three years, it has been claimed…In an interview with the daily newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, Gordievsky said that the mystery figure who administered the poison - supposedly in a cup of tea in a London hotel - would inevitably have received a fatal dose of polonium himself and will be dead within three years….(Independent, 26 Jan 07)

Ex-spy dismisses Litvinenko probe

Andrei Lugovoi, the focus of the UK probe into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, has laughed off reports London may soon seek his extradition. He told the BBC he had not read the Guardian report saying Scotland Yard had allegedly collected enough evidence for him to stand trial in the UK….(BBC, 26 Jan 07)

Russia will not extradite Lugovoy to Britain: Ifax

Russia would not extradite Andrei Lugovoy if Britain asked for him to be handed over to stand trial for poisoning ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, a source in the prosecutor-general's office told Interfax news agency on Friday…..(Reuters, 26 Jan 07)

Russian laughs off threat of poisoning extradition

Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy on Friday laughed off a report that Britain was preparing to request his extradition to stand trial for the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko….(Reuters, 26 Jan 07)

Paper: Police Focus on Russian in Spy Case

British police are preparing to ask prosecutors to bring charges against a Russian businessman in the radiation poisoning death of a former Russian intelligence agent turned Kremlin critic…The Guardian, quoting unidentified sources in government, said suspicion had fallen on Andrei Lugovoi, who met Andrei Litvinenko the day he believed he was poisoned….(AP, 26 Jan 07)

Italians Seize Ex-CIA Chief's Villa

Magistrates have seized a villa in northern Italy belonging to a former CIA station chief who faces a possible indictment in the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric, officials said Friday. The villa in the northwestern Piedmont region belonging to Robert Seldon Lady will be held until the end of the trial ….(AP, 26 Jan 07)

Italian judge orders seizure of CIA agent's villa

…(Reuters, 26 Jan 07)

The spy who came in from the cold: To put the heat on Iran

…Today Tzipi Livni will not discuss any of the skills she used as a Mossad spy. But Cheryl Ben-Tov, the Mossad agent who played a role in kidnapping Mordechai Vanunu in London, has said that Tzipi was "like all of us, good at her job". To do so required steel nerves, which made her a top Mossad agent. Now that steel could be called upon again if she replaces embattled Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert as the country's leader. Olmert, 61, is facing not only severe criticism for the way he mishandled last year's war in Lebanon, but a separate corruption scandal….(Canada Free Press, 26 Jan 07)

Iran Set to Try Space Launch

Iran has converted one of its most powerful ballistic missile into a satellite launch vehicle…Although designed as a technology demonstrator, the planned satellite launch would be a potent political and emotional weapon in the Middle East. The new space launcher and ongoing missile development is also significant in that it highlights close technological ties between the Iranian and North Korean missiles programs, intelligence agencies agree.….(Aviation Week, 26 Jan 07)

Debate Erupts Among Spy Services Over Iran's Role in Battle of Iraq

As America's generals prepare for an increase in troops in Iraq, the American intelligence community has been fiercely debating the extent to which operatives directed by Iran's security services have penetrated the Iraqi government. Several lists containing names of suspected moles have been circulating in the intelligence community since December…(New York Sun, 26 Jan 07)

Fears over US anti-spy strategy

About 150 Iranian intelligence officers, plus members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Command, are believed to be active inside Iraq at any given time, prompting the Bush administration to authorize an aggressive new strategy allowing US forces to kill or capture Tehran's operatives inside Iraq….(Australian, 26 Jan 07)

Dismissal of Lawsuit Against Warrantless Wiretaps Sought

…"Plaintiffs' challenge to the TSP (Terrorist Surveillance Program) is now moot," the government said in its filing yesterday. "The surveillance activity they challenge . . . does not exist. And the specific relief they sought and were awarded -- injunction of the TSP -- cannot redress any claimed injury because no electronic surveillance is being conducted under the TSP."…(Washington Post, 26 Jan 07)

Museum says prized spy plane hijacked

…Air Force contractors this week began taking apart the A-12 Blackbird spy plane that local veterans, including Wiessner and his fellow board of directors at the Minnesota Air Guard Museum, rescued from a California scrap heap more than a decade ago…..(Pioneer Press, 26 Jan 07)

In Ex-Aide's Testimony, A Spin Through VP's PR

…Bush aides charged with speaking to the public and the media are kept out of the loop on some of the most important issues. And bad news is dumped before the weekend for the sole purpose of burying it. With a candor that is frowned upon at the White House, Martin explained the use of late-Friday statements. "Fewer people pay attention to it late on Friday," she said. "Fewer people pay attention when it's reported on Saturday….(Washington Post, 26 Jan 07)

Bush declassification unnerved White House aide

President George W. Bush's 2003 decision to declassify an intelligence report to rebut an Iraq war critic stirred unease even in the White House, an administration official said on Thursday in the perjury trial of a vice presidential aide….(Reuters, 26 Jan 07)

Fitzgerald Reveals Gamble in CIA Leak Case

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald took a gamble three years ago that White House press secretary Ari Fleischer might break open his leak investigation….(AP, 26 Jan 07)

Museum of Spies

Since opening in July 2002, the International Spy Museum (ISM) has seen nearly three million visitors pass through its doors to ogle all manner of spy gadgetry and paraphernalia. After forking over the $16 dollar admission fee, visitors can spend hours glimpsing the tools of the trade from the espionage world, ranging from a KGB-designed lipstick-gun to a CIA rectal tool kit….(FPIF, 26 Jan 07)

Time Comes to a Standstill in a Courtroom Journey

… A Cheney press aide, Cathie Martin, recounts how she leaked news “exclusives” and arranged luncheons for conservative columnists to counter bad news…“If you give it to one reporter, they’re more likely to write the story,” Ms. Martin said. What’s more, she said, “you can be a ‘senior administration official,’ ” hiding behind the anonymous cover that Washington officials so often crave….(New York Times, 26 Jan 07)

Secrecy Is at Issue in Suits Opposing Spy Program

…In ordinary civil suits, the parties’ submissions are sent to their adversaries and are available to the public in open court files. But in several cases challenging the eavesdropping, Justice Department lawyers have been submitting legal papers not by filing them in court but by placing them in a room at the department. They have filed papers, in other words, with themselves…..(New York Times, 26 Jan 07)

Analyst rebuked over his support of spy for China

...Lonnie Henley, the deputy national intelligence officer (NIO) for East Asia, was given a letter of reprimand several months ago after an investigation within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Mr. Henley, who could not be reached for comment, was a close friend and protege of former DIA analyst Ronald Montaperto, who was convicted in June on espionage charges that included supplying secrets to Chinese military intelligence. Mr. Henley wrote a letter to the judge supporting Montaperto, and an e-mail that criticized the FBI investigation of the former analyst…Montaperto pleaded guilty in June to charges related to illegally storing classified documents..…(Washington Times, 25 Jan 07)

Ex-CIA Official Testifies About Libby's Calls

A former high-ranking CIA official testified yesterday that, when Vice President Cheney's agitated chief of staff called him out of the blue in June 2003 to ask what he knew about a CIA-sponsored trip to Niger, he jumped to get answers….(Washington Post, 25 Jan 07)

Ex-Officials Testify They Informed Libby of the Identity of a C.I.A. Operative

Prosecutors in the perjury trial of the former White House aide I. Lewis Libby Jr. paraded a roster of former government officials before the jury on Wednesday to testify that they had informed him about the identity of the C.I.A. operative Valerie Wilson, contrary to Mr. Libby’s claim that he had learned about her weeks later from reporters……(New York Times, 25 Jan 07)

FBI reform efforts come under Senate scrutiny

The FBI's efforts to transform itself into an intelligence agency to fight terrorism have been disturbingly slow and could falter unless Congress agrees to a new injection of funds….(Reuters, 25 Jan 07)

Chavez threatens to eject U.S. envoy if he meddles

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to eject the U.S. ambassador if he meddled in Venezuela's affairs after the diplomat reportedly said on Thursday the government must compensate companies it plans to nationalize….(Reuters, 25 Jan 07)

Speculation still rife about Litvinenko case

…In an interview with RFE/RL's Russian Service, he (Oleg Gordiyevsky) says that what the BBC describes as a first poisoning attempt was in fact a dress rehearsal for Litvinenko's murder staged by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). "If he had been given some kind of poison [on 16 October], he would have died before 16 November," Gordiyevsky said. "This was a general rehearsal. Everyone involved in operations - secret services, military officers - perform general repetitions of their operations. This day was a rehearsal. They had poison with them, because all warfare substances are meant to be at hand. They arrived, they made up nonsense, but they didn't decide themselves to use the ampoule." Gordiyevsky told Britain's The Times newspaper last week that a fourth man present at the 1 November 2006, meeting with Lugovoi and Kovtun was responsible for lacing Litvinenko's tea with polonium….(RFE/RL, 25 Jan 07)

Police to present Litvinenko evidence to prosecutors

Evidence against at least two men suspected of being involved in a plot to murder the Russian agent, Alexander Litvinenko, is due to be sent to crown prosecutors in the next week.…(Belfast Telegraph, 25 Jan 07)

Polonium that killed Litvinenko worth thousands, not millions

Polonium-210, which Russia supplies to the United States, is worth no more than several tens of thousands of dollars, a source in the Russian nuclear section said Thursday….(RIA Novosti, 25 Jan 07)

HP accused of spying on Dell's printer plans

Karl Kamb Jr., previously HP's vice president of business development and strategy, was named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by HP in 2005. It alleges that onetime HP employees illegally started a rival flat-screen TV company while still working at HP and it is claiming up to $100 million in damages…..(CNet, 25 Jan 07)

Stormy weather

…George Bush has refused to talk to China about a proposal it raised in 2002, with Russia's backing, for a treaty outlawing the “weaponization” of space. Mr Bush authorized a new national space policy in August last year that irked the Chinese. It defended America's right to use space for defense and intelligence gathering purposes as well as to stop “adversaries” from using space in ways that threaten American “national interests”….(Economist, 25 Jan 07)

China's Missile Message

…Was it all a gambit to force a reluctant United States to the negotiating table for a ban on space-based weapons? While interesting to China watchers and nonproliferation experts, this discussion risks obscuring the real message of the test: Chinese rhetoric notwithstanding, China's rise will be as disruptive and difficult as that of any other global power…..(Washington Post, 25 Jan 07)

At the Libby Trial, Hints of Intrigue and Betrayal

The assertion by lawyers for I. Lewis Libby Jr. that White House aides had sacrificed him to protect Karl Rove, the senior political adviser, appears to be based primarily on Mr. Libby’s own sense that the administration had failed to defend him adequately as the C.I.A. leak case unfolded….(New York Times, 25 Jan 07)

Online Nordic Banking Theft Stirs Talk of Russian Hacker

Word has started spreading in Sweden about the discovery last week of a $1 million online banking theft traced to a Russian hacker who goes by the sobriquet “the Corpse.”….(New York Times, 25 Jan 07)

Frank Paul Lozupone DIA Intelligence Analyst

Frank Paul Lozupone, 88, an intelligence analyst and senior manager who retired in 1973 after about 25 years with the Defense Intelligence Agency….(Washington Post, 25 Jan 07)

Peter Tompkins

Peter Tompkins, a former journalist, World War II spy and best-selling author, died Wednesday… Tompkins served as a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune and NBC before he joined the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, in 1941….(AP, 25 Jan 07)

Returning to the Spy World to Uncover a Political Plot

AMERICA AT NIGHT: The True Story of Two Rogue C.I.A. Operatives, Homeland Security Failures, Dirty Money, and a Plot to Steal the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election- by the Former Intelligence Agent Who Foiled the Plan, Larry J. Kolb

… His close familiarity with the histories of two veteran con men, Mr. Kolb says, is what drew him into the events that “America at Night” describes. The more visible of the two is Robert M. Sensi….(New York Times, 25 Jan 07)

E. Howard Hunt, Agent Who Organized Botched Watergate Break-In, Dies at 88

E. Howard Hunt, a cold warrior for the Central Intelligence Agency who left the spy service in disillusionment, joined the Nixon White House as a secret agent and bungled the break-in at the Watergate that brought the president down in disgrace, died Tuesday in Miami. He was 88…Mr. Hunt’s last book, “American Spy: My Secret History in the C.I.A., Watergate and Beyond,” written with Greg Aunapu, is to be published on March 16…..(New York Times, 24 Jan 07)

Former federal official sentenced

Former top State Department official Donald Willis Keyser, 63, of Fairfax Station, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, payment of a $25,000 fine and three years of supervised release for taking classified information from the State Department and lying to investigators about his relationship with a foreign intelligence agent….(Times Community, 24 Jan 07)

Keyser sentenced over affair with Taiwanese agent

A US federal court on Monday sentenced former State Department official Donald Keyser to a prison term of 12 months and one day, plus two years of subsequent supervised release, in a case that stemmed from Keyser's illicit relationship with a Taiwanese intelligence officer, Isabelle Cheng Nien-tsu (程念慈)...In sentencing Keyser, Ellis said he took into account more than 50 letters supporting Keyser and attesting to his character….(Taipei Times, 24 Jan 07)

MOFA 'glad' U.S. court rules in favor of officer from Taiwan

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it was glad that a U.S. court had not convicted a former senior State Department official of spying charges in a case involving an intelligence officer from Taiwan….(China Post, 24 Jan 07)

Telecom Italia espionage scandal deepens

…Telecom Italia is suspected of using illegal means to spy on business rivals and politicians. Targets of the alleged espionage include Vittorio Colao, the former boss of RCS Mediagroup, which publishes Il Corriere della Sera and Massimo Mucchetti, deputy director of Il Corriere della Sera….(Register, 24 Jan 07)

Spy scandal keeps pressure on Telecom Italia

Telecom Italia remained under pressure this week as revelations continued about the illegal espionage allegedly carried out by the security department of the Italian telecom incumbent….(Info World, 24 Jan 07)

Prodi Rebuffs BBC Panorama Spy Links

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has rejected British TV allegations that he had had links to the Soviet KGB…Both the BBC and ITV broadcast Monday program showing video footage of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian state security former operative who was murdered by radiation in London in November, making the claim against Prodi….(Novinite, 24 Jan 07)

DEATH'S SALESMAN

Panorama tries to get the lowdown on the Litvinenko killing, while BBC2 reminds of previous dodgy doings by the Russians in the cold war. The Alexander Litvinenko affair isn’t going to go away just yet and it is unlikely that anyone is going to be brought to justice any time soon….(Voice Online, 24 Jan 07)

Army Seeks to Catalyze Open Source Intelligence

…"The value of publicly available information as a source of intelligence has... often been overlooked in Army intelligence operations. This manual (pdf) provides a catalyst for renewing the Army's awareness of the value of open sources; establishing a common understanding of OSINT; and developing systematic approaches to collection, processing, and analysis of publicly available information."….(FAS Blog, 24 Jan 07)

Army Open Source Intelligence Manual

U.S. Intelligence Still Years From Reform Goals

…Forty percent of the CIA’s employees were hired after the 2001 attacks on Washington and New York killed 3,000 people and prompted the Bush administration’s war on terrorism. One in seven CIA employees has been on the classified payroll for one year or less, far short of the five year minimum that intelligence officials say is necessary to produce an effective spy or intelligence analyst….(Defense News, 24 Jan 07)

Senate Panel Studies Intelligence Community

Did Congress get it right when it passed the historic overhaul of U.S. intelligence efforts two years ago? That's the subject of renewed debate on Capitol Hill, where some feel the director of national intelligence may lack the legal authority he needs….(NPR, 24 Jan 07)

Strict anti-terror wiretap rules urged

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday rejected the Bush administration's claim that it had brought a controversial domestic spying program into compliance with the law, saying he wanted strict new rules requiring the government to obtain a separate warrant every time it places a wiretap on a U.S. resident….(LA Times, 24 Jan 07)

US intelligence report casts doubt on Iraq strategy

The Bush administration came under fire on Tuesday for its failure to produce a key intelligence report that casts doubt on whether the Iraqi government is capable of taking steps to ensure the success of President George W. Bush's strategy. The classified document, known as a national intelligence estimate, would represent the 16-agency espionage community's consensus views on the stability of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government and prospects for controlling sectarian violence in Iraq….(Reuters, 24 Jan 07)

'Scapegoat:' Scooter's Stunning Defense

…Almost no legal experts had expected this plan of attack in the trial, the outcome of a drawn-out investigation into who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, to the media. According to chief prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, the leak occurred amid an effort by Bush administration officials to discredit Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had publicly cast doubt on the administration’s case for war against Iraq. The FBI began an investigation after newspaper columnist Robert Novak exposed Plame’s identity in 2003….(Newsweek, 24 Jan 07)

Libby Defense Portrays Client as a Scapegoat

Lewis Libby Jr., the vice president’s former chief of staff, was made a scapegoat by White House officials to protect the president’s longtime political adviser, Karl Rove, Mr. Libby’s lawyer asserted in his opening statement on Tuesday….(New York Times, 24 Jan 07)

Defense says Libby was 'sacrificed'

Lewis "Scooter" Libby feared that White House officials were conspiring to make him the fall guy in the CIA leak scandal to protect political strategist Karl Rove, Libby's lawyer argued Tuesday….(LA Times, 24 Jan 07)

Defense Portrays Libby as Scapegoat

Lewis "Scooter" Libby was "put through the meat grinder" by the White House shortly after the Iraq war began, scapegoated to conceal the fact that Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, helped disclose an undercover CIA officer's identity, a defense attorney contended yesterday as Libby's perjury trial began…..(Washington Post, 24 Jan 07)

China Confirms Firing Missile to Destroy Satellite

Breaking 12 days of silence, China confirmed Tuesday that it had fired a guided missile into space to destroy one of its satellites in a test that generated protests from the United States and other nations….(Washington Post, 24 Jan 07)

China Confirms Space Test; Denies Intent to Intimidate

The Chinese government publicly confirmed Tuesday that it had conducted a successful test of a new antisatellite weapon but said it had no intention of participating in a “space race.” …(New York Times, 24 Jan 07)

E. Howard Hunt, 88; Cold War spy was Watergate break-in mastermind

…A founder of the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency, Hunt spent almost three decades organizing actions against Soviet allies in the United States' perceived sphere of influence. In 1961, he was tasked with organizing the Pigs invasion, aimed at deposing Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro….(LA Times, 24 Jan 07)

Ex-Spy Crafted Watergate, Other Schemes

….(Washington Post, 24 Jan 07)

Evelyn 'Polly' Markham Administrative Assistant

Evelyn Lightner "Polly" Markham, 90, who worked as an administrative assistant for the CIA in the 1950s, died of respiratory failure Jan. 20…(Washington Post, 24 Jan 07)

The spy who loved me

Agent Zigzag, by Ben Macintyre

…This is how Eddie Chapman, the most extraordinary double agent of the second world war, wooed the woman who would later become his wife. His amazing tale is described in Ben Macintyre's new book, Agent Zigzag….(Guardian, 24 Jan 07)

Bug found in office of German leftist deputy

A crude bug has been found in the Berlin office of a leftist legislator who sits on a top-secret panel monitoring the German intelligence services, senior government legislators said Tuesday. Intelligence chiefs are to be summoned to Berlin next week and asked if they know who planted a mysterious electrical device in the office of Wolfgang Neskovic, a Left Party member of the Bundestag parliament…(DPA, 23 Jan 07)

Jail Sentence For Diplomat In Spy Case

...In late 2005, the former deputy chief of the State Department's East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, Donald Keyser, pleaded guilty to three felony charges stemming from an investigation into his contacts with the Taiwanese agent, Isabelle Cheng. Judge Thomas Ellis of Alexandria, Va., imposed the sentence after a lengthy hearing yesterday. According to court records, the judge ordered Keyser to spend a year and a day in jail and two years on supervised release, and to pay a fine of $25,000….(New York Sun, 23 Jan 07)

Senior U.S. banker freed in Romania, had been detained on commercial spying charges

Vadim Benyatov, managing director of the investment banking department of Credit Suisse First Boston Europe in London, and the three others were released overnight after the country's top court granted their appeal to be released. Prosecutors had demanded that the arrest warrant be extended…(AP, 23 Jan 07)

Former State Official Gets 1 Year Over Documents

…Prosecutors said Donald W. Keyser possessed far more unauthorized classified documents than any government employee ever prosecuted by the Justice Department. Keyser, 63, is one of the nation's leading experts on China and was a top adviser to Colin L. Powell, former secretary of state….(Washington Post, 23 Jan 07)

More attempts were made on Litvinenko's life

Former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko may have survived a first attempt to poison him with radioactive polonium 210 more than two weeks before receiving the dose that killed him, the BBC reported yesterday...The murder of Litvinenko, a former security agent who had become an outspoken dissident and Kremlin critic in exile, has developed into the most mysterious and gripping espionage case since the Cold War….(Reuters, 23 Jan 07)

The Ideal Poison for Espionage

…In the century since its discovery by famed French scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, polonium-210 has left a distinctive trail of death…In many ways, polonium-210 is an ideal poison for espionage — deadly and undetectable. Pound for pound, polonium-210 is at least 1 million times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide, the poison used to execute prisoners in gas chambers, according to medical toxicology books.….(LA Times, 23 Jan 07)

Today in History - Jan. 23

On Jan. 23, 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging its crew with being on a spying mission. (The crew was released 11 months later.)

Washington braces for CIA trial

The trial of a former White House aide is to open in Washington, a process likely to shed light on how the Bush team operated in the Iraq war run-up. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is charged with lying about the disclosure of a CIA agent's identity in 2003….(BBC, 23 Jan 07)

Secret WWII U.S. Intelligence Unit Important Now

It’s time to revisit the exploits, knowledge, experiences and intelligence of the World War Two veterans of the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Service (MIS).  The role of the MIS is worth exploring as we face current adversaries and plan for success in our efforts around the world in the short run and long haul…(National Ledger, 23 Jan 07)

Alice Louise Sheehan Schmid Intelligence Analyst, Volunteer

Alice Louise Sheehan Schmid, 85, a former intelligence analyst…died Jan. 10… She worked as intelligence analyst for the War Department, the Office of Strategic Services and the CIA from 1944 to 1961….(Washington Post, 23 Jan 07)

FISA and Terrorist Surveillance: Building a Better Policy

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recently informed Congress that President Bush would not reauthorize the Terrorist Surveillance Program (“TSP”) conducted by the National Security Agency…(Jurist, 23 Jan 07)

Ex-Department of State Official Donald Keyser Sentenced in Classified Info Case

Donald Willis Keyser, age 63, of Fairfax Station, Virginia, was sentenced today to 12 months and one day in prison, payment of a $25,000 fine, and three years of supervised release for the unlawful removal of classified material from the Department of State, and for making false statements to the government. Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae), made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge T.S. Ellis, III…..(DOJ, 22 Jan 07)

'Multiple attempts' on Litvinenko

There may have been multiple attempts to kill Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko before he died, BBC One's Panorama program has discovered. The first poison bid may have come two weeks before he met Mario Scaramella in a sushi bar on 1 November.  It may have been at the same restaurant, but when Mr Litvinenko met former KGB men Andrei Lugovoi and Dimitri Kovtun on 16 October….(BBC, 22 Jan 07)

Russia halts probe against London tycoon-report

Russian prosecutors have halted an investigation into Boris Berezovsky, a billionaire businessman living in exile in London, accused of planning a coup, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Monday. Berezovsky, who fled Russia for Britain after falling foul of the Kremlin under President Vladimir Putin, told journalists last January he had been planning a forced takeover of power in Russia….(Reuters, 22 Jan 07)

Spy may have been poisoned before

The former Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko may have survived a first attempt to poison him with radioactive polonium-210 more than two weeks before receiving the dose that killed him. A first attempt may have occurred on October 16 at the Itsu sushi restaurant in London's West End, said the BBC program Panorama, due to be aired last night….(Reuters, 22 Jan 07)

Westminster Notes (M15)

These days, if you look up MI5 in a reference book, such as the excellent Whitaker's Almanack, you will find mention of this Security Service.  It gives MI5's postal address in London (SW1), an email address and 'phone number.  It tells you Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller is its Director-General and that the Home Secretary has parliamentary accountability for it….(Al-Hayat, 22 Jan 07)

Kiwis kept in dark on work of spy base

The Waihopai spy base may be doing good work, or it may be helping the United States incarcerate innocent people, and New Zealanders will never know, says author Nicky Hager….(Stuff, 22 Jan 07)

Russia expects "not easy" debates at PACE session

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe opens its session here on Monday, the first after Russia’ s chairmanship at the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers…(ITAR-TASS, 22 Jan 07)

Coke Espionage Case Moves On

A government witness testified in Atlanta on Monday that a Coca-Cola employee stole secret documents from company headquarters, then recruited him to try to sell the documents to rival Pepsi. But the now-former Coke employee blames her accuser, and insists she had nothing to do with any of it….(11Alive, 22 Jan 07)

Pirelli's Tronchetti denies involvement in illegal spying

Pirelli & C SpA chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera has denied he is involved in illegally spying while at Pirelli and Telecom Italia SpA, where he was once chairman….(AFX, 22 Jan 07)

Chavez to U.S. Officials: 'Go to Hell'

…The tirade came after Washington raised concerns about a measure to grant the fiery leftist leader broad lawmaking powers. The National Assembly, which is controlled by the president's political allies, is expected to give final approval this week to what it calls the "enabling law," which would give Chavez the authority to pass a series of laws by decree during an 18-month period….(AP, 22 Jan 07)

A Wiki for Whistle-Blowers

By March, more than one million leaked documents from governments and corporations in Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet Bloc will be available online in a bold new collective experiment in whistle-blowing. That is, of course, as long as you don't accept any of the conspiracy theories brewing that Wikileaks.org could be a front for the CIA or some other intelligence agency…the speculation that Wikileaks might a front for an intelligence agency is understandable, considering the recent arrival of "Intellipedia" — an internal wiki system used by 16 U.S. spy agencies..…(Time Magazine, 22 Jan 07)