Weekly Intelligence Notes #10-04 dtd 5 April 2004

WIN #10-04 dtd 5 April 2004

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


CONTENTS of this WIN

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SECTION I -- CURRENT INTELLIGENCE

          Not a War we Can Yet Say we are Winning

          Emboldened Islamist Risks Violence

SECTION II -- CONTEXT AND PRECEDENCE

          Bush Official Said to have Named Israeli Security as a Reason for War

          Meanwhile Down in the Trenches... 

SECTION III -- CYBER INTELLIGENCE

          DHS Says it can Deal with Cyber Attack

          Utah Pulls out of Anti-Terrorism Network

          You, too, can be a Hacker (an Ethical One, that is)

SECTION IV -- EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

          Counterterrorism Instructor Needed

          Northrop Grumman Mission Systems

          Interrogators, Debriefers and Arabic Linguists Needed ASAP

          Evidence Based Research Inc.

          Opportunities with an "Intelligent Systems Division"

          Psychologists Wanted

          AFIO Member Seeking Employment

          Summer Internship Sought 

SECTION V -- BOOKS, SOURCES, AND ISSUES

          Books

                    CIA Life:  10,000 Days With The Agency

                    The Mission:  CIA in the Balkans

                    Petraeus and the 101st in Iraq

                    Selling Uncle Sam Softly

                    A military in the Service of Globalism

                    The eagle and the Dragon

          Issues

                    House Intelligence Staffer Played Secret Advocacy Role

SECTION VI -- NOTES, LETTERS, AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

          Letters

                    Clarke vs. Bush et al

                    Infamy at Faluja

          Query

                    OSS Weapon?

                    Fox News Channel's "War Stories"

                    Researching Counterfeiting

                    Australian Army Training Team Vietnam

                    Documentary on George Blake

                    Assist a Graduate Student

                    Researching "Operation Mockingbird"

                    Dissertation Research: Intelligence Oversight

                    Espionage Novel Assistance

          Announcements

                    New AFIO Scholarship

                    Reunion of the Army Special Security Group

                    Speaker Available

                    The Middle East Policy Council

          Coming events

                    AFIO Fall Symposium/Convention

                    Global Information Forum 2004

                    Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies

                    Naval Intelligence Professionals Annual Red Tie Luncheon

                    Kidspy School: Codes and Secret Writing

                    Hoover Foundation Seminar

                    Cicentre's SpyRetreat

                    DIRNSA Hayden to address NMIA luncheon

                    AFIO Lunch to honor Col. Kuklinski

                    NMIA -- 30th Anniversary Banquet and Awards

                    The Office of Strategic Services Society

                    AFIO's Night at the Boston Pops

          Obituary

                    Father of Special Forces dies at 101


SECTION I -- CURRENT INTELLIGENCE

NOT A WAR WE CAN YET SAY WE ARE WINNING -- The killing of four Americans and the abominable desecration of their bodies is unquestionably the most upsetting news of the past week.  As so much has already been written and said about it, WINs will not presume to report on the Faluja atrocity except to draw the reader’s attention to comments by Anthony Cordesman, the eminent military scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Writing in the Washington Post on Sunday, he warned that, "This is not a war that we can yet say we are winning. The most senior U.S. defense officials say that new combatants are emerging as fast as we can kill or capture the old ones."

          The intelligence community, he says, cannot even agree on whether al-Qa'ida exercises any kind of central leadership over its activities in Iraq or has "franchised" its operations so that groups and cells with only loose links to al-Qa'ida's leaders are playing a key role.

          Monthly U.S. casualties have decreased but there are between 20 and 40 a month being killed and between 160 and 400 a month wounded. Coalition allies have lost 101 military dead and at least 350 Iraqi security forces and probably well over 1,500 Iraqi civilians have lost their lives since the war "ended." No one involved in Iraqi nation building believes this situation can change quickly.

          Despite the images of Iraqi glee at the death and desecration in Faluja, it is not an anti-American war. "Public opinion polls have conclusively shown that Iraqis as a whole -- including Sunni Iraqis -- do not support the insurgents, or violence against Americans, or a return to the past regime, or the creation of an Islamist extremist state."  Moreover, since Saddam's fall hundreds of innocent Iraqi Kurds have been murdered in insurgent bombings and hundreds of Iraqi Shi'i killed. "This is a war for Iraq's future in which Iraqis fight and suffer as much as or more than we who are seeking to help them."

          The insurgents, says Cordesman, are using psychological warfare and media images to undermine the nation-building process. They have seen what happened in Somalia, Lebanon, and Madrid. "They know that the calendar for nation-building will give them opportunities to try to disrupt Iraqi elections, divide the Iraqi people and attack the faithful during religious festivals for at least the next two years."

          The United States will not quit in Iraq because the country affects vital American strategic interests. U.S. power and prestige are on the line. It also has stakes in the future of allied leaders in Britain, Australia, Italy, Spain, Poland and other countries. Its influence in the Persian Gulf -- with some 60 percent of the world's proven reserves of crude oil -- is at risk, as is its strategic position in the rest of the Middle East. If the United States abandons Iraq, Cordesman believes, it would hand Islamic extremists all over the world a decisive victory, and effectively make Usama bin Ladin the victor, regardless of what happens to him and al-Qa'ida.

          But should the Iraqis own government reject U.S. support, or if there is a civil war, no one will fault the United States for exiting. "In every other scenario, however, withdrawal will be a serious defeat." 

          Cordesman is swinging in his criticism of the Bush administration -- "Much of the reason the United States now faces a war after the war is that senior officials in the Bush administration indulged in a neoconservative fantasy that Saddam's regime would crumble in ways that allowed unknown and unpopular Iraqi exiles to govern. It did not plan to secure the country once the Iraqi armed forces were defeated. Its initial nation-building plans were little more than a sick joke that prepared for burning oil fields and a food crisis, but not for rebuilding a nation of 26 million devastated by 30 years of dictatorship, and more than 20 years of sanctions and war. The U.S. military had to change its scheme for a few months of relatively peaceful occupation into a plan for years of fighting a low-level conflict. The National Security Council and the interagency process failed to prepare for conflict termination in ways far more serious than any failures to defend the United States from the 9/11 attacks. Paul Bremer and the people appointed to the Coalition Provisional Authority inherited an intellectual and logistical vacuum, and have had to improvise ever since."

          The issue now, however, is the future and not the past. With the technical transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis on June 30, the threat, he believes, will be limited. "Active insurgency is concentrated in a handful of Sunni areas and involves less than 6 percent of the population," he writes. There is a risk of more ethnic fighting but it seems likely to turn into serious civil war only if the U.S.-led nation-building effort fails and U.S. forces withdraw.

          The effort to establish effective Iraqi security forces and a new army is still uncertain. There were 208,000 Iraqis in the armed forces and security services as of early March, but at most only about 2,900 police and 3,200 members of the armed forces were fully trained and qualified. "Efforts to equip the armed forces have become a nightmare," he says. "The timetable will probably slip at least six months because of a contract dispute. Moreover, no one in the coalition seems prepared to explain how we will solve myriad related problems with defections, infiltrators and turncoats. The problems, however, can still be solved -- and over a matter of months, not years."

          After asserting that the economic side of the nation-building effort is not making the kind of progress claimed by some U.S. officials, Cordesman concludes with these words -- "The sacrifices Americans and others are making can have great human and strategic value, but only if we accept the fact there will be many more horrifying images to come, that we face at least another year of war, and that we need bipartisan support for both continued conflict and nation-building." (GeneP/ A. Cordesman in WashPost 2Apr04)

 The full Cordesman article can be seen at:

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46854-2004Apr2.html>

IRANIAN BACKED CLERIC UNLEASHES SHI’I VIOLENCE -- A virulently anti-American Shi'i cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, launched an attempt this weekend to seize power in Basra, Iraq's second city, and elsewhere. Until now violence against Coalition forces has been confined mostly to Sunni Arabs and a few Sunni Kurds.

          Armed members of Sadr's militia, the Army of the Mahdi, occupied the governor's house in Basra Monday, chanting "No to America, we'll sacrifice ourselves to Sadr." British forces and Iraqi police apparently did not intervene and left it to Iraqi officials to negotiate a settlement.

          In Baghdad fighting continued Monday for the second day with reports of Apache helicopters firing into the Shi'i district of al-Shuala. Sunday seven U.S. soldiers were killed and at least 24 wounded in clashes in the vast Shi'i slum known as Sadr City. A number of Iraqis were also killed. The fighting broke out after militiamen took control of police stations and government buildings, the U.S. military said. 

          In the holy city of Najaf, Sadr's militiamen and troops in a Spanish garrison exchanged fire throughout much of Sunday. Two Coalition soldiers, a Salvadoran and an American, were killed, and about 20 Iraqis. In another Shi'i town, Amara, four Iraqis died in clashes between the militia and British forces

          Trouble began on Saturday with Sadr's followers holding mass demonstrations in Baghdad, demanding the release of Mustafa Yacubi, a senior aide to Sadr. Yacubi was arrested in connection with the murder of a highly regarded moderate ayatollah in Najaf last year. Tension began to rise a week ago when the U.S. authorities closed down Al-Hawza, a newspaper supporting Sadr. They accused it of fomenting violence and slandering Coalition forces.

          Sunday, Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, called Sadr an outlaw who has placed himself outside the legal authorities, the Coalition and Iraqi officials.  Up to Sunday, Sadr had only threatened the U.S. forces, although his followers had often used violence against Iraqis. The new, Shi'i violence came less than week after the killing of four Americans and the desecration of their bodies in Faluja, raising the question of whether Sadr felt emboldened by that Sunni atrocity.

          On Sunday, the most widely venerated Shi'i leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, appealed for calm and negotiations. Although he is opposed to the temporary basic law that goes into effect when the United States transfers sovereignty back to the Iraqis on 30 June, he has enjoined the Shi’i not to resort to violence.

          Sistani belongs to the mainstream quietist Shia tradition in which clerics eschew taking a direct part in political life. Sadr’s views are very different and advocate direct clerical involvement in Islamist revolution along Iranian lines. He has traveled to Iran and met there with top leaders of the Islamist state. He also obtained the patronage of an Iraqi-born ayatollah, Kazim Ha’iri, who resides in the Iranian religious center, Qum. Among the Shia, that city is a rival for influence with the Iraqi hawza or religious leadership in Najaf.

          Sadr derives prestige from being the only surviving son of the greatly revered Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, who Saddam Husayn had murdered in 1999. However Muqtada, who is about 30 years old, lacks the scholarly credentials required to be a high-ranking cleric. Ha’iri’s role is to supply such authority.

          No political wheel turns in the Middle East without the lubricant of money and with the border still largely unguarded, Iranian money and arms have flooded into Iraq. Sadr is believed to be well funded by Tehran. This raises another question: Did hardliners like Supreme Leader Ali Khamene’i, former president and current chairman of the Expediency Council Akbar, Hashemi Rafsanjani, and the officers of the Quds Brigade of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps approve or even order Sadr to turn to violence? Or are they upset by Sadr’s action that could compromise the Iranians posture of non-interference in Iraqi affairs? The coming days should clarify this.  

          Sadr clearly must be a matter of concern to those responsible for Iraq’s security. So it may we useful to recount his activities at some length. Shortly after Najaf fell to U.S. forces, a prominent quietist cleric, Ayatollah Abd al-Majid al-Khu’i, arrived from exile in Britain only to be murdered by a mob at the shrine of the Iman Ali. Sadr’s followers have been implicated in the killing, as Yacubi’s arrest indicates.  They also attempted, unsuccessfully, to drive Sistani out of Najaf.

          Sadr established religious courts throughout the country and have imprisoned and tortured followers of other religious leaders in Najaf. They used grenades to destroy video-compact-disc shops they accused of selling pornography. Najaf's police chief forked over more than $200 to obtain the release of a policeman held in their jail. Coalition forces and the Iraqi Governing Council finally shut down Sadr’s court in Najaf and freed the prisoners, but there still are courts and prisons in Sadr City.

          In a striking act of aggression on 12 March, the Army of the Mahdi drove out hundreds of Iraqi gypsies from their village, Qawliya, about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad. Some 150 homes were destroyed, the Washington Post reported on 3 April. It quoted a regional spokesman for Sadr as justifying the destruction on the grounds that the villagers provided a fertile ground for sinning. The village had a reputation for brothels, gunrunning and sheltering criminals. No police or CPA action has been taken in the matter. Local police, the Post reported, said they were too weak to do anything about the Army of the Mahdi. 

          Sadr, who has claimed he will be martyred (i.e. liquidated by the CPA), assertion of power wherever he can is not the only Islamist activities. An oppressive Islamist influence is being felt increasingly throughout Iraq, including Kurdistan where suicide attacks have been conducted against the local Kurdish authorities. 

          Other Islamist action is directed at Iraqi universities were religious student groups are attempting to enforce strict Islamic standards of behavior and are intimidating anyone who tries to stop them, according to the Baghdad office of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. (IWPR Iraqi Crisis Report, No. 55, March 31, 2004)

          Students affiliated with the Badr Corps, the militia of the Iranian-backed Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, roam Basra University, forcing women to wear the veil. Signs proclaiming the supremacy of the leader of SCIRI, Abd al-Aziz Hakim, are posted across the university and professors say they are afraid to remove them, reports Michael Rubin. He is a leading American authority on the area who recently returned from working for the CPA in Iraq. In Nasiriya and Karbala, Iraqis lament they can no longer speak openly, lest they become the subject of retaliation by Iranian-funded gangs, Rubin wrote in the Los Angeles Times on 4 April.

          The conduct of Sadr and Sunni Arab insurgents shows contempt for the Iraqi security forces who freely admit to being intimidated.  Their situation is weakened by inadequate training and shortages of equipment.

          The Public Safety Newsletter of 1 April, put out by former members of the Office of Public Safety, cites a ranking USG source, returned from service in Iraq, as believing the training and development of internal security forces there is dismal. U.S. efforts in Iraq, the source says, are doomed by bureaucratic logjams, interagency in-fighting, and politically-correct reporting. The source is urging that a new advisory group, under the direct control of the National Security Council, be set up to take effect after July 1. This has apparently already been formally suggested to DOD on two recent occasions, the newsletter reports.

          On Sunday, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer, declared, “This morning in Najaf a group of people crossed the line and moved to violence. This will not be tolerated.” He was speaking at a ceremony in Baghdad inaugurating an Iraqi defense ministry and intelligence service. These, he said, would give Iraqis "the means to defend their country against terrorists." Let us hope that such will indeed be the case. (DKR)


SECTION II -- CONTEXT AND PRECEDENCE

BUSH OFFICIAL SAID TO HAVE NAMED ISRAELI SECURITY AS A REASON FOR WAR -- Iraq under Saddam Hussein did not pose a threat to the United States, but it did to Israel, which is one reason why Washington invaded the Arab country, according to Philip Zelikow, member of a top-level White House intelligence group, according to the Inter Press Service.

          IPS reports Zelikow, now the executive director of the 9/11 commission, said so in remarks he made at the University of Virginia on September 10, 2002 when he participated in a panel of foreign policy experts assessing the impact of 9/11 and the future of the war on al-Qa'ida.

          The Bush administration has never drawn a link between its war on Iraq and concern for Israel's security. The administration has insisted the war was launched to liberate the Iraqi people, destroy Iraqi WMD and protect the United States.

          At the time Zelikow took part in the foreign policy panel he was a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. He served on the board from 2001 to 2003.

          "Why would Iraq attack America or use nuclear weapons against us? I'll tell you what I think the real threat [is] and actually has been since 1990 -- it's the threat against Israel," Zelikow said, according to IPS. "And this is the threat that dare not speak its name, because the Europeans don't care deeply about that threat, I will tell you frankly. And the American government doesn't want to lean too hard on it rhetorically, because it is not a popular sell." 

          Zelikow told the university audience that a threat to Israel came from Baghdad preparing in 1990-91 to develop means of overcoming effects of a nuclear explosion that could sever radio, electronic and electrical communications.

          That, IPS reports him saying, was "a perfectly absurd expenditure unless you were going to ride out a nuclear exchange." Saddam was preparing for a nuclear exchange with the Israelis, according to Zelikow. He also suggested biological weapons falling into the hands of Hamas would threaten Israel rather than the US, and that those weapons could have been developed.

          Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to President George H. W. Bush, is the current PFIAB chairman. Neither he nor Zelikow returned telephone calls and e-mail message, IPS says.

          Before his appointment to PFIAB, Zelikow was on George W. Bush's transition team in January 2001. His ties to the administration provoked accusations of a conflict of interest when he was appointed chairman of the commission in 2002 from families of 9/11 victims.

          Nathan Brown, professor of political science at George Washington University and an expert on the Middle East, downplayed the Israel link to IPS. "In terms of securing Israel, it doesn't make sense to me because the Israelis are probably more concerned about Iran than they were about Iraq in terms of the long-term strategic threat." [GeneP]

MEANWHILE DOWN IN THE TRENCHES... -- The performance of the intelligence community, in the past and in the present, has been the subject of unprecedented attention in the national media in recent months.  The bulk of the coverage has been of the "gotcha" genre, overwhelmingly influenced by political motivation in an election year.  Despite the pious pronouncements of the politicians, the specifics of intelligence activities, techniques, discoveries, analytical judgments, successes, failures, and similar developments in the "intelligence" world have been reported and spun in the media conditioned by the preconceptions of the reporting organization or individual.  One several-weeks-old item illustrates how the daily work of intelligence professionals in the field forge on but attract little press attention.

       Although a book-writing career anti-terrorist has attracted heavy publicity recently, a special advisor for WMD to the Iraq Survey Group attracted comparable pack media concentration several weeks ago when he testified that no Iraqi WMD have yet been uncovered.  Dr. David Kay's statements sufficiently substantiated the preconceptions of a large portion of the political and media world as to virtually preclude any coverage of the continuing investigations of the ISG or of the beliefs of any of the hundreds of ISG workers.  The ISG is headed by Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton, the man in actual control of the effort (despite the exclusion of any but Dr. Kay's opinions in the media treatment).  A Representative who headed a bipartisan Congressional delegation to Iraq has returned to the United States and spoken of what was learned in extensive discussions with the ISG units [probably heavily populated with military intelligence types] working in Iraq.  While confirming Dr. Kay's belief that no WMD have been uncovered, the ISG people still doing the day-to-day searches were quick to point out there is no shortage of leads, with tens of millions of documents remaining to be fully examined and considerable circumstantial evidence to be pursued.  Although the workers were reported to have expressed a sense of frustration and dismay over the Kay statements, the Congressman concluded that in the end, Dr. Kay's judgments support continuing the search for weapons of mass destruction and for Saddam's preparations of an infrastructure to support their production once he got rid of the outsiders.  The special advisor is quoted in the article as saying, "In fact, I think at the end of the inspection process, we'll paint a picture of Iraq that was far more dangerous than we even thought it was before the war." 

          It can be surmised that one element of the intelligence workers' reported frustration with the reporting of their findings and analysis is the shrewd suspicion that even if they can put together a case provable in court of Saddam's extensive campaign to prepare an infrastructure to provide himself with WMD, anything they say will be largely discounted by the US chattering class.  Anything less than one or two metric tons of nuclear, biological or chemical material will be rejected as inconclusive evidence of offensive capability or intent.  Experienced intelligence workers probably will find solace in the thought that their findings and analysis will prove valuable at some point, even if not immediately in an election year. [Harvey] (Philadelphia Inquirer 19Feb04/DKR)


SECTION III -- CYBER INTELLIGENCE

DHS SAYS IT CAN DEAL WITH CYBER ATTACKS -- The Department of Homeland Security says that it has the authority and the wherewithal to coordinate an appropriate response in the event of an attack on the U.S. infrastructure. DHS technology officials delivered the upbeat opinion to members of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, concerned about reports the department is disorganized and does not have good coordination with other federal, state and local agencies and the private sector.

          Robert Liscouski, DHS assistant secretary for infrastructure protection, told the congressmen on 30 March that lines of communication are in place so that DHS could coordinate a national response.  DHS authority to coordinate a response is based on a presidential directive. Details of which authorities are still filling in, he said.

          The fiscal 2005 budget for the National Cyber Security Division is $79 million, most of which is allocated to building up a national cyberspace security readiness and response system, Liscouski said. The core of that system is the existing U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.

          For its internal security needs, department officials announced they will use a commercial product, called Trusted Agent FISMA, to capture and maintain security reporting data required under the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002. Steven Cooper, DHS' chief information officer, said the use of that tool should improve the timeliness and accuracy of reporting.

UTAH PULLS OUT OF ANTI-TERRORISM NETWORK -- Utah has joined a growing list of states that are abandoning an anti-terrorism information sharing system endorsed by the federal government, PostNewsweek Tech Media reports. Gov. Olene Walker said towards the end of March that the state would not renew its participation in the Multistate Anti-terrorism Information Exchange, Matrix.  Her announcement followed a decision in January to postpone Utah’s involvement in Matrix until a review committee examined the program.

          “Based on the recommendation of the review committee, and also upon the information I have received, I have informed state agencies we will not reinstate our participation in Matrix,” Walker said. “I understand law enforcement officials need to share information regarding criminal activity, but there are privacy and funding concerns I had to consider.”

          The review committee recommended that Utah stop participating in the program until adequate oversight could be established. The state legislature should determine what constitutes adequate oversight, the committee said.

          Utah is the 11th state to withdraw from the federal pilot program for either privacy or financial reasons, according to the New York-based American Civil Liberties Union. Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania are still participating.

          The other states that have withdrawn from Matrix are Alabama, California, Georgia, Oregon, Louisiana, New York, Oregon, South Carolina Texas and Wisconsin, the ACLU said.

          Matrix began as a way for a handful of states under the leadership of Florida to share certain types of data for criminal investigation purposes in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The federally funded system combines information about persons and property from commercial databases with information from criminal records and other state databases to identify potential terrorists.

          The ACLU objects to Matrix on the grounds that it may violate civil liberties. The watchdog body contends that the program’s creators have refused to describe the contents of the database and to satisfactorily explain what data will be compiled, who will have access to it and what standards would trigger the creation of a dossier on an individual.

YOU TOO CAN BE A HACKER (AN ETHICAL ONE THAT IS) -- System and network administrators in India now have an opportunity to become certified ethical hackers, according to the Indian IT Web site ciol.com. A New York based not-for-profit organization, the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) and the training wing of the Indian Ministry of Information Technology are offering such certification, the Web site Cyber News reported.

          The first batch of CEHs is due to complete training this month according to Haja Mohideen, technical director of EC Council.  The CEH Program certifies individuals in the network security discipline of Ethical Hacking in 22 domains from a vendor-neutral perspective. The certification work strengthens the abilities of all those concerned with the integrity of network infrastructure and enhances employment potential, said Mohideen.  The EC Council, made up of academics and industry professionals, has training facilities in 30 countries and ten more partners in Middle East are set to join in EC Council programs.  


SECTION IV -- EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

[IMPORTANT: AFIO does not "vet" or endorse these inquiries or 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.]

COUNTERTERRORISM INSTRUCTOR NEEDED -- AFIO Member Jim Rylander (rylander@cablespeed.com) wants to draw attention to this position at SRA.

<http://recruiting.sra.com/wss/start.asp?Application=ewss&group=srai&function=JobDetail&subfunction=6439823> To view other career opportunities with SRA, please visit their Careers Site at http://www.sra.com.

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems -- The Intelligence Systems Operation is in search of qualified candidates for challenging and exciting OPPORTUNITIES in the Northern Virginia/Washington, DC area.  If you currently possess an active TS/SCI clearance with a Full Scope Polygraph we are very interested in reviewing your resume against our current openings.  We are seeking individuals with experience in the following areas:

Software Engineering                                       Field Operations

Software Programming                                    Document Exploitation

Systems Engineering                                       Unix Systems Engineering

Intelligence Analysis                                         Unix Systems Administration

Geospatial Analysis                                         Systems Integration

Resumes will be reviewed against current openings. Grade levels will be determined based on the candidate's qualifications and the requirements of the position. An Equal Opportunity Employer, M/F/D/VEEO.  For more information please visit: http://www.ms.northropgrumman.com/careers/Careers.html.

Interrogators, Debriefers, and Arabic Linguists Needed ASAP -- Defense Recruiters, LLC, is urgently seeking interrogators, debriefers and Arabic linguists to support the DIA in Baghdad. Candidates must be clearable to SECRET (active clearance is highly desirable) and must have completed training in one of the following:

US Army 97E (Interrogator)

US Army 97B (Counterintelligence agent),

US Marine Corp 0211 (Interrogator) or

US Marine Corp 0251 (Counterintelligence).

          Defense Recruiters' client will accept as many candidates as it can supply. Training in D.C. is scheduled to begin the first part of April. Contact Defense Recruiters. Toll free: 1.866.205.1257, local: 602.263.7805, fax: 602.234.7937, http://www.defenserecruiters.com.

Evidence Based Research, Inc. -- needs energetic professionals with demonstrated records of success in several areas to fill the following positions: Senior Analyst -- Program Manager.  An Ideal candidate will have significant experience in the intelligence community.  Individuals with expertise in managing the integration of decision support tools and systems development.  Analytical backgrounds in any of the following areas of business process re-engineering, competitive intelligence, technology assessments, telecommunications and counter-terrorism.  Current security clearance is a plus.  For more about the company and requirements, please see our Web site at http://www.ebrinc.com.

Opportunities with an "Intelligent Systems Division" -- Lynda writes, "I am recruiting for a defense-related client on a Principal Engineer - Data Mining and Data Management and a Senior Software Engineer opportunity in the Washington, DC/Virginia area. Both positions are in the Intelligent Systems Division of the Company. Potential candidates must have a TS/SCI clearance, however, I would be willing to network with others. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me either by email or phone."  Contact Lynda Ferren, Director, Research Willows Research Partners (a division of Straube Associates Executive Search) 978-687-9850; www.WillowsResearchPartners.com; www.StraubeAssociates.com.

Psychologists Wanted -- Law firm focusing on representation of Intelligence Community employees and U.S. Government contractors in security clearance/SCI access adjudications and other sensitive matters has immediate need for board certified forensic and clinical psychologists on an ad hoc/on-call basis for consultations, to conduct psychological assessments of clients, prepare reports, serve as expert witnesses, etc.  Most of work will be in northern Virginia, suburban Maryland, and Washington, DC.  Prior intelligence community, security clearance adjudication, or personnel security experience and familiarity with Executive Orders 10865, 12333 and 12968, as well as implementing agency directives and regulations, such as  DCID 6/4, DoDD 5200.2, DoDD  5200.2-R, DoDD  5220.6 desirable, but not absolutely necessary.  Please forward cover letter indicating interest with resume/C.V. to the Law Offices of Mark F. Riley, L.L.C., P.O. Box 1606, Annapolis, MD  21404-1606 (FAX: 410-280-8650).  For firm background, see our website at www.nationalsecuritylawyer.com or www.markrileylawfirm.com.

AFIO Member Seeking Employment -- AFIO Member Thomas Norman would like to have his resume, credentials, and interest in seeking new employment announced to the AFIO membership -- Mr. Norman "is an internationally known security consultant with experience in the USA, Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has broad expertise in Security Operations, Physical Security, Wide-Area Integrated Security Technology Systems, Data Infrastructure Security, Integrated Security Master Planning, criminal justice, anti-terrorism, threat assessment, security cost/benefit analysis, and threat/countermeasure balancing.  Over 25 years experience in design, construction management and commissioning of highly integrated physical security, CCTV, access control, door hardware, parking, and audio/visual control systems for large-scale infrastructure environments. Mr. Norman is available now to work any project world-wide short or long-term."  Potential employers interested in finding out more about Thomas L. Norman, CPP, PSP; can contact him at (T) 917-509-4170; or kamalogroup@hotmail.com.

Summer Internship Sought -- "My name is Brian Devine and an AFIO Member. I am a USN veteran and currently an undergraduate at the University of Delaware. I am writing the AFIO to see if you could provide any assistance in helping me locate a summer internship in the Intelligence-National Security-China studies field. I am a double major in History & China studies with extensive self-research in Intelligence, National Security, China studies and Military affairs. I am hoping [someone at] AFIO could put me in touch with any individuals, think tanks, groups or organizations in the DC/VA area that has internships in those areas of study, and eventual career field that I am interested in. Once again any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you." Contact, Brian P. Devine, at Xsaint0027@aol.com.  


SECTION V -- BOOKS, SOURCES, AND ISSUES

Books

CIA LIFE:  10,000 DAYS WITH THE AGENCY -- by Tom Gilligan [Intelligence Books Division, Boston Mass. 2003; 284 pp, appendix, ISBN 0-9729659-1-2, $22.95(pb), 2nd and expanded edition, to order:  www.cialife.com or from www.amazon.com].  Maybe the "perfect" book for anyone interested in working in the DO for the CIA.  Aspiring DO applicants will be especially interested in what Gilligan has to say, not only because he was a career CIA case officer, but also because he was a DO recruiter.  Especially valuable are two appendix sections titled, "tips to applicants" and "A day in the Life of a First-Tour Ops Officer."  In addition to this virtually unique information and perspective, Gilligan's book offers some of the most detailed insights into the overall structure of the DO, its future challenges, and its most recent mishaps.  As an experienced member of the Agency's Covert Action Staff, Gilligan also elaborates the Agency's pre-9/11 stratagems, and he offers some post-9/11 considerations.  Overall, CIA LIFE offers what few -- if not no -- other Agency books do. 

THE MISSION:  CIA IN THE BALKANS -- A novel by R.E. Estes [ iUniverse, Inc., August 2003; 142 pp, ISBN 0-595-28079-X, $12.95].  As 25 year veteran Operations Officer (and AFIO member), Estes has created an "accurate portrayal of the CIA in action during the Cold War, and a story seldom told of the lives of case officers in the Clandestine Service."  Estes' The Mission develops around the story of Ivan Kolev -- a CIA asset recruited to become double agent in the Bulgarian Intelligence Service, and in doing so develops "haunting characters enmeshed in a web of international significance [that] create an intriguing first novel.  Mr. Estes knows all the aspects of the spy game and how it reacts to success or failure."  Anyone looking for a quick and compelling story, while interested in Agency operations as well as the cold war/Balkan environment, might consider The Mission.

PETRAEUS AND THE 101ST IN IRAQ -- Rick Atkinson, In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat, illustrated, 319 pp. Henry Holt & Company, $25.  Rick Atkinson, who covered the Iraq war for The Washington Post, is the son of an army officer and is a military historian as well as a journalist. He was with Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division during the push to Baghdad. That is when he learned he had won a Pulitzer Prize for 'An Army at Dawn,' his history of the North African campaign during World War II. He has written a vivid and well-informed book about the 101st and Petraeus in Iraq that is in keeping with such credentials.

          The soldiers of the 101st, he writes, ''took hardship in stride and refused to let bloodlust, cynicism or other despoilers of good armies cheat them of their battle honors.” Petraeus, the son of a Dutch sea captain who took refuge in the United States during World War II, is remarkably tough. Atkinson rightly depicts him as a man of heroic stature. As the general has said of himself, he is outside the norm. The 101st’s accomplishments under his command after the collapse of Saddam Husayn’s regime are among the most successful the occupation forces have achieved.  It is not surprising that having only just returned from Iraq, he is being sent back, according to Pentagon scuttlebutt, as chief of the Office of Military Cooperation. In that capacity he will oversee the organization and training of all the new Iraqi military and security forces.  

          Petraeus will be at the very heart of the conduct of coalition policy in the short time left before the transfer back to the Iraqis on June 30 of sovereignty over their country.  

          Despite the weaknesses of the Iraqi forces during the war, which lacked among many other things an air force, the 101st faced stiff resistance from some of the enemy that held out in several urban areas south of Baghdad and in attacks on coalition supply lines. Still, it needed less than half the number of the forces that fought the 1991 Gulf War to defeat the Iraqi this time. But it was a different picture once the major combat was over. As both then Army chief of staff Gen. Erik Shinseki and former Army secretary Thomas White said in the run up to the war -- and to the fury of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz -- several hundred thousand troops would be needed. Atkinson points out that contrary to the expectations of the Pentagon civilian leadership, there were 130,000 overstretched U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of 2003, with another 30,000 in Kuwait, rather than the mere 30,000 total they had predicted for the end of summer.

          Atkinson says he came to understand that ''victory in a global war against terrorism meant, at best, containing rather than vanquishing the enemy.'' U.S. forces, he writes, will for the foreseeable future be caught up in fights that are 'small, sequential, expeditionary and bottomless.

SELLING UNCLE SAM SOFTLY -- Joseph S. Nye Jr., Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, Public Affairs, 208pp, $25.  Joseph Nye Jr. is Dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and was an assistant secretary of defense in the Clinton administration. If the next incumbent of the White House is a Democrat, it is likely that Nye’s voice will be one of the most influential in forming foreign policy. Hence the interest of his book.  Nye describes the Bush administration as capable in its exercise of “hard” military and economic power but blind to the uses of “soft” power, “the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion.”

          Such policy is implemented, Nye says, by taking care to build up sympathetic public opinion and credibility abroad by cultivating good relations with allies, providing economic aid and promoting cultural exchanges. The idea is to project an image of the United States in keeping with its oft-repeated declarations of support for democracy and human rights. 

          The Bush administration’s unilateralism and indifference to the sensibilities of its allies has resulted in an unprecedented fall in support for the United States within the international community with the result that Washington, overstretched militarily and economically, is left virtually alone to rebuild Iraq. What is needed, Nye says, is a return to the employment of both hard and soft power that held the Western alliance together during the Cold War.

A MILITARY IN THE SERVICE OF GLOBALISM -- Thomas P. M. Barnett, The Pentagon’s New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century, Putnam, 402 pp, $24.95.  Barnett, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, argues in his forthcoming work that terrorism and globalization have combined to end the model of war between nation states that developed in the centuries following the Thirty Year War, ended by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The present century, he believes, will see the states of the world falling into one of two categories. One is a “Functioning Core” of economically developed, politically stable states integrated into global systems, The other is a “Non-Integrating Gap” comprised of Andean South America, the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and much of southwest Asia. Threats to international security are most likely to come out of the “gap” until, if and when, they become part of the core that has been integrated by globalism.  So Barnett proposes that the U.S. armed force be divided into two parts: one to conduct quick strikes to suppress hostile governments and non-government entities. The other part would be responsible for helping the “gap” countries make it into the “core,” something that seems very like “national building.” Doubtless the situation the coalition now confronts in Iraq would have been happier had the latter type of force been available and on the ground there in adequate numbers.

          Barnett does not believe his proposal implies making the United States’ a global policeman or creating an American empire. Rather the use of military power in the ways he suggests would merely reflect the role of the United States as the promoter of globalism and a concomitant need to prevent instability. To some such reasoning will seem precisely a justification for an American imperium. Be that as it may, Barnett’s globalism, which is rooted in free trade and a belief in the power of reasonable concern for material prosperity and stability, ignores the turbulent, hate-driven religious-nationalist sentiments that are currently the chief source of danger to the interests of the United States and other members of the “core.”

THE EAGLE AND THE DRAGON -- James Lilley with Jeffrey Lilley, China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia, Public Affairs, 464pp, $30.  James Lilley’s father went to work in Standard Oil’s China office in 1916. In the years that followed members of the Lilley family witnessed the tumultuous events of the twentieth century in various parts of Asia. James Lilley himself is 20-year veteran of the CIA who has served in posts throughout East Asia. Thus China Hands, due out in May, is informed by a remarkable personal and familial background in the area. He offers gripping accounts among other things of the agency’s operations in Laos, the war in Vietnam, and the Tiananmen massacre. He observed the last as ambassador to China from the vantage point of the U.S. Embassy, strafed by the Chinese. Written with his journalist son, this book will engross the attention of all readers with an interest in intelligence and U.S. policy in China. 

Issues

HOUSE INTELLIGENCE STAFFER PLAYED SECRET ADVOCACY ROLE -- A staff member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence last year drafted legislation that apparently would have channeled hundreds of thousands of dollars to an advocacy group that he was working to establish, according to a jaw-dropping story in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.   Reporting the paper’s account, by the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy News (http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2004/04/rc040104.html), relates that that particular provision was blocked by the Senate in conference.  But the House committee staffer, John Stopher, went on to help create and raise funds for the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, an advocacy organization that sought $60,000 membership fees from industry sponsors.

          The Capitol Hill story represents an unusually crass instance of bias and conflict of interest among intelligence committee staff membership.  A more commonplace concern has to do with the fact that a significant fraction of committee staffers are former employees of the intelligence agencies they oversee or perhaps, like the current Director of Central Intelligence, they hope to be future employees.  Either way, their capacity for independent criticism or, when necessary, confrontation is likely to be diminished, Secrecy News notes. [pjk]


SECTION VI -- LETTERS, QUERIES, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND COMING EVENTS

Letters

ThomasB writes on CLARKE VS. BUSH, ET AL (WIN 29 March) -- In 1983 I told a group of business leaders assembled by the USA Chamber of Commerce that, for the rest of my professional life, the major international threat against US interests would be militant, fundamentalist Islam.  I was thanked for my interesting but peculiar outlook, and sent on my way.  My statement was not mere fabrication. 

          We've known since at least 1983 that the Iranian and Syrian governments had extensive training facilities in several locations, manned by former KGB, and North Korean experts in mining, explosives, and brainwashing, to train a corps of suicide soldiers, some of which were specifically trained to hijack airplanes to be flown into specified targets.  We knew in the 90 or so days leading up to 9/11 that the "chatter" indicated that a significant target of US interests was being targeted for a mission. 

          All of this information is and was available from open sources.  I have been told that there were even MOSSAD agents in the US that summer who were tracking some of the "submarines" who were to conduct a mission or missions within the US.  I do not have any actual verification of that.

          We've also known for some time that, although he would sell anything to anybody for the right price, Saddam Hussein was not loved by anyone in the Islamist world.  He was properly thought to be a thug, with no real moral or religious commitment.  Although he may have acted as a go-between on some deals, he was neither trusted nor consulted on anything the Iranian-Syrian-Sudanese cabal had in mind.  By the summer of 2001, the real question about Iraqi weaponry was not what weapons they had, but what weapons could they cobble together out of the materials remaining in their control?  I told a lot of friends that my worst-case scenario for the Iraqi invasion in 2003 was that the remaining agent material had probably been containerized for quick movement, and that we would not get a strong enough force in the North to prevent it being slipped across a border.  After it became clear that the 4th ID would not be in country in time, I figured that there would be nothing left but vapor.

          The questions, then, really boil down to:

1.  Did the Clinton fail to act aggressively with military force against the terrorist threat in the face of credible, available, verified intel because it was politically impossible to do so prior to 9/11? and/or,

2.  Did the Bush administration act aggressively with military force to take us into a war without credible, available, verified intel because it was politically feasible to do so after 9/11?

Any answer - hell, even asking the questions - should make all of us very uncomfortable with the leadership we've been electing.

JohnB write on INFAMY AT FALUJA -- Tucker Carlson on CNN asked why hundreds of Iraqi men were for hours able to celebrate on the highway the appalling desecration and mutilation of 9 Americans soldiers and ex-navy seals in two separate terrorist incidents yesterday [According to Carlson the celebration went on for hours].

          The four found dangling on the bridge were 3 ex-navy SEALS and 1 ex-Delta Force on contract to our Central Intelligence Agency.  They deserved better. 

          Question is why did we allow this desecration of our dead to go on unopposed for so long a time?

          Do we send our boys over there to be desecrated by savages?

          Why did we leave them there dangling in the wind for more that four hours?

          Did our military leaders there call the White House for orders?

          This reminds one of the incident of infamy on the Berlin Wall on August 17, 1962, when Peter Fechter, a 17-year old cement mason, was allowed to die bleeding to death on the wire on the Berlin wall on orders from the Kennedy White House.

          GOD HELP THIS COUNTRY IF THIS IS THE WAY WE TREAT OUR FALLEN COMRADES IN SERVICE TO THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE. 

Queries

RESEARCH ON OSS WEAPON -- I am searching for any fellow AFIO members who might know where I could find information regarding a weapon I purchased many years ago.  It is a High Standard 22 caliber long rifle pistol, manufactured by High Standard, New Haven, CT, for the US government.  It is a model USA H-D, bearing serial number 141081 or 1081. 

          My research to date indicates the pistol was manufactured for the War Department around 03/14/1945.  I believe it may have been a service weapon for the Office of Strategic Services, but I am not certain.  Anyone who could provide old stories as to the history of this weapon, or the location of any records that would shed light on the weapon's past are requested to please send the information to Alan Therrien at AlTherrien@msn.com.

Fox News Channel's "War Stories" -- Kevin writes, "I've been asked to produce an hour-long program on the race between US and German scientists to create and detonate the bomb.  One key element in our story will be the ALSOS mission and Col. Boris Pash. We are looking for persons who worked with Pash and/or ALSOS in Italy, France, Belgium and/or Germany.  We are also looking to tell the story of how the Soviets either kidnapped or cajoled German scientists to help them with their nuclear program.  We are looking to talk to anyone from the intelligence community who had direct experience in this area."  With assistance, please contact Kevin Huffman, Producer of the Fox News Documentary Unit. (T) 212 301-5371 or email: Kevin.Huffman@FOXNEWS.COM.

Researching Counterfeiting -- Mark writes, "I am an historian of bank note engraving who is trying to research for an article the circumstances of the counterfeiting by American Bank Note Co. in 1942-43 of Chinese bank notes of the Central Reserve Bank of China and the Federal Reserve Bank of China (Japanese "puppet" banks), probably by the OSS or maybe the SOE.  I have information on the engraving done at American Bank Note, but nothing on the OSS or other intelligence/military involvement or who actually printed the notes or how they were used.  Any leads on the story behind this counterfeiting would be greatly appreciated.  Mark D. Tomasko.  My email is mntomasko@att.net and phone number is 212-755-8168, day or evening."

Australian Army Training Team Vietnam -- Bruce writes, "I am currently researching a manuscript on the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam that was Commanded by Colonel F. P. (Ted) Serong.  Prior to his command he was in Burma, visited Vietnam in April 1962, again in June 1962 and then arrived in Saigon with his unit in August 1962.  There are frequent mentions in various documents written by him and others on his position as advisor and consultant to General Harkins, MAAG and also the CIA.  He also visited the US on several occasions to discuss the war and its methods.  I would like to obtain some first hand opinions on the Colonel's 'presence' within the 'power circles' of advisors and how his thoughts on strategy for Vietnam were regarded.  Can you assist me through recommendations or contacts or publications that may be useful."  If you can help, contact Bruce Davies at bruce.davies@optusnet.com.au.

Documentary on George Blake -- Itay writes, "I am contacting you on behalf of Associated Producers Ltd. an Emmy award winning production company based in Toronto, Canada. We are presently producing a one-hour documentary on the life of George Blake for History Television in Canada. I would greatly appreciate your help in contacting CIA members familiar with any of the subject listed below:

          The “cold war” in Berlin on the 50’s.

          The “Berlin Tunnel” project.

          George Blake

          We are planning to travel to Washington to film interviews at the end of March/early April 2004. As such, I would be grateful to get in touch with former CIA members."  If able to help, contact Itay Heled at

T: 416-504-6662 or heled.eyal@rogers.com.

Assist a Graduate Student -- Michael writes, "I am pursuing a Masters of Science of Strategic Intelligence with the Joint Military Intelligence College and am in the midst of writing my thesis.  I am interested in interviewing retired U.S. intelligence officers who were involved with the European labor movement during the Cold War.  If anyone is willing to speak with me please contact me at Avalon696@aol.com.  Thank you very much."

Researching "Operation Mockingbird" -- "I am a Public Affairs Officer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and enrolled at a weekend Masters degree program at American University for Journalism and Public Affairs. For a term project, I would like to write about the early history of the CIA and its use of journalist and the media. In particular, I am interested in, "Operation Mockingbird" that was created by Frank Wisner. I'm seeking anyone who might have insight to this subject. Need to have completed by April 16. Replies to: Howard Cohen, 301-227-3105 email: cohenh@nga.mil."

Dissertation Research: Intelligence Oversight -- Cynthia writes, "I am a former CIA officer and current PhD student at American University researching intelligence oversight for the completion of my dissertation.  I am interested in talking with anyone who served with the DIA, NSA, NRO, or intelligence related parts of the DOD.  More specifically, I am interested in meeting with people who served in oversight parts of those agencies such as the Offices of Legislative Affairs or the Inspectors General offices.  My research focuses on the early and late 1990s. I have already interviewed two former inspectors general from the CIA, various CIA officers from the Office of Legislative Affairs and many Congressmen and Senators.  I would like to expand my focus beyond the CIA to the other vital parts of the intelligence community.  Please contact me at:  cindynolan@cox.net. "

Espionage Novel Assistance -- Andrew writes, "I'm a freelance writer in Leesburg, Virginia.  During the past three years I have developed a novel in the "espionage thriller" genre. My mission has incorporated two principles: (1) To create a compelling story that accurately reflects the structures and interactions of the American and international intelligence agencies, and (2) To create quality entertainment that serves as a tribute to the hard work, and profound sacrifices of American intelligence professionals, and those around the world who have served to protect freedom.  It is my personal belief that if the public can be better acquainted with the importance of intelligence to our national security, and the heroism of those who serve, then many of the obstacles to the intelligence agencies and professionals in the public arena can be overcome.

          I write to inquire if there is a means of contacting members of [the] association to determine if there are any retired intelligence professionals who may be interested in reviewing the novel. Comments from such reviews may be utilized on the book cover or in advertisements. The edited manuscript will be available for the review of interested retired intelligence professionals in June.  It is intended to serve as the start of a series of espionage novels that incorporate the principles stated above."  If interested, contact Andrew Gupta at Voice: 703-737-3733; or Email: ag@andrewgupta.com.

Announcements

New AFIO Scholarship -- Front Line Forces Scholarship -- US Special Forces (Green Berets, Delta, SEAL, Rangers, etc.) and intelligence Special Operations Groups are, each day and in many global hotspots, relentlessly defending the US against international terrorism.  It is largely because of this highly trained, brave, truly "special" group --suffering the greatest sacrifices while fighting for the causes of freedom and justice-- that Americans live more securely and will prevail against terrorists. This year, an anonymous, distinguished AFIO member has stepped forth to fund a scholarship directed toward an active or recently inactivated member of the US Special Forces. This scholarship will assist with the educational or professional advancement of the applicant, or with other costs that permit him to continue to serve his country.  A successful applicant for this scholarship should be a member of the special military or paramilitary forces, supply all relevant supporting documentation for the grant (as described below), and be selected above all other candidates for this grant, by AFIO’s Scholarship Committee.  That individual will receive a one-time $1,500 grant. 

*Candidates should, in addition to fitting the profile above, be able to provide the following application materials: a cover letter, Resume, 2 letters of recommendation, and a photograph.  Particularly, the cover letter should describe any relevant prior experience and future goals that would be aided through this grant.

REUNION OF THE Army Special Security Group -- Joe writes, "A few of us who served in the US Army Special Security Group found each other on the Internet and on military web sites and are now in the process of planning a reunion sometime in 2005.  We would like to get the word out to all Army vets and also SSO's (Special Security Officers) from other services. If interested, please contact Joe Koletar, USASSG 1967-1969, FBI 1969-1994, at Joseph.Koletar@ey.com or at (212) 773-7598.

Speaker Available -- Francis Gary Powers Jr., the founder of The Cold War Museum writes, "I do over 60 lectures per year on the U-2 Incident and the Cold War Museum. Please keep me in mind if you find yourself in need of a speaker.  I could bring some of the books [OPERATION OVERFLIGHT: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident written by his father] along if appropriate. I will be glad to offer AFIO members a 10% discount on any sales."  If interested, please contact FGP at gpowersjr@coldwar.org, or www.coldwar.org.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT -- The Middle East Policy Council's most recent Capitol Hill Conferences can now be viewed at their website, http://www.mepc.org. If you want fresh and informed analysis of issues confronting US policy choices in the Middle East, you are encouraged to tune in.

Coming events

AFIO Fall Symposium/Convention -- will be held 29, 30 & 31 October 2004 in the Baltimore, MD vicinity at various secure locations.  Full details to follow in coming months.  Please reserve these dates on your calendars. Plan to arrive 28th and depart on the 31st.

13 - 16 April - Rosslyn, VA -- Global Information Forum 2004 (Open Source Solutions '04) "OSINT - Back to Basics: 2nd Generation OSINT & Global Issues."  Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Global Issues.  The annual open source intelligence conference has split in two this year, and is now two days on how to create and operate a government open source intelligence center, and two days on global issues of common concern to governments, where spies are less useful than open sources.  A pre-conference on Advanced Internet Exploitation for Intelligence is also offered.  Speakers on OSINT include the leaders of the U.S. Special Operations Command OSINT Center, and selected international OSINT cells.  For the Global Issues portion, a number of Nobel-level authors are confirmed, including Herman Daly (ecological economics), William Greider (immoral capitalism), Jonathan Schell (unconquerable world), and Mark Palmer (eliminating the 44 remaining dictators).  European speakers include Arno Reuser (NL), Paul van Tonycreu (ECCP), T. Bjorgo (NO), and Cees Wiebes (NL). Information: www.oss.net.

14-15 April - Ottawa, Canada -- Canadian Centre Of Intelligence and Security Studies. The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies (CCISS) at Carleton University is hosting a Conference on "The Gouzenko Affair: The Beginnings of Canadian Counter-Espionage and Cold War Intelligence History". The event will be on 14-15 April 2004, in the Auditorium of Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa. Registration forms and conference particulars are accessible on line at: http://www.carleton.ca/npsia/conferences.html. For further information about the Conference on the Gouzenko Affair please contact Professor Martin Rudner, Director, Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies, Carleton University, e-mail: martin_rudner@carleton.ca.

April 15 - Tysons Corner, VA -- Naval Intelligence Professionals Annual Red Tie Luncheon. The Annual Red Tie Luncheons started many years ago when British Royal Navy and US Navy analysts working on the Soviet Navy gathered on Soviet Navy Day. Now sponsored by NIP, the gathering honors outstanding naval intelligence analysts. All past or present US or allied naval intelligence analysts, uniformed and civilian, who have worked in analysis of foreign navies are encouraged to attend. Guest speaker Rear Admiral Rose LeVitre, USN, Director, ISR, FORCEnet, N6/N7, Navy Staff. Price $27.50 paid in advance; $30 paid at the door. Cash bar at 1100; lunch at noon. Reservations NLT April 12. Mail to: NIP, PO Box 11579, Burke, VA 22009-1579 or e-mail to: navintpro@aol.org.

17 APRIL - WASHINGTON, DC, KidSpy School: Codes and Secret Writing, International Spy Museum -- Do you have what it takes to be a Code Master? Cryptology has been used by spies through the ages -- by ancient warriors, Civil War belles, and 21st Century terrorists. KidSpies, assisted by our very own crack code-breaking Operatives, will make and break secret messages; make, use, and expose invisible ink; discover the secrets of the cardano grille; witness the tricks of the Roman scytale; check out the deceivingly simple cipher disk; and more, at this hands-on workshop where All is Not What it Seems. Ages 11-15; No Grown Ups Allowed! Tickets: $25 per KidSpy Members of The Spy Ring (Join Today!): $16 per person. Space is limited – advance registration required! For more info. visit http://www.spymuseum.org/do/programs.asp#1

23 APRIL - HOOVER FOUNDATION SEMINAR -- The J. Edgar Hoover Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing financial assistance to needy students concentrating in the fields of law, forensic sciences, and law enforcement studies, will hold an inaugural seminar to announce plans to form the J. Edgar Hoover Center for Law Enforcement. It will be held on April 23, 2004 from 10am to 4 pm at The Supreme Council of Scottish Rite Freemasons located at 1733 Sixteenth Street Northwest, Washington, D.C.  Registration will commence at 9am and presentations will begin promptly at 10am. A buffet lunch will be served.

          Speakers will include Cassandra Chandler, Assistant Director in Charge of the Office of Public Affairs of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, William Webster, former director of the FBI and the CIA, syndicated  news commentator, Cal Thomas, and Kenneth Ramsey, Sheriff of Kane County, Illinois and the President of the FBI National Academy Associates. There also be a panel discussion featuring four prominent journalists and moderated by Charles Lewis Washington Bureau Chief of the Hearst Newspaper Corp.

          There is no charge or obligation for attendance or lunch. The seminar is open to current and former Special Agents of the FBI, members of the FBI National Academy Associates, spouses, guests, and interested current or retired professionals from the business, government and academic communities. To register please telephone 843-785-5678 and ask for “Diane.” Or e-mail your registration to dkrswoodslaw@hargray.com. Please ensure that you include your full name, current telephone number, and mailing address. We will mail final agenda information and seminar details to you in early April.

25-30 April - CICENTRE'S SPYRETREAT -- An espionage-themed luxurious Retreat & Conference. The retreat is at the five-star Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, VA, and is modeled on CiCentre's popular (and always sold out) SpyCruises. Some space remains for this one, so do not delay. Explore the presentations and panel discussions from international intelligence professionals, authors, and historians (and register) at http://spytrek.com/. While the CiCentre events are renown for providing more fascinating, insider info per-day than some grad school intelligence courses, by holding this at the Homestead, you -- and accompanying family members or SOs -- can also enjoy a vacation of luxury among pristine golf courses, pampering spas, exquisite restaurants, and a variety of outdoor activities. Reservations should be made ASAP by calling Spy Trek at (1-866-SPY-TREK). Visit The Homestead Resort http://www.thehomestead.com/ to see all the amenities.

28 April - NSA DIRECTOR HAYDEN TO ADDRESS NMIA LUNCHEON -- Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, USAF, Director, National Security Agency, will be the speaker at the next luncheon in the Intelligence Transformation series of the Potomac Chapter of the National Military Intelligence Association (NMIA).  The Capitol Club Chapter of the Association of Old Crows (AOC) is co-sponsor of the event at which General Hayden, who is also Chief, Central Security Service at Fort Meade, will speak about how he envisages transformations in his area of responsibility.  The luncheon is set for Wednesday, April 28, at the Koran Ballroom, Ft. Myer Officers' Club, Arlington, VA. There will be a no-host reception from 11.30 to 12 noon, then a buffet lunch and remarks until 1.30.  To attend, RSVP to Lori Tugman (ltugman@mindspring.com or 703-921-1800) by Friday, April 23.

30 APRIL - AFIO LUNCHEON DETAILS - RYSZARD KUKLINSKI: PATRIOT & SPY -- An espionage classic as told by his CIA case officer, the intelligence analyst, and the reporter who knew him. A HUMINT Colloquium at the AFIO SPRING LUNCHEON, FRIDAY, 30 April 2004. Three presenters who knew him firsthand: Benjamin Weiser, New York Times reporter and author of the just-published, "A Secret Life" (Public Affairs); Jim Simon, the CIA Analyst; and David Forden, the CIA Case Officer called "Daniel" provide, "a rare look at a single human intelligence operation...which reflected every aspect of the intelligence process." Time:  10:30 a.m. for badge pick-up. Weiser speaks at 11 am; lunch at noon; all three panelists at 12:45 to close at 2 pm. $30/person - current AFIO members and their guests, only.  

          Reserve right away with Visa, MasterCard or AMEX via email to afio@afio.com, by fax to 703.991.1278, or by voice to 703.790.0320. Weiser's just-released "A Secret Life" ... is an "epic spy story -- uplifting, inspiring, and amazing in its factual detail" will be on sale, along with other newly released intelligence books.  Intelligence Officer review of Weiser book.   

SUNDAY, 16 MAY 2004 - THE NATIONAL MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ASSOCIATION will be holding 30th Anniversary Awards Banquet on 16 May 2004 at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel, Tysons Corner, VA. A reservation form is available on their website at http://www.nmia.org.  

29 MAY - THE OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES SOCIETY -- forerunner to CIA -- will holds its 62nd anniversary reunion dinner on May 29, 2004 at the luxurious Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. Several hundred OSS veterans, their families, and distinguished guests are expected to attend the banquet -- part of a weekend celebration -- that will observe the founding of OSS in June 1942. During the weekend, guests will also attend the dedication of the National World War II Memorial. AFIO members are invited to attend the "business-attire-or-better" banquet and celebration at an all-inclusive cost of $150/person. Contact OSS Society President Charles Pinck at 202-207-2915 or via email at osssociety@aol.com.  

19 JUNE - AN EVENING OF SPY MUSIC DETAILS - AFIO'S NIGHT AT THE BOSTON POPS -- Filling up fast. June 19, 2004 at Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts. Conductor Keith Lockhart leads Boston Pops Orchestra in an exciting evening full of surprises including James Bond spy themes. The event begins at 6 o'clock with a pre-concert hors d'oeuvres reception and a glamorous sultry-spy fashion show by Boston's renowned Yolanda.  Register NOW online at

before event sells out. For more information on event, contact Event representative, GaryW at WassinRichland@aol.com.

Obituary

COL. AARON BANK, FATHER OF SPECIAL FORCES, DIES AT 101 -- Col. Aaron Bank (U.S. Army Rtd.), led a number of daring missions during World War II but was best known for his postwar role in organizing and serving as the first commander of the Army's elite Special Forces, has died. He was 101.

          Bank, who was known as the father of the Green Berets, died on 1 April at his home near Los Angeles.  During World War II, Bank was a special operations officer for the Office of Strategic Services, the government agency formed to gather intelligence and organize resistance forces behind enemy lines. The OSS, forerunner of the CIA, was disbanded soon after the war. But Bank and others were convinced that the Army should have a permanent unit whose mission would be to conduct unconventional operations.

          In 1951, the chief of the Army's Psychological Warfare staff, who had been impressed by OSS Special Operations during the war, instructed Bank to staff an OSS-style operational group. The following year, the Army approved setting up a 2,300-man Special Forces unit at Fort. Bragg, N.C. "I wanted none but the best," Bank said in a 1968 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "First, they had to be double volunteers; that is, they had to volunteer for parachuting and behind-enemy-lines duties, which takes a special flair, a special type of personality. We had to work up all the manuals and training procedures for demolition, sabotage, new and different ways of handling weapons."

          But most important, Bank said, "We had to teach them the classic aim and purpose of their service the organizing of civilian natives into guerrilla forces in enemy-held territory." Today there are about 7,700 soldiers in five active-duty and two National Guard Special Forces groups.

          "Col. Aaron Bank is a legend within the Special Forces community," Maj. Robert Gowan, spokesman for the U.S. Army Special Forces Command at Fort Bragg, said last Thursday. "His commitment and service to our country is unsurpassed. He was a man far ahead of his time."

          Born in New York City, Bank worked summers in his teens as a lifeguard and swimming teacher. "I'd go to Nassau in the Bahamas to work during the winter and then to Biarritz in southern France during the summer," he recalled in the 1968 interview. "It was a plush life."

          He was in and out of Europe over the next decade and learned to speak French and German fluently. But in the late 1930s, sensing the inevitability of war, he returned home and joined the Army. By the time the United States entered the war, Bank had been commissioned a second lieutenant. In 1943, he was accepted into the OSS.

          In December 1944, Bank received what he considered the most extraordinary assignment of his career: to recruit and train 170 anti-Nazi German POWs and defectors who would parachute with him into the Austrian Alps, where they would pose as a German mountain infantry company. The primary goal of the top-secret mission was to capture high-ranking Nazi leaders, including Adolf Hitler, who were expected to seek refuge in the area as the war in Europe neared an end. But in April 1945 after three months of training in France the mission was scrubbed. "I never cried in my life, but I damn near cried when they told me it was aborted," Bank said in a 1993 Times interview.

          Hitler, it turned out, was in Berlin at the time; he committed suicide on April 30, 1945. After the aborted “Iron Cross” mission, Bank was parachuted into the jungles of Indochina to search for Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. His team located 165 French internees at three different locations in the Vientiane area of Laos. Bank, who also served in the Korean War, retired from the Army in 1958 and moved to San Clemente. In 1972, at age 70, he began working full time as chief of security at a private oceanfront community in Capistrano Beach, a job he held until he was 85.

          Bank wrote two books: From OSS to Green Berets: The Birth of Special Forces, published in 1987 and Knights Cross, a novel co-written with E.M. Nathanson that appeared in 1993. Knights Cross was based, in part, on Bank's real-life exploits with the aborted Iron Cross mission, but the novel had a twist: The mission to capture Hitler is not aborted and Bank's fictional alter ego succeeds in capturing the German leader.

          Bank is survived by his wife, Catherine; their two daughters, Linda Ballantine of Dana Point and Alexandra Elliott of Anaheim; and a granddaughter. (GuyM and many others sent news items on this loss)


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