WIN 02-05 dtd 10 January 2005
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. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE THESE NOTICES....SEE REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS AT BOTTOM
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SECTION I -- CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
SECTION II -- CONTEXT AND PRECEDENCE
SECTION III -- CYBER INTELLIGENCE
Inauguration Will Have Unprecedented Security
British Government Developing Biometric ID Before Parliament's Approval
SECTION IV -- BOOKS, SOURCES, AND ISSUES
SECTION V -- CAREERS, NOTES, LETTERS, QUERIES AND AUTHORS SEEKING ASSISTANCE, CORRECTIONS, OBITUARIES, COMING EVENTS
Queries and Authors Seeking Assistance
Coming Events
8 - 10 February - Crystal City, VA - New Intel Conference Debuts
10 March 05 - Washington, DC - Spy Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage - International Spy Museum
21 - 22 March 05 - Washington, D.C. - EMININT 2005
23 - 24 March 05 - Fairfax, VA - NMIA National Intelligence Symposium
6 - 9 April 05 - Chicago, IL - SCIP Annual Conference
15 - 16 April 05 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Cryptologic Veterans Reunion
18 - 21 April 05 - SFSAFBI Western Regional Conference
20 - 21 April 05 - Langley, VA - AFCEA Spring Intelligence Symposium
21 April 05 - Washington, DC - 2005 MOAA Career Fair - DC Convention Center
22 - 24 April 05 - Grapevine, TX - SFSAFBI South Central Regional Meeting
25 - 28 April 05 - Philadelphia, PA - 2005 DoDIIS Worldwide Conference
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SECTION I -- CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
Blistering IG Report On CIA Senior Officials - A report by the CIA IG finds that officials at the highest levels of the agency should be held accountable for failing to allocate adequate resources to combating terrorism before 9/11, the New York Times reported on 7 January.
www.nytimes.com/2005/01/07/national/07intel.html?oref=login&th
IG John Helgerson, in a near-final version of a report to the DCI and Congress, severely criticizes former DCI Tenet and former DDO James Pavitt. It was not clear whether the agency or the White House was ready to reprimand those criticized, particularly in view of President Bush having awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Tenet last month.
Former CIA officials, including Pavitt, interviewed by the Washington Post expressed outrage at the IG's findings, saying the he misunderstood the agency's budgetary process and the historical context of the agency's counterterrorism efforts. "It's a misreading and misunderstanding of how resources were being used," Pavitt said. "We warned and we warned and we warned."
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57478-2005Jan7.html
A former intelligence official, criticizing the findings, said: "Everyone I knew - analyst, operator, support personnel, seniors and juniors - were working flat out many, many months in advance of the 11 September attacks to stop those and like attacks. To round up the good guys and shoot them for doing their jobs - I can't help but shake my head in dismay,"
Officials told the Times that the report found Pavitt, among others, to have failed to meet an acceptable standard of performance, and recommends that his conduct be assessed by an internal review board for possible disciplinary action. Criticism of Tenet is equally strong, the officials said, but would not say whether it found his performance acceptable or not.
While acknowledging that the DO lacked adequate resources before 9/11, Pavitt said he consistently fought for additional resources, starting in 1997 and stopping only in August 2004 when he retired
Most of the report was written by last summer, intel officials told the Times, but its completion was delayed while the document was reviewed, first by acting DCI John McLaughlin and then DCI Goss. Officials said the conclusions could be changed on the basis of responses sought from those criticized, including Tenet and Pavitt. The final report was expected to be completed within six weeks. (DKR)
Goss Names New DDI - DCI Goss has named John Kringen, head of the CIA's crime and narcotics center, to succeed Jami Miscik as DDI, the Washington Post reported on 4 January.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45641-2005Jan3.html
The DDI oversee analysts who assess international developments for senior government policymakers. It produces the President's Daily Brief. Miscik, ousted by Goss, indicated in an e-mail to her staff that she would leave in February.
A former senior CIA official described Kringen as a sort of all-purpose infielder who has had a variety of assignments, including analytical work on Latin America and the Middle East.
The crime and narcotics center follows illegal activity around the globe, which would put Kringen in a position to develop expertise on many international fronts. (DKR)
Intel officials say that Goss intends to revive a Directorate of Support, handling supplies and logistics for the agency's activities abroad and at Langley. The revived directorate would join three others responsible for clandestine operations, analysis, and science and technology.
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SECTION II -- CONTEXT AND PRECEDENCE
Goss Cuts Counterterrorism Meetings To Three A Week
DCI Goss has reduced from five to three the number of weekly meetings on coordinating tactical counterterrorism operations, the Washington Post reported on 10 January.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61558-2005Jan9.html
For the past three years senior agency, FBI, DoD and DHS officials have met Monday to Friday at 5 p.m. The daily meetings were instituted by former DCI Tenet because of the failures of coordination among intel agencies before 9/11. But Goss is now meeting with a smaller group of officials three mornings a week, according to an administration official.
A former senior intelligence official told the Post he believes Goss's sessions lose the immediacy of the Tenet's daily sessions. Meanwhile, he said, the FBI and Pentagon are beginning to eat into former CIA areas as they carry out more of their own operations.
In another major change, the National Counterterrorism Center, created in August under a presidential executive order that became operational on 6 December, has absorbed personnel from the CIA Terrorist Threat Integration Center and the FBI's counterterrorism center. It is now the central agency for gathering and analyzing foreign and domestic terrorism intelligence and delivering it to the president and others.
The NCTC prepares the daily terrorist threat matrix, previously done by TTIC, a major part of the terrorism section of the President’s Daily Brief. Analysts from the CIA, FBI, DHS, DoD and other agencies work together at the NCTC building in Tysons Corner, Virginia, putting together the matrix from domestic and foreign threat information.
Under the executive order creating the NCTC and other measures, the new body can conduct strategic planning for counterterrorism ops but is barred from directing execution of tactical intelligence activities. These tasks are left to the CIA, FBI and Pentagon.
Goss has appointed John Brennan, the former director of TTIC, acting NCTC director. A permanent appointment to the post is the prerogative of the President, subject to Senate confirmation. Under the Intelligence Reform Act, the NCTC falls under the authority of the DNI, not yet named by Bush.
The NCTC director, according to the law, conducts strategic operational planning for counterterrorism activities, integrating all instruments of national power, including diplomatic, financial, military, intelligence, homeland security, and law enforcement activities within and among agencies.
The new director will also assign operational roles to the CIA, FBI or DoD, although those agencies can raise objections to assignments with the NSC. The intel reform law, however, does not say which entity is to carry out daily coordination of counterterrorism operations that were dealt with at the former daily 5 p.m. meetings. (DKR)
FORMER AGENTS CHARGE CIA WELSHED ON DEAL
A John and Jane Doe who agreed to betray their Soviet-bloc homeland during the Cold War in return for what they thought was a commitment by the CIA to provide a new home in the United States and a lifetime income are suing the agency for failing to live up to its agreement, the Washington Post reported on 10 January.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61694-2005Jan9.html
The Does say they performed dangerous clandestine work for U.S. intelligence overseas. They recognize that at first the CIA did take care of them, settling them in Seattle under new identities and finding John Doe a job at a local bank and for a while providing a supplemental cash stipend.
The stipend started at $20,000 and rose to $27,000. When the bank hired Doe, he and the agency agreed that as his pay increased, the stipend would be reduced accordingly. It had ceased altogether when Doe suddenly lost his job following the bank merging with another in 1997.
Out of work and money, the aging Doe asked the agency to resume payment of the stipend. The CIA refused, citing budget constraints.
At issue, now before the Supreme Court, is whether the agreement to spy for the United States created legal rights that a CIA agent can enforce in court, as the Does claim, or whether it is a deal that may never be acknowledged, much less brought to court, as the agency asserts.
The Does first brought their case before a Seattle federal court in 2000. The CIA argued the court was barred by a Supreme Court ruling in an 1875 case, Totten v. United States. The court ruled that a dispute over a contract between President Lincoln and a Civil War spy could not be litigated because the arrangement was supposed to be kept secret. The Seattle district court and then the U.S. court of Appeals in San Francisco found the Does' suit could go forward.
Doe, a senior diplomat of a Soviet bloc country, and his wife approached the CIA in a third country and offered to defect. According to them, CIA officers, during a 12-hour meeting in a safe house, telephoned Langley and obtained authorization from senior officials for a deal in which the Does would stay where they were and spy for the United States and the CIA would later bring them to the United States and ensure their financial security for life.
Doe says the CIA repeatedly assured him that U.S. law required the agency to guarantee defectors lifetime financial stability and would resume paying the stipend should he lose his job. The agency has submitted an affidavit asserting that there is no such law, regulation or internal CIA policy.
The action by the Does renews accusations over the years that the CIA entices agents and defectors with offers of cash and security, then drops them back in the cold once they are no longer useful. "The agency's reputation is important," former DCI William H. Webster told the Post. "It would be harmful to U.S. interests if word gets around that you don't honor commitments."
In the 1980s, DCI William Casey backed the founding of the Jamestown Foundation that helped defectors earn money lecturing and publishing articles. In the 1990s, KGB major Viktor Sheymov hired former DCI James Woolsey as his attorney to arrive at a secret settlement with the agency.
"One of the toughest jobs in the agency is managing the defector resettlement program," said Milt Bearden, a former head of clandestine operations in the Soviet bloc. "You have to keep everyone happy without making everyone millionaires."
The agency has instituted an internal review process to resolve disputes, former officials said. (DKR)
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SECTION III -- CYBER INTELLIGENCE
Inauguration Will Have Unprecedented Security
President Bush's inauguration on 20 January will take security in Washington to a new level, using expertise and equipment developed after 9/11, the Washington Post reported.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61769-2005Jan9.html
The nerve center for the most heavily guarded presidential inauguration in history will be the Multi-Agency Coordination Center in Fairfax County, Virginia, a futuristic command post in a gleaming steel and marble complex. Officers from the Secret Service and 50 federal, state and local agencies will monitor activity in the sky, on the ground and in the subway system that serves the District of Columbia and its suburbs.
Live video will beamed to giant plasma screens from helicopters and cameras at the U.S. Capitol, along the parade route and at other potential trouble spots.
"This is the Super Bowl for us," FBI Supervisory Special Agent James W. Rice II told the Post. "Everyone on every team is dressed up and playing in the game. And the bench is very, very deep."
"Every piece of technology that exists will be a part of this," said Rice, who oversees the National Capital Response Squad. Communications technology and methods of screening will be employed that were not available when Bush was inaugurated for his first term as president.
The military will have bomb jammers used in Iraq that can block or delay using a cell phone to detonate an explosive. Military engineering companies specializing in rescuing victims of building collapses and forces equipped to deal with a chemical or biological attack will be in place.
In case of a biological, chemical, radiological or nuclear incident, scientists at Department of Energy laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologists, Environmental Protection Agency cleanup crews and military and NASA experts will be placed on standby across the country. (DKR)
British Government Developing Biometric ID Before Parliament's Approval
Britain’s Labor government is pushing ahead with development of a proposed biometric ID card although the measure has yet to be adopted by Parliament, the British IT news site The Register reported on 10 January.
www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/10/id_scheme_consultant_elves/
The Government currently intends to get the bill made law before a general election expected to be held in May. To do so will require continued support from the opposition Conservative party, but the Tories have hedged their support with numerous caveats.
A parliamentary committee is expected to consider the ID bill within the next three weeks, but is not likely to have the time to consider it properly, nor the information necessary to do so, The Register comments.
As the program progresses, it will be subject to regular government reviews, but neither data from the reviews nor from the development phase are in the public domain and the Home Office is considered likely to resist disclosure.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke says that �9 million ($16.8 million) has been spent on it so far. Total expenditure during the development phase of the project is likely to be much larger. (DKR)
EU Plans For Biometric Visas Unworkable
The European Union is poised to accept that its current plans for biometric visas are unworkable, the Register reported on 7 January.
www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/07/cards_for_bio_visa/
This follows on the incoming Council of Ministers presidency, Luxembourg, having accepted a finding by last year's council that multiple RFID chips in passports would render reading the visas in passports impossible.
Luxembourg is proposing two options. One would keep visa RFID chips away from the passport by putting them on separate smart cards. Critics point out that these plastic cards would risk being lost or broken.
The second option would drop the RFID biometric visa in the passport and instead depend on referring to centrally held data in the European Visa Information System that may be in service by 2007. The problem with this is a lack of infrastructure to handle checks on travelers arriving in the EU, resulting in major delays. There are also doubts whether a central visa database would be completed in the coming few years. (DKR)
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SECTION IV -- BOOKS, SOURCES, AND ISSUES
Victor Cherkashin was a KGB colonel who for four decades labored, largely abroad, for the Soviet Union. He was posted to West Germany, India, Australia, Lebanon and Washington as well as taking part in operations in England and the Middle East. His collaborator in this memoir, Gregory Feifer, has a B.A. and an M.A. in Russian studies from Harvard and is a former Radio Free Europe correspondent in Moscow.
Cherkashin vividly recounts his career as a chekist that began in 1952, a year Stalin died, and ended in 1991, the year the Soviet Union followed Stalin’s example. From 1979 to 1985 he was deputy chief of station at the Soviet embassy in Washington. In that last year, he recruited a disgruntled counterintelligence officer in the CIA’s Soviet Russia Division and became Aldrich Ames principal handler.
Cherkashin also recruited the FBI’s Robert Hanssen who he found easy to manage although the KGB never knew Hanssen's true identity.
Recently the International Spy Museum in Washington gave a luncheon for Cherkashin. The invitation described him as an extraordinary spymaster. This book shows why that is so. (DKR)
Iran Before and After the Islamic Revolution - Nikki R. Keddie, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution (Yale University Press, paperback, 400pp. $18.50)
Keddie, a highly regarded professor of Iranian history at the University of California - Los Angeles, has revised and expanded a work that found a wide readership when it first appeared in 1981, bringing the story of Iran up to the present.
Unfortunately, an anti-American bias results in partisan accounts of key events such as the premiership of Mohammad Mossadegh. In 1951, he nationalized Iranian oil only to be overthrown two years later in a CIA engineered coup. Keddie denounces the coup but ignores Mossadegh’s readiness to employ mob violence and, more important in the Cold War context of the time, his cozying up to the Soviet Union.
Her treatment of the Islamic revolution is even more distorted. The atrocities committed as Ruholla Khomeini consolidated power by having his militias execute hundreds of government officials and secular-minded intellectuals are skimped over. So is the corruption and union bashing of the Foundation of the Dispossessed, worth billions of dollars and a major economic power in Iran, but very far in character from the Peace Corps to which she compares it. This bonyad, as such foundations are called in Persian, is far from being peaceful and played an important role in the creation of the Lebanese terrorist-guerrilla force, Hezbollah.
Keddie similarly whitewashes prominent figures such as former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the present lame duck president, the so-called reformist Mohammad Khatami.
Those readers who keep informed about what is going on in Iran will be able to enjoy the good parts of this curate’s egg of a book. Those who lack such information are advised to look elsewhere for a more reliable guide to modern Iran. (DKR)
St. Petersburg Boy Makes Good -- Andrew Jack, Inside Putin’s Russia: Can There Be Reform Without Democracy? (Oxford, 384 pp. $30)
Jack, Moscow bureau chief of the Financial Times, first surveys Putin’s rise from a bureaucrat in St Petersburg (after his departure from the KGB), to Yeltsin’s choice as his successor, then his performance as an autocratically inclined ruler.
In the book’s second part, Jack recounts the effects of the disastrous privatization of Russia’s economy in the 1990s under Yeltsin and Putin’s efforts to bring the oligarchs under control. In doing this Jack provides a useful account of the shady doings of Yukos, Lukoil and other energy companies.
Along the way, the reader learns how Putin used the war in Chechnya from the time of his appointment to the presidency in 2000 to shape his public image and his hold on power. (DKR)
CIA Vet Sees Dubious Purge of Agency - It appears that the CIA, both the clandestine service and the intelligence directorate, indeed leaked a wide variety of secrets, allegedly to contribute to the defeat of President Bush in the November elections, writes Haviland Smith, a retired CIA station chief and former head of the agency's counterterrorism staff.
Those who did the leaking, says Smith, writing in the Washington Post on 4 January, could and should have been prosecuted but were not. Instead, it appears, the administration found the leaks a welcome excuse for collective punishment of the CIA.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45940-2005Jan3.html
Given the way the White House has handled intelligence in the past three years, it makes sense the administration is angry at the clandestine service, Smith says. The DO officers are often required to give their opinions about policies in advance of their implementation and it is unlikely any who had spent a career in the Middle East would see current U.S. policy as flawless. "Thus," he writes, "many in the White House probably see the clandestine service as a nest of enemies. They might just want to consider an alternative possibility: that the service is made up of professionals who would like to save their country from the further embarrassment and potential difficulties of a truly flawed and dangerous Iraq policy."
CIA station chiefs write a message once a year to the DCI, analyzing how things are going in the country to which they are assigned. These normally show extraordinary understanding of local realities and are written with a candor that, were it to get unvarnished to the Bush White House or the media, would likely infuriate the administration. "After all, this is the president who will not acknowledge any shortcomings in either his policy or its outcome in Iraq," says Smith.
The agency's statutory responsibility is to speak the truth, whether the truth supports the president's plans or not, he writes, adding, it would appear that this concept is not shared by this administration.
In Smith's view DCI Goss and the team he brought from the Hill are wreaking havoc on the best current line of defense against terrorism. "Purging the CIA at this unfortunate moment, when we need to be dealing with real issues of terrorism, is cutting off our nose to spite our face." (DKR)
Judge Throws Out Case Against Alleged Chinese Spy
A federal judge dismissed all charges Thursday against a California woman accused of spying for China, saying prosecutors illegally blocked the primary witness in her case from talking with her attorneys. The witness was a federal agent with whom she carried on a decades-long affair, the Washington Post reported on 7 January.
Www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54571-2005Jan6.html
Smith recruited Katrina M. Leung in 1982 because she had contacts in the top ranks of the Chinese government. Over two decades, she was paid $1.7 million for intelligence she brought back about the country's military and espionage capabilities and its efforts to influence U.S. electoral politics.
Investigators concluded at the same time Leung copied documents brought home by Smith, with whom she had begun a romantic relationship. Leung was charged with taking classified documents, but neither she nor Smith were charged with espionage
The ruling brought ended the case against Leung, a San Marino socialite and Republican fundraiser arrested in 2003 along with former FBI agent James J. Smith. An effort to make the case against her without rendering public more sensitive information appears to be what undermined the prosecution, the Post commented.
U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper said the government committed misconduct by making a plea agreement with Smith in which he was barred from sharing any more information with Leung or her lawyers. Debra W. Yang, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said after the court ruling that the prosecutors behaved ethically and denied Smith was prohibited from talking to counsel for Leung.
DoJ officials said an appeal was likely, because a different federal judge had signed off on Smith's plea agreement. Leung's attorneys, Janet I. Levine and John D. Vandevelde, expressed optimism that Leung's nightmare was over. They said that gagging Smith and then trying to cover it up was something you can't do in America.
Last spring Smith pleaded guilty to lying about the affair during a bureau background review and agreed to cooperate with the investigation into Leung in exchange for more serious charges of mail fraud and mishandling of classified documents being dropped. (DKR)
SECTION V -- CAREERS, NOTES, LETTERS, QUERIES AND AUTHORS SEEKING ASSISTANCE, CORRECTIONS, OBITUARIES, COMING EVENTS
Three NEW vacant positions open at DHS headquarters are posted at www.usajobs.opm.gov. If you have any questions about the vacancies, please contact Kathleen.lane@dhs.gov.
Criminal Investigator -GS-1811-13
DHS Representative to the FBI -SL-0301-SL
Departmental Representative to the Terrorist Screening Center - SL-0301-SL
New OSS Society Newsletter Out
The Winter 2004-2005 newsletter of The OSS Society is now available at www.osssociety.org Articles include Remembering John Waller; Mukden Prison Reunion; Greek OGs Honored; Detachment 101 Dedicates Kachin Statue; and OSS Legacy Cited in N.Y. Times Op-Ed. (CTP, DKR)
Flawed Intel Basis For Britain Jailing Suspects
The case against foreign terror suspects imprisoned in Britain without trial for three years was partly founded on flawed and inaccurate intelligence, court papers seen by The Independent (London) reported on 6 January.
www.news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=598178
Weaknesses in the secret services' evidence cast serious doubt on the Home Secretary's justification for detaining 12 men held under emergency legislation rushed through Parliament after 9/11, the daily said. Last month, judges ruled that the men's detention was in breach of human rights law.
Documents obtained by The Independent showed, among other faults, that a security service assessment was withdrawn when it turned out that a group of Muslim men visited rural Dorset, not to elect a terrorist leader but to get away from their wives for a weekend. (DKR)
AFIO Member On Washington Post and Rendition
JCP Comments on "Washington Post Reports On Rendition Flights," WIN #48-04 dtd 27 December 2004
I used to think that there were thinkers in journalism who could decide when NOT to do the excellent legwork and detailed research that they are capable of –and that foreign powers might find useful in disclosing CIA covert action operations. I no longer think this. The WP article is a great exemplar of diligent research and “connecting the dots” about events that are usually exposed by the news media because they are criminal, illegal or the nasty doings of foreign powers out to do harm to the United States and its allies. Not so, this “OPEN SECRET IN TERROR WAR” item. I am sanguine that whatever it cost the CIA to set up Premier Executive Transport Services or to fund its cooperation and to buy the Gulfstream V with Tail No. N379P, is all spent and the mechanism is no longer useful. Quo bono?
What must remain useful to the bin Ladins of this world is the verification and addition of details to the “scoops” by journalists in Pakistan, and to the tail number freaks in the USA. The manner of researching social security numbers and company registrations would surely convince me that such open source searches are worthwhile indeed.
It is my understanding that when a citizen of this fair country does work for or represents the interests of a foreign power, said person is required to register as a foreign agent. That’s what the Alien Registration Act of 1934 says, and it has not been cancelled or repealed. I suggest that Ms. Priest get in line and do her duty.
Queries and Authors Seeking Assistance
Author Seeks Info on U.S.-Israeli Intel Liaison - I am currently researching a history book which will be published by HarperCollins in 2006. It includes the intelligence liaison between the United States and Israel which began in 1951. I am wondering if any AFIO members have recollections characterizing this particular liaison and some of its more colorful characters and incidents. Please note that my period of interest is currently 1980 to the present. I would be grateful for any personal recollections, and any and all contributions will be considered to be unattributable background briefings unless otherwise agreed. Nick Hacking at nickhack@nickhacking.com
Cannistraro and “Counterrorism” - D.N. Kelling points out that contrary to what was reported in "DNI Expected To Be Named Amid Growing Criticism Of Intel Reform." WIN 01-05 dtd 3 January 2005, Vincent Cannistraro was never head of the CIA “Counterterrorism” Center. Cannistraro was the agency's Chief of Counterterrorism Operations. The Director of the Counterterrorist Center was Cofer Black. (EB, DKR)
Former CIA Officer Joseph Robinson. We are saddened to relay the news that AFIO member Joseph Robinson passed away this morning at Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, Connecticut. He was a great man who was very loved by his family and many friends. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 22 at 11am at the First Congregational Church, 108 sound Beach Avenue, Old Greenwich, CT. A reception will follow at the Innis Arden Golf Club which is around the corner from the church. Notes of condolence can be sent to: Shirley Robinson and Family, 299 Palmer Hill Rd, Riverside, CT 06878
Andrew Potts - Son of famous CIA SIS officer James M. Potts, Andrew died at his home in Bethesda, MD on 2 January. He was born in Athens in 1959 where he spent his early years before going to Bethesda, graduating from nearby Rock Terrace High School in 1980. He then joined his parents in Paris, working at the U.S. Embassy, before returning to Bethesda and beginning a 23-year career at the NGA during which he received numerous merit citations for his work. Andy's interests included the technology of sound production, computers and open boat canoeing. Despite many personal challenges, he was able to configure soundboards, build speaker cabinets, repair and maintain electronic typewriters, and maintain and operate large format photocopiers and their digital progeny. He was always helpful to his family and friends, especially in offering advice on computers or sound and video equipment. Andy canoed a number of challenging white water rivers, including the Lower and Upper Youghiogheny in Pennsylvania, the St. Croix in Maine, and the Brule river in Wisconsin, where he became proficient in standing up and poling his canoe up and down river.
He leaves his parents, James and Mary Potts of Collington Life Care Retirement Community; a brother, James L. Potts and sister-in-law, Margie C. Potts, and a niece, Nora of Oakland, VA; a brother, J. Brian Potts and sister-in-law, Catherine Neikle Potts and their children, Nina, Liam and Susannah, of Chestnut Hill, MA.
A memorial service was held at St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church, Bethesda, on 7 January. (EB, DKR)
FRIDAY, 14 January 2005 - Tyson's Corner, VA - A F I O W I N T E R L U N C H E O N - The Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemies -- Islamic Terrorist Extremism - Abroad and Within - Europe's Late Awakening by Dr. George Friedman, Founder/Chairman, Stratfor, Strategic Forecasting, Inc., Author of the recently released and very riveting "America's Secret War" - morning speaker - AND The Political Tug-of-War over Money and Power -The Intelligence Community Restructure Battle by Philip D. Zelikow, Executive Director, 9/11 Commission, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, - afternoon speaker -, Problems the Commission faces with adoption of its findings and what he foresees in a restructuring of the intelligence community. Author Melissa Mahle will also discuss her new book on life in the Directorate of Operations. Details and ONLINE Registration......
Time: 10:30 a.m. for badge pick-up. Friedman speaks at 11 am; lunch at noon; Zelikow at 12:45; close at 2 pm. $35/person - current AFIO members and their guests, only.
Where: Tyson's Corner Holiday Inn.
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. Newly released intelligence books will be on display and on sale.
Wednesday, 19 Jan 05 - San Francisco, CA - AFIO's Jim Quesada Chapter in San Francisco Bay hosts cocktails and dinner featuring speaker Ken Dombroski from the Center for Civil-Military Relations, Naval Postgraduate School. Topic: Reforming Intelligence - The Challenge of Control and Oversight in New Democracies. Event starts at 6:30, dinner at 7:15 p.m. at the United Irish Cultural Center's St Patrick's Rm, 2nd Flr, 2700 45 Ave, between Sloat and Wawona. Reservations are $35 members; $45 nonmembers. Contact Rich Hanson at 415-776-3739
25 January 05 - Tysons Corner, VA - NMIA Potomac Chapter Luncheon with Peter B. Teets, Director NRO by The Potomac Chapter of the National Military Intelligence Association. Tyson's Corner Marriott Hotel. To attend: sign up via the Potomac Chapter Website http://www.nmiapotomac.org Cost is $30 per person, payable at the door by cash or check. Registration deadline is Jan. 21, 2005
1 February & 8 February 05 - Washington, DC - Inside Stories: America Held Hostage - 444 Days to Freedom (2 Part Series) - International Spy Museum - When Iranian students took Americans hostage 25 years ago, the U.S. worked feverishly to resolve the crisis – from the failed “Operation Eagle Claw” – to the ultimately successful “Canadian Caper” rescue. Now hear the details – many never-before revealed – from crucial players, including former CIA Director Admiral Stansfield Turner; former CIA officer Tony Mendez; members of the elite Delta Team; former hostage and author of In the Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran William J. Daugherty; and former U.S. Department of Agriculture Attach� in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the “sixth man” of the “Canadian Caper” Lee Shatz. With Mendez moderating their stories about the covert operations, secret negotiations, and rescue missions you’ll find out how it felt to be in their shoes with danger around the corner and the clock ticking. The speakers will also share their thoughts on the Iranian situation today.
Tickets: $40. Members of The Spy Ring: $35. Space is limited – advance registration required! To register, please email: membership@spymuseum.org or call (202) 654-0942
8 - 10 February 05 - Arlington, VA - National Intelligence Conference and Exposition (INTELCON) debuts at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City. INTELCON'S goal to bring together intel professionals and members of Congress in an informal setting on neutral ground to provide educational enhancement and discuss common issues. Veteran intelligence specialist John Loftus is directing the INTELCON Program. Based upon the theme of “Widening the Intelligence Community,” the Conference offers five two-day Program Tracks – Federal Civilian, DOD/Military, State and Local Law Enforcement, Business, and Private Sector. There will be eight, full-day Professional Enhancement Seminars, Luncheon and keynote addresses. There will also be a vendor exposition with companies and products relevant to intelligence interests. Its organizer is Federal Business Council of Annapolis Junction, Maryland.
For more information, please visit: http://www.intelcon.us, or contact: David Powell, Federal Business Council, 10810 Guilford Road, P.O. Box 685, Annapolis Junction, Maryland 20710 Tel. (301) 206-2940, Fax: (301) 206-2950, david@fbcdb.com
24 February 05 - Washington, DC - Spies of the Kaiser - Lunchtime Author Debriefing and Book Signing - International Spy Museum - In the early twentieth century, the British were obsessed with the possibility of German spies operating in their midst – so much so that all Germans in the United Kingdom were catalogued and eventually interned. Was the German spy threat real? What was German intelligence really up to? Armed with information from untapped German sources and recently declassified British documents, International Spy Museum historian and AFIO member Thomas Boghardt will reveal the true scope of German covert operations, their objectives, and the dramatic British response. Join this author for an informal chat and book signing from 12PM to 1PM. No registration required!
1 March & 15 March 05 - Washington, DC - Sisterhood of Spies: Shady Ladies in Espionage (2 Part Series) - International Spy Museum - Spies come in all shapes and sizes… sometimes the shapelier the better. Using their often under-estimated intellect and feminine wiles, women have influenced events and gathered critical intelligence throughout history. Who better to blow the cover of the sisterhood of spies than two charter members? Retired Senior U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent Connie Allen and former CIA Chief of Disguise Jonna Mendez will brief you on these shady ladies, exploring the roles held and progress made by women in the world of espionage. Whether you’re interested in Mata Hari’s tactics of seduction, wives with secret lives, Cold War-era operations in Moscow, or the recent “outing” of Valerie Plame, this session is sure to redefine your interpretation of feminine persuasion.
Tickets: $40. Members of The Spy Ring: $35. Space is limited – advance registration required! To register, please email: membership@spymuseum.org or call (202) 654-0942
10 March 05 - Washington, DC - Spy Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage - International Spy Museum - From “Angels” to “Z priorities,” the second edition of the definitive reference to the world of espionage features over 2,500 entries. Spies, agencies, organizations, and operations, are carefully uncovered and detailed in this accurate and accessible resource for aficionado and layman alike. Join authors Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen as they discuss intelligence successes and failures throughout history. Join this author for an informal chat and book signing from 12PM to 1PM. No registration required!
21 - 22 March 05 - Washington, DC - EMININT 2005 - The National Security and Law Society of the American University Washington College of Law is hosting a two-day professional symposium on Emerging Issues in National and International Security. The meeting will address the pressing issues of the day in the fields of national and international security. The symposium will consist of expert panels equally distributed between the fields of foreign policy, intelligence, and law, discussing such topics as: The Risks of Cross-Cultural Profiling; The Emergence of a New Intelligence Mindset; Climate Change, Infectious Disease, and Resource Shortages as Threats to International Security; The Fourth Estate and National Security Policy: Reporters or Watchdogs?; Comparative Counter-Terrorism Policies; Personal Information Privacy in the Post-9/11 World; Homeland Security Law and Private Industry; Whistle-blowing and the Intelligence Community; Torture, Interrogation, and Human Rights in the Global War on Terror; and Reconciling an Active Role for First Responders in Homeland Security with Budgetary Appropriations. The speakers represent the pinnacles of their respective fields, coming from five countries and across the United States. They represent academic experts, senior U.S. government policymakers, and corporate leaders. They have written books, made laws, established companies, and otherwise shaped the field of National Security. There is something for everyone in this symposium, and few attendees will fail to take something away from it. Note: This event requires paid registration for non-students. For registration or further information, visit http://wcl.american.edu/org/nsls or email nsls@wcl.american.edu CLE credit is available.
23 - 24 March 05 - Fairfax, VA - NMIA National Intelligence Symposium - NMIA will hold its annual symposium on 23 Wed - 24 Thurs 2005 at Northrop Grumman Corporation, 12900 Federal Systems Park Drive, Fairfax, VA 22033. For more information, please visit http://www.nmia.org
6 - 9 April 05 - Chicago, IL - SCIP Annual Conference - At the Hyatt Regency Chicago, an event not to miss. A great organization under new leadership. Info at: http://www.scip.org/chicago. SCIP is at 1700 Diagonal Rd Ste 600, Alexandria, VA 22314; (703) 739-0696.
15 - 16 April 05 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Cryptologic Veterans Reunion - The reunion is being organized by the New England Chapter, Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association. Contact Bob Marois, Tel: (518) 237-0015; E-mail: marois@acp.edu; Website: http://www.ncva-ne.org
18 - 21 April 05 - SFSAFBI Western Regional Conference - For more information, please visit http://www.socxfbi.org/Conference/Conferences.htm
20 - 21 April 05 - Langley, VA - AFCEA Spring Intelligence Symposium - For more information, please visit http://www.afcea.org/calendar/eventdetails.asp?offset=10&EventID=227
21 April - Washington, DC - 2005 MOAA Career Fair - DC Convention Center – The Military Officers Association of America is holding their annual Career Fair, to be held at the Washington, DC Convention Center on Thursday April 21, 2005. Join local, national, and international employers -- including Lockheed Martin, AT&T Government Services, Anheuser Busch Companies, Inc., Raytheon, the State Department, and the FBI -- who are there to meet and recruit qualified and proven leaders, and their spouses, to fill a wide variety of key positions. Others seeking to recruit at this event are asked to register before January 14, 2005 for lower fees. The rate of $1,500.00 includes a carpeted 10' x 10' pipe-and-drape booth, company sign, skirted table, two chairs, employer lounge, two lunches, and all-day beverage service. In addition, they receive a link from their website and 60 days of electronic resume access. Booths will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. At last year's event, the MOAA reports that over 2,100 candidates (most with security clearances) with leadership, management, and operational experience attended.
Click on the following link for the 2005 MOAA Career Fair Registration Form: https://www.moaa.org/TOPS/CareerFair2005/registration If you have any questions, contact their Career Fair Manager - toll free 877-553-8677 or by email at: moaacareerfair@aol.com
22 - 24 April 05 - Grapevine, TX - SFSAFBI South Central Regional Meeting - For more information, please visit http://www.socxfbi.org/Conference/Conferences.htm
25 - 28 April 05 - Philadelphia, PA - 2005 DoDIIS Worldwide Conference, For further details visit http://www.federalevents.com or contact: Howard Blumberg, Government Relations Manager, National Conference Services, Inc. (NCSI), 6440 Dobbin Road Suite C, Columbia, MD. 21045; 888-603-8899, ext. 224 (toll-free) blumberg@ncsi.com, http://www.ncsi.com
**** 27 - 30 October 2005 - AFIO 30th Anniversary Symposium Celebration - Sheraton Premiere Hotel, McLean, Tyson's Corner, VA and at other secured venues. PUT THIS DATE ON YOUR CALENDARS. ****
FOR OTHER DATES BEYOND APRIL, SEE THE FULL LIST ON THE AFIO WEBSITE BULLETIN BOARD at
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