“Spying on people and institutions with special ties to the state of Israel on German soil is an egregious violation of German law.”
German Foreign Ministry official
On January 16 2018, German police cracked down on an alleged Iranian espionage campaign. They searched the homes and businesses of 10 alleged Iranian spies, but made no arrests. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading
“The head of the C.I.A. has described WikiLeaks as a hostile non-state intelligence agency. In these circumstances, we remain concerned about the risk of extradition to the U.S.”
Jennifer Robinson — Assange’s lawyer in the UK
Today (February 6 2018), Judge Emma Arbuthnot has ruled that the UK arrest warrant against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is still valid. The final ruling in this case will be announced on February 13 2018. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading
“Frode must come home, and Norwegian authorities must do what they can to get him out. It is not a good signal when such a positive and distinguished bridge-builder like Frode is arrested, it is not a good sign.”
Kirkenes town Mayor Rune Rafaelsen
“Once again we see the effects of big politics hitting us here locally, and we demand an end to that!”
Father Torbjørn Brox Webber
“I would not characterise the case as a global attack on bilateral relations. We have a relationship with Norway which develops in different areas. These kind of things happen, and it is uncomfortable, [but] our national legislation provides for adequate measures.”
Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (December 28 2017)
Frode Berg — a 62 retired border inspector — was arrested by Russian security service agents in downtown Moscow on December 5th 2017. He is jailed in isolation at the high-security Lefortovo prison.
On February 2, the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow ordered that Frode Berg should remain in jail until May 5 2018.
Berg was allegedly caught receiving classified material about the Russian Navy that he is accused of planning to hand over to Norwegian and U.S. intelligence agencies. He denies the charges. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading
“The UN working group on arbitrary detention has concluded that Mr Assange is arbitrarily detained. The working group’s view differs from that of the Swedish authorities. We will forward a reply to the working group tomorrow. It will be more clear tomorrow why we reject the working group’s conclusions.”
Anna Ekberg — Spokesperson for the Swedish Foreign Ministry
“The process has been going on for 18 months, the UK government has made submissions to the working group so it has accepted its authority. What signal does it send that the UK and Sweden would ignore this UN body? It would completely destroy its authority. Are they willing to set that precedent? Egypt has not accepted its findings with regard to the detention of its former president [Mohammed Morsi] – is that the standard the UK wants to hold?”
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson
On Friday February 5 2016, a UN panel published its findings which concluded that Julian Assange was “arbitrarily detained” by the UK and Sweden for more than five years. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading
“This time, the sentence is definitive. The death penalty was declared feasible, which means it can be carried out at any point.”
Zouhaier Chichaoui — Professor Djalali’s lawyer (February 4 2018)
“The indisputable fact is that Dr. [Masoud] Ali-Mohammadi was martyred on January 12, 2010, at least three months before European agents approached me in the spring of 2010.
This was even mentioned in the TV program based on my montaged statements, which prove that the accusations against me are contradictory lies.
How could I be accused of giving information about someone who was martyred four months earlier?”
Professor Djalali — Letter from Evin Prison to Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani (Mid January 2018)
A final attempt to persuade the Iranian judiciary to review the death sentence handed to Ahmadreza Djalali for allegedly spying on behalf of Israel has failed. His death sentence is now definitive. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading
“I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals.”
John O. Brennan — Former Director of the C.I.A. (May 23 2017)
Former CIA Director John Brennan
On Sunday (February 4 2018), Former Director of the CIA John Brennan told Chuck Todd (Exclusive interview on Meet the Press) that the Steele dossier did not play a role in the intelligence assessment presented to President Obama. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
“We’d never expected that the Russians would do this, attacking our vital infrastructure and undermining our democracy.”
Chris Painter — Former cyber official at the U.S. State Department
AIVD Headquarters — Zoetermeer
A Dutch Intelligence Agency directly witnessed the Russian involvement in the hacking of the Democratic Party, according to six (anonymous) American and Dutch sources. The story certainly sounds too good to be true but a Dutch expert told Intel Today that the narrative is entirely credible. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading
“Many believe one of the reasons the Italian judges went after the CIA RDI and [former CIA Officer] Sabrina De Sousa in the Abu Omar case was the USMC and USG accountability failures and arrogance.”
Mark Fallon — International Security Consultant & Author (February 4 2018)
On February 3 1998, a U.S. Marine Corps jet on a low-level training flight sliced through steel wires supporting a cable car near the ski resort of Cavalese in the Italian Alps, sending a gondola plunging to the ground. All 20 people inside the gondola were killed. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading
“The memo is going to do our institutions serious damage. I really worry about it.”
Former CIA officer Baer
“I had many fights with Congressional Dems over the years on national security matters. But I never witnessed the type of reckless partisan behavior I am now seeing from (Devin) Nunes and House Republicans.”
Former CIA Director John Brennan
Former CIA Robert Baer
On Friday (February 2 2018), former CIA officer Robert Baer slammed the release of the “piece of trash” memo — drafted by staffers for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) — arguing if he “were an FBI agent in the field right now” he would “think twice” about reporting information on Russia and Donald Trump. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading
“The old easy-going confidence [of the Foreign Office] will be destroyed and henceforth everybody will begin to distrust everybody else. I do hate that. It is the loss of one more element of civilization.”
UK Diplomat Harold Nicolson (1951)
Enemies Within is a new history of the influence of Moscow on Britain told through the stories of those who chose to spy for the Soviet Union. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading
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