Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Maryland Scientist Accused by U.S. of Trying to Spy for Israel. A Maryland scientist, whose work with U.S. defense, space and energy agencies had given him access to classified information, is under arrest on charges of attempting to spy for Israel.

A criminal complaint unsealed in Washington accuses Stewart David Nozette, 52, of Chevy Chase, of attempted espionage. Nozette allegedly attempted to deliver U.S. defense secrets to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer in exchange for money, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Nozette held security clearances as high as top secret and had access to information related to national defense, according to the Justice Department. He developed a radar experiment that purportedly discovered water on the south pole of the moon and designed "highly advanced" technology at the Energy Department, according to the statement.

"This case reflects our firm resolve to hold accountable any individual who betrays the public trust by compromising our national security for his or her own personal gain," said Channing D. Phillips, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Nozette was arrested yesterday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Justice Department statement said he is expected to appear today in U.S. District Court in Washington. The government's complaint doesn't allege that Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed a crime.

A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment.

Nozette worked at the Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and did research at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Virginia, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, according to the Justice Department.

From November 1998 through January 2008, Nozette worked as a technical consultant for an aerospace company that was owned by the government of Israel. Once a month, he answered questions posed by the company in return for payments totaling about $225,000 over that period, according to a criminal complaint. Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, declined to name the company.

In January, Nozette traveled to an unnamed country carrying two computer thumb drives that were found in his baggage by an airport security inspector, according to the criminal complaint. When he returned to the U.S., he was searched by a customs officer who couldn't locate the drives, the complaint said.

On Sept. 3, he was contacted by telephone by an individual claiming to be an Israeli intelligence officer, according to the Justice Department. That person was an undercover FBI agent. Nozette met with the agent and indicated his willingness to work for Israeli intelligence, the statement said.

In another meeting, Nozette allegedly told the agent that even though he no longer had access to classified information at a government facility, he could recall classified information, according to the statement. Nozette allegedly asked when he would receive his first payment.

"I don't get recruited by Mossad every day," Nozette allegedly told the FBI agent, referring to the Israeli intelligence agency, according to the criminal complaint. "I knew this day would come."

Asked why, he said: "I just had a feeling," according to the complaint.

Nozette allegedly provided answers to questions about U.S. satellite information and received a $2,000 cash payment, according to the statement. One of the answers provided information classified as secret, and he allegedly offered to reveal additional classified information on nuclear weapons, military spacecraft and other weapons systems, according to the Justice Department.

The Justice Department wasn't immediately able to provide the name of a lawyer representing Nozette.

Nozette received a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge in 1983 and worked at the White House on the National Space Council in 1989 and 1990, according to the Justice Department.

The NASA Web site includes a question-and-answer page with Nozette related to his research exploring the Lunar poles. [Blum/Bloomberg/20October2009] 

NSA Director Tapped For Cyber Command. President Obama has, as expected, nominated National Security Agency director Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander to be promoted to the rank of general and assigned as commander of the new United States Cyber Command.

The Cyber Command, announced this summer, will be in charge of cyberwarfare and the security of military networks. It will be based in Ft. Meade, Md., where the National Security Agency is also headquartered, and will be part of the U.S. Strategic Command.

Defense secretary Robert Gates urged Alexander's appointment in a June memo, when he formally created Cyber Command. A month earlier, Alexander said in testimony before the House Armed Services committee that it was vital for the military to combine some of its existing cybersecurity efforts. "The way we're approaching [cybersecurity] today does not work," he said. "We can put the defense and the offense together for the good of the department. The rapid expansion and global dependence upon cyberspace require[s] the Defense Department to evolve its warfighting doctrine to include cyberspace as a viable domain on par with the domains of the land, sea, air and space."

In anticipation of the possible creation of a broad military cybersecurity effort, Alexander this spring became acting director of the Joint Task Force - Global Network Operations (JTF-GNO), which heads up the operation and cybersecurity of Department of Defense networks. JTF-GNO will dissolve next year, and its operations roles will revert to the Defense Information Systems Agency.

Alexander will stay on in his role as NSA director. He also heads the Joint Functional Component Command for Network Warfare, which is developing offensive cyberwarfare strategies. He was previously deputy chief of staff of the Army, commanding general of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, and held a number of other senior Army roles.

In testimony to the House Armed Services Committee earlier this year, Alexander laid out several priorities for military cybersecurity, including preventing unauthorized access, cybersecurity training, consistency in cybersecurity management, and the use of "automated security protocols." He also mentioned the importance of working with the nation's allies and partners in industry on certain cybersecurity issues.

Alexander holds a number of graduate degrees, including a master of science in systems technology (electronic warfare) from the Naval Post Graduate School, and has won a number of military awards, including five Legions of Merit and a Bronze Star.

Read InformationWeek's first-ever analysis of top CIOs in federal, state, and local government, and how they're embracing new expectations. Download the report here (registration required). [Hippensteel/InformationWeek/20October2009] 

Defense Authorization Conferees Limit Spending On Special Ops Sub. House and Senate authorizers are blocking the Pentagon from spending money on the new Joint Multi-Mission Submersible (JMMS) program until defense and intelligence leaders conduct an assessment and certify the effort is the most effective, affordable way to meet a validated program requirement.

The fiscal year 2010 defense authorization conference agreement includes $43.4 million for JMMS as the Obama administration requested, but with an important caveat: The legislation prevents officials from spending money to advance the program beyond milestone B approval until Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence retired Adm. Dennis Blair conduct the study and provide the required certification to defense and intelligence committees on Capitol Hill.

The push for such language came from House authorizers, who proposed a similar provision earlier this year.

The JMMS is a successor to the troubled Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS); Congress clearly wants officials to be mindful of, and avoid repeating, the mistakes in that program. The legislation strongly endorses the Defense Department's decision to designate the JMMS program an acquisition category 1D special interest program, significantly boosting the level of Pentagon oversight for it compared to ASDS.

The conferees expect that the required DOD-DNI assessment for JMMS will take into account any past use of submersible assets by DOD and the intelligence community, the legislation states.

When Naval Sea Systems Command held a secret-level industry day for JMMS earlier this year, 30 companies expressed interest, according to the Federal Business Opportunities Web site, which lists former ASDS prime contractor Northrop Grumman, as well as General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, among others as participating. [Castelli/InsideTheNavy/19October2009] 

Agency Must Reveal Source of Allegations Against Terror Suspect Mohamed Harkat. A federal judge has ordered Canada's spy agency to hand over a secret file in the case of terror suspect Mohamed Harkat.

In a decision made public today, Justice Simon Noel says CSIS must give the court details of a confidential source the spy service is using to support allegations against Harkat.

Noel says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has undermined the integrity of the court's work by failing to disclose other important information in the case.

As a result, he wants CSIS to provide additional secret information to restore broken trust.

The government is trying to deport the Algerian-born Harkat using a national security certificate, a rarely employed immigration provision, since his December 2002 arrest.

CSIS alleges Harkat is a member of the al-Qaida terror network - a claim he denies. [TheStar/21October2009] 

Armenia Arrests Two On Azerbaijan Spy Charges. Armenia's National Security Service (NSS) announced that it has arrested two persons, including a retired army officer, on charges of spying for Azerbaijan. One of the suspects was identified as retired Lieutenant-Colonel Gevorg Hayrapetian. "In 2007 he was demobilized from the Armenian Armed Forces for a blatant violation of military and disciplinary rules," the NSS said in a statement.

The statement added that Hayrapetian has already been charged with high treason for "cooperating with Azerbaijani special services." A corresponding article of Armenia's Criminal Code carries between 10 and 15 years imprisonment.

According to the NSS, the other detainee is a "foreign national" who liaised between Hayrapetian and Azerbaijani intelligence. The security agency did not identify the suspect or give any details of the alleged espionage.

The Azerbaijani government was quick to dismiss the announced arrests as a "cheap Armenian provocation."

Both Azerbaijan and Armenia have occasionally arrested and prosecuted individuals for allegedly spying for each other since the early 1990s. In one such case, a retired Russian army officer who had fought on the Armenian side during the 1992-1994 war in Nagorno-Karabakh was arrested in late 2006 and subsequently convicted of passing Armenian "state secrets" on to Azerbaijan. The ethnic Tatar man, Rustem Valiakhmetov, initially confessed to the charges but retracted his pre-trial testimony in court, saying that it had been given under duress.

And in June 2005, a Russian-born Armenian citizen, Andrey Maziev, was likewise convicted of high treason and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Maziev pleaded guilty to the charges, unlike four other ethnic Russians who received lengthy jail sentences on similar charges in January 2004. [Stepanian/Azatutyun/21October2009] 

South Korea Mulling Cooperation with Germany on Military Satellites. South Korea will likely cooperate with Germany to develop satellites for military use, a governmental official said.

According to local media, a spokesman at South Korea's Ministry of National Defense said that his ministry currently is studying the possibility of cooperating with Germany to develop at least four satellites by 2020. The satellites will be used to collect military intelligence.

South Korea currently relies on commercial satellites to collect information on its rival neighbor the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), while sharing the intelligence provided by the United States, its decades-long ally.  [Xinhuanet/21October2009] 

New Report Says China Building Cyberwar Capabilities, Targeting US Military, Intelligence. China is building its cyberwarfare capabilities and appears to be using the growing technical abilities to collect U.S. intelligence through a sophisticated and long-term computer attack campaign, according to an independent report.

The study found cases suggesting that China's elite hacker community has ties to the Beijing government, although there is little hard evidence.

The commission report details a cyberattack against a U.S. company several years ago that appeared to either originate in or come through China and was similar to other incidents also believed to be connected to the country.

According to the analysis, the company noticed that over several days, data from their network was being sent to multiple computers in the U.S. and overseas. While the report does not identify the company, it contends that the attackers targeted specific data, suggesting a very coordinated and sophisticated operation by people who had the expertise to use the high-tech information. An internet protocol (IP) address located in China was used at times during the episode.

Barring proof, the study by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission warns that the sort of expansive and sophisticated computer resources that have been seen in cyberattacks on the U.S. and other countries "is difficult at best without some type of state sponsorship."

The study contends that the Chinese, long reported to be stoking a massive military build up, has also made computer warfare a priority. The Chinese government is said to view such cyberprowess as critical for victory in future conflicts - similar to the priority on offensive cyber abilities stressed by some U.S. officials.

Potential Chinese targets in the U.S., according to the report, would likely include Pentagon networks and databases to disrupt command and control communications, and possibly corrupt encrypted data. The report notes, however, that penetrating such classified systems would be time consuming and difficult.

In large part, the commission report expands on the Pentagon's annual China military power review. The Defense study said earlier this year that China's People's Liberation Army has set up information warfare units to develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems and networks as well as to protect friendly systems.

The Pentagon report described computer attacks believed to have originated in China, but concluded that "it remains unclear if these intrusions were conducted by, or with the endorsement of, the PLA or other elements of the PRC (People's Republic of China) government."

The new report, prepared for the commission by Northrop Grumman Corp., relies largely on publicly available information from Chinese hacker web sites, technical articles and analysis of computer intrusions attributed to the Chinese. [Baldor/LATimes/22October2009] 

Italy's Intelligence Services Launch Website. Italy's intelligence services announced the launch of an Internet website to explain their duties and shed light on the organization within the interior ministry.

The website is "another step in implementing the reforms approved two years ago" to improve communication by the intelligence services and contribute to "more transparency in the national security system," the services said in a statement.

The Italian Senate in August 2007 adopted a reform of the country's secret intelligence services, in particular giving more power to the government's head of the services and to the parliamentary oversight committee.

The reform came after a series of scandals at the military intelligence services, forcing the centre-left government at the time of prime minister Romano Prodi to fire the chief, General Nicolo Pollari, in November 2006.

Pollari and his second in command, Marco Mancini, were taken to court along with 26 agents of the US spy agency CIA for kidnapping an Egyptian ex-iman in February 2003 in Milan on suspicion of terrorism. Their trial is in its final phase. [AP/23October2009] 

Swedish Author Admits KGB Connection. Prominent Swedish author and journalist Jan Guillou had liaisons spanning five years with the Soviet intelligence service in the 1960s. Guillou maintains he was trying to reveal how the KGB was operating in Sweden.

The revelations were disclosed by the newspaper Expressen after it obtained documents from Swedish intelligence agency S�po on Guillou's relations with the KGB.

The documents center around Russian agent Jevgenij Ivanovitj Gergel, the KGB's man in Stockholm at the end of the 1960s.

A witness statement from one of Guillou's journalist colleagues at the time raised the alarm over relations between the two. It also refers to an assignment to steal an internal telephone directory from the American Embassy in Stockholm.

Guillou confirmed that he first met Gergel at a reception held at the Soviet Embassy in Stockholm in 1967.

"We never did anything other than talk politics," he told the newspaper.

Guillou adds that his connection never led to any journalistic revelations and he denies spying for the Soviets.

He concedes, however, that he undertook paid assignments but claims the purpose was of a professional nature, to investigate how the KGB was working in Sweden at the time.

"It was just a few non-events and it is not a crime to meet foreign intelligence services," he added.

Guillou had contact with the KGB until 1972 when he began publishing articles that revealed the existence of Informationsbyr�n, a secret Swedish military intelligence agency that spied on Swedish citizens for political purposes. He was later jailed for espionage.

S�po's investigation of Guillou's KGB relations never led to any indictments. [TheLocal/24October2009]

Documents Show that Former MI5 Chief Sir Roger Hollis Was Not a Traitor. The suspicion that a former head of MI5 was a secret Soviet spy has been lifted after the disclosure of files connected to a Security Service investigation into the allegation.

The late Sir Roger Hollis, MI5 Director-General from 1956 to 1965, was subjected to two interviews by his own interrogators. The investigation involved about 50 other interviews.

When the accusation first became public that Sir Roger might have been a traitor - with the publication in 1981 of Their Trade is Treachery by Chapman Pincher - Margaret Thatcher was forced to make a statement to the Commons in which she said that there was no evidence against the former MI5 chief.

Oleg Gordievsky, the former senior KGB officer who was working as a double agent for MI6 and defected to Britain in 1985, also confirmed that, from his inside knowledge, Sir Roger's accusers were wrong.

The full extent of the investigation and subsequent internal reviews, which concluded that he was innocent of the crime of treachery, is revealed in the authorized history of MI5, The Defence of the Realm, by Christopher Andrew and published this month.

Adrian Hollis, Sir Roger's son and a retired Oxford University lecturer, told The Times: "Christopher Andrew has delved into the story of my father quite satisfactorily. He was given free use of all the files and I don't think I want to make any further comment."

Sir Roger came under suspicion after the defection to the CIA in 1961 of Anatoli Golitsyn, a KGB major, who revealed that the British intelligence services were riddled with Soviet spies. A search for traitors was launched, led by Peter Wright, the MI5 officer who in 1987 published all his suspicions against his former colleagues in his book Spycatcher.

In September 1967, Sir Roger was secretly assigned the codename DRAT and the case against him was submitted on June 18, 1970. It was drafted by John Day, another officer. "It remains a shocking document. A classic example of a paper written to support a conclusion already arrived at, which excludes important evidence to the contrary and turns on its head evidence which does not fit the preconceived conclusion," Professor Andrew said.

"Hollis had also been almost the only - perhaps the only - wartime member of the Service suspicious about [Anthony] Blunt [the MI5 officer who was a Soviet agent]," he said.

After the publication of Spycatcher, a number of internal MI5 reports reviewed the investigation carried out in the 1960s and 1970s. According to the secret files examined during Professor Andrew's research, an officer in the counter-espionage branch concluded in June 1988: "In our estimation, the case originally against Hollis which culminated in two interviews with him was so insubstantial that it should not have been pursued."

The MI5 officer wrote that some of the leading investigators were guilty of a "lack of intellectual rigour", and he accused Peter Wright of dishonesty. "[He] did not scruple to invent evidence where none existed," he wrote.

Mr. Gordievsky claimed that the KGB was deeply puzzled as to why Sir Roger had ever been investigated on charges of being a Soviet spy. [TimesOnline/24October2009] 

Former State Department Employee Charged. A former State Department program manager in Iraq has been charged with accepting tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for steering contracts to Iraqi construction firms, according to court documents.

It appeared to be the first time a State Department employee had been charged in federal court in connection with fraud in the multibillion-dollar U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq, according to officials familiar with that work.

The criminal complaint, unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in western Texas, charged Richard Lopez Razo, 52, with illegal receipt of kickbacks and bribes and with wire fraud. He was arrested Friday in Sterling and later released on his own recognizance, court documents said.

From 2005 to July 2008, Razo worked in Iraq as a logistics specialist for three U.S. companies, according to the complaint. It alleges that during that period he requested tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from Iraqi subcontractors for lining up construction contracts. The subcontractors sent some of the money to Razo's North Carolina bank account via wire transfers, according to the allegations.

Razo began work for the State Department as a provincial program manager in Iraq in September 2008, with oversight for reconstruction projects in the south, according to the court documents. They said Razo's private e-mails indicated he solicited at least $144,000 in kickbacks from Iraqi construction firms seeking U.S. contracts in the ensuing weeks. It was not clear from the court documents when Razo left the State Department.

A woman reached by phone at Razo's home in Fayetteville, N.C., said Tuesday he was not available.  [Sheriden/WashingtonPost/20October2009] 

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Las Vegas at Large: Spies of the Valley: Real Life 007s and Q Branches Who Have Retired to Las Vegas Recount Their Missions. The old spies who live among us have their own organization and meet every couple of months at Nellis Air Force Base.

One of the leaders of the group, retired Army Col. John Alexander, was the basis for the George Clooney character in "The Men Who Stare at Goats," which hits theaters in early November. But each of the 40 or so active members of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers' Las Vegas chapter could be turned into a film character.

Sully De Fontaine, for example, is a former World War II OSS member who, as a teen, twice jumped behind enemy lines into occupied France to save American fliers who had been shot down and were being hidden by the Maquis, the famed French resistance fighters. De Fontaine is also a first-generation Special Forces, or Green Beret, commander. Sitting with his cane at a recent chapter meeting at Nellis Air Force Base, the 82-year-old had the unflappable look of someone who laughs at bombs tossed his way.

Then there's 65-year-old Ken Walther, who spent 27 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and described his work as building "all these cool devices, similar to what the 'Q Branch' did for (James) Bond."

In short, Walther was a gadget maker.

One of the more famous capers he worked on involved the creation of devices that looked and acted like bombs, except they couldn't detonate. CIA operatives gave the devices to Spanish terrorists who in 1983 planned to kill Juan Carlos, the King of Spain. Hidden within the fakes were homing devices that led to the terrorists' capture.

Walther has lived in Southern Nevada for more than a decade and these days is a businessman working on a "biometric smart card." The way he describes it, the card will revolutionize the security of credit cards and other magnetic-stripped cards. The cards will work only for the person they are assigned to.

"It will be more accurate in identifying you than a fingerprint," he said.

He's also working on a device for detecting volatile gases and radiation for Homeland Security.

He talks excitedly about the work. At the same time, however, he says nothing will compare to what he did in the CIA.

"It was the best thing I could ever think of doing."

That visceral connection is partly why he and Alexander and others are members of the retired spies group.

Richard Cohn, 54, an Energy Department employee who is president of the Las Vegas chapter, says its gatherings are about "that camaraderie of the former folks getting together and discussing recent events, the history of what they've been through, and there are liaison opportunities between former and current folks."

Meetings in the past year have included presentations about Las Vegas' Joint Terrorism Task Force, the development of the U-2 and A-12 spy planes at Area 51, and "The Real History of the Civil Air Transport/Air America."

Nationwide, the Association of Former Intelligence Officers boasts 5,000 members in 23 chapters. Some 200 members from across the country gathered in Las Vegas this month for their national fall symposium, "Cold Warriors in the Desert: From Atomic Blasts to Sonic Booms," which was co-sponsored by the Energy Department, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Air Force Warfare Center.

Attendees toured the Nevada Test Site, were briefed on and viewed the remote-controlled Predator/Reaper unmanned plane, and heard about "The Real Spy's Guide to Becoming a Spy," by Peter Earnest, former CIA operative and current director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

When retired spies from across the nation get together, they can delve into topics that sound a little beyond average folks. Alexander, a frequent presenter in the local chapter, for example, gave a presentation on "Geotransformational Changes that Affect the Future of Conflict."

Alexander's Hollywood fame is coming because of his involvement in investigating paranormal phenomena, such as psychokinesis and remote viewing, and their potential use by the Army.

Having been called the "father" of the nonlethal weaponry concept, he remains active in intelligence circles by writing position papers for the Joint Special Operations University and travels the world seeking ways to improve military operations.

A Special Forces commander in Vietnam, the Wisconsin native is white-haired and close to or in his 70s - he won't tell his exact age. His eyes are almost always narrowed in thought.

The club for former intelligence officers is not for everyone, he said. Some just leave the cloak-and-dagger world behind.

"There are those who, you know, fold their tent and move silently into the night," he said. "There are others, who say, 'We kind of miss the action. We'd like to find ways to continue to participate.'"

The Las Vegas Valley is dotted with former employees of the Army's intelligence division, the National Security Agency, the CIA and other so-called "three-letter agencies."

Some retire here because they worked, or are still employed, nearby - at Nellis Air Force Base, the Nevada Test Site or Area 51, the supersecret research base 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to name just a few examples.

Others moved here for the same reason civilian retirees do - for the climate and low taxes.

As a place for intelligence operatives to retire, "Las Vegas appears to be a target-rich environment," Cohn said.

Some have written books here, but many of them aren't the kind of people who want their stories told.

Their solitary senses honed by their former lines of work, many of the men and a few women at a Nellis meeting of the Las Vegas chapter this year avoided eye contact with a Sun reporter.

Or maybe that was just the reporter's interpretation, part of what Alexander sees as the "mythology" of intelligence work promoted by the media.

Sure "the spies you read about are certainly there," Alexander said. "But that's a very small percentage of the folks in the intelligence community.... The vast majority of the people involved are analysts and the requirement for linguistic skills is immense."

To make that point, part of Alexander's presentation in local high schools includes a picture of a crossed-out James Bond. Intelligence organizations have a "real challenge" getting talented recruits, which is part of the reason the local chapter of the association offers a scholarship to one high-schooler each year.

"Nobody has done very much about figuring out how to convince people to even look at the field," Alexander said. "But if you like problem-solving, this is the place to give serious consideration."

For Walther, the excitement will never be matched.

"Living in all the different countries, doing work that figures important - counterterrorism, narcotics, espionage, you name it, anything on the menu at the time, I worked on.

"It was quite the life." [Schoenmann/LasVegasSun/22October2009] 

Ex-Los Alamos Lab Physicist Describes Meetings. It's a tale of intrigue, involving a nuclear weapons physicist at a national laboratory and a mystery man, supposedly from the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, fluent in Spanish and English.

Late last year, that mystery man paid the scientist, P. Leonardo Mascheroni, $20,000 in cash left in a drop box at the Albuquerque airport, according to Mascheroni, who says he kept it in a closed envelope that was opened by FBI agents who searched his Los Alamos home Monday.

Mascheroni said he wasn't interested in the money itself - not the $20,000 in the envelope nor the $800,000 he had asked for from the Venezuelan government for his work. Instead, he said, his motives were pure: He wanted the chance to pursue his theories of nuclear fusion.

"People are going to say, 'He really wanted the $800,000 and to disappear,'" Mascheroni said. "But those are the guys who don't know my character. ... A person like me is driven by the science. I am that kind of a person who goes inside my world. I see global security as a very important part of my science."

The story Mascheroni recounted seemed far removed from the quiet Los Alamos neighborhood where he lives amid Ponderosa pines and yellow-blooming chamisa in the foothills of the Jemez Mountains.

Last year, the 74-year-old scientist believed the Venezuelan government wanted him to produce a study on how to build a nuclear weapons program. In return, he asked for the $800,000, which he planned to use for his scientific work in New Mexico and persuade Congress to take a look at his theories.

Now, he believes the U.S. government is wrongly targeting him as a spy, an accusation he insisted is not true.

In the raid Monday, the FBI seized computers, letters, photographs, books and cell phones from his home of the former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear scientist.

No charges have been filed. An FBI spokesman confirmed the agency is pursuing an "ongoing investigation" in Los Alamos but declined further comment on the probe or on Mascheroni's claims.

Dressed in a gray sweater and khakis, Mascheroni said that he only provided the mystery man, whom he called "Luis," with unclassified materials found on the Internet.

He hoped the information would show Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that such a program was too impractical and expensive for the South American country.

Mascheroni said "Luis" was a man in his 40s from the Venezuelan embassy. They spoke in Spanish and English. The mystery man told him: "The less that you know about me is the best for you."

At a one-hour February 2008 meeting at a Santa Fe hotel, Luis talked to Mascheroni about how to start a nuclear weapons program in Venezuela. Mascheroni initially said the hotel was in Los Alamos.

Mascheroni said the man called him the next day, asking for another 30-minute meeting and proof of his scientific credentials.

In July 2008, Mascheroni said he received a formal request via e-mail from his Venezuelan contact to write a study for how to build a nuclear weapons program.

Mascheroni said he finished the study in November 2008 and, following directions, placed a CD containing only unclassified information available on the Internet - which he already had provided to congressional staffers - inside a post office box at the Albuquerque airport.

Later, he said, he received an e-mail telling him to return to the same post office box where he found a note that said there was $20,000 in $100 bills inside an envelope.

"I never opened the envelope," he said.

During their last meeting in July, Mascheroni said Luis told him the Venezuelan government approved of his proposal but the two had a disagreement over his fee.

The scientist said he wanted $400,000 deposited in a Los Alamos bank and another $400,000 paid in person when he traveled to Venezuela to give a presentation.

According to Mascheroni, Luis tried to persuade him to open an offshore account. Mascheroni said he looked into where he could get such an account but never opened one.

Chavez has scoffed at speculation that Mascheroni was working with his government, saying Venezuela hopes to develop a nuclear energy program for peaceful uses with help from Russia.

Mascheroni worked in the nuclear weapons design division at the Los Alamos lab from 1979 until being laid off in 1988 after advocating for development of a hydrogen-fluoride laser to generate fusion.

Asked why he pursued contact with the purported Venezuelan representative, Mascheroni said he was motivated by his belief in cleaner, less expensive and more reliable nuclear weapons and power.

He began approaching other countries after his ideas were rejected by the lab and, later, congressional staffers.

Mascheroni, who is from Argentina but became a U.S. citizen in 1972, said he approached the Venezuelan government and Luis contacted him in return.

During the 13-hour search Monday, FBI agents found the envelope at Mascheroni's home containing the $20,000 and counted the money for him.

Mascheroni said the agents told him they retrieved the CD from Luis, and was told that he was apprehended in Miami trying to leave the country. He said he now doesn't know whether Luis was a representative of Venezuela or a U.S. agent posing as one.

But he hopes his case will finally give him the chance to publicize his scientific ideas.

"Deep inside my brain, I am happy. I am not with fear," Mascheroni said. [Clark/WashingtonPost/22October2009] 

We Kept America Safe. As one of President George W. Bush's top intelligence officials, Gen. Michael Hayden conceived the controversial warrantless-wiretapping program while head of the National Security Agency and then, in 2006, was sent to clean house at the Central Intelligence Agency. Hayden spoke recently to NEWSWEEK's Jerry Guo about his reign as America's top spy and its security challenges today.

A recent internal report by the International Atomic Energy Agency claims Iran's nuclear capabilities are further along than the U.S. estimates. Is the CIA being careful after Iraq?

You're looking at the same data and drawing different conclusions. When the Israelis talked about this, they took each question and tended to push them in the direction of a more imminent threat. So you end up with a difference in timeline. But there's far more agreement than disagreement.

Is Iran's secret Qum facility part of a hidden nuclear archipelago?

We have good knowledge about their facilities. But I would never make the claim we know everything.

Can we trust our Pakistani partners?

To work with a foreign service requires a degree of trust. Traditionally, Pakistan viewed Al Qaeda in the tribal areas as far more our problem than theirs. With the assassination of Benazir Bhutto [in December 2007] came the growing realization that this was as much their problem as ours.

What's the way forward in AfPak?

The West, not just the U.S., has a moral obligation to the people of Afghanistan. If we were to lighten our footprint to where they aren't protected, they could be subjected to terrible reprisals. The U.S. debate also affects how the Pakistanis deal with this problem. To the degree that they are not confident in our staying power, they develop their own hedging strategies.

Does the CIA have any idea what's going on inside the North Korean regime?

North Korea is far more closed than even the Soviet Union was at the height of the Cold War. It's an enduring hard target. But we have made improvements - that's all I can say.

You recently asked President Obama to shut down the probe into the CIA's interrogation techniques under the Bush administration. But what about individual agents who may have crossed the line?

The CIA investigated all this. It wasn't like the agency said, "Please don't hurt us." The Eastern District of Virginia decided to prosecute [CIA contractor] David Passaro. They declined prosecution in all other cases. End of story. Why are you reopening an investigation that has already been decided by career prosecutors in an apolitical manner? [Attorney General Eric Holder] has no new information, of that I'm certain. It's unfair to drag the people at the agency back through all this.

The 2004 CIA inspector-general's report that was released this August cited several legally dubious incidents, such as mock executions, that would violate federal torture statutes prohibiting the threat of imminent death.

It's not about cover-ups. It's [that] we already did this. This stuff is new to you, but it's not new to the Department of Justice. They've had it for four years. This has been resolved by career -prosecutors.

Can you cite an example where "enhanced" interrogation techniques averted an impending attack?

If we've been successful, it's because of our intelligence. In the first several years, the lion's share came from these detainees. On fewer than a third did we use enhanced techniques. In most instances, we just had to talk to these people. We waterboarded three. I'm not trying to argue for any of these techniques, but we learned things that kept America safe. [Guo/Newsweek/24October2009] 

Fidel Castro's Sister: "I Worked with CIA in Cuba." The younger sister of Fidel and Raul Castro, Juanita Castro, collaborated with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency against her brothers' rule in Cuba before going into exile in Miami in 1964, she said on Sunday.

Juanita Castro, 76, who has not spoken to either of her brothers for more than four decades, made the revelation to the Spanish-language TV channel Univision-Noticias 23 on the eve of the publication of her memoirs about Fidel and Raul Castro.

The book in Spanish entitled "Fidel and Raul, My Brothers, the Secret History," co-written with Mexican journalist Maria Antonieta Collins, is being published on Monday.

After initially supporting Fidel Castro's 1959 Revolution that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, Juanita Castro said she became disillusioned by the way her elder brother was executing opponents and moving the island toward communism.

"I began to become disenchanted when I saw so much injustice," she said in an interview with Collins broadcast by Univision-Noticias 23.

Juanita Castro said that from her house in Havana, she had worked to shelter and help those who were being persecuted by Fidel Castro's government. "My situation in Cuba became delicate because of my activity against the regime," she said.

She told Collins that one day a person close to both her and Fidel Castro brought her an invitation from the CIA asking her to collaborate with the U.S. spy agency.

"They wanted to talk to me because they had interesting things to tell me, and interesting things to ask me, such as if I was willing to take the risk, if I was ready to listen to them - I was rather shocked, but anyway I said yes," Juanita Castro told Collins.

Collins said that "in this way began a long relationship with the arch-enemy of Fidel Castro, the Central Intelligence Agency."

"During three years, from 1961 to 1964, at the risk of her own life, the work of Juanita Castro was to save the lives of her compatriots long before she left for exile in Miami," Collins added, without giving more details.

Juanita Castro, who worked quietly in Miami for more than three decades running a community pharmacy before retiring in late 2006, last spoke to her brother Fidel at her home in Havana in 1963 when their mother, Lina Ruz Gonzalez, died of a heart attack. She last spoke to her other brother Raul in 1964, just days before she left Cuba to go into exile, she said.

Former leader Fidel Castro, 83, who established a one-party communist system in Cuba after the 1959 revolution and ruled the island for nearly half a century, last year handed over the presidency to his younger brother Raul Castro, 78.

Juanita has been a strong critic of Fidel Castro's communist rule in Cuba, saying he betrayed the democratic principles he originally claimed to espouse by turning to Marxism and aligning Cuba with the Soviet Union. [Fletcher/Reuters/26October2009]

Section III - COMMENTARY

Eye in the Sky - Washington Times. Embedded in the new defense policy bill - which is awaiting the president's signature - are the latest mixed messages about plans to use satellites to keep track of our enemies. If left untended, the tangle could undermine intelligence for years to come.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency recently issued a classified request to companies that operate private imaging satellites asking what further they can do to augment the existing U.S. spy satellite system, according to a Congress Daily report confirmed by intelligence community sources. Already integral to the nation's intelligence satellite system, this move to buy more commercial satellite imagery appears to be part of Obama administration plans to have such data supplement new National Reconnaissance Office satellites capable of greater detail than available commercially.

But congressional action supported by the administration is at odds with this effort. A provision in the 2010 defense authorization legislation directs the Defense Department to develop two of its own commercial-grade optical satellites. These could compete with commercial data, crippling private investment that directly benefits the U.S. military and intelligence agencies.

Further complicating matters is language in the defense authorization bill directing the Obama administration to review whether restrictions on the commercial sale of private satellite imagery should be loosened - potentially allowing the public sale of better quality data than is now available due to national security concerns.

These efforts come as Congress can't decide on long-term plans to replace the nation's intelligence satellites. The Obama administration has backed language in the House-version of the 2010 intelligence authorization ensuring the government buys more expensive satellites capable of higher quality images, supplementing it with private satellite data. A competing Senate plan, which is backed by many in the intelligence community, would instead buy a greater number of less expensive and technologically less sophisticated satellites, offering potentially greater coverage worldwide.

Creating a tangled mess of competing and contradictory satellite plans complicates both our ability to fight wars and to avoid them. In both Iran and North Korea, satellite surveillance is a key part of our ability to monitor nuclear programs and to persuade allies to back our anti-proliferation efforts. In Iraq and Afghanistan, they're key infrastructure for command decisions made every day.

While getting satellites into space is rocket science, creating a plan to manage and build the intelligence satellite system isn't. It has three parts: Encourage private investment that lets us take advantage of what the private sector can do best. Fill in the holes only where we must. Continue to improve our most powerful surveillance satellites as we replace them.

All Congress and the administration have to do is get on the same page. [WashingtonTimes/25October2009]

Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Jaime Suchlicki. Forty-seven years ago, in the autumn of 1962, the Soviet Union surreptitiously introduced nuclear missiles into Cuba. A surprised, embarrassed and angry President John F. Kennedy instituted a blockade of the island and after eleven tense days the Soviet Union withdrew its missiles.

The crisis which brought the world to the brink of a nuclear holocaust - the missiles of October - helped, among other things, to shape the perceptions of American foreign policy leaders toward the Soviet threat and the world. Some of the lessons of that crisis are still with us today.

The first lesson was that there is no substitute for alert and quality intelligence. The United States was surprised by the Soviet gamble, and not until the missiles were in the island and U.S. spy planes had photographed them did the While House discover the magnitude of the challenge and the peril that they represented to U.S. security. While Cubans on the island reported suspicious movement of missiles, U.S. intelligence failed to warn the Kennedy administration in advance of Soviet plans or objectives.

The second lesson was a heightened awareness about the dangers of nuclear weapons. Following the crisis, the United States, the Soviet Union and most countries of the world signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. A direct telephone line was installed for communication between the U.S. President and the Soviet leader, and U.S. withdrawal of some missiles from Turkey and elsewhere followed.

The third lesson was in management of crises. President Kennedy's careful moves during those tense 11 days averted a nuclear confrontation. While some in this country advocated an invasion of Cuba and the end of the Castro regime, the president preferred a blockade, and diplomacy and negotiation with the Kremlin. As we have learned since, Castro called on Khrushchev to launch the missiles from Cuba against the United States, an action that would have surely forced a counter-launch not only against Cuba but also the Soviet Union, causing a major world catastrophe.

The fourth lesson is that weakness on the part of the American leadership, or perception of weakness by enemies of this country, usually encourages those enemies to take daring and reckless actions. The single most important event encouraging and accelerating Soviet involvement in Cuba was the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961. The U.S. failure to act decisively against Castro gave the Soviets illusions about U.S. determination and interest in the island. The Kremlin leaders now perceived that further economic and even military involvement in Cuba would not entail any danger to the Soviet Union itself and would not seriously jeopardize U.S.-Soviet relations. This view was further reinforced by President Kennedy's apologetic attitude concerning the Bay of Pigs invasion and his generally weak performance during his summit meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in June of 1961.

The final and perhaps most important lesson is that there are anti-American leaders in the world willing to risk the destruction of their countries to fulfill their political ambitions. Castro and Khrushchev belonged to this group - the former because of his Anti-American hatred and his ambition to play a power role beyond the capabilities of his small island, and the latter because of his desire to overcome the U.S. strategic advantage and change the balance of power in the world. Both were willing to take actions that endangered their people as well as the world.

Dangerous and daring leaders, enemies of the United States, remain today in and out of power in many countries. The actions of Castro and Khrushchev in 1962 should give us pause, but little comfort. Not only are nuclear weapons still around, but more ominous chemical and biological weapons have been developed since the missile crisis. The lessons of that crisis and the danger of a difficult world are still with us.

[Jaime Suchlicki is Professor and Director, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami. He is the author of Cuba: From Columbus to Castro, now in its fifth edition; Mexico: From Montezuma to NAFTA, now in its second edition and the recently published Breve Historia de Cuba.] [Suchlicki/CubaTransitionProject/22October2009]

Section IV - BOOKS AND COMING EVENTS

Books

Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy: The Secret World of Corporate Espionage, by Eamon Javers. In 2006, a scandal erupted at Hewlett Packard when it was discovered that Patricia Dunn, then the company's chairwoman, had hired spies to monitor journalists covering HP and its board members. Using a technique called pretexting, the spies posed as someone else to trace leaks. To quell public outrage, Congress passed a law banning pretexting. Yet as investigative journalist Eamon Javers shows, the incident at HP is not unique. Industrial espionage is a multibillion-dollar enterprise with tentacles reaching across the globe. Intelligence companies are setting up fake websites, trailing individuals, dumpster-diving in private and corporate trash, using ultra-sophisticated satellite surveillance, and hacking secure computer networks. Their activities raise crucial moral and legal questions for a world ever more interconnected by globalisation. Built on reporting, including exclusive interviews with some of the world's top corporate surveillance experts and unprecedented access, "Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy" is a shocking expose of the sordid world of corporate espionage and its historic cast, including Allan Pinkerton, the nation's first 'private eye', tycoons and playboys, presidents and FBI operatives, CEOs and accountants, Cold War veterans and military personnel, and Howard Hughes' private CIA. This book is sure to change the way readers look at business - and their own companies. [HarperBusiness/February2010]

COMING EVENTS

EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Newport News, VA - AFIO Norman Forde Hampton Roads Chapter hosts Cyber Security Workshop
Christopher Newport University's (CNU) Center for American Studies and The Norman Forde Hampton Roads Chapter of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) will co-host the 1st Annual Workshop on Intelligence and National Security. "Cyber Security: Vulnerabilities at Home and Abroad" will take place on October 28, 2009 in CNU's David Student Union Ballroom, Newport News. The event is free and open to the public.

The core session (11 a.m. til 1 p.m.) features a keynote address, "Cyber Security: Threats and Responses," by Dr. Andy Purdy, former U.S. Cyber Security Czar and Co-Director of the International Cyber Center at George Mason University. A panel discussion on Cyber Security Vulnerabilities will follow the keynote.

Morning and afternoon sessions include Cyber Security and the Business Community, Cyber Security and Civil Rights, China and Cyber Warfare, and U.S. Military Planning and Cyber Warfare. The schedule is attached.

CNU's David Student Union is located near the campus roundabout entrance, which is approached from the Avenue of the Arts. Visitors should park in the Ferguson Center parking deck, which is on the right side of Avenue of the Arts, just before the campus roundabout entrance. Directions: http://about.cnu.edu/visitingCampus/gettingHere.cfm#FromNorfolkVirginia

The Norman Forde Hampton Roads Chapter of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers promotes the profession of intelligence through education and enhancement of public awareness/ comprehension in the role of U.S. Intelligence in today's global environment.

RSVP is helpful, though not required. Kindly email Melissa Saunders if you are considering attending or have questions about the event or AFIO.

For more info: mwsaunders@cox.net or call her at 757-897-6268

28 October, 2009, 11:30 am - Rockland, Maine - The CIA Retirees Assn (CIRA) New England chapter Fall meeting will be held at Samoset Resort (www.samoset.com). Guest speaker Will DeLong, security analyst for FEMA/MEMA, on current DHS security programs. For further info contact Richard Gay, CIRA/NE program chair: 207-374-2169

Wednesday, 28 October 2009; 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - Emerging Cyber Threats: Myths and Realities - at the International Spy Museum. As we witness the rise of cyber warfare, just how vulnerable are we? Separate the myths from the realities with a distinguished panel of experts, including: Melissa Hathaway - Former acting senior director for cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security Councils; James Lewis - Director and senior fellow, Technology and Public Policy Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Keith Epstein - Award-winning writer and investigative journalist at BusinessWeek. The panel will explore the wide range of current threats, the steps the government and businesses are taking to combat areas of vulnerability, and the challenges that lie ahead in the rapidly evolving cyber realm. In concert with the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Security Awareness Month, the International Spy Museum is unveiling the first gallery dedicated exclusively to cyber security, Weapons of Mass Disruption. SPY invites attendees of the Emerging Cyber Threats: Myths and Realities to an exclusive after-hours viewing of this new gallery immediately following the program. Tickets: $15 per person. For more information or to register visit www.spymuseum.org

5 - 6 November 2009 - London, UK - "A Centenary Conference on The British Security and Intelligence Services"
This impressive event will be a review of the formation, growth, maturity and future of the British Security and Intelligence Services on the occasion of their Centenary The precise location in central London will be supplied registrants, only. A formal Gala Dinner occurs on November 5.
The group hosting the event has offered a special rate for AFIO members who register for the "Full Conference" before October 10 for a rate of �175; after that date the event price is �245.00
AFIO member fee for dinner reception only [Nov 5] is �90. ALL PRICES EXCLUDE VAT @ 15%
For further information, view PDF of the event.
To register, click here to download Word document and follow the instructions.
Questions? Email wendy@edenintelligence.com.
The list of confirmed speakers, and the topics, make this a "do not miss" event.
Agenda: • Northern Ireland, Parliament, Politics and the ISC; • Spooks, D-Notices, Media; • The Falklands Conflict – a keynote panel; • View from the Commonwealth; • A view from the United States; • The modern era, and the future of intelligence; o JTAC; o interagency cooperation; o Personnel; o A wider community for intelligence; o The future practice of intelligence; • Keynote Speakers;
• The Foundations and The Early Years; • Operation Kronstadt, Sir Paul Dukes and Sidney Reilly; • The inter-war period; • The WWII Era; • The Cold War – keynote panel introduction; • SIS in the Cold War; • Cambridge Spies and the Molehunts; • The impact of Gordievsky; • The history of tradecraft and its development; • Personnel, recruitment and development; • A review of the historical and fictional literature on the Security Services;
Key Speakers and Chairman already confirmed:
• Professor Christopher Andrew, Official Historian of the British Security Service (MI5) “Defend the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5”
• Rear Admiral Nick Wilkinson, CB, former D-Notice Secretary and author of the recently published “Secrecy and the Media, The Official History of the D Notice System”
• Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, KCMG, Official Historian of the Falklands War
• Major General Julian Thompson, CB, OBE, Commander of 3 Commando Brigade, Falklands War
• Hugh Bicheno, author of “The Unofficial History of the Falklands War”
• Gill Bennett, former Chief Historian of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Nigel West, intelligence historian and author of “TRIPLEX”
• H. Keith Melton, noted historian of tradecraft and the clandestine devices, advisor to U.S. government agencies.
• Hayden Peake, Curator of the CIA’s Historical Intelligence Collection
• Victor Suvarov, GRU defector to the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), author of “The Chief Culprit!
• Tom King (Lord King of Bridgewater) former Defence Secretary, former Northern Ireland Secretary, founder Chairman of the Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee.
• Dan Mulvenna, ex-RCMP Security Service counterintelligence officer, Professor lecturing on counterintelligence and counter terrorism to the U.S. Intelligence community at the Counterintelligence Centre in Washington, D.C.
• Harry Ferguson, former MI6 and NIS officer, novelist and historian, author of “Spy”, and “Operation Kronstadt”
• Gordon Corera, Security Correspondent, BBC, Presenter of Radio 4 Series “MI6: A Century in the Shadows”

Friday, 6 November 2009, 8:00 - 9:45 a.m. - Coral Gables, FL - Security Threats and Challenges in the Hemisphere: Options for U.S. Policy. Location: Hyatt Regency Coral Gables, Registration and Continental Breakfast in Venetian Room; Presentations and Discussion at 50 Alhambra Plaza
PANELISTS - On Iran - Norman Bailey, Consulting Economist, Senior Fellow, Potomac Foundation; Professor, Institute of World Politics, Washington D.C.
On Russia - Stephen J. Blank, Research Professor of National Security Affairs, Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
On Cuba / Venezuela - Jaime Suchlicki, Director, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami
Program Fee: $30; Academics and students – free admission with valid ID
Registration: By email to chp-rsvp@miami.edu or by fax at (305) 284-9871.
Payment: Please make check payable to Center for Hemispheric Policy. Mail check with registration form to: Center for Hemispheric Policy; P.O. Box 248297; Coral Gables, FL 33124-6535.
Cancellation policy: By email, fax or telephone, before 12:00 noon, Thursday, October 1, 2009
For more information, please call Patricia Salinas at (305) 284-3707, or visit website at www.miami.edu/chp .

Saturday, 7 November 2009, 1100 - 1430 - Salem, MA - The AFIO New England Chapter holds meeting on Counterterrorism Preparedness.

The chapter meeting will be held at the Salem Waterfront Hotel located in Salem MA. The hotel web site is here: http://www.salemwaterfronthotel.com/. For directions to the hotel look here:
http://www.salemwaterfronthotel.com/location.html
Information about Salem MA and local hotels can be found here: http://salem.org/
Our schedule is as follows: Registration & gathering, 11:00 - 1200, Luncheon at 1200 followed by our speaker, with adjournment at 2:30PM.
Our guest speaker will be Ilana Freedman. Ilana is Gerard Group International’s Chief Executive Officer. Ilana is also its founder and is an internationally respected expert in counter-terrorism preparedness. She is a highly regarded analyst and a prolific writer. She has framed the mission at the Gerard Group to provide leading edge programs to prepare and protect American interests and those of its friends and allies from the impact of terrorist attacks. She has put together a team of leaders in the field from around the globe to provide the blue-ribbon service that defines the Gerard Group. http://www.gerardgroup.com/
Note, as this meeting is a one day event we have not made any hotel arrangements.
For additional information contact us at afionechapter@gmail.com
Advance reservations are $25.00, $30.00 at the door - per person.
Luncheon reservations must be made by 21 October 2009.
Mail your check and the reservation form to:
Mr. Arthur Hulnick, 216 Summit Avenue # E102, Brookline, MA 02446, 617-739-7074 or hlnk@aol.com

Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 5 to 8:30 pm - Washington, DC - Minute by Minute: The Role of Intelligence in the Cuban Missile Crisis - at the International Spy Museum. Can students change the course of history? Enliven your teaching of the Cold War with a newly published case-based simulation in which students play the role of intelligence analysts at the CIA in 1962. By examining declassified intelligence documents and U-2 photographs at various stages of the crisis, students “live” the crisis rather than only read about it. In this social studies standards-based lesson, students are challenged to make decisions and recommendations based on primary documents and photos. The outcome of the crisis is in their hands: will their analysis provide President Kennedy with the information he needs to avoid nuclear catastrophe? The workshop includes: A Spy’s Eye View: Peter Earnest, Executive Director and former CIA spy discusses the role of intelligence during the Cold War period. Minute by Minute: The Role of Intelligence in the Cuban Missile Crisis: Participate in a simulation of the lesson.  The Secret History of History: A behind-the- scenes exploration of cold-war related exhibits at the Spy Museum with Museum Historian, Dr. Thomas Boghardt. Your classroom copy of Minute by Minute: The Role of Intelligence in the Cuban Missile Crisis: a 125-page lesson with accompanying CD and DVD containing exclusive CIA footage (a $30 value). A picnic-style dinner (sandwich, chips, fruit, cookie & drink). Complimentary admission to the Museum on Tuesday, November 10th (for early arrivals). Tickets: $35 per teacher To register for this workshop call 202.654.0932 (limited space available—register early)

Thursday, 12 November 2009; 12 noon to 1 pm – Washington, DC - Defend the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 at the Spy Museum. As MI5, Britain’s legendary security service, marks its 100th anniversary, the agency has given an independent scholar unrestricted access to its records for the very first time. Join Cambridge University professor and International Spy Museum emeritus advisory board member Christopher Andrew, the author of Defend the Realm, as he reveals the precise role of MI5 in twentieth-century British history: from its foundation in 1909, through two world wars, and its present roles in counterespionage and counterterrorism. Andrew describes how MI5 has been managed, what its relationship has been with government, where it has triumphed, and where it has failed. Defend the Realm also reveals the identities of previously unknown enemies of the United Kingdom whose activities have been uncovered by MI5. It adds significantly to our knowledge of many celebrated events and notorious individuals, and definitively lays to rest a number of persistent myths. 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.

17 November 2009, 6:30 p.m. - Miami, FL - The Ted Shackley AFIO Miami Chapter at FBI Field Office - EVENT HAS SOLD OUT
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has invited AFIO Members and their selected , cleared guests to attend a special briefing and Class at the Miami Field Office at 6:30 PM on November 17, 2009 . There is no charge for this event. This very special briefing and Class will be from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. A light snack, courtesy of AFIO, will be served. We will be addressed by the top officials of the Miami Field Office on very important topics. In order to be cleared to attend, we must submit the following information to the FBI:
1. Your birth name.
2. Your address.
3. Your date of birth.
4. Your social security number.
Please provide this information to me within the next 10 days. If you intend to invite a special, trusted guest , we need the same information. Once you respond, I will provide you with the information you need, including address and the Gate clearance protocol.
Replies by current registered attendees only to: Tom Spencer at TRSMiami@aol.com. or call 305 648 0940 Event has Sold Out.

19 November 2009, 11:30 a.m. - Scottsdale, AZ - The AFIO Arizona Chapter hosts Dr. Jim Shamadan who will speak on "Resolution of the Starflash Explosives Factory Fiasco."

Dr. Jim Schamadan did his undergraduate work in chemical engineering and received his M.D., cum laude from Ohio State University. A military medical officer in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict, he served as a physician in Kuwait and Iraq during Desert Storm. From September 2001 until January 2003, Dr. Schamadan served as Special Assistant to the Governor of Arizona for Homeland Security. Dr. Shamadan’s talk will cover the events in September 1997, when over a decade ago Federal officers executed a search warrant and associated arrest documents for the owner of a munitions manufacturing facility known as Starflash Ranch in New River Arizona. In addition to the main ranch house, they discovered several booby-trapped underground bunkers, training videos, and a manufacturing facility called “The Shed." Federal authorities had planned to destroy the bunkers using novel technical means but citizens of New RIver opposed this action and the matter reverted to State authorities. The speaker will discuss how the episode ended using information about this incident that has not previously been released.
Event is being held at: McCormick Ranch Golf Club (7505 McCormick Parkway, Scottsdale AZ 85258 ~ Phone 480.948.0260) Our meeting fees will be as follows: • $20.00 for AFIO members• $22.00 for guests. For reservations or questions, please email Simone sl@4smartphone.net or simone@afioaz.org or phone and leave a message on 602.570.6016. Art Kerns, President of the AZ Chapter, president@afioaz.org

8 December 2009 - San Francisco, CA - The AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts Thomas C. Reed, former Secretary of the Air Force and Special Assistant to the President for National Security Policy. Reed will be discussing the political history of nuclear weapons: where they came from, the surprising ways in which the technology spread and the lessons learned from that proliferation. 
RSVP required. The meeting will be held at United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco (between Sloat and Wawona). 11:30 AM no host cocktails; noon - luncheon. $25 member rate with advance reservation and payment; $35 non-member. E-mail RSVP to Mariko Kawaguchi (please indicate meat or fish): afiosf@aol.com and mail check made out to "AFIO" to the delightful: Mariko Kawaguchi, P.O. Box 117578 Burlingame, CA 94011.

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

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