Poetry as a Lens for Intelligence Work [What Intel Analysts Could Learn from Madsen’s Poetry?]

Posted on July 5, 2025 by L

“If you stare into the smoke long enough,
you start to see a better life
burning on the other side.
I’ve been clean, but never clear.”

Venice Poets Night
Michael Madsen
(1957 – 2025)

July 5, 2025 — As I have explained many times before, the worlds of poetry and intelligence overlap far more often than one might naively believe. The poetry of Michael Madsen offers surprising and poignant lessons for an intelligence analyst. Searching for the truth matters. But doing it for the right reason matters even more. There is a profound difference between having a clear mind — being objective, methodical, by-the-book — and possessing a clean spirit — being emotionally or morally grounded. One must strive to do the right thing for the right reason. If you aim to please your masters, you will find evidence of WMDs in Iraq. You will ignore the obvious clues — as the FBI did in the Lockerbie case. You will find evil hiding in the smoke — as some have claimed in the Havana Syndrome. Let us now read together one of Madsen’s beautiful, unpublished poems. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Remembering Iran Flight 655 (July 3 1988) [UPDATE : FBI Feared Iranian Retaliation After Flight 655 — But Found No Evidence]

Posted on July 3, 2025 by L

“I will never apologize for the United States — I don’t care what the facts are… I’m not an apologize-for-America kind of guy.”

George H. W. Bush
August 7 1988

July 3 2019 — On July 3 1988, Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by a missile cruiser fired from the USS Vincennes under the command of William C. Rogers III. The shoot-down of Iran Air flight 655 may have been an “accident”, but Tehran saw it otherwise. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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On This Day — Hounded by the FBI, Nobel Prize Ernest Hemingway Ends His Life (July 2, 1961)

Posted on July 2, 2025 by L

“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

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)

July 2 2021 — 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.” On July 2 1961, Ernest Hemingway was found dead of a shotgun wound in the head. 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

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On This Day — Kim Philby Revealed as Cambridge Five Member (July 1 1963) [UPDATE : The Hunt for the Seventh Man: Operation Wedlock]

Posted on July 1, 2025 by L

“Tell them Jesus Christ only had twelve, and one of them was a double agent.”

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
— Upon learning that Philby was a spy for the Russians

Harold Adrian Russell “Kim” Philby (January 1 1912 – May 11 1988)

January 23 2021 — On January 23 1963, Kim Philby vanished from Beirut, failing to meet his wife for a dinner party at the home of Glencairn Balfour Paul, First Secretary at the British Embassy. On July 1 1963:, the British Government admitted that the former MI6 officer, still described at the time as a former diplomat, had spied for the Soviet Union before defecting to Moscow. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Lockerbie DNA Evidence Turns Upcoming Trial into a Soap Opera

Posted on July 1, 2025 by L

“All but one of the DNA components which make up that profile are present in [RARDE Forensic Expert] Allen Feraday’s DNA profile. (…) This component is unsuitable for interpretation purposes since a large number of individuals from any population might be expected to match it.”

SCCRC
Report on Lockerbie

Lockerbie evidence: PI/449 and PK/206

July 1, 2025 — Some so-called “Lockerbie experts” — including former FBI officials — have hailed the recent DNA evidence as a major forensic breakthrough. In reality, it is nothing of the sort. In CIA parlance, this case has just gone from SNAFU to full-blown FUBAR — and fast. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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Lockerbie DNA Evidence: The Umbrella That Wasn’t There

Posted on June 30, 2025 by L

“Allen Feraday should not be allowed to present himself as an expert.”

Lord Chief Justice
July 2005

Lockerbie evidence : PK/206

June 30, 2025 — Nearly four decades after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland — a tragedy that claimed 270 lives — investigators now claim to have extracted DNA from items linked to the suitcase believed to have housed the bomb. Among these items are fragments of luggage lining and the now-infamous black umbrella. Some ‘experts’ and former FBI officials have hailed this as a major forensic breakthrough. But in truth, nothing will come of it — and this “evidence” is not even fit for court. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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Lockerbie DNA Evidence: The Last Trick

Posted on June 29, 2025 by L

“If you’ve got his DNA [in the suitcase] … it would knock down the building blocks of his potential defence.”

Dick Marquise
Former lead FBI agent on the Lockerbie investigation

The artist sketch depicts Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson, front left, watching as Whitney Minter, a public defender from the eastern division of Virginia, stands to represent Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, in federal court in Washington, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, as Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather listens. (Dana Verkouteren via AP)

June 29, 2025 — Nearly four decades after the tragedy of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, investigators may have uncovered the most significant piece of forensic evidence to date. For the first time, DNA has been extracted from the suitcase believed to have contained the bomb that killed 270 people in 1988. This breakthrough could prove pivotal in the long-delayed U.S. trial of Abu Agila Masud, the Libyan intelligence operative accused of building the device. As the case re-enters the courtroom, science—not speculation—may finally deliver the answers that have eluded justice for almost 40 years. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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Eisenhower’s Last Warning Ignored: The Dangerous Folly of NATO’s 5% Defense Spending Target

Posted on June 29, 2025 by L

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address to the nation
January 17, 1961

“In America – At This Restaurant Only One Person Is Served.” 1953, by Yuliy Ganf — This cartoon remains a powerful and timeless critique of government and business spending on military defense.

June 29, 2025 — NATO members have agreed to allocate 5% of their GDP to defense spending, a sharp increase from the longstanding 2% target. The decision comes in response to rising threats from Russia and the ongoing war in Ukraine, underscoring the alliance’s commitment to deterrence and collective defense. I regard this agreement as a complete and dangerous lunacy. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Fake News, Real Questions

Posted on June 28, 2025 by L

“Fake news has become a catch-all term for misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, but its defining feature is that it mimics news media in form but not in organizational process or intent.”

Lazer et al., Science (2018)

June 28, 2025 — We’ve all heard it: “You can’t tell truth from lies anymore.” Some of my friends—one of them a seasoned FBI investigator—insist we now live in a “post-truth” era. That the average person is defenseless against manipulation. Well, that’s simply not true. Follow us on Twitter:@INTEL_TODAY

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Lockerbie — The Eyewitness Evidence Against Megrahi : Exclusive Q&A with Pr Elizabeth Loftus [UPDATE : The Tiger’s Illusion and the Lockerbie Mirage: Perception vs. Reality]

Posted on June 27, 2025 by L

“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 (…) My examination has led me to seriously wonder: Is the Lockerbie bomber still out here?”

Professor Elizabeth F. Loftus

June 20, 2018 — Elizabeth F. Loftus is a Distinguished Professor of Social Ecology and Professor of Law and Cognitive Science at University of California, Irvine. Her research has demonstrated that people can be led to develop rich false memories for events that never happened.

These false memories look very much like true ones. Indeed, they can be confidently told, detailed, and expressed with emotion. Professor Loftus has kindly agreed to answer a few questions regarding her understanding of Tony Gauci’s testimony and statements. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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