The CIA Book of Honor — Star 85 : Stephen Kasarda (c. 1930 – May 1 1960)

Posted on July 29, 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 the men and women of CIA, this constellation is more than a memorial, more than a quiet tribute. Each star holds memories of a brave intelligence officer whose example we follow, a treasured colleague whose wisdom we keep, or a lost friend whose laughter we miss. Time does not soothe the pain that accompanies thoughts of what might have been. But we can take comfort in knowing what is: The men and women behind these stars lived nobly, served selflessly, and died honorably. They inspire us all. Our nation owes them a tremendous debt of gratitude. We will repay it by living the values they demonstrated so clearly: Loyalty, integrity, excellence and service—these are the things that must guide our work. And then, we will be worthy of their sacrifice.”

General Mike Hayden — Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2007 CIA Memorial Ceremony)

July 29 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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Documentary — The Bit Player [Homage to Claude Shannon]

Posted on July 28, 2019 by L

“In fact, the science of thermodynamics began with an analysis, by the great engineer Sadi Carnot, of the problem of how to build the best and most efficient engine, and this constitutes one of the few famous cases in which engineering has contributed to fundamental physical theory. Another example that comes to mind is the more recent analysis of information theory by Claude Shannon. These two analyses, incidentally, turn out to be closely related. ”

Richard Feynman — Nobel Prize (1965)

“During an early foray into telegraphy, I realized that a little communication error could turn ‘Do you like me?’ into ‘Do you hear me?’ Which she was answering was very important to me.”

Claude Shannon

July 28 2019 — The documentary tells the story of Claude Shannon, the scientist who foresaw the information age and artificial intelligence. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Obituary — French Investigative Journalist Pierre Péan Dies at 81

Posted on July 27, 2019 by L

“It is striking to note the similarity of the ‘scientific’ evidence discovered by the FBI’s Tom Thurman in both the Lockerbie and UTA cases. Of the tens of thousands of pieces of debris collected at each disaster site, one lone piece of printed circuit was found and, miracle of miracles, in each case the fragment bore markings that allowed for positive identification: MEBO in the Lockerbie case and TY in the case of UTA Flight 772. Despite the common findings of the DCPJ, the DST and the Prefecture of Police crime laboratory, Judge Bruguière chose to believe Thurman, the expert in fabricating evidence.”

Pierre Péan — African Manipulations

July 27 2019 — Pierre Péan, one of the greatest French investigative journalists, died Thursday (July 25 2019). He was 81. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On this Day — French Military Government Finds Mata Hari Guilty of Espionage (July 25 1917)

Posted on July 26, 2019 by L

“A harlot? Yes, but a traitor, never!”

Phrase attributed to Mata Hari during the trial

“Death is nothing, nor life either, for that matter. To die, to sleep, to pass into nothingness, what does it matter? Everything is an illusion.”

“I had long since lost any illusion of being loved for who I was and now accepted, with clean conscience, flowers, flattery, and money that fed my ego and my false identity.”

Mata Hari

Margaretha Zelle alias Mata Hari (1906)

Margaretha Geertruida “Margreet” MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 1876 – 15 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan. She was put on trial on July 24 1917. The following day, she was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. On October 15 1917, she was executed by firing squad in France. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — “What a Hornets’ Nest I had Stirred!” [Wikipedia edited by the CIA – July 26 2007] (2019)

Posted on July 26, 2019 by L

“This story is demented and broken on so many levels, it is quite difficult to know where to begin, even. Here we have an excellent Wikipedia administrator who has been victimized by lunatic conspiracy theorists, a private person who has absolutely no relation to the wild stories that this article promulgates. Slashdot, you have been trolled.”

Jimmy Wales — Wikipedia co-founder (July 26 2007)

“The strange thing about this story is that this was proven to be true. And there was no denying it. Then later on, a few people started to deny it and claim that it was merely a rumor. Wikipedia has no excuse to hide this.”

Anonymous [Wikipedia user Blissyu2]

“I cannot confirm that the traffic you cite came from agency computers.”

CIA Spokesperson (15/08/2007)

“A nuclear scientist and reporter Ludwig De Braeckeleer suggested that intelligence agents may have been infiltrated Wikipedia to remove undesirable information from Wikipedia articles The design and application of WikiScanner technology proved such suspicions to be well founded”

Internet Brigades in Wikipedia — Wikipedia

July 26 2019 — On this day (July 26 2007) twelve years ago, OMNI (Ohmy News International) published a piece regarding suspicious edits made to certain articles on Wikipedia. As I was researching a piece on the Lockerbie tragedy, I noticed that some information regarding a Palestinian terrorist group had been erased. Upon closer inspection, I came to the conclusion that Intelligence Agencies were editing sensitive information on Wikipedia. I was not wrong. PS: Jimmy Wales never apologized. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — Remembering Navy Cryptanalyst Agnes Meyer Driscoll (July 24, 1889 – September 16, 1971) [2019]

Posted on July 25, 2019 by L

“Once the pursuit of truth begins to haunt the mind, it becomes an ideal never wholly attained.”

“We can never achieve absolute truth but we can live hopefully by a system of calculated probabilities.”

Agnes Meyer Driscoll

“In her thirty-year career, Mrs. Driscoll broke Japanese Navy manual codes — the Red Book Code in the 1920s, the Blue Book Code in 1930, and, in 1940, she made critical inroads into JN-25, the Japanese fleet’s operational code, which the U.S. Navy exploited after the attack on Pearl Harbor for the rest of the Pacific War.”

NSA — Hall of Honor

July 24 2019 — Agnes Meyer Driscoll (July 24, 1889 – September 16, 1971), known as Miss Aggie or Madame X, was an American cryptanalyst during both World War I and World War II. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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Three Years Ago — Radio Pyongyang Resurrects “NUMBERS STATION”

Posted on July 24, 2019 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

July 24 2019 — The broadcast on July 15 2016 was the first number sequence aired by Pyongyang in over 16 years. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Havana Syndrome — Toronto Professor : “Diplomats are not suffering from mass psychogenic illness” — [UPDATE : Brain scans show “significant neuroimaging differences”]

Posted on July 24, 2019 by L

“It is a disservice to the men and women of the United States and Canadian diplomatic services to suggest they are suffering from a ‘mass psychogenic illness’ arising from their tenure in Havana.”

Professor Edward Shorter — University of Toronto

“It’s not imagined. All I can say is that there is a truth to be found. Whatever happened was not due to a pre-existing condition, because we test for that.”

Dr. Ragini Verma — Professor of radiology at Penn University (July 23 2019)

July 5 2019 — Edward Shorter is the Jason A Hannah Professor of the History of Medicine as well as a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He has researched the methods allowing to differentiate psychogenic from somatogenic complaints. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Lockerbie — Appeal Decision Delayed Until 2020

Posted on July 23, 2019 by L

“I regard the Lockerbie verdict against Megrahi as a ‘Grand Monument to Human Stupidity’.  Indeed, the written opinion of the Lockerbie judges is a remarkable document that claims an ‘honoured place in the history of British miscarriages of justice.’ If the [SCCRC] Commission accepts the application for a full review, the infamous Zeist verdict doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving.”

INTEL TODAY — July 5 2017

The (SCCRC) commission has decided that it is in the interests of justice to accept the current application for a full review of his conviction.”

SCCRC chief executive Gerard Sinclair — May 3 2018

“We can confirm that the review of the case of Mr Megrahi is ongoing and it is hoped that this can be concluded early in 2020.”

Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (July 21 2019)

Mandela visiting Megrahi — aka the ‘Lockerbie bomber’ — in prison. Many thanks to my friend John Ashston who took the picture.

July 23 2019 — The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is reviewing the case of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man ever convicted for the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Previously, it had been indicated that the SCCRC’s decision would be handed down by the end of summer 2019. But the SCCRC just announced that a decision is not expected before 2020. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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The CIA Book of Honor — Star 84 : James McGrath (October 24, 1927 – January 1957)

Posted on July 22, 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

“James McGrath joined CIA in 1951 … He was searching for a better future and saw in the Agency a place that would both use his skills and satisfy his desire to serve. Asia was the natural choice for his first tour of duty. He had spent most of his time in the Navy there. And, in less than four years, he rose from GS-5 to GS-11—a testament to his talent, and a reflection of the high regard his colleagues had for him.”

General Mike Hayden — Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2007 CIA Memorial Ceremony)

July 22 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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