Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Famed Spaceship Maker Gives Spy Drones a Try. Hauling tourists into space - that's for tomorrow. Today, the legendary aerospace designers at Scaled Composites are unveiling a new spy plane that can snoop four different ways on the unsuspecting, and doesn't need a human in the cockpit to fly.

Scaled Composites is best known for its private spacecraft, like the one Virgin Galactic plans to use to take well-heeled tourists into orbit. But Scaled is also a division of the giant defense contractor Northrop Grumman. So Richard Branson isn't the firm's only customer.

On Feb. 9, 2009, Northrop executive Rick Crooks called Scaled president Doug Shane with an idea for a new military surveillance aircraft: one that could swap out sensors as easily as thumb drives, and could fly with a pilot onboard - or not. Exactly one year later, that aircraft, dubbed "Firebird," made its first test flight.

Last week, pictures of the plane were taken from Beale Air Force base in California, and then leaked online. Now, Scaled and Northrop are introducing the plane to the public, just before it takes part in a Pentagon war game, the Empire Challenge 2011.

Like many of Scaled's designs, the 34 foot-long, 5,000-pound Firebird doesn't look like a typical plane. It's got these twin booms in the back, which allow sensors and antennas to be carried away from the main fuselage; they also make it easier for the plane to take off and land on the sorts of rugged runways you might find in a war zone.

But Crooks says the most interesting part about the Firebird is what's inside. The plane can carry a bundle of up to four different electronics packages - a combination of high-resolution cameras, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), communications relays or eavesdropping gear. [Read more:  Shachtman/Wired/9May2011] 

Lawyers for USS Cole Bomb Suspect File Court Case. Lawyers for the suspected al-Qaida mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole said Tuesday they have filed a case against Poland at Europe's court of human rights over alleged abuse against him at a CIA-run site in that country about eight years ago.

The Open Society Justice Initiative, a New York-based human rights group, and lawyers for Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri are challenging Poland for "active complicity" in the extraordinary rendition program carried out under then-President George W. Bush.

The case filed with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, seeks in part to press Poland to help block an "imminent risk" that al-Nashiri could face the death penalty. [AP/9May2011] 

Iraq Dossier Drawn Up to Make Case for War - Intelligence Officer. A top military intelligence official has said the discredited dossier on Iraq's weapons programme was drawn up "to make the case for war", flatly contradicting persistent claims to the contrary by the Blair government, and in particular by Alastair Campbell, the former prime minister's chief spin doctor.

In hitherto secret evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, Major General Michael Laurie said: "We knew at the time that the purpose of the dossier was precisely to make a case for war, rather than setting out the available intelligence, and that to make the best out of sparse and inconclusive intelligence the wording was developed with care."

His evidence is devastating, as it is the first time such a senior intelligence officer has directly contradicted the then government's claims about the dossier - and, perhaps more significantly, what Tony Blair and Campbell said when it was released seven months before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Laurie, who was director general in the Defence Intelligence Staff, responsible for commanding and delivering raw and analysed intelligence, said: "I am writing to comment on the position taken by Alastair Campbell during his evidence to you - when he stated that the purpose of the dossier was not to make a case for war; I and those involved in its production saw it exactly as that, and that was the direction we were given." [Guardian/12May2011] 

House Moves Toward Approving Bill for Spy Agencies Despite Obama Administration Concerns. The House pushed toward passage of a bill to fund the nation's spy agencies despite Obama administration objections that the legislation tells the intelligence community how many people it can hire.

Work on the bill, which the House is expected to complete on Friday, came as the intelligence agencies received high marks for the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Lawmakers repeatedly mentioned the raid and the intelligence work that led the United States to the bin Laden compound deep inside Pakistan.

"We recently saw the successful mission against Osama bin Laden," Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence committee, said during Thursday's debate. "Our intelligence professionals remain on the frontlines in America's defense against our enemies."

The panel's top Democrat, Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., said, "We are now on our game. We're working together. We're better than we've ever been, and we've clearly sent a message to the world, if you're going to attack America, if you are going to kill Americans, we are going to find you and we are going to bring you to justice."

The bill has strong bipartisan support, reflected in a 251-133 test vote on Thursday, but the administration criticized the legislation in a statement. [WashingtonPost/12May2011] 

Pakistan Army Chief Balks at U.S. Demands to Cooperate. Despite mounting pressure from the United States since the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, seems unlikely to respond to American demands to root out other militant leaders, according to people who have met with him in the last 10 days.

While the general does not want to abandon the alliance completely, he is more likely to pursue a strategy of decreasing Pakistan's reliance on the United States, and continuing to offer just enough cooperation to keep the billions of dollars in American aid flowing, said a confidant of the general who has spoken with him recently.

Such a response is certain to test American officials, who are more mistrustful of Pakistan than ever. [Perlaz/NYTimes/13May2011] 

Resolution Commemorating Defense Intelligence Agency's 50th Anniversary Passes Senate Unanimously. The Senate today unanimously approved S. Res. 86, honoring the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) on its 50th anniversary. The resolution was introduced on March 1 by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

DIA oversees intelligence analysis throughout the Department of Defense, including analytic work performed at the Army National Ground Intelligence Center, the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Air Force National Air and the Space Intelligence Center, the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, and 10 U.S. combatant command intelligence operations centers.

Chairman Feinstein said, "Over the last 50 years, the intelligence collected and analyzed by the men and women of DIA has informed the Nation's civilian and military leaders during crises and conflicts - from the Cold War to the current struggle against international terrorism." [Read more:  PoliticalNews/13May2011] 

US Sanctions Target Syrian Intelligence Service, Officials. The Obama administration slapped sanctions on three Syrian officials and Syria's intelligence service yesterday in what was described as a warning shot against President Bashar al-Assad's government after weeks of steadily worsening violence against protesters.

The measures targeting key members of Assad's security apparatus came amid reports of dozens more deaths across the country as Syrians rallied in several cities - including, for the first time, in large numbers in Damascus, the capital - for a national "Day of Rage'' denouncing government brutality.

Tens of thousands of Syrians poured out of mosques and into the streets after Friday prayers for what appeared to be the biggest demonstrations yet in the country. The large turnout, after days of deadly clashes, suggests that the will of the protesters remains unbroken despite the government's stepped-up efforts to crush the uprising. [Read more:  Warrick&Sly/Boston/15May2011] 

Ex-Afghan Spy Chief: I Knew Where Bin Laden Was. Afghanistan's former intelligence chief says he knew Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan four years ago, but Pakistan's leaders rejected his claims.

In an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," Amrullah Saleh says Afghan intelligence thought bin Laden was in the Pakistani city of Mansehra - about 12 miles away from Abbottabad, where the terrorist leader was eventually found and killed by U.S. Navy SEALs. [Read more:  AP/15May2011] 

Russia Opens Trial Into 'Spy Ring Traitor.' A Russian court on Monday began hearing the case of a former top secret service agent accused of treason and defecting after he blew the cover on a sleeper spy ring in the United States last year.

Alexander Poteyev, who is being tried in absentia and is believed to be in the United States, could be handed a jail term of up to 20 years in the trial at the Moscow district military court.

The case has been classified as top secret. Hearings are closed to the public and minimal information is distributed to Russian official news agencies.

Poteyev is charged with tipping off Washington about a ring of 10 Russian spies, including the notorious red-haired 'femme fatale' Anna Chapman, who were deported last year in the biggest post-Cold War spy scandal. The revelation caused huge embarrassment for Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

"The court has started examining the case against the SVR officer Colonel Alexander Poteyev," court spokeswoman Lyudmila Klimenko told the RIA Novosti news agency, adding: "The case is being heard by a panel of judges." [Read more:  AP/15May2011] 

Presence of US Military, Intelligence Staff thinned Out in Pakistan. US military and intelligence staff has been scaled down and unnecessary staff has been sent back inconsistent with decisions made at Corps Commanders Conference (CCC).

Sources told high top defense authorities took private TV channels owners on board about the situation arising out of US military operation in Abbottabad during briefing and urged the media to keep in view responsibility, patriotism and national interest.

Defense Authorities told it was decided in CCC on May 5 that US military staff in Pakistan would be slashed and this decision has been implemented. Strength of US military personnel has been reduced from 375 to 40 and these personnel were engaged in imparting training to FC personnel in one city. This is the minimum strength which is present in Pakistan and the remaining has returned.

Defense authorities told there was uniformity of views among government and military leadership on Abbottabad episode and the joint sitting of both the houses of parliament had acted instrumental in bringing them close. The resolution adopted in the parliament was extraordinary and its implementation would be ensured, they underscored. [Read more:  Nation/16May2011] 

Enter Unit 8200: Israel Arms for Cyberwar. Amid mounting tensions in the Middle East, Israel's outgoing internal security chief, Yuval Diskin, says the Jewish state has been the target of attempted cyberattacks on key state infrastructure.

The attacker's identity was not disclosed, if indeed it is known. But the apparently unsuccessful attempts may have been retaliation by Iran for recent cyberattacks, blamed on Israel, on Tehran's contentious nuclear program.

In March 2010 the head of Israel's Military Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, disclosed that the Jewish state had become a world leader in cyberwarfare.

It was not clear why Yadlin, who headed one of the most secretive branches of Israel's military, would lift the veil on such a sensitive issue.

But it was widely seen as a warning to Israel's foes that it had the means to paralyze their infrastructure, such as electricity grids, water, transportation and financial systems and military command networks. [Read more: UPI/11May2011]

Five Foreign Men Lose 'Extradition Rendition' Case. Five foreign men who sued a San Jose-based CIA contractor for its alleged role in abducting them abroad and spiriting them to secret interrogation sites have exhausted their legal avenues for getting the practice known as "extraordinary rendition" branded a human rights violation.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday to let stand a federal appeals court ruling that the president has the power to scuttle the men's lawsuit because state secrets, such as how CIA operatives interrogate terror suspects, could be revealed if the case went to trial.

"The Supreme Court has refused once again to give justice to torture victims and to restore our nation's reputation as a guardian of human rights and the rule of law," said Ben Wizner, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued the case on behalf of the five men. "To date, every victim of the Bush administration's torture regime has been denied his day in court."

The Obama administration stood by Bush's invocation of the state secrets doctrine in urging dismissal of the case, but a Justice Department spokesman said the policy is used only when absolutely necessary to protect national security.

In a sharply divided ruling in September, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 6 to 5 to uphold the president's power to shield wartime actions from judicial scrutiny. The ruling dismissed the case brought by the former detainees against Boeing Co. subsidiary Jeppesen DataPlan Inc. of San Jose. [Read more:  LATimes/17May2011]

Myanmar Frees Thousands in 'Pathetic' Jail-Term Cut. About 17,000 prisoners were due to be released nationwide in Myanmar, an official said Tuesday, after the president announced a limited jail-term reduction that was greeted with disappointment by critics.

Among those set to be released were some of the intelligence personnel purged after the ousting of former premier and army intelligence chief Khin Nyunt in a power struggle in 2004, the official told AFP.

But the vast majority were expected to be common criminals, despite human rights groups accusing Myanmar of holding more than 2,000 political prisoners.

Myanmar's President Thein Sein, in a message read on state television on Monday, said that the government was reducing all inmates' sentences by one year and commuting the death penalty to life imprisonment.

Human Rights Watch called the news a "sick joke" given the numbers of political prisoners in the country, while the United States urged the regime to go much further as it renewed economic sanctions against Myanmar. [Read more:  AP/17May2011] 

Intell Office Developing Analysis Tool to Help Find Needle in a Haystack. To locate and neutralize threats to the United States, intelligence agencies need as much automated help as they can get to sift through massive volumes of data.

According to the "2010 Data Mining Report" recently released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Counterterrorism Center is developing DataSphere, which is software that helps analyze intelligence data, writes InformationWeek's Elizabeth Montalbano. The software can identify patterns that reveal individuals' connection to events or actions based on data about their communications networks and travel activities, Montalbano writes.

In addition, Montalbano writes, the intelligence community has a couple other tools in place to streamline data analysis. The Knowledge Discovery and Dissemination program connects the dots among large datasets to display a unified intelligence picture, and the Automated Low-level Analysis and Description of Diverse Intelligence helps analysts quickly search the community's vast store of video, Montalbano writes. [Read more: GCN/13May2011]

Obama to Keep Mueller at FBI for 'Continuity,' as other Security Chiefs Shift. Citing ongoing threats and the need for continuity in his national security team, President Obama on Thursday asked Congress to consider granting a two-year extension of FBI Director Robert Mueller's 10-year term to allow him to serve in that capacity until September 2013.

"Given ongoing threats facing the United States, as well as the leadership transitions at other agencies like the Defense Department and Central Intelligence Agency, I believe continuity and stability at the FBI is critical at this time," the president said in a written statement.

He said Mr. Mueller had "set the gold standard" for leadership at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the extension - if approved by Congress - would permit the president's counterterrorism team to "continue to work together seamlessly." [Read more: Richey/ChristianScienceMonitor/12May2011]

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Tracking Key Terror Suspects. The path that led the CIA to Osama Bin Laden's doorstep was a long and complex one.

Unlike in the hunt for Iraq's former president Saddam Hussein, the chances of one of the al-Qaeda leader's close associates betraying him for a US$25m reward were always going to be remote.

Such was the intense loyalty of the tiny number of people who knew his whereabouts that we now know that even one of his wives was prepared to rush, unarmed, at the heavily armed US assault team that came for him on that morning of 2 May.

Saddam Hussein, for all his body doubles, his loyal Baath acolytes and his highly-trained bodyguards, was betrayed and arrested within nine months of his going on the run - his secret hiding place near Tikrit revealed to the Americans by someone who is now said to be enjoying the fruits of his reward under a new identity in the US.

By contrast, Bin Laden, strikingly tall, instantly recognizable with no real "home country" to hide in, remained at large for nearly 10 years after the 9/11 attacks and evaded his enemies more than once before then.

But to put this in perspective, Bin Laden is only one of a whole multitude of individuals being tracked and sought by intelligence and law enforcement agencies all over the world.

The connections between them - sometimes real, sometimes tenuous, sometimes wrong - are mind-bogglingly complicated. [Gardiner/BBC/12May2011] 

New Yorker Sheds New Light on NSA's Warrantless Wiretapping and Data Mining. New details about the NSA's post-Sept. 11 domestic surveillance programs have emerged in a stunning New Yorker article about NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, who faces trial next month for allegedly leaking information about waste and mismanagement at the agency.

The article provides new insight into the warrantless surveillance program exposed by The New York Times in December 2005, including how top officials at the intelligence agency viewed the program. Former NSA Director Michael Hayden, in 2002, reportedly urged a congressional staffer who was concerned about the legality of the program to keep quiet about it, telling her that she could "yell and scream" about the program once the inevitable leaks about it occurred.

Asked why the NSA didn't employ privacy protections in its program, Hayden reportedly told the staffer, "We didn't need them. We had the power," and admitted the government was not getting warrants for the domestic surveillance.

The New Yorker also spoke with a former head of the agency's Signals Intelligence Automation Research Center, or SARC, who invented software codenamed ThinThread that is believed to have been adapted by the NSA for the warrantless surveillance. The program had privacy protections built into it, but the official says he believes the NSA rejiggered the program to remove those protections, so that it could collect data on everyone, including people in the United States.

Thomas Drake, the focus of the article, is facing trial next month on charges that he violated the Espionage Act by retaining classified information. Ironically, he's not being charged for leaking classified information about the warrantless wiretapping program itself. Instead, the charges are based on five documents government investigators found in Drake's basement and e-mail archive that prosecutors say contain classified information.

The documents discuss another data-mining program dubbed Trailblazer that was deemed a failure and canceled before it was implemented. Drake allegedly provided information about waste and mismanagement of the Trailblazer program to a reporter at the Baltimore Sun in 2006 and 2007, but he maintains that he gave the reporter no classified information and disputes that the documents found in his possession contain classified material.

Drake, who left the NSA in 2008 and now works at an Apple Store outside Washington, D.C., is facing a possible sentence of 35 years if convicted. The government's decision to prosecute him is now resulting in further information about the NSA's illegal surveillance being exposed, as the New Yorker article shows. [Read more:  Zetter/Wired/17May2011] 

Bush Aide Says 9/11 Mastermind Mocked Interrogators During WaterBoarding. A former speech writer for President George W. Bush said Monday that confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed mocked his CIA interrogators during his March 2003 waterboarding sessions by using his fingers to tick off the number of seconds he would be subjected to near drowning.

"He was communicating to his interrogators that he was on to them," Marc Thiessen said during a panel discussion on what role harsh interrogation tactics might have played in developing the intelligence that led to Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment on the record about the report, and there was no independent verification of Thiessen's account. Mohammed's lawyer also declined to comment.

Thiessen said Monday that Mohammed knew that agents had to relent after 40 seconds, something he may have divined after undergoing the procedure repeatedly.

Only two detainees, Mohammed, who is also known as KSM, and a Palestinian, Zayn al Abdeen Mohammed Hussein, who's also known as Abu Zubaydah, were waterboarded scores of times, U.S. documents indicate. Abu Zubaydah underwent the procedure at least 83 times, while KSM was waterboarded 183 times, according to a Justice Department memo written in 2005, citing a 2004 report by the CIA's inspector general.

A different 2005 Justice Department memo noted in a footnote that "after multiple applications of the waterboard, it may become apparent to the detainee that, however frightening the experience may be, it will not result in death." In another footnote, the memo quoted the CIA's Office of Medical Services as saying that "some subjects unquestionably can withstand a large number" of waterboard applications.

Neither Justice Department memo nor the portions of the CIA inspector general's report that have been made public, however, mentions KSM as counting down the seconds during his waterboard sessions. [Read more:  Rosenberg/MiamiHerald/16May2011] 

When it Comes to Cybersecurity, the 'Who is Responsible for What?' Debate Continues. Most experts seem to agree that the U.S. government's collective efforts to secure the Internet from large-scale attacks and other nefarious activities are lacking. As for who is responsible for protecting this vital piece of infrastructure, the debate inside and outside the government is ongoing.

Generally, the Defense Department is responsible for its own networks, and the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice for the remainder of the nation. The FBI has the duty to investigate Internet-based crimes, espionage and attacks. DHS has made the Internet part of its critical infrastructure protection programs, but it has no regulatory authority to make an electric company, for example, update its computer security protocols.

The U.S. government is serious when it comes to developing its cyber-offense capabilities, "but is lackadaisical" when it comes to defense, said Michael Peters, a former National Security Agency employee, who currently serves as chief cybersecurity advisor to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

An example of the federal disconnect is the growing smart grid movement. These new power distribution systems, designed to more efficiently move electricity to where customers need it most, are being promoted by the Obama administration with stimulus money, but there are no security requirements attached to the Department of Energy grants to ensure that utility companies are building security measures into the systems from the ground up.

"Smart grids are not so smart," said Stewart Baker, a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and co-author of a report sponsored by Internet security provider, McAfee, "In the Dark: Critical Industries Confront Cyberattacks."

He likened it to the very beginning of the Internet itself, when security measures were not built into the system. This is exactly what is happening with smart grids today, which rely on the Internet for command and control.

Should the government force critical infrastructure in private sector hands to comply with computer security requirements? The report showed that in countries such as Japan and China - where government auditors make sure that companies comply with computer network requirements - there is significantly better security, Baker noted during a panel discussion held in Washington, D.C. [Read more: Magnuson/NDIA/June2011]

Section III - COMMENTARY

The CIA, the ISI and the Next Bin Laden. Just when the relationship between the United States and Pakistan seemingly could not get more strained, it has. Links between Islamabad and Washington are fraying at an accelerating rate in the aftermath of the successful Navy SEAL raid on Abbottabad. This secret alliance, a cornerstone of U.S. counterterrorism policies for many years, is entering uncharted waters and may be sinking altogether.

Last weekend, still shaken by the death of Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town within sight of the country's military academy, the Pakistani media reported the name of the CIA Chief of Station in Islamabad. This unconcealed act of revenge by the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, America's ostensible partners, took direct aim at Washington. Last December, the previous COS had to be evacuated from Islamabad when his name appeared in the local media. Given that the COS's identity is declared to a small number of Pakistani officials, the message from Islamabad in recent months has been difficult to miss.

This sort of spy-war has high stakes, as U.S. intelligence personnel have been killed in Pakistan in recent years. Old hands recall the murder of Richard Welch, COS Athens, in 1975, after his identity was revealed in a KGB-linked magazine. Comments from Pakistani officials that the current leak is no big deal because almost no one knows what the COS looks like are less than reassuring and indicative of a mindset that brings the entire relationship between the ISI and U.S. intelligence into question.

To say that relationship has long been complicated is to exercise considerable understatement. Whatever the ISI has done against al-Qaeda - and even the deepest skeptics about Pakistani motives do not deny that the ISI has at times been very helpful - the realization that Islamabad is a frenemy in the struggle against Islamist terrorism is causing consternation in Washington, as it should.

In truth, this reassessment is overdue, and has been delayed only by institutionalized denial, not to say escapism. While the ISI's cooperation has been vital to our al-Qaeda operations in South Asia since 9/11, it has also complicated matters at many levels. The lack of Pakistani civilian control of the military generally, and the ISI specifically, should no longer constitute a pass for dubious conduct. The unspoken quid pro quo - that the U.S. and other Western partners would look the other way on certain ISI misdeeds, especially its support for "liberation movements" in Kashmir and Afghanistan as long as it worked with us against al-Qaeda - has been overtaken by events in Abbottabad and elsewhere. [Read more: Schindler/TheNationalInterest/12May2011]

Being Smart About Intelligence Careers. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, many people became interested in national security careers, especially intelligence. Now, with the successful mission that killed Osama bin Laden, many people are again considering intelligence.

And civilian intelligence agencies are looking to hire counterterrorism workers. But there are many other threats that also require intelligence analysts. Although many people automatically think about the Central Intelligence Agency, the world of intelligence is much bigger.

Intelligence.gov lists 17 Intelligence Community member agencies. Among them: Air Force Intelligence, Army Intelligence, CIA, Coast Guard Intelligence, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, Marine Corps Intelligence, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, National Security Agency, Navy Intelligence, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Go deeper into each agency and you will find numerous sub-agencies that do intelligence work. For example, Air Force Intelligence has the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency and the Office of Special Investigations. The Navy has the Office of Naval Intelligence as well as the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the basis for a popular CBS show.

The Army has the Army Intelligence and Security Command and civilian intelligence specialists working in various Army components, such as the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. The Department of State has the Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Diplomatic Security Service. Both have robust intelligence operations.

Within the Department of Homeland Security, many intelligence operations are conducted through its Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

And government intelligence opportunities stretch even beyond the 17 agencies and their subcomponents. I could go on and on, but I hope you get my point. [Read more: Dortch/WashingtonPost/11May2011]

Slow Dance: Obama's Romance with the CIA. Was there ever an unlikelier pair to be leading a team of elite warriors? The man up on the screen was a pudgy, avuncular Californian, Leon Panetta, with a lifelong passion for environmental causes - in particular, protecting marine life (as in fish, not jarheads). The president who was watching him from a secure room inside the White House, Barack Obama, had so inspired the world with his give-peace-a-chance rhetoric that he'd won a Nobel Prize after only eight months in office. Yet here they were, the two of them, about to take out the world's No. 1 terrorist, a task that all those bare-toothed Bushies had failed to accomplish.

The operation was CIA - that is to say, civilian. Though the Navy SEALs who carried it out were America's fiercest fighters (their commander, Adm. Bill McRaven, can "drive a knife through your ribs in a nanosecond," a colleague once said), the military had "loaned" Team Six to the CIA for this operation under Title 50 of the National Security Act. McRaven and the SEALs were in charge on the ground, but it was a supersecret unit within Panetta's Central Intelligence Agency that had been pursuing, almost alone, this particular quarry in a manhunt that had dramatically accelerated since President Obama took office. Charged by Obama to find Osama bin Laden at all costs, the CIA had managed to track the Qaida leader's chief courier to certain areas in Pakistan. And now, two years later, that painstaking hunt had led the agency to this moment - perhaps the greatest in the CIA's storied history - with Panetta giving the "go" for the op on Obama's direct orders.

If you think it's an accident that the May 1 takedown of bin Laden occurred on Obama's watch, think again. The mission's success followed a meeting that included the president and his new CIA director in October 2009, as the administration reviewed its Afghanistan and Pakistan policy. As usual, the agency put together a wish list of counterterrorist activities for Panetta to take to the president: adding more predator drones inside Pakistan; enlarging the areas in which they operated; and opening new facilities in the country, including CIA safe houses like the one set up to observe bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. The CIA hoped it might get, as usual, about half of the 10 items it wanted. "But at the end of the day, the president told Leon, 'You're getting everything you want, all 10 things,' " said a senior administration official who asked not to be named.

To many career spooks, the flowering of the Obama-Panetta partnership has been a revelation. "Let's be candid," the senior administration official said. "Some people had arched eyebrows" at the beginning, especially when Obama named the 72-year-old Panetta, a fairly liberal Democrat who, along with Obama, had criticized the agency's interrogation practices and opposed the surge in Iraq. But Panetta "embraced the agency's mission, and the president recognized very early on the capabilities that the CIA had to bring to bear." [Read more: Hirsch/GSN/15May2011]

Can Zawahri Revive al Qaeda? In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death, al Qaeda, the loosely connected terrorist organization that he commanded from his lair in Pakistan, faces a crisis of leadership and ideology. Tasked with holding the group together is likely Ayman al Zawahri, the group's longtime second-in-command. From an organizational standpoint, Zawahri faces challenges daunting enough to make any Fortune 500 CEO quail - from a membership dismayed by the death of its leader, to potential rivals with superior credentials. All of this comes at a time when the network is struggling with relevance in the face of the Arab Spring revolutions and a deep sense of foreboding that further American-led takedowns are inevitable. Indeed, even if Zawahri successfully manages to rally his troops and create a new iteration of bin Laden's terrorist group, the trove of intelligence that the United States took from bin Laden's compound likely means that whoever replaces the charismatic Saudi millionaire could soon share his fate.

When he met bin Laden in Pakistan in the late 1980s, Zawahri was an Egyptian militant intent on overthrowing the country's secular government. In joining forces with bin Laden, Zawahri agreed to shift his focus and target the "far enemy," as bin Laden termed the U.S. Bin Laden believed the U.S. was propping up corrupt regimes throughout the Muslim world. His solution: Use direct terrorist attacks to play on America's lack of resolve and force the U.S. to withdraw from the region. Only then, bin Laden felt, could he achieve his goal - the creation of a world-spanning Islamic caliphate.

Yet as the Arab Spring revolutions have spread across the Middle East, and as the U.S. has wisely supported grassroots movements in countries such as Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt, al Qaeda has come to struggle for relevance. When bin Laden was at the helm, the group could continue on ideological autopilot, ignoring the implications of the regional tumult. But with bin Laden gone, the group's incoherence has been laid bare. One of al Qaeda's guiding assumptions - that the U.S. would never allow its corrupt allies to fall unless it was forced out of the Middle East - has proven to be false. And if Zawahri is going to hold al Qaeda together over the longer term, he will eventually have to acknowledge that this assumption was wrong, as part of the process of retooling the group's ideology. [Read more: Keller/DailyBeast/14May2011]

Section IV - CAREER OPENINGS, BOOKS, AND COMING EVENTS

Career Openings

National Security Attorney Sought

I am looking for a National Security/Operations Law attorney to back fill my position as the interim Chief of Operations and Intelligence Law at the Joint Functional Component Command for Space (JFCC SPACE) at Vandenberg AFB, CA. The applicant should have experience with military operations law, be licensed to practice law in any US jurisdiction, be comfortable/competent in dealings with Senior Staff (to include 3 Star Commander of JFCC SPACE) and MUST possess a TS/SCI. Experience with Space Law would be favorably received. The term would be for 11 months, but could last up to four years. Compensation is in the $100-140K/year window (includes 27% cost of living on Central Coast) depending on the qualifications of the applicant. The term could start as soon as mid July. Interested/qualified applicants could contact Joel Winton, Chief, Operations and Intelligence Law, JFCC SPACE, Vandenberg AFB, CA at joel.winton@vandenberg.af.mil AND wintonj@yahoo.com

Congressional Research Service (CRS) is recruiting for a Specialist in Intelligence and National Security.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division is seeking a Specialist in Intelligence and National Security to track and analyze policy issues related to intelligence and national security.

The specialist will provide objective, expert policy analysis and consultation to congressional committees, Members, and staff, including preparing objective, authoritative, non-partisan, and innovative analytical studies on policy issues of national and/or international significance; providing personal assistance as a national expert on public policy issues throughout the legislative process, including analyzing and evaluating legislative proposals; and planning and leading multi-disciplinary team research projects and seminars.

Appointee must meet eligibility requirements for a top secret clearance.
This position, vacancy #110058, is being offered at the GS-15 level ($123,758 – $155,500).  To apply, please visit http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo.  Applications must be received by May 23, 2011

Books

A Military Post's Secrets: Espionage, Not Aliens. At the start of "Area 51," Annie Jacobsen's cauldron-stirring book about America's most mysterious military installation, Ms. Jacobsen offers a passing glimpse of a large-headed little gray space alien being interrogated by scientists in white coats. This is both a tease and a distraction. Yes, Ms. Jacobsen will eventually address the U.F.O. issue with which conspiracy theorists eagerly associate Area 51, but her book is not science fiction. It's much more levelheaded. It is an assertive account, revelatory but also mystifying, of the long-hidden United States weaponry and espionage programs to which she says Area 51 is home. (Some say Area 51 is home to nothing, because it does not officially exist.)

What is it about Ms. Jacobsen that has made her privy to such inflammatory material? It's best to know her answer to this question before delving into her book. And her answer is strange and byzantine in the way that all things about Area 51 seem to be. Ms. Jacobsen, a national security reporter and contributing editor to The Los Angeles Times Magazine, happened to be at a 2007 family dinner with her husband's uncle's wife's sister's 88-year-old husband, the physicist Edward Lovick, when Mr. Lovick leaned over and said, "Have I got a good story for you."

That happened to be the year when formerly top secret records about the development of certain stealth technology, most notably the C.I.A.'s A-12 aircraft, code-named Oxcart, were made public, even though the creation of the A-12 had occurred nearly 50 years before. In any case, Mr. Lovick had been instrumental in A-12 research, and he did much more than relate his story.

He plugged Ms. Jacobsen into a network of elderly scientists, pilots, engineers and other witnesses who had firsthand accounts of Area 51 and its surroundings, a test range located in southern Nevada. ("I tell you all this, Annie, because you give a damn," one of them told her.) This testimony pointed her in the direction of extremely arcane documentation, material of needle-in-a-haystack obscurity. (Sample source: a secret 1948 memo of "European Command Message Control Secret Priority" to United States forces in Austria regarding a glider of parabolic design that might have been flown in the 1920s and then developed into a flying saucer.) [Read more:  Maslin/NYTimes/16May2011] 

Digital Graphic Novel on CIA's 1953 Iran Coup. In 2007, video game artist Daniel Burwen came across Steven Kinzer's book Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq and was "blown away" by its overview of American geopolitical chicanery. The result of Burwen discovering Kinzer's book is Operation Ajax: How the CIA Toppled Democracy in Iran, an unusual interactive digital graphic novel and app developed for the iPad by Burwen's company, Cognito Comics, which combines comics, animation, gaming, and e-commerce in an innovative digital package.

Operation Ajax is the story of the CIA efforts to overthrow the government of Iran in 1953, packaged as an interactive digital graphic novel that offers a range of multimedia elements seamlessly woven together. While its chapters open with animated sequences that make it look like a film, its pages are organized as comics, although the panels are dynamic, filling in the page as you read. The panels also offer additional information in the form of "dossiers," supplemental content about each character revealed as the reader moves further into the story. The Operation Ajax app and the first five issues of the graphic novel are already available for free on the iTunes store. Cognito plans to release the full nine-chapter graphic novel app in the late summer of 2011 (price to be determined), while the first five chapters will continue to be offered for free to promote the book and attract readers. [Read more: Reid/PW/16May2011]

Coming Educational Events

EDUCATIONAL EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

MANY Spy Museum Events in May and June 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, 18 May 2011, 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - "AREA 51: An Uncensored History of America's TOP SECRET Military Base" at the International Spy Museum

Area 51 sits inside one of the largest government-controlled land parcels in the United States, the Nevada Test and Training Range. It is the most famous military installation in the world—and the most secret. Now, Los Angeles Times Magazine journalist Annie Jacobsen, has written the first book to tell what really goes on at this top-secret location in the Nevada desert, AREA 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base. Join Jacobsen for the launch of her book, which is based on recently declassified documents and eyewitness accounts from seventy-four individuals linked to the base, and for the world premiere screening of Area 51 Declassified. The show, which premieres on the National Geographic Channel on 22 May, features formerly classified footage and photos from inside Area 51 and draws on the personal testimonies of more than 50 Area 51 veterans. After the screening, Jacobsen and veterans featured in her book and the documentary will comment on the film. The evening will reveal the cutting edge science—from testing nuclear reactions to building super-secret, super-sonic jets to technically supporting the War on Terror—that happens on site. Join us as we explore the facts that are often more fantastic than fiction and decode the mysterious activities of the legendary top-secret base.
Tickets: Free! No registration required! WHERE: International Spy Museum: 800 F St NW, Washington, DC. Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station

Wednesday, 18 May 2011, 9 am – 1 pm – Ft Lauderdale, FL – The FBI Miami CI Strategic Partnership and NOVA SE Univ present Keith Melton on “Role of Covert Tech in Mumbai Attacks.”

H. Keith Melton – a renowned collector, historian, author, professor and specialist in Clandestine Devices discusses: "The rapid adoption by terrorists of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies and the Internet  oint to more devastating techno-aided attacks in the future."
Location: Nova Southeastern University Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center  3301 College Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL  33314-7796
Registration/Continental Breakfast will be served from 8:00AM - 9:00AM  Carl Desantis Building/ H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business & Entrepreneurship (Miniaci Theater adjacent to the Carl Desantis Building)
RSVP by May 11th to Cassandra.joseph@ic.fbi.gov  or call 305-787-6446. Be certain to identify yourself as AFIO member.

Thursday, 19 May 2011, 11:30 am - Colorado Springs, CO - The Rocky Mountain Chapter presents Don Shannon, FBI  Supervisory Special Agent In Charge of Southern Colorado Joint Terrorism Task Force. 

The Rocky Mountain Chapter presents Don Shannon, FBI Supervisory Special Agent In Charge of Southern Colorado Joint Terrorism Task Force. Event will take place in the USAF Association's Eisenhower Golf Course Special Meeting Room. If you have any problems getting on to the USAF Academy Grounds, please call 719-459-5474 for assistance. Please RSVP to Tom VanWormer at robsmom@pcisys.net

Thursday, 19 May 2011, 12 noon - 1 pm - Washington, DC - "Mastermind: The Many Faces of the 9/11 Architect: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed" at the International Spy Museum

Author presentation. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was behind many of the most heinous terrorist plots of the past twenty years, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Millennium Plots, and 9/11 itself. Today, Mohammed is at Guantanamo Bay and not talking. Investigative journalist Richard Miniter brings to life his remarkable true story, including his time living among us in the United States. Based on interviews with government officials, generals, diplomats and spies from around the world, Miniter reveals never-before-reported al Qaeda plots and remarkable new details about the 9/11 attacks. He also lets us into the ultimately successful clandestine operations of American and Pakistani intelligence officers to capture this notorious killer.
Where: International Spy Museum: 800 F St NW, Washington, DC. Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station
TICKETS: Free, no registration required

19 May 2011, 11:30 am - Arlington, VA - The Defense Intelligence Forum meets to hear David Rogus "Brazil and U.S. National Security."

David Rogus, a “retired” Senior Foreign Service Officer, has served worldwide as a naval officer and diplomat with concentrations in the Americas and Northern Europe, and specializations in counter narcotics and law enforcement.  He served as State’s Director of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs.  Other assignments have covered Mexico, Cuba, the Caribbean, Iceland where he was Deputy Chief of Mission, the Balkans, and NATO.   Before leaving the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander to join the diplomatic corps, he served as a line and intelligence officer in the Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean fleets, and ashore in Viet Nam during the war. After a stint as Lockheed Martin’s Director of Business Development for the Americas, he now heads a business development group in Washington, S�o Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro.  He holds degrees from Marquette University and the National War College.  Much of his work focuses on Brazil where he lived for eight years as a diplomat and naval officer, including four years with the Brazilian Navy. Dave is known to be a patron of the Garota de Ipanema bar, where the Girl from Ipanema was written, and a guy who enjoys the beaches of Rio. This forum will follow a modified Chatham House rule.  Everything except the speaker's name and subject will be off the record. The Defense Intelligence Forum is open to members of all Intelligence Community associations and their guests. Event location: Pulcinella Restaurant, 6852 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, VA. Mr.
Reserve by 12 May by email to diforum@verizon.net.  Give names, telephone numbers, email addresses, and choice of chicken cacciatore, tilapia puttanesca, lasagna, sausage with peppers, or fettuccini with portabella. Pay at the door by check for $29 per person. Make checks payable to DIAA, Inc. THE FORUM DOESN’T  TAKE CASH!  If you don’t have a check, have the restaurant charge your credit or debit card $29 and give the restaurant's copy of the receipt when you check in.

21 May 2011, 2 pm - Kennebunk, ME - RUSSIA, FRIEND OR FOE? by Natalia Novikova at the AFIO Maine Chapter meeting.

Ms. Natalia Novikova will address the current situation in Russia and the status of U.S. - Russia relations. Born and raised in Russia, Novikova will draw on personal experience and stories in speaking of the Yeltsin and Putin eras and how they have led to the current situation. Daughter of a Soviet military pilot and Soviet economist,  Novikova has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an M.S. in Applied Mathematics. She has traveled and worked on four continents. Currently a strategy consultant with Booz and Company in NYC, she lives in Manhattan with her husband Aleksey. 
     The meeting, which is open to the public, will be at 2:00 p.m. in the Program Center of the Brick Store Museum, 117 Main Street, Kennebunk. DIRECTIONS FOR PARKING behind the Museum: approaching the junction of Route 1 and Route 35 from the South turn right at the set of lights just before the Town Hall, then right into the Town Hall parking lot. Approaching the junction from the North, turn left at the light at the Unitarian Church and continue straight across the intersection onto the street to the right of the Town Hall, then right into the Town Hall parking lot. The Program Center is in the yellow building which forms one side of he parking lot. For further information contact 207-967-4298

25 - 26 May 2011 - Ft Meade, MD - The Center for Cryptologic History presents the Henry F. Schorreck Memorial Lecture series for 2011 featuring Dr. Rose Mary Sheldon.
The annual event is a series of historical lectures named in honor of the former NSA Historian. We present preeminent scholars from the social sciences who address cryptologic issues with a historical perspective. This year, Dr. Rose Mary Sheldon will speak on "The Private Side of William F. Friedman: A Scholar's View". Dr. Sheldon is Char and Professor at the Department of History at the Virginia Military Institute. She is a specialist on the ancient world and has written widely on intelligence and espionage throughout history. She also is the author of the guide to the Friedman Collection at the George C. Marshall Research Library. Dr. Sheldon will present her lecture at the National Cryptologic Museum from 1400-1600 on 25 May as well as 1100-1300 on 26 May. The sessions are open to the public, but advance registration is necessary due to limited seating capacity at the Museum. For more information or to register, contact Dr. Kent Sieg or Judy Holland by email at kgsieg@nsa.gov & jmholla@nsa.gov or call 301-688-2336.

Thursday, 26 May 2011, 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - "Spies on Screen - Norwegian Ninja" at the International Spy Museum

Norwegian diplomat Arne Treholt was arrested in 1984 and convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Iraq. Now, the most notorious modern espionage case in Norway undergoes an incredible transformation in the film Norwegian Ninja. Writer/director Thomas Cappelen Malling reimagines Treholt's case as the tale of a Ninja entrusted by King Olav to lead a secret force of enlightened shadow warriors. Join Malling for his first state-side screening of the film the Wall Street Journal calls, "hilarious and menacing, absurd and insightful, and an accomplished work of genre film making that authoritatively upends the cold-war spy thriller." He'll reveal how he was inspired to turn Treholt into a hero and what the real spy thinks of the film.
WHERE: International Spy Museum: 800 F Street, NW Washington, DC. Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station
TICKETS: $20 per person To REGISTER: www.spymuseum.org

27 - 28 May 2011 - Rijswijk, The Netherlands - 'The Future of Intelligence; Threats, Challenges, Opportunities' by the Netherlands Intelligence Studies Association

At the conference, present and future developments in the field of intelligence and security will be discussed by an array of well-known experts in the field and other participants. There will be plenary sessions and workshops with a focus on specific intelligence,
counterintelligence and global security challenges.
Registration: Registration for the conference will close on 13 May 2011. To register or for additional information visit: http://www.nisa-intelligence.nl
Conference Fee:
Standard Fee: 150 euro; Student Fee: 65 euro (proof of status required) Fee covers registration, one dinner, two lunches and drinks.
Location: Netherlands Defence Academy, Brasserskade 227a, 2497 NX The Hague, Rijswijk.

Visit Netherlands Intelligence Studies Association (NISA)/Stichting Inlichtingenstudies Nederland
http://www.nisa-intelligence.nl

Thursday, 2 June 2011, 5:30 to 9 pm - Dayton, OH - CIA Evening Presentation on "Stories of Sacrifice and Dedication: Civil Air Transport, Air America, and the CIA"

The CIA, in partnership with the National Museum of the USAF, presents an evening which pays tribute to the sacrifice and dedication of Civil Air Transport (CAT) and Air America (AAM). These special CIA proprietaries were essential for covert operations, providing search and rescue, and photo reconnaissance in east and southeast Asia from the end of WWII through the Vietnam War. The highlight of the event will be the public release of 900 recently declassified documents from CAT and AA corporate files and CIA holdings spanning 1946 to 1978.
LOCATION: At the National Museum of USAF at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH. Craig Duehring, retired Asst Secretary of the Air Force serves as keynote speaker. Mr. Duehring served as a USAF forward air controller in South Vietnam and Laos and will share his personal story of being rescued by Air America. The focus of the event will be two specific stories that exemplify the themes of sacrifice and dedication.

THREE RSVP/REGISTRATION CHOICES....ALL FREE

1. To RSVP/register as AFIO member and Guest and receive assured seats for the June 2nd evening-only Dayton, Ohio CIA event, do so here.

2. To RSVP as a member of the general public. The event is free and open to the public. No tickets are necessary but seating will be limited to the first 1,000 people. Seating will open at 4:30 p.m. on a first-come, first served basis. Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP by May 31 at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CIA2011 or call (937) 255-1670. Refreshments will also be available for purchase throughout the evening. More information from the USAF Museum is here: http://tinyurl.com/3w7o39c

3. To Register for this event PLUS Air America Assn programs before and after June 2, follow the instructions in this PDF from the Air America Assn website:
http://www.air-america.org/Reunion/2011/2011reunionregistration.pdf

Updated Agenda as of 17 May 2011: Stories of Sacrifice and Dedication:  Civil Air Transport, Air America, and the CIA
National Museum of the United States Air Force, 2 June 2001, 5:30pm-9:00pm
5:30 pm – 5:35 pm   Welcome and opening remarks -- Lt. Gen. (Ret) Jack Hudson, Director, National Museum of the United States Air Force
5:35 pm – 5:40 pm   The CIA’s Historical Review Program: Improving Accessibility of Agency Documents -- Mr. Joe Lambert, Director, Information Management Services, CIA
5:40 pm - 6:10 pm    Keynote Speaker  -- Hon. Craig Duehring
6:10 pm – 7:15 pm   Teamwork and Sacrifice at Lima Site 85 -- Dr. Tim Castle, CIA historian
7:15 pm – 7:45 pm   Intermission
7:45 pm – 7:50 pm   Introduction to Extraordinary Fidelity -- Dr. Nick Dujmovic, CIA historian
7:50 pm – 8:50 pm   Extraordinary Fidelity (CIA Documentary Film) -- Produced by CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence
8:50 pm – 8:55 pm   Remarks on the film -- Dr. Nick Dujmovic, CIA historian
8:55 pm – 9:00 pm   Exchanging of Commemorative Awards and Closing Remarks -- Mr. Joe Lambert and Lt. Gen. (Ret) Jack Hudson

2 June 2011 - San Francisco, CA - The AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts Craig Fair, Acting Section Chief, FBI Counterintelligence Division at Headquarters.

The topic will be on Russian Foreign Intelligence Service's Illegals Network and Investgiation in the U.S. The meeting will be held at UICC, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco (between Sloat/Wawona): 11:30AM no host cocktails; noon - luncheon. $25 member rate with advance reservation and payment; $35 non-member/no reservation. E-mail RSVP to Mariko Kawaguchi (please indicate meat or fish) at afiosf@aol.com and mail a check made out to "AFIO" to: Mariko Kawaguchi, P.O. Box 117578, Burlingame, CA 94011.

Friday, 3 June 2011, 10:30 am - 2 pm - McLean, VA - David Wise discusses Chinese Espionage; Douglas Waller describes the early years of the OSS and Wild Bill Donovan at the AFIO National Spring/Summer Luncheon

Morning speaker is author Douglas Waller on "WILD BILL DONOVAN: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage." Our afternoon speaker is David Wise on what will be his first release of "TIGER TRAP: America's Secret Spy War With China." Register here.

Tuesday, 21 June 2011, 7 - 9pm - Washington, DC - "Deception and Spycraft: Military Intelligence in the Civil War" - Spy Seminar Series on Civil War Spies at the International Spy Museum

Spy Seminar Series: Civil War Spies - A Three-Part Exploration of Union and Confederate Intelligence Operations.
The North and the South both had their share of intelligence successes (and failures); neither the Blue nor the Gray were strangers to intrigue and espionage. Society ladies carried secret messages, runaway slaves re-crossed the Mason-Dixon Line as undercover agents, and couriers worked covert operations in the life or death climate of wartime. In this series, a distinguished group of historians and espionage experts will introduce you to some of the most amazing spies and spy cases of the conflict.
Spy Museum historian Mark Stout; Professor William B. Feis, of Buena Vista University, author of Grant's Secret Service: The Intelligence War from Belmont to Appomattox; and James A. Davis, Professor of Musicology at State University of New York—Fredonia, for a fascinating discussion of intelligence in America's bloodiest war.
International Spy Museum: 800 F Street, NW Washington, DC. Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station
Tickets: Series Tickets: $60; Individual Tickets: $25
Register at: www.spymuseum.org

22 June 2011 - San Diego, CA - The AFIO San Diego Chapter hosts San Diego District Attorney, Bonnie Dumanis (and candidate for Mayor) as our guest speaker

To Register or for more information email Darryl at DRT1083@aol.com

Thursday, 23 June 2011, 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - "David Wise on America's Secret Spy War with China" at the International Spy Museum

Join renowned intelligence author David Wise as he reveals the full story of China's many victories and defeats in its ongoing espionage war with America. To write his new book Tiger Trap: America's Secret Spy War with China, Wise interviewed key insiders in the FBI and CIA as well as Chinese agents and people close to them to gather the unvarnished stories of Chinese espionage. Wise will share the honey traps, double agents, and mind-blowing objectives of the rapidly emerging Asian superpower.
International Spy Museum: 800 F Street, NW Washington, DC. Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station
TICKETS: $12.50 per person. Register at www.spymuseum.org

Saturday, 25 June 2011 - Salem, MA - The AFIO New England Chapter meeting features Mary Margaret Graham, former Associate DNI, Collection, and CIA COS for NY.

Our schedule is as follows: Registration & gathering, 1000 - 1130, membership meeting; 1130 – 1200. Luncheon at 1200 followed by our speaker, with adjournment at 2:30PM.
Our speaker will be Mary Margaret Graham, former Associate DNI for Collection, and CIA COS in NYC on 9/11. She was in the WTC when the planes hit. Ms. Graham is a veteran of the Clandestine Service and has had a variety of assignments overseas.
Note, as this meeting is a one day event we have not made any hotel arrangements.

Locale: 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/
Questions, comments, etc. to afionechapter@gmail.com

Tuesday, 28 June 2011, 7 - 10 pm - Washington, DC - "Dinner With A Spy" - Jim Woolsey at the International Spy Museum

Former U.S. Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) R. James Woolsey headed the CIA and intelligence community at a time of great change and challenge. Woolsey was appointed by President Clinton in 1993 to serve as DCI. During this intimate dinner, Woolsey will share what it was like to serve as DCI during that tumultuous time: the Cold War was ending and the Agency was suffering from the recent revelation that intelligence officer Aldrich Ames had been a Soviet mole inside the Agency. Come participate in this lively exchange hosted by CIA veteran and International Spy Museum executive director Peter Earnest, who served as DCI Woolsey's spokesman.
WHERE: International Spy Museum: 800 F Street, NW Washington, DC. Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station
Price: $200 per person
Register at www.spymuseum.org

11 - 13 July 2011 - Dungarvan, IRELAND. 2nd Annual Global Intelligence Forum by Mercyhurst College's Institute for Intelligence Studies
Last July in Dungarvan, Ireland the Mercyhurst College Institute for Intelligence Studies (MCIIS) hosted this event which explored the nature of analysis and its application in various disciplines, including law enforcement, national security and competitive intelligence, building bridges between analytic practitioners and scholars within those disciplines, and exploring best practices in terms of teaching analytic methodologies. Takeaways for attendees were a deeper and broader appreciation of the value of different analytic methods, which can be borrowed as ―best practices from other disciplines, as well as instruction on the application. Attended by 180 people from 17 countries the forum was very well received.
This year's July 11-13 forum theme will be the relationship between intelligence and the decision-maker and we've gathered an outstanding group of international speakers and panelists (http://globalintelligenceforum.com). In addition we will be offering two proven training courses following the forum one designed for decision-makers in various disciplines and the other for analysts .
Five or more AFIO members that attend will be given a 10% discount on registration. It's a wonderful excuse for a July vacation in Ireland and Dungarvan is a perfect venue (www.dungarvan.com).

Tuesday, 19 July 2011, 7 - 9pm - Washington, DC - "The Lincoln Assassination Conspiracies " - Spy Seminar Series on Civil War Spies at the International Spy Museum

Spy Seminar Series: Civil War Spies - A Three-Part Exploration of Union and Confederate Intelligence Operations.
The North and the South both had their share of intelligence successes (and failures); neither the Blue nor the Gray were strangers to intrigue and espionage. Society ladies carried secret messages, runaway slaves re-crossed the Mason-Dixon Line as undercover agents, and couriers worked covert operations in the life or death climate of wartime. In this series, a distinguished group of historians and espionage experts will introduce you to some of the most amazing spies and spy cases of the conflict.
Location: Ford's Theatre - Join renowned experts Michael Kauffman, author of American Brutus; Frank J. Williams, Chairman of The Lincoln Forum and Chief Justice (ret) of Rhode Island; and H. Donald Winkler, author of Stealing Secrets and Lincoln and Booth: More Light on the Conspiracy; for a rounded view of the conspiracies and realities of the horrific events of April 14th, 1865.
International Spy Museum: 800 F Street, NW Washington, DC. Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station
Tickets: Series Tickets: $60; Individual Tickets: $25
Register at: www.spymuseum.org

24 - 26 August 2011 - Raleigh, NC - "Spies Among Us - The Secret World of Illegals" - theme of the 7th Raleigh Spy Conference

General Michael Hayden To Provide Personal Insights on the Bin Laden Operation as part of his keynote address at this conference.

For more information: www.raleighspyconference.com
email: cyndi@metromagazine.com
Location: North Carolina Museum of History, Downtown Raleigh, NC

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

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

Disclaimers and Removal Instructions

Weekly Intelligence Notes (WINs) are commentaries on Intelligence and related national security matters, based on open media sources, selected, interpreted, edited and produced for non-profit educational uses by members and WIN subscribers. 

REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS: We do not wish to add clutter to inboxes. To discontinue receiving the WINs: 

a)  IF YOU ARE A MEMBER -- click here: UNSUBSCRIBE and supply your full name and email address where you receive the WINs. Click SEND, you will be removed from list.  If this link doesn't open a blank email, create one on your own and send to afio@afio.com with the words:  REMOVE FROM WINs as the subject, and provide your full name and email address where you are currently receiving them.

 b) IF YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER, and you received this message, someone forwarded this newsletter to you [contrary to AFIO policies]. Forward to afio@afio.com the entire WIN or message you received and we will remove the sender from our membership and distribution lists. The problem will be solved for both of us.

CONTENTS of this WIN [HTML version recipients - Click title to jump to story or section, Click Article Title to return to Contents. This feature does not work for Plaintext Edition or for some AOL recipients]. If you wish to change to HTML format, let us know at afio@afio.com. The HTML feature also does not work for those who access their e-mail using web mail...however NON-HTML recipients may view the latest edition each week in HTML at this link: https://www.afio.com/pages/currentwin.htm

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

WINs are protected by copyright laws and intellectual property laws, and may not be reproduced or re-sent without specific permission from the Producer. Opinions expressed in the WINs are solely those of the editor(s) or author(s) listed with each article. AFIO Members Support the AFIO Mission - sponsor new members! CHECK THE AFIO WEBSITE at www.afio.com for back issues of the WINs, information about AFIO, conference agenda and registrations materials, and membership applications and much more!

(c) 2010, AFIO, 6723 Whittier Ave Suite 200, McLean, VA 22101. Voice: (703) 790-0320; Fax: (703) 991-1278; Email: afio@afio.com

Click here to return to top.