SPY CRUISE

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

New Sri Lankan Head of Military Intelligence. Presidential Security Division (PSD) chief Major General Chagi Gallage has been appointed as the head of the Military Intelligence Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).

Maj. Gen. Gallage had previously served as the head of the Directorate of Training. [Fernando/AsiaTribune/29August2010] 

Federal Contractor Charged with Leaking Secrets. The Obama administration on Friday accused an analyst who worked at the State Department of leaking top secret information about North Korea to a reporter.

Steven Kim, who worked at State as an employee of a contractor, maintains his innocence.

He was named in a federal indictment unsealed Friday and charged with illegally disclosing national defense information, which carries a top penalty of 10 years in prison, and with making false statements to the FBI, which has a maximum five-year sentence.

It was the latest move in an aggressive campaign to crack down on leaks, even as the administration has supported proposed legislation that would shield reporters from having to identify their sources.

Recent disclosures to news media have revealed the potential for using CIA drones in the counterterrorist fight against al-Qaida in Yemen, the close relationship of the CIA station chief in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the CIA's practice of paying some members of the Afghan government for information.

On Friday, the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper, sent a memo to members of the 16 intelligence agencies expressing his concern about leaks to the press, saying officials should be "seen but not heard." The internal memo didn't stay private, leaked to The Associated Press.

In the Kim case, the Justice Department said the analyst in June 2009 knowingly passed information about U.S. intelligence concerning a foreign country to a national news organization and in September of that year falsely denied to the FBI having had recent contacts with a reporter from that news organization. The material was classified top secret/sensitive because it concerned the military capability of the foreign country and related to U.S. intelligence sources and methods.

A person briefed on the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not included in the filing, said the country was North Korea and the news organization was Fox News.

"The willful disclosure of classified information to those not entitled to it is a serious crime," said Assistant Attorney General David Kris in a written statement. "Today's indictment should serve as a warning to anyone who is entrusted with sensitive national security information and would consider compromising it."

Kim arrived at court accompanied by his lawyers. He appeared before Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in an hour-long closed-door hearing.

Afterward, Abbe D. Lowell, one of Kim's attorneys, said his client pleaded not guilty behind closed doors and was released. He posted a $100,000 secured appearance bond, had to surrender his passport, may engage in no foreign travel and must restrict all travel to within 25 miles unless prior notice is given to the government, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Kim's next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 13.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that Kim was on detail from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to the State Department "at the time of the alleged disclosure." He said Kim worked in the department's Bureau of Verification, Compliance and Implementation from mid-2008 to September 2009.

"If the allegations prove to be true, the Intelligence Community will conduct a comprehensive damage assessment after all legal proceedings are concluded," said Toner.

In a written statement, Lowell and co-defense counsel Ruth Wedgwood said Kim was pleading not guilty because the news report that led to the charges "contains completely unremarkable observations about what a country would do if it was sanctioned for its poor behavior. These kinds of observations were well known to anyone paying attention to public sources and ought not be the basis for making someone a federal felon."

"In its obsession to clamp down on perfectly appropriate conversations between government employees and the press, the Obama administration has forgotten that wise foreign policy must be founded on a two-way conversation between government and the public," Lowell and Wedgwood wrote. "The Justice Department has chosen to stretch the espionage laws to cover ordinary and normal conversations between government officials and the press and, in doing so, destroy the career of a loyal civil servant and brilliant foreign policy analyst."

The administration recently arrested an Army official for leaking classified documents to the website WikiLeaks, charged a former National Security Agency official with leaking information about NSA mismanagement to The Baltimore Sun, and renewed an investigation into who leaked classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen for one of his books.  [Associated Press writers Kimberly Dozier and Pete Yost contributed to this report.] [Apuzzo/AP/29August2010] 

Vietnam Veterans Want CIA Sanctioned. The Vietnam Veterans of America asked a federal judge to impose sanctions on the Central Intelligence Agency, for failing to produce documents on the CIA's testing of hundreds of kinds of drugs - including sarin and phosgene nerve gas and LSD - on thousands of soldiers.

The Vietnam Veterans of America sued the CIA in January 2009, claiming the agency had experimented on soldiers at Edgewood Arsenal and Fort Detrick, Md., testing the effects of mind-controlling drugs.

The VVA says soldiers were treated "in the same capacity as laboratory rats or guinea pigs." The underlying federal complaint claims that at least 7,800 soldiers were subjected to "at least 250, but as many as 400 chemical and biological agents."

This original complaint, filed in January 2009, claimed that "this vast program of human experimentation, shrouded in secrecy," was done without informed consent of the soldier-guinea pigs. "In 1970, defendants provided Congress with an alphabetical list showing that they had tested 145 drugs during Projects Bluebird, Artichoke, MKULTRA and MKDELTA." These drugs included sarin and other deadly nerve toxins, barbiturates, irritants, including cyanide, phosgene nerve gas, LSC, PCP and other psychedelics, THC "about times the then-street strength of marijuana," and tranquilizers.

In its request for sanctions, the Vietnam Veterans claims the CIA stalled discovery, in bad faith, by refusing to turn over requested documents related to the secretive project, without adequate explanation.

It claims the CIA has released only about 1,600 documents, and 40 percent of them "deal only with the six individual plaintiffs' military records and Veterans Administration claim files."

The complaint adds: "Defendants have continually resisted producing relevant documents by standing on myriad objections and unsubstantiated claims of privilege. ... Even more unbelievably, it appears that defendants have yet to search even the most obvious location for documents - Edgewood Arsenal itself. ...

"Defendants also consistently refused to enter into a routine protective order that would protect information subject to the Privacy Act or HIPAA from disclosure or use outside of this litigation, thereby permitting its production to plaintiffs. Instead, defendants have refused to produce documents containing such information, or have produced documents with such information wholly redacted. For example, defendants used the Privacy Act as a basis for withholding the names of all Edgewood test subjects other than the named plaintiffs, despite the fact that the test subjects are all potential class members and percipient witnesses. Defendants have also used the Privacy Act as an excuse to withhold documents concerning individuals who conducted the test programs. These categorical refusals to provide the names of critical witnesses, when a routine protective order could have obviated any of defendants' concerns, have unnecessarily delayed discovery and prejudiced plaintiffs."

Oral arguments in the case are to begin Sept. 29. [CourthouseNews/27August2010] 

Terror Suspect's Lawyer to Target Credibility of Informants. In coming days, defense lawyers for the men accused of plotting terrorist attacks at home and abroad will receive huge volumes of evidence gathered by investigators in the yearlong probe - and they'll start picking it apart.

David Paciocco, a criminal law professor at the University of Ottawa, said Friday the defense team will likely home in on three key areas.

- First, they'll look to see whether their clients' alleged activities actually constitute a crime. Many terrorism-related offences have not been tested in the courts, Paciocco said, and so there's a lot of "wriggle room" in how one might define what constitutes "conspiring to facilitate a terrorist activity" - one of the charges leveled against the men.

"You look at the allegation, and you ask: 'Even if he did all these things, is it a crime?'" Paciocco said.

- Second, defense lawyers will be looking to see how much of the evidence is actually admissible.

Often, terrorism investigations involve the gathering of huge amounts of intelligence from local authorities and from agencies abroad. While that intelligence may be helpful in furthering an investigation, a lot of it may not stand up as evidence in court, Paciocco said.

Second-hand information, or hearsay, is not allowed. Neither is information that touches on a suspect's character or previous crimes they've committed.

One obstacle that prosecutors could encounter is evidence from confidential informants. Sometimes, a foreign-intelligence service will share information from an informant with another country but will be reluctant later on to give up that informant's identity during legal proceedings because they don't want to burn that relationship.

"When a lawyer whittles it all down, there might not be all that much usable evidence," Paciocco said.

- A third area that defense lawyers are likely to scrutinize is how investigators went about obtaining wiretaps and search warrants.

Inevitably, terrorism cases involve hours and hours of intercepted phone calls and other forms of communication.

"There's room for mistakes to be made," he said.

During a press conference this week, Canadian law enforcement and intelligence officials said that the arrests of three men - two from Ottawa and one from London, Ont. - came after extensive surveillance of the group.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former agent with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told the Ottawa Citizen Friday the surveillance included the clandestine monitoring of the suspects' communications on public library computers.

It is alleged that the suspects conspired with individuals or groups in Canada and abroad to carry out terrorist activities. Authorities said they seized from the group schematics, videos, drawings and books outlining the construction of improvised explosive devices.

In addition to being charged with conspiring to facilitate a terrorist activity, one of the accused - Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh - has been charged with financing a terrorist group and making or having in his possession an explosive substance.

Anser Farooq, the lawyer for one of the other suspects, Khurram Sher, said Friday by phone that he expects to begin receiving evidence from the prosecution next week and that his first priority will be to get his client bailed out of jail.

Poking holes at the credibility of informants and "putting pressure on the Crown to back up the allegations they make" will be part of the defense strategy, he said.

A few years ago, Farooq represented two suspected members of the so-called "Toronto 18," a group accused of plotting to bomb buildings in Canada.

Early in the case, Farooq said the Crown had asserted that one of his clients, Qayyum Abdjul Jamal, was one of the people talking in a conversation that was secretly recorded.

But Farooq said he was able to obtain an original transcript of the conversation that identified the speaker as "unknown."

"You can't rely on what's provided to you," he said.

Charges against Jamal and six others were eventually dropped or stayed in that case. Eleven others were convicted. [Quan/VancouverSun/27August2010] 

CIA Training Sudan's Spies as Obama Officials Fight Over Policy. American officials may be at odds over U.S. policy toward Sudan, but the CIA is soldiering on there.

The East African regime is not just an international pariah for its genocidal track record in the western region of Darfur, it's officially been branded by Washington as a terrorist state, in part for its past harboring of Islamist radicals, including Osama bin Laden in the 1990s.

Despite that, the CIA is continuing to train and equip Sudan's intelligence service in the name of fighting terrorism.

The irony is not lost on critics of the arrangement.

"The U.S. government is training the Sudanese intelligence services and conducting bilateral operations with them - all in the name of the long war," said a former intelligence officer who served in Sudan.

"We also refer to the Sudanese as a state sponsor of terror, have called their activities in Darfur genocide, and supported the issuance of arrest warrants for the Sudanese president for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, as defined by the International Criminal Court."

"Certainly," the former intelligence officer added, "the CIA is providing training to the National Intelligence and Security Service," known as the NISS. "I suspect it was begun... in the very early days after September 11."

Others say it began in the 1990s.

In the beginning, the CIA-NISS relationship was very close-hold, he said, even shielded from other CIA personnel in the embassy because of concerns over Sudan's grievous human rights record. Training sessions were probably done outside the country, he guessed.

"There has also been transfers of equipment" to the NISS, he said, "computers, etcetera."

Another knowledgeable former U.S. intelligence official said the CIA-NISS partnership began even earlier, in the Clinton administration, and called it "incredibly valuable."

"We have a had a long term relationship with the Sudanese, even when they closed the embassy for a short period in the late 90s," the official said on condition of anonymity because the topic is so sensitive.

"We do not do much training with the Sudanese, except in the field of counterterrorism, and they have been an exceptional partner in helping us against the terrorist target."

The CIA's curriculum with the NISS "is pretty much the same as regular humint/CO [human intelligence/case officer] training, with a focus on targeting the terrorist, i.e., setting up meetings in secure places with surveillance and countersurveillance, knowing what info to look for, keeping all pocket litter, not allowing them to erase cell phones or computers," the former official said. "It also involves 'take downs' of terrorists or their organizations ..."

In 2005, Bush administration CIA director Porter Goss nurtured the connection.

"The CIA flew Salah Gosh, head of the NISS, here to the U.S. in one of their jets during 2005," the former intelligence officer who served in Sudan said. "He is up to his butt in the genocide in Darfur."

Only last month, Amnesty International charged that "the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) is carrying out a brutal campaign of killings, torture, arbitrary detentions, and mental and physical intimidation against opponents and critics of the government."

"The NISS uses a variety of torture methods," it added, "including: beating detainees while held upside down against a wall, electric shocks, whipping, sleep deprivation, kicking and stamping on detainees and beating them with water pipes."

CIA spokesman George Little declined to comment on the agency's relationship with the NISS, saying, "This agency does not, as a rule, comment on reports of relationships with foreign intelligence services."

Likewise at the White House, National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said, "We are not going to speak about our ongoing counter-terrorism and intelligence programs with any specific country other than to say that we face significant terrorism related challenges in East Africa, and it is essential that we be able to work in partnership with the countries of the region to identify and disrupt potential terrorist networks."

Some U.S. officials with intimate knowledge of the CIA's program contend that the spy agency's relationship with the NISS actually fosters human rights.

"The intelligence channel has been one tool our government has used to try to influence the Sudanese in terms of human rights and the rule of law," said one such official. "That was a deliberate policy decision, made with inter-agency support, and - while everyone has their eyes wide open to everything that still needs to happen - the dialogue has had its benefits."

Another, a senior administration official, said, "We're not blind" to the reality of Sudan. "Everybody understands what's going on there."

"If the Sudanese go outside the box," he maintained, "we can pull the plug."

Such explanations evoke the darkest days of the Cold War, when successive U.S. administrations used the same rationales for allowing the CIA to have close relations with the security services of some of the world's worst human rights violators, from South Africa to Argentina, Guatemala and Chile, saying they were necessary for the shadowy fight against Soviet-backed communism.

And as during that time, Obama administration officials have barely concealed their sharp differences over what to do about Sudan. [Stein/WashingtonPost/8302010] 

Dead Codebreaker Was Linked to NSA Intercept Case. A top British codebreaker found mysteriously dead last week in his flat had worked with the NSA and British intelligence to intercept e-mail messages that helped convict would-be bombers in the U.K., according to a news report.

Gareth Williams, 31, made repeated visits to the U.S. to meet with the National Security Agency and worked closely with British and U.S. spy agencies to intercept and examine communications that passed between an al Qaeda official in Pakistan and three men who were convicted last year of plotting to bomb transcontinental flights, according to the British paper the Mirror.

Williams, described by those who knew him as a "math genius," worked for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) helping to break coded Taliban communications, among other things. He was just completing a year-long stint with MI6, Britain's secret intelligence service, when his body was found stuffed into a duffel bag in his bathtub. He'd been dead for at least two weeks. His mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were laid out on a table near the body, according to news reports. There were no signs of forced entry to the apartment and no signs of a struggle.

Initial news stories indicated Williams had been stabbed, but police have since disputed that information, noting that - other than being stuffed into a duffel bag - there were no obvious signs of foul play. A toxicology report is expected Tuesday.

The NSA wiretaps the internet from this secured room in an AT&T building in San Francisco, and similar rooms around the U.S., according to whistleblower Mark Klein.

Investigators say they haven't ruled out the possibility that the codebreaker was killed over something related to his work. Rumors that sexual bondage equipment was found in his apartment were also nixed by police, who said the rumors were untrue and they found no evidence yet to suggest that anything in Williams' personal life led to his death.

Williams, an avid cyclist, lived in an apartment in Pimlico in central London that was reportedly part of a network of flats registered to an offshore front company and rented out to GCHQ workers. He is believed to have returned from a trip abroad on August 11. He was last seen alive on August 15, eight days before his body was found.

Williams flew up to four times a year to the U.S. to the NSA's headquarters at Fort Meade HQ, according to the Mirror. His uncle, Michael Hughes, told the paper that Williams would mysteriously disappear for three or four weeks.

"The trips were very hush-hush," Hughes said. "They were so secret that I only recently found out about them - and we're a very close family. It had become part of his job in the past few years. His last trip out there was a few weeks ago, but he was regularly back and forth."

Williams was said to have worked with the NSA on e-mails intercepted between Abdullah Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar and Rashid Rauf, a British national in Pakistan who was allegedly director of European operations for al Qaeda. The e-mails, intercepted by the NSA in 2006, allegedly contained coded messages.

The NSA shared the e-mails with British prosecutors but wouldn't allow them to use the evidence in an early trial of the suspects out of fear of tipping off Rauf that he was under surveillance. It was only after Rauf was reportedly killed in a U.S. drone attack that the NSA allowed prosecutors to use the e-mails to convict the other suspects. It's never been known whether the NSA intercepted the messages overseas or siphoned them as they passed through internet nodes on U.S. soil as part of the NSA's controversial and unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping program.

An unidentified Western intelligence source told the Mirror that Williams' job would have had him participating in "crucial high-level meetings with American intelligence officers." His job would have been crucial to the security of the UK and our interests abroad - and also to America and Europe.

"Although not particularly high up the GCHQ ladder, the importance of his role should not be underestimated. The man was a mathematical genius."

His landlady, Jenny Elliott, told the Telegraph, "Occasionally you could hear tapes whirring from his flat, which must have been audio cassettes he used for work, but he never told me what they were." [Zetter/Wired/30August2010] 

Chief Guard Out-Earns Top Spymasters. The chief of the Federal Guard Service out-earned the directors of both the Federal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service, according to income declarations made public this week after months of refusal.

Yevgeny Murov, head of the Federal Guard Service, earned 5.8 million rubles ($187,000) in 2009, Kommersant reported Tuesday. This is 2.5 million rubles ($81,000) more than President Dmitry Medvedev, whom Murov is in charge of protecting, Vedomosti said.

Murov owns two plots of land with a total area of 6,400 square meters; two country houses; a modest 49-square-meter apartment; a garage; two cars, including a Porsche Cayenne; and four motorcycles, including a Harley-Davidson.

Murov's wife only earned 77,000 rubles ($2,500) in 2009, but she owns a spacious 209-square-meter apartment and a Lexus sedan.

Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov made 5.5 million rubles in 2009 and owns a 10,000-square-meter plot of land, a dacha and a 587-square-meter apartment, Interfax reported Tuesday. His wife only earned 190,000 rubles, and they have no cars.

FSB director Alexander Bortnikov earned 4.7 million rubles last year, and his wife earned 90,000 rubles. They do not own any vehicles but have two apartments, a plot of land and a dacha.

The FSB also disclosed incomes of six of Bortnikov's deputies, of whom Vladimir Pronichev, who heads the border guards, earned 3.5 million rubles, and Sergei Smirnov - 3.9 million rubles.

The guard service published declarations of three of Murov's five deputies, of whom only one, Alexander Lashchuk, has a car in the family, owned by his wife.

Medvedev ordered top officials to publish income declarations by April 30, but specified no penalties for not complying. FSB officials earlier refused to release the income declarations, saying they were a state secret. It was not immediately clear why they changed their minds. [TheMoscowTimes/31August2010]

U.S. Sanctions North Korea's Spy Service. The U.S. government slapped new sanctions on North Korea, including a crackdown on its top security agency and the secret bureau Kim Jong-il uses as his foreign currency slush fund, stepping up pressure on Pyongyang to stop its rogue behavior.

On Monday, the White House released a statement on President Barack Obama's executive order, which expanded sanctions on the North by freezing assets in the U.S. of people and entities suspected of being linked to illicit activities. The sanctions also prohibit U.S. financial institutions from doing business with people or entities on the list, and Washington is trying to get foreign financial institutions to follow suit.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, four people and eight organizations will be affected, with more sanctions to come in the ensuing weeks. The organizations on the list include the North's top intelligence agency and Office 39, Kim's secret fund-raising bureau.

In the executive order, Obama said the North's actions and policies constitute "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States." The North's "unprovoked attack that resulted in the sinking of the Republic of Korea Navy ship Cheonan and the deaths of 46 sailors in March," along with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests last year, were the key reasons for new sanctions, the order said.

The sanctions target not only the North's nuclear weapons program but also illicit economic activities such as narcotics trading and counterfeiting of banknotes and cigarettes, which shows that the Obama administration is trying to choke off Pyongyang's international revenues.

Robert Einhorn, the U.S. State Department's North Korea sanctions czar, made clear that the U.S. government won't stop squeezing Pyongyang's purse until the communist regime convinces Washington it has changed its behavior.

"If it continues with its defiance, it will continue to suffer the consequences, and sanctions will strengthen and intensify," Einhorn said, adding that the North must do more than simply return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks.

A secret branch of the North's Workers' Party, Office 39, was also placed under sanctions. The Treasury Department said Office 39 provides "critical support to North Korean leadership in part through engaging in illicit economic activities and managing the leadership's slush funds."

Also referred to as Room 39, Bureau 39 or Division 39, the unit has international bank accounts, gold mines and about 100 North Korean trading companies under its control.

Office 39 was accused of trafficking drugs, counterfeiting money, importing luxury goods for the North's leadership and selling conventional weapons to countries in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa. The U.S. government accused the office of producing methamphetamine and distributing the drug throughout China and South Korea. Office 39 was also suspected of operating poppy farms and producing opium and heroin.

According to the U.S. government, Office 39 was also believed to be behind a failed attempt in 2009 to purchase two luxury yachts worth more than $15 million. Italian authorities stopped the sale at the time, since it was in violation of UN sanctions.

The North's Reconnaissance General Bureau and its chief, General Kim Yong-chol, were also sanctioned by Washington. The bureau and General Kim have been suspected of masterminding the torpedo attack against the South's warship Cheonan in March. North Korea has denied responsibility.

Green Pine Associated Corporation, suspected of being controlled by Kim's intelligence bureau, was also sanctioned for arms trades. The company, established in 2007 to dodge UN sanctions on arms sales, is known to be the exporter of the CHT-02D torpedo, which was used to sink the Cheonan.

The company also supervises more than half of the North's total conventional arms exports, the U.S. government said.

Five North Korean entities and three more individuals were sanctioned for involvement in Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction programs.

Ri Je-son, head of North Korea's atomic energy bureau, and Ri Hong-sop, former head of the Yongbyon nuclear research center, were sanctioned. The Yongbyon research facility was suspected of producing weapons-grade nuclear materials.

Yun Ho-jin, head of the Namchongang Trading Corporation, was also on the list. The Treasury Department said Yun oversaw the import of items needed for North Korea's uranium enrichment program and was involved in purchases of materials linked to the construction of a nuclear reactor in Syria.

"These measures are not directed at the people of North Korea, who, as Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton has said, have suffered too long due to the misguided priorities of their government," said Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey. "Instead, the financial measures the president took today, as well as additional actions we will take in the weeks and months to come, are aimed at disrupting North Korea's efforts to engage in illicit activities and its ability to surreptitiously move its money by deceiving banks and smuggling cash worldwide."

Einhorn also made clear that the sanctions will only be lifted when Pyongyang truly changes.

"We are not prepared to reward North Korea simply for returning to the negotiating table [at the six-party talks]," Einhorn told reporters Monday. "North Korea needs to demonstrate with concrete actions that it is taking irreversible steps to live up to its... commitment to denuclearize." [Myo-ja/JoongangDaily/31August2010] 

Iraq's Failure to Form a Government Concerns U.S. Spy Officials. With the U.S. officially having ended combat operations in Iraq, U.S. spy officials see the country's inability to form a government as the greatest security threat it faces.

Other major security concerns include continued Iranian efforts to stoke militant attacks in Iraq and al Qaeda's severely degraded, but not extinguished, affiliate in Iraq, according to a senior intelligence official.

"It's important that they get their act together," the official said of Iraqi leaders. Unresolved, the political vacuum could lead to an unraveling of stability and security, he said, though adding that it's unknown when that tipping point might come.

Meanwhile, the Iranians continue to provide militants in Iraq with equipment, training, and refuge and are expected to do so "for some time to come," the official said. They are also providing anti-Western militant and criminal groups with components of roadside bombs, the official added.

"Clearly the Iranians are uneasy with an Iraq next door that's aligned with us," the official said. "There's an incipient level of support that comes primarily from the IRGC," the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

As Americans leave, it is possible that Iran might try to step up its effort to bolster militants and sow instability, the official said, but it's not certain yet exactly how Iran will respond.

Al Qaeda in Iraq is a concern, but a lesser one for now, the official said, adding that it's only very loosely affiliated with al Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan and primarily comprises Iraqis, not foreign fighters.

While al Qaeda in Iraq posed a grave danger to U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians at its peak in 2006 and 2007, U.S. intelligence officials estimate it is now just 10% of the size it was then, the official said, declining to provide totals. Since March, 10 of its top 18 leaders have been "neutralized," the senior intelligence official said.

Al Qaeda in Iraq isn't currently in a position to threaten the stability of Iraq's government, in part, because "it doesn't appear to have a large base of support," the senior intelligence official said.

Yet it maintains the ability to carry out high-profile attacks, currently concentrated in the Baghdad and Mosul areas, and those will probably never be completely eliminated, the official said. Such attacks "could erode security if the government becomes complacent," he added.

With the drawdown in troops, the U.S. will also lose "eyes and ears" on the ground because military units have provided considerable local intelligence, as have the officers assigned to units from spy agencies like the National Security Agency and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

That loss will pose major intelligence challenges, said the official, who declined to say how many officers from the spy agencies will be moved out of Iraq. Until this year, Baghdad, for example, was the Central Intelligence Agency's largest station, and it's now been eclipsed this year by Afghanistan.

While it is difficult to translate intelligence lessons from Iraq to Afghanistan because the countries' governments are so different, the official said, there is at least lesson that applies: "It's indirectly a lesson for staying the course." [Gorman/WallStreetJournal/31August2010] 

GAO Access to Intel in Dispute. There's a showdown expected this fall between the White House and Congress as to just how much access the Government Accountability Office will receive to do oversight investigations of the country's most secretive intelligence agencies.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is on the record saying she supports giving GAO, an independently created arm of Congress, more access to investigate the agencies. A measure to do that in the Senate intelligence committee didn't make it through. And then there's the White House. It has threatened to veto a bill that would give GAO more power.

Steven Aftergood, a secrecy specialist at the Federation of American Scientists - an independent policy research group that favors greater openness in national security policy - helps us muddle through the debate in a question and answer chat.

Does GAO, by law, have the power to do oversight of intelligence agencies?

Yes, historically, GAO has had some access to review the work of intelligence agencies. But more recently Congress hasn't attempted to make use of GAO. They haven't said, 'We want you, GAO, to go over to NSA [the National Security Agency] and investigate and audit them.'

Why hasn't Congress asked for such a review?

Some Congressional leaders and intelligence agencies don't think GAO should have such oversight. ...My best understanding is that the committees are very cautious and territorial about their relationship with intel agencies. They believe there are established channels for communication that they think might be upset if a third party got involved.

Why is it important for the GAO to have oversight of the intelligence agencies and their work?

Intelligence may need GAO attention even more than other parts of government do. The reason is that in other agencies the oversight burden is shared by the press, by watchdogs, and various advocacy organizations. But none - or little of that exists - when it comes to intelligence.

Why?

Because almost everything the intelligence agencies do is classified. It is hard to report on it. It's hard to watchdog it and to oversee it. GAO could help fill that vacuum.

A tremendous amount of money is spent on intelligence work every year. The intel budget has more than doubled since 9/11, but the oversight capacity has remained more or less the same. This is virgin territory in many respects for oversight. Oversight hasn't kept pace with the growth in the intel community. It's a tremendous omission. In fact, GAO's role has been shrinking. Things that auditors used to have access to have suddenly become off limits.

Has any intelligence agency recently denied GAO access to its records?

Yes, the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigations], ODNI [the Office of the Director of National Intelligence] and DHS [Department of Homeland Security].

How would you characterize their reasoning?

They say the GAO doesn't have the authority to review their work because of a 1988 opinion involving U.S. policy towards [former] Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega.

Sounds interesting. What was that case about?

The GAO was investigating the U.S intelligence community's relationship with Noriega and the National Security Council didn't want to provide them access to its internal records.

What happened?

The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel gave an opinion, saying that the GAO wasn't entitled to the records it wanted on Panama and Noriega. In fact, it said Congressional intelligence committees are the only part of Congress that could conduct intelligence oversight, based on the Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980.

Do you think that 1988 ruling is a strong argument?

No, it is irrelevant and the GAO's said that. It's been used as a pretext to curtail GAO oversight.

The White House has said it would veto a bill that allows GAO oversight into intelligence agencies and the Senate stripped it out of its version of the authorization bill.

How's this going to play out? Who's going to win?

The House Speaker seems to want to give GAO oversight, but it is unclear how much she's going to push for it. The Senate already yielded to the veto threat. Watching the Speaker will be interesting because she is the former chairwoman of the House intelligence committee. She has an understanding of what's at stake. So the question is - Is a compromise possible or not?

Is there any prospect of change under the new Director of National Intelligence - James R. Clapper Jr.?

There may be. He spoke very favorably of the GAO during his confirmation. He observed that the GAO had been helpful in its review of certain defense intelligence programs and that may open the door to a greater role for GAO in the future. [Hedgpeth/WashingtonPost/1September2010]

U.S. Charges Pakistan Taliban Leader in CIA Deaths. The Justice Department has charged Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mahsud with two counts of conspiracy for his alleged role in planning a December 2009 suicide attack in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA employees.

Mahsud is the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, a group the U.S. affidavit also alleges was behind the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and numerous attacks on NATO supply lines into Afghanistan.

The State Department says the group also was responsible for an April attack against the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the December 2009 attack and also said it was behind the failed May 1 bombing attempt in Times Square in New York by a Pakistani-born American who said the group had trained him to build bombs.

"These charges are part of a multipronged U.S. government effort to disrupt and dismantle Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan," said Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd. "It is our intention to hold Mahsud accountable for his actions, and we will work with our partners in the intelligence community, the military and law enforcement, as well as our counterparts overseas to achieve that objective."

The charges against Mahsud grew in part from a video released after the December attack, in which a Jordanian physician set off a suicide bomb at a remote base in the eastern Afghan province of Khowst near the border with Pakistan. According to the affidavit, the Jordanian drove to the base and got out of his car carrying a cane and wearing traditional Afghan clothing. He reached under his clothes to detonate an explosive, killing the seven CIA employees and himself, and wounding six other people.

At one point in the video, Mahsud and the doctor, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal Balawi, say in unison: "And we arranged this attack to let the Americans understand that the belief of God, the [faith] that we hold, the [piety] that we strive for cannot be exchanged for all the wealth in the world."

Later in the video, Mahsud describes the attack as revenge for the death of Baitullah Mahsud, the former head of the Pakistani Taliban. Baitullah Mahsud, unrelated to Hakimullah Mahsud, is believed to have been killed by the CIA in a drone attack in August 2009. [Geiger/LATimes/2September2010] 

Lebanon Seeks Interpol Help to Arrest Ex-General 'Spy.' Lebanon has asked Interpol to circulate an arrest warrant against a Lebanese ex-general suspected of working for the Israeli spy agency Mossad, a judicial source said on Thursday.

"Prosecutor General Said Mirza sent an arrest warrant in absentia against Ghassan al-Jidd, who is suspected of having collaborated with Israeli intelligence, to the Interpol office in Beirut to be circulated abroad," the source told AFP.

Jidd's name first surfaced last month when Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah revealed a list of "spies" working for the Shiite party's arch-enemy Israel at a media conference.

Local press reports say Jidd, a retired Lebanese army general, may have fled to Israel or France.

More than 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of espionage since April 2009, including telecom employees, members of the security forces and active duty troops.

Many of the suspects are accused of having helped Israel identify targets during its devastating 2006 war with Shiite militant Hezbollah.

Five of those tried so far have been sentenced to death for spying for Mossad.

Lebanon and Israel remain technically in a state of war, and convicted spies face life in prison with hard labor or the death penalty if found guilty of contributing to Lebanese loss of life. [France24/2September2010]

Germany Charges Austrian With Spying for Russia. German prosecutors have charged a 54-year-old Austrian man with feeding Russia's spy agency with information and technical materials from the military and civilian helicopter industries.

Federal prosecutors say in a terse statement Wednesday that a man identified only as Harald Alois S. is suspected of working together with Russia's SVR spy agency from 1997 to 2000.

They say the suspect, who has not been taken into custody, worked "to procure technical objects, documents and know-how from the civil and military helicopter industries."

He also was allegedly responsible for putting German engineers in touch with members of the Russian agency. The prosecutors say he was paid at least $10,500 in compensation. [AP/2September2010] 

Li Fengzhi, Chinese Spy Who Defected to US, Facing Deportation. The U.S. government is trying to deport Li Fengzhi, a veteran Chinese intelligence agent who defected here in 2004, back to China, where he could well be executed on charges of treason, he and others said in interviews.

The reasons for the government's six-year-long opposition to Li's application for political asylum, entangled in spy wars and layers of secrecy, are not easily discerned.

Li became an officer in the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) upon graduation from college in 1990, according to his application for political asylum. In 2003, the spy agency sent him to the University of Denver to pursue a PhD in international politics and diplomatic philosophy, during which time he began to voice his criticism of the Chinese Communist Party.

During a trip home, Chinese security agents harshly interrogated him about his views. When he returned to Denver, he decided to apply for political asylum, on the basis that his increasingly outspoken views would subject him to retribution if he were forced to go back.

But he did not reveal his identity as a Chinese intelligence officer at the time, he said. His application was initially denied.

Two years later, petitioning again for asylum, Li volunteered to an immigration official that he had not mentioned that he had been an intelligence officer of China.

Nor had he volunteered that, "because of the difficulties I had and the great danger to my family that I felt in those days, I decided to ask the CIA and FBI for help...."

In fact, Li was extensively debriefed by the FBI and CIA, he and others familiar with his case said.

But neither agency has stepped forward to help keep him from being deported, he and the others said. Although individual FBI agents were supportive of him, one source said, the bureau officially played down his intelligence value.

"Just getting verification that he worked with them has been an enormous task," said the source.

Neither agency could be reached for comment.

Rumors about Li's exact relationship with the CIA and FBI abound.

One explanation for their allegedly cool treatment of Li now, said a law enforcement source, was that he "oversold" himself - inflated his rank in the MSS - when he finally decided to cooperate with the FBI and CIA. Another line of thinking is that he rejected their overtures to work as their mole inside Chinese intelligence, and they feel they owe him no favors.

Whatever the truth, neither agency should get in the way of Li's effort to stay here now, said Michelle Van Cleave, chief of the National Counterintelligence Executive, a policy-setting arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, during the Bush administration.

"I can't understand why the Obama Administration would oppose Li's application for asylum," she said. "Can you imagine the fate that would await him if he were deported? Or what kind of a signal that would send?"

"Whether he came over with the crown jewels of Chinese intelligence or just some crumbs from the table, we should be welcoming him with open arms and encouraging others to follow," she said.

Li admitted he was ambivalent about asking the CIA and FBI for help. He wants to be known as a dissident, not a turncoat.

"My number one target is the CCP" - the Chinese Communist Party of China, Li said. "If they can connect me to U.S. intelligence agencies, they will use it against me."

Other government agencies involved in Li's case - the departments of Justice and Homeland Security - either did not respond to requests for comment or declined comment.

Li was critical of the handling of his case by DHS's Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes asylum requests, saying in his halting English, "I have a strong feeling they didn't know this case very well."

Later, in court proceedings led by a prosecutor with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he said, "I felt this lady" - he did not identify the prosecutor - "couldn't understand the smallest thing about Chinese security agencies."

Li made his latest case for political asylum at a hearing before an immigration judge in Denver on Monday. Another hearing is scheduled for Oct. 4, at which time he hopes his long quest to stay here will be over.

"I still hope the immigration system can make the right decision," Li said in a phone interview.

A Denver law firm, Lichter & Associates, has represented Li for the last four years. The current lead attorney on his case, Mark Robert Barr, said Li "faces severe repercussions" if he is forced to return to China, ranging from a "lengthy prison term to capital punishment, with very little due process."

"As an intelligence agent," Barr added, "he is at extreme risk."

Retired FBI official I.C. Smith, one of the bureau's top China experts, agreed.

In a letter to Denver immigration Judge Donn L. Livingston last March, Smith said "Mr. Li has two fundamental problems: he betrayed the trust of the ubiquitous MSS and far more importantly, he denounced the CCP. These are unforgivable actions on the part of the MSS as well as the CCP."

"Based on my past experience... I can state, without equivocation," Smith added, "that if Mr. Li were to be returned to China that his punishment would be severe and devoid of civil liberties."

The final decision on Li's fate could rest with the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, said an official who asked not to be identified. [Stein/WashingtonPost/3September2010]

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Annie Machon: My So-Called Life As A Spy. Spies have always loved living in Pimlico: a civilised area in central London, handy for strolling to the office, and wonderfully convenient for that midnight dash to work if your operation suddenly goes live. Plus, the local pubs are pretty good for the customary after-work moan.

I lived there myself when I worked as an intelligence officer for MI5 in the 1990s, so the murder of Gareth Williams in a nearby street gave me a bit of a jolt. While his death remains shrouded in mystery, what has been reported of his life sounds like classic GCHQ.

There are distinct cultures within each of the three major UK spy agencies: MI5, the UK domestic security service; MI6, the overseas intelligence organization; and GCHQ, the Government Communications HQ.

MI6 officers, as people who may have to work independently and undercover abroad, tend to be confident, individualistic and "ethically flexible", while MI5 officers need to co-ordinate a broad range of resources and people to run an operation, which requires greater team-building. Of the three agencies, GCHQ remains the most secretive and inward-looking, and is staffed predominantly with "boffin" types. Williams, with his mathematical skills and loner tendencies, would be a typical employee.

Despite the intelligence community presenting a united front to the outside world, culture clashes between the three agencies are commonplace. Staff on secondment between agencies - as Williams was, from GCHQ to MI6 - can have a rough time fitting into a new environment, working with colleagues who eye them with suspicion, as the divisions jockey for power, prestige and resources within Whitehall.

So what is life like working as a spy? The world of intelligence is not so much isolating as insulating. Even as you proceed through the convoluted recruitment process, you find yourself entering a parallel universe, one that exists alongside your everyday life.

From that first, exploratory meeting with an intelligence officer in an unmarked building in central London, you have to withdraw a little from your old existence. You are asked not to tell your family and friends, and immediately have to sign a notification of the rigorous terms of the Official Secrets Act, whereby if you talk about your work, you risk imprisonment.

The process of induction into this world is intriguing, flattering and seductive. The agencies tend to avoid the James Bond wannabes, and those inspired by the fake glamour of Spooks. The key motivation is generally wanting to do a job that can make a difference, protect the country and potentially save lives. The secret element adds spice and perhaps compensates for the anorexic pay. When I started working for MI5 in 1991, at the fast-track graduate level, the starting salary was �14,500 pa - a good �5,000 less than my peer group from Cambridge earned in their blue-chip jobs. The pay has improved somewhat since then, but you don't become a spy for the money.

The vetting process is protracted. For MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, officers are required to have the highest clearance - Developed Vetting. This begins with a home visit. Disconcertingly, I soon found myself in the family sitting room being grilled about my sex life by a little, grey-haired lady who looked just like a favourite grandmother, until you looked into her eyes.

Then the process widens. I had to nominate four friends who were willing to be interviewed about me, and they were asked to suggest yet more people.... so secrecy becomes impossible. One friend, of a Left-wing hue, disapproved of my recruitment; even those who were supportive were reluctant to ask me too much. As I couldn't talk to them freely about my life, they felt increasingly shut out, so I lost old friends along the way.

Unsurprisingly, new officers begin to socialize increasingly with their colleagues, and close friendships grow rapidly. Within this clique, we could talk shop at dinner parties, use the same slang and terminology, discuss our work, and whine about our bosses. With outsiders, we could never be fully ourselves. This, inevitably, often led to more than friendships. What might otherwise be called office romances flourished. I met my former partner, David Shayler, when we were both in our first posting in MI5.

Such relationships were not exactly encouraged, but were generally seen as a good thing by management - unless, of course, it was a clandestine matter that could leave the officer vulnerable to blackmail. Such affairs were seen as vetting offences.

Among spies, an old double standard held firm. There was one couple who were caught in flagrante in the office, not once but twice. The male officer was put on "gardening leave" for six months; the woman was sacked.

For the first few weeks in the job, the feeling of unreality and dislocation is strong. The only solid information you have about your new position, as you walk into the office for the first time, is the grade at which you will be working - nothing else.

My first posting was to the small counter-subversion section, F2. Even though it was a desk job, the information I was dealing with came from sensitive sources: intercepted communications, reports from agents who had penetrated target groups, police reports. And yet, within a few weeks, the handling of such secret and intrusive information became entirely normal.

Investigations can be very fast-paced, particularly in the counter-terrorism sections. Generally, officers work regular hours but occasionally, if an operation goes live, you work around the clock. If it proves a success, there might be a news item on the television about it - but obviously without the full back story. That can be a surreal experience. You feel pride that you've achieved what you signed up to do, but you cannot discuss it with anybody outside the office. At such moments, the disconnect from mainstream life is intensely sharp.

However, when something goes wrong - a bomb goes off in which civilians die - the feelings are even more intense. Guilt, anger, frustration, and a scramble to ensure that the blame doesn't attach to your section. The official motto of MI5 is Regnum Defende - defense of the realm. Staff mordantly used to joke that it should more accurately be Rectum Defende.

Personal security also ensures that there is a constant barrier between you and the normal world. If you meet someone interesting at a party, you cannot say too much about what you do, and such reticence can appear unfriendly. The cover story that MI5 officers use is that they work as civil servants at the Ministry of Defense; for MI6, it is the Foreign Office. This usually stops people from asking too much more, either through discretion or, frankly, boredom. Once or twice, people pushed me for more information, and my paranoia antennae immediately began to twitch: why are they so interested? Are they spies or, God forbid, journalists?

I had the misfortune once of using this cover story at a party, only to find my interlocutor actually worked for the real Ministry of Defense, and wanted to know which section I worked in, who my colleagues were, how long I had been there.... Thankfully, the magic word "Box" - slang used to describe MI5 within Whitehall, derived from the organization's old PO Box 500 number - brought that line of conversation to an abrupt halt.

As an intelligence officer, you quickly learn to be discreet on the telephone and in emails. Oblique conversations become the norm, and this bleeds into your personal life, too, much to the frustration of friends and family.

The internet is another challenge. As a "spook", the last thing you want to see is your photograph on a friend's Facebook page. Or, even worse, holiday snaps showing you in your Speedos, as the current head of MI6, Sir John Sawyer, found to his cost last year.

And what about when you come to leave the intelligence service, as I did after five years. Can you ever really have a normal life afterwards, and shake off the mindset?

Many of my former colleagues have left and built careers in a wide variety of areas. But I wonder how many still look automatically over their shoulders as they put their key in the front door; how many tear up paper before throwing it in the bin; and how many are reflexively reticent about their personal life?

Would I want to be a spy these days? No, thank you. I'm happier in the real world. [Annie Machon is the author of Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers.] [Machon/Telegraph/29August2010]

Intelligence Expert Crispin Black Says a Spy's Life Includes Danger, Hard Graft and a Dash of Glamour. Discretion and the principle of "need to know" govern every aspect of an intelligence officer's life.

They are allowed to reveal to their families their real job although this is a relatively recent concession. Selected close friends are also allowed to be in on the secret but only in the most generalized terms.

To the rest of the world spooks assume a false identity usually pretending to work for the Foreign Office or the Ministry of Defense.

Whatever the cover story it is well backed up. If a spook is pretending to work as a commercial attach� his or her name will appear in the Diplomatic List as just that.

There are three intelligence �agencies. The first, MI6 or the Secret Intelligence Service, deals with acquiring intelligence abroad.

Usually, they operate from "stations" inside British embassies - speaking their own jargon. The senior spook is Head of Station or H.

Sir John Scarlett, who was at the centre of the controversies over the Iraq dossiers was famously "H Moscow", smuggling a top defector out of Russia in the boot of an embassy car under the very noses of the very angry KGB.

After the invasion of Iraq Tony Blair promoted him to be Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service or C. Its biggest stations are now in Islamabad and Kabul, where conditions are tough. Elsewhere the James Bond lifestyle is still maintained.

The second agency, MI5 or the Security Service, is responsible for security at home. The job is more high-level complex police work than anything else. The most difficult and demanding aspects of the job are the surveillance operations mounted on unfolding terrorist plots.

If an intelligence officer is part of such a team he may not see friends and family for weeks on end and will subsist on coffee and takeaways. Things have improved slightly over the past few years as MI5 has developed regional stations with proper accommodation for its agents.

The third agency, GCHQ, are the listeners - direct descendants of the talented folk who broke codes at Bletchley Park in the Second World War. They have a hi-tech headquarters in Cheltenham known as the Doughnut because of its shape.

Tasked with breaking enemy codes and protecting our own electronic secrets they stare for long hours at computer screens trying to make sense of garbled conversations in foreign languages. They are serious and secretive people but they do let their hair down at Cheltenham Races, especially on Gold Cup Day.

Life in all three agencies is about detailed hard work. On every desk there are reminders of its importance. The most secret intelligence is contained in brightly colored folders. As in nature, where the most dangerous animals are brightly colored, the brighter the color the more secret the intelligence. The ones for the Prime Minister and the Queen are bound in scarlet and gold.

In the dark hours all three agencies take comfort in the reflected glory from their fictional counterparts. James Bond was/is an MI6 agent. Traditionally every Bond film has a For Spooks Eyes Only premiere.

Film magnates and spies mingle at a cocktail party beforehand. In 1999 at the first showing of The World Is Not Enough the audience cheered as their Vauxhall Cross HQ was blown up. Senior management was apparently not amused.

MI5 are lucky enough to have the BBC TV hit Spooks which has done wonders for recruitment and morale. There was always a feeling before that they were in some way "poor relations" to their counterparts south of the river.

Their real Albert Embankment HQ is even more hi-tech and glossy than the BBC studio mock up. But officers tend to dress down in case they have to drop everything and hit the street on some urgent surveillance.

GCHQ has its own heroes from the past - principally the Bletchley Park geniuses who broke the secret German codes so vividly brought to life in the film Enigma.

But it is not all hard work. One of the most glamorous parts of being a spy is the visits to the US. MI5 go to FBI headquarters in downtown Washington and MI6 to the CIA base in Langley. No alcohol is served at Langley dinners - except when the British are in town.

The closest relationship is between GCHQ and the National Security Agency who have a formal arrangement splitting responsibility for the world. There is a constant stream of British visitors to its Fort Meade HQ in Maryland, known as the Puzzle Palace.

The world's most powerful computers are there and the most brilliant mathematical minds. Gareth Williams visited often and would no doubt have been at home with his fellow math whizz-kids.

The exchange of information is free and frank. He would have been privy to US as well as British secrets.

That is why the Americans are taking such a strong interest in his death. [Black/Mirror/28August2010] 

The Spy Who Loved His Work: KGB 'Romeo' Targeted Aust Passports. A former Soviet intelligence agent who operated as a "Romeo spy'' has published his memoirs telling how he worked undercover in Australia to procure Australian passports for use by the KGB.

A British policeman who turned KGB agent, John Symonds' memoir provides a rare glimpse into Cold War espionage and the operations of Russian "illegals'' - spies who operate under false identities without the protected status of diplomats.

A Metropolitan Police detective accused of corruption, Symonds fled Britain with a false passport in 1972.

In Morocco he came into contact with Soviet intelligence who recruited him and decided to employ him, under the code name "SKOT'', as a "Romeo spy'' targeting female Western officials, mostly diplomatic staff, to obtain classified information.

According to his own privately published account, substantially supported by information from the KGB defector Vasiliy Mitrokhin, Symonds achieved significant success over six years of operations on four continents.

He enjoyed his work, writing that, "I'd say: 'join the KGB and see the world 'first class.' I went to all over the world on these jobs and I had a marvelous time.

"I stayed in the best hotels, I visited all the best beaches, I've had access to beautiful women, unlimited food, champagne, caviar whatever you like and I had a wonderful time. That was my KGB experience. I don't regret a minute of it.''

Symonds arrived in Australia under a false British identity in 1978 with the task of acquiring under false pretences Australian passports for use by other KGB agents. "This procedure required some skill, but I was adept at it and during my visit to Australia I made 20 separate applications for different passports, of which I collected 12 and gave them to my KGB handler in Canberra, with the other eight going directly to other addresses, or were collected by others,'' Symonds writes.

The passport acquisition operation lasted six months and cost about $23,000 - approximately $100,000 in today's prices.

Symonds describes how he would visit country towns to research the backgrounds of dead children whose identities could then be used by KGB illegals who could later travel to Australia and New Zealand to become acclimatized and enhance their English language proficiency.

"I always looked for a fairly common name, often associated with orphans and illegitimate children given to institutions by their single mothers,'' he writes in his memoir. [CanberraTimes/4September2010]

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold - To Write Novels. For David Cornwell it was a simple, clear-cut, matter of morals. No deliberation needed. And so he politely declined a rendezvous with Kim Philby, possibly the world's best-known double agent, and likely the man who ended Cornwell's own career as a British agent for both MI5 and MI6.

"I couldn't possibly have shook his hand," he shudders. "It was drenched in blood. It would have been repulsive. Lord knows how many agents Philby betrayed. They were tortured in terrible ways." One appreciates his point.

And Cornwell, better known as spy novelist John le Carr�, is a man with a well-honed moral mantra. For him it was the right and proper thing to do. But for le Carr�, his alter ego, surely the master espionage author was tempted by the literary riches on offer? The opportunity to trawl the mind of the traitor who defected to the Soviet Union in the Sixties when he was outed as the treacherous ringleader of the infamous 'Cambridge Five' spy circle that included Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross?

"Nope," he says, shaking his head vigorously. "Because of the country he betrayed. The people he betrayed. I could not have done it. Astonishingly, I think he hoped I might write his biography. It's the ludicrous sort of fantasy he would have entertained. A while later Phil Knightley, who did write it, phoned me and said Philby wanted to know why I wouldn't meet him.

"Did I know something about him that I disliked? I told him: 'What, apart from the incidental little matters of those he sent to their deaths.' I know it has never been proven that he betrayed the Albanian Operation when a whole bunch of British agents trained by SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) were dropped into Albania in the crazy days of King Zog. But he was in charge of the operation. And they went to terrible deaths. And don't forget Philby could easily have become head of the SIS."

The opportunity for an encounter with Philby came in the late Eighties, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eventual collapse of communism. Cornwell had been denied entry to the Soviet Union for years. Hardly surprising since his spy novels were required reading for the KGB. But when Raisa Gorbachev, wife of the Soviet leader Mikhail, intervened, he was granted a visa - much to the KGB's fury - and allowed to visit Moscow.

"It was ridiculous," he says, rolling his eyes. "Every time I left my hotel room it was turned over. I was followed everywhere." One night, at a party, he was approached by a shady figure, one of Philby's minders. "He told me he wanted me to meet a great admirer of mine, Mr. Philby. It was a horrific suggestion. I told him I was meeting the British ambassador next. I couldn't see the Queen's ambassador and then see the Queen's traitor."

It was an honorable, moral decision. Which is somewhat surprising since Cornwell's novels are peppered with moral ambiguity. Not for him the flashy Fleming world of James Bond with its shaken-not-stirred sophisticates who always happen to have the latest gadgetry tucked in the inside pocket of their immaculate tuxedos.

Cornwell's spies are the everyday folk in impossible positions. Those whom one would least suspect. Spies, according to Alec Leamas, a central character in his first international bestseller, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, are: "... squalid procession of vain fools, traitors, sadists and drunkards".

Since Cornwell was a successful spy himself, is the description apt? He shifts, a little uncomfortably, in his seat. "It is my writing dilemma," he concedes. "The world of spying is my genre. My struggle is to demystify, to de-romanticize the spook world, but at the same time harness it as a good story. As someone once said, the definition of genius - not that I'm a genius - is to have two conflicting opinions about any one subject and that's what I do all the time. Some call it ambiguity. I call it lack of resolution."

Cornwell, now 79, allows himself a modest smile. He is, actually, an extremely modest man. With his latest book, his 22nd, Our Kind of Traitor, about to be published, his place in posterity is assured. Set amid the backdrop of the credit crunch, it is a masterly yarn of a young London couple who, on holiday in Antigua, meet a rich, charismatic Russian millionaire called Dima, who owns a peninsula, wears a diamond-encrusted watch, has a tattoo on the knuckle of his right hand and wants a game of tennis. And he wants a lot more besides.

The novel is a tale of greed and corruption pacing back and forth from the Arctic hells of the Gulag archipelago to a Swiss alpine house nestling in the shadow of the north face of the Eiger.

"Completing a book, it's a little like having a baby," Cornwell says. "There's a feeling of relief and satisfaction when you get to the end. A feeling that you have brought your family, your characters, home. Then a sort of post-natal depression and then, very quickly, the horizon of a new book. The consolation that next time I will do it better."

At the moment, five of Cornwell's novels are being prepared for the big screen. Brad Pitt has an option for Night Manager and Gary Oldman and Colin Firth will star in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Last question, I tell him. Who would he like to see appear in Our Kind of Traitor? "Unknowns," he says succinctly. "Are we done? Good. Let's have lunch." [Independent/4September2010]

Section III - COMMENTARY

Does NSA's Cybersecurity Mission Extend to the Dot-Com Domain?, by William Jackson. The National Security Agency appears to be suffering a case of mission creep.

For years, NSA, the Defense Department's lead agency for information gathering and protection, has said that it has its hands full with protecting military networks and has no interest in networks outside the .mil domain. The .gov domain is the responsibility of Homeland Security, NSA said, and the .com and other private-sector domains are the responsibility of the private sector, with DHS help.

Of course, NSA would also be willing to lend a hand if needed, but it has no direct responsibility for non-military networks.

These statements have been taken with a grain of salt by many in the security world, especially with the revelation of wholesale illegal wiretaps that were discovered sweeping up traffic from commercial networks during the Bush administration. Now, DOD is admitting the obvious by saying that its interests extend beyond .mil.

"The military networks do not exist in a vacuum," Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said last week in outlining DOD's strategy for defending against and responding to cyberattacks. The third pillar of that strategy is to extend DOD protection to critical infrastructure in the civilian government and private sectors. "We cannot just protect only the .mil world."

DHS is the lead agency in this civilian mission, Lynn said. Asked how far NSA is prepared to go in defending civilian critical infrastructure, he reiterated that DHS would call the shots. "We would follow the Homeland Security [Department's] lead," he said.

It is hard to imagine NSA sitting back during a crisis and waiting for orders from the same department that was responsible for the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. DHS simply does not have the expertise or the authority to effectively defend critical infrastructure within the .gov domain, let alone in the much larger .com and other private-sector domains.This is not necessarily DHS' fault. The nation does not have an overarching policy or strategy for defending an unregulated, decentralized but interconnected critical infrastructure. Each entity is expected to be responsible for protecting those segments of the infrastructure it controls, but outside of government there are few standards that must be met or best practices to be implemented. Even within government, DHS is not equipped to audit and monitor agency compliance, enforce regulations or respond to incidents.

NSA and DOD's new U.S. Cyber Command are the government's most effective and powerful federal cybersecurity actors, said Paul Rosenzweig, former deputy assistant secretary for policy at DHS and now a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. If other provisions are not made to establish a framework of authority and responsibility for protecting critical infrastructure, they will fill the power vacuum with military or pseudo-military control, Rosenzweig warned during a recent discussion on cybersecurity.

Proposals already have surfaced calling for NSA to establish monitoring capabilities within Internet service providers in order to extend its protection to defense contractors in the dot-com domain.

Arguments can be made whether or not NSA should have the job of protecting our civilian critical infrastructure. Many security experts and civil libertarians would argue that this job should not be given to an agency cloaked in secrecy and with a record of surveillance abuses. But absent another agency with the authority and responsibility to do the job, we can expect DOD and NSA to become the de facto defenders of our networks. [Jackson/FederalComputerWeek/30August2010]

Iraq: Time to Ring the Bell, by Howard P. Hart. Many years ago I attended a series of Headquarters briefings for out-going CIA Chiefs of Station. Our main speaker was Richard Helms, then the Agency's Director and one of the lions of American foreign policy in the 1960's and 70's. A man who was subsequently crucified in the Nixon catastrophe. Dick was essentially giving us our instructions, and in my mind his most telling directive was the quiet statement: "Ring the Bell." Telling us to sing out when we apprehended a major disaster in the offing.

It's time to ring the bell on Iraq.

Briefly put, in a matter of months Iran will emerge the unchallenged military and economic power dominating the area from Lebanon to Pakistan. It will control Iraq, and be in a position to shut off all oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. It will be free to provide extensive assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, thus ensuring a NATO defeat in that country. It be in a position to provide crucial support to radical Islamic elements in Pakistan - which may well result in the collapse of that already shaky nuclear-armed government. It will be free to radically increase its support to a variety of terrorist organizations targeting the US. And, in conjunction with well armed radical Palestinian forces that already exist on Israel's borders, it will pose the greatest threat ever faced by Israel.

A threat that I do not believe Israel could survive without direct US military intervention.

By the end of this month American combat units are to have withdrawn from Iraq, leaving approximately 50,000 troops behind - all of whom are to be gone by the end of 2011. As a result of the refusal of the key religious and tribal factions in the country to coalesce into anything even remotely approaching a national government, there is no government in Iraq. Nor will there be before the last American troops are withdrawn.

Even if by some miracle there were one, there is no effective Iraqi National Army or National Police Force to defend it or to enforce its decisions. Nor will such forces exist when the US withdraws in sixteen short months.

There are several key reasons why this situation will exist after we have occupied Iraq for over eight years, had over 4,400 of our soldiers killed, and expended billions of aid money - and worked mightily to create both a government and the forces to defend it,.

First, Iraqi "politicians" are in the main a bunch of narrowly self-interested, power and money-hungry, religiously antagonistic, avaricious and short-sighted people, unwilling to place national interests ahead of personal ones. Second, the minority Sunni Muslim population and the Kurdish tribals quite rightly fear that a Shia Muslim dominated government and military would treat them as third-class citizens - and perhaps threaten their very existence. Finally - there is Iran: an outlaw and bitterly anti-US Shia Muslim theocracy that is determined that post-US Iraq will be an Iranian vassal state.

Iran has covertly poured money and arms into supporting Iraqi Shias for years, and will continue to do so. Once the Americans are really gone, Iran will drop any pretense of non-interference in Iraqi affairs, and, by bribery and intimidation, ensure that whatever passes for an Iraqi government, military and police is under Iranian control. Note: Unless the Kurdish areas of the country are protected by either US or international forces, the Kurds will face attack from both the Shia government and Iran. Iraq's Sunni Muslims will either have to knuckle under to the Shia, or go into protracted internal warfare - which they cannot win.

The end result of this is that Iran will soon emerge as THE overwhelmingly dominant military and economic power in the area. A power which is determined to overthrow all of the Arab governments in the region, destroy Israel, and do everything it can against US interests.

On the economic side, Iraq and Iran together control close to 20 percent of the world's proven petroleum reserves: they have approximately as oil much as Saudi Arabia. Because it controls the entire east coat of the Persian Gulf, Iran can easily close the entire Gulf to shipping - thereby denying the world market oil exports from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as well as its own and Iraqi production. Iran truly has the industrialized world by the tail.

Militarily, Iran has the largest (and well equipped) army in the neighborhood. After the failure of the Obama Administration's pathetic attempts to negotiate with Iran, Mr. Obama decided to use sanctions to deter Iran from its nuclear weapons program. Those sanctions, while irritating the Iranians, are meaningless, and will have no effect on Tehran's push for nuclear weapons. Iran will very soon be able to back up its conventional forces with nuclear arms.

Late last month CIA's highly respected Director, Leon Panetta, in statements on ABC that have received little attention - particularly from the largely pro-Obama press - made a shambles out of the Administration's claims that it has brilliantly dealt with Iran, and revealed that Iran will have nuclear weapons in the near future To quote Panetta: "We think they have enough low-enriched uranium right now for two weapons. They do have to enrich it, fully, in order to get there. And we would estimate that if they made that decision, it would probably take a year to get there, (and) probably another year to develop the kind of weapon delivery system in order to make that viable."

Addressing the value of sanctions, Panetta then said: "I think the sanctions will have some impact. It could help weaken the regime. It could create some serious economic problems. Will it deter them from their ambitions with regards to nuclear capability? Probably not."

So ... Iran will be a nuclear power soon after we depart Iraq. The consequences of that fact are literally frightening. It means that a regime led by fanatic Shia Muslims determined to dominate Iraq and Middle Eastern oil; to destroy Israel; to overthrow moderate Arab governments and replace them with radical Muslim ones; and to frustrate every American interest and goal, will have both the ultimate potential offensive weapon and the ultimate defensive deterrent.

We must remember that, in the case of Israel, Iran has the additional advantage of its alliance with Hezbollah, which it has armed and financed, and which, as the Hezbollah-Israeli war of 2006 showed, is quite capable of bringing Israel to its knees on its own. Note: it is well known that in the wake of that war Iran radically increased its provision of weapons to Hezbollah - particularly long range rockets. Hezbollah is now a more powerful military force than it was before its 2006 fight with Israel.

Finally, we must be recognize that Iran could easily transfer one or more nuclear weapons to the terrorist organization of its choice. That would give Iran the opportunity to strike a dreadful blow at any enemy without being identified as the ultimate aggressor.

In sum, once it has nuclear weapons Iran will have America and the West by the tail. And knows it. Which is why Russia, for example, while ostensibly supporting the new (and ineffectual) sanctions against Iran, is busily making itself an Iranian ally.

Options: very few before Iran gets "the bomb," none after it does. 

The bell has rung. [Hart/CIAHart/27August2010]

Israeli Spies Wooing U.S. Muslims, Sources Say, by Jeff Stein. The CIA took an internal poll not long ago about friendly foreign intelligence agencies.

The question, mostly directed to employees of the clandestine service branch, was: Which are the best allies among friendly spy services, in terms of liaison with the CIA, and which are the worst? In other words, who acts like, well, friends?

"Israel came in dead last," a recently retired CIA official told me the other day.

Not only that, he added, throwing up his hands and rising from his chair, "the Israelis are number three, with China number one and Russia number two," in terms of how aggressive they are in their operations on U.S. soil.

Israel's undercover operations here, including missions to steal U.S. secrets, are hardly a secret at the FBI, CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. From time to time, in fact, the FBI has called Israeli officials on the carpet to complain about a particularly brazen effort to collect classified or other sensitive information, in particular U.S. technical and industrial secrets.

The most notorious operation employed Jonathan Pollard, the naval intelligence analyst convicted in 1987 and sentenced to life in prison for stealing tens of thousands of classified documents for Israel.

One of Israel's major interests, of course, is keeping track of Muslims who might be allied with Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, or Iran-backed Hezbollah, based in Lebanon.

As tensions with Iran escalate, according to former CIA officer Philip Giraldi, "Israeli agents have become more aggressive in targeting Muslims living in the United States as well as in operating against critics."

"There have been a number of cases reported to the FBI about Mossad officers who have approached leaders in Arab-American communities and have falsely represented themselves as 'U.S. intelligence,' " Giraldi wrote recently in American Conservative magazine.

"Because few Muslims would assist an Israeli, this is done to increase the likelihood that the target will cooperate. It's referred to as a 'false flag' operation."

Giraldi's piece continued, "Mossad officers sought to recruit Arab-Americans as sources willing to inform on their associates and neighbors. The approaches, which took place in New York and New Jersey, were reportedly handled clumsily, making the targets of the operation suspicious."

"These Arab-Americans turned down the requests for cooperation," Giraldi added,"and some of the contacts were eventually reported to the FBI, which has determined that at least two of the Mossad officers are, ironically, Israeli Arabs operating out of Israel's mission to the United Nations in New York under cover as consular assistants."

"Oh, sure, they do that," the other former CIA official said, waving a dismissing hand, when I asked about Giraldi's story. "They're all over the place."

The FBI did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

But a retired senior FBI counterintelligence official told SpyTalk, "They have always been extremely aggressive, and seem to feel they can operate whenever and wherever they want, in spite of being called on the carpet more than any other country by probably a factor of three times as often."

A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy, which routinely denies accounts of Mossad operations on U.S. soil, could not be immediately reached for comment.

The former CIA official, who discussed such sensitive matters only on the condition of anonymity, echoed the views of other U.S. intelligence sources I've talked to over the years about Israeli operations in the United States.

They don't begrudge the Jewish state's interest in keeping track of its potential or real enemies, including here - indeed, they often say Israel is America's best friend in the Middle East.

Which, they say, makes Mossad's impersonation of U.S. intelligence agents all the more galling. [Stein/WashingtonPost/2September2010]

Section IV - OBITUARIES, BOOKS, LETTER TO THE EDITORS AND COMING EVENTS

Obituaries

Martin Dannenberg; Found Nuremberg Laws Document. It was April 28, 1945, and the war in Europe was in its final hours. Days earlier, Martin Dannenberg, an Army intelligence officer, had seen piles of dead bodies at Dachau, the concentration camp in Germany. He said they were stacked like cordwood.

Now he was in a bank vault, opening an envelope sealed with red swastika embossments. He pulled out a document - four typed, black-bordered pages - signed by Adolf Hitler and three top lieutenants. It proclaimed the Nuremberg Laws.

These laws stripped Jews of their German citizenship; forbade marriage and sex between citizens of "German blood" and Jews; and established the swastika as the German flag while forbidding Jews to display it. Announced at a rally in Nuremberg in September 1935 and quickly rubber-stamped by the German Parliament, they provided the legal pretext for the dehumanizing of Jews that led ineluctably to the piles of bodies Mr. Dannenberg saw.

"I had the most peculiar feeling when I had this in my hand, that I should be the one who should uncover this," Mr. Dannenberg said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun in 1999. "Because here is this thing that begins the persecution of the Jews. And a Jewish person has found it."

A retired insurance company chairman, Mr. Dannenberg died on Aug. 18 at age 94 at his home in Baltimore. His wife, Margery, said he had been having health problems since a fall four years ago.

A week after his death, on Aug. 25, the Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif., donated the Nuremberg document to the National Archives. The confluence of events was coincidence, but the gift marked the end of a long, strange journey for one of history's most evil proclamations.

Gen. George S. Patton, who led the Third Army in Europe, originally decided to keep the document rather than send it to be used as evidence in war crimes trials, as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the commander of Allied forces in Europe, had ordered. General Patton gave it to the Huntington, whose founder had been a close friend of his family.

The Huntington put it in a bombproof vault, did not display it and for 54 years kept its very existence a secret. Part of the reason for the secrecy seems to have been concerns that displaying it might blur the library's focus on British and American history and art.

But after the Skirball Cultural Center, a museum dedicated to the Jewish experience, opened in 1996 in Los Angeles, the Huntington, under new leadership, lent the document to it.

More than three million people saw the document before it was removed from view in 2009 to protect it from light. The Huntington then decided that it belonged in the National Archives in Washington, which contain other important Nazi documents.

Martin Ernest Dannenberg was born in Baltimore on Nov. 5, 1915, and began working as a mailroom clerk at the Sun Life Insurance Company after graduating from high school. He attended Johns Hopkins University and the University of Baltimore School of Law at night.

He dropped out of law school when his boss pointed out the window at men selling fruit. "Each one of them used to be a lawyer before the Depression," he said.

When World War II started, Mr. Dannenberg went to enlist in the Army, telling recruiters he hoped to do counterintelligence work, his wife said. But the recruiters told him to wait to be drafted and that counterintelligence officers might contact him after he was in the Army. It was all very hush-hush, but it worked out.

Mr. Dannenberg became a counterintelligence officer in Patton's Third Army. His plunge into history started with a man staring at him from the back of a beer hall. Mr. Dannenberg asked why he was staring.

"I know the whereabouts of a document I think you Americans would like to have," the man said. "I will tell you where it is if you will see that I get to my home, which is near a town called Eichstatt."

After a convoluted trail, Mr. Dannenberg and two other agents ended up in the vault of a bank in Eichstatt. His tale has been corroborated by written records left by the deceased interpreter who accompanied him, Frank Perls. Mr. Dannenberg took photographs with his Minox spy camera.

He confessed that he had briefly thought about keeping the document for a souvenir, but knew it was needed for what became the Nuremberg war crimes trials, where facsimiles had to be used. After learning in 1999 that General Patton had taken the document for himself, Mr. Dannenberg, in an interview with The Washington Post, called him "that scoundrel."

For more than 50 years, Mr. Dannenberg worked for the Sun Life Insurance Company, rising to chairman before retiring in 1987. He was also president of Har Sinai, one of the oldest Reform Jewish congregations in the United States, outside Baltimore.

His first wife, the former Esther Salzman, died in 1989. He is survived by his wife, the former Margery Dopkin; a daughter, Betsy Frahm; two sons, Richard Dannenberg and Alan Eccleston; a stepdaughter, Joan Singer Consul; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

People who saw the Nuremberg Laws with Hitler's descending signature at the Skirball reported being transfixed as they imagined the horrors the crisply typed words engendered. Though thousands of copies were distributed throughout the Third Reich, the original seemed frighteningly different.

Mr. Dannenberg also felt another emotion, his wife said, after the museum removed Patton's picture from the exhibit and substituted one of him. He was pleased. [Martin/NYTimes/29August2010] 

Philip Mogen.  Philip Conrad Mogen, 83, a resident of Albuquerque, NM for 33 years, passed away peacefully August 23, 2010. He was preceded in death by his parents, his loving wife of 54 years, Darlene, and brothers, Hubert and Bryan. He is survived by his children: son Dr. Mark Mogen and his wife Karen of Aberdeen, South Dakota; daughter Karen Mogen of Albuquerque; and son Dr. Thomas Mogen and his wife Dr. Florence Mogen of Radford, Virginia. He is survived by his eleven grandchildren: Corey Holt and wife Janne, Melissa, Elizabeth, Matthew, Allison, and Rebecca Mogen of South Dakota, and Philip, Charles, William, Walker, and Samuel Mogen of Virginia. He is survived by two brothers: Iro Mogen of Yankton, South Dakota and Chris Mogen of Portland, OR. Philip was born to Gilbert and Helen Mogen in Ortonville, Minnesota on May 20, 1927. He grew up in Waubay South Dakota the middle son of five. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in August of 1945. After returning from the Army, Philip received a B.S. in Business from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD and then a Juris Doctor in Law in 1952. He followed older brother Bryan's career path by working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He spent 27 years as a special agent with the FBI starting his career in Charlotte, NC, then moving to New York, Chicago, Washington DC and finally, Albuquerque where he was ASAC. His last position with the Bureau was as an Inspector. After retiring from the FBI in 1979, Phil went into business with two other former agents starting the Maximum Security Agency. He then worked as an independent contractor for the Department of Energy. He loved his family both immediate and distant, and his many friends everywhere. His love of music and church allowed him to sing, in baritone voice, with his church choir for the majority of his life. He was very active with the First Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque. A memorial service will be held Friday, September 3, 2010 at 10:00 A.M. at the First Presbyterian Church, 215 Locust Street Northeast. Interment will follow at 2:30 P.M. at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. [AlbuquerqueJournal/2September2010]

Whitney Reed. Whitney E. Reed of Bowie, Md. passed away on September 4, 2010. He was the son of the late Edward and Elizabeth Reed of Brockton, Mass. and was preceded in death by his sister Sylvia of Brockton Mass. and wife of 26 years, Lilymae Reed. He is survived by his brothers Gordon and Wayne Reed both of Bridgewater, Mass, his loving wife of 30 years Frances Reed , his children by Lilymae Reed, Thomas Reed of Hanover, Pa., Melinda Formento and Jonathan Reed both of Cape May Court House, NJ. Whitney was born in Glens Falls, NY. He was an Eagle Boy Scout in his youth and graduated from Brockton High School in 1947. He completed BS and MA Degrees in Germanic Languages at Boston University in 1952, Masters of International Affairs at George Washington University in 1956, and an honorary Doctor of Strategic Intelligence Degree from the Defense Intelligence College. Whitney also completed advanced studies in Germanic Languages and Literature at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany 1957-59, Free University Berlin 1966, and attended the National War College 1969-70. He worked for the National Security Agency from 1952 to 1993. Whitney retired from NSA as the Commandant of the National Cryptologic School (1986 to 1993) and NSA/CSS Deputy Director for Education and Training. He was a lifelong champion of the foreign language community and a member of the Board of Directors and past Vice President and Treasurer and of the National Museum of Language. Whitney was a bibliophile, logophile, and oenologist. A rosary will be said at 11:30 AM followed by a memorial Mass that will be held at St. Pius X Catholic Church at 14720 Annapolis Road Bowie, Md. on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 12:00 PM. Arrangements by Beall Funeral Home, Bowie, Md. Please view and sign the family�s guestbook at www.beallfuneral.com

Books

Fascinating New Book Chronicles One Man's Service from the Throes of War to the Central Intelligence Agency. As a teenager growing up in rural Kentucky, Jack Kassinger worked long hours as a field hand on a neighboring farm. After graduating from high school, he took a job at a Peabody Coal Company strip-mine in southern Illinois. He worked with Peabody until he received his draft notification in December 1967, and subsequently joined the U.S. Marine Corps at a Kentucky induction center the following month.

Holding Hands with Heroes chronicles a common man's service to his country - from Operation PIPESTONE CANYON in Vietnam as a young, enlisted Marine, to the halls of the Central Intelligence Agency where service and dedication to a cause became a way of life. This is the story of one man's journey through the throes of war and his selfless dedication while employed at the country's most prestigious, clandestine, intelligence-gathering organization. 

Praise for Holding Hands with Heroes

"If you want to know what made the clandestine service at CIA work during our time at the agency then read this book. Knowing that I had Kassinger backing me up alleviated most of the concerns I had of taking on a dangerous operational assignment."
Robert Baer - CIA field officer and author of See No Evil and Sleeping with the Devil

"This is a story told in straight forward fashion by a high school educated Marine Corps veteran whose 'can-do' attitude and approach brought him more than one battle-field promotion, eventually into the ranks of the senior intelligence service of the CIA. Mr. Kassinger epitomizes the values of the Old Agency - loyalty to the mission above all, and a willingness to do whatever it took to support his clandestine services superiors and colleagues." Fred Hitz - former CIA Inspector General and author of The Great Game and Why Spy?

"Jack Kassinger has given us a behind-the-scenes tour of what really makes CIA operations tick. He was the guy who made sure everything was delivered on time and worked when it got there. Support officers like Jack are an indispensable part of the CIA team and have never gotten the recognition they deserve. Jack tells an inspiring story of his CIA family, the spellbinding operations he supported, and the many true heroes he worked with along the way. No book like this has ever been written."
James Olson - former Chief of CIA Counterintelligence and author of Fair Play: The Moral Dilemmas of Spying

"Holding Hands with Heroes is a compelling story of one man's dedicated and selfless service to the Marine Corps and to his Country. As a U.S. Marine recruit, Jack Kassinger learned self-discipline, self-confidence, and pride, personal traits that, if not allowed to atrophy, will ensure success in life no matter the field you decide to plow and hoe. From Corps to CIA to the present, his rows are straight and clear. You will enjoy this book!"
LtGen Ron Christmas USMC (Retired), Navy Cross Recipient, President & CEO of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. [PRWeb/2September2010] 

Famous Nazi-Hunter Was a Mossad Agent, New Book Reveals. Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who dedicated his life to tracking down Nazi war criminals, was seen all his life as a one-man organization. But now, documents from his estate show he was a Mossad agent.

A new book by Tom Segev, to be published on Thursday, reveals that the Mossad supported Wiesenthal - and also shows that Israel did more to capture Nazi war criminals than was previously known.

The book, "Wiesenthal - the Biography" (published by Keter ), reveals that a 1948 Israeli operation to capture Adolf Eichmann in Austria failed.

Wiesenthal, whose efforts to trace war criminals and bring them to justice won him world acclaim, died five years ago in his Vienna home, aged 97.

During the Holocaust, he was a prisoner in five concentration camps. After the war he contacted American intelligence services and provided them with Nazi criminals' names. He was also active in the underground organization Bricha ("escape"), which helped Jewish Holocaust survivors flee Europe for Palestine.

When Israel was established, Wiesenthal was enlisted to work with the Mossad's predecessor, the Foreign Ministry's "state department." Though he was not Israeli, he received an Israeli passport that enabled him to remain in Austria.

In December 1948, the department sent three agents, headed by Israel Defense Forces officer Michael Bloch, to Austria. With Wiesenthal's help and the Austrian security services' cooperation, the agents lay in wait for Eichmann in the Alpine village of Altaussee, where Eichmann's wife lived with her children. They believed Eichmann, who had escaped from the American POW camp Oberdachstetten, would visit his family for the new year.

But Eichmann never showed up. Perhaps he had been warned at the last moment of the Israelis' presence in the village.

Bloch wrote a detailed report of the operation that was only recently released for publication. Asher Ben Natan, a senior "state department" official who later became Israel's ambassador in Germany and France, confirmed the story.

In 1953, Wiesenthal located Eichmann and reported his whereabouts to the Israeli authorities. But only in 1960, following intelligence from Germany, did Israeli agents set out to capture him.

Wiesenthal started working for the Mossad after Eichmann's capture and continued doing so for about 10 years. His main job was to trace Nazi criminals, but he also provided his operators with information about German missile scientists and engineers working in Egypt.

The Mossad financed the establishment of Wiesenthal's office in Vienna and paid him some $300 a month in cash as wages. [Karpel/Haaretz/2September2010]

Letter to the Editors

To: The Editor, AFIO

I was not a little surprised to click on the link to Philip Giraldi's article [WIN 32-10 dated 31 August 2010]), which purported to have been published in the American Conservative, only to be directed to the website of.... INTIFADA, Voice of Palestine:
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2010/08/philip-giraldi-israeli-mossad-spying-in-america/

Need I mention that this is a virulently and of course transparently anti-Israeli site, hardly the kind of reliable source of information one might expect to find cited in a newsletter of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers.

I happened to also note Mr Giraldi's affiliation with the so-called Council for the National Interest, which purports to be "Advocating Middle East policies that serve the American national interest." You may be interested to know that on the page headed "Iran" - http://www.cnionline.org/issues/iran/ - we find, among other things (like downplaying Iran's nuclear capability and citing its claim that the program is meant only for peaceful use), the following:

The Iranian nuclear issue must be dealt with evenhandedly by the international community. However, it is not in the interest of the United States to focus all of its efforts on unilateral action against the Islamic Republic while at the same time losing resources, time, and global credibility. Until an international consensus can be reached, it is imperative that all parties focus on more pressing and precarious issues on the ground, namely the advancement of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

I would have expected better of the AFIO. Don't you guys screen your articles? Please spare your readers this trash. Don't let your evident animosity to Israel [to which I have already pointed in the past] blind you.

Juliana Geran Pilon, Ph.D., Director, Center for Culture and Security, INSTITUTE OF WORLD POLITICS, 1521 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036;
Mobile: (301) 346-4504, Office: (202) 462-2101 

[Editors' Note: Although the link in the WIN did link to the Voice of Palestine website, where Mr. Giraldi's article had been picked up, it did originate in the American Conservative [http://www.amconmag.com/blog/mossad-in-america/] which was clearly indicated in the VOP article, and did in fact link back to the original. The WINs Editors would like to take this opportunity to remind our readers that the articles we publish are not the opinions of AFIO; they are intended to give our readership information about what is being played in the press. We encourage Dr. Pilon, and other WIN readers who reacted to the Giraldi piece, to respond directly to Mr. Girladi's article through the American Conservative, where such a response will have the greatest impact and widest readership. Once it is published, we would be happy to run the response in the WIN. Mr. Giraldi and the journal publisher can be contacted through the editorial staff at the American Conservative at letters@amconmag.com.]

Coming Events

EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

MANY Spy Museum Events in August with full details are listed on the AFIO Website at www.afio.com. The titles for some of these are in detail below and online.

Wednesday, 8 September 2010 - Albuquerque, NM - The Tom Smith AFIO New Mexico Chapter meets to hear Robert Hull on "Designing Buildings to Protect Against Terrorist Attack."

Robert (Bob) Hull—one of our long time members from Los Alamos--has agreed to present his paper on "Designing Buildings to Protect Against Terrorist Attack." This is one of the courses Bob teaches for FEMA, for whom he is a certified Instructor. This should be very interesting, and we look for a good turnout. Location: Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort, Santa Ana Reservation (Bernalillo)
11:00 AM: Buffet Lunch Served; 11:30 AM: Call To Order. To register or for additional info: Jerry Monahan at 505 242-9857 or foreigndevil@yahoo.com

8 September 2010, 11:30 a.m. - Scottsdale, AZ - The Arizona Chapter of AFIO hosts Dr. Robert H. Reuss who will speak on "Novel electronics technologies being explored and developed for the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community."

Prior to joining the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, in Washington, DC, Dr. Robert Reuss spent twenty years in technology and research management positions with Motorola Corporation in the Phoenix area. Prior to that he had worked for a U.S. government agency for seven years as a research and development manager. For three years he was a professor conducting research at the University of Colorado. Dr. Reuss received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Drexel University in 1971. He has published over 50 papers and has been awarded 13 U.S. patents. His technology interests lie in the area of materials and electrochemistry technologies for advanced microelectronic applications and microsystems integration as well as large area electronics. The presentation will discuss novel electronics technologies being explored and developed for the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. Presentation will be unclassified. This 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 call and leave a message on 602.570.6016. Arthur Kerns, President of the AFIO AZ Chapter, president@afioaz.org

Thursday, 9 September 2010, Noon - 2 pm - Washington, DC - Presentation on the French Foreign Legion
Col. Brice Houdet, French Military attaché, will speak on The French Foreign Legion as part of the program of The Returned Services League of Australia, Washington Chapter. A graduate of St. Cyr, Colonel Houdet held various command assignments with the Foreign Legion, staff appointments at French Army Headquarters, and commanded the 2nd Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment, prior to his appointment as the French Military Attaché. Colonel Houdet's service has taken him to Djibouti, Sarajevo, Gabon, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo and the Cote d'Ivoirre.
Where - Amenities room, Embassy of Australia, 1601 Massachusetts, Ave NW. Valid ID required
Charge - $15.00, including buffet lunch and sodas. Alcoholic beverages - $2.00 each. (Arrive early as the briefing will start at around 12:15).
RSVP to David Ward on 202-352-8550 or via e-mail at dmpward@wwdb.org
Attire: Business casual
Parking: There is no parking at the Embassy. There is paid public parking behind and under the Airline Pilots Association (17th and Mass) and at 1500 Mass Ave NW

10 September 2010, 6 pm - Washington, DC - Christopher Harmon book-signing on his "How Terrorist Groups End" at the Institute of World Politics

Dr. Christopher C. Harmon, editor of Toward A Grand Strategy Against Terrorism, [McGraw-Hill, 2010], speaks on this just-released book. Harmon is a faculty member at the Institute of World Politics. If you would like a book signed by Dr. Harmon, please purchase it beforehand. Book not sold at the event. To have it signed, purchase immediately from Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, and bring to this event.
The lecture will be followed by a Welcome Reception for new and returning IWP students.
A team of nearly two dozen authors -- all associated with the Marshall Center, the joint German/American research and teaching institution in Garmisch -- composed Toward A Grand Strategy Against Terrorism, published this May. This very international team became cohesive in lecturing and running seminars together after Marine Colonel (ret.) A. N. Pratt began the program in 2004. While there are seven PhDs in the writers' pool and too many master's holders to mention, what is more notable are the tallies of work-years as practitioners in the fields of intelligence, diplomacy, and the military, which easily add into the hundreds. These specialists' thoughts on how to go about attacking terrorism have been refined and clarified over long careers. The result is an important accomplishment which will make its mark on how counterterrorism is taught in our graduate schools, institutes, and higher military schools.
• A scholar who has held two academic chairs in international law advises on when use of force is permissible, and when it is not.
• Two diplomats team up to write on how their craft can work against international terrorism.
• A Reuters editor considers how media may publish balanced and reasonable stories about horrid terrorist events.
• A senior Pentagon specialist on low intensity conflict--J Q Roberts--explains 'how to build a CT team.'
• French experience against terrorism is laid out by a co-author who, for many years, held the second position in French internal espionage services.
• The history-and the present course-of terrorism are detailed by an editor who spent a career in the field supporting certain insurgents and opposing others.
• Harmon's 2 chapters include "How Terrorist Groups End," a topic he began lecturing on right here at IWP a few years after the tragedy of 9-11.
For more information visitwww.iwp.edu

13 September 2010 - Portsmouth, NH - CIRA New England chapter luncheon meeting
For further information phone 207-374-2169. Inquiries to raguay@roadrunner.com

Tuesday 14 September 2010, 5:30-6:30 pm - Washington, DC - AFIO Hampton Roads Chapter hosts Membership Meeting

Location: Tabb Library in York County, Main Meeting Room. Members will discuss chapter plans for the year and other business matters. RSVP: Melissa Saunders mwsaunders@cox.net

15 September 2010, 8 am - Washington, DC - The ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security hosts breakfast at University Club

The speaker at the breakfast is Congresswoman Jane Harman on "The Authorization for Use of Military Force" To register contact Holly McMahon, Staff Director, at 202-662-1035 or at hmcmahon@staff.abanet.org More information at www.abanet.org/natsecurity

16 September 2010 – San Francisco, CA – The AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts Lt. Col. Roger Dong on the People's Liberation Army and Chinese military strategy.

Lt Col Roger Dong is Chairman, American Legion War Memorial Commission and Immediate Past President, AFIO SF chapter. The presentation will be on the People's Liberation Army and will cover historical recap of the PLA and discuss Chinese military strategic concepts, vis-a-vis the US military. The advances of the PLA Navy will be a special focus during the presentation. RSVP and pre-payment required. The meeting will be held at UICC, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco (between Sloat/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 chicken or fish): afiosf@aol.com and mail check made out to "AFIO" to: Mariko Kawaguchi, P.O. Box 117578 Burlingame, CA 94011

Thursday, 16 September 2010, 11:30 am - Colorado Springs, CO – The Rocky Mountain Chapter features speaker on terrorism.

The Rocky Mountain Chapter presents Sheriff Terry Maketa who will speak on legal issues involving El Paso County, crime statistics and give an update on terrorism. To be held at a new location the AFA... Eisenhower Golf Course Club House. Please RSVP to Tom VanWormer at robsmom@pcisys.net

21 September 2010, 7 pm – Center Valley, PA – DeSales University National Security Program hosts AFIO member Dr. John Behling on “The Evolution of Standard Overt Jihad into Covert Stealth Jihad.”

Dr. John Behling served in the Office of Strategic Services and Military Intelligence during and after WWII.  He was a member of the Office of Intelligence and Research with the State Department, a Foreign Service officer, a free lance contract agent for the CIA, and a university professor.  He has numerous publications dealing with language studies, the USSR, and terrorism.  AFIO members are invited to join us as Dr. Behling shares a chapter from his forthcoming book The DNA of Terrorism.  The event takes place in the Commonwealth Room in the DeSales University Center on the DeSales University campus (2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA 18034).  For questions please email Dr. Andrew Essig at Andrew.Essig@desales.edu  or call 610-282-1100 x1632.  No RSVP is required.   This event is open to the public and free of charge.

Wednesday, 22 September 2010, 1130 - McLean, VA - The Defense Intelligence Forum luncheon discusses "China's Intelligence Operations Against the U.S."

The speaker is on the National Defense Intelligence College faculty. He has over ten years' experience as a China analyst. He was a supervisor in the FBI's China counterintelligence analysis unit and an all-source intelligence analyst in DIA's Korea and China divisions. He is a retired US Army Reserve Military Intelligence officer who has served as Deputy Chief of CENTCOM J2's Iraq current intelligence team and as liaison officer to the CIA Iraq Operations Group.
The speaker's remarks about Chinese intelligence will be off the record and not for attribution.
Events takes place at Pulcinella Restaurant, 6852 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, VA. Pay at the door with a check for $29 payable to DIAA, Inc
Social hour starts at 1130, lunch at 1200. The Defense Intelligence forum is open to members of all Intelligence Community associations.
RSVP by Friday, 17 September, by email to diforum@verizon.net
-- In your response, give your name and the names of your guests. For each, choose chicken al limone, salmon, lasagna, sausage, or pasta with portabello.
-- Include also telephone numbers and email addresses.
Pay at the door with a check for $29 per person.
-- Make checks payable to DIAA, Inc.
-- The DIAA does not take cash. If you do not have a check, the restaurant will have you prepay the $29 using your credit. The copy of the restaurant's receipt allows you to check-in for lunch.

Wednesday, 22 September 2010, 7:30 pm - Fairfax, VA - Stalling For Time: My Life As An FBI Hostage Negotiator by Gary Noesner

Gary Noesner, the founding chief of the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit shares a firsthand account of many dramatic cases -- the D.C. Sniper, Waco and Montana Freemen -- highlighting successes, failures and lessons for resolving all types of crises. Event being held in Research I, Room 163 on Fairfax campus of George Mason University. For more information visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library

Thursday, 23 September 2010, 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - The A-12 Oxcart - an event at the International Spy Museum

"Forty-five years ago…a group of young Air Force pilots volunteered to be 'sheepdipped' from the Air Force to the CIA to fly an unidentified aircraft at an undisclosed venue to replace the U-2." --Frank Murray, A-12 pilot The Air Force's high-flying SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft, which literally flew faster than a speeding bullet, is legendary. Much less well known is the CIA's version, the A-12, which first flew two years before the SR-71 under the OXCART program. Built by Lockheed's famous "Skunk Works," the plane was an engineering marvel. It made repeated flights over Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, providing photographs to commanders in less than 24 hours from the end of a mission. In 1968, in a ten minute mission that photographed all of North Korea without being detected, an A-12 located the captured American spy ship, Pueblo. Only recently has the veil of secrecy been lifted from this amazing aircraft, allowing the full story to be told, including its enduring legacy. Now the program's pioneers gather to share its history: from sky-high successes to fiery crashes. CIA chief historian David Robarge will be joined by program veterans Robert B. Abernethy, inventor of the J-58 engines used in the A-12, Thornton D. Barnes, hypersonic flight specialist, and AFIO's President S. Eugene Poteat, the CIA officer who assessed threats to the A-12, and others. Kenneth Collins, an A-12 pilot who flew six missions over Vietnam, will also tell his story, along with other test pilots. Tickets: $12.50 per person Register at www.spymuseum.org

23 September 2010 - Reston, VA - "Intelligence and the Law" - Instructor: W. George Jameson, former CIA lawyer, 33 years.

W. George Jameson gives this one-day course examining the legal and policy framework that governs the U.S. Intelligence Community. It presents the core legal authorities and restrictions - derived from the Constitution, statutes, and Executive orders - and explores how and why they are applied to the conduct of U.S. intelligence today. Designed for a wide audience, the course reviews the history and evolution of intelligence law and policy and provides an in-depth look at selected laws that affect intelligence activities. Topics include: the National Security Act and establishment of the CIA and other intelligence elements; electronic surveillance and FISA; the role of the DNI; privacy, civil liberties, and restrictions on the conduct of intelligence; covert action; congressional oversight; protection of sources and methods, classification, and leaks; and the laws and relationships that govern the fight against terrorism. Finally, the course provides an introduction to how the laws are applied to emerging national security concerns such as cyber threats.
Fee: $750.
Location: The Intelligence & Security Academy, 1890 Preston White Dr Suite 250, Reston, VA 20191
To Register: https://www.regonline.com/intelligence_and_the_law

Thursday-Friday 23-24 September 2010 - Harrisburg, PA - First Annual Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (IC CAE) Symposium "Intelligence and Homeland Security: Policy and Strategy Implications" - The symposium is by Penn State Harrisburg.

SAVE THE DATE! Potential topics: • Careers in the intelligence community; • Cyber security and information; assurance; • Border security; • Critical infrastructure protection (CIP);
• Intelligence and information sharing – domestic and international; • Fusion centers; • Ethical issues in intelligence; • Operations security (OPSEC); • Terrorism; • Drug cartels; • Private sector and NGOs; • Public health; • Geospatial information; • Counter-proliferation. Registration information and call for presentations/papers to follow.
Event location: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Hilton Hotel
Contact: Tom Arminio, tja12@psu.edu, tomarminio@gmail.com Mobile: 717-448-5377
or Kate Corbin Tompkins, katespa@psu.edu; Office: 717-948-6058; Mobile: 717-405-2022; Fax: 717-948-6484

24 September 2010 - Tysons Corner, VA - AFIO National Fall Luncheon features CIA Deputy Director, Michael J. Morell and Author/Lawyer Stewart Baker.

11 a.m. speaker - Stewart A. Baker, former General Counsel, NSA, 1st Undersecretary DHS, and author of the important new book: Skating on Stilts: Why We Aren't Stopping Tomorrow's Terrorism .... and .... 1 p.m. speaker Deputy Director Michael J. Morell, CIA
Check in for badge pickup at 10:30 a.m., Stewart Baker gives address at 11 a.m., Lunch served at noon; Michael J. Morell gives address at 1 p.m., Event closes at 2 p.m. REGISTRATION Here. EVENT LOCATION: The Crowne Plaza, 1960 Chain Bridge Road • McLean, Virginia 22102
R E G I S T R A T I O N EVENT LOCATION: The Crowne Plaza, 1960 Chain Bridge Road • McLean, Virginia 22102. Driving directions here or use this link: http://tinyurl.com/8228kw Registration limited HERE

Saturday, 25 September 2010, 10:00 am - Coral Gables, FL - "Management of Kidnap and Extortion Incidents" the topic at the AFIO Miami Chapter event.This program is a seminar conducted by Bruce Kaplan and Elman Myers of Special Contingency Risks. Being held at the Courtyard Marriott, 2051 S LaJuene Rd, Coral Gables, FL. $10 for AFIO members, $25 for nonmember guests. RSVP to Tom Spencer at trsmiami@aol.com or send payment to him at 999 Ponce de Leon Blvd, Suite 510, Coral Gables, FL 33134.

29-30 September 2010 - Washington, DC - Conference on the American Experience in Southeast Asia, 1946-1975 by the U.S. Department of State.

The U.S. Department of State's Office of the Historian is pleased to invite AFIO members to a conference on the American Experience in Southeast Asia, 1946-1975, which will be held in the George C. Marshall Conference Center at the State Dept. The conference will feature a number of key Department of State personnel, both past and present. Those speaking will include:
* Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger
* Former Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte
* Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard A. Holbrooke
The conference will include a panel composed of key print and television media personnel from the Vietnam period discussing the impact of the press on public opinion and United States policy. A number of scholarly panels featuring thought-provoking works by leading scholars will also take place. Registration information will be available at the State Dept website, http://history.state.gov, after August 1.

Thursday, 30 September 2010; 12 noon - 1 pm - Washington, DC - Stalin's Romeo Spy: The Remarkable Rise and Fall of the KGB's Most Daring Operative - Event at the International Spy Museum.

Dmitri Bystrolyotov was a man out of the movies: dashingly handsome and fluent in many languages, he was a sailor, artist, doctor, lawyer, and artist. He was also a spy for Stalin's Soviet Union. By seducing women, including a French diplomat, the wife of a British official, and a Gestapo officer, he was able to deliver many secrets back to his masters in Moscow. His espionage career came to an end in 1938, however, when he was caught up in Stalin's purges. Sent to the Gulag for twenty years, he suffered tremendous physical hardship but he also came to see the reality of the regime for which he had spied. Join us for a fascinating talk about Bystrolyotov's rise to greatness and fall from Stalin's graces with author Emil Draitser, once a journalist in the Soviet Union and now a professor at Hunter College in New York. Free! No registration required! Join the author for an informal chat and book signing. More information at www.spymuseum.org

2 October 2010, 1000 - 1430 - Salem, MA - The AFIO New England Chapter Meets to hear three outstanding intelligence speakers.

The event features three outstanding speakers. The first speaker will begin his presentation at 1030. We'll work in the next 2 speakers and lunch at 1200. We'll adjourn at ~1430.
Our speakers will be: Major Bryan K. Pillai, Chapter Member Edward M. Jankovic, Author John Weisman.
Bios of the three speakers are available from: afionechapter@gmail.com
Location: 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/
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 15 September 2010.
Mail your check and the reservation form to: Arthur Hulnick, 216 Summit Avenue # E102, Brookline, MA 02446; 617-739-7074 or hlnk@aol.com

Saturday, 2 October 2010, 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - William J. Donovan Award Dinner Honoring Ross Perot by The OSS Society

The OSS Society celebrates the historical accomplishments of the OSS during WWII through a William J. Donovan Award Dinner. This year the annual dinner honors Ross Perot. Event includes special performance by humorist Mark Russell. Black Tie/Dress Mess. Location: Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 1330 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, DC. By invitation. Tables of ten: $25,000; Table of ten: $15,000; Table of eight: $10,000; Table of Six: $5000; Seating of four: $3,000; One guest: $1,000. Some tickets available for $175 pp. Donations welcomed. Inquiries to The OSS Society at oss@osssociety.org

Tuesday, 5 October 2010; 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - Russian Illegals: The Spies Next Door - an Event at the International Spy Museum

"It's pretty shocking. I didn't think stuff like this still went on." --Scott Inouye, neighbor to two Russian spies On 29 June, 2010 Americans were stunned and then bemused to learn of the arrest of ten Russian "deep-cover" spies who had lived among us for decades as neighbors and Facebook friends-while at the same time operating with secret mission: to meet influential Americans and exploit them for their knowledge of government policy. "Illegals," like these spies, have been a Moscow specialty for years, but traditionally are used sparingly-for only the most sensitive of operations. Seldom has the U.S. government been able to find and arrest "illegals," so Americans are generally not aware of this threat. Join H. Keith Melton, renowned intelligence historian, technical advisor to American intelligence agencies, author of Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda, and International Spy Museum board member, and Brian Kelley, counterintelligence specialist with over forty years experience as a USAF and CIA case officer specializing in double agent and deception operations, a recipient of the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, and currently adjunct professor at several graduate schools on counterintelligence and national security issues, as they shine a spotlight on the murky world of illegals: what they are, how they operate, and the threat they pose. With access to never-before-seen images, Melton will demonstrate both the classis and up-to-date spycraft used by these "spies next door." Retired KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin will also provide commentary based on his years running agents in the U.S. Tickets: $12.50 per person. Register at www.spymuseum.org

Tuesday, 12 October 2010 - Columbia, MD - The NCMF [National Cryptologic Museum Foundation] Annual Meeting

There will be a panel discussion in the morning on "The Future of the Intelligence Community -- Too Big, Too Small, Just Right?" The panel will be moderated by Patrick Weadon, curator, NCM, and the panel will consist of Mr. Rich Haver, Lt. Gen (Ret) Ken Minihan and Ms. Rachel Martin. There will be a discussion on various aspects of the Cyber Command in the afternoon session, featuring Raj Kudchadkar, Esq., Deputy Director of the BRAC Office, Howard County Executive; Michael Warner, Command Historian for U.S. Cyber Command on "History of Cyber Security"; and Lt Gen (Ret) James R. Clapper, DNI, dependent on his schedule. Details are available on the NCMF Web site at www.cryptologicfoundation.org. Location: Kossiakoff Center, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd, Laurel, MD 20723, 240-228-5000.

Wednesday, 20 October 2010, noon – 1 pm – Stealing Atomic Secrets: The Invisible Harry Gold - a program at the International Spy Museum.

Harry Gold was literally the man who handed the Soviets the plans for America's nuclear bomb. A Russian-Jewish immigrant from Switzerland, he became a spy for the Soviets while studying chemistry in the United States during the depths of the Great Depression. His KGB code names, such as "Goose" and "Mad," belied his importance as a liaison to important spies within the scientific and engineering communities. During World War II, he was entrusted to be the KGB's handler for physicist Klaus Fuchs, who had burrowed deep into the Manhattan Project, America's super-secret program to build an atom bomb. After Gold's arrest in 1950, his testimony helped send Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair. Journalist and historian Allen Hornblum will help us understand how a decent and well-intentioned man helped commit the greatest scientific theft of the twentieth century.
Free! No registration required! Join the author for an informal chat and book signing. More information at www.spymuseum.org

22 October 2010, Noon luncheon - - Washington, DC - The ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security luncheon at University Club
The luncheon features Richard Clarke on "Cyber Security." To register contact Holly McMahon, Staff Director, at 202-662-1035 or at hmcmahon@staff.abanet.org More information at www.abanet.org/natsecurity

Saturday, 23 October 2010, 10 am - Coral Gables, FL - "How We Know That You Are Lying: Explorations in the Science of Polygraphy" with John Palmatier, PhD -- at the AFIO Miami Chapter

Dr. John J. Palmatier of Slattery Associates/Dawn Associates [ www.polygraphexperts.com] speaks at this Saturday morning event hosted by the AFIO Ted Shackley Miami Chapter. The fee is $10 for AFIO member; $25 for guests. No charge for U.S. Government employees, military, students, faculty or law enforcement.
RSVP with check to Tom Spencer, 999 Ponce de Leon Blvd Ste 520, Coral Gables, FL 33134. Questions to 305 648-0940 or email TRSMiami@aol.com

28 October 2010, 0930- 1715 - Newport News, VA - AFIO Hampton Roads Chapter hosts 2nd Annual Workshop on National Security and Intelligence

Location: Christopher Newport University, Newport News. Theme: Maritime and Port Security
We seek sponsorship at all levels to help cover costs. Please advise if you know of a company or organization that might like to sponsor the event.
Sponsorships start at $250.
RSVP: Melissa Saunders mwsaunders@cox.net

29 October 2010, 11 a.m. - Tysons Corner, VA - Naval Intelligence Professionals (NIP) Fall Luncheon. To be held at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Tyson's Corner, VA Event ends at 2 p.m. Keynote speaker TBD.

29-31 October 2010 - Middletown, RI - The New England Chapter of the Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association (NCVA-NE) will hold a Fall Mini-Reunion. Event takes place at the Newport Beach Hotel and Suites. The registration cut-off date is September 29, 2010. For additional information, call (518) 664-8032 or visit http://web.meganet.net/kman/mr2010b.htm.

Tuesday, 2 November 2010, 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - Attack on Mumbai: A New Paradigm for Terrorism? - a program at the International Spy Museum.

"One of the gunmen seemed to be talking on a mobile phone even as he used his other hand to fire off rounds." — Nisar Suttar, eyewitness, November 2008
On 26 November 2008, ten highly trained and disciplined men used covert intelligence and off-the-shelf technology to terrorize and immobilize the city of Mumbai, killing 166 people and wounding over 300. The attackers were able to effectively overwhelm the Mumbai police and Indian security forces utilizing integrated tactics, superior weaponry, and sophisticated covert communications that provided their Pakistani handlers with "real time" command and control as events unfolded. This change in tactics has presented a challenge for the West: how can we find ways to defend against similar attacks in the future? H. Keith Melton, renowned intelligence historian, technical advisor to American intelligence agencies, author of Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda, and International Spy Museum board member, has thoroughly researched the planning and technology behind the attack. Using videotape of the surviving attacker's confession and intercepts of terrorist voice communications during the assault, he will offer a strategic overview of the attacks and explore the tactical phases, and the use by the terrorists of "commercial off-the-shelf" (COTS) technologies and the Internet. Tickets: $12.50 per person. Seating is limited. Register at www.spymuseum.org

13 - 20 November 2010 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - SPYCRUISE to Grand Turks, Turks & Caicos; San Juan, PR; St. Thomas, USVI; and Half Moon Cay, Bahamas - with National Security Speakers Discussing "Current & Future Threats: Policies, Problems and Prescriptions."

SPYCRUISE�: A National Security Educational Lecture/Seminar Series. The CI Centre and Henley-Putnam University are sponsoring a new SpyCruise�, November 13-20, 2010. Join them on the Holland American MS Eurodam as they set sail from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to the Grand Turks, San Juan, St. Thomas and Half Moon Cay in the Caribbean. Speakers include former DCI’s Porter Goss and Gen. Michael Hayden plus many others. AFIO member and retired CIA operations officer Bart Bechtel continues his role as the “SpySkipper.” For more information about this year’s SpyCruise�, go to: http://spytrek.com/spycruise.html. RESERVATIONS: www.DFunTravel.com or call 1-888-670-0008.
Fees for an eight day cruise: $1,199 inside cabin; $1269 Ocean View Cabin; $1449 Verandahs; $1979 Suites. Price includes program, taxes, port charges and gratuities. Colorful brochure here.

Thursday, 18 November 2010, 6:30 pm - "Uneasy Alliance: The CIA and ISI in Pakistan" at the International Spy Museum

"CIA and ISI operatives depend on each other for their lives…" - so says an anonymous senior ISI official, December 2009
As the U.S. hunts down Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, the CIA appears to be working closely with the Pakistan Intelligence Service (ISI). But the two services have a long and rocky history with frequest betrayal by ISI members saying one thing, and aiding the Taliban behind-the-scenes. While the ISI has helped with the capture of Afghan Taliban leaders, some they have released Taliban figures they caught on their own. What is the future of this relationship? Are the CIA and ISI endgames compatible? Join this panel of experts as they explore what's opinions of what's happening on the ground in Pakistan and a few predictions for the future: Farhana Ali, senior lecturer, AFPAK Team, Booz, Allen & Hamilton; Seth Jones, RAND analyst and author of Counterinsurgency in Pakistan; and Shuja Nawaz, director, South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council of the United States.
Fee: Tickets: $12.50 To register, visit www.spymuseum.org

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

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