Monday, June 28, 2010

With Russia, Little Ever Really Changes


US Charges 11 in Russian Spy Case
The Wall Street Journal -- JUNE 28, 2010, 4:47 P.M. ET

WASHINGTON—U.S. authorities charged 11 people Monday with being part of a Russian spy program to plant long-term undercover agents inside the U.S.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation alleged the Russian intelligence service known as the SVR provided extensive training, including in foreign languages and the use of codes and ciphers, to the alleged agents before dispatching them to the U.S. over the past decade.

Once inside the U.S., the alleged agents took on aliases and "deep cover" assignments to become Americanized in order to gather information about the U.S., and possibly recruit sources inside American "policy-making circles," an FBI affidavit filed in New York federal court alleged.

U.S. authorities arrested 10 of the 11 people in New York, Boston and northern Virginia in recent days.

The case grew from a years-long FBI investigation focused on Russian espionage capabilities in the U.S. since the breakup of the formidable spying operation of the former Soviet Union.

Write to Evan Perez at evan.perez@wsj.com


Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Espionage or Globalism?

Agents of Influence

Canadians are shocked to hear that some of their elected representatives are acting as agents of foreign governments, but no one should be shocked that foreign governments are after Canadian secrets in the first place.

Canada is not much of a military power, so foreign governments are likely not snooping for blueprints of futuristic weapons. Canada is, however, an economic power, a major exporter and manufacturer. It is trade secrets that our global competitors desire. The Cold War may be over but espionage -- economic espionage -- is still very much a growth industry.

Richard Fadden, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, revealed this week that a number of Canadian public officials are suspected to be working on behalf of foreign interests. At least two of the suspected "agents of influence" hold cabinet posts at the provincial level.

It's a sensational claim, to be sure. But as many security experts quickly noted, the source is impeccable: Richard Fadden himself. Fadden is an accomplished and respected public servant. His willingness to come out from the shadows, so to speak, and talk about foreign penetration of the political class, on the eve of Canada's hosting the G8 and G20 summits, suggests just how real a threat the security establishment deems this to be.

Fadden wasn't reckless. He didn't name names or identify the countries that have been poking around in our business. He didn't have to. China openly specializes in economic espionage, as Canadian companies such as aerospace giant Bombardier have discovered. There have been recent reports of Chinese technicians stealing secrets at one of Bombardier's Montreal plants, and of Bombardier negotiators being spied upon during trips to China.

While Fadden didn't name names, he did suggest that the problem of foreign influence is particularly conspicuous in British Columbia. The province is part of the Pacific Rim and is the Canadian epicentre of Asian immigration. As the University of Victoria political scientist Norman Ruff told the Canadian Press, "There are influences on public policy in British Columbia both on the local and provincial level which aren't solely in the interests of British Columbians."

Although communist China tops Canada's list of countries targeting us for economic espionage, democratic countries and even allies will spy on each other. In the 1990s, some business travellers stopped flying on Air France following reports French intelligence officers were bugging airline seats. Japan has been accused of recruiting technology workers to penetrate U.S.-based tech firms.

It might even be that, in some quarters, economic espionage is viewed simply as a form of government assistance to domestic businesses. In one reported case, a French and American firm were competing for a billion-dollar contract with the Indian government. The French government surreptitiously obtained information about the American bid and passed it on to the French firm, which then won the contract.

The danger of Fadden's warning is that it might be used, not by CSIS but others, as an argument against multiculturalism and immigration. That would be a mistake. Canada's diversity is a source of national strength, and has produced far more benefits, economic and otherwise, than costs.

Canada is right to welcome talent wherever it can be found. The integration of new and recent Canadians into the highest ranks of economic and political life is what makes us a successful country. Unfortunately, in a few instances, that integration might not be as thorough as was hoped.



Agents of influenceSphere: Related Content

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Forgotten Heroes of Military Intelligence

Military Intelligence Fatalities Twice CIA's

They have no somber wall to represent personnel who have died on secret missions.

But military intelligence personnel are taking far greater -- and far less recognized -- casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan than the CIA, whose latest dead were honored in a headquarters ceremony last week.

In all, 22 CIA personnel have been killed in action since Sept. 11, 2001, not all of them in terrorism-related incidents, according to an agency official. Twelve stars, seven of them representing officers and contractors killed by a double-agent suicide bomber in Khost, Afghanistan, on Dec. 30, were added to the CIA's memorial wall last week.

Meanwhile, 41 military spy-handlers and other MI personnel have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, according to figures supplied by the U.S. Army Intelligence Command at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

Five of them were women.

In addition, the Defense Intelligence Agency, which has deployed analysts and other personnel to the war zones, has suffered 45 wounded from mortar attacks and other causes since March 2003, the bulk of them in Iraq.

The DIA has recorded no fatalities in the war zones, but it lost seven civilian personnel in one fell swoop on Sept. 11, 2001, when one of the hijacked airliners crashed into the Pentagon. Eight more DIA personnel, all but one civilians, were wounded, a spokesman said. A Patriot’s Memorial wall at Bolling Air Force Base honors the DIA's 21 fallen, by name, going back to 1970.

Presumably, the main reason MI casualties are so far greater than the CIA's is that military intelligence personnel are far more numerous in the war zones (although the agency had roughly 500 personnel assigned to Baghdad alone by 2005).

But the large number of MI casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan also suggests the conflicts are far more dangerous for military spies and support personnel than the last major counterinsurgency war, in Vietnam, where some never saw a bullet fired in anger.

In Afghanistan especially, there are no front lines. Nor are there safe havens in cities and towns, as was largely the case in South Vietnam, where many a military agent in slacks and Hawaiian shirts could dine in a local restaurant, go out for a drink and sleep on clean sheets.

In sharp contrast, MI personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan rarely stray far from their bases or units, and never unarmed. And like their uniformed brethren, they are mostly dying in Humvees from roadside bombs.

Such was the case of Cari A. Gasiewicz, 28, an Army counterintelligence agent and Arabic interpreter who died when two roadside bombs detonated near her convoy in Baqubah, Iraq, on Dec. 4, 2004.

“She was in the final weeks of her year-long deployment and the convoy was headed to Kuwait to prepare for redeployment in January,” according to Fort Huachuca.

In 2005, the 202nd MI Battalion at Fort Gordon, Ga., dedicated its headquarters building in her honor. Three years later, the Defense Language Institute also memorialized a building in her name.

Likewise in 2006, the Military Intelligence Library at Fort Huachuca was memorialized in honor of Warrant Officer Christopher G. Nason, a voice intercept technician and Arabic linguist who died in a vehicular accident near Mosul in November 2003.

Nason, 39, was the first MI soldier from the fort to die in Iraq.

Specialist Farid Elazzouzi, an MI interpreter-translator born in Morocco, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Kirkuk only two years after obtaining a U.S. visa in 2005, has no building named for him, but he was was posthumously awarded American citizenship.

The first MI agent to die in Afghanistan was Staff Sgt. Brian “Cody” Prosser, a 10-year veteran of military operations in Somalia, Haiti, Jordon, Kuwait, Kosovo, and "throughout Southwest Asia," according to Fort Huachuca.

Assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Prosser was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan, 150 miles behind enemy lines, in December 2001.

The citation for Prosser’s Bronze Star for valor stated that “his actions leading up to the battle on the night of 3 December were key in allowing the advance team to move to and destroy an enemy strong point at Sayad Alma Kalay with complete success” while “outnumbered 50 to 1.”

Fort Huachuca renamed its academic complex Prosser Village in his honor.

A new spy-handler training site at the Army intelligence school will also be named for a fallen MI soldier, later this year.

Sgt. Nicholas Casey, a human intelligence collector, died on Oct, 28, 2008, when a suicide bomber detonated explosives while he and his team "were preparing to conduct operations in a police station in Baghlan, Afghanistan,” according to the base’s public affairs office.

“The suicide bomber, disguised as an Afghan police officer, walked unhindered into the police station and detonated himself, killing SGT Casey and SGT Kevin D. Grieco,” the announcement said. “SGT Casey was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina.”

Beside Casey, eight other MI personnel have died in Afghanistan, including an intelligence analyst and three others involved with communications.

The 33 Iraq fatalities included two women listed as cryptologic linguists, two as signals intelligence analysts, and one as a “HUMINT Collector,” or spy handler.

Figures for Vietnam War MI casualties could not be readily obtained and may not be available in one place, authorities said.

One official history said “casualties among Military Intelligence personnel were not restricted to members of the Army Security Agency,” which eavesdropped on enemy communications.

“During the [1968] Tet offensive, the Hue detachment of the 525th MI Group was overrun and its members killed or captured,” it said.

“The first Medal of Honor ever granted to a Military Intelligence officer," it added, "was awarded posthumously to 1st Lt. George Sisler, assistant intelligence officer of a Special Forces team.”

By Jeff Stein | June 15, 2010; 6:30 AM ET
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/06/military_intelligence_casualti.htmlSphere: Related Content

Tuesday, June 8, 2010


German Left-Wing Crime Increase Adds to Public Security Concerns
An increase in crime and attacks on police officers by German left-wing extremists in 2009 was centered in Berlin and Hamburg, cities which also have seen conflicts with immigrants. Despite initial preventative measures by federal and regional authorities, calls for stronger action continue. -- 27 April 2010

Left-Wing Crime Increase Compounds Concern About Right-Wing, Immigrant Groups
German security authorities reported a substantial increase in crime and attacks on police in 2009 related to left-wing political groups and individuals, whom German counterintelligence agencies number at approximately 6,600. This increase in left-wing crime represents an additional concern alongside Germany's perceived problems with right-wing extremist and immigrant crime (dw-world.de, 19 January).
  • According to Germany's Interior Ministry, more extremist crimes and acts of violence occurred in 2009 than in any year since 2001. The ministry reported that in 2009, leftwing extremist crimes increased by almost 40% to 9,375. Violent crimes by these individuals and groups, meanwhile, increased by more than 50% to 1,822, and the number of leftist attacks on police officers increased by 120% to 1,3503 (Bild, 23 March; bild.de, 30 January).
  • Interior Ministry statistics indicate that although violent crimes tied to right-wing groups decreased by 14% to 959, overall crime by these groups is still twice as frequent as that committed by their left-wing counterparts. The Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) also reported that rightist attacks on police officers increased by almost 75% to 5305 (Bild, 23 March; bild.de, 30 January).
  • Germany lacks publicly available official data on immigrant crime, but media reports reflect increasing concern about integration problems.a For example, media have cited statistics -- probably drawn from a controversial lecture by Senior Public Prosecutor Roman Reusch, former head of the Berlin Department for Multiple Offenders -- indicating that 80% of young multiple offenders in Berlin have a migration background (meideu.de, 16 October 2009; Focus, 12 October 2009).
More: http://www.fas.org/irp/world/germany/crime.pdfSphere: Related Content

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

French Secret Service Fear Russian Cathedral a Spying Front
The French secret service has reportedly expressed alarm over plans for a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Paris, fearing it will be used by Moscow as a front for spies.


Henry Samuel in Paris
Published: 12:58AM BST 28 May 2010

The go-ahead for the onion-domed cathedral – the first to be built in the French capital in more than a century – by the Eiffel Tower was considered a brilliant diplomatic coup in Russia as at least two other countries were vying for the prized property by the Seine.

But it sparked deep reservations at the Quai d'Orsay, France's foreign ministry, and the DCRI, its MI6, because the building is a stone's throw from a sensitive diplomatic compound.

As well as housing France's supreme magistrates' council, the Palais de l'Alma – Napoleon III's former stables – contains the Elysée postal service and above all, the 16 private apartments of top presidential aides. Chief among these is Jean-David Levitte, President Nicolas Sarkozy's top diplomatic adviser, who wields more power than the foreign minister, as well as his chief of staff.

French counterespionage was particularly concerned, according to Le Nouvel Observateur, the weekly magazine, as Vladimir Kozhin, the Russian in charge of trying to buy the 8,400 square metre (90,400 sq foot) plot, is a former KGB agent. Mr Kozhin is head of the hugely powerful Kremlin property department, which has 50,000 employees, an empire of hotels and manages all state property, including Russian churches overseas.

French intelligence concerns were compounded by the fact that it had detected a significant rise in Russian spy activity since the election of President Sarkozy in 2007, reaching heights not seen since the mid-1980s.

Mr Kozhin is a close associate of Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister and a former KGB officer, who was the property department's number two in the 1990s.

Mr Putin and President Dmitri Medvedev are said to have considered the construction of the Paris cathedral a key step in regaining control over the Russian Diaspora and legitimising their administration, as well as a spectacular display of Russian power in western Europe.

Such was the importance of the acquisition that it was reportedly the first subject President Medvedev broached with his French counterpart in December at the Copenhagen climate summit.

According to several sources, after the conversation Mr Sarkozy immediately phoned his budget minister who a few days later summoned Mr Kozhin to his office. Ten days later when the various tenders for the plot were examined, Russia's was top of the pile which included bids from Saudi Arabia and Canada – with an above-market offer of 70 million euros (£60 million).

The cathedral, which still needs final planning permission from Paris' town hall, stands to be the first Russian monument built in Paris since the Alexander III bridge in 1896, and is due to be built within the next three years.Sphere: Related Content

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Ukranians Roll Over for Russia's FSB

Ukraine Ends Counterintelligence Work on Russian FSB Officials - Paper
29/05/201011:57
KIEV, May 29 (RIA Novosti)

Ukrainian counterintelligence services have stopped monitoring Russian Security Service (FSB) officials stationed in Ukraine, a Ukrainian weekly paper said on Saturday.

Relations between Russia and Ukraine have dramatically improved since President Viktor Yanukovych was elected in February on a platform to roll back the pro-Western policies of his predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, and heal damaged ties with Moscow.

"As a gesture of goodwill and to demonstrate new policies, the counterintelligence department ended all work on Russian security services in Ukraine," Zerkalo Nedeli said.

The Ukrainian security services have so far not made an official comment on this report.

A cooperation agreement was signed by the heads of the Ukrainian and Russian Security Services on May 19. The agreement includes a decision to return Russian security service officials to Crimea, where Russia has a naval base. The Russian security services were ordered to leave the territory at the end of 2009.

See: http://en.rian.ru/world/20100529/159209138.htmlSphere: Related Content

Friday, May 28, 2010

Naxalite's Winning?

Are India's Maoist rebels winning the war?

BBC News . . .
Friday's train crash in India has been blamed on "sabotage" by Maoist rebels. It was the latest in a series of rebel attacks after the government launched an offensive against them. The BBC's Soutik Biswas asks whether the rebels are gaining the upper hand.

It is not surprising that Maoist rebels are being blamed for the derailment of an express train in India's West Bengal state, in which 71 passengers were killed.

The police claim they have found posters signed by a local Maoist militia claiming responsibility for removing part of the track, which led to the train skidding off and colliding with a freight train coming in the opposite direction.

West Midnapore district, where the incident happened, is the hotbed of Maoist rebellion in West Bengal, one of the states where the rebels have a presence.

Tribespeople dominate the district, especially the forested Junglemahal region bordering Jharkhand state.

They feel ignored and deprived by the Communist government which has been ruling the state since 1977. Most live in abject poverty. The only visible signs of "development" I spotted during a trip to the area some years ago were cheap liquor shops.

Strong support

Fed up with the state of affairs, Junglemahal's tribespeople even agitated for a separate state.

When neighbouring Jharkhand was carved out as a separate state, their alienation grew and they were quick to welcome to Maoists, who wield most influence in areas which are poor and dominated by tribespeople.

The Lalgarh area in Junglemahal is the rebels' most formidable stronghold.

In February, they stormed a police camp in Lalgarh, killing 24 policemen.

Rebels love to describe Lalgarh as a "liberated zone" where the state has withered away - schools have closed down because teachers are afraid to attend, and policemen have deserted police stations fearing reprisals.

Friday's incident in West Midnapore demonstrates how the rebels are taking the battle to their enemies ever since the federal government launched an offensive in what is known as India's "red corridor" earlier this year.

This comprises 223 of India's 636 districts in 20 states which the government says are "Maoist affected", up from 55 districts in nine states six years ago.

Ninety of these affected districts, the government says, are experiencing "consistent violence."

The rebels have been carrying out attacks with impunity in recent months - two major attacks Dantewada in Chhattisgarh state left more than 100 people dead, including 75 paramilitary troops.

But there are also theories that in this case the Maoist script went slightly awry.

Maoists frequently tamper with railway lines and often these lead to minor derailments; a number of such attempts have been caught well in time. There have been hijackings but no major attacks on civilian transport with such a death toll.

In the past year, Maoists have carried out 32 attacks on railways, mainly in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh - but no major casualties have been reported.

Support for the Maoist cause across India generally will be dented by such an attack, just as it was after the assault on troops in Dantewada.

Following the twin Dantewada attacks, the government said it was reviewing its strategy for fighting the rebels, who have refused to respond to repeated government offers for talks.

Analysts say that the strategy of "clearing, holding and developing" rebel-affected areas evidently inspired by the US strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan is not working.

'Visible retreat'

One reason, they say, is that the surge of security forces and resources on the ground are not sufficient enough to take on the rebels who are spread over a vast swathe of remote mineral-rich forest lands.

The government is now in a "visible retreat" after a spree of rebel attacks, says security analyst Ajai Sahni.

He believes that a lack of adequate forces, training and intelligence is leading to these "disasters".

"Unless local capacities for intelligence and operations are enormously augmented, this [offensive] can go nowhere, and lot of lives are going to be lost for no useful purpose," Mr Sahni says.

But the under-equipped local police and intelligence-gathering networks remain Indian security' s weakest link, and there no visible efforts to bolster them.

The government appears to be confused over how the rebels should be tackled - there are differences in the ruling Congress party itself on whether the state should strike hard against it's own people.

Recently federal home minister P Chidambaram requested wider powers to deal with the rebels, saying that he had been given a "limited mandate."

He said the chief ministers of some of the worst affected states have asked for air power to be used against the rebels - a measure that the government has refused to sanction.

Analysts believe that many states are not doing enough to take on the rebels, leading to a "centralisation" of the problem.

"The principal responsibility for dealing with the Maoists remain that of the states; the first responders, the local police stations, have to be strengthened and equipped to deal with the task on their own."

Till that happens, the rebels will be seen to have an upper hand in what promises to be long drawn out and bloody conflict, the like of which India has never seen.
Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8710747.stmSphere: Related Content

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Interrogation Facility at Bagram

Inside the Secret Interrogation Facility at Bagram

By Marc Ambinder
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) runs a classified interrogation facility for high-value detainees inside Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, defense and administration officials said, and prisoners there are sometimes subject to tougher interrogation methods than those used elsewhere.

Both the New York Times and the BBC reported that prisoners who passed through the facility reported abuse, like beatings and sexual humiliation, to the Red Cross, which is not allowed access. The commander in charge of detention operations in Afghanistan, Vice Admiral Robert Harward, has insisted that all detainees under his purview have regular Red Cross access and are not mistreated.

It has been previously reported that the facility, beige on the outside with a green gate, was operated by members of a Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) group, allegedly outside of Harward's jurisdiction. But JSOC, a component command made up of highly secret special mission units and task forces, does not operate the facility.

Instead, it is manned by intelligence operatives and interrogators who work for the DIA's Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center (DCHC). They perform interrogations for a sub-unit of Task Force 714, an elite counter-terrorism brigade.

Called the "black jail" by some of those who have transited through it, it is a way-point for detainees who are thought to possess actionable information about the Taliban or Al Qaeda.

Intelligence gleaned from these interrogations has often led to some of the military's highest profile captures. Usually, captives are first detained at one of at least six classified Field Interrogation Sites in Afghanistan, and then dropped off at the DIA facility -- and, when the interrogators are finished, transferred to the main prison population at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility.

"DoD does operate some temporary screening detention facilities which are classified to preserve operational security; however, both the [Red Cross] and the host nation have knowledge of these facilities," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesperson. "Screening facilities help military officials determine if an individual should be detained further and assists military forces with timely information vital to ongoing operations." Whitman would not say who ran the facility or provide any details. A DIA spokesperson declined to comment, as did the White House, which referred questions to the Pentagon.

Under a directive issued by the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, those captured on the battlefield can be detained for only 96 hours unless they are deemed to possess intelligence value. In practice, military units can unofficially transfer detainees they pick up to other field units before they arrive at interrogation sites, giving American and Afghan interrogators more time to ferret out useful information.

According to other officials, personnel at the facility are supposed to follow the Army Field Manual's guidelines for interrogations. When he took office, President Obama signed an executive order banning the Central Intelligence Agency and the military from using techniques not listed in the manual. But he has a task force studying whether the expressly manual-approved tactics are sufficient.

However, under secret authorization, the DIA interrogators use methods detailed in an appendix to the Field Manual, Appendix M, which spells out "restricted" interrogation techniques.

Under certain circumstances, interrogators can deprive prisoners of sleep (four hours at a time, for up to 30 days), to confuse their senses, and to keep them separate from the rest of the prison population. The Red Cross is now notified if the captives are kept at the facility for longer than two weeks.

When interrogators are using Appendix M measures, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, Gen.James Clapper (Ret.) is the man on the hook. Detainees designated as prisoners of war cannot be subjected to Appendix M measures.

The DCHC is a relatively new organization. It has several branches and has absorbed staff from the the now largely disbanded Strategic Support Branch, which provided CIA-like intelligence services to ground combat units. The DCHC also performs some of the work that the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), which was accused of spying on American political groups, used to do. Many of the staff, civilian and military, as well as many contractors, previously worked with CIFA.

Defense officials said that the White House is kept appraised of the methods used by interrogators at the site. The reason why the Red Cross hasn't been invited to tour it, officials said, was because the U.S. does not believe it to be a detention facility, classifying it instead as an intelligence gathering facility.

A Defense official said that the agency's inspector general had launched an internal investigation into reports in the Washington Post that several teenagers were beaten by the interrogators, but Whitman disputes this.

When the Obama Administration took over, it forbade the DIA from keeping prisoners in the facility longer than 30 days, although it is not clear how that dictum is enforced. It is also not clear how much Congress knows about the DIA's interrogation procedures, which have largely escaped public scrutiny.

"In all our facilities the standard is humane treatment and all DoD detention facilities are required to be compliant with Common Article III, The Detainee Treatment Act, the Executive Order signed by the President last year, and the DoD Detainee Directive and the Army Field Manual," Whitman said.

Although the CIA's enhanced interrogation program was investigated and a Justice Department prosecutor is currently reviewing those files, the Defense Department's parallel activities have been given little scrutiny. To this day, the Department denies the existence of a "special access program," codenamed "Copper Green," which allegedly authorized military interrogators to use extremely harsh methods, including the infliction of sexual humiliation, on high-value terrorists.

Only about 200 military and civilian personnel were aware of Copper Green's existence before it was disclosed by the New Yorker's Seymour Hersh. The CIA's program, known internally by the acronym "GST," has been discontinued. Although "Copper Green" was disbanded, the Defense Department's detainee affairs section has set up a new special access program under which the rules for battlefield interrogations are established. It is classified Top Secret.

Bagram is in the middle of a major expansion, and the DIA facility is being renovated, officials said.

Harward, a former special operations squadron commander, has said he hopes to turn the base over to the Afghan military by 2011.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/05/inside-the-secret-interrogation-facility-at-bagram/56678/

Inside the Secret Interrogation Facility at Bagram - International - The AtlanticSphere: Related Content