Intel Today

On This Day — Reagan Approves Covert Arms Sales to Iran (January 17, 1986) [2019 Fake News Award]

Posted on January 17, 2020 by L

“My purpose was… to send a signal that the United States was prepared to replace the animosity between [the U.S. and Iran] with a new relationship… At the same time we undertook this initiative, we made clear that Iran must oppose all forms of international terrorism as a condition of progress in our relationship. The most significant step which Iran could take, we indicated, would be to use its influence in Lebanon to secure the release of all hostages held there.”

US President Ronald Reagan (November 13, 1986)

“I have known Mehdi Hashemi inside out since our childhood. He is a devout Muslim, a militant revolutionary, and a great admirer of the Imam.”

Ayatollah Montazeri (September 1987)

Under the January 17 1986 Presidential Finding — which CIA director William Casey and CIA General Counsel Stanley Sporkin helped Colonel Oliver North put together — the U.S. Army sold the TOW missiles to the CIA, who in turn passed them on to general Secord, who then delivered them to Iranian agents. Crazy enough? The Reagan administration then used the proceeds of the arms sale to fund terrorists in Central America. This is not Fake News. This is History. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

Posted in IranContra | Tagged Ayatollah Montazeri, Boland Amendment, Iran-Contra affair, Mehdi Hashemi, Ronald Reagan | Leave a comment

On This Day — The Zimmermann Telegram Is Intercepted (January 16 1917) [2020]

Posted on January 16, 2020 by L

“No account of the stirring episodes leading up to our entry into the World War can be considered complete without at least a reference to the one in which the Zimmermann telegram played the leading role.”

War Department Office of the Chief Signal Officer (1938 study)

January 16 2020 — On January 16 1917, British code breakers intercepted an encrypted message from German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann intended for Heinrich von Eckardt, the German ambassador to Mexico. The decryption of the Zimmermann Telegram is widely described as the most significant intelligence triumph for Britain during World War I. The story demonstrates that SIGINT can influence the course of History. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

Posted in Cryptography, SIGINT | Tagged Cryptography, SIGINT, Zimmermann Telegram | Leave a comment

On This Day — Wikipedia Is Born. And The Spooks Love It! (January 15 2001) [2020]

Posted on January 15, 2020 by L

“People that I would say are trolls sort of took over Wikipedia. The inmates started running the asylum.”

Larry Sanger — Wikipedia co-founder

On January 15 2001, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched Wikipedia. According to Alexa Internet, Wikipedia is the world’s fifth-most-popular website in terms of overall visitor traffic, with a worldwide monthly readership of approximately 495 million. And, for obvious reasons, the spooks love Wikipedia. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

Posted in WIKIPEDIA | Tagged CIA, Jimmy Wales, NSA, WIKIPEDIA | 1 Comment

Former CIA Jeffrey Sterling Wins 2020 Sam Adams Award

Posted on January 14, 2020 by L

“Operation Merlin is the perfect example of powerful bureaucratic interests running amok and creating the intelligence necessary to justify their operations. The net result is that Jeffrey Sterling was unjustly imprisoned and that the United States has gone down a path of Iran policy that poses serious – and unnecessary – threats to American security.”

Gareth Porter — Independent journalist and winner of the 2012 Gellhorn Prize for journalism

“The CIA advised that on February 24, 2003, it was contacted by Mark Zaid and Roy Krieger. They told the CIA on February 24 that a client of theirs [Jeffrey Sterling] had contacted them on February 21, 2003, and that that client, that unnamed client at the time voiced his concerns about an operation that was nuclear in nature, and he threatened to go to the media.”

Ashley Hunt — FBI witness at the Jeffrey Sterling trial

“Because he just formed a new whistleblower group with John Napier Tye, there as been renewed interest in allegations an FBI Agent made during the Jeffrey Sterling case about attorney Mark Zaid. But there was actually a second detail regarding Zaid released just after the trial that has not been publicly reported: Zaid was interviewed by the FBI, twice, and was even interviewed before Sterling himself was.”

Marcy Wheeler aka Emptywheel

January 14 2020 — Jeffrey Alexander Sterling is an American lawyer and former CIA employee who was arrested, charged, and convicted of violating the Espionage Act for revealing details about Operation Merlin to journalist James Risen. Today marks the fifth anniversary of the eerie beginning of Sterling’s trial for espionage. He was convicted of espionage charges on January 26, 2015. The only evidence against him was “metadata”, that is content-less circumstantial evidence. Tomorrow, Jeffrey Sterling will receive the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

Posted in Jeffrey Sterling, Sam Adams Award | Tagged 2020 Sam Adams Award, Jeffrey Sterling, John Kiriakou | Leave a comment

Three Years Ago — Radio Pyongyang Resurrects its ‘NUMBERS STATION’. How does it work anyway?

Posted on January 14, 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

The broadcast on July 15 2016 was the first number sequence aired by Pyongyang in over 16 years.

January 14 2017 — Last year, North Korea reactivated its numbers station. And now, V15 transmits on FM! The numbers read on state radio are reminiscent of a cold war-era method of sending coded messages to spies in South Korea. But they could also be an attempt to wage psychological warfare. Follow us on Twitter: INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

Posted in North Korea, Numbers station | Tagged North Korea, Numbers station | Leave a comment

On This Day — Zola : “J’accuse…!” (January 13 1898) [2020]

Posted on January 13, 2020 by L

“The Dreyfus affair was not only the first modern Counter-Intelligence case, but it was also the first modern Counter-Intelligence disaster — that is, not just an investigative and legal error, but one that spilled over from the intelligence world into the sphere of mass politics, with consequences for culture and society as well.”

John Ehmman — The Lessons for Counter-Intelligence of the Dreyfus Affair (CIA Website)

“J’Accuse…!” was an open letter published on January 13 1898 in the newspaper L’Aurore by the influential writer Émile Zola. In the letter, Zola addressed President of France Félix Faure and accused the government of anti-Semitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to lifelong penal servitude for espionage.

Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted for libel and found guilty on February 23 1898. To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, returning home in June 1899.

As a result of the popularity of the letter, even in the English-speaking world, J’accuse! has become a common generic expression of outrage and accusation against someone powerful. Follow us on twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

Posted in Dreyfus | Tagged Alfred Dreyfus | Leave a comment

Remembering Dr Udo Ulfkotte (January 20 1960 – January 13 2017) [2020]

Posted on January 12, 2020 by L

“I’ve been a journalist for about 25 years and I was educated to lie, to betray and not to tell the truth to the public. The truth will come out one day, the truth won’t die.”

“No German mainstream journalist is allowed to report about my book. Otherwise he or she will be sacked. So we have a bestseller now that no German journalist is allowed to write or talk about.”

Dr. Udo Ulfkotte — German Journalist and Whistleblower

“On May 15, 2017 Next Revelation Press — an imprint of US-Canadian-based publisher Tayen Lane — released the English version of Bought Journalists, under the title, Journalists for Hire: How the CIA Buys the News. The English translation (…) appears to have been suppressed throughout North America and Europe.”

James F Tracy

“Authentic journalism is telling people something that the government doesn’t want them to know.”

Gary Webb (August 31, 1955 – December 10, 2004)

In 2014, German journalist Udo Ulfkotte, former director of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and author of the book “Gekaufte Journalisten” (Journalists for Hire), denounced European media who write lies under pressure from the CIA. The English translation of his book has been suppressed. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

Posted in BND, CIA, Germany, Journalism | Tagged "How the CIA Buys the News", CIA, Journalism, Journalists for Hire, Media, Udo Ulfkotte | Leave a comment

On This Day — US Surgeon General Report Links Tobacco and Cancer (January 11 1964) [5G & Cancer]

Posted on January 11, 2020 by L

“We don’t smoke that shit. We just sell it. We reserve the right to smoke for the young, the poor, the black and stupid.”

R.J. Reynolds executive’s reply when asked why he didn’t smoke according to Dave Goerlitz, lead Winston model for seven years for R.J. Reynolds. [1]

“Global cigarette use seems to have peaked at about 6 trillion cigarettes sometime after the turn of the new millennium, but the deadly effects of this epidemic will still be felt for decades — even if global use continues to decline. Only about 100 million people died from smoking in the 20th century, whereas several times that are likely to die in the present century, even if current rates of smoking fall dramatically.”

Robert N. Proctor — History Department, Stanford University

“No foreign challenge has had a more direct impact on American families and communities…than the flow of opioids and other drugs into our country. That’s why the CIA is going to invest more heavily in our counter-narcotics effort abroad to combat this terrible threat, one that has killed far more Americans than any terrorist ever has.”

CIA Director Gina Haspel (September 24 2018)

On January 11 1964, a U.S. surgeon general’s report unequivocally linked tobacco products and lung cancer. Although scientists had established the link two decades earlier, the cigarette lobby worked hard to first dismiss and later downplay the evidence. Last year, scientists at the National Toxicology Program have discovered and reported clear evidence linking cellphone to cancer. How long will it take for governments to act responsibly? Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

Posted in 5G, Havana Syndrome | Tagged 5G, Havana Syndrome | 1 Comment

Lockerbie — Has Iran President Just Admitted Responsibility?

Posted on January 10, 2020 by L

“Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290. #IR655. Never threaten the Iranian nation.”

President Hassan Rouhani — Tweet (January 6 2020)

“The accidental shoot-down of Iran Air Flight 655 in 1988 convinced Khomeini to accept the ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War. It has long been suspected that the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie five months later was Iran’s revenge. Rouhani seems to be taking responsibility.”

Kyle Orton — Terrorism expert (January 6 2020)

Hassan Rouhani is an Iranian politician serving as the current and seventh President of Iran since 3 August 2013.

On January 6 2020, Hassan Rouhani — the current President of Iran since 3 August 2013 — tweeted a cryptic message that Middle experts have interpreted as the first admission ever by a senior figure that Iran was responsible for Lockerbie. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Iran Flight 655, Lockerbie | Tagged Iran Air flight 655, Pan Am 103 (Lockerbie) | 3 Comments

Three Years Ago — Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Takes Many Secrets to His Grave (January 8 2017)

Posted on January 9, 2020 by L

“With what is happening in the U.S. and the possible instability that is going to come in U.S. policy you needed a voice of reason and pragmatism that had some heft to it. He was that voice. Losing that voice is going to make it more likely that any mishap or miscalculation by the Trump team will beget a more unreasonable, more radical, more potentially destructive response by the Iranian regime.”

Abbas Milani — Director of the Iranian Studies program at Stanford University

“Several commentators have interpreted the (1988) prison massacres as part of the power struggle by Rafsanjani’s faction to remove Montazeri as successor to the dying Khomeini. It is alleged they urged the killings in the knowledge that the more humane heir-apparent would earn the Supreme Leader’s wrath by objecting. This would make Rafsanjani a prime suspect.”

Geoffrey Robertson QC

Iran’s former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

January 10 2017 — Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died on Sunday (January 8 2017) at the age of 82. A U.S. State Department official described Rafsanjani ‎as a “prominent figure” throughout the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran. “We send our condolences to his family and loved ones,” the official said in a statement. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Lockerbie | Tagged Abbas Milani, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran, Lockerbie | Leave a comment