“Espionage is everywhere: twisted tales of deception, secrecy and surveillance are never far from the headlines. So it’s no wonder that these real world spy stories find their way to the big screen.”
The World’s Greatest Spy Movies will reveal the top secrets of espionage through a countdown of the ten most thrilling spy movies of all time. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading
“It is striking to note the similarity of the ‘scientific’ evidence discovered by the FBI’s Tom Thurman in both the Lockerbie and UTA cases. Of the tens of thousands of pieces of debris collected at each disaster site, one lone piece of printed circuit was found and, miracle of miracles, in each case the fragment bore markings that allowed for positive identification: MEBO in the Lockerbie case and TY in the case of UTA Flight 772. Despite the common findings of the DCPJ, the DST and the Prefecture of Police crime laboratory, Juge Bruguière chose to believe Thurman, the expert in fabricating evidence.”
Pierre Péan — African Manipulations
Rescuers stand near the wreckage of the French UTA DC-10 flight 772 in the Tenere desert, on September 22, 1989
It has been called the greatest murder investigation in French history. When a suitcase bomb destroyed French Airlines UTA Flight 772, killing all 170 passengers and crew on board, it triggered a decades long search for accountability… A story that has previously been largely untold. But in his new book, “The Forgotten Flight,” author Stuart Newberger remembers one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in history from his unique vantage point as the attorney who represented the families of the seven Americans killed. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading
“Another item in the memo is a detailed report of a recent meeting of Indira Gandhi’s cabinet about the pros and cons of accepting a cease-fire once a government was installed in Bangladesh. The CIA provided the information based on a source in Gandhi’s cabinet, confirming Seymour Hersh’s finding in The Price of Power that the CIA had a highly-placed mole in the Indian government.”
National Security Archive — 14 September 2016
President Richard M. Nixon meeting with national security adviser Henry A. Kissinger in the Oval Office, n.d. (Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library, Photo collections, Master Print File with Staff Individuals)
As a contribution to the ongoing discussion about the role of the PDBs in the Nixon White House, the National Security Archive today publishes together for the first time the six Kissinger daily briefing memoranda from 1969 through 1973 that have been declassified so far.’ Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading
“We saw a plane fly over Chifubu but did not pay any attention to it the first time. When we saw it a second and third time, we thought that this plane was denied landing permission at the airport. Suddenly, we saw another aircraft approach the bigger aircraft at greater speed and release fire which appeared as a bright light. The plane on the top turned and went in another direction. We sensed the change in sound of the bigger plane. It went down and disappeared.”
Dickson Mbewe — Eyewitness
“It will be necessary to find some way of pulling Hammarskjold up short.”
UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (September 13 1961)
“Hammarskjöld was at the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said ‘when they killed him’.”
US President Harry Truman (September 19 1961)
“I continue to have a strong feeling that Hammarskjold’s death was not an accident.”
Richard Goldstone
The wreckage of Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane near Ndola, now Zambia.
On 18 September 1961, the Ndola United Nations DC-6 crashed, killing Dag Hammarskjöld — the second Secretary-General of the United Nations — and 15 others died. Hammarskjöld’s death occurred en route to cease-fire negotiations. A British-run commission of inquiry blamed the crash in 1961 on pilot error. A later UN investigation rubber-stamped its findings. Case closed? Not so fast… Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today Continue reading
“If you put the [A. Q. Kahn] puzzle together, you get the whole picture.”
Swiss magistrate Andreas Müller
Pakistani nuclear physicist: Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan
A Swiss man whose computers were destroyed a decade ago during an investigation into the illicit sale of nuclear weapons material to Libya has failed to force Switzerland to pay him more than $1 million in property damages. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
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
Kryptos at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia
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.
In this post, I present the solution to Section III of the cypher as explained by the NSA. As I explained before, I do not like this method/explanation for several reasons. I do not think that this technique would appeal to an artist such Sanborn. Moreover, the way the question mark is handled is highly dubious. And finally, there is no explanation for the mysterious “Q” at the end of the message. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading
“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
French newspaper “Le Monde” just published an article confirming that the US/NSA indeed hacked the Élysée Palace in 2012. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading
“[However] we are withdrawing the invitation to her to serve as a visiting fellow – and the perceived honour that it implies to some people – while maintaining the invitation for her to spend a day at the Kennedy School and speak in the school’s forum.”
Douglas Elmendorf — Dean of the Kennedy School
“Harvard’s rescinding of Chelsea Manning’s visiting fellowship — following a backlash from current and former US officials — is a disgrace.”
Former CIA Analyst John Kiriakou
“This entire charming episode shows, regrettably, how spines go on sudden holiday in the academy when political forces knock at the door. Academics tend to be the first to fold when matters of courage are concerned, and often do so in graceless dissimulating prose. The Kennedy School of Government has not just been made safe for the CIA, but for academic hypocrisy.”
Dr. Binoy Kampmark — RMIT University, Melbourne
Harvard University has rescinded an offer to make Chelsea Manning a visiting fellow after Mike Pompeo — the current Director of the CIA — cancelled an appearance at the university. The decision speaks volumes about academic freedom. Shame on you! INTEL TODAY can only hope that every scholar will cancel his next trip to deliver a conference at Harvard until the institution fully realizes the extend of their abject decision. Follow us on Twitter: INTEL_TODAY Continue reading
“For now, I’m confined to the black TV room at the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood, Colorado. When I am free, I don’t want to feel that I’m merely going from one prison to another.”
Former CIA Jeffrey Sterling
Former CIA Jeffrey Sterling
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
“In the preliminary analysis conducted within hours of the event, NORSAR reported an event magnitude of 5.8. This estimate was obtained using analysis procedures developed from investigations of the previous five North Korean test explosions, all of which were around the magnitude range 4 – 5.
However, the 3 September 2017 test was an order of magnitude larger than any of the previous explosions and resulted in seismic signals dominated by radiated energy at lower frequencies. Our analysis procedures have been revised accordingly to include the lowermost part of the signal spectrum. The revised assessment estimates the magnitude to 6.1 and makes this explosion clearly the strongest so far.”
NORSAR
The figure shows to a common scale the signals from the six North Korean nuclear tests and their magnitudes after applying the revised analysis procedures to data from the NORSAR seismic array station in Hedmark, Norway. The trace at the bottom shows the signal from the 3 September 2017 event, whereas the five upper traces display the signals from the five preceding tests, conducted by North Korea in 2006, 2009, 2013, and 2016 (two explosions).
NORSAR and 38NORTH have revised their initial yield estimate for the magnitude of the event on 3 September 2017. This new estimate — mb = 6.1 and a yield of about 250 kilotons TNT — is significantly higher than the yield previously suggested. In comparison, the explosive yield of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 was estimated at approximately 15 kilotons TNT, while the bomb dropped on Nagasaki three days later was estimated at approximately 20 kilotons TNT. However, depending on the burial depth of the explosion, the yield could be significantly higher than currently reported. A yield as high as 500 kt cannot be ruled out. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading
