5G — Will European Countries Ban Huawei? [UPDATE — Germany Spy Chief: Huawei can not be trusted]

Posted on October 30, 2019 by L

“Perhaps, the most puzzling part of the [Belgian Intelligence Services] report is what it does not mention. Although most countries are extremely concerned about China investments in their Telecom infrastructure, the Belgian report is silent on this issue. Why, on earth, why?”

Intel Today (November 30 2018)

“The UK needs to take decision on the extent to which we are going to be comfortable with Chinese ownership of these technologies.”

MI6 chief Alex Younger (December 3 2018)

“Given the massive cybersecurity and national security risks, the only responsible decision is for Berlin to follow the Australian, New Zealand, and U.S. lead and ban Chinese providers from the German 5G network. In doing so, Europe’s strongest economy would send a crucial signal to the rest of the European Union members that are grappling with the same decision.”

Thorsten Benner — Director of the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin (December 9 2018)

“Huawei shares with the Chinese state intimate and extensive knowledge of the foreign telecommunications systems it is involved with.”

General Michael Hayden — Former head of the U.S. National Security Agency

“If China would resort to putting Canadians to death to defend its corporate national champion, what might it do if the Chinese Communist Party had unfettered access to Canada’s vital communications networks?”

Richard Fadden — Head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service spy agency from 2009 to 2013 (January 20 2019)

December 5 2018 — The United States, Australia and New Zealand have already blocked Huawei from building their new 5G networks on security grounds. On December 5, Britain’s BT Group said it would rip Huawei equipment from its core telecom network. Canada is also likely to ban Huawei and  it is reported that Japan is expected to ban government use of products made by Huawei and ZTE over cybersecurity concerns.

So, why on earth has Europe been silent on this critical issue for so long? What are they waiting for? I am afraid that it will all depend on Germany’s decision.

On March 26 2019,  the European Commission has recommended a set of operational steps and measures to ensure a high level of cybersecurity of 5G networks across the EU.

The Commission does not call for a European ban on global market leader Huawei, leaving it to EU countries to decide on national security grounds. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Lockerbie Key Witness Dies (October 29 2016) [2019]

Posted on October 29, 2019 by L

“I personally hope that Tony is in a better place and that he is now at peace because he must have led a tortured life knowing that he had jailed an innocent man for money.”

George Thomson — Lockerbie Investigator

“Al-Megrahi was released from prison in 2009 and sent back to Libya on compassionate grounds because of advancing cancer. Public outrage was sparked. Al-Megrahi lived with his cancer for a few years (…) One cannot help but wonder whether the outrage over his release might be tempered if those angry individuals were to seriously examine the suspicious eyewitness testimony that led to Al-Megrahi’s conviction in the first place. My examination has led me to seriously wonder: Is the Lockerbie bomber still out here?”

Professor Elizabeth F. Loftus — Memory (2013)

“Tony Gauci didn’t mention shirts in his first statement, and is adamant that he did not sell any shirts when first specifically questioned about shirts.However, at that time he did sell Slalom shirts to the police. Some months later he recalled selling shirts to the man. This pattern in the statements is consistent with post-event information becoming incorporated into the memory (a process known as memory distortion). For this reason I regard the first statement made prior to questioning about the shirts to be more likely to reflect Tony Gauci’s original memory for the event because there is no possibility for it to be influenced by the subsequent questioning.”

Professor Tim Valentine — Email to INTEL TODAY

tony-gauci

October 29 2019 — Tony Gauci (6 April 1944 – 29 October 2016) was one of the many proprietors of Mary’s House, a clothes shop in Tower Road, Sliema, Malta. Gauci was the most important witness at the Lockerbie trial. In 2008 the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC Ref 23:19) found that US$2 million had been paid to Tony Gauci and US$1 million to Paul Gauci under the US Department of Justice “Rewards for Justice” programme. Many experts believe that Tony Gauci’s memory was not reliable.  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Hemingway Wins Nobel Prize (October 28 1954) [2019]

Posted on October 28, 2019 by L

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961)

“The FBI’s surveillance substantially contributed to his anguish and his suicide.”

A. E. Hotchner — Hemingway’s friend and collaborator over the last 13 years of his life

“Ernest Hemingway’s relationship with the Federal Bureau of Investigation would charitably be described as ‘strained’. Hemingway would tell anybody who’d listen that he thought the Bureau were a bunch of Nazi mediocrities … and the FBI in turn dismissed Hemingway as a drunken phony. As his file shows, however, all of that changed when Hemingway finally did something the Bureau agreed with: he died.”

Muckrock — ‘Ernest Hemingway’s death significantly improved his relationship with the FBI’

“Hemingway may have said ‘yes’ to the Soviet recruitment pitch, but unless there is some additional trove of material in the NKVD archives that argues otherwise, it is clear Hemingway was never a productive Soviet agent.”

CIA website — ‘Intelligence in Literature and Media’

American writer Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) working at a portable table while on a big game hunt in Kenya, September 1952. (Photo by Earl Theisen/Getty Images)

On October 28 1954, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Ernest Miller Hemingway “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.”

Hemingway was aware of his long surveillance by J Edgar Hoover’s FBI, who were suspicious of his links with Cuba, and it has been argued that this surveillance may have pushed him to the brink. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Spygate — Will Former CIA Director John Brennan Go to Prison? [UPDATE]

Posted on October 27, 2019 by L

“Spying did occur [on the Trump campaign in 2016]. The question is whether it was adequately predicated. And I’m not suggesting that it wasn’t adequately predicated. But I need to explore that.”

US Attorney General William Barr (April 10 2019)

“The core of this conspiracy began with John Brennan and ends with John Brennan. This is very serious business and for the first time, I now believe that some of these guys [James Comey, John Brennan and James Clapper] are going to go to prison. (…) Brennan needs five lawyers.”

Former U.S. Attorney and Special Counsel Joe diGenova (May 15 2019)

“Either we need a new election or hang former CIA Director John Brennan for putting out disinformation.”

Former CIA operative Robert Baer — Newsweek (January 2017)

May 16 2019 — US Attorney General William Barr has assigned a senior federal prosecutor to examine the origins of the Russia investigation. Former U.S. Attorney and Special Counsel Joe diGenova believes John Brennan, the former CIA director (2013-2017), is at the core of the fraudulent Russia-Trump collusion conspiracy. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Operation Autumn Leaves (Germany — October 26 1988) [UPDATE 2019]

Posted on October 26, 2019 by L

“Following the arrest of Dalkamoni and others […], it is possible to conclude that at least the core of the cell structure has been removed. It is not possible to say that all persons involved in the terrorist activities had been arrested.”

Germany — BKA Report (October 1988)

“Marwan khreesat and I had the first room on the right as you you come in the front door of Abassi flat and used it for work room for preparing the electronic appliances. Under my supervision and responsibility, Khreesat modified into bombs one Toshiba radio recorder, two tuners and one screen.”

Haffez Dalkamoni  — Interrogation by BKA officers (October 27 1988)

“I can not give you any further details regarding my involvement.”

Marwan Khreesat – Interrogation by BKA officers (October 27 1988)

“Having considered the evidence concerning these matters and the submission of counsel we accept that there is a great deal of suspicion as to the actings of Abu Talb and his circle, but there is no evidence to indicate that they had either the means or the intention to destroy a civil aircraft in December 1988.”

The Lockerbie Verdict, § 81

On this date in 1988, the German police arrested seventeen men at Neuss in operation “Autumn Leaves” (Herbstlaub). The bomb-maker of this terrorist cell had prepared several IEDs, including one hidden inside a Toshiba radio-cassette, which — according to various authors — has never been recovered.

Some journalists — such as the late Private Eye’s Paul Foot — and several PA 103 relatives — including Dr Jim Swire — believe that it is too stark a coincidence for a Toshiba cassette radio IED to have downed Pan Am 103 just eight weeks after the arrest of the PFLP-GC cell in Frankfurt.

Here is a timeline of this operation which I compiled ten years ago to mark the 20th anniversary of the Lockerbie tragedy. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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TRUMP WHISTLEBLOWER: CHOICE OF LAWYER RAISES SUSPICIONS [UPDATE — Former CIA John Kiriakou : “This is an insult to real whistleblowers!”]

Posted on October 25, 2019 by L

“That [Mark] Zaid is involved in this case leads me to believe that the CIA whistleblower is either an idiot who has no idea what he’s gotten himself into or he’s been directed to make his ‘disclosure’.”

Former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou

“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

Mark S. Zaid is a Washington DC attorney, with a practice focus on national security law.

In a piece posted on the Consortium News website, former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou points out that it is totally odd for the CIA “whistleblower” to have hired Mark Zaid. I could not agree more.  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Norway & Russia — Former Border Inspector Behind Bars in Moscow on Charges of Espionage [UPDATE XII : Official Commission Recommends Pardon]

Posted on October 24, 2019 by L

“Frode must come home, and Norwegian authorities must do what they can to get him out. It is not a good signal when such a positive and distinguished bridge-builder like Frode is arrested, it is not a good sign.”

Kirkenes town Mayor Rune Rafaelsen

“Once again we see the effects of big politics hitting us here locally, and we demand an end to that!”

Father Torbjørn Brox Webber

“I would not characterise the case as a global attack on bilateral relations. We have a relationship with Norway which develops in different areas. These kind of things happen, and it is uncomfortable, [but] our national legislation provides for adequate measures.”

Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (December 28 2017)

Frode Berg, a 62 retired border inspector, was arrested by Russian security service agents in downtown Moscow on December 5th 2017. He is jailed  in isolation at the high-security Lefortovo prison.

Berg was allegedly caught receiving classified material about the Russian Navy that he is accused of planning to hand over to Norwegian and U.S. intelligence agencies. Berg claims that he was duped into working for Norway’s national intelligence agency.

On October 30 2018, the Moscow City Court has upheld the expanded arrest until December 5 2018. On Friday (November 30 2018), the court decided to prolong his arrest for another two months. On January 30 2019, the Moscow City Court has extended Berg’s detention until April 5 2019. On April 16 2019, Frode Berg has been sentenced to 14 years, as requested by the prosecutor.

UPDATE (October 18 2019) — On this day next week, Frode Berg could be a free man.  Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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Exclusive Q&A with Carla Ortiz from Ghouta, Syria [UPDATE — Panel finds convincing evidence of irregular behaviour in the OPCW investigation]

Posted on October 24, 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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On This Day — The Beirut Barracks Bombings (October 23, 1983) [2019]

Posted on October 23, 2019 by L

“Though he never said so explicitly, he [President Ronald Reagan] ended America’s military commitment to a strategic mistake that was peripheral to America’s interests. Three-and-a-half months after the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. military personnel — and after repeatedly pledging not to do so — Reagan ordered the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Lebanon.”

Foreign Policy

“Beirut wasn’t sensible and it never did serve a purpose. It was goofy from the beginning.”

General Colin Powell

“We still do not have the actual knowledge of who did the bombing of the Marine barracks at the Beirut Airport, and we certainly didn’t then.”

Caspar Weinberger — Secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration from 1981 to 1987 (September 2001)

The Beirut barracks bombings were terrorist attacks that occurred on October 23, 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces—members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF)—killing 241 U.S. and 58 French servicemen, six civilians, and the two suicide bombers. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Microwave Spying — Leon Theremin & “The Thing” [UPDATE : CIA Microwave Cavities on display at the Crypto Museum]

Posted on October 22, 2019 by L

“Theremin did some of his best scientific work while imprisoned by one of the most repressive regimes of the 20th century. This brilliant scientist crossed path with the CIA more than once — to our detriment.”

Benjamin R. Fisher — CIA History staff

“History certainly isn’t averse to irony. Seventy-plus years later, descendents of a device invented by the Soviet Union to eavesdrop on its Western enemies are being flogged in an internal catalog of a U.S. intelligence organization.”

Maurits Martijn — The Correspondent (December 2015)

Clara Rockmore & Leon Theremin. Rockmore was a classical violin prodigy and a virtuoso performer of the “Theremin”, the grandfather of all electronic musical instruments.

May 28 2018 — Once upon a time, the Russians relied for many years on a technology unknown to the Americans to spy on the US ambassador in Moscow. The device — known as “The thing” — was the brainchild of an extraordinary genius: Leon Theremin.

I have long suspected that “Microwave Spying” was still a tool on the shelf of the modern spies. In the aftermath of Snowden’s revelations, Der Spiegel published a catalogue of surveillance technologies used by the NSA and CIA to eavesdrop on foreign spies and diplomats.

And indeed, these documents show that the U.S. Intelligence is using products — with names like LOUDAUTO and ANGRYNEIGHBOR — against foreign embassies. Those devices are generally considered as direct successors of Leon Theremin’s brilliant invention. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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