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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Animal Spies & Warriors — Operation Acoustic Kitty

Posted on July 21, 2019 by L

“They slit the cat open, put batteries in him, wired him up. The tail was used as an antenna. They made a monstrosity. They tested him, and tested him. They found he would walk off the job when he got hungry, so they put another wire in to override that. Finally, they are ready. They took it out to a park bench and said: ‘Listen to those two guys. Don’t listen to anything else – not the birds, no cat or dog – just those two guys!’ (…) They put him out of the van, and a taxi comes and runs him over. There they were, sitting in the van with all those dials, and the cat was dead.”

Victor Marchetti — Special assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA

“The environmental and security factors in using this technique in a real foreign situation force us to conclude that for our (intelligence) purposes, it would not be practical.”

CIA Project Acoustic Kitty — Final Report

Acoustic Kitty was a CIA project launched by the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology, which in the 1960s intended to use cats to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet embassies. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_TODAY Continue reading →

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Barcelona Terror Attacks — Imam was CNI Informant [UPDATE]

Posted on July 20, 2019 by L

“The imam did, in fact, stay in Belgium, but he was not known to the judicial authorities.”

Thierry Werts — Spokesman of the Office of the Public Prosecutor

Satty

November 18 2017 — Abdelbaki Es Satty — the Imam from the small Catalan town of Ripoll who headed the jihadist cell behind the terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils in mid-August 2017 — was an informant for Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI). Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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CIA — The Language of Espionage : Lockerbie & The CIA Darkest Blunder [UPDATE]

Posted on July 19, 2019 by L

“We’re investing in foreign-language excellence as a core attribute for our officers. We’re strengthening our language training to ensure that our people are more capable and better attuned to the cultures in which they operate.”

CIA Director Gina Haspel

“[Our officers’] accomplishments demonstrate the powerful advantage gained by intelligence officers with true command, true proficiency in a foreign language. These are men and women who, because of their language ability, have an incisive understanding of what they see and hear in their assigned country.”

Former CIA Director David Petraeus presenting the Foreign Language Excellence Award, April 20, 2012.

“Language is the window through which we come to know other peoples and cultures; mastery of a second language allows you to capture the nuances that are essential to true understanding… This is not about learning something that is helpful or simply nice to have. It is crucial to CIA’s mission.”

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta addressing the Foreign Language Summit, December 8, 2010.

Working in the shadow will probably not improve your communication skills. But a recent piece posted on the CIA website demonstrates that the Agency is completely incapable of articulating even the simplest message.  In the spooky world of espionage, language skills matter greatly. Here is the story of a CIA linguistic blunder that is still haunting the Agency. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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On This Day — President Clinton Fires FBI Director (July 19 1993)

Posted on July 19, 2019 by L

“We cannot have a leadership vacuum at an agency as important to the United States as the FBI. It is time that this difficult chapter in the agency’s history is brought to a close.”

President Bill Clinton — White House press conference (July 19 1993)

Sessions served as the 4th FBI director from 1987 to 1993, when he was dismissed by President Bill Clinton.

On July 19 1993, President Clinton dismissed FBI Director William Sessions. Clinton’s decision was based on a report by outgoing Attorney General William P. Barr.  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Los Angeles Times : “Congress is rushing to make the CIA less accountable”

Posted on July 18, 2019 by L

“You’re exactly right. Barbara Bush perpetuated the lie that Philip Agee’s revelations led to Dick Welch’s murder. It wasn’t true, and Agee successfully sued Bush and got a retraction. IIPA was passed based on a lie.”

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou — Tweet replying to Intel Today (July 13 2019)

June 23 1982 — President Reagan tells a good Irish joke before signing the IIPA at the CIA Headquarters

The CIA is urging lawmakers to pass a bill that would make it a criminal offence to reveal the identity of CIA operatives working in the US. Critics of the draft law say it will hobble free speech and discourage whistleblowers from revealing crimes committed by the CIA. The Los Angeles Times has published an editorial on this matter. Here are my comments. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_Today Continue reading →

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On This Day — Remembering Dr David Kelly (May 14, 1944 – July 17, 2003)

Posted on July 17, 2019 by L

“Some people are natural conspiracy theorists. I’m not. Maybe this is a weakness — an indication of a readiness to accept the official version of events and not to see evil plots lurking in the background. But after reading Miles Goslett’s masterful book about the supposed suicide of the weapons expert Dr David Kelly in 2003, I am more persuaded than ever that the authorities have not told us the whole truth about this tragic case.”

Stephen Glover — April 28 2018

“We have lots of evidence … No coroner in the land would reach a verdict of suicide as Lord Hutton did.”

Dr Stephen Frost

“After Kelly had committed suicide, one of the things that kept the whole thing going was Andrew [Gilligan]’s assurance that this was absolutely what Kelly had told him. It wasn’t until the Hutton inquiry itself that Andrew [Gilligan] finally conceded that this might not have been the case. (…) But it is sad that ten years on, we are still seeing a determination to shoot the messenger when scandals are exposed, rather than dealing with the substantive points raised.”

Dominic Ponsford (July 2013)

The death of Dr David Kelly in 2003 is one of the strangest events in recent British history. This scrupulous scientist — an expert on weapons of mass destruction — was caught up in the rush to war in Iraq. He felt under pressure from those around Tony Blair to provide evidence that Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction. Dr Kelly seemed to have tipped into sudden depression when he was outed as a source for Andrew Gilligan. I do not know whether Kelly committed suicide or whether  he was suicided. Either way, it is rather obvious that Tony Blair is responsible for his death. Yet, it is Kelly who wrote Blair’s epitaph: “Here lies a liar.” Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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