On This Day — US Senate report calls CIA torture tactics “deeply flawed” (December 9 2014)

“In a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorized, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all.”

CIA Director John Brennan (December 11 2014)

“No evidence that terror attacks were stopped, terrorists captured or lives saved through use of EITs”

Senator Diane Feinstein — Tweet (December 11 2014)

“One of the most memorable details from The Report is Jones’ insistence on access to a printer, and how many safes were in his office. He later told a lawyer that this was because documents kept mysteriously disappearing from the CIA server. In March 2014, then-CIA Director John Brennan denied the claims, calling them “beyond the scope of reason.” However, a few months later the CIA Inspector General’s report backed up claims that the CIA repeatedly hacked Senate computers in an effort to stop the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report.”

Isabel Crabtree — Esquire (December 7 2019)

On December 9, 2014, a U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report revealed that the CIA’s interrogation of terror suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was more brutal than it told the White House or public. The so-called “CIA torture report” called CIA tactics “deeply flawed.” Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Remembering CIA Historian William Blum (March 6, 1933 – December 9, 2018)

“The thesis in my books and my writing is that anti-American terrorism arises from the behavior of U.S. foreign policy. It is what the U.S. government does which angers people all over the world.”

William Blum

“William Blum was at the forefront of critical debate and analysis of US foreign policy. He combined honesty and Truth with carefully documented analysis. His important legacy will live.”

Michel Chossudovsky (December 10, 2018)

“The newspapers were filled with pictures of happy relatives of the victims of the December 21, 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. A Libyan, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, had been found guilty of the crime the day before, January 31, 2001, by a Scottish court in the Hague, though his co-defendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted. At long last there was going to be some kind of closure for the families. But what was wrong with this picture? What was wrong was that the evidence against Megrahi was thin to the point of transparency.”

William Blum — Everything you know is wrong

December 9 2019 — Independent journalist and author William Blum died on Sunday December 9 2018 at the age of 85 in Virginia. Blum’s books “Killing Hope” and “Rogue State” were widely praised for their detailed history of recent U.S. foreign policy. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Two Year Ago — The Havana Syndrome : Sonic Attacks or Microwave Weapons?

“What we’ve said to the Cubans is: Small island. You’ve got a sophisticated intelligence apparatus. You probably know who’s doing it. You can stop it. It’s as simple as that.”

Rex Tillerson — US Secretary of State  (December 6 2017)

“On and on it goes, one distortion after another, most taken from industry’s propaganda playbook.”

Microwave News (December 6 2019)

December 8 2017 — US officials briefed on the investigation no longer use the term “sonic attack”. The weird noises heard by the victims are believed to be a consequence and not the cause of this suspected attack on US diplomats — actually spies — by a foreign government. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Pan Am Flight 214 Crashes (December 8 1963) [Lesson Learned?]

“Aviation investigations are replete with accident scenarios that couldn’t happen. And given the lack of bomb evidence so far, neither scenario has been ruled out, officials said. First is the possibility that the doomed plane’s front section, which has a history of structural fatigue cracks and must undergo regular inspections, simply unzipped from the rest of the plane as weakened structural frames gave way.”

TWA 800 — Washington Post (August 1 1996)

December 8 2019 — Pan Am Flight 214 was a scheduled flight of Pan American World Airways from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Baltimore, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On December 8, 1963, the Boeing 707 serving the flight crashed near Elkton, Maryland, while en route from Baltimore to Philadelphia, after being hit by lightning, killing all 81 on board. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Lockerbie Judges Under the Weather (Malta – December 7 1988) [2019]

“There is no reasonable basis in the trial court’s judgment for its conclusion that the purchase of the items [clothes that were found in the wreckage of the plane] from Mary’s House [in Malta] took place on 7 December 1988.”

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission

“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 did not spontaneously mention the Christmas lights in his first statement. It is possible that his statement in court was influenced by the officers suggestion during subsequent questioning that the lights may have been lit. Based on Tony Gauci’s response when first questioned about the Christmas lights, his account would support the 23rd November. In dating the memory I think the weather records are far more important.”

Psychology Professor Tim Valentine (Email to Intel Today)

Q: Do you remember what the weather was like when the man came to the shop?

A: When he came by… It wasn’t raining. But then it started dripping, not very much. It was not raining heavily. It was simply — it was simply dripping, but as a matter of fact, he did take an umbrella…

Q: Did he?

A: He bought an umbrella.

The Lockerbie Trial Transcripts — Page 4741

Tony Gauci — Lord Fraser described the Maltese shopkeeper whose testimony was central in securing a conviction against Abdelbasset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, as “not quite the full shilling” and “an apple short of a picnic”. 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.

December 7 2019 — The trial court’s judgment concluded that the purchase of the items [clothes that were found in the wreckage of the plane] from Mary’s House [in Malta] took place on December 7 1988. The date was crucial as Megrahi is known to have been on the island that day. There is one problem. That date is obviously wrong!  Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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On This Day — Did Richard Nixon Frame Alger Hiss? [December 6 1948 – The Pumpkin Papers]

“It has been 50 years since Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury for denying that he had been a Soviet spy, but his case continues to fascinate and stir controversy. The reasons for this are not surprising. The case had all the elements of a fine drama: compelling characters, accusations of treason, unusual evidence, the launching of a presidential career, and enough inconsistencies and ambiguities to leave the issue of guilt or innocence in doubt for decades.”

John Ehrman — The Alger Hiss Case (CIA website)

“Had Nixon asked the FBI to manufacture evidence to prove his case against Hiss, Hoover would actually have been only too glad to oblige.”

Former FBI Assistant Director William Cornelius Sullivan

“As to whether Nixon would actually have gone as far as to frame Hiss, the later record includes disquieting instances of forgery or planting false information.”

Anthony Summers — The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon 

“Until the day I die, I shall wonder how Whittaker Chambers got into my house to use my typewriter.”

Alger Hiss

Richard M. Nixon (L) speaking at the testimony in which Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of securing important U. S. documents which were turned over to a Russian agent. (Photo by James Whitmore/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

December 6 2019 — Ever since Alger Hiss’s perjury prosecution in 1949-1950, it has become a virtual consensus that “the Baltimore documents… were evidence of betrayal of U.S. diplomatic information to a foreign power, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.” But were these papers really so damning? Were they actually genuine? And is the case really closed as the CIA claims?  One thing is certain. The case remains controversial, important and relevant to current issues. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Lockerbie : “The Helsinki Warning” (December 5 1988) [2019]

“And he comes in early the next morning, 6 o’clock the next morning, and there is, obviously, confusion and concern. And he is asked to do a number of things. And he is asked to work on Weber’s desk with his computer. And he looks down and sees the Helsinki warning on Weber’s desk. And he goes crazy. And he says what is this?

And Weber says: Oh, my God, don’t worry, don’t worry, it’s nothing, forget it.

So Koch says, how can I forget it? This is a warning of a potential bomb. It is my job.

Just forget it. Be quiet or you will get in trouble.”

Washington Post — “Helsinki Warning: Timely or Buried?”

“There was a real push in the embassy community to make sure that everybody was aware that there had been a terrorist threat made, and that people flying Western carriers going through Frankfurt should change their tickets.”

Karen Decker, Consular Official at the Moscow US Embassy – ABC, Nov. 30 1989

“Perhaps life in war-torn Beirut had made them [CIA McKee and Gannon] used to terror risks. Perhaps they figured to themselves that their superiors would not have allowed them to travel if the flight was at serious risk. Had they known that within the past three weeks, there had been a number of strong indications that radical Palestinians were planning to attack Pan Am, they would most surely have chosen another airline.”

John Ashton and Ian Fergusson – Cover Up of Convenience

“The Helsinki Warning was totally investigated after the bombing and we determined as fact that it was not a credible threat based on who made the threat.”

Richard Marquise – Former FBI agent and head of the Pan Am 103 Bombing Investigation (Communication to the author)

“At the end of the Commission findings, you will see that we looked at the total history of passenger bookings for Pan Am 103 and they were the same for years. No one was warned off the plane.”

Frank Duggan — (Communication to the author)

On December 5, 1988, a man speaking with an Arabic accent telephoned the US Embassy in Helsinki, Finland. The informant said that a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the United States would be blown up within the next two weeks. On December 21, 1988, Pan Am 103 exploded over Lockerbie. Pan Am 103A — its feeder flight — originated from Frankfurt. The warning was dismissed as a hoax.

The FBI concluded that the ‘culprit’ had done it to impress his girlfriend. Actually, the suspect was never indicted because sufficient evidence could not be assembled. If there was not enough evidence to indict, let alone convict, Samra Mahayou for the hoax, where was the evidence to dismiss the warning as one? Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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On This Day — Profumo Affair Christine Keeler Has Died (December 4 2017) [2019]

“The ghost-written book got me right, it has got me emotionally right. There’s one word I don’t like: ‘Ruining my life may not seem very important to some, considering what I was, just a pretty scrubber…’ I wanted them to change it to ‘tart.’ ‘Scrubber’ implies someone who can’t talk properly and wears horrible clothes, but I always spoke well and had good clothes. I’ve always had a bit of class to me. I’m sure Jack Profumo wouldn’t have gone out with a scrubber. Perhaps they should have written ‘just a pretty nobody.’”

Christine Keeler — Interview by Simon Hoggart about her second autobiography (The Observer – March 13, 1983)

“The Profumo affair, ultimately, was a national crisis from whose aftershocks we are all still suffering.”

The Guardian (June 2013)

Lewis Morley’s 1963 portrait of Christine Keeler became an iconic image of the cold war

On December 4 2017, Christine Keeler, the model embroiled in the 1963 Profumo affair, died aged 75. The Profumo affair was a very British scandal which uncovered a secret world of sex, horse-play, drinking orgies and spying, in high places, in which Ms Keeler shared her favours with Mr Profumo, and Commander Eugene Ivanov, the Soviet assistant naval attaché in London. The crisis forced John Profumo to quit his job as war secretary and ultimately contributed to the downfall of the Tory government the following year. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Bob Marley Assassination Attempt (December 3 1976) [Was the CIA involved?]

“Some see the incident as an attempt by JLP gunmen to halt the concert, which would feature the ‘politically progressive’ music of Marley and other reggae stars. Others see it as a deep-laid plot to create a progressive, youthful Jamaican martyr to benefit of the PNP. Those holding the latter view note that the four persons shot, three of them including Marley, only suffered minor wounds.”

US Embassy Cable (May 11 1981)

“I cannot prove in a court of law that the CIA is here… strange things are happening in Jamaica that we have not seen before.”

Michael Manley — Leader of the Jamaica PNP

“His voice was an omnipresent cry in our electronic world. His sharp features, majestic looks, and prancing style a vivid etching on the landscape of our minds. Bob Marley was never seen. He was an experience which left an indelible imprint with each encounter. Such a man cannot be erased from the mind. He is part of the collective consciousness of the nation.”

Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga — Funeral eulogy (May 21 1981)

“I WOULD LIKE TO CALL THE ATTENTION OF THE JAMAICAN PRESS AND PEOPLE TO THE FACT THAT THE CURRENT [CIA] CHIEF OF STATION HERE [NORMAN DESCOTEAUX], AND TWO OF THE OPERATIONS OFFICERS ARRIVED IN KINGSTON DURING THE MIDDLE AND LATTER PART OF LAST YEAR PRIOR TO THE INITIATION OF VIOLENCE.”

AGEE PRESS RELEASE (September 17 1976)

Bob Marley unite two warring factions JLP and PNP at his 1978 One Love Peace Concert

On December 3, 1976, two days before the Smile Jamaica concert, seven men with guns raided Marley’s house at 56 Hope Road around 8.30 pm. Marley’s wife, Rita, was shot in the head. The gunmen shot Marley in the chest and arm. His manager, Don Taylor, was shot in the legs and torso. Astonishingly, there were no fatalities. Over the years, many have alleged that the CIA was behind the assassination plot. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Pablo Escobar is killed in Medellin (December 2 1993) [2019]

“Pablo  committed suicide. He did not get killed. During all the years they went after him, he would say to me every day that if he was really cornered without a way out, he would shoot himself through the ear.”

Roberto Escobar

“My father worked for the CIA selling cocaine to finance the fight against Communism in Central America.”

Juan Pablo Escobar

“What we’ve learned is that if you look at history what happened with the Medellin Cartel after we took them down, Cali Cartel got stronger, right? Then we take them down, and North Valle Cartel takes over. We’re taking down cartels, and another cartel is born.”

Javier Pena — Former DEA officer

Fernando Botero’s portrayal of Pablo Escobar’s death

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1 1949 – December 2 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist. His cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over US$21.9 billion a year in personal income. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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