The Spy Game

2004-02-05T18:03:00.000-08:00

TENET'S SPEECH REVEALS CHESS-LIKE STRATEGY

Article at Cosmic Iguana [*]

SPYGAME TAKES A VACATION

2004-01-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

I am going to take a vacation from posting here in order to concentrate on my other blog, Cosmic Iguana, now located at CosmicIguana.com. Check there for updates and with Needlenose.

2004-01-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

SOMEONE'S NAMING NAMES IN PLAME?

From John Dean via Needlenose [*]:

. . . What explains the timing of Ashcroft's removal? Recall that the removal occurred as a result of events occurring in the same week the Post reported that the FBI had told potential witnesses they might have to face a grand jury.

Some of those witnesses very probably hired lawyers as soon as they heard the news. Especially likely to hire a lawyer would be a middle-level person with knowledge of a leak by a higher-up. And such a lawyer would likely have gone immediately to the prosecutors to make a deal.

. . . When the lawyer . . . went to the government seeking immunity for his or her client, Ashcroft would have heard that the middle-level person was offering to finger the high-level leaker. At that point, he would have realized he himself knew the high-level leaker; and decided to recuse himself from the case, and let Fitzgerald take over.

ROLE OF CIA "STARGATE" PSYCHICS IN IRAN RAID REVEALED

2004-01-05T08:25:00.000-08:00

Psychic spies knew of raid By Henry Cuningham Military editor, FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER As Delta Force was trying to rescue U.S. hostages in Iran in 1980, a psychic spy monitoring the operation from the United States reported an explosion. The National Security Council received the report 48 seconds before getting an electronic call about the fatal explosion at the site known as Desert One, said Joseph W. McMoneagle. He started working as a psychic spy in the 1970s. McMoneagle and Lyn Buchanan, who also worked on the once-secret project, describe the incident in books as "remote viewers." The controversial $20 million CIA-military program was known as the Stargate Project. It ended in 1995. In a study of the project, Ray Hyman, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Oregon, questioned the reliability of the program's results. Charlie Rose is a former congressman from Fayetteville who lives in Marshall, Va. He talked to some of the people in the program when he was on the House Intelligence Committee. Rose said a former director of Central Intelligence told him he was not convinced that psychic spying was reliable enough to play a role in military intelligence. "I don't think our military or intelligence community at this point is spending very much money on any psychic program," Rose said. McMoneagle, who retired from the Army as a chief warrant officer, wrote about his role in his 2002 book "The Stargate Chronicles." He discussed his experiences during a lecture earlier this month at the Rhine Research Center in Durham. Practical problems A psychic trying to gather military intelligence faces some practical problems, he said. "During the Iran hostage problem, we were revisiting targets for the 100th time," McMoneagle said. "As a psychic, when you are looking at the same problem over and over and over on a daily process, it gets extremely difficult to look at it with an open mind." Either things don't change, or they change very little, he said. "We were being asked some pretty critical questions, like, 'Are the guards getting tired? Are they changing their armament? What's different about the room?' The smallest changes could be critical to people engineering hostage retrieval." The project tried to gather information about Grenada during the U.S. invasion in 1983. It also looked for information on the whereabouts of Manuel Noriega, the deposed leader of Panama, during the 1989 invasion, and the intentions of Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War. That's according to Buchanan in his 2003 book, "The Seventh Sense: The Secrets of Remote Viewing as Told by a 'Psychic Spy' for the U.S. Military." [*]

WILL PLAME INVESTIGATION BECOME MORE INDEPENDENT?

2004-01-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

from a 27-year CIA veteran:

Don’t Be Fooled: Still No Independent Investigation of Leak of CIA Identity by Ray McGovern, BUZZFLASH ...Past experience strongly suggests that if Fitzgerald is told to string the investigation out until after the November election, he may well oblige. If he is told to pin the blame on White House small fry willing to take the fall, he may do it. Besides, Fitzgerald arrives on the scene months after the Ollie North memorial shredder has done its work. Recall that when it was announced that the Justice department would investigate it was made clear that the formal order requiring administration officials to save all relevant documents would come a day or two later. Imagine the heat rising from the shredder machines that weekend. And recall how the White House counsel then insisted on reviewing all documents before they could be given to the Justice department. Last fall even the lawyers at Justice and the FBI were holding their noses. The New York Times’ David Johnston and Eric Lichtblau reported on October 16 that several senior criminal prosecutors at Justice and the FBI were privately criticizing Ashcroft for failing to recuse himself or appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the crime. But private criticism is a far cry from the more risky step of taking a strong stand against the organization’s chosen course of action. And politics has become more and more important, even in the decision making of so-called career prosecutors. Besides that, the "us vs. them" mentality has gotten still stronger, and many of the Bureau’s "good soldiers" remain blissfully unaware of how much they are affected by it. So, even if Fitzgerald himself is determined to launch an "unfettered" investigation, he has this company ethic to contend with. Whether or not he keeps on John Dion, the career lawyer who has been leading the investigation, will be an indication of Fitzgerald’s seriousness of purpose. It is no secret in law enforcement circles that Dion has a poor record with leaks, and is reluctant even to go to the men’s room without asking permission from his superiors. Small wonder that Valerie Plame’s husband, Joe Wilson, has refused to express optimism at the naming of Fitzgerald...[*]

WHAT LED TO ASHCROFT'S RECUSAL?

2003-12-31T10:41:00.000-08:00

From Talking Points Memo:

...But there's another possibility: that is, that this decision isn't the result of the general progress of the investigation or the accumulation of evidence, but something specific. Or more to the point, a specific person. And that something has just taken place. Obviously these are general scenarios, which may, in reality, overlap quite a bit. But what strikes me about this announcement today was its timing. And the timing leads me to think the third scenario is the most likely. Here's why. The other news developments from the administration on the Plame case have come at what you might call press-appropriate times. As in, late on Friday afternoons. Stuff like that -- the times guaranteed to get you as little press notice as possible. This was early afternoon on a Tuesday, albeit, yes, the day before New Year's Eve. If this was just a matter of a slow accumulation of evidence, tomorrow afternoon would have been just as good, and would have gotten the story buried. Same goes for Friday. Now a third point. It's always been more or less an open secret who the perps are in this case. And they're very high-level folks -- people with deep influence of the formulation and implementation of policy. And the wrong-doing here is directly related to the execution of policy. So if a crime was committed, and if an indictment is forthcoming, it will bring under scrutiny a whole complex range of wrong-doing (though not necessarily criminal wrongdoing) relating to administration war policy and intelligence manipulation and other stuff we can go into at a later date. The Washington Post this evening has an article quoting "Republican legal sources who have discussed the case with the White House and the Justice Department" who say that this will give the administration cover and 'depoliticize' the case. Not likely. If the real perps are indicted, the political implications will be obvious and undeniable. And the fall-out will be rapid. [*]

PLAME UPDATE

2003-12-29T14:30:00.000-08:00

The state of play on Plame

From Needlenose:

Many weblogs seek to be your indispensable resource for information about the Valerie Plame Wilson controversy. Alex Parker has his chronology of important links, Mark A.R. Kleiman has his Plamesville Diaries, and Calpundit has adopted it as a pet topic for his sensible commentary. But the sad fact is, if you really want to understand what's going on -- about this as with so many other subjects -- you gotta come to the 'Nose. I explained more than two months ago that the only word of progress in the investigation would likely come from the team of Washington Post writers who broke the story open in late September, and sure enough they step forward this morning with a long-awaited update: The Justice Department has added a fourth prosecutor to the team investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity, while the FBI has said a grand jury may be called to take testimony from administration officials, sources close to the case said. Administration and CIA officials said they have seen signs in the past few weeks that the investigation continues intensively behind closed doors, even though little about the investigation has been publicly said or seen for months. . . . Agents investigating the matter have been increasingly apparent at CIA headquarters in Langley over the past three weeks, officials said. "They are still active," a senior official said. Perhaps as important as the simple news that the investigation is alive (as Joshua Marshall seemed to be hinting a couple of weeks ago) is that the institutional anger which sparked it is still burning as well: . . . sources said the CIA believes that people in the administration continue to release classified information to damage the figures at the center of the controversy, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV and his wife, Valerie Plame, who was exposed as a CIA officer by unidentified senior administration officials for a July 14 column by Robert D. Novak. . . . Sources said the CIA is angry about the circulation of a still-classified document to conservative news outlets suggesting Plame had a role in arranging her husband's trip to Africa for the CIA. The document, written by a State Department official who works for its Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), describes a meeting at the CIA where the Niger trip by Wilson was discussed, said a senior administration official who has seen it. CIA officials have challenged the accuracy of the INR document, the official said, because the agency officer identified as talking about Plame's alleged role in arranging Wilson's trip could not have attended the meeting. To quibble respectfully with some other commenters, I disagree with Alex Parker that the actual damage done by the Plame leak matters, with Mark Kleiman that noise from Congress will be the next step (or even relevant) if the investigation is stymied by John Ashcroft, and with Matt Yglesias that CIA director "George Tenet is ultimately more interested in protecting his job than in securing justice." Here's my take: The war between the CIA and the White House over Iraq intelligence has been richly documented. When the intentionally damaging and/or insulting Plame leak happened, the CIA vowed revenge at all costs -- and if Tenet didn't personally feel this rage, he has been forced to endorse it or face a rebellion himself. Thus the CIA (as well as a possible White House mole who feels a moral line has been crossed) will not let this die quietly, no matter what Ashcroft tries. The CIA et al. (and specifically the Post's sources, whoever they may be) are committed to making someone pay for this. They will wait patiently -- as they have so far -- to give the investigation a chance to proceed. But if there are signs of stonewalling, they will eventually step forward again to give the scandal a push. Posted by: Swopa on Dec 26, 03 | 4:21 pm | Profile

Italians ignored Intel that Could Have Prevented Attack

2003-12-28T10:13:00.000-08:00

WPOST via AFIO:

IGNORE INTELLIGENCE TO YOUR PERIL --

Italian military headquarters in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah were blown up November 12 by terrorists who drove a truck through the main entrance to the former chamber of commerce compound bearing more than 800 pounds of explosives. An unusual feature of this worst attack on US allies in Iraq, 30 Italians and Iraqis were killed, was the fact that the Italian leadership had been warned three times by their intelligence officers of an imminent attack on the country's contingent in the city.

The main Italian building was located less than ten yards from the headquarters entrance, which had been modified to slow down any entering suicide vehicle, but post-attack visitors to the site said the passageway was not sufficiently narrow to force a vehicle to go slowly. No huge concrete barriers were in place, nor were perimeter areas (the headquarters sits on a main thoroughfare) closed to traffic. Six days after the attack, the head of Italian military intelligence (Sismi), told an oversight committee that as early as July his organization warned of the danger in the south of Iraq. The Defense Minister quickly dismissed the remarks, saying that Sismi's intelligence officers had issued nothing precise, that Sismi had passed information to the chain of command but, "this does not mean that intelligence had foreseen that there would be attacks."

Italian intelligence documents ["examined by The Washington Post"] contradict the Defense Minister. On 6 October, Italian intelligence warned of an "imminent attack," possibly by mortars, against either Italy's military force in Nasiriyah or Polish troops in southern Iraq. Two days later, intelligence predicted that an attack, organized by members of the Fedayeen, would take place "against the Italian contingent in Nasiriyah" and named two of the organizers. The next day, the Italian intelligence named two more Fedayeen believed to be planning an attack on Italians. The defenses of the headquarters were never increased despite the warnings; the Italian army chief of staff stated three days after the attack that isolating the Italian contingent would have interfered with its desire to work with the Iraqi public. The Italian intelligence reports in Nasiriyah reported cooperation between former Iraqi officers and the Fedayeen and also detailed a role in the attack by Ansar al-Islam, the violent fundamentalist organizations with ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and the Taliban of Afghanistan.

The tragedy has several aspects worth noting: to demand who, what, where, when specifics in terrorist intelligence is a stupid dream; [conversely, the lack of specifics in warnings on terrorist attacks always affords politicians an easy excuse and potential fall-guys]; considering they were strangers to the area, the Italian intelligence people developed quite good data; the good data leads to the inference there are friendly Iraqis cooperating in Nasiriyeh; the desire to work with the Iraqi public is well and good, but protect your bases adequately; Rome politicians should realize that one needs to pay at least some attention to the facts when dumping on intelligence types [a passing familiarity with the Washington ebb-and-flow could have taught Rome that much]; and finally, intelligence liaison between friendly intelligence services is worth the effort for more than the exchange of data [it is unlikely the Sismi would have leaked their documents to the Post directly but probably could find a liaison buddy to handle it]. (Harvey) (WashPost 8Dec03, pA20 by Daniel Williams, Baghdad)

SECRECY EXPANDS GREATLY UNDER BUSH

2003-12-23T16:36:00.000-08:00

From FAS:

GOVERNMENT SECRECY EXPANDS UNDER BUSH "The [Bush] administration has been unusually successful keeping its policy deliberations out of public view, and millions of government documents -- including many historical records previously available -- have been removed from the public domain," observes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post today. See "Under Bush, Expanding Secrecy": link

BUSH Admin is scrubbing the Net

2003-12-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

from FAS:

BUSH ADMINISTRATION SCRUBS THE WEB The Bush Administration has repeatedly altered government web sites to eliminate items that it considers politically or ideologically distasteful. In a gem of a news story, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reported that the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) had deleted the transcript of an ABC Nightline interview with AID administrator Andrew S. Natsios last April in which he said the reconstruction of Iraq would cost taxpayers no more than $1.7 billion, a gross underestimate. See "White House Web Scrubbing," Washington Post, December 18: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9821-2003Dec17.html AID officials told the Post that the page was removed because ABC News was going to charge for it. But the exemplary Milbank contacted ABC News, which said that wasn't true. A copy of the web page containing the Natsios interview that was deleted from the US AID web site is here: http://www.fas.org/sgp/temp/natsios042303.html Other instances of "political" modifications to official web sites were cited recently in the House Government Reform Minority report on "Politics and Science in the Bush Administration" available here: http://www.politicsandscience.org

US "DISCOVERS" IRAQI MOLES

2003-12-19T00:05:00.000-08:00

'Gold Mine'

Saddam Hussein’s Loyalists Infiltrated U.S. Operations in Iraq By Martha Raddatz, Dec. 18, ABCNEWS — Agents for deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein have penetrated the U.S. command in Iraq, ABCNEWS has learned. As a result, they have the potential to undermine U.S. authority. Among the documents found in Saddam's briefcase when he was captured last weekend was a list of names of Iraqis who have been working with the United States — either in the Iraqi security forces or the Coalition Provisional Authority — and are feeding information to the insurgents, a U.S. official told ABCNEWS. "We were badly infiltrated," said the official, adding that finding the list of names is a "gold mine." LINK

- I've said for 3 months that Iraq had moles inside the PRC, but this news is not to be taken at face value. Saddam having a briefcase full of names of all Iraqi agents violates the most elementary notions of "need to know" operational security. More likely it is a disinformation attempt to get Iraqi moles to quit and discover who they are that way or at least to get them to pause in their activity for a while, while they try to figure out if this information is true.

GOVT SECURITY CLEARANCE POLICY IN DISARRAY

2003-12-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

From FAS: SECURITY CLEARANCE POLICY IN DISARRAY

After a decade of concerted effort to streamline and rationalize
the procedures for granting security clearances, there are
still major defects in security clearance policy, particularly
when it comes to industrial contractors doing classified work
for the government, according to a new report.

First and foremost, the system is plagued by delays in handling
of clearance applications, which sometimes take several years
to be processed, according to the 2002 report of the National
Industrial Security Program (NISP).

"According to those interviewed, the delays cost industry
countless millions of dollars per year," the NISP report
stated. "Often individuals left the company before they
actually worked in the position they were hired for, due to
delays in the clearance process."

Another major problem concerns the erosion in "reciprocity,"
i.e. the growing unwillingness of one agency to accept the
clearances issued by another agency without conducting a
separate, independent investigation.

"Based upon the responses given, it is difficult to recognize
that the entire executive branch is supposed to be operating
under uniform investigative standards and adjudicative
guidelines for security clearances," the report said.

"Overall, this report reveals that items identified as progress
points in our January 1999 NISP report are no longer
progressing," it said.

A copy of the 2002 NISP report, published last month by the
Information Security Oversight Office, is available here (1.7
MB PDF file):

http://www.fas.org/sgp/isoo/nisp2002.pdf

WILSON CASE INSTRUCTIVE ON "THOSE WHO KNOW TOO MUCH"

2003-12-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

Former CIA agent was hung out to dry

By ERIC MARGOLIS -- Contributing Foreign Editor, TORONTO SUN

The case of former Central Intelligence Agency officer Edwin P. Wilson recalls the words of the great American thinker, H.L. Mencken: "Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under."

The Wilson case has outraged me for 20 years.

In 1982 and 1983, the federal court in northern Virginia - the same hang-'em-high court the feds now use to try terrorism cases - along with courts in New York and Texas, sentenced Wilson to a total of 52 years in prison for selling arms, including 22 tons of explosives, to Libya. He was also convicted on shaky charges of attempted murder.

Wilson, now 75 years old, has served 20 years in a maximum security prison.

I always believed Wilson innocent and spoke to him many times in prison.

"I was framed by the government," Wilson told me. "They want me to disappear. I know too much."

His words shake me to this day.

"They buried him alive in prison," a former CIA official confided to me.

Last week, Houston Federal District Judge Lynn Hughes threw out Wilson's two-decades old conviction. She wrote: "Government knowingly used false evidence against him," concluding "honesty comes hard to government."

Wilson, a veteran, tough-as-nails CIA field agent who specialized in running arms and mounting coups, was one of the agency's old-time "cowboys." In 1971, Wilson officially "retired" from the CIA and went into business on his own. In reality, the CIA used Wilson for potentially explosive clandestine deals it wanted to keep "deniable." ... MORE

PS: New Blogs to Check out:

#1- Clone cone's: What is the Point?
#2 - KIck the Leftist's: Big Corporate vs. 13 y/o girl

CIA VETOS RELEASE OF 35 YR OLD PRESIDENTIAL BRIEF TO PROTECT BUSH NOW

2003-12-11T12:50:00.000-08:00

If they prevent ANY presidential briefs being released it helps them protect them Aug 8, 2001 PDB that might implicate Bush in foreknowledge of 9-11:

CIA VETOES RELEASE OF 1968 PRESIDENTIAL BRIEF

Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet has
intervened to prevent the partial declassification of a
1968 issue of the President's Daily Brief, overruling for
the first time an interagency panel that had ordered
release of the document.

DCI Tenet invoked the authority that was granted by a March
2003 Bush executive order which permits him to block the
declassification decisions of the Interagency Security
Classification Appeals Panel.

Independent historian Peter Pesavento had requested
declassification of the President's Daily Brief (PDB) dated
November 26, 1968 because it reportedly discusses the
status and implications of the Soviet manned lunar program,
a subject of his current research interest.

Remarkably, the Interagency Security Classification Appeals
Panel (ISCAP), an executive branch body composed of
representatives of five member agencies that considers
declassification appeals, sided with Pesavento and voted in
favor of partial declassification of the requested PDB.
That is, a majority of the panel rejected the CIA's
position and said the document could be safely disclosed in
part.

But then DCI Tenet stepped in to block disclosure.
Exercising the new secrecy powers granted him by President
Bush for the first time, he vetoed the ISCAP decision.

Pesavento said that, pursuant to the provisions of the
executive order, the National Archivist, an ISCAP member,
has appealed the DCI's veto to the White House. But to
date, no response to the appeal has been received from the
White House. Under existing bylaws and orders, there is no
deadline for response, ever.

J. William Leonard, director of the Information Security
Oversight Office and ISCAP executive secretary, today
confirmed Pesavento's general account but said he could not
discuss it in detail because "it is a subject of pending
deliberation."

Trying to imagine CIA's rationale for blocking release of
the document, Pesavento speculated that "If this PDB gets
okayed for declassification, then this will be the 'opening
of the floodgates' it is feared to all PDBs now in the LBJ
archives...and beyond...."

In fact, CIA has consistently treated PDBs as sacrosanct and
beyond the purview of ordinary mortals. Regardless of
their specific contents, the fact that the PDBs served as
their intelligence conduit to the President should render
them permanently beyond legal access and independent
review, the CIA seems to believe.

The CIA approach is far from the ideal of a threat-based
information security policy, in which classification is
strictly limited to sensitive information that could damage
national security. It represents instead a kind of
fetishism on the part of CIA officials.

Most recently, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
that is investigating September 11 clashed with the White
House over access to PDBs, finally reaching an arrangement
for limited access by a subset of Commissioners.

President Bush this year weakened the ISCAP by giving the
DCI veto authority over the Panel's decisions to declassify
CIA records. See executive order 13292, section 5.3(f):

http://www.fas.org/sgp/bush/eoamend.html

The CIA had challenged ISCAP in the past, but in a 1999
opinion the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel
(OLC) determined that ISCAP was authorized by the President
to declassify CIA records over CIA objections. That
authority has been drastically curtailed by President Bush,
leaving CIA free to classify, and over-classify, at will.
See the 1999 OLC opinion here:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/advisory/iscap/olc_opinion.html

CIA STRATEGY MEMO ON HOW TO HANDLE DOCUMENT REQUEST

The mindless, reflexive secrecy surrounding the President's
Daily Brief (PDB) is also evident in an internal CIA memo
discussing how to respond to a request for PDBs and other
intelligence materials that were sought by requester
Michael Ravnitzky.

"I don't believe we can get away with an NRL on the subject
case," the May 2002 memo states with startling candor. NRL
here stands for "no records located."

Following some impudent commentary on Ravnitzky's motives
and intentions, the CIA memo concludes by proposing
redaction and release of "specified NID/CIBs" [referring to
the National Intelligence Daily and the Central
Intelligence Bulletin] while recommending that the Agency
"deny the PDBs in accordance with out current policy."

Another CIA official concurs. "We may be in a stronger
posture to defend the PDBs if we have made a reasonable
accommodation on the CIBs."

A copy of the CIA memo on the Ravnitzky Case, marked
"Administrative - Internal Use Only," was obtained by
Secrecy News and is posted here:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/advisory/iscap/cia050602.pdf

Mr. Ravnitzky expressed surprise at the memo, pointing out
that he had filed his request in good faith, seeking only a
small number of specifically identified documents.

"Such intelligence briefings should be released unless their
release would cause harm to national security, or would
disclose sources and methods, or would cause some
articulable harm," he told Secrecy News.

"The CIA is handling these ... requests in such an unusual
manner because they cannot articulate any harm that would
be caused by the release of portions of these ancient and
historically invaluable daily briefings," Ravnitzky said.

ALUMINUM TUBES CONTROVERSY ILLUSTRATES INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE WEAKNESSES

2003-12-09T12:49:00.000-08:00

from FAS: MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT IRAQ'S ALUMINUM TUBES

The discovery three years ago that Iraq was seeking to procure thousands of aluminum tubes was promptly interpreted by the Central Intelligence Agency as a sign that Saddam Hussein was pursuing uranium enrichment centrifuge technology for a reconstituted Iraqi nuclear weapons program.

That assessment, leaked to the press and uncritically reported, helped bolster the Bush Administration case for war against Iraq.

But now all indications are that the CIA assessment was wrong, according to David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), who
has authored a detailed review of the aluminum tube controversy.

"Since the fall of Baghdad last spring, no evidence has emerged that Iraq planned to use the aluminum tubes in centrifuges. Despite months of searching, the Iraqi Survey Group (ISG) has not found any link between the tubes and a gas centrifuge program," Albright wrote.

Albright traces the development of the aluminum tube story from its earliest beginnings to the latest equivocations on the matter by David Kay of the CIA's Iraq Survey Group.

Among other lessons learned, Albright notes that the National Intelligence Estimate process proved to be a poor instrument for adjudicating the significance of the aluminum tubes.

Crucially, of the ten or so intelligence agencies that each had one vote on the Estimate, those with technical expertise in centrifuge technology were outnumbered by those without such expertise.

At a time when intelligence oversight has moved entirely behind closed doors and is effectively dormant, Albright's review significantly enriches the public record on this
controversial matter.

See "Iraq's Aluminum Tubes: Separating Fact from Fiction" by David Albright, Institute for Science and International Security, December 5:

http://tinyurl.com/yfr8

The most damning thing one could say about an intelligence agency is not that it sometimes makes mistakes in analysis, which is inevitable, but that it refuses to admit its
mistakes. When an agency cannot admit error, it cannot learn from its own missteps and is doomed to mediocrity.

In a recent publication, Stuart Cohen, Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, finds no reason to acknowledge a single flaw in U.S. intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. It is the critics, he says, who have it wrong.

See "Iraq's WMD Programs: Culling Hard Facts from Soft Myths" by Stuart Cohen, November 28:

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2003/11/cia112803.html

But whether CIA admits it or not, the Agency is already paying a price in credibility for having acquiesced in overstating the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

So when the CIA issues an assessment on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, for example, it is now roundly met with skepticism by national security experts, as the Los Angeles Times reported today.

See "N. Korea's Nuclear Success Is Doubted" by Douglas Frantz, Los Angeles Times, December 9:

http://tinyurl.com/yfqm

INTEL OVERHAUL NEEDED

2003-12-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

Ex-Government Officials Recommend Intelligence Overhaul

By JAMES RISEN, NY TIMES

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 — In the two years since the Sept. 11 attacks, a group of veterans of the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Pentagon has been quietly trying to figure out how to help shape the debate over intelligence reform in the wake of the attacks. They say the place to start is a drastic realignment of the way the United States conducts intelligence and counterterrorism operations within its borders.

And, in the best spirit of media-drenched modern-day Washington, they are taking their case public.

On Monday, two members of this private group testified before the independent commission on the 9/11 attacks to urge an overhaul of domestic intelligence.

John MacGaffin, a former senior C.I.A. official, and John Hamre, a deputy defense secretary in the Clinton administration, recommended that a new domestic intelligence service be created within the F.B.I., but that it be managed by the director of central intelligence.

Their proposal falls short of calling for a new domestic spy agency like Britain's MI-5. That is a result of sharp divisions within the group over whether the F.B.I. should be given another chance to prove that it can handle domestic intelligence.

"Our group was divided on the question of whether or not we felt the F.B.I. could make this transition," Mr. Hamre told the commission.

The group is made up of former officials from intelligence and law enforcement, and consists of Robert Bryant, former deputy director of the F.B.I.; Mr. MacGaffin, former associate deputy director for operations at the C.I.A.; Paul Redmond, former chief of counterintelligence at the C.I.A.; Jeffrey Smith, former general counsel of the C.I.A.; Howard Shapiro, former general counsel of the F.B.I.; Jack Lawn, a former senior F.B.I. official; and Mr. Hamre.

They have decided to focus on domestic intelligence in part because it is an issue that is still up for grabs in Washington. The Bush administration has so far rejected proposals to create a new domestic intelligence agency, and instead has taken a series of measures short of that, including the creation of a terrorist threat analysis organization jointly run by the C.I.A. and F.B.I. But there is strong interest in Congress in more comprehensive reforms, and the Sept. 11 commission seems likely to recommend creating an independent domestic intelligence agency.

"The domestic collection piece is the one where there is the most room for improvement, because so little is being done," Mr. MacGaffin said....
LINK

"CYBER SECURITY SLIPS OFF RADAR SCREEN"

2003-12-07T16:00:00.000-08:00

CYBERSUMMIT SET HERE TODAY: Computer security in focus

By Elise Ackerman, Mercury News

As George Bush makes national security the watchword of his presidency, some Silicon Valley leaders worry cybersecurity seems to have slipped off the administration's radar screen.

Implementation of a highly touted ``national strategy to secure cyberspace'' has been delayed almost a year. Billions of dollars intended for cybersecurity programs -- to protect everything from federal networks to home computer users from everyone from adolescent hackers to cyberterrorists -- have not been spent. Two presidential advisers for cybersecurity have left the government, one after only two months.

Today, a group of lobbyists, business leaders, elected representatives and security experts hope to refocus the administration's attention on the risks of vulnerable computer systems at a ``National Cyber Security Summit'' in Silicon Valley. Among those expected to be listening at the Santa Clara Marriott are Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge and Robert Liscouski, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary of infrastructure protection.

``I think everyone is frustrated by the lack of forward movement,'' said 3Com Chairman Eric Benhamou... LINK

FBI INTEGRATES TERRORIST AND CRIMINAL CHECKS

2003-12-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

FROM FAS: FBI OPENS TERRORIST SCREENING CENTER

The FBI this week commenced operation of a new Terrorist
Screening Center (TSC) to aid law enforcement officials in the
identification of suspected terrorists.

"When a patrol officer runs a name check query on a subject
through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the
system will now include a check for any known or suspected
links to terrorism," according to a November 28 FBI message
circulated through the National Law Enforcement
Telecommunications System (NLETS). A copy was obtained by
Secrecy News.

Initial operation of the TSC will be "limited -- records will be
phased in to ensure the identities of subjects are in fact
terrorists," the memo said. See:

http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fbi/fbi-tsc.pdf

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) criticized the delay in fully
activating the new name check system. Democrats in the House
Select Committee on Homeland Security spelled out a list of ten
essential requirements they said the system must fulfill. See:

http://www.house.gov/hsc/democrats/

Elsewhere, the prospect of integrating intelligence and criminal
databases was already raising eyebrows and anxieties.

A news story about Washington State's LINX database reports that
"The LINX system's unprecedented power to catch criminals and
thwart terrorists also carries a serious potential for abuse of
civil rights, law enforcement observers say."

See "'Nobody is safe from' scrutiny of program" by Paul
Shukovsky and Mike Barber, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November
29:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/150440_linxside29.html

A sober assessment of the benefits and challenges of harnessing
information technology to prevent terrorism and protect civil
liberties was offered this week by the Markle Foundation here:

http://www.markletaskforce.org

+++++

NEW BLOG to check out: Bark bark woof woof

PS:

PRACTICAL GOOGLEBOMBING
from Mudshark

Atrios and his regular commenters have been busy thinking up variations on Old Fashioned Patriot's "miserable failure" project of a couple months ago...this time the search terms are unelectable and vast right wing conspiracy.

Now, no offense to these fine people -- because, hey, I love the idea myself, as I've posted before -- but after giving this a bit of thought, I'm thinking there just might be an even better way to do it. The conclusion the ol' Mudshark has come to is: if ya wanna spread what some folks call memes (yeah, I know, I said I wouldn't use that word) about Shrub, then ya gotta use search terms that people will actually search for -- say, when doing research for a term paper or whatever. I mean, yeah, he may well be unelectable (without the aid of Diebold, at least), and he's indisputably a miserable failure, but how many people are actually gonna type those phrases into a Google searchbox?

Here's the way you do it, y'all:

FASCISM (or FASCIST)

WAR CRIMES

MACHIAVELLIAN

TOTALITARIANISM

1984

DRAFT EVASION

ALCOHOLISM

COCAINE ADDICTION

INTELLIGENCE REVIEW SHOULD FIND ANSWERS THAT ARE ALREADY KNOWN

2003-12-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

US intelligence under the microscope

By David Isenberg, ASIA TIMES

...The reappraisal is being conducted in two classified reviews by the National Intelligence Council, which reports to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director George Tenet...

...In September, former Clinton administration deputy secretary of defense John Hamre wrote in Aviation Week and Space Technology: "In relationship to this quest for certainty, I noticed that fragments of information gained greater certainty the farther away they were from the intelligence professional. The intelligence analyst is usually careful to note the reliability and timeliness of the intelligence 'fact', but the qualifiers are often summarized and dropped as the intelligence briefing moves up the decision-making ladder. Alternative hypotheses are often omitted. A data element of questionable reliability can gain credibility as it rises through the intelligence hierarchy until it becomes authoritative evidence. " ...

...Another frequent problem is that intelligence customers, ie, policymakers, simply ignore facts that don't suit their preferred conclusions. For example, back in July, the White House released a portion of the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq that said intelligence agencies concluded Iraq probably will have a nuclear weapon within this decade if it pursued a weapons program unchecked. But the report also included a footnote, a rarely used means of formal dissent from the State Department's intelligence agency that referred to Iraq's attempt to buy uranium tubes. Such efforts are not clearly linked to a nuclear end use, the footnote said. It added that the claims of Iraqi pursuit of natural uranium in Africa are, in the agency's assessment, highly dubious.

Asked by reporters at a news conference in July whether the president was aware of the State Department's dissent from the group, a senior White House official said that President George W Bush hadn't read the full 90-page report, adding, "The president of the United States is not a fact checker."

And, if unpleasant facts get in the way they can simply be bypassed. An article by veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh in the October 27 New Yorker provides an example. He cites Kenneth Pollack, a former National Security Council expert on Iraq who supported the war, "what the Bush people did was 'dismantle the existing filtering process that for 50 years had been preventing the policymakers from getting bad information. They created stovepipes to get the information they wanted directly to the top leadership'." LINK

DEATHS OF SPANISH INTEL OFFICERS LEAD TO MORE CONCERN ABOUT MOLES

2003-11-30T20:09:00.000-08:00

Massacre of Spanish Secret Agents

Guerrillas ambushed two vehicles carrying Spanish intelligence operatives in Latifiya, a Sunni town just south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing 7 and wounding another. They used rocket propelled grenades and machine guns. Crowds of young men gathered to celebrate, kicking the bodies and chanting slogans in favor of Saddam Hussein. Four of the agents were due to go home, and were riding with their replacements. The incident is sure to kick off another round of debate in Spain about the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq. A majority of the Spanish public opposes involvement in Iraq, and the opposition Socialists are sure to campaign on a withdrawal of the 1200 or so troops, which are mainly in the Najaf region. Another Spanish intelligence officer was assassinated earlier this year, and one wonders whether the ex-Baath still have sources inside the National Intelligence Center operations in Iraq. LINK

PLAME COVERUP SEEMS TO BE SUCCEEDING

2003-11-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

The cautionary tale of two public servants

By Floyd J. McKay, Special to The Seattle Times

I'm not privy to talks between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush, but I wonder if the names David Kelly and Valerie Plame didn't enter the conversation.

When we were in Britain in August, there was a huge furor over Blair's government "outing" a weapons expert who told the BBC that Blair's office "sexed up" weapons data in order to justify the war in Iraq.

The scientist, Dr. David Kelly, talked to a BBC reporter on condition that his name not be used. The story was a factor in British public opinion turning against Blair....

...Anyone who has covered government or served in a major state or federal office will have little doubt that the leak was authorized at the highest level, if not the White House itself. Lower-level officials don't freelance leaks in sensitive areas.

This is hardball played to the extreme. The president has ordered his people to "fess up," but the investigation will be directed by Attorney General John Ashcroft, so little is to be expected. Unlike in Britain, the American investigation will be conducted in secret.

Also unlike the British, the American media and public don't seem to care. The media, of course, live off leaks. But public concern, or even interest, is lacking.

One reason, I think, is the way career civil servants are regarded in the two nations. The British civil service is highly regarded, difficult to enter and seldom a target of campaign rhetoric. British candidates run against the other party and its policies, not against the national government's career people.

By contrast, the most successful rhetoric for an American candidate, particularly a Republican, is to run against bureaucrats, the "Washington, D.C., establishment." Exception is given, of course, to the military. So the very dangerous outing of Valerie Plame raises little concern in the public. In Britain, a less-serious offense genuinely threatened Blair's hold on his party leadership.

The way Americans regard those who have committed their careers to public service is quite different than most European nations, for that matter. In the major democracies, such as France and Germany, civil servants are held in high respect (politicians are not) and a career in public service is attractive to bright young graduates.

The case of David Kelly sent a message to Downing Street to keep its hands off the career officials. The Valerie Plame case warned career officials to toe the White House line. Quite a difference. LINK

LEAKED RAW INTEL MEMO BACKFIRES

2003-11-26T19:30:00.000-08:00

'Plumbers' Are Under Investigation
in Cheney-Gate
by Jeffrey Steinberg, EIR
The triumphant neo-conservative claim trumpeted throughout U.S. media on Nov. 14—that links between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda had been "conclusively proven" by a memo from Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith to the Senate Intelligence Committee—rapidly went the way of all previous such cooked claims from Vice President Dick Cheney's faction in Washington. But more, this claim had, by Nov. 17-18, boomeranged into its opposite: a Defense Department denial of the claim itself; an eruption of official demands to investigate who passed this classified document to the waiting neo-con press; the likely revival of the Intelligence Committee probe which had been shut down on Nov. 7 "to save Cheney's neck"; and the escalation of "Cheney-gate" itself, by the exposure of what appear to be "plumbers' " operations to steal sensitive documents from the Cheney faction's opponents.... LINK

INTEL OK, JUST NOT FAST ENOUGH?

2003-11-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

Summary of AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes

Dems criticized the intelligence Bush used to make his case for war... CIA maintains that its handling of prewar intelligence was sound, and is supported by some Republicans who agree gaps in intelligence existed but stress that committee's review not complete....

...Internal review is underway by a team led by Richard Kerr, retired senior analyst and former DDCI...

Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., said criticism of intelligence personnel "is a little despicable."...

...In later interviews, Goss acknowledged gaps in prewar intelligence but contends that many of the problems were due to the failure to finance intelligence agencies adequately in the 1990s and restrictions imposed on intelligence work. "It wasn't flawed," he said. "There wasn't enough of it."

TRANSLATIONS:

Republicans: Its OK to burn CIA personnel, but not to criticize them. All problems are due to Clinton, and lack of funding.

CIA: WE weren't the ones to screw up (though we can't come right out and say it.).. and we WILL take some more money, thank you...

Dems: We're criticizing the CIA, but we know full well that it was Bush, but this is the only forum we can do it in.

++++++++++++++++++++++
PS NEW ENVIRONMENTAL BLOG: DAMAGE

FOLLOWUP ON INTEL ANALYST JOHN KOKAL'S "SUICIDE"

2003-11-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

Mystery surrounds death of State Dept. Official

Kokal's INR bureau was at the forefront of confronting claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction

FTW Saturday November 15, 2003, Updated November 20, By Wayne Madsen

In a case eerily reminiscent of the death of British Ministry of Defense bio-weapons expert, Dr. David Kelly, an official of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Near East and South Asian division (INR/NESA), John J. Kokal, 58, was found dead in the late afternoon of November 7.
Police indicated he may have jumped from the roof of the State Department. Kokal's body was found at the bottom of a 20 foot window well, 8 floors below the roof of the State Department headquarters near the 23rd and D Street location. Kokal's death was briefly mentioned in a FOX News website story on November 8 but has been virtually overlooked by the major media.

Interestingly, the FOX report states that State Department officials confirmed Kokal's death to The Washington Post yet the Post - according to an archive search - has published nothing at all about Kokal's death. ...

However, a colleague of Kokal's told this writer that the Iraq analyst was despondent over "problems" with his security clearance. Kokal reportedly climbed out of a window and threw himself out in such a manner so that he would "land on his head." At the time Kokal fell from either the roof or a window, his wife Pamela, a public affairs specialist in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, was waiting for him in the parking garage....

....The body was at the bottom of a well of light out of concrete, with the foot of the building of eight floors of the State Department. At first sight, one could have believed that the man had thrown roof to commit suicide. But if the corpse wore a shirt, a tie and trousers, it had neither shoes nor jacket, whereas the temperature in the federal capital these days is hardly higher than ten degrees.

Moreover, the building not having windows, the man should have gone up on the roof of this ultra-protected building to jump into space. In the doubt, the firemen, called to intervene in the five hour old neighbourhoods of the afternoon Friday November 7, preferred not to touch with the body....

...Manis2Society of Cosmic Iguana notes, as pointed out in the Fox piece, that when Kokal's body was discovered, he was wearing neither a coat nor shoes. Manis, in admirable super-sleuth mode, speculates at League of Liberals that "his body was probably moved and those items removed to eliminate clues." (NOTE: these excerpts are from a compilation of writings from various sources: http://news.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/11/22/2316240

DID AL-QAEDA REALLY COMMIT THE LATEST BOMBINGS?

2003-11-21T16:40:00.000-08:00

CONSPIRACY THEORY: WERE BOMBINGS IN TURKEY AND S. ARABIA REALLY US -SPONSORED?

The question is Intel work is "Who benefits?" When Moslems kill Moslems, the answer could be the US. That would be a motive, i.e. mobilizing Moslem public opinion against Al Qaeda, but is there any chance it could it be real?

There is a precedent:

In another little episode ... long forgotten by Americans, but still alive in the minds of thousands of Mideast peoples, our CIA's William Casey, attempting to murder Sheik Muhammed Fedlallah (spiritual leader of Lebanese Shiites), which a truck bomb placed outside a Beirut mosque, killed 81 innocent bystanders and injured hundreds. The Sheik escaped. Bob Woodward in his carefully-researched 1987 book Veil reported Israeli agents had manufactured and set off that bomb for our CIA. The well-laundered funding for the disaster had been deposited in Casey's secret account by none other than the Saudi's Prince Bandar. link

U.N. REPORT: SANCTIONS ON AL QAIDA FAILING

2003-11-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

"The only thing holding al Qaida back from using chemical and biological weapons is its lack of technical expertise"

FROM NY TIMES via AFIO:

U.N. REPORT: SANCTIONS ON AL QAIDA FAILING -- An expert group established by the UN Security Council last January to monitor the success of sanctions against 272 individuals and entities linked to al Qaida and the Taliban regime has concluded that the only thing holding al Qaida back from using chemical and biological weapons is its lack of technical expertise. The "confidential" report obtained by the AP recently said the terrorists have already decided to use these weapons in future attacks. The UN sanctions include the freezing of assets, a travel ban, and an arms embargo.

While "important progress has been made toward cutting off al Qaida financing," the report said serious loopholes remain that enable the terrorist network to funnel money to operatives. "Al Qaida continues to receive funds it needs from charities, deep pocket donors, and business and criminal activities, including the drug trade," it said. Sanctions are failing in part because many governments refuse to add names to the sanctions list, even though some 4,000 individuals in 102 countries have been arrested or detained. Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen reported the arrest of individuals linked to al Qaida and the Taliban yet in most cases they did not submit the names to be put on the sanctions list. And even some on the list have been allowed to travel and evade sanctions. The expert group called on the Security Council to adopt a new resolution requiring all 191 member states to enforce sanctions.

The latest spate of terrorist attacks against Moslem populaces may prod some of the Middle Eastern states to more effective actions; one could even hope for more extensive and prompt intelligence sharing. While this may have a too-optimistic ring, it should be noted that even the Security Council's own experts' report says that unless the UN requires its members to enforce the sanctions, its role in fighting terrorism "risks becoming marginalized." Americans may detect a familiar ring in those words. [D. Harvey // NYT, 15 Nov '03 via AP]

new blog

2003-11-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

Anarchy Xero

Winding the Iraq Deathwatch

""It's becoming more and more clear that America's neo-conservative regime was so blinded by it's dual lust for oil and expanded empire that, not only did they fabricate lies to justify the invasion of Iraq but they also didn't bother to plan for the occupation. Now, just like Afghanistan they have what they want, energy resources and a pliant puppet regime. The rest of the country descending into chaos? That's just fine. Soon enough the war will be "won", that is, when the American people stop paying attention and we've moved on to invade Iran or Syria.""

INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION EXPANDS SURVEILLANCE - AGAIN

2003-11-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

From FAS:

REPORT ON 2004 INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION

The new House-Senate conference report on the intelligence
authorization act for FY 2004 provides for a significant
expansion of the government's counterterrorism surveillance
authority.

"This provision allows the U.S. Government to have, through use
of 'National Security Letters,' greater access to a larger
universe of information that goes beyond traditional financial
records, but is nonetheless crucial in tracking terrorist
finances or espionage activities," the report said (section
374).

Several Senators, including Republican Larry Craig of Idaho, had
urged that this provision be deferred pending further review and
public hearings, as reported in the New York Times today. Their
request was ignored.

Among numerous other notable features, the conference report
would "Reaffirm the functional definition of covert action."

Although the meaning of this section is obscure, it seems to
imply certain reporting requirements for activities that
resemble traditional CIA "covert action" regardless of which
agency undertakes them. Thus, this section concludes, "The
Conferees expect all departments and agencies of the U.S.
Government to continue to comply fully with the [National
Security] Act and its legislative history."

The conference report interprets the recent termination of the
Total Information Awareness program as a prohibition on
"deployment and implementation," but not as a restriction on
research and development of "advanced processing, analysis, and
collaboration tools."

But the conferees also call for an unclassified report on the
civil liberties implications of such new technologies: "The
Conferees are convinced... that an analysis of the policies and
procedures necessary to safeguard individual liberties and
privacy should occur concurrently with the development of these
analytic tools, not as an afterthought."

The text of the conference report on the 2004 intelligence
authorization act is posted here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_rpt/2004conf.html

OPERATION "OOPS"

2003-11-19T22:55:00.000-08:00

CIA will examine raw data on Iraq

By John Diamond, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — CIA Director George Tenet has ordered investigators to substantially widen their internal probe of Iraq intelligence to consider whether the agency missed telltale signs that Iraq had gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction before the U.S.-led invasion last March....
LINK

HUNT FOR SADDAM IS VICTIM OF SADDAM'S SUPERIOR INTEL

2003-11-19T13:32:00.000-08:00

Electronic Pursuit of Saddam and Coalition Fortress in Baghdad

DEBKAfile Special Report - LINK

November 18, 2003, 10:37 PM (GMT+02:00) For two months less one day, Saddam Hussein’s gravelly voice was not heard once over the airwaves. On November 16, beginning the last week of Ramdan, an audiotape landed at the Dubai studios of al Arabiya describing the Iraqi people as made of a special kind of chemical that no one alive had ever vanquished and calling on them to wage holy war against the American occupier.

What kept him silent from September 17?

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources have two answers – both highly pertinent to the US forces’ failure to run the deposed Iraqi ruler to earth or bring the Iraqi-Arab guerilla campaign to a halt:

1. The inability of US intelligence to penetrate the inner circle Saddam Hussein kept with him when he went into hiding.

2. That inner circle’s superior ability to keep track of American moves.

In early September, the US command in Iraq was certain that its Task Force 121, charged with catching Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction, was closing in on the fugitive dictator and only hours away from capturing him. The hunt that focused on Tikrit at the heart of the Sunni Triangle and on Mosul in the north came to a dead end.

American commanders, running out of leads, decided to launch a massive effort to track the elusive former president through the movements of the audiotapes which he was somehow able to deliver whenever he wanted at the Qatari TV station Al Jazeera and the Al Arabiya TV studio in Dubai. They waited for his taped voice to materialize and signal a fresh stage in the anti-US guerrilla campaign, as it did just before the series of destructive bombings in Baghdad, the systematic sabotage of oil pipelines and the marked upsurge in guerrilla activity. Various experts were assigned to trying to identify the person who handed in the tapes, their recipient and their route to the broadcasting studios as a means of tracing the wanted man’s whereabouts.

Staffers of the two Arab stations were placed under around- the-clock surveillance, their phones and computers tapped and their cars shadowed. Angry confrontations ended more than once with cameras and film being confiscated. At the outset of Operation Iron Hammer on November 13, US bombers made a side swipe at a building owned by al Jazeera TV in south Baghdad. Alternatively, electronic specialists kept a close watch on telephone, radio and electronic traffic to spot any digital transfers or recordings of the audio tapes.

None of this availed. No sooner was this blanket surveillance in place, when the flow of audiocassettes dried up. Clearly, Saddam’s contacts among the TV personnel and other objects of surveillance had warned him to lie low and observe total electronic hush so as not to give his hideout away.

When Ramadan began last month, US intelligence expected Saddam to go into his Muslim leader mode and broadcast a message to the Iraqi people. Hoping he would break silence and cover, physical and electronic observation was tightened. But he sidestepped the spies and re-appeared when he was no longer expected – on the first day of the last week of Ramadan, leaving American undercover watchers no wiser than before.

US administrator Paul Bremer, who had returned the day before from Washington with new White House guidelines for speeding up the transfer of administration to Iraqi sovereignty, was faced with the task of puzzling out why the massive surveillance campaign had ended so fruitlessly.

While Bremer himself appears to be exceptionally well-informed on Iraqi affairs, sentiment and dynamics, some Iraqis criticize his administration for isolating itself in the heavily guarded and fortified Green Zone centering on the former president’s main palaces in central Baghdad. This complex houses the civilian authority run by the coalition and offices of US consultants in Iraq’s reconstruction projects. Being fairly self-sufficient, it is cut off from ordinary city life. Psychologically, say the critics, this is bound to induce in the coalition authority a siege mentality.

One of the enigmas still defying a solution is the precise relationship between former Iraqi rulers and the pro-Saddam guerrilla-cum-terror campaign waged now in Iraq. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources refute the reports circulating this week that Saddam’s deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri is running the campaign. Neither are there any signs of direct lines between the guerrillas and terrorists out in the field and Saddam himself. Their discovery would also provide leads to the former president’s lair and are therefore anxiously sought.

Reports placed before last week’s White House conference on Iraq recalled early theories based on the background noise that occurred on his first tapes that they were made in a moving car. He is still believed to be constantly changing houses and very much dependent on tribal contacts. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani told CNN this week that Saddam has changed his appearance. Asked how he knew, he cited “people who have seen him”. Talabani, current president of the Governing Council, also commented that Saddam “is not strong enough or brave enough” to manage the insurgency campaign against coalition forces. He noted that Iraq was a very big country with many good hiding places.

None of these efforts, rumors or theories has brought coalition forces any closer to laying hands on Saddam Hussein. Therefore, the key to breaking the violent warfare that daily claims coalition lives remains elusive.

US STALLS FOR YEARS IN RELEASING RECORDS

2003-11-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

U.S. offices take years to provide requested data

FBI, Pentagon, CIA among the worst procrastinators

Tuesday, November 18, 2003, ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

The FBI, CIA, the Pentagon and other federal agencies have taken more than a decade to release public records on important events -- despite a law that requires them to disclose documents promptly, a study released Monday showed.

The single-oldest pending request to any federal agency is a 1987 request from San Francisco Chronicle reporter Seth Rosenfeld seeking documents on FBI activities at the University of California during the Cold War, the survey found.

The study -- called "Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied: The Ten Oldest Pending FOIA Requests" - was done by George Washington University's National Security Archive.

The nonprofit research group in Washington, D.C., sent requests to 35 government agencies for copies of their 10 oldest pending requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The FOIA is the main federal law requiring public access to executive branch records and says agencies must respond to requests within 20 working days, and allows them an extension of 10 days for "unusual circumstances."

Annual reports from the agencies -- required under a 1996 law -- claim the average wait time for records ranges from a low of two working days at the Small Business Administration to a high of 1,113 working days at the Environmental Protection Agency.

But the study found that the annual reports greatly understated "excessive" delays and that some FOIA requests wait more than 10 years without being processed. ...LINK

CIA investigates yet another leak

2003-11-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

CIA Seeks Probe of Iraq-Al Qaeda Memo Leak

By Walter Pincus, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, November 18, 2003; Page A18

The CIA will ask the Justice Department to investigate the leak of a 16-page classified Pentagon memo that listed and briefly described raw agency intelligence on any relationship between Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, according to congressional and administration sources.

In addition, the leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Vice Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), are considering making their own request for a Justice investigation. The top-secret memo was attached to an Oct. 27 letter to them from Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith. Feith was answering a request that he support his assertion during a closed-door hearing in July that there was intelligence to support a longtime relationship between the Iraqi leader and the terrorist group....

...[BUT]...W. Patrick Lang, former head of the Middle East section of the DIA, said yesterday that the Standard article "is a listing of a mass of unconfirmed reports, many of which themselves indicate that the two groups continued to try to establish some sort of relationship. If they had such a productive relationship, why did they have to keep trying?"

Another former senior intelligence official said the memo is not an intelligence product but rather "data points . . . among the millions of holdings of the intelligence agencies, many of which are simply not thought likely to be true." link

BRIT INTEL WHISTLEBLOWER ARRESTED FOR EXPOSING U.S. BLACKMAIL ATTEMPT at U.N.

2003-11-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

from Open eyes, open ears

Katherine Gun: Another Heroic Whistleblower

An old college classmate of mine just called my attention to the following story in The Guardian. It appears that back in March, when the U.S. and Britain were still going through the motions of attempting to obtain UN approval for the war on Iraq, the U.S. National Security Agency was brought in to help 'persuade' certain delegates thought to be on the fence. Specifically:

"The NSA made clear that the particular targets of what was described as an eavesdropping 'surge' were the delegates from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria, Guinea and Pakistan - the six crucial 'swing votes' on the security council.

A memo sent by Frank Koza, a senior NSA official, said the information would be used for the US's 'QRC' - quick response capability - 'against' the key UN delegations."

The upshot here being that the NSA was hoping to get some dirt on the swing voters in order to threaten them into supporting the war resolution.

In short, the U.S. was trying to blackmail UN delegates into approving the war.

If all of this happened back in March, why are we only hearing about it now? Well, it seems that we wouldn't be hearing about it at all were it not for a certain intelligence employee named Katherine Gun, who has now sacrificed her career and quite possibly her freedom in order to bring these facts to light. She leaked this information back in March, was arrested, and the information bottled up again by the British legal system. A fuller explanation comes from my college contact, who is a long time family friend of Ms. Gun:

"Katherine has worked as a Chinese translator for British intelligence for the last few years, and was arrested back in March for leaking to the press a document from the most secretive of the US intelligence agencies, the NSA, asking British intelligence to help them gather information about the UN reps of various countries with critical swing votes that could influence the vote on war with Iraq in the hope that they could use the information gathered to blackmail those countries into voting for the war.

British law mandates a media blackout in cases like this so there was no press coverage of her arrest when it happened. She and her parents decided to keep silent about it, hoping that she would not end up getting charged.

Now that she has been formally charged, apparently some coverage is allowed, and the Harwoods want everyone to know about it."

Over at UK Indymedia, someone has bothered to point out that people with Ms. Gun's inside connections are thoroughly vetted, and so almost never leak information like this. The fact that she felt compelled to do so speaks to the seriousness of what the U.S. was doing.

We can only hope that others in the intelligence community will perform similar acts of conscience.

IRAQIS HAVE BETTER INTEL THAN US

2003-11-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

This article confirms again my report about Iraqi moles inside US parameters, and the weakness of the current intel on specific threats

Insurgents gain a deadly edge in intelligence Guerrillas have better sources than the coalition

By John Diamond, Steven Komarow, and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

U.S. forces are losing the intelligence battle in Iraq to an increasingly organized guerrilla force that uses stealth, spies and surprise to inflict punishing casualties.

U.S. military, intelligence and law enforcement officials say that after six months of intensifying guerrilla warfare, Iraqi insurgents know more about the U.S. and allied forces -- their style of operations, convoy routes and vulnerable targets -- than the coalition forces know about them. Indeed, U.S. intelligence has had trouble simply identifying the enemy and figuring out how many are Iraqis and how many are foreign fighters.

With local knowledge and the element of surprise on their side, the guerrillas are exploiting their intelligence edge to overcome the coalition's overwhelming military superiority. Insurgents routinely use inexpensive explosives to destroy multimillion-dollar assets, including tanks and helicopters. Using surveillance and inside information, the guerrillas have assassinated many Iraqis helping the coalition, gunned down a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, killed the top United Nations official in Iraq and blasted the heavily guarded hotel in Baghdad where Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying.

Sophisticated U.S. intelligence tools such as spy satellites and electronic eavesdropping intercepts have been of little practical use, according to intelligence officials in Washington and military officers in Iraq. And despite an intense search and exhaustive intelligence efforts, deposed leader Saddam Hussein remains at large.

The key problem is that Iraqi guerrillas simply have more and better sources than the coalition. U.S. military officers worry that the Iraqis who work for them, such as translators, cooks and drivers, include moles who routinely pass inside information back to insurgents. In at least two cases, Iraqis have been fired on the suspicion that they were spies.

A former senior director in the Iraqi intelligence service says the Americans are right to be anxious.''The intelligence on the Americans is comprehensive and detailed,'' says the Iraqi, who insisted on not being identified and spoke to a reporter in a private home rather than at a restaurant or hotel to avoid being observed. He says guerrillas get detailed reports on what is going on inside the palace grounds occupied by Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. civilian administrator, Bremer's staff and the Governing Council. Again on Tuesday, guerrillas fired mortar rounds into the ''Green Zone,'' a heavily secured area of central Baghdad that includes Bremer's headquarters.... LINK

PS: New Blog Recommendations

And Then

open eyes, open ears, open minds

NEW CIA REPORT SHOWS CIA FIGHTING BACK

2003-11-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

The leak of the latest pessimistic CIA report shows the agency is fighting back against forces in the Administration who promote disinformation or seek to blame policy mistakes on the CIA:

...The CIA report, whose existence was disclosed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, concluded that growing numbers of Iraqis believe that the occupation can be defeated and are supporting the insurgents.

The report, written by the CIA's station chief in Baghdad, was formally presented to top officials Monday, but word of its conclusions was also selectively leaked to various reporters, apparently, said the newspaper, to "make sure the assessment reaches Bush."

The Inquirer's source indicated frustration with Iraq hawks, including Vice President Dick Cheney and the Pentagon's civilian leadership, whose optimistic assessments of the situation had crowded out more somber analyses in White House discussions.

According to the newspaper, the report argued that public skepticism of US intentions in Iraq remained very high – an assessment corroborated by recent Gallup polls in Baghdad – and that the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), which was hand-picked by the CPA, has virtually no popular support.

It also warned that friction between occupation authorities and the Shia Muslim community, both in Baghdad and in the southern part of the country, was growing and could lead to open hostilities, a contingency that has been Washington's worst nightmare since last March's invasion.

Shiites account for at least 60 percent of Iraq's total population, more than twice as much as the Sunnis in central Iraq, the area that US officials have described as the main focus of Ba'ath Party "terrorists" who presumably remain loyal to ousted President Saddam Hussein....

link

YET ANOTHER FORMER INTEL OFFICIAL COMES FORWARD ON IRAQ

2003-11-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

Another Former Intelligence Official Blows the Whistle on Iraq/9-11 Connection

BY THE STAFF OF DEMOCRACY NOW!

November 11, 2003 — Veterans from several U.S. wars are protesting across the country today. But at the vigil outside Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland, there is an unusual presence in their ranks.

Peter Molan spent years listening to Arab radio broadcasts, watching Al Jazeera and visiting Arabic Internet chat-rooms. As one of the many intelligence bureaucrats in the chambers of Washington’s war-planning center, the Pentagon, he had his ear to what was happening on the “Arab street.” In August, 2001, the 25 year veteran Middle East analyst retired to spend more time with his family, continue his scholarship and pursue his hobbies: photography, carving duck decoys and dry-fly fishing.

But then came September 11th.

Not long after the planes hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Molan received a call from the Pentagon saying his services were once again needed. Fluent in Arabic, he was pulled out of retirement to work on the bin Laden case for the Defense Department. After four months of work, Molan went back to retirement. Then he began hearing the Bush administration amplifying the rhetoric against Iraq, implying that Saddam Hussein was tied to the 9-11 attacks.

“The justifications for that war were completely counter to everything that I had learned in that 20-odd years of government service working on the Middle East,” Molan told Democracy Now!. “I was simply outraged by the twisting and turning of intelligence information that I had helped develop to what was clearly, to my mind, a preordained policy decision that I felt to be profoundly wrong. Nothing about this suggests that Saddam Hussein was anything but a brutal dictator. He was. But that's not why we went to war.”

Molan said that due to restrictions on revealing classified information, he cannot discuss details of his work on the bin Laden/9-11 investigation. “But what I can tell you,” he said. “Is that my involvement, my direct, immediate involvement, day-to-day involvement with Veterans for Peace arises precisely out of the subsequent decision by the Bush administration to go to war with Iraq.” .... LINK

WILSON CASE IS INSTRUCTIVE LESSON

2003-11-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

Former CIA agent was hung out to dry

By ERIC MARGOLIS -- Contributing Foreign Editor THE SUN, November 9, 2003

The case of former Central Intelligence Agency officer Edwin P. Wilson recalls the words of the great American thinker, H.L. Mencken: "Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under."

The Wilson case has outraged me for 20 years.

In 1982 and 1983, the federal court in northern Virginia - the same hang-'em-high court the feds now use to try terrorism cases - along with courts in New York and Texas, sentenced Wilson to a total of 52 years in prison for selling arms, including 22 tons of explosives, to Libya. He was also convicted on shaky charges of attempted murder.

Wilson, now 75 years old, has served 20 years in a maximum security prison.

I always believed Wilson innocent and spoke to him many times in prison.

"I was framed by the government," Wilson told me. "They want me to disappear. I know too much."

His words shake me to this day.

"They buried him alive in prison," a former CIA official confided to me.

Last week, Houston Federal District Judge Lynn Hughes threw out Wilson's two-decades old conviction. She wrote: "Government knowingly used false evidence against him," concluding "honesty comes hard to government."

Wilson, a veteran, tough-as-nails CIA field agent who specialized in running arms and mounting coups, was one of the agency's old-time "cowboys." In 1971, Wilson officially "retired" from the CIA and went into business on his own. In reality, the CIA used Wilson for potentially explosive clandestine deals it wanted to keep "deniable."

I first heard of Wilson and his partner, Frank Terpil, while covering the war in Angola between Soviet and Cuban-backed Marxist forces and Jonas Savimbi's anti-communist UNITA guerrilla army. UNITA was secretly armed by South Africa and the U.S., but Washington did not want to be seen as an ally of the apartheid regime. So the CIA used Wilson and Terpil to channel arms to Savimbi, using CIA front firms and banks in Asia and Europe.

In the late 1970s, the CIA sent Wilson and Terpil to Libya to covertly strengthen the regime of Moammar Khadafy. Washington planned to use the fiery Libyan leader as its strongman in North Africa, just as it was using longtime CIA "asset" Anwar Sadat in Egypt.

Wilson sold Libya C-4 explosives and arms, and sent teams of ex-Green Berets to train Libyan commandos and "terminate" some of Khadafy's many enemies abroad. But while the CIA was backing Khadafy, the new Ronald Reagan administration sought to distance itself from the soft policies of the Jimmy Carter administration by denouncing Khadafy as the world's leading terrorist and a threat to America.

The CIA was ordered to overthrow Khadafy, putting the agency in a frightfully embarrassing dilemma. Bureaucratic panic erupted in Langley,Va. The Libyan operation was ordered immediately shut down and all records destroyed. As word of secret U.S. backing of Khadafy leaked out, Wilson and Terpil were cut adrift and proclaimed outlaws. They fled to the Mideast. In 1982, Wilson was lured by American agents to the Dominican Republic, kidnapped to the USA, and charged with gun-running.

During numerous trials, Wilson maintained he had been working for the CIA. But he was not allowed to cross-examine CIA witnesses for "security reasons" - shades of today's terrorism trials.... LINK

CIA EXPECTS IRAQ SITUATION TO DETERIORATE

2003-11-11T22:55:00.000-08:00

CIA: Iraq security to get worse

WASHINGTON (CNN) --A recent CIA assessment of Iraq warns the security situation will worsen across the country, not just in Baghdad but in the north and south as well, a senior administration source told CNN Tuesday.

The report is a much more dire and ominous assessment of the situation than has previously been forwarded through official channels, this source said. It was sent to Washington Monday by the CIA station chief in Iraq.

It was not immediately clear if the assessment was what prompted the hastily arranged trip to Washington by Iraq civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer, who met Tuesday at the White House with President Bush and senior national security officials.

The report was discussed during the high-level meetings, sources said.

The senior administration source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Bremer agreed with the CIA assessment and added his personal comments to the station chief's memo.

In his Veterans Day speech Tuesday, Bush referred to "recent reporting" of cooperation between Saddam loyalists and terrorist elements from outside Iraq.

"Saddam loyalists and foreign terrorists may have different long-term goals, but they share a near-term strategy: to terrorize Iraqis and to intimidate America and our allies," Bush told the conservative Heritage Foundation.

"In the last few months, the adversary has changed its composition and method, and our coalition is adapting accordingly."

Another senior administration official said those points in the speech were based on a U.S. intelligence report about the security situation.

A third U.S. official said the intelligence report was from the CIA and that it highlights what the official conceded are several "major ongoing security issues."

That official refused to characterize the report in further detail. But the senior administration source who did discuss the report said it essentially says things are "gonna get worse" across Iraq.

The source said the memo notes that:

• More Iraqis are "flooding to the ranks of the guerrillas." Many of these Iraqis are Sunnis who had previously been "on the sidelines" but now believe they can "inflict bodily harm" on the Americans.

• Ammunition is "readily available," making it much easier to mount attacks.... link

F.A.S. ASSESSES THE LATEST INTEL BLOWUP

2003-11-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE BOILS OVER

The operation of the Senate Intelligence Committee practically came
to a halt last week as Senators bickered over the leak of an
uncirculated staff memo that Republicans said violated the
nonpartisan norms of the Committee.

The memo, leaked to Fox News, outlined how Democrats could use
Committee procedures to advance their critique of the Bush
Administration's handling of intelligence on Iraq.

The uncirculated staff memo had "poisoned the well" of
bipartisanship, said Committee Chairman Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS).

On Friday, Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) set forth
several conditions for a return to normal Committee operation: the
memo's author must identify himself, repudiate the contents of the
memo, and apologize to Sen. Roberts. See:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/s110703.html

Democrats were mostly unmoved. "The purpose of the memo apparently
was to lay out options," Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told Fox News
yesterday. "And I don't disavow the options, including the words
'independent investigation'."

Objectively, Republicans seemed to have little to complain about.
Under the modest, non-confrontational leadership of Vice Chairman
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the minority members of the Senate
Intelligence Committee are about as deferential to the executive
branch as any President could wish.

Committee Democrats have concurred in allocating huge increases in
intelligence spending. They have acquiesced in the closed-door
approach to oversight favored by Chairman Roberts, though it left
the public at a loss. Senator Rockefeller even defied many of his
Democratic colleagues (and some Republicans) and declined to press
the White House for declassification of the censored 28 pages of the
Congressional Joint Inquiry into September 11.

But if, as appears to be the case, intelligence on Iraq was distorted
by Bush Administration officials in a self-serving manner (e.g. by
declaring that Iraq had "reconstituted" its nuclear program when
there was no evidence of this), then the intelligence oversight
function is indeed likely to fracture along partisan lines in
response.

Meanwhile, Committee Democrats are on notice that the confidentiality
of their internal deliberations cannot be assured, and that any
future criticism of the Bush Administration will be dismissed as
"disgusting partisanship."

TOP ANALYST ACCUSES THE PRESIDENT

2003-11-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

'No President has lied so baldly and so often and so demonstrably'

By Andrew Gumbel, THE INDEPENDENT, 09 November 2003

"The intelligence process is a bit like virginity," says Ray McGovern, who worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years. "Once you prostitute it, it's never the same. Your credibility never recovers.

"Watching what has happened with Iraq over the past several months has been like watching your daughter being raped."

Such is an indication of the extraordinary depth of feeling within the US intelligence community as the Bush administration's basis for the war in Iraq - the weapons of mass destruction, the dark hint of links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qa'ida - has been shown to have been built on air.

Mr McGovern worked near the very top of his profession, giving direct advice to Henry Kissinger during the Nixon era and preparing the President's daily security brief for Ronald Reagan. Now he is co-founder of a group of former CIA employees called Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, or Vips for short.

What the Bush White House has done, he believes, is far worse than the false premise that dragged the United States into the Vietnam War - a reported second attack on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin which later turned out not to have taken place. "The Gulf of Tonkin was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and Lyndon Johnson seized on that. That's very different from the very calculated, 18-month, orchestrated, incredibly cynical campaign of lies that we've seen to justify a war. This is an order of magnitude different. It's so blatant.".......LINK

new Blog

2003-11-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

Project Trinity

CIA SCAPEGOATED AGAIN FOR REJECTING IRAQ PEACE OFFER

2003-11-07T15:52:00.000-08:00

As Occupation Worsens, White House Tries to Blame CIA For Rejecting Iraqi Offer on Eve of War

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/06/1554213

NOTHING IS TOO MUNDANE TO BE POLITICZED OR COVERED UP BY THIS ADMINISTRATION

2003-11-07T12:59:00.000-08:00

From FAS:

The House Intelligence Committee held a hearing yesterday on the
need to increase diversity among employees in intelligence
agencies. The prepared testimony from that hearing, as released by
the Committee, is available here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_hr/index.html#lang

But some of that testimony was altered before presentation at the
instruction of the Justice Department, reports Shaun Waterman of
United Press International. "Congressional Democrats said the
Justice Department had recalled the testimony because some of it
conflicted with the administration's position on affirmative
action." See:

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20031105-072047-9682r

The Reuters press release said:

White male spies are rumbled
07 November 2003

WASHINGTON: US spy agencies must change their traditional Ivy League white male image if they are to gain ground in fighting terrorism and other threats around the world, lawmakers say.

"We can no longer expect an intelligence community that is mostly male and mostly white to be able to monitor and infiltrate suspicious organisations or terrorist groups," representative Jane Harman of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said at a hearing.

"We need spies that look like their targets, CIA officers who speak the dialects terrorists use, and FBI agents who can speak to Muslim women who might be intimidated by men," she said.... link

SENATE INTELLIGENCE LEAK REFLECTS DISARRAY

2003-11-06T16:01:00.000-08:00

From FAS:

TENSION ERUPTS ON INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT

More than ever before, the quality and performance of U.S.
intelligence are today being called into question. But at this
time of urgent questioning, the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence has little or nothing to offer the American public.

Unlike its House counterpart, the Senate Intelligence Committee
hasn't held an open hearing for months. Nor has it issued any kind
of preliminary findings or provided other insight.

If it vanished suddenly, how would anyone know?

The Committee web site also hasn't been updated for months. The most
recent Committee press release, issued by Chairman Pat Roberts
(R-KS) last July, complains of "press leaks by the CIA in an effort
to discredit the President" -- an eccentric reading of events, to
say the least. The web site provides a link to executive order
12356 on classification policy, which was revoked more than eight
years ago, but there is no link to its successors. There is a
spelling error ("jurisdicton") on every page.

http://intelligence.senate.gov/

Judging by the available external evidence, this Committee is not in
good shape.

Unsurprisingly, a degree of tension has developed between the
majority Republicans and the minority Democrats on the Committee.
It came to a head this week in response to an uncirculated draft
memo written by a minority staffer that urged a more aggressive
posture for Committee Democrats, which might culminate in an
attempt to establish an independent Commission on intelligence and
the Iraq war, an option Congress has previously rejected.

"We have an important role to play in the revealing the misleading
-- if not flagrantly dishonest methods and motives -- of the senior
administration officials who made the case for a unilateral,
preemptive war," the uncirculated draft memo stated.

More in sorrow than in anger, and more in gleeful spite than in
sorrow, Senators denounced what they viewed as an expression of
partisanship.

"It is a disgusting possibility that Members of the Senate would
actually try to politicize intelligence, especially at a time of
war, even apparently reaching conclusions before investigations
have been performed," said Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ).

Senators aired their views of the matter on November 5 here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/s110503.html

Meanwhile, in a genuinely constructive act of bipartisan oversight
of intelligence, two House subcommittee leaders this week
challenged the CIA's refusal to comply with their request for a
copy of the recent report by David Kay on the search for Iraqi
weapons of mass destruction.

"We do not understand why you are refusing to provide Mr. Kay's
report," wrote Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Henry Waxman
(D-CA) in a November 3 letter to DCI George Tenet. See:

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2003/11/cia110303.pdf

HTML Version

NEW BLOG TO CHECK OUT

2003-11-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

Death By Invitation

US SHOULD HAVE ABSORBED SADDAM'S ARMY, INTELLIGENCE ASSETS

2003-11-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

U.S. Paying for Intelligence Blunders

Peyman Pejman, IPS NEWS AGENCY

BAGHDAD, Nov 3 (IPS) - U.S. intelligence gathering operations are being called into question after the devastating attacks on the weekend, and the rocket attacks and suicide bombings rocking Baghdad and other cities almost every day.

To many Iraqis in the know, and even among Coalition officials, the answer is clear.

"One of the biggest mistakes of the coalition forces was to dissolve the army and the security forces," Brig. Gen. Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani told IPS in Baghdad. Shahwani left Iraq in 1990 and became a part of Washington's covert efforts to topple Saddam Hussein.

"We had a good intelligence network," he said. "They knew everybody, they knew the criminals. But they went home. Nobody can do it any more. If you start from the beginning, you need time." LINK

More on the "Secret Supreme Court case"

2003-11-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

REPORTERS COMMITTEE ON THE "SECRET" SUPREME COURT CASE

The Supreme Court yesterday directed the government to respond to a
petition from a "Middle Eastern man" identified only as M.K.B. who
is seeking review of the extraordinary secrecy surrounding his case
(SN, 11/04/03).

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press had filed an amicus
brief on November 3 urging the Court to intervene in the matter.

"This case is perhaps the most egregious recent example of an
alarming trend toward excessive secrecy in the federal courts,
particularly in cases that bear even a tangential connection to the
events of Sept. 11, 2001," the Reporters Committee brief stated.
See a copy here:

http://www.rcfp.org/news/documents/20031103-mkbvwarden.pdf

"M.K.B." is none other than South Florida resident Mohamed K.
Bellahouel, reported Dan Christensen of the Miami Daily Business
Review, who has provided the most in-depth media coverage of this
unusual case beginning last March.

His latest story, "Plea for Openness," November 5, appears here:

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1067350987786

BACKGROUND:

WHAT IS UP WITH THIS?

Secret 9/11 case before high court

The justices consider a petition for a case with no public record.

By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

MIAMI - It's the case that doesn't exist. Even though two different federal courts have conducted hearings and issued rulings, there has been no public record of any action. No documents are available. No files. No lawyer is allowed to speak about it. Period.

Yet this seemingly phantom case does exist - and is now headed to the US Supreme Court in what could produce a significant test of a question as old as the Star Chamber, abolished in 17th-century England: How far should a policy of total secrecy extend into a system of justice?

Secrecy has been a key Bush administration weapon in the war on terrorism. Attorney General John Ashcroft warns that mere tidbits of information that seem innocuous about the massive Sept. 11 investigation could help Al Qaeda carry out new attacks.

Yet this highly unusual petition to the high court arising from a Miami case brings into sharp focus the tension between America's long tradition of open courts and the need for security in times of national peril. At issue is whether certain cases may be conducted entirely behind closed doors under a secret arrangement among prosecutors, judges, and docket clerks... SOURCE

PRESSURE ON ASHCROFT TO RECUSE SELF

2003-11-04T12:13:00.000-08:00

Leakgate: Pressure on Ashcroft to Recuse Himself Grows

By Murray Waas, AlterNet, October 31, 2003

Several senior federal law enforcement officials in recent days have spoken privately among themselves of what they believe to be an increasing necessity by Attorney General John Ashcroft to formally recuse himself from any further role in the probe as to who leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame. Investigators have begun to interview a number of personal friends and political associates of Ashcroft and members of his senior staff.

That belief among the senior law enforcement officials has only intensified in recent days since as many as a half-dozen White House officials have been asked by federal investigators about contacts they had with the Republican National Committee and conservative political activists. Investigators apparently are looking at whether the contacts were aimed at discrediting Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.

Ashcroft’s own deputy chief of staff and a recently departed director of public affairs for the Justice Department have held senior positions at the Republican National Committee. Several investigators question whether Ashcroft should continue to oversee the investigation, as more individuals close to Attorney General and his staff are drawn into the probe, according to federal law enforcement officials.... LINK

Feds used Patriot Act to bust Strip Clubs

2003-11-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

Patriot Act aided feds in probe

By Jace Radke, LAS VEGAS SUN

Federal officials used the Patriot Act to get financial records for current and former politicians as part of the ongoing political corruption probe involving strip club owner Michael Galardi's influence, sources said. link

Another corruption of intelligence resources. Homeland Security used to chase Texas Democrats, Patriot Act against drug dealers, (justified by the exageration that the drug money was being used to finance terrorism) and now strip clubs. I guess they'll say now that strippers support terrorism? Maybe some of those 72 virgins they get in Paradise were actually strippers?...?

NOVEMBER THREAT REITERATED

2003-11-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

Debka.com: confirms our earlier posting:

Al Qaeda again threatens New York, Washington and Los Angeles

Monday, November 3, 2003

A new message was posted in the last few hours by the Jeddah-based al-Qaeda-linked Al-Islah (Reform) society calling on Muslims to flee New York, Washington and Los Angeles in advance of major al Qaeda attacks in those cities. This is revealed by DEBKAfile.

The message accuses the United States of predetermining its end (doom) by its policies. “The Jews rule the Pentagon by remote control and (are the cause) of Muslims being killed in every corner of the world. The United States should therefore expect more blows.”

The message is signed on behalf of the al Bayan (The Threat) movement by “your warrior brother, Abul Hassan al Khadrami”.

Our Muslim expert identifies the name of the signatory as belonging to a Yemeni from Hadhrameuth, the Bin Ladens’ place of origin where Osama enjoys substantial tribal support.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources stress that warnings appearing on these forums are taken both very seriously and with caution by the intelligence services keeping track of the terrorist network’s electronic traffic.

Last November, Jeddah-based fundamentalist forums addressed a message to an Al Qaeda member, saying whoever understands – understands; whoever knows, knows, but we are marching towards an operation that will take us to Paradise. Three days later, the Mombasa Paradise hotel was blown up killing 12 Kenyans and 3 Israelis and a failed shoulder-launched Strela anti-air missile missed an Israeli airliner at Mombasa airport. LINK

IRAQIS TRAINED ON SURFACE TO AIR MISSILES

2003-11-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

From Middle East Newsline:

SUNNI INSURGENTS TRAINED TO USE SA-7 MISSILE

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Sunni insurgents are being trained to use their arsenal of Soviet-origin surface-to-air missiles.

The training was said to have been conducted by former members of the Iraqi Air Force under the Saddam Hussein regime. The effort was believed to have been financed by Saddam loyalists, led by Izzet Ibrahim Al Duri, the vice chairman of the defunct Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council.

U.S. officials said the training was expected to lead to a series of lethal anti-aircraft attacks against the U.S.-led coalition. On Sunday, Sunni insurgents fired what U.S. officials asserted were two Soviet-origin SA-7 surface-to-air missiles at a U.S. CH-47 heavy-lift helicopter that was heading from Faluja toward Baghdad. One SA-7 missile missed and the other shoulder-fired projectile struck the engine of the Chinook combat helicopter near the village of Hasi about 65 kilometers southwest of Baghdad.

At least 16 U.S. soldiers were killed another 20 were injured in the crash of the CH-47. Another 10-ton dual-rotor CH-47 helicopter that was flying in formation nearby was not struck. Later, two other U.S. soldiers were killed in a separate roadside attack near Faluja. link

Bush Impeding Intelligence Inquiry

2003-11-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

Senator, U.S. Disagree on Iraq Inquiry

By WILLIAM C. MANN, Associated Press Writer, November 3, 2003, 3:22 AM EST

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee expects the White House to give the panel access to all materials it sought for its inquiry into prewar information on Iraq. A spokesman for President Bush indicates he shouldn't be so sure.

Both Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and White House spokesman Trent Duffy spoke Sunday of "a spirit of cooperation" regarding the documents. That's where agreement seemed to end.

Roberts said White House aides told committee staff members late Friday of acquiescence, on behalf of the National Security Council, to the committee's demands. The Pentagon also said it would cooperate, Roberts said on CNN's "Late Edition."

The committee had set a deadline of noon last Friday.

While agreeing on a new spirit in relations with the committee, Duffy, with Bush in Crawford, Texas, said he could offer no concrete promises and refused to confirm Roberts' assertion of agreement on a turnover.

"We've had productive conversations about ways we can work with and assist the committee," Duffy said. "While the committee's jurisdiction does not cover the White House, we want to be helpful and we will continue to talk to and work with the committee in a spirit of cooperation."

The panel's top Democrat, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, took issue with that position, which the White House had held previously. The committee's job involves not only "rigorous oversight of the collection and analysis of intelligence, but also the use of intelligence, and that includes all of the U.S. government. That includes policy-making, defense and national security," Rockefeller said on CNN.

The CIA and the State Department turned over large quantities of documents ahead of the committee's Friday deadline, and more material is coming, Roberts said.

But Rockefeller said he wants "to see the documentation before ... I'm satisfied. I want to know that we really have it in hand."

Roberts, speaking from Kansas, commented just after Rockefeller complained that the White House and Defense Department were "being very resistant."

Rockefeller, in Washington, had just finished saying, "We have to have those documents. We're going to get those documents, one way or another," when Roberts was asked if he concurred.

"Well, that's yesterday's story," the chairman said.

Roberts said he had not had the chance to call Rockefeller over the weekend to report the latest development.

After the deadline passed Friday, both senators accused the White House of ignoring the intelligence panel's demand for documents and access to officials for interviews it needed in its work.

The committee is examining the accuracy of intelligence about deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's weapons programs and purported contacts with terrorist groups. That intelligence served as Bush's main arguments for the U.S.-led war.

The administration also is in a battle of wills with an independent commission studying circumstances of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The commission, which has a May 27, 2004, deadline to complete its report, has threatened to issue subpoenas unless the requested documents are provided quickly. link

2003-10-31T09:58:00.000-08:00

QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD (QFRs) YIELD SOME INTERESTING TIDBITS

From FAS:

INTEL AGENCIES ANSWER QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD

North Korea has attained a nuclear capability without nuclear
explosive testing, according to the Central Intelligence
Agency.

"There is no information to suggest that North Korea has
conducted a successful nuclear test to date," the Agency
said, but "we assess that North Korea has produced one or two
simple fission-type nuclear weapons and has validated the
designs without conducting yield-producing nuclear tests."
(ed. note: This puts to the lie the Bush Admin claim that we need to restart nuclear testing. If N. Korea doesn't need to, how much less do we, given our vast technological superiority)

That CIA assessment, which slightly amplifies past public
statements, appears in a new set of intelligence agency
replies to "questions for the record" (QFRs) submitted to the
Senate Intelligence Committee following this year's annual
hearing on the "worldwide threat."

Such QFRs are often overlooked because they are provided to
Congress months after the hearing that prompted them, and
they are made public months after that. But given the
relative sparsity of unclassified intelligence threat
assessments, they are usually worth reading.

Some of the notable items in the QFRs resulting from this
year's intelligence threat briefing, obtained by Secrecy
News, are these:

** In reply to a question about the threat of "cyberterrorism,"
the CIA says the answer is classified (CIA, p.4). But the
FBI provides an extended response (FBI, pp. 2-6).

** In reply to a question about the threat of terrorism
against agricultural targets, or "agroterrorism," the CIA
again says the answer is classified (CIA, p. 6). But the FBI
again provides a substantive response (FBI, pp. 6-9).

** "Since 1992 there have been sixteen seizures of
weapons-usable [nuclear] material," according to the CIA,
"six in Russia and ten in Europe. None of these seizures
have been connected to terrorists and the thefts were
opportunistic and smugglers had no pre-arranged buyer." (CIA,
p. 26).

** "International terrorists use Thailand -- especially
Bangkok -- as a transit hub and location for operational
planning, weapons smuggling, and money laundering, as well as
a source for counterfeit documents." (CIA, p. 33).

** Potential successors to North Korea's Kim Jong Il include
two of his sons, Jong Nam and Jong Chol, according to the
State Department (INR). "Because the two have different
mothers, there are tensions between their families. To our
knowledge, neither has moved through the grooming process far
enough to dominate the other." (State, answer 4B)....

2003-10-30T12:16:00.000-08:00

CIA OPERATIVES CAN BE NAMED, BUT NOT CORPORATE CEOs WHO ADVISE ON DEFENSE

FROM FAS:

NAMES OF DSB MEMBERS TOO SENSITIVE FOR WEB

The Defense Science Board (DSB) is part of a network (one wants
to say "cabal") of interlocking advisory panels that play a
significant but obscure role in the formulation of U.S.
national security policy.

"The Board and its members have considerable influence,"
observed freelance journalist Michael Flynn, who has been
investigating the subject, "and they seem to have a stake in
the policies they advocate."

Who is on the DSB? It takes some digging to find out.

The Defense Science Board web site includes a link to
"Members," which used to provide a complete list of the
membership. But today the link is dead. See:

http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/

"The information listing DSB Members was deleted from the DSB
web site based on DoD guidance for Web Publishing Security
following the 9/11 terrorist attacks," said a DSB spokesman in
an email message.

He didn't explain how deleting the names of corporate CEOs and
others who advise the government on defense policy was likely
to increase security against terrorism.

But he did courteously provide a copy of the current DSB
membership, available here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/dsb072903.pdf

In fact, Michael Flynn pointed out, the names of DSB members,
like those of most other such advisory groups, are public
information and have been posted on the web all along,
although they are rather hard to locate.

See the Federal Advisory Committee Act dababase on Fido.gov (to
get to the DSB listing, click on "explore data" and then on
"Department of Defense"):

http://www.fido.gov/facadatabase/public.asp

2003-10-29T09:48:00.000-08:00

COVERUP TIGHTENING IN PLAME CASE

Justice Dept. Tightens Security in C.I.A. Leak Case

By DAVID JOHNSTON and ERIC LICHTBLAU, NY TIMES, Published: October 29, 2003

ASHINGTON, Oct. 28 — Justice Department and F.B.I. officials have imposed tighter secrecy restrictions over the inquiry into the leak of the identity of a C.I.A. operative, government officials said on Tuesday. In an unusual step, they have removed the director of the F.B.I's Washington office from the list of officials with access to the case.

The official, Michael A. Mason, one of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most senior managers, was taken off the list in an effort to restrict information about the case, the officials said.

Customarily, a senior official like Mr. Mason would have full access to details of the case, which is being investigated mainly by agents from his office, although it is being supervised by F.B.I. headquarters. One bureau official said Mr. Mason had asked to be removed, although others said the decision was based on whether the officials had "a need to know."...

LINK

PS NEW BLOG RECOMMENDATION: Ink from the Squid .

2003-10-28T22:02:00.000-08:00

INFORMANT WARNED OF AL-RASHID ATTACK

Confirming suspicions held here and at debka.com we now learn:

Informant warned of infiltration before hotel blast

IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent, THE HERALD, October 28 2003

US authorities failed to act on a warning from an Iraqi police informant in August that the staff of Baghdad's al-Rashid hotel had been infiltrated by Ba'ath party spies seeking targeting information on the governing coalition's top brass....

...Security sources confirmed yesterday that the man detailed his suspicions in a letter.... The document, now in the hands of the intelligence cell of the US 101st airborne division, was "overlooked", but is now to be investigated.

The letter names Muslel Muhammed Farhan al-Dilemi, 53, the manager of the al-Tamoor Trading Company, which provides staff and services to the hotel.

The informant alleges that al-Dilemi "placed" a number of people on the al-Rashid's catering staff, recruited "beautiful secretaries" and arranged sexual liaisons to give them access to high-ranking officials. LINK

2003-10-28T19:22:00.000-08:00

NAMING CIA CONTRACTORS LIKELY TO SPARK NEW CONTROVERSY IN INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY

Two CIA Contractors Die in Afghan Ambush

JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Two contractors working for the CIA were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan, the agency said Tuesday.

William Carlson, 43, of Southern Pines, N.C., and Christopher Glenn Mueller, 32, of San Diego, were "tracking terrorists operating in the region" of Shkin, a village in eastern Afghanistan, when they were killed Saturday, the CIA said in a statement.

Both were veterans of military special operations forces, the CIA said.

"William Carlson and Christopher Mueller were defined by dedication and courage," CIA Director George J. Tenet said in a statement. "Their sacrifice for the peoples of the United States and Afghanistan must never be forgotten."

The pair was working for the CIA's Directorate of Operations, which conducts clandestine intelligence-gathering and covert operations.

The CIA statement says the agency consulted with the dead officers' families and decided their names could be released without compromising ongoing operations. LINK

The Administration, which is clearly continuing a policy of publicizing names of agents killed, stands in contrast to the earlier policy of providing a single nameless star in the CIA lobby in memoriam.

The fact that the latest casualties were private contractors will likely not stem the controversy within the intelligence community about the publicity, inasmuch as the two contractors were former CIA employees whose histories are subject to scrutiny by outsiders now in searches to discover their colleagues and agents.

One small consolation is that at least agency approached the families of the deceased for permission and presumably also offered protection to them.

Nevertheless, it is certain that the members of intelligence community can not help but note the contrast between the secrecy in which this Administration holds its documents (classified or not) and the publicity it gives its agents.

2003-10-28T11:55:00.000-08:00

NO LESSONS LEARNED: POPULAR ARMY INTELLIGENCE WEBSITE TAKEN DOWN

From FAS:

EMBARRASSED ARMY WEB SITE GOES OFFLINE

The Army has taken one of its popular web sites offline after
the Washington Post reported on a critical account of U.S.
intelligence posted on the site.

The web site of the Center for Army Lessons Learned
(call.army.mil) was promptly disabled following a Post story
about an "unusually blunt" report on the inadequacies of U.S.
military intelligence in Iraq.

"We're doing some maintenance" on the site, an Army spokeswoman
at Fort Leavenworth told Secrecy News initially. She then
acknowledged that the move was prompted by the Post story on
October 25.

The web site should be back up by the end of the week, she
said, but the report cited in the Post story "will not be
available."

However, the report itself, on "Observations from Operations
Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom," from the October 2003
CALL Newsletter, has been helpfully posted by the Washington
Post here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/03-27.pdf

It was first reported in "Intelligence Problems in Iraq Are
Detailed" by Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post, October 25:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14278-2003Oct24.html

-BTW These are well worth reading.

2003-10-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

DEBKA.COM AGREES THAT IRAQI PENETRATION IS KEY TO RAMADAN BOMBINGS IN IRAQ

The Israeli intelligence-related site Debka.com agrees with our analysis that the recent bombings of US leadership housed in Baghdad hotels indicates Iraqi penetration of "coalition" intelligence:

...Terrorist penetration of Western intelligence is key to high- precision strikes like Sunday’s rocket barrage on al Rashid hotel and murder of UN representative Sergio de Mello in August massacre in Baghdad...

...The day before, a US Black Hawk helicopter was shot down near Tikrit shortly after Wolfowitz left Saddam’s home town.

Both times, Iraqi guerrillas knew where to find the deputy defense secretary and he had a lucky escape...

link

In a followup Debka goes on to say:

To achieve this clockwork precision, the deadly series must have been planned in detail for months and the targets carefully chosen with the help of expert intelligence – which the Americans clearly lack. link

The "months" part I would have to disagree with. That was part of the Pentagon's damage control PR to pretend Wolfowitz was not the target. And in fact to have taken months to plan would have meant penetration at the highest levels of the US government.

But penetration it is, and unmistakably so, to be able to knock off de Mello, and to barely miss Wolfie twice indicates that someone is talking. But to think that a sophisticated operation like that could only occur with the kind of planning the US takes months with, is to seriously misunderstand and underestimate the terrorist threat in Iraq.

2003-10-26T18:33:00.000-08:00

WACKENHUT DENIES BEING CIA FRONT

Wackenhut denies its employees are CIA agents plotting to overthrow Venezuela's Chavez

The Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela A Florida company accused of working with dissidents to overthrow the Venezuelan government rejected on Saturday videotape evidence allegedly linking them to subversive activities.

The Venezuelan unit of Florida-based security company Wackenhut denied that the video - presented Wednesday by legislators allied with President Hugo Chavez - showed CIA agents advising Venezuelans in June on how to destabilize the country later this year.

"The video was in reality filmed in the installations of Wackenhut Venezolana, C.A in September 2002 during an ordinary meeting of company officials, relating to security services offered to a client," the company said in an ad placed in El Nacional newspaper.

A spokeswoman for the Palm Beach Gardens-based company did not immediately return a phone call Saturday.

Ruling party lawmaker Nicolas Maduro claimed the three men in the video were U.S. secret agents training dissident military officers and municipal police in espionage and "terrorist" tactics.

The U.S. Embassy said the video showed an event held by a private security company, not CIA agents. It added that the U.S. government did not participate in the event.

Wackenhut said that affirmations that one of the men in the video was a CIA agent and retired army colonel were "false and groundless." The company, which has worked in Venezuela since 1994 and has operations in six states, also denied that police officers were present at the meeting. LINK

UPDATE: They didn't rule out it was outsourcing though, which is where the REAL dirty work gets done ( no Congressional oversight).

2003-10-26T11:27:00.000-08:00

IRAQI “MOLES” LEAD TO HELICOPTER, HOTEL ATTACKS?

The Iraqi mortar barrage against the hotel that Paul Wolfowitz stayed at, and the downing of a Black Hawk helicopter in Tikrit shortly after his departure, have intelligence professionals in Baghdad wondering how the Iraqi resistance discovered his itinerary.

Although US officials are claiming that “they believe that Mr Wolfowitz was not a target of the attack, which they suspect was in preparation for ‘a couple of months’,” (BBC) they are no doubt checking very carefully to see who might have spilled the beans.

Recall that after the Vietnam war, the North Vietnamese revealed that they’d had 24 hours notice on all B52 bombing raids, launched from Guam. This intelligence, which was probably provided by Russian moles, allowed the Viet Cong and N. Vietnamese to minimize their casualties and neutralize this powerful weapon.

How much easier is it for US military to be penetrated, when hundreds of Iraqis are already being employed as police, security and maintenance?

Furthermore, a mortar barrage or an attack by RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) or similar weapons, scarcely needs a couple of days planning, let alone a couple of months.

It should also be noted that the Rashid Hotel is the second major hotel housing the US leadership to be attacked in a month. Will US officials have to be routed away from Baghdad, or will they take their chances?

2003-10-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

ALGERIAN GROUP LINKING MORE TO AL QAIDA

NEW SALAFIST LEADER SEEKS CLOSER TIES TO AL QAIDA

CAIRO [MENL] -- Algeria's largest insurgency group has reaffirmed its allegiance to Al Qaida in what appears to signal an increse in the already close cooperation between the two organizations.

The Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call issued its first communique under the new leadership headed by Nabil Sahwari, also known as Abu Ibrahim Mustafa. Sahwari was said to have replaced Salafist leader Hassan Hattab in August amid a power struggle that concerned the abduction of 32 Western European tourists in the southern Sahara.

In the latest communique, the Salafist leadership said it would remain loyal to Al Qaida and Taliban. The Salafist group said it would also support the Islamic struggle in such places as Chechnya, Palestine and the Philippines.

The Salafist statement was regarded as significant because the group has been deemed the leading subcontractor of Al Qaida. Western intelligence sources said Salafist insurgents have been employed by Al Qaida for attacks in North Africa and in France. The sources said the communique marked the clearest expression of loyalty to Osama Bin Laden. LINK

2003-10-25T08:29:00.001-07:00

CIA WAS BYPASSED IN ATTEMPT TO COOK INTELLIGENCE

CIA May Have Been Out of Loop

Top Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel says some officials in the administration appear to have bypassed agency in gathering Iraq data.

By Greg Miller, LA Times Staff Writer, October 25, 2003

WASHINGTON -- Officials in the Bush administration appear to have bypassed the CIA and other agencies to collect their own intelligence overseas on Iraq, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Friday.

Sen. John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV's comments came as bipartisan cooperation on the committee's inquiry into prewar intelligence appeared to be unraveling. Democrats complained that Republicans are out to pin blame on the CIA and shield the White House from criticism that intelligence used to make the case to invade Iraq was exaggerated.

After reviewing tens of thousands of pages of intelligence documents, the committee staff has begun drafting a report that sources said would harshly criticize the CIA for prewar judgments that congressional investigators believe were unfounded, thinly sourced or lacked adequate caveats.

Democrats, who have been rebuffed by Republicans in their efforts to widen the probe's scope, threatened Friday to launch a separate investigation. Several committee Democrats said it is now all but inevitable that they will produce a separate report. link

2003-10-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

NEW BLOG RECOMMENDATIONS:

1

2

Names withheld for security reasons.

2003-10-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

PLAME'S CLASSMATES ASK FOR SENATE INVESTIGATION

Two former CIA officers are asking the Senate Intelligence Committee to open its own investigation into who leaked the identity of an undercover officer....

...Marcinkowski, now deputy city attorney in Royal Oak, Mich., is to appear before the Senate panel Thursday. He and another former CIA officer, Larry Johnson... [who] served as the State Department's deputy chief of counterterrorism in the first Bush administration. ...

...Johnson said: â€˜â€˜When you start outing clandestine officers for political reasons, that has to be stopped."

He stressed that he is a Republican who voted for Bush and contributed to his presidential campaign.

Johnson said he, Plame and Marcinkowski had trained together at the CIA in 1985. link

UPDATE: They were on CNN - "THIS MORNING"

HEMMER: After listening to Larry, it sounds like, essentially the sky is falling in terms of the CIA around the world. Do you see it that way and did you get that sense in the hearing?

MARCHINKOWSKI: Yes, I did. I think the message is out there. This is an unprecedented act. This has never been done by the United States government before. The exposure of an undercover intelligence officer by the U.S. government is unprecedented. It's not the usual leak from Washington. The leak a week scenario is not at play here. This is a very, very serious event.

2003-10-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

THREAT MATRIX INCREASED FOR NOVEMBER

A confidential tip has revealed to me that the terrorist threat matrix has spiked sharply after the latest Bin Laden threat and other related events.

There is a credible chance of a terrorist attack against the US or its overseas interests peaking on or after November 8th. Of particular concern are indicators of threats against several US cities including New York, Chicago and Dallas.

The source said that the Homeland Security Colorcode will not be raised, however, because it has essentially become a laughingstock, due to false alarms prompted by political manipulation over the last year. (see below)

I don't know how valid this is, and maybe no one does, but it is unfortunate that we face the next threat, whenever it might be in the same level of unpreparedness we were in before September 11th.

2003-10-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Drones Tested to Patrol US-Mexico Border

Reuters, Friday, October 10, 2003; 1:34 PM

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - The United States is testing pilotless drone aircraft, used in Iraq and Afghanistan, on the U.S.-Mexico border where they might be deployed to detect drug traffickers and illegal immigrants, a government spokesman said on Friday.

The Department of Homeland Security is conducting tests of the unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, in remote areas of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, Mario Villarreal, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, told Reuters.

"The UAVs, which have played an important role for the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, are under consideration for use by the Department of Homeland Security," Villarreal said.

They are being deployed from Fort Huachuca and Gila Bend, Arizona, for test flights in remote areas of the desert that have become well-known corridors for narcotics trafficking and immigrant smuggling.

Drone aircraft were used for aerial photography and spy missions during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan... link

2003-10-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

OTHER COUNTRIES TRYING TO ROLL UP VALERIE PLAME'S NETWORKS

TIME Magazine:

...Security agencies all over the world are now quietly running Plame's name through their data banks, immigration records and computer hard drives as the White House leak scandal continues to percolate. Officials with two foreign governments told TIME that their spy catchers are quietly checking on whether Plame had worked on their soil and, if so, what she had done there. Which means if one theme of the Administration leak scandal concerns political vengeance — did the White House reveal Plame's identity in order to punish Wilson for his public criticism of the case for war with Iraq?--another theme is about damage. What has been lost, and who has been compromised because of the leak of one spy's name? And who, if anyone, will pay for that disclosure?... link

2003-10-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

MUST READ: "I'VE NEVER SEEN A GOVERNMENT LIKE THIS" THE IRAQ WMD DECEPTION

Seymour Hersh has written an indepth look at the exploration of Iraqi WMD capabilities in this month's New Yorker and what it shows is an administration who was at best unwilling and/or unable to hear the truth:

THE STOVEPIPE

by SEYMOUR M. HERSH, THE NEW YORKER

-How conflicts between the Bush Administration and the intelligence community marred the reporting on Iraq’s weapons-

...Kenneth Pollack, a former National Security Council expert on Iraq, whose book “The Threatening Storm” generally supported the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein, told me that what the Bush people did was “dismantle the existing filtering process that for fifty years had been preventing the policymakers from getting bad information. They created stovepipes to get the information they wanted directly to the top leadership. Their position is that the professional bureaucracy is deliberately and maliciously keeping information from them.

“They always had information to back up their public claims, but it was often very bad information,” Pollack continued. “They were forcing the intelligence community to defend its good information and good analysis so aggressively that the intelligence analysts didn’t have the time or the energy to go after the bad information.”

The Administration eventually got its way, a former C.I.A. official said. “The analysts at the C.I.A. were beaten down defending their assessments. And they blame George Tenet”—the C.I.A. director—“for not protecting them. I’ve never seen a government like this.”... link

2003-10-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

THE SPY GAME IS WINNER IN TTLB NEW BLOG CONTEST

Thank you to all the people who linked to my posting, and in particular to Aurabass at Rushlimbaughtomy who clearly knows quality when he sees it :O)

The perversion of intelligence production by policy makers has always been a danger, but has been raised to unprecendented levels by the current administrations in the UK and here.

Secrecy and deception of enemies are sometimes justified in the defense of the nation, but to deceive the American public in the launching of an aggressive and unnecessary war is certainly unpardonable.

2003-10-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 3 IRAQI DEATH SHIPS?

Some ex-intelligence community personnel are "wondering" what happened to the 3 Iraqi "Death Ships":

From last February: Three giant cargo ships are being tracked by US and British intelligence on suspicion that they might be carrying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Each with a deadweight of 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes, the ships have been sailing around the world's oceans for the past three months while maintaining radio silence in clear violation of international maritime law, say authoritative shipping industry sources.

The vessels left port in late November, just a few days after UN weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix began their search for the alleged Iraqi arsenal on their return to the country. LINK

They ask: "Did they come sailing in or are they waiting for Christmas day?"

2003-10-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

Maybe you missed this:

Terror alerts manufactured?

FBI agents say White House scripting 'hysterics' for political effect

By Jon Dougherty, © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com, Posted: January 4, 2003

Intelligence pros say the White House is manufacturing terrorist alerts to keep the issue alive in the minds of voters and to keep President Bush's approval ratings high, Capitol Hill Blue reports.

The Thursday report said that the administration is engaging in "hysterics" in issuing numerous terror alerts that have little to no basis in fact.

"Unfortunately, we haven't made a lot of progress against al-Qaida or the war on terrorism," one FBI agent familiar with terrorism operations told CHB. "We've been spinning our wheels for several weeks now."

Other sources within the bureau and the Central Intelligence Agency said the administration is pressuring intelligence agencies to develop "something, anything" to support an array of non-specific terrorism alerts issued by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security.

"Most of the time, we have little to go on, only unconfirmed snippets of information," a second FBI agent, who also was not named in the report, said. "Most alerts are issued without any concrete data to back up the assumptions."

Indeed, the most recent terrorism alerts have been issued absent specific threat information. Each of the accompanying warnings comes without any shift in the nation's new color-coded alert system; the current warning level of yellow, or "elevated," has been in place since late September.

Even recent reports regarding five Arab men who may have slipped into the country via Canada using phony identification could be politically motivated, one expert said.

"We have very, very little to support the notion that these five represent any more of a threat than any of the other thousands of people who enter this nation every day," terrorism expert Ronald Blackstone said. "It's a fishing expedition." ... MORE Thnx: Buzzflash

2003-10-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

"By no stretch of the imagination was it an honest mistake"

Sojourners Magazine's interviews with CIA veterans on Bush's WMD claims.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

2003-10-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

PLAME AND SPANN: QUESTIONS ANSWERED

I have been getting alot of questions regarding the differences and similarities in the naming of the two CIA operatives: Valerie Plame and the late Johnny Spann. Were they the same, Which was worse, etc. I'll try to answer them in one posting:

Q: Which WAS worse?

A: Probably Plame. Spann was what's known as a "cowboy" or covert operations. Operations are different from intelligence. The famous example is the difference between watching a bridge and blowing it up. So Spann was different from a true "knocker". Because of his active role, his cover would always be less than perfect. Without a doubt the "Tajiks" and "Pashtuns" Novak complained of being jeopardized knew full well he was a paramilitary agent of the US, whether or not he was CIA. However, it is possible there were other operations in the past where he played a different role.

Q: What about the fact they showed his face?

A: That part was worse than Plame. Presumably there were people that knew him under other names but might have recognized his face.

Q: What about the fact that she was married to Ambassador Wilson, doesn't that blow her cover?

A: Not really. First, she kept her maiden name, so she could still use her old cover. Second, the marriage was not publicized. Third, the fact of her marriage to Wilson didn't blow her cover about the past operations even though she was married now. Ambassadors get married just like anyone else, and rarely to spies.

Q: What about the danger to their families?

A: The danger to the families in the US was certainly less than to members of covert networks overseas. However there was a case of an attack on a US naval officer in San Diego who was named in the press in the early 90s. The Govt did move to protect Spann's family belatedly, but apparently not at all in the Plame case.

Q: Isn't there a danger to the family of anyone working at CIA undercover or not?

A: Yes. For example in 1993, Mir Aimal Kasi, who lived in Virginia drove up to the CIA building in Langley, Virginia and shot two CIA employees. Employees are told to be discreet about their employment. A bigger danger is when they travel overseas. However, the biggest danger is to the associates of the NOC agent. That is why the subsequent naming of the cover company Brewster-Jennings was even more egregious, and could well caused a number of secret casualties.

2003-10-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

COPY OF SUPPRESSED DOD WEB SITE POSTED

From FAS:

Last week the Department of Defense moved to block public access
to a DoD web site containing hundreds of unclassified
directives that define and prescribe Pentagon procedures
(SN, 10/08/03).

But with astonishing instincts, Russ Kick, proprietor of the web
site TheMemoryHole.org, had recently taken the trouble to make
a copy of the entire site. Now he has reposted the suppressed
site and all of its contents here:

http://www.thememoryhole.org/dod-directives/www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/

In the short term, this is a superlative solution to the
Pentagon's silly secrecy. In the long term, however, it is
less satisfactory because it cannot reflect updates and
revisions to the frequently altered system of directives.

Fortunately, the Defense Department has no legal right to
withhold this information.

Under the 1996 Electronic Freedom of Information Act, explained
information policy expert Robert Gellman, DoD would be obliged
to publish such directives online if it received multiple
requests for them under FOIA.

In fact, added Michael Tankersley of Public Citizen, the
Department may well be "obligated to make most of these
materials available on the Internet even if it has not received
a request" under the amended FOIA [see 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2)(B)
and (C)].

"You're not wrong," a Pentagon official said today, when we
explained our intention to request a soft copy of the full
contents of the suppressed web site under the FOIA every month
unless and until public access to the site is restored.

A growing (though not unanimous) body of opinion in the Pentagon
now considers that blocking public access to the web site on
DoD directives was a mistake, the official indicated.

"We're working to get it back up," he said.

Let's keep the secret stuff secret and the non-secret stuff non-secret. Is that too hard to ask? As posted below this is precisely what has the intelligence community up in arms.

2003-10-18T22:20:00.000-07:00

DO PALESTINIANS HAVE A.A. MISSILES?

PA SMUGGLES IN ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILES

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- The Palestinian Authority is said to have succeeded in efforts to smuggle anti-aircraft missiles from Egypt.

A Palestinian security officer detained by Israel asserted during interrogation that the PA used more than a dozen tunnels that extend from the southern Gaza town of Rafah to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula for the smuggling of anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, insurgents, semi-automatic weapons and ammunition.

The assertion by PA security official Akram Tubasi, arrested by Israel in September, was the first that the PA procured anti-aircraft missiles. Israeli security sources said Tubasi's reference was to the Soviet-origin SA-7 man-portable shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile.

Tubasi, a member of the PA Coast Guard, said the missiles were smuggled on orders from Mohammed Dahlan, a former PA security affairs minister and longtime chief of the Preventive Security Apparatus in the Gaza Strip. Dahlan, was said to have paid for the smuggling of missiles, ammunition and other material from Egypt through his aide Nabil Tamus.
LINK

If true, this may have been the motivation for the controversial Israeli incursion into Gaza last week that took nearly a dozen lives.

2003-10-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

WAS DAVID KELLEY MURDERED?

THE MURDER OF DAVID KELLY

Journalist Jim Rarey confirms the suspicions held by many that British Microbiologist David Kelly – at the center of Britain’s intelligence scandal – was murdered:

... While the Hutton inquiry appears set to declare Kelly's death a suicide and the national media are already treating it as a given, there are numerous red flags raised in the testimony and evidence at the inquiry itself.

Kelly's body was likely moved from where he died to the site [sitting under a tree] where two search volunteers with a search dog found it... This is buttressed by the medical findings of livor mortis (post mortem lividity), which indicates that Kelly died on his back, or at least was moved to that position shortly after his death....

...A second red flag is the nature of the wounds on Kelly's wrist. Dr. Nicholas Hunt, who performed the autopsy, testified there were several superficial "scratches" or cuts on the wrist and one deep wound that severed the ulnar artery but not the radial artery.

The fact that the ulnar artery was severed, but not the radial artery, strongly suggests that the knife wound was inflicted drawing the blade from the inside of the wrist (the little finger side closest to the body) to the outside where the radial artery is located much closer to the surface of the skin than is the ulnar artery. For those familiar with first aid, the radial artery is the one used to determine the pulse rate.

Just hold your left arm out with the palm up and see how difficult it would be to slash across the wrist avoiding the radial artery while severing the ulnar artery. However, a second person situated to the left of Kelly who held or picked up the arm and slashed across the wrist would start on the inside of the wrist severing the ulnar artery first.

A reasonably competent medical examiner or forensic pathologist would certainly be able to determine in which direction the knife was drawn across the wrist. That question was never asked nor the answer volunteered. In fact, a complete autopsy report would state in which direction the wounds were inflicted. The coroner's inquest was never completed as it was preempted by the Hutton inquiry and the autopsy report will not be made public...J more

2003-10-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

INADVERTENT DISCLOSURES OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION

From FAS:

Department of Energy (DOE) reviewers located hundreds of pages of
inadvertently released classified information among publicly
available records at the National Archives earlier this year,
according to a DOE report to Congress.

Documents containing classified nuclear weapons-related information
were found in collections belonging to the Department of State, the
Department of Defense, and the Executive Office of the President,
according to the report, the eleventh in a continuing series. They
were removed. See:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/inadvertent11.html

The DOE review is based on stringent and arguably obsolete
classification criteria. Thus, reviewers habitually discover
records that are formally "classified" merely because they identify
the location of a nuclear weapon storage site decades ago, or
reveal the cost of a particular weapon or component.

Meanwhile, the open-ended hunt for inadvertently disclosed
classified information at the National Archives, along with various
other post-9/11 restrictions, has apparently wreaked havoc with
public access to historical records at the Archives.

There are numerous anecdotal accounts of large, indiscriminate
withdrawals of historical records that suggest the need for
enhanced oversight and investigation of restrictions on records
access at the Archives.

"DOE has now classified several boxes from RG 77 (Manhattan
Engineering District)," observed intelligence historian Jeffrey T.
Richelson recently. "Some or all of these contain documents
relating to US intelligence concerning Germany's WW II atomic
energy/bomb efforts." Others report that various "documents
concerning Japan's WWII BW efforts are no longer available to the
public."

"I wonder if the Civil War is next," said Richelson.

2003-10-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

THERE ARE LEAKS AND THEN THERE ARE LEAKS

The Wen Ho Lee case vs. Robert Novak

From FAS:

SOURCES OF WEN HO LEE LEAK SOUGHT

A federal court last week ordered five reporters from the New York
Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press and CNN to
disclose the confidential sources they used in reporting on the
case of Wen Ho Lee, the former Los Alamos scientist who had been
suspected of espionage. Dr. Lee charges that his privacy was
violated by the reported leaks.

The new court order, issued in D.C. District Court by Judge Thomas
Penfield Jackson, invokes a 1972 Supreme Court case, Branzburg v.
Hayes, to show that the "reporter's privilege" which protects the
confidentiality of news sources is not absolute:

"It would be frivolous to assert... that the First Amendment, in the
interest of securing news or otherwise, confers a license on either
the reporter or his news sources to violate valid criminal laws,"
the Supreme Court held in 1972.

A copy of Judge Jackson's October 9 order may be found here (thanks
to Kent Dedrick of wenholee.org):

http://www.fas.org/irp/ops/ci/whl_leak.pdf

This matter obviously resonates with another leak case, the
disclosure by Robert Novak of the identity of an undercover CIA
officer, currently the subject of an ongoing investigation.

"I've constantly expressed my displeasure with leaks, particularly
leaks of classified information," said President Bush on October 7.

But this statement overlooks the crucial difference between
classified information that is protected by law, e.g. the
identities of "covert agents," and other classified information
that is not so protected. It also obscures the objective fact that
leaks often serve a vital function in defeating improper secrecy
and informing the public.

"High-level leaking, for reasons good and bad, has long been part of
U.S. political reality," writes John Woestendiek in "Secret
Weapon," Baltimore Sun, October 14:

http://www.sunspot.net/features/bal-to.leak14oct14,0,6958270.story

2003-10-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

FBI & JUSTICE INSIDERS CRITICIZE ASHCROFT ON PLAME AFFAIR

Failure of US Attorney General John Ashcroft to recuse himself from the matter has drawn private criticism from the FBI and the Justice Department

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , WASHINGTON
Friday, Oct 17, 2003,Page 7

Several senior criminal prosecutors at the Justice Department and top FBI officials have privately criticized Attorney General John Ashcroft for failing to recuse himself or appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the leak of a CIA operative's identity.

The criticism reflects the first sign of dissension in the Justice Department and the FBI as the inquiry nears a critical phase. The attorney general must decide whether to convene a grand jury, which could compel White House officials to testify.

The criminal-justice officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, represent a cross-section of experienced criminal prosecutors and include political supporters of Ashcroft at the Justice Department's headquarters here and at US attorney's offices around the country.

MORE

2003-10-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

New Weblog Recommendations for this week for no consistent reason:

1

2

3

4

Names withheld to protect the innocent :O)

If you are a blogger, remember that this blog and those above are in the Truth Laid Bear New Blog contest, so add us to your links.

2003-10-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

"A TOTAL MELTDOWN IN AMERICA'S INTELLIGENCE"

Spies Attack White House Secrecy

By Noah Shachtman, WIRED, 02:00 AM Oct. 16, 2003 PT

NEW ORLEANS -- There's a "total meltdown" in America's intelligence services -- and the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy is one of the major reasons why, current and former top U.S. spooks charged Tuesday.

George W. Bush's White House has pushed like few before it to put government information out of the public's grasp. Moves to classify documents are up 400 percent from a decade ago, to more than 23 million such actions in 2002, according to the Information Security Oversight Office, a division of the National Archives.

But despite their cloak-and-dagger reputation, several of the country's leading spies, past and present, aren't happy about the rush to make things secret. To counter far-reaching, stealthy terrorist cabals, the country needs more openness, not less, they said Wednesday at Geo-Intel 2003, a first-of-its-kind conference here on the use of satellites in war, intelligence and homeland security.

"Our secrecy system is all about protecting secrecy officers, and has nothing to do with protecting secrets. It's a self-licking ice-cream cone," said Rich Haver, until recently Donald Rumsfeld's special assistant for intelligence, now with Northrop Grumman. "We're compartmentalizing the shit out of things. It's causing a total meltdown of our intelligence processes."

Case in point: The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, prepared a report last year for firefighters and other so-called "first responders" on how to react to a chemical weapons attack. But when the paper was completed, the Defense Department classified it, CSIS analyst Jim Lewis noted. Now, the firefighters will never get the benefit of that information.

In July, a George Mason University graduate student mapped out in his dissertation (registration required) the details of the country's fiber optic network. Using information publicly available online, he spotted vulnerable spots where terrorists might strike. The paper could have been used to shore up weak links in the country's infrastructure. Instead, the government immediately suppressed it.

"He should turn it in to his professor, get his grade -- and then they both should burn it," former White House cyberterror czar Richard Clarke told The Washington Post.

That kind of approach is all wrong, Thomas Behling, the deputy undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, told a group of nearly 1,400 spooks, geeks and defense contractors gathered in a ballroom at the New Orleans Marriott, on the edge of the French Quarter.

"Rather than putting data into separate partitions, where only a few people have access to it," he noted, authorities need to make information available "by job" to whoever needs it -- regardless of their security clearance.

"We have to change the way we classify information," added Jim Caverly, who heads the Homeland Security Department's Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection division. The old system may have "worked against the Soviet Union." But, today, the federal government "needs to make information available to law enforcement, to EMTs and to the security staff guarding the power plant."

There have been some improvements -- some -- in sharing data, satellite imagery in particular. That's partially driven by the spread of such eyes in the sky.

"Pictures that only nation-states used to have are now commercially available with a credit card," Lt. Gen. Thomas Goslin, deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said. "So the rules (of classification) need to be reviewed."

"A forum like this one couldn't have happened in the open just a few years ago," Haver agreed. "But our enemies now know the ways we take pictures of them and their operations."

After the first Gulf War, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf complained that his troops in Iraq and Kuwait couldn't see the eye-in-the-sky pictures that the spooks could. By the time Gulf War II came around, that had changed.

"Now, forces in the field can access at a secret level instead of at this compartmented, code-word level. They're not limited to intelligence clearances," said Steven Aftergood, who heads the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy.

But these small steps forward have been accompanied by some giant steps backward, he added. For example, 4,000 officials -- including the secretaries of the departments of agriculture and health and human services -- now have the authority to make material classified. Reams of documents have been labeled "sensitive but unclassified," and are now hidden from public view.

"This administration has repeatedly demonstrated a predilection for secrecy. Withholding information is the default. Disclosure is like pulling teeth. They see little room or need for public oversight," Aftergood said.

"People might imagine the classification serves the interest of the government," he continued. "But it's molasses in the gears of the policy process."

Military and intelligence officials repeat again and again at affairs like these that they're trying to move away from their old hierarchies and toward a structure in which every soldier, every drone and every general is connected by computer networks. Needless secrecy hurts, not helps, this effort.

"Any attempt to control the flow of information impedes the whole," Aftergood said. "It's the difference between a top-down command structure and a network."

Story location: (Courtesy of FAS):
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60836,00.html

2003-10-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

ONE REASON WHY WMD INTELLIGENCE WAS BAD

''Khidhir Hamza: The bogus intelligence source''

Guest Editorial By Imad Khadduri, Former Iraqi nuclear scientist
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (Canada), Wednesday, October 15

(YellowTimes.org) -- Belatedly, in a September 29, 2003 article in the New York Times by Douglas Jehl, the Defense Intelligence Agency has awkwardly admitted that most of the intelligence and information offered by the Iraqi National Congress (INC) for the past several years, which was provided by Iraqi defectors of questionable credibility, was of little to no value, all at a cost of $150 billion, more than 300 dead American soldiers, and at least 10,000 dead Iraqi civilians.

A prominent and callous epithet of such defectors mentioned in the above article is Khidhir Hamza, the self-claimed Iraqi atomic "Bomb Maker." Given a short lived assignment in the Iraqi nuclear program in 1987 to lead the atomic bomb design team, he was kicked out a few months later for petty theft. Reduced to a non-entity in the accelerated nuclear weapons program between 1987 and the start of the 1991 war, he retired from the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission in 1989 and became a college lecturer, a stock market swindler and a shady business middle-man.

Upon his escape from Iraq in 1994, leaving his family behind, he was shunned asylum by the Iraqi opposition groups themselves, the CIA and the British intelligence agencies that were supporting these groups.

Seeking refuge as a lecturer in Libya, he still managed, through the INC, to initiate his usefulness to them by the publication of a series of three articles in the British Sunday Times in 1995 claiming through fake documents supplied by "authoritative sources" that Iraq was currently making atomic bombs. The Sunday Times passed them on to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for its valuation, but decided not to report the IAEA's findings that the documents were "not authentic." The Sunday Times has not yet acknowledged using forgeries in their stories about Iraq's supposed nuclear weapons. LINK

2003-10-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

ARMY CLAIMS FUTURISTIC LASERS, LIGHT ARMORED VEHICLES COMING SOON

Sci-fi weapons closer than most think

By Spc. Bill Putnam

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 9, 2003) -- The technology behind space ship lasers and force fields is a lot closer to reality than many think.

Although those lasers and force fields won't be fielded for a few more years, Gus Khalil, an engineer at the Army's Tank and Automotive Command in Dearborn, Mich., said the Army has identified what they want for the Army's Future Combat System....

...That technology is being developed for the Army's Future Combat System, the family of 16 manned, unmanned, ground and aerial vehicles the Army wants fielded by 2010. link

2003-10-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

STARGATE MATERIAL RELEASED BY CIA -

From AFIO:

John H. Taylor of the National Archives called AFIO to say that CIA just released 16,000 new pages on Stargate (remote viewing program)...all of it on CD-ROM. None of this material, however, will be available online. Researchers will need to visit the College Park branch of the National Archives at 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. Research Hours Monday & Wednesday 8:45 am - 5:00 pm; Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 8:45 am - 9:00 pm; Saturday 8:45 am - 4:45 pm; Closed Sundays and Federal Holidays. John Taylor is willing to answer questions about these fascinating new materials at 301-837-3041. He expects 1,500 more pages -- supposedly the final release on this topic -- in a few weeks. Further information about the Archives can be found at: http://www.archives.gov/facilities/md/archives_2.html#loc

From FAS: By 1995 the program had conducted several hundred intelligence collection projects involving thousands of remote viewing sessions. Notable successes were said to be "eight martini" results, so-called because the remote viewing data were so mind-boggling that everyone has to go out and drink eight martinis to recover. Reported intelligence gathering successes included:

* Joe McMoneagle, a retired Special Project Intelligence Officer for SSPD, SSD, and 902d MI Group, claims to have left Stargate in 1984 with a Legion of Merit Award for providing information on 150 targets that were unavailable from other sources.
* In 1974 one remote viewer appeared to have correctly described an airfield with a large gantry and crane at one end of the field. The airfield at the given map coordinates was the Soviet nuclear testing area at Semipalatinsk -- a possible underground nuclear testing site [PNUTS]. In general, however, most of the receiver's data were incorrect or could not be evaluated.
* A "remote viewer" was tasked to locate a Soviet Tu-95 bomber which had crashed somewhere in Africa, which he allegedly did within several miles of the actual wreckage. LINK

STARGATE, the controversial CIA remote viewing program was first revealed to the public in early 1996, after being officially discontinued. But was it?

Well, we could sure use it in finding Osama Bin Laden.

2003-10-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

ARAFAT'S CONDITION WORSE THAN REPORTED SAYS DEBKA.COM

...At Palestinian headquarters in Ramallah, the atmosphere is grim. While fearing to cross the ailing leader, Arafat’s close associates are stealing away. As one senior diplomat said to DEBKAfile this week: “It reminds me of one of those dying monarchs you see on medieval paintings whose courtiers are depicted fleeing the death chamber covering their eyes with their hands so as not to see the coming of the angel of death.”

Arafat’s ill health was first revealed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly Issue 128, which on October 3 reported the 74-year old Palestinian leader had suffered a series of heart attacks. Palestinian sources in his office described the first attack as mild, but said it was succeeded by seizures that approached severe myocardial infarction. In a show of bravado, he forbade his scared aides to call a doctor and swore them to silence about his condition. Nonetheless, word reached Jordan’s King Abdullah at Camp David during his visit with President George W. Bush from Thursday, September 18 to Saturday, September 20. DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources reveal that Arafat’s condition was a leading topic of their conversations.

On his return home to Amman, the monarch telephoned Arafat to commiserate with him and offer to fly his own personal physician Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, with a cardiologist – both senior directors at Amman’s central military hospital - to Arafat by helicopter. The king vouched for the cardiologist who examined him periodically as well. He also offered to send over advanced diagnostic equipment with the two doctors.

At first, Arafat turned the Jordanian king down. But in a second telephone conversation, on Sunday, September 28, he agreed to be examined by the two physicians, after Abdullah convinced him that rumors of the heart attacks were bound to leak out and he would do well to arm himself with a specialists’ report. The king also made himself responsible for any treatment Arafat might require.

DEBKAfile’s military sources reveal that Monday, September 29, a Jordanian military helicopter flew the royal physician, accompanied by the heart specialist and diagnostic equipment, to Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters. According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources, Arafat underwent a four-hour examination after which he was diagnosed – the report was rushed immediately to Abdullah – as having suffered a series of heart attacks, each of which was capable of inducing a stroke. He was advised to retain a fully-staffed medical team on call 24 hours a day in case he was struck down again. The doctors found him severely debilitated and suffering a progressive breakdown of his internal systems.

Abdullah offered to bring him over to the Amman hospital for constant care, but Arafat refused, declaring he would die in his quarters “as a martyr”. LINK

2003-10-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

FAS AND NYAS IN SUPPORT OF THOMAS BUTLER

The case of Thomas C. Butler, the renowned infectious disease
specialist at Texas Tech University who was charged with
smuggling plague bacteria and numerous other violations of law,
continues to puzzle and perplex observers.

The case has alarmed leaders of the scientific community and
others who view the government's aggressive pursuit of Butler
as far out of proportion to the offenses he is alleged to have
committed.

"It's of grave concern that in a free society, such an Alfred
Hitchcockian situation could emerge," said Peter Agre, winner
of the 2003 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Dr. Agre noted that he
has "known and admired" Dr. Butler since he was a medical
student.

Further details about the case, including information about how
to contribute to the Thomas Butler Legal Defense Fund, may be
found here: http://www.fas.org/butler/index.html

Coverage of the case has lately been muted by a gag order
imposed at the government's request.

On September 12, Judge Sam R. Cummings of the U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a government
motion to prohibit "extrajudicial statements" by the "parties,
their counsel, or their agents."

The specific rationale for silencing the parties could not be
determined. But at least one major interview with Butler,
obtained prior to the gag order, may soon be published.

background: CNN

There is apparently a pattern in weakly evidenced cases like this one and "dirty bomber"Jose Padilla's

2003-10-13T18:35:00.000-07:00

WHY IS THE COST OF THE IRAQI WMD SEARCH CLASSIFIED?

From FAS:

Despite repeated questioning, Bush Administration officials have been unable to provide an explanation as to why the cost of the continuing search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is classified.

According to the New York Times, the Administration is asking for over $600 million in additional funds for the Iraq Survey Group, the team led by David Kay that is investigating Iraqi WMD programs, or about twice its estimated budget to date.

See "Officials Say Bush Seeks $600 Million to Hunt Iraq Arms" by James Risen and Judith Miller, New York Times, October 2. But incredibly, that fact is classified. Several alert reporters posed an obvious follow-up question: Why?

In a vivid illustration of the capriciousness of much classification policy, officials were unable to articulate a reason why this sort of information should be kept secret.

"I can't get into the classified section of budget appropriations," replied White House spokesman Scott McClellan at a press briefing on October 2.

"I don't classify these things," said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld evasively. "I'm sure that they have classifications for good reason."

"I'm sure no one in this room wants me to discuss classified information," Scott McClellan added with apparent sarcasm when the subject was raised again on October 6. link

2003-10-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

TIME MAGAZINE ARTICLE CONTRADICTS INTELLIGENCE FAILURE THEORY

The Secret Collaborators

How did the U.S. oust Saddam's regime so quickly? Credit a remarkable effort to turn Iraq's elite soldiers into spies for America....

...documents described how the Iraqi security forces, already outmatched, had been undermined by Washington's success in recruiting Iraqi spies and double agents. LINK

Everything from the US failure to find WMDs to the supposed failure to predict the current unrest in Iraq, has been blamed on intelligence failures, particularly a supposed inability to get HUMINT sources on the ground. This article ought to put that to rest once and for all.

Does anyone doubt that you can have the best intelligence in the world, but it won't matter if the policy makers don't listen to it?

2003-10-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

WAS NOVAK INTIMIDATED?

Everyone has been speculating over the last few weeks about what Bob Novak's motivation was for burning NOC agent Valerie Plame. He was against the war, he was on the record as being skeptical about the Bush Admin's WMD claims, and now it turns out he was a vocal critic of the naming of Johnny Spann. So whatever WAS the reason for his behavior?

At The Spy Game tipline we have received an anonymous tip, which of course is totally unconfirmable and unverifiable. But try it on and see if it makes sense:

According to this source, Novak was threatened. The tip did not say with what, but presumably it was at minimum, the no- more -goodies- for -you deal. Could it have been worse than that? Well, Krugman has received death threats and the key Enron witness was murdered (and the murder covered up). Were those acts spontaneous or were they orchestrated by someone high up? If the latter, we have a scandal that makes Watergate pale in significance.

And if I suddenly meet an untimely end, you'll know what happened. (joke.... I think)

Conspiracy theorists can visit the Bush Body Count in the meantime.

2003-10-12T17:52:00.000-07:00

WAS TODAY'S BOMBING DIRECTED AT THE IGC OR CIA?

Baghdad coalition hotel base bombed

At least six Iraqis have been killed in the Iraqi capital in a suicide car bomb attack near a hotel used by senior coalition officials and the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC).

The car exploded after being fired on as it broke through a four-metre high security barrier into the Baghdad Hotel driveway.

Iraqi police chief Ahmad Ibrahim said the attack on a hotel filled with Americans and other foreigners was aimed at driving the occupying forces out of the country. LINK

Earlier stories suggested that the hotel was the headquarters for CIA operations, but were scrubbed either due to inaccuracy or for security reasons. British papers are still identifying it as CIA.

2003-10-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

"AN UNPRECEDENTED EXPOSURE" LEAVES WAKE OF DAMAGE

Leak of CIA officers leaves trail of damage

By Warren P. Strobel, Knight Ridder Newspapers

.... the leak by Bush administration officials of that CIA officer's identity may have damaged U.S. national security to a much greater extent than generally realized, current and former agency officials say.

Plame, the wife of former ambassador and Bush critic Joseph Wilson, was a member of a small elite-within-an-elite, a CIA employee operating under "nonofficial cover," in her case as an energy analyst, with little or no protection from the U.S. government if she got caught.

Training agents such as Plame, 40, costs millions of dollars and requires the time-consuming establishment of elaborate fictions, called "legends," including in this case the creation of a CIA front company that helped lend plausibility to her trips overseas.

Compounding the damage, the front company, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, whose name has been reported previously, apparently also was used by other CIA officers whose work now could be at risk, according to Vince Cannistraro, formerly the agency's chief of counterterrorism operations and analysis....

...And Plame's exposure may make it harder for American spies to convince foreigners to share important secrets with them, U.S. intelligence officials said.

Bush partisans tend to downplay the leak's damage, saying Plame's true job was widely known in Washington, if unspoken. And, they say, she had moved from the DO, the CIA's covert arm, to an analysis job.

But intelligence professionals, infuriated over the breach and what they see as the Bush administration's misuse of intelligence on Iraq, vehemently disagree.

Larry Johnson - a former CIA and State Department official who was a 1985 classmate of Plame's in the CIA's case officer-training program at Camp Peary, Va., known as "the Farm" - predicted that when the CIA's internal damage assessment is finished, "at the end of the day, (the harm) will be huge and some people potentially may have lost their lives."

"This is not just another leak. This is an unprecedented exposing of an agent's identity," said former CIA officer Jim Marcinkowski, who's now a prosecutor in Royal Oak, Mich., and who also did CIA training with Plame.

...Critics say the leak was meant to intimidate critics such as Wilson, a former ambassador who traveled to the African country of Niger to investigate claims that Iraq was seeking uranium ore for nuclear weapons. Wilson found no basis for the claims and later publicly criticized Bush's description of Iraq's nuclear weapons program.

Human intelligence - as opposed to electronic surveillance - about WMD development and weapons transfers is hard to come by, especially in "hard target" countries such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea....

...The corps of officers using nonofficial cover is small, said former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman, a critic of Bush's handling of intelligence. The program was the subject of an internal battle, he said, opposed by traditionalists, who favored the orthodox method of having spies pose as American diplomats or military officers.

"It was always controversial. There were never a lot. And there are fewer now than there were," Goodman said.

Johnson, the former CIA and State Department official, said espionage training could cost several million dollars, including $350,000 for the first year alone.

It appears that the Brewster-Jennings front was more than what is called "nominal cover," and was used as part of Plame's espionage, Johnson said.

That means anyone she met with could be in danger now, said Johnson, who described himself as "furious, absolutely furious" at the security breach.

On a personal level, if Plame's covert career wasn't over already, it is now...

...As a CIA officer operating overseas, "There's only one entity in the world that can identify you. That's the U.S. government. When the U.S. government does it, that's it," he said. LINK

2003-10-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

SCOOP! NOVAK KNEW BETTER THAN TO BURN VALERIE PLAME

He criticized Identification of Johnny Spann in 2001, CHECK IT OUT:

Inside Report: Not Secret CIA

Robert Novak, December 3, 2001

WASHINGTON -- Exposure of CIA operative Johnny (Mike) Spann's identity as the first American killed in Afghanistan is viewed by surprised intelligence insiders as an effort by Director George Tenet to boost the embattled CIA's prestige.

Old CIA hands were shocked by the breaking of the old rule keeping secret the names of agents in order to protect their family and associates (in this case, undercover Pakistanis and Tajiks). The rule was violated, according to the insiders, because the CIA needs publicity after the massive intelligence failure of Sept. 11. The death of a heroic agent makes the agency look better.

This incident intensifies congressional criticism of Tenet, with intelligence experts suggesting that a badly planned interrogation of Taliban prisoners cost Spann his life. link

You'll recall from a posting here last week that Johnny Spann's dad was outraged at the publicity about his son's death and has called the Plame leak "treason." (link)

Novak here assumes it was George Tenet's idea to name Johnny Spann. But was it? Or did Tenet acquiesce to a directive from the White House?

NOVAK'S MOTIVATION?

But if Novak full well how CIA felt about Spann, how then could he burn Valerie Plame? Hypocrisy is not a sufficient answer. What was his motivation?

In intelligence, the question that is asked is Who Benefits?

In the Spann case, Novak trashes George Tenet for revealing Spann's identity. He claims CIA benefited from having Spann as a hero. (Of course, so did the war effort as a whole). But that question can also be asked of Novak himself. By publishing it, he had an opportunity to trash Tenet.

In the Plame case, it's been pointed out that Novak opposed the war on Iraq. Some have suggested his action may have been meant to cause a scandal and undermine that effort. That seems TOO subtle, and in fact it took 3 months for anyone to notice. Perhaps again he was trying to create dissension at CIA and problems for Tenet.

One theme that runs throughout both articles, is his pride at insider knowledge. Is Novak simply so insecure and egocentric he would jeopardize an agent's and all her connections lives, knowing full well he was doing so, simply out of egotism?

Or was he trying to curry favor with the Administration after alienating them? If so, and I think it the most likely explanation, it was the most craven of acts betraying lives and one's own conscience to toady to power.

2003-10-11T12:59:00.000-07:00

HOW BAD IS OUTING AN N.O.C. AGENT?

According to one contact I spoke to today:

"The equivalent of disclosing the location of a ship at sea during war."

i.e: "Loose lips sink ships"

or: "I liken that to the knee-capping of an athlete." Jim Marcinkowski, an ex-CIA officer who trained with her (link)

What percent of CIA employees are undercover? Less than 10%. Of those, how many are N.O.C.? Classified, but my guess would be 10-15%.

2003-10-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

Slain CIA Agent's Dad Calls Leak Treason

By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer, October 2, 2003, 9:03 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- The father of slain CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann said Thursday he believes an independent counsel should investigate allegations that someone in the Bush administration exposed a CIA officer's identity -- an act he called treasonous.

Spann, the first American killed in Afghanistan, died in a prison uprising. His father, also named Johnny Spann, said he is still angry because he feels his son's identity and hometown were disclosed before his son's family could be adequately protected.(underlines mine)

Democrats in Congress, led by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., are calling for a special counsel to be appointed to investigate who exposed a CIA operative who is married to a former ambassador, Joseph C. Wilson. Wilson had accused the administration of manipulating intelligence to exaggerate the threat posed by Iraq.

"If someone in the Bush administration leaked this, they need to be punished, and they need to be made an example of, because that's not just a leak, that's treason," Spann, of Winfield, Ala., told The Associated Press. "They should appoint an independent counsel so the American people can be sure, and let the chips fall where they may." link

I mentioned this a couple days ago (link). CIA employees around the world watched in shock as Johnnie Spann was buried 2 years ago in an unprecedentedly public ceremony.

Now they are even more outraged -- a living agent blown by her own government in an attempt to discredit the agency's own intelligence. This has never happened before and indeed was unimaginable...

2003-10-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

VALERIE PLAME NOT THE FIRST COVERT AGENT OUTED BY BUSH ADMIN.

Anyone remember Johnny "Mike" Spann? He was the first American casualty in the invasion of Afganistan. He died shortly after questioning the so-called "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh.

What you may not remember is that he also was a CIA operative under non-official cover. That his name and picture was revealed to the US Media by the Bush Administration was also an outrage to the intelligence community, even in death. The reason is that his posthumous outing endangered his family and all the people he worked with over the years.

In its quest to have an American hero, the Bush Administration did what it did two years later for revenge, that is, endanger lives of the innocent, lives of allies, and national security itself, all for a short term gain.
[ Thu Oct 02, 08:13:12 AM ]

AMBASSADOR'S WIFE WAS A "KNOCKER"

The reason why the outing of the wife of Fmr. Ambassador Joseph Wilson is such an outrage is because she was one of a select few in the intelligence community known as "knockers". The term "knocker" is a play on the acronym N.O.C. for non-official cover. Nearly all CIA operatives, instead operate under official cover, which is a cover related to a non-CIA embassy posting. This cover gives them the protection of "diplomatic immunity" so that if they are arrested, they cannot be prosecuted or harmed by another country.

Knockers do not have this protection, and they do not because they they are involved in the most sensitive of operations, where the existence of an embassy link would draw suspicion.

They are the true spies and the ones in the most real danger. Knockers are often engaged in the recruitment of other clandestine agents, both knowing and unknowing hence the pun "knocker." Knockers often work under their own names because there is no official link between them and the government especially when urgent situations or time factors prevent construction of a cover identity..

That is why the outing of a knocker is so outrageous. Not only are they put at risk and their entire families, but every who has worked with them over the years has now been identified as a possible CIA recruit. Most of these people to this day did not know they were working for the CIA. Many would not have performed the tasks they did had they known they were. Scores of people therefore and perhaps a dozen or two operations have been jeopardized by this craven act. Some of these operations may be going on to this day, and may be subject to sabotage now or in the future.

One typical operation might be the bugging of say a Iranian diplomat's office by an employee of the phone company in a third nation. He might not be willing to do it for the US, but he might for a corporation or a neutral country. Exposing the knocker who set this up, might cause the employee to get angry and rip out the bug or harm the knockers associates who are still in place.

More information on Non-Official Cover is in todays NY TIMES

ORIGINAL SOURCE: COSMIC IGUANA
[ Fri Oct 10, 09:53:56 PM ]

MAYBE YOU MISSED THIS:

Not Business as Usual: Cheney and the CIA

Ray McGovern,
AlterNet

June 30, 2003

Viewed on October 7, 2003

As though this were normal! I mean the repeated visits Vice President Dick Cheney made to the CIA before the war in Iraq. The visits were, in fact, unprecedented. During my 27-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, no vice president ever came to us for a working visit.

During the '80s, it was my privilege to brief Vice President George H.W. Bush and other very senior policy makers every other morning. I went either to the vice president's office or (on weekends) to his home. I am sure it never occurred to him to come to CIA headquarters.

The morning briefings gave us an excellent window on what was uppermost in the minds of those senior officials and helped us refine our tasks of collection and analysis. Thus, there was never any need for policy makers to visit us. And the very thought of a vice president dropping by to help us with our analysis is extraordinary. We preferred to do that work without the pressure that inevitably comes from policy makers at the table.

Cheney got into the operational side of intelligence as well. Reports in late 2001 that Iraq had tried to acquire uranium from Niger stirred such intense interest that his office let it be known he wanted them checked out. So, with the CIA as facilitator, a retired U.S. ambassador was dispatched to Niger in February 2002 to investigate. He found nothing to substantiate the report and lots to call it into question. There the matter rested -- until last summer, after the Bush administration made the decision for war in Iraq.

Cheney, in a speech on Aug. 26, 2002, claimed that Saddam Hussein had "resumed his effort to acquire nuclear weapons."

At the time, CIA analysts were involved in a knockdown, drag-out argument with the Pentagon on this very point. Most of the nuclear engineers at the CIA, and virtually all scientists at U.S. government laboratories and the International Atomic Energy Agency, found no reliable evidence that Iraq had restarted its nuclear weapons program.

But the vice president had spoken. Sad to say, those in charge of the draft National Intelligence Estimate took their cue and stated, falsely, that "most analysts assess Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program."

Smoke was blown about aluminum tubes sought by Iraq that, it turns out, were for conventional weapons programs. The rest amounted to circumstantial things like Hussein's frequent meetings with nuclear scientists and Iraq's foot-dragging in providing information to U.N. inspectors.

Not much heed was paid to the fact that Hussein's son-in-law, who supervised Iraq's nuclear program before he defected in 1995, had told interrogators that Iraq's nuclear facilities -- except for the blueprints -- had been destroyed in 1991 at his order. (Documents given to the United States this week confirm that. The Iraqi scientists who provided them added that, even though the blueprints would have given Iraq a head start, no order was given to restart the program; and even had such an order been given, Iraq would still have been years away from producing a nuclear weapon.)

In sum, the evidence presented in last September's intelligence estimate fell far short of what was required to support Cheney's claim that Iraq was on the road to a nuclear weapon. Something scarier had to be produced, and quickly, if Congress was to be persuaded to authorize war. And so the decision was made to dust off the uranium-from-Niger canard.

The White House calculated -- correctly -- that before anyone would make an issue of the fact that this key piece of "intelligence" was based on a forgery, Congress would vote yes. The war could then be waged and won. In recent weeks, administration officials have begun spreading the word that Cheney was never told the Iraq-Niger story was based on a forgery. I asked a senior official who recently served at the National Security Council if he thought that was possible. He pointed out that rigorous NSC procedures call for a very specific response to all vice-presidential questions and added that "the fact that Cheney's office had originally asked that the Iraq-Niger report be checked out makes it inconceivable that his office would not have been informed of the results."

Did the president himself know that the information used to secure congressional approval for war was based on a forgery? We don't know. But which would be worse -- that he knew or that he didn't?

Ray McGovern, a CIA analyst from 1964 to 1990, regularly reported to the vice president of the United States and senior policymakers on the President's Daily Brief from 1981 to 1985. He now is co-director of the Servant Leadership School, an inner-city outreach ministry in Washington.

[ Fri Oct 10, 09:47:31 PM ]
GREATEST CIA AGENTS OF ALL TIME

5. Ho Chi Minh - (actually OSS) Link Result: Vietnam war
4. Manuel Noriega - Link Result: Invasion of Panama
3. Saddam Hussein - Link Result: Gulf War, Invasion of Iraq
2. Osama Bin Laden - Link Result: 9-11, Invasion of Afghanistan
1. Mystery Guest

If you can guess the identity of the Mystery Guest, you will know the location of our next war. Just be assured that our next evil villain will be someone we trained.

BONUS QUESTION: It's just a coincidence isn't it? It's not like we planned for them to do anything, right?

ORIGINAL SOURCE: COSMIC IGUANA

WAR ON TERROR MISGUIDED SAYS SPOOK

Former spy criticizes U.S. method of fighting terrorism

By Mary Manning, 9/12/03, LAS VEGAS SUN

The next terrorist attack on the United States won't involve a cockpit takeover, former CIA spy Robert Steele said in Las Vegas on the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Instead it will come from a Stinger missile or explosives planted in a cargo container, the ex-Marine said Thursday night to members of the Nevada Committee for Foreign Relations.

Steele, while critical of Attorney General John Ashcroft in his speech, said that he believes both major political parties have failed the American people.

"America gets the government and intelligence services it deserves," said Steele, who spent 25 years in covert operations in El Salvador and other places.

The United States hasn't changed the way it gathers or uses intelligence since the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were hit two years ago, Steele said.

"You are no safer today than you were before the 9-11 attacks," he said.

"We should not be throwing rocks in Iraq and Afghanistan until we strengthen our glass house here at home," Steele told about 25 people at the Las Vegas Country Club.

Instead, the federal government should build intelligence centers in every state and every major city, including Las Vegas, for the purpose of gathering information, Steele said.

Las Vegas is particularly vulnerable to an attack on water delivery pipelines or other utilities, he said.

"There's going to be a worldwide war over water," Steele said, pointing out droughts and spots of political unrest on a world map.

Las Vegas is particularly vulnerable if international companies are permitted to buy water and privatize the resource, he said.

The Bush administration is approaching terrorism from an outmoded perspective, as if the former Soviet Union were the only enemy, Steele said. Instead, terrorists, gangs and fragmented attackers are creating much of the violence.

"The answer is not John Ashcroft peeping into every window," Steele said.

Five of the Sept. 11 hijackers visited Las Vegas before the attack, and the FBI has never been able to determine why they came here. It could have been for anything, including selling drugs to raise money for the cause, Steele said.

Many U.S. cities are most vulnerable from a biological attack, such as a bacteria, Steele said.

"We stopped investing in public health 30 years ago," Steele said.

Howard Dean, the Democratic presidential candidate, has paid attention to the multi-faceted threats, Steele said. Stealing a page from Dean's presidential playbook, he said the country should still spend $500 billion on defense, but cut the heavy military budget to $250 billion. Put $100 billion into economic growth, the Peace Corps and environmental cleanup efforts and another $75 billion into public utilities, port security, border patrols and intelligence, he said. LINK

ORIGINAL SOURCE: COSMIC IGUANA