AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #24-07 dated 25 June 2007

Click here to view disclaimers, removal, methods of use of the links in this document.

The WIN in its entirety appears below; however, the document may also be viewed online by current members with usernames and passwords at: https://www.afio.com/pages/currentwin.htm  Usernames and Passwords appear on AFIO Membership Cards. They work only if the membership is current.


AFIO's Online Auction continues.....with special a special, rare hollow coin, carefully machined from two actual coins, which in a pocket of change is easy to conceal. The one on the AFIO auction is a Kennedy half dollar which, in the trade, can be used to smuggle small written messages, microdots or film. In a similar concealment, U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers carried a poison-tipped needle hidden in a silver dollar. Own your own today by bidding on it at:
 Hollow Coin Concealment  Or see the many other items you can click and "buy now."  Gift yourself with some unusual items - all the things they forgot to give you for Father's Day. Here.....


CONTENTS

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

 

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

 

Section III - ESSAY CONTEST, CAREERS, BOOK REVIEWS, NEW TELEVISION SERIES, AND COMING EVENTS

Essay Contest

Teaching Positions

Book Reviews

New Television Series

Coming Events

Current Calendar Next Two Months ONLY:

28 June 2007 - San Francisco, CA - AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts BG Joseph L. Shaefer, USAF (Ret) on "Up a Lazy River: The Right Time, The Wrong ABC's."

29 June 2007 - Houston, TX - AFIO Houston Chapter event

30 June 2007 - Nashua, NH - CIRA New England Chapter holds special New England meeting

11 July 2007: 9:00 am - Noon - Alexandria, VA - Ray Semko, aka the one and only "D*I*C*E Man", presents D*I*C*E 2007: UNLEASHED!

18 July 2007 - Arlington, VA - The Defense Intelligence Forum hosts luncheon event jointly with the National Defense Intelligence College Foundation

19 July 2007 - Colorado Springs, CO - AFIO Rocky Mountain Chapter holds luncheon meeting on MASINT

20 - 21 July 2007 - Northampton, MA - AFIO New England holds their summer weekend event at the Hotel Northampton, Northampton, MA

24 July 2007 - Crystal City, VA - PLA Naval Attaché to give luncheon presentation

4 August 2007 - Melbourne, FL - AFIO Florida Satellite Chapter meets at the Indian River Colony Club

          27 - 30 August 2007 - New Orleans, LA - SYNERGY ‘07 - Conference and Expo - Advancing an Integrated Defense Intelligence Enterprise

  For Additional Events two+ months or more....view our online Calendar of Events


Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS


Austria to Release Russian Citizen Detained on Suspicion of Espionage. Russia has refused to waive the diplomatic immunity of its citizen detained in Austria on suspicion of committing military espionage. Diplomatic immunity protects the Russian citizen from arrest, so Austria will release the man shortly and he will leave the country immediately. The Russian citizen was part of an official Russian delegation to the 50th session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at Vienna's U.N. complex. The Russian citizen, who is suspected of receiving sensitive information from a member of Austria's army, was detained at Salzburg's main train station on June 11 on the basis of a European Union arrest warrant issued by authorities in Karlsruhe, Germany. The Austrian citizen, also not identified, has been detained as well.  [PR-Inside/20June2007] 

CIA Veterans Write to RNC of Their Concern Over Republican Threat to Rule of Law. Several former intelligence officers have written a letter to Mel Martinez, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, expressing concern over public comments by former Senator Fred Thompson, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Governor Mitt Romney over the case of Lewis "Scooter" Libby. According to the letter, the statements, "raise serious questions about their commitment to the rule of law free of partisan bias." The letter also says, "The factual errors in Mr. Thompson's statement are almost as egregious as his partisan view that perjury and obstruction of justice are not serious crimes." It concludes with, "Good intelligence should not be a partisan issue. It is a professional obligation of intelligence officers to provide politicians with the best information and their best judgment. And it is the professional obligation of politicians to uphold the rule of law and ensure that the Constitution of the United States is upheld and enforced. On this critical issue we believe that the statements by Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney do damage to the reputation of the Republican Party and undermine public respect for the judicial system." The letter is signed Ray Close, Directorate of Operations, James Marcinkowski, Directorate of Operations, Philip Giraldi, Directorate of Operations, Michael Grimaldi, Directorate of Intelligence, Ray McGovern, Directorate of Intelligence, Melvin Goodman, Directorate of Intelligence, Larry Johnson, Directorate of Intelligence and David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council. [13June07/AfterDowningStreet.org]

Terrorists Claim to Seize CIA Files. Several terrorist groups, including Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees, say they have seized large quantities of CIA security files. According to statements by the groups, the files were stored at "major compounds of militias associated with the American-backed Fatah organization of Palestinian Arab President Abbas." The leaders of the groups claim that the files contain, among other things, details of CIA networks in the Middle East. Hamas officials said that prior to Hamas' advances to the compounds, Fatah officials began destroying CIA files, but only succeeded in destroying a small fraction of the documents. 

Abu Abdullah, a member of Hamas' so-called military wing, said, "Now our job is to study these files, which are already showing that they are crucial for our fight against the Zionists and anyone who collaborates with them, including the Americans." Mr. Abdullah said the CIA documents they browsed so far contain "information about the collaboration between Fatah and the Israeli and American security organizations; CIA methods on how to prevent attacks, chase and follow after cells of Hamas and the Committees; plans about Fatah assassinations of members of Hamas and other organizations; and American studies on the security situation in Gaza." Mr. Abdullah claimed the documents also detailed CIA networks in other Arab countries, and "how to help beat Islamic allies of Hamas in other Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan."  [newyorksun/klein/14June2007] 

Russia Investigating British Espionage. Russia's intelligence service said it had opened a criminal investigation into British espionage in Russia, based on statements and undisclosed evidence provided by a businessman who is accused of poisoning Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former KGB. officer and a Kremlin critic. The announcement by the Federal Security Service, the domestic successor of the Soviet KGB., further confused a murder investigation that has soured relations between Russia and Britain. The countries have staked out starkly different positions regarding the killing of Mr. Litvinenko and the motives behind it.

British authorities have accused Andrei K. Lugovoi, an associate of Mr. Litvinenko, of poisoning Mr. Litvinenko and have demanded his extradition from Russia. Mr. Lugovoi has denied the accusations. Two weeks ago, he held a theatrical news conference in which he accused Britain's foreign intelligence service, MI6, of orchestrating the whole affair and recruiting Mr. Litvinenko and a prominent Russia tycoon in self-exile, Boris A. Berezovsky. He said they had conspired with British intelligence operatives to provide compromising information about President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Mr. Lugovoi's assertions were the basis for the new investigation, the Federal Security Service said Friday, though its one-sentence statement did not mention who was the focus of any potential espionage charges.

A spokesman, Sergei N. Ignatchenko, said in a telephone interview that the security service was investigating information that Mr. Lugovoi "did not voice at the press conference," though at the time Mr. Lugovoi had suggested that he had incriminating evidence against Mr. Berezovsky and Mr. Litvinenko. Mr. Ignatchenko added that the investigation was focused on "reconnaissance work of the British intelligence service on the territory of the Russian Federation."  [Nytimes/myers&cowell/16June2007] 

Spy Threat Can't Separate French Officials from their BlackBerrys. Despite being warned explicitly that American spies may be reading their every message, French officials continue to clandestinely cling to their Blackberrys. According to a French news agency report, "They tried to offer us something else to replace our BlackBerrys," an unnamed official in the prime minister's office told Le Monde newspaper. "But that didn't work and some people use their BlackBerrys in secret."

French security officials are worried that e-mails sent by government officials from a BlackBerry might be picked up by the US National Security Agency because the servers for BlackBerry mail are located in the United States and Britain, according to Le Monde.  [networkworldnews/mcnamara/19June2007]  

FBI Data Mining Program Raises Eyebrows in Congress. Lawmakers are questioning whether a proposed FBI anti-terrorist program is worth the price, both in taxpayer dollars and the possible loss of Americans' privacy. The National Security Analysis Center (NSAC) would bring together nearly 1.5 billion records created or collected by the FBI and other government agencies, a figure the FBI expects to quadruple in coming years, according to an unclassified FBI budget document obtained on ABCNews.com. Those numbers alone raised concerns from two congressmen, Reps. Brad Miller, D-Calif., and James Sensenbrenner, Jr., R-Wisc., the chair and ranking member of the oversight panel of the House Science and Technology Committee. Miller and Sensenbrenner asked GAO to determine whether the NSAC will include records on U.S. citizens, and whether there are protections in place to make sure all the data in the program was legally collected.

Of further concern to the two congressmen are the FBI's stated hopes to "pro-actively" mine the data to find terrorists using "predictive" analysis, according to its budget request. In theory, predictive analysis involves mapping a known pattern of terrorist behavior - for instance, the sequence and timing of such mundane activities as bank transactions and travel purchases - against a massive collection of such records like the NSAC databases. If an individual's actions match the pattern, they can be considered a suspect, even if they have no known ties to any suspected terrorists or known terrorist groups. The FBI claims this method would help identify "sleeper cells," secret groups of terrorists living innocuously within the United States, waiting for a signal from a terrorist group leader to assemble and strike.

But to date the approach has not proven workable. So far, terrorism researchers "cannot readily distinguish the absolute scale of normal behaviors" for terrorists or ordinary Americans, conceded a 2006 document from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and obtained by National Journal magazine. In other words, no one can figure out how terrorists act differently from normal Americans.

The FBI has requested $12 million for its NSAC project. That amount would pay for 90,000 square feet of space and an additional 53 employees, according to its budget request. Whether Congress will approve the funds has yet to be determined.  [pjk/Rood/abcnews/12June07] 

DOJ Asks Federal Court to Block State Probes of NSA Domestic Spying. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) asked a federal district judge Thursday to block New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Missouri, and Connecticut from investigating potential violations of state consumer privacy laws in the controversial warrantless domestic surveillance program, arguing that the state secrets privilege doctrine bars the state governments from subpoenaing ten telecommunication companies to determine what information they passed onto the National Security Agency (NSA). DOJ lawyers told Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the US District Court of Northern California that the disclosure would harm national security and interfere with foreign affairs. New Jersey First Assistant Attorney General Anne Milgram countered on behalf of all five states that "neither the state secrets privilege nor any federal statute or Executive Order" allows the federal government to prevent state officials from conducting an investigation, adding that the state secrets privilege may only protect information from disclosure.  
[Sung/TheJurist/22June2007]

US Spy Chief Scraps Multibillion-Dollar Satellite Program. National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has cancelled a multibillion-dollar US spy satellite program that engineers hoped would someday pass undetected through the space above other nations. The move from Mr. McConnell follows several years of congressional efforts to kill the program, known publicly as the next generation of "Misty" satellites. The new satellite was to be a stealthy intelligence spacecraft designed to take pictures of adversaries and avoid detection. Mr. McConnell gave no reason for his recent decision.  [23June2007/Hindu

CIA to Declassify "Dirty Laundry." The CIA will declassify hundreds of pages of long-secret records detailing some of the intelligence agency's worst illegal abuses, the so-called "family jewels," documenting a quarter-century of overseas assassination attempts, domestic spying, kidnapping and infiltration of leftist groups from the 1950s to the 1970s, according to CIA Direction Michael V. Hayden.

The documents, to be publicly released next week, also include accounts of break-ins and theft, the agency's opening of private mail to and from China and the Soviet Union, wiretaps and surveillance of journalists, and a series of "unwitting" tests on U.S. civilians, including the use of drugs.

"Most of it is unflattering, but it is CIA's history," Hayden said in a speech to a conference of foreign policy historians. The documents have been sought for decades by historians, journalists and conspiracy theorists and have been the subject of many fruitless Freedom of Information Act requests.  [pr/WashingtonPost/Pincus&DeYoung/22June2007]

Hacker Penetrates Pentagon Email System. A hacker penetrated an unclassified Pentagon email system, prompting authorities to take as many 1,500 accounts offline, defense officials said Thursday. "Elements of the OSD unclassified e-mail system were taken offline yesterday afternoon due to a detected penetration," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, using an acronym for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. 

"A variety of precautionary measures are being taken. We expect the system to be online again very soon," Gates said. Between 1,000 and 1,500 users of the system were taken offline, a defense official said. 

On Wednesday, a congressional panel disclosed that hackers also have succeeded in penetrating computers at the Department of Homeland Security, the lead government agency in providing security against cyber attack. 

"What does this mean? It means terrorists or nation states could be hacking Department of Homeland Security databases, changing or altering names to allow them access to this country, and we wouldn't even know they were doing it," said Representative James Langevin. 

The Pentagon email system carries "routine email" involving administrative manners but not classified information related to military operations, Colonel Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman said. 

Gates said the Defense Department computers are under constant attack, but he could not say why this attack, unlike others, forced authorities to take down part of the system.  
[pjk/Breitbart/21June07]

U.S. General Laments Google Earth Capability. Lt. General David Deptula, US Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance said data available commercially through online mapping software such as Google Earth posed a danger to security but could not be rolled back. "No one's going to undo commercial satellite imagery," he told reporters in Washington. Lt. Gen. Deptula cited Google Inc.'s (GOOG.O) Google Earth, which gives Web users an astronaut's view of the earth and allows them to zoom down to street level, as an example of commercial imagery. 
"It is huge," he said. "It's something that was a closely guarded secret not that long ago and now everybody's got access to it." Asked if the U.S. military might try to implement restrictions or blackouts on imagery of some areas, Deptula said he was not aware of such an attempt. Instead, governments are trying to mitigate the effect through camouflage, concealment and deception, he said, providing no other details.  [Washingtonpost/Roberts/21June2007]

Life of South Korean Spy Arrested in US to be Made Into Film. Director Jeong Yun-Chul announced that he plans to make a movie about the life of Robert Kim, a former US Navy computer specialist jailed from 1997 until July 2004 for passing classified US naval documents to a South Korean military attaché in Washington. Many South Koreans consider Mr. Kim a patriot. "It is a symbolic case which makes us reflect on various issues including South Korea-US ties and the division of the Korean peninsula," according to Jeong Yun-Chul. "I plan to portray Robert Kim's human aspects and the political situations he faced at that time." He said he will begin shooting the film on Robert Kim late next year for screening in 2009 and had already interviewed the 67-year-old Kim several times at his residence in Virginia. 
[AFP/20June2007] 

US Study Program in Iran Accused of Espionage. The American Studies program at the University of Tehran is a two-year-old master's program that tries to teach American government, culture and society to some of Iran's top students, with minimum political judgment. It even planned to send some of its first graduates to the U.S. this summer for nine months of thesis research and teaching Persian to American students. But the rare academic outreach has been called off amid accusations of espionage, the latest victim of the increasingly poisoned relationship between the U.S. and Iran. The controversy grew hot enough that Iran's Foreign Ministry weighed in, with spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini charging at a news conference that "Americans, under cover of academic cooperation, are pursuing their own goals.'' 

The overseas study plan began to fall apart when its sponsor - a U.S. nonprofit organization partially funded by the State Department - told three students that no American university had accepted them, said English professor Mohammad Marandi, the Virginia-born co-founder of what he described as the Islamic republic's first and only American Studies program. Marandi described the three as highly qualified and said many believed they were rebuffed because they are vocal critics of American foreign policy. Meanwhile, the three students' supporters became irate, suggesting the overseas trip was part of a broader U.S. attempt to undermine the Iranian system. A conservative Iranian political Web site accused the U.S of "intending to use university students as its political tools.'' 

Tehran University officials charged that the program had become politicized and said that none of the 23 accepted students - from the American Studies and foreign language program - could go, Marandi said. Negotiations are continuing, Marandi said, but the trip is extremely unlikely to be revived. "It's off,'' he said.  [Guardian/16June2007]


Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

[Following is an excerpt from an excellent article in this month's Smithsonian Magazine by Gregory F. Treverton.  Mr. Treverton is the director of the RAND Corporation's Center for Global Risk and Security. We invite you to read the complete article at http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2007/june/presence-puzzle.php?page=1]

Risks and Riddles. There's a reason millions of people try to solve crossword puzzles each day. Amid the well-ordered combat between a puzzler's mind and the blank boxes waiting to be filled, there is satisfaction along with frustration. Even when you can't find the right answer, you know it exists. Puzzles can be solved; they have answers.

But a mystery offers no such comfort. It poses a question that has no definitive answer because the answer is contingent; it depends on a future interaction of many factors, known and unknown. A mystery cannot be answered; it can only be framed, by identifying the critical factors and applying some sense of how they have interacted in the past and might interact in the future. A mystery is an attempt to define ambiguities.

Puzzles may be more satisfying, but the world increasingly offers us mysteries. Treating them as puzzles is like trying to solve the unsolvable - an impossible challenge. But approaching them as mysteries may make us more comfortable with the uncertainties of our age.

During the cold war, much of the job of U.S. intelligence was puzzle-solving - seeking answers to questions that had answers, even if we didn't know them. How many missiles did the Soviet Union have? Where were they located? How far could they travel? How accurate were they? It made sense to approach the military strength of the Soviet Union as a puzzle - the sum of its units and weapons, and their quality.

But the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of terrorism changed all that. Those events upended U.S. intelligence, to the point that its major challenge now is to frame mysteries, as I learned as vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council, managing the process for producing National Intelligence Estimates. 

To analysts in the Pentagon, for instance, terrorists present the ultimate asymmetric threat. But the nature of the threat is a mystery, not a puzzle. Terrorists shape themselves to our vulnerabilities, to the seams in our defenses; the threat they pose depends on us. The 9/11 hijackers, for instance, did not come to their plan of attack because they were aviation buffs. They came to it because they had identified gaps in our aviation defenses.

Whether Saddam Hussein's Iraq had nuclear or chemical weapons seemed a quintessential puzzle, and U.S. intelligence treated it that way. And got it wrong. But suppose the issue of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction had been treated not as a puzzle but as a mystery. That might have turned the exercise away from technical details and toward Saddam's thinking. It might have raised the question: Could Saddam be more afraid of his local enemies than he is of the United States? Could that lead him to boast that he had weapons he really didn't have?

Puzzle-solving is frustrated by a lack of information. Given Washington's need to find out how many warheads Moscow's missiles carried, the United States spent billions of dollars on satellites and other data-collection systems. But puzzles are relatively stable. If a critical piece is missing one day, it usually remains valuable the next. 

By contrast, mysteries often grow out of too much information. Until the 9/11 hijackers actually boarded their airplanes, their plan was a mystery, the clues to which were buried in too much "noise" - too many threat scenarios. So warnings from FBI agents in Minneapolis and Phoenix went unexplored. The hijackers were able to hide in plain sight. After the attacks, they became a puzzle: it was easy to pick up their trail.

Solving puzzles is useful for detection. But framing mysteries is necessary for prevention.

That's one reason the FBI embarked on a change of mission after 9/11, from almost pure law enforcement to intelligence - from solving puzzles to framing mysteries. That change in mission requires an enormous change in organizational culture. For the puzzles of law enforcement, the measures of effectiveness are pretty clear - you can count the suspects collared and bad guys convicted. Terrorists, however, may commit but one crime, and by the time they do, it is too late. That scarcity of "collars" is a main reason why, rhetoric aside, counterterrorism was not a marquee FBI mission before 9/11.

For the mysteries of intelligence, measures of effectiveness are elusive. The goal of prevention is...nothing - an absence of attacks. But if no major terrorist attack occurs, does that represent the effectiveness of prevention, simple good luck or the fact that the threat was overstated in the first place? 

That's one uncertainty we'll have to learn to live with. There are others that framing mysteries can help us understand. 


Section III - ESSAY CONTEST, CAREERS, BOOK REVIEWS, NEW TELEVISION SERIES, AND COMING EVENTS

Essay Contest

AFCEA International Announces Intelligence Essay Contest. AFCEA Intelligence is pleased to announce the details of its inaugural essay contest with a first place prize of $2,000. The goal of the competition is to offer intelligence professionals of all levels the opportunity to express themselves on a topic of importance to the Intelligence Community and national security.

Contest details: Topic: Intelligence in Asymmetric Warfare
Submission Deadline: 12:00 midnight, October 31, 2007
Submission Length: No more than 2,500 words (excluding footnotes and bibliography)
Eligibility: The contest is open to everyone.
First Prize: $2,000, a two-year membership in AFCEA, and the AFCEA Medallion
Second Prize: $1,000 and a two-year membership in AFCEA
Third Prize: $500 and a two-year membership in AFCEA

Complete submission details are available online at http://www.afcea.org/mission/intel/WritingContest.asp 

If you have questions, please contact Mr. Steven Ritchey, Vice President for Intelligence, AFCEA, 703-631-6219 

AFCEA International, established in 1946, is a non-profit membership association serving the military, government, industry, and academia as an ethical forum for advancing professional knowledge and relationships in the fields of communications, IT, intelligence, and global security.


Teaching Positions

Anne Arundel Community College.  Steve Fowler, an active AFIO member, has a company which has developed an Intelligence Studies Program at Anne Arundel Community College.  He is looking for active or retired intelligence professionals who would be interested in teaching at night in Anne Arundel County this fall and in the future. They are also looking for retired intelligence professionals/intelligence consultants who would be interested in teaching outside of DC. They would pay them to fly to the college to teach maybe once a week for semester. Those interested in teaching should contact:  Stephen M. Fowler, Director, University Programs, 175 Admiral Cochrane Drive Suite 400, CINTT Corporation, Annapolis, MD 21401, (410) 571-7790, (410) 571-7787 (Fax), sfowler@cintt.com


Book Reviews

Sensitive New Age Spy by Geoff McGeachin. Alby Murdoch is the director-general (acting) of the Directorate for Extra-territorial Defence (D.E.D) the top secret Australian government spy organization put in place to ensure the safety of the people of Australia. Geoff McGeachin thrust him into the spotlight in a nation saving mission and he is only just shaking off the aftereffects, his unwelcome promotion one of them. He is back for a second sensational undercover romp in Sensitive New Age Spy and although he's a special agent, he's not suave nor a sophisticate, and he doesn't have the moves or the guts to be a ladies man. What he is is a fierce advocate for peace and the security of his country and sure, he's quick with the pithy put down but he can also talk common sense with the best of them. 

Sensitive New Age Spy is about as Aussie as a spy book can get complete with an irreverence measured by laconic humor that is evident from the opening page. Heck, McGeachin even manages to stick a Hills Hoist on Fort Denison before the first page is over. Sydney's well-known landmarks are used to great effect and then, to make sure there's no doubt about where you are, a constant flow of Australian slang peppers the dialogue. 

Quite frankly, this is the way all spy novels should be written, mixing the serious stuff with plenty of irreverent humor, fronted by a guy who wins some, loses lots but comes across as a highly competent larrikin. 

There is an unmistakable Australian-ness to the story, from the slang terms that make up much of the dialogue to the laid back nature of some of the characters, even when faced with adversity. You might even say that the role of the politicians is unmistakably Australian, as is the fact that they are treated with complete disdain. Humor plays a major part in the story largely because it is a big part of the make-up of Alby's character. But hiding quietly behind the lighter tone is a slightly more serious message waiting unobtrusively to be grasped. It's an environmental reminder of the delicate balance of nature and our part in it, and similar to Carl Hiaasen's more offbeat comic thrillers, McGeachin makes his point well. 

For a high stakes battle of wits that begins at a desperate pace before growing even more furious, Sensitive New Age Spy is completely entertaining and Alby Murdoch has become even more established as an all-Australian hero.  [CrimeDownUnder/24June2007]


New Television Series

Burn Notice. USA Network is premiering a new series on June 28th at 10:00p.m. EST called Burn Notice, about a former CIA official who is terminated by the Agency. The official statement on the series said, "When spies get fired, they don't get a letter from human resources. They get "burned." While on assignment, agent Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) gets a "Burn Notice" and becomes untouchable. Having no idea what or who triggered his demise, Michael returns to his hometown, Miami, determined to find out the reason for his sudden termination. Unable to utilize his normal contacts and needing to stay under the spy network radar, he puts his Special Ops training to use to help those who the police can't or won't, in order to fund his ongoing personal investigation." [EntertainmentWeekly/22June2007]


Coming Events

28 June 2007 - San Francisco - The AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts Brigadier General Joseph L. Shaefer, USAF (Ret). Shaefer will speak on "Up a Lazy River: The Right Time, The Wrong ABC's." If we are living in a time where the national ABC's include (A) ambivalence about the collection of intelligence, increasing (B) boredom with the subject of national security, the end goal of almost all national intelligence, and a (C) complacency about those who have declared themselves our sworn enemies, then our intelligence gathering, analysis, and dissemination will reflect them. General Shaefer offers a different set of ABC's and provides a strategy to once again energize and involve the American public in order to allow intelligence professionals to do what they do best: provide predictive and prescriptive courses of action to protect American citizens and ensure the continuation of our way of life. The meeting will be held at United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94116 (between Sloat and Wawona). 11:30 AM no host cocktails; noon - luncheon. $25 member rate with advance reservation; $35 non-member rate or at door. RSVP to Mariko Kawaguchi no later than 5 PM 6/20/07: mariko@cataphora.com, (650) 622-9840 X608 or send check to P.O. Box 117578 Burlingame, CA 94011. Call Marina Mann (925) 735-1327 for questions.

Friday, 29 June 2007 - Houston, TX - AFIO Houston Chapter event  The speaker for this AFIO Houston event is being scheduled. Announced later. Registration and further details at afiohoustonchapter@yahoo.com  1800h 6pm Cocktails. No tickets at the door.

30 June 2007 - Nashua, NH - CIRA New England Chapter holds special New England meeting. Calling all New England CIA Retirees. This special event will be held at the Holiday Inn, Nashua, NH [Rt 3, Exit 4]. For further info contact Dick Gay 207-374-2169 or email him at raguay@roadrunner.com 

Wednesday, July 11, 2007: 9:00 am - Noon - Alexandria, VA - Ray Semko, aka the one and only "D*I*C*E Man", presents D*I*C*E 2007: UNLEASHED! at the CI Centre and other locations. Hear what Ray has to say about security, OPSEC, INFOSEC and terrorism now that he's no longer in the US government! These special open "Up Close and Personal" D*I*C*E briefings at the CI Centre are tailored towards those organizations operating under a requirement to provide a security awareness briefing to their employees every year (as NISPOM requires). Attendees will receive a Certificate of Attendance stating they have completed their security awareness briefing for the year. Seating is limited in the CI Centre's classroom, so register early to reserve your seat. Cost is $99.95 per person. Free parking. Coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts provided. REGISTER NOW: You may download the Registration Form from: http://cicentre.com/dice/2007_premiere.html or call 1-800-779-4007.

18 July 2007 - Arlington, VA - The Defense Intelligence Forum hosts luncheon event jointly with the National Defense Intelligence College Foundation.  The Defense Intelligence Forum meets at the Alpine Restaurant, 4770 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22207 with a social hour starting at 1130, lunch at 1215, program at 1300, to hear Allen Keiswetter will speak on Islam in the Contemporary World. His talk will include Mouhammad as a feminist, the compatibility of Islam and democracy, and the differences between Shia and Sunni. Mr. Keiswetter teaches courses on Islam and the Middle East at the National Defense Intelligence College. He is also an Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute under whose auspices he has given more than 100 TV and radio interviews. In 2003, he retired as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Near East Bureau after 36 years in the US Foreign Service. The luncheon is sponsored jointly by the Defense Intelligence Alumni Association and the National Defense Intelligence College Foundation. To encourage candor, the forum does not allow media, notes, recordings, or attribution. RSVP by 13 July by reply email or telephone DIAA at 571-426-0098 for further information or email them at diaalumni@comcast.net

19 July 2007 - Colorado Springs, CO - AFIO Rocky Mountain Chapter holds luncheon meeting on MASINT at the Falcon Room, Air Force Academy Officers Club. MASINT is the topic at the luncheon meeting of the at AFIO Rocky Mountain Chapter. Event is held at the Falcon Room, Air Force Academy Officers Club. Col. John Gonzales, USAF will speak to on MASINT which is a new and little known part of intelligence. Cost $10.00 for each lunch buffet. Inquiries to Dick Durham. Treasurer of the Chapter at Riverwear53@aol.com

 20 - 21 July 2007 - Northampton, MA - AFIO New England holds their summer weekend event at the Hotel Northampton, Northampton, Massachusetts. A full description of services as well as directions to the hotel, are available on-line at http://www.hotelnorthampton.com Please mention AFIO/NE when making reservations. The student speaker will be David Lim. Their main speaker will be Jeff Beaty, former member of the Delta Force, the CIA & the FBI. The program will begin with a Friday evening complimentary wine and cheese social at the Hotel Northampton starting at 6:00 PM. This get-together is a wonderful opportunity to renew friendships, as well as make new ones in a relaxed informal setting. We anticipate that our speakers will join us at the social. This may be followed by a no-host dinner at local area restaurants. Our Saturday schedule is as follows 9:00 - 10:45 a.m. Meeting Registration, 11:00 - 11:20 a.m. First Speaker, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. Luncheon, 1:15 - 2:15 p.m. Keynote Speaker, 2:30 p.m. Adjournment. For additional information contact afionechapter@gmail.com

24 July 2007 - Crystal City, VA - PLA Naval Attaché to give luncheon presentationThe Naval Attaché for PLA Navy will give a luncheon presentation to the Surface Navy Association Greater Washington Chapter (GWC) on Tuesday 24 July at Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel. Please see https://www.navysna.org/Events/GWCLunch/June82007GWCLUNCHEON.asp  for further details.

 4 August 2007 - Melbourne, FL - AFIO Florida Satellite Chapter meets at the Indian River Colony Club  The Chapter August luncheon will be held at the Indian River Colony Club (IRCC). A cash bar will open at 1130 hours and lunch will begin at 1230 hours. Speaker details and reservation information is forthcoming. For additional information please contact George Stephenson, Chapter Vice President at gstephenson@cfl.rr.com and title your email: AFIO August Meeting

27 - 30 August 2007 - New Orleans, LA - SYNERGY ‘07 - Conference and Expo - Advancing an Integrated Defense Intelligence Enterprise. Co-sponsored by: The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD/I). The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, (USD/I), headed by Lt Gen James R. Clapper, Jr.,, USAF(Ret) is co-sponsoring with National Conference Services, Inc. (NCSI) this Synergy ‘07 New Orleans, LA.  Synergy '07 will strive to bring DoD Operations and Intelligence Community representatives together for open dialog with the objective of fostering better collaboration between decision makers and members of the war-fighting, requirements, collections, analytics and vendor communities.  The conference, chaired by Brigadier General Billy J. Bingham (USAF, ret), a former Assistant Deputy Director for Operations and Deputy Chief, Central Security Service at Fort George G. Meade, and Director of Intelligence (J2) U.S. Pacific Command, will focus on past operational successes as a means of addressing the impediments and challenges that the various components face in providing quality support to U.S. warfighters during peace, crisis and wartime. "What we are hoping to do is build a confederation of communities, including, to the extent possible, our coalition partners that will increase the effectiveness of DoD operations and provide upgraded support from the ISR community to our boots on the ground warfighters," said Jim Riggins, NCSI’s Executive Director of Intelligence Community Programs and Initiatives. More about the conference can be found at http://www.ncsi.com/synergy07/index.shtml


 

$   $   $   $   $   $   $   $   $   $   $   $
Going once.....going twice.....
Wait. Don't let it... without having a look, yourself. The AFIO Auction continues with many great gifts. Hollow Coins, Allen Dulles' Pipe, special keyrings.
Fun just to browse.
.....just some of the many unusual items available to you
at the

AFIO AUCTION for 2007

Allen Dulles' Pipe, inscribed photo, and letter of provenance....or enjoy a private dinner in Washington DC area with AFIO's President - CIA officer [Ret] to discuss career plans, goals, or to hear about historic intelligence events including MAJIC, Area 51, and other U.S. intelligence mysteries.....just some of the many unusual items available to you
at the

 Our Spring AFIO Spy Auction is here! The AFIO 2007 Auction opens for bidding on Sunday, 29 April 2007.

Goal: to raise funds to support AFIO programs in the areas of education, career recruitments, scholarships, seminars, publications, and conferences.
Please help by reviewing and purchasing gift items at this auction. Part of each purchase includes a tax-deductible donation to AFIO.
Tell colleagues and friends that the bidding has started.
This is an exciting and fun way to locate some unusual gift items and to help an important cause.

Explore the auction catalog at

http://afio.cmarket.com

Other Ways to Help:
Donate intel-related items; Be a Sponsor.
Contact us at afio@afio.com  or 703-790-0320 to take advantage of promotional opportunities for your business or to pledge your individual support.

For Additional Events two+ months or greater....view our online Calendar of Events

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimers and Removal Instructions

Weekly Intelligence Notes (WINs) are commentaries on Intelligence and related national security matters, based on open media sources, selected, interpreted, edited and produced for non-profit educational uses by members and WIN subscribers. 

REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS: We do not wish to add clutter to inboxes. To discontinue receiving the WINs: 

a)  IF YOU ARE A MEMBER -- click here: UNSUBSCRIBE and supply your full name and email address where you receive the WINs. Click SEND, you will be removed from list.  If this link doesn't open a blank email, create one on your own and send to afio@afio.com with the words:  REMOVE FROM WINs as the subject, and provide your full name and email address where you are currently receiving them.

 b) IF YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER, and you received this message, someone forwarded this newsletter to you [contrary to AFIO policies]. Forward to afio@afio.com the entire WIN or message you received and we will remove the sender from our membership and distribution lists. The problem will be solved for both of us.

CONTENTS of this WIN [HTML version recipients - Click title to jump to story or section, Click Article Title to return to Contents. This feature does not work for Plaintext Edition or for some AOL recipients]. If you wish to change to HTML format, let us know at afio@afio.com. The HTML feature also does not work for those who access their e-mail using web mail...however NON-HTML recipients may view the latest edition each week in HTML at this link: https://www.afio.com/pages/currentwin.htm

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

WINs are protected by copyright laws and intellectual property laws, and may not be reproduced or re-sent without specific permission from the Producer. Opinions expressed in the WINs are solely those of the editor(s) or author(s) listed with each article. AFIO Members Support the AFIO Mission - sponsor new members! CHECK THE AFIO WEBSITE at www.afio.com for back issues of the WINs, information about AFIO, conference agenda and registrations materials, and membership applications and much more!

(c) 2007, AFIO, 6723 Whittier Ave, Suite 303A, McLean, VA 22101. Voice: (703) 790-0320; Fax: (703) 991-1278; Email: afio@afio.com
Click here to return to top.