AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #21-07 dated 28 May 2007
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CONTENTS
Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS
CIA Regularly Briefs SEC Officials on Terrorism, Barron's Says
U.N. Anti-Torture Panel Seeks Information from Poland on CIA Prison Allegations
DHS Completes Key Framework for Critical Infrastructure Protection
DOD Assists in Identification of Missing Vietnam-Era CIA Pilot
Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE
Current Calendar Next Two Months ONLY:
6 June 2007, 6 p.m. - Las Vegas, NV - AFIO Las Vegas Chapter hears Dr. John B. Alexander's on: "Stargate Revisited; the INSCOM, CIA and DIA Remote Viewing Program"
9 June 2007 - Boston, MA - THE FIFTH ANNUAL "BOSTON AFIO GROUP" AT THE POPS - AMERICA!
16 June 2007 - Fairfax, VA - the National Photographic Interpretation Center holds Reunion
25 June 2007 - Scottsdale, AZ - The Arizona AFIO Chapter hears from Dr. Rustick on Special Weapons for Special Forces.
29 June 2007 - Houston, TX - AFIO Houston Chapter evter holds special ment
July 11, 2007: 9:00 am - Noon - Alexandria, VA - Ray Semko, aka the one and only "D*I*C*E Man", presents D*I*C*E 2007: UNLEASHED!
19 July 2007 - Colorado Springs, CO - AFIO Rocky Mountain Chapter holds luncheon meeting on MASINT
Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS
There's No Secret About What's Wrong with Clearances. The Senate is hearing testimony on efforts to speed up security clearances for new federal workers and private contractors. Testimony before the Senate federal workforce subcommittee, chaired by Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), detailed the second consecutive year that funding woes have hampered work at the Defense Security Service and significantly slowed the clearance process. A year ago, the agency had to suspend the processing of security clearances for contractors because of a budget crisis.
The official designated by the White House to improve the process for granting security clearances - Clay Johnson III, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget - seemed a bit put off by the notion that funding for an improved security process could be an issue at the Pentagon. Johnson said the Defense Department has all the money it needs to improve its handling of security clearance applications and reviews, noting that the millions of dollars at stake "are not even a rounding error" in the multibillion-dollar defense budget. Pentagon officials said efforts are underway to win congressional permission to shift money this year to sustain operations at the Defense Security Service. They also said that some money should be in the pipeline for fiscal 2008 for new hires to improve estimates of how many security clearance investigations will be needed each year.
The hearing was the fourth held by Akaka and Ohio Senator Voinovich to check on the administration's progress in meeting goals laid out in the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. Under the law, 90 percent of applications for an initial security clearance are to be completed in 60 days - 40 days for a background investigation and 20 days for an adjudication, the decision on whether the applicant should receive a clearance. The government has until December 2009 to meet the requirement. Johnson said intelligence agencies are organizing a research and development project to identify the best ways to meet the goal. He and Kathy L. Dillaman, associate director for investigative services at the Office of Personnel Management, testified that significant progress has been made in improving the turnaround time on background checks and in reducing a backlog of cases.
Timothy R. Sample, president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a nonprofit group, said he was skeptical of data showing improvements. "The current process does not allow for valid, unbiased empirical data to be collected," he said. [Barr/Washington Post/18May2007]
CIA Tracks Money from Iraq to al Qaeda. A major CIA effort launched last year to hunt down Osama bin Laden has produced no significant leads on his whereabouts, but has helped track an alarming rise in the flow of al Qaeda operatives and money into Pakistan's tribal territories, according to senior U.S. intelligence officials. In one of the most troubling trends, U.S. officials said that al Qaeda's command base in Pakistan increasingly is being funded by cash coming out of Iraq, where the network's operatives are raising substantial sums from donations to the anti-American insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity. The influx of money has bolstered al Qaeda's leadership at a time when the terror group's core is regrouping and reasserting influence over its far-flung network. The trend also signals a reversal in the traditional flow of al Qaeda funds, with its leadership surviving to a large extent on money coming in from its most profitable franchise, rather than distributing funds from headquarters to distant cells.
U.S. officials got a glimpse of al Qaeda leadership's financial dependency when American forces intercepted a lengthy letter that bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, sent to now-deceased Iraqi insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2005. In the letter, Zawahri asked for money.
The payments from Iraq appear to have given al Qaeda leaders new influence in the terror network, officials said. In particular, officials noted that Zawahri appears to have abandoned efforts to persuade Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgents not to divide Muslims by striking Shiites. [pjk/cl/statesman/Miller/20May2007]
Indian Lawyer Takes Up Former CIA Man's Case. An Indian lawyer has filed a case on behalf a 'stateless' former US citizen and CIA financial contractor before the UN human rights agency in Geneva. Guneet Chaudhary, a former major of the Indian Army and now a practicing Supreme Court lawyer, has filed a case on behalf of Harmon Wilfred before UN High Commissioner on Human Rights seeking political asylum in New Zealand for Mr. Wilfred and demanding a compensation of $30 million "for a decade of flagrant human rights violations against him by the US". Mr. Wilfred claims that he was hounded by CIA and other US agencies after he turned a whistleblower and exposed several financial scandals within the CIA. He claimed that he exposed how CIA funds were being misused.
Mr. Wilfred became stateless March 1, 2005 with the irrevocable renouncement of his US citizenship. He has been residing with his Canadian wife in New Zealand's Christchurch city since then, running a global Internet company. The petition seeks the "restoration of Wilfred's and his three children's inalienable rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness". Pjk/india4u/20May2007]
CIA Regularly Briefs SEC Officials on Terrorism, Barron's Says. The Central Intelligence Agency gives regular briefings to members of the Securities and Exchange Commission on terrorists and other criminals involved in global markets, Barron's Magazine reported. For the first time, the intelligence agency is briefing Chairman Christopher Cox and the four other commissioners monthly because they monitor markets for terrorists, the magazine said on its Web site in a story dated May 21, citing an interview with Cox. [Pjk/Bloomberg/Koo/20May2007]
Putin Spy War on the West. Russia's covert foreign intelligence operations against America have reached cold war levels under President Vladimir Putin, according to Washington officials. White House intelligence advisers believe no other country is as aggressive as Russia in trying to obtain US secrets, with the possible exception of China. In particular the SVR, as the former KGB's foreign intelligence arm is now known, is using a network of undercover agents in America to gather classified information about sensitive technologies, including military projects under development and high-tech research.
Yuri Shvets, a former KGB agent, said: "In the days of the Soviet Union, the number of spies was limited because they had to be based at the foreign ministry, the trade mission or the news agencies like Tass. Right now, virtually every successful private company in Russia is being used as a cover for Russian intelligence operations." Intelligence experts believe that since Putin became president in 2000, the Russians have rebuilt a network of agents in the United States that had been depleted during the country's transition from communism.
John Pike, a military and security analyst who runs GlobalSecurity.org, said a surge in recruitment of US intelligence operatives since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 had presented great opportunities for the Russians to penetrate the CIA and other agencies. Shvets believes Russian agents are also entering America legally as immigrants, a rarity in the strictly controlled Soviet era. [Ls/TimesOnline/Franchetti&Baxter/20May2007]
Navy Lawyer Sentenced in Guantanamo Espionage Case. A Navy lawyer so disillusioned with the government's handling of foreign detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that he sent classified information about 550 men in custody there to a civilian attorney was sentenced Friday to six months in prison and dismissed from the service. Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz was convicted Thursday on four of five charges stemming from his actions in early January 2005, while stationed at Guantanamo. The most serious conviction - violating the Espionage Act by sending classified information to someone not entitled to receive it - carried the possibility of a 10-year sentence. The four charges carried a maximum 14-year sentence. [Houston Chronicle/19May2007]
Taliban Claim Spy's Arrest. The Taliban said it had arrested a close aide to the rebel movement's slain commander Mullah Dadullah for treachery that led to his killing. "We have captured the spy who helped US forces kill Mullah Dadullah," said a Taliban spokesman. Dadullah, known as the Taliban's top military strategist, was killed in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province in early May. [Gulf Daily News/20May2007]
Peru Spy Chief on Trial for Siege. Peru's ex-intelligence chief and two former military officers are standing trial over alleged extra-judicial killings of hostage-takers during the 1997 Japanese embassy siege. All 14 rebels died when commandos raided the ambassador's residence to free more than 70 diplomats who had been held hostage for four months. Prosecutors say Vladimiro Montesinos gave troops the order to shoot three rebels who had been captured alive. The men face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to last several months. Mr. Montesinos is already serving lengthy jail terms for involvement in an illegal arms sale and corruption. [BBC/20May2007]
Iran Calls on US to Stop Meddling in Esfandiari Case. Iran told the United States not to meddle in the detention of a US-Iranian scholar jailed in Tehran on accusations of acting against national security. "If Iranian nationals commit an offence in their country they will be prosecuted," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters. "The Americans had better comment within their responsibilities and avoid meddling in the internal affairs of other countries," he added.
Iranian officials on Tuesday said that Esfandiari, who works for the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center, was being held by the country's intelligence service for "acting against national security." US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called for her immediate release but Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, says she will be treated as an Iranian. An Iranian paper has earlier accused Esfandiari of being an "Israeli intelligence service agent" and seeking to foment revolution in Iran. [FARS/21May2007]
Canada Scraps Foreign Spy Service Plan. The Canadian government has backed down from a campaign promise to create a foreign intelligence agency, and instead plans to give the Canadian Security Intelligence Service more power to spy on foreign countries. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Tuesday that instead of launching a new agency, the government will amend legislation to strengthen Canada's foreign intelligence capacity. "After some months of looking at it, this is the direction that we believe is the best way to go," he told the House of Commons public safety committee. [TheEdmontonJournal//Mayeda/16May2007]
Famed Polish Writer Outed as 'Spy' in Anti-Communist Purge. The celebrated Polish writer and reporter, Ryszard Kapuscinski, is the latest public figure to be "outed" as a "communist spy" in Poland. Newsweek Poland put the late writer, reckoned to be the greatest east European journalist of his generation, on the cover of this week's issue, unveiling details of his communist-era secret police file and claiming that his global travels in the 1960s and 70s were due to a bargain he struck with the communist regime to collaborate with the secret police. Kapuscinski, who died in January, traversed the globe reporting on 27 revolutions and wrote several acclaimed books on central America, Ethiopia, Iran, and the former Soviet Union. For most of his career in communist Poland he was employed by the state news agency, PAP.
He is the latest prominent Pole to be "outed" in what critics call a rightwing witchhunt orchestrated by a paranoid government that sees "reds under the beds" everywhere in Poland. Defenders of the purges of alleged former communist collaborators - particularly among a younger generation of Polish conservatives - see the campaign as an essential, if belated, attempt at moral renewal to cleanse Poland of the invidious influence still wielded by a former communist elite.
The rightwing government of the Kaczynski twins, president Lech and prime minister Jaroslaw, has set the country against itself through a draconian law requiring some 700,000 public employees, from politicians and civil servants to teachers and journalists, to declare in writing that they never worked for the communist secret police. Earlier this month, the constitutional court struck down most of the legislation after senior politicians such as Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the Soviet bloc's first non-communist prime minister, and Bronislaw Geremek, MEP, Solidarity founder and former foreign minister, refused to deliver signed statements. The government is now mulling its next move in its "moral revolution" and may opt to throw open the secret police archives, containing millions of files from the communist era. [GuardianUnlimited//Traynor/21May2007]
Assessments Made in 2003 Foretold Situation in Iraq. Two intelligence assessments from January 2003 predicted that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and subsequent U.S. occupation of Iraq could lead to internal violence and provide a boost to Islamic extremists and terrorists in the region, according to congressional sources and former intelligence officials familiar with the prewar studies. The two assessments, titled "Principal Challenges in Post-Saddam Iraq" and "Regional Consequences of Regime Change in Iraq," were produced by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) and will be a major part of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's long-awaited Phase II report on prewar intelligence assessments about Iraq. The assessments were delivered to the White House and to congressional intelligence committees before the war started. The assessment on post-Hussein Iraq included judgments that while Iraq was unlikely to split apart, there was a significant chance that domestic groups would fight each other and that ex-regime military elements could merge with terrorist groups to battle any new government. It even talks of guerrilla warfare, according to congressional sources and former intelligence officials. The second NIC assessment discussed "political Islam being boosted and the war being exploited by terrorists and extremists elsewhere in the region," one former senior analyst said. It also suggested that fear of U.S. military dominance and occupation of a Middle East country -- one sacred to Islam -- would attract foreign Islamic fighters to the area. The NIC assessments also projected the view that a long-term Western military occupation would be widely unacceptable, particularly to the Iraqi military. It also said Iraqis would wait and see whether the new governing authority, whether foreign or Iraqi, would provide security and basic services such as water and electricity.
The committee focused on the two NIC assessments -- rather than analyses by the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency or the State Department -- because they were written under the supervision of national intelligence officers and coordinated with all intelligence agencies. Such papers are similar to more formal National Intelligence Estimates except they are not finalized and approved by the National Foreign Intelligence Board, made up of the heads of the agencies.
A member of the Senate committee, without disclosing the contents of the studies, said recently that the release will raise more questions about the Bush administration's lack of preparation for the war's aftermath. [Washington Post//Pincus/20May2007]
U.N. Anti-Torture Panel Seeks Information from Poland on CIA Prison Allegations. A United Nations anti-torture panel said it was concerned about allegations that Poland housed CIA-run prisons for terrorist suspects, despite the Polish government's repeated denial of cooperation with the U.S. secret detention program. The U.N. Committee Against Torture urged Poland to share the details of an investigation carried out by its parliament rejecting charges of Polish participation in the secret CIA prison network. The committee of 10 independent experts noted a Polish delegation statement "emphatically refuting all allegations" of clandestine detention centers on its soil, but said it needed more information from the parliament's confidential inquiry "so that the matter can be put to rest." Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski shrugged aside the call for Warsaw to share details of the parliamentary investigation. "We treat this as a closed issue," Kaczynski said when asked about the request. [Herald Tribune/21May2007]
Naval Academy Raided Over Data. Japan's state and navy police raided a Japanese naval academy yesterday over a purported leak of sensitive warship technology data shared between Japan and the United States, officials said. The case involves U.S.-developed technology of high-tech Aegis radar on several advanced Japanese destroyers that is also used by U.S. warships carrying missile interceptors. It has alarmed officials as the allies accelerate their joint missile defense development amid North Korean missile and nuclear threats. Defense officials acknowledged the raid yesterday but refused to provide details. Investigators from Kanagawa state and Maritime Self-Defense Forces think that computer disks containing the sensitive data were illegally copied and circulated among dozens of students and instructors at the First Service School in Etajima in western Japan, public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. The case surfaced in March when police found one of the disks at the home of a Japanese naval petty officer in Kanagawa during a separate investigation of his Chinese wife over her immigration status. [DH/WashingtonTimes/20May2007]
CIA Honors Four Fallen Officers. The CIA recently added four stars to the Memorial Wall at its headquarters and held a ceremony to honor the fallen officers those stars represent. The wall pays tribute to the agency personnel and contractors - now totaling 87 - who died while performing national security missions. One of the officers was Rachel Dean of Stanardsville, Va., who joined the agency in January 2005 and was killed in September in a car accident in Kazakhstan. Two Cold War communications officers - James McGrath of Middletown, Conn., and Stephen Kasarda Jr. of McKees Rocks, Pa. - were honored a half-century after their deaths. Mr. McGrath died in January 1957 while servicing a high-power transmitter in Germany. Mr. Kasarda was killed in May 1960 while in Southeast Asia, supporting a CIA air supply mission to Tibet. The CIA said both deaths were accidental. The identity of the fourth officer - like 32 others on the wall - remains classified.
Speaking to the hundreds of employees and family members gathered for the annual event, CIA Director Michael Hayden said the constellation of stars is more than a memorial. "Each star holds memories of a brave intelligence officer whose example we follow, a treasured colleague whose wisdom we keep, or a lost friend whose laughter we miss," he said. The understated memorial in the agency's entrance includes the 2 1/4-inch stars, flanked by an American and a CIA flag. A book just below the stars names the 54 officers who have been publicly identified. Above the stars reads an inscription: "In honor of those members of the Central Intelligence Agency who gave their lives in the service of their country." [AP/Shrader/21May2007]
DHS Completes Key Framework for Critical Infrastructure Protection. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced today the completion of 17 Sector-Specific Plans (SSPs) in support of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP). The NIPP outlines a comprehensive risk management framework that defines critical infrastructure protection roles and responsibilities for all levels of government and private industry. Each SSP is tailored to the unique risk characteristics of that sector to promote greater consistency of protective programs and resources within the sectors.
Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 identified 17 critical infrastructure and key resource sectors that require protective actions to prepare for, or mitigate against, a terrorist attack or other hazards. SSPs define roles and responsibilities, catalog existing security authorities, institutionalize already existing security partnerships, and establish the strategic objectives required to achieve a level of risk reduction appropriate to each individual sector. Each SPP also establishes a sector-specific risk-reduction consultative network to exchange best practices and facilitate rapid threat-based information sharing among the federal, state, local, tribal and private sectors. Strategic objectives include:
* Protecting critical sector assets, systems, networks and functions prior to a terrorist attack or natural disaster;
* Rapidly reconstituting critical assets, systems and networks after an incident;
* Planning for emergencies and updating response plans;
* Ensuring timely, relevant and accurate threat information sharing between the law enforcement and intelligence communities and key decision makers in the sector; and
* Educating stakeholders on infrastructure resiliency and risk management practices.
Non-sensitive SSPs, SSP Executive Summaries, and the NIPP are available at: www.dhs.gov/nipp.
DOD Assists in Identification of Missing Vietnam-Era CIA Pilot. The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of an American civilian pilot, missing in action from Vietnam while flying for Civil Air Transport, a proprietary of the CIA, have been identified as James B. McGovern, Jr. of Elizabeth, New Jersey and returned to his family for burial with full military honors. Mr. McGovern will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
On May 6, 1954, McGovern, along with his co-pilot, First Officer Wallace A. Buford, and four French servicemen, departed Haiphong, Vietnam, in their Civil Air Transport C-119 on what was to be the last supply drop to the besieged French forces at Camp Isabelle-the remaining French holdout in the battle of Dien Bien Phu. As the aircraft approached the drop zone, it was hit by anti-aircraft fire. The pilots attempted to fly southwest to the relative safety of Laos, but crashed along the Song [River] Ma in Houaphan Province. Only two of the Frenchmen survived and were taken prisoner by Lao forces. One of them died within a few days, and the other was released and returned to France a few months later. McGovern, Wallace and two of the French servicemen were not recovered.
Between 1997 and 1998, joint U.S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), traveled to Houaphan Province two times to investigate the incident. They interviewed several Laotian citizens who recalled the crash. The citizens said that three of the crewmen who died in the impact had been buried near the crash site. When the team surveyed the site, they found small fragments of aircraft wreckage, but did not locate any grave sites. In 2002, another joint U.S.-L.P.D.R. team excavated the site. They found crew-related equipment and aircraft wreckage, including an aircraft data plate dated 8-21-52, but found no human remains. A few months later, another team revisited the site and recovered human remains from an isolated burial.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used dental comparisons and mitochondrial DNA in the identification of McGovern's remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/ or call (703) 699-1169. [EO/DOD/23May2007]
Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE
For a Former CIA Master of Disguises, An Eye for an Eye. When he retired in 1993 after more than 30 years as a disguise specialist for the Central Intelligence Agency, Robert Barron wasn't ready to stop doing the work he loved, so he founded Custom Prosthetic Designs in Ashburn. The one-man shop specializes in lifelike silicone prosthetics for people with birth defects or missing features. Barron has sculpted an ear for a 5-year-old born without one, a nose for a cancer survivor and fingers for a survivor of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon.
If his work, shown in before-and-after photos on his Web site, appears startling in its verisimilitude, that's because Barron worries the details, down to the hairs visible on an ear and the freckles on a nose. "It's just like in the Agency," he says. "I wouldn't issue [agents] a disguise if their life would be in jeopardy" as the result of a less-than-perfect disguise. Fabrication takes at least a couple of months -- from making impressions to shooting photos to taking measurements to the final fitting. Some of his creations are attached to the body with prosthetic adhesive, while others use titanium screws embedded in bone or natural skeletal undercuts such as the ocular orbit.
Barron shies away from describing his work as "cosmetic." "Everything that I do has a purpose in the medical arena," he says, from noses that hold up glasses to ears that improve hearing. When people leave his office, he says, they're "smiling ear to ear" - even if one of them is a fake. [WashingtonPost/Hom/18May2007]
Nation of Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life by Ted Gup. Ted Gup, author of "The Book of Honor: Covert Lives and Classified Death at the CIA" ( Doubleday, 2000), has notified us that he has a new book coming out June 5th - "Nation of Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life." (Also from Doubleday.) The book focuses on the negative aspects of secrecy and does not cover its crucial role in protecting a nation and its military. Gup examines the impact of secrecy [termed "excessive" by the author] on national security, but also moves beyond government secrecy, exploring secrecy's influence on the courts, on hospitals, corporations, universities, etc. An earlier solicitation for help from AFIO members appeared in the Weekly Intelligence Notes and was greeted with many kind offers of assistance and specific guidance, for which the author was most grateful. The author may be reached at tedgup@att.net
Body of Lies, by David Ignatius, reviewed by Sam Coale. Novels like this, riddled with CIA plots, counterplots, conspiracies, up-to-the-minute quests for Al Qaeda operatives, with characters leaping from Amman and Washington to Rome and Tripoli, Geneva and Ankara, with some sex and love and self-doubt tossed in on the side, mirror the very worlds they describe.
Don't get me wrong. I love this stuff. You just have to realize that you'll get deceit and deals in place of any kind of depth. The style has to be lucidly transparent so that we can be surprised when the other shoe drops, and we realize the plot we think we've been following is merely a scam set up by secret conspirers and intelligence personnel.
I admire the guy who can create such a crackerjack, suspenseful plot, which in this case involves a dead body, swiped to be used later on; slick Dean Martin-smooth Hani Salaam, who runs Jordanian Intelligence and is in league with Ferris, up to a point; the plot to infiltrate the Al Qaeda operation of the mysterious, elusive Suleiman and discredit him entirely, since he's been in charge of bombing various sites in Europe; Alice Melville who helps Palestinians in refugee camps and with whom Ferris falls in love; Sadiki, the Jordanian architect, whom Ferris sets up to appear to be a rogue Al Qaeda agent, unbeknownst to Sadiki; and various moles, terrorists, car-bombers and double agents, mired in their labyrinthine web of cell phones, fake Web sites, Islamic fanaticism and American payoffs.
Of course everyone is tough and cool, and their actions are always described as awesome and amazing, more in the telling than in the orchestration. But that's part of the deal.
The war in Iraq does not come off looking too well here, despite Ferris' belief, which slowly crumbles, in the We vs. They scenario. The good guys win. The resolution comes neat and tidy. [pjk/ProvidenceJournal/Coale/20May2007]
Pilot Tested Spy Planes for Military. Robert L. Riedenauer, a test pilot who flew top-secret aircraft that were later used in military missions, died May 21st after a long battle with cancer. He was 70.
Mr. Riedenauer was an Air Force Colonel who spent his lengthy military career flying aircraft that were under development, including the high-flying U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes. He flew 120 combat missions over Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. After leaving the Air Force, he worked for Lockheed Martin's renowned Skunk Works design unit. Mr. Riedenauer was listed as one of Lockheed's principal test pilots during the initial flight tests of the F-117 stealth fighter. [AP/Denver Post/21May2007]
Veronica Hidalgo, Former Employee of OSS. Mrs. Veronica Hidalgo (nee Waylonis) of DuBois, Pennsylvania, died of COPD on Mothers Day, 2007. Mrs. Hidalgo was an administrative assistant with the Central Intelligence Group in 1947 and retired in 1974. Mrs. Hidalgo is survived by her husband Balmes (Barney) Hidalgo, an employee of the Directorate of Plans -- the predecessor to the Directorate of Operations, and a sister. For additional information, please write or call Barney at 772-232-9697 or 3601 Willow Creek Drive, Jensen Beach, FL 34957.
[Editors note: Following is a research request from Mr. Safarti. Please remember we do not vet these requests before publication, so please use caution in your responses. As always, please remember to share only unclassified information. (By the way, you can read the obituary for Mr. Blee, mentioned in the request, at http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2001/janfeb/classnotes/blee.html)]
I am trying to locate an ex CIA agent called JIMMY FLETCHER. He has been working during the years 80 to 83 on the FAREWELL DOSSIER with M. David Blee who is deceased.
My company is presently working on a documentary film about this spy case that helped put an end to the Cold War (to be broadcasted on major European, US, and Canadian networks) and I would like to ask him for his expertise and possibly testimony about what happened then.
Is there any means by which you could help me find this person or forward him a message on my behalf ?
I thank you very much in advance and remain at your disposal for any further information you might need in order to help us.
Best regards, Laurent Sarfati lsarfati@rocheproductions.com
The National Defense Intelligence College, formerly the Joint Military Intelligence College, has a vacancy for a Senior Faculty Member (GG-14) to teach Intelligence Collections. Please see https://diajobs.dia.mil/psp/rec88prdu/APPLICANT/HRMS/c/DI_HOME.DI_SIGNIN.USF for details on the position.
Thanks to the AFIO member who clarified information on Project Jennifer/Glomar. He noted that The Soviet Golf-II class submarine was not a nuclear powered submarine. It was a conventionally powered submarine alleged to carry missiles with nuclear warheads.
A special thanks to AFIO member JT, who showed extensive diligence in running down information on the new CIA Web Site article. The Government Computer News had stated that the web site received 3.7 unique visitors. JT thought the figure sounded strange and called the CIA web developers directly. As he suspected, the number should be "3.7 million."
Sunday, 3 June 2007, 1130 - 1330 - Beachwood, OH - The AFIO N Ohio Chapter luncheon features Paul E. Tressa, CDR, USCGR, Coast Guard Office of Intelligence, 9th Coast Guard District, speaking on "The U.S. Coast Guard - An Active Member of the Intelligence Community throughout the Great Lakes." Tressa is a 1996 USCG Academy graduate with a B.A. in Marine and Environmental Science. He subsequently served on active duty as a deck watch officer on board the Coast Guard Cutter HAMILTON (378' high endurance cutter). While on board, he also served as navigator and was a law enforcement boarding officer. From 1998 - 2001 Tressa served as Assistant Ops Officer at CG Group Buffalo, NY. During this time he helped create a Coast Guard intelligence and law enforcement team that worked closely with other federal and state agencies throughout the Buffalo, Niagara, and St. Lawrence Seaway region. In 2001 Paul transferred to the Coast Guard Reserves where he worked in Cleveland, OH for the Ninth Coast Guard District Office of Law Enforcement. As a civilian, he currently supervises and directs all Coast Guard intelligence collections and dissemination for the Ninth Coast Guard District - a region that spans from Duluth, MN to Massena, NY. Location: unconfirmed but possibly the Hilton Cleveland East /Beachwood, 3663 Park East Drive, Beachwood, Ohio 44122; Tel: 1-216-464-5950 Fax: 1-216-464-6539 To register contact Veronica Flint, 1481 Bell Rd, Chagrin Falls, OH 44022 at (440) 338-4720 or email her at vbf@windstream.net
9 June 2007 - Boston, MA - THE FIFTH ANNUAL "BOSTON AFIO GROUP" AT THE POPS - AMERICA! The Fifth Annual AFIO at the Pops event starts at 8;00 PM Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue Boston, MA 02115. This year the Boston Pops honors our men and women in Uniform with a powerful patriotic program. It's the Pops salute to the music of the proud, the courageous, and the free. Join other AFIO members and friends in the Hatch Room lounge located behind the orchestra level for a social hour before the performance begins. For tickets, call Symphony Hall Charge at 888-266-1200 or online at www.bso.orgz . Tickets ($18.00 - $85.00) go on sale Monday March 5th. Ticket sales do not include a donation to AFIO. The AFIO Boston Pops Committee has introduced this event over the years as a way to support AFIO's programs and increase the awareness of the role of the intelligence community in national security. AFIO will be featured in the Boston Pops June 9th program booklet with a full page advertisement which honors the goal of increasing the awareness and in order to support Scholarship programs we need your donations. Please support this national mission.
16 June 2007 - 9:30am - 1:30pm - Seattle, WA - The AFIO - Pacific Northwest Chapter hosts Lieutenant Ron Leavell, Seattle Police Department, speaking on SPD Intelligence operations and how Regional Intelligence Groups share information. The meeting will be held at The Museum of Flight (206) 764-5720, 9404 East Marginal Way South, Seattle, WA 98108-4097. Meeting open to everyone interested in domestic intelligence. $30 in advance, $40 at the door. Please RSVP to: fd@cromwellgroup.us or AFIO, 4616 25th Ave NE, #495, Seattle, WA 98105
16 June 2007 - Fairfax, VA - the National Photographic Interpretation Center holds a Reunion The NPIC REUNION at Elks Lodge #2188, 8421 Arlington Blvd, Fairfax. (Located on Route 50 West 3/4 mile from Beltway/I495.) From 1:00 to 5:00 pm, BBQ food served 2:00 to 4:00 pm, cash bar; cost $30 per person 8 years and older. RSVP and advance payment NLT 16 May to: Anne Allen, 6925 Greenvale St, NW, Washington, DC 20015. For info, see: http://hometown.aol.com/wrmugford/ or contact Jim Richey at 703-971-4812 or jimrichey@juno.com. (For anyone, including contractors, who worked at Building 213 or the Stuart Building, no matter what parent organization, retired or not, with spouses and families. Even if you cannot attend this reunion, please submit your name and contact info to Anne Allen to be included on the NPIC alumni list.)
19 June 2007 - Arlington, VA - Defense Intelligence Forum luncheon at the Alpine Restaurant, 4770 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA (The Alpine has two parking lots. One is next to the building. The other is across the street.) Speaker will be Mr. Russell Rochte on "From Soft-Power to Soft-War" - presenting lessons learned from his experience on the Media Staff Ride to Hollywood conducted by the National Defense University in 2005. The talk will include a brief review of "media warfare" and suggest a strategy for ultimately winning the "War of Ideas." Rochte, Sr Faculty for Information Operations at the National Defense Intelligence College, was formerly on the NDU faculty. He is a frequent lecturer at the NATO School on the topic of Information Power and directs the Information Operations concentration within the MSSI degree program at the NDIC. The Defense Intelligence Forum covers topics of current intelligence interest. The Defense Intelligence Alumni Association and the National Defense Intelligence College Foundation sponsor it jointly. To encourage candor, the forum does not allow media, notes, recordings, or attribution. The Defense Intelligence Forum is open to members of Intelligence Community associations.
RSVP by 13 June by reply email or telephone DIAA at 571-426-0098. Give your name and the names of your guests, your association, your telephone number and email address, and menu selections (chicken, veal, or salmon). Pay at the door with a check for $25 made payable to DIAA, Inc.
25 June 2007 - Scottsdale, AZ - The Arizona AFIO Chapter hears from Dr. Rustick on Special Weapons for Special Forces. The Chapter meeting will be at Buster's restaurant in Scottsdale at a luncheon beginning at 11:30 AM. The speaker will be Dr. Joseph Rustick, President of Arms Tech Ltd. This company manufactures special weapons designed to support the missions of Special Forces and Law Enforcement in general. The product line is diverse and designed to provide Special Operations with the unique tools required for the hostile environment in which they operate. One of the interesting products is the Compac 16 family of weapons which are designed to expand the life, accuracy, and reliability of the M-16. He is a Medical Doctor. He received his Medical Degree from Georgetown School of Medicine in 1974. For information and reservations, phone Bill Williams at (602) 944-2451 or e-mail, fireballci@hotmail.com.
28 June 2007 - San Francisco - The AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts Brigadier General Joseph L. Shaefer, USAF (Ret). Shaefer will speak on "Up a Lazy River: The Right Time, The Wrong ABC's." If we are living in a time where the national ABC's include (A) ambivalence about the collection of intelligence, increasing (B) boredom with the subject of national security, the end goal of almost all national intelligence, and a (C) complacency about those who have declared themselves our sworn enemies, then our intelligence gathering, analysis, and dissemination will reflect them. General Shaefer offers a different set of ABC's and provides a strategy to once again energize and involve the American public in order to allow intelligence professionals to do what they do best: provide predictive and prescriptive courses of action to protect American citizens and ensure the continuation of our way of life. The meeting will be held at United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94116 (between Sloat and Wawona). 11:30 AM no host cocktails; noon - luncheon. $25 member rate with advance reservation; $35 non-member rate or at door. RSVP to Mariko Kawaguchi no later than 5 PM 6/20/07: mariko@cataphora.com, (650) 622-9840 X608 or send check to P.O. Box 117578 Burlingame, CA 94011. Call Marina Mann (925) 735-1327 for questions.
Thursday, 28 June 2007, 12 Noon - 1 PM - Washington, DC - Spy Wars: Moles, Mysteries, and Deadly Games. The mysterious case of KGB officer Yuri Nosenko's 1964 defection to the United States has inspired debate for more than 40 years. Was Nosenko a bona fide defector with real information about Lee Harvey Oswald's stay in Soviet Russia? Or was he a KGB loyalist, engaged in a complex game of deception? Tennent H. Bagley, a former CIA chief of Soviet bloc counterintelligence, directly handled Nosenko's case and after the Cold War learned more from former KGB adversaries.Friday, 29 June 2007 - Houston, TX - AFIO Houston Chapter event The speaker for this AFIO Houston event is being scheduled. Announced later. Registration and further details at afiohoustonchapter@yahoo.com 1800h 6pm Cocktails. No tickets at the door.
30 June 2007 - Nashua, NH - CIRA New England Chapter holds special meeting for all New England CIA Retirees. Event will be held at the Holiday Inn, Nashua, NH [Rt 3, Exit 4]. For further info contact Dick Gay 207-374-2169 or email him at raguay@roadrunner.com
Wednesday, July 11, 2007: 9:00 am - Noon - Alexandria, VA - Ray Semko, aka the one and only "D*I*C*E Man", presents D*I*C*E 2007: UNLEASHED! at the CI Centre and other locations. Hear what Ray has to say about security, OPSEC, INFOSEC and terrorism now that he's no longer in the US government! These special open "Up Close and Personal" D*I*C*E briefings at the CI Centre are tailored towards those organizations operating under a requirement to provide a security awareness briefing to their employees every year (as NISPOM requires). Attendees will receive a Certificate of Attendance stating they have completed their security awareness briefing for the year. Seating is limited in the CI Centre's classroom, so register early to reserve your seat. Cost is $99.95 per person. Free parking. Coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts provided. REGISTER NOW: You may download the Registration Form from: http://cicentre.com/dice/2007_premiere.html or call 1-800-779-4007.
19 July 2007 - Colorado Springs, CO - AFIO Rocky Mountain Chapter holds luncheon meeting on MASINT at the Falcon Room, Air Force Academy Officers Club. MASINT is the topic at the luncheon meeting of the at AFIO Rocky Mountain Chapter. Event is held at the Falcon Room, Air Force Academy Officers Club. Col. John Gonzales, USAF will speak to on MASINT which is a new and little known part of intelligence. Cost $10.00 for each lunch buffet. Inquiries to Dick Durham. Treasurer of the Chapter at Riverwear53@aol.com
Allen
Dulles' Pipe, inscribed photo, and letter of provenance....or enjoy
a private dinner in Washington DC area with AFIO's President - CIA officer [Ret] to discuss career plans, goals, or to hear about historic intelligence events
including MAJIC, Area 51, and other U.S. intelligence mysteries.....just some of
the many unusual items available to you
at the
AFIO AUCTION for 2007
Own a piece of history.
Our Spring AFIO Spy Auction is here! The AFIO 2007 Auction opens for
bidding on Sunday, 29 April 2007.
Goal: to raise funds to support AFIO programs in the areas of education, career
recruitments, scholarships, seminars, publications, and conferences.
Please help by reviewing and purchasing gift items at this auction. Part of each
purchase includes a tax-deductible donation to AFIO.
Tell colleagues and friends that the bidding has started.
This is an exciting and fun way to locate some unusual gift items and to help an
important cause.
Explore
the auction catalog at
http://afio.cmarket.com
Other Ways to
Help:
Donate intel-related items; Be a Sponsor.
Contact us at afio@afio.com
or 703-790-0320 to take advantage of promotional opportunities for your business
or to pledge your individual support.
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