007 Years Ago — Suspicious Aviation Tragedies [Don’t Forget the Past. Learn from It!]

Posted on October 31, 2023 by L

“Governments lie. They do it all the time. And, much as we’d like to believe otherwise, the US government is no exception.”

Ted Koppel
“The USS Vincennes:
Public War, Secret War.”
ABC News
July 1, 1992

October 31 2023 — Time really flies when you are having fun… On this day seven years ago, I announced that I would start a rather long series regarding Suspicious Aviation Tragedies. I will take this opportunity to look back and reflect on what we have learned during these years. I will also speculate on what we may hope to find out in the near future. Finally, I will provide a few words of advice regarding the matters that still need additional work. Remember: Truth never dies. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Hemingway Wins Nobel Prize (October 28 1954) — Hemingway was pushed to suicide by the FBI. Is Elon Musk next?

Posted on October 28, 2023 by L

“Hemingway may have said ‘yes’ to the Soviet recruitment pitch, but unless there is some additional trove of material in the NKVD archives that argues otherwise, it is clear Hemingway was never a productive Soviet agent.”

Intelligence
in Literature and Media
CIA website

American writer Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) working at a portable table while on a big game hunt in Kenya, September 1952. (Photo by Earl Theisen/Getty Images)

October 28 2023 — On October 28 1954, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Ernest Miller Hemingway “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.” Hemingway was aware of his long surveillance by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, who were suspicious of his links with Cuba, and it has been argued that this surveillance may have pushed him to the brink. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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20 Years Ago — The CIA Book of Honor — Stars 82 & 83 : Christopher Glenn Mueller and William “Chief” Carlson [KIA October 25 2003]

Posted on October 27, 2023 by L

“The bravery of these two men cannot be overstated. Chris and Chief put the lives of others ahead of their own. That is heroism defined.”

George J. Tenet
Director of Central Intelligence
(May 2004)

October 27 2023 — Mueller and Carlson were paramilitary contractors from Special Activities Division, killed in an ambush in Afghanistan on October 25, 2003. On May 21, 2004, these officers’ stars were dedicated at the CIA memorial ceremony. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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35 Years Ago — Operation Autumn Leaves (Germany — October 26 1988) [The legend of the 5th device]

Posted on October 26, 2023 by L

“What became of the fifth device is not known.”

Wikipedia

“I was aware that during the ‘Autumn Leaves’ operation, the Police in Germany had recovered four fully constructed improvised explosive devices and a partially constructed improvised explosive device.”

Inspector John McGowan

October 26 2023 — On this date in 1988, the German police arrested seventeen men at Neuss in operation “Autumn Leaves” (Herbstlaub). The bomb-maker of this terrorist cell had prepared several IEDs, including one hidden inside a Toshiba radio-cassette, which — according to various authors — has never been recovered.

Some journalists — such as the late Private Eye’s Paul Foot — and several PA 103 relatives — including Dr Jim Swire — believe that it is too stark a coincidence for a Toshiba cassette radio IED to have downed Pan Am 103 just eight weeks after the arrest of the PFLP-GC cell in Frankfurt.

Here is a timeline of this operation which I compiled long ago to mark the 20th anniversary of the Lockerbie tragedy. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Do you believe in Free Will? [Poll]

Posted on October 24, 2023 by L

“The world is really screwed up and made much, much more unfair by the fact that we reward people and punish people for things they have no control over. We’ve got no free will. Stop attributing stuff to us that isn’t there.”

Robert Sapolsky
Stanford University neurobiologist

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40 Years Ago — The Beirut Barracks Bombings (October 23, 1983) [Hezbollah or Islamic Jihad?]

Posted on October 23, 2023 by L

“Though he never said so explicitly, President Ronald Reagan ended America’s military commitment to a strategic mistake that was peripheral to America’s interests. Three-and-a-half months after the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. military personnel — and after repeatedly pledging not to do so — Reagan ordered the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Lebanon.”

Foreign Policy

October 23 2023 — The Beirut barracks bombings were terrorist attacks that occurred on October 23, 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces — members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF) — killing 241 U.S. and 58 French servicemen, six civilians, and the two suicide bombers. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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CIA Honors its Fallen in Annual Memorial Ceremony — May 22 2017 [UPDATE]

Posted on October 22, 2023 by L

“There are now 125 stars on our Memorial Wall, each representing a life that is dear to us, and will be for all time. We remain forever devoted to them, as they were to us. And we will strive to make them proud of us, as we are of them.”

CIA Director
Mike Pompeo
May 22 2017

The CIA Memorial wall with 117 Stars

May 26 2017 — This year marks the 30th annual memorial ceremony. The ceremony began in 1987 and is attended each year by hundreds of employees, retirees, and family members of those who died in service with the CIA.  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Pablo Neruda Awarded Literature Nobel Prize (October 21 1971) — Was Neruda a KGB Agent? [UPDATE : Forensic probe confirms Neruda was poisoned]

Posted on October 21, 2023 by L

“And you’ll ask: why doesn’t his poetry
speak of dreams and leaves
and the great volcanoes of his native land?
Come and see the blood in the streets.”

I explain a few things
Pablo Neruda

October 21 2023 — Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician. On October 21 2018, The Spy Museum tweeted: “Today in – The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to former KGB agent and Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, 1971.” Really? Where is the evidence that Neruda was a KGB agent? Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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The CIA Book of Honor — Star 121 : Mark S. Rausenberger (November 7, 1967 – May 23, 2016) [UPDATE : CIA Team Alpha’s iconic photo]

Posted on October 19, 2023 by L

“There are now 125 stars on our Memorial Wall, each representing a life that is dear to us, and will be for all time. We remain forever devoted to them, as they were to us. And we will strive to make them proud of us, as we are of them.”

CIA Director Mike Pompeo
May 22 2017

February 25 2020 — On May 22 2017, the Central Intelligence Agency held its 30th annual memorial ceremony. The ceremony began in 1987 and is attended each year by hundreds of employees, retirees, and family members of those who died in service with the CIA. Eight stars were added to the Memorial Wall in 2017, bringing — at the time — to total number to 125.  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Richard Sorge “The spy who changed the world” is arrested in Tokyo (October 18, 1941) [UPDATE : A Fresh Look at a Legendary Spy (New Japanese Translation of Richard Sorge’s Reports from Tokyo)]

Posted on October 18, 2023 by L

“Richard Sorge’s brilliant espionage work saved Stalin and the Soviet Union from defeat in the fall of 1941, probably prevented a Nazi victory in World War II and thereby assured the dimensions of the world we live in today.”

American writer Larry Collins

October 18 2023 — On October 18 1941, Richard Sorge was arrested in Tokyo. He was hanged on November 7 1944, at 10:20 Tokyo time in Sugamo Prison. A number of famous personalities — from General Douglas MacArthur to James Bond’s father and former MI6 Ian Fleming — considered him one of the most accomplished spies. Chief Prosecutor Mitsusada Yoshikawa — the Japanese who led the prosecution and obtained Sorge’s death sentence — wrote that he never met a greater man. Richard Sorge is proof that one spy can alter the History of our world. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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