BELGIUM : €10bn Missing From Gaddafi Frozen Accounts [UPDATE : Did Gaddafi’s money save the Belgian State?]

Posted on February 9, 2022 by L

“Nobody is preoccupied with the question of where the funds have gone and who benefitted from them. What is surprising is that nobody wanted to see what was going on and everyone is shutting their eyes at a political level … This is an extremely serious problem as it could uncover a real state scandal.”

Robert Wtterwulghe — Law professor at UC Louvain University

February 20 2018 — Brussels, Belgium — After Gaddafi’s death in 2011, the U.N. passed a resolution to freeze his wealth, with the idea that it would be held in trust for the Libyan people until the war-shattered country stabilizes. Four separate accounts opened for the Libyan Investment Authority and Libyan Foreign Investment Company in the Euroclear bank held about 16 billion euros when they became ‘frozen’ under UN sanctions in September 2011. Today, there remains about 5 billion euros on these accounts. So the question is rather simple: Where did the €11 billion vanish to? Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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Random Thoughts — Reading Behind the Black Bars [ODNI Redacted Summary on Havana Syndrome]

Posted on February 8, 2022 by L

“When the government touts the release of such heavily redacted documents as an act of transparency, leaving us to guess what we might be missing, the question inevitably comes up: Are there ways we can peer behind the black bars? According to a number of researchers, there often are.”

The Declassification Engine: Reading Between the Black Bars

The New Yorker (October 16, 2013)

The painting “Random Thoughts” by Sandy Welch

February 8 2022 — The Executive Summary was DECLASSIFIED by DNI Haines on February 1st 2022. As expected, the document is redacted. Can you guess a couple of words? Intel Today believes it can be done… Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — IRA Launches Mortar shells at 10 Downing Street (February 7 1991)

Posted on February 7, 2022 by L

“It was a remarkably good aim if you consider that the bomb was fired 250 yards [across Whitehall] with no direct line of sight. Technically, it was quite brilliant and I’m sure that many army crews, if given a similar task, would be very pleased to drop a bomb that close. You’ve got to park the launch vehicle in an area which is guarded by armed men and you’ve got less than a minute to do it. I was very, very surprised at how good it was. If the angle of fire had been moved about five or ten degrees, then those bombs would actually have impacted on Number Ten.”

Peter Gurney — Head of the Explosives Section of the Anti-Terrorist Branch

February 7 2022 — The Downing Street mortar attack was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on February 7 1991. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Two Years Ago — KRYPTOS Sculpture — Jim Sanborn : “This is the third and to be sure final clue.” [UPDATE : And then came a 4th clue!]

Posted on February 6, 2022 by L

“I really do want Kryptos to remain secret – the plain text, the final section of Kryptos, I would prefer for it to remain secret indefinitely. (…) I would think that every artist would aspire to making an artwork that is not transient. It’s a permanent visual, auditory, conceptual statement. And I did Kryptos with all those things in mind. And one – as an artist, one would prefer to have that piece continue giving rather than have it understood right off the bat and then more or less ignored. And so this has lived way beyond all of my expectations, you know, at 30 years in retaining a secret that it has, and that’s the magic.”

Jim Sanborn (January 30 2020)

February 6 2020 — NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly spoke with Jim Sanborn, creator of a cryptographic puzzle sculpture called “Kryptos” located at CIA headquarters, about his decision to release a third and final clue. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Three Years Ago — CIA Molly Hale Goes Digital (February 4 2019) [The story of the 11th Female Star]

Posted on February 5, 2022 by L

“Dear Molly, Could you tell us how many stars on the Memorial Wall are known to represent women? Regards, Intel Today”

Intel Today — Question to Molly Hale (February 4 2019)

February 4 2022 — On February 4 2019, CIA Molly Hale went digital. I could not resist firing the very first question on Twitter! How many CIA women are honoured by a star on the CIA wall? A few weeks later, we got the answer to that question… And much more! Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Madeleine Albright Discovers Her Jewish Roots (February 4 1997) [UPDATE — FBI investigated President Clinton for Marc Rich’s pardon]

Posted on February 4, 2022 by L

“So many Americans and other nationals died in that terrible, terrible [Lockerbie] accident.”

U. S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (Aug. 2009)

Many journalists have credited Madeleine Albright for her “Read My Pins” diplomacy.

February 4 2022 — On February 4 1997,  U. S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she had received information that two grandparents may have been Jewish and may have perished in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Seriously? Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — The Cavalese Cable Car Disaster (February 3 1998)

Posted on February 3, 2022 by L

“Many believe one of the reasons the Italian judges went after the CIA RDI [Rendition, Detention, Interrogation]  and [former CIA Officer] Sabrina De Sousa in the Abu Omar case was the USMC and USG accountability failures and arrogance.”

Mark Fallon — International Security Consultant & Author (February 4 2018)

The “Strage del Cermis” (Italian for “Massacre of Cermis”), named for the mountain ridge where the bodies were recovered, claimed the lives of eight Germans, five Belgians, three Italians, two Poles, one Dutch citizen, and one Austrian.

February 3 2022 — On February 3 1998, a U.S. Marine Corps jet on a low-level training flight sliced through steel wires supporting a cable car near the ski resort of Cavalese in the Italian Alps, sending a gondola plunging to the ground. All 20 people inside the gondola were killed. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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Havana Syndrome — CIA Report : “No Worldwide Campaign by Foreign Adversary” [UPDATE — Intelligence Community Experts Panel : “Incidents plausibly caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy”]

Posted on February 3, 2022 by L

“We assess it is unlikely that a foreign actor, including Russia, is conducting a sustained, worldwide campaign harming U.S. personnel with a weapon or mechanism.”

CIA Report (January 2022)

January 20 2022 —  According to a new CIA report, most cases have environmental or medical causes. Two dozen incidents remain unexplained. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Havana Syndrome — CIA Report : “No Worldwide Campaign by Foreign Adversary” [UPDATE — Expertise in a “Post-Truth” Society]

Posted on February 2, 2022 by L

“We assess it is unlikely that a foreign actor, including Russia, is conducting a sustained, worldwide campaign harming U.S. personnel with a weapon or mechanism.”

CIA Report (January 2022)

January 20 2022 —  According to a new CIA report, most cases have environmental or medical causes. Two dozen incidents remain unexplained. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This day — Ayatollah Khomeini Returns to Iran (February 1 1979) [MI6 and the CIA collaborated with Tehran until at least 1983]

Posted on February 1, 2022 by L

“You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans. [The Islamic Republic of Iran] will be a humanitarian one, which will benefit the cause of peace and tranquility for all mankind. (…) It is advisable that you recommend to the army not to follow [Shah’s prime minister Shapour] Bakhtiar.”

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini — Letter to US President Jimmy Carter (January 29 1979)

February 1 2022 — On January 17 1979, the Shah left the country, never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday February 1st 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated to be of up to five million people. The communications between Khomeini and the president Jimmy Carter’s administration during the last two weeks of January 1979 remain largely classified and highly controversial.

PS — Whenever you learn new facts, you must re-think what you thought you knew. In this case, you may want to reconsider the following events: the release of the hostages on January 20 1981, 20 minutes after Reagan concluded his inaugural address, as well as the Iran-Contra scandal, the summer massacre and the fall of Ayatollah Montazeri. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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