Chinese Espionage

And here's the Canadian report . . .
Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network Sphere: Related Content

China's Growing Insidious Threat -- (Plus, They Own Us)

China's Global Cyber-espionage Network GhostNet Penetrates 103 Countries
A vast Chinese cyber-espionage network, codenamed GhostNet, has penetrated 103 countries and infects at least a dozen new computers every week, according to researchers.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai

Telegraph (UK)  
Last Updated: 3:45PM BST 29 Mar 2009

Excerpt: The discovery of GhostNet, which is designed to infiltrate sensitive ministries and embassies - and is known to have succeeded in many cases - is the latest sign of China's determination to win a future "information war". A ten-month investigation by the Munk Centre for International Studies in Toronto has revealed that GhostNet not only searches computers for information and taps their emails, but also turns them into giant listening devices.

Once a computer has been infected, hackers can turn on its web camera and microphones and record any conversations within range.

The study revealed that almost a third of the targets infected by GhostNet are "considered high-value and include computers located at ministries of foreign affairs, embassies, international organisations, news media and NGOs". This global web of espionage has been constructed in the last two years.

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The PRC Hates This Report -- Must Be Accurate

Military Power of the People's Republic of China 2009
Annual Report to Congress
Office of the Secretary of Defense

Excerpt: The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is pursuing comprehensive transformation from a mass army designed for protracted wars of attrition on its territory to one capable of fighting and winning short-duration, high-intensity conflicts along its periphery against high-tech adversaries – an approach that China refers to as preparing for “local wars under conditions of informatization.” The pace and scope of China’s military transformation have increased in recent years, fueled by acquisition of advanced foreign weapons, continued high rates of investment in its domestic defense and science and technology industries, and far-reaching organizational and doctrinal reforms of the armed forces.  China’s ability to sustain military power at a distance remains limited, but its armed forces continue to develop and field disruptive military technologies, including those for anti-access/area-denial, as well as for nuclear, space, and cyber warfare, that are changing regional military balances and that have  implications beyond the Asia-Pacific region.
. . . .

Beijing publicly asserts that China’s military modernization is “purely defensive in nature,” and aimed solely at protecting China’s security and interests. Over the past several years, China has begun a new phase of military development by beginning to articulate roles and missions for the PLA that go beyond China’s immediate territorial interests, but has left unclear to the international community the purposes and objectives of the PLA’s evolving doctrine and capabilities. Moreover, China continues to promulgate incomplete defense expenditure figures and engage in actions that appear inconsistent with its declaratory policies. The limited transparency in China’s military and security affairs poses risks to stability by creating uncertainty and increasing the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation. The United States continues to work with our allies and friends in the region to monitor these developments and adjust our policies accordingly.

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"Intense Interrogation" -- North Korean Style

N Korea Treats Journalists "Well"
BBC; Last updated at 04:40 GMT, Wednesday, 25 March 2009

Excerpt: The United States says it has received assurances from North Korea that two American journalists who were detained there last week will be treated well.

The US has asked Swedish diplomats in North Korea to request access to them.

The journalists are believed to have been on the Chinese side of the border when North Korean guards arrested them and took them back to North Korea.

Tension between North Korea and the international community is high ahead of the North's "satellite" launch.Sphere: Related Content

The [Alleged] Spy That Got Away . . .

As Spy Meeting Looms, Suspect Still on Agenda
Ex-diplomat lives quietly in Triangle

By Anne Blythe - Staff writer, The News & Observer
Published: Sun, Mar. 22, 2009 06:04AM

Excerpt: Felix Bloch, the suspected spy never charged with espionage, used to draw a trail of federal agents and meddling media each time he stepped outside his posh apartment in Washington.

These days, the tall, bald, athletically built former diplomat lives in relative anonymity, driving a Chapel Hill bus in a town full of college students who were still in diapers when he was a prime suspect in one of the Cold War's last spy sagas.

Spy buffs have been fascinated with Bloch for years. In the late 1980s, he was the highest-ranking government official ever to be so publicly branded as a suspected spy for what was then the Soviet Union.

At the time, federal agents alleged that Bloch had passed a briefcase full of government secrets to a Soviet agent. Although agents went to a grand jury with their case, Bloch has never been formally charged.Sphere: Related Content

Indian Army Internal Security Probe Broadens

Army Looks Within for Terror
Internal Probe on Colonel Role in Malegaon Blast Widened

SUJAN DUTTA
The Telegraph, Calcutta, India

Excerpt:

New Delhi, March 21: The army has widened and deepened an internal investigation to find out if Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Srikant Purohit, the officer arrested on a terror charge in the Malegaon blast case, was linked to a network that was tapping more recruits from a particular linguistic and suspected casteist group within the soldiery.

The investigation is a counter-intelligence exercise, a source in army headquarters has confirmed to The Telegraph. The army’s counter- intelligence drive is essentially aimed at working out ways to keep a watch over the Praetorian Guard.

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Meanwhile, In Prague . . .

Czech CSSD's Dimun Says He Did Nothing Illegal
vydáno: 19.03.2009, 19:33 | aktualizace: 19.03.2009 21:15

Excerpt:  Prague - Petr Dimun, head of the Czech opposition Social Democrats' (CSSD) marketing, dismissed Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's (Civic Democrats, ODS) claim that he and former intelligence service head Karel Randak are responsible for manipulations during last year's presidential election.Sphere: Related Content

The More Things Change, The More . . .

Russian Military Intelligence Head to Keep Post, Focus on Reform
19/03/2009 14:09

 

MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti) - The head of Russia's military intelligence (GRU) is to retain his post for two more years and will focus on internal reform, an unidentified intelligence official said on Thursday.

Media reports have claimed that Gen. Valentin Korabelnikov, 63, who has led GRU since May 1997, had recently tendered his resignation over objections to a proposed reform of the body.

"He has not tendered his resignation. His service has been extended for another two years until the maximum age limit," the official said.

He also dismissed reports that GRU would be subordinate to the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and said the reform would mainly deal with "streamlining the numerical strength of military intelligence units and raising the level of professionalism among intelligence officers."

The source added that space intelligence and signals intelligence would remain part of GRU's remit.

"All measures under the reform will be aimed at increasing the effectiveness of work," the source said.

GRU is Russia's largest intelligence agency. It gathers human intelligence through military attaches and foreign agents. According to some sources, GRU has six times as many agents in foreign countries as the SVR, which is the KGB's foreign intelligence successor.

It also maintains significant signals intelligence and imagery reconnaissance and satellite imagery capabilities.

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Ask Yourself Why The Germans Made This Public . . .

2 Arrested in Germany on Charges of Espionage in Kosovo
By DAVID RISING
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, March 19, 2009

Exceprt: BERLIN — Two men have been charged with espionage for allegedly feeding classified German government information to organized crime and foreign intelligence contacts in Macedonia and Kosovo, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Anton Robert K., a 42-year-old German, allegedly passed along information while working at the German diplomatic mission in the Kosovo capital Pristina to Murat A., a 28-year-old Macedonian with ties to organized crime and "foreign intelligence," prosecutors said in a statement.

Both men, whose full names were not given, were arrested earlier this month in the Stuttgart area and indicted on the charges Tuesday before a federal judge, prosecutors said. Anton Robert K. faces a possible 10 years in prison if convicted on charges of betrayal of state secrets, while Murat A. faces a possible 5 years if convicted of receiving state secrets.

Questions: Why did the Germans make this arrest announcement now? What is the BfV hoping to accomplish? Who else is out there? Lots more questions -- it's intriguing.Sphere: Related Content

Future Trends, Shocks, Contexts & Implications

"Joint Operating Environment 2008 -- Challenges and Implications for the Future Joint Force"
United States Joint Forces Command
November 25, 2008

Excerpt: In the broadest sense, the Joint Operating Environment examines three questions:

• What future trends and disruptions are likely to affect the Joint Force over the next quarter century?
• How are these trends and disruptions likely to define the future contexts for joint operations?
• What are the implications of these trends and contexts for the Joint Force?

The Joint Operating Environment (JOE) is our historically informed, forward-looking effort to discern most accurately the challenges we will face at the operational level of war, and to determine their inherent implications. We recognize that the future environment will not be precisely the one we describe; however, we are sufficiently confident of this study’s rigor that it can guide future concept development. While no study can get the future 100 percent correct, we believe it’s most important that we get it sufficiently right, and that the daunting challenge of perfection not paralyze our best efforts. When future war comes, our concept developers across the Armed Services should have the fewest regrets if today they study, challenge, and implement solutions to the security implications defined here in the JOE. In our line of work, having the fewest regrets defines success when the shocks of conflict bring the surprise that inevitably accompanies warfare.

What's News?:  Mexico as a "failed state"; Discussion of North Korea's nuclear program; Acknowledgement of Israel as a nuclear power.

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The Not-So-Sublime Porte?

Monday, March 16, 2009
Coup Plot Thickens in Istanbul
Christopher Torchia ASSOCIATED PRESS

ISTANBUL

Excerpt: The allegations in Turkey's biggest legal case are the stuff of a dark thriller - mysterious murders, hit lists, stashed grenades, a plot to topple the government and, behind it all, a network of conspirators with links to the state as well as organized crime.

The arrests of 219 people in a sweeping, two-year investigation is part of a struggle for control in Turkey, where an elected government run by pious Muslims is undermining military-backed elites that owned the country after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a war hero, created a secular state out of chaos in 1923.Sphere: Related Content

"The First Casualty of War"

Secret Emails Show Iraq Dossier Was 'Sexed Up'
By Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor;  Friday, 13 March 2009; 

The Independent (UK)

Intelligence chiefs criticised 'iffy drafting' of key document

Excerpt:  Secret Whitehall emails released yesterday provide damning new evidence that the notorious dossier making the case for invading Iraq was "sexed up".  They disclose that the intelligence services were sceptical over the "iffy drafting" of government claims that Saddam Hussein could mount a missile strike on his neighbours within 45 minutes of ordering an attack.

 
Officials privately mocked assertions that the Iraqi president was covertly trying to develop a nuclear capability and wisecracked that perhaps he had recruited "Dr Frankenstein" to his supposed crack team of nuclear scientists.

 
The release of a series of confidential memos and emails, following a protracted Freedom of Information battle, reignited the controversy over accusations that Tony Blair's government "spun" Britain into war.

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The View from The Middle Kingdom

Top Military Officers Lash Out at US Espionage
Chinese naval generals yesterday said the USNS Impeccable had acted "like a spy", and defended the navy's interception as "totally within our rights".

Vice-Admiral Jin Mao, former vice-commander of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) navy, said that the American vessel is not just a surveillance ship, but a spy ship.

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And so it ... continues --

US Tries to Play Down Naval Confrontation with China
By Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States sought on Wednesday to play down a confrontation between Chinese and U.S. naval vessels as the two sides held high-level talks on reviving growth and reining in North Korea's nuclear program.

Tensions between the two countries rose over a weekend incident in the South China Sea in which five Chinese ships jostled with a U.S. Navy survey vessel off China's southern Hainan island, site of a major submarine base and other naval installations.

The United States has said its ship, the Impeccable, was in international waters. Beijing, however, has said the U.S. ship was in the wrong and Chinese navy officers have argued that it had violated their country's sovereignty.Sphere: Related Content

Freeman Withdraws

Embattled Ex-diplomat Chas Freeman Gives Up Top Intelligence Analyst Post
Controversy was growing over Freeman's views on Israel and other issues
By Thomas Omestad
Posted March 10, 2009
In a dramatic conclusion to a building political fight over his selection as the U.S. intelligence community's top analyst, former U.S. Ambassador Charles "Chas" W. Freeman, Jr., asked that the appointment not proceed, the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, announced Tuesday.Sphere: Related Content

Intelligence Analyst-in-Chief

DE BORCHGRAVE: Freeman's unpardonable 'sin'

COMMENTARY: A rarity in Washington, the secret was well kept until the announcement by Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair. His deputy as chairman of the National Intelligence Council (NIC) is Charles "Chas" Freeman, a Chinese-speaking iconoclast with a brilliant analytical mind that is anathema to the Israel lobby and the neocons.

Lucky for former Ambassador Freeman that Judaism, in contrast to Christianity, does not believe in mortal sins. But his sin is beyond redemption in Washington. Mr. Freeman is convinced that U.S. and Israeli strategic interests are not necessarily one and the same.Sphere: Related Content

Intelligence Lapses: The Risks of Relying on 'Chatter'

Robert Baer's excellent Time article discussing intelligence "chatter."

Excerpt:  "Chatter is one of those floating espionage terms that can mean anything from secretly intercepted telephone calls and e-mails to the volume of communications traffic at a particular time over a particular line. A more technical definition of chatter might be the interception of any unguarded electronic communication between two people who expect privacy — people more likely to speak frankly and convey information they wouldn't in a public forum. America's 16 intelligence agencies by and large consider chatter the most reliable intelligence there is. But they also need to constantly remind themselves that it is a blunt tool, often as confusing as it is illuminating."

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"Pulsing" the US Economy -- to Death

The slow-motion economic collapse of the United States is now in it's seventh month.  Detonation of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon by terrorists would break the nation's back, forestall any recovery, and radically alter the global balance of power. A basic EMP weapon could be built for $400.

The good news is that it is not 1931 – that’s also the bad news. While the United States now has elaborate governmental and institutional control measures and procedures in place to “manage” today’s economic crisis – it still can’t stop it and it also can’t steer very well. Let’s run through the current state of affairs:

• The Bush and Obama Administrations’ infusions of Chinese-financed cash directly into financial institutions has accomplished very little by any measurable metric.

 
• The new administration’s Chinese-financed budget hopes to “invest” in projects to create jobs – we’ll see.

 
• Meanwhile, the largest banks in the country are being offered “unique public-private partnership opportunities” – also known as nationalization.

• Foreclosures, the mortgage crisis and the tumbling values of homes and real estate – the flashpoint for the economic collapse – have been largely ignored.

 
• Real accountability for government bailout funds (TARP) is virtually non-existent. “Kabuki theatre” performances before congressional committees do not count.

 
• The general public feels ripped-off, alienated from its government and distrustful of markets and banks. The two leading consumer items the public is purchasing: safes and guns.

• Automakers are poised to fail (again).

• Dr. Doom (Nouriel Roubini) and Black Swan (Nassim Nicholas Taleb) – the economists who predicted two years (+) ago that our economy was nothing but a house of cards – see absolutely no hope for recovery in sight. None.

Our enemies are not missing any of this. Our economic system and its “organs” have long been the targets of terror. On September 16, 1920, a horse-drawn cart packed with dynamite exploded on Wall Street and turned the heart of America’s financial center into a war zone. With thirty-nine people dead and hundreds wounded, the Wall Street explosion was the worst terrorist attack to that point in U.S. history. The World Trade Center was bombed in ’93 and destroyed on 9/11 using similar “reasoning.”

Terrorists must be considering “Why not deliver the death blow to America right now?” The country is reeling, confused, filled with uncertainty and anxiety. Two of the longest wars in the country’s history have taken their toll in innumerable ways that neither the government nor the public is comfortable or willing to talk about in any real detail. We are vulnerable, distracted and primed for a devastating strike that would bring a radical and sudden end to the “American Century” and the era of Pax Americana.

The US Government has done some thinking on these matters, albeit not under these economic conditions.  The "Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack" published a report in July 2008 that is worth your time to read.  If you really don't have the time or inclination, here's what you need to know: 

"EMP is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences. EMP will cover the wide geographic region within line of sight to the nuclear weapon. It has the capability to produce significant damage to critical infrastructures and thus to the very fabric of US society, as well as to the ability of the United States and Western nations to project influence and military power."

In the meanwhile, assorted bad guys -- both state and non-state actors -- are keenly aware of the advantages of attacking, disrupting and destroying US financial, military and governmental communications and information networks.  An EMP strike would be an incredibly effective means of disabling all electronics for a very long time indeed.

So, how could it happen?  The Iranians have successfully launched medium-ranged missiles from freighters and detonated the payload at apogee.  Imagine an EMP weapon lobbed somewhere over the Eastern Seaboard and the subsequent detonation.  Imagine the megalopolis stretching from Boston to Richmond instantly thrust back into the mid-19th Century -- for a long time.  The bad guys have been thinking about it.

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