One Year Ago — Blast From The Past: The NSA & the CRYPTO AG Sting

Posted on September 26, 2017 by L

“Further evidence suggesting that the Crypto AG machines were compromised was revealed after the assassination of former Iranian Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar in 1991.”

Crypto

On 7 August 1991, one day before Bakhtiar’s body was discovered, the Iranian Intelligence Service transmitted a coded message to Iranian embassies, inquiring “Is Bakhtiar dead?” Western governments were able to decipher — in real-time — this transmission, causing Iranian suspicion to fall upon their Crypto AG equipment. They were not wrong. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

Posted in CIA, Crypto AG, Dag Hammarskjöld, NSA, UN, WIKIPEDIA | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NORTH KOREA — Small Artificial Earthquake Detected? [UPDATE]

Posted on September 25, 2017 by L

“It is clear that the quake wasn’t caused by an artificial explosion.”

 South Korea Meteorological Administration (Anonymous)

“This event occurred in the area of the previous North Korean Nuclear tests. We cannot conclusively confirm at this time the nature (natural or human-made) of the event. The depth is poorly constrained and has been held to 5 km by the seismologist. The Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) is the sole organization in the U.S. federal government whose mission is to detect and report technical data from foreign nuclear explosions.”

USGS — September 23 2017

CTBTO Analysts are looking at an unusual seismic activity of “small magnitude” in North Korea timed at 23-SEP-2017 08:30 UTC. An artificial explosion seems unlikely. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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One Year Ago — CIA : A Few Good Women

Posted on September 25, 2017 by L

IN HONOR OF THOSE MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY

CIA Memorial wall

cia_s

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. There are 125 stars carved into the white Alabama marble wall. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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The Kryptos Sculpture: “The Code the CIA / NSA Can’t Crack”

Posted on September 24, 2017 by L

“The first code breaker, a CIA employee named David Stein, spent 400 hours working by hand on his own time. Stein, who described the emergence of the first passage as a religious experience, revealed his partial solution to a packed auditorium at Langley in February 1998. But not a word was leaked to the press. Sixteen months later, Jim Gillogly, an LA-area cryptanalyst used a Pentium II computer and some custom software to crack the same three sections. When news of Gillogly’s success broke, the CIA publicized Stein’s earlier crack.”

ANONYMOUS  — September 18 2017

KRYPTOS is a sculpture by the American artist Jim Sanborn located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia. Since its dedication on November 3, 1990, there has been much speculation about the meaning of the four encrypted messages it bears. Of the four messages, the first three have been solved, while the fourth message remains as one of the most famous unsolved codes in the world. The sculpture continues to be of interest to cryptanalysts, both amateur and professional, who are attempting to decipher the fourth passage. The artist has so far given two clues to this passage.

ANONYMOUS just published a fun piece about the KRYPTOS sculpture. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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One Year Ago –Former CIA John Kiriakou Explains The Jeffrey Sterling Case (VIDEO)

Posted on September 24, 2017 by L

“Just like the CIA primary mission is to protect the Agency, the New York Time primary mission is to protect the Time. And so when this hit the fan — so to speak — Jeffrey was on his own.”

Former CIA John Kiriakou

kiriakou

Former CIA John Kiriakou

Jeffrey Alexander Sterling is an American lawyer and former CIA employee who was arrested, charged, and convicted of violating the Espionage Act for revealing details about Operation Merlin to journalist James Risen. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

Posted in CIA, James Risen, Jeffrey Sterling, NYT, Operation 'MERLIN' | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

NORTH KOREA — Small Artificial Earthquake Detected?

Posted on September 23, 2017 by L

“It is clear that the quake wasn’t caused by an artificial explosion.”

 South Korea Meteorological Administration (Anonymous)

CTBTO Analysts are looking at an unusual seismic activity of “small magnitude” in North Korea timed at 23-SEP-2017 08:30 UTC. An artificial explosion seems unlikely. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Oussama Atar — Belgian Policeman Arrested for Complicity in Brussels Attacks

Posted on September 22, 2017 by L

“Over the past year, according to police documents, the police have been piecing together Mr. [Yassine] Atar’s role in the network. He is a cousin of the brothers Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui, who on March 22, 2016, carried out the Brussels attacks by setting off suicide bombs at an airport and in a subway station. (…) The Belgian authorities suspect that a brother of Mr. Atar, Oussama Atar, was a leader of the Brussels network. Oussama Atar remains at large.”

MILAN SCHREUER — NYT (June 2 2017)

Yassine Atar, brother of Oussama Atar, one of the main suspects in the March 22 2016 terror attacks in Brussels

A Belgian policeman from Brussels was arrested on Monday (September 18 2017) for violating professional secrecy and passive corruption. The policeman had been in contact with Yassine Atar, brother of Oussama Atar, one of the main suspects in the March 22 2016  terror attacks in Brussels. The readers of INTEL TODAY will not be surprised a bit… Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Who Is Who in World Intelligence and Security Agencies : MI6 Alex Younger [2017]

Posted on September 21, 2017 by L

“Alex Younger has played a vital part alongside me in modernising SIS and ensuring that the Service is in the best possible shape to play our part in defending the country’s security and our values.”

Sir John Sawers

intelalpha

 

Alexander William Younger CMG (born 4 July 1963) is a career British intelligence officer for the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) who, from November 2014 has served as the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, succeeding Sir John Sawers on his retirement. Follow us on Twittter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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Jake LaMotta — “Raging Bull” and the Fight that Never Came…

Posted on September 20, 2017 by L

“I just want people to know, he was a great, sweet, sensitive, strong, compelling man with a great sense of humour, with eyes that danced.”

Mrs LaMotta

Jake LaMotta, the uncompromising fighter portrayed by Robert De Niro in “Raging Bull”, has died aged 95. Born 10 July, 1922 to Italian parents in the Bronx area of New York City, he took up boxing after being rejected by the US military due to a medical condition.

LaMotta won the World Middleweight title on June 16, 1949 in Detroit, Michigan, defeating Frenchman Marcel Cerdan.

A rematch was arranged, but while Cerdan was flying back to the United States to fight the rematch, his Air France Lockheed Constellation crashed in the Azores, killing everyone on board.

As “soft power goes,” Piaf and Cerdan were really the number one couple on the planet. It would take about 5 years to replace them with the wedding of Marylin Monroe and Joe DiMaggio.

I will not go into the details of why I post this news on this INTEL blog. The time will come.  For now, I will just tell you that Hubble — Yes, this Edwin Hubble — claimed he used to spare (/train) with Marcel Cerdan. The late John Bahcall told me to ignore this story as utter nonsense… — Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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New York Times vs. CIA: “An Old Debate Wrapped in New Clothes” [UPDATE]

Posted on September 20, 2017 by L

“Because it’s a military operation, I don’t think we can completely treat the people who run it purely as intelligence operatives. It moves into a different realm in the discussion as far as I’m concerned. It’s not like you’re exposing a wide undercover operation in Afghanistan. You’re writing about something that is generally done by the military, which I think means that the cloak of secrecy that usually we all allow for the CIA is a little more complicated.”

Dean Baquet — Executive Editor of the New York Times

“As the nation’s dominant news organization, The Times deserves, and gets, intensive scrutiny for how it has handled that story. The grades, clearly, are mixed. Its role in the run-up to the Iraq War has been rightly and harshly criticized. (…) But it’s certainly a healthy sign that The Times’s top editor and some of its key reporters are not only grappling with these issues, but are willing to do so publicly. In an era in which “trust us” — on the part of both the government and the media — hasn’t worked out too well, this discussion couldn’t be more important for American democracy and for We the People.”

Margaret Sullivan — Former Public Editor of The New York Times

“The Obama administration accidentally revealed the name of the CIA’s top official in Afghanistan [Greg Vogle] in an email to thousands of journalists during the president’s surprise weekend trip to Bagram Air Field.”

WASHINGTON (AP)

Amy Fiscus — the NYT national security editor —  has just explained why The Times published the name of a C.I.A. official last month. The story is obviously reigniting an old debate. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →

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