Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Alarm Grows in Congress, U.S. Intelligence, Over Iran's Latin America Threat. Lawmakers are taking action to thwart Iran's diplomatic and espionage activities in South America, including partnerships with nations hostile to the U.S. - such as Venezuela, which is suspected of helping Tehran plot a cyberattack on America. 

During a state visit to Tehran on July 30, 2006, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez was awarded the High Medal of the Islamic Republic of Iran. At the time, official Washington barely noticed. Iran's activities in Iraq and Afghanistan were getting far more attention than the inroads the Islamic Republic was making in Latin America.

Around the time Chavez was in Tehran, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) began meeting with Iran's and Venezuela's ambassadors in Mexico, and computer engineering students and faculty, in a plot to build a cyberweapon aimed at U.S. infrastructure. 

In 2007, the UNAM professor began secretly filming these meetings, where the students and diplomats discussed how to gain unauthorized access to the U.S. industrial computers in American nuclear facilities.

Today, U.S. intelligence and Congress are taking stark notice of Iran's moves in Latin America, particularly after Univision, the Spanish-language broadcast network, aired that hidden footage from 2007 this week, The Daily Beast has learned.

Next month, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who chairs the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will host a hearing to examine the "threat to the United States posed by Iran's diplomatic and espionage activities in Latin America." [Read more: Lake/TheDailyBeast/15November2011]

Iran Hijacked US Drone, Says Iranian Engineer. Iran guided the CIA's "lost" stealth drone to an intact landing inside hostile territory by exploiting a navigational weakness long-known to the US military, according to an Iranian engineer now working on the captured drone's systems inside Iran.

Iranian electronic warfare specialists were able to cut off communications links of the American bat-wing RQ-170 Sentinel, says the engineer, who works for one of many Iranian military and civilian teams currently trying to unravel the drone's stealth and intelligence secrets, and who could not be named for his safety.

Using knowledge gleaned from previous downed American drones and a technique proudly claimed by Iranian commanders in September, the Iranian specialists then reconfigured the drone's GPS coordinates to make it land in Iran at what the drone thought was its actual home base in Afghanistan.

"The GPS navigation is the weakest point," the Iranian engineer told the Monitor, giving the most detailed description yet published of Iran's "electronic ambush" of the highly classified US drone. "By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This is where the bird loses its brain." [Read more: Peterson/ChristianScienceMonitor/15December2011]

Congress Tells Spy World to Keep Going, but with Fewer People and High-Tech Toys. Congress is putting the spy world on a diet - trimming back planned growth in staff and high-tech surveillance programs.

Next year's budget doesn't cancel any programs, but it shaves money off big-ticket items like the multi-billion-dollar spy satellites.

A budget bill passed Friday is classified, but it's expected to stay in the same range as last year's - just under $79 billion. Spy agencies had asked for an increase.

Congress left alone plans for new hires in cybersecurity and counter-terror threat finance. [Read more: AP/16December2011]

Analysts Wary of Iran's Spy Drone Hacking Claims. Reports that Iranian electronic warfare experts may have succeeded in intercepting and capturing a sophisticated U.S. spy drone were received with some skepticism by security analysts.

While it is certainly possible that the drone was electronically ambushed as reported, more details are needed to know what exactly might have happened to the RQ-170 Sentinel drone, they said.

A story in the Christian Science Monitor this week reported that the recent U.S. spy drone captured by Iran may have been intercepted and tricked into landing in that country by Iranian electronic warfare experts.

The story quoted an unnamed Iranian engineer as saying that Iran was able to cut off the communications links to the Lockheed-Martin-made drone and reconfigure its GPS coordinates to trick it into landing in Iran.

The engineer was quoted as saying that Iranian engineers developed the attack by reverse-engineering U.S. drones that had been previously captured or shot down, and by taking advantage of the weak GPS navigation system.

John Pescatore, an analyst with market research firm Gartner, and a former analyst with the National Security Agency (NSA), said the supposed attack, while possible, was not plausible.

He noted that the Air Force in October had said that some of its drones had been hit with a virus. "If a virus could get in, then targeted malware surely could," Pescatore said.

However, to pull off the attack, the Iranians would have needed to have detailed knowledge of the drone's software, and it's doubtful they did, he said. [Read more: Vijayan/ComputerWorld/16December2011]

Colombia asks Panama to Extradite Former Intelligence Chief Linked to Espionage Scandal. Panama's Foreign Ministry says Colombia has asked it to extradite former Colombian intelligence chief Maria del Pilar Hurtado to face conspiracy, wiretapping and abuse of authority charges.

Hurtado headed Colombia's DAS domestic intelligence agency in 2007 and 2008.

The agency was dissolved in October after it was caught spying on presidential foes, including judges, reporters and human rights activists, under former president Alvaro Uribe. Uribe governed from 2002 to 2010 and has denied knowledge of the abuses. [Read more: AP/14December2011]

Former Dutch Pilot Convicted of Espionage. A court in The Hague has sentenced former F-16 pilot Chris Vaneker to five years in jail after finding him guilty of selling state secrets to a Russian diplomat.

Vaneker wanted half-a-million euros for the information he was trying to sell. The court found that the former Dutch airforce fighter pilot acted on his own initiative when he got in touch with the military attach� at the Russian embassy in The Hague.

The pilot and the Russian diplomat were arrested in March after they agreed to meet at a Scheveningen restaurant. The diplomat was soon released. The authorities were unable to determine what information Vaneker passed on to the Russian, who enjoyed diplomatic immunity. [Read more: RadioNetherlands/14December2011]

Swiss Charge 3 Men in Nuclear Smuggling Case. Three Swiss engineers - a father and his two sons - have been charged with breaking arms export laws by aiding a Pakistani-led nuclear smuggling ring that supplied Libya's atomic weapons program, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The formal indictment follows almost a decade of politically charged investigation by Swiss authorities that lifted the veil on one of the most successful international intelligence operations to stop nuclear proliferation to rogue states.

Urs Tinner, 46, his brother Marco, 43, and their father Friedrich, 74, are accused of providing technology and know-how to the nuclear smuggling network of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the architect of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, the federal prosecutors office in Bern said in a statement.

The A.Q. Khan smuggling ring sold key equipment such as centrifuges for uranium enrichment to various countries until its operations were disrupted in 2003.

Prosecutors said the Tinners have agreed to ask for a shortened legal procedure, under which defendants admit the basic charges against them but face no more than five years in prison.

If judges at the Federal Criminal Tribunal agree, politically sensitive aspects of the investigation likely won't be publicly aired as further evidence gathering - and therefore cross-examination - would be excluded in court. [Read more: Jordans/AP/14December2011]

Dream Military Space Telescope Could Spy Anywhere on Earth. If the U.S. military wants live video of a missile launcher vehicle halfway around the world, it must rely on spy planes or drones in danger of being shot down. Tomorrow, the Pentagon wants space telescopes hovering in geosynchronous orbit that could take real-time images or live video of any spot on Earth.

Contrary to Hollywood's ideas, today's spy satellites that orbit the Earth at fast speeds and relatively lower altitudes can only snap photos for the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. Taking live video of a single location would require satellites to hover by matching the Earth's rotation in geosynchronous orbit about 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) high - but creating and launching a space telescope with the huge optics arrays capable of seeing ground details from such high orbit has proven difficult.

As a solution, DARPA - the Pentagon's research arm - envisions a lightweight optics array made of flexible membrane that could deploy in space. Ball Aerospace has just completed an early proof-of-concept review as part of a DARPA contract worth almost $37 million.

"The use of membrane optics is an unprecedented approach to building large aperture telescopes," said David Taylor, president and chief executive officer of Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colo.

DARPA eventually wants a space telescope with a collection aperture (light-collecting power) of almost 66 feet (20 meters) in diameter. By comparison, NASA's next-generation James Webb Space Telescope is designed to have an aperture of 21 feet (6.5 m).

Such a telescope should be able to spot missile launcher vehicles moving at speeds of up to 60 mph on the ground, according to the DARPA contract. That would also require the image resolution to see objects less than 10 feet (3 m) long within a single image pixel. [Read more: Innovation/14December2011]

'No Intelligence' on Christmas Terror Plots, US Finds. For the first time in more than a decade, there is "no active intelligence" suggesting a possible terror attack timed to the Christmas and New Year's holidays, counter-terrorism officials from five American agencies told ABC News.

But the officials said there is growing concern that al Qaeda is targeting next summer's Olympic games, about which one law enforcement official said the threat level is considered "high," although there is no specific information pointing to an attack on the games.

"They do not want to expend any operatives or resources now on anything else, other than the Olympics," said the official, who was briefed on the latest electronic intercepts.

This week, on a teleconference involving American law enforcement and intelligence agencies, officials reported that electronic intercepts and human sources had turned up no evidence of a pending threat over the next few weeks.

In fact, "There are explicit discussions that nothing should be scheduled for the holiday period," the official told ABC News. [Read more: Esposito&Ross/ABCNews/16December2011]

Air Force to Award Silver Star to U-2 Pilot Francis Gary Powers. The U.S. Air Force will award a Silver Star posthumously to Francis Gary Powers, the pilot whose spy plane was shot down in 1960 over the Soviet Union in a defining moment of the Cold War.

The Air Force determined that the U-2 pilot showed "steadfast loyalty" while under harsh interrogation in Soviet prisons. In a report obtained by The Associated Press, it cited his "sustained courage" and gallantry despite "cajolery, trickery, insults and threats of death."

The Silver Star is the Air Force's third-highest honor for service beyond the call of duty.

Powers was swapped for a Soviet spy in February 1962 at Berlin's Glienicke Bridge. He died in the 1977 crash of a traffic helicopter he was flying in Los Angeles.

His son, Francis Gary Powers Jr., requested that his father be considered for the medal. He said the Air Force confirmed this week that it plans to award it. "It is vindication of my father 50 years afterwards," he said. "Dad is one of our American heroes." [Read more: AP/18December2011]

France Launches Spy Satellites Aboard Russian Rocket. The second Russian-built Soyuz rocket launched from French Guiana blasted off late on Friday carrying six military spy satellites, space officials said.

The rocket blasted off at 11.03 p.m. (0203 GMT Saturday) from a launch pad at the European Space Agency's (ESA) launch centre near Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America.

About one hour after launch, five of the satellites separated from the rocket.

The first was Pleiades, a one-tonne observation satellite to be used extensively by the French defense ministry.

Several minutes later, the rocket released four ELISA (Electronic Intelligence by Satellite) demonstrator satellites to test space-based mapping of radar transmitters globally for France's Defense Procurement Agency (DGA).

A sixth satellite, for Chile's armed forces, is scheduled for separation at 0639 GMT.

The satellites will also have civilian applications. [Read more: Leconte/Reuters/18December2011]

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Speed of Cyber Revolution Leaves Feds Playing Catch-Up. Assessing cyber threats has gotten more difficult - especially as hackers and other bad actors have devised even more ways to break into networks, including federal.

The intelligence community faces particular challenges in the cyber world.

Ronald Marks, a senior fellow at the George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute and a former CIA official, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to talk about what the intelligence community is doing to manage the cyber revolution.

Marks said the government has made great strides recently, citing the standing up U.S. Cyber Command as a positive development. But he also noted how fast cyber has revolutionized government operations, which can leave agencies in a perpetual state of catch-up. [Read more: FederalNewsRadio/15December2011]

FBI Director Mueller Testifies on FBI's Evolution over Past Decade. Good morning, Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Grassley, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today and for your continued support of the men and women of the FBI.

Three months ago, our nation marked the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. The horrific events of that day were the prelude to a decade of political, economic, and cultural transformation. Since that time, there have been significant changes in political leadership around the world, including the recent events in Libya and Egypt. In the economic arena, the past decade has seen billion-dollar investment frauds, the failure of storied financial institutions, and the abuse of financial vehicles, such as credit default swaps and mortgage-backed securities, which have undermined the world's financial system. There has also been an exponential rise in the proliferation of new technologies, and these advancements have changed the way we work, socialize, and communicate with one another.

These changes in the global landscape have posed significant challenges to members of law enforcement and the intelligence community. Accelerated by these changes, the threats to our nation are constantly evolving, and today's FBI now faces a more complex threat environment than ever before.

Since 9/11, the FBI has shifted to be an intelligence-driven, threat-focused organization, guided by clear operational strategies. The FBI is focused on predicting and preventing the threats we face while engaging the communities we serve. This shift has led to a greater reliance on technology, collaboration with new partners, and human capital. The FBI is a full member of the U.S. intelligence community and serves as a critical link between the intelligence and law enforcement communities in the United States. The FBI, as an organization, is in a unique position to address national security and criminal threats that are increasingly intertwined. [Read more: CypressTimes/15December2011]

Venona Expert: Declassified. A former counterintelligence official who was instrumental in lifting the veil of secrecy from some of America's most closely kept espionage secrets talked about what he found in government archives Wednesday night.

Robert "Lou" Benson, of Front Royal, worked in the first half of the 1990s to declassify the products of a 37-year American and British program that exposed Soviet spies around the world.

The publicly available records have nearly resolved hotly debated spy cases that have festered since the early days of the Cold War, he said.

Benson spoke to an audience of 25 people at the Samuels Public Library.

Few people remain who harbor any doubts about the guilt of Julius Rosenberg and Alger Hiss as spies for the Soviet Union since the declassification of the Venona files, said Benson, who retired two years ago from the National Security Agency.

His career included stints as chief of staff and division chief for NSA's Office of Security. His writings include a three-volume classified history of the Venona project, part of which has been declassified since its completion.

"Venona" was the last of several names for a U.S.-British codebreaking operation begun in the middle of World War II by Gene Grabeel. She worked in the U.S. Army's Signal Intelligence Service, a forerunner of the National Security Agency. [Read more: Beck/NorthernVirginiaDaily/15December2011]

U-2 Spy Plane Still Flying High. One of the oldest planes the United States Air Force still flies is used to carry out some of America's most sensitive and critical missions. Whether it's aiding NATO troops in Afghanistan, providing surveillance over North Korea or examining Japan's hurricane ravaged coast, the high altitude U-2 keeps flying despite initial plans to retire it by the end of this year.

It requires a lot of skill and technology to get a pilot above 21,000 meters where the U-2 snaps critical images and gathers intelligence.

One hour prior to takeoff, the pilot begins inhaling pure oxygen to cut the risk of decompression sickness.

Major Colby Kuhns of the U.S. Air Force 5th Reconnaissance "Blackcats" squadron said it is like being atop Mount Everest.

"I haven't had any decompression problems, so that's good. But we are susceptible to it. Guys who start getting those symptoms will feel pain in their joints and it could get worse than that," said Kuhns.

Landing the spy plane, nicknamed Dragon Lady, also requires unique abilities. [Read more: Herman/VOA/14December2011]

Perfect Christmas Gift: High Def Video Camera Spy Pen. Capacity-wise, this is one impressive pen. The small embedded lens can take up to five hours of AVI video footage plus 20,000 jpg images thanks to a hefty 8 GB of storage space. The micro-lens of the camera is the small dot above the pocket clip, subtle and oh so very secret. Spies, professional intriguers, and blackmailers should take note.

This rechargeable spy pen packs enough juice for two hours. To access its content, a USB 2.0 adapter allows you to plug onto a Mac or PC. The camera functions, whether to record or take pictures, are activated by the tiny button on its bottom.

Of course, since this is also a pen, it writes too. Just be mindful enough not to leave this somewhere. It sucks trying hard to be a super sleuth when you end up compromising your hard-earned incriminating info.

It isn't cheap though. [Read more: Miranda/GeekyGadgets/18December2011]

Secret London Spy Hotspots Revealed as List Pinpoints Espionage Sites. Where exactly do spies get their cars fixed, have something to eat or bump each other off?

A new guide to espionage in London unearths the secrets of what the spooks have got up to in the capital.

Among the nooks and crannies is a garage used by MI5 in the 1970s to get its cars suped-up and kitted out with surveillance equipment.

But the garage near Clapham in south London was later uncovered by the Russians, prompting the Security Service to move their specialist mechanics to 'somewhere in west London'.

The Londonist Top 10 Spy Sites also features a warren of tunnels underneath Kingsway, near Holborn.

Originally used as air raid shelters, they were taken over by the Inter Services Research Bureau, which served as a front for the research arm of MI6 - aka Q Branch in the James Bond novels.

A more exotic stop on the trail is Polish restaurant Caf� Daquise in South Kensington, where Russian Cold War spy Yevgeny Ivanov and lover Christine Keeler used to meet.

Keeler was also seeing defence minister John Profumo, an affair which led to his resignation amid fears national security had been compromised.

While some of the buildings in the guide, including MI6's headquarters at Vauxhall Cross, are already well known to the public, others such as the spy school on Borough High Street would not attract a second glance.

The Millennium Hotel in Mayfair provides a more sinister twist, as it is where ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in 2006.

For the full list of spy sites, log on to www.londonist.com. [Read more: Tahir/MetroUK/18December2011]

Section III - COMMENTARY

US Officials Wrong to Confirm Reports of CIA Setbacks. News reports that more than an dozen CIA spies in Iran and Lebanon have been arrested and charged with espionage - as well as details reported about a CIA "black site" prison in Romania - made this former CIA officer sick. But not for the reasons you might suspect.

Spying is a dangerous business where the risk of exposure is inherent in the nature of the beast. "Flaps," as they call them in the trade, happen all the time. Spies usually get caught for one of three reasons: poor clandestine tradecraft, bad luck or one intelligence service simply outsmarts the other.

I don't know how these spy networks were wrapped up, but several journalists and intelligence officers have been quick to cite sloppy tradecraft as the cause. That's an easy judgment to make, particularly when one recalls the egregiously poor tradecraft used by the CIA recently in Khost, Afghanistan, that left seven CIA operatives dead.

So I would tend to agree that the cause of this particular debacle was probably lousy tradecraft. Too many CIA case officers meeting their agents at their favorite Beirut pizza joint is a definite tradecraft no-no.

Details revealed to the press by unnamed former and current intelligence officials include the fact that two of the Hezbollah agents were doubled back against the CIA, and that agent meetings were held at a Beirut Pizza Hut, and the codeword "pizza" was used to describe the meeting location.

It also appears from press reports that the Iranian network may have been related to the Lebanese network. If true, this would mean the basic principle of compartmentalization had been breached. The compromise reportedly occurred when a secret Internet communication method used by CIA agents in both groups was discovered.

When the news of the wrap-ups hit the airwaves on Iranian TV, other "U.S. officials" confirmed to ABC News that the information reported by Iran was essentially true. These same U.S. officials also confirmed to the press that the videos of CIA websites aired on the Iranian program were accurate.

This confirmation of information by so many former and current intelligence officials is what is so troubling to me. Why did they feel it necessary to so quickly confirm to the world that the arrested individuals were indeed CIA spies - by doing so they have all but assured swift executions for the unfortunate suspects.

What these people did was flat wrong. [Read more: Rustmann/Newsmax/14December2011]

Corporate America Must Fight, and Live With, China Hackers. Chinese hackers have redefined the concept of room service: In one recent attack, they infiltrated an Internet service provider to some of the world's leading hotels, potentially gaining access to millions of confidential messages of traveling executives, as well as to the victims' corporate networks.

The electronic theft of proprietary information from U.S. companies has reached the level of grand larceny on a national scale. One declassified government estimate put the value of information stolen in the last year - everything from blueprints to merger plans - at almost $500 billion. In October, breaking with diplomatic niceties, the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive characterized "Chinese actors" as "the world's most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage."

The distinction represents a success of sorts: In 1986, China launched a project - program 863 - that included the use of clandestine means to close the gap with the West in areas such as nanotechnology, biotech and computers. Since then, the opportunities for progress have multiplied. Expanding commercial and scientific links between the U.S. and China have created a target-rich environment. The spread of portable devices and pooled data processing and storage has made it harder to protect corporate secrets. 

Of course, industrial espionage has been a fixture of the economic landscape for centuries. Americans have a rich history of pilfering ideas from abroad, beginning with the theft of spinning and weaving technology from the British. So one proper response to today's techno-thieves - be they Chinese, Russian, French, German or Israeli - is for American companies to embrace the threat as a fact of life and step up their own vigilance, especially when their executives travel overseas. [Read more: Bloomberg/15December2011]

Al-Qaeda vs the West: 2012 and Beyond. Just over two years after al-Qaeda Core launched the most serious plot against the United States since 9/11 (the Najibullah Zazi NYC subway plot of September 2009), al-Qaeda's leader and founder, Usama bin Laden; most recent "No. 3," Attiyah Abd al Rahman; and Saleh al Somali and Rashid Rauf, the instigators of the Zazi Plot, are all dead, a result of combined efforts by U.S. Special Forces and drone strikes. In addition, this fall, Anwar al Awlaqi, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) dual-hatted English- language propagandist and chief of external operations, was also killed in a drone strike. As the calendar approaches 2012, the natural question to ask is: Whither the al-Qaeda threat?

The recent past may provide some useful insights. One of the most important findings of a forensic study of the sixteen most serious al-Qaeda plots against the West since 1993 is that al-Qaeda plots against the West are almost always underpinned and manned by Westerners who travel overseas to al-Qaeda or an ally/affiliate and then are turned around opportunistically and sent back to target the West. Whether it was the 1999 LAX Millennium Bomber (Montreal); the 9/11 Pilots (Hamburg); the Shoe Bombers (London); the July 7 and 21, 2005, London transit system bombers (Leeds and London); the 2009 NYC Subway Bombers (New York); or the 2009 Underwear Bomber (London), the key operatives from the plot originated in one of the great cities of the West.

The effort by radicalized Americans to travel abroad and join up with al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups has continued unabated since 2001. To name just a few, this group includes Bryant Neal Vinas and Adam Gadahn (al-Qaeda Core); Samir Khan (AQAP); Omar Hammami, Zachary Chesser, and nearly two dozen men from Minneapolis (al-Shabaab); David Headley (Lashkar-e-Taiba); Abdul Hameed Shehadeh (unnamed jihadist groups in Pakistan); and Betim Kaziu (jihadist groups in either Iraq or the Balkans), to name just a few.

This begs the question: what hotspots might men who radicalized to violence in London, the Washington DC suburbs, New York City, or Toronto travel to in order to carry out their jihadist ambitions in 2012 and beyond? [Read more: Silber/CuttingEdge/18December2011]

What I Told the CIA About Robot Ethics. Robots are replacing humans on the battlefield - but could they also be used to interrogate and torture suspects? This would avoid a serious ethical conflict between physicians' duty to do no harm, or nonmaleficence, and their questionable role in monitoring vital signs and health of the interrogated. A robot, on the other hand, wouldn't be bound by the Hippocratic oath, though its very existence creates new dilemmas of its own.

The ethics of military robots is quickly marching ahead, judging by news coverage and academic research. Yet there's little discussion about robots in the service of national intelligence and espionage, which are omnipresent activities in the background. This is surprising, because most military robots are used for surveillance and reconnaissance, and their most controversial uses are traced back to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in targeted strikes against suspected terrorists. Just this month, a CIA drone - a RQ-170 Sentinel - crash-landed intact into the hands of the Iranians, exposing the secret US spy program in the volatile region.

The US intelligence community, to be sure, is very much interested in robot ethics. At the least, they don't want to be ambushed by public criticism or worse, since that could derail programs, waste resources, and erode international support. Many in government and policy also have a genuine concern about "doing the right thing" and the impact of war technologies on society. To those ends, In-Q-Tel - the CIA's technology venture-capital arm (the "Q" is a nod to the technology-gadget genius in the James Bond spy movies) - had invited me to give a briefing to the intelligence community on ethical surprises in their line of work, beyond familiar concerns over possible privacy violations and illegal assassinations. This article is based on that briefing, and while I refer mainly to the US intelligence community, this discussion could apply just as well to intelligence programs abroad. [Read more: Lin/TheAtlantic/17December2011]

Section IV - Online Course, Careers, Books, and Coming Events

Online Course

Online Washington Post "MasterClass" Course by David Ignatius: Spy Fact and Spy Fiction

This online course features columnist and bestselling author David Ignatius and taps into that detective in you, solving mysteries far more intricate than that empty cookie jar. In this MasterClass, you'll uncover where reality ends and fiction begins. You'll explore some of the most intriguing milestones in the modern history of espionage, and some of the most riveting spy novels. You'll begin your journey with an examination of British Moles, then turn your attention to American spy catchers, the CIA and the Middle East. You'll step into the world of the Mossad and investigate the perplexities of Counter-Terrorism. Throughout this MasterClass, you'll exercise your mental agility as you partake in guided activities that take you deeper into the world of spy fact and fiction.

YOUR MASTERCLASS SECTIONS

Each of the following eight sections is filled with detailed content, real-life examples, personal anecdotes from your expert and practical activities.
• Two Interconnected Worlds
• Connecting Fiction to Facts
• Connecting Facts to Fiction
• Origins of "Agents of Innocence"
• The Mossad: Fertile Source of Fact and Fiction
• "Body of Lies": From Amman to Hollywood
• Spy Movies: The Secret World on the Silver Screen
• Spy Cities: Five Places Where the Game of Espionage Lives

To explore this online Washington Post MasterClass, explore it here: http://www.postmasterclass.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=38

Careers

CACI Seeks Applicants for Intelligence Analyst Position - Washington, DC

JR61593 Intelligence Analyst 3 Position Summary:
Experience in targeting, assessing, and recruiting foreign human intelligence (HUMINT) assets and experience in technical operations highly desirable. Provides guidance, case management, and support to field HUMINT collection operations. Coordinates with field, other offices, and other agencies. Reviews and evaluates the overall reporting from assets to help determine asset validity. Understands all-source collection. Good writing and briefing skills, foreign language Skills, foreign area expertise, and/or overseas experience in HUMINT operations highly desired. Provides intelligence support for contingency operations, battle staff and operational-level planning, joint and multi-lateral training exercises, and strategic engagement policy throughout the Areas of Operational Responsibility (AOR) and Areas of Interest (AOI).

Responsibilities:
• Researches unclassified and classified databases for use in written products.
• Provides research support for analysts who produce Intelligence Community reports and briefings.
• Researches, writes and monitors cable traffic.
• Supports field efforts to target, assess, and recruit foreign intelligence assets.
• Provides guidance, case management, and support to field collection operations.
• Reviews and evaluates the overall reporting from assets to help determine asset validity.
• May serve as a client liaison and coordinates with sub-contractors, government personnel, and technical experts.
• Researches, authors, and coordinates threat assessments to support the Commander and/or leaders in the U.S. civilian intelligence community.
• Present assessments to intelligence community.

Required Qualifications: Typically requires bachelor's degree or equivalent and five to seven years of related experience. Must hold an active TS/SCI clearance with Full Scope Polygraph.

Desired Qualifications: Normal demands associated with an office environment. Ability to work on computer for long periods, and communicate with individuals by telephone, email and face to face. Some travel may be required. May spend a lot of time standing due to laboratory conditions.

To apply or explore further information: John Bentley, Sr. Technical Recruiter, CACI International, Inc., at jbentley@caci.com, 4114 Legato Rd, Fairfax, VA 22033; (703) 679.6839 or visit CACI Careers

Books

Modern Warfare, Intelligence and Deterrence: The Technologies That Are Transforming Them. Much has been made of the limitations of Western technology when pitted against today's low-tech insurgencies. Modern Warfare, Intelligence and Deterrence: The Technology That is Transforming Them explores emerging high tech military technologies and places them in the larger context of today's politics, diplomacy, business, and social issues, arguing that, broadly speaking, defense technologies will continue to provide enormous advantages to advanced, Western armed forces.

The book is organized into five parts: land and sea, air and space, the computer factor, intelligence and spycraft, and the road ahead (which examines the coming challenges for Western armies, such as new wars against insurgents operating out of civilian areas). Comprised of a selection of the best writing on the subject from The Economist, each section includes an introduction linking the technological developments to civilian matters.

- Looks at new and emerging military technologies, including the Panzerfaust-3, a German shoulder-fired heat-seeking antitank missile, the MPR-500, an Israeli precision bomb, Russia's Sizzler, an anti-ship missile that can travel 300 kilometers, and many others
- Explains how military and intelligence technologies are changing the world
- Edited by Benjamin Sutherland, a writer for The Economist and expert on the social, political, and business implications of new and disruptive technologies

A fascinating look at Western military technologies, Modern Warfare, Intelligence and Deterrence is essential reading for business readers and history buffs, alike. [Read more: Wiley/February2012]

Propaganda and Foreign Policy: Positive Necessity or Necessary Evil. In recent decades, advances in communications technology, coupled with international conflicts and societal upheavals, have again highlighted the importance of the use of propaganda by both state and non-state organisations in the international arena. This book explores the dimensions of propaganda, in both theory and practice, using examples such as the Bolshevik campaigns and the Gulf War to illuminate its possibilities and limitations as a foreign policy tool. [Read more: Routledge/January2012]

The Politics of Counterterrorism in India: Strategic Intelligence and National Security in South Asia. In the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November 2008, terrorism and counterterrorism in India became the focus of international, regional and national attention. Here, Prem Mahadevan, by using three case studies of Sikh separatist, Kashmiri separatist and pan-Islamist groups, focuses on the efforts of India's decision-makers and intelligence agencies to create coherent and effective counterterrorism policies and actions. Questioning why Sikh separatist groups have been effectively contained, and yet pan-Islamists have not, Mahadevan draws the conclusion that, due to a gap between the expectations of decision-makers and the capabilities of strategic intelligence agencies, India's ability to prevent terrorist attacks has been undermined. In addition, the role played by Pakistan's intelligence agencies in the border regions is given extensive analytical treatment. Combining a theoretical approach with empirical analysis of India's counterterrorist activities, this book holds valuable information for those examining strategy-making and counterterrorism - practitioners as well as researchers - in addition to those interested in the politics of India. [Read more: IBTauris/December2011]

Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence. The Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence contains a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries. [Read more: ScarecrowPress/January2012]

Spies and Commissars: Bolshevik Russia and the West by Robert Service: Review. As a regular visitor to Moscow (I chair the Russian Booker Prize), I am constantly struck by how many educated folk share the official paranoia about the West. Maybe it's because there was a time, historically not so long ago, when we really were out to topple the regime.

Robert Service's enthralling new book shows how from the 1917 Russian Revolution until the gradual acceptance in the early Twenties that the Soviet state was here to stay, Britain, France and the United States used every trick in the book - diplomatic pressure, espionage, subversion, military intervention - to strangle Bolshevism (as Churchill bluntly put it) in its cradle.

And why wouldn't they? The British and French were losing horrific numbers in the trenches, their countries in mortal danger, when Lenin and Trotsky signed a separate peace with Germany at Brest-Litovsk, allowing Berlin to pull out troops from the eastern front and point them west. As a result of the pact, a quarter of the Russian empire, notably Ukraine, fell under German control.

Then there were the startling events in Moscow, and the Russians' lurid calls for world revolution - a formality in later years but no empty threat at a time when the Comintern had just been formed and Moscow was busy fomenting uprisings in post-war Germany, Hungary and Austria. The West exploited the early inadequacies of the Soviet cipher systems to obtain intercepts about revolutionary activities abroad. [Read more: Walden/TheTelegraph/15December2011]

Stalin's Man in Canada: Fred Rose and Soviet Espionage by David Levy. For just one moment in history, Canada found itself at the dangerous centre of global politics. That was in 1945, when Igor Gouzenko left the Russian embassy in Ottawa with documents proving the Soviet Union was spying on Canada with the help of Canadian communists.

Gouzenko's revelations were the opening shot in the Cold War. A new book, Stalin's Man in Canada: Fred Rose and Soviet Espionage by David Levy, takes a rambling, anecdotal approach to a major figure in the story, the only Canadian member of Parliament ever convicted of conducting espionage for a foreign state.

Official Ottawa reacted badly to the news that there were spies in its midst. The government arrested the suspects and locked them up for weeks, without access to lawyers or families. They were paraded before a secret royal commission and persuaded to incriminate themselves. Gouzenko was given a new identity to protect him from Soviet assassins but the Mounties leaked nasty stories about him. For decades journalists treated him as a money-grubbing clown rather than the hero that he was.

Today the case remains largely unexplored and poorly remembered. Among those involved, only Gouzenko described his experience in a book, This Was My Choice, a rather thin and hasty account. Twentieth Century Fox produced a forgettable adaptation, The Iron Curtain, with Dana Andrews as Gouzenko.

The other participants, alas, went silently to their graves. In the 1960s one conspirator, who had become a storekeeper after serving his prison term, was asked if he intended to put his story on the record. A true Canadian, he replied: "Why in the world would I do that?" [Read more: Fulford/NationalPost/10December2011]

Coming Educational Events

EDUCATIONAL EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

MANY Spy Museum Events in January, February and beyond, 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.

Thursday, 5 January, 2012, 5:30 - 7:30 pm - Washington, DC - "The Road to 1559: Lebanon at the Core of the George W. Bush Administration" - a free conference at the Institute of World Politics

The IWP and The Lebanese American Renaissance Partnership cordially invite you to the launching of the English edition of
"The Road to 1559: Lebanon at the Core of the George W. Bush Administration"
Program: Walid Maalouf, Welcome; Dr. John Lenczowski, Moderator, President of The Institute of World Politics
Panelists: The Honorable John Negroponte, former Deputy Secretary of State; The Honorable Thomas P. Melady, former Ambassador to the Holy See; The Honorable Andrew Natsios, former Administrator of USAID; Professor Marius Deeb, Johns Hopkins University
Location: The Institute of World Politics, 1521 16th St NW, Washington DC 20036
RSVP REQUIRED: Please RSVP to Katie Bridges at kbridges@iwp.edu, or call 202-462-2101 x336.

Wednesday, 11 January 2012, 6:30–8:30 pm - Washington, DC 2011 Espionage Debrief: Year in Review at the International Spy Museum

How did 2011 measure up intel-wise? What was 2011 like for intelligence agencies and operatives around the world? Which service was penetrated? Who was caught? Which covert action operations flew under the media's radar? David Major knows. As a retired Supervisory Special Agent and Director of Counterintelligence, Intelligence and Security Programs for the FBI and Spy Museum Board Member, he understands the cases and knows their implications. As the founder of the CI Centre which provides counterintelligence and security studies and training, Major tracks the most important spy cases from around the globe and has the most up-to-date information on their status. Learn about defector on defector violence in North Korea and discover the critical information that was sought by Libya's intelligence mastermind, Abdullah Senussi. You'll learn the hottest targets and who's been attacked by cyberespionage and why. Major will also include key economic espionage cases and their outcome in this essential international update. Tickets: $15 Visit www.spymuseum.org to register or more information

Thursday, 12 January 2012, Noon-1 pm – Washington, DC - SMERSH: Stalin's Secret Weapon: Soviet Military Counterintelligence in WWII at the International Spy Museum

In the early James Bond novels, the hero battled the villainous forces of SMERSH, a shadowy Soviet intelligence organization. While Bond was fictional, SMERSH really existed. Drawing its name from the Russian phrase smert shpionam or "death to spies," it was Stalin's wartime terror apparatus—a collection of torturers and killers unleashed with brutal effect in 1943 to cut a bloody swath across Eastern Europe. Its job was to "filter" the Red Army for spies and, as a result, it was responsible for the arrest, torture, and execution of many thousands of innocent servicemen and citizens of countries occupied by the Red Army. Join historian and human rights activist Vadim J. Birstein as he discusses this ruthless organization and reveals new evidence suggesting that Raoul Wallenberg was one of its victims.
Free! No Registration Required! Visit www.spymuseum.org for more information

Thursday, 19 January 2012, 11:30 am - Colorado Springs, CO - The Rocky Mountain AFIO Chapter luncheon features former Senior CIA Officer/former Deputy Legal Advisor to Condoleezza Rice

At this meeting, the chapter presents Bryan Cunningham who will provide a recap of current national security policy, and look ahead at the 2012 election year. Bryan is a former senior CIA officer and was deputy legal advisor to Condoleezza Rice when she served as National Security Advisor in President George W. Bush's first administration. To be held at 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

Thursday, 19 January 2012, 6:30–8:30 pm - Washington, DC – Vienna, City of My Dreams: An Evening with Oleg Kalugin at the International Spy Museum

"More than a century of spying history makes this romantic city a place where…agents and informants still feel at ease."—Sigrun Rottman, BBC News, July 8, 2010
Vienna is famous for waltzing, coffee houses, pastries, and the Prater, but for Spy Museum Board Member Oleg Kalugin, the city is all about intrigue. Kalugin, the youngest Major General in KGB history, operated clandestinely in the Austrian capital throughout the 1970s and 1980s, where he developed a passion for the history of this city of spies. From Alfred Redl, the chief of Austrian-Hungarian Intelligence, who was recruited by the Russian Imperial Secret Service in 1907, to Norwegian diplomat Arne Treholt's KGB meetings caught on film in the 80s, Vienna has served as a legendary setting for espionage. Join General Kalugin for this evocative evening of music, film, history, and his own personal experiences as a spy in this elegant European crossroads. While guests enjoy Austrian delicacies, he'll address unanswered questions such as whether one-time Viennese resident Felix Bloch was truly a spy. Come celebrate Vienna's glorious ball season and the confidential information that can be exchanged…in the course of a waltz.
Tickets: $20 Visit www.spymuseum.org to register or more information

26 January 2012, 12:30 pm - Los Angeles, CA - The Los Angeles Area AFIO Chapter will be holding their annual business chapter meeting at the LMU campus in the Hilton Business Building.

They will be discussing their goals and objectives for the 2012 year and review current chapter status. The meeting is open only to current chapter members in good standing. Please RSVP via email to Vince Autiero at afio_la@yahoo.com if you would like to attend. We wish all of you Happy Holidays and a very healthy and prosperous New Year!

1, 8, 15, 22 February 2012 - Washington, DC - "The Greatest Spies of WWII: Garbo, Baker, De Clarens…and Hemingway?" (4-Session Daytime Course) at the International Spy Museum in collaboration with Smithsonian Associates

Imagine operating behind enemy lines using your wits, fame, or seductive powers to fight a ruthless adversary. The spies of World War II knew that they faced death upon discovery, yet they continued to engage in daring and dangerous exploits to thwart the Axis powers. Some were incredibly effective while others, like Hemingway, were just incredibly bold. In this series, a distinguished group of experts and former intelligence officers will introduce you to some of the bravest and most daring spies of the 20th century.

Juan Pujol Garcia
Wednesday, 1 February 1012, 10:15 am – 12:15 pm - Washington, DC - at the International Spy Museum in collaboration with Smithsonian Associates Program

Spaniard Juan Pujol Garcia—codenamed Garbo—was one of the most effective double agents in history. While working for the British, he deceived the Germans into believing he was operating a valuable spy network. It was valuable…for the Allies. International Spy Museum historian and former CIA analyst Mark Stout will reveal how Garbo managed to deceive the Germans so thoroughly that they thought the D-Day invasion of Normandy was a ploy to distract from a real invasion in the Pas-de-Calais.

Josephine Baker
Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 10:15 am – 12:15 pm at the International Spy Museum in collaboration with Smithsonian Associates Program

Night club sensation Josephine Baker escaped racism in the U.S. to live a glamorous life as the toast of European caf� society. As a star in Paris, her affection for France was so great that when World War II broke out, she volunteered to spy for her adopted country. Jonna Mendez, former CIA Chief of Disguise, will reveal Baker's espionage on behalf of the French Resistance and place it in the context of Baker's glamorous and groundbreaking life.

Jeannie de Clarens
Wednesday, 15 February 2012, 10:15 am – 12:15 pm at the International Spy Museum in collaboration with Smithsonian Associates Program

As a member of Georges Lamarque's French Resistance network, Jeannie de Clarens risked her life and was captured twice. Her exact and detailed reports on Germany's secret military plans, especially their development of the V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets, helped persuade Prime Minister Winston Churchill to bomb the German test site at Peenemunde. David Ignatius, Washington Post foreign affairs columnist and spy novelist, will profile his friend de Clarens using selections from his recently filmed interview with the formidable former spy.

Ernest Hemingway
Wednesday, 22 February 2012, 10:15 am – 12:15 pm at the International Spy Museum in collaboration with Smithsonian Associates Program

Ernest Hemingway, true to his macho image, plunged into WWII intelligence work with his brother Leicester and his son Jack. The Hemingways searched for Fascist spies in Cuba, patrolled the Caribbean for Nazi subs, parachuted into occupied France, roamed the battlefields of France after D-Day, and even met secretly with the KGB. Nicholas Reynolds, an intelligence and military historian who has taught at the Naval War College, served as Officer-in-Charge of Field History for USMC, and worked on the history of the OSS for the CIA Museum, will recount the Hemingways' exploits.
Tickets: $112 for the 4 sessions. Register by phone with the Smithsonian Associates at 202-633-3030 or online at http://residentassociates.org

Tuesday, 7 February 2012, 6:30 – 8:30 pm – Washington, DC - "Terrorists in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals" at the International Spy Museum

What do you do if the girl of your dreams gets married off to a National Guard general who can pay a bigger dowry than you can? If you are Abdullah al-Gilani, you join al-Qaeda. Later you learn that your true love ran away from her husband to join the jihad in Iraq—where she may have been martyred. This sad story of star-crossed lovers is just one of the true tales Ken Ballen, author of Terrorists in Love, will share in a night devoted to misspent passion. As a former prosecutor and counsel to the House Iran-Contra Committee, and now as President of Terror Free Tomorrow, he has tapped into the inner secrets of the terrorist world that no spy agency could divine. When terrorists opened their hearts to him, he found that the stories of Islamic radicals and terrorists are as much about love as hate: a missed love, a love you cannot have, a love you can only find in God, a love a man can never have with a woman, or in one case with another man. Consider bringing your sweetheart to this eye-opening evening… if you can make the dowry.
Tickets: $9 For more information visit www.spymuseum.org

Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 6:30 – 8:30 pm – Washington, DC - "Poison Lecture: A Performance about Magic and Deception" at the International Spy Museum

"Combines the secretive worlds of magic and espionage, entertainment and geopolitics, mass captivation and government, to wittily expose their kindred spirit."--Beatrice Gross, independent curator
Poison Lecture is everything a lecture is not: it is a multi-layered performance piece exploring the seemingly unlikely connections between legendary magician John Mulholland, the CIA, and the science of espionage. This unique event is the creation of Christine Rebet, a French visual artist based in New York. Inspired by the fact that the CIA hired Mulholland, America's most famous magician to write two secret manuals on sleight-of-hand and covert communication techniques in the early days of the Cold War, Rebet developed this thought-provoking performance. Featured at the Phoenix Fringe Festival, X initiative New York, and at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, Poison Lecture melds historic images with a live magician performing key tricks while "Mulholland" explains them. As the piece unfolds, darker aspects of espionage—assassination, mind control, and manipulation—are revealed, all in the context of iconic foreign political situations of the Cold War.
Tickets: $20 To register or For more information visit www.spymuseum.org

15 February 2012, 3 - 4 pm - Washington, DC - "GEORGE F. KENNAN: AN AMERICAN LIFE"

As one of the Cold War's most influential foreign policy thinkers, Kennan was the architect of containment and the Marshall Plan. But after leaving government, he went on to become one of the most outspoken critics of American diplomacy, politics, and culture during the last half of the twentieth century. Now the full scope of Kennan's long life and vast influence is revealed by one of today's most important Cold War scholars.
Organized by the Cold War International History Project in collaboration with the Kennan Institute and International Security Studies Drawing upon extensive interviews with George Kennan and exclusive access to his personal archive, former Wilson Center fellow and Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale University John Lewis Gaddis, will discuss his revealing new biography, George F. Kennan: An American Life. Event takes place at 6th Floor Flom Auditorium, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Visit www.CWIHP.org for more information and to RSVP

Thursday, 16 February 2012, noon – 1:00 pm – Washington, DC - "Shadow Commander: The Epic Story of Donald D. Blackburn - Guerrilla Leader and Special Forces Hero" at the International Spy Museum

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army's most secretive unit may have been the Studies and Observations Group (SOG). This unit captured enemy prisoners for interrogation, rescued American POWs, and conducted reconnaissance missions in North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It also ran teams of clandestine agents and conducted psychological operations. The leader of this group in the mid-1960s was a legendary Army officer, Donald Blackburn, a man who in 1942 had refused to surrender at Bataan and had gone on to raise a 22,000-man army of Filipinos to fight the Japanese. Author Mike Guardia will describe Blackburn's colorful life, how his SOG mapped out the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and how, after his return to Washington, he was the architect of the famous Son Tay Prison Raid, the largest POW rescue mission of the war.
Free! No Registration Required! For more information visit www.spymuseum.org

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

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