AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #45-12 dated 4 December 2012

[Editors' Note: The WIN editors attempt to include a wide range of articles and commentary in the Weekly Notes to inform and educate our readers. However, the views expressed in the articles are purely those of the authors, and in no way reflect support or endorsement from the WIN editors or the AFIO officers and staff. We welcome comments from the WIN readers on any and all articles and commentary.]
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CONTENTS

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Section III - COMMENTARY

Section IV - Books, Obituarie, Research Request, and Coming Events

Books

Obituaries

Research Request

Coming Educational Events

Current Calendar New and/or Next Two Months ONLY

 

AFIO End-of-Year Luncheon

A few seats remain
Friday, 7 December 2012
9:30 am - 2 pm

A special end-of-year AFIO program featuring a documentary and
how the CIA Counterintelligence Pros uncovered Aldrich Ames.
Note earlier starting time.

Colby Documentary

Morning Program: Documentary Screening and Q&A
on the Life and Career of former DCI William Colby
with Carl Colby, Director/Producer

Circle of Treason

Afternoon Program: The Internal CIA/IC Hunt and Unmasking
of CIA Traitor Aldrich Ames

with Sandy Grimes
one of the CIA principals behind the dogged search and unmasking of the spy in their midst.

All parts of the program are on the record.

Crowne Plaza Hotel
Tysons Corner, VA

Registration Form Here


"President Nixon and the Role of Intelligence in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War" - a CIA Historical Documents 'Release Event' Conference co-hosted with The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

30 January 2013 - Yorba Linda, CA [Nixon Library]

AFIO members and guests are invited to attend this CIA-Nixon Library Conference examining intelligence community's handling of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. It underscores the difficulty for the IC - in the past and today - to reliably predict the unexpected, especially in the Middle East. Event features former policymakers and analysts, as well as historians and Middle East experts discussing how intelligence played into the decisionmaking process before, during, and after the conflict. Invited speakers include Brent Scowcroft (National Security Advisor under Presidents Ford and Bush), Charles E. Allen, (former Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, Department of Homeland Security), William Quandt (Middle East expert at the National Security Council), Andy Liepman (former Deputy Director, National Counterterrorism Center), Dick Kovar (former chief of CIA's Middle East Task Force), James Gelvin (Historian, UCLA), Emile A. Nakhleh, PhD (former CIA Middle East expert), and the new Director of the Nixon Library (announcement expected soon). . There is no cost to attend.
REGISTER your interest in attending event by clicking email address at right to obtain additional details: events@afio.com
Provide your name, email address, and how many guests you might be bringing with you to the January 30th CIA-NIXON Library Conference being held in Yorba Linda, CA [right outside Los Angeles]. You will be sent further details as event approaches.
Additional information is also here.


SPYPEDIA Updates as of November 30 - if you are not a subscriber, this is what you are missing:

Several cases broke over the past two weeks, including the four men in southern California who were charged with conspiring to provide materials support to al Qaeda and the Taliban. Three conspirators had plotted to travel to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban, while a fourth man was taken into custody in Afghanistan. In economic espionage, an Iranian citizen, Amin RAVAN, was indicted in the United States on charges of exporting at least 55 military antennas to Iran through intermediaries. In international cases, a Polish university professor was charged with plotting to bomb the Polish Parliament in an effort to kill Poland's leader, in the first case of this kind in the country. The man was described as a violent nationalist and xenophobe. Israel also announced on Tuesday the arrest of an Arab-Israeli bus driver, Azam MASH'HARA, accused of spying for Hezbollah. Be sure to also check out a newly updated chart which approximates the number of spies suspected to be actively spying against the United States each year between 1945 and 2012.

We appreciate AFIO members who have subscribed to SPYPEDIA and urge subscribers to continue to login on a daily basis to stay abreast of the latest espionage, counterterrorism, security and cybersecurity news from around the globe. All new additions can be found by simply navigating to the "New Content" tab, which features the most recent updates in the SPYPEDIA database.

SPECIAL OFFER TO December 3: 50% discount off of annual SPYPEDIA subscription. A $365 value and you will receive it for half the cost at $182.50! Go to SPYPEDIA.net and sign up using promotional code- SPY50

-Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (CI Centre)

 

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

FBI Told Canada About Spy in their Midst. Canadian police were tipped off by the FBI to a possible security breach by a Canadian navy intelligence officer who later pleaded guilty to espionage, documents made public Thursday say.

Redacted versions of three search warrants were released Thursday after the prosecution consented to their release.

The warrants were used to obtain evidence against Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, who pleaded guilty last month to passing classified information to Russia.

Delisle worked at a naval intelligence center in Halifax, Nova Scotia and had access to secret data from NATO countries.

One document said police opened an investigation into Delisle's activities after it received a letter in late 2011 from FBI assistant director Frank Figliuzzi alerting them of a possible security breach involving a Canadian military officer. That letter was sent Dec. 2, 2011, about six weeks before Delisle was arrested

The portions of the documents that were released do not elaborate on how or when the FBI became aware of the security breach. But they do indicate that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police heavily relied on information from Anthony Buckmeier, a Russian counter-espionage specialist who began working for the FBI in 1987. [Read more: AP/29November2012]

Czech President Issues Appeal For Arma 3 Devs. Czech Republic President V�clav Klaus has asked the President of Greece to pay "special attention" to the case of two Arma 3 developers who are facing charges of espionage.

Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar of Arma 3 studio Bohemia Interactive were arrested in September and charged with espionage for taking photographs and video of military installations on the Greek island of Lemnos. They described the situation as an "absurd misunderstanding" in a message released about a week after their arrest but they've remained in custody ever since, and sounded significantly more concerned about the seriousness of their plight after a Greek court denied them bail last week.

The situation has grown dire enough that the President of the Czech Republic has issued a direct appeal to Greek President Karolos Papoulias. "I would like to address a matter of two Czech citizens who were arrested in Greece and charged with espionage," he wrote. "This case is very sensitive to the Czech public and also to me as President of the Republic. The fate of our citizens anywhere in the world matters to us." [Read more: Chalk/TheEscapist/21November2012]

Consumer Drone Brings Spy Tech To The Masses For Under $300. The Parrot AR Done 2.0 is bringing low-budget spying equipment to the masses. The consumer drone is less than $300 and is equipped with some of the latest and greatest technology that makes it easier than ever to spy on your neighbors or anyone else you deem spy-worthy.

The Parrot AR Drone 2.0 is the second iteration of a very popular consumer drone model. The aircraft is controlled by using an iPhone, iPad or Android app. The aircraft has multiple sensors including a high-definition front-facing 720p camera and a vertical camera that faces straight down from the belly of the quadricopter. The Parrot AR Drone 2.0 is extremely light, which makes is very easy to transport and manage.

The aircraft is controlled using intuitive controls that take advantage of the powerful technology included in smartphones. Once the drone is turned on, its propellers immediately begin turning until the aircraft is raised about one meter off of the ground. By pushing a button on your smartphone or tablet, the aircraft immediately lifts one meter higher where it will sit and wait for the next command. Users can begin steering the device by tilting their smartphone or tablet.

Hackers have been particularly fond of the device because of all the availabilities for hacks between the equipment included on the aircraft and on their smartphones. [Read more: iScience/21November2012]

U.S. Accused of Cyberattack on French Government. The United States has been charged with launching a cyberattack against France - a claim the U.S. government has categorically denied.

According to L'Express, a French news outlet, sources with knowledge of a cyberattack that occurred in May have said the U.S. was behind the attack. The news outlet claims that the attack occurred a few days before the country's presidential election and targeted "the team of [former French President] Nicolas Sarkozy."

L'Express' sources say the hackers worked their way through Sarkozy's team to attack his closest advisers. In order to climb that ladder, the hackers kicked off their efforts on Facebook, identifying people who were in some way linked to Sarkozy. From there, they were sent e-mails that contained a link leading to a fake website that replicated the Elysse Palace's own page. After the page asked for a username and password, the advisers obliged, and their information was stolen.

According to L'Express, a host of important documents were obtained, including "secret notes" and Sarkozy's strategic plans.

So, why would the U.S. get involved in a cyberattack on what is one of its longest-standing allies? [Read more: Reisinger/CNet/21November2012]

Family Sues US Over Mysterious Death of Scientist who was Drugged During Cold War. The sons of a Cold War scientist who plunged to his death in 1953 several days after unwittingly taking LSD in a CIA mind-control experiment sued the government Wednesday. They claimed the CIA murdered their father, Frank Olson, by pushing him from a 13th-story window of a hotel - not, as the CIA says, that he jumped to his death.

Sons Eric and Nils Olson of Frederick, Md., sought unspecified compensatory damages in the lawsuit filed in federal court, but their lawyer, Scott D. Gilbert, said they also want to see a broad range of documents related to Olson's death and other matters that they say the CIA has withheld from them since the death.

Olson was a bioweapons expert at Fort Detrick, the Army's biological weapons research center in Maryland. Their lawsuit claims the CIA killed Olson when he developed misgivings after witnessing extreme interrogations in which they allege the CIA committed murder using biological agents Olson had developed.

The CIA had a program in the 1950s and '60s called MK-ULTRA, which involved brainwashing and administering experimental drugs like LSD to unsuspecting individuals. The project was investigated by Congress in the 1970s.

Olson consumed a drink laced with LSD by CIA agents on Nov. 19, 1953, the suit says. Later that month, after being taken to New York City purportedly for a "psychiatric" consultation, Olson plunged to his death.

At the time - when Eric and Nils Olson were 9 and 5 years old, respectively - the CIA said he died in an accident and did not divulge to his family that Olsen had been given LSD. [Read more: AP/28November2012]

Swiss Spy Agency Warns CIA, MI6 over 'Massive' Secret Data Theft. Secret counter-terrorism information shared by foreign governments, which may not limited to the U.K. and U.S. administrations, is thought to have been stolen by a senior IT employee of Switzerland's state intelligence service.

First reported by the Reuters news agency, the U.S.' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.K.'s Secret Intelligence Agency (MI6), have been warned that data they shared may no longer be just in their hands, according to sources who discussed the sensitive information and asked not to be named.

The employee reportedly became disgruntled with his employer after he advised the agency on operating the data systems, which was subsequently ignored.

The sources say that he downloaded "terabytes" of classified material from the Swiss intelligence service's servers onto portable hard drives. He then left the government building with a backpack containing the hard drives.

The Swiss intelligence service (NDB) has not named the employee, who reportedly had administrator-level rights-- giving him "unrestricted access to most or all of the NDB's networks - including those holding "vast caches of secret data," reports the news agency.

Swiss law enforcement authorities arrested the employee and seized the data under the suspicion that he was going to sell the data. But, another Reuters sources said that they "could not be positive" the suspect did not already hand off or sell the data to someone else before his arrest. [Read more: Whittaker/ZDnet/4December2012]

Satellite Photo Shows Increased Activity at North Korean Launch Site. A new satellite image shows a marked increase in activity at a North Korean missile launch site, pointing to a possible long-range ballistic missile test by Pyongyang in the next three weeks, according to satellite operator DigitalGlobe Inc.

The imagery was released days after a Japanese newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, reported that U.S. intelligence analysts had detected moves that were seen as preparation by North Korea for a long-range missile launch as early as this month.

DigitalGlobe, which provides commercial satellite imagery to the U.S. government and foreign governments, on Monday released a new image that it said showed increased activity at North Korea's Sohae (West Sea) Satellite Launch Station.

It said the imagery showed more people, trucks and other equipment at the site, a level of activity that was consistent with preparations seen before North Korea's failed April 13 rocket launch.

"Given the observed level of activity noted of a new tent, trucks, people and numerous portable fuel/oxidizer tanks, should North Korea desire, it could possibly conduct its fifth satellite launch event during the next three weeks," DigitalGlobe said in a statement accompanying the image. [Read more: Reuters/27November2012]

Neo-Nazi Inquiry Probes Intelligence Agency. As a witness in the parliamentary inquiry looking at a 10-year string of neo-Nazi murders, August Hanning has criticized the work of Germany's foreign intelligence service, which he himself headed for nearly a decade.

Speaking with the benefit of hindsight, August Hanning, the former president of Germany's foreign intelligence service BND, said his agency had "underestimated" the structures and readiness for violence in Germany's extremist right-wing scene.

On Friday (30.11.2012), Hanning spoke in front of an inquiry board of the German parliament investigating a string of neo-Nazi murders committed by the terrorist group the National Socialist Underground (NSU) between 2000 and 2007. The terror cell was only uncovered in November 2010.

It's easier to find a needle in a haystack "when you know where it is," Hanning said. The board of inquiry, however, had expected more from Hanning's testimony. There are, after all, only a few who know as much as he about security services. Hanning became the BND president in 1998. Before that, he was the chancellery's coordinator for Germany's intelligence services. Aside from the BND, that includes the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). [Read more: F�rstenau/DeutscheWelle/1December2012]


Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Can Anyone Crack the Pigeon's Wartime Code? A World War Two code found strapped to the leg of a dead pigeon stuck in a chimney for the last 70 years may never be broken, a British intelligence agency said on Friday.

The bird was found by a man in Surrey, southern England while he was cleaning out a disused fireplace at his home earlier this month.

The message, a series of 27 groups of five letters each, was inside a red canister attached to the pigeon's leg bone and has stumped code-breakers from Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Britain's main electronic intelligence-gathering agency.

"Without access to the relevant codebooks and details of any additional encryption used, it will remain impossible to decrypt," a GCHQ spokesman said.

The message is consistent with the use of code books to translate messages which were then encrypted, according to GCHQ, one of Britain's three intelligence agencies.

However without knowing who the sender, "Sjt W Stot", is or the intended destination, given as "X02", it is extremely difficult to decipher the code, GCHQ said.

Although the code books and encryption systems used should have been destroyed, there is a small chance that one exists somewhere. [Read more: Afanasieva/Reuters/23November2012]

Don't Tell Anyone, But We Raise Great Spies. Greater Akron has given birth to more top spies than Ian Fleming.

If you're not up to speed on the inner workings of the Central Intelligence Agency, you might not realize our area can lay claim to spawning two of its important honchos, one retired and one just named to the highest job in the entire agency.

The appointment of Cuyahoga Falls native Mike Morell to acting director earlier this month brought a big smile to the face of a former colleague, Bill Fairweather, who moved back to Akron after a 33-year career.

Fairweather, a 1968 graduate of Revere High School, rose through the ranks to become the head of special investigations for the internal security arm of the CIA. He says he worked on �some serious matters� with Morell after Morell was named associate deputy director in 2006.

In that spot, the third-highest in the CIA's "executive food chain," as Fairweather puts it, Morell oversaw the entire day-to-day business and operations of the agency.

No, you wouldn't expect one former CIA official to trash another CIA official in the public prints. But the praise Fairweather offers for Morell is notably effusive. [Read more: Dyer/OhioBeaconJournal/27November2012]

Russian NGOs: Kremlin's New Law Makes Us Look Like Spies. Russian nongovernmental organizations are holding their breath a few days after a new law came into effect, requiring those who receive any amount of outside funding and engage in "public outreach" that authorities deem political to register as "foreign agents" and identify themselves as such in all their materials.

Mostly, the mood is defiant. The majority of groups with outside funding sources and some kind of political agenda have given notice that they will not submit to the law. They insist the "foreign agent" label is designed to make their work look to average Russians like espionage.

The law is part of what critics say is a broad legislative assault on Russian civil society, including a clampdown on political organizing and freshly enacted Soviet-style treason laws. Their sum effect will make it much harder for Russian NGOs to work in any realm deemed political by the Kremlin, to gather information, participate in public debate, and share their findings with the outside world.

That sets the stage for a confrontation in the courts, probably early in 2013, which could see pillars of Russian civil society such as the election monitor Golos, the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International and Russia's largest human rights group, Memorial, and many others face legal shut down by authorities.

"This law says we must determine whether we should register as a foreign agent, and we are emphatically not going to register ourselves," says Grigory Melkonyants, deputy head of Golos. "We do not understand this law, it does not seem to be in the spirit of Russia's constitution and other legislation, its definitions are vague, and it doesn't describe any procedure for implementation. We're preparing a brief to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, we're willing to go to the Russian Constitutional Court. We will not agree to this."

There are more than 300,000 NGOs in Russia, most of them apolitical groups like charities, sports clubs, or cultural organizations. Just a handful have annoyed the authorities by engaging in public education and agitation around issues that can be politically sensitive, such as human rights, democracy awareness and electoral transparency, and corruption. Most of those groups have never been able to find sufficient funding in Russia, where wealthy donors are also sensitive to political concerns, and have traditionally turned to outside sources such as governments and international foundations to fund their work. [Read more: Weir/ChristianScienceMonitor/27November2012]


Section III - COMMENTARY

Why the CIA Should Get Out of the Killing Business. Again. With the top job at the CIA now open, it's time to redirect the agency's mission away from paramilitary activity and back to intelligence.

With the new vacancy on the fifth floor at Langley, a robust debate has resumed over whether the Central Intelligence Agency should continue trending toward paramilitary activity and targeted killings, or return to its traditional focus on sending spies to recruit agents and collect human intelligence. The controversy was foreseen as early as 2003, when Robert Kaplan essentially argued one side of the discussion now underway. He pointed to the "old rules" whereby small groups of men overthrew large governments, and asserted that future technological developments will "make assassinations far more feasible, enabling the United States to kill rulers like Saddam Hussein without having to harm their subject populations through conventional combat." His contention: Such acts are morally preferable to war, and that "the war on terrorism will not be successful if every aspect of its execution must be disclosed and justified."

He concluded: "The CIA's military wing will never be large enough to do everything. Thus the CIA and the Special Forces need to coordinate their efforts more closely, under 'black,' or super-clandestine, rules of engagement. Not only should the CIA be greener (that is, have a larger uniformed military wing), but the Special Forces should be blacker." 

The following year, the 9/11 Commission Report argued the opposite - that responsibility for paramilitary operations should shift from the CIA to U.S. Special Operations Command, if for no other reason than consolidating legal operating authority to a single point. Consider that seven years later, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was officially a CIA operation - the Navy SEALs were "loaned" to the CIA, though it was, in practice, a military operation. While such legal tricks are clever, no one is fooled. If bypassing the law is policy, why hasn't Congress revisited these laws? (Indeed, what might a simplified legal authority and oversight mechanism say about the extrajudicial assassination of U.S. citizens?)

In 2005, Henry Crumpton, a former CIA officer, called the 9/11 Commission's recommendations "a bad idea." He pointed to the "core group of [CIA paramilitary] warriors" who survived the agency's post-Cold War paramilitary erosion, and who proved to be the "backbone" of the CIA presence in Afghanistan in 2001. Working alongside 12-man Special Forces teams, the Taliban government was overthrown in three months. [Read more: Grady/TheWeek/30November2012]

Belgian Intelligence Workers Outed on Facebook, LinkedIn. The identities of several Belgian intelligence workers have been exposed, but it wasn't rival spies who blew their cover. The workers listed the Belgian State Security Service as their employer on Facebook and LinkedIn, the Brussels-based paper De Standaard reports. The security service hasn't confirmed if the profiles are real, and Facebook in particular requires no proof of workplace. But in interviews with De Standaard, both a Belgian senator and a security service spokesperson expressed concerns about the profiles, suggesting they might be authentic. 

They wouldn't be the first. While intelligence agencies would probably prefer their employees not broadcast their jobs, many already do just that. More than 200 LinkedIn users identify themselves as Central Intelligence Agency employees, including a number of analysts, operatives, and at least one cook. (One woman, a self-identified intelligence analyst at U.S. Central Command in Florida, lists "national security" and "counterterrorism" among her skills - she has peer endorsements in both.) In France, a number of Facebook users claim to work for the General Directorate for External Security and list their languages, educational background and marital status publicly. Similarly, Foursquare records 500 self-reported �check-ins' at Germany's Federal Intelligence Service by 142 users. [Read more: Dewey/WashingtonPost/26November2012]

CIA Should Return to Old-Fashioned Intelligence Gathering. It turns out that the top brass at the CIA had an inbox of secrets of the all-too-human, sexual variety. It was unquestionably titillating. But what about the other secrets - the intelligence secrets that are the agency's reason for existence? How are they doing on this score?

When the uproar passes over the personal misjudgments of Gen. David Petraeus, the country will be left with this question of intelligence goals and missions. And here's where an overlooked problem of the Petraeus era should be fixed.

Petraeus was picked for the job, and eager to take it, partly because the White House believed that in an era of counterterrorism, the CIA's traditional mission of stealing secrets was morphing into a wider role that increasingly stressed paramilitary covert action. Petraeus, with his matchless experience in running wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was seen as well suited to run an agency that combined the trench coat and the flak jacket.

But the Petraeus-era CIA had a hidden defect, quite apart from any errant emails, which was that the paramilitary covert-action function was swallowing alive the old-fashioned intelligence-gathering side of the CIA. This actually seems to me to be the central lesson of the disaster in Benghazi.

The CIA had a big base in Benghazi, with a half-dozen former military special forces assigned there as part of the "global response staff." These were the muscle-bound security guys known to flippant earlier generations of CIA case officers as "knuckle-draggers." They were in Benghazi in such numbers in part because the CIA was trying to collect the shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles that had gone loose after the fall of Col. Moammar Gadhafi. They may also have been working with Libyan militias to help them become effective security forces.

Given the large number of security personnel at the base in Benghazi, they implicitly took on responsibility for security at the smaller U.S. consulate a mile away. The consulate didn't have normal State Department security, so when the attack came on Sept. 11, the CIA base was the only 911 number to call. The agency's officers and contractors acted with great courage but they should never have been in such a position. Similarly, they made a mistake in relying on Libyan militias for the heavy weapons they needed that night but didn't get in time.

Benghazi showed the reason the United States needs clandestine intelligence officers in dangerous countries such as Libya. [Read more: Ignatius/TheOaklandPress/1December2012]

What You Need to Know About the Pentagon's New Spy Service. What should a war-weary public think of a whole new spy service for the Pentagon? The brain-child of two wunderkinds of intelligence, the Defense Clandestine Service will ultimately field 1,600 personnel across the world. This sounds like a lot of new spooks. But the reality is a bit different. There is a primer of sorts of what this new spy service will do, and what it won't do.

(1) There won't really be 1,600 new spies. There are already about 600 or so Defense Attaches attached to embassies and consulates. They collect intelligence openly. They will now work more closely with their covert-counter-parts and are included in the figure that Congress has been given for the size of the DCS. Of the remaining 1,000 personnel, a bunch will come from existing Department of Defense intelligence collection agencies. DCS will incorporate some of the human intelligence gatherers of the Army Compartmented Element, which works primarily with the Special Operations Command, and the Defense Program Support Activity, which creates secret task forces to deal with the toughest and most highly sensitive defense-related intelligence problems. It will swallow whole the Defense Intelligence Agency's existing Defense Counterintelligence and Human Service. This brings the total of "new" spies to several hundred. They will be trained and fielded over the course over five years. 

(2) The DCS will allow the Defense Department to focus resources on current and future problems that cross the boundary lines of individual services, like counter-proliferation. It will also allow policy-makers to devote more resources to national intelligence priorities related to defense, like Chinese efforts to modernize its Navy into an "anti-access force," or technical developments for its anti-ship ballistic missiles. It will be easier to create a government-wide strategy to collect all types of intelligence on developments that threaten U.S. strategic surprise. [Read more: Ambinder/TheWeek/2December2012]


Section IV - Books, Obituaries, Research Request, and Coming Events


Books

"Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed" by Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille. In late May 1991, a small group of CIA and FBI officials began to take a second look at a mystery known in intelligence circles as "the 1985 events." That year, most of the CIA's most valued assets in the Soviet Union were compromised, but the reason was still unknown. Some thought it was a communications breach; others thought a mole was giving away the store.

Sandra Grimes, one of the co-authors of "Circle of Treason," was just getting settled in on her first day of work with the group when she was approached by a CIA veteran, a man once regarded by co-workers as absent-minded and ill-dressed, but who now exuded confidence and wore expensive suits. Walking into Grimes's work area to welcome her, he began a lecture on the basic tenets of conducting a counterintelligence investigation and offered his assistance. 

The man was Aldrich Ames, the CIA mole who had been spying for the KGB for six years. Grimes didn't know it then, but she came to suspect Ames as the investigation went on. When the group was scrutinizing lists of people for who might be the mole, their choices in an informal straw poll were weighted by points. Of everyone on their list, Ames got the highest score as the most likely candidate. Eventually, the FBI opened a full investigation, Ames was arrested in 1994, pleaded guilty and is now serving a life term in prison. His motivation appears to have been simple greed.

What makes this volume interesting is that it was written by longtime CIA insiders, who saw firsthand how the agency's network inside the Soviet Union crumbled. [Read more: Hoffman/WashingtonPost/30November2012]


Obituaries

John Farmer.  John Farmer, who has died aged 95, was a member of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and was parachuted into enemy-occupied France in 1944; he subsequently worked for MI6, and is believed to have been involved in an ill-fated British plot to assassinate President Nasser of Egypt. 

On the night of April 29 1944 Farmer, code name Hubert, took off from Tempsford aerodrome, Bedfordshire, and in the early hours of the following morning was dropped near Montlu�on, north-west of the Massif Central. He was accompanied by his courier, Nancy Wake, code name H�l�ne, who later topped the Gestapo's most-wanted list.

Their radio operator had been so badly tortured on a previous mission that he could not use a parachute, and, for the fortnight before he was landed via Lysander on an improvised airstrip, his absence proved a severe handicap. Farmer and Wake were forced to use a go-between with local Resistance groups, but the day after they arrived the liaison was arrested by the Gestapo. Fearing that his cover was blown, Farmer left his safe house under cover of darkness and escaped arrest by just 30 minutes.

His role thereafter was to organise SOE's so-called Freelance Circuit, directing the activities of some 20,000 men and getting arms and ammunition to them in the Chaudes-Aigues region. He had to find suitable fields for supply drops, train the Maquisards in the use of the weapons, and provide them with cash.

On one occasion he was cycling with a colleague from the Resistance to meet a member of the P�tain government, whom they hoped was going to change sides, when a German guard stopped them and asked where they were going. Farmer replied in German.

When asked where he had learned to speak the language, Farmer pretended to be a former French soldier who had spent some time in a PoW camp after 1940. The guard, with whom the pair struck up a rapport, warned them that there was another German checkpoint on the road and advised them to turn off and take smaller lanes. Ever afterwards, Farmer was unable to account for this act of friendliness from an enemy soldier, but always believed that it had saved his life.

As a result of the efforts of Farmer and his comrades, Maquis groups began to pose such a serious threat to the occupation that the Germans determined to destroy them. In June a force of several infantry battalions supported by armoured cars, tanks, artillery and aircraft launched a heavy attack at Mont Mouchet.

The ferocity of the offensive was such that Farmer had to order his Resistance groups to disperse into the hills. When his position became untenable, he too had to withdraw. His car was a wreck and he became separated from Wake. He also lost contact with his radio operator, requiring him to walk 150 miles to find another in order to request weapons to replace those that had been abandoned.

After D-Day, Farmer helped to sabotage the enemy's lines of communication, supported the Resistance in the Tron�ais Forest in the Allier and fought in the liberation of Montlu�on. He was awarded an MC.

John Hind Farmer was born in London on January 12 1917 and educated at schools in Germany and Switzerland and at the Jesuit college at Godinne-sur-Meuse, Belgium, before going on to Beaumont College, Windsor. [Read more: TheTelegraph/29November2012]


Research Request
 [IMPORTANT: AFIO does not "vet" or endorse these research inquiries or job offers. Reasonable-sounding inquiries and career offerings are published as a service to our members, and for researchers, educators, and subscribers. You are urged to exercise your usual caution and good judgment when responding or supplying any information.]

Private Investigator Sought to assist private West Coast-based researcher: I am currently looking for a professional private investigator, skilled in counter surveillance, to work on a private matter. You and/or your firm would work on a consulting basis or directly under contract. Please call my office at 541-359-1530 and ask for Evan Rees. We can discuss the needs of this investigation and your capabilities and fees at that time.


Coming Educational Events

EDUCATIONAL EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

MANY Spy Museum Events in November, December and 2013, with full details are listed on the AFIO Website at www.afio.com. The titles for some of these are in detail below and online.

Tuesday, 4 December 2012, 8-9 am - Tysons Corner, VA - SPYPEDIA's Global Terrorism Espionage and Cybersecurity is hosting FREE Monthly Briefings (G-TEC Briefing)

Location: Microsoft Store, Tysons Corner Center Mall, Level 2, Parking Area: P5, Tysons Corner, Virginia.
To Register: 703 642-7450 or email contact@cicentre.com
Seating is limited; Reservations required.

5 December 2012, 10 - 1pm - Annapolis Junction, MD - National Cryptologic Museum Foundation Annual Pearl Harbor Program features Elliot Carlson on Joe Rochefort's War

This year's morning program plus lunch highlights the trials and tribulations of Commander Joseph Rochefort, the OIC of Station HYPO, the U.S. Navy's signals and cryptologic intelligence unit at Pearl Harbor. Our speaker will be Mr. Elliot Carlson, author of Joe Rochefort's War.
Location: The program will be held at L3 Stratis Maryland Conference Center in the National Business Park.
Presentation is followed by a book signing with Mr. Carlson and lunch. $20 for Museum members, $40 for guests (includes complimentary membership).
We hope you can join us on 5 December. Deadline: Please make checks payable to NCMF and return by 30 November to: NCMF, PO Box 1682, Fort George G. Meade, MD 20755-9998. Inquiries? Call 301-688-5436 or email cryptmf@aol.com

6 December 2012, 11:30am - San Francisco, CA - The AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts Dr. Roger Canfield, former Executive Director, U.S. Intelligence Council [a private nonprofit 501(c)4 association].

11:30AM no host cocktails; meeting starts at noon. United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 - 45th Avenue, SF (between Sloat/Wawona). Dr. Roger Canfield, former Executive Director of the U.S. Intelligence Council [a private nonprofit 501(c)4 association] speaks on "What Did the CIA Really Know About the Antiwar Movement in Vietnam: Are We Doing Better Against Political Influence Operations by Al-Qa’ida and China Today?"
E-mail RSVP to Mariko Kawaguchi at afiosf@aol.com and mail a check made out to "AFIO" to: Mariko Kawaguchi, P.O. Box 117578, Burlingame, CA 94011. Members and students: $25; non-members $35.

Friday, 7 December 2012, 09:30 am - 2 pm - Tysons Corner, VA - AFIO WINTER Luncheon - Film Screening on DCI William Colby; Presentation on The Internal IC Hunt and Unmasking of CIA Traitor Aldrich Ames

A very special day. In the a.m. we will have an introduction and screening of Carl Colby's [Jedburgh Films] acclaimed - controversial to some - documentary: THE MAN NOBODY KNEW: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby. Please note: Event is starting one hour earlier than usual. Film and Q&A starts at 10 am, concludes at noon. 3 course luncheon. 1 p.m. speaker will be Sandy Grimes, a former CIA official [26 yrs] - one of the principals behind the dogged search and unmasking of the spy in their midst, described in the just released book: Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed. Register Here.

7 December 2012, 9am - 3pm - Jersey City, NJ - New Jersey City University hosts 71st Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor! - 2nd Northeast Regional Security Education Symposium on "Creating Actionable Intelligence and Using Analytical Techniques"
In concert with launching the inaugural doctoral degree program in Civil [Homeland] Security, NJCU will be hosting this second regional symposium following NJCU's designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence in 2009 by the DHS and the NSA. CPEs and limited vendor tables will be available. The one-day conference costs is $65. Legacy and Corporate sponsorships are being pursued as well. The venue for the conference has changed and will now be NJCU's main campus in Jersey City which is easily accessible via car or public transportation. Directions are here.
Confirmed speakers are: Greg Ehrie - ASAC, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Newark, NJ, presenting on behalf of Robert S. Muller, III - the Director of the FBI. He is one of five Assistant Special Agents in Charge (ASAC) at the Newark Office of the FBI. Greg is responsible for the Office's Intelligence programs and will be talking about the importance of actionable Intelligence and the analytical work that his analysts perform on a daily basis.
Ed Dickson - Director NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, appointed in February 2012 by Governor Chris Christie to serve as the Director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (OHSP). He will be speaking about his office and role in New Jersey's Homeland Security and preparedness.
Eduard J. Emde, CPP President, ASIS – International, principal consultant for BMKISS Europe, an independent security support organization based in the Netherlands. Emde has more than 20-years' experience in security and security risk management. He will be speaking about the future of the Security profession.
"Rosie" Rosenberg - Commanding general and participants of "The Bus" (Hexagon) mission. Maj Gen, USAF (Ret) Robert A. "Rosie" Rosenberg serves as Keynote and panel facilitator. He Chairs GPS, Space Technology and Air Force Research Lab Boards. He will be joined with his colleagues for a panel discussion on the recently declassified Hexagon mission: the above speakers, Phil Datema, R. Evans Hineman, and Mike Ferrara. See this link.
For additional details contact (201) 200-2275 or email our Department Secretary, Denise Melendez at: dmelendez@njcu.edu
A registration form is available here.
(Use the message field to convey your interests and/or sponsorship level)

Saturday, 8 December 2012, 1:00 pm – Washington, DC – "Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy's Daughter" at the International Spy Museum

Join us at the International Spy Museum Store for an in-store book signing of Born under an Assumed Name by Sara Mansfield Taber.
From literary journalist Sara Mansfield Taber, comes a deep and wondrous memoir of her exotic childhood as the daughter of a covert CIA operative. Born under an Assumed Name portrays the thrilling and confusing life of a girl growing up abroad in a world of secrecy and diplomacy, and the heavy toll it takes on her and her father. As Taber leads us on a tour through the alluring countries to which her father is assigned, we track two parallel stories: those of young Sara, and her Cold War spy father. Sara struggles for normalcy as the family is relocated to cities in North America, Europe, and Asia; and the constant upheaval eventually exacts its price. Only after a psychiatric hospitalization at age sixteen in a U.S. Air Force hospital with shell-shocked Vietnam War veterans, does she come to a clear sense of whom she is. Meanwhile, Sara's sweet-natured, philosophical father becomes increasingly disillusioned with his work, his agency, and his country. This is the question at the heart of this elegant and sophisticated work: what does it mean to be an American? In this fascinating, painful, and ultimately exhilarating coming-of-age story, young Sara confronts generosity, greatness, and tragedy.
Tickets: Free! No registration required. For more information visit www.spymuseum.org

Tuesday, 11 December 2012, 11:30am - MacDill AFB, FL - The Suncoast AFIO Chapter on several first-hand international reports.

Wallace Bruschweiler provides reports on the 12th International Conference of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), held in Herzliya, Israel focusing on four geo-strategic processes that are affecting international affairs in general, and Middle Eastern and Islamic countries. And a report on the 2012 AFIO Intelligence Symposium at ODNI and DIA a sweeping retrospective on 2011-2012 espionage, counterintelligence, and security cases, including intelligence gathering successes and failures worldwide, how intelligence
is used in US and other nations and a review showing that far more espionage cases occur in US than public knows —with Russia and China as the top two nations that recruit Americans to spy on the US.
Also to be provided is an update from Chapter member Walter Andrusyszyn on the USF Center of Excellence Program in National and Competitive Intelligence, and tales of Chris Clark's recent visit to China; Chris is a student who has attended our meetings in the past and is looking forward to an Air Force career.
Dr. Ken Campbell's book collection donation has found a home at USF, and Chapter President Gary Gorsline entertained a delegation from the Lower Chamber of the Afghan Parliament at the Lutz Fourth of July celebrations and shares his insights from that experience.
Meeting is being held at the Surf's Edge Club at MacDill AFB, 7315 Bayshore Boulevard, MacDill AFB, FL 33621.
Fee: $20. Make reservation at mfshapiro@att.net
If you make a reservation, don't cancel and get a cancellation confirmation by the response deadline and then don't show up, you will be responsible for the cost of the luncheon. Visit www.suncoastafio.org

Wednesday, 12 December 2012, 5:30 pm - Las Vegas, NV - AFIO Las Vegas Chapter hosts Debra Gauthier on book highlighting career/challenges of female law enforcement officers

Normally, we all meet at the Robin's Roost at the O'Club for food and drink before our AFIO meeting but because we are having our holiday dinner and we will be meeting in the A-Room of the O'Club, a no-host bar, located adjacent to the A-Room will be in operation from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. for your convenience. Please purchase your cocktails at the A-Room bar instead of the Robin's Roost.
Our featured speaker for the evening will be: Debra Gauthier
Topic: "Bright Lights, Dark Places"
Ms. Gauthier is the author of her recently released book, "Bright Lights, Dark Places" which highlights her career and the challenges she faced pioneering as one of the first female officers on the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Ms. Gauthier has been a native Las Vegan since 1963 and is the oldest of four siblings. She will be sharing from a chapter of her book entitled, "What Have I Gotten Myself Into!"
Ms. Gauthier's book "Bright Lights, Dark Places" will be on display and available for purchase before the meeting and during the breaks and she will be happy to autograph it for you.

If you have provided your name, date of birth and either a drivers' license number or a social security number, your name will be at the guarded main gate at the entrance of Nellis Air Force Base. If not, please provide this information to me by November 27, 2012, or you will not be admitted. If you currently have adequate base access, you do not need to provide this information.
Place: The Officers' Club at Nellis Air Force Base. All guests must use the MAIN GATE, located at the intersection of Craig Road and Las Vegas Blvd.
Address: 5871 Fitzgerald Blvd., Nellis AFB, NV 89191
Phone: 702-644-2582.
Dinner: A holiday dinner buffet will be served beginning at 5:30p.m. and
Please Note: If your dues are in good standing for the current calendar year, the holiday dinner will be free of charge. If your dues are not currently in good standing or for any guest attending the meeting, there will be a $20.00 charge for the dinner. Please feel free to bring your spouse and/or guest(s) to dinner as well as our meeting, but remember to submit your guest(s) names, date of birth and either drivers license number or social security numbers to me before the stated deadline of November 27, 2012; not only so that they will be allowed admittance to the base but to give me an accurate head-count as well.
RSVP: You may email Mary Bentley at mary.bentley@doe.gov or call her at 702-295-0417 if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you!

Saturday, 15 December 2012 ,1:00 pm – Alexandra Hamlet, "The Right Guard" Book Signing at the International Spy Museum

Join us at the International Spy Museum Store for an in-store book signing of "The Right Guard" by Alexandra Hamlet. Alexandra is a Harvard-trained cultural anthropologist, an international lecturer and a defense anthropologist. This is her first novel, a winner in three categories of the 2012 International Book Awards.
CIA operative Eric Brent and his revolutionary light weapon invention are being used by the CIA to reveal members involved in a take-over of the United States Government. It's the mid-'70s, and the Vietnam War has finally ended. The Founding Fathers made clear the right of the people to rise against tyranny and institute new government and some extremely powerful Americans have taken that to heart. They work to assemble their own, "private" army by stealing armaments from National Guard armories around the country, spiriting away the ordnance into huts and unused factories. Believing the government is taking away civil liberties and becoming too intrusive into the lives of ordinary Americans, this group calls itself The Right Guard. It has been preparing for what they call Wings Day, they plan to capture the president and keep him hostage until a government of their making can take control. Brent has to stop the imminent takeover and the elderly fanatic leader who dreams of putting the United States under martial law in order to tailor the fabric of American life to his liking.
The book reads like a film, the scenes rapidly progressing back and forth between the CIA and The Right Guard with a dizzying amount of characters appearing so quickly it is impossible to keep track of where they stand. Days later I found my mind drifting back to the book after reading current political news. This one will stay with you.
Tickets: Free! No registration required. For more information visit www.spymuseum.org

Tuesday, 15 January 1013, noon - "Spying in America: Espionage from the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War" by author, form D/NCS, CIA Mike Sulick at the International Spy Museum

Can you keep a secret? Maybe you can, but the United States government can't. Since the birth of our country, nations from Russia and China to Ghana and Ecuador, have stolen some of our country's most precious secrets. Join Michael Sulick, former director of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, as he discusses his new book, Spying in America, which presents a history of more than thirty espionage cases inside the United States. They include Americans who spied against their country, spies from both the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War, and foreign agents who ran operations on American soil. Some of the stories are familiar, such as those of Benedict Arnold and Julius Rosenberg, while others, though less well known, are equally fascinating. In each case he focuses on the motivations that drove these individuals to spy, the secrets they betrayed, their tradecraft, techniques for concealing their espionage, their exposure and punishment, and the damage they ultimately inflicted on America's national security.
Tickets: Free! No registration required. For more information visit www.spymuseum.org

Thursday, 17 January 2013, 6:30 pm – Washington, DC - "On the Front Line: Protecting Presidents and Prime Ministers" at the International Spy Museum

If anyone wants to do it, no amount of protection is enough. All a man needs is a willingness to trade his life for mine. –President John F. Kennedy
As Inauguration Day nears and security around the nation's capital intensifies, consider what it's like to guard the President. Imagine the whole world watching you work on your toughest day. A lesser version of this scenario occurs whenever national leaders venture into public. This evening two men who know what it's like to keep the head of their government safe from harm will share their experiences in the field of protection. Mark J. Basil served with distinction in the United States Secret Service for ten years. He coordinated covert protection for Presidents Bush and Obama and for major National Special Security Events. Daniel J. Mulvenna retired from the Security Service of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after 21 years working in Personnel Security, Counter-Subversion and Counterintelligence. In addition to his government experience in dignitary and VIP protection, he has worked for over 25 years as a security and risk management consultant to multinational corporations and government clients and has conducted personnel protection and counterterrorism training programs for clients all over the world. They'll share the concerns that protection officers must address in light of today's fast-moving culture where anyone with a smartphone can report on the latest movements of Presidents and Prime Ministers.
Tickets: $15. To register or for more information visit www.spymuseum.org

Wednesday, 23 January 2013, 6:30 pm - Washington, DC - "Inside Stories - Spy Hunters: The Women Who Caught Aldrich Ames" at the International Spy Museum

WHAT: "… he seriously considered us dumb broads." – Sandy Grimes

Meet Sandy Grimes, a former CIA Operative in the Agency's Clandestine Service, and hear how she and her fellow operative Jeanne Vertefeuille used their determination, hard work, and cunning to enable the capture and conviction of their former colleague and infamous CIA officer-turned traitor:  Aldrich Ames.  His acts of betrayal were finally halted thanks in large part to the dogged perseverance and penetrating analysis of this remarkable pair.  International Spy Museum Executive Director, Peter Earnest, who was once Ames' immediate supervisor, will also offer comments on the case. The women were finally able to tell the inside story of the unmasking of the CIA's most notorious traitor in their remarkable book Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed which will be available for sale and signing.
International Spy Museum: 800 F Street, NW Washington, DC Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station. Tickets: $9. Register at www.spymuseum.org

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

Wednesday, 30 January 2013, noon – "Power and Policy in Syria: Intelligence Services, Foreign Relations, and Democracy in the Modern Middle East" at the International Spy Museum

The world has watched the bloodbath in Syria where President Bashir al-Assad used the full power of his security forces. A key component of his machinery of repression has been the Syrian intelligence service, which also plays a major role in Syria's foreign policy decision-making. However, very little has been known about this service…until now. Join Radwan Ziadeh, Director of the Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies, as he presents a fresh and penetrating analysis of Syria's political structure and the Syrian intelligence service in the new edition of his book, Power and Policy in Syria: Intelligence Services, Foreign Relations and Democracy in the Modern Middle East.
Tickets: Free! No registration required. For more information visit www.spymuseum.org

30 January 2013 - Yorba Linda, CA [Nixon Library] - "President Nixon and the Role of Intelligence in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War" - a CIA Historical Documents 'Release Event' Conference co-hosted with The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

AFIO members and guests are invited to attend this CIA-Nixon Library Conference examining intelligence community's handling of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. It underscores the difficulty for the IC - in the past and today - to reliably predict the unexpected, especially in the Middle East. Event features former policymakers and analysts, as well as historians and Middle East experts discussing how intelligence played into the decisionmaking process before, during, and after the conflict. Invited speakers include Brent Scowcroft (National Security Advisor under Presidents Ford and Bush), Charles E. Allen, (former Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, Department of Homeland Security), William Quandt (Middle East expert at the National Security Council), Andy Liepman (former Deputy Director, National Counterterrorism Center), Dick Kovar (former chief of CIA's Middle East Task Force), James Gelvin (Historian, UCLA), Emile A. Nakhleh, PhD (former CIA Middle East expert), and the new Director of the Nixon Library (announcement expected soon). . There is no cost to attend.
REGISTER your interest in attending event by clicking email address at right to obtain additional details: events@afio.com
Provide your name, email address, and how many guests you might be bringing with you to the January 30th CIA-NIXON Library Conference being held in Yorba Linda, CA [right outside Los Angeles]. You will be sent further details as event approaches.
Additional information is also here.


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