WIN #32-01
dated 13
August 2001
AFIO SYMPOSIUM 2001
'Statecraft,
Tradecraft and Hi-Tech: Intelligence 2001 and Beyond'
2 & 3 November
01
Hear keynote speaker, the Honorable Porter Goss, Chairman of the
House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee, and invited senior
leadership speakers from the White House, Defense Department, Central
Intelligence, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency,
and more.
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AFIO CONVENTION 2001
3 November 01
at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel,
McLean, Virginia
with great speakers on counterintelligence, security and technology,
and panels on intelligence teaching, media, literature and AFIO policies,
along with a reception, awards banquet, and "spy tours" of
Washington.
Check www.afio.com!!!
MEMBERS: Participate in the AFIO Mission
-- SPONSOR A NEW MEMBER
SECTION I -
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
TERRORIST ALERT IN PERSIAN GULF AREA -- The State
Department has obtained new intelligence information that warns of an
impending attack on American citizens or installations in the Persian Gulf
and the Arabian Peninsula. The focus of the alert is Kuwait. The alert warns
of an Arab or Islamic attack on U.S. interests to protest the escalation of
the Israeli-Palestinian war. (Zgram 14 August 01)
http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2001/august/08_14_3.html
NEW NIMA DIRECTOR(s) -- The DCI and DOD have
jointly announced the appointment of James R. Clapper, a retired Air Force
lieutenant general (and AFIO member), as the first civilian director of the
National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA). In his new job, the general
succeeds Lt. Gen. James C. King who is retiring this year after more than
three years at the head of the agency. Established in 1996, the NMIA was
created with the merger of the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) and the CIA-led
National Imagery Interpretation Center (NPIC). The DMA in turn was the
creature of the merger of the Service mapping and charting centers. The bulk
of the personnel in the NIMA are concerned with the creation and
distribution of maps and charts for the military services -- although the
press (and Congressional) coverage of the agency usually centers on its
imagery interpretation function.
General
Clapper's last active duty position was as the Director of the Defense
Intelligence Agency (DIA), capping a 37-year career in all facets of
intelligence.
Earlier
the DCI had announced the move of Dr. Joanne O. Isham from her position as
CIA's Director of Science and Technology to become the Deputy Director of
the NMIA. Dr. Isham had been in the DDS&T slot for only a year. No press
mention was made of the rather unusual circumstance in which the two top
agency jobs are rolling at virtually the same time. (Harvey) (ABCNews
(Reuters) 8 Aug '01)
DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE HIERARCHY TAKES SHAPE -- John
Stenbit was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control,
Communications and Intelligence. Mr. Stenbit, who has sat on a number of
science and intelligence advisory boards, retired from TRW in May
(Macartney)
SENATE COMMITTEE AGAIN PLANS ANTI-LEAKING LEGISLATION
-- A bill to make 'willful
disclosures of classified information to an unauthorized person' a felony
offense, is again proposed by the Senate Select committee on Intelligence.
The Committee will reintroduce the proposal in next month's markup of the
Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2002. A Hearing is scheduled for
September 5.
The
measure was passed by Congress last year but vetoed by President Clinton on
4 November. He called the bill "badly flawed" and said it could
have a "chilling effect," limiting the participation of government
officials "even in appropriate public discussion, press briefings, or
other legitimate official activities."
From the
perspective of intelligence and security professionals and those
participating in providing national security, the bill is a good thing. From
the perspective of academics and journalists needing to publish and
extending the freedom of the press to the limit, it may not be. Leaking of
classified information is practiced widely in Washington on an ad hoc basis
-- and regrettably also on a systemic basis. Some journalists live on a
steady stream of politically-motivated leaks. For intelligence
professionals, "leaking" is a despicable act. If passed by
Congress, anti-leak legislation may well be signed into law. (Jonkers)
(Secrecy News 10Aug 01)
APPEALS COURT REJECTS FOIA RELEASE OF IMAGERY - -
A federal appeals court this week rejected a Freedom of
Information Act lawsuit seeking disclosure of intelligence imagery and other
records concerning human rights violations committed by Bosnian Serb forces
during the summer of 1995. The court rejected almost all of the appellant's
arguments. The fact that some photos had been released did not mean that all
of them could be, the court ruled. Just because the Secretary of State had
revealed the images to foreign governments at the UN did not mean that they
could be disclosed to the general public. Further, the government had no
obligation to prepare a releasable version of the intelligence photos by
degrading their resolution. (Macartney)
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2001/08/sage.html
http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/bosnia.htm
SECTION II -- CONTEXT AND PRECEDENCE
HANSSEN DEBRIEFINGS INDICATE SERVICE TO BOTH GRU AND KGB.
As the debriefings provided for in Robert Hanssen's plea bargain get
underway, it seems that he spied for GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence) in
New York from 1979 to 1981 then got crosswise with his wife and priest and
so quit. Four years later, in Washington, he contacted the KGB. Probably the
GRU and KGB did not know of each other's success, which helped keep them
from identifying Hanssen. (Macartney)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/08/national/08AGEN.html
SEAPORT SECURITY BILL INTRODUCED- - Poor security
leaves U.S. seaports vulnerable to drug smuggling, illegal immigration,
cargo theft, and even terrorist attacks on cruise ships, according to
federal experts. Senate Commerce Chairman Ernest F. Hollings (D., S.C.) and
Sen. Bob Graham (D., Fla.) therefore want Congress to increase funding for
such equipment as high-tech cargo-container scanners, and to improve
coordination between federal and local agencies. Legislation introduced in
late July would extend a shipping tax that is now scheduled to expire in
2002. It specifies that revenues of $68 million would go to the U.S. Customs
Service for new screening equipment, and $80 million to the U.S. Department
of Transportation to provide loan guarantees and grants for infrastructure
improvements, such as better fencing or surveillance.
"We've got a dangerous situation with respect to the ports,"
Senator Hollings said. There are no federal standards for security at U.S.
seaports and no federal funding for security infrastructure, according to
the senator. The ports handle 95 percent of the nation's international
cargo, more than 134 million ferryboat passengers and more than five million
cruise-ship passengers per year. Said James M. Loy, Coast Guard commandant,
" A successful terrorist attack on any one of these [cruise] ships
could result in a catastrophic number of casualties and threaten the
economic viability of the entire industry." (Jonkers) (Philadelphia
Inquirer, 25July 2001 //M. Robinson, AP)
HOUSE REJECTS EXPANDED US PERSONNEL PARTICIPATION IN
COLOMBIA DRUG WAR- The House has rejected a White House request to allow
unlimited numbers of American civilians to work under contract on U.S.
military and other aid operations in Colombia, reflecting rising
congressional concern over the deteriorating situation in that country and
fears of expanded U.S. involvement. The House voted to cap the total number
of U.S. military and contractor personnel at 800.
With few
exceptions, even the strongest defenders of staying the military course in
Colombia offered little testimony to its success in stemming either the
export of Colombian cocaine, which has a 90 percent share of the U.S.
market, or the extent of human rights abuses there. Rep. Mark Edward Souder
(R-Ind.), an ardent backer of the program, offered a muted defense of a
U.S.-sponsored aerial fumigation program that sprays chemicals on Colombian
drug crops. . "It's a tough issue," Souder said. "Nobody
wants to have children or families damaged" by chemical contaminants .
. . It's important, though, that we do understand this is not Agent
Orange," the defoliant used by U.S. forces in Vietnam.
Although
about 135,000 acres of coca plants have been fumigated, coca cultivation
increased by 11 percent last year. A late 2000 US estimate showed 336,000
acres of coca under cultivation, plus another 15,000 acres used to grow
poppy, ( from which heroin is made). With Washington set to deepen its
involvement in Colombia's anti-drug efforts, countries bordering Colombia
have loudly complained about anti-drug and counter-insurgency spillover and
demanded U.S. assistance. (Jonkers) (Wash Post 26 July) (Zgram 25July01, AP
25 July// http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20010725_1813.html
US PROVIDES FALSE ORBITAL DATA ON SATELLITES. A UN
Convention requires member countries to provide the UN with data on their
satellites. Apparently the US routinely supplies false location data on its
classified (reconnaissance surveillance) satellites which, according to a
Space Command spokesperson, is within the letter of the Convention.
(Macartney) http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991128
POSSIBLE KGB TELEVISION SERIES: Producer Bob
Van Ronkel is currently putting together a multimillion-dollar television
series tentatively titled "Files From the KGB." The series is
planned to be filmed in Russia and it will use an almost all-Russian cast to
show the world the swashbuckling adventures of one of the world's most
feared intelligence agencies. This time, however, they won't be the cruel
psychopaths of Cold War movies or the megalomaniacs of James Bond films. The
21 or 22 episode series, filmed in English, will deal with the Soviet KGB's
missions abroad in the style of television series such as "La Femme
Nikita." During the Soviet era, the KGB was often depicted as a bunch
of shining heroes within the Soviet Union. Their glory period on the screen
came while Yury Andropov was head of the KGB with such programs as
"Seventeen Moments of Spring," which showed KGB undercover
activities during the World War II. Some say that Andropov was a great
admirer of James Bond and wanted to create a more exciting image of KGB
agents at home. During the past decade, however, the image of the KGB agent
has evolved in Russian films from that of a Marx-reading idealist to a cynic
who cares for nothing but himself.
The
proposal to create a television series that would extol the virtues of an
agency that, along with its predecessors, was an integral part of repressive
Soviet domestic operations, such as the arrest of millions of people in
Stalin-era purges, is getting a lukewarm reception in some Russian circles.
Reacting to the proposal, Konstantin Preobrazhensky, a former KGB lieutenant
colonel who is now a particularly harsh critic of the FSB, said "There
is nothing positive about KGB activities."
Ronkel, a
California native, is currently in Moscow attempting to get an official seal
of approval for the series from the Federal Security Service. "I
thought it would be a success with the fascination in the U.S. with the
KGB," said Ronkel. Another factor important to Hollywood undoubtedly is
the cost. Each episode can be produced in Russia for $200,000, while an
average hour-long action series in the US costs upwards of $1Million. As to
the dubious aroma of his enterprise of glorifying the foreign operations of
the Soviet KGB, Ronkel said "There are always people who'll protest,
It's not a documentary. I'm creating Hollywood television. Hopefully it will
be entertaining so that no one will be offended.." Not much of chance
of that, I think. (Jonkers) (Wash Post / Kevin O'Flynn) (courtesy P.
Koestler)
SECTION III -- CYBER INTELLIGENCE
SINGAPORE
BANS DIVORCE BY TEXT-MESSAGE -- In an about-face from their
decision last month to let men divorce their wives by a text message on
their mobile phones, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, the
Syariah Court and the Registry of Muslim Marriages released a statement
Tuesday saying they were "unanimous in their view that divorce
through mobile phone text message is unacceptable." (Levine's
Newsbits 8 AUG01)
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6815505.html
THE HUNT FOR WORM WRITERS IS ON! --
Internet users have become all too familiar with SirCam and Code Red, but
the creators of the two worms that have plagued the Internet this summer
remain a mystery. If the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center
has its way, the identities of those who wrote and released the malicious
little bundles of code into the world will be known soon. "We are
very serious about finding the authors of Code Red and SirCam," the
NIPC's Debra Weierman said. "Intentional transmission of worms or
viruses across the Internet is a felony. This is a major offense, not some
inconsequential lark." http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,45956,00.html
(Levine 9 Aug 01)
CHINA COMPUTER VIRUS EPIDEMIC --As many as 73 per
cent of computers in China have been infected by viruses and more than half
of them experienced at least three virus attacks, according to an online
survey by China's Computer Virus Emergency Response Center. Beijing has the
highest infection rate of all cities, with 80 per cent of its computers hit.
The survey, carried out in April and May, also found that 14 per cent of
infected computers lost all their data and 29 per cent lost at least part of
their data. The Ministry of Public Security stated that the Code Red worm
had paralyzed the networks of several big businesses, including prominent
dotcoms. (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 10 Aug 01 //J. Zhou) (courtesy T. Hart)
CIVIC WIRELESS NETWORK ENCRYPTION INSECURE --
Security researchers have published details of weaknesses in encryption
techniques widely used to secure wireless networks. The gaping security
holes derive from flaws in the key-scheduling algorithm used by the Wired
Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol, which is part of the 802.11 wireless
networking standard. A passive cipher text attack, based on the theoretical
groundwork laid by the researchers, would allow someone with a wireless LAN
connection to retrieve a security key in less than 15 minutes.(Levine 8 AUG
01) http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/20877.html
SECTION IV - BOOKS AND SOURCES
THE COMING COLLAPSE OF CHINA, by Gordon Chang, Random
House, July 31, 2001, 320pp. This book seems to be playing the ongoing
A/B Team debate within the US government over China. Within 24 hours of the
book's publication, CIA issued a review that basically rebuts the author's
thesis. According to the CIA review, "we cannot rule out the
possibility of systemic collapse. On balance, however, we assess that the
regime retains important strengths and assets that at least reduce the
chances of the kind of collapse Chang posits." As far as China's
Communist leaders are concerned, the CIA concludes, "it is too early to
write them off as easily as Chang suggests." (Macartney)
CHINA DEBATES THE FUTURE SECURITY ENVIRONMENT, by
Michael Pillsbury, presents new translations on security policy from some
200 Chinese authors. Check -- http://www.ndu.edu/inss/books/pills2.htm
THE ROLE OF COUNTERINTELLIGENCE IN COUNTERING
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME, by Volker Foertsch, National Strategy
Information Center, 2001. Reviewed by Lawrence B. Sulc.
There is
very little in the public domain on law enforcement counterintelligence and
even less concerning its application to Transnational Organized Crime (TOC).
Pity. Law enforcement counterintelligence is a vital discipline in dealing
with organized crime and especially the crucial international problems of
Transnational Organized Crime developing, unfortunately, around us.
The
National Strategy Information Center, to its great credit, has contributed
considerably to this largely empty field by publishing The Role of
Counterintelligence in Countering Transnational Organized Crime, both a
warning and a prescription. It has done so, I suspect, because of the
guiding hand of Roy Godson as the Center�s president, whose extensive
credentials were re-enforced some years ago by his book, Dirty Tricks or
Trump Cards, U.S. Covert Action & Counterintelligence (Transaction
Publishers, Rutgers). Fortunately, the book has recently been republished.
The Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) phenomenon has blossomed in the
former Communist countries. Throw into the mix increasing globalization and
growing international cooperation between TOC structures almost everywhere
and it is easy to see why the cauldron of crime is bubbling so around the
globe. TOCs are secret organizations, often symbiotic with the security
organizations of their host countries.
TOC
organizations must be confronted using intelligence means, penetrated and
destroyed (or at least damaged, I would suggest). Government
counterintelligence personnel trained to deal with secret structures are
well-equipped to deal with TOC. Employing the approach and methods of
counterintelligence "has after all been quite successful in the past in
countering hostile intelligence and security services," says Foertsch.
"Counterintelligence achieves its objectives by identifying, exploiting
and neutralizing the activities of secret organizations," Foertsch,
explains. One approach, he points out, is to play one TOC organization
against another as in the case of the Colombian narcotics cartels wherein
the leaders of one cartel were induced to denounce to American authorities
the leaders of another - its competitor. The use of disinformation against
TOC groups is another possibility cited by Foertsch, while discrediting TOC
groups offers further possibilities and public exposure still more.
Until now
counterintelligence has not been applied against transnational organized
crime very often and not in a systematic way," according to Foertsch.
Quite the contrary. He describes some of the essential elements of the
intelligence and counterintelligence measures that TOC, unfortunately for
us, uses against the authorities. A major problem with organized crime is
its transformation into government-like structures with the illegitimate
power to regulate, punish and kill. TOC even emulates the security services
by punishing its enemies publicly to instill fear and for the
"educational effect. "
The NSIC observes the valuable practice of submitting its papers to
"working groups" prior to publication. In this case, a panel of 33
experts discussed it, providing valuable insights. One academic noted that
"law enforcement often is not particularly interested in collaboration
with intelligence and often intelligence officers are not too interested in
working against the criminal target." Several made the point that
police and security services, oriented as they are toward prosecution, often
avoid long-term CI operations, one of the numerous problems that must be
overcome.
I found
that most of the experts� remarks, however sage or pessimistic, signaled
the need for law enforcement and intelligence personnel to get smart fast,
get together fast and get going fast. We need counterintelligence in
countering transnational organized crime. (Lawrence B. Sulc)
Editor's Note: The above was
edited for the WIN. The full review will be published in the Periscope.
Incidentally, you could do worse than read, in conjunction with this paper, Law
Enforcement Counterintelligence, by Lawrence B. Sulc, as far as I know
the first book on the subject. It deals primarily with domestic - but also
discusses international - LECI. There are many, many parallels between the
two works - two sad stories.
(Jonkers)
OPERATION TYPHOON: EARLY COVERT ACTION ON THE HO CHI MINH
TRAIL In 1961 and 1962 the CIA-trained and -sponsored 1st Observation
Group was formed to counter Communist operations along the trail. http://www.thehistorynet.com/Vietnam/articles/2001/08012_1text.htm
SECTION V
- LETTERS
BAMFORD REPLIES TO 'SECRECY NEWS'--James Bamford, author of the
best-selling book "Body of Secrets," angrily rebuked Secrecy News
for a July 17 story that described disputed points in his account of the
1967 Israeli attack on the American surveillance ship U.S.S. Liberty. In a
written response, Mr. Bamford also provided an extended rebuttal to a recent
article about the Liberty in The New Republic. The Secrecy News item was
"a model of poor reporting," Mr. Bamford wrote.
In response to the assertion that there is no verifiable evidence that
mass murders of Egyptian prisoners of war took place in 1967 which might
have provided a motive for an Israeli attack on the Liberty, Mr. Bamford
cited abundant reporting in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and
other publications indicating that Israeli soldiers killed hundreds of
Egyptians. Mr. Bamford agreed that linguist Marvin E. Nowicki, who had
recorded Israeli pilot communications during the attack, believes the
attack was an "error." Indeed, Mr. Bamford said, he mentioned
this fact explicitly in "Body of Secrets." But while Mr. Nowicki
is entitled to his opinion, he wrote, others who had equal or greater
access to intelligence data on the attack --including the other Hebrew
linguist aboard the U.S. surveillance plane overhead -- concluded that it
was deliberate.
Mr.
Bamford noted that while he is an independent writer with "no ties to
either Israel or any organization involved with the U.S.S. Liberty,"
the same cannot be said of Michael Oren, the author of the New Republic
article upon which Secrecy News relied, who is an Israeli reserve officer
and associated with a right wing Israeli think tank. This association, in
Mr. Bamford's view, tends to nullify any claim to objectivity that Mr.
Oren may have." The principal mission of the center, where Mr. Oren
is a senior fellow, is the cause of extreme Jewish nationalism -- Israel
for the Jews -- i.e. apartheid," according to Mr. Bamford. As for The
New Republic, that magazine in his estimation has "long [been] the
U.S. propaganda arm of the
Israeli far right."
"As an investigative journalist for nearly 25 years, I am never
bothered by attacks like those from [Secrecy News] -- it comes with the
territory," Mr. Bamford wrote. "What really disturbs me is the
speed with which certain people are willing to run to Israel's defense
while ignoring the heroic survivors of the USS Liberty -- and the
relatives of those killed -- who have been pressing for a true,
comprehensive investigation into the attack for more than 34 years."
The full text of Mr.
Bamford's response is posted here:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/bamford.html
( SECRECY NEWS July 26, 2001)
.
LAST CALL -- Sign up for the AFIO luncheon at Fort Myer,
Virginia, on 21 August, featuring noted British author Nigel West speaking
on the 'British VENONA' (Soviet espionage in Britain), and Dr. William
Anderson, MD, Lecturer at Harvard University, on ' The Mind of the Traitor.'
Check the Website at www.afio.com
or contact afio@afio.com.
Weekly Intelligence Notes (WINs) are comments and notes based on
open-source information selected, written or edited by Roy Jonkers for AFIO
members and for WIN subscribers, for non-profit educational uses. Associate
editors John Macartney and Don Harvey contribute to the WINs.
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