Three Years Ago — NORTH KOREA H-Bomb : First Yield Estimate

Posted on September 6, 2020 by L

“The institute recently succeeded in making a more developed nuke. Kim Jong-un watched an H-bomb to be loaded into a new ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile).”

KCNA — North Korea State News Agency (September 3 2017)

“Based on the similarity of the seismic data between 3 September 2017 event and North Korea’s previous nuclear tests, we confirm that 3 September 2017 event is a nuclear test in nature. We have determined that North Korea’s 3 September 2017 nuclear test occurred at UTC 2017/09/03 03:30, (2017/09/03 12:00 local time), at the location of (41°17’53.52”N, 129°4’27.12”E), with an estimated yield of 108.3±48.1 kt.”

USTC  — Lianxing Wen’s Geogroup

September 4 2017 — North Korea said on Sunday (September 3 2017) it has developed a more advanced nuclear weapon that has “great destructive power” and leader Kim Jong Un inspected a hydrogen bomb that will be loaded on a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Considering the magnitude of the event as reported by the US Geological Survey,  I have estimated — in first approximation — the yield of the device at about 126.8 kilotons of TNT equivalent. A well-known Chinese research group has since provided a similar estimate. However the magnitudes reported by South Korea and NORSAR are much lower. UPDATE (September 6 2017)  — At this point, there seems to be a consensus that the magnitude (Mb) of the event is at least 6.0 and possibly as high as 6.4. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Russian Defector Viktor Belenko Lands MiG-25 in Japan (September 6 1976) [2020]

Posted on September 6, 2020 by L

“Americans have tolerance regarding other people’s opinion. In certain cultures, if you do not accept the mainstream, you would be booted out or might disappear. Here we have people, you know, who hug trees, and people who want to cut them down — and they live side by side!”

Viktor Ivanovich Belenko — Informal Interview (2000)

Viktor Belenko — Soviet military identification photo

September 6 2020 — On 6 September 1976, Viktor Ivanovich Belenko defected to the West, flying his MiG-25 “Foxbat” jet fighter to Hakodate, Japan. George H. W. Bush, the Director of Central Intelligence at the time, called the opportunity to examine the plane up close an “intelligence bonanza” for the West. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Two Years Ago — Belgian Diplomat Accused of Helping Russia : “Stirred, not Shaken”

Posted on September 5, 2020 by L

“During one of the phone calls we listened to, he (Oswald Gantois) said himself that he had played too much James Bond but that every diplomat must be a bit of a spy.”

Ann Fransen — Belgian federal prosecutor

“I never accepted money … I never disclosed state secrets. I am right with myself and that is enough. This case has destroyed my life. In the eyes of the investigators I was guilty right from the start.”

Belgian diplomat Oswald Gantois

Belgian diplomat Oswald Gantois likes to compare himself to James Bond. His resemblance to MI6 007 agent is not however immediately apparent.

September 5 2018 — A senior Belgium diplomat has helped Russian spies for over 25 years. A Belgian court found Mr. Oswald Gantois guilty of espionage. Brussels is a nest of spies with the highest density of foreign spooks anywhere in Europe, and quite possibly in the world. I find it hard to believe that they could not find a bigger fish to fry. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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Three Years Ago — Wormwood : The Mysterious Death of Cold War Era Military Scientist Frank Olson

Posted on September 5, 2020 by L

“Frank was viewed as a dissident. You understand that in 1953 if you thought somebody was detrimental to the war against the Russians, you have no problem dealing with them. It wouldn’t be a question of saying you just have to leave the agency (laughs…) tell me about that, think about that somebody who has secrets, I mean are you kidding me.  Frank was, was out there. He was letting them know that he was marching to a different drummer and you couldn’t do it back then. He was a man who was profoundly, profoundly distressed about what he was learning……..and he was dangerous, that I can tell you.”

Seymour Hersh — Pulitzer Prize winner

“While the court must limit its analysis to the four corners of the complaint, the skeptical reader may wish to know that the public record supports many of the allegations [in the family’s suit], far-fetched as they may sound.”

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg — Frank Olson Case

“To what extent can a democracy lie to its citizens and still, in the end, remain a democracy?

I believe what separates us from dumb animals is that we pursue, maybe we don’t achieve it, but we pursue certainty. It’s a goal. A dream. To deny that importance of that goal or that dream is unspeakable. Where would we be without it?”

Errol Morris — Statement about Wormwood

Wormwood is based on a true story and explores the mysterious death of Cold War-era military scientist Frank Olson (played by Sarsgaard) and his son’s tireless efforts to uncover the truth. In 1953, Frank Olson was recruited to be part of a secret biological warfare program cryptically referred to as Project MKUltra. The miniseries is blending long-form documentary interview with a dramatic reconstruction of pivotal scenes.

September 5 2017 — Errol Morris — one of the most acclaimed and influential documentarians of all time — is back with a project unlike anything he has ever done before. Wormwood, told in six parts, deals with CIA mind-control experiments in the 1950s and the infamous death of US Major Frank Olson. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Ludwig Boltzmann Ends His Life (February 20 1844 – September 5 1906) [2020]

Posted on September 5, 2020 by L

“Bring forward what is true, Write it so that it is clear, Defend it to your last breath!”

“The life contest is primarily a competition for available energy.”

Ludwig Boltzmann

Boltzmann’s grave in the Zentralfriedhof, Vienna, with bust and entropy formula

September 5 2020 — Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann (February 20, 1844 – September 5, 1906) was an Austrian physicist and philosopher whose greatest achievement was in the development of statistical mechanics, which explains and predicts how the properties of atoms determine the physical properties of matter. Boltzmann invented the concept of entropy and derived the entropy equation, which was later used by Claude Shannon to build the foundations of information theory. Follow us on Twitter @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Havana Syndrome — Microwave Weapons : Project PANDORA – BIZARRE [2020]

Posted on September 4, 2020 by L

“The test protocol involved training the monkeys to press certain levers in response to signals. If the monkeys pressed the lever correctly, they would receive a reward of food, ‘much as embassy employees might be rewarded with a dry martini at the end of the day,’ wrote the columnist Jack Anderson. Researchers would then measure whether the monkeys performed worse when subjected to the Moscow Signal, compared with when there was no radiation.”

Sharon Weinberger —  The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency that Changed the World

“There is no question that penetration of the central nervous system has been achieved, either directly or indirectly into that portion of the brain concerned with the changes in the work functions and the effects observed.”

ARPA Deputy Director — Memorandum (December 20 1966)

September 4 2020 — On September 1 2018, the New York Times posted a long article titled:  “Microwave Weapons Are Prime Suspect in Ills of U.S. Embassy Workers”. FLASHBACK.  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Four Years Ago — NSA Hacked French President’s House

Posted on September 4, 2020 by L

“Keith Alexander (Director of the NSA) told me he was disappointed because he never thought we would detect them and he even added: You guys are good.”

Bernard Barbier — Director of the DGSE Technical Division

NSAFrench

September 4 2016 — The NSA hacked the Élysée Palace in 2012, between the two rounds of the Presidential election. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — William E Colby Becomes 10th Director of CIA (September 4 1973) [2020]

Posted on September 4, 2020 by L

“We disbanded our intelligence [after both world wars] and then found we needed it. Let’s not go through that again. Redirect it, reduce the amount of money spent, but let’s not destroy it. Because you don’t know 10 years out what you’re going to face.”

William Egan Colby

“When he was found dead in the water nine days later, it was said that he had gone out paddling his canoe at nightfall and drowned.  I was in Paris when I read the story in the International Herald Tribune.  I knew William Colby. And I didn’t believe that for one second.”

  Zalin Grant

September 4 2020 — William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 – April 27, 1996) was an American intelligence officer who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from September 4 1973 to January 30 1976. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Four Years Ago — Radio Pyongyang Resurrects “NUMBERS STATION” — UPDATE : “North Korea broadcasts encrypted spy message on YouTube for first time” [Fake News]

Posted on September 3, 2020 by L

“Some are worried it signals that North Korean might be planning some type of operation, alerting its spies by sending the coded broadcast. But for that to be true, North Korean agents would have had to have been listening at the right time to take down the message, and how would they have known it was coming?

Numbers haven’t been broadcast for 16 years, so have agents really spent the last decade and a half listening just in case something came across? It is possible they could have been alerted that such a message was about to be broadcast, but then when why not send the message contents over whatever communications channel was used for such an alert?”

Martyn Williams — 38 North

July 23 2016 — The broadcast on July 15 2016 was the first number sequence aired by Pyongyang in over 16 years. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Espionage and Sabotage Act of 1954 (September 3 1954) [2020]

Posted on September 3, 2020 by L

“At first blush, one would say that we are rather naive in expecting somebody trained in espionage to come forward and register. But … you will find under this language it is possible to prosecute people for failure to register.”

Francis E. Walter (D Pa.) — House Judiciary Committee

Formed during World War II, the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS), was organized for special operations and intelligence gathering and analysis. Included in its mission was the implementation of, and training of foreign forces in, propaganda, espionage, subversion, and sabotage. After the war, OSS functions were transferred to the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). This “Simple Sabotage Field Manual” was used by OSS agents in training “citizen-saboteurs” in methods for inciting and executing simple sabotage to thwart industry and other vital functions in Axis-occupied areas.

September 3 2020 — The Espionage and Sabotage Act entered into law on September 3 1954. The Act broadened the definitions of what constitutes “war material” and “national defense material” contained in previous anti-sabotage legislation, and took into account sabotage potentialities through use of radioactive, biological and chemical agents. It also permitted the death penalty for peacetime espionage. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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