Army ‘Spy’ Will Apply to Be Freed

An Iranian-born Army interpreter accused of passing information to the enemy is to apply for bail on Monday. Territorial Army corporal Daniel James, 44, appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from Wandsworth prison yesterday….(Daily Record, 16 Jun 07)

U.S. Study Program in Iran Sees Struggle

The American Studies program at the University of Tehran is a bold experiment in a nation locked in bitter confrontation with the United States _ at a school where chants of "Death to America!" still punctuate Friday prayers. The two-year-old master's program tries to teach American government, culture and society to some of Iran's top students, with minimum political judgment….(AP, 16 Jun 07)

Rocket Carrying Spy Payload Has Problems

A rocket carrying an intelligence-gathering payload for the Pentagon suffered a technical problem after its launch, officials said. But they were confident Saturday that its secretive mission would be performed. The Atlas V rocket launched Friday morning, hauling a payload from the National Reconnaissance Office, a division of the Department of Defense that builds and operates spy satellites…..(AP, 16 Jun 07)

Hanoi releases a third detainee on U.S. list

Authorities on Saturday released a lawyer who was on a U.S. list of activists detained this year by Vietnam, two days before President Nguyen Minh Triet goes to the United States on a state visit. The Vietnam News Agency reported that Le Quoc Quan, 36, who was detained in March after returning to Vietnam from a five-month fellowship in the United States, was released to his family in Hanoi….(Reuters, 16 Jun 07)

Iran blames U.S., Israeli spy agencies for Iraqi shrine bombing

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accused the intelligence agencies of the United States and Israel of masterminding the attack on Wednesday on a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Militants carried out a bomb attack on the al-Askariya Shrine destroying its two golden minarets. “There can be no doubt that the spy agencies of the occupiers and the Zionists were the masterminds of this evil plot”….(Iran Focus, 16 Jun 07)

Russia Says It Opened Criminal Inquiry Into British Espionage

Russia’s intelligence service said Friday that it had opened a criminal investigation into British espionage here in Russia, based on statements and undisclosed evidence provided by a businessman who is accused of poisoning Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. officer and a Kremlin critic…..(New York Times, 16 Jun 07)

Free 'spy', Russia tells Austria

Moscow has demanded the release of a Russian space agency official who was arrested in Salzburg, Austria, this week on suspicion of spying. The Russian was suspected of receiving sensitive information from an Austrian military officer, who was also arrested, Austrian officials said. Russia said he had diplomatic immunity because he was attending a UN meeting in Vienna at the time of his arrest…..(BBC, 16 Jun 07)

Ortega Latest Leader to Meet With Castro

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega met with Fidel Castro for four hours Saturday, the third leftist head of state to visit Cuba's ailing "Maximum Leader" in little over a week…..(AP, 16 Jun 07)

Documents Show U.S. Pressure on Taiwan

As Washington struggles to end nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, startling details have emerged from declassified U.S. government documents regarding its success in halting Taiwan's budding nuclear project in the 1970s. The recently declassified documents show the administrations of former Presidents Ford and Carter pressured Taiwan to end its quest for sophisticated equipment, fearing it would be used to make a nuclear bomb…..(AP, 15 Jun 07)

Russia to probe UK spy activity

Russia is to investigate alleged British spying on its territory after claims made by the prime suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko…Meanwhile a spokesman for the British Embassy in Moscow said: "The Litvinenko affair is a criminal matter and not an issue of intelligence. "A British citizen was killed in London, and UK citizens and visitors were put at risk. We are seeking and expect full cooperation from the Russian authorities in bringing the perpetrator to face British justice."….(BBC, 15 Jun 07)

Russia's FSB probes MI6 activities based on Lugovoi claims

...Lugovoi, accused in the United Kingdom of murdering Alexander Litvinenko, told reporters in late May that the ex-FSB officer and his former employer, Boris Berezovsky, had been recruited by Britain's intelligence service, known as MI6…"A criminal case on espionage charges has been opened after statements made by Russian businessman Lugovoi, and additional information on the activities of British intelligence in Russia," the spokesman said, commenting on the previous announcement….(RIA Novosti, 15 Jun 07)

Russian Agency Opens Espionage Case

…In a one-sentence statement, the FSB said it had opened a criminal investigation on suspicion of espionage Thursday on the basis of statements made by Lugovoi, who met with Litvinenko in London on the day he said he fell ill. Russia has stressed that it will refuse Britain's request for Lugovoi's extradition. The espionage case is likely to further strain relations between London and Moscow, which is angry over Britain's refusal to hand over Berezovsky and other Kremlin foes for prosecution in Russia…..(AP, 15 Jun 07)

Case based on espionage charges opened following Lugovoi's statement – FSB

A criminal case based on espionage charges has been opened following an inquiry into a statement made by Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoi, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a press release on Friday.  "On June 14, 2007, the Investigatory Department of the Russian FSB opened a criminal case based on espionage charges after an inquiry into Russian businessman Lugovoi's statement,"… Lugovoi told a news conference at the Interfax central office in late May that he planned to provide Russian law enforcement services with materials pointing to attempts by former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko and UK special services to recruit him to collect documents compromising the Russian authorities…..(Interfax, 15 Jun 07)

Russia FSB probes claims Litvinenko was British spy

Russia's Federal Security Service opened a criminal espionage investigation on Friday into accusations that murdered ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko and a self-exiled Russian tycoon in London were both British spies. Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB bodyguard, told a news conference on May 31 that Litvinenko approached him with offers to spy for Britain's MI6 and collect incriminating evidence against Russian President Vladimir Putin…..(Reuters, 15 Jun 07)

Army Intelligence Command to Build Joint Detention Training Facility

…The U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command Detention Training Facility, slated for a fall completion, will be located in a remote area of Camp Bullis known as Black Jack Village. The 470th Military Intelligence Brigade, at nearby Fort Sam Houston, will oversee daily operations. The facility will be "the first in DoD that will enable all of the services to come together and train the full operations that center around detention operations," said INSCOM Commander Army Maj. Gen. John DeFreitas III in his opening remarks at the June 5 groundbreaking ceremony….(Blackanthem, 15 Jun 07)

Counter Spy Act of 2007

Senator Mark Pryor has introduced the Counter Spy Act of 2007 to make it illegal for companies or fraudsters to implant spyware on a person’s computer without consent… Spyware is used to collect information about a consumer’s browsing habits, enable pop-up ads, and/or change a user’s home page. In addition, spyware allows a fraudster to duplicate another website, including financial or retail site where he/she can steal personal information such as credit card numbers…..(Technology News Daily, 15 Jun 07)

ACLU Presses Case to Unseal Bush Papers

The American Civil Liberties Union renewed its challenge Thursday against the Bush administration's filing of secret materials to a federal appeals court that will rule on its warrantless surveillance program…..(AP, 15 Jun 07)

Legislators pass bill allowing government to spy on telecommunications

Zimbabwe's House of Assembly on 13 June 2007 passed the controversial Interception of Communications Bill without amendments despite opposition to some of its provisions by opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) legislators…..(Ifex, 15 Jun 07)

Hamas seizes PA intelligence materials, says Israeli tactics exposed

After storming PA security headquarters in Gaza, Hamas officials say they've uncovered thousands of documents, including classified correspondence with Israeli forces. Hamas: 'These will help us battle Israel's surveillance tactics'….(YNet, 15 Jun 07)

NATO promises better intelligence flow in Afghanistan

NATO promised Friday it would take steps to improve the flow of intelligence toward countries like Finland and Sweden that contribute troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) but are not full-fledged members of the military alliance…..(NewsRoom, 15 Jun 07)

Libby Loses Bid to Stay Out of Jail For Appeal

…U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said both the law and his own sense of fairness required that he reject I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's request to remain free while appealing his conviction for perjury and obstruction of the leak investigation, an approach that could have deferred the pardon question for years…..(Washington Post, 15 Jun 07)

Delay Denied, Libby Is Seen as Weeks From Prison

…The judge’s decision puts the issue of any pardon squarely before Mr. Bush in the next few weeks…..(New York Times, 15 Jun 07)

FM denies arrest of Russian citizen as far-fetched

The Austrian authorities’ actions “contradict the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations (1946) envisioning that Representatives of Members to the principal and subsidiary organs of the United Nations and to conferences convened by the United Nations, shall, enjoy immunity from personal arrest or detention,” a Russian Foreign Ministry official said on Friday…“The Foreign Ministry has repeated its demand Austria should release a Roskosmos official and provide him with an opportunity to return to Russia,” the official said…..(Itar-Tass, 15 Jun 07)

Terrorists Claim to Seize CIA Files
Documents Said to Detail American Middle East Intelligence

…The terror leaders claimed the files contain, among other things, details of CIA networks in the Middle East. "The CIA files we seized, which include documents, CD's, taped conversations, and videos, are more important that all the American weapons we obtained the last two days as we took over the traitor Fatah's positions," said Muhammad Abdel-El, spokesperson for the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees terror group…..(New York Sun, 14 Jun 07)

Lawyer: Iran Blocking Academic's Case

The lawyer for an Iranian-American academic being held by Tehran on charges of endangering national security said Thursday that she has been prevented from representing her client by Iranian authorities. Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said she went to the Revolutionary Court in Tehran on Wednesday and was blocked from meeting the official investigating Haleh Esfandiari's case…..(AP, 14 Jun 07)

Anger Over Nuclear Secrets Leak

…highly classified e-mail dealing with the composition of America's atomic weapons had illegally been sent via non-secured networks to members of the board of Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS), the company that manages America's nuclear lab in New Mexico…The sensitive weapons message originated on the laptop of Harold P. Smith, an LANS board consultant and former Pentagon atomic weapons adviser, who sent it to at least two other members of the board, sources told TIME. Those two then relayed the material to at least three additional LANS board members. Only then was the alarm sounded. After computers involved in the incident were seized, technical experts reportedly purged University of California servers that may have relayed the secret data. But it remained perplexingly unclear whether some of the highly classified weapons information might still be lurking on servers or along other Internet routes used in the transmissions…..(Time Magazine, 14 Jun 07)

U.S., China Aim to Mend Ties

A Pentagon official yesterday cited plans to establish a crisis hotline between Washington and Beijing as well as expanded exchanges involving top U.S. and Chinese defense officials as signs of improving U.S.-Chinese military ties…From a low point in April 2001 -- when military contact was all but cut off after Chinese aircraft forced down a U.S. Navy EP-3 spy plane over the South China Sea and held its 24-member crew for 11 days -- the U.S. relationship with Beijing "has grown increasingly important and complex,”…..(Washington Post, 14 Jun 07)

Congress targets cyber-thieves

…Spyware itself is not illegal, but it often is used for illegal purposes. The Justice Department and the FTC have the authority to pursue spyware purveyors. At least 10 states, mostly in the West, have anti-spyware laws on the books…The so-called Spy Act, which received an overwhelming 368-48 vote of approval last week, has gained more attention for its broader focus. Primarily, it would arm consumers with additional tools to ward off spyware….(Baltimore Sun, 14 Jun 07)

Grand Jury Indicts Laos Plot Defendants

…The indictment came the same day federal agents arrested an 11th suspect in the case, Dang Vang, 48, of Fresno. Prosecutors say Vang drafted elaborate plans to finance and carry out the coup. All 11 were charged with conspiracy to violate the federal Neutrality Act, as well as several other felonies associated with a suspected plot to purchase nearly $10 million in weapons, including AK-47 rifles and Stinger missiles, and to hire mercenaries to carry out the attacks…..(AP, 14 Jun 07)

Pentagon Spy Rocket Launch Delayed

The launch of a rocket carrying intelligence-gathering technology for the Defense Department was postponed Thursday for a day…..(AP, 14 Jun 07)

Terror Watch: The CIA's Top Lawyer

…John Rizzo, who served for years as the principal legal advisor for CIA covert operations, was first nominated by President Bush to the agency’s top legal post in March 2006.  But his confirmation stalled for more than a year because of a protracted dispute over the Bush administration's refusal to give the Intelligence Committee access to secret documents relating to the agency’s handling of high-value Al Qaeda detainees and other terror suspects…..(Newsweek, 14 Jun 07)

CIA director visits Morocco

The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is on an unexpected visit to Rabat, a Moroccan security source said. The reason for CIA chief Michael Hayden’s trip to Morocco was not disclosed…..(Agence France-Presse, 14 Jun 07)

FBI Finds It Frequently Overstepped in Collecting Data

An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March that ignited bipartisan congressional criticism. The new audit covers just 10 percent of the bureau's national security investigations since 2002, and so the mistakes in the FBI's domestic surveillance efforts probably number several thousand, bureau officials said in interviews….(Washington Post, 14 Jun 07)

New FBI Guidelines Aim to Curb Abuse

The FBI is warning its agents to carefully review all personal data collected from Americans in terror investigations to protect their privacy rights and not to expect the evidence to remain secret. e warning came in draft FBI guidelines made public Wednesday to be issued to correct abuses of so-called national security letters that were revealed in a Justice Department audit three months ago….(AP, 14 Jun 07)

Arrest Uncovers Divide in Hmong-Americans

…the arrest of Gen. Vang Pao, 77, has also revealed a split in the Hmong population that has sprung up in this country: between old and young, between those who fled Laos and those who grew up here. A younger generation of Hmong- Americans, more skeptical of Gen. Vang Pao’s fund-raising tactics and controversial groups….(New York Times, 14 Jun 07)

A Sectarian Spy Duel In Baghdad
The duel between the Iraqi spy agencies is one more sign of the sectarian rage that is destroying the country, as reflected in yesterday's macabre repeat bombing of the Samarra mosque revered by Shiites. Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's Shiite prime minister, is said to vacillate between supporting the official spy service and its Iranian-backed challenger…The official Iraqi National Intelligence Service, or INIS, was established in February 2004 as a nonsectarian force that would recruit its officers and agents from all of Iraq's religious communities…The rival spy agency, called the Ministry of Security, was created last year under the direction of Sheerwan al-Waeli. He is a former colonel in the Iraqi army who served in Nasiriyah under the old regime……(Washington Post, 14 Jun 07)

CHARTER FOR THE IRAQI NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE .pdf

Spy agency's watchdog wants more info on wiretaps

Canada's ultra-secret electronic spy agency is not providing sufficient information when it seeks government approval to eavesdrop on private telephone calls, says the agency's watchdog. Without those fuller details, it is difficult to determine whether the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) is acting lawfully when it intercepts such conversations, retired Supreme Court of Canada justice Charles Gonthier says in his first annual report…(CanWest, 14 Jun 07)

Two people arrested on suspicion of spying

A Russian and a vice lieutenant in the Austrian army have been arrested on suspicion of spying…The defense ministry in Vienna has said the Austrian officer is suspected of passing on secret information to the Russian. The Austrian newspaper "Kurier” has reported that the officer is a technician with the air force division of the army. The Russian arrested is reportedly a member of his country’s foreign secret service and said to have paid substantial amounts of money for information received…..(Weiner Zeitung, 14 Jun 07)

Austria Arrests Army Corporal, Russian Official in Spying Probe

…The Russian, identified only as Vladimir V., offered 20,000 euros ($26,627) to a member of the Austrian military for information about helicopter-maker Eurocopter SA, the Vienna- based News magazine reported today. The Russian is a former trade commissioner at the Russian Embassy in Vienna, the magazine said. A Eurocopter engineer was also detained, it added. The Russian was ``an employee of Roskosmos who was taking part in the 50th anniversary session of the committee of the United Nations on the study of peaceful use of space,''…..(Bloomberg, 14 Jun 07)

Russia confirms arrest of space official for spying in Austria

…"We confirm that a [Russian] citizen arrested in Vienna is an employee of the Russian Federal Space Agency," Igor Panarin said… Panarin said the space agency was surprised by the incident and would closely follow the developments in the case. He also said that the suspect was an excellent employee and always performed his duties well….(RIA Novosti, 14 Jun 07)

Espionage suspect claims human rights violation
Stamen Stanchev, the suspect indicted along with two Romanian ministers in strategic privatizations confidential data trafficking, may address the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in case his situation doesn't reach some kind of closure soon, Stnchev' lawyer, Ovidiu Budusan, declared in a press conference…..(HotNews, 14 Jun 07)

Macedonian citizen gets political asylum in Albania

A Macedonian citizen has been granted political asylum in Albania and now he lives in the country, Albanian newspapers said, citing data from Asylum Center…In his application, Petrovski said that once he returned to Macedonia, he was accused of being a CIA spy and also a spy of Albania's SHISH. He also complained that he was tailed and ill-treated by the authorities in Macedonia, who blamed him of espionage…..(Mak Fax, 14 Jun 07)

Pentagon Accuses China of Deception

The Pentagon said Wednesday that China is concealing its spending on weapons programs, including technology to disrupt U.S. space efforts…..(AP, 13 Jun 07)

Lin faces federal prison in theft of Corning Inc. trade secrets

…Lin, 66, is the final defendant in a case that began in 1999 with the theft of proprietary documents on the process Corning Inc. uses to make liquid crystal display glass. The documents he was accused of conspiring to steal were valued at $100 million, prosecutors said….(Star-Gazette, 13 Jun 07)

Consultant provided Corning glass secrets to Taiwanese rival

A California man has admitted conspiring to steal highly valuable flat-panel-glass blueprints from Corning Incorporated and turn them over to a rival business in Taiwan. Sixty-seven-year-old Yeong Lin of Fountain Valley, California could get up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal charge of theft of trade secrets…Jonathan Sanders, who worked at the Corning glassmaking plant in Harrodsburg, pleaded guilty last year and drew a four-year sentence and a 20,000 dollar fine. He admitted stealing the blueprints of Corning's liquid-crystal-display glassmaking process and selling them to PicVue for $34,000 in 2000…..(AP, 13 Jun 07)

Libby Trying to Put Sentence on Hold

Lewis "Scooter" Libby wants what Martha Stewart got. The former White House aide, who faces 2 1/2 years in prison for perjury and obstruction, cited the domestic celebrity in court documents Wednesday as part of his bid to put his sentence on hold…..(AP, 13 Jun 07)

Iran formally charges 3 from U.S. with spying

Iran has formally charged three Americans with espionage and endangering national security, the government's judicial spokesman said yesterday, signaling a widening clampdown on U.S. citizens there. The three charged are prominent Washington scholar Haleh Esfandiari, social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh of the New York-based Open Society Institute, and correspondent Parnaz Azima of the U.S.-funded Radio Farda…..(Washington Post, 13 Jun 07)

Defence ministry gears up to tackle espionage

…On the heels of espionage activities coming under the MoD's scanner, a DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) unit has come out with detailed recommendations on deceit detection and interrogation with regards to spies and insurgents. MoD figures show that 16 armed forces personnel have been arrested for espionage in the recent years, with five such cases coming to light in 2006….(Hindustan Times, 13 Jun 07)

Controversial Stasi Conference Cancelled in Berlin

…A controversial conference with former top level East German spies has been cancelled in Berlin. Organizer Thomas Wegener Friis said the event was to focus on the so-called HVA, the foreign intelligence branch of the secret police Stasi in the former East Germany (GDR). "Espionage was an important part of the Cold War and we need to understand foreign intelligence in order to understand this period in history,"….(Deutshe Welle, 13 Jun 07)

Sudan denies any intelligence cooperation with US on Iraq

…The Los Angeles Times published a report on Monday highlighting the cooperation between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) to infiltrate armed groups in Iraq. The report was quoting CIA officials who said that Sudan has “assembled a network of informants in Iraq providing intelligence on the insurgency”. The role of NISS acting as a proxy for CIA has also extended to Somalia where the US believes that al-Qaeda suspects are hiding….(Sudan Times, 13 Jun 07)

China trying to unseat U.S. as lead cyberpower

China is seeking to unseat the United States as the dominant power in cyberspace, a U.S. Air Force general leading a new push in this area said Wednesday…China is seeking to unseat the United States as the dominant power in cyberspace, a U.S. Air Force general leading a new push in this area said Wednesday….(Reuters, 13 Jun 07)

Kurt Waldheim, Former U.N. Chief, Is Dead at 88

Kurt Waldheim, the former United Nations secretary general and president of Austria whose hidden ties to Nazi organizations and war crimes were exposed late in his career, died yesterday at his home in Vienna….(New York Times, 15 Jun 07)

Bad Times for Iranian-Americans in Iran

It is not a particularly opportune moment, it appears, for Iranian-Americans to be visiting Iran. In recent months, four Iranian-Americans are known to have been detained by Iran's security services. Three have been accused of endangering Iran's security and of espionage….(US News, 13 Jun 07)

Today in History – June 13

1996:  The 81-day-old Freemen standoff ended as 16 remaining members of the anti-government group surrendered to the FBI and left their Montana ranch.

1997: A jury voted unanimously to give Timothy McVeigh the death penalty for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

AT&T 'Spy Room' Documents Unsealed; You've Already Seen Them

…this week AT&T acceded to the documents' partial disclosure after the EFF threatened to take the matter of their sealing to a federal appeals court. Portions of the sealed documents had been published by Wired News in May of 2006, and more recently by the ABC News program Frontline. AT&T agreed to the disclosure of those portions to escape the embarrassment of arguing that documents available on the internet for more than a year were secret….(Wired, 13 Jun 07)

Unredacted Klein declaration ( PDF )

Internal documents (PDF )

Unredacted Marcus declaration ( PDF )

EFF's 9th Circuit brief (PDF )

Secret Surveillance Evidence Unsealed in AT&T Spying Case

More documents detailing secret government surveillance of AT&T's Internet traffic have been released to the public as part of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) class-action lawsuit against the telecom giant….(InfoZine, 13 Jun 07)

James G. McCargar Author, Spy

James G. McCargar, 86, an author, diplomat and spy whose 1963 book on the craft of covert operations continues to be recommended by the U.S. intelligence community, died of cancer May 30... Mr. McCargar, who lived in the District, wrote the well-received "A Short Course in the Secret War" under the pseudonym Christopher Felix and under his own name in later editions. It was one of the first books to authoritatively discuss U.S. covert operations, and it remains in print more than 40 years later….(Washington Post, 13 Jun 07)

Carolyn M. Andrade Watergate Committee Staffer

Carolyn M. Andrade, 86, a former Capitol Hill staffer who was administrative assistant to Samuel Dash, chief counsel of the Senate Watergate Committee, died May 17….(Washington Post, 13 Jun 07)

Someone is spying on you

Most Indian CEOs still feel that corporate espionage is something that happens to others. When the famous Pepsi-Coke corporate espionage case became public in the US in July last year (a Coca Cola employee had asked Pepsi for $1.5 million for sharing the trade secrets of a new beverage), a senior executive in a large Indian company dismissed it as a typical western way of functioning…..(Business Standard, 13 Jun 07)

FBI Pulls Plug on Several Botnet Hackers

More than 1 million computers _ possibly yours, too _ are used by hackers as remote-controlled robots to crash online systems, accept spam and steal users' personal information…Hackers create botnets by scanning the Internet for vulnerable computers, which are then infected and instructed to join the botnet. Because the hacker has complete control of each "bot" computer, the botnet can be used to launch denial-of-service attacks, send spam e-mail, steal account login information or run any program…..(AP, 13 Jun 07)

Intel Chief Changing 1981 Security Order

…The Reagan-era 1981 presidential order is woven into the culture at the 16 spy agencies and spells out their powers. It also provides fundamental guidance to protect against spying on Americans, prohibitions against human experimentation and the long-standing ban on assassination. Some officials familiar with Intelligence Director Mike McConnell's plans, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the deliberations remain internal, said his intent is solely to update the policy to reflect changes in the intelligence community since Sept. 11, 2001, including the creation of his own office. But other officials, who also spoke on condition they not be identified, said opening the order to changes could lead well beyond that…..(AP, 12 Jun 07)

Guilty plea entered in Corning Inc. secrets case
After lengthy plea negotiations with federal prosecutors, Yeong C. Lin today pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Rochester to conspiring to steal Corning Inc. trade secrets. Lin, of Fountain Valley, Calif., faces up to five years in federal prison. Magistrate Judge Marian W. Payson scheduled sentencing for 2:30 p.m. Sept. 14….(Star-Gazette, 12 Jun 07)

Iranian Judge Mulls American Detentions

A judge will decide within the next few days whether to indict or free four Iranian-Americans charged with endangering national security, Iran's judiciary spokesman said Tuesday. Ali Reza Jamshidi said a judge would complete his preliminary investigation into the charge against the four "within the next two or three days." The case has riled U.S.-Iranian relations, already strained over Iran's nuclear program and the U.S. detention of five Iranian officials in Iraq _ an act Iran's foreign minister said Tuesday the United States would "regret." Jamshidi said all four Iranian-Americans have been charged with acting against national security. Several weeks ago, he said they had also been charged with espionage, but he did not repeat that charge Tuesday…..(AP, 12 Jun 07)

Prosecutor Wants Libby Imprisoned Now

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald urged a federal judge Tuesday not to delay former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence in the CIA leak case. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, has argued that he has a good chance of winning an appeal and should be allowed to remain free until that challenge has run its course…..(AP, 12 Jun 07)

Richard Clarke: Don't ignore data risks, deploy encryption

…"It's about what you don't know, or what you don't see or can't prove. Industrial and national espionage is happening daily on a massive scale. Your databases are being stolen and copied, and just because the evidence isn't in front of you doesn't mean it's not a problem." There may never be 100% security, he said, but companies can minimize the damage….(Search Security, 12 Jun 07)

Ernst S. Maas CIA Economic Analyst

Ernst Salomon Maas, 82, who spent nearly 25 years as a CIA economic analyst, died June 2… Mr. Maas specialized in the European economy during his career with the CIA. After his retirement in 1980, he continued as a CIA consultant and attended economic summits….(Washington Post, 12 Jun 07)

Google Maps: An Invasion of Privacy?

…At maps.google.com, users can drag a human figurine over one of the highlighted streets in those cities, and a window will open that displays the photo taken at that very spot. Users can then grab the image and spin it, turning 360 degrees to get a virtual tour of a given neighborhood, or click on a series of arrows to move up or down the street, one photo at a time…..(Time Magazine, 12 Jun 07)

The Toll of Communism

…In warning Americans that "evil is real and must be confronted," Bush also equated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with the tyrannical rule imposed on residents of countries like China, North Korea and the former Soviet Union. "Like the communists, the terrorists and radicals who have attacked our nation are followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom, crushes all dissent, has expansionist ambitions and pursues totalitarian aims,"….(AP, 12 Jun 07)

China's Secret Rules Stymie Legal System

…China's constitution and laws provide for freedom of expression and the right to criticize the government, but those provisions are routinely violated, often by authorities invoking rules governing state secrets, Human Rights in China said in a report Monday. The network of regulations "undermines both domestic law and (China's) international legal obligations," the New York-based group said in a report entitled, "State Secrets: China's Legal Labyrinth."….(AP, 12 Jun 07)

Court to announce verdict in Yom Kippur War spy scandal

Eli Zeira, who headed the Military Intelligence during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, leaked the identity of a senior Mossad agent who operated in Egypt before the war, the court will announce in the following days…The affair began 14 years ago, with the publication of Zeira's book, titled "Myth Versus Reality: The Yom Kippur War - Failures and Lessons." In his book, Zeira countered the findings of the Agranat Commission…..(Haaretz, 12 Jun 07)

Left criticises Govt's 'take' on spy rings

Charging the UPA government with going soft on the "espionage rings" in the Indian Army, the Left parties on Tuesday asked the Centre to plug all loopholes to ensure that the armed forces were free from all such vices…..(Hindustan Times, 12 Jun 07)

Colombia, Venezuela inch toward Cold War

Relations between Colombia and Venezuela are starting to resemble a Latin American version of the Cold War, as the two countries try to sort out the murders of two Bogotá intelligence agents in Venezuela and Colombia's recent deportation of a Venezuelan politician…..(Miami Herald, 12 Jun 07)

Iran: U.S. to 'Regret' Detentions

Iran will make the United States ''regret'' its detention of five Iranian officials in Iraq, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday. Mottaki was referring to five Iranian officials detained in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil by U.S. troops in January, who still remain in U.S. custody….(AP, 12 Jun 07)

Brown in plan to revamp intelligence operations

…"I would like to see all security and intelligence analysis independent of the political process and I have asked the Cabinet Secretary to do that. I do want the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament to have a bigger role in the future." While Mr Brown cannot credibly disassociate himself from Tony Blair's decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003, he will try to gain the moral high ground with cast-iron guarantees over the process. It is understood a parliamentary oversight committee is on the cards. Its members, possibly made up of privy councillors, would take evidence from within the intelligence community and Parliament could account to either the Prime Minister or Parliament or both…..(Herald, 12 Jun 07)

Bush Honors Victims of Communist Regimes

President Bush, honoring the memories of those killed in communist regimes, said Tuesday that their deaths should remind the American public that "evil is real and must be confronted. Like the Communists, the terrorists and radicals who attacked our nation are followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom, crushes all dissent, has expansionist ambitions and pursues totalitarian aims," Bush said. "Like the Communists, our new enemies believe the innocent can be murdered to serve a radical vision."....(AP, 12 Jun 07)

Released files expose wartime double agents

Five German spies who were captured in the Second World War and persuaded to become double agents, working for the British, have been identified from released MI5 files, despite a longstanding taboo on naming agents…David List told the BBC Today program that it had not been difficult to work out who the secret agents were from cross-checking all the files that related to their capture and interrogation at a special centre run by MI5 during the war. “It was just basic, hard graft (and) due diligence,”….(Times Online, 12 Jun 07)

New Documentary about singer/activist Pete Seeger

........According to the film, one of Mr. Seeger's greatest accomplishments was his tour with third-party Presidential candidate Henry A. Wallace in 1948. Viewers are told only that Wallace was a peace candidate opposed to the America-created Cold War, and that he was falsely accused of being a communist. Nowhere do we learn that Wallace's campaign was in fact a Communist Party-run affair, and that had he been elected, Wallace announced he was going to appoint men to his Cabinet who we now know were bona fide Soviet agents....(New York Sun, 12 Jun 07)

FBI Warns Colleges to Watch for Spies

The head of the FBI's Boston office is warning the region's top universities to be on the lookout for foreign spies or potential terrorists who might be trying to steal unclassified, yet sensitive, research. FBI agents met recently with officials at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Massachusetts and other schools to train professors, students and security staff on how to recognize anyone who might be trying to exploit research…(AP, 12 Jun 07)

Analysis: U.S. intelligence spending may reach $60B

The secret budget for U.S. intelligence is much higher than previously thought, perhaps as much as $60 billion, according to the extrapolation of figures inadvertently left buried in a computerized government slideshow. The presentation, made at a Defense Intelligence Agency conference in May and later posted on the agency's Web site, contained a bar chart showing the growing amount of the U.S. intelligence budget spent on contracts with the private sector since 1994. Although dollar amounts were not shown on the chart, a separate slide said that 70 percent of the budget was currently spent on contract awards…..(UPI, 12 Jun 07)

Coup plotters believed CIA on their side, defense says

Cloak-and-dagger allegations that Gen. Vang Pao and nine others plotted to overthrow the communist government of Laos took another twist Monday when a defense lawyer said the group thought it was working at the CIA's behest. Defense lawyer Mark Reichel said an undercover agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and others gave the alleged coup plotters the impression they were connected to high levels of the U.S. government. Coupling that with the Hmong's history of working with the CIA, Reichel said, the defendants believed they had the government's unofficial blessing…..(Pioneer Press, 12 Jun 07)

Philippines: U.S. Spy Plane in Search for Kidnapped Italian Priest

A US Orion spy aircraft has been brought into the hunt for Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, kidnapped Sunday on the Philippines island of Mindanao. Local television station GMA News reports that the Orion is conducting aerial surveillance of the tiny islands which from Zamboanga City in the southern part of Mindanao lead to Basilan in the Sulu archipelago….(AKI, 12 Jun 07)

Security Breach: India's secrets stolen

It's being described as the mother of all spy scandals. TIMES NOW has learnt that a Bangladeshi spy called, Dhimanchand Malik had managed to breach the country's highest and securest office - the Prime Minister's Office or (PMO) as well as the Cabinet Secretariat. But even before the police could catch him, Dhimanchand Malik, who served as a high ranking deputy director of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) for five years till 2005 is now absconding….(Times Now, 12 Jun 07)

U.S. denies wives’ right to visit imprisoned ‘Cuban Five’

Olga Salanueva is determined to visit her husband in the United States. She won’t give up, even though the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba has already denied her request for an entry visa seven times. Ms. Salanueva was once a legal resident in the U.S., but everything changed in the early hours of Aug. 16, 2000, when she was arrested and accused of acting as a Cuban intelligence agent…..(Final Cal, 12 Jun 07)

Beijing Is Developing Anti-Stealth Abilities

China is developing new radar and other sophisticated systems to find and target U.S. radar-evading stealth aircraft such as the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning, F-117 Nighthawk and B-2 Spirit… China’s efforts to defeat U.S. stealth technology also include espionage. From 2002 through 2005, China received sensitive data on the B-2 from Noshir Gowadia, a former Northrop Grumman engineer who helped design its exhaust cloaking system, according to FBI officials. The information likely helped China more easily detect not just the B-2, but the B-1, F-15 and air-launched cruise missiles as well….(Defense News, 11 Jun 07)

Libby’s Supporters Who Wrote to Judge Learn That Letters Take on New Life on the Web

…Then, alluding to the sometimes combative world of online media, they added there was “the real possibility that these letters, once released, would be published on the Internet and their authors discussed, even mocked, by bloggers.” The judge rejected these arguments on May 31, though, saying that “the court must strive to be as transparent as possible without compromising the fairness of the system or the ability of the court to acquire information relevant and helpful to the sentencing process.”…(New York Times, 11 Jun  07)

Oracle extends SAP espionage charges

SAP 'stole code' in addition to support materials, Oracle alleges. Oracle has filed new charges against SAP in the corporate espionage case between the rival enterprise software vendors... The new amendments to the complaint allege that SAP also used log-in credentials from legitimate clients to download software for which SAP and its clients had not purchased a license….(IT News, 11 Jun 07)

Israel Launches Spy Satellite

Israel's military launched a spy satellite early Monday, the Defense Ministry said, and a senior official suggested it could help keep track of developments in Iran….(AP, 11 Jun 07)

Brown vows to make intelligence independent of politics

…In an attempt to draw a line under the erroneous weapons of mass destruction claims and the "dodgy dossier", Mr Brown said he had appointed the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, to make sure that in future any intelligence material put in the public domain was properly verified and validated…..(Guardian, 11 Jun 07)

US Intelligence Investigates Status of Ugandan Militia

The United States has once again been asked to decide the outcome of an African Crisis. But instead of the State Department or the Pentagon making the decision the investigating body will be the Central Intelligence Agency. The request for intervention in this matter of the People’s Redemption Army is a result of a deadlock between the Governments of Uganda and Rwanda about whether this force exists in the first place…..(American Chronicle, 11 Jun 07)

U.S. relies on Sudan despite condemning it

Sudan has secretly worked with the CIA to spy on the insurgency in Iraq, an example of how the U.S. has continued to cooperate with the Sudanese regime even while condemning its suspected role in the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Darfur. President Bush has denounced the killings in Sudan's western region as genocide and has imposed sanctions on the government in Khartoum. But some critics say the administration has soft-pedaled the sanctions to preserve its extensive intelligence collaboration with Sudan…..(LA Times, 11 Jun 07)

Mark Jeremiah Sullivan Jr. CIA Official

Mark Jeremiah Sullivan Jr., 75, an analyst and longtime official with the CIA, died June 1… Mr. Sullivan joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1956 and worked as an analyst, writer and briefer in the United States and abroad….(Washington Post, 11 Jun 07)

10 Million Pages of CIA Declassified Records Available

The CIA recently delivered more than 420,000 additional pages of redacted declassified electronic records to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) facility in College Park, Maryland….(News Blaze, 11 Jun 07)

Vietnam Frees ‘Cyber Dissident’ Before Leader’s Visit to U.S.

…Nguyen Vu Binh, 39, was released from Nam Ha prison on Saturday under a presidential amnesty, said Pham Hong Canh, deputy director of the prison in Ha Nam Province, 40 miles south of Hanoi… In late 2003, he was convicted of spying and sentenced to seven years in prison and three years of house arrest. The court said he had committed espionage by gathering antigovernment information and documents for overseas “reactionary organizations.”….(AP, 11 Jun 07)

Witness in Egyptian trial: Spy passed atomic programs to Mossad

…Ali Islam, head of Egypt's atomic agency, said the engineer stole confidential reports from the agency and gave them to the Israeli Mossad in an act that could harm the supreme interests for the nation, politically and economically, the state MENA news agency reported. Egypt has charged Mohammed Sayed Saber, 35, a nuclear engineer who used to work for the atomic agency, of stealing classified documents and handing them over to Israel for 17,000 dollars…..(Haaretz, 11 Jun 07)

U.S.-Iranian denied access to lawyer: Nobel laureate

Iranian Nobel Peace prize winner and lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, has been told by officials that a detained U.S.-Iranian academic charged with spying does not need her counsel…Ebadi, who had been chosen by the family of Haleh Esfandiara to defend the academic, said her client was being deprived of her civil rights, the ILNA news agency quoted her saying. "My client is being detained without having access to a lawyer,"…(Reuters, 11 Jun 07)

CIA Plans Cutbacks, Limits on Contractor Staffing

Acting under pressure from Congress, the CIA has decided to trim its contractor staffing by 10 percent. It is the agency's first effort since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to curb what critics have decried as the growing privatization of U.S. intelligence work, a circumstance that has sharply boosted some personnel costs….(Washington Post, 11 Jun 07)

This CIA Mission -- Better Contract-Workforce Management -- Isn't Classified

…Hayden's task force, led by Cynthia Erskine, a senior career official, outlined three broad goals for the CIA, Morell said. The first involves a realignment of the workforce -- identifying jobs that should be done only by staff and jobs that can be performed by contractors or a mix of contractors and staff. Once the jobs are sorted out, Morell said, the agency will have to figure out "a way to transition from where we are today to where we think we need to be." Based on current data, Morell said, the CIA probably can cut the number of contractors by 10 percent by October 2008. The second goal focuses on taking a more agency-wide, efficient approach to contracting…..(Washington Post, 11 Jun 07)

Commentary: Students join Defense Intelligence Agency team

…Students accepted into the program are high-performing juniors and seniors who alternate six-month sessions of work and study. During their periods of employment, co-ops carry out assignments to develop a range of financial management core competencies. Participation in the program gives students multiple opportunities to assess their own interests and develop practical skills…The benefits to my office and to DIA are substantial. We are recruiting some of the nation’s most competitive college students and giving them the kind of experience that can lead to productive careers in DIA, in the greater Defense community, or in the federal resource management arena overall….(Federal Times, 11 Jun 07)

Detention Threatens U.S.-Iran Relations

Iran's confirmation Sunday that it has detained a fourth Iranian-American _ this one a peace activist from California _ seems certain to further rile relations between the two countries, already tense over Iran's nuclear program….(AP, 10 Jun 07)

Iraq WMD forgery gets Venice art spotlight

Can bad intelligence make for good art?...To underline the duplicitous nature of the use of intelligence the images of the Niger embassy are actually the result of a full-sized model that he meticulously reconstructed -- using cardboard -- and not of the real building. The artist put the images in an exhibition in Venice hosted by the Fondazione Prada launched at the same time the art world gathers in Venice for the Biennale art festival….(Reuters, 10 Jun 07)

America's Secret Obsession

…Today the nation's obsession with secrecy is redefining public and private institutions and taking a toll on the lives of ordinary citizens. Excessive secrecy is at the root of multiple scandals -- the phantom weapons of mass destruction, the collapse of Enron, the tragedies traced to Firestone tires and the arthritis drug Vioxx, and more. In this self-proclaimed "Information Age," our country is on the brink of becoming a secretocracy, a place where the right to know is being replaced by the need to know….(Washington Post, 10 Jun 07)

Walesa Publishes Communist-Era Files

Former Polish president and Nobel laureate Lech Walesa said Sunday he has published on the Internet about 500 pages of files kept on him by the communist-era secret police in order to disprove allegations he collaborated with them in the 1980s… Walesa said the files show that Gwiazda and Walentynowicz were themselves manipulated by the secret police without realizing it, and that the secret services pursued a strategy of deepening discord among the key Solidarity leaders….(AP, 10 Jun 07)