Ex-FBI agent claims racial discrimination

…Rita Chiang, 53, retired last year, ending a 21-year-career during which she matched wits with Chinese agents in the world of counterintelligence. The Taiwan-born Chiang was hired by the FBI in 1984 after becoming a U.S. citizen.  On Jan. 14, 2002, Chiang was stripped of her badge and gun and escorted out of the West Los Angeles FBI office… In a signed statement included in court documents, one of her supervisors said Chiang probably would not have failed the polygraph had it been administered by an examiner experienced in conducting National Security Division exams. He expressed the belief "that Chiang was discriminated against because of her ethnicity……(LA Daily, 15 Sep 07)

'The Israelis assassinated Ashraf'

…Ashraf Marawan, the much maligned millionaire husband of the late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser's daughter Mona. He was lionised as a true patriot, "a faithful Egyptian citizen" misleading the Israelis about the timing of the 6 October 1973 War… The furore over Marawan's mysterious death has hardly died down. Scotland Yard last week summoned several Israeli nationals for questioning, and investigations conducted by Scotland Yard into the Marawan case are ongoing. ….(Ahram Weekly, 12-19 Sep 07)

TD Ameritrade Says Contact Info Stolen

Online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. said Friday one of its databases was hacked and contact information for its more than 6.3 million customers was stolen. A spokeswoman for the Omaha-based company said more sensitive information in the same database, including Social Security numbers and account numbers, does not appear to have been taken...Ameritrade has known about the problem at least since late May when two of its customers sued the brokerage in federal court because they were receiving unwanted e-mail ads on accounts used only for Ameritrade…..(AP, 15 Sep 07)

E-mails and Text Messages Reveal Details of F1 Spy Case

A day after the world of Formula One was shocked by a $100 million fine over spying, the racing federation revealed extraordinary details of the scandal. In a 15-page account — including details from e-mails and cellphone text messages — the International Automobile Federation explained today the punishment it imposed on Thursday against McLaren Mercedes. What came out was a tale of intrigue, and of insight into the workings of the pinnacle of motor racing…..(New York Times, 15 Sep 07)

Bush Administration Aiming To Ease Surveillance Concerns

The Bush administration, facing withering criticism over its temporary foreign intelligence wiretap law, has launched a campaign to assure Democratic lawmakers that the law will not result in domestic surveillance without a court order, and at the same time it has indicated that it is willing to consider changes…. The administration wants Congress to make permanent the current law, which expires in six months. It also wants to broaden it to grant telecommunication carriers immunity from lawsuits alleging that they invaded Americans' privacy by assisting in the post-Sept. 11 warrantless surveillance program…..(Washington Post, 15 Sep 07)

China frees NY Times reporter

A Chinese journalist jailed while working for the New York Times was released on Saturday, ending a controversial prison term that highlighted the country's tough media controls. Zhao Yan, looking noticeably thinner, was greeted by a small group of family and friends, including his daughter and sister, when he emerged from prison…..(Reuters, 15 Sep 07)

CIA Veteran to Head Clandestine Service

…As head of the National Clandestine Service, Sulick will help direct and coordinate all foreign intelligence activities, whether conducted by the CIA or the Pentagon. In announcing the appointment to the CIA staff, Hayden noted that Sulick "speaks his mind," in an apparent reference to the controversy with Goss's staff three years ago…..(Washington Post, 15 Sep 07)

CIA bans "water boarding" in interrogations: report

…ABC said it had been told by former and current CIA officials that CIA director Michael Hayden banned the practice sometime last year at the recommendation of his deputy, Steve Kappes, and with the approval of the White House…..(Reuters, 15 Sep 07)

Belarusian high court convicts 4 army officers of spying for Poland

…Prosecutors have said the officers transported documents across the border into Poland inside the kind of fire extinguisher motorists in Belarus are required to keep in their cars. When the arrests were announced in July, the deputy chief of the Belarusian KGB said Polish intelligence was eager to obtain information on Russian anti-missile defense systems in Belarus, especially long-range S-300 air defense missiles...Already antagonistic relations with Warsaw have worsened over U.S. plans to deploy part of a missile defense system in Poland, a NATO and EU member. Belarus has a large number of ethnic Poles living in western regions, and President Alexander Lukashenko's government, which has quashed opposition and dissent in the ex-Soviet republic, fears Polish security services may try and use Belarusian Poles to undermine his government…..(AP, 14 Sep 07)

Belarus sentences four spies to long prison terms

…Deputy Chairman of the State Security Committee Viktor Vegera said at the time the ring comprised four Belarusians and a Russian citizen, who had already surrendered to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).  The alleged ringleader, former Belarusian officer Vladimir Russkin, has been sentenced to 10 years in a high-security prison. Viktor Bogdan received a nine-year sentence, and Sergey Kornilyuk and Pavel Petkevich were both sentenced to seven years. Russkin confessed that he was recruited by Polish intelligence when he was caught at a border checkpoint attempting to smuggle alcohol….(RIA Novosti, 14 Sep 07)

US Central Intelligence Agency 60 Years Old this Month

The Central Intelligence Agency marks its 60th birthday this month.  The CIA has had a colorful and often controversial history.  In this background report, VOA correspondent Gary Thomas looks at the CIA's past and its current state…With the end of the war (WWII) the old OSS faded into history -- replaced by the CIA on September 18, 1947. The man known as "Wild Bill" -- OSS chief William Donovan -- lobbied vigorously for a post war intelligence agency to ensure that America's leaders would not make policy in ignorance. "America cannot afford to resume its prewar indifference," he said, "and here's a fact we must face: today there is not a single permanent agency to take over in peace time certain of the functions which OSS has performed in war time."… Former CIA science and technology officer Eugene Poteat, who helped design an early spy plane -- the SR-71, says technology is only one tool in the espionage arsenal. "Spying has war-winning potential.  And the only way you can get what the enemy is thinking and planning and his intentions is through human spying.  You can't do that with a satellite or even an aircraft."……(Voice of America, 14 Sep 07)

Formula One Team Is Fined a Record $100M

Accused of using leaked secret data from its main rival Ferrari, the Formula One team McLaren was hit with a record $100 million fine yesterday by the World Motor Sport Council in the biggest scandal to hit the auto racing circuit. The team, also stripped of its constructors' points, already was battling accusations that it had used team orders to decide which driver would win races…..(Washington Post, 14 Sep 07)

Sideline Spying: N.F.L. Punishes Patriots’ Taping

The National Football League fined New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick $500,000 yesterday, and the team will forfeit its first-round draft pick in 2008 if it makes the playoffs, for violating league rules Sunday when a Patriots staff member was discovered videotaping signals by Jets coaches during the season opener at the Meadowlands. The Patriots will be fined $250,000. If they fail to make the playoffs, they will forfeit their second- and third-round picks in 2008…..(New York Times, 14 Sep 07)

On This Day: 14 Sep 1985

USSR expels 25 in tit-for-tat spy row

Two days after the British Government ordered the expulsion of 25 alleged Soviet spies, the USSR has retaliated by throwing out 25 British nationals. It follows the defection of Soviet double-agent and KGB chief Oleg Gordievsky to the West. He gave British security services an unprecedented amount of information about Soviet agents operating in the UK. In fact he had recently been appointed head of the KGB in London in charge of the USSR's whole spy operation in Britain…..(BBC, 14 September 07)

Charles F. Dirlam HHS Administrative Law Judge

Charles Francis Dirlam, 77, a chief administrative law judge for what became the Department of Health and Human Services, died Sept. 10…Earlier in his career, he was assistant general counsel of the Subversive Activities Control Board, a now-defunct federal agency; a Washington lawyer in private practice; and an FBI special agent in Oklahoma City… He was an Army veteran of the Korean War and worked for the CIA while in law school….(Washington Post, 14 Sep 07)

Russian Biologist Under Investigation

Security agents are investigating a Russian scientist for allegedly trying to smuggle out of Russia materials that could be used in building a biological or bacteriological weapon, the scientist and his co-workers said Friday. Oleg Mediannikov is the latest in a growing number of academics and scientists who have been targeted by Russia's main security agency, the Federal Security Service, for allegedly misusing classified information, revealing state secrets or, in some cases, espionage. Mediannikov, a biologist at Moscow's Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, told The Associated Press that he was traveling to France in December to bring vials of a non-dangerous typhoid vaccine to colleagues when he was stopped by customs officials at Sheremyetevo Airport… The investigation highlighted the chill that has fallen over Russian scientific research under President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer. In 2004, physicist Valentin Danilov was convicted of spying for China and sentenced to 14 years in prison for providing allegedly sensitive information that he said had been published in part in publicly available scientific magazines. The same year, arms control researcher Igor Sutyagin was convicted of treason for selling information on nuclear submarines and missile-warning systems to a British company that Russian investigators claimed was a CIA cover. Last month, the Federal Security Service said it was dropping its investigation of two physicist-brothers who published a booklet last year that outside experts determined, the service said, contained classified information "related to the development of armaments."…..(AP, 14 Sep 07)

Romanian prosecutors bring international consultant to court in organized crime case
…DIICOT prosecutors issued a series of charges against consultant Vadim Benyatov Don, including undermining the national economy, espionage and organizing criminal networks in complicity with a Bulgarian consultant, Stamen Stancev, Romanian TV news stations report. Benyatov is accused that while working for a foreign organization and acting as a member of the organized crime group allegedly built around Stancev he pressed for leaks of classified information related to the privatization of key assets in the Romanian energy sector.. Two former top Romanian officials, ex-IT&C minister Zsolt Nagy and ex-Economy minister Codrut Seres are also involved in the case.……(Hot News, 14 Sep 07)

Exposed Cyber Attacks Could Be the Tip of the Iceberg

High-profile claims against Russia and China this year, accusing them of mounting cyber attacks against Western state computer systems could be the first publicized salvos of a secret cyber war involving many nations. Twenty years ago, the concept of a country coming under attack not from land, air or sea but via telephone lines and communication systems was seen as science fiction. But today, when gaining access to a government Web site takes just a few mouse clicks, cyber-terrorism is a very real fact…..(Deutsche Welle, 14 Sep 07)

Chinese Hackers

On Wednesday, wire services reported that a senior Chinese official charged foreign intelligence services of causing "massive and shocking" damage to his country through computer espionage…Since 2003, when the Chinese attacks against American targets began, there have been hacking attempts on the Army Information Systems Engineering Command at Fort Huachuca, the Defense Information Systems Agency in Arlington, the Naval Ocean Systems Center in San Diego, and the Army Space and Strategic Defense Command in Huntsville. America has codenamed China's systematic efforts "Titan Rain." Moreover, Chinese hackers have probed Britain's House of Commons and Foreign Office. They may also have tried to penetrate the Ministry of Defense ….(New York Sun, 14 Sep 07)

Gilder quits 'spy game'

Intelligence coordinator Barry Gilder has resigned in what those close to him and intelligence sources say is nothing but early retirement from a stressful job. The 57-year-old Gilder was appointed head of the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee after a stint as director-general of home affairs. His resignation comes when the South African intelligence services are trying to restore their credibility following espionage scandals, linked to ANC succession battle, which cost the career of four top spies…..(IOL, 14 Sep 07)

CIA brings back former official to head espionage service

The CIA Friday named as head of its espionage service a former senior official who quit three years ago amid a staff rebellion against the agency's former director. CIA director Michael Hayden announced the appointment of Michael Sulick as head of the National Clandestine Service, hailing him as a "proven leader who understands our agency and the intelligence community." Sulick was associate deputy director for operations when he resigned in August 2004 after a clash with then-director Porter Goss's chief of staff over the treatment of another agency employee. Sulick quit along with Stephen Kappes, who resigned rather than submit to demands that Sulick be reassigned. Hayden brought back Kappes, a legend at the agency, as his deputy in one of his first acts after replacing Goss in May 2006.......(AFP, 14 Sep 07)

Spy who left CIA in huff returns as head of clandestine service.....(Examiner, 14 Sep 07)

Cloak and Dagger 101

…Spy Shops is on East 34th Street, near Lexington Avenue, on the second floor above a Thai restaurant. Surprisingly, for a spy store, it is easy to find. There is a large sign. There are glass cases filled with expensive electronic equipment, made for watching or listening, tapping into the secret lives of others. And there are nontechnical gadgets, the kind at home on a comic book’s back page, next to the advertisement for X-ray glasses: sneezing powder, safes that look like soda cans and household cleaners and something called Envelope X-Ray, a spray that purportedly turns paper temporarily translucent and, presumably, wet. A popular item is the button-size button camera. It can be hooked to a small digital recorder, the size of a cellular phone, which slips in the pocket. Similar cameras are hidden in clocks, speakers, even teddy bears…..(New York Times, 14 Sep 07)

Putin's Choice for Prime Minister Okayed

Russia's lower house of parliament confirmed President Vladimir Putin's choice as prime minister on Friday, approving the previously obscure official Viktor Zubkov in a vote whose result was a foregone conclusion in the Kremlin-controlled chamber… If anything, the surprise choice of Zubkov served as a further indication that Putin was showing the country, especially Kremlin factions jockeying for position ahead of the election, that he is no lame duck and will continue calling the shots. "As always, the Russian president chose the option that gives him the maximum possible freedom to maneuver,"….(AP, 14 Sep 07)

McLaren Is Fined; Took Data From Rival

McLaren Mercedes, the leading team in the Formula One championship, was fined $100 million Thursday and excluded from the constructor’s title in connection with the spying scandal that has plagued the sport all season. The International Automobile Federation, the sport’s governing body, found McLaren guilty of cheating by using data obtained from Ferrari, its main rival, to improve its own car….(New York Times, 14 Sep 07)

Belarus Officers Convicted of Spying for Poland

…The verdict, read out in court, said the four defendants were "found guilty of espionage and damaging Belarus's external security and defense capability". Belarus, accused of crushing fundamental rights under President Alexander Lukashenko, has had strained relations with EU-member Poland over allegations that Warsaw foments unrest in the country through a 400,000-strong Polish minority…..(Reuters, 14 Sep 07)

Four Belarusians convicted of spying for Poland

The Supreme Court in Belarus has sentenced four Belarusian military personnel to between seven and ten years in prison for spying on behalf of Poland, Russian news agency Interfax reported. Vladimir Russkin was found guilty of organizing espionage, while Sergei Kornilyuk, Pavel Petkevich and Viktor Bogdan were convicted of treason… All four were stripped of their military ranks, that ranged from lieutenant to major….(Forbes, 14 Sep 07)

Confidential Chicago terrorist threat assessment leaked over P2P

Officials at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. are looking into how a Fox News reporter acquired a confidential terrorist threat assessment on Chicago over a public file-sharing network. Larry Yellen, an investigative reporter with WFLD Fox News in Chicago, on Tuesday reported that he recently used a peer-to-peer (P2P) program called LimeWire to obtain the Booz Allen document. The firm authored the document in 2002.  George Farrar, a spokesman for Booz Allen, today confirmed the incident and said the document was commissioned by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) five years ago. It was one of 35 threat assessments….(Computerworld, 13 Sep 07)

Norway denies spying inside Iran
Norway's embassy in Tehran has denied reports that the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) is active inside Iranian borders. In an official letter submitted to Iran's Foreign Ministry, the embassy rejected involvement of its country in conducting espionage operations in Iran in violation of international conventions…..(PressTV, 13 Sep 07)

Turkish intelligence assisted IDF in attack on Syria – report

Turkish intelligence provided Israel with information on the Syrian targets allegedly attacked by the Air Force last week without the Turkish government's authorization, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jareeda reported Thursday. Al-Jareeda quoted several sources as saying that Israel and senior Turkish military personnel coordinated Israel's invasion of Turkish airspace during the operation to send a message to the ruling Justice and Development party, or AKP. Senior military officials in Turkey, most of whom are secular, oppose the Islamist party's platform. ….(YNet, 13 Sep 07)

M15 hiring in Northern Ireland

Britain's intelligence service has launched a recruitment drive for the new facility it will open in Co Down later this year. MI5 has taken out newspaper ads in Northern Ireland, seeking applications from IT workers and language specialists. The translators who will be based at the former British Army Palace Barracks in Holywood will be required to listen live to intercepted phone calls from anywhere in the UK…..(RTE, 13 Sep 07)

Belichick apologizes as probe continues

Patriots coach Bill Belichick apologized twice yesterday - first to his players in a morning meeting and then via a written statement - as he awaits a ruling from commissioner Roger Goodell on the videotape incident that took place in Sunday's game against the Jets at Giants Stadium…Every NFL team has a security person assigned to it from the league, and the official assigned to the Jets stopped Patriots video assistant Matt Estrella during the first half of last Sunday's 38-14 Patriots romp in the season opener. The NFL security official confiscated the equipment Estrella allegedly used to film the signals of Jets defensive coaches. Filming the signals of coaches is illegal, and the penalty could be suspension, fines, and loss of draft choices…..(Boston Globe, 13 Sep 07)

Spy Flap Raises Questions About Patriots

It's not just the NFL's players who are getting into trouble these days. Commissioner Roger Goodell is investigating whether the Patriots illegally videotaped the opposing coaches during their Week 1 victory over the New York Jets. New England coach Bill Belichick apologized Wednesday -- for what, it wasn't clear -- and confirmed that he has spoken to Goodell about an ''interpretation'' of league rules….(AP, 13 Sep 07)

Chinese Envoy Gave N. Korea Data to South, Officials Say

For years, Ambassador Li Bin was China's go-to diplomat for the tense Korean Peninsula. After studies in North Korea, Li had served several tours in the Chinese embassies in Pyongyang and Seoul. Fluent in Korean and gregarious in nature, he also struck up an unusually personal relationship with Kim Jong Il, the secretive North Korean leader. It turns out, according to knowledgeable Chinese officials, that Li was also a resource for the South Koreans, who exploited his insider knowledge about Kim and the closed-door North Korean government. During a tour as China's ambassador to Seoul from 2001 to 2005, the officials said, Li regularly provided the South Koreans with information on Kim, the North and China-North Korea relations. Li's willingness to talk got him arrested in Beijing late last year for betraying state secrets, officials said, but the exact nature of Li's alleged transgressions remained opaque. Now, after months of interrogation, his case is being treated at the Foreign and State Security ministries as a major breach. It is believed to be the most damaging state secrets case in China since 1994, when an army general was discovered to be a spy for Taiwan……(Washington Post, 13 Sep 07)

Senate Intelligence Panel Seeks CIA Nominee's Withdrawal

Members of the Senate intelligence committee have requested the withdrawal of the Bush administration's choice for CIA general counsel, acknowledging that John Rizzo's nomination has stalled because of concerns about his views on the treatment of terrorism suspects…Rizzo, a career CIA lawyer, has drawn fire from Democrats and human rights groups because of his support for Bush administration legal doctrines permitting "enhanced interrogation" of terrorism detainees in CIA custody. Two U.S. officials familiar with the committee's decision said the request for Rizzo's withdrawal has been conveyed to Gen. Michael Hayden, the CIA's director……(Washington Post, 13 Sep 07)

Spy Master Admits Error

…Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell is withdrawing an assertion he made to Congress this week that a recently passed electronic-surveillance law helped U.S. authorities foil a major terror plot in Germany. The temporary measure, signed into law by President Bush on Aug. 5, gave the U.S. intelligence community broad new powers to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications overseas without seeking warrants from the surveillance court…..(Newsweek, 13 Sep 07)

Intelligence Chief Admits Error

Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, on Wednesday recanted his claim that the new surveillance powers recently given to the government helped foil a terrorist plot in Germany. “Information contributing to the recent arrests was not collected under authorities provided by the Protect America Act,” Mr. McConnell said in a statement issued late in the day…..(AP, 13 Sep 07)

Washington Denies Visas to Wives of Cuban Political Prisoners

"Once again the US government lies," said the president of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, during a cultural gala on Wednesday night to celebrate the beginning of an international campaign for the release of Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino and Rene Gonzalez, internationally known as the Cuban Five, who remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States nine years after they were detained for infiltrating terrorist anti-Cuba organizations based in Florida. Alarcon was making reference to the announcement made on Wednesday afternoon by the US State Department informing that Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez had been denied - for the eighth time - visas to visit their husbands Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez, respectively……( Cuban News Agency, 13 Sep 07)

KGB’s most dangerous officer unveils secrets of Soviet intelligence

Western counterintelligence agencies attempted to re-recruit Soviet agents; several traitors defected to the West, and some Soviet diplomats committed adultery in “the ways that defy imagination,” according to Viktor Budanov, a former chief of the KGB’s Directorate K. The Directorate K, one of several sub-directorates within the First Chief Directorate (external intelligence) of the KGB, was disbanded following the August 1991 events. The Soviet-era defector Oleg Gordievsky described Budanov as the KGB’s grimmest and most dangerous person. Viktor Budanov speaks with Pravda.ru correspondent Ilya Tarasov…..(Pravda, 13 Sep 07)

Book on legendary agent Pham Xuan An to hit shelves

Perfect Spy, by Larry Berman

…The News Agency Publishing House plans to release the Vietnamese version of Larry Berman’s 300-page work on the late well-known intelligence agent to commemorate his his first death anniversary, September 20. Hollywood is also reported to be interested in this script. Perfect Spy was first released in the US by Smithsonian Harper Collins Publisher this April and has attracted considerable interest…A member of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Pham Xuan An, who received the title of the Hero of the People’s Armed Forces in 1976, spent years during the American war working for western news agencies including Reuters, the New York Herald Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, and Time magazine as a secret spy…..(Nhandan, 13 Sep 07)

Inside Iran’s infamous Evin prison

From the road it is easy to miss. A small outhouse and a sign saying “Evin House of Detention” give no hint of the huge complex of guard towers and cells that lies behind. A metal gate slides open to reveal Iran’s best-known jail, a maze of walls and concrete blocks stretching high up the barren hillside in northern Teheran and enclosing a relatively short but checkered history. Built by the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1970s, Evin prison was the site of torture and detention of political opponents by his SAVAK secret police. Today it houses around 4,600 inmates. Rights groups accuse the Islamic republic of carrying out mass executions in the prison in the turbulent years after the shah’s overthrow in 1979, and continuing to hold political prisoners and using torture today…..(Khaleej Times, 13 Sep 07)

Spying intrigue at the women's World Cup in China
An accusation of spying, with cameras behind a two-way mirror, has stirred up intrigue at the women's World Cup. The day before their match with China, Denmark team officials found two men with video cameras sitting behind a two-way mirror in the hotel conference room where the team was about to hold a strategy meeting. "It's like a spy movie," Danish team press officer Pia Schou Nielsen said Thursday….(AP, 13 Sep 07)

Do you know how leaky your information is?

Today’s businesses are more security conscious than ever. With exploding amounts of data in circulation the risk of security breaches, leaks or loss has never been higher. Most organizations and industry commentators have focused on viruses, hackers and malicious information leaks and many have ignored the real threats emerging in the four key areas of privacy, intellectual property, the mobile workforce and corporate compliance…data theft can come in all forms and organizations must find ways to protect themselves. Illustrating the need to prevent the downloading of information onto mobile and removable storage devices was the case of two former Ferrari engineers who were convicted of industrial espionage as a result of stealing intellectual property that would later be used to develop designs for a rival car company…..(VNU Net, 13 Sep 07)

Former Jordanian intelligence chief heads Duos Technologies Mideast projects

US-based Duos Technologies International announced today the appointment of Colonel Khaled Allawi (retired) to Director of Projects, Middle East. Colonel Allawi recently retired with Jordan’s General Intelligence Department (GID) as a Senior Officer having served from 1988 until August 2007. He brings seasoned security experience to Duos having specialised skills in counter-terrorism, national security, intelligence analysis, and regional security issues…..(BI-ME, 13 Sep 07)

France's interior minister announces reorganization of intelligence services

France's interior minister announced a reorganization of the country's intelligence services under a single roof Thursday, a move designed in part to enhance the fight against terrorism. Michele Alliot-Marie hosted an unprecedented visit by journalists to the nerve center of France's counterterrorism fight, in a glistening new building in the northwest Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. The reorganization of key units, including counterterrorism and the police intelligence service, under an umbrella organization called the Central Agency for Internal Intelligence, or DCRI, was pushed by President Nicolas Sarkozy, a former interior minister……(AP, 13 Sep 07)

Super-Sarkozy jolts more French institutions: NATO relationship, spy agencies and nuclear energy shakeups looms

French President Nicolas Sarkozy (sometimes called Tsarkozy for his imperial style) is at it again, first he put his stamp on foreign policy in a whirlwind series of statements and appearances, now he's hammering away at domestic policy with three main maneuvers…..(National Post, 13 Sep 07)

Decision day in F1 leak scandal

World championship leader Lewis Hamilton joined McLaren team chief Ron Dennis at a special hearing in Paris which will rule in Formula One's 'spying' scandal. McLaren and drivers Hamilton and world champion Fernando Alonso face punishments which could include being docked points or thrown out of this year's compelling title race……(CNN, 13 Sep 07)

McLaren face email and phone-call evidence

The Ferrari mechanic at the centre of the formula one espionage scandal, Nigel Stepney, had several hundred email and telephone exchanges with McLaren's chief designer, Mike Coughlan, this year and the traffic between them was particularly intense in the run-up to grands prix, according to a document crucial to today's motor sport world council hearing. McLaren face possibly the most challenging day in their 42-year history as senior managers appear, in Paris, for the second time in two months to answer charges that they brought the sport into disrepute. The teams are accused of harnessing stolen technical data from Ferrari for the development of the MP4-22 car, which has won seven of the season's 13 races…..(Guardian, 13 Sep 07)

Lewis Hamilton called to 'spy' hearing

Lewis Hamilton is to be called as a shock witness in McLaren's defence at today's 'spygate' hearing before the World Motorsport Council in Paris. Such is the degree of concern about the outcome, McLaren have produced their trump card on a day that potentially could have catastrophic consequences for Hamilton, his team and Formula One. The sport's highest authority has been assembled for the second time in six weeks to hear new evidence in the dispute between Ferrari and McLaren….(Telegraph, 13 Sep 07)

Belichick apologizes, but doesn't say for what

… A day after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly saw a confiscated videotape and determined that the Patriots had broken league rules by recording the signals of Jets defensive coaches relaying play calls onto the field, Rhodes was still trying to figure out just how the Jets' blitzes were picked up so efficiently by the Patriots in their 38-14 win…The NFL's Game Operations Manual states "no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game." NFL spokesman Greg Aiello has said teams have been warned repeatedly about this rule…..(Newsday, 13 Sep 07)

High-tech, spies and videotape

… The NFL is buzzing about accusations that coach Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots broke league rules in using a video camera to spy on the New York Jets during a season-opening 38-14 victory Sunday. Goodell reportedly is considering disciplining the Patriots for videotaping defensive signals flashed by Jets coaches. Citing league sources, ESPN.com reported that Goodell was mulling penalties that included docking the organization "multiple draft picks." A league spokesman, however, said the investigation was continuing….(Baltimore Sun, 13 Sep 07)

Castro Claims Cuba Helped Save Reagan

Fidel Castro claims Cuba's government saved the life of President Reagan by giving American officials information about an assassination plot in 1984…Newsom Summerlin, a special agent with the FBI in Charlotte, N.C., said late Wednesday that he had no immediate information pertaining to Castro's claim. Castro said Cuban authorities learned the FBI had arrested several people in North Carolina and he said several days after that Robert C. Muller, the U.S. security chief at the U.N., expressed America's thanks to the Cuban official over lunch. Castro didn't identify the Cuban official…..(AP, 13 Sep 07)

Chinese Official Accuses Nations of Hacking

A senior Chinese official has accused foreign intelligence agencies of causing "massive and shocking" damage to China by hacking into computers to ferret out political, military and scientific secrets……(Washington Post, 13 Sep 07)

Official: 'Massive' Damage to China From Hacking

A senior Chinese official said foreign intelligence agencies have caused "massive and shocking" damage to China by hacking into computers to ferret out political, military and scientific secrets. The charge, from Vice Information Industry Minister Lou Qinjian, seemed designed as a response to recent reports that Chinese hackers had infiltrated high-security computers in several Western countries, penetrating the Pentagon, the British Foreign Office and the German chancellor's headquarters. Lou, writing in the September issue of the Chinese Cadres Tribune, did not specifically name the countries carrying out what he described as "external espionage activities against our core, vital departments." But he said 80 percent of the computers from which worldwide hacking originates are in the United States. Lou's comments were interpreted as a reflection of official attitudes toward the accusations of Chinese hacking. The monthly magazine is published by the Central Party School, a Communist Party training facility for up-and-coming officials……(Washington Post, 12 Sep 07)

Intelligence agencies executed Nawaz deportation

The country’s three top intelligence agencies coordinated and executed the plan to deport former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia within hours of his landing at Islamabad airport on Monday, Daily Times has learnt. Sources said that Col U of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Col K of Military Intelligence (MI) and Mr A of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) – their names have been withheld for security reasons – led the operation to bundle Sharif onto a Jeddah-bound PIA plane from Islamabad. The plane, a PIA Airbus 310, had been parked on the tarmac three days ago…..(Daily Times, 12 Sep 07)

Russian ex-spies flex their muscles

This week Russian communists laid flowers at the tomb of Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky, on the 130th anniversary of his birth. The BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow examines the enduring influence of the secret police in the era of President Vladimir Putin - himself a former KGB officer…Communist-era secret police became hate figures across much of the Soviet bloc during the Cold War. When those regimes unraveled in the late 1980s and early 1990s, people celebrated their demise. Archives were opened, informers were exposed, former dissidents became presidents….(BBC, 12 Sep 07)

Russian military officer sentenced to 9 years in jail for spying

The Moscow Military District Court sentenced Wednesday Igor Arsentyev, a lieutenant colonel in the reserves, to nine years in prison after finding him guilty of high treason… The spokesman said that in line with the investigation, Arsentyev, who used to occupy a top post at a scientific and research institute with the Russian Defense Ministry, allegedly divulged secrets concerning Russian research plans on conducting electronic warfare. Ravil Shakurov, a state prosecutor in the case, refused to name the country Arsentyev allegedly spied for, saying it could result in negative consequences for Russia…..(RIA Novosti, 12 Sep 07)

Guantanamo Bay detainee sues British intelligence agencies over torture claim

A former detainee at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay has sued Britain's spy agencies over allegations that they interrogated him even though they knew he was being abused and tortured. Tarek Dergoul, 29, says he was repeatedly tortured while in U.S. custody in Afghanistan and later at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, and that the British agents who questioned him were aware of the mistreatment, The Guardian reported. Dergoul, a British citizen, is seeking a court ruling that would ban the intelligence agencies from benefiting from the abuse of prisoners being held abroad…..(AP, 12 Sep 07)

Russia Tests Superstrength Bomb: Military

…The bomb is the latest in a series of new Russian weapons and policy moves as President Vladimir Putin tries to reassert Moscow's role on the international stage. "Test results of the new airborne weapon have shown that its efficiency and power is commensurate with a nuclear weapon," Alexander Rukshin, Russian deputy armed forces chief of staff, told Russia's state ORT First Channel television. The same report was later shown on the state-sponsored Vesti channel. "You will now see it in action, the bomb which has no match in the world is being tested at a military site." …..(Reuters, 12 Sep 07)

Indonesia still tarnished by activist murder

Indonesian human rights activist Munir Thalib, who died in agony of arsenic poisoning on a Garuda flight in 2004, made plenty of enemies in his career -- including from the ranks of the country's powerful security forces… Pollycarpus Priyanto, an off-duty pilot for national carrier Garuda, was jailed for 14 years in 2005 after being found guilty of the murder, but the conviction was overturned last year by the Supreme Court, citing a lack of evidence and witnesses. Munir's widow, Suciwati, led a public outcry after the release of Priyanto, who has been accused of links to the state spy agency, which has its roots in much feared military and civilian intelligence agencies used by Suharto to crush dissent…..(Reuters 12 Sep 07)

Editorial: The spy business is alive and well

…This week, new SIS head Warren Tucker said government computer systems had been hacked into by foreign states. Information had been stolen and hard-to-detect software installed that could be used to take control of computer systems, he said. Mr Tucker would not name the culprits. But he did refer to recent comments by Canada's security service about Chinese spying. Canada's spy-meister, Jim Judd, has said that almost half his security intelligence efforts were focused on that country's spies…..(Dominion Post, 12 Sep 07)

Putin names next prime minister

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted the resignation of PM Mikhail Fradkov and nominated a financial crime investigator to replace him. Victor Zubkov, head of the federal financial monitoring service, is a relative unknown in Russian politics. Mr Fradkov offered to resign, citing "approaching significant political events", said Tass news agency…..(BBC, 12 Sep 07)

China says suffers "massive" Internet spy damage

…Vice Minister of Information Industry Lou Qinjian said his country was the target of a campaign of computer infiltration and subversion and proposed a raft of counter-measures including toughened censorship, new security bodies and commercial controls. He did not address recent Western allegations of cyber-spying against China…..(Reuters, 12 Sep 07)

Professor Honored with National Intelligence Award

The United States National Intelligence Agency recently awarded Georgetown University Professor Nancy Bernkopf Tucker a National Intelligence Achievement Medal. The award recognizes meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service to the United States by a member of the intelligence community…Tucker recently returned to Georgetown after more than a year of service as the first-ever Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analytic Integrity and Standards and Analytic Ombudsman in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In this role, she implemented path-breaking initiatives to support the National Intelligence Strategy and strengthen the critical function of analysis throughout the Intelligence Community….(Georgetown University 12 Sep 07)

Intelligence Chiefs Back A Guantanamo Reversal

The Bush administration's top intelligence officials have all filed declarations to a federal appeals court -- including two classified top-secret -- warning that its recent ruling ordering the release of information about detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will cause grave harm to national security. The warnings of five officials, including the directors of the National Security Agency, the FBI and the CIA, were filed Friday by the Justice Department as it seeks a reversal of the court's July ruling. That decision allowed detainees' lawyers to have access to information about their clients as they challenge the detainees' imprisonment……(Washington Post,  12 Sep 07)

Officials Cite Danger in Revealing Detainee Data

…The department faces a deadline this week to turn over information in the case of Mr. Remes’s client, Saifullah Paracha, a detainee who lived in the United States for many years. Department lawyers have asked the appeals court for a stay. Opposing that request in a filing on Monday, Mr. Remes argued that the government created the problem the appeals court panel had tried to repair. He noted that the military hearings at Guantánamo, known as combatant status review tribunals, do not permit detainees to have lawyers, to confront their accusers or to examine the evidence against them…..(New York Times, 12 Sep 07)

Service and Lies: A Spy Plays Two Sides

AGENT ZIGZAG: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal, by Ben Macintyre

Agent Zigzag, known to friends, lovers and the police as Eddie Chapman, was by any measure Britain’s most unlikely intelligence asset. He was a longtime criminal turned double agent who, in the course of his career as a spy, would flit back and forth between Britain and Germany, occupied France and occupied Norway on one top-secret mission after another. His incredible wartime adventures, recounted in Ben Macintyre’s rollicking, spellbinding “Agent Zigzag,” blend the spy-versus-spy machinations of John le Carré with the high farce of Evelyn Waugh…..(New York Times, 12 Sep 07)

Eddie (Zigzag) Chapman Website

Excerpt: ‘Agent Zigzag’

A German spy drops from a black Focke-Wulf reconnaissance plane over Cambridgeshire. His silk parachute opens with a rustle, and for twelve minutes he floats silently down. The stars are out, but the land beneath his feet, swaddled in wartime blackout, is utterly dark. His nose bleeds copiously…..(New York Times, 11 Sep 07)

Chart: Bankrolling Chinese Surveillance

An Opportunity for Wall St. in China’s Surveillance Boom

…The Chinese government trade association for surveillance companies, which also regulates the industry, predicts that the surveillance market here will expand to more than $43.1 billion by 2010, compared with less than $500 million in 2003. Under the Safe Cities program adopted by the government last winter, 660 cities are starting work on high-tech surveillance systems….China Security and Surveillance has headquarters in Shenzhen, a high-tech manufacturing center in southeastern China, but two years ago it purchased a “shell” Delaware company with no operations but a listing on the American over-the-counter bulletin board market. It turned the Delaware company into its corporate parent. China Public Security, also with headquarters in Shenzhen, incorporated in Florida in the same way to obtain a listing on the over-the-counter bulletin board. China Security and Surveillance is involved in some of the most controversial areas of public security…..(New York Times, 11 Sep 07)

Overhauling Intelligence

Summary: Sixty years ago, the National Security Act created a U.S. intelligence infrastructure that would help win the Cold War. But on 9/11, the need to reform that system became painfully clear. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is now spearheading efforts to enable the intelligence community to better shield the United States from the new threats it faces…..(Foreign Affairs, July/August 2007, by Mike McConnell is Director of National Intelligence of the United States)

Spy Chief Worries About Sleeper Cells

National intelligence director Mike McConnell said Tuesday that U.S. authorities are worried about "sleeper cells" of would-be terrorists inside the United States and are remaining vigilant against any new attacks…..(AP, 11 Sep 07)

Intelligence Chief Details Threats to US

Weapons of mass destruction, small boats packed with explosives and Islamic radicalization are the greatest terrorist threats facing the country, top U.S. security officials said Monday on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The officials told Congress the country is much better prepared to face terror threats than it was then, but that terrorists' desire to attack the United States remains strong….(AP, 11 Sep 07)

Russia blocking poison probe: Yushchenko

…"Three laboratories in the world were producing dioxin of this formula. It is very easy to determine the origin of the substance; there is nothing magical about it," he told the Times, one of several European dailies that interviewed him. "Two laboratories provided samples but not the Russian side. This, of course, limits the possibilities of the investigation process." Yushchenko, his face still pock-marked, became seriously ill during the campaign and was rushed to a Vienna clinic, which concluded he had ingested a large quantity of dioxin. He recovered and defeated Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich after weeks of "Orange Revolution" protests forced a rerun of the rigged poll. But no one has been charged over the poisoning…..(Reuters, 11 Sep 07)

Russia blamed over poison probe

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko says Russian officials are hindering an investigation to determine who poisoned him with dioxin. The poisoning made him seriously ill, scarring his face in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election. Mr Yushchenko said a Russian laboratory was refusing to provide samples of the dioxin it produces. Asked whether he believed there was a state role in the murder attempt, he said: "This was not a private act"….(BBC, 11 Sep 07)

National Security Agents Up to 40,000

Since the most recent announcement by North Korea’s National Security Agency (NSA) regarding the foreign spies and North Korean conspirators on the 5th of this month, there has been an increasing interest in the role of the North Korean NSA…The department responsible for investigating spy activity within the NSA is known as the Department of Domestic Conspiracy Research. This department is in charge of researching information from overseas, overseas maneuvers and counterespionage…..(Daily North Korea, 11 Sep 07)

Cyber attacks: a new weapon in the state arsenal

…"States are starting to figure out how cyberwarfare can help them achieve their goals, espionage, economic embargo, or coercion -- to cause pain to your enemies so they change their behavior," (Ned Moran of the Terrorism Research Center) Moran said. Cyber warfare is now a common pursuit among most states, said Bruce Schneier, who has written books on the subject. "Everybody does it,"….(Agence France-Presse, 11 Sep 07)

IT espionage is more thriller than threat

…Of course the Chinese military and security services are actively assessing what they can find out and what they can do to American and European computer systems. As a form of espionage it's nearly perfect: ultra-low risk, ultra-low cost, ultra-high rewards. It would be incompetence of a higher grade than even military intelligence can manage were the West's secret services not repaying the compliment — and taking the opportunity to tighten up its own security……(ZD Net, 11 Sep 07)

Bin Laden still top threat, intelligence chiefs say

President Bush's counterterrorism adviser, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement chiefs and a Cabinet member said Monday that Osama bin Laden remained the most dangerous terrorist threat to the United States six years after the Sept. 11 attacks. Eliminating the threat that the al-Qaida leader and his inner circle pose from their sanctuary in Pakistan's remote tribal region bordering Afghanistan "is our number one priority," Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told a Senate committee……(McClatchy Newspapers, 11 Sep 07)

Senator Wants to Expand Spying Authority

A key Republican senator is trying to expand the federal government's electronic surveillance authority just as congressional Democrats are looking for ways to curtail those powers…The amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, passed in early August, requires telecommunications companies to cooperate with government requests for assistance in eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails, and protects them from criminal and civil lawsuits. But the law stops short of offering the same protection to assistance rendered prior to January 2007, when the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program was brought under the strictures of FISA…..(AP, 11 Sep 07)

French threaten to reveal US spy satellites

French officials are threatening to reveal the location of between 20 and 30 US spy satellites which do not figure in the US Defense Department's published catalogue…The US Defense Department's Space Surveillance Network publishes a catalogue of satellites and debris in both low Earth orbit and the higher geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometers in altitude, where telecommunications satellites operate. The material is very useful for outfits who want to stick satellites in orbit. However the Space Surveillance does not detail US spy satellites in its published results….(Inquirer, 11 Sep 07)

American Expects Release From Iran Jail

An Iranian-American consultant detained for months in Tehran's Evin prison told reporters visiting the facility Tuesday that he expects to be released soon, a possibility confirmed by a spokesman for Iran's judiciary. Kian Tajbakhsh also said that Iranian authorities have raised no formal charges against him, although officials said they have charged him with endangering national security _ as they have the recently released Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari…..(AP, 11 Sep 07)

New U.S. Law Credited in Arrests Abroad

…Mr. McConnell said the information had been obtained under a newly updated and highly contentious wiretapping law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But the official, who has been briefed on the eavesdropping laws and the information given to the Germans, said that those intercepts were recovered last year under the old law. The official asked for anonymity because the information is classified. The previous law required officials to seek warrants to monitor at least some phone calls and e-mail messages between foreign locations when they were collected from fiber-optic cable in the United States; the new law waived that requirement…..(New York Times, 11 Sep 07)

Jane Atherton Roman CIA Officer

Jane Atherton Roman, 91, a 27-year veteran of the CIA, died of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Sept. 6 at her home in Bethesda. Mrs. Roman joined the Office of Strategic Services in 1944, and her early assignments took her to wartime London and postwar Germany. For much of her later career, she worked as a counterintelligence officer, serving as a liaison between the CIA and the FBI. She received a Distinguished Service Medal when she retired in 1971……(Washington Post, 11 Sep 07)

Donald F.B. Jameson; Handled Russian Defectors for CIA

Donald F.B. "Jamie" Jameson, 82, a branch chief in the Central Intelligence Agency's directorate of operations who was highly regarded for his work handling Russian defectors and other Soviet covert operations, died Sept. 5…Until retiring in 1973, Mr. Jameson spent more than 20 years working for the CIA. He was "one of the most experienced defector recruiters and handlers within the agency," according to journalist Tom Mangold's 1991 book, "Cold Warrior," about the CIA under James J. Angleton, the much-discredited chief of counterintelligence…..(Washington Post, 11 Sep 07)

'Spy' wants to come in from cold to teach

…Michael O'Hara was sacked from Lilydale High School in 2003 after a pupil recognised him from a Herald Sun article that detailed his recent criminal convictions… A County Court jury found O'Hara guilty in 2002 on 18 counts of making false documents relating to attempts to raise $5 million by selling two guns he claimed Hitler and his niece and lover used to kill themselves…..(Herald Sun, 11 Sep 07)

Accused China says it's a cyber-victim too

…'Cyber-hacking is a global issue and China is a frequent victim of hacking,' Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular press conference, but stopped short of giving specifics. 'China's government has all along been opposed to cyber-crimes and we have strict laws and regulations.'….(Forbes, 11 Sep 07)

NZ's Clark won't identify hackers

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark says she knows which countries tried to hack into her government's computers but is refusing to name names. Clark on Tuesday confirmed foreign spies had tried to hack into government computers, but they failed to gain access to any classified information…..(AAP, 11 Sep 07)

‘Chinese are skilled and very savvy at espionage’

Strategic analyst, author and Professor of Strategic Studies at the Centre for Policy Research Brahma Chellaney identifies lessons for India from reports of China’s cyber espionage. On the latest reports of China’s electronic warfare: Strategic analyst, author and Professor of Strategic Studies at the Centre for Policy Research Brahma Chellaney identifies lessons for India from reports of China’s cyber espionage……(DNA India, 11 Sep 07)

Report: Patriots caught spying

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has determined that the Patriots illegally videotaped defensive signals by the New York Jets' coaches during Sunday's game, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported, citing league sources. League spokesman Greg Aiello said Tuesday night that there has been no decision rendered. NFL security officials confiscated a video camera and a tape from the New England sideline after Sunday's game. The visual evidence from that tape confirmed the suspicion that the Patriots were recording signals….(Boston Globe, 11 Sep 07)

U.S. Gives Russia Data on Sunken Sub

U.S. military officials on Monday gave Russia a videotape and other archival materials on the Soviet K-129 submarine, whose sinking in 1968 is one of the lingering mysteries of the Cold War. At a ceremony in the Far Eastern port of Vladivostok, Russia's Pacific Fleet archive and museum received copies of formerly classified documents, including two ship logs related to the K-129 incident and to U.S. efforts to salvage the sub from the sea floor in the central Pacific. Also turned over was a videotape of a secret burial at sea for six Soviet sailors whose bodies were recovered when the United States tried to salvage the sub…..(AP, 10 Sep 07)

History Of 9/11 Attack On The Pentagon Published

The Department of Defense has announced today that the Historical Office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, in collaboration with the Naval Historical Center and with the assistance of the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps historical offices, has published a detailed, carefully documented history of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon… “Pentagon 9/11”is the most comprehensive account to date of the attack and its aftermath, examining both the impact of the deadly assault on the Pentagon building and its occupants and the compelling rescue and recovery effort that followed……(Dept of Defense Press Release, 10 Sep 07)

Timothy J. Healy Named SAC of Washington Field Office’s Intelligence Division

Timothy J. Healy has been named Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Intelligence Division of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Director Robert S. Mueller, III, appointed him to this position, which was recently created for Washington, New York, and Los Angeles due to the increased importance of intelligence matters within the FBI. Most recently, Mr. Healy served as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Washington Field Office’s Intelligence Branch, Counterterrorism Division….(FBI Press Release, 10 Sep 07)

Agents monitor students suspected of spying for Iran

National security agents are monitoring Iranians at Australian universities, fearing some of the students are doubling as spies and reporting to Tehran. State and federal security authorities are also keeping a close eye on Iranian students in Australia who are interested in becoming residents or citizens, amid growing suspicions that some may be intent on establishing an espionage foothold. It is understood