One Year Ago — Wormwood : The Mysterious Death of Cold War Era Military Scientist Frank Olson

“Frank was viewed as a dissident. You understand that in 1953 if you thought somebody was detrimental to the war against the Russians, you have no problem dealing with them. It wouldn’t be a question of saying you just have to leave the agency (laughs…) tell me about that, think about that somebody who has secrets, I mean are you kidding me.  Frank was, was out there. He was letting them know that he was marching to a different drummer and you couldn’t do it back then. He was a man who was profoundly, profoundly distressed about what he was learning……..and he was dangerous, that I can tell you.”

Seymour Hersh — Pulitzer Prize winner

“While the court must limit its analysis to the four corners of the complaint, the skeptical reader may wish to know that the public record supports many of the allegations [in the family’s suit], farfetched as they may sound.”

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg — Frank Olson Case

“To what extent can a democracy lie to its citizens and still, in the end, remain a democracy?

I believe what separates us from dumb animals is that we pursue, maybe we don’t achieve it, but we pursue certainty. It’s a goal. A dream. To deny that importance of that goal or that dream is unspeakable. Where would we be without it? We’d be out in the jungle having various temper tantrums like the president of the United States.”

Errol Morris — Statement about “Wormwood”

Wormwood is based on a true story and explores the mysterious death of Cold War-era military scientist Frank Olson (played by Sarsgaard) and his son’s tireless efforts to uncover the truth. In 1953, Frank Olson was recruited to be part of a secret biological warfare program cryptically referred to as Project MKUltra. The miniseries is blending long-form documentary interview with a dramatic reconstruction of pivotal scenes.

September 5 2017 — Errol Morris — one of the most acclaimed and influential documentarians of all time — is back with a project unlike anything he has ever done before. Wormwood, told in six parts, deals with CIA mind-control experiments in the 1950s and the infamous death of US Major Frank Olson. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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On This Day — Ludwig Boltzmann Ends His Life (February 20, 1844 – September 5, 1906)

“Bring forward what is true, Write it so that it is clear, Defend it to your last breath!”

“The life contest is primarily a competition for available energy.”

Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann

Boltzmann’s grave in the Zentralfriedhof, Vienna, with bust and entropy formula

Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann (February 20, 1844 – September 5, 1906) was an Austrian physicist and philosopher whose greatest achievement was in the development of statistical mechanics, which explains and predicts how the properties of atoms determine the physical properties of matter. Boltzmann invented the concept of entropy and derived the entropy equation, which was later used by Claude Shannon to build the foundations of information theory. Follow us on Twitter @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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Belgian Diplomat Accused of Helping Russia : “Stirred, not Shaken” — UPDATE : Guilty; 12 Months Sentence

“During one of the phone calls we listened to, he (Oswald Gantois) said himself that he had played too much James Bond but that every diplomat must be a bit of a spy.”

Ann Fransen — Belgian federal prosecutor

‘I never accepted money … I never disclosed state secrets. I am right with myself and that is enough. This case has destroyed my life. In the eyes of the investigators I was guilty right from the start.”

Belgian diplomat Oswald Gantois

Belgian diplomat Oswald Gantois likes to compare himself to James Bond. His resemblance to MI6 OO7 agent is not however immediately apparent.

A senior Belgium diplomat has allegedly helped Russian spies for over 25 years. UPDATE — On June 13 2018, a court found Gantois guilty of espionage. Brussels is a nest of spies with the highest density of foreign spooks anywhere in Europe, and quite possibly in the world. I find it hard to believe that they could not find a bigger fish to fry. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading

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Two Years Ago — NSA Hacked French President’s House

“Keith Alexander (Director of the NSA) told me he was disappointed because he never thought we would detect them and he even added: You guys are good.”

Bernard Barbier — Director of the DGSE Technical Division

NSAFrench

September 4 2016 — The NSA hacked the Élysée Palace in 2012, between the two rounds of the Presidential election. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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On This Day — William E Colby Becomes 10th Director of CIA [September 4 1973]

“We disbanded our intelligence [after both world wars] and then found we needed it. Let’s not go through that again. Redirect it, reduce the amount of money spent, but let’s not destroy it. Because you don’t know 10 years out what you’re going to face.”

William Egan Colby

William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 – April 27, 1996) was an American intelligence officer who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from September 4 1973 to January 30 1976. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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Microwave Weapons — Project PANDORA-BIZARRE – Initial Test Results (December 20 1966)

“The test protocol involved training the monkeys to press certain levers in response to signals. If the monkeys pressed the lever correctly, they would receive a reward of food, ‘much as embassy employees might be rewarded with a dry martini at the end of the day,’ wrote the columnist Jack Anderson. Researchers would then measure whether the monkeys performed worse when subjected to the Moscow Signal, compared with when there was no radiation.”

Sharon Weinberger —  The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency that Changed the World

“There is no question that penetration of the central nervous system has been achieved, either directly or indirectly into that portion of the brain concerned with the changes in the work functions and the effects observed.”

DARPA Deputy Director — Memorandum (December 20 1966)

On September 1 2018, the NYT posted a long article titled:  “Microwave Weapons Are Prime Suspect in Ills of U.S. Embassy Workers“. FLASHBACK. In 1965, after the discovery that the American Embassy in Moscow was irradiated with microwave signals, the White House directed the State Department, the CIA and the DOD to attempt to determine the effects of such signals on human behavior. The following report — dated December 20 1966 — documents the initials results of PROJECT PANDORA-BIZARRE. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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One Year Ago — The KRYPTOS Sculpture — SECTION III : A Transposition Cipher

With trembling hands, I made a tiny breach in the upper left hand corner… widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in… at first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle to flicker. Presently, details of the room emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues and gold – everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment – an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by – I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand in suspense any longer, inquired anxiously “Can you see anything?”, it was all I could do to get out the words “Yes, wonderful things”.

Howard Carter — The Tomb of Tutankhamen

Diary — November 26 1922

September 3 2017 — In a previous post, we looked at the inside story of the NSA people who took the challenge to decrypt — part of — the KRYPTOS code. I will tell you later how the NSA people broke Section III but today I will present you a novel and rather unusual solution.

Why? Because I have great doubts that Sanborn — an artist — has used complex mathematical transformation to code Section III. Who cares? Does it matter anyway?

One would think that as long as the solution is correct, the method used to get it is irrelevant. One could be wrong. The devil IS in the details.

PS: This post will soon be updated to explain carefully several technical points. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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On This Day — Espionage and Sabotage Act of 1954 [September 3 1954]

“At first blush, one would say that we are rather naive in expecting somebody trained in espionage to come forward and register. But … you will find under this language it is possible to prosecute people for failure to register.”

Francis E. Walter (D Pa.)House Judiciary Committee

Formed during World War II, the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS), was organized for special operations and intelligence gathering and analysis. Included in its mission was the implementation of, and training of foreign forces in, propaganda, espionage, subversion, and sabotage. After the war, OSS functions were transferred to the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). This “Simple Sabotage Field Manual” was used by OSS agents in training “citizen-saboteurs” in methods for inciting and executing simple sabotage to thwart industry and other vital functions in Axis-occupied areas.

The Espionage and Sabotage Act entered into law on September 3 1954. The Act broadened the definitions of what constitutes “war material” and “national defense material” contained in previous anti-sabotage legislation, and took into account sabotage potentialities through use of radioactive, biological and chemical agents. It also permitted the death penalty for peacetime espionage. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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OBITUARY — NSA Historian Matthew M. Aid Dies at 60 (1958 – August 20 2018)

‘‘I have no idea how to take a normal vacation. Any spare time I have, I run up to the National Archives to do historical research.’’

Matthew M. Aid

“One of Mr. Aid’s most significant findings, which became publicly known in 2005, was an NSA coverup of erroneous records related to the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which US officials alleged that North Vietnamese torpedo boats twice fired on US Navy ships. The incident led to US military engagement in Vietnam. A report written by an agency historian in 2001 noted that US intelligence officers falsified documents about a disputed attack, but that fact was suppressed.”

WP — August 29 2018

“Mr. Aid had performed ‘a great service’ in exposing the reclassification program. His work helps all of us fight against the culture of secrecy in Washington today. We don’t have enough watchdogs.’’

Timothy Naftali — Former University of Virginia history professor

‘‘Sometimes the services (NSA) didn’t like what he wrote. But they respected him because he was right.’’

Cees Wiebes — Dutch intelligence scholar

Although a trusted friend had told me that Matthew Aid had died from heart failure, I decided not to post the news until MSM had done so. I never had any contacts with him, but I will greatly miss him. And so should anyone who still cares about facts in this post-truth world. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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Two Years Ago — Dutch Intelligence Services Operated with the CIA Behind the Iron Curtain

“The fact that the Dutch Intelligence Services participated with the CIA in these operations is now clear to me. But why? I cannot answer that question yet.”

Cees Wiebes — Senior Research Fellow at the Ad de Jonge Institute for Intelligence and Security Studies.

SAMEN_CIA

SAMEN MET DE CIA — Operaties achter het IJzeren Gordijn (Together with the CIA — Operations behind the Iron Curtain)

September 2 2016 — A new book contradicts the traditional view that only American and British spooks were active behind the Iron Curtain. The book, written by Cees Wiebes and released today, documents that Dutch Intelligence Services operated with the CIA in the former Soviet Union and in various Eastern European countries . Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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