AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #03-08 dated 21 January 2008

25 January 2008 - AFIO Winter Luncheon - Crowne Plaza Hotel, Tysons Corner
10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Frank Anderson, former Assistant Director, Directorate of Operations, CIA
Anderson will discuss aspects of his time as chief of CIA's Near East and South Asia Division, and prior service as director of technical services, and as chief of the Afghan task force and as Chief of Station in three Middle East posts.

and
John Robb, author of BRAVE NEW WAR: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization

PLEASE NOTE: The Crowne Plaza was once the Holiday Inn.
The address remains the same: 1960 Chain Bridge Road • McLean, Virginia 22102

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CONTENTS

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Section III - TERRORISM

Section IV - RESEARCH REQUESTS AND COMING EVENTS

Research Requests

Coming Events

Current Calendar Next Two Months ONLY:
  For Additional Events two+ months or more....view our online Calendar of Events  

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Court Allows Scientists to Work at NASA Until Trial Over Background Checks. A group of scientists working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory won a round in federal court in their challenge to a Bush administration requirement that they submit to extensive background checks or face losing their jobs.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in California, issued an opinion allowing the scientists to continue working until the question of their privacy challenge can be addressed at a full trial.

They had sued the administration over a new domestic security requirement that all contract workers at the laboratory, which is run jointly by NASA and the California Institute of Technology, undergo background checks and identification requirements. The 26 scientists and engineers filing the suit, whose jobs the government classifies as "low risk," argued that the background checks, which could include information on finances, psychiatric care and sexual practices, constituted an unacceptable invasion of their privacy.

The government, which is requiring the upgraded security review at every federal agency, argued that the contract employees be held to the same standard.

A lower court had denied the scientists' request for an injunction to block the background checks; in the opinion released Friday, the court of appeals reversed that decision and sent the case back to the lower court.

"This is truly a vindication for these scientists and engineers," said Dan Stormer, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. "They've been loyal and hard-working and committed to science and this country - and they've been threatened with the loss of their jobs simply because they stood up for their constitutional rights. Any way you address that, it's wrong."

The government, Mr. Stormer added, had taken a "talismanic use of the word 'terror' to overcome constitutional protections."

The court's language was strong, stating that the questions asked on the government's forms for the background checks were so "open-ended and highly private" that it was "difficult to see how they could be narrowly tailored to meet any legitimate need" and there were "absolutely no safeguards in place to limit the disclosures to information relevant to these interests." NASA, the court ruled, had proved no damage that would come to the agency if it could not carry out the background checks.

Michael Cabbage, a spokesman for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said, "NASA will, of course, comply with any rulings from the court of appeals." [Schwartz/NewYorkTimes/12January2008] 

Chile Court Sentences Pinochet Police Chief to 10-Year Prison Term. A Chilean appeals court in Santiago Friday sentenced General Manuel, the secret police chief under former dictator Augusto Pinochet, to 10 years in prison. Contreras, the former head of Pinochet's National Intelligence Directorate, was sentenced for the kidnapping of 7 neighborhood leaders from La Legua in December 1973. The two men who survived the kidnapping testified in the case. The court also sentenced former officers Jose Friz Esparza and Marcelo Moren Brito for their role in the kidnapping.

Pinochet died of a heart attack in December 2006 without ever facing trial on multiple charges of tax evasion and human rights violations. In November 2007, Chile's Supreme Court affirmed seven convictions and overturned one in cases involving murders committed by state agents during Pinochet's 1973-90 regime. The court based its decision on the Geneva Conventions, finding that Chile was in a state of internal armed conflict when the murders occurred. [Kline/Jurist/13January2008] 

Japanese Spy Worked for Russian Military Intelligence. Japan officials reported that a Russian military intelligence officer had recruited an employee of the Japanese government information service and received secret documents from him. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda stated that he was stunned by the scandal in his own office. The Russian Embassy in Tokyo stated that the affair is the work of enemies of Russia.

Although charges have been made against Russian embassy and trade office workers in Japan before, this case is truly unprecedented. The 52-year-old alleged recruit works for the Japanese cabinet's Information Research Office, an intelligence service that lacks its own agents but reportedly receives massive amounts of information from the American CIA as well as from spy satellites. That information is used to produce secret reports for the Japanese prime minister. The agency is located beneath the ground of the prime minister's residential complex.

The accused spy worked in the administrative department of the intelligence office. He had been acquainted for several years with the second secretary of the Russian embassy, who allegedly works for the Main Intelligence Department of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (Russian abbreviation GRU). They met in restaurants several times last year.

It was at these meetings that the transfer of secret information is said to have taken place. At the end of December the Tokyo Security Police conducted a search of the Information Research Office and confiscated the material that became of basis of the current accusation. The Japanese suspect has been questioned several times, but has not been arrested yet. Press reports claim that he has confessed to passing the secret information. Now investigators are trying to prove that he took money for the information. After that, the case will be transferred to the prosecutor. Sources say that may take place next week. The Russian embassy official has already left Japan. [Kommersant/20January2008]

Israel Says Satellite Launch Bolsters Ability to Spy on Tehran. Israel has launched a sophisticated new spy satellite, designated TECSAR, which could boost intelligence gathering capabilities regarding Iran. The satellite was sent into orbit from the Sriharikota Launching Range in India, using an Indian rocket. The TECSAR, manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), has the ability to use radar to identify targets even under adverse weather conditions including dense clouds. As such, it differs from Israel's Ofek series of reconnaissance satellites, which rely on cameras.

IAI officials said that the satellite, which weighs some 300 kilograms, was launched at 5:45 A.M. Israel time, and was successfully placed in orbit. IAI ground stations reported receiving signals at 7:10 A.M. showing that all measuring parameters were operating correctly. Scientists and engineers are now conducting a battery of tests to check the systems and gauge their performance. A first picture from the satellite is expected within two weeks. The TECSAR launch was postponed a number of times in the past, largely due to weather conditions.

Israel currently operates a number of reconnaissance satellites, including Ofek 5 and Ofek 7, as well as several commercial satellites such as the Amos and EROS series. A total of 11 Israeli satellites have been placed in orbit, a number of them still operational. [Melman/Haaretz/21January2008] 

Japan Considering Law to Counter Industrial Spies. To prevent industrial spying that jeopardizes corporate secrets, the Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry has decided to push for the enactment of a new law that will enable authorities to more easily establish a criminal case against a spy once he or she takes confidential information from a company.

The theft or leaking of Japanese companies' proprietary technical information to overseas firms and governments is a growing concern for industries. Under the Penal Code, however, it is impossible to prosecute an industrial spy only for stealing confidential information. The new law is aimed at clamping down on espionage offenses and protecting companies' competitive strengths. The law also will aim to prevent technology that can be used for military purposes from being taken outside the firm or firms that own it.

The ministry also plans to revise the Patent Law so that patents on technology or ideas that are important in terms of security issues do not need to be made public.

The ministry intends to submit bills for both the new law and the revised Patent Law to the ordinary Diet session next year.

Under the ministry's plan, the new law will be designed to clamp down on theft of information and will be designed so that someone can be prosecuted only for intentionally obtaining and/or leaking company information that is important for its business operations and is generally treated as confidential information within the company.

In March, a Chinese engineer employed by Denso Corp. in Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, was arrested on suspicion of embezzlement in connection with taking a company computer containing product data. It was known at the time that he had returned to China three times at around the same time he had downloaded a huge amount of product design data. But the police were not able to establish whether the data had been handed to another company and gave up trying to build a case. [YomiuriShimbun/15January2008] 

U.S. Spy Chief [sic] Names His Top Scientist. A former military scientist and senior NASA official is being tapped to be the first chief scientific researcher for all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.

Lisa Porter was named as the first director of the new Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, in a statement from the Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell. "This is an important milestone for the Intelligence Community," he said in the statement last week. "We are incredibly fortunate to have someone of Dr. Porter's stature take on this vital role."

Porter, of Scituate, Mass., is the associate administrator of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, and co-chairman of the National Science & Technology Council's subcommittee on aeronautics. She came to NASA from the Pentagon, where she was a senior scientist at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the entity on which the idea for IARPA was originally based.

According to the statement, IARPA "sponsors research aimed at game-changing breakthroughs and compliments the mission- specific science-and-technology research already being conducted by intelligence agencies." IARPA, which got off to a rocky start last year as a result of concerns that its exact mission and role was unclear, has been under two acting directors so far.

The current interim head, Tim Murphy, will continue at the agency as Porter's deputy. Murphy assumed the top spot in June 2007, when he replaced Steve Nixon after the latter was promoted to become director of science and technology for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Porter has a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate in applied physics from Stanford University. She has authored more than 25 publications in a broad range of technical disciplines including nuclear engineering, solar physics, plasma physics, computational materials modeling, explosives detection, and vibration control of flexible structures. She will leave NASA Feb. 1, the agency said. [UPI/14January2008] 

Foreign Intelligence Services Intensify Activity in the Czech Republic in Response to Planned US Radar Station. Czech news services are reporting that foreign intelligence services, including Russia, have intensified their activities in the Czech Republic in connection with the planned stationing of a US missile defense radar. The base is to be built in the Brdy military grounds, some 90km southwest of Prague.

Chamber of Deputies Defense committee head Jan Vidim said the Czech secret services were closely monitoring foreign services' activities. He again said that last year the number of Russian diplomats in the Czech Republic had enormously increased: "It does not correspond to the position of our country," he said. Czech media recently learned that the Russian intelligence service is supporting Czech opponents of the US radar station. [AxizGlobe/16January2008] 

Militants Turn on Pakistan Spy Agency Masters. Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency has lost control of some of the networks of militants it has nurtured since the 1980s, and is now suffering the consequences of that policy, two former senior intelligence officers say. Fostered to exert pressure on India and Afghanistan, the militants have turned on their former handlers, the officers said. Joining with other extremist groups, they have fought Pakistani security forces and helped militants carry out a record number of suicide attacks last year, including some aimed directly at army and intelligence units as well as prominent political figures, possibly even the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The growing strength of the militants, many of whom now express support for al-Qaeda's global jihad, presents a grave threat to Pakistan's security, as well as NATO efforts to push back the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The revelations about the ISI emerged last month in a New York Times interview with former senior ISI officers and officials from other Pakistani spy agencies. The interviews are likely to refocus attention on the ISI's role as Pakistan moves towards general elections on February 18. One of the former senior intelligence officers acknowledged that the organization led efforts to manipulate Pakistan's last national election in 2002, and had offered to drop corruption cases against candidates who would back President Pervez Musharraf.

The officers also acknowledged that after September 11, 2001, when Mr. Musharraf publicly allied Pakistan with the Bush Administration, the ISI could not rein in the militants it had nurtured for decades as a proxy force to contest Indian-controlled Kashmir and to gain a controlling influence in neighboring Afghanistan.

It also came to light that dozens of ISI officers who trained militants had come to sympathies with their cause and had had to be expelled from the agency. Three purges had taken place since the late 1980s and included the removal of three ISI directors suspected of being sympathetic to the militants. [NewYorkTimes/15January2008] 

FBI Wants Instant Access to British Identity Data. Senior British police officials are talking to the FBI about an international database to hunt for major criminals and terrorists. The US-initiated program, "Server in the Sky", would take cooperation between the police forces way beyond the current faxing of fingerprints across the Atlantic. Allies in the "war against terror" - the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand - have formed a working group, the International Information Consortium, to plan their strategy.

Biometric measurements, irises or palm prints as well as fingerprints and other personal information are likely to be exchanged across the network. One section will feature the world's most wanted suspects. The database could hold details of millions of criminals and suspects.

The FBI is keen for the police forces of American allies to sign up to improve international security. The Home Office yesterday confirmed it was aware of Server in the Sky, as did the Metropolitan police.

The plan will make groups anxious to safeguard personal privacy question how much access to UK databases is granted to foreign law enforcement agencies. There will also be concern over security, particularly after embarrassing data losses within the UK, and accuracy: in one case, an arrest for a terror offence by US investigators used what turned out to be misidentified fingerprint matches.

Britain's National Policing Improvement Agency has been the lead body for the FBI project because it is responsible for IDENT1, the UK database holding 7m sets of fingerprints and other biometric details used by police forces to search for matches from scenes of crimes. Many of the prints are either from a person with no criminal record, or have yet to be matched to a named individual.

IDENT1 was built by the computer technology arm of the US defense company Northrop Grumman. In the future it is expected to hold palm prints, facial images and video sequences. A company spokeswoman confirmed that Northrop Grumman had spoken to the FBI about Server in the Sky. "It can run independently but if existing systems are connected up to it then the intelligence agencies would have to approve," she said.

The FBI told the Guardian: "Server in the Sky is an FBI initiative designed to foster the advanced search and exchange of biometric information on a global scale. While it is currently in the concept and design stages, once complete it will provide a technical forum for member nations to submit biometric search requests to other nations. It will maintain a core holding of the world's 'worst of the worst' individuals. Any identifications of these people will be sent as a priority message to the requesting nation."

In London, the NPIA confirmed it was aware of Server in the Sky but said it was "too early to comment on what our active participation might be."

The FBI is proposing to establish three categories of suspects in the shared system: "internationally recognized terrorists and felons," those who are "major felons and suspected terrorists", and finally those who the subjects of terrorist investigations or criminals with international links. Tom Bush, assistant director at the FBI's criminal justice information service, has said he hopes to see a pilot project for the programme up and running by the middle of the year.

Although each participating country would manage and secure its own data, the sharing of personal data between countries is becoming an increasingly controversial area of police practice. There is political concern at Westminster about the public transparency of such cooperation.

A similar proposal has emerged from the EU for closer security cooperation between the security services and police forces of member states, including allowing countries to search each other's databases. Under what is known as the Prum treaty, there are plans to open up access to DNA profiles, fingerprints and vehicle registration numbers. [Guardian/15January2008] 

State Department to Ease Access to Passport Data. According to a press release from the State Department, law enforcement officials and private parties may soon be able to request personal passport details. Currently, only State Department staffers who have undergone "background security investigation" handle such requests. The change to the State Department's system of records notice, or SORN, affects records dating as far back to 1925 and addresses amendments introduced in 2007 to the Privacy and Security Act of 1974.

The State Department release, available in full via Cryptome.org, states that personal passport information (including birth certificates and any other documents used to obtain a U.S. passport) may soon be released for the following reasons:

* To support national defense, border security, and foreign policy activities;
* To ensure the proper functioning and integrity of law enforcement, counterterrorism, and fraud-prevention activities by supporting law enforcement personnel in the conduct of their duties;
* To support the investigatory process; and
* To assist with verification of passport validity to support employment eligibility and identity corroboration for public and private employment.

According to the release, records maintained by the State Department include information regarding individuals who:

* (a) Have applied for the issuance, amendment, extension, or renewal of U.S. passport books and passport cards;
* (b) Were issued U.S. passport books or cards, or had passports amended, extended, renewed, limited, revoked, or denied;
* (c) Have applied to have births overseas reported as births of U.S. citizens overseas;
* (d) Were issued a Consular Report of Birth Abroad of U.S. citizens or for whom Certification(s) of Birth have been issued;
* (e) Applied at American Diplomatic or Consular posts for registration and have so registered;
* (f) Were issued Cards of Registration and Identity as U.S. citizens;
* (g) Were issued Certificates of Loss of Nationality of the United States by the Department of State;
* (h) Applied at American Diplomatic or Consular Posts for issuance of Certificates of Witness to Marriage, and individuals who have been issued Certificates of Witness to Marriage;
* (i) Were deceased individuals for whom a Report of Death of an American Citizen Abroad has been obtained;
* (j) Although U.S. citizens, are not or may not be entitled under relevant passport laws and regulations to the issuance or possession of U.S. passport books, cards, or other documentation or service(s);
* (k) Have previous passport records that must be reviewed before further action can be taken on their passport application or request for other consular services;
* (l) Requested their own or another's passport records under FOIA or the Privacy Act, whether successfully or not; or
* (m) Have corresponded with Passport Services concerning various aspects of the issuance or denial of a specific applicant's U.S. passport books or cards.

The 2007 changes to the Privacy Act do allow for individuals to request and review documentation on themselves and minor children for the purposes of correcting any errors. However, "third parties may request passport and vital records information from 1925 to the present, within the guidelines of the Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act."

The new practice is not in effect. According to the release, new routine uses of State Department passport data require a 40-day review and comment period by the public, OMB and Congress. [News.Com/Vamosi/10January2008] 

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

CIA attempted to Recruit Young Olof Palme. Olof Palme cooperated with officials from the CIA and U.S. Embassy on several occasions early in his career as a student leader and political activist. A declassified U.S. government document shows that Palme passed information to the American Embassy on communist sympathizers in Sweden in 1950. According to Dagens Nyheter, the CIA was also actively recruiting the young activist as an agent for the U.S. intelligence service.

Palme went on to become one of the most influential figures in Swedish politics, serving twice as Prime Minister, and as leader of the Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his assassination in 1986.

"Olof Palme's cooperation with the Americans and the CIA was well known throughout the military intelligence service," said Ingemar Engman, a former employee in Sweden's secret military intelligence service IB (Informationbyr�n).

Palme's contacts with the U.S. occurred when he was active in student politics and working to build up a western-leaning international student organization as an alternative to the International Union of Students (IUS). The IUS was thought to be controlled by the Soviet Union.

In a meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm following his participation in a Prague conference organized by the IUS in 1950, a 23-year old Palme remembered three of names of fellow Swedes who also attended the conference were thought to be Communist activists at the time: Gunnar Claesson, Gunnar Svantesson and Hans G�ran Franck.

Prior to the 1950 meeting at the U.S. Embassy, Palme also had well established contacts with the CIA station chief in Stockholm who wanted to recruit Palme as an agent.

According to a 2003 interview with American political scientist Karen Paget, former CIA agent [sic] Tom Farmer explained that he and Palme had a good working relationship. However, upon discovering the CIA's Stockholm station chief's interest in recruiting Palme, Farmer thought it was a bad idea and that it would merely offend Palme.

Palme was also actively engaged in helping the Swedish military intelligence services during the same period, giving them information about his trips behind the iron curtain as a student leader in the early 1950s. He was also involved in building up the "Stay Behind" network, a top secret Swedish resistance movement trained to be activated in the case of Soviet occupation.

In December 1950, Palme organized a conference in Stockholm which led to the creation of the International Students Conference. The CIA, which was secretly funding the organization, wanted Palme to lead ISC. Palme was more interested in pursuing a career with the Swedish Foreign Ministry, although he was a member of the organization during the ISC's early years.

Palme's contacts were generally seen as positive, according to former Swedish intelligence official Engman. "It was an additional secret channel to the Americans. But Palme was no CIA agent. If anything, his own interests and convictions coincided with American intelligence strategies during those years," said Engman.

However, according to Palme's son M�rten Palme, his father was disappointed by the CIA's involvement in the ISC. "It's accurate to say that Olof was inspired early on by American ideals. Not the least when it came to his politics. But he told no one of his contacts with American agents in the 1950s, other than that the CIA had infiltrated the ISC and that this disappointed him," he said. [Landes/TheLocal/13January2008] 

A Look Back Reveals Forward Thinking. Insights still worth pondering today are contained in a 33-year-old top-secret Special National Intelligence Estimate called "Prospects for Further Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons." The 50-page assessment was released in declassified form by the CIA last week with some 40 others in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Aug. 23, 1974, document contained some fairly accurate findings and predictions. It reported that Israel "has produced nuclear weapons," and that India, which had conducted "peaceful" nuclear weapons tests, would probably "proceed to fabricate weapons covertly." It added: "An Indian decision to proceed with an overt weapons program on any scale will be one factor inclining some other countries to follow suit."

Enemies seeking nuclear weapons would become a motivation for "neighbors or potential antagonists" to join the race for nuclear weapons, the NIE predicted, adding: "The strongest impulses will probably be felt by Pakistan and Iran."

The estimate also accurately put Taiwan among the top prospects to seek a nuclear weapons "option" because its program was run largely by its military. The report estimated that Taiwan needed another five years before it would be "in a position to fabricate a nuclear device."

As a result, the United States applied pressure on Taiwan's government after 1974 to halt its program. But it was not until 1986, when a CIA-recruited agent inside the nuclear facility disclosed what was still going on, that the Taiwanese weapons effort was dropped.

A less accurate prediction was that South Africa, in 1974, was "of more concern in the proliferation context as a potential supplier of nuclear materials and technology than as a potential nuclear weapons power." The assessment added: "South Africa probably would go forward with a nuclear weapons program if it saw a serious threat from African neighbors beginning to emerge." Then the assessment went awry. "Such a serious threat is highly unlikely in the 1970s," it said.

The South African apartheid government already had felt growing international pressure against its position, and by 1974 then-Prime Minister John Vorster had authorized a weapons program. A nuclear test was prepared for 1977 but delayed when discovered by a Soviet satellite. The program slowed, and it was not until the 1980s, when Cuban troops were in Africa, that then-Foreign Minister Pik Botha disclosed publicly that his government had the ability to build nuclear weapons.

Another 1974 prediction - that Argentina was "vigorously" pursuing a small nuclear program that "probably will provide the basis for a nuclear weapons capability in the early 1980s" - has turned out to be half true.

Buenos Aires announced in late 1983 that for more than five years it had secretly been developing a gas-diffusion enrichment facility capable of producing slightly enriched uranium. But another part of the 1974 estimate seems to have been borne out - that strong international pressure to stop nuclear weapons elsewhere, such as in Brazil, would lead Argentina away from having weapons of its own.

One analysis that contained disagreements among intelligence agencies is worth noting, in light of today's situation in Asia. The CIA, the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Army's intelligence arm all believed that Japan "would not embark on a program of nuclear weapons development in the absence of a major adverse shift in great power relationships which presented Japan with a clear cut threat to its security."

On the other hand, the heads of Air Force and Navy intelligence, both of which had bases in Japan, said there was "a strong chance that Japan's leaders will conclude that they must have nuclear weapons if they are to achieve their national objectives in the developing Asian power balance." They thought such a decision could be made by Tokyo "in the early 1980s."

Japanese leaders didn't make that move at the time, but those concerns of three decades ago have been raised more recently as North Korea has moved toward developing nuclear weapons.

Another noteworthy conclusion from the 1974 document: "Terrorists might attempt theft of either weapons or fissionable materials" that would be "useful for terror or blackmail purposes even if they had no intention of going on to fabricate weapons." [Pincus/WashingtonPost/14January2008] 

Last Interview by Former CIA Officer Philip Agee, Aired by Radio Havana Cuba. Following are excerpts from the last interview Philip Agee granted to Radia Havana Cuba's Bernie Dwyer, before he died on 7 January in Havana. 

Introduction by the Cuban News Agency: Philip was born in Florida USA into a well-off family and was raised as a typical privileged young man of his time. He first visited Cuba in 1957 as the Cuban revolution was struggling against the Batista dictatorship. But at that time, he was only 22 years old and was more interested in Havana's glamorous nightlife.

AGEE: I had already rejected a CIA recruitment attempt when I was finishing my undergraduate studies at the university. As a result of my first visit to Cuba, I decided to write back to the CIA and see if they would reconsider me because I was enthralled with the culture here in Havana and Cuba generally. I liked the music, the dancing, the food and I thought to myself wouldn't it be interesting to spend a career in places like Havana and working in United States security. There was no struggle against the Cuban Revolution then by the CIA. It was done mostly by the military and their assistance to the Batista dictatorship.

RHC: The CIA in those days was really involved in preventing a surprise attack again as in Pearl Harbor, which is why the agency was established by US President Truman in 1947. It's only ten years old when Philip Agee goes in.

AGEE: So I went into the CIA in the summer of 1957, very enthusiastic and went through the long training program which included three years in the military and one year at a special CIA training course. I came out of that training course in the summer of 1960 and by that time the Cuban Revolution had triumphed, which happened in Jan 1959,

AGEE: And so the CIA from early 1959 on was designated the action agency in the United States government to try to undermine and destroy the Cuban revolution. And this is what was happening when I left the training program and was assigned to the Western Hemisphere division, the Latin American division of the operations section of the CIA and you have to understand that the CIA is a triple-headed monster. It's got intelligence collection and analysis, which is one thing but it then has undercover secret interventions in other countries which is another and then of course, there is the administrative side. I was sent into the secret operations division for Latin America because I had studied Spanish in high school and college and then I had taken an interest in Latin America from that time on.

AGEE: I had not been working in the Division there more than a month before my boss asked me if I would like to go to Quito, Ecuador. They needed somebody there very fast. I grabbed the job as fast as I could as I was anxious to go and get involved in Latin America. So before the end of 1960 I was down in Quito in Ecuador in the US embassy as a political officer.

RHC: Agee spent three years working as a political attach� at the US embassy in Quito undercover as a CIA agent [sic]. Their goal at that time was to cut off the Cuban Revolution from the rest of Latin America.

AGEE: My part was the political side of trying to get the Latin American countries to break diplomatic and commercial relations with Cuba and this was the program to isolate the revolution and thereby reduce or eliminate its influence in these other countries because the Cuban revolution was a huge influence from the time the Revolution took power in January 1959 on and the whole left in Latin America was inspired with what was happening in Cuba with the agrarian reform, the urban reform, with all the changes in the social system and so we had to fight against this in the CIA and we were successful. When I was in Ecuador we managed to bring about a break in relations with Cuba. After those three years in Ecuador I went down to Uruguay to Montevideo, again in the United States Embassy as a political officer. There I was also in charge of operations against Cuba as I had been in Ecuador and within six months of my arrival there we had managed to induce the Uruguayan government to break diplomatic and commercial ties with Cuba. And so in that year in 1964, the CIA and other US government agencies had managed to achieve the almost complete isolation of Cuba in Latin America because all the countries save Mexico had broken relations with Cuba. It happened that in those 1960s, around about 1964, the Mexican president, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz was his name, he had an intimate working relationship with the CIA chief of station in Mexico City in the embassy, whose name was Winston Scott. Between the two of them and with President Johnson they worked out an agreement that Mexico, it was the only exception, would not break with Cuba but they would keep their embassy open in Havana as an observation post, a listening post and they would provide for CIA people to come to the Mexican embassy to work as if they were Mexican diplomats. And this is what happened for some years.

AGEE: So that early period when we were trying to isolate Cuba was successful but then little by little as the Cubans survived and carried out their programs, their influence with the left in Latin America never changed and today we are seeing a wave of change in Latin America that was inconceivable just ten years ago or even less.

AGEE: The main purpose of the CIA is to serve US interests abroad and those interests in their broadest sense are unfettered access to the raw materials and to the labor and the markets of other countries. This is necessary for stability within the United States and all these foreign programs have their origin in the problem of stability within the United States, the problem of racism, the division of wealth and so forth and income. So from the very beginning of the Republic it's been inherently unstable and the foreign policy then flows from the need to for the elites in the United States, the political class, to maintain their power. And that is what is happening not only in Cuba but also in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and with the left in various countries as in Brazil and so there is this wave of change sweeping through Latin America and without a doubt the CIA has a very big job on its hands to try to put a brake on this and to try to undermine these political activities and movements in other countries. [CubaNews/15January2008] 

Two New CI Centre Podcasts - Charlie Wilson's War, Philip Agee

CI Centre President David Major (ret FBI) and CI Centre Professor Oleg Kalugin (ret KGB) recently completed two new podcasts. In the first, they reviewed the new movie "Charlie Wilson's War". In the second, they discussed the Philip Agee case. As chief of KGB foreign counterintelligence, Kalugin was well aware of the work Agee did for the Cubans and Soviets.
http://cicentre.com/podcasts.html

-------------------
New CI Centre Course - The Centre offers a new three-day course on terrorist informant development for law enforcement officers. It's called "Informant Development to Fight the War on Terrorism: Jihadist Islamic Doctrine for Law Enforcement Officers".

The development of a “terrorist” informant is different in many ways from the development of general “criminal” informants. It is essential that law enforcement officers are provided the tools and tactics to target and recruit informants in this new evolving war with Jihadist terrorism. Accordingly it is essential that the officer have a working knowledge of this belief base threat to understand and discuss the Jihadist justification for their actions based on the Jihadist interpretation of Islamic Doctrine.
http://cicentre.com/counterintelligenceacademy/course/362.htm


Section III - TERRORISM

Al-Qaeda's White Army of Terror. Hundreds of British non-Muslims have been recruited by al-Qaeda to wage war against the West, according to senior British security sources. As many as 1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam for the purpose of funding, planning and carrying out surprise terror attacks inside the UK, according to one MI5 source. Lord Carlile, the Government's independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, said many of the converts had been targeted by radical Muslims while serving prison terms. Security experts say the growing secret army of white terrorists poses a particularly serious threat as they are far less likely to be detected than members of the Asian community.

Since the 7/7 and 21/7 London bombings, police and intelligence services have had considerable success in identifying, disrupting and stopping extremist plots. As a result, groups such as al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen have been forced to change tack. Converting white non-Muslims has been one response.

The trend is well established in the United States. American-born Adam Gadahn is one of the FBI's top 10 most-wanted terrorists after converting to Islam and rising through al-Qaeda's ranks to become a prominent spokesman.

Carlile said he was not aware of specific numbers, but confirmed to Scotland on Sunday that Whitehall was aware of the new threat and was actively tackling it. He said: "These people are an issue and are potentially very dangerous. There have been cases of non-Muslims converting before, and of these, Richard Reid, the so-called Shoebomber, is the most obvious example. "They are more difficult to detect and the security services are right to place some focus on this issue."

Carlile said the majority of converts were targeted when they were in prison: "These (converts) are outside the standard type of profile which most police forces would have of a terrorist, which is male, young, and of Middle Eastern or Asian appearance. That is why they are so potentially dangerous." Carlile added: "The Home Office has a lot of money, millions of pounds, which is being put forward for communities and fighting radicalisation. There is no question how tackling this issue is best achieved: it is achieved at a community level." 

Security experts say radical Muslims in prison have become adept at identifying potential new recruits to their cause. Those in custody for the first time, the young and the lonely are particularly susceptible. Initially, the approach is made to comfort, console and support, with very little reference, if any, to religion. However, after several 'chats', the conversation will be turned towards the subject and, gradually, over a period of weeks or months, it is possible to complete the conversion.

Robert Leiken, director of the Immigration and National Security Program and a specialist on European Muslims based at the Nixon Centre in Washington DC, said: "To me, the figure of 1,500 seems reasonable as many, perhaps less than a third, will actually go on to become radicals. "New religious recruits always tend to be more zealous than those who have grown up with that specific religion."

Edwin Bakker, a Dutch-based security specialist, has studied at length the issue of radical conversions. He said: "The question is relevant and timely. Newcomers to Islam are extra-sensitive to perceived discrimination of Muslims and Islam-bashing. "They feel they have to defend Islam - one of the essential concepts of Jihad - and they feel they have to prove themselves as newcomers."

But one of Scotland's leading Muslims disputed the claims of radicalisation, saying Islam's strict moral code made it unattractive to many westerners. Bashir Maan added: "I do not know of any Islamist terror group in Scotland and, considering as a Muslim a person must pray five times daily, abstain from drinking and sex outside marriage, adhere to strict dietary and many other rules, it is impossible to convert to Islam a young person brought up in this very liberal society. "I agree that the security services must be vigilant and keep their eye on everybody, but I think in this case they seem to be over-reacting." [Elias/Scotsman/13January2008] 

Support for Joint Staff Counterterrorism Analyst. Some Pentagon and military leaders, along with lots of working-level officials, are quietly rallying to support ousted Joint Staff counterterrorism analyst Stephen Coughlin. Pentagon officials said a number of generals and admirals who share Mr. Coughlin's well-reasoned assessment of the Islamic law underpinnings of Islamist terror are voicing support for the lawyer and former military intelligence official.

Mr. Coughlin was fired as a Joint Staff contractor after his confrontation with Hasham Islam, a special assistant to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England. Mr. Islam, a Muslim, referred to Mr. Coughlin as a "Christian zealot with a pen" during the meeting several weeks ago, a slur rejected by Mr. Coughlin's supporters.

Critics of Mr. Coughlin are spreading word - falsely - that he is being let go because he talked out of school to the press. One official suggested the action was due to budget cuts.

But defense and military officials supportive of Mr. Coughlin said the real reason is that critics, like Mr. Islam, want him sidelined because they oppose his hard-to-refute views on the relationship between Islamic law and Islamist jihad doctrine. Those views have triggered a harsh debate challenging the widespread and politically correct view of Islam as a religion of peace hijacked by extremists.

Another booster is Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Corps, who said in November that Mr. Coughlin's briefing for Marines bound for Iraq "hit the mark in explaining how jihadists use the Koran to justify their actions."

"Your presentation has armed service men and women with more intellectual ammunition to take the fight to the enemy," Gen. Helland said in a letter.

A U.S. Central Command analyst, Neal Harper, stated in an e-mail to friends, that if Mr. Coughlin is allowed to become a casualty in the war of ideas "then I'm deeply concerned about the future course of the war on terrorism."

"Ignoring Steve Coughlin's honest assessments and terminating his contract sets a dangerous and disturbing precedent," Mr. Harper stated. "We struggled for many years to get our heads around radical Islam, and Steve has been a leader in the effort."

Mr. Harper said Mr. Coughlin should be promoted, but instead "Hasham Islam is allowed to insult him publicly."

"How is it that he is allowed to call anyone a Christian zealot?" he asked. "This alone exposes his bias, his poor perception of Christians, and a complete lack of professionalism, at best. Should we instead be asking who is this guy and how did he get inside? Is he representative of those who are leading this Muslim outreach? Does Muslim outreach mean that we are not allowed to question or confront those we are trying to communicate with and the doctrine upon which they stand? When speaking the truth gets one fired, we all should be concerned and at the very least need to ask why."

Army Lt. Col. Joseph C. Myers, commandant's Army adviser at the Air Force Air Command and Staff College in Alabama, said in a letter posted on the Internet that the Joint Staff is losing its only Islamic law scholar if the firing stands. Col. Myers said the military is fighting a war that "from doctrinal perspective, we fundamentally do not understand." Mr. Myers also stated that U.S. counterintelligence failures should lead people to "wonder and question the extent we are in fact penetrated in government and academia by foreign agents of influence, the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamists and those who truly in essence do not share our social compact."  [Gertz/WashingtonTimes/11January2008] 

Section IV -  RESEARCH REQUESTS AND COMING EVENTS

Research Requests

W. Tynan Brown writes: For service in Europe during World War II, did the ETO Ultra network ever receive a Presidential unit citation? If not why? If yes may I get a copy? 

My phone number is (860) 657-2281, mailing address is 132 South Mill Drive, South Glastonbury, Connecticut 06073. Email is wtynan.brown@worldnet.att.net.  Thank you for your assistance with this research inquiry.

*   *   *  *  *  

From Don Bohning seeking to correct misinformation:  I am looking for some information regarding Porter Goss and so far have been unable to find anyone who can give me the answer.
I am writing a piece focusing on a European-based website that is basically a site for Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorists and which has all sorts of inaccurate information on it of which I am personally aware.

Among the things it suggests is that Porter Goss might have been involved in the Kennedy assassination and has an alleged picture of him with some other folks supposedly taken in Mexico in 1962 or thereabouts. When Goss was named as CIA director, the Associated Press ran a story saying that he had served, among other places, in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Mexico. 

I interviewed Goss once when he was still in the House of Representatives, sometime before he became CIA director. The interview, as I recall [and I can't find my notes] was virtually all about Haiti, because he was part of an electoral monitoring group from the International Republican Institute, but to make conversation at the beginning I said I understood he had worked in Latin America for the CIA.

Again, I can't find my notes and it was not part of the interview I taped, but I am certain he told me that, no, he had not worked in Latin America for the CIA except briefly when he was assigned to the Miami Station at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which would have been shortly after he joined the Agency sometime in 1962. As I recall from memory, he said he spent most of his 10 years in the CIA in London running agents in Europe.

Bottom line is: Does anybody out there know if Goss ever served in Latin America, except for that brief period in late 1962 when he was in Miami?

Sorry to bother you with his, but I have about exhausted my sources and none seem to know for sure. Anyone with information can contact me directly at the email address below.

Donbohning@aol.com [author of The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations Against Cuba 1959-1965. [Potomac Booksm 2005]. 

Thanks much/Don Bohning 

Coming Events

EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

Tuesday, 22 January 2008, 6:30 pm – Washington, DC - LA Times reporter Bob Drogin, and Tyler Drumheller, former chief of CIA covert operations in Europe present Curveball: Inside the WMD Debacle at the Spy Museum. In 1999, a mysterious Iraqi applied for political asylum in Germany. The young engineer offered compelling details about Saddam Hussein’s secret effort to build weapons of mass destruction. The Germans shared this information with U.S. intelligence but denied the Americans access to their informant—who the Americans codenamed “Curveball.” The case lay dormant until after 9/11, when the Bush administration embraced Curveball’s unconfirmed account. Although relied upon by President Bush and Colin Powell, Curveball was a fraud whose intelligence was discredited before the war. Join Los Angeles Times reporter Bob Drogin, author of Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War, and Tyler Drumheller, former chief of CIA covert operations in Europe and author of On the Brink: An Insider’s Account of How the White House Compromised American Intelligence, as they reveal the inner workings of this intelligence failure from flawed analysis to political maneuvering. Tickets: $20 per person. Visit www.spymuseum.org

Tuesday, 22 January 2008, 7:30 AM – 10:00 AM - Toronto, ON, Canada - Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals presents: Using Competitive Intelligence to Predict Your Competitors Pricing Actions. Pricing is the single highest point of leverage for the business. For example, if the average company improved pricing by just 1% profitability would increase by 12.5%.
It is also one of the most difficult areas to obtain CI. Both ethical and legal issues are prevalent in the area of competitive pricing. Yet it is vital that CI professionals participate in this important area of the business. Without excellent CI companies price from a weakened perspective and tend to fall prey to their worst fears about the competition. This corrosive situation leads to price wars and can dramatically alter the viability of a company and the industry in which it participates.
This session is intended to give CI professionals insight into how they can add significant value to their organization in the pricing arena by reducing fear and replacing it with understanding. The session will address the following areas:
Valuable tools and data gathering processes for reducing fear
How to discern your competitors pricing strategy
Influencing how the competition perceives your pricing strategy
How to determine whether a competitor is a price leader versus follower
Understanding the dynamics of price wars
Connecting capacity utilization and competitive pricing actions
About the Speaker - Paul Hunt, a consultants in the field of pricing strategy, who has advised organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.
Location - Toronto Board of Trade, Downtown Centre, 1 First Canadian Place, Toronto, Ontario (416.366.6811)
Registration Fees - SCIP Member $35 USD; Non-Member $45 USD
Contact Information David Gibson, Toronto Group Coordinator, email: david.gibson@sympatico.com, 416.932.9923.
Dionedra Dorsey, SCIP Staff Chapter Coordinator, email: ddorsey@scip.org, 703.739.0696 ext.111.

23 January 2008- Phoenix, AZ - The Arizona AFIO Chapter luncheon features Dr. Richard Post, former CIA. The chapter will meet at the Hilton Garden Inn at 11:30 AM. The speaker will be Richard W. Post. PhD. Dr. Post joined the CIA after his graduation from the University of Michigan. After a number of years he returned to the University of Wisconsin where he headed the Criminal Justice Program. He then became Director of Security and Political Risk first at B.F. Goodrich and later at American Can. Rich, then took a consulting position with Kroll Associates in Hong Kong to start up and manage a Joint Venture with Jardine Matheson & Co, to provide security and investigative services in Asia, and later on formed Post and Associates which he then sold to the International Accounting Firm of Ernst and Young. At the time of the sale his firm was called Brand Protection Associates. Although his consulting practice is based in Phoenix he still maintains offices in China. Over the years he has worked on hundreds of sensitive investigations, crisis management situations and trade secrete thefts around the world. Rich and his wife, Penny, who is also his life long business partner have recently authored a book titled, "Global Brand Integrity Management." Rich has a BS, MS, and PhD. He is a Certified Protection Professional CPP. For information and reservations contact Bill Williams at (602) 944-2451 or fireballci@hotmail.com.

Thursday, 24 January 2008, 12 noon – 1 pm – Washington, DC – Free author lunchtime debriefing and book signing – Ronald Kessler – author of The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack at the Spy Museum. Over 5,000 terrorists have been rolled up worldwide since 9/11, yet the race to stop them is more desperate than ever. For The Terrorist Watch, best-selling author Ronald Kessler interviewed FBI and CIA counterterrorism operatives to capture the story of terrorists’ relentless efforts to attack the United States and the efforts being made to stop these plots. Kessler’s interviews with FBI Director Robert Mueller, CIA Director Michael Hayden, White House counterterrorism chief Fran Townsend, and dozens of key intelligence operatives takes readers inside the war rooms of the battle against terrorism. Learn what Kessler discovered about how the U.S. helped thwart the 2006 London terrorist plot, how press leaks have jeopardized our safety, what he has determined that Saddam Hussein admitted in seven months of secret FBI debriefings, and how he thinks the Intelligence Community has changed since 9/11. Free – no registration required.

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

25 January 2008 - AFIO Winter Luncheon - Crowne Plaza Hotel, Tysons Corner
10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Frank Anderson, former ADDO, Directorate of Operations, CIA
Anderson was chief of CIA's Near East and South Asia Division, having served previously as director of technical services, as chief of the Afghan task force and as chief of station in three Middle East posts. [confirmed]

on "What You Need To Know About U.S. Operations in the Middle East"
and
John Robb, author of BRAVE NEW WAR: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization [invited]

PLEASE NOTE: The Crowne Plaza was once the Holiday Inn.
The address remains the same: 1960 Chain Bridge Road • McLean, Virginia 22102

Space limited. REGISTER SECURELY ONLINE Here

30 January 2008 - Colorado Springs, CO - 10am-4pm -TECHEXPO Top Secret Hiring Event - www.TechExpoUSA.com - Active Security Clearance Required.

Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 6:30 pm – Washington, DC – “Spies on Screen” - The Lives of Others – Burton Gerber, retired CIA case officer, at the Spy Museum. Today there are 5,000 surveillance cameras in New York City – 200 in Times Square alone, and the UK has a larger network that successfully helped it round up the terrorists seeking to blow up transit system. So, while It may feel Big Brother is watching, these surveillance efforts are quite different from the tactics used by the German Democratic Republic before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Oscar-winning film, The Lives of Others, captures the effect that a culture of permanent suspicion and total surveillance had on the average citizen, and it also poses the intriguing question of what happens when a surveillant begins to sympathize with his target. Based on his own experiences as a CIA station chief in three Communist countries, retired CIA case officer Burton Gerber will place the film in context and discuss its accuracy and the ethical implications of espionage and counter-espionage. Co-sponsored by the Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC. Tickets: $20 per person. Visit http://www.spymuseum.org for tickets.

2 February 2008 - Indian River, FL - Florida Satellite Chapter Luncheon.  The next luncheon for the Florida Satellite Chapter, AFIO will be on 2 February 2008 (Saturday), at the Indian River Country Colony Club (IRCC). There will be a cash bar beginning at 11:30 a.m. and a 12:30 p.m. lunch. The luncheon speaker will be COL Harry Pawlak, USAF Retired. COL Pawlak (a Chapter member) will speak about his involvement in a Recon Mission in Asia. He was forced to land in a hostile area without radio communications and walked almost three weeks before being picked up. The luncheon cost is $17.00. There will be a beef entr�e or fish entr�e option. Contact George Stephenson (Vice President) at gstephenson@cfl.rr.com for reservation information. Please put AFIO in the subject block to insure the e-mail will be opened. Col Pawlak is currently President of Matrix Management LTD.

5 - 6 February 2008 - San Diego, CA - 9am-4pm - WEST 2008 - www.TechExpoUSA.com

Tuesday, 5 February 2008, 6:30 pm – Washington, DC – “Mata Hari and Houdini: Entertaining Spies”– authors Pat Shipman and William Kalush at the Spy Museum. Were they or weren’t they? Mata Hari’s reputation as a seductive beauty who used her wiles to gather intelligence is well-known. But history reveals a different story. Meanwhile, Harry Houdini, the “World’s Greatest Escape Artist,” is known for his magical feats and his pursuit of fake spiritualists. But was he also a covert operative? In this demystifying evening, Pat Shipman, author of Femme Fatale: Love, Lies and the Unknown Life of Mata Hari, and William Kalush, co-author of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero, lift the veil of time from these two legends. Was the infamous dancer executed for espionage or for shameless behavior? Did Houdini use his theatrical tours as a cover for collecting intelligence for the U.S. or perhaps the British? Tickets: $20. Visit http://www.spymuseum.org for tickets.

Wednesday, 6 February 2008, 6 pm - Las Vegas, NV - The AFIO LV Chapter to discuss "Implications of Intelligence Scotomas in Latin America" with John Alexander, Ph.D. The Chapter holds their evening event at Nellis Air Force Base Officers' Club (Submit guest names by January 31st). Join them at 5 pm in the "Check Six" bar area for Fellowship, beverages and snacks/dinner. Their featured speaker for the evening will be: JOHN B. ALEXANDER, PH.D., discussing "Implications of Intelligence Scotomas in Latin America." His presentation addresses the major conflicts that are emerging throughout Central and South America, yet go nearly unnoticed by U.S. policy makers and the public. It can be argued that one or more wars are being ignored, and at our peril. There are also established terrorists networks that run from the Middle East through Latin America and into the U.S. In fact, our drug policies have destabilized countries, regions, and possible the hemisphere. RSVP no later than Thursday, January 31st for entrance to the Base.
Send email to Eppley, Christine J. at eppley@nv.doe.gov or call her at 702-295-0073. They look forward to seeing you!

8 February 2008 – San Francisco, CA – The AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts William Overholt, Director of Asia Policy Division, RAND Corporation. Dr. William Overholt has a long history of analyzing Asia in both the public and private sectors. Most recently, he conducted research on financial reform in Asia as a joint senior fellow with the Center for Business and Government and the Asia Center at Harvard University. He is the author of five books including The Rise of China, winner of the Mainichi News/Asian Affairs Research Center Special Book Prize. He has spent 21 years managing research units for investment banks, mostly based in Hong Kong: he was a managing director and head of Asia Research for Bankers Trust and spent three years as chief of Asia strategist and economist for the largest Japanese investment bank, Nomura. Prior to that, he spent eight years at Hudson Institute managing studies for the NSC, DoD, Department of State, ACDA, NASA, and various corporations. Dr. Overholt will speak on economic developments and intelligence in China. Mr. Overholt’s presentation will cover such topics as Asian geopolitics transformed, China and India: which will be more important and what everyone needs to know about China.
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. E-mail RSVP to Mariko Kawaguchi (please indicate meat or fish) no later than 5PM 1/30/08: mariko@cataphora.com or mail check made out to "AFIO" to Peter Bresler, 1255 Post Street, Suite 427, San Francisco, CA 94109. Call Roger Dong (650) 339-0010 for any questions.

Sunday, 10 February 2008 1030 – 1330 - Beachwood, OH - AFIO Northern Ohio Chapter hosts Timothy R. Walton, author, CIA and Navy Veteran on "24 Years with the CIA." Timothy R. Walton has a B.A. in philosophy from the College of William and Mary, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia. While in graduate school he had a Fulbright scholarship to do research at the French Foreign Ministry in Paris, France.
From 1970 to 1976, he served in the U.S.Navy on ships and bases in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean.
For 24 years, he was an analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, during which he worked with personnel from law enforcement, the military, and foreign liaison services.
He has had a variety of experience teaching analysis, including:• Classes at the CIA's Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis.• Mercyhurst College's program in the Washington D.C. area.• The Director of National Intelligence's "Analysis 101," which is offered to new analysts in all of the components of the US Intelligence Community.• A graduate-level class in competitive intelligence for the Johns Hopkins University business school.
He is also the author of The Spanish Treasure Fleets, the story of the centuries-long maritime struggle to control the flow of precious metals from Spain's colonies in Latin America.
Location: Hilton Cleveland East /Beachwood (Location not yet confirmed), 3663 Park East Drive, Beachwood, Ohio 44122, Tel: 1-216-464-5950 Fax: 1-216-464-6539
Cost: $24.00 per person
RSVP: Veronica Flint, (440) 338-4720 or at vbf@windstream.net

16 February 08 - Kennebunk, ME - The Maine Chapter of AFIO will hear Brian Featheringham from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of the Department of Homeland Security.  Featheringham is responsible for the six southern counties of the State of Maine. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at the Kennebunk Free Library, corner of Rt. 1 and Rt. 35 in Kennebunk at 2:00 p.m.  For information call 207-364-8964 or 207-985-2392

Thursday, 21 February 2008, 12 noon – 1 pm – Washington, DC – author debriefing and book signing – Pete Earley author of Comrade J, at the Spy Museum. From 1997 to 2000, a man known as Comrade J was working in the U.S. as the highest-ranking operative in the SVR – a successor agency to the KGB. He directed all Russian spy action in New York City, and personally oversaw every covert operation against the U.S. and its allies in the UN. Comrade J recruited spies, planted agents, manipulated intelligence, and influenced American policy – all under the direct leadership of Boris Yeltsin followed by that of Vladimir Putin. He was a legend in the SVR: known as the man who kept the secrets. Then in 2000 he defected and turned the tables on Mother Russia – for two years he had acted as a double agent for the FBI. In Comrade J, Earley gives an account of this extraordinary spy. Free, no registration required.

22-23 February 2008 - Baltimore, MD - 3rd International Conference on "Ethics in the Intelligence Community", Sponsored by: International Intelligence Ethics Association and Johns Hopkins University School of Education, Division of Public Safety Leadership. Intelligence ethics is an emerging field without established principles for resolving the ethical problems confronting the intelligence community. Intelligence work has no theory analogous to "just war" theory in military ethics. Consequently, a focus of this conference is to provide a forum in which the application of ethical theories to intelligence problems can be discussed and a theory of “just intelligence” developed. This conference is co-sponsored by The International Intelligence Ethics Association and Johns Hopkins University, School of Education, Division of Public Leadership.
The conference will be held at The Johns Hopkins University-Mt. Washington Conference Center, in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference is open to all relevant disciplines, including political science, history, law enforcement, philosophy, international relations, theology, and to representatives of all legitimate stake-holders in intelligence ethics, including government, the press, and non-governmental organizations.
The 2-day conference begins on Friday morning, February 22nd and ends on Saturday afternoon, February 23, 2008. Attendees will be provided all meals during this time. The conference will consist of academic papers and panels, in a traditional lecture format with audience discussion. Privacy Policy: All presentations and discussions are on a “not for attribution” basis. No recording devices (cameras, audio recorders, etc.) that can capture images and sound are permitted.
A sample of the topics at the conference include:
• Torture & Ticking Time-Bombs: Empirical Research Regarding Moral Judgments
• Can Just War Theory Contribute to a Normative Framework for Intelligence Ethics? National Security vs. Social Security
• The Utility And Practicality Of A Code Of Ethics Specifically Addressing The Officer-Agent Relationship (i.e., HUMINT) And Could Such A Code Be Meaningful Or Useful In Real Operational Settings?
• A Professional Ethics Review Board for the Intelligence Community: Is it possible?
• Accountability vs. Politicalization: An Ethical Difference - With Case Studies
• Developing a Moral Framework for Making Complex Ethical Judgments For the Intelligence Professional
• Individual Rights vs. Collective Rights: A Moral Dilemma In Intelligence During National Emergency Situations?
Conference Location: Mt. Washington Conference Center, 5801 Smith Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21209; Information/Directions: http://www.mtwashconfctr.com/home.html
Registration till December 31, 2007 - Registration fee covers 3 meals on Friday and 2 meals on Saturday
$ 370 Conference Registration. Late Registration after January 1, 2008 Registration fee covers 3 meals on Friday and 2 meals on Saturday $ 395 Conference Registration
A limited number of suites are available at the conference center Suites, $150.00 a day [check in is Thursday, Tax and gratuities included] Mail To: International Intelligence Ethics Association (IIEA), P.O. Box 23053, Washington, D.C. 20026. Further information available from: conference2008@intelligence-ethics.org

Saturday 23 February 2008, 11:30 am - Seattle, WA - The AFIO Pacific Northwest Chapter hosts a meeting at the Museum of Flight. The cost for the meeting will be $15 which will cover tea, juice and coffee.
The meeting will be offered in three parts:
Part 1: Welcome and Socializing – Starting at 11:30pm
Part 2: Starting at 12:30pm
Our AFIO guest speaker is retired USAF Major Loody Christofero.
Major Christofero has a fascinating history having flown in WW2 in the China, Burma, India theatre of operations. He has a wealth of exciting stories having flown 73 missions in a C46 Commando across “The Hump” the Himalayan mountains. It was the only way to get supplies into China to support the Chinese troops fighting the Japanese. Major Christofero was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Air Force medals and a Presidential Citation.
Part 3: At 2:00pm
At 2 pm we have arranged for our members and guests to adjourn to the to the main theatre to hear a presentation:
Vietnam Panel: “The Tet Offensive 40 Years Later”
On the Vietnamese Lunar New Year of 1968, the North Vietnamese forces launched a country-wide offensive known as the “Tet Offensive.” While it was a military disaster for the communists, news of the offensive led to widespread disaffection with the war among the American public. Forty years after this historical turning point, meet several of the men who served in uniform during this controversial conflict, both on the ground and in the air. The panel will include Colonel James Carlton who flew B-52s and then OV-10s over South Vietnam, Capt. Jonathan Hayes who flew F-4s over North Vietnam, and noted author Kregg Jorgenson who volunteered as a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) with H Company – 75th Airborne Rangers.
Again, the cost for the meeting will be $15 which will cover tea and coffee, payable in advance, which covers all of the above.
All ROTC friends are also asked to join for this event. The cost for ROTC members will be $5 payable at the door.
Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be attending and with how many quests.
fd@cromwellgroup.us or 206 729 9700

10 -11 March 2008 - Laurel, Maryland - 2008 Unrestricted Warfare Symposium at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) is jointly sponsored by JHU/APL and the University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). It is also co-sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Policy), the Department of State, and the National Intelligence Council. For 2008, the theme of integrating strategy, analysis, and technology to counter adversaries utilizing unrestricted warfare approaches. The focus will be on the DoD Campaign Plan for the War on Terrorism: Integrating Strategy, Analysis, and Technology in Support of the U.S. War on Terror Campaign. I am thrilled that Admiral Eric Olson, USSOCOM, has agreed to give the keynote address. Over the two days we will have four other featured speakers [Dr. Thomas Mahnken, ODUSD(Policy); Prof. Bruce Hoffman, Georgetown University; Dr. Stephen Flynn, Council on Foreign Relations; and Prof. Peter Feaver, Duke University], five roundtable panels, and a panel of senior-level government representatives responsible for various aspects of the War on Terror Campaign.
2008 registration details can be found at the symposium website: http://www.jhuapl.edu/urw_symposium/.

Thursday, 20 March 2008, 6:30 pm – Washington, DC -“The Bomber Behind the Veil: Muslim Women and Violent Jihad”– Farhana Ali, Rand Corp. policy analyst, at the Spy Museum. Beware the mujahidaat. Farhana Ali, an international policy analyst with the Rand Corporation, is one of the few researchers focused on these Muslin female fighters. She has charted an increase in suicide attacks by Muslim women since at least 2000, in new theaters of operation, including Uzbekistan, Egypt, and Iraq. These attacks are arguably more deadly than those conducted by male jihadists, in part due to the perception that women are unlikely to commit such acts of horror, and when they do, the shock or “CNN factor” of their attacks draws far greater media attention. She discusses their place in Islamic history, their psychological profile, and the likely shelf-life of this disturbing trend. Tickets: $20. Visit http://www.spymuseum.org for tickets.

26-28 March 2008 - Raleigh, NC - The Fifth Raleigh Spy Conference at the NC Museum of History - Not to miss. Topic: CIA’s Unsolved Mysteries: The NOSENKO Case, Double Agents and Angleton’s Wilderness of Mirrors features top experts in counterintelligence to discuss unresolved issues from the Cold War:  Tennent Bagley-- will discuss his book on KGB defector Yuri Nosenko, with its mysterious connections to Lee Harvey Oswald and John F. Kennedy that kicked off 40 years of unresolved internal strife at CIA. 
Dave Robarge, Chief Historian for CIA and expert on infamous counterintelligence chief James Angleton, will discuss the controversy created by the former chief of counterintelligence for the Agency by his obsessive hunt for a Soviet mole. 
Brian Kelley, the wrong man in the Robert Hanssen spy case - and former counterintelligence officer for CIA, will use examples of defectors and double agents he uses as case models for courses he teaches to train espionage agents. 
Jerry Schecter, former correspondent for Time magazine in Moscow during the Cold War, and respected expert and author of books on Cold War espionage, was on hand to witness for the press the important cases of defectors and double agents in the heat of the Cold War. 
David Ignatius, former foreign editor - now columnist for the Washington Post - and author of espionage fiction, is respected in the "community" for his insights on the impact of defectors and double agents on the craft of espionage. 
Conference Costs: General Public: $250.00 Seniors: $175.00
AFIO Members, Teachers, Intelligence, Students, Military only $145.00!
Early registration available: Contact Jennifer Hadra at 919-831-0999 or jennifer@metromagazine.net. More information and frequent updates at: http://www.raleighspyconference.com/home/

17-19 April 2008 - London, UK - The German Historical Institute in London hosts "Keeping Secrets" conference. The German Historical Institute in London is hosting a conference entitled "Keeping Secrets:  How Important was intelligence to the conduct of international relations from 1914 to 1939." Among the scholars expected to speak are Zara Steiner, General William Odom, Christopher Andrew, Ernest May, Paul Kennedy, Gerhard Weinberg, Mark Lowenthal, Richard Aldrich, Georges-Henri Soutou, and David Kahn. The conference will take place at the institute in central London from 17 to 19 April. For further information write Karina Kurbach at <kurbach@ghil.ac.uk>

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

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