On This Day — Air India Flight 182 Warning Report Is Discredited (December 6 2007) [UPDATE : Is ChatGPT run by Western Intelligence Agencies?]

“Mr. Bartleman misled the families of the victims and the commission.”

Former CSE officer
Pierre Lecompte
(December 6 2007)

1985-06-10 VT-EFO Air India EGLL.jpg
The aircraft involved, VT-EFO, seen on 10 June 1985, less than two weeks before the tragedy

December 7 2023 — At the time of the tragedy, James Bartleman was in charge of the intelligence analysis and security branch of Foreign Affairs. In May 2007, Bartleman told the inquiry that he has seen a secret report warning that Flight 182 was targeted by terrorists. On December 6 2007, Pierre Lecompte, a former official with the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), testified that such report never existed. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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75 Years Ago — Did Richard Nixon Frame Alger Hiss? [December 6 1948 – The Pumpkin Papers]

“As to whether Nixon would actually have gone as far as to frame Hiss, the later record includes disquieting instances of forgery or planting false information.”

The Arrogance of Power:
The Secret World of Richard Nixon 

Anthony Summers

Richard M. Nixon (L) speaking at the testimony in which Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of securing important U. S. documents which were turned over to a Russian agent. (Photo by James Whitmore/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

December 6 2023 — Ever since Alger Hiss’s perjury prosecution in 1949-1950, it has become a virtual consensus that “the Baltimore documents… were evidence of betrayal of U.S. diplomatic information to a foreign power, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.” But were these papers really so damning? Were they actually genuine? And is the case really closed as the CIA claims?  One thing is certain. The case remains controversial, important and relevant to current issues. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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10 Years Ago — Remembering Nelson Mandela (July 18, 1918 – Dec. 5, 2013) [Mandela and Lockerbie]

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
(July 18, 1918 – Dec. 5, 2013)

December 5 2023 — On August 5 1962, Mandela was posing as a chauffeur when his car was stopped at a roadblock by the police in the eastern city of Durban. Three decades later, on February 11 1990 Mandela walked out of prison and embarked on a decade of historic endeavor. Mandela spent almost 30 years in jail just for being a decent man. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Profumo Affair Christine Keeler Has Died (December 4 2017) [UPDATE : Posthumous justice finally in sight?]

“However I dress it up, I was a spy and I am not proud of it.”

Christine Keeler

Lewis Morley’s 1963 portrait of Christine Keeler became an iconic image of the cold war. This picture is one of the most famous and most imitated photographs ever published.

December 4 2023 — On December 4 2017, Christine Keeler, the model embroiled in the 1963 Profumo affair, died aged 75. The Profumo affair was a very British scandal which uncovered a secret world of sex, horse-play, drinking orgies and spying, in high places, in which Ms Keeler shared her favours with Mr Profumo, and Commander Eugene Ivanov, the Soviet assistant naval attaché in London. The crisis forced John Profumo to quit his job as war secretary and ultimately contributed to the downfall of the Tory government the following year. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Bob Marley Assassination Attempt (December 3 1976) — Was the CIA involved? [Think like Henry Kissinger!]

“The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?”

Bob Marley
Smile Jamaica concert
(Dec. 5 1976)

Bob Marley unite two warring factions JLP and PNP at his 1978 One Love Peace Concert

December 3 2023 —  On December 3, 1976, two days before the Smile Jamaica concert, seven men with guns raided Marley’s house at 56 Hope Road around 8.30 pm. Marley’s wife, Rita, was shot in the head. The gunmen shot Marley in the chest and arm. His manager, Don Taylor, was shot in the legs and torso. Astonishingly, there were no fatalities. Over the years, many have alleged that the CIA was behind the assassination plot. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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30 Years Ago — Pablo Escobar is killed in Medellin (December 2 1993) [UPDATE : Colombia’s cocaine production at record high]

“What we’ve learned is that if you look at history what happened with the Medellin Cartel after we took them down, Cali Cartel got stronger, right? Then we take them down, and North Valle Cartel takes over. We’re taking down cartels, and another cartel is born.”

Javier Pena — Former DEA officer

Fernando Botero’s portrayal of Pablo Escobar’s death

December 2 2023 — Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1 1949 – December 2 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narco-terrorist. His cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over US$21.9 billion a year in personal income. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE PARTITION OF PALESTINE (CIA, November 28 1947)

“Armed hostilities between Jews and Arabs will break out if the UN Genral Assembly accepts the plan to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab States as recommended by the UN Special Committee on Palestine.”

CIA (November 28 1947)

November 28 2023 — This CIA report assesses the situation in Palestine following the UN vote in favor of partition. The report concludes that the U.S. lost prestige in the region by supporting partition. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Remembering Enrico Fermi (September 29 1901 – November 28 1954) — Think like a Physicist! How many workers were necessary to build Khufu’s pyramid? [Fermi Problems]

“For the making of the pyramid itself there passed a period of twenty years. They worked by a hundred thousand men at a time, for each three months continually.”

Herodotus
(484 – c. 425 BC)

Pyramids of Giza, soaring above the city of Cairo, Egypt 

November 28 2023 — A ‘Fermi Question’ asks for a quick estimate of a quantity that seems difficult, or even impossible, to determine precisely. Fermi’s approach to such questions was to use common sense and rough estimates of quantities to piece together a ball-park value. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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70 Years Ago — Did The CIA Murder US Army Scientist Frank Olson? And Why? (November 28 1953) [UPDATE — New documents: Frank Olson’s death was connected to a specific program]

“If this would have been a suicide, it would have been very difficult to accomplish. There was motive to kill him. He knew the deepest, darkest secrets of the cold war. Would the American government kill an American citizen who was a scientist, who was working for the CIA and the army, if they thought he was a security risk? There are people who say: ‘Definitely.’”

Stephen Saracco
Retired New York assistant district attorney (2019)

November 28 2023 — Wormwood is a 2017 American six-part docudrama miniseries directed by Errol Morris and released on Netflix on December 15, 2017. The series follows a scientist who participates in a secret government biological warfare program. In the final chapter, legendary American journalist Seymour Hersh states that he believes the CIA murdered Frank Olson.

Although he has a source that backs up this story, Hersh refuses to speak out because the story would expose how his source acquired the necessary information. Hersh claims he knows what Frank did that got him killed.  But he does not reveal it.

In this post, I suggest the most likely explanation. I agree with Eric Olson and Hersh Seymour. The death of Frank Olson was neither an accident — induced or not by LSD — nor a suicide. But Frank Olson was not merely murdered. I suggest that Olson was “legally assassinated” to prevent him from revealing an ugly truth. Prior to her death in 1994, Alice Olson told her children:“Korea really bothered your father.” As always, your feedback is welcome! Follow us on Twitter:  @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Remembering Avianca Flight 203 (November 27 1989) [Politicization of Intelligence]

“No one acts alone without orders in the FBI. We had clear goals which were clearly given to us in every document we received from anyone. If a police organization wished for us to provide them ‘proof’ of guilt, then they told us in many ways of their absolute belief that the perpetrators were those individuals they had already arrested. If the president of the United States tells the country in the national news that Dandeny Munoz Mosquera is one of the most feared assassins in the history of the world, then every agent knows that he must provide information to support that statement. If leaders decide without concern for foundation of truth then most people will follow them.”

Fred Whitehurst
Former FBI Chemist
(Email to Intel Today)

Avianca 203

November 27 2023 — Avianca Airlines Flight 203 was a Colombian domestic passenger flight from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali. Avianca Flight 203 crashed over the municipality of Soacha on November 27, 1989. Allegedly, the plane was destroyed by a bomb. This explanation is however much disputed by experts today. Colombian journalists Pablo Correa, Sergio Silva and retired US Newton Center attorney Thomas Hoffman share the 2017 Simon Bolivar Prize (Category: Investigative journalism) for their outstanding work on the true story of AVIANCA Flight 203. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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