40 Years Ago — Iranian students storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran (November 4 1979)

Posted on November 4, 2019 by L

“It is now very clear that there were two separate agreements, one the official agreement with Carter in Algeria, the other, a secret agreement with another party, which, it is now apparent, was Reagan. They made a deal with Reagan that the hostages should not be released until after Reagan became president. So, then in return, Reagan would give them arms. We have published documents which show that US arms were shipped, via Israel, in March, about 2 months after Reagan became president.”

Former Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr

“During my research, I spoke to several of the former hostages. I was deeply moved by the response of one in particular. After listening to the evidence, he said simply: ‘I don’t want to believe it. It’s too painful to think about it.’ Painful it is. But the rest of us are obliged to think about it. Hard.”

Gary Sick — Retired Naval Captain who served on Ford’s, Carter’s, and Reagan’s National Security Council

November 4 1979 — Iranian students storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran

On November 4 1979, a group of Iranian college students took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days. The hostages were released just minutes after American President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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KRYPTOS Week 2019 — Introduction : Sculpture Dedication Ceremony at the CIA (November 3 1990)

Posted on November 3, 2019 by L

“Maybe you’re mistaken–maybe this first part of the Kryptos code is really not a polyalphabetic Vigenere Tableau after all–maybe it’s a different type of code entirely. Or maybe it is a Vigenere code, but it’s been double or triple encoded–or maybe it was encoded backwards or maybe …”

David Stein — CIA analyst (Directorate of Intelligence)

November 3 2019 — 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 have been solved. The last part of the message remains as one of the most famous unsolved code in the world. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — The Iran – Contra Scandal (November 3, 1986) [2019]

Posted on November 3, 2019 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

libya_bombing_reagan_meeting_14_march_1986

On November 3 1986, the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposed the Iran–Contra scandal. Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. They hoped, thereby, to fund the Contras in Nicaragua while at the same time negotiating the release of several U.S. hostages. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress. This affair is usually regarded as one of the most important scandals in US modern history.  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — “Dewey Defeats Truman” (November 2 1948) [2019]

Posted on November 2, 2019 by L

“Truman and his running mate, Senator Alben Barkley of Kentucky, pulled off their shocking victory. Truman’s underdog ticket racked up 303 electoral votes and 49.6 percent of the popular vote to Dewey’s 189 electoral votes and 45.1 percent of the popular vote. Thurmond, the Dixiecrat, earned 39 electoral votes and 2.4 percent of the popular vote.”

Elizabeth Nix — This Day in History

Harry S. Truman’s unexpected election victory over Thomas Dewey was forever imprinted in history, thanks in part to this famous photo.

On November 2, 1948, incumbent United States President Harry S. Truman won an upset victory over Republican challenger and Governor of New York, Thomas E. Dewey, in the presidential election.  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — US Detonates First Thermonuclear Weapon (November 1, 1952) [2019]

Posted on November 1, 2019 by L

“It’s a boy.”

Telegram from Ed Teller to Dr. Elizabeth “Diz” Graves

“The island of Elugelab is missing.”

Gordon Dean — Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission summarizing the events to President Eisenhower

“I made one great mistake in my life when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made but there was some justification; the danger that the Germans would make them.”

Albert Einstein

Ivy Mike (yield 10.4 mt) – an atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the U.S. at Enewetak Atoll on 1 November 1952. It was the world’s first successful hydrogen bomb.

On November 1 1952, the United States detonated  the first full-scale thermonuclear device on the island of Elugelab in Enewetak Atoll, in the Pacific Ocean, as part of Operation Ivy. It was the first full test of the Teller–Ulam design, a staged fusion device. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Former CIA Sabrina De Sousa — My Time To Speak [UPDATE : De Sousa has fled from Italy to the United States]

Posted on October 31, 2019 by L

“Intuition and awareness are key survival traits when assigned abroad; they served me well given my current “hot potato” status in Portugal. As I walked in the direction of the waterfront where David was waiting for me, I sensed that my situation was about to change.”

Former CIA Officer Sabrina De Sousa

Former CIA Sabrina de Sousa

In her first open letter cleared by the US Government for publication since her conviction in 2009, former CIA officer Sabrina De Sousa tells her side of this very long extradition drama. Follow us on Twitter @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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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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