Two Years Ago — Belgium : State Security Service officers not allowed to carry weapons…because of a legal glitch

“One of the oldest domestic intelligence agencies in continuous existence is Belgium’s civil security service, the Veiligheid van de Staat or Surêté de l’Etat (VSSE).”

Kenneth L. Lasoen

Jaak Raes — Current Administrator-General of Belgian State Security Service VSSE

March 9 2017 — Because of a legal mistake, the officers of the Belgian State Security Service were not allowed to legally carry weapons for almost one year. The mistake was detected last month and several dangerous missions are said to have been cancelled. A new law — which corrects this mistake — is entering into force today. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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Robert A. Levinson — FBI Statement on Anniversary of His Disappearance [2019]

“We share our deepest sympathy with his family which has suffered from his absence for over a decade. We will not rest until the Levinson family is whole again. Iran committed to cooperating with the United States to assist us in bringing Robert Levinson home and we call on Iran to fulfill this commitment.”

Heather Nauert  — State Department Press Secretary (March 9 2018)

“The Iranians responded with a startling offer. In return for Tehran’s assistance in recovering Levinson, they wanted Washington to reveal the location of Ali Reza Asgari, an Iranian general who vanished in Turkey in 2007, just one month before Levinson’s disappearance.”

YEGANEH TORBATI and JOEL SCHECTMAN — America’s unending hostage crisis with Iran — Reuters (August 1 2018)

“My husband served this country tirelessly for decades. He deserves better from all of us and from our government. He deserves our endless pursuit to bring him home, to fight day and night and leave no stone unturned.”

Christine Levinson

Robert Levinson is pictured with his daughters in 2006, about seven months before his kidnapping

March 9 2019 marks the twelve-year anniversary of Robert Levinson’s disappearance from Kish Island, Iran. The FBI has offered a $5 million reward for any information that could lead to his safe return. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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International Women’s Day 2019 — Chelsea Manning Goes to Jail (March 8 2019)

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Two Years Ago — CIA Statement on Vault 7 Claims by WikiLeaks (March 8 2017)

“I will splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the wind.”

President John F. Kennedy

“A people always ends by resembling its shadow. ” Rudyard Kipling

On Tuesday March 7, 2017, WikiLeaks began its new series of leaks on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Code-named “Vault 7” by WikiLeaks, it is the largest ever publication of confidential documents on the agency. Here is the official CIA statement regarding the claims made by WikiLeaks. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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On This Day — Remembering CIA Jacqueline K. Van Landingham (1962 – March 8 1995)

“African Americans have long made critical contributions to our Agency’s mission, taking the risks and bearing the sacrifices that intelligence work often demands. We at CIA join our fellow citizens in remembering the immeasurable sacrifice, strength, and courage of African Americans in building a more free and just society. It is a cause they nobly advanced, and one that we all must carry forward to this day.”

CIA Director John Brennan  — February 26 2014 CIA’s Black History Month Celebration

The Memorial Wall is a memorial at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It honors CIA employees who died in the line of service. Today, there are 129 stars carved into the white Alabama marble wall. At least ten represent women.

March 8 2019 — Jacqueline K. Van Landingham joined the CIA in July 1985 as a clerk-typist, working in the Directorate of Operations (now the National Clandestine Service), Near East (NE) Division, Logistics Branch. She was gunned down on March 8, 1995 in Karachi, Pakistan. On May 22, 2012, her name was added to the Book of Honour. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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One Year Ago — The Bizarre Story of ex-CIA Jerry Chun Shing Lee

“Misunderstandings and neglect create more confusion in this world than trickery and malice. At any rate, the last two are certainly much less frequent.”

Goethe — The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774)

“Some former officials who reviewed the evidence described the case against Mr. Lee as strong but circumstantial, not bulletproof. Some at the C.I.A. argued that officials were too quick to suspect a mole — especially a Chinese-American — when there were other explanations.”

New York Times

“Mr. Lee is not a Chinese spy, he’s a loyal American who served his country in the military and in the CIA.”

Edward MacMahon — Jerry Lee’s attorney

March 7 2018 — A former Central Intelligence Agency officer was arrested at JFK airport on — Monday night — January 15 2018. According to the charges, Mr. Jerry Lee illegally retained highly classified information. But the FBI suspects a bigger crime. The Bureau believes that Lee betrayed the identities of several CIA assets in China.

Although US media have already widely accepted that explanation and most predict that Lee will eventually be charged with treason, I am very skeptical at this point. Firstly, the theory is not satisfactory as it does not, and cannot, explain all the facts. Secondly, alternative explanations — Do you remember the blunders of CIA Operation MERLIN? –appear far more convincing. Thus, I predict that Lee will NOT be charged with treason/espionage.

At an initial appearance in the US district courthouse in Alexandria, Magistrate Judge Ian Davis ordered Lee detained before his preliminary hearing, which was set for March 19 at 2 p.m.

UPDATE May 10 2018 — According to a DOJ Press Release (dated Tuesday, May 8, 2018), Lee has admitted preparing a document containing secret information in response to taskings from Chinese Intelligence officers. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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Sweden — SÄPO Arrests Alleged Russian Spy

“It is a person who is suspected of being recruited as an agent by a Russian intelligence officer who worked under diplomatic cover in Sweden.”

Daniel Stenling — Head of counter-espionage at the Security Police

A suspected Russian spy has been arrested in Stockholm, the Swedish Security Police (SAPO) said on February 27 2019. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Two Years Ago — The Trump Dossier : Raw Intelligence or Clever Fabrication? — POLL [UPDATE — Chris Steele Gets Cold Feet]

“I think it was disgraceful – disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out. I think it’s a disgrace… and that’s something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do.”

US President-Elect Donald Trump

“When spies get angry, they call reporters and arrange discreet chats in parking garages. The last president who entered the Oval Office with this much dislike and distrust of the IC was Richard Nixon—and we know how that worked out for him.”

John R. Schindler — Former NSA and professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College

“I can tell you right now Brennan is an asshole. I have known all these people for years. Clapper is — sort of — a better guy but not a rocket scientist. The NSA guys are fucking morons. You know the trouble with all of those guys is that the only way they are going to make it to a board, or two, and get hired (…) to deliver some fat cat contracts is if Hillary stayed in.”

Seymour Hersh [Phone interview]

“In these strange and troubling times, it is hard to speak unpalatable truths to power, but I believe we all still have a duty to do so.”

Christopher Steele — Email to Vanity Fair (October 2018)

January 14 2017 — The ‘Trump dossier’ consists of a series of unsigned memos that appear to have been written between June and December 2016. The dossier contains lurid and mostly hard-to-prove allegations.

UPDATE (March 6 2019) — It has been two years since the so-called Steele dossier was published by BuzzFeed News for public consumption. INTEL TODAY would like to know what you think.

Is the Steele dossier a genuine work of intelligence or a piece of disinformation?

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Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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On This Day — Operation Flavius (Death on the Rock) [March 6 1988]

“For the government to claim the right to kill British people, based on highly unreliable secret intelligence and a secret declaration of legality, is so shocking I find it difficult to believe it is happening even as I type the words. Are we so cowed as to accept this?”

Craig Murray — Former UK Embassador

On March 6 1988, three unarmed members of the IRA were shot dead on the territory of Gibraltar by British Special Air Service (SAS) troops. The killings of Sean Savage, Daniel McCann, and Mairéad Farrell sparked two weeks of increasingly macabre happenings in the trio’s native Belfast. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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POLINT — The End of Donald Trump? [Poll — March 2019]

“Only two presidents in US history have been impeached – Andrew Johnson in 1867 and Bill Clinton in 1998, with both motions having subsequently been voted down in subsequent Senate votes. With a current Republican majority in the Senate, few political commentators expect a successful impeachment of Donald Trump at any stage.”

 Malachy Caldwell — Odds Digest (January 21 2019)

“But I will tell you a secret. The DGSE produced a note dated December 2015. The title of the note is: US Presidential Election : Victory of Mr Trump. What are the consequences? ”

Bernard Bajolet — Director General for External Security (DGSE)

“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. ”

Niels Bohr – Physics Nobel Prize 1922

January 23 2019 — With a new Congress in office and the Mueller inquiry closing in, the talks of impeachment are in the air. Donald Trump’s days as POTUS may be numbered. Intel Today would like to know what you think? Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading →

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