On this Day — Mata Hari Is Executed (October 15 1917) [Was she really guilty?]

“A harlot? Yes, but a traitor, never!”

Mata Hari (during the trial)

Margaretha Zelle alias Mata Hari

July 25 2020 — Margaretha Geertruida “Margreet” MacLeod (Born Zelle; 7 August 1876 – 15 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan. She was put on trial on July 24 1917. The following day, she was convicted of being a spy for Germany. On October 15 1917, she was executed by firing squad in France. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Lockerbie — FAA investigating Boeing 787 manufacturing flaws. Coincidence? [UPDATE VII : Boeing pilot indicted for giving false information to FAA over 737 Max]

“The plane maker has told U.S. aviation regulators that it produced certain parts at its South Carolina facilities that failed to meet its own design and manufacturing standards, according to an Aug. 31 internal Federal Aviation Administration memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.”

The Wall Street Journal — Monday September 7 2020

September 8 2020 — New Evidence and Logic have led me to rewrite 30 years of History. In my book [Lockerbie — Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…!] I conclude that Pan Am Flight 103 disintegrated in flight over Lockerbie (December 21 1988) because of a massive structural failure due to well-known issues of metal fatigue in section 41 and 42 of the Boeing 747 (Series 100 & 200), not because of an explosive device. As a result of my research, I expected that the FAA would investigate similar Boeing manufacturing flaws as new generations of Boeing airliners may have inherited a mild form of that disease. It is happening. Coincidence? Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Deadly Floods in Belgium & Germany — A Monumental Intelligence Failure? [UPDATE : “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”]

“The fact that people didn’t evacuate or get the warnings suggests that something is going wrong. If you’ve got some information about what risk you’re at and you can understand it, you can take action to protect yourself. These floods were huge. Probably they were like a fantasy or a kind of science-fiction movie for people.”

Hannah Cloke — Professor of hydrology at Reading University

July 20 2021 — Belgium and Germany knew that huge floods were coming. Yet, the early warnings were not passed to the population. Scientists believe that this ‘monumental failure of the system’ is directly to blame for the death of at least 200 people in Germany and Belgium. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Havana Syndrome — Two new cases in Vietnam delay Vice President Harris’ visit [UPDATE : More than a dozen Havana Syndrome cases reported in Colombia]

“It’s real. It’s affecting our officers. It’s affecting others around the community, in government, and we’re going to figure it out.”

CIA Deputy Director David Cohen

Annual Intelligence and National Security Summit (Sept. 14 2021)

August 3 2021 — Judy Woodruff and Nick Schifrin discuss the debilitating medical ailments affecting U.S. diplomatic and intelligence officers in Cuba — which have become known as Havana Syndrome. Nothing new but a good summary of the current situation. Follow us on twitter: @Intel_Today

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On This Day — The Brighton Bombing (October 12 1984)  [UPDATE — Brighton Bomber : “Ireland will soon be reunited.”]

“Mrs. Thatcher will now realise that Britain cannot occupy our country and torture our prisoners and shoot our people in their own streets and get away with it. Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always. Give Ireland peace and there will be no more war.”

IRA Statement (October 13 1984)

 

Margaret Thatcher and husband Denis leave the Grand Hotel following the bombing.

October 12 2020 — On October 12 1984, Patrick Magee made an audacious attempt to kill Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet by exploding a bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference. The Prime Minister was unharmed but five people were killed in the attack and many more injured.

The Brighton bombing made it clear to Thatcher that the Libyan supply of weapons and explosives — SEMTEX — to the IRA had to be stopped at any cost. Many observers believe that the Lockerbie Conspiracy began when the US Navy shot down Iran Air flight 655. Intel Today strongly believes that the plot to frame Libya actually started on the day of the Brighton bombing.

Most Intel Today readers (90%) believe that the Lockerbie verdict is a spectacular miscarriage of justice. I understand that a similar poll among Scotland lawyers would be even more devastating. To those who care for the truth, the Lockerbie solution is a bitter disappointment. To the people who see the world as a giant political chess board where only realpolitik applies, Lockerbie was a magnificent move played by MI6 and their cousins at the CIA. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Four Years Ago — The True Story of Dr A. Q. Khan’s Nuclear Black Market [UPDATE — Father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme dies aged 85.]

“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

Dr A. Q. Khan

May 3 2017 — If this story is a CIA success, what does a CIA failure look like? In his first public speech, CIA Director Mike Pompeo told his audience that one the CIA’s great successes was to shut down the A. Q. Khan’s nuclear network. As often with Mike Pompeo, that statement needs a bit of “Facts Checking”. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This day — Einstein Letter to Franklin Roosevelt (October 11 1939) [Manhattan Project — “I made one great mistake in my life…”]

“I made one great mistake in my life — when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made but there was some justification — the danger that the Germans would make them.”

Albert Einstein

 

Einstein and Szilard re-enact discussion of letter to FDR for 1946 documentary Atomic Power

October 11 2021 — On October 11 1939, Alexander Sachs, Wall Street economist and longtime friend and unofficial advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, met with the President to discuss a letter written by Albert Einstein the previous August.  Einstein had written to inform Roosevelt that recent research on fission chain reactions utilizing uranium made it probable that large amounts of power could be produced by a chain reaction and that, by harnessing this power, the construction of “extremely powerful bombs” was conceivable.  Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — James Bond “From Russia With Love” Premiere in London (October 10 1963) [2021]

“The film is highly immoral in every imaginable way; it is neither uplifting, instructive nor life-enhancing. Neither is it great film-making. But it sure is fun.”

Richard Roud — The Guardian  (October 11 1963)

 

October 10 2020  — From Russia with Love is the second in the James Bond film series produced by Eon Productions, as well as Sean Connery’s second role as MI6 agent James Bond. The film premiered on October 10 1963 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Havana Syndrome — Textbook case of disinformation from Reuters [UPDATE : In Intelligence Matters, Punctuation Really Matters!]

“[CIA Director William] Burns has said there is a ‘very strong possibility’ that the syndrome is intentionally caused and that Russia could be responsible.”

Reuters (September 21 2021)

September 23 2021 — On Monday, CNN and the New York Times reported that a CIA officer who was traveling with CIA director William Burns to India earlier this month reported symptoms consistent with Havana syndrome. Follow us on twitter: @Intel_Today

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On This Day — Che Guevara Is Executed (October 9 1967)

“The only passion that guides me is for the truth… I look at everything from this point of view.”

Che Guevara (June 14, 1928 – October 9, 1967)

 

A 1960 photo taken by Alberto Korda of Guevara in a beret became iconic and has since appeared on countless posters and T-shirts.

October 9 2021 — On this day in 1967, socialist revolutionary and guerrilla leader Che Guevara was executed by the Bolivian army. He was 39. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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