One Year Ago — KRYPTOS Sculpture Jim Sanborn : “This is the third and to be sure final clue.” [UPDATE : And then came a 4th clue!]

“I really do want Kryptos to remain secret – the plain text, the final section of Kryptos, I would prefer for it to remain secret indefinitely. (…) I would think that every artist would aspire to making an artwork that is not transient. It’s a permanent visual, auditory, conceptual statement. And I did Kryptos with all those things in mind. And one – as an artist, one would prefer to have that piece continue giving rather than have it understood right off the bat and then more or less ignored. And so this has lived way beyond all of my expectations, you know, at 30 years in retaining a secret that it has, and that’s the magic.”

Jim Sanborn (January 30 2020)

February 6 2020 — NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly spoke with Jim Sanborn, creator of a cryptographic puzzle sculpture called “Kryptos” located at CIA headquarters, about his decision to release a third and final clue. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

Continue reading →
Posted in KRYPTOS | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Two Years Ago — CIA Molly Hale Goes Digital (February 4 2019) [UPDATE : 11th Female Star Identity Revealed]

“Dear Molly, Could you tell us how many stars on the Memorial Wall are known to represent women? Regards, Intel Today”

Intel Today — Question to Molly Hale (February 4 2019)

February 4 2021 — On February 4 2019, CIA Molly Hale went digital. I could not resist firing the very first question on Twitter! How many CIA women are honoured by a star on the CIA wall? A few weeks later, we got the answer to that question… And much more! Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

Continue reading →
Posted in #AskMollyHale, CIA, CIA Memorial Wall | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Lockerbie — The Mysterious Case of David Harvie

Morag Kerr– Any thoughts about this David Harvie person?

Robert Black — I’ve never to my knowledge encountered him and I know nothing about him.

Twitter (Feb. 3 2021)

February 4 2021 — Whenever someone is telling you that he never met a person and knows nothing about that person, you should hear a bell go off in your head. History has indulged us with plenty of such transparent lies. VP George H. W. Bush had never met Noriega and former Colombia president Alvaro Uribe has never had diner with Pablo Escobar. Of course… When things seem just too simple, that is when we must look a bit harder. The strange story of David Harvie has piqued my curiosity. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

Continue reading →
Posted in Lockerbie | Tagged | 1 Comment

On This Day — Madeleine Albright Discovers Her Jewish Roots (February 4 1997) [UPDATE — Albright: “Lockerbie was a terrible, terrible accident.”]

“So many Americans and other nationals died in that terrible, terrible accident.”

U. S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (Aug. 2009)

Many journalists have credited Madeleine Albright for her “Read My Pins” diplomacy.

February 4 2021 — On February 4 1997,  U. S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she had received information that two grandparents may have been Jewish and may have perished in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Seriously? Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

Continue reading →
Posted in Madeleine Albright | Tagged | Leave a comment

On This Day — The Cavalese Cable Car Disaster (February 3 1998) [2021]

“Many believe one of the reasons the Italian judges went after the CIA RDI [Rendition, Detention, Interrogation]  and [former CIA Officer] Sabrina De Sousa in the Abu Omar case was the USMC and USG accountability failures and arrogance.”

Mark Fallon — International Security Consultant & Author (February 4 2018)

The “Strage del Cermis” (Italian for “Massacre of Cermis”), named for the mountain ridge where the bodies were recovered, claimed the lives of eight Germans, five Belgians, three Italians, two Poles, one Dutch citizen, and one Austrian.

February 3 2021 — On February 3 1998, a U.S. Marine Corps jet on a low-level training flight sliced through steel wires supporting a cable car near the ski resort of Cavalese in the Italian Alps, sending a gondola plunging to the ground. All 20 people inside the gondola were killed. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

Continue reading →
Posted in Italy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

On This Day — Nixon Dismisses CIA Director Richard Helms (February 2 1973) [UPDATE — Rudy Giuliani: “Truth isn’t truth!”]

“The timing caught me by surprise. I had barely enough time to get my things out of the office and to assemble as many colleagues of all ranks as possible for a farewell. …  A few days later, I encountered Haldeman. ‘What happened to our understanding that my exit would be postponed for a few weeks?’ I asked. ‘Oh, I guess we forgot,’ he said with the faint trace of a smile. And so it was over.”

Former CIA Director Richard Helms 

February 2 2021 — Richard McGarrah Helms (March 30, 1913 – October 23, 2002) served as the United States Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from June 30 1966 to February 2 1973. Helms began intelligence work with the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Following the 1947 creation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) he rose in its ranks during the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations. Helms then served as DCI under Presidents Johnson and Nixon. Follow us on Twitter: Intel_Today

Continue reading →
Posted in CIA Director | Tagged | Leave a comment

On This day — Ayatollah Khomeini Returns to Iran (February 1 1979) [2021]

“You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans. [The Islamic Republic of Iran] will be a humanitarian one, which will benefit the cause of peace and tranquility for all mankind. (…) It is advisable that you recommend to the army not to follow [Shah’s prime minister Shapour] Bakhtiar.”

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini — Letter to US President Jimmy Carter (January 29 1979)

February 1 2021 — On January 17 1979, the Shah left the country, never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday February 1st 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated to be of up to five million people. The communications between Khomeini and the president Jimmy Carter’s administration during the last two weeks of January 1979 remain largely classified and — not surprisingly — highly controversial. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

Continue reading →
Posted in Iran | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

20 Years Ago — Kangaroo Zeist Court issues Infamous Lockerbie verdict (January 31 2001)

“The disparity between historical reality and the description of history in books and newspapers can lead our youth only to lack of belief, to cynicism, whereas we need belief, but real belief can be based only on the truth.”

Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko — Open Letter (New York Times – February 17 1974)

January 31 2021 — On January 31, 2001, a kangaroo Court in the Netherlands rendered its verdict. Although two Libyan citizens had been prosecuted for the ‘bombing’ conspiracy of Pan Am 103, the judges found one of them not guilty and sentenced the other one for murder. Go figure! I guess that, given enough whiskey, it does not take two to tango in Scotland. Twenty years later, on January 15 2021, Lord Carloway — The Lord Justice General in the appeal — delivered the opinion of the Scottish Appeal Court. Without surprise to the readers of this blog, the Court upheld the guilty verdict of the trial court. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

Continue reading →
Posted in Lockerbie, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Iran Nuclear Deal — US DoJ Charges Political Scientist With Acting As Unregistered Agent Of The Iranian Government

“For over a decade, Kaveh Afrasiabi pitched himself to Congress, journalists, and the American public as a neutral and objective expert on Iran. However, all the while, Afrasiabi was actually a secret employee of the Government of Iran.”

John C. Demers — US Assistant Attorney General for National Security (Jan. 19 2021)

January 30 2021 — Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi has been arrested at his home in Watertown, Massachusetts. According to a  criminal complaint unsealed on January 19 2021 in federal court in Brooklyn, Afrasiabi is charged with acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

Continue reading →
Posted in Iran Nuclear deal, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

One Year Ago — John Le Carré : “And how would I like to be remembered?” [Olof Palme Prize Ceremony – January 30 2020]

“Reading and thinking about Palme makes you wonder who you are. And who you might have been, but weren’t. And where your moral courage went when it was needed. You ask yourself what power drove him – golden boy, aristocratic family, brilliant scion of the best schools and the best cavalry regiment – to embrace from the outset of his career the cause of the exploited, the deprived, the undervalued and the unheard?”

 David Cornwell — Olof Palme Award acceptance speech (January 30 2020)

(October 19, 1931 – December 12, 2020)

January 30 2021 — David John Moore Cornwell — also known by the pen name John le Carré — won the 2019 Olof Palme Prize. This magnificent speech is a reminder that Olof Palme’s words and deeds still inspire people to commit to democracy, human rights and peace. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

Continue reading →
Posted in John Le Carré, Olof Palme | Tagged , | 2 Comments