Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Senate Honors Intelligence Professionals for Service to Nation. The US Senate is honoring the courage and sacrifice of the men and women of the US intelligence community by designating July 26, 2015 as "United States Intelligence Professionals Day." US Sen. Warner (D- VA), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, introduced a joint resolution that was unanimously approved by the Senate, acknowledging intelligence officers, past and present, for their service and professionalism in protecting the United States from those who wish to do us harm.

"Our nation's intelligence professionals are quiet heroes who work every day to keep America safe, but we seldom hear about their successes or their sacrifices," said Sen. Warner. "These men and women work in silence to protect the nation and they deploy to war zones and dangerous regions of the world. They cannot discuss their work even with their families. But as a member of the Intelligence Committee, I see how they keep our country safe every day, and I thank them for their service to our nation."

This bill comes 68 years after President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which laid the foundation for today's intelligence community and continues to govern its activities. [Read more: warner.senate.gov/24July2015]

US Preparing to Release Convicted Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard, Officials Say. The Obama administration is preparing to release convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from prison, according to US officials, some of whom hope the move will smooth relations with Israel in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal.

Such a decision would end a decades-long fight over Mr. Pollard, who was arrested on charges of spying for Israel in 1985 and later sentenced to life in prison. The case has long been a source of tension between the US and Israel, which has argued that a life sentence for spying on behalf of a close US partner is too harsh. Israel has for years sought Mr. Pollard's early release, only to be rejected by the US.

Now, some US officials are pushing for Mr. Pollard's release in a matter of weeks. Others expect it could take months, possibly until his parole consideration date in November.

A parole hearing for Mr. Pollard was held in early July. Mr. Pollard's lawyer, Eliot Lauer, said he hasn't heard from the parole commission "and I would expect that either I or my client would be the ones who would be notified." That hearing would have been the moment for the US to object to Mr. Pollard's pending release. Mr. Lauer wouldn't say if the government raised objections. [Read more: Barrett/WallStreetJournal/24July2015]

FBI Sees Chinese Involvement Amid Sharp Rise in Economic Espionage Cases. The FBI has seen a sharp rise in economic espionage cases aimed at US companies, with a vast majority of the perpetrators originating from China with ties to the nation's government, authorities said Thursday.

At a briefing at the FBI's Washington headquarters, the head of the agency's counterintelligence division, Randall Coleman, said the bureau has seen a 53% increase in economic espionage cases, or the theft of trade secrets leading to the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars, over the past year. He cited examples of large corporations successfully targeted in the past such as DuPont, Lockheed Martin and Valspar, who have since worked with the bureau to further safeguard their intellectual property.

To highlight this growing threat to the US economy, the FBI has launched a nationwide campaign intended to warn industry leaders of the danger they face from foreign actors. But the FBI not only considers this a threat to American economic prosperity, but to its physical security as well.

"Economic security is national security," said Bill Evanina, the head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center and one of the agents leading the charge in stemming the threat to corporations. Many of the tools used are the same as the ones used to track terrorists, he said. [Read more: Bruer/CNN/24July2015]

Cook Appointed New Intelligence Community CIO. After a nearly two-month vacancy, President Barack Obama appointed a new CIO for the Intelligence Community, Raymond Cook.

Cook - a 22-year veteran of the IC - currently serves as director of mission operations for the National Reconnaissance Office and director of the Office of Space Reconnaissance at the CIA. Before joining the NRO, Cook spearheaded interagency IT infrastructure, data sharing and compliance efforts while based at the CIA.

"Ray's breadth and depth of managing highly technical programs, his proven leadership and relentless commitment to national security make him an excellent choice to be the next IC CIO," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Thursday.

Cook will be taking over for former IC CIO Al Tarasiuk, who retired from public service in April after 28 years with the federal government. [Read more: Boyd/C4ISRNet/24July2015]

DoD Announces Contract Worth up to $6B. The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced several contracts Friday, highlighted by a multiple-award deal worth up to $6 billion for defense intelligence support.

The Enhanced Solutions for the Information Technology Enterprise (E-SITE) contract, which involves contracts to 50 companies, including BAE Systems, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, "supports information technology requirements across the Defense intelligence enterprise and the greater intelligence community," according to the DoD.

The deal, which can also be described as an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, was solicited on a full and open competition basis, resulting in 77 submitted proposals. After each proposal was evaluated, the bids from 25 large businesses and 25 small businesses were selected.

The labor involved with the Defense Intelligence Agency-oriented deal will be conducted around the world and should be finished July 16, 2020. [Read more: Meister/PDDNet/20July2015]

Musk, Wozniak and Hawking Urge Ban on Warfare AI and Autonomous Weapons. Over 1,000 high-profile artificial intelligence experts and leading researchers have signed an open letter warning of a "military artificial intelligence arms race" and calling for a ban on "offensive autonomous weapons".

The letter, presented at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was signed by Tesla's Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Google DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis and professor Stephen Hawking along with 1,000 AI and robotics researchers.

The letter states: "AI technology has reached a point where the deployment of [autonomous weapons] is - practically if not legally - feasible within years, not decades, and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms."

The authors argue that AI can be used to make the battlefield a safer place for military personnel, but that offensive weapons that operate on their own would lower the threshold of going to battle and result in greater loss of human life. [Read more: Gibbs/TheGuardian/27July2015]

201st Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade Change of Command. Soldiers from the 201st Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade said goodbye to their outgoing commander and welcomed a new commander during a change of command ceremony July 22 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

The ceremony also marked the formal transition of the 201st from a battlefield surveillance brigade to an expeditionary military intelligence brigade. There are only three expeditionary military intelligence brigades in the Army.

After serving as the commander of the 201st for over two years Col. Daniel E. Soller relinquished command of the unit to Col. Constantin E. Nicolet.

"Today we say farewell to a commander who has done amazing things for this organization," said Maj. Gen. Terry R. Ferrell, commanding general 7th Infantry Division. [Read more: Bunn/DVIDS/23July2015]

Former Pentagon Intel Chief Says Military's Clandestine Service Is Growing. A military human intelligence organization that has faced headwinds in recent years is still growing in size, the Pentagon's former intelligence chief said on Thursday.

Michael Vickers, until recently the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, said that the Defense Clandestine Service is still expanding and will continue to work alongside the military and other agencies in national intelligence-gathering efforts. He said the agency would be crucial in the wide-ranging fights the US faces.

"It's growing," Vickers said at the Aspen Security Forum, answering a reporter's question. "It's an important initiative in terms of human intelligence, particularly important in this world against the range of challenges you describe, and the Department of Defense and our military have something to contribute to the overall national effort."

At its creation, the Defense Clandestine Service was meant to become an important component of human intelligence gathering within the military realm. Its size and capabilities were to match those of the CIA, the country's main human intelligence-gathering organization. [Read more: Pavgi/DefenseOne/23July2015]

Tension Mounts between Egyptian Intelligence Services Over Sinai. Tension is mounting between Egypt's general and military intelligence agencies, the two main arms of the North African country's national security apparatus due to overlapping jurisdictions in the fight against terrorism in the north of Sinai, the French Intelligence Online magazine has reported. The publication claims that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi favours the military intelligence agency and does not seem to have much confidence in its general intelligence counterpart.

"Publishing the names of general intelligence officers who have been removed from their posts," said the online report, signals a "final dismissal from the service." It is "a violent jolt" to the agency, especially at this time, as the battle continues on the ground.

Al-Sisi issued a decree this week transferring general intelligence personnel to several public ministries, including the ministry of electricity and ministry of finance. The decree is effective from 1 August.

Observers believe that the way that these moves have been made public signals presidential dissatisfaction with the general intelligence agency's performance, and aims to issue a public warning about the continuation of the current situation. [MiddleEastMonitor/28July2015]

Russia Launches Spy Ship to "Track All Elements" of US Missile Defense. Russia is aggressively modernizing its military by replacing the Soviet-era equipment with the latest hardware as its relations with the West continue to deteriorate. On Sunday, Moscow inducted a high-tech spy ship in the Northern Fleet of its navy in the presence of President Vladimir Putin.

Russian navy spokesman Vladimir Matveev said the new spy ship was designed to gather intelligence and conduct electronic warfare. He said it would "track all elements of the US missile defense system," reports IHS Jane's 360. The ship is named Admiral Yury Ivanov, and is the first under Project 18280 spy ships designed for the Russian Navy.

The second vessel in the same class, Ivan Khurs, will be launched next year, said United Shipbuilding Corporation. Admiral Yury Ivanov is light on armaments, but heavy on advanced electronic equipment and sensors. It is specifically equipped to track the US anti-missile defenses being outfitted on American warships.

US missile defenses have rattled Russia in recent months. Moscow considers these defenses as an existential threat to its nuclear deterrence. Last month, Russia announced that it would add 40 new inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to its arsenal that will be capable of penetrating even the most advanced US missile defenses. [Read more: Shukla/ValueWalk/27July2015]

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

NSA Summer Camp: More Hacking Than Hiking. This is not your typical summer sleepaway camp.

Bonfires and archery? Try Insecure Direct Object References and A1-Injections.

The dozen or so teenagers staring at computers in a Marymount University classroom here on a recent day were learning - thanks to a new National Security Agency cybersecurity programme that reaches down into the ranks of American high school and middle school students - the entry-level art of cracking encrypted passwords.

"We basically tried a dictionary attack," Ben Winiger, 16, of Johnson City, said as he typed a new command into John The Ripper, a software tool that helps test and break passwords. "Now we're trying a brute-force attack."

Others in the room stumbled through the exercise more slowly, getting help from faculty instructors who had prepped them with a lecture on the ethics of hacking. In other words, they were effectively told, do not try this at home. [Read more: Fantos/BusinessStandard/20July2015]

Join ex-CIA, DOD Chief Bob Gates on Queen Mary 2 and Talk Osama, Iran Nukes and Boy Scouts. Cruise lines always include entertainment - often Broadway show folks, magicians, movies and musical groups - to entertain passengers in the evenings. Some, aiming for passengers who might be interested in matters literary, political or educational, also feature talks and Q&A's with journalists, academics, writers, ex-government officials and such.

Authors and celebrity speakers,we're told, generally are given free passage and a lovely suite, perhaps an honorarium of sorts. You (and a companion) get a free flight to the departure point and a flight back home. Quite a sweet deal.

Underpaid reporters - who can't avail themselves of government-paid vacations - jump at an invite to be part of what are called "enrichment programs." (Disclosure: We have never been - and don't expect ever to be - on one of these.)

Authors looking to sell a few books love to go on the big ships, which have nice bookstores, stocked by your publishers with your most recent books, and you can have signings for buyers.

Back in May, we spotted an ad for a Cunard Queen Mary 2 cruise from New York to London on Aug. 11 featuring the former CIA director and secretary of defense - for both George W. Bush and Barack Obama - Bob Gates. (He never responded to an e-mail asking about the cruise.) He's booked for two Q&A's and one book signing. [Read more: Kamen/WashingtonPost/21July2015]

Inside the Secret World of Russia's Cold War Mapmakers. A military helicopter was on the ground when Russell Guy arrived at the helipad near Tallinn, Estonia, with a briefcase filled with $250,000 in cash. The place made him uncomfortable. It didn't look like a military base, not exactly, but there were men who looked like soldiers standing around. With guns.

The year was 1989. The Soviet Union was falling apart, and some of its military officers were busy selling off the pieces. By the time Guy arrived at the helipad, most of the goods had already been off-loaded from the chopper and spirited away. The crates he'd come for were all that was left. As he pried the lid off one to inspect the goods, he got a powerful whiff of pine. It was a box inside a box, and the space in between was packed with juniper needles. Guy figured the guys who packed it were used to handling cargo that had to get past drug-sniffing dogs, but it wasn't drugs he was there for.

Inside the crates were maps, thousands of them. In the top right corner of each one, printed in red, was the Russian word секрет. Secret.

The maps were part of one of the most ambitious cartographic enterprises ever undertaken. During the Cold War, the Soviet military mapped the entire world, parts of it down to the level of individual buildings. The Soviet maps of US and European cities have details that aren't on domestic maps made around the same time, things like the precise width of roads, the load-bearing capacity of bridges, and the types of factories. They're the kinds of things that would come in handy if you're planning a tank invasion. Or an occupation. Things that would be virtually impossible to find out without eyes on the ground. [Read more: Miller/Wired/July2015]

Frederick Forsyth 'Set to Reveal He Was an MI6 Spy'. He has long been lauded for the uncanny realism of his spy thrillers, and now Frederick Forsyth is set to reveal the secret of his insider knowledge: he was himself an agent for MI6.

Fans of the 76-year-old author had suspected he may have had brushes with the Secret Intelligence Service, as MI6 is formally known, and Forsyth is expected to confirm they were right when his autobiography is published in September.

As a journalist for the BBC and Reuters, Forsyth spent time based in Communist East Germany and in Africa, where he became close to key figures including Odumegwu Ojukwu, leader of the Nigerian breakaway state of Biafra.

He has admitted in the past that he often draws on his real-life experiences for the plots and action in his books; his experience of reporting on an attempt to assassinate the French president Charles de Gaulle gave him the idea for his first novel, The Day of the Jackal. [Read more: Rayner/TheTelegraph/24July2015]

Section III - COMMENTARY

Intelligence Community Supports Codification of the President's Prohibition on Use of EITs and Requirement of ICRC Detainee Access. This news really isn't (or shouldn't be) very surprising, but since in some quarters there's a misperception that the CIA is eager to get back in the business of detaining and interrogating terrorism suspects - and using torture and other abusive techniques to do so - ...it is probably worth noting that CIA General Counsel Caroline Krass stated yesterday, at the Aspen Institute, that the Administration, including the Intelligence Community, supports enactment of the McCain/Feinstein proposal to codify sections 3(b) and 4(b) of President Obama's Executive Order 13491. See approximately minute 34 of the video here. Those provisions of E.O. 13491 (i) generally prohibit the US government from subjecting any individual in the custody or under the effective control of an officer, employee, or other agent of the Government, or detained within a facility owned, operated, or controlled by the Government, in any armed conflict, to any interrogation technique or approach, or any treatment related to interrogation, that is not authorized by and listed in Army Field Manual 2-22.3; and (ii) and require all departments and agencies of the Federal Government to provide the International Committee of the Red Cross with notification of, and timely access to, any such detained individuals in any armed conflict. [Read more: Lederman/JustSecurity/24July2015]

ISIS: The Latest Bean Counter's Folly. The fall of Mosel to ISIS in June, 2014 was not anticipated by the established intelligence experts in the Department of Defense. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, stated on PBS Frontline, "There were several things that surprised us about [the Islamic State], the degree to which they were able to form their own coalition both inside of Syria and inside of northwestern Iraq, the military capability they exhibited, the collapse of the Iraqi security forces. Yeah, in those initial days, there were a few surprises."

While this seems like an amazing admission to many analysts, it really shouldn't be. It is symptomatic of a broader problem, one that is harder to admit and has been endemic for decades, if not centuries. That problem is establishing self-reporting systems that only encourage and reward reports that indicate progress is being made and fit the established politically correct scenario. It is the proverbial "Light at the end of the tunnel" that keeps drawing in those who willfully disregard facts that are not deemed good news.

During the early phases of the Vietnam conflict it was a consummate manager, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who emphasized the quantification of war. The premise was that the adversary could be defeated provided we applied resources appropriately. On a larger scale, the assumed victory would demonstrate to the Soviet Union that we would not allow the geographic dominoes to fall to their aggression. Execution of the management scheme was the epitome of analytic programming. On the macroscale every possible aspect was quantified, personnel, logistics, kill ratios, aircraft sorties, naval forces, ground combat engagements, and many more items were the fodder of countless reports.

As a "Green Beret" Special Forces camp commander, I was as guilty as everyone else. [Alexander/HuffingtonPost/20July2015]

Section IV - Obituaries and Upcoming Events

Obituaries

Barbara H. Colby, Wife of Controversial CIA Spymaster, Dies at 94. Barbara Colby once recalled turning on the washing machine to muffle her husband's conversations. She accompanied him on a road trip in Scandinavia, purportedly to visit castles but in fact so that he could supply anti-communist operatives with radio devices hidden in the car's trunk. In Saigon, she protected her young children during a coup mounted against their neighbor, President Ngo Dinh Diem.

For nearly four decades, Colby lived the life of a CIA wife, performing what another agency spouse once described as "the traditional partnership role of 'two employees for the price of one."

From 1945 until their divorce in 1984, she was the wife of William Colby - the spy and later spymaster who, as CIA director from 1973 to 1976, revealed the assassination attempts and other clandestine activities known as the agency's "family jewels."

Colby, 94, died July 16 in Washington. The apparent cause was a heart attack, said her son Paul Colby. William Colby died in 1996 in an apparent accidental drowning in the Wicomico River in Maryland. [Read more: Langer/WashingtonPost/19July2015]

Upcoming Events

AFIO EDUCATIONAL EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

Saturday, 8 August 2015, 11am - 3pm - Orange Park, FL - AFIO North Florida Chapter Meeting with John Caulfield, "Intelligence and the Department of State."

Our speaker that we disappointed in May, Mr. John Caulfield, is willing and eager to speak to us this time, and I am sure it'll prove most interesting -- not often we hear about the intelligence efforts of the Department of State. Mr. John P. Caulfield, retired American career diplomat who managed some of the most complex relations in Latin America for the United States, most recently as Chief of the US Interests Section in Havana, Cuba. There he negotiated pragmatic agreements on immigration, environmental protection, civil aviation, and cultural affairs. He also supported the aspirations of ordinary Cubans for political rights and economic opportunities in a difficult environment.
Event location: Country Club of Orange Park.
Please RSVP to Quiel Begonia at qbegonia@comcast.net or call him ASAP at (904) 545-9549. Remember, spouses and interested friends or potential members are cordially invited. Cost for the luncheon is $24, pay the club.

Tuesday, 11 August 2015 - MacDill AFB, Florida - The AFIO Suncoast Chapter hosts Karl D. Klicker, EdD, speaking on the Islamic State.

Dr. Karl Klicker is a retired Marine Corps Intelligence Officer, currently employed by Jacobs Technology as Principal Strategist supporting US Special Operations Command. He has served on psychological operations, civil affairs, interagency task force and strategic planning teams.
Klicker is the author of Indoc: Ideology, Propaganda and Conflict in the Corps and al-Qaida, a study of internal cultural tensions within the Marine Corps, the roots of division in the Sunni and Shi�a camps; the social psychology of recruiting for war; and the ongoing conflict between radical Islamists and America�s armed forces.

LOCATION: MacDill AFB Surf�s Edge Club, 7315 Bayshore Blvd, MacDill AFB, FL 33621. Please RSVP by 15 August to the Chapter Secretary for yourself and include the names and email addresses of any guests. Email or call Michael Shapiro at sectysuncoastafio@att.net. You will receive a confirmation via email. If you do not, contact the Chapter Secretary to confirm your registration. Check-in at noon; opening ceremonies, lunch and business meeting at 1230 hours, followed by our speaker.
FEE: 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.

Thursday, 13 August 2015, 1 pm - Los Angeles, CA - AFIO-LA Chapter hears from Lt. Freeman, USCG, on activities of the USCG Operations Center

Event is open to members who are U.S. citizen, only. Meeting takes place at the US Coast Guard Los Angeles Air Station following a tour of the Operations Center, Lt. Freeman will run through an operations brief as well as a static display of the MH-65D Dolphin's capabilities. The space for this meeting is limited to 20. Please RSVP to attend this event. When confirmed you will be given instructions on accessing the location.
Interest, questions, and registration to AFIO_LA@Yahoo.com

25 - 26 August 2015 - McLean, VA - CIRA and AFIO's 40th Anniversary Conference and Celebration
CIRA (Central Intelligence Retirees Association) and AFIO (Association of Former Intelligence Officers) are holding a joint conference and celebration of our 40th anniversaries on 25-26 August 2015.
Day One - Tuesday, 25 August: This celebration coincides with the next CIA Annuitant Reunion on 25 August where many CIRA and AFIO members, who are CIA retirees, will be in attendance.
AFIO and CIRA members who are CIA annuitants and who retired on an even year, have been invited directly by CIA and should sign up for that day when the CIA invitation arrives in your inbox. Annuitants of odd years who wish to attend may register through the links below.
RESTRICTION: To attend Day One at CIA you need to have been an employee, at some time, of any member agency of the Intelligence Community (or are now currently with, or retired from, one of those agencies). A spouse accompanying you may attend regardless of no prior IC employment. Restriction does not apply to Day Two.
Day Two - Wednesday, 26 August: The conference expands and continues on Day Two at the Sheraton Tysons Hotel, with many CIA, CIRA, AFIO, and other IC speakers and panelists. This second day ends with a "Spies in Black Ties" Anniversary Reception and Awards Banquet.

Confirmed speakers: CIA Director John Brennan; Dean Boyd, Director of CIA Office of Public Affairs; Bill Harlow and Joseph DeTrani, former Directors of OPA; Winston Wiley, former DDI; David Carey, former EXDIR; Michael Sulick, former Director, National Clandestine Service; John Sano, former DD/National Clandestine Service; Fred Turco, former D/Information Operations Center; Robert Wallace, former Director, Office of Technical Services; George Jameson, former senior counsel in Office of General Counsel; David Robarge, Senior Historian, Center for Study of Intelligence; Toni Hiley, Director and Curator, CIA Museum; and CIRA President Charles Campbell and AFIO President James Hughes, both, former National Clandestine Service.