The Berlin Crisis of 1961

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

David Cameron Tells Russian Hosts: KGB Tried to Recruit Me But I Failed the Test. KGB agents tried and failed to recruit David Cameron when he was a young student, the Prime Minister told his Russian hosts yesterday. 

On a visit to Moscow, he joked that he apparently failed to pass the "interview" during the bizarre incident on a gap-year trip to the Black Sea coast in 1985.

When told of the incident, President Dmitry Medvedev said that Mr. Cameron would have made a "very good KGB agent."

Mr. Cameron described the apparent approach during a speech to students at the Moscow State university. "I first came to Russia as a student on my gap year between school and university in 1985," he said. "I took the Trans-Siberian railway from Nakhodka to Moscow and went on to the Black Sea coast.

"There, two Russians, speaking perfect English, turned up on a beach mostly used by foreigners."

He continued: "They took me out to lunch and dinner and asked me about life in England and what I thought about England." [Read more:  Winnett/Telegraph/13September2011] 

CIA Investigates Whether Laws Broken Helping NYPD. The CIA inspector general is investigating whether the agency broke the law by helping the New York Police Department build intelligence-gathering programs that monitored life in Muslim communities, the agency said Tuesday following an investigation by The Associated Press. Separately, the U.S. government's top intelligence official conceded that it looked bad for the CIA to be working with city police departments.

"It's my own personal view that that's not a good optic, to have CIA involved in any city-level police department," said James Clapper, the U.S. director of national intelligence. "But I think CIA is going to address that." [Read more:  Dozier/AP/13September2011] 

CSIS Didn't Have Dirt on him, So 'Sloppy" Spy Wins Dismissal Suit. As a spy, he was said to be sloppy. So sloppy that his masters would complain he "compromised" security and "jeopardized" their credibility - just by showing up for work.

But Marc-Andr� Bergeron, fired four years ago for alleged incompetence, has been vindicated by winning his claim of wrongful dismissal.

In doing so, he has revealed a rather remarkable state of affairs at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. CSIS, whose bosses lament that they are held to impossible legal standards in court cases involving terrorism, couldn't muster sufficient proof to fire one of their own.

"The employer failed to discharge its burden to present the necessary evidence," a federal tribunal ruled in mid-August, ordering Mr. Bergeron's reinstatement or an alternate "appropriate remedy." [Read more:  TheGlobeandMail/13September2011] 

North Korean Defector Arrested Over Assassination Plot. A North Korean defector has been arrested in Seoul for allegedly plotting to assassinate another dissident, after being found with poisoned needles on him.

Officers from South Korea's National Intelligence Service detained the man - only identified as Ahn - on a subway platform where he had arranged to meet Park Sang-hak, a high-profile activist who leads a group that sends balloons over the border into North Korea carrying messages that are critical of the regime.

Recently, the messages dispatched into the North have called on the citizens to rise up against the regime in the same way as people in North Africa and the Middle East have overthrown their dictators in recent months.

Pyongyang has responded by threatening to retaliate with artillery barrages. [Read more:  Ryall/Telegraph/16September2011] 

Israeli Spy Suspects on Trial in Iran. Iran has put on trial two people on charges of working for the spy agency of its arch-foe Israel and filming sensitive military sites, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said on Monday.

Dolatabadi said the trial started on Saturday, but he did not identify the two who he said were arrested in 2009, the ISNA news agency reported.

"The charges against these two people are spying for the Zionist regime, filming sensitive military sites, travelling to areas which is considered to be a crime under the law, and acquiring illicit money from the Israeli spy agency," Dolatabadi told a news conference, without further elaboration.

He said the case was ongoing, and a verdict was yet to be reached.

The Islamic republic has blamed the Jewish state and the United States for the unexplained disappearances of several of its military officials and nuclear scientists. [Read more:  AP/13September2011] 

One of 'Cuban 5' Spies Seeks Return Home After Prison; US Wants Him to Serve Probation Here. A former Cuban intelligence officer convicted of spying in the U.S. wants a federal judge to permit his return to Cuba after his release from prison next month.

Federal prosecutors say 55-year-old Rene Gonzalez should stay in the U.S. to serve three years of probation. Gonzalez is scheduled for release Oct. 7 after more than 13 years behind bars. Gonzalez has dual U.S.-Cuban citizenship. [Read more:  WashingtonPost/12September2011]

Egypt's Ex-Spy Chief Testifies in Mubarak Trial. Egypt's ex-spy chief and vice president is testifying in Hosni Mubarak's trial, the first in a string of members of the ousted president's inner circle to appear in court.

Prosecutors have called Omar Suleiman, 74, who served as Egypt's intelligence chief for nearly two decades, and others to shed light on Mubarak's alleged role in the death of protesters.

Egypt's military ruler Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi failed to appear in court Sunday as expected. The judge summoned him to appear later this month. [Read more:  Forbes/13September2011] 

Libyan Woman Spy Leads NATO Forces To Bomb Gaddafi Targets. Codename: Nomidia. Occupation: Spy.

In an exclusive interview with Reuters, a 24-year-old Libyan female engineer recounts how she led NATO forces to several Moammar Gaddafi targets throughout a period of several months.

The woman, who spoke to reporters on an anonymous basis, said that she evaded capture by always being on the move. And says that because she was a woman, no one suspected her of feeding alliances information. [Read more:  HuffingtonPost/13September2011] 

Three Pakistan Intelligence Officials Killed. Suspected Taliban militants killed three Pakistani military intelligence officials in a tribal region in the northwest on Wednesday, intelligence officials and police said.

The Pakistani Taliban, seen as the biggest security threat to the government, have become more brazen since their ally Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan in May.

The militants have carried out high-profile suicide bombings and attacked a major naval base and Western targets.

In Wednesday's attack, militants ambushed a vehicle carrying officials from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), opening fire from several directions on a road in the tribal region of Bannu. One intelligence official was wounded.

"The vehicle belonged to the ISI and was attacked with Kalashnikovs. Three people were killed and one was critically wounded," Sajjad Khan, a senior police official, told Reuters. [Read more:  MoneyControl/13September2011] 

CIA Boosts Covert Operations in Somalia. The clandestine U.S. campaign to counter Islamist forces in Somalia appears to be growing daily, with allegations the CIA is running covert operations from a base at Mogadishu airport.

These operations allegedly include the rendition of suspected jihadists seized in East Africa and spirited to an underground CIA interrogation center in Mogadishu and using mercenaries to train Somali assassination teams to hit al-Shabaab, the main insurgent group and which is linked to al-Qaida. [Read more:  UPI/13September2011] 

Syria to Air Confessions of "Israeli Spy" in Mughniyeh Hit. Syria will broadcast a taped confession of a Syrian officer it says aided Israel in assassinating the top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh in 2008, Damascus' official SANA news agency said Thursday.

Mughniyeh was killed in 2008 in Damascus in a massive car bombing Hezbollah and its allies attributed to Israel.

SANA is promoting the broadcast as "confessions of an Israeli spy," whom authorities said was discovered in neighboring Turkey. The agency said he would "reveal some of the details of the conspiracy against Syria, how he facilitated the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, and how spies are working under the cover of darkness to sow sedition, assassinate resistance figures and plunge the country into anarchy." [Read more:  Kessler/JPost/15September2011]

US Drone to Spy on North Korea. The United States is close to deploying an advanced unmanned spy plane over South Korea which could provide a much more detailed view of North Korea's military activities, a report said.

The US military newspaper Stars and Stripes said Washington is negotiating with Seoul to fly a Global Hawk drone near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.

"I think we are very close," the paper quoted Lt. Col. Terran Reneau, chief of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for the 13th US Air Force in Hawaii, as saying.

Another air force officer, Lt. Col. David Gerhardt, was quoted as saying in the article published Monday that the Global Hawk "will likely fly over land in Korea as soon as agreements have been solidified to do that".

South Korean defence ministry spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment. [Read more:  TheAustralian/15September2011] 

Former Colombian Spy Chief Sentences to 25 Years. Colombia's highest court has convicted a former director of the domestic intelligence agency of criminal conspiracy for colluding with illegal far-right militias. The court sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

Jorge Noguera was chief of the DAS agency under former President Alvaro Uribe from 2002 to 2005. The court announced its verdict Wednesday but did not release a written decision. [Read more:  AP/14September2011] 

Highest Honor Bestowed on Three Career MI Soldiers. Three men who dedicated their professional lives to the U.S Army Military Intelligence Corps received the highest honor that Corps has to offer on Friday.

Ret. Col. G. Dickson Gribble, Jr., Ret. Col. William Torpey and Ret. CWO 5 Alfred Myles joined a list of just 222 other distinguished names during the 24th Annual MI Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Fort Huachuca. [Read more:  Curtis/SVHerald/17September2011] 

Enigma Machine to Go Under the Hammer. An encoding device synonymous with one of the most remarkable episodes of World War II espionage will go under the hammer in London later this month.

A version of the three rotor Enigma machine -- used by the German military to encrypt messages, the code of which was subsequently cracked by a team at the legendary Bletchley Park complex -- will be auctioned at Christie's on September 29.

Although the number of the ciphering machines still in existence is thought to remain in the thousands, "it is rare for one to come up for sale," says Christie's specialist, James Hyslop. "Many are believed to have been produced but it's not a particularly high survival," he adds.

During the wartime period, the Enigma machine was the most advanced device of its kind, a forerunner of the first modern computer systems. [Read more: Macguire/CNN/17September2011]

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

How the US Gets Military Intelligence and Where it Goes. U.S. intelligence in the struggle against terrorism comes in many forms, maddeningly general, improbably precise, a game of sorts with vast consequences for winner and loser.

It's a satellite image showing tribesmen gathering in a remote area where none should be - the photograph so clear you can see the caliber of ammunition they are carrying.

It's a snatched bit of conversation between two terrorist leaders, overheard by a trusted source the terrorists don't realize is listening.

It's a stolen diplomatic cable. That's right, we steal.

Each of these sources and a multitude of others can become the tips that put an entire nation on alert, as a single tip has done from a single source just before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. [Read more:  Woodward&Dozier/AP/13September2011]

Ultrasecret Satellite Spy Shop NRO Turns 50. As it turns 50, the ultra-secretive National Reconnaissance Office is putting a multibillion-dollar misstep behind it and casting its spy satellites on new enemies, from al-Qaida bomb planters to North Korean nuclear engineers, according to its chief.

The agency has launched six satellites in seven months, "the best we've done in about 25 years," said director Bruce Carlson, ticking off what he saw as milestones during rare comments Thursday to reporters.

Data gathered from the NRO's Gorgon Stare of satellites - named for the mythological gaze that could turn a person to stone - was hailed as key to helping plan the Navy SEAL raid against Osama bin Laden and to guiding NATO and rebel forces in Libya, Carlson said.

The NRO was founded during the Cold War on Sept. 6, 1961, to spy on the Soviet Union, China and other enemies in the U.S. battle against communism. Today it operates satellites to spot roadside bombs in Afghanistan, helping combat arguably the enemy's deadliest weapon in America's latest war. The NRO still spies on Russia and China. [Read more:  Dozier/AP/16September2011] 

TSA Creator Says Dismantle, Privatize the Agency. They've been accused of rampant thievery, spending billions of dollars like drunken sailors, groping children and little old ladies, and making everyone take off their shoes.

But the real job of the tens of thousands of screeners at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is to protect Americans from a terrorist attack.

Yet a decade after the TSA was created following the September 11 attacks, the author of the legislation that established the massive agency grades its performance at "D-."

"The whole program has been hijacked by bureaucrats," said Rep. John Mica (R. -Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee.

"It mushroomed into an army," Mica said. "It's gone from a couple-billion-dollar enterprise to close to $9 billion."

As for keeping the American public safe, Mica says, "They've failed to actually detect any threat in 10 years."

"Everything they have done has been reactive. They take shoes off because of [shoe-bomber] Richard Reid, passengers are patted down because of the diaper bomber, and you can't pack liquids because the British uncovered a plot using liquids," Mica said.

"It's an agency that is always one step out of step," Mica said.

It cost $1 billion just to train workers, which now number more than 62,000, and "they actually trained more workers than they have on the job," Mica said.

"The whole thing is a complete fiasco," Mica said.

In a wide-ranging interview with HUMAN EVENTS just days before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Mica said screeners should be privatized and the agency dismantled.

Instead, the agency should number no more than 5,000, and carry out his original intent, which was to monitor terrorist threats and collect intelligence. [Read more: Hudson/HumanEvents/12September2011]

CIA Officer Recalls Post-9/11 Experiences. Ken Stiles is a CIA officer in residence at Virginia Tech. He teaches geography courses and advises Tech and Howard University's Intelligence Center for Academic Excellence. In an office adorned with Afghani pakols - woolen hats which he sells for $10 - camel and horse saddlebags, and a Pakistani battle ax, he took time to talk with the Collegiate Times about how his job has changed since Sept. 11, 2001. [Read more: Sutherland/CollegiateTimes/12September2011]

Declassified US Spy Satellites Reveal Rare Look at Cold War Space Program. Twenty-five years after their top-secret, Cold War-era missions ended, two clandestine American satellite programs were declassified Saturday, with the agency unveiling three of the United States' most closely guarded assets: the KH-7 GAMBIT, the KH-8 GAMBIT 3 and the KH-9 HEXAGON spy satellites.

The vintage National Reconnaissance Office satellites were displayed to the public Saturday in a one-day-only exhibit here at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, Va. The three spacecraft are the centerpiece of the NRO's invitation-only 50th Anniversary Gala celebration held at the center later that evening.

Saturday's spysat unveiling was attended by a number of jubilant NRO veterans who developed and refined the classified spacecraft and their components for decades in secret, finally able to show their wives and families what they actually did 'at the office' for so many years. Both of the newly declassified satellite systems, GAMBIT and HEXAGON, followed the U.S. military's frontrunner spy satellite system CORONA, which was declassified in 1995.  [Read more:  Guillemette/MSNBC/19September2011] 

CIA Pitches Scripts to Hollywood. Are you an aspiring filmmaker who wants to produce a spy thriller? Well, you're in luck because the CIA has a pile of script ideas lying around.

Ironic, you say, that an organization known for secrecy is doling out helpful hints to Hollywood? The CIA doesn't think so. For them it's all about image control. And they're just the start of it. The Department of Defense and just about every branch of the military has an entertainment industry liaison similar to the CIA's.

If you want to make a war film and need a fleet of F-22s, a crowd of Marines, or a Navy aircraft carrier, just call up the Department of Defense's entertainment media office and they'll tell you if the Army can spare that M1A1 Abrams tank you've always wanted for a day or two of filming.

"The scripts we get are only the writer's idea of how the Department of Defense operates," Vince Ogilvie, deputy director of the Defense Department's entertainment liaison office, told Danger Room. "We make sure the Department and facilities and people are portrayed in the most accurate and positive light possible." [Read more: Riffee/Wired/16September2011]

Section III - COMMENTARY

The CIA Armed Forces. The U.S. CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) is accustomed to operating in the shadows. But for the last decade it has been forced to operate with a lot of media scrutiny on the operations of its new robotic air force. The CIA acquired some Predator UAVs early on (before September 11, 2001), originally for use in Central Asia (and elsewhere).

Moreover, the CIA had no hang-ups (like the U.S. Air Force did at the time) about arming their drones. They figured out how to equip each Predator with two (48.6 kg/107 pound) Hellfire missiles. If the UAV spotted a likely target, it could launch missiles right away. Now this was no different from the old tactic of turning warplanes loose against "targets of opportunity." But UAVs could circle over a piece of land for hours, something most modern aircraft could not do. Most enemy troops expect jet fighter bombers to come by, make a few passes, and depart. The CIA Predators could snoop around for a while, checking out suspects, and then fire on likely targets. Since the Hellfire was a highly accurate missile, they would usually hit what they aimed at. It was the success of the CIA Predators that forced the U.S. Air Force to get with the armed UAV program. And the rest is history. Now the CIA has over 30 Predator and Reaper UAVs, and has killed hundreds of terrorists and dozens of senior terrorist leaders, in the last decade.

Those UAVs are operated by CIA employees and contractors (most of them former military). Normally, the CIA contracts out major military operations like this to SOCOM (Special Operations Command). That still happens, but in the last decade, the CIA has expanded its own force of paramilitary field operatives. The CIA won't say how many of these it has, but the number could be several thousand at this point. These men, and a few women, usually operate in small groups and rarely use anything heavier than an assault rifle or pistol. [Read more: Dunnigan/StrategyPage/18September2011]

There's No Romance Left in Espionage. The British are indulging in one of their periodic bouts of spy fever, such as no other nation enjoys so much. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is triumphantly launched as a movie, almost 40 years after the novel's publication, when the Cold War was still pretty chilly. David Cameron's visit to Moscow has reopened the six-year-old controversy about the London murder of dissident Alexander Litvinenko. There are red faces at M16 following the discovery in Libya of documents that expose a cozy relationship between the Gaddafi regime and Vauxhall Cross.

In intelligence matters, the British people get themselves in a considerable tangle about where reality ends and fiction begins. They reluctantly acknowledge that James Bond is a fantasy figure, but love the Man Who Never Was, the wartime corpse carrying deceptive documents that the clever British palmed off on the stupid Germans. Thanks to a muddle of Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt and John Le Carre, modern Britons think they know that most of the British Secret Service sooner or later turns out to have been working for the other side. 

Yet, in an even more confused fashion, the British think spying is something we excel at. We may not be as rich as Americans, as good at making things as Germans, as cultured as the French or as energetic as the Chinese. But John Buchan was only the first of many writers to tell us that we play The Great Game jolly well.

There is something in this. But as a historian I am doubtful about the performance of British spies both before and after their glory days in the second world war. Keith Jeffrey's history of M16 from its foundation in 1909 to 1949, published last year, shows the service employed many exotic personalities and staged some wizard japes. But it seems questionable how much intelligence it generated that was both true and useful to governments. MI5, the security service, on the whole did better. [Read more: Hastings/FT/17September2011] 

Saddam: What We Now Know. Saddam Hussein was a WMD threat and a terror threat to the United States and its allies.

Too many of the post-9/11 critics have forgotten or were never aware of this fact. Even in last week's NRO symposium, writers called the invasion of Iraq an "unjust war," an "optional war," and finally a "result of the flawed intelligence that skewed the perceived threat posed by Saddam Hussein's regime to the United States."

There is little doubt that the pre-war intelligence on Iraq was faulty, mostly because of Saddam's continuing attempts to convince Iran that he still maintained a potent WMD capacity despite years of sanctions. Unfortunately, in the years of recriminations following the invasion of Iraq the actual truth was lost, until it became commonplace for even those who supported the invasion to admit that Saddam did not pose a WMD threat. Likewise, as he was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks, many believe he was not a terror threat either.

Before the consensus is written in stone, it is worth going over the evidence collected since the removal of the Saddam regime. Leaving aside the fact that he slaughtered more than a million of his own people and was prone to launching unprovoked wars against his neighbors - both good reasons for his violent removal - what threat did Saddam actually pose? Let's go through just a sliver of the evidence. [Read more: Lacey/NationalReview/14September2011]

Section IV - Obituaries, Books and Coming Events

Obituaries

Brian J. Kelley. Announcement received today from Dr. John Lenczowski, President of the Institute of World Politics: "It is with great sadness that I have to report to you the death of our colleague, Professor Brian Kelley. He died suddenly and unexpectedly yesterday at home in his sleep. Brian served for many years at the Institute of World Politics as a professor of counterintelligence, where he taught one of the most unique courses in the nation on counterintelligence case studies. He had a distinguished career as an intelligence officer in the Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency, where he was involved in a number of historic espionage cases. Late in his career as a senior CIA official, Brian and his family suffered greatly, as he had been placed under suspicion for being a Soviet "mole" in our intelligence community who had compromised a vast number of our nation's most sensitive secrets. Fortunately, the CIA succeeded in recruiting an intelligence source in Russia who revealed who the real mole was: Robert Hanssen, who was subsequently arrested, convicted, and incarcerated. The grace with which Brian handled this situation, and continued to serve his country in the absence of a formal apology, made Brian a walking lesson in forgiveness and leadership for anyone who knew him. Since those painful days, Brian taught at IWP, sharing his extraordinary experience and wisdom with successive classes of IWP students. ... He was a patriot and a happy warrior, constantly dedicated not only to the education of his students, but to helping them launch their careers in positions commensurate with their education. ... He initiated a program where intelligence contracting firms hire students as interns and as full time employees. His program set the standard for similar arrangements with other major contracting companies, whose services to the nation are every bit as strategic as work done within sensitive government agencies. Brian was generous in his readiness to organize extracurricular lectures and to field other special events. He was an inspiring leader who brought an extraordinary esprit de corps to our community, for which I will be eternally grateful. I know that, in the few hours since his death, many of our students and alumni have used such phrases as "an American hero," "a true patriot," "an incredible professor," and "an inspiration" in describing Brian. America has lost one of its greatest sons, but it is clear that Brian's legacy will live on through his students and their continuing service to the nation. All of us extend his wife, Trish, his children, his grandchildren, and his longtime friends and colleagues our sincerest condolences. If you would like to send a personal tribute or expression of sympathy, please send your thoughts to Kathy Carroll at: carroll@iwp.edu. Funeral arrangements will be made known to the IWP community as soon as they become available. IWP will honor Brian's memory on October 7 at the event he organized with Bryan Denson on "American Traitors: Fathers and Sons." I hope that you will join us. "

Paul E. Leonard, Defense Intelligence Agency Analyst. Paul E. Leonard, 85, a Lutheran pastor who joined the Defense Intelligence Agency in 1965 and became a analyst specializing in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, died Aug. 26 at a hospital in Livingston, Mont.

He was a Falls Church resident and was on vacation when he died of complications from Parkinson's disease. The death was confirmed by his daughter Charlotte Leonard.

Mr. Leonard spent 11 years as a Lutheran pastor in Massachusetts before joining the Defense Intelligence Agency. He became a senior research analyst before retiring in 1988. He continued to conduct Sunday services at Lutheran churches in Northern Virginia. [WashingtonPost/13September2011] 

Eugene C. Rowe, National Security Agency Researcher. Eugene C. Rowe, 79, a Russian linguist and expert on the Soviet Union who worked at the National Security Agency for more than 35 years, died Aug. 29 at Howard County General Hospital.

He had a heart attack, said his daughter Heather Rowe.

Mr. Rowe served in Air Force intelligence during the Korean War, conducting aerial reconnaissance. He joined the NSA in 1959 as a research analyst and studied Soviet intelligence. Later in his career, he taught Soviet history to NSA employees. He retired in 1994 and took a part-time job two years later at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he performed research on artificial intelligence. He retired again in 2000. [WashingtonPost/12September2011] 

Frank M. Brandstetter. Colonel Frank Maryan "Brandy" Brandstetter (U.S. Army Ret.) died in the Hospital Megallanes in Acapulco, Mexico on August 21, 2011 at age 99.

He was born into Austrian-Hungarian nobility on March 26, 1912, and immigrated to the United States as a penniless teenager. Volunteering for World War II service with the U.S. Army, his background, knowledge of customs, traditions and fluency with Hungarian, Romanian, Austrian, Czech and German languages made him a perfect choice for an intelligence career. After graduating from the U.S. Army Intelligence School, he was trained by British military intelligence before he parachuted with the 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment on D-Day and led his IPW (Interrogation of Prisoners of War) team into World War II. He served as General Matthew B. Ridgway's trusted aide with the XVIII Airborne Corps until the end of the war, then, with General Ridgway in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, and finally with the original, five-nation United Nations Organization. His awards include the Silver Star and the Bronze Star.

Brandy continued for 40 years in uniform as a U.S. Army Reservist frequently providing assistance to the Office of the Army Chief of Staff for Intelligence, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the FBI, and the CIA. Subsequently, Brandstetter unofficially provided reconnaissance services to the United States, primarily at his own expense, to China, Greece, Cyprus, Morocco, South Africa, Spain, Argentina, Yugoslavia, and many other hot spots at times when security threats were emerging.

As a civilian, Brandy developed real estate and excelled as a hotelier. He was the founder and operator of the Las Brisas Resort in Acapulco, a favorite destination during Acapulco's heyday. He received many awards for his active service in building community and bringing people out of poverty. This work led him to projects that educated and employed many and launched productive careers that otherwise never would have been. After learning of Brandy's influence that helped thwart a rebellion in 1981, King Juan Carlos of Spain sent a small contingent to Acapulco in 2003 to express thanks by giving Brandy an honorary membership in the Corporation Euro Americana De Securidad. His service to the world was surpassed by the quality and depth of his loyalty and his friendship.

Colonel Brandstetter resided in the United States, Jamaica, Cuba, and finally in Mexico where he made his home on the hillside above Acapulco Bay and below the tall landmark cross and Catholic Chapel of Peace, both of which he was instrumental in building. His remains were cremated and rest in a crypt beneath that chapel. Memorial services will be held on November 11, 2011 at 11 am in Arlington National Cemetery at the grave of General Matthew B. Ridgway. [Read more: NYTimes/14September2011]

John Kimball. John Winfield Kimball, (77), of Ormond Beach, was born in Washington, D.C. September 23, 1933 and passed into God's good graces on September 16, 2011, in his home surrounded by his loved ones. He is survived by his beautiful wife of 58 years, Louise Kimball; four children, Karen, John, Jr., Rebecca, and Mark; eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Mr. Kimball was a distinguished Korean War Army Veteran and career CIA employee who dutifully served God, his family, and his country. John served with the government in Japan, Okinawa, Germany, India, Africa and stateside, taking his family on many interesting journeys and exposing his children to a wonderful upbringing overseas. His family held a private service in memoriam and Mr. Kimball's cremated remains will be inurned at Arlington National Cemetery. Husband, father, soldier, Agency employee, and Washington Redskin fan, he will be sorely missed by all who knew him. [Read more: DaytonaBeachNewsJournal/19September2011]

Books and Documentaries 

Spy Factory: How Al Queda San Diego Got Away with 9/11 Pentagon Flight 77. PBS Nova's "The Spy Factory" tells the story of how the super-secret NSA ("no such agency") was right on the trail of Al Queda. But like John O'Neill, they were also thwarted by higher ups (who were either screwing up or deliberately protecting bad guys) before they could do anything with the information. Author James Bamford dug up a "chilling tale of terrorists, living in San Diego, communicating with bin Laden's operations center in Yemen, moving freely about, and all the while, NSA is listening in." 

While it is not as complete as some other sources such as History Commons, it is nevertheless the best single outline I have seen of how imam Anwar al-Awlaki's San Diego cell prepared to take American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon: Hani Hanjour, Nawaf al-Hazmi, and Khalid al-Midhar. The NSA was tipped off when Al Queda purchased a satellite phone, and even figured out the house in Yemen that was communications hub between the plotters and "that guy in a cave in Afghanistan that couldn't possibly have directed 9/11." Midhar even took a short "vacation to visit his wife and baby" that just happened to be at that SAME HOUSE about the time people are pretty sure he helped organize the plot to blow up the USS Cole which was anchored at the harbor of the "military ally." The bunch eventually stayed in a cheap hotel practically within sight of NSA headquarters in Maryland. [Read more: Hu/AsianWeek/12September2011]

Sweden's Stasi Spies Detailed in New Book. The activities of more than 50 Swedes who spied on their fellow citizens for the East German intelligence service during the Cold War have been described in a new book.

The book's author, history professor Birgitta Almgren of S�dert�rn University College in Stockholm, based her findings on information gathered from the archives of Swedish security service S�po which included details about Swedes who had helped the German Democratic Republic's (GDR) much feared Stasi intelligence service.

"The Stasi's infiltration in Sweden was much larger than people thought and S�po didn't really understand the importance Sweden had as a heavyweight country, a buffer state, between the east and west during the Cold War," Almgren told Sveriges Radio (SR).

Almgren's research was made possible by a 2010 court victory which forced S�po to open its Stasi archive.

Altogether, nearly 3,000 reports were written about Sweden between 1950 and 1989, focusing on domestic politics, education, industry, and defence issues.

In the book, entitled "Inte bara spioner:... Stasi-infiltration i Sverige under kalla kriget ('Not just spies...: Stasi infiltration in Sweden during the Cold War'), Almgren details the activities of 57 Swedes who were investigated by S�po for suspected ties to the Stasi.

Between 1969 and 1989, the Stasi had around 32 agents living in Sweden, as well as 21 "contact people". In addition, there were 71 East German agents who were sent to Sweden on shorter missions.

According to Almgren's book, which was released on Thursday, the group included 12 educators and researchers, ten engineers, nine businessmen, nine journalists, six secretaries, as well as 6 others from the cultural and social services field.

The book tells of "the tough-minded social democratic journalist" who "without blinking" betrayed party friends and of the high school teacher who was trained in the air force's techniques for surveillance and observation.

There is also an account of a businessman who offered information in exchange for advantageous business contracts, Almgren writes in an opinion article in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.

However, she was prohibited from naming or contacting the people mentioned in S�po's Stasi archive. [Read more: TheLocal/15September2011]

Bookmark: A Decade of Books About 9/11. The tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, prompted questions about America's place in the world, and a proliferation of books resulted. Here is a recommended reading list for those seeking enriched understanding.

- "The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States" (2004): This bipartisan report, written with lucidity and forcefulness, is not only a compelling look at intelligence failures and Al Qaeda's strategy, but also a work of enduring literary significance and accomplishment.

- "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" by Lawrence Wright (2007): Wright, a New Yorker writer who has won a Pulitzer Prize, explains the growth of Islamic fundamentalism and the characters involved in its rise since the 1940s.

- "Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001" by Steve Coll (2004): In this Pulitzer-Prize-winning book, Coll explains the complex relationship of American intelligence leaders to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, all of which is informed by his insights into the politics of America, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and, of course, Afghanistan.

- "The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century" by Steve Coll (2008): From one of my favorite New Yorker writers, another lucidly written and reported book elevating understanding of the Middle East and the sprawling, wealthy family that exerts influence around the globe.

- "Watching the World Change: The Stories Behind the Images of 9/11" by David Friend (2006): In this lucid analysis of the 9/11 photographic record, Friend compels us to understand how visual images have affected our understanding of events and how history will be rendered.

- "The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches From the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam" by Eliza Griswold (2010): This look at the band around the globe where more than half the world's 1.3 billion Muslims and more than 60% of its 2 billion Christians reside, explores how secular triggers - conflicts over land, oil, food, water - led to religious disputes. [Read more: Taylor/DailyPilot/15September2011]

Coming Educational Events

EDUCATIONAL EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

MANY Spy Museum Events in September, and October 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, 21 September 2011, 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - "L'AFFAIRE FAREWELL" at the International Spy Museum

"One of the most important spy cases of the 20th century." –former French foreign minister, Hubert V�drine
This riveting film is loosely based on the real life story of Vladimir Vetrov, a high ranking KGB intelligence officer who revealed the USSR's efforts to steal technical, industrial, and scientific secrets from the West. From 1980 to 1982, Vetrov, using the codename "Farewell," secretly passed over 4,000 classified documents to the French. The materials exposed Soviet penetrations and the official list of Line X officers operating secretly in embassies around the world plumbing Western science and technology to keep the Soviets competitive. The 2009 French film L'affaire Farewell portrays the results of Vetrov's espionage—how it enabled Western intelligence to root out nearly 200 spies destroying Soviet ability to steal technology. The roll-up crippled Soviet technology efforts which had run on stolen Western research and forced the USSR into a weakened position at an extremely critical time during the Cold War. A post-screening discussion of this engaging thriller will be lead by International Spy Museum executive director Peter Earnest who served as a CIA case officer in Europe during the Cold War.
In French and Russian with English subtitles. Co-sponsored by Road Scholar organization.
Tickets: $9 – Cash bar. To purchase tickets visit www.spymuseum.org

Friday, 23 September 2011, 6:30 p.m. - Washington, DC - Surveillance 101 with Eric O'Neill at the International Spy Museum

What if you were assigned to watch the most damaging spy in U.S. history? As a young operative in the FBI, Eric O’Neill was put into position as Robert Hanssen’s assistant with the secret task of spying on his boss, who was under suspicion of working for Russia. O’Neill’s background with the FBI was in surveillance, so he was up to the challenge. But how would you measure up? It’s your chance to find out. O’Neill is prepared to share his hard-earned expertise with you. This intense small group introduction to surveillance FBI-style will include learning the basics and conducting surveillance in the streets of DC. Will you be able to track the “Rabbit” without being “made?” You’ll learn how to snap clandestine shots and keep your target in view, so you won’t miss operational acts or clandestine meetings. O’Neill will lead the exercise and help you learn how to blend into the shadows for the best spy results!
Tickets:  $94.00 - Call Laura at the Spy Museum at 202-654-0932 to register.

Monday, 26 September 2011 - Boston, MA - CIA's Historical Collections Division Conference "Piercing the Iron Curtain: The Use of Technology to Resolve the Missile Gap" at JFK Presidential Library

Penetrating the Iron Curtain: Resolving the Missile Gap with Technology
26 September 2011 at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, MA

BACKGROUND. In the mid-1950s the United States faced the first real challenge since World War II to its strategic superiority. First, it seemed that the Soviet Union was challenging us by producing and deploying a large strategic bomber force. Then, even as that perception was disproved, it became evident that the Soviets were placing their major effort toward developing strategic missiles against which there was no defense. While the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations strove to formulate policy to address the new circumstances, the Intelligence Community provided no clear picture of the scale, rate of production, or breadth of deployment of Soviet missiles.
The administrations increasingly turned to the CIA with assignments to collect, produce, and disseminate missile intelligence to policymakers. It was a challenging mission that put CIA up against the Soviet Union, a country from which little information, clues, secrets, or whispers emanated, and any that did might only be intended to deceive. The goal was not only to guess what was behind the curtain, but also to find all ways possible to approximate with ever greater certainty.
The release event will feature former CIA analysts, the national-security columnist for Slate magazine, noted academics, the former head of CIA’s Guided Missile Task Force, and the former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction.

View agenda here: AGENDA

REGISTRATION: Please note - this event appears in TWO parts that day and each part requires separate registration. If you wish to attend the full program, register for both parts ASAP. Event seating is on a space available basis. Registration forms are identical but contain hidden identifier for each part you are selecting so, to attend both, you need to feel out both forms.
NB: The information you supply on JFK registration pages is not under control of AFIO or CIA but is property of JFK Library. Enter only public contact data.

Part I - 1 - 4:45 p.m. - CIA Overview of the Missile Gap. Preceding the Kennedy Library Missile Gap forum, the CIA is sponsoring two panels on the challenges of intelligence analysis and the implications for US policy with John Bird, Edward Proctor, Robert Jervis, Ted Warner and others. Reception follows close of this session.
To Register for this portion click here: CIA at JFK Library PART I

Part II - 5:30 - 7 p.m. - Forum on 50th Anniversary of the Missile Gap Controversy. Special panel of historians Timothy Naftali, Fred Kaplan and John Prados discuss this pivotal moment in world history. Mary Elise Sarotte, Professor of International Relations at USC, will moderate.
To Register for Part II click here: CIA at JFK Library Part II

Registration for this worthwhile free event is being handled at the JFK Library and Museum website at: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Events-and-Awards/Forums.aspx

27 September 2011, 5:30 - 8 pm - New York, NY - AFIO New York Metro features Dr. Draitser on "Stalin's Romeo Spy."

SPEAKER: Emil Draitser, Ph.D., Professor Russian Studies, Hunter College of the City of New York.
TOPIC: "STALIN'S ROMEO SPY" - His book about the remarkable rise and fall of the KGB's most daring operative Dmitri Bystrolyotov. Details at www.stalinsromeospy.com

Event location: "3 West Club" 3 West 51st St, New York City. Buffet dinner. Cash bar. $40/person. 5:30 PM Registration 6:00 PM Meeting Start

Reservations: Strongly Suggested, Not Required: Seating is limited. Replies/RSVP to afiometro@yahoo.com

29 September 2011 - San Francisco, CA - The AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts Supervisory Special Agent Max Noel, Ret., Federal Bureau of Investigation. He will be speaking about how he cracked the Unabom case and tracked Theodore J. Kaczynski. The meeting location will be confirmed upon receipt of registration. 11:30AM no host cocktails; noon - luncheon. $25 member rate with advance reservation and payment; $35 non-members accompanied by a member. No walk-ins allowed. Seating is limited. 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

Saturday, 1 October 2011, 1000 - 1430 - Salem, MA - AFIO New England to hear former Associate DNI/Collection, and CIA COA NYC on 9/11.

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.
Our schedule is as follows: Registration & gathering, 1000, Speaker begins her talk at 1100 am. Luncheon is AFTER speaker presentation - 12:30, with adjournment at 2:30PM.
Note, as this meeting is a one day event we have not made any hotel arrangements.
Our October 2011 chapter meeting will be held on Saturday 1 October at the Salem Waterfront Hotel located in Salem MA. The hotel web site is here: http://www.salemwaterfronthotel.com/. For directions to the hotel look here: http://www.salemwaterfronthotel.com/location.html
Information about Salem MA and local hotels can be found here: http://salem.org/

For additional information contact us at afionechapter@gmail.com

Advance reservations REQUIRED are $25.00 - no walk-ins - per person.

Luncheon reservations must be made by 16 September 2011.

Mail your check and the reservation form to:

Mr. Arthur Hulnick, 216 Summit Avenue # E102, Brookline, MA 02446, 617-739-7074 or hlnk@aol.com

Wednesday, 05 October 2011, 8:15am - 3:10pm - Laurel, MD - General Membership Meeting of the National Cryptologic Museum Foundation.

Program: 0815-0900: registration & breakfast; 0900-0915: Welcome by NCMF President, Eugene Becker; 0915-0945: opening address by NSA Director or Deputy Director; 0945-1000: NCM update by Museum Curator Patrick Weadon; 1000-1115: panel discussion on "International Relations with Iran" by Amb Bruce Laingen and Kenneth Timmerman, author and investigative reporter; 1115-1200: Cyber Security Legal issues by Stewart Baker, former general counsel, NSA, author of Skating on Stilts; 1200-1300: lunch and auditorium video presentation of the 1997 Dedication of National Vigilance Park to commemorate the sacrifices of aerial reconnaissance crews;
1300-1400: keynote address by James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence; 1400-1410: break; 1410-1440: new museum project and capital campaign update by Lt. Gen. Ken Minihan, MG Rod Isler and Brig Gen Neal Robinson; 1440-1500 the role of the NSA Center for Cryptologic History by Col William Williams; and 1500-1510: closing remarks by Brig Gen Billy Bingham.
LOCATION: JHU/APL Kossiakoff Center - 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd, Laurel, MD 20723-6099 tel: 240-228-7574.
FEE: $15 to NCMF members, $40 per guest. NCMF fee includes breakfast & lunch, and a.m. Refreshments. Shuttle service is available from 0800-0900 and from 1500-1545. Handicap parking is limited.
A silent auction, vintage book sale, and the CWF [NSA's Civilian Welfare Fund] gift shop sale will be held in the lobby area through 1300. Cryptologic artifacts will be on display.
REGISTRATION: Mail registration form with your check or credit card information by 07 September 2011 to NCMF, PO Box 1682 Ft Meade Md 20755. Checks payable to NCMF are preferred method of payment.
Symposium assistance: please call (301) 688-2336 or 301-688-5436 or email: cryptmf@aol.com

Thursday, 6 October 2011, 6:30 p.m. - Washington, DC - American Traitors, Fathers and Sons: The John Walker and Jim Nicholson Family Spy Stories at the International Spy Museum.

How could you do this to your son?" –Mike Wallace to John Walker on 60 Minutes
When the family business is espionage, dynamics and dysfunction take on a whole new meaning. From inside a federal prison, former CIA operative Jim Nicholson directed his son Nathan on a global trek to collect the pension promised to him by his handlers for spying on behalf of Russia. From 2006 to 2008, Nathan smuggled his father’s messages to Russian intelligence officers on three continents in exchange for cold cash. The father-son exploits echoed those of notorious spy John Walker, the retired Navy communications specialist who in 1983 lured his pliable son Michael into his spy ring. The Walkers orchestrated one of the most devastating security breaches in U.S. history. David Major, retired Supervisory Special Agent and Director of Counterintelligence, Intelligence and Security Programs for the FBI who supervised the Walker case after Walker's arrest, along with Bryan Denson, an investigative reporter for The Oregonian, will present the eerie parallels between Walker and Nicholson. Using video interviews with the spies and their sons, they will explain how Walker, who once declared, “Kmart has better security than the Navy,” and Nicholson, the highest-ranking CIA officer ever convicted of espionage, lured their sons into the “family business” of spying. Major and Denson will examine the human cost of treachery as inflicted by two traitorous dads on the sons who loved them.
Tickets:  $15.00. To register visit www.spymuseum.org

7 October 2011, 6:30 - 8 pm - Washington, DC - American Traitors: Fathers and Sons - at the Institute of World Politics in honor of the late Brian Kelley.

Bryan Denson, Reporter, Federal Courts/Investigations, The Oregonian, speaks on the viral nature of being a traitor -- it can run in families.
"I would never hurt my kids" said convicted spy Jim Nicholson to interviewer Katie Couric as he was recounting the events which caused him to be arrested as a spy and sentenced to twenty four years in federal penitentiary. Yet a dozen years later, Nicholson convinced his youngest son Nathan to make contact with the Russian SVR to try and collect some $300,000 which the SVR maintained in Nicholson's "escrow account" which had built up during the eighteen months in which Nicholson was on the SVR payroll while a serving senior CIA operations officer. Nicholson maintained that he needed money to keep his family together after a costly divorce and that he saw no other way to get the money he needed other than to sell secrets to the Russians.
Nathan Nicholson was twelve when his father was arrested. Nathan struggled growing up and enlisted in the Army after graduating from high school. An injury caused Nathan to be discharged early and he faced financial difficulties. His father saw in his son a conduit to the SVR and convinced his son to seek out the SVR to begin to collect escrow money. Young Nathan revered his father and agreed to the plan.
What happened next? Bryan Denson, a senior investigative reporter for the Oregonian newspaper covered the Nicholson family caper which ended with eight additional years added to the sentence for Jim Nicholson. Denson did extensive interviews with Nathan, his mother, his sister and other notables who knew Nicholson and knew about what transpired prior to the arrest of Nathan by the FBI.

Location: The Institute of World Politics, 1521 16th Street NW , Washington, DC 20036
RSVPs REQUIRED: sent to kbridges@iwp.edu.
This event was organized by the late Professor Brian Kelley and will be held in his honor.

Thursday-Friday, 6 - 7 October 2011 - Laurel, MD - The NSA's Center for Cryptologic History hosts their Biennial Cryptologic History Symposium with theme: Cryptology in War and Peace: Crisis Points in History.

The National Security Agency’s Center for Cryptologic History sponsors the Cryptologic History Symposium every two years. The next one will be held 6-7 October 2011. Historians from the Center, the Intelligence Community, the defense establishment, and the military services, as well as distinguished scholars from American and foreign academic institutions, veterans of the profession, and the interested public all will gather for two days of reflection and debate on topics from the cryptologic past. The theme for the upcoming conference will be: “Cryptology in War and Peace: Crisis Points in History.” This topical approach is especially relevant as the year 2011 is an important anniversary marking the start of many seminal events in our nation’s military history. The events that can be commemorated are many. Participants will delve into the roles of signals intelligence and information assurance, and not just as these capabilities supported military operations. More cogently, observers will examine how these factors affected and shaped military tactics, operations, strategy, planning, and command and control throughout history. The role of cryptology in preventing conflict and supporting peaceful pursuits will also be examined. The panels will include presentations in a range of technological, operational, organizational, counterintelligence, policy, and international themes. Past symposia have featured scholarship that set out new ways to consider out cryptologic heritage, and this one will be no exception. The mix of practitioners, scholars, and the public precipitates a lively debate that promotes an enhanced appreciation for the context of past events. The Symposium will be held at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory’s Kossiakoff Center, in Laurel, Maryland, a location central to the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., areas. As has been the case with previous symposia, the conference will provide unparalleled opportunities for interaction with leading historians and distinguished experts. So please make plans to join us for either one or both days of this intellectually stimulating conference. Dr. Kent Sieg, the Center’s Symposium Executive Director, 301-688-2336 or via email at kgsieg@nsa.gov. Registration form is here.

7 - 9 October 2011 - Glens Falls, NY - NE Chapter of Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association (NCVA-NE) Fall Mini-Reunion.

Location: Queensbury Hotel, Glens Falls, NY. The registration cut-off date for any local members of the NCVA-NE is September 7, 2011. For additional information call (518) 664-8032 or visit website. Questions? Ask Victor Knorowski, 8 Eagle Lane, Mechanicville, NY 12118 e-mail: knork620@verizon.net or call him at (518) 664-8032

Wednesday, 12 October 2011, 6:30 p.m. - Washington, DC - Dana Priest on "Top Secret America" at the International Spy Museum

An expos� of what this Washington Post reporter claims is a new, secret “Fourth Branch” of American government.
When Dana Priest began researching a Washington Post series on national security following 9/11, she found a top-secret world that, to her, seems to have become so enormous, so unwieldy, and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, or exactly how many agencies duplicate work being done elsewhere. Reporter Priest, author of Top Secret America, will reveal how she investigated this shadow world and the enormous consequences of this invisible universe of over 1,300 government facilities, nearly 2,000 outside contractors, and more than 850,000 people granted “Top Secret” security clearance. The result may be that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is, according to this journalist, putting the U.S. in greater danger. Priest will also screen some segments from the recent FRONTLINE documentary developed in conjunction with her book.
Tickets:  $9.00. To register visit www.spymuseum.org

Saturday, 15 October 2011, 1 - 3 pm - Washington DC - "Riot Act" by Ed Mickolus, at the International Spy Museum

This former CIA officer and self-described humorist has written "The Secret Book of CIA Humor" and will be giving an author presentation with an entertaining collection of rookie hazing practices, performance appraisal outtakes, and on-the-job anecdotes from his thirty year career with the Agency. Includes “Useful Phrases to Know When Traveling in Terrorist Areas,” “The Problem with Security Covers,” and “You Might be a Taliban If. . ..”
In his real life Ed Mickolus worked as an analyst, covert action officer, manager, and public affairs officer. He now teaches intelligence issues for federal agencies. He considers himself a recovering standup comic, and he lives in northern VA. To register visit www.spymuseum.org

Saturday, 15 October 2011 - Washington, DC - The OSS Society hosts the 2011 William J. Donovan Award Dinner honoring Adm Eric T. Olson, USN.

Admiral Eric T. Olson, Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, has been selected to receive the 2011 William J. Donovan Award Dinner. By invitation only. Further information at www.osssociety.org

Thursday, 20 October 2011, noon - Washington, DC - A Vast and Fiendish Plot: The Confederate Attack on New York City - at the International Spy Museum

Ballroom to Battlefield Civil War Program
In 1864, Manhattan had a population of 880,000…a population that came perilously close to death on the evening of 25 November. Six Confederate saboteurs planned to destroy the North’s largest city with a string of 21 separate fires set simultaneously with the goal of engulfing the city in flames. This terrorist plot was the brainchild of the Confederate Secret Service. They had hoped to target a number of northern cities including Boston, Chicago, and Cincinnati to show how easily the Confederacy could strike at Federal cities. Clint Johnson, author of A Vast and Fiendish Plot, will explore this little-known plan for sabotage, explain its links to Canada, and reveal why the saboteurs ultimately failed. Johnson will also speculate on how the saboteurs could have accomplished what would have been the worst terrorist attack in American history.
Tickets:  Free.  No registration required. More information at www.spymuseum.org

Wednesday, 26 October 2011, noon - Washington, DC - MH/CHAOS: The CIA's Campaign Against the Radical Left and the Black Panthers

Operation MHCHAOS was the code name for a secret domestic spying program conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency in the late 1960s and early 1970s charged with unmasking any foreign influences on the student antiwar movement. CIA counterintelligence officer Frank Rafalko was a part of the operation. The New York Times revealed MHCHAOS in 1974, then Congress investigated, and MHCHAOS took its place in the pantheon of intelligence abuses. Rafalko, however, says in MH/CHAOS that the operation was justified and that the CIA was the logical agency to conduct it. He’ll defend his perspective with dramatic intelligence collected on the New Left and black radicals.
Tickets:  Free.  No registration required. More information at www.spymuseum.org

Thursday, 27 October 2011 - Washington, DC - CIA Historical Collections Division Conference: "A City Torn Apart; Building the Berlin Wall - 1961"

Scope: For nearly 50 years the German City of Berlin was the living symbol of the Cold War. The Soviets closed the Sector Border dividing East Berlin from West Berlin on August 13th, 1961, effectively establishing what become known as the Berlin Wall. This symposium focused on the events leading up to the establishment of the Berlin Wall. The period covered included the Vienna Conference on 3 June to the confrontation at Checkpoint Charlie on 27 October 1961. EVENT LOCATION: National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC. Contributors will include NATO, ARMY, JFK & LBJ Presidential Libraries, SHAEF, and State Department. Details about event to follow from AFIO as we get closer to event.

27 October 2011, 0930- 1715 - Newport News - AFIO Norman Forde Hampton Roads Chapter Third Annual Workshop on National Security and Intelligence: Energy Security

Location: Christopher Newport University, David Student Union, Newport News, Tabb Library, York County. Directions: From Norfolk take I-64 West. Merge onto US-17 North via Exit 258B toward Yorktown. Follow US-17 North approximately 2.2 miles to Victory Blvd/VA-171 East. Turn right onto Victory Blvd/VA-171 East. Turn right at the next traffic light onto Hampton Hwy/VA-134 South. Turn right at the next traffic light onto Long Green Blvd. Tabb Library is on the immediate right. It is across the street from the Victory YMCA. From Williamsburg take I-64 East. Merge onto Victory Blvd/VA-171 East via Exit 256B. Follow Victory Blvd/VA-171 East approximately 2 miles. Turn right onto Hampton Hwy/VA-134 South. Turn right at the next traffic light onto Long Green Blvd. Tabb Library is on the immediate right. It is across the street from the Victory YMCA. Registrations and questions to Melissa Saunders mwsaunders@cox.net or call 757-897-6268.

2-3 November 2-11 - Buckley AFB, Aurora, CO - DNI hosts 2011 Intelink Technical Exchange.
The ITE [Intelink Technical Exchange] brings together practitioners and technologists from the intelligence, national defense, homeland security, and law enforcement communities working to improve intelligence information sharing. The ITE is open to government employees and contractors. AFIO members may attend but need to show AFIO ID.
CALL FOR PAPERS: If you wish to present at the ITE, send your abstracts by September 15, 2011 to ITE@ugov.gov Your topic should describe substantive technical work area relevant to the National Security Enterprise, our information environment, or the business of intelligence.
Contact ITE@ugov.gov for additional information

Thursday, 17 November 2011, 11:30 am Colorado Springs, CO – The Rocky Mountain Chapter presents Sheriff Terry Maketa speaking about his official visits to Israel and Trinidad.  This should be an interesting talk as El Paso County Sheriff’s rarely travel this far from home.  Dick Durham will lead the meeting as the President will be in London on his own fact finding and gathering mission.  To be held at a new location, The Inn at Palmer Divide, 443 S. Highway 105 Palmer Lake, CO, Exit 161 westbound off I-25, West on Highway 105.  Please RSVP to Tom VanWormer at robsmom@pcisys.net

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

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