30 Years Ago — Remembering Avianca Flight 203 (November 27 1989) [2019]

Posted on November 27, 2019 by L

“It’s not an item that appears on most attorneys’ bucket lists: ‘Challenge the commonly held explanation of a national tragedy and help win another country’s version of the Pulitzer Prize.’ It’s not that it’s not a noble goal, but where would you start?”

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly — Retired lawyer probes crash, shares ‘Colombian Pulitzer’ (December 14 2017)

“No one acts alone without orders in the FBI. We had clear goals which were clearly given to us in every document we received from anyone. If a police organization wished for us to provide them “proof” of guilt, then they told us in many ways of their absolute belief that the perpetrators were those individuals they had already arrested. If the president of the United States tells the country in the national news that Dandeny Munoz Mosquera is one of the most feared assassins in the history of the world, then every agent knows that he must provide information to support that statement. If leaders decide without concern for foundation of truth then most people will follow them.”

Fred Whitehurst — Former FBI Chemist (Email to the author)

Avianca 203

Avianca Airlines Flight 203 was a Colombian domestic passenger flight from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali. Avianca Flight 203 crashed over the municipality of Soacha on November 27, 1989. Allegedly, the plane was destroyed by a bomb. This explanation is however much disputed by experts today. Colombian journalists Pablo Correa, Sergio Silva and retired US Newton Center attorney Thomas Hoffman share the 2017 Simon Bolivar Prize (Category: Investigative journalism) for their outstanding work on the true story of AVIANCA Flight 203. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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The CIA Book of Honor — Star 117 : Charles Mayer (1968)

Posted on November 26, 2019 by L

“IN HONOR OF THOSE MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY”

Memorial at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia

“For anyone who wants to understand the essence of the CIA, one need look no further than this hallowed wall. These stars, and the memories they hold, will forever inspire and sustain us as we carry on the work to which those whose stars find lasting peace in this finely chiseled constellation devoted their lives.”

 Director John O. Brennan — CIA annual ceremony (May 23 2016)

September 12 2019 — Currently, there are 133 stars carved into the marble of the CIA Memorial Wall; 93 are unclassified. Who are those men and women? When did they die? Why are they honored by a star?  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Dr Gus W. Weiss Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances (November 25 2003) [2019]

Posted on November 25, 2019 by L

“Intelligence shortcomings, as we see, have a thousand fathers; secret intelligence triumphs are orphans. Here is the unremarked story of  ‘the Farewell dossier’: how a C.I.A. campaign of computer sabotage resulting in a huge explosion in Siberia — all engineered by a mild-mannered economist named Gus Weiss — helped us win the cold war. (…) Gus Weiss died from a fall a few months ago. Now is a time to remember that sometimes our spooks get it right in a big way.”

William Safire — NYT

“If some double agent told the KGB the Americans were alert to Line X and were interfering with their collection by subverting, if not sabotaging, the effort, I believed the United States still could not lose. The Soviets, being a suspicious lot, would be likely to question and reject everything Line X collected. If so, this would be a rarity in the world of espionage, an operation that would succeed even if compromised. Casey liked the proposal.”

Gus W. Weiss

“So the accomplishments of FAREWELL, in summary, are enormous. It was a major — major — accelerator to the end of the Cold War. (…) It was a critical and heroic accomplishment by President Mitterrand and his government, whatever the intentions may have been at the time…”

Richard V. Allen — President Ronald Reagan’s Former National Security Advisor

Dr Gus W. Weiss was a White House policy adviser on technology, intelligence and economic affair and worked primarily on national security, intelligence and concerns on technology transfer to communist countries. Weiss died on November 25, 2003 under what the UK newspaper The Independent has characterized as “mysterious circumstances”. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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KRYPTOS — Analysis of Jim Sanborn K1 Worksheet

Posted on November 25, 2019 by L

“The two words [Palimpsest & Abscissa] are key words for a section of the text, as you can see in the first letter of line No. 1 on the original chart there is a B above the P of palimpsest under that there is an E that was derived from using a Vigenere Tableaux like the one on the ‘Kryptos’ screen. The tableaux works like a mileage chart on a road atlas, you go down the left side and find a P row and across the top and find a B column where these intersect you find the E. I used a tableaux slightly different from the one on ‘Kryptos.’ This is basically a very simple system, obviously not all the sections were so simple.”

Jim Sanborn — Email to the NYT (November 2010)

Kryptos is a sculpture by the American artist Jim Sanborn located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia. Of the four parts of the message, the first three — known as K1, K2 and K3 — have been solved. However K4, the last part of the message, remains one of the most famous unsolved code in the world.  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Douma Attack — Internal OPCW E-Mail Reveals Crucial Omissions

Posted on November 24, 2019 by L

“Omitting this section of the report (including the Epidemiology which has been removed in its entirety) has a serious negative impact on the report as this section is inextricably linked to the chemical agent identified… In this case, the confidence in the identity of chlorine or any other choking agent is drawn into question precisely because of the inconsistency with the reported and observed symptoms. The inconsistency was not only noted by the fact-finding mission team, but strongly supported by three toxicologists with expertise in exposure to chemical warfare agents.”

OPCW Inspector (June 22 2018)

November 24 2019 — Today, WikiLeaks published an e-mail, sent by a member of an OPCW fact-finding mission to Syria to his superiors, in which he expresses his gravest concern over intentional bias introduced to a redacted version of the report he co-authored. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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On This Day — Former FSB Officer Alexander Litvinenko Dies (November 23 2006) [2019]

Posted on November 23, 2019 by L

“The evidence suggests that the only credible explanation is, in one way or another, that the Russian state is involved in Litvinenko’s murder.”

Scotland Yard lawyer — Court hearing in London (2015)

Aleksandr Litvinenko

On November 1st 2006, Litvinenko suddenly fell ill and was hospitalised in what was established as a case of poisoning by radioactive polonium-210. He died from the poisoning on November 23 2006. He became the first known victim of lethal polonium 210-induced acute radiation syndrome.  Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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Remembering CIA Leslianne Shedd (September 15 1968 – November 23 1996) [2019]

Posted on November 23, 2019 by L

“Leslianne received a star on the CIA Memorial Wall in 1996 and was posthumously awarded the Agency’s Exceptional Service medallion. Her name was unveiled in the Book of Honor in 2012.”

CIA Website — Remembering CIA’s Heroes

“Leslianne Shedd—a young, courageous, highly successful CIA operations officer serving in East Africa—was a passenger on an Ethiopian Airlines flight when it was hijacked and then crashed into the Indian Ocean on November 23, 1996, killing 125 people, including Leslianne. Survivors said that Leslianne spent her final moments comforting those around her.”

CIA Tweet (November 23 2016)

“When my sister Leslianne Shedd, ’90, was killed in the 1996 crash of a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane, my family not only went into mourning. We also continued to keep a secret: Leslianne didn’t work for the U.S. State Department, as she told everyone. She worked for the CIA, fighting terrorism in Africa.  When Lesli (right) was killed, there was a private memorial ceremony at CIA headquarters at Langley. Then in May of the following year, she was given an anonymous star on the CIA Wall of Honor. The CIA told us that at some point, we would be able to talk about her.”

Corinne Collie

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. There are 133 stars carved into the white Alabama marble wall. Eleven are known to represent women.

November 23 2019 — Leslianne Shedd was killed on November 23, 1996. She was a passenger on a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed in the Indian Ocean near the Comoro Islands. Perhaps the CIA could remember her and post a tweet? Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

Continue reading →

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Former CIA Jerry Chun Shing Lee — The Plot Thickens [UPDATE : Lee is sentenced to 19 years in prison.]

Posted on November 23, 2019 by L

“Some former officials who reviewed the evidence described the case against Mr. Lee as strong but circumstantial, not bulletproof. Some at the C.I.A. argued that officials were too quick to suspect a mole — especially a Chinese-American — when there were other explanations.”

New York Times

Jerry Chun Shing Lee (Right in blue tie) standing in front of  “Salvator Mundi” painting, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci (April 15 1452 – May 2 1519). The painting has not been seen in public since its sale for US $450.3 million (€401 million) at auction house Christie’s in New York in November 2017.

On January 15 2018, Jerry Lee — a former Central Intelligence Agency officer — was arrested at JFK airport. According to the charges, Mr. Jerry Lee illegally retained highly classified information. But the FBI suspects a bigger crime. The Bureau believes that Lee betrayed the identities of several CIA assets in China. UPDATE (November 23 2019) : On Friday, Jerry Lee was sentenced to 19 years in prison for conspiring to deliver classified information to China.  Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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Former CIA Graham Fuller : “Everybody Betraying Everybody in Syria”

Posted on November 22, 2019 by L

“I believe that President Trump is justified in pulling out US forces from Syria as part of an ongoing process of bringing a gradual end to Washington’s endless wars. This war no longer served any real purpose except to destabilize Syria, perpetuate its brutal civil conflict and provide an excuse to keep US troops on the ground and strengthen Iranian and Russian involvement in the struggle. Its refugees have helped destabilize EU politics. In terms of Trump’s so-called ‘gift to Putin,’ the Russians have had a dominant foothold in Syria for many decades. So there’s not much new here.”

Former CIA Graham Fuller (October 16 2019)

Graham E. Fuller (born November 28, 1937) is an American author and political analyst, specializing in Islamist extremism. Formerly vice-chair of the National Intelligence Council, he also served as Station Chief in Kabul for the CIA. A “think piece” that Fuller wrote for the CIA was identified as instrumental in leading to the Iran–Contra affair. His recent analysis regarding Syria is certainly worth reading. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Exclusive Q&A with Carla Ortiz from Ghouta, Syria [UPDATE — OPCW Reports Manipulated by Management]

Posted on November 21, 2019 by L

“I can say the following very confidently. Many officials in our Western governments have really no knowledge of the truth! This is what is so scary. Our decision-makers have been deceived either by misinformation or lies provided by their Intelligence Agencies regarding this conflict.”

Carla Ortiz — Interview with Intel Today (May 23 2018)

Carla Ortiz in Douma (Ghouta), Syria — May 2018

May 25 2018 — Carla Ortiz is a Bolivian actress, producer, documentary maker. She is reporting from Douma (Ghouta), Syria. Mrs Ortiz kindly answered a few questions for INTEL TODAY. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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