AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #28-09 dated 4 August 2009

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Study Says Lack Of Cybersecurity Talent Could Leave U.S. Vulnerable. The pool of cybersecurity talent needed to beef up U.S. cyberinfrastructure is in short supply and could leave the U.S. susceptible to malicious security threats if left unaddressed, according to a government study.

The study, titled "Cyber In-Security: Strengthening The Federal Cybersecurity Workforce," which was conducted by the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton, found that the pipeline for skilled cybersecurity professionals is abysmally inadequate and leaves gaping holes in U.S. security that could leave the country vulnerable.

"The overriding finding of our analysis is that our federal government will be unable to combat these threats without a more coordinated, sustained effort to increase cybersecurity expertise in the federal workforce," the study's authors wrote.

Currently, the U.S. government runs a scholarship program that fills about 120 entry-level cybersecurity jobs annually. However, the study found that to effectively combat impending security challenges, chief information officers and chief security officers reported that they will need at least 1,000 nationally sponsored cybersecurity graduates - about an eightfold increase - to adequately fill vacant security positions. Meanwhile, no governmentwide feeder program exists for mid- and senior-level positions.

Defense Sec. Robert Gates said that the Pentagon is "desperately short of people who have capabilities (defensive and offensive cybersecurity war skills) in all the services, and we have to address it," according to the study.

There are some obstacles to this endeavor, however. The study also found that the U.S. government suffers from "fragmented governance and uncoordinated leadership," which serves to impede cybersecurity workforce needs. For example, the study found that there is no one government official in charge of cybersecurity, which has caused the national cybersecurity effort to suffer.

"In this fragmented climate, department and agencies are on their own and sometimes working at cross-purposes or in competition with one another," the study said.

Meanwhile, the federal government hiring process is bogged down with bureaucracy, complicated rules and an outdated and arbitrary job classification system, which also deters potential cybersecurity talent from entering and staying in federal service.

In addition, the study indicated that there is a major disconnect between hiring managers and human resources offices - managers are consistently less satisfied with the effort to hire new cybersecurity talent than their peers in HR.

Since his inauguration in January, President Barack Obama has pledged to greatly enhance cybersecurity efforts, launching a 60-day cybersecurity review to thoroughly examine weaknesses in cyberinfrastructure. In addition, two cybersecurity bills proposed widespread changes to the governing policies that oversee and protect the U.S. computer network infrastructure, including the appointment of a cybersecurity czar.

To address the lack of cybersecurity professionals, the study recommends that the yet-to-be appointed cybersecurity czar develop a governmentwide strategic blueprint outlining cybersecurity objectives, which should include the health of the cybersecurity workforce and the desired roles for both civil servants and private contractors.

The study's authors also recommended that Congress provide significant funding to train federal cybersecurity workers to meet new standards, while simultaneously focusing on hiring individuals with management skills. The researchers also suggested that the fields of defense, intelligence and other areas of information security be brought together under the authority of the yet-to-be-named cybersecurity czar.

"Achieving these goals requires a dedicated, highly trained and well-managed government workforce," the study's authors said. "Failure to address the government's critical cybersecurity workforce needs will undermine the president's commitment and could result in increased vulnerability of systems and the data in the house." [CRN/22July2009] 

Falls Church Man's Sentence in Terror Plot Is Increased to Life. A Falls Church man convicted of plotting with al-Qaeda to kill President George W. Bush was resentenced to life in prison after the judge said his release would threaten "the safety of the American citizenry."

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali had been given a 30-year prison term after he was convicted in 2005 of joining an al-Qaeda conspiracy to mount a series of Sept. 11-style attacks and assassinations in the United States. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld the conviction last year, but sent the case back for resentencing, indicating that the sentence should be more severe.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee obliged, saying he had reevaluated the case and concluded that the danger of ever releasing Abu Ali is too great.

The resentencing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria marked an apparent end to one of the most emotional and highest-profile terrorism cases since the Sept, 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Prosecutors portrayed Abu Ali, who was valedictorian of his 1999 class at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax County, as an example of the threat of homegrown terrorism.

His trial was the first in a U.S. criminal court to rely heavily on evidence gathered by a foreign intelligence service. Security officers from Saudi Arabia, where Abu Ali was jailed for 20 months, provided the bulk of the government's case, testifying via video from the kingdom.

Abu Ali's family, which mounted a highly public campaign for his return to this country, said that he was tortured by Saudi security officers and that U.S. officials were complicit - allegations that have gained resonance in recent years because of the fierce debate over the Bush administration's treatment of detainees.

But the judge, jury and appellate court rejected that argument. A juror said after the trial that Abu Ali's videotaped confession was "chilling" and showed no sign of coercion.

Before the judge imposed the tougher sentence Monday, Abu Ali said he was being mistreated at the highly secure federal prison in Colorado known as the "supermax," and he blamed "a rogue Justice Department" for his conviction.

As he left the courtroom, Abu Ali smiled and waved to a large crowd of supporters, some of whom called out in Arabic "Salaam aleikum," or "Peace be with you." Abu Ali's parents declined to comment.

His attorney, Joshua Dratel, said in an interview that the life term was "unfortunate" and that the original sentence was reasonable.

The prosecution of Abu Ali was among a series of major terrorism cases in the Alexandria federal court after Sept. 11. Jurors convicted Abu Ali, then 24, on all nine counts, including conspiracy to assassinate the president. Prosecutors said Abu Ali had taken credit for originating the plot against Bush, which had not advanced beyond the talking stage.

They said the plot included crashing airplanes, killing members of Congress, and bombing nightclubs and public gatherings.

Saudi security officers arrested Abu Ali in 2003 on suspicion that he was connected to a bombing that killed 23 people in that country. His incarceration triggered a flurry of legal and diplomatic activity, with Abu Ali's parents insisting that he be returned to the United States. [Markon/WashingtonPost/28July2009] 

Conflicting Portrait of NC Terror Suspect Emerges. Daniel Boyd may have spent the past three years traveling to the Middle East, secretly buying guns and training for jihad with a group of aspiring terrorists as federal authorities claim, but people on his cul-de-sac said he also made plenty of time to be a good neighbor.

The 39-year-old drywall contractor and his wife were family oriented, always quick to help with gardens and treehouses and raised well-mannered kids, neighbors said a day after the FBI arrested Boyd and six others, accusing the men of planning to kidnap, kill and maim people abroad.

Federal investigators said Boyd was the ringleader of a small North Carolina-based terrorist group, involved in three years of nefarious international travel, gun buys and military-style training trips. Authorities claim the group, including an eighth suspect believed to be in Pakistan, were gearing up for a "violent jihad," though prosecutors haven't detailed any specific targets or timeframe.

Prosecutors said Boyd received terrorist training in Pakistan and brought the teachings back to North Carolina, where over the past three years he recruited followers willing to die as martyrs waging jihad - the Arabic word for holy war.

Frustrated by Raleigh-area mosques that were too moderate, Boyd started breaking away this year to hold prayers in his home, prosecutors said. In the last two months, he took two group members to private property in north-central North Carolina to practice military tactics and use weapons.

At his home, though, Boyd's neighbors and family defended him.

Boyd's wife, Sabrina, vowed that he was part of an "ordinary family" and urged the public not to rush to judgment. Boyd's sons Zakariya, 20, and Dylan, 22, were also named in the indictment.

"We have the right to justice, and we believe that justice will prevail," she said in a statement. "We are decent people who care about other human beings."

A friend and neighbor, 20-year-old Jeremy Kuhn, said the family seemed closer and more loving than any of the other nearby households.

"If it turns out they were terrorists, I will be the most shocked person in the world," he said. "I think they have seven innocent people sitting in jail waiting to have their lives ruined."

The other four men arrested range in age from 21 to 33. Only one is not a U.S. citizen, but he is a legal resident.

An attorney who met with one of the defendants, Ziyad Yaghi, 21, said Yaghi was disappointed.

"Our concern is that people are rushing to a judgment and there's no evidence that anyone's been shown," attorney Robert Nunley said.

Public defenders assigned to Boyd did not return messages seeking comment, and there were no attorneys for the other men listed in court records. If convicted of providing material support to terrorism and "conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad," the men could face life in prison. They are expected to appear in court Thursday for a detention hearing.

Authorities believe the eighth suspect is currently in Pakistan, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. A second law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect was Jude Kenan Mohammad, 20. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the investigation.

Holding said he hoped an arrest was near, but didn't elaborate.

In 1991, Boyd and his brother were convicted of bank robbery in Pakistan. They were also accused of carrying identification showing they belonged to the radical Afghan guerrilla group, Hezb-e-Islami, or Party of Islam. Each was sentenced to have a foot and a hand cut off for the robbery, but the decision was later overturned.

A former CIA official who was stationed in Pakistan at the time said the agency intervened and quickly persuaded the Pakistani intelligence service to help free the Boyd brothers. The former official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the incident.

The official didn't believe the Hezb-e-Islami identification cards they had been carrying proved they were jihadists.

The Boyd brothers' wives told The Associated Press in an interview in 1991 that the couples had U.S. roots but Americans were "kafirs" - Arabic for heathens.

It is unclear when Boyd and his family returned to the United States, but in March 2006, Boyd traveled to Gaza and attempted to introduce his son to individuals who also believed that violent jihad was a personal religious obligation, the indictment said. The document did not say which son Boyd took to Gaza.

The indictment said some of the defendants took trips to Jordan, Israel and Pakistan to engage in jihad, but only discussed the results of one of those trips. After traveling to Israel, Boyd and his two sons returned to the United States in July 2007 "having failed in their attempt," according to the documents. [Barrett/AP/26July2009] 

UK Says Intelligence Sharing with US Threatened. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the United States will restrict intelligence-sharing with the U.K. if a British court reveals secret details of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee's treatment.

Karen Steyn, a lawyer acting on behalf of the British government, told Britain's High Court that Clinton had explained to her counterpart, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, that intelligence sharing between the two countries is at risk if a court makes public so far undisclosed sections of a 2008 ruling on the alleged torture of Binyam Mohamed.

Mohamed, an Ethiopian who moved to Britain as a teenager, was arrested in 2002 in Pakistan. He alleges he was tortured there and in Morocco - where he says interrogators sliced his penis with a scalpel - before he was transferred to Afghanistan, and then to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2004.

He was accused of plotting to explode a "dirty bomb" in the United States, but was freed in February without charge and returned to Britain.

Mohamed's lawyers originally launched a legal case demanding full disclosure of what Britain's government knew about his treatment in detention.

The court ruled in 2008 that the lawyers could have access to the documents - with some information redacted - but also barred the public dissemination of the information.

The judges at Britain's High Court said they had reluctantly accepted the government's claim that publication of the paragraphs could harm U.S.-British intelligence sharing, noting that keeping the details secret amounted to concealing "evidence of serious wrongdoing by the United States."

The judges are reconsidering their decision following a lawsuit launched by several media groups.

Lawyers acting for the media groups argue that President Barack Obama's administration may be open to Britain publishing the passages, citing Obama's decision to release memos detailing Bush-era interrogation techniques.

But Steyn said that Miliband believes there has been no change in the risk of damaging relations between London and Washington since Obama's took office.

Steyn told the court that Miliband believes intelligence cooperation would be withheld, and British lives could be endangered as a result, if judges accede to demands from the media and Mohamed to publish the details.

"The conversations that he has had with the U.S. Secretary of State are part of the information that he has taken into account in forming that assessment," Steyn said.

Guy Vassall-Adams, a lawyer for the British media, told the hearing that Miliband had exaggerated the threat to intelligence cooperation. He said Clinton's comments also appeared at odds with a recent letter sent from the CIA to Britain's MI6 overseas intelligence service to explain the U.S. position on the issue.

The CIA said in the letter that it would need to examine cooperation with Britain if judges published the information, rather than specifically threaten to cease cooperation, Vassall-Adams said.

He quoted a letter sent to the British government last month by the U.S. national security adviser, Retired Marine Gen. James Jones, which said the CIA were "best able to recognize and articulate potential concerns."

Clinton herself refused to comment on what Steyn quoted her as saying. At a press conference following a meeting in Washington with Miliband, she said only that the two countries would continue sharing intelligence "to the fullest extent possible."

Miliband told reporters that the U.S. and Britain's intelligence-sharing process saves British lives - but that a fundamental principle of their cooperation is that the countries don't publicly disclose what they share.

Lord Justice John Thomas said the paragraphs that have so far been kept secret are "bland" of "no intelligence value" and pose - in his opinion - no risk to intelligence ties. The passages are a summary of the courts' opinion on the contents of 42 U.S. intelligence documents, sections of which related to Mohamed.

Thomas and Justice Lloyd Jones are due to issue a new ruling on whether to publish the passages, but have set no firm date to do so. [Stringer/AP/25 July2009] 

Morocco Jails Terrorist "Belgian Spy" for Life. A court in Morocco has sentenced a Moroccan-born Belgian man accused of leading a terrorist network and arms trafficking to life imprisonment.

The 51-year-old Abdelkader Belliraj, whom authorities arrested along with 34 co-defendants in February 2008, escaped the death penalty.

Other charges against him included an armed robbery in Luxembourg, large-scale money laundering projects, arms trafficking and threatening state security.

Officials say he may have met with al-Qaeda's notorious leader and the plotter of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack, Osama bin Laden, in Afghanistan days before the assault.

He has repeatedly maintained his innocence since the start of the high-profile proceedings in October. Police also suspect him of killing six men.

The defense argued that his connection with militant groups were at the bidding of Belgium's intelligence services. Belliraj claims that he was at one time a paid informant for the main Belgian intelligence agency the Surete de l'Etat.

The other co-defendants were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 30 years in prison to one-year suspended sentences.

A string of al-Qaeda-linked terrorist attacks in 2003 that killed 45 people in Casablanca sparked an anti-terrorism campaign, which has seen over 1,000 suspected terrorists arrested. [PressTV/28July2009] 

MI5 Website Vulnerability Builds Mountain Out of Molehill. Hackers have uncovered information security shortcomings involving MI5's website, even though the problem is nowhere near as severe as one tabloid paper claims.

A breathless Daily Express "exclusive" claimed the breach created a possible means for hackers to attack the computers of surfers visiting the security service's website and steal information. It's highly unlikely that confidential data held by the security service itself was exposed by the attack, even the Daily Express concedes.

In any case the flaw has now been resolved, so visitors are no longer at risk.

The Daily Express claims the MI5 attack was carried out by a hacking crew called "Team Elite", who are also reportedly responsible for attacks against the World Health Organization's website.

Team Elite, which notified MI5 about the problem, explains that MI5's search engine is vulnerable to XSS (cross-site scripting) and iFrame Injection attacks. Screenshots produced by the group suggest hackers could have used the now-patched flaw to present content under their control in frames that would appear (on cursory inspection, at least) to originate from MI5 itself.

The problem, such as it was, arose because the search form on MI5's website allowed code to pass as a search string, creating a code injection risk. XSSed, which maintains an archive of cross-site scripting bugs, reposts similar flaws also involved the search engine of the security service's website but dating from September 2007.

Team Elite published its advisory more than a week ago, on 21 July. Some of the more excitable coverage on Thursday sparked off but far from limited to the Daily Express, suggested the MI5's website was hacked into and that the nation's cybersecurity or perhaps even national security was imperiled as a result.

The truth is far more mundane.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said it was "implausible" for MI5 to hold any sensitive data on systems connected to a public facing website, still less that confidential information would be unencrypted. Although the vulnerability on MI5's website is "highly unlikely to have compromised classified information", it still ought to serve as a wake-up call for sys admins - as Sophos notes, the majority of web-based malware attacks are these days launched from legitimate websites. [Leyden/TheRegister/30July2009] 

Expert Says Western Spies Try to Leap Generation Gap. An influx of young recruits with strong cyber skills and thinking habits shaped online poses a generational test for Western espionage agencies as they adapt to a shifting terrorist threat.

Provided they integrate well with older colleagues, the new "digital generation" of 20-something spies and analysts will sharpen Western knowledge of militant groups acting increasingly online and across borders, security expert Kevin O'Brien said.

Improving intelligence service performance has been a top priority for the West since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and the 2003 Iraq invasion, events widely seen as involving profound failures of information collection, coordination and analysis.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush launched the Iraq invasion citing a threat of weapons of mass destruction from Saddam Hussein's government. No such weapons were ever found.

The role of British intelligence before the invasion is likely to be examined by a forthcoming British inquiry into the war that will ask former Prime Minister Tony Blair to testify.

Many Western services have expanded since 9/11 to make their workforces younger, more diverse, better at languages and computer literate enough to evaluate and act rapidly on an ever increasing inflow of information, much of it from open sources.

But the success of the "Generation Y" intake of those born in the 1980s and early 1990s depends on addressing a generation gap as real in the secret world as it is elsewhere, according to O'Brien, who advises governments on security and intelligence.

"It definitely happens. It's an issue," said O'Brien, referring to occasional difficulties over computer expertise or ways of thinking between older officers and young recruits.

Training, mentoring and online forums are helping to mesh the generations' different skills, he says, "but you'll always have individuals in both generations who just will not feel comfortable, who won't understand what the other is saying."

For some observers, the generation gap became embarrassingly apparent when the wife of the head-designate of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service posted unsecured pictures of her husband, family and friends on the networking site Facebook, prompting astonishment among security experts and calls for an enquiry.

Espionage is marked by the generational divide as sharply as any other job: Older spies expect to serve for decades, are used to hierarchy and fume over IT failures; younger ones are less impressed by rank, more used to working collaboratively, less impatient when software fails and do not expect a job for life.

But the gap also shows up in differing abilities to handle specific tasks, such as operating IT or thinking critically.

In a 2008 article for London's International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, O'Brien wrote that the involvement of Generation Y in the workplace could provide intelligence agencies with their greatest challenge.

The way this generation reasoned and processed information would likely highlight "serious generational differences and disparities between managers' and analysts' cognitive outlooks."

O'Brien said Generation Y's short attention span was "a concern" but this could be handled by training and monitoring.

"This may sound like management-speak, but when you're wrestling with knotty intelligence problems that have the possibility of a real public security or loss-of-life outcome, they have the most serious implications imaginable." [Reuters/30July2009] 

Western Targets Remain Al Qaeda Priority. Editor's note: This story is based on interrogation reports that form part of the prosecution case in the forthcoming trial of six Belgian citizens charged with participation in a terrorist group. Versions of those documents were obtained by CNN from the defense attorney of one of those suspects. The statement by Bryant Vinas was compiled from an interview he gave Belgian prosecutors in March in New York and was confirmed by U.S. prosecutors as authentic. The statement by Walid Othmani was given to French investigators and was authenticated by Belgian prosecutors.

Between late July and early December of 2008 four members of a Belgian-French group returned to Europe from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

On December 11, Belgian counter-terrorism police launched one of the largest operations in the country's history, arrested six people and charged them with participation in a terrorist group.

According to Belgian counter-terrorism sources, the trigger for the Brussels arrests was an intercepted e-mail sent by one of the alleged recruits, Hicham Beyayo, in early December shortly after he returned to Belgium.

The e-mail allegedly suggested that Beyayo had been given the green light to launch an attack in Belgium. However no explosives were recovered by Belgian police, and some terrorism analysts are skeptical that an attack was imminent.

Beyayo's lawyer, Christophe Marchand, told CNN in February that the email was merely "tough talk" to impress an ex-girlfriend. Belgian authorities continue to insist that the alleged cell was a potential national security threat.

Of those still thought to be at large, one was Moez Garsallaoui, whose wife Malika el Aroud was among those arrested in Belgium. 

He issued this threat to Belgium authorities on his wife's Web site on May 11 this year. "If you thought that you could pressure me to slow down through the arrest of my wife, you were wrong. It won't stop me fulfilling my objectives...the place of my wife in my heart and the heart of all the mujahedeen is greater than ever. ... Surprises are sure to be in store for you in the days ahead. Those who laugh last, laugh more."

Such threats will have caused concern because of Garsallaoui's wide connections in European militant circles.

Two of his Brussels associates, Bassam Ayachi, 62, and Raphael Gendron, 33, are in custody in Italy, charged with being leaders of a logistical support team for al Qaeda. They have denied the charges.

The duo, who were detained in the port city of Bari in November for trying to illegally smuggle Middle Easterners into the country, had allegedly talked to each other in their detention center about what sounded like a scheme to attack Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, a conversation bugged by Italian police. French officials have said they were never aware of a concrete plot to attack the airport.

According to a senior Belgian intelligence official, Garsallaoui, his wife, and several others who traveled to Pakistan were all connected through the Centre Islamique Belge, an organization Belgian authorities say espouses hardline Salafist and pro-al Qaeda views.

In past interviews the center's founder Bassam Ayachi has said his organization concentrates on pastoral care for Muslims in Brussels and did not promote pro-al Qaeda views.

Members of the Brussels-based group are believed to have received terrorist training in other countries besides Pakistan.

In late May, several days before President Barack Obama traveled to Cairo, Egypt, to give a major speech, several Belgian citizens were arrested in Egypt and accused of being members of a terrorist cell affiliated with al Qaeda.

A senior Belgian counter-terrorism official told CNN that two Belgians now in Egyptian custody were known associates of Garsallaoui at the Centre Islamique Belge and are believed to have received military training with an ultra-extremist Palestinian group in Gaza.

"Anybody who gets such training is obviously a potential danger if they return to Europe," said the official.

While in Pakistan the Europeans also had contact with Bryant Vinas, an American who told prosecutors he was there to fight in Afghanistan. 

Vinas says he was told, while on a mountain walk with a Belgian-Moroccan friend, Hicham Bouhali Zrioul, about a new course being taught by al Qaeda called "international operations," set up by its head of international operations. Vinas later identified him as Abu Hafith.

Hafith, he stated, was responsible for recruitment and direction of terrorist cells, and attacks outside Pakistan and Afghanistan. Hafith was identified by his initials in the legal document but CNN obtained his name from a source briefed on the case. He is believed to be still at large in the Pakistan-Afghan border area.

Vinas was told that the training course Hafith set up focused on kidnapping and assassination, including instruction on the use of silencers and how to break into a property. 

The revelations raise the possibility that al Qaeda was developing a program of targeted assassinations. Though al Qaeda has carried out some assassinations in the past, most of its attacks in the West have not targeted any particular individuals but crowded areas, such as mass transport.

Vinas stated that Zrioul also discussed with him an attack on the Brussels metro, telling him it was a soft target because it was poorly protected. He said Zrioul also raised the possibility of launching an attack on a European football stadium.

A senior Belgian intelligence official told CNN that Belgian security services only learned about these conversations in March 2009 after Vinas met with Belgian prosecutors in New York. Although concerned, Belgium's intelligence service concluded that no concrete plot had likely existed, said the official.

Such conversations illustrate the terror networks' continued desire to inflict mass casualties.

Vinas stated that he himself gave detailed briefings to al Qaeda chiefs in Waziristan in September 2008 about how the Long Island Commuter Rail service worked, according to a federal indictment earlier this month.

Shortly after Vinas' arrest in 2008, Penn Station and much of the New York mass transit system was put on high alert. [Robertson&Cruickshank/CNN/30July2009] 

Carnal-Tinged Espionage Fuses Timeless Temptations, Modern Technology. "The world's first intelligence officer was in disguise as the serpent in the Garden of Eden," said H. Keith Melton, technical adviser to U.S. intelligence services. "He recruited Eve to use feminine wiles to compromise Adam."

And since then, Melton said the world's two oldest businesses - lust and espionage - have been virtually inseparable.

At the International Spy Museum on Wednesday, Melton discussed how these techniques have been used to attract, coerce and control spies.

Even though enemies have preyed on lust since ancient times, carnal-based espionage relies on cutting-edge technology to maintain its effectiveness.

"The commercially available off-the-shelf equipment and the Internet have revolutionized what can be done," Melton said.

Just this month, Russian spy agencies attempted to blackmail James Hudson, the British deputy consul general in a city in the Ural Mountains. The spies equipped a TV set with a video camera as small as the zero on a penny and recorded him having lascivious contact with two prostitutes. Hudson turned himself in to British authorities.

The qualities that attract many people to undercover intelligence work - notably an inflated ego and the desire for money and influence - also make them vulnerable to "honey traps." Melton said agents enter such situations either voluntarily or due to coercion. The non-coercive carnal acts are sometimes used to manipulate the subject, but is incidental in other cases.

One of history's most famous spies - the Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari - was also one of the worst, caught after only one night of espionage. She was spying on the French for the Germans during World War I.

More successful was Brit Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, who used an affair with French Embassy press agent Charles Brousse during World War II to obtain access to the Vichy French naval ciphers, which were locked in a safe and watched by a guard.

The guard knew the two conducted their affair in the embassy after-hours, so Thorpe decided to conduct her espionage in the nude.

"If the watchman came in with his flashlight, she would scream and draw attention to herself and he'd be so embarrassed that he'd leave the room," Melton said. "And in actuality, that did happen."

"In Soviet times we often asked our men to stand up and serve their country, but for a few beautiful women, we asked they serve by lying down," former KGB Maj. Gen. Oleg Kalugin is fond of saying, according to Melton.

Melton said the KGB would attempt to put anyone of possible interest in compromising situations and then blackmail those with access to crucial intelligence. They rigged specific hotel rooms with photo ports, and then had hotel managers upgrade the targets to those rooms.

The cameras would take photographs of the targets reflected in a mirror or two to make espionage even more discreet. After catching them in the act, the KGB would threaten to make the photographs public unless the agent cooperated.

The East German secret police - or Stasi - specialized in getting Western women to spy on their behalf through the use of "Romeos" - sensitive, affable men who could understand women. The most famous Romeo was British KGB agent John Symonds, who seduced women in American embassies throughout the 1970s to obtain secrets.

Romeos such as Symonds established intimate relationships with these women, proposed marriage, and then confessed their status as an agent, claiming to be from a friendly country. The Romeos told their fianc�es that they would be called back home unless they obtained certain sensitive information.

The Stasi established mock chapels for these weddings, provided fake wedding certificates and rings, and had intelligence officers serve as ministers. After a glamorous wedding the woman's supposed husband disappeared with the information.

Despite the eternal success of carnal-tinged espionage, Melton said the United States has never engaged in it.

"The CIA and other intelligence services would never expect a female officer to use her body as a recruitment tool," Melton said. [Infozine/30July2009] 

Report Says Swedish Spy Threat at Cold War Levels. The threat of espionage faced by Sweden from foreign security services remains widespread, according to a new report from Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST).

There is significant interest in the Armed Forces' advanced weapons systems, the MUST report claims.

"Intelligence services are at the same level of awareness as during the Cold War. Several countries, including those in our immediate surroundings, conduct surveillance against Sweden. But there are greater threats to our overseas operations," John Daniels of MUST told the TT news agency.

Intelligence services have in recent years started to make use of the internet to collect information and staff need to be made aware that private activities may expose information, MUST writes in a press release on Thursday.

During 2007 there were two recorded incidents over serious breaches of security where foreign intelligence services could have obtained sensitive information.

Daniels explains that here have been problems with routines at defense headquarters and cites, for example, incidents of people discussing classified information on a mobile telephone.

In other incidents sensitive information has been published on blogs and on Facebook.

Employees have also misplaced classified papers at public places such as Stockholm city library.

According to Daniels the nature of threats can change fast. It is particularly relevant in Afghanistan were the Swedish ISAF force is located, he says.

"During 2009 the number of attacks has increased dramatically. They are bigger and more organized." [thelocal/30July2009] 

US Congress Probes Accidental Top Secret File Sharing. US Congress wants to know if new federal laws are needed to protect government employees from accidental file-sharing.

A House of Representatives oversight committee gathered this week to discuss whether government workers getting their hands on peer-to-peer software poses a risk to privacy and national security.

At issue are numerous cases of federal government employees and contractors who install P2P software on computers without realizing the sensitive documents they expose for sharing. According to the committee chairman, this is a problem with the software rather than user.

"As far as I am concerned, the days of self-regulation should be over for the file-sharing industry," committee chairman Edolphus Towns said in his opening statement. "In the last administration, the Federal Trade Commission took a 'see-no-evil, hear-no-evil' approach to the file sharing software industry. I hope the new administration is revisiting that approach and I hope to work with them on how to better protect the privacy of consumers."

The politicians focused their concern specifically towards LimeWire, which is the most widely used PSP software in the country.

Towns laid out several past cases of apparent accidental file-sharing that lead to major security breaches on LimeWire. In one, the social security numbers and family information for every master sergeant in the US Army was made available. Another security breach involving the Secret Service resulted in the leak of a file containing a safe house location for the First Family. Lime Wire founder and chairman Mark Gorton addressed the committee to defend the file-sharing software.

Sydnor calls LimeWire "dangerously unpredictable"

"Unfortunately, the popular perception of LimeWire regarding inadvertent file sharing fails to match Lime Wire's excellent record in addressing this problem," Gorton said in prepared testimony for the committee. "A good part of this misperception is due to the distribution of inaccurate and misleading information concerning LimeWire."

Gorton fingered a recent report by Thomas Sydnor of the Center for the Progress & Freedom Foundation. Most contemptuous of the report's supposed inaccuracies is the claim that LimeWire shares user-originated files by default.

"In fact, by default, LimeWire 5 shares no files of any sort for the new LimeWire user," he said. "Also contrary to what Mr. Sydnor states, LimeWire 5 does not share 'sensitive file types' by default. In fact, by default LimeWire does not permit sharing of Microsoft Word documents, Corel documents, many proprietary tax document extensions, Excel spreadsheets, Power Point presentations, and .pdf files."

But Sydnor followed the testimony claiming Gorton is incorrect and calling the software "dangerously unpredictable." He said over the past weekend, he conducted an experiment where he set up a test computer with 16,798 personal documents, images, videos, and audio files within the standard Windows My Documents folder. After confirming no versions of LimeWire was installed, he claims to have downloaded the latest version of LimeWire (version 5.2.8) and completed a "default" installation by clicking "next" or accepting default settings. When he was done, the software was supposedly sharing all 16,798 files.

"The truth of the matter is, if you install this program - if any normal person installs this program on an ordinary home computer - they have no way to know what it will do to them by default," he told the committee.

In a closing statement, Towns said he is planning to introduce a bill to ban open network peer-to-peer software from all government and contractor computers and networks. He also called for the US Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into whether allegedly inadequate safeguards on LimeWire constitute an unfair trade practice.

"The file-sharing software industry has shown it is unwilling or unable to ensure user safety," Town said. "It's time to put a referee on the field." [Modine/TheRegister/28July2009] 

Al Qaeda May Have Infiltrated UK Spy Body. The head of a British parliamentary counter-terrorism committee called on Saturday for the government to clarity whether al Qaeda operatives had tried to infiltrate the MI5 domestic security agency.

Patrick Mercer, an opposition Conservative and chairman of parliament's sub-committee on counter-terrorism, said he had been told up to six Muslim recruits had been ejected from the spy agency because of concerns about their backgrounds.

Two of the men who had attempted to join MI5 after the July 7, 2005, London suicide bombings had attended training camps in Pakistan while the others had unexplained gaps in their curricula vitae, Mercer told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Mercer said he wanted British Home Secretary (interior minister) Alan Johnson to detail how far down the recruitment process the men had got before they were weeded out, and to ensure the vetting process was as tight as possible.

The Home Office made no comment about Mercer's allegations, however an unnamed senior security source told the Telegraph no one had been asked to leave the spy agency after starting work or training because they had been linked to extremists.

MI5 significantly increased in size after the 2005 bombings by four young British Islamists, a process Mercer said should have started much sooner after the Sept. 11 U.S. attacks. He said the recruitment rush had given al Qaeda an opportunity, although the fact that militant sympathizers had been tracked down suggested vetting procedures were good.

Last month Britain downgraded the threat from international terrorism to "substantial", the third-highest on a five point scale.

The alert system had never previously fallen below the second level of "severe" since its introduction in August 2006. The government said despite the change the threat from groups such as al Qaeda remained "real and serious". [Holden/Reuters/1August2009] 

Peru's Defense Minister Denies Alleged Peru Espionage Against Chile. Peru's Defense Minister Rafael Rey denied Sunday any participation of Peruvian Government in the case concerning Business Track, a company accused of telephonic and electronic interception to Chilean Army officers.

"I can ensure that the Peruvian Government has nothing to do with this," he said after attending a Sunday mass which commemorated 30 years of APRA founder Victor Raul Haya de la Torre's death.

Rafael Rey pointed out that he did not have official information and apologized for not making further comments, because he never talks about unofficial media reports.

On Saturday, Peruvian Minister for Foreign Affairs Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde also denied that the Peruvian State has an espionage policy, noting that Business Track representatives must be subjected to investigation.

He added that drug trafficking and terrorism always represent danger, disagreeing with former presidential candidate Ollanta Humala, who days before said that Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) do not represent any longer a danger for the country. [LivingInPeru/2August2009] 

Criminal Charges in Colombia Spy Scandal. At least eight former officials of Colombia's domestic intelligence agency surrendered on Friday to face criminal charges for allegedly spying illegally on opponents of President Alvaro Uribe including judges, journalists and human rights workers.

They are among 10 former officials, including ex-intelligence and counterintelligence chiefs in the DAS security agency, which reports directly to the president.

One of the former officials still at large, former DAS deputy director Jose Miguel Narvaez, is also under investigation for murders committed by far-right death squads.

If convicted of criminal conspiracy, the 10 face prison terms of up to six years.

In its arrest warrant, the chief prosecutor's office said the accused "under the guise of protecting national security ended up persecuting people who were fulfilling constitutional duties" such as Supreme Court justices and lawmakers.

It said the accused intercepted phone calls and e-mails and followed targeted individuals "to satisfy dark interests that have not yet been determined."

Uribe and officials in his inner circle have denied any illegal activity in connection with the scandal, which broke in February after a new DAS director was installed.

The president's first DAS chief after he took office in 2002, Jorge Noguera, is currently in prison awaiting trial on charges including murder for allegedly helping right-wing death squads target union leaders.

Analysts and targets of the DAS illegal wiretaps expressed doubts that Uribe could not have known about the extensive spying by the DAS on government opponents.

Political analyst Leon Valencia, a former leftist guerrilla, said Uribe "is a president of minute details who knows everything, with an impressive memory."

"Nothing happens without his authorization," Valencia said.

"An illegal espionage network isn't something run by midlevel officials," said Rafael Pardo, a former defense minister and candidate for president next year.

Asked about the accusations, Uribe spokesman Cesar Mauricio Velasquez said "this government has been and is honorable and dignified. As such, it never ordered the illegal monitoring of anyone."

The chief prosecutor's office, which is independent of the executive branch, determined that DAS employees working for those arrested compiled dossiers on judges, journalists and human rights workers. The files included family photos, bank statements and personal profiles on details such as the subjects' preferred alcoholic beverages and whether they had mistresses.

It based the arrest warrants on documents found at DAS headquarters and the testimony of midlevel agency workers who said they were ordered to do the spying, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with prosecutors.

They said the illegal espionage began in 2004 and continued until early this year. [AP/31July2009] 

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Double Life of Witold Pilecki, the Auschwitz Volunteer who Uncovered Holocaust Secrets. It was perhaps the bravest act of espionage of the Second World War. After voluntarily being imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp for 2� years, and smuggling out its darkest secrets to the Allies, Witold Pilecki overcame a guard and, with two comrades, escaped almost certain death.

Now new details have emerged of the extraordinary tale of the Polish officer who hatched a plot with the country's resistance to be rounded up by the occupying Germans in September 1940 and sent to the most notorious Nazi extermination centre.

At the time, Auschwitz was predominantly a camp for captured resistance fighters, although Jews and anyone considered a threat to the Nazi regime were also being sent there.

Newly released documents from the Polish archives reveal how Mr. Pilecki, going under the false name Tomasz Serafinski, went about setting up an underground resistance group in the camp, recruiting its members and organizing it into a coherent movement.

"In order to assure greater security I have taken the view that each cell of five will not be aware of another cell," he wrote in one of his reports smuggled out to the Resistance and which has now come to light.

"This is also why I have avoided people who are registered here under their real names. Some are involved in the most incompetent conspiracies and have their own plans for rebellion in the camp."

Later he wrote: "The gigantic machinery of the camp spewing out dead bodies has claimed many of my friends... We have sent messages to the outside world which were then transmitted back by foreign radio stations. Consequently the camp guards are very angry right now."

Mr. Pilecki's reports from the camp were channeled to the Allies via a courier system that the Polish Resistance operated throughout occupied Europe. By 1942 Mr. Pilecki's organization realized the existence of the gas chambers and he worked on several plans to liberate Auschwitz, including one in which the RAF would bomb the walls, or Free Polish paratroopers would fly in from Britain.

However, in 1943, realizing that the Allies had no plans to liberate the camp, he and two others escaped. The new documents include a Gestapo manhunt alert after his escape.

Mr. Pilecki ensured that a full report on the camp reached London, and the resistance group he started in Auschwitz continued to feed information to Britain and the United States, confirming that the Nazis were bent on the extermination of the Jews.

The archive material will again raise questions as to why the Allies, and in particular Winston Churchill, never did anything to stop the atrocities there. "We can only assume the British thought we were exaggerating," said the Polish historian Jacek Pawlowicz. "I'm certain Poles shared their intelligence with MI6 and the highest levels of British Government, which, for some reason, remained silent."

After his escape Mr. Pilecki was captured fighting in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 and spent the rest of the conflict in a prisoner-of-war camp. In July 1945 he joined Free Polish troops in Italy, from where he agreed to return to Poland and gather intelligence on the Soviet takeover of the country.

He was, however, caught by the Polish Communist regime. In a twist of fate, a Polish Jew administered the torture during his interrogation. Mr. Pilecki's wife was invited to visit and he told her that his time in Auschwitz was child's play by comparison. After a show trial he was given three death sentences and shot.

The new material includes his charge sheet, which has 132 subsections, each listing a separate alleged crime. "From July 1945 to May 1947 the accused worked against the Polish state as a paid resident of an overseas intelligence agency," one accusation reads. "The worst crime committed against the state was that he was acting in the interests of foreign imperialism, to which he has completely sold out through a prolonged period of work as a spy." The implication is clear: Mr. Pilecki was providing information on the Soviet-backed regime that was finding its way to MI6.

After his death Mr. Pilecki was demonized by the Communists and his heroics re-emerged only after 1989.

His son, Andrzej Pilecki, who was 16 when he learnt that his father had been executed, said: "There'd be no better memorial to my father than for the young to learn of his example. I was at school at the time, it was a terrible shock, but now after 60 years of waiting I am thrilled to see justice."

The new archive releases also reveal touching details. In a smuggled letter dated October 18, 1943, to his ten-year-old daughter he wrote: "I am very happy to hear you are such a devoted housemaid and that you like to take care of the animals and our plants in the garden. I, too, like every kind of bug and beetle as well as the beans and the peas. I like everything that lives. I'm very glad to hear that inside my children there are the same thoughts that I have."

The Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, said that Mr. Pilecki was "an example of inexplicable goodness at a time of inexplicable evil. There is ever-growing awareness of Poles helping Jews in the Holocaust, and how they paid with their lives, like Pilecki. We must honor these examples and follow them today in the parts of the world where there are horrors again."

The historian Michael R.D.Foot said that the life and death of Mr. Pilecki brought shame on the British and the Allies, who turned a blind eye to Stalin's European ambitions as well as the Holocaust. "The Foreign Office's betrayal of Poland is the darkest chapter in its history, even if that betrayal was a strategic necessity," he said. [Tchorek/TheJerusalemGiftShop/28July2009] 

Section III - COMMENTARY

Congress and the CIA: Time to Move On, by Leon Panetta. Last month, at a meeting overseas of intelligence service chiefs, one of my counterparts from a major Western ally pulled me aside. Why, he asked, is Washington so consumed with what the CIA did in the past, when the most pressing national security concerns are in the present? It was a very good question. In fact, I've become increasingly concerned that the focus on the past, especially in Congress, threatens to distract the CIA from its crucial core missions: intelligence collection, analysis and covert action.

In our democracy, effective congressional oversight of intelligence is important, but it depends as much on consensus as it does on secrecy. We need broad agreement between the executive and legislative branches on what our intelligence organizations do and why. For much of our history, we have had that. Over the past eight years, on specific issues - including the detention and interrogation of terrorists - the consensus deteriorated. That contributed to an atmosphere of declining trust, growing frustration and more frequent leaks of properly classified information.

In its earliest days, the Obama administration made policy changes in intelligence that ended some controversial practices. The CIA no longer operates black sites and no longer employs "enhanced" interrogation techniques. It is worth remembering that the CIA implements presidential decisions; we do not make them. Yet my agency continues to pay a price for enduring disputes over policies that no longer exist. Those conflicts fuel a climate of suspicion and partisanship on Capitol Hill that our intelligence officers - and our country - would be better off without. My goal as director is to do everything I can to build the kind of dialogue and trust with Congress that is essential to our intelligence mission.

In that spirit, on June 24, I briefed the intelligence oversight committees of Congress on a highly classified program that had been brought to my attention the day before. Never fully operational, the program had not, in seven years, taken a single terrorist off the street, and information about it had not been shared appropriately with Congress. For me, this was more than just a simple question of law or legal requirements. Rather, it was a reflection of my firm belief that a straightforward and honest partnership with Congress can build support for intelligence. That's what I want, and I am convinced it's what our nation needs.

Unfortunately, rather than providing an opportunity to start a new chapter in CIA-congressional relations, the meeting sparked a fresh round of recriminations about the past. I recognize that there will always be tension in oversight relationships, but there are also shared responsibilities. Those include protecting the classified information that shapes our conversations. Together, the CIA and Congress must find a balance between appropriate oversight and a recognition that the security of the United States depends on a CIA that is totally focused on the job of defending America.

The time has come for both Democrats and Republicans to take a deep breath and recognize the reality of what happened after Sept. 11, 2001. The question is not the sincerity or the patriotism of those who were dealing with the aftermath of Sept. 11. The country was frightened, and political leaders were trying to respond as best they could. Judgments were made. Some of them were wrong. But that should not taint those public servants who did their duty pursuant to the legal guidance provided. The last election made clear that the public wanted to move in a new direction.

Intelligence can be a valuable weapon, but it is not one we should use on each other. As the president has said, this is not a time for retribution. Debates over who knew what when - or what happened seven years ago - miss a larger, more important point: We are a nation at war in a dangerous world, and good intelligence is vital to us all. That is where our focus should be. The CIA has plenty of tools to fight al-Qaeda and its allies. Unlike the effort I canceled in June, our present tools are effective, we use them aggressively to go after our enemies, and Congress has been briefed on them.

When President Obama visited the CIA in April, he told agency officers, "I am going to need you more than ever." The men and women of the CIA truly are America's first line of defense. They must run risks and make sacrifices to acquire the intelligence our country needs for its safety and security. Having spent 16 years in the House, I know that Congress can get the facts it needs to do its job without undue strife or name-calling. I also know that we can learn lessons from the past without getting stuck there. That is what the American people expect. The CIA is ready to do its part. The nation deserves no less. [Panetta/WashingtonPost/2August2009] 

Section IV - JOBS, READING AND COMING EVENTS

Jobs

Documents Survey. Raytheon has been awarded a contract for surveying as many as six million pages of documents stored at the Reagan Library in the Simi Valley, CA. The survey is restricted to determining the USG agency(ies) to which each document would be relevant/of interest; no substantive analysis or declassification determination is involved. The project will continue for five or more years.
Raytheon is seeking individuals with an Intelligence Community background to work in this program as independent contractors at an hourly rate of $36. Hours are flexible between 6AM and 6PM, 24 hours or more per week desired. Work is performed under excellent conditions at the Library. The principal requirement is an active or readily reinstateable TS/SCI clearance (polygraph not required).
It is recommended that ICAN member organizations notify their appropriately located members and chapters of this opportunity. The Simi Valley is located north of Los Angeles, adjacent to the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County. It has excellent freeway connections. The following Raytheon POCs can provide additional information and accept applications: Wendy Werning at 703-390-6027, Wendy_F_Werning@raytheon.com and Marianne Thomas at 703-390-6076, Marianne_Thomas@raytheon.com

-------------------------------

Two Intel Analyst Positions. 1. U.S. headquartered, large company, providing worldwide and Federal sector IT services and custom business solutions. Seeking Intel Analyst with knowledge of WMD; and All-Source experience. Job location: Ft. Belvoir. Comp. range around $95K. For additional information contact: pgrysavage@bellsouth.net; 703-282-1198.

2. U.S. based mid-size company offering broad range of IT, infrastructure, application and outsourcing services in a range of industries, plus the Federal sector. Seeking senior sales executive with at least 10 years experience working in Intel/ DoD environments. Minimum of Secret clearance. Job location: Northern Virginia. For additional information, contact: pgrysavage@bellsouth.net. 703-282-1198.

-------------------------------

FTS International, LLC (FTS), a Northern Virginia firm supporting the Federal Government, actively seeks candidates for several positions listed below.
FTS is looking for experienced government auditors to help build and train a foreign government auditing service in the third world. The ideal candidate will have 5 to 10 years of government audit experience, a Secret level clearance or higher, and have one or more of the following certifications: CPA, CIA (Certified Internal Auditor), CFE, CrFA, CGAP, or CISA. The position requires 50% travel on a two month away, two month home basis.

Other immediate openings are also available on current major contracts ranging from entry level administrative support to high level technical professionals. In addition to the position described above, we are especially interested in candidates in the following job categories (TS/SCI with full scope poly). More detailed job descriptions will need to be provided separately.
• Technical Operations Officer (aka TOPS Officer)
• Chemist
• ELINT Officer
• Action Officer
• Embedded SW Engineer
• Admin Assistant/Special Assistant
We also have openings for a variety of positions for candidates with TS/SCI (CI poly). More detailed job descriptions will need to be provided separately.
FTS International offers industry standard salaries and an exceptionally generous benefits package. Most importantly, however, we offer the opportunity to be part of a company where support to our customers is of paramount importance along with employee job satisfaction and generous overall compensation.
Interested AFIO candidates please email your unclassified resume to:
Pete Waldorf, Chief Operations Officer at pete.waldorf@fts-intl.com
Or
Frida Kim, Director of Programs at frida.kim@fts-intl.com

Reading

List of Essential Military Intelligence Reading. A young acquaintance of mine due to report to the Army's military intelligence school later this year asked for some reading recommendations to prepare for the classes. Having no idea, I asked some knowledgeable friends. Here are their picks:

Army Reserve Maj. Kyle Teamey, a counterinsurgency expert:

If this is a brand new lieutenant with no previous service experience, he/she should focus first on learning the basics of soldiering, tactics, and leadership .... [and] start with the same books a young infantry or armor officer might read:

* The Defense of Duffer's Drift, Swinton (and the various knock-offs)
* Once an Eagle, Myrer
* The Bear Went Over the Mountain and/or The Other Side of the Mountain, Grau and Jalali
* Infantry Attacks, Rommel

Retired Army Col. John Collins, who enlisted as a private in 1942, served in three wars, and also is author of Military Geography and Military Strategy :

My top candidate is Sherman Kent's classic, a golden oldie titled Strategic Intelligence for American World Policy.

Carson Morris [who serves on AFIO's Board of Directors], a career intelligence officer:

Kent's is very good; hence naming the school after him. I would add:

1. Roger George & Jim Bruce's Analyzing Intelligence: Origins, Obstacles, and Innovations
2. Col. John Hughes-Wilson's MI Blunders and Cover-ups
3. The Army's Recce and Surveillance Handbook
4. Abe Shulsky & Gary Schmitt's Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, latest (think is 3rd) edition
5. Allen Dulles' The Craft of Intelligence
6. John Keegan's Intelligence in War
7. Steve O'Hern's Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad

Retired Marine Col. T.X. Hammes, author of The Sling and the Stone:

Stuart Herrington's Silence Was a Weapon. Amazon has it used for under $10. Obviously good for COIN. For conventional tactical, the Marine Corps republished a small manual called 'Intelligence for Frontline Units.' Not sure where he can get that one."

Lani Elliott, teaches at the National Defense Intelligence College:

Sandler, Todd, et. al., 'Terrorist Signalling and the Value of Intelligence' (British Journal of Political Science, October 2007), Brian Dunmire's recent article from Military Intelligence, 'Army Strategic Intelligence,' and Don Hanle's Terrorism: The Newest Face of War, would be my recommendations. The Dunmire article is very helpful on the career field itself and some key issues strategic intelligence faces, especially in the Army. Insightful and informed. Hanle's book provides the most immediately applicable and functional method of analyzing terrorism that I know about. The book is especially valuable when read with T.X. Hammes' The Sling and The Stone.

James Hailer, founder, Hailer Publishing, a specialty house for military classics:

Compton Mackenzies' Water on the Brain. a comedy/satire written about rivalry between competing intelligence agencies in England in 1933. It was based on Mackenzies' experience as a MI6 agent during WWI and was his revenge for being prosecuted under the official secrets act for trying to publish his memoir of the war in 1932. He nails the war between bureaucracies better than anyone I have read, and it is one of the few books that I have consistently laughed out loud as I read it. Frankly it should be required reading for any person in a large organization."

Lin Todd, a specialist in counterterrorism in the Middle East:

Richards Heuer's 'Psychology of Intelligence Analysis' is a classic primer on analysis of intel of all sorts. In addition, Front Line Intelligence by COL Robert Robb and LTC Stedman Chandler, which is an S2 AAR of intelligence from WWII, might be useful."

Shawn Brimley, one of the brains behind the QDR:

Three additional books that have influenced my thinking on this issue are:

1. Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy -- by Mark Lowenthal
2. Anticipating Surprise: Analysis for Strategic Warning - by Cynthia Grabo
3. Surprise Attack: Lessons for Defense Planning -- by Richard Betts."

[ricksforeignpolicy/30July2009] 

Freedom Fighters in Georgian Republic need your support- New website has been seen at http://usaforgeorgia.org/

Spy Museum Podcast with AFIO member Richard Cummings on "Cold War Radio." Richard H. Cummings served for fifteen years as Director Security for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) during the Cold War and describes in this Spy Museum podcast Soviet bloc operations against the stations, including the 1978 murder of RFE scriptwriterGeorgi Markov in London, and the 1961 bombing of RFE/RL headquarters in Munich by the terrorist Carlos the Jackal. Listen to this first-hand account.

The Intelligence & Security Academy announces their OPEN INTELLIGENCE ACADEMY™, offering classes to individuals and groups on an open enrollment basis for the first time.
We offer the following courses:
History of U.S. Intelligence, September 8, 2009, taught by Mark Lowenthal.
Introduction to U.S. intelligence, September 9, 2009, taught by Mark Lowenthal.
The Intelligence Budget, September 15-16, 2009, taught by Caryn Wagner.
GEOINT 101, September 29, 2009, taught by Keith Masback & Robert Tomes. This course was developed by the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, in partnership with the Intelligence & Security Academy.
TECHINT, September 30 - October 1, 2009, taught by Robert Clark & Reg Heitchue.
Cyber, taught by Jason Healey. This course was developed by the Kiernan Group and Delta Risk LLC, in partnership with the Intelligence & Security Academy.
Basic, October 20, 2009
Intermediate, October 27-28, 2009
Advanced, November 3-4, 2009
All courses will be held at our offices at The Forum, 1892 Preston White Drive, Suite 300, Reston, VA 20191.
All courses will be unclassified. Attendance is limited to U.S. citizens.
For further information contact: Mark M. Lowenthal, at PH: 703-390-9940 or visit their website at www.intellacademy.com

Join AFIO's LinkedIn and Facebook pages. AFIO member and DoD attorney Andrew Borene does an outstanding job running/managing our LinkedIn and Facebook pages and groups. Join or explore these new methods for trading views on events, job postings, and other intelligence-related activities we cover on these two social networking websites. For LinkedIn start here. For facebook start here. From facebook, search for AFIO and join by sending in a "friend" request for the AFIO group page.

COMING EVENTS

EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

Saturday, 8 August 2009 - Orange Park, FL - The AFIO Northern Florida Chapter meets to hear Maj Brian Bailey, USMA, West Point, on Geospatial Issues and Strategic Successes.
The meeting will be held at its traditional location, the Country Club of Orange Park on Loch Rane Boulevard, west of Blanding Boulevard.
Social hour runs from 11:00 am to noon, lunch from noon until about 12:45 pm, followed by a brief break. Guest speaker presentation will begin at about 1:00 pm, and Chapter business and discussions at 2:00 pm. Adjournment will be by 3:00 pm. A reminder that all compatriots and their spouses, guests and potential members are cordially invited...indeed, encouraged! This meeting’s principal guest speaker will be Major Brian Bailey, currently serving on the faculty at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point. Among Brian’s special duties, including Kuwait where he held a classified position in communications, have been geospatial and technologically driven assignments. In addition to geospatial issues relative to tactical and strategic successes, Major Bailey will address other communications challenges in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. His interface with key technology has placed him in the forefront of his peers, including mention in a White House communiqu�. He recently became one of the first home-based technologists. He and his family logically make their home near West Point. RSVP right away for the 8 August 2009 meeting to Quiel at qbegonia@comcast.net or 904-630-7175. The cost will be $16 each, pay the Country Club at the event.

Monday, 10 August 2009, 6:30 p.m. - Washington, DC - How To Break A Terrorist [at the Spy Museum]. “Respect, rapport, hope, cunning, and deception are our tools."—Matthew Alexander
Interrogation is the ultimate battle of wills. The most expert interrogators have an arsenal of tactics at-the-ready. Gauging their target, they must quickly assess which psychological strategies will work to gain the most reliable results. Air Force officer Matthew Alexander is part of a small group of military interrogators who went to Iraq in 2006 trained to get information without using harsh methods. He sat face-to-face with hardened members of Al Qaeda and convinced them to talk. Alexander, author of How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq, will describe the true story of the critical interrogation he conducted that led to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Alexander will share his riveting experiences and reveal what it takes to be a great interrogator.
Where: International Spy Museum, 800 F St NW, Washington, DC, Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station
TICKETS: $12.50; Advance Registration required. Tickets are non-refundable and do not include admission to the International Spy Museum.
To register: https://web.spymuseum.org/e-commerce/ItemList.aspx

Friday, 14 August 2009 - Tysons Corner, VA - AFIO National SUMMER Luncheon...AFIO SUMMER LUNCHEON, Friday, 14 August 2009,

REGISTER HERE - only a few seats remain

10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Gen. Michael V. Hayden, USAF (Ret), NSA - CIA - AIR FORCE
Afternoon Speaker
Former Director of
Central Intelligence Agency
and the
National Security Agency

PLEASE NOTE: General Hayden's remarks at this event
are presented on a
"For Background Use, Only - Not for Attribution" basis.

Current policies and the U.S. Intelligence Community

Ronald Kessler- Morning Speaker

Best-selling Intelligence Author, Journalist
on his impressive upcoming book
[to be available at event]:

IN THE PRESIDENT'S SECRET SERVICE: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect

EVENT LOCATION: The Crowne Plaza
1960 Chain Bridge Road • McLean, Virginia 22102
Driving directions here or
use this link: http://tinyurl.com/8228kw

REGISTER HERE - only a few seats remain

Thursday, 20 August 2009, Noon - 1 p.m. - Washington, DC - The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America [at the Spy Museum] In 1993, former KGB officer Alexander Vassiliev was permitted unique access to Stalin-era records of Soviet intelligence operations against the United States. The notes Vassiliev took and subsequently made available to Library of Congress historian John Earl Haynes and professor Harvey Klehr, offer unprecedented insight into Soviet espionage in America. Based on this unique historical source, Harvey and Klehr have constructed a shocking, new account of Moscow’s espionage in America. The authors will expose Soviet spy tactics and techniques and shed new light on a number of controversial issues, including Alger Hiss’s cooperation with Soviet intelligence, journalist I.F. Stone’s recruitment and work for the KGB, and Ernest Hemingway’s meeting with KGB agents. Join the author for an informal chat and book signing.
Where: International Spy Museum, 800 F St NW, Washington, DC, Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station TICKETS: FREE. No registration required.

1 September 2009 - New York, NY - MEETING CANCELED - The AFIO New York Metropolitan Chapter 9/01/09 meeting with Air Force Lt. General David Deptula has been canceled as a result of military considerations.

17 September 2009 – San Francisco, CA – The AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence and member of AFIO's Honorary Board. R. James Woolsey speaks on: Spies, Energy and the New World of the 21st Century: The relatively comfortable world of having a stolid bureaucratic energy and a secure national infrastructure has been replaced by something far more difficult to deal with. As we make decisions about what direction our society should take regarding energy, keeping in mind that we need for it to be increasingly clean, secure, and affordable, what threats and problems should be at the center of our concerns, and what are some of the approaches that can help us deal with all three needs? United Irish Cultural Center 2700 45th Avenue, SF. 11:30 AM no host cocktails; noon - luncheon. $25 member rate with advance reservation and payment; $35 non-member rate. RSVP/pre-payment is required. E-m ail RSVP to Mariko Kawaguchi (please indicate meat or fish) afiosf@aol.com and mail check made out to "AFIO" to: Mariko Kawaguchi, P.O. Box 117578 Burlingame, CA 94011.

17 September 2009, 11:30 am - Colorado Springs, CO - AFIO Rocky Mountain Chapter hears Bryan Cunningham on "National At Risk."Talk to occur at the Air Force Academy, Falcon Club. Markle Foundation's Bryan Cunningham speaks on "Nation at Risk." Cunningham is with the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age. RSVP to Tom Van Wormer at robsmom@pcisys.net

Tuesday, 22 September 2009; 6:30 pm – Washington, DC - Terror Media: Free Speech or Dangerous Weapon? at the Spy Museum
“We need more [martyrs], so if you could encourage more of your children and more of your neighbors and anyone around you to send people like him to this jihad, it would be a great asset for us.”—“Abu Mansoor the American” in a recruiting video for Al-Shabaab, April 2009
With the communications explosion, terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, the PKK, and others have used their own media outlets to glorify suicide bombings, incite violence, recruit terrorists, and fund-raise online. Should governments shut down these media outlets to protect their citizens from harm? Should terror media be shielded as “protected free speech”? To what extent does one keep defending free speech....up to the point it kills you or your loved ones? Or ignore it if it kills others who you care little about? Where does one draw the line, if any? And how can new media be used against violent extremists? The panel exploring these issues includes: Juan Zarate, former deputy national security advisor for combating terrorism and former assistant secretary of the Treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes; Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who has helped shut down Hezbollah and other terrorist owned-media around the world; Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, who has spoken out in support of free speech regardless of viewpoint or consequences including deaths; and Todd Stein, legislative director for Senator Lieberman, and formerly a lawyer on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, who wrote the seminal document for the U.S. Congress exposing how terrorist organizations use online media to disseminate their message. Tickets: $15 per person. Where: International Spy Museum, 800 F St NW, Washington, DC, Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station To register: https://web.spymuseum.org/e-commerce/ItemList.aspx

Thursday, 24 September 2009; 12 noon – 1 pm – Washington, DC - Author talk by Jennet Conant on: The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington - at Spy Museum. In 1940, with the threat of German invasion, the British government mounted a massive, secret campaign of propaganda and political subversion to weaken isolationist sentiment in America and manipulate Washington into entering the war against Germany. For this purpose, Winston Churchill created the British Security Coordination (BSC) under William Stephenson, “Intrepid,” whose agents called themselves the “Baker Street Irregulars.” Jennet Conant, author of The Irregulars, will discuss the exploits of one of Stephenson’s key agents: Roald Dahl. Beloved now for his books Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, in WWII Dahl used his dazzling imagination for espionage purposes. His dashing good looks and easy charm won him access to the ballrooms and bedrooms of America’s rich and powerful, and to the most important prize of all—intelligence. Free! No registration required! Join the author for an informal chat and book signing. Where: International Spy Museum, 800 F St NW, Washington, DC, Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station

Wednesday, 30 September 2009; 6:30 pm – Washington, DC - Rediscovering U.S. Counterintelligence: The Inside View - at the Spy Museum. “Significant strategic victories often turn on intelligence coups, and with almost every intelligence success, counterintelligence rides shotgun.”—Jennifer E. Sims, former deputy assistant secretary of state for intelligence coordination
Research, analysis, agile collection, and the timely use of guile and theft are the handmaidens of intelligence. The practice of defeating these tactics —counterintelligence—is an art unto itself. Burton Gerber, a veteran CIA case officer who served 39 years as an operations officer, was chief of station in three Communist countries, and now teaches at Georgetown University, and Jennifer E. Sims, professor in residence, director of intelligence studies, Georgetown University, and former deputy assistant secretary of state for intelligence coordination, have recently co-edited Vaults, Mirrors, & Masks: Rediscovering U.S. Counterintelligence. In this fresh look at counterintelligence, the co-editors will explain its importance and explore the causes of—and practical solutions for—U.S. counterintelligence weaknesses. Audience participation in this probing conversation—from the protection of civil liberties to challenges posted by technological change—will be strongly encouraged. Tickets: $15 per person Where: International Spy Museum, 800 F St NW, Washington, DC, Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station To register: https://web.spymuseum.org/e-commerce/ItemList.aspx

13-16 October 2009 - Las Vegas, NV - AFIO National Symposium - Nellis AFB, Creech AFB.

Register Here

Agenda

AFIO 2009 Fall Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada
13 October to 16 October, 2009
Co-hosted with the AFIO Las Vegas Chapter

Cold Warriors in the Desert: From Atomic Blasts to Sonic Booms

Symposium will feature presentations on the testing of atomic weapons, airborne reconnaissance platforms, and more. Onsite visits to Nellis Air Force Base - Home of the Fighter Pilot, the U.S. Department of Energy's Nevada Test Site - the former on-continent nuclear weapons proving ground, and Creech Air Force Base - the home of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (currently deployed for combat missions in the Middle East, yet piloted from Creech).

Secure Online Registration is accepted here

Updated agenda for planning your hotel and travel arrangements

Please note: buses will be departing very early on Wednesday morning from hotel, so attendees are encouraged to reserve sleeping rooms at hotel starting Tuesday evening, 12 October.

Harrah's Hotel Registration is available now at: Telephone reservations may be made at 800-901-5188. Refer to Group Code SHAIO9 to get the special AFIO rate. To make hotel reservations online, go to: http://tinyurl.com/lsx23o
Special AFIO October Symposium Las Vegas rates are available up to Friday, September 11, 2009

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

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