AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #44-07 dated 19 November 2007

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WIN CREDITS FOR THIS ISSUE:  The WIN editors thank the following contributors to this issue: mr, pjk, dh, and ls.  

All have contributed one or more stories used in this issue.  

CONTENTS

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

 

Section II - TERRORISM

 

Section III - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

 

Section IV - CAREERS, BOOK REVIEWS, OBITUARIES AND COMING EVENTS

Careers

Book Reviews

Coming Events

Current Calendar Next Two Months ONLY:

2007 Events...

  For Additional Events two+ months or more....view our online Calendar of Events  

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Former British Soldier Accused in Russian Espionage Inquiry. A 23-year-old former Territorial Army soldier is at the center of an investigation by MI5 and the Metropolitan Police into a suspected attempt to pass classified military material to the Russians. Peter Hill, who served in the TA attached to the Royal Armored Corps, is to appear in court in Leeds today on a charge under the 1883 Explosive Substances Act after items were removed from residential and business addresses in Skipton, North Yorkshire, including sodium chlorate, hexamine tablets and a metal tube. Police and security sources confirmed that he had initially been arrested under the Official Secrets Act. The sources said that Mr. Hill, now a risk analyst, was suspected of trying to pass classified military documents to a foreign intelligence service.

As a former trooper in the TA, the sources indicated, he would not have had access to top-grade secrets, but any attempt to contact foreign and potentially hostile intelligence services is seen as a serious offence. The inquiry is not focusing on an elaborate plot by the Russians, but is being viewed as a suspected attempt by an individual to contact the Russian intelligence service on an "opportunistic" basis.

Mr. Hill is understood to have been subject to surveillance by both MI5 and the police. Arrested on Wednesday, he was questioned by police in Leeds. He was bailed until April on the spying allegations but was later charged with the explosives offence. The allegations under the two different Acts are not connected. Mr. Hill had been arrested on suspicion of breaching the Official Secrets Act, the Met said, but when addresses were searched, material was allegedly found that led to him being charged under the Explosive Substances Act. [Evans/TimesOnline/12November2007] 

Former FBI, CIA Employee Pleads Guilty to Computer Crime. A former employee of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency has pleaded guilty to charges of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship and accessing a U.S. government computer system to unlawfully find information about her relatives and the Islamic organization Hizballah.

Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, originally from Lebanon, also pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. She was accused of using her fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship to gain employment with the FBI and CIA, and of using her position in the FBI to check on the information held on family members connected to Hizballah, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. government considers Hizballah a terrorist group.

Prouty faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine for the conspiracy charge; one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for the unauthorized computer access charge; and 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the naturalization charge.

Prouty "engaged in a pattern of deceit to secure U.S. citizenship, to gain employment in the intelligence community, and to obtain and exploit her access to sensitive counterterrorism intelligence," Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein said in a statement.

Prouty first entered the U.S. from Lebanon in June 1989, on a one-year, non-immigrant student visa, according to court documents. After her visa expired, she remained in Taylor, Michigan, living with her sister. As a way to remain in the U.S., Prouty later offered money to an unemployed U.S. citizen to marry her, and on Aug. 9, 1990, she was married. Prouty never lived with her fraudulent husband, but continued to live with her sister, the DOJ said. Prouty later submitted a series of fraudulent documents to federal immigration officials to verify the validity of the fraudulent marriage in order to obtain U.S. citizenship, the DOJ said. She was granted citizenship in August 1994, and the following year, she filed for a divorce.

Between May 1992 and November 1994, Prouty was twice employed as a waitress and hostess at La Shish Inc., a chain of Middle Eastern restaurants in Detroit that was owned by Talal Khalil Chahine. During this time, Chahine wrote a letter for submission into Prouty's immigration file attesting to the validity of Prouty's false marriage. Chahine is currently a fugitive believed to be in Lebanon, the DOJ said. He, along with Prouty's sister, Elfat El Aouar, and others were charged in 2006 in the Eastern District of Michigan with tax evasion in connection with a scheme to conceal more than $20 million received by La Shish restaurants and to route funds to Lebanon. Last month, Chahine and others were also charged in the Eastern District of Michigan in a bribery and extortion conspiracy in which federal immigration benefits were allegedly awarded to illegal aliens in exchange for money.

In April 1999, Prouty was hired as a special agent of the FBI, and she was granted a security clearance and assigned to the FBI's Washington, D.C., field office to work on a squad investigating crimes against U.S. persons overseas. During her tenure with the FBI, Prouty was not assigned to work on investigations involving Hizballah.

In August 2000, Prouty's sister married Chahine, the owner of La Shish. A month later Prouty used the FBI's computerized Automated Case System without authorization to query her own name, her sister's name and that of her brother-in-law, the DOJ said. In June 2003, Prouty accessed the FBI system and obtained information from a national security investigation into Hizballah that was being conducted by the FBI's Detroit field office.

Prouty left the FBI and joined the CIA in June 2003. She resigned from the CIA earlier this month, and she has agreed to cooperate with the CIA on any matters the CIA says is necessary to protect U.S. national security, the DOJ said. [Gross/IDGNewsService/13November2007] 

British Double Agent Honored in Russia. Russian intelligence has honored one of its most important Soviet-era spies, stirring Cold War memories at a time when relations between Russia and the West are again souring. The accolade for the British double agent George Blake has taken place five months after the Queen honored Oleg Gordievsky, a high-level KGB man who defected to Britain in 1985. It is not known whether the Russian honor is a riposte to Britain, but it comes as Russia is expanding its spying to Cold War levels or higher, according to US and British officials.

Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, a successor to the KGB, feted Blake at its headquarters. He was decorated with the Friendship Order, and telegrams from Russia's leadership were read out.

Blake delivered a double humiliation to Britain at the height of the Cold War, first by reportedly betraying dozens - hundreds, some say - of Western agents while working for MI6 and then by staging a daring escape from his London prison in 1966. His greatest coup was to tip off the Russians in the 1950s to a tunnel the British and Americans had dug into communist East Berlin to tap Soviet military communications. The Russians used it to feed phony information to the West for nearly a year. Unmasked in 1961, Blake was sentenced to 42 years in prison, but five years later, aided by sympathizers, he escaped and fled to the Soviet Union. He was made a KGB colonel, wrote two memoirs and still trains Russian spies.

In an interview aired on his 85th birthday on November 11, Blake said he switched allegiance during the Korean War, when, as a British vice-consul in Seoul, he was captured by North Korean forces. Seeing American bombs falling "on small, completely defenseless Korean villages, one didn't feel too proud of being on the Western side", he said. "I came to the conclusion that it was wrong to fight communism." [AP/14November2007] 

Australian Judge Criticizes Australian Spy Agency. A judge accused Australia's main spy agency of falsely imprisoning a Pakistani-born Australian citizen who faced terrorism-related charges that were later dropped. Former Sydney medical student Izhar Ul Haque, 24, had been charged with intentionally receiving combat and weapons training from outlawed terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba in Pakistan in 2003. The charge, which carries a maximum 25-year prison sentence, was dropped after New South Wales state Supreme Court judge Michael Adams ruled that Ul Haque's interview with three agents of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, better known as ASIO, could not be used as evidence.

Judge Adams accused an ASIO agent of kidnapping and false imprisonment, both criminal offenses, and said agents' "oppressive conduct" had influenced alleged admissions made by Ul Haque. "It was a gross interference by the agents of the state with the accused's legal rights as a citizen, rights which he still has whether he be suspected of criminal conduct or not, and whether he is Muslim or not," Adams said. The judge also said the agents' conduct had been "grossly improper and constituted an unjustified and unlawful interference with the personal liberty of the accused."  [AP/14November2007] 

Overhaul of Military Labs Urged. The military could save troop lives and taxpayer money by improving how it gathers and analyzes DNA samples and fingerprints from captured weapons, equipment and insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Pentagon report says. The Defense Department needs to spend $195 million over the next two years to overhaul and centralize its CSI-style forensic science program, the report recommended.

Iris scans and DNA samples from detainees and fingerprints from captured cellphones and improvised explosive devices are "among the most valuable data" the military has for "tracking and targeting" the enemy, says John Young, the Pentagon's research and engineering director, in the September report.

The programs, which began in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2004, are "exorbitantly expensive" and "duplicative," the report says. The military spends $400,000 annually each on about three dozen civilian contractors who staff the military's crime labs. The report recommends creating a "forensics academy" in the Defense Department to cut costs and train its own specialists. The forensic science report was prepared after about 100 military and civilian scientists met at Fort Gillem, Ga., in August.

The group found technicians must produce intelligence for the military and analyze evidence for prosecutors. Priorities sometimes clash, the report says, citing a dispute over a captured cellphone in Iraq as an example. Criminal investigators wanted labs to lift fingerprints to pursue a prosecution. Intelligence officers wanted the phone's call records to identify relationships among insurgents.

The group's report proposes:

 - Placing forensics programs run by the Army, Navy, Defense Intelligence Agency and others under a central Pentagon office.

 - Opening four new labs in Iraq and Afghanistan, and developing a database to match DNA samples from 30,000 detainees tested each year to people and evidence seized in combat zones.

 - Performing DNA analysis at the military's Rockville, Md., lab that can track relatives of detainees through a genetic profile.

 - Enabling users of other government databases - fingerprint, iris scan and DNA - to access one another's databases.

 - Hiring more specialists to lift fingerprints from bomb fragments and to collect telephone numbers and text messages from electronic devices seized on the battlefield.

Thomas Dee, the Pentagon's director of defense biometrics, said in an interview that the military has created a team to study how to implement some of the recommendations. [Willing/USAToday/11November2007] 

MI 5 is Lost in Translation. The British Security Service MI 5 has translated its site into Russian and Mandarin (Chinese dialect) to push Russians and Chinese to share information about the activity of Russian and Chinese Intelligence Service in the UK more willingly. MI 5 had to use this measure as the activity of foreign Intelligence Services distracts the UK office from the fight against international terrorism. It was also a way to hint Moscow and Beijing at the fact that their agents are in the focus of the MI 5 attention. 

However, the e-mail service on the site doesn't support Cyrillic (Russian alphabet) and Chinese hieroglyphs. So, to inform MI 5 about spies one has to use English. The site is now also available in French, but the French version is not regarded as a means of controlling French spies. Mi 5 is just providing information about itself in one of the most-spoken languages in the world. Up to now MI 5 has published information in English, Welsh, Arabic and Urdu. [Russia-IC/14November2007] 

China Gives Ex-Diplomat Suspended Death Rap. A former official of the Chinese Embassy in Japan was sentenced to death, with the sentence suspended for two years, for leaking confidential military information, sources familiar with Japan-China relations said Wednesday. The official is suspected of having leaked the information to Japan, according to the sources.

Wang Qingqian, standing council member of the China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC), was sentenced at a military tribunal in spring this year. Due to his professional experience, Wang was familiar with Chinese military information. He served as the first secretary at the Chinese Embassy in Japan in the late 1990s and built ties with people from a wide range of circles in Japan. According to the sources, following investigations by the Ministry of State Security, Wang was indicted on charges of leaking military information. However, the identify of the Japanese to whom Wang is believed to have provided the classified information remains unknown.

Under the Chinese court system, if a death sentence is handed down with a suspended term and no problems emerge during the suspension period, the death sentence usually will be commuted to life imprisonment. A CAIFC official declined to comment on whether Wang had been sentenced to death. [Shimbun/Yomiuri/15November2007] 

Costly Spy Satellite Program Deemed A 'Train Wreck'. A colossal and expensive bungle over spy satellites that cost the US billions, described by one analyst as a "train wreck," would appear to be a record of how not to build an intelligence technology group.

A government project called Future Imagery Architecture was running $2-3 billion over budget that triggered a panel to investigate the project in 2002, according to the New York Times. The panel reported from records at the National Reconnaissance Office, and suggested to continue on with the projects shortly after the September 11 attacks.

With the new satellites promising improved, more frequent images of foreign threats like terrorist training camps, nuclear weapons plants and enemy military maneuvers, they advised Peter B. Teets, head of the nation's spy satellite agency to obtain an infusion of $700 million. This was just another band-aid for a project that failed.

After two years, several review panels and billions more dollars the government finally killed the project - perhaps the most spectacular and expensive failure in the 50-year history of American spy satellite projects. But an investigation by the Times found that the collapse of the project, at a loss of at least $4 billion, was all but inevitable - the result of a troubled partnership between a government seeking to maintain the supremacy of its intelligence technology, but on a constrained budget, and a contractor all-too willing to make promises it ultimately could not keep. "The train wreck was predetermined on Day 1," said Thomas Young, a former aerospace executive who led a panel that examined the project. The Times' investigation found the satellite agency put the Future Imagery contract out for bid in 1998, despite an internal assessment that questioned whether its lofty technological goals were attainable given the tight budget and schedule. Boeing had never built the kind of spy satellites the government was seeking, but told Congress it could live within the stringent spending caps imposed by Congress and the satellite agency. The government, in turn, accepted the company's optimistic projections. Despite its relative inexperience, Boeing was given responsibility for monitoring its own work, under a new government policy of shifting control of big military projects to contractors.

According to the Times, the satellite agency, at the same time hobbled by budget cuts and the loss of seasoned staff members, lacked the expertise to make sound engineering determinations of its own. The satellites were loaded with intelligence collection requirements, as numerous intelligence and military services competed to influence their design. Boeing's engineers said that the designs were so complicated and elaborate that they said they could not be built. Engineers constructing a radar-imaging unit could not initially produce the unusually strong radar signal as designed. A gaggle of defective parts, like gyroscopes and electric cables, repeatedly shut down operations. Even what is described as an elementary rule of spacecraft construction - never use tin, because it deforms in space and can short-circuit electronic components - was ignored by parts suppliers.

Ironically when the satellite known as F.I.A. was to have been delivered the project was killed, with over runs as high as $18 billion.

Boeing's go-to man, Ed Nowinski, was an engineer who had become a top government spy satellite expert during 28 years at the Central Intelligence Agency was in charge of the project. Nowinski acknowledged that Boeing frequently provided the government with positive reports on the troubled project. "Look, we did report problems," Nowinski said, "but it was certainly in my best interests to be very optimistic about what we could do." Boeing eventually fired Nowinski as the project fell apart. A Boeing spokeswoman, Diana Ball, said the company could not discuss classified programs. [Aero-News/14November2007] 

Karzai Probes Allegations of Torture by Afghan Forces, AFP Says. Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai appointed a commission to investigate allegations the nation's intelligence service is torturing and abusing detainees, Agence France-Presse reported.

"Afghanistan is against any physical and mental torture and is committed to all international human rights standards,'' AFP cited the Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement yesterday. "An authorized commission appointed by the president will seriously investigate the issue.''

Amnesty International said in a report two days ago that the National Directorate of Security has been known to whip prisoners, expose them to extreme cold and deprive them of food. The London-based human rights organization called on NATO forces to stop transferring prisoners into Afghan custody.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization leads a force of more than 35,000 soldiers from 37 countries fighting a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. The United Nations in September called on Karzai's government to investigate allegations of inhumane treatment and torture of detainees by the intelligence service. [Johnson/Bloomberg/15November2007] 

Albanian Secret Service Demands Money for Agents in Macedonia. Albanian state intelligence service SHISH demanded over 4 million euro extra funds to expand its activities in the region, including Macedonia. Gazeta Shqiptare newspaper says the vast majority of additional agents will be sent to Kosovo, and the rest will be sent to "Albanian regions in Macedonia and Montenegro".

SHISH chief Bahri Shaqiri told the Albanian Parliament's National Security Committee that additional funds should be allocated to state intelligence service to expand its activities in 2008 and to recruit new agents outside the country. The newspaper, citing sources who attended the session, says extra funds and new recruits will help the country stand ready for the eventualities that may arise from the tense situation in the Balkan.

A portion of funds will be used to strengthen the network of collaborators within the country and to step up the fight against terrorism, corruption and organized crime. [Makfax/16November2007] 

Taiwanese Intelligence Officer Indicted for Allegedly Leaking National Secrets. A retired top Taiwanese military intelligence officer has been indicted on charges of collecting and leaking classified information that was published in his book. Pang Ta-wei, a former deputy section chief of the Military Intelligence Bureau, was indicted on September 17, said Chen Jui, spokesman for the Prosecutors' Office of the High Court. "He was indicted on charges of jeopardizing national security by collecting and leaking national defense secrets," Chen said. "His offense is clear. He did not destroy the classified information as he was required to do. Rather, he printed it in his book," he said, adding that Pang was barred from leaving Taiwan.

Taiwan's Bureau of Investigation started to probe the case after Pang revealed what the Military Intelligence Bureau said were national secrets in a book in 2004, the Liberty Times newspaper said. Among the alleged secrets are documents relating to his unit's spying operation on rival China from 1992 through 1997, the newspaper said. Pang claimed he did not intend to reveal national secrets, which prosecutors rejected. If convicted, he faces a 12-year jail term. The Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report. [ChinaPost/15November2007] 

Iran's Ex-Official Charged with Espionage. Iran's intelligence minister says that former nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian is charged with passing intelligence to foreigners. "He is charged with giving intelligence critical to national interests and security to foreigners including the British Embassy ," Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei announced. "He has been informed of the charge as of the first day of his arrest and from the viewpoint of the Intelligence Ministry, this charge has been proven," the minister noted. 

Mousavian was detained in May, this year, for 'security reasons' as claimed by the authorities. He was released on bail a week later. Once a member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, Mousavian, also headed the foreign policy committee of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. [PressTV/15November2007] 

China Pursuing Aggressive Spying Program: US Commission. China's spies are acquiring critical US know-how to enhance its military and industrial might, posing the biggest threat to US technology, according to a US Congress-appointed commission. 

"Chinese espionage in the United States, which now comprises the single greatest threat to US technology, is straining the US counterintelligence establishment," the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a report to Congress.

To underline the seriousness of the espionage problem, the panel called for immediate steps to determine the country of origin of every US weapon system components and a "full assessment" of US intelligence capabilities related to China's military. "The commission recommends that Congress require the Department of Defense to prepare a complete list of the country of origin of each component in every US weapon system to the bottom tier," the report said.

It also asked Congress to consider providing additional funding for US export control enforcement and counterintelligence efforts, specifically those tasked with preventing "illicit" technology transfers" to China and its "state-sponsored industrial espionage operations." Industrial espionage "significantly contributes to China's military modernization and acquisition of new capabilities," the report said.

The commission wanted the Pentagon to monitor potential Chinese military applications of research and development conducted in China by US companies. The panel also found the pace of military modernization in China exceeding official US estimates, commission vice-chairman Dan Blumenthal said. China's defense industry, he said, was producing new generations of weapon systems with impressive speed and quality, in part because China had developed the capacity to integrate commercial technologies into military systems.

Blumenthal also expressed concern at "China's willingness to invest in and sell weapons to Iran and Sudan, both countries with abysmal human rights records."

The commission is also concerned about the increasing ability of China's military to destroy satellites and to undertake cyber attacks against a broad array of US computer networks, both government and civilian, chairman Carolyn Bartholomew said. It called for tightening of measures to protect critical American computer networks and sensitive information from damage by cyber attacks.

A report earlier this year said China's military had successfully hacked into the US military computer network in June following months of efforts, forcing a shutdown of a system serving the office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The commission also charged that China's "control and manipulation of information" made it difficult or impossible for officials responsible for product safety in the United States and other nations to identify potential safety problems in Chinese imports on a timely basis.

Dangerous exports from China ranging from toys to seafood have sparked a wave of global bans and recalls in recent months and severely tarnished the made-in-China label. Beijing has taken various steps to contain the problem, and in July executed the former head of its food and drug safety watchdog for corruption. [AFP/17November2007]

Vietnam War Novel Receives 2007 US National Book Award for Fiction. Two books examining the role of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War won prestigious National Book Awards in New York City.

Denis Johnson won the fiction award for his epic novel Tree of Smoke, the story of a CIA agent during the Vietnam War. The non-fiction prize went to Legacy of Ashes, Tim Weiner's history of the U.S. spy agency. Weiner, a reporter for the New York Times, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for his reporting on secret national security programs.

Sherman Alexie won the young people's literature prize for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the story of a young Native American living on a poverty-stricken reservation. Robert Hass, a former U.S. poet laureate, won for his collection Time and Materials.

The winners each received a $10,000 prize.

Novelist-essayist Joan Didion received the 2007 Medal for Distinguished Contributions to American Letters. She used her acceptance speech to praise the late writer Norman Mailer, who received the award in 2005. Mailer died last Saturday at the age of 84. Among the noted writers who have received the prestigious award are John Updike, Philip Roth and Ralph Ellison. [VOANews/15November2007] 


Section II - TERRORISM

In a Bold Step Against Terrorism, Turkey to Launch Spy Satellite. Turkey, which has secured active intelligence cooperation from the United States against the PKK terrorist organization, is preparing to launch its own spy satellite in 2008. Turkish officials say the satellite will allow Turkey to reduce its dependence on international sources for intelligence not only on the PKK, but also on human and drug smuggling in and around its borders. 

The spy satellite project, called Gokturk, will be able to monitor instantly all the movements of the PKK terrorists in and around Turkey. The satellite will have a life span of six years and will cost 200 million dollars. The project was started in 2005 as the Gokturk Reconnaissance and Surveillance Satellite Systems Project and will be completed within a year. The project will contribute to the military needs of information gathering and will be the first ever spy satellite to be launched by Turkey.

The Gokturk satellite will also have commercial use. It will be able to control forest areas, illegal housing, damage control after natural disasters, agricultural forecasting as well as charting maps. [Deger/TheNewAnatolian/12November2007] 


Section III - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold. It's a year since the death of Markus Wolf, the most feared spy in the West. As Chief of the Stasi's foreign intelligence service, Wolf was the quintessential spymaster: the cleverest, most cultured and most successful that ever existed in the Communist Bloc. His name still causes mixed reactions across Europe.

The son of a famous Jewish Communist playwright, Markus escaped to Moscow after the Nazis came to power in the 1930s. Known as Misha in Russia, he was trained by the Soviets, and sent back to Germany after the war. As the battle lines of the Cold War were being drawn, the border between the two German republics became the new front. Soon he assembled an invisible army of thousands of agents, who infiltrated every West German government department. At its peak in the 1970s, the power of his East German spy network was said to exceed that of the KGB. All the information came back to one man.

He was a gifted organizer, who was also blessed with charisma. He could talk to anyone. People trusted him, even West Germans. But to his enemies, Markus Wolf became 'the man without a face', so evasive he could never be photographed.

His favored spying technique was the use of so-called Romeo agents. Attractive East German men would ensnare the secretaries of the most powerful Western Germans, and use them to access information. Wolf's biggest coup was forcing the resignation of the popular German Chancellor Willy Brandt. He stepped down after discovering his top aide was a Wolf spy.

Markus Wolf resigned in 1986, three years before the Berlin Wall came down. He remained a communist, even after German reunification, and never admitted any wrongdoing. His last years alternated between court battles to prove his innocence, writing and talk show appearances. The tension between Wolf's personal charm and job description never ceased to fascinate.

But for all the brilliance of Markus Wolf and others like him, nothing could save the ideologies they supported. [RussiaToday/9November2007] 

War Record Reveals Mitterrand's Narrow Escape. Fran�ois Mitterrand, the late French president, narrowly escaped arrest and almost certain execution by the Gestapo days before being spirited out of France by the Royal Air Force, according to formerly top-secret files released in the UK.

The first detailed insight into Mitterrand's relationship with British intelligence comes from a personnel file compiled by the Special Operations Executive, the organization founded in 1940 by Winston Churchill with the order to "set Europe ablaze". Until recently, the document was kept in the archive of MI6, the UK's foreign intelligence service.

Never seen before by historians, it includes a full report of Mitterrand's "interrogation", probably conducted by Lt. Col. Maurice Buckmaster, the head of SOE's French operation. The contents of the file, released this week at the National Archives in Kew, southwest London, are likely to add to controversy over Mitterrand's record. He had worked in the collaborationist Vichy regime of Marshal Philippe P�tain as a young man before becoming a member of the Resistance against German occupation in mid-1943. A few months later, on November 16, 1943, Mitterrand, then 27 and recruited to work in the Resistance movement headed by Gen. Henri Giraud, arrived in a single-engine Lysander aircraft that had brought him from central France to RAF Tangmere in Kent. He was interrogated at the special intelligence holding centre for foreign arrivals at the Royal Victoria Patriotic School opposite Wandsworth prison in south London.

Mitterrand was referred to in the file by the name Monier, one of three aliases recorded on his index card, and was described as being "concerned with the military aspect of the organization". But he seems to have been cowed by the presence of a senior colleague, Commandant Pierre du Passage, codenamed Pepe, a man who mysteriously seems to have left no historical record at all.

The report says that "Monier" and "Pepe" had been working together in a "Giraudist" group in France, which had organized itself into two zones, north and south of the country. "[Mitterrand] did not say much during the interrogation, as Pepe answered most of the questions, whether directed to himself or his companion. "In connection with his work, however, he traveled a great deal both in the Zone Sud and the Zone Nord, living intermittently at Vichy. He changed his address frequently, staying at one place only a day and never longer than a week. "In this way, he felt that the Germans would never catch up with him. A week ago, the Gestapo visited the address he had just left.

"He knows that he is a suspect but cannot give any specific reason why, as he feels that there are so many small things he might be brought to account for if the authorities ever get hold of him. "The Gestapo know his real name but he hopes they have not got his description."

The report does not say if Mitterrand had fled because of the Gestapo interest in him, but in the storm of condemnation that followed revelations of his Vichy past in the 1950s, the then rising political star of the French left never raised this in self-defense.

The file shows that SOE were keen to work with Mitterrand to smuggle British agents into Germany using information "derived from the Monier organization".

They were to infiltrate Arbeitskommandos, forced-labor camps in which hundreds of thousands of French civilians were working in early 1944 and many of which were attached to vital German military and infrastructure projects, making them theoretical targets for SOE sabotage attempts.

It appears, however, that despite the fact that Mitterrand was said to be "delighted" by the suggestion that he should "co-operate with us rather than run a rival show", that scheme never got off the ground.

A few weeks after his interrogation, he left for the Free French headquarters of Charles de Gaulle in Algiers and from there returned to France in early 1944. [MSNBC/17November2007] 

Section IV -  CAREERS, BOOK REVIEWS, OBITUARIES AND COMING EVENTS

Careers

The Walt Disney Company
Job Title: Analyst, Global Intelligence and Threat Analysis

Description:
https://disney.recruitmax.com/main/careerportal/Job_Profile.cfm?szOrderID=123792&szReturnToSearch=1&szWordsToHighlight=

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Analyst, Global Intelligence and Threat Analysis, anticipates and assesses threats that could harm, or make vulnerable, The Walt Disney Company (TWDC), its employees, guests, or assets. The analyst reviews information from open/public sources, official sources, and professional contacts, and conducts timely, accurate, relevant, and creative assessments of international security issues. He or she produces a range of written and verbal analyses for employees and management of the Company, supporting or driving the Company's security and crisis management operations.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:
*Monitors open source media, homeland security and law enforcement bulletins, and information from professional contacts for international, national, and local intelligence that may affect the security of TWDC. The analyst will be a subject matter expert on issues such as counterterrorism, travel security, and international affairs.

*Understands TWDC worldwide interests, including assets and ongoing activities, productions, etc. Anticipates scenarios, analyzes information, and produces written and verbal assessments and warning forecasts for Disney Global Security management and other appropriate TWDC consumers. Assessments will be assigned or self-initiated. Recommends strategies to mitigate security risks as appropriate or required.

*Develops and maintains regular liaison with local, national, and international law enforcement, intelligence, and diplomatic community partners. Maintains and broadens professional skills and contacts through external training and attendance at conferences. When required, represents the Global Intelligence and Threat Analysis department at internal and external meetings and functions.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
*Demonstrated ability to thrive in a creative, innovative, and highly collaborative work environment.

*Internet fluency and knowledge of Macintosh and Microsoft-based applications.

*Knowledge and understanding of analysis on international security issues, including though not exclusively related to terrorism. *Demonstrated research and critical thinking skills to identify, collect, synthesize, and evaluate large amounts of data and draw logical and actionable conclusions.

*Ability to work on multiple projects under pressure of tight deadlines and high, exacting standards

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
*Bachelor's degree required; field of study such as political science, international relations, national security studies, journalism preferred.

*Three-to-five years analytic experience (or US Government GS-9 through GS-12 equivalent) with an intelligence agency, law enforcement organization, the military, or the private sector *Strong written and verbal English presentation skills; other languages desirable, but not required

*Strong professional ethics and ability to maintain absolute discretion, confidentiality, and trust *Foreign area knowledge and understanding of contemporary affairs gained through study, travel, or work abroad *US Government security clearance (at least Secret-level) desirable Business

Overview: The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries, is a diversified worldwide entertainment company with 2006 annual revenues of
$34.3 billion. Its four business segments include Media Networks, Parks and Resorts, Studio Entertainment and Consumer Products. Disney products
are sold in 190 different countries around the world under some of the following brands: ABC Television Network, ESPN, Disney Channel, Touchstone Television, Buena Vista Television, Buena Vista Games, Hyperion, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax, Disney Theatrical, Disney Cruise Line, Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland.

Book Reviews

RUSE:  Undercover with FBI Counterintelligence, by Robert Eringer.  For nearly ten years beginning in 1993, Robert Eringer lived a clandestine life of intrigue, conducting a spectrum of covert operations for the FBI's foreign counterintelligence division. His primary assignment: to lure American traitor Edward Lee Howard to capture.

About to be arrested by the FBI for spying for Moscow, CIA officer Howard defected to the Soviet Union in 1985. But then he wanted to tell his story to the world. Utilizing cover as a book publishing consultant, the author gained Howard's trust as his editor and confidant. As Eringer's skillfully orchestrated ruse progressed, he pierced not only Howard's inner circle of KGB cronies - including the KGB's former chairman, making him an unwitting intelligence asset - but also Howard's Cuban intelligence contact network in Havana. Only at the eleventh hour did a highly politicized Justice Department order Howard's "extraordinary rendition" scrapped; he died mysteriously under ominous circumstances in Moscow in 2002. Nonetheless, the secrets Eringer gathered shed light on such sensitive espionage cases as the treachery of senior CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames and FBI traitor Robert Hanssen.

In addition to his counter-espionage docket, Eringer undertook assignments for the FBI's criminal division, including a ruse he devised to hasten the extradition from France of notorious convicted murderer Ira Einhorn. Ruse tells the unknown side of a significant piece of U.S. intelligence history, an unvarnished insider's view of the FBI between the end of the Cold War and the events of 9/11.  [Potomac/November2007]

Coming Events

EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS OF 2007....

21 November 2007 - Phoenix, AZ - The Arizona AFIO Chapter will hold its November meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn, located one block West of Central Avenue on Clarendon and one block South of Indian School Road in Phoenix at 11:30 AM. The Speaker will be John Zebatto who has 32 years experience in Intelligence and National Security, including high impact intelligence activities related to traditional and non-traditional challenges, recent work on terrorism, counter intelligence, weapons of mass destruction involving direct interaction with the senior levels of the U.S. government. Mr. Zebatto served in the Directorate of Intelligence from 1073-1986, and in the Directorate of Operations from 1986-2003 with the CIA. He will speak on a Counter Intelligence Officer's view of Intelligence and the case against Saddam Hussein. He gained his experience while he was temporarily assigned to the National Intelligence Council where he had the unusual task of assessing the impact of our sources and methods in using intelligence publicly in the Administration's "Case Against Saddam Hussein." For information or to register please call Bill Williams at (602) 944-2451 or fireballci@hotmail.com

26 November 2007; 5 pm - Las Vegas, NV - AFIO Las Vegas Chapter meets at Nellis Air Force Base Officers' Club. Join us at 5 p.m. in the "Check Six" bar area for Fellowship, beverages and snacks/dinner. Our featured speaker for the evening will be: Colonel Sully de Fontaine. Colonel de Fontaine has over forty years' of military and government service, which began in the European Theater of World War II when he served with the Special Operations Executive and the Special Air Service in England. After the liberation of France, he was attached to the Office of Strategic Services and Special Operations Executive in Brussels, Belgium. He has also served with United Nations, the 10th and 5th Special Forces, the Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, and Criminal Investigation Division. He has been awarded over twenty U.S. and Foreign decorations and awards. Colonel de Fontaine will speak about his personal experiences in WW II, parachuting into occupied France where he escorted downed aviators to safety in Spain. Additional biographical material will be made available at the meeting.
Due to the holidays, if you plan to bring a guest(s), please RSVP to 702-295-0073 with name(s) no later than Friday, November 16. Entrance to the Base for your guest(s) cannot be guaranteed. All guests must use the MAIN GATE located at the intersection on Craig Road and Las Vegas Blvd. Address: 5871 Fitzgerald Blvd., Nellis AFB, NV 89191 Phone: 702-644-2582.  Email Christine J. Eppley, Chapter Corresponding Secretary at EPPLEY@nv.doe.gov

Wednesday, 28 November 2007; 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - Robert Hanssen: Colleague, Friend, and Traitor. Former senior FBI official David Major at the International Spy Museum. “One might propose that I am either insanely brave or quite insane.” —Robert Hanssen, November 2000 With the recent release of Breach, Robert Hanssen is once again in the public eye and the topic of much discussion. Who was the real man who betrayed his country and may be the worst spy in U.S. history? David G. Major knows. Major worked with Hanssen for 14 years at the Bureau. He was the FBI executive supervisor in Hanssen’s chain-of-command for three years and considered him a fellow employee and friend for over two decades. Major, retired FBI supervisory special agent, founder of the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies, and International Spy Museum board of directors member, provides a glimpse into the real personality and psychology of one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history. He will explore why Hanssen’s betrayal was so difficult to uncover, his own theories on what motivated the spy, his perspective on Breach, and the status of U.S. counterintelligence in the wake of this profoundly important spy case. Tickets: $23 REGISTER: http://www.spymuseum.org/programs/register.html

28 - 30 November - Rome, Italy - International Conference, "The Battle for Hearts and Minds: Soft Power in the Struggle against Global Jihadism" at the Matteo Ricci conference center of the Pontifical Gregorian University (Piazza della Pilotta, 4 , Rome, Italy).  Conference speakers will include experts on the subject of terrorism, radical Islamism and strategic intelligence, from Europe, the United States, Russia, the Middle East and the Vatican.  There is no entrance fee.  For further information please contact Diego Cazzin or prof. Sergio Germani, academic director of the conference (l.germani@unilink.it) . To register please contact Mr. Francesco D'Arrigo (f.darrigo@ceasonline.eu).

Friday, 30 November 2007; 12 noon – 1 pm - Washington, DC - Chief of Station, Congo - Station Chief Larry Devlin at the International Spy Museum. As station chief in the Congo, Larry Devlin fought the Cold War in one of its hottest arenas. On 1 July 1960, the Congo declared independence from Belgium; and on 5 July, the army mutinied and governmental authority collapsed. When Devlin arrived five days later he found himself in the heart of Africa, fighting for the future of perhaps the most strategically influential country in the continent, its borders shared with eight other nations. In his memoir, Chief of Station, Congo, Devlin describes his life as a master spy in Africa, one whose assignment to assassinate political leader Patrice Lumumba (which he didn’t carry out) is back in the news with the June release by the CIA of the “family jewels.” Free! No registration required! Join the author for an informal chat and book signing.

Saturday, 1 December 2007, 11 am to 3 pm - Gainesville, FL - The North Florida AFIO Chapter holds its meeting in the Faculty Dining Room (Room BBB) of Bruton-Geer Hall at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. Maj Gen David E. Kratzer, USAR (ret.) has been invited. He was a very well-received speaker in March 2004, talking at length about "The Drive to Baghdad" in Operation Iraqi Freedom, during which he was the logistics commander with over 40,000 troops in a myriad of support roles reporting to him, but now 3 1/2 years later and retired he has a slightly different perspective on our progress and situation there, which is most insightful and thought provoking -- there should be some spirited discussion after this one. For further information write Vince Carnes at clancairns2003@yahoo.com

4 December 2007 - Columbia, MD - The fascinating tradecraft techniques of the infamous Walker-Whitworth Espionage Case, is the theme of the National Cryptologic Museum Foundation's Seventh Annual Pearl Harbor Commemorative Lecture. Do Not Miss This One.
The Walker-Whitworth perfidy is the subject of the National Cryptologic Museum Foundation's Seventh Annual Pearl Harbor Commemorative Lecture. Most Americans are familiar with the details of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and its impact on the nation, but few realize the perilous position the country was in for a period of twenty years where -- had the Soviet Union chosen to attack the us -- their knowledge of our codes would have resulted in the immediate destruction of one leg of the nuclear Triad - the US nuclear submarine force. Made possible because of the traitorous activities of four Americans - John Walker, his brother, Arthur, John's son, Michael, and John's friend, Jerry Whitworth - who stole and sold over one million classified documents to the KGB between 1968 and 1985.
The presentation at this NCMF lecture will feature tradecraft, operations, motivations, and the ultimate downfall of the Walker-Whitworth Spies as observed by FBI Special Agent Gerald B. Richards. Richards -- now retired -- had been assigned to the FBI laboratory where he specialized in document and photograph examinations and espionage tradecraft. During the Walker-Whitworth investigation he examined hundreds of items including documents, film, cameras, photographs and espionage "concealment" items.
Plan to attend on 04 December for what promises to be an informative and alarming presentation about this little known "potential 'Pearl Harbor'." The program will be held at the L3 Communications Maryland Conference Center in the National Business Park, 9891 Brokenland, Columbia, MD 21046, from 1030-1330 hours.
Send $15.00 by 29 November to by check to NCMF, POB 1682, Ft. Meade, MD 20755. Questions? Call 301-688-5436.

4 - 5 December 2007, 7:30 am - 5 pm - Washington, DC - Blackwater Worldwide hosts "Public/Private Partnership in Peacekeeping" Conference. This theme will look at those areas where the military and government can use private sector expertise to successfully accomplish security and reconstruction operations. To most effectively and efficiently accomplish stability and reconstruction missions requires using the most appropriate skill sets. Frequently those skill sets reside in the private sector. To best use the taxpayer’s resources may require leveraging the private sector. Event being held at Ronald Reagan Bldg & International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20004, Business Attire. Fees: Military or Government $295.00; Industry $395.00.
Registration or more info: http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Agenda.aspx?i=9ac7f55c-1cdd-4b29-8e59-d47f4e34bf45 or write to events@blackwaterusa.com

11 December, 2007 - Tampa, FL - Suncoast AFIO meeting. For more information contact Don White, DonWhite@tampabay.rr.com.

Friday, 4 January 2008, 5:30 - 9 pm - New York, NY - AFIO NY Metro Chapter hosts Prof. Arthur Hulnick, former CIA, on "Intelligence Reform: Fix, Fizzle or Flop?" Location: Club Quarters, 40 W 45 St. More information available from afiometro@yahoo.com

Friday, 25 January 2008 - McLean, VA - AFIO National Winter Luncheon - Details to follow

For Additional Events two+ months or greater....view our online Calendar of Events

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