Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Poland's Investigation Into Secret CIA Prisons Loses Steam. Lawyers for two men who say they were held illegally in a secret CIA jail on Polish territory argue that a landmark criminal investigation into the "black site" is being stalled because a trial will embarrass the Polish state.

Polish prosecutors are investigating the country's role in a global operation run by U.S. secret services a decade ago to transport suspected al Qaeda members to facilities outside the United States where they could be held and interrogated without the safeguards set out under U.S. law.

Poland is one of only two countries known to have opened a criminal investigation into the secret jails, and its case could set a precedent for prosecutions in other countries. If it languishes, it greatly reduces the chances that the global veil over "black sites" will be lifted.

What little information has emerged suggests the case could implicate some of Poland's most senior politicians in illegal detentions and upset the United States, a key ally.

Lawyers, human rights activists and other sources familiar with the case say that what started out as a robust investigation appears to have ground to a halt since the original investigators were taken off the case early last year. [Read more: Reuters/27January2013]

Two Spy Satellites Come in From the Cold. In June NASA announced that the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), a secretive U.S. spy organization, had made the space agency a surprise gift: two satellite telescopes originally intended for orbital surveillance. The telescopes have mirrors the same size as the one on the Hubble Space Telescope but offer a field of view 100 times as wide. "You can look at thousands of different targets at the same time instead of one at a time," notes NASA astrophysics director Paul Hertz. The quality of the telescopes' optics also far exceeds that of Hubble, indicating that the spy agency employs telescope technology beyond what NASA has developed. And the satellites were built roughly a decade ago, spurring questions about what the NRO is capable of now - questions that are unlikely to be answered anytime soon.

The big challenge for NASA is getting its fancy new presents off the ground. [Read more: Piore/DiscoverMagazine/24January2013]

Spy's Case Offers Rare Glimpse Inside CIA. A highly decorated former CIA deep cover operative's long quest to nail the spy agency for obliterating his career in retaliation for exposing the security violations of a senior agency official and her State Department husband gets a rare public hearing Friday.

"Peter B," whose full name and former duties remain classified, contends that he lost his CIA job because he had learned about an affair that the husband of his supervisor, Margaret "Peggy" Lyons, was carrying on with a Taiwanese spy. 

Lyon's husband, State Department Asia expert Donald Keyes, eventually pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his affair with the Taiwan operative and the hoard of secret documents he kept at home.

But investigators also discovered that Lyons, too, had illegally carted home dozens classified CIA documents. 

"I believe that the work I was doing, and about to do, potentially risked exposure of the illegal activities of her husband and that defendant Lyons sought to eliminate me as a threat to her husband, and perhaps, to her own actions," Peter B. told the court in a 2010 declaration.

After edging him out of the CIA to protect their activities, Peter B. maintains, Lyons and other unidentified agency officials blocked him from working for Abraxis, a McLean, Va. company founded by an ex-agency official that gins up deep cover schemes for CIA operatives. [Read more: Stein/SpyTalk/4December2012]

DIA Deputy Wins Service Award. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) deputy director David Shedd was presented the 2013 "Spirit of Service Award" by the Boren Forum at the Goethe Institut here on the evening of January 23, 2013.

The award is presented each year to a professional who has advanced the National Security Education Program's (NSEP) core mission of strengthening foreign language skills and international expertise in America's national security community.

Mr. Shedd was honored for his leadership and enthusiastic support of NSEP and the Boren Forum, including his hosting of Boren fellows and scholars at the Defense Intelligence Agency headquarters at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C.

NSEP was established by the David L. Boren National Security Education Act of 1991. [Read more: DIA/24January2013]

Japan's Newest Spy Cameras In Space Give Them Global Coverage. Japan on Sunday launched two satellites to strengthen its surveillance capabilities, including keeping a closer eye on North Korea which has vowed to stage another nuclear test.

One of them was a radar-equipped unit to complete a system of surveillance satellites that will allow Tokyo to monitor any place in the world at least once a day.

The other was a demonstration satellite to collect data for research and development.

The H-IIA rocket blasted off from the southern island of Tanegashima around 1:40 pm (0440 GMT) and released the satellites as planned, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

"The rocket flew as planned and released both satellites," JAXA said in a statement, confirming its success. [Read more: AgenceFrancePresse/27July2013]

Gaddafi Ex-Spy Chief Investigation Completed, Charged Next Week. Libya's prosecutor general has completed the interrogation of Muammar Gaddafi's ex-spy chief and will be ready to charge him in one week, the prosecutor general's official spokesman said on Friday.

Abdullah Senussi was handed over to Libya last September after being extradited by Mauritania to face charges of crimes against humanity.

"Questioning Senussi is finished now and we have more than 2000 pages worth of evidence against him documented," spokesman Taha Bara told Reuters. He said charges against Senussi would be announced in one week, and he would appear in court for the first time in two weeks.

Libyan authorities are keen to show they have the ability to try members of the former government, and Senussi's trial will help boost a government struggling to attract investment and control former rebels who have refused to put down their arms. [Read more: Reuters/25January2013]

After Criticism, Obama Officials Quietly Craft New Polygraph Policy. The Obama administration is drawing up a new national polygraph policy in the wake of allegations that federal agencies are pushing legal and ethical limits during screenings of job applicants and employees.

The decision by National Intelligence Director James Clapper to draft a new policy comes after his office conducted a review of federal polygraph programs and after McClatchy detailed allegations of polygraph abuses. Clapper's review found "inconsistencies" across the government that led him to order a new policy, but it also found that "all programs were operating appropriately," Clapper's public affairs office said in a statement to McClatchy.

But a congressman who'd asked Clapper to look into alleged polygraph abuses said the director was being "dismissive" of a more serious problem with the way the federal government conducts its screenings. In its statement, Clapper's public affairs office said the inconsistencies "related to administrative practices, rather than the substance of the polygraphs." The review was completed between July and August.

"This is a non-response," said Rep. Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat. "I'm really concerned that throughout the intelligence community there has been an unwillingness to ask critical questions about polygraph."

Independent national-security experts agreed that Clapper appeared to be downplaying legitimate concerns about the federal government's use of polygraph. Several of them who read a draft of the policy obtained by McClatchy said it would do little to crack down on overly aggressive polygraph interrogations. In fact, it appears to allow agencies to continue current practices with few new requirements and may even grant agencies more latitude in some instances. [Read more: Taylor/McClatchy/24January2013]

Turkey Indicts 357 in Military Spy Case. Turkish authorities say they have indicted 357 suspects allegedly involved in a spy ring that used sex workers to blackmail targeted military officers.

The charges Tuesday were the result of the Izmire court's investigation into military espionage that began in 2009, Hurriyet Daily News reported. The spy ring allegedly sought information about military radar installations, the newspaper said.

The indictment accused the suspects of "gaining military information through blackmail."

The suspects allegedly spied on officers' bedrooms, sent sex workers to officers' homes and listened to private phone conversations.

Hurriyet Daily News said the information collected includes the identity numbers, family records and passport numbers for Deputy Prime Ministers Bulent Arinc and Ali Babacan.

Eighty-eight of the suspects are under arrest, and those indicted include more than 50 active-duty officers and 19 women, Hurryiet Daily News said. [Read more: UPI/23January2013]

Report: Explosion Destroys Much of Underground Installation in Iran. An explosion deep within Iran's Fordow nuclear facility has destroyed much of the installation, trapped about 240 personnel deep underground, according to a former intelligence officer of the Islamic regime, and reported by Reza Kahlili on Thursday.

The previously secret nuclear site has become a center for Iran's nuclear activity because of the 2,700 centrifuges enriching uranium to the 20-percent level. A further enrichment to weapons grade would take only weeks, experts say.

The source told Kahlili the blast shook facilities within a radius of three miles. Security forces have enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles, and the Tehran-Qom highway was shut down for several hours after the blast.

Kahlili reported that as of last Wednesday afternoon, rescue workers had failed to reach the trapped personnel. He also said that the site, about 300 feet under a mountain, had two elevators, which now are out of commission. One elevator descended about 240 feet and was used to reach centrifuge chambers. The other went to the bottom to carry heavy equipment and transfer uranium hexafluoride. One emergency staircase reaches the bottom of the site and another one was not complete. The source told him that the emergency exit southwest of the site is unreachable.

The Iranian regime believes the blast was sabotage and the explosives could have reached the area disguised as equipment or in the uranium hexafluoride stock transferred to the site, the source said. The explosion occurred at the third centrifuge chambers, with the high-grade enriched uranium reserves below them. [Read more: Collins/Examiner/26January2013]

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

The Hunt for Red October: Virus Hunters Try to Catch Diplomatic Time Bomb. For five years now, the Red October computer virus has embarked on a new brand of espionage, stealing emails and other encrypted classified documents undetected from diplomats around the world. Though the virus may now be in hibernation, it's designed so that it can strike again at anytime. 

The virus hunters have their headquarters in a nondescript office building in northwest Moscow. Vitaly Kamlyuk, a 28-year-old Belarusian with gel in his hair and a shiny black tie, sits in front of a giant monitor wall displaying a world map. He is having a discussion with a pale female computer scientist and a nerdish-looking man with long hair and a bouncy goatee.

The three virus hunters, part of a special unit at Kaspersky, a Russian computer firm, are hunting for "Red October." It's the moniker they have given to a newly discovered spy program, inspired by the almost noiseless submarine in the eponymous novel by Tom Clancy.

The virus has infected at least 350 government ministries, embassies and research facilities worldwide, especially in the former Soviet republics. The attackers apparently had "a special interest in geopolitically significant information," says virus analyst Kamlyuk.

The Russian Embassy in the United States was apparently among the targets. Tens of thousands of documents, probably including classified reports to the foreign ministry in Moscow, reportedly fell into the hands of cyber spies. It's possible that a total of several terabytes of data were stolen, the contents of which could very well be as explosive as the cables made public by Wikileaks.

The digital submarine has been lurking for five years, fishing for classified information and it's likely that the data theft still hasn't been detected by some of the victims.

"We have never before seen an attack done with such surgical precision," says Kamlyuk, who is now urging his colleagues to speed up their efforts. Since Kaspersky went public with the discovery of the spy network, the attacker's control servers are gradually being taken offline. "The enemy is destroying the evidence," says Kamlyuk. [Read more: SpiegelOnline/January]

Pastor Tried Under the Espionage Act. During World War I, North Dakota was a hotbed of accusations where people were charged with violating the recently passed Espionage Act.

The victims of these accusations were most often citizens of German heritage and frequently involved community leaders. These charges, and later hearings and trials, tore small communities apart.

This was the situation in New Salem when John Fontana, pastor of Peace Evangelical Church, was arrested by federal agents on Nov. 6, 1917, and later tried and convicted in federal court.

At a preliminary hearing on Nov. 27, Fontana was charged under the Espionage Act for "obstructing enlistment in the military" because of statements he had made from the pulpit. This Fontana denied, pointing out that 33 young men from his congregation were serving in the armed services of the United States.

His federal trial was set for July 30, 1918, in Bismarck, with Federal Judge Charles Amidon presiding.

With a trial looming, Fontana had no financial means to hire an attorney. The national Evangelical Synod secured one of the best lawyers in the state to handle his defense, John Knauf of Jamestown.

As a private attorney in Jamestown, Knauf was adept at taking on big government and the moneyed interests that controlled it.

While awaiting trial, Fontana returned to the pulpit, and on Dec. 19, 1917, gave a sermon in which he allegedly criticized President Woodrow Wilson for getting the country into the war with Germany. [Read more: Eriksmoen/BismarkTribune/27January2013]

A Byte Out of History: The Alger Hiss Story. The jury returned from its deliberations on January 21, 1950 - 63 years ago this month. The verdict? Guilty on two counts of perjury.

Alger Hiss, a well-educated and well-connected former government lawyer and State Department official who helped create the United Nations in the aftermath of World War II, was headed to prison in Atlanta for lying to a federal grand jury.

The central issue of the trial was espionage. In August 1948, Whittaker Chambers - a senior editor at Time magazine - was called by the House Committee on Un-American Activities to corroborate the testimony of Elizabeth Bentley, a Soviet spy who had defected in 1945 and accused dozens of members of the U.S. government of espionage. One official she named as possibly connected to the Soviets was Alger Hiss.

The FBI immediately began probing her claims to ensure those who were credibly named - including Hiss - did not continue to have access to government secrets or power. As the investigation into Bentley and related matters deepened in 1946 and 1947, Congress became aware of and concerned about the case. Details leaked to the press, and the investigation became national news and embroiled in partisan politics in the run up to the 1948 presidential election.

Chambers, who had renounced the Communist Party in the late 1930s, testified reluctantly that hot summer day. He ultimately acknowledged he was part of the communist underground in the 1930s and that Hiss and others had been members of the group.

In later testimony, Hiss vehemently denied the accusation. After all, Chambers had offered no proof that Hiss had committed espionage or been previously connected to Bentley or the communist group. [Read more: FBI/25January2013]

From The Archive, 24 January 1983: Russian Spy Satellite Tumbles to Earth. Cosmos 1402, the Russian spy satellite which has been out of control for more than a month, finally tumbled into the Indian Ocean last night, ending a day of anxiety for governments around the world.

The main body of the maverick satellite, weighing some 3,000lb splashed into the sea about 900 nautical miles south-east of the British dependency of Diego Garcia at 22.21 GMT - one minute ahead of the final Pentagon prediction.

By the time the satellite hit the sea it was believed to have disintegrated. The real hazard, however, lies further ahead. The satellite's nuclear core is still in orbit and is expected to decay and fall to earth during the first weeks of February.

It is feared that the platform of uranium 235 may come down in lumps of radioactive debris covering a fairly wide area - as the nuclear reactor of Cosmos 954 did over northern Canada in 1979.

Nations have been preparing for months in case the platform has not fully disintegrated by the time it reaches earth's atmosphere.

The Russians are known to have changed the design of their satellites since the crash of 954 and have persistently claimed that 1402 presents no abnormal hazard. [Read more: TheGuardian/24January2013]

Kim Philby: Father, Husband, Traitor, Spy. Fifty years ago tonight, as a fierce storm lashed Beirut, a lean, middle-aged man quietly closed the door of his flat, situated on a hill overlooking the city, and made his way down five flights of stairs into the darkness of the Rue Kantari. Checking to ensure he was not being followed, he walked quickly through streets awash with water to the port, and a waiting ship, the Dolmatova. The freighter hauled anchor the minute the man came aboard, heading out into the turbulent Mediterranean. The hammer and sickle flew from her stern; Odessa was her destination. After a quarter of a century in the shadows, Kim Philby was finally on his way to the spiritual home he had visited only in his thoughts.

The defection of Philby to the Soviet Union on January 23 1963 is one of the great dramatic moments of the Cold War. With his departure that night, the humiliation inflicted on Britain's secret world by the Cambridge Spy Ring was almost complete. Nine years previously, Harold Macmillan, then Foreign Secretary, had stood in the House of Commons to declare that there was no evidence to suggest Philby was the so-called Third Man, who had helped the spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean to flee to Russia in 1951. But he was.

There was a Fourth Man, too - Anthony Blunt - and a Fifth, John Cairncross, who helped betray the secret of the atomic bomb. But Philby stands out as the archetypal traitor, the subject of admiration in MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, even as he sent agents to their deaths behind the Iron Curtain.

There were many victims of Philby's campaign against his own country, not least the women he married and the children forced to live in the vacuum created by his disappearance. Dudley Philby, known to friends as Tommy, is the third of the spy's five children, all by his second wife, Aileen. Neglected by her husband, Aileen died of respiratory failure in 1957 at the age of 47. Tommy and his siblings were soon to lose their father, too. Forced to resign from MI6 under a cloud of suspicion, Philby took up journalism in Beirut, writing for the Observer and Economist. His defection in 1963 splintered the family.

"We split up when my mother died and father went away," says Tommy. "We all went separately - relatives and godparents. They were all very kind and understanding and basically very sorry for us." [Read more: Tweedie/TheTelegraph/23January2013]

Top 5 Intelligence Agencies You've Probably Never Heard Of. The NSA was once jokingly referred to as No Such Agency because of its penchant for secrecy. The National Reconnaissance Office, founded in 1961, was only declassified in 1992 - before that, it didn't officially exist. To show how much things have changed, today both of those agencies have children's websites. (As does the FBI, CIA, and DIA.) Not every part of the intelligence community, however, has reached such lofty heights as offering lesson plans for schoolteachers. Here are a few lesser-known arms of United States intelligence: [Read more: Grady/ClearanceJobs/27January2013]

Section III - COMMENTARY

Brennan at the CIA Might Surprise Us. Were you a terrorist or member of Al Qaeda, you wouldn't want to meet John Brennan in a dark alley. He's an Irish tough guy, and he doesn't apologize for wanting to obliterate Al Qaeda. For four years, as Obama's top adviser on counterterrorism, that's been his job. And in that job, he's used drones freely to strike both leaders and members of Al Qaeda and related groups, including the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Often, innocents have died.

But Brennan may surprise us.

There have been scathing reviews on the left of Brennan's role in the Obama administration, such as the one by Marcy Wheeler on Democracy Now! in which she accused Brennan of being "Obama's Cheney," a "proven liar," a supporter of torture, and more. The Democracy Now! piece included a clip of an intervention against Brennan by Code Pink, whose Medea Benjamin lashed out at Brennan over the drone assassination program.

And he's been criticized by Gregory Johnsen as "the wrong man for the CIA."

But maybe, just maybe, John Brennan won't be a bad CIA director. [Read more: Dreyfuss/MiddleEastOnline/24January2013]

Algeria: Intelligence Agency's Dubious Role In Fighting Terrorism. Now that the United States , in the words of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "faces very serious, ongoing and strategic threats in North Africa from al-Qaeda affiliates and other jihadists" , the role of Algeria's feared and secretive military security agency (D�partement du Renseignement et de la S�curit� or DRS) is coming under scrutiny in the American and European press. 

A recent article by Eli Lake and Jamie Dettmer in the Daily Beast explores the long held suspicion that Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the mastermind of the In Amanas terror attack that killed scores of foreign workers in a natural gas facility in the Algerian desert, worked for the DRS. Citing current and former U.S. intelligence officers, Lake and Dettmer allege "Belmokhtar may have once worked as an Algerian informant".

With the death of three Americans in In Amenas and the possible connections between events in Algeria and the Attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, the United States government must put economic interests aside and ask Algerian officials the hard question: Is the DRS playing a double game in the Sahel and theSahara? [Read more: Masiky/MoroccoNewsBoard/25January2013]

Section IV - Books and Video, Announcements, Jobs and Coming Events

Books and Video

Live Stream of Jan. 30 CIA symposium - Co-Hosted with AFIO.  "President Nixon and the Role of Intelligence in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War" - CIA Historical Collections Division Symposium at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. January 30 2013, 1 p.m. PST - 6 p.m. PST [4 pm EST to 9 pm EST] No need to register or sign in. The live stream can be viewed here.

Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service. The Mossad is widely recognized today as the best intelligence service in the world. It is also the most enigmatic, shrouded in secrecy. Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service unveils the defining and most dangerous operations that have shaped Israel and the world at large from the agency's more than sixty-year history, among them: the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the eradication of Black September, the destruction of the Syrian nuclear facility, and the elimination of key Iranian nuclear scientists.

Through intensive research and exclusive interviews with Israeli leaders and Mossad agents, authors Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal re-create these missions in riveting detail, vividly bringing to life the heroic operatives who risked everything in the face of unimaginable danger. In the words of Shimon Peres, president of Israel, this gripping, white-knuckle read "tells what should have been known and isn't - that Israel's hidden force is as formidable as its recognized physical strength." [HarperCollins/November2012]

Trading Secrets: Spies and Intelligence in an Age of Terror. Today's intelligence community faces challenges that would have been inconceivable only a dozen years ago. Just as al-Qaeda's destruction of the Twin Towers heralded a revolution in global diplomacy, the events of 9/11 also threw two centuries of spy-craft into turmoil - because this new enemy could not be bought. Gone were the sleepers and moles whose trade in secrets had sustained intelligence agencies in both peacetime and war. A new method of intelligence-gathering had been born. The award-winning former Financial Times Security correspondent Mark Huband here takes us deep inside this new unseen world of spies and intelligence. With privileged access to intelligence officers from Rome to Kabul and from Khartoum to Guantanamo Bay, he reveals how spies created secret channels to the IRA, deceived Iran's terrorist allies, frequently attempted to infiltrate al-Qaeda, and forced Libya to abandon its nuclear weapons. Trading Secrets provides a unique and controversial assessment of the ability of the major intelligence agencies to combat the threat of twenty-first century terrorism. [IBTauris/February2013]

Announcements

2013 Torch Bearers Award: Defense Intelligence Agency. The Defense Intelligence Agency seeks to honor former Agency employees who distinguished themselves during their careers with extraordinary achievements in leadership and who demonstrated an exceptional level of commitment that had significant impacts upon DIA and the Intelligence Community. 

The DIA Torch Bearers Award was created in 2010 to recognize outstanding achievements and long-term contributions to defense intelligence, and whose performance embodied the Agency�s core values and principles. 

Any current or former Department of Defense or Intelligence Community employee may submit a nomination package for consideration by a board that convenes annually to review the nominations and makes recommendations to the DIA Director. 

Any person who served in DIA as a civilian or a military professional, or who has a combination of both civilian and military service, is eligible for consideration. Nominees must have completed their service with DIA on or before June 1, 2010 to be eligible for consideration in 2013. Former DIA Directors and DIA Deputy Directors are ineligible. 

This year, the Director has requested that nominations be submitted by April 1, 2013, which will allow the selected honorees to facilitate travel arrangements for a formal recognition and induction ceremony in September. 

Questions or nominations should be submitted with "2013 DIA Torchbearers Award" as the subject line. Please email DIA-PAO@dodiis.mil with questions or to submit an award nomination package. 

Jobs
 [IMPORTANT: AFIO does not "vet" or endorse these research inquiries or job offers. Reasonable-sounding inquiries and career offerings are published as a service to our members, and for researchers, educators, and subscribers. You are urged to exercise your usual caution and good judgment when responding or supplying any information.]

SAIC Hiring for New Contract. Science Applications International Corporation [SAIC] has just won a large contract that builds upon our long history of supporting the intelligence community. As the newly appointed program manager, I would like you to know that we are currently seeking qualified individuals to fill a number of critical positions, such as desk officers, reports officers, intelligence analysts, operations officers, and many more.

SAIC has a long history within the intelligence contracting community and our reputation as a mission-focused employer with excellent employment opportunities. At SAIC, we see our work within the intelligence community as not just a career, but a calling.

To apply to open positions, visit our career web site. To learn more about SAIC and our leadership team, visit us on saic.com.

You are invited to attend one of our hiring events at either our Reston or McLean location. Additional hiring events are being scheduled daily, please be sure to monitor our website for the most up-to-date information. 

Coming Educational Events

EDUCATIONAL EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

MANY Spy Museum Events in 2013 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, 30 January 2013, 2PM - Washington, DC - The Smolensk Plane Crash: Recent Developments with Pawel Styrna at the Institute of World Politics

Pawel Styrna, Research Assistant, Kosciuszko Chair, Eurasia Analyst, Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research, at the Institute of World Politics, discusses the recent developments in the Smolensk Plane Crash.
Event location: The Institute of World Politics, 1521 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20036.
Parking map is here.
RSVP and confirmation - required to attend. RSVP HERE
This lecture is part of a series on the Intermarium, organized by the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies at IWP.

30 January 2013 - Yorba Linda, CA [Nixon Library] - "President Nixon and the Role of Intelligence in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War" - a CIA Historical Documents 'Release Event' Conference co-hosted with The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

AFIO members and guests are invited to attend this CIA-Nixon Library Conference examining intelligence community's handling of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. It underscores the difficulty for the IC - in the past and today - to reliably predict the unexpected, especially in the Middle East. Event features former policymakers and analysts, as well as historians and Middle East experts discussing how intelligence played into the decisionmaking process before, during, and after the conflict. Invited speakers include Brent Scowcroft (National Security Advisor under Presidents Ford and Bush), Charles E. Allen, (former Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, Department of Homeland Security), William Quandt (Middle East expert at the National Security Council), Andy Liepman (former Deputy Director, National Counterterrorism Center), Dick Kovar (former chief of CIA's Middle East Task Force), James Gelvin (Historian, UCLA), Emile A. Nakhleh, PhD (former CIA Middle East expert), and the new Director of the Nixon Library (announcement expected soon). There is no cost to attend.
When: 30 January 2013 from 1 - 5:30 PM
Location: Richard Nixon Presidential Library, 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard, Yorba Linda, CA 92886
REGISTER your interest in attending event by clicking email address at right to obtain additional details: events@afio.com
Provide your name, email address, and how many guests you might be bringing with you to the January 30th CIA-NIXON Library Conference being held in Yorba Linda, CA [right outside Los Angeles]. You will be sent further details as event approaches.

Saturday, 2 February 2013 - Melbourne, FL - AFIO Florida Satellite Chapter hosts AFIO National President Gene Poteat on "Secret History of History: Selected Key Events Through Eyes of CIA Officer."

Event location: Indian River Colony Club, At East Club, 1936 Freedom Dr, Melbourne, FL 32932. Details and reservations: Bobbie Keith at 321 777-5561 before Jan 29.

Monday, 4 February 2013, 11:30 am - MacDill AFB, FL - Meeting/Luncheon by Florida Suncoast Chapter featuring AFIO President Gene Poteat speaking on "The Secret History of American History: What history books fail to include."

AFIO President and retired CIA Senior Scientific Intelligence Officer Gene Poteat will speak on "The Secret History of American History; What our history books fail to include." He will explain in a presentation laced with humor that Intelligence is as old as mankind, yet may not be the second oldest profession as claimed. He gives a sweeping review of historically significant events, the outcome of which was influenced by intelligence rather than as reported.
Location: MacDill AFB Surf's Edge Club, 7315 Bayshore Blvd, MacDill AFB, FL 33621.
RSVP no later than Wednesday, January 30, for yourself and include the names of any guests.
Email or call the Chapter Secretary at (813) 832-1164 or at mfshapiro@att.net or visit www.suncoastafio.org
Cost: $20. You must present your $20 check payable to "Suncoast Chapter, AFIO" (or cash) at check-in to cover the luncheon. If you make a reservation, don't cancel and get a cancellation confirmation by the response deadline and then don't show up, you will be responsible for the cost of the luncheon.

Wednesday, 6 February 2013 - Washington, DC - Intrigue in Vienna: An Evening Inspired by The Third Man - sponsored by the International Spy Museum

The Vienna sewers, the Giant Ferris Wheel in the Prater, Orson Welles, and the haunting theme music of Anton Karas – In 1949, the iconic masterpiece The Third Man showed a mysterious and intriguing side of Vienna previously unseen on the big screen. Remembering this time of exciting adventures, elusive truths, and sheer elegance, the International Spy Museum together with the Embassy of Austria are hosting a Third Man themed event. For one evening, you will have the unique opportunity to immerse yourself in this thrilling world of secrets, spies, and mysteries while discovering the Vienna of the Cold War era. The event will feature original artifacts, multimedia presentations, as well as notable speakers. So join us for this night of great suspense and action but always remember: Trust No One.
WHERE: L2 Lounge, 3315 Cady's Alley NW, Washington, DC 20007
TICKETS: $25. To register or for more information visit www.spymuseum.org

Wednesdays, 6 - 27 February 2013 10 am - Washington, DC - "Spy Seminar Series: Exfiltrations, Captures, or Kills: Famous High Stakes Intelligence Operations" at the International Spy Museum

Intelligence operations that hold human life in the balance are some of the most difficult missions any intelligence service will ever undertake. Exfiltrations are supremely delicate. This is the process of extracting a person or people from a targeted site with absolute urgency due to a sudden change which makes the site hostile. This could happen when a spy's cover is blown or a change in leadership puts people in danger. Captures are just that: snaring an enemy. And lastly kills. Wet jobs. Assassinations. When the enemy is bad enough that termination is the only answer. In this series, a distinguished group of experts and former intelligence personnel will introduce you to some of the greatest of these intense operations.

February 6 - The Operation that Killed Osama bin Laden
When Osama bin Laden declared war against the United States for the first time to a Western audience, Peter Bergen was there. He produced Osama bin Laden's first television interview and has written extensively on the terrorist and on Al Qaeda. His book, Manhunt: the Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden—from 9/11 to Abbottabad focuses on the difficulty of finding the world's most dangerous man—the missed opportunities, the lucky breaks, and dedication of the people who finally tracked him down. Bergen will share his professional connection to bin Laden, what it was like to actually "know" him, and his thoughts on the execution and results of Operation Neptune Spear.

February 13 - How the Mossad Captured Eichmann
For 15 years the hunt for Eichmann, architect of the mass murder of Europe's Jews, stretched from war-ravaged Europe to the shores of Argentina. In researching his book, Hunting Eichmann, best-selling author Neal Bascomb gathered groundbreaking new information and interviews, and newly declassified documents to fully tell the story of how the notorious Nazi was brought to justice. He will reveal how the young Israeli spy agency, the Mossad, organized this colossal operation—dispatching operatives like Isser Harel and Zvi Aharoni on their harrowing mission to Argentina to capture and deliver Eichmann.

February 20 - Saving Ryszard Kuklinski
In 1972, Polish Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski volunteered to spy for the United States. His self-appointed mission: to undermine his country's Soviet-dominated leadership to save Poland from nuclear destruction. Over the next nine years of high-risk, clandestine exchanges, he copied tens of thousands of secret documents and covertly passed them to the CIA—including plans to crush the Solidarity movement. Learn the inside story of this extraordinary case and of Kuklinski's last-minute, daring escape from International Spy Museum Executive Director, Peter Earnest, a former CIA officer who did unprecedented research into Agency records for Benjamin Wesier's A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country. Former CIA officer, Sue Burggraf, who worked with Kuklinski in Warsaw will also comment on the heroic Pole.

February 27 - Canadian Caper
International Spy Museum board member and former CIA chief of disguise Tony Mendez led the famous rescue of six Americans who were trapped in Iran after they had escaped from the US Embassy during the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979. Mendez came up with an ingenuous plan to get the Americans out by creating a fake movie called ARGO, setting up a cover film studio, and disguising them as a location scouting team from Canada. Mendez will take you behind the scenes of the operation, recently immortalized in the real film ARGO, from Canada's incredible support of the rescue to what kind of props he brought to make the Americans look more like film industry types.

WHERE: International Spy Museum: 800 F Street, NW Washington, DC Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station
TICKETS: Tickets: $120 (must be purchased through the Smithsonian)
To register: (via phone) 202.633.3030; (online) www.SmithsonianAssociates.org. Internet Quick Tix code for the program: 1M2-647. For more information visit www.spymuseum.org

Friday, 8 February 2013, 6 - 7:30 pm - Washington, DC - Africa and International Terrorism - by Kemal Okudo at the Institute of World Politics

You are cordially invited to a special lecture on the topic of Africa and International Terrorism with Kemal Okudo, National Security Consultant, IWP Class of 2009.
Kemal Okudo has over 23 years of cumulative and diversified executive and operational-level experience in banking, telecommunications, logistics, industrial security, and national security consulting. During his career, he has won awards as a banker; pioneered, designed and supervised the logistics and security functions at one of Nigeria's largest telephone companies (currently with over 30 million subscribers); and consulted for various national governments and global corporations in different areas of national security.
Where: The Institute of World Politics, 1521 16th St NW. Parking map is here.
RSVP and confirmation - required to attend. RSVP HERE

Wednesday, 13 February 2013, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm - Scottsdale, AZ - "Experience as an OSS Officer" featuring Robert Swift, at the AFIO Arizona Chapter

Guest Speaker will be Robert Swift, Ret. OSS Officer, on “Bob’s experience as an OSS Officer”
Bob was reading and transmitting code by age seven in the early 1930’s. His father and grandfather were both ham radio operators. He trained as a communicator with the OSS and was sent to Europe to support their operations against Germany. After the war Bob joined a new company in the communications business. He rose through the ranks to become an Executive Vice President in charge of International business and then chief of Staff to the Chairman of Motorola. Bob is now retired and lives in North Scottsdale with his wife Mary. Bob will share key aspects of the following: - OSS operations focused on Eastern Europe; - OSS support of 15th Air Force Bombing missions against German petroleum supplies and production, and; - Lessons learned from the Bari bombing disaster as well as lessons applicable to current intelligent operations.
Location: McCormick Ranch Golf Course, 7505 McCormick Parkway, Scottsdale AZ 85258 ~ Phone 480.948.0260.
RSVP simone@afioaz.org or simone@4smartphone.net. To call, please leave a message on 602.570.6016. Do so no later than 72 hours ahead of time. If you do not show up for the lunch meeting and failed to cancel 48 hours prior the chapter will be charged so, by necessity, you will be charged for the lunch.
Fee: $20 for Members; $22 Non-Members

Friday, 15 February 2013, 10:30am - 2pm - Tysons Corner, VA - AFIO National 2013 Luncheon features Spying in America by former D/NCS CIA Mike Sulick, and Intelligence Briefings of Presidential Candidates by former CIA Inspector General John L. Helgerson.

The former CIA Inspector General, John L. Helgerson, discusses "Intelligence Briefings of Presidential Candidates" and the former Director of the National Clandestine Service, Michael Sulick, presents - SPYING IN AMERICA: Espionage from the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War - a history of more than thirty espionage cases inside the US.
Helgerson provides unique insights into the mechanics and content of these briefings of candidates, the interaction of the participants, and the briefings' effect on the relationships presidents have had with their intelligence services.
Sulick presents a number of espionage cases which include Americans who spied against their country, spies from both the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War, and foreign agents who ran operations on American soil. Some of the stories are familiar, such as those of Benedict Arnold and Julius Rosenberg, while others, though less well known, are equally fascinating. Mr. Sulick speaks at 11 a.m. Lunch at noon. Mr. Helgerson speaks at 1 pm. All attendees will receive a digital copy of the unclassified edition of John Helgerson's updated report on "Getting to Know The President."
REGISTER HERE.

16 February 2013, 2 pm - Kennebunk, ME - The Maine AFIO Chapter holds special event.

The meeting will be held at the Brick Store Museum Program Center, 2 Dane St, Kennebunk. Speaker TBA. For information call 207-967-4298.

Saturday 23 February 2013 - Orange Park/Gainesville, FL - AFIO North Florida Chapter hosts meeting

Note on your calendars: The North Florida AFIO Chapter meets Saturday, 23 February rather than its customary date of 9 February. Starting time, schedule and location remain the same. Please RSVP to Quiel Begonia, Secretary/Treasurer at qbegonia@comcast.net or call 904-545-9549 as soon as you can so we can get an accurate head count and keep the country club happy.
The Chapter newsletter will be released in early February pending receipt of information on our guest speaker. We hope to see you at the meeting. Family and guests are cordially invited as well.

28 February 2013 - San Francisco, CA - "Defense Strategy for Acquisition and its Influence on Intelligence Gathering" is Lt. Col. William Chadwick's topic at AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter Luncheon.

Lt Col(R) William Chadwick , lecturer at The Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, will be speaking on "Defense Strategy for Acquisition and its Influence on Intelligence Gathering." The luncheon begins at 11:30AM with no-host cocktails; meeting starts at noon. Location: The United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, SF (between Sloat/Wawona). E-mail RSVP to Mariko Kawaguchi at afiosf@aol.com and mail a check made out to "AFIO" to: Mariko Kawaguchi, P.O. Box 117578, Burlingame, CA 94011. Members and students: $25; non-members $35.

Tuesday, 5 March 2013, noon - Washington, DC - "The Rice Paddy Navy: US Sailors Undercover in China" at the International Spy Museum

After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1942, the US Navy knew it would need vital information from the Pacific. Captain Milton 'Mary' Miles journeyed to China to set up weather stations and monitor the Chinese coastline—and to spy on the Japanese. After a handshake agreement with Chiang Kai-shek's spymaster, General Dai Li, the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO) was born. SACO consisted of nearly 3,000 American servicemen, 97,000 organized Chinese guerrillas, and 20,000 "individualists," including pirates and lone-wolf saboteurs. This top-secret network worked hand in hand with the Nationalist Chinese to fight the Japanese invasion of China while erecting crucial weather stations, providing critical information to the US military, intercepting Japanese communications, blowing up enemy supply depots, laying mines, destroying bridges, and training Chinese peasants in guerrilla warfare. Join author Linda Kush as she reveals the story of one of the most successful—and little known— covert operation efforts of World War II.
Join the author for an informal chat and book signing.
Tickets: Free! No registration required. For more information visit www.spymuseum.org

Wednesday, 13 March 2013, 6:30 p.m. - Washington, DC - "Blowing Blofeld's Mind: The Psychology of Villainy" at the International Spy Museum

All the greatest men are maniacs. –Dr. No
The Spy Museum's new exhibition, Exquisitely Evil: 50 Years of Bond Villains, features some of the most memorable fictional evildoers of the last half century. Many were inspired by real world figures or by the actions of real people who were really evil. What makes people move down a dark path? These experts can tell you exactly how Bond villains demonstrate classic criminal or otherwise aberrant psychological behavior based on their experiences with real offenders: Dr. David L. Charney,who was the psychiatrist for notorious spy Robert Hanssen and interviewed him extensively in prison; and Dr. Stanton Samenow, a noted forensic scientist and author of The Criminal Personality and Inside the Criminal Mind. Dr. Samenow was the prosecution's mental health witness regarding the younger DC sniper, Lee Boyd Malvo. Why would someone betray their country like Robert Hanssen or GoldenEye's Alec Trevelyan? How realistic is the Stockholm syndrome suffered by Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough? What makes people consider crime as a way of life? In this extraordinary conversation, you'll learn exactly how maudlin sentimentality—Blofeld's love for his cat—can coexist with chilling brutality.
Tickets:  $20. To register or for more information visit www.spymuseum.org

Thursday, 21 March 2013, 11:30 am – Colorado Springs, CO - "Bugs, snakes, rats, torture and the Sex Life of a Naval Aviator in the Hanoi Hilton" at the Rocky Mountain Chapter of AFIO

The title of this meeting would catch the attention of anyone! Attend to hear Capt John Michael McGrath, USN(R) talk about "Bugs, snakes, rats, torture and the Sex Life of a Naval Aviator in the Hanoi Hilton 1967-73." McGrath was a Vietnam POW for six years and has some remarkable accounts to share. Please RSVP to Tom VanWormer at robsmom@pcisys.net and also to obtain directionss.

27 March 2013 - New York, NY - "Circle of Treason" with Sandy Grimes, former CIA, at the AFIO NY Chapter Meeting

Sandy Grimes, one of the CIA principals behind the search and unmasking of Aldrich Ames - the traitor in their midst at CIA HQ - discusses in "Circle of Treason," her new book, co-authored with the late Jeanne Vertefeuille, this mole who nearly escaped capture. A remarkable story.
Location: Society of Illustrators 128 East 63rd St, New York City.
For further information contact Jerry Goodwin, Chapter President, at 646-717-3776 or email to afiometro@gmail.com

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 - Northampton, MA - "Typists to Trailblazers" - The History of Women's Advancement and Achievements at CIA

This CIA Historical Documents 'Release Event' Conference co-hosted with Smith College and features CIA’s women’s history month celebration. Speakers will discuss women's advancement, including Petticoat Panel Report, and other achievements that brought women into higher positions beyond the typing pool.
Additional program details to follow. Registration will be available here in coming weeks.
All AFIO members are invited.
REGISTER your interest in attending event by clicking email address at right to obtain additional details: events@afio.com

2 April 2013, 8 am - 3 pm - Washington, DC - CACI Hosts conference on Combating Asymmetric Threats: The Interplay of Offense and Defense

Discuss Asymmetric Threats on April 2 at an event co-sponsored by The U.S. Naval Institute, the Center for Security Policy, and CACI International Inc.
Participants will have a unique opportunity to explore America's capability to counter asymmetric threats by assessing the interplay of our nation's offensive and defensive powers. In particular, we will examine whether the United States has forfeited any of its asymmetric advantages, as well as what needs to be done in order to reclaim those advantages and ultimately defeat asymmetric threats to our national security and national interests. Winning the asymmetric fight is the core issue to be explored.
Speakers: ADM James G. Stavridis, USN–Commander, US European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (invited); LTG Michael T. Flynn, U.S. Army – Director, Defense Intelligence Agency (confirmed); The Honorable Jon Kyl – US Senator, Arizona, 1995-2012 (confirmed).
Location: Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004
This symposium is complimentary and open to participants by invitation only. Registration and further information at www.asymmetricthreat.net. To request an invitation to register, do so here.

Tuesday, 9 April 2013, 11:30 am - MacDill AFB, FL - "My Life in the CIA" with Richard Holm at Meeting/Luncheon by Florida Suncoast Chapter

Richard Holm, a former paramilitary adviser, decorated operations officer, senior manager and station chief for the Central Intelligence Agency, will share fascinating stories of his experiences during the Cold War. Drawing from the material he used in writing his book, The Craft We Chose: My Life in the CIA, he will recount highlights of his 35-year Agency career and explain why it is imperative for Americans to understand and support what the CIA does--a goal that also underlies AFIO's efforts to raise public awareness of the importance of national intelligence. He will also touch on the impact of an intelligence career on one's family and family life.
Location: MacDill AFB Surf's Edge Club, 7315 Bayshore Blvd, MacDill AFB, FL 33621.
RSVP: no later than Wednesday, April 3, for yourself and include the names of any guests.
Email or call the Chapter Secretary at (813) 832-1164 or at mfshapiro@att.net or visit www.suncoastafio.org
Cost: $20. You must present your $20 check payable to "Suncoast Chapter, AFIO" (or cash) at check-in to cover the luncheon. If you make a reservation, don't cancel and get a cancellation confirmation by the response deadline and then don't show up, you will be responsible for the cost of the luncheon.

Saturday 20 April 2013 - Milford, MA - AFIO New England Chapter hosts Mike Stedman on "'A' for Argonaut" at their Spring Meeting

Mike Stedman, South Boston born and bred, is a former political columnist, magazine writer, and intelligence consultant to major corporations. Formerly on the New England board of the Association for Intelligence Officers, he has been both a practitioner and critic of the spy world. Stedman, a former U.S. Army Reserve soldier with the 94th Infantry, has served as chairman of the New England Chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition and President of his local Rotary Club. He lives outside of Boston with his wife. They have three sons, three daughters-in-law, and seven grandchildren, including identical twin boys.
But really... who is Michael J. Stedman?
Born Michael J. Hurley into a pre-arranged adoption at St. Mary's Infant Asylum in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, Michael J. Stedman considers himself one of the luckiest people alive.
Location: Courtyard by Marriott in Milford, Mass. Hotel web site is here: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bosml-courtyard-boston-milford
Schedule: Registration & gathering, 1000 – 1130, Membership meeting 1130 – 1200; Luncheon at 1200 followed by keynote speaker; Adjournment at 2:30PM.
Questions to afionechapter@gmail.com

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

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