On This Day — The Great Gardner Museum Heist (March 18 1990)

Posted on March 18, 2022 by L

“I have spoken to former IRA members who say it was common knowledge these paintings were probably in hands of the organization.”

Arthur Brand — Dutch investigator and art adviser based in Amsterdam

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt (1633)

March 18 2022 — On March 18 1990, two men posing as police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and stole 13 pieces, including three Rembrandts, among them his only seascape “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee”, Vermeer’s “The Concert”, and works by Flinck, Manet, and Degas. Despite a $10 million reward and promises of immunity, none of the pieces has been recovered. Thirty years later, nobody has ever been charged with the crime. In 1990, the FBI estimated the value of the haul at $200 million. This estimate was raised to $500 million by 2000. Today, these pieces could be worth US $1 billion. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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Spy Quotes — Leon Theremin & “The Thing” [UPDATE : FBI Report released after 70 years!]

Posted on March 17, 2022 by L

“Theremin did some of his best scientific work while imprisoned by one of the most repressive regimes of the 20th century. This brilliant scientist crossed path with the CIA more than once — to our detriment.”

Benjamin R. Fisher — CIA History staff

 

Clara Rockmore & Leon Theremin. Rockmore was a classical violin prodigy and a virtuoso performer of the “Theremin”, the grandfather of all electronic musical instruments.

October 23 2020 — Once upon a time, the Russians relied for many years on a technology unknown to the Americans to spy on the US ambassador in Moscow.

The device — known as “The thing” — was the brainchild of an extraordinary genius: Leon Theremin. I have long suspected that “Microwave Spying” was still a tool on the shelf of the modern spies.

In the aftermath of Snowden’s revelations, Der Spiegel published a catalogue of surveillance technologies used by the NSA and CIA to eavesdrop on foreign spies and diplomats.

And indeed, these documents show that the U.S. Intelligence is using products — with names like LOUDAUTO and ANGRYNEIGHBOR — against foreign embassies. Those devices are generally considered as direct successors of Leon Theremin’s brilliant invention. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — CIA William Francis Buckley is Kidnapped in Beirut (March 16 1984)

Posted on March 16, 2022 by L

“Less than a month after Buckley’s kidnapping, then-US president Ronald Reagan signed an order that put in motion what would become known as the Iran Contra Affair. Justified as a program to barter the release of American hostages held by Iranian-linked Hezbollah, the program saw the United States sell Iran missiles through Israel in exchange for the release of kidnapped Americans in Lebanon. By the time the first such sale was made in August 1985, however, Buckley was already dead.”

MICHAEL OMER-MAN — Jerusalem Post (March 11 2012)

 

March 16 2022 — In the early morning of March 16, 1984, William Francis Buckley, political officer/station chief for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was kidnapped outside his residence. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — The Dugway Sheep Incident (March 13 1968) [Porton Down 1953, Skull Valley 1968, Salisbury 2018, Wuhan 2019]

Posted on March 13, 2022 by L

“There had been three open-air nerve agent events on March 13 (1968), one of which was a test involving an F-4 fighter airplane operating two TMU-28B spray tanks, each holding 160 gallons of VX — a persistent nerve agent.”

Al Mauroni  — Who Killed the Dugway Sheep? Why It Matters Fifty Years Later (Modern War Institute – March 13 2018)

March 13 2019 — The Dugway sheep incident, also known as the Skull Valley sheep kill, was a 1968 sheep kill that has been connected to United States Army chemical and biological warfare programs at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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CIA : “Our failures are known. Our successes are not.” Really?

Posted on March 12, 2022 by L

“There have been only two kinds of CIA secret operations: the ones that are widely known to have failed — usually because of almost unbelievably crude errors — and the ones that are not yet widely known to have failed.”
Edward Luttwak

March 12 2022 — Cultural linguistics is a field of linguistics that studies the relationship between language and culture and how different ethnic groups perceive the world. For instance, it is hardly surprisingly that Eskimos have many words for snow and Japanese people have plenty of Kanji for seaweed. But the CIA has a near-infinite vocabulary for gradations of failure. And this is not funny. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY 

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Two Years Ago — Lockerbie : SCCRC Refers Case Back to Court [March 11 2020]

Posted on March 11, 2022 by L

“Oliver Cromwell died in 1658. His body was exhumed in 1661 to be hanged in chains. Later, he was decapitated and his head was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685. There is a pole waiting for Megrahi’s head.”

INTEL TODAY (March 2020)

March 11 2022 — On March 11 2020, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission [SCCRC] decided to refer the Lockerbie case back to the High Court of Justiciary for determination.  As a result of the Commission’s decision, Mr Megrahi’s family was entitled to instruct an appeal against his conviction  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Two Years Ago — Crypto AG & The Ghost of Danny Casolaro

Posted on March 10, 2022 by L

“An NSA employee allegedly told a journalist about his involvement in manipulating the Crypto AG devices. This NSA man and the journalist died the same year from non-natural cause.”

Minerva Files (Released Feb. 2020)

March 10 2020 — The Minerva Files mention at least  five suspicious deaths: Boris Hagelin Jr., CIA/NSA employee Gary C. Durrell, and a German employee of Crypto AG, Werner Graf. But the files do not name an NSA whistleblower and a journalist. Who are they? And why is their identity kept secret to this day?   Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Former FBI Robert A. Levinson Vanishes in Iran (March 9 2007) [FBI Washington Field Office Statement on the 15th Anniversary of the Abduction of Robert A. Levinson]

Posted on March 9, 2022 by L

“We share our deepest sympathy with his family which has suffered from his absence for over a decade. We will not rest until the Levinson family is whole again. Iran committed to cooperating with the United States to assist us in bringing Robert Levinson home and we call on Iran to fulfill this commitment.”

Heather Nauert  — State Department Press Secretary (March 9 2018)

March 9 2022 — Today marks the fifteen-year anniversary of Robert Levinson’s disappearance from Kish Island, Iran. The FBI has offered a $5 million reward for any information that could lead to his safe return. On November 4 2019, the Trump administration announced a major increase in reward money ($20 million) for information on the whereabouts of  Robert Levinson. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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2022 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community [Havana Syndrome]

Posted on March 9, 2022 by L

“This report reflects the collective insights of the Intelligence Community (IC), which is committed every day to providing the nuanced, independent, and unvarnished intelligence that policymakers, warfighters, and domestic law enforcement personnel need to protect American lives and America’s interests anywhere in the world.”

2022 Annual Threat Assessment

ODNI (March 8 2022)

March 9 2022 — Yesterday, the ODNI released the 2022 U.S. Intelligence Community’s unclassified Annual Threat Assessment. The report contains one section about the Havana Syndrome, which repeats and confirms recent findings. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Remembering CIA Jacqueline K. Van Landingham (1962 – March 8 1995) [Why was Gary Durrell not honored with a Star?]

Posted on March 8, 2022 by L

“An attack in Karachi, Pakistan, during which another NSA employee Gary C. Durrell was shot in March 1995  is believed to be related to Crypto AG.”

MINERVA — A History

[Released Feb. 11 2020]

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. Today, there are 137 stars carved into the white Alabama marble wall. At least eleven represent women.

March 8 2022 — Jacqueline K. Van Landingham joined the CIA in July 1985 as a clerk-typist, working in the Directorate of Operations (now the National Clandestine Service), Near East (NE) Division, Logistics Branch. She was gunned down on March 8, 1995 in Karachi, Pakistan. On May 22, 2012, her name was added to the Book of Honour.

According to Time Magazine of March 20, 1995, CIA employee Gary Durrell was the primary target of the attack.Time Magazine reporters believe that Van Landingham only died because she was sitting beside Durrell and came in the line of fire. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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