Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

CIA Looks to Expand Its Cyber Espionage Capabilities. CIA Director John Brennan is planning a major expansion of the agency's cyber-espionage capabilities as part of a broad restructuring of an intelligence service long defined by its human spy work, current and former US officials said.

The proposed shift reflects a determination that the CIA's approach to conventional espionage is increasingly outmoded amid the exploding use of smartphones, social media and other technologies.

US officials said Brennan's plans call for increased use of cyber capabilities in almost every category of operations - whether identifying foreign officials to recruit as CIA informants, confirming the identities of targets of drone strikes or penetrating Internet-savvy adversaries such as the Islamic State.

Several officials said Brennan's team has even considered creating a new cyber-directorate - a step that would put the agency's technology experts on equal footing with the operations and analysis branches, which have been pillars of the CIA's organizational structure for decades. [Read more: Miller/WashingtonPost/23February2015]

Sir Malcolm Rifkind Steps Down as Intelligence Committee Chairman. Sir Malcolm Rifkind has announced he is quitting as an MP and stepping down as the chairman of the parliamentary committee that oversees Britain's intelligence agencies amid continued pressure over cash-for-access allegations.

The former foreign secretary said on Tuesday that while the allegations made about him were "contemptible", it was better for the Conservative party and his Kensington constituency if he did not seek re-election in May. 

Sir Malcolm also announced he was stepping aside as chairman of the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee because he did not want the work of the committee to be "in any way, distracted or affected by controversy as to my personal position". [Read more: Rigby/FinancialTimes/24February2015]

Intelligence Agency Goes Virtual in Search for Talent. From an Urdu language analyst to a mission support accountant, Wednesday's intelligence community career fair offered a wide array of job opportunities.

But perhaps its greatest attribute came from the ease at which the public could access the fair. Participants did not need to venture further than their computer screens - the event was completely virtual.

In its sixth year, the intelligence community's virtual career fair included group chat rooms, live streaming presentations by employers and even avatars for participants. And although completely virtual, it had real-life results.

In less than 24-hours after the event, Sue Shumate, head of recruiting in human development at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, said she has already called back two potential job candidates to discuss specific job opportunities. [Read more: Golden/NextGov/20February2015]

Caracas Mayor Detained by State Agents. Armed Venezuelan federal intelligence agents on Thursday detained Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, a vocal critic of President Nicol�s Maduro, who accused his opponent of unspecified "crimes against the country."

In a televised address to supporters, Mr. Maduro didn't offer evidence of the charges and Mr. Ledezma's aides told reporters no arrest warrant was presented. The detention drew swift condemnation from the US State Department and human rights groups.

The mayor, who has criticized Mr. Maduro's government as being authoritarian, issued a message from his official Twitter account before a dozen members of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service rushed him out of his office. "My office is being raided in this moment by various police from the regime," Mr. Ledezma wrote.

A security camera video from Mr. Ledezma's office distributed by local media purportedly showed the mayor being escorted out of his office by more than a dozen armed members of Sebin, the top intelligence agency, dressed in fatigues. Several officers held riot shields. [Read more: Vyas/WallStreetJournal/19February2015]

CIA's Nuclear-Bomb Sting Said to Spur Review in Iran Arms Case. Details of a 15-year-old Central Intelligence Agency sting emerging from a court case in the US may prompt United Nations monitors to reassess some evidence related to Iran's alleged nuclear weapons work, two western diplomats said.

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in Vienna will probably review intelligence they received about Iran as a result of the revelations, said the two diplomats who are familiar with the IAEA's Iran file and asked not to be named because the details are confidential. The CIA passed doctored blueprints for nuclear-weapon components to Iran in February 2000, trial documents have shown.

"This story suggests a possibility that hostile intelligence agencies could decide to plant a �smoking gun' in Iran for the IAEA to find," said Peter Jenkins, the UK's former envoy to the Vienna-based agency. "That looks like a big problem."

The UN agency is charged with deciding whether the Iranian government has been trying to develop nuclear weapons and its ruling may determine whether international sanctions against the country are lifted. While Iranian officials have consistently accused the IAEA of basing its case on forged documents, the agency has never acknowledged receiving tampered evidence. [Read more: Tirone/Bloomberg/20February2015]

ISIL Planning Attacks in Turkey Warns State Intelligence Agency. According to Turkish media, Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MİT) released a memo warning security forces that ISIL militants crossed into Turkey while retreating from Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, might be planning attacks in Ankara and İstanbul.

Expressing that number of militants crossed into Turkey, while retreating from Syrian town of Kobani, near Turkish border, intelligence warned that the attacks might be took place on foreign diplomatic targets.

According to statement on Feb.3, stated nearly 3,000 militants were in the Kobani as of January. Some of the militants have already crossed into Turkey, as Radikal Daily reported.

Warning police and military, Turkish intelligence said that those militants crossed into Turkey believed to have been in their safe cells in Turkey. Those might be planning attacks on diplomatic missions of foreign countries in Ankara and İstanbul that took part in an international military coalition against ISIL. [Read more: BGNNews/19February2015]

MEP Eduard Hellvig Nominated for Director of Romanian Intelligence Service. Romanian Liberal MEP Eduard Hellvig was nominated on Thursday by president Klaus Iohannis as director of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), following the resignation of the former SRI head George Maior on January 27.

"Secret services were left lately without directors - both SRI and SIE (the Foreign Intelligence Service), for different reasons. Over the past weeks, due to some evolutions in the political life and in the public environment, SRI has been under public scrutiny many times. I have considered that during the current period SRI needs a complete team to bring the necessary calm there. Therefore, I have decided to make a nomination for the SRI director position. Tonight, I have signed the letter to the chairpersons of the two chambers of the Parliament, and I have nominated Mr. Eduard Raul Hellvig as director of the Romanian Intelligence Service," said Iohannis, according to Agerpres.

He added that he considers Hellvig a well-prepared person for this position, having the necessary energy, knowing the political actors, possessing proper knowledge about SRI's activity and being able to bring the necessary calm.

President Iohannis concluded that the Parliament will probably debate the nomination next week. [Read more: BusinessReview/20February2015]

Intel Panel Poised to Release New Cyber Bill. The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to introduce legislation next week that would help the public and private sectors share information about cyber threats, sources tell The Hill.

A draft of the bill is now being circulated, according to multiple people, in anticipation of a markup being held in the coming weeks.

Although the details of the bill are still being finalized, it will likely resemble the controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which came close to passing the last Congress. Several industry groups and lobbyists said the new bill includes updated language to ameliorate some of the privacy concerns that derailed the measure last year.

Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) - the Intelligence Committee's top two members - are likely behind the new bill, sources say. [Read more: Bennett/TheHill/19February2015]

Bayzhanov Becomes Kazakhstani Foreign Intelligence Chief. Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev has appointed Gabit Bayzhanov as the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (Syrbar) today, RIA Novosti reports.

His predecessor Amanzhol Zhankuliyev had been heading the Foreign Intelligence Service since February 2009. Bayzhanov had been deputy director of the Service. [VestnikKavkaza/24February2015]

DHS Intelligence Report Warns of Domestic Right-Wing Terror Threat. They're carrying out sporadic terror attacks on police, have threatened attacks on government buildings and reject government authority.

A new intelligence assessment, circulated by the Department of Homeland Security this month and reviewed by CNN, focuses on the domestic terror threat from right-wing sovereign citizen extremists and comes as the Obama administration holds a White House conference to focus efforts to fight violent extremism. 

Some federal and local law enforcement groups view the domestic terror threat from sovereign citizen groups as equal to - and in some cases greater than - the threat from foreign Islamic terror groups, such as ISIS, that garner more public attention.​

The Homeland Security report, produced in coordination with the FBI, counts 24 violent sovereign citizen-related attacks across the US since 2010. [Read more: Perez&Bruer/CNN/20February2015]

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

The Case of the Sleepy Spy - an example of the extremes of the "must accommodate me" mindset. The case of the sleepy spy is not over. Although a federal judge ruled in favor of the CIA this week in a discrimination suit brought by an employee who claimed he was harassed out of his job because of his narcolepsy and race, the African-American man is back in court with another complaint.

"Jacob Abilt," the pseudonym for the CIA "technical operations officer" - the bland description for someone who works in bugging, photo surveillance and similar clandestine operations - claimed in a February 2014 suit that his medical ailment, which causes him to fall into a deep sleep with little warning, and his race led his supervisors to treat him differently than they would a white employee.

The CIA chose not to argue the case in court, but instead invoked the "state secrets privilege" - a legal ploy that critics claim has been routinely used to cover up human rights and other abuses during the so-called war on terror - claiming that "Abilt's case would expose classified information about the National Clandestine Service, a branch of the CIA which oversees foreign and counter intelligence affairs within the agency," according to Courthouse News, which first reported on the decision.

According to the scant personnel information listed in his complaint, Abilt was hired in 2006 as an "applications developer," and "at or around the time plaintiff was hired, he informed his superiors of his disability narcolepsy." The CIA and Abilt worked out a plan that accommodated his forced naps, his suit suggests, which included making up for time lost in deep sleep.

All of which prompts the question of who was more asleep: the CIA officials who hired him, or Abilt himself? [Read more: Stein/Newsweek/21February2015]

Five Things to Know About Canada's Intelligence Watchdog Powers. Opposition MPs, security experts and civil libertarians are calling for stronger oversight of Canada's intelligence services as the Conservative government moves to broaden their powers with new legislation.

Here are five things to know about Canada's intelligence watchdog powers as they currently stand: [Read more: CanadianPress/18February2015]

The Spy Cables: A Glimpse Into the World of Espionage. A digital leak to Al Jazeera of hundreds of secret intelligence documents from the world's spy agencies has offered an unprecedented insight into operational dealings of the shadowy and highly politicised realm of global espionage.

Over the coming days, Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit is publishing The Spy Cables, in collaboration with The Guardian newspaper.

Spanning a period from 2006 until December 2014, they include detailed briefings and internal analyses written by operatives of South Africa's State Security Agency (SSA). They also reveal the South Africans' secret correspondence with the US intelligence agency, the CIA, Britain's MI6, Israel's Mossad, Russia's FSB and Iran's operatives, as well as dozens of other services from Asia to the Middle East and Africa.

Among the revelations, the Spy Cables disclose how: [Read more: Aljazeera/23February2015]

Ethel Raine: Untold Story of a Woman Who Spied for Britain During the Great War. David Gosling was for four years principal of Edwardes College in Peshawar, trying to keep the Taliban from his academy in the old British North-West Frontier Province of what is now Pakistan.

But he could scarcely imagine receiving a letter from MI5 confirming that his own grandmother, Ethel Raine, had served the British empire in its heyday as "a member of the Security Service between 1915 and 1920". But then came the rebuff: "Unfortunately we are unable to provide any further details of her work as records were destroyed many years ago. I am sorry if this is disappointing news."

But like the academic he is, Mr. Gosling has found out a lot about his grandmother - and duly passed it on to me: fake names, spies' identities, even telephone numbers.

Known to her future family as "Aunt Betty", the daughter of Sir Walter Raine, post-Great War MP for Sunderland, was working in Belgium when the Germans invaded in 1914 but made her way safely back to England. A century ago, in 1915, the 27-year-old joined British counter-intelligence - then called MO5 - under Sir Vernon Kell, a half-Polish veteran of the Boxer Rebellion, one of whose tasks was to spy on Indian nationalist groups in Europe, especially those which might be helping Germany. [Read more: Fisk/BelfastTelegraph/23February2015]

A Look at the Characters Who Carry The Imitation Game. Every movie has a beginning, a middle and an end. I enjoyed the middle of this film.

There is a plaque that was dedicated in early April 2003 in the Bletchley Park Museum in the UK: "On this site during the 1939-45 World War, 12,000 men and women broke the German Lorenz and Enigma ciphers, as well as Japanese and Italian codes and ciphers.

They used innovative mathematical analysis and were assisted by two computing machines developed here by teams led by Alan Turing: the electro-mechanical Bombe developed with Gordon Welchman, and the electronic Colossus designed by Tommy Flowers. These achievements greatly shortened the war, thereby saving countless lives."

To be truthful, I went to see the movie a few days after Christmas as the better-sounding of the 10 movies nominated for Best Picture of 2014 by the Hollywood Foreign Press, which gives out the Golden Globes. Besides, I like Ben Cumberbatch. I like his baritone voice, his piercing blue-green eyes and sharp cheekbones. And I like his snappy good looks in clothes when he plays highly intelligent and gifted characters. He's a darn fine actor, too. [Read more: Britt/Jacksonville.com/23February2015]

Section III - COMMENTARY

Why Size Doesn't Matter When Judging the Intelligence Community. No, the Intelligence Community isn't "Bigger Than Ever."

Defense One and the Brennan Center for Justice published a real humdinger of an opinion piece about the growing size and cost of the Intelligence Community, or IC, where former FBI counterterrorism interrogator Michael German asserts:

"The US spends nearly $1 trillion on national security programs and agencies annually, more than any other nation in the world. Yet despite this enormous investment, there is not enough evidence to show the public that these programs are keeping Americans any safer - especially in the intelligence community."

There's a budgetary bait-and-switch of massive proportions going on here. America's "national security," as defined in the broadest sense, costs about $1 trillion dollars annually, or approximately 25 percent of the federal budget. [Read more: Peritz/DefenseOne/17February2015]

America's Eroding Antiterror Intelligence. It is alarming enough to see the rapid advance, almost unhindered, of radical Islamist armed groups and terror across the globe, but the paralysis in Washington - exemplified by the Department of Homeland Security budget deadlock - compounds the crisis. Moreover, such political failure masks another unsettling problem. As al Qaeda and Islamic State gain strength, US intelligence is relatively weaker and more challenged than at any time since the 9/11 attacks. Most of this weakness is of our own making.

The intelligence challenges couldn't be clearer. Every day seems to bring news of more horror from the Middle East, Nigeria and the heart of Europe. Yet the terrorists appear to operate with near impunity, exploiting the world's information connectivity for their social-media campaigns. Their sophisticated propaganda helps inspire and recruit. According to the National Counterterrorism Center, enemy combatants in Syria and Iraq include 20,000 foreigners from 90 countries. More than 3,400 of these recruits are Western passport holders who may return to the West, including the US, to continue their war.

The most troubling aspect of this threat is that US intelligence probably knows less about the enemy's plans and intentions than at any point since 9/11. The al Qaeda that launched 9/11 was centrally controlled - operating mostly from one major haven in Afghanistan - and communicated sporadically through a few channels.

Today there are more than 800,000 individuals on the US terror watch list. The enemy has metastasized and decentralized, operating from havens much closer to Europe, and it uses thousands of communications channels for disguised and sometimes encrypted messages. [Read more: Crumpton/WallStrreetJournal/19February2015]

Section IV - Books and Upcoming Events

Books

The Gripping Story of the Failed NKVD Officer Who Fooled the FBI and the CIA. This is not quite another story about a man who never was. But it is about a man who certainly wasn't what he said he was.

The context is Russian intelligence operations of the 1930s, especially those of the NKVD (known later as the KGB) during the Spanish civil war. In Britain we tend to see 1930s/1940s espionage through the prism of the Cambridge spies - Philby, Burgess, Maclean, Cairncross and Blunt, the so-called Ring of Five - but, as Boris Volodarsky points out, the full picture is much wider. By 1937, he reckons, the Russians had over 100 agents and collaborators in Britain alone, with many more in other western countries. And they were ruthlessly active in Spain.

In 1938 a Russian calling himself General Alexander Orlov fled from Spain to America, where he settled, unknown to the authorities, with the modern equivalent of $1.5 million in embezzled funds. Following the death of Stalin in 1953 and the exhaustion of his funds, he sold his story to Life magazine as �the highest-ranking Soviet intelligence defector'. Well aware of what the Russians did to defectors, he claimed to have sent a letter to his former masters promising not to reveal any secrets so long as he was left alone, but threatening that all would be revealed if anything happened to him. He then made a fortune through articles and books, convincing the FBI and CIA of his genuineness to the extent that he was taken on as an adviser and wrote a number of official publications. He presented himself as a friend of Stalin's and as the NKVD general in charge of operations in Spain during the civil war. Among many other achievements, he claimed to have recruited Philby, Maclean, Burgess and Blunt.

In fact, there was no NKVD General Orlov in Spain - the rank did not exist until after the second world war. The man claiming to be him was Lev Lazarevich Nikolsky, a failed NKVD officer who had served in Spain and also briefly in London and Paris. He was for a while Philby's case officer but was not a success - in both London and Paris he pretended his cover was blown in order to be withdrawn before his failures became more apparent. [Read more: Judd/TheSpectator/21February2015]

From Reggie to Ronnie: the Intriguing Story of the British Intelligence Officer Who Changed His Name and Vanished From View for 70 Years. In the pre-dawn hours of 20 September 1918, a train, its headlamp off, heading eastwards out of Kransnovodsk on the Caspian sea, came to an unscheduled standstill among the lonely desert dunes of Transcaspia. From one of the two carriages stumbled a group of bound and blindfolded prisoners, who were pushed and dragged up to the crest of a nearby dune, and there gunned down and their bodies hastily covered with sand.

In the context of the times and the area - 15,000 men, women and children had just been slaughtered in Baku on the other side of the Caspian - the political execution of 26 Bolsheviks might not seem a major event, but it was a murder that would resonate down through Soviet history. In the years ahead almost everyone remotely connected with the crime was tracked down and executed, but as the fame and legend of the �26 martyrs' grew and their grubby murders, celebrated in stone and painting in the best tradition of socialist realism, metamorphosed into a tale of communist heroism and imperialist brutality, the one man the Soviet authorities most wanted for the crime - a modest-ranking British Intelligence officer operating in the Transcaucasus and Transcaspian regions - had quietly disappeared back into the evil British empire that had spawned him.

The man was called Reginald Teague-Jones, though from the moment he got back to Britain and changed his name the world would know him as Ronald Sinclair. Taline Ter Minassian has successfully demolished the Russian campaign of vilification, but Sinclair himself was always wary enough of the long arm of Soviet vengeance - vide Trotsky - to hold on to his new identity until his death in 1988 at the age of 99. [Read more: Crane/TheSpectator/21February2015]

AFIO EDUCATIONAL EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

5 March 2015 - San Francisco, CA - The AFIO André Le Gallo Chapter hosts Lt. Col. Enrique Oti, National Security Affairs Fellow, Hoover Institution. Topic: "Chinese Threats to the Internet - It is Not Just Hacking." The briefing will cover Chinese hacker methodologies and will dive deeply into Chinese vision for the future of cyberspace and the threats to the United States that this entails. Four unique Chinese cyber strategies (domestic development, international environment, domestic security and war) will be discussed.

11:30AM no host cocktails; meeting starts at noon. United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, SF (between Sloat/Wawona). E-mail RSVP to Mariko Kawaguchi at afiosf@aol.com and you will be sent an Eventbrite link to reigster. Alternately, mail a check made out to "AFIO" to: Mariko Kawaguchi, P.O. Box 117578, Burlingame, CA 94011. Members and students: $25; non-members $35. $35 at the door. RSVP is required for this meeting.

Wednesday, 11 March 2015, 11:30am - Scottsdale, AZ - AFIO Arizona Chapter hears Rick Dale, Emergency Management Expert on "Ensuring our Homeland Security."

What keeps you awake at night? Would you sleep better knowing that Arizona State University’s Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security is creating solutions to threats to our safety and well-being?
Learn of emerging solutions to issues such as the early detection of Ebola, human and sex trafficking, and the ability to immediately detect impairment due to marijuana and drug usage. Discover how the center brings together the knowledge and capacity of the entire ASU enterprise to create innovative solutions for the preparation, response, recovery, and management of natural or man-made incidents.
Rick E. Dale is Executive Director of the ASU Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security and Professor of Practice in the College of Public Service and Community Solutions. He will be discussing "Ensuring our Homeland Security." Prior to joining ASU in 2013 to launch the center, Dale served as executive chairman and chief executive officer of IXP Corporation. Dale founded IXP in 2000, building it into an industry leader serving the emergency-solution needs of government, university, healthcare, and energy clients. Dale has more than three decades of experience in executive and technical management, professional services, and system integration in the broad emergency solution sector.

LOCATION: McCormick Ranch Golf Course, 7505 McCormick Pkwy, Scottsdale ~ Phone 480.948.0260.
RSVP to Simone at simone@afioaz.org or call her at 602.570.6016 no later than 72 hrs ahead of time. Meeting fees are now $25.00

Thursday, 19 March 2015, 11:30 am - Colorado Springs, CO – The Rocky Mountain Chapter presents Col. T. Small, Special Operations Command North.

The presentation is about Turkey, the Region and Current Conflicts. To be held at The Monument Hill Country Club, 18945 Pebble Beach Way, Monument, CO 80132. Please RSVP to Tom VanWormer at robsmom@pcisys.net Directions are here.

19 March 2015, 12.30-2pm - Los Angeles, CA - AFIO-LA Chapter Meets to discuss spy "Christopher Marlowe" with Francis Hamit

Francis Hamit will be discussing "Christopher Marlowe" an upcoming film about the poet, playwright and spy who helped to defeat the Spanish Armada. The spy thriller is based on the 1988 stage play about Christopher Marlowe's service as a secret agent for the Crowne. The film will be shot in the UK later this year and Francis Hamit will serve as the Executive Producer. More about that movie can be seen here.
Location: LAPD-ARTC, 5651 W Manchester Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Francis Hamit served in the US Army Security Agency during the Vietnam War. Francis Hamit discovered this story when he worked for the Encylopaedia Britannica and wrote a number articles about intelligence organizations and personalities, he has written several historical fiction spy thrillers and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and a member of AFIO since 1987.
RSVP via email AFIO_LA@yahoo.com

Wednesday, 29 April 2015, 5:30-9pm - New York, NY - AFIO New York Metro Meeting Features Joseph Wippl, former CIA Clandestine Services Officer.

Joseph Wippl is a former CIA officer who spent 30 years as an operations officer in the National Clandestine Service (NCS). Wippl served overseas in Bonn, West Germany; Guatemala City; Luxembourg; Madrid, Spain; Mexico City; Vienna, Austria; and Berlin, Germany. On assignments in CIA headquarters, he served as the Deputy Chief of Human Resources, as the Senior NCS representative to the Aldrich Ames Damage Assessment Team, as Chief of Europe Division and as the CIA’s Director of Congressional Affairs. Wippl has coordinated extensively with other members of the US IC. He currently teaches at Boston University. Prior to that he occupied the Richard Helms Chair for Intelligence Collection in the NCS training program. Wippl has taught at BU since 2006 where he serves as Director of Graduate Studies, Professor of the Practice of International Relations; BU Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.

Location: Society of Illustrators building, 128 East 63rd St, between Park Ave and Lexington Ave.

To register or for more information contact Jerry Goodwin at afiometro@gmail.com

Other Upcoming Events

Wednesday, 25 February 2015, 6:30pm-8:45pm - Washington DC - "The Role of African Americans in Intelligence Operations" at the International Spy Museum

In the history of intelligence, African American contributions have too often been unknown, overlooked, and understated. To provide a more complete and accurate account, Connie Huff, a retired US Army counterintelligence special agent and instructor, will focus not only on key events, but also on the implications of race and gender in espionage. She’ll also discuss spies on the personal level: their motivations, risk taking, sacrifices, contributions, accomplishments—and betrayals. This survey begins with the Revolutionary War Era; and includes the organizers of the Underground Railroad, who used intelligence tradecraft and collection techniques without benefit of training or mentoring; the Civil War era slaves and free blacks who took initiative at great personal risk to provide information they observed or heard in the course of their work tasks; the daring 20th century spies, double agents, and in some cases traitors to America; and individuals who are part of the intelligence community today.
Tickets: $12. Register at www.spymuseum.org

Wednesday, 4 March 2015, 10 am - 1 pm - Annapolis Junction, MD - National Cryptologic Museum Foundation [NCMF] 2015 Spring Cryptologic Program featured Col. Phil Thompson, USAF(R) on "Little Things Matter: What Our Eyes Won't See and Our Ears Won't Hear."

The NCMF is pleased to welcome Phil Thompson, Col, USAF (Ret), for the Foundation's 2015 Spring Cryptologic Program. You will not want to miss this exciting program which promises new information and humorous anecdotes. Col. Thompson will speak about his intelligence experiences as an attaché in Poland and the challenges of overcoming conventional wisdom, preconceived notions, and an aversion to studying maps of Soviet installations. The title of his presentation is "Little Things Matter: What Our Eyes Won't See and Our Ears Won't Hear."
Col. Thompson is a retired Air Force Signals Intelligence Officer who served as the Air and Defense Attaché in Poland during the era of Solidarity and the imposition of martial law in the early 1980s. His career included assignments in Pakistan, Vietnam, Germany, Greece, and Poland, as well as tours with the National Security Agency and the Pentagon. He also served on the faculty of the US Army War College where he taught courses in national security strategy, the theory of war and strategic leadership with a special focus on Generals Ulysses S. Grant and George C. Marshall.
For further insight into the program: recommended reading is The Priest Who Had to Die by John Moody and Roger Boyes and A Secret Life by Ben Weiser. Both books are interesting reads on the cold-war era in Poland during the early 1980s and copies will be available for sale at the program.
Registration Details: Registration for the event includes lunch which will be served from noon-1 pm. Register here online or mail your registration fee of $20 (NCMF Members) or $50 (Guests, includes a one-year NCMF basic membership) to the NCMF office at PO Box 1682, Fort George G. Meade, MD 20755-9998. ***Registration will close on 26 February.***
Event Location: L-3 Communications at 2720 Technology Drive, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701

Tues-Wed, 24-25 March 2015 - Washington, DC - International Conference on Exercises, Gaming, and Simulations for Intelligence and National Security, Communication, Culture & Technology Program (CCTP)

Dates and times: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 at 8:30 AM - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at 7:00 PM (EDT)
This international conference, between the Center for Intelligence Services and Democratic Systems at Rey Juan Carlos University and the School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University will enhance the role of experiential learning methods and techniques showcasing original simulations, exercises, and games applied to national security intelligence, competitive intelligence, and foreign affairs. The conference will bring together ideas, concepts and demonstrations that can further train and educate military, law enforcement, and national security professionals.
A sample of conference topics include:  Scenario-based approach for developing the links between analysis and reporting;  Computational Simulation In Intelligence Analysis;  The Induction Game and Intelligence Education;  Gaming and Modeling Before a Crisis;  Use of Gaming and Exercise as Part of an Engagement Strategy;  Gaming the Nexus between Intelligence and Policy;  Concrete Tabletop Exercises for Cognitive Skill Development in Analysts;  Serious gaming & how to create visionary practitioners and policy makers;  Balancing Realism and Playability in the Intelligence Classroom;  Structured Analytic Techniques for Cyber Security through Role Playing; Cyber-Attack and Ethics Simulations;  Virtual Training Systems and Survival Humanistic Factors;
Discounted hotel accommodations, questions or comments should be directed to Dr. Jan Goldman jg28@georgetown.edu or Dr. Ruben Arcos Martin, ruben.arcos@urjc.es (outside North America)
Registration and Information is available here.

Thursday, 09 April 2015, 7 - 10pm - Washington DC - An Evening with a Futurist: Dinner with Marc Goodman at the International Spy Museum

Futurist Marc Goodman was voted by the TED Talks community as the speaker “most likely to freak you out.” A global thinker, writer, and consultant focused on the profound change technology is having on terrorism, crime, and security, he was the FBI’s Futurist in Residence and has worked for INTERPOL, the United Nations, NATO, and the LAPD—and tonight he’ll be your companion at dinner. As the founder of the Future Crimes Institute, Marc Goodman shares his thoughts on how disruptive technologies—such as artificial intelligence, the social data revolution, synthetic biology, virtual worlds, robotics, ubiquitous computing, and location-based services—form the basis for his new book Future Crimes. At this gathering, International Spy Museum historian Dr. Vince Houghton will lead a conversation with Goodman about the future of cyber intrigue. They will cover everything from cyberterrorism to the Dark Web to how individuals, businesses, and governments can protect themselves from cyber crimes too terrifying to imagine. You will be one of only seven guests at Poste Moderne Brasserie for this three-course dinner. You will receive a copy of Future Crimes when you reserve your space.
To Register: contact Laura Hicken lhicken@spymuseum.org or 202.654.0932. Tickets: $300. Visit www.spymuseum.org

Friday, 10 April 2015, 4:30-6:30 PM - Washington, DC - British Patriot or Soviet Spy? Clarifying a Major Cold War Mystery

AFIO members are cordially invited to a presentation analyzing whether former MI5 Director General, Roger Hollis, was or was not a Soviet agent.
Will include argument maps by Paul Monk, Ph.D. Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Australian Defence Intelligence Organization; Argument mapping/Bayesian expert; Co-founder of Austhink, a critical-thinking skills consulting firm.
Reception to follow
Panelists are:
Raymond J. Batvinis, Ph.D., Retired FBI Supervisory Agent; IWP Professor of counterintelligence history; author of The Origins of FBI Counterintelligence.
David L. Charney, M.D., Consulting psychiatrist to the U. S. intelligence community; expert on the psychology of the “insider spy”; Medical Director, Roundhouse Square Counseling Center.
Harvey Klehr, Ph.D., Intelligence historian, Emory University; Co-author of Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America.
Moderator
John L. Wilhelm, Former US Navy Intelligence Officer; TIME magazine correspondent; Independent PBS Writer/Producer/Director; author of a forthcoming history of Russian Military Intelligence (the GRU).
More information about this conference can be found here.
To register online, do so here.
Event location: The Institute of World Politics, 1521 16th St NW, Washington, D.C. 20036. Parking map.
Please contact sdwyer@iwp.edu with any questions

Monday, 13 April 2015, 6:30pm - Washington DC - Sensors Everywhere: Satellites and Mobile Technology for Documenting Human Rights Abuses - at the International Spy Museum

Human rights investigators increasingly use advanced technologies such as imagery satellites in their work documenting abuses around the globe. Traditionally these tools have been reserved for national intelligence services, but now they are standard tools for research by private organizations as well.
These readily available “eyes in the sky” give safe access to dangerous conflict zones such as Syria, or closed-off areas such as political prison camps in North Korea. Next generation micro-satellites even have the potential to provide full-motion video documentation. While satellite imagery has been likened to looking through a soda straw, the spread of cell phones and digital social networks provides visual documentation in real-time on a massive scale. However, this comes with its own challenges, as videos or pictures shared via YouTube or Facebook can be faked or shared within the wrong context.
Join us for a thought-provoking evening with Christoph Koettl of Amnesty International on the opportunities and pitfalls of advanced technologies in the hands of private researchers and investigators.
Dr. Mark Stout, the program director of the MA in Global Security Studies and the Certificate in National Security Studies at Johns Hopkins University, will host.
Tickets: $10. Visit www.spymuseum.org

Tuesday, 21 April 2015, 6:30pm - Washington DC - The Rosenbergs: The 'Definitive' Debate at the International Spy Museum

More than sixty years after their execution in June 1953 for conspiring to steal atomic secrets for the Soviet Union, in a few hardbitten, blind-to-facts circles, the debate still rages about the Rosenbergs guilt or innocence. Especially among their family members and friends. Mike Meeropol, the son of Julius and Ethel, has spent his life whitewashing, finetuning, and nitpicking the perfidy of his parents’ secret lives, their trials, their well-deserved convictions for espionage, and ultimately their executions. Sam Roberts, journalist for The New York Times, is the author of The Brother, a book written with exclusive access to David Greenglass, Ethel’s brother, whose testimony almost single-handedly convicted the couple in the era before classified VENONA decrypts were released to show they were guilty as charged. In this debate, these Rosenberg scholars—with different perspectives on a case long-settled by intelligence scholars—will take on the divisive issues and key questions that remain to the few holdouts despite the declassification of intelligence files from the United States and the Soviet Union that prove they were guilty and deserving of the punishment they received.
As a voice of reason, Dr. Vince Houghton, historian and curator of the International Spy Museum and an expert on nuclear intelligence, will moderate this debate on the Rosenberg case.
Tickets: $15, Members of the Inner Circle: $12. Visit www.spymuseum.org

26 April to 3 May 2015 - Berlin and Vienna - ESPIONAGE IN EUROPE: Now and Then - a New York Times Journey with AFIO Member/former CIA Officer, Jon Wiant.

Reserve now to travel on this exciting eight day intelligence excursion. "Espionage in Europe: Now and Then" is a journey focused on history & context. From the Cold War to present day government phone-hacking. Berlin and Vienna are two of Europe's capital cities that have seen more than their fair share of activity. Explore how, why and who was involved, the back stories and realization that it will never go away.
Join us on a unique tour to Berlin and Vienna, to learn about both underground goings on and those taking place in plain site, how World War II shaped Cold War intelligence operations and why our espionage bases in Berlin and Vienna became the dangerous front lines of our conflict with the Soviet Union. The Times-selected expert accompanying this trip is Prof. Jon A Wiant, retired Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, former White House director of intelligence policy and former member of the CIA. To hear more about this tour, listen to Jon Wiant speak, during a recent webinar.
Cost: $7,450 pp, +$1,000 single supplement. Deposit $500. Itinerary: 8 days, 7 nights. Activity Level: More active trips involving hiking over moderately strenuous and varied terrain, usually — but not always — with vehicle support and at elevations most often below 10,000 feet, or trips with significant hiking days, wilderness camping, or other mandatory activity. On some trips, you can elect to skip a day’s hike, depending on logistics. Questions? Call 855-698-7979.

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