On This Day — Italian Physicist Ettore Majorana vanishes (March 25, 1938) [What Elon Musk does not know…]

“There are several categories of scientists in the world. Those of second or third rank do their best but never get very far. Next, there is the first rank, those who make important discoveries, fundamental to scientific progress. And then, there are the geniuses, like Galileo and Newton. Majorana was one of these.”

Enrico Fermi
(Physics Nobel Prize 1938)

March 25 2025 — On 25 March 1938, Italian theoretical physicist Ettore Majorana disappeared under mysterious circumstances after purchasing a ticket to travel by ship from Palermo to Naples. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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On This Day — Former CIA Director Leon Panetta : “President Trump Must Build ‘Loyalty’ With Intel Community.” [UPDATE : Lockerbie Lawyer’s Security Clearance Revoked – What’s the Real Story?]

“Obviously, it’s not a good situation. Because there is a lack of trust between the president and the intelligence community, and between the intelligence community and the president. And, you know, every time he demeans the intelligence community or accuses it of leaks or accuses it of doing things that it’s not doing, that obviously impacts on the morale of that institution.”

Former C.I.A. Director Leon Panetta

Leon Panetta
Former C.I.A. Director Leon Panetta

February 20, 2017 — Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that intelligence officers were withholding sensitive information from the President out of concerns that it could be compromised.  Former C.I.A. Director Leon Panetta discusses the news and the ‘leaks’. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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35 Years Ago — Gerald Bull Is Assassinated in Brussels (March 22, 1990)

“Who murdered the 62-year-old artillery genius? (…) No one has stepped forward to claim responsibility. However, senior Israeli intelligence officials in several recent interviews with us have claimed responsibility for the slaying. (…) The killing was ordered after Mossad, Israel’s secret foreign-intelligence service, gathered information that Bull was working with Iraq in the production and acquisition of mass destruction weapons for Iraq.”

William Scott Malone and David H. Halevy
Washington Post
(February 10, 1991)

March 22 2025 — Gerald Vincent Bull was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. He moved from project to project in his quest to economically launch a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he designed the Project Babylon “super-gun” for the Iraqi government. Bull was assassinated outside his apartment in Brussels, Belgium, on March 22 1990. The case was never solved. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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Lockerbie — New documents blame Libya for Pan Am 103 and UTA 772

“The FBI and the US Department of Justice have been aware of this and I know they’re working closely with their colleagues at the Crown Office and Police Scotland to see if this is something that can be used in court. I’m very hopeful that it can be used and will lead to at least one more conviction. We’ll have to see what goes beyond that, depending on what they can find.”

Former FBI Richard Marquise
(March 2025)

March 19 2025 — If authenticated, the newly revealed documents provide incontrovertible evidence that Colonel Gaddafi’s Jamahiriya Security Organisation (JSO) was indeed behind the destruction of both Pan Am 103 and UTA 772. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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50 Years Ago — On the Origin of “GLOMAR Response” [March 18 1975]

“We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the information requested but, hypothetically, if such data were to exist, the subject matter would be classified, and could not be disclosed.”

CIA — March 18 1975

March 18 2025 — American spies don’t just talk American English. They have their own spy lingo. Did you ever wonder what a “GLOMAR” answer is? On March 18, 1975, one of CIA’s greatest intelligence coups, Project AZORIAN, was fully exposed through a nationally broadcast syndicated report. Jack Anderson’s syndicated television report revealed the truth about the Glomar Explorer and its connection to a secret intelligence operation. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — CIA William Francis Buckley is Kidnapped in Beirut (March 16 1984)

“Less than a month after Buckley’s kidnapping, then-US president Ronald Reagan signed an order that put in motion what would become known as the Iran Contra Affair. Justified as a program to barter the release of American hostages held by Iranian-linked Hezbollah, the program saw the United States sell Iran missiles through Israel in exchange for the release of kidnapped Americans in Lebanon. By the time the first such sale was made in August 1985, however, Buckley was already dead.”

MICHAEL OMER-MAN
Jerusalem Post
(March 11 2012)

 

March 17 2025 In the early morning of March 16, 1984, William Francis Buckley, political officer/station chief for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was kidnapped outside his residence. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — The Dugway Sheep Incident (March 13 1968) [Porton Down 1953, Skull Valley 1968, Salisbury 2018, Wuhan 2019]

“There had been three open-air nerve agent events on March 13 (1968), one of which was a test involving an F-4 fighter airplane operating two TMU-28B spray tanks, each holding 160 gallons of VX — a persistent nerve agent.”

Who Killed the Dugway Sheep? Why It Matters Fifty Years Later

Al Mauroni 
Modern War Institute
March 13 2018

March 13 2019 — The Dugway sheep incident, also known as the Skull Valley sheep kill, was a 1968 sheep kill that has been connected to United States Army chemical and biological warfare programs at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Remembering CIA Jacqueline K. Van Landingham (1962 – March 8 1995) [Why was Gary Durrell not honored with a Star?] UPDATE : NETFLIX “American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders”

“An attack in Karachi, Pakistan, during which another NSA employee Gary C. Durrell was shot in March 1995  is believed to be related to Crypto AG.”

MINERVA FILES
[Released Feb. 11 2020]

The Memorial Wall is a memorial at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It honors CIA employees who died in the line of service. Today, there are 140 stars carved into the white Alabama marble wall. At least eleven represent women.

March 8 2025 Jacqueline K. Van Landingham joined the CIA in July 1985 as a clerk-typist, working in the Directorate of Operations (now the National Clandestine Service), Near East (NE) Division, Logistics Branch. She was gunned down on March 8, 1995 in Karachi, Pakistan. On May 22, 2012, her name was added to the Book of Honour.

According to Time Magazine of March 20, 1995, CIA employee Gary Durrell was the primary target of the attack.Time Magazine reporters believe that Van Landingham only died because she was sitting beside Durrell and came in the line of fire. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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On This Day — Soviet Union Launches SPUTNIK (October 4 1957) [UPDATE : Edward Mills Purcell (August 30, 1912 – March 7, 1997)]

“On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched the Sputnik-1 earth satellite into space—an achievement that stunned the American public and press, but not the U.S. policy and intelligence communities. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reported the advancements that led to this landmark launch to President Eisenhower, providing him with the strategic advantage to guide the U.S. response.”

CIA Website

(October 4 2017)

October 4 2024 — On October 4 1957, the Soviet Union launched SPUTNIK-1 into an elliptical low Earth orbit. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses.

Its radio signal was easily detectable even by amateurs, and the 65° inclination and duration of its orbit made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a key part of the Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Havana Syndrome : The Haiku Master, the Cicadas and the CIA [UPDATE : DNI Statement on the Intelligence Community Assessment (March 1, 2023)]

“One is reminded of Montaigne’s acerbic comment: ‘Men under stress are fools, and fool themselves.’ ”

Michael Crichton
The Andromeda Strain

March 1st 2024 — On March 1st 2023, the Director of National Intelligence Avril D. Haines announced that US Intelligence Community had concluded that it was ‘very unlikely’ a foreign adversary was responsible for the Havana Syndrome epidemics. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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