Mother, Daughter, Sister, SPY – Women of the CIA

“My first son was my 1993 World Trade Centre bombing baby. I call my second son my “Khobar Towers baby” (born shortly after the 1996 bombing of a military housing complex in Saudi Arabia); my third child, a daughter, is my “African embassy bombing baby” (she arrived a few weeks before the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania); and my fourth, another son, is my “9/11 baby”. My fifth child, a girl, was my “Fallujah baby”.”

 Gina Bennett –Veteran CIA analyst

Jane Burrell was a CIA officer, and her death—only 110 days after CIA was officially established the previous September—makes her the first CIA officer to die while employed by the Agency.

Mother, Daughter, Sister, SPY panel is featuring women in the intelligence world: Jonna Mendez (CIA), Melissa Mahle (CIA), Sandy Grimes (CIA), Rollie Flynn (CIA), Alison Bouwmeester (CIA), Kristin Wood (CIA), Jill Singer, and Kathy Smith. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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Former CIA Operative’s Memoir Sparks Outrage in Pakistan

” ‘The Contractor’ is not the story of one man called Raymond Davis who shot three Pakistanis in Lahore in 2011 and how he, literally, got away with murder. It is actually a story of love and hate between the US and Pakistan. It is the story of a forced marriage between the CIA and ISI, both intelligence agencies, which hasn’t ended in a divorce yet. Truth is, the two partners in the ongoing war against terror hate each other so much, but they can’t say goodbye for a variety of reasons.”

Hamid Mir — Pakistani Journalist

Former CIA operative Raymond Davies

Pakistan intelligence and security officials reacted angrily over the release of a memoir by former CIA contractor Raymond Davis. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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The CIA Psychologists — A Letter from Annie Sparrow

“I think any normal, conscionable man would have to consider carefully doing something like this. I deliberated with great, soulful torment about this, and obviously I concluded that it could be done safely or I wouldn’t have done it.”

Dr John Bruce Jessen

Drs. Jessen and Mitchell

The two psychologists who proposed interrogation techniques — widely viewed as torture — are part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of former C.I.A. detainees. Deposition videos, obtained exclusively by The New York Times, reveal new insights into the enhanced interrogation program and the CIA officials behind it. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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Sir John Chilcot: “Tony Blair ‘not straight’ with UK over Iraq”

“When I briefed Tony Blair, it was quite clear that he felt this was a necessity, that there was a just cause, that we had to do something about this. How he portrayed that politically… I do not think he played it very well.”

Major General Tim Cross

Sir John Chilcot

Sir John Chilcot has concluded that Tony Blair was not “straight with the nation” about his decisions in the run up to the Iraq War. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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INTEL TODAY DIARY — July 7 2017

Tony Blair ‘not straight’ with UK over Iraq, says Chilcot — Russian ‘Humpty Dumpty’ hacker Anikeev jailed for two years — How Similar Are WannaCry And Petya Ransomware? — Former CIA Agent Will Go to Italy to Serve Kidnapping Sentence

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9/11 — Two Unanswered Questions

“What we do know is that government officials decided not to inform a lawfully constituted body, created by Congress and the president, to investigate one of the greatest tragedies to confront this country. We call that obstruction.”

Thomas H. Kean & Lee H. Hamilton — January 2, 2008, Chair & Vice-Chair of The 9-11 Commission

Moments after United Airlines Flight 175, with 56 passengers (including the 5 hijackers) and 9 crew members, struck the South Tower of the World Trade.

Why was the Central Intelligence Report, drafted by FBI Special Agent Douglas J. Miller, which contained information about the “Terror Summit” in Kuala Lumpur (January 2000) suppressed and not sent to the FBI? And why was Mark Rossini told to shut up about it?Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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INTEL TODAY DIARY — July 6 2017

North Korea new missile test: A game-changer? — Investigators explore if Russia colluded with pro-Trump sites during US election — US: Army Issues New Counter-WMD Doctrine — EXCLUSIVE: Documents expose how Hollywood promotes war on behalf of the Pentagon, CIA and NSA

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LOCKERBIE — SCCRC press release on Megrahi application

“The Lockerbie trial is “the most disgraceful miscarriage of justice in Scotland for 100 years. Every lawyer who has read the judgment says ‘this is nonsense’. It is nonsense.”

Robert Black QC FRSE –Professor Emeritus of Scots Law in the University of Edinburgh and best known as the “Architect of the Lockerbie Trial”

Mandela visiting Megrahi — aka the ‘Lockerbie bomber’ — in prison. Many thanks to my friend John Ashston who took the picture.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission confirmed today (Tuesday July 4 2017) that it has received a new application to review the conviction in the case of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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INTEL TODAY DIARY — July 5 2017

Lockerbie bomber’s family launch posthumous appeal against mass murder conviction — Ex-CIA contractor says Pakistan’s leaders helped him escape murder charges — Saudi Arabia has ‘clear link’ to UK extremism, report says — North Korea missile test a ‘new threat to world’, says US amid show of military force

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Joint Letter to Five Eyes Intelligence Agencies Regarding Encryption

“While the challenges of modern day security are real, such proposals threaten the integrity and security of general purpose communications tools relied upon by international commerce, the free press, governments, human rights advocates, and individuals around the world.”

Human Rights Watch — June 30 2017

Last week, 83 civil society organizations and eminent individuals wrote a letter to the Ministers responsible for the Five Eyes Security Community to emphasize the importance of national policies that encourage and facilitate the development and use of strong encryption. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading

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