AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #16-14 dated 22 April 2014

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

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Section III - COMMENTARY

Section IV -  Upcoming AFIO Events

Section V - Other Upcoming Events

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

    • WIN CREDITS FOR THIS ISSUE: The WIN editors thank the following special contributors:  pjk and fwr.  They have contributed one or more stories used in this issue.
 

AFIO's 2014 Intelligence Symposium

Registration closes WEDNESDAY [tomorrow] on 23 April.
All speakers confirmed.

1 - 3 May 2014

GEOINT, HUMINT, SIGINT: Expanding Capabilities; Growing Challenges and Risks

Day One at the new headquarters of the
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Register .

Agenda is <here. Was updated on 22 April 2014

You will hear and meet...

� Letitia A. Long, NGA Director; turned GEOINT into crucial player in most intelligence and CT operations;
� Michael Sulick, former Director, CIA's National Clandestine Service, Intelligence Historian;
� John J. Hamre, President CSIS, former Deputy Secretary of Defense;
� Michael Warner, Historian, DoD and CIA;
� James Hughes, CIA Mideast Expert;
� Paul R. Pillar, former senior CIA analyst, on Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform
� Kai Bird, Mideast Expert, author of The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames;
� Stewart Baker, former NSA & DHS legal expert on privacy and intel issues;
� John Bennett, former Director, CIA's National Clandestine Service;
� Spike Bowman, former NSA, NCIX/DNI, FBI, privacy and intel legal issues;
� David Ignatius, author, journalist Washington Post; the media view of privacy sensitivities; author of The Director
� John Sano, former Deputy Director, National Clandestine Service, CIA;
� David Major, former FBI/National Security Council; Eyes-open expert on dangers the U.S. faces.
and banquet speaker: � Dr. John M. Poindexter, ADM, USN(Ret), visionary, brave lightning rod, and heralded pioneer in digital, real-time security who showed how to connect-the-dots; a leader in protecting privacy in a data-driven society; the architect of Big Data systems that sent terrorists running for cover and to their lawyers and front groups to circumvent the new capabilities.

Day One of the Event [at NGA] is open to U.S. citizens only. Days Two and Three are open to all members, subscribers, and guests.
All three days will be conducted at UNCLASSIFIED level.

Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1960 Chain Bridge Road, McLean, VA 22102, Phone: 1-888-233-9527

Use the following link: http://tinyurl.com/ko6ppau to enter a hotel reservation at the discounted $109/nite rate.

If there is any difficulty getting the AFIO $109/night rate, at the hotel ask for Kristina Dorough at 703-738-3114 M - F 7am - 5pm EST
We do NOT recommend calling the national reservation lines but suggest calling the hotel at the above number to get the special event rate now.

REGISTER FOR AFIO's SUMMER LUNCHEON

FRIDAY, 13 June 2014

Space is limited.
Badge Pick-up at 10:30 a.m.

<

1 p.m. speaker

Jack Devine

Former CIA deputy director of operations [National Clandestine Service] and chief of the CIA Afghan Task Force, 1986-87

Thirty Years of CIA Operations.
Where the Agency is Heading Today
vs. Where it Should Be
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"Jack Devine's Good Hunting gives readers an inside look at CIA—the good and the bad— from someone who rose from the bottom of the Agency to the top, during some of its most turbulent times. There are new insights into covert operations from Chile to Afghanistan to Iran-Contra and the lessons that should be drawn from them by government leaders and the public at large. Beyond that, it's just a good read." —Walter Pincus, columnist for The Washington Post

"Good Hunting, like Jack Devine himself, is straightforward, clear, patriotic, fascinating, and at the center of decades of key events. Tired of angry or self-serving stereotypes about the CIA? Turn to Jack Devine. I did, and it was a great call." — Ambassador R. James Woolsey, former director of central intelligence, CIA

"Jack Devine has the intelligence officer's essential gift: the willingness to say no to bad ideas. Devine recounts the recurring pressure to do dumb things—from Central America to Afghanistan to Iran-Contra—which he usually was able to resist. His compelling memoir illustrates why the CIA is most successful when it sticks to the basics of 'good hunting' in espionage and covert action operations." —David Ignatius, columnist for The Washington Post and author of The Director

"Jack Devine's unusually detailed accounting of, and insight into, intelligence operations from the height of the Cold War through the global war on terrorism puts a bright light on the intrigue of the inner workings of the CIA. Most important, though, are his principles for covert action. Our clandestine service officers and national leadership alike would do well to read and understand Devine's words and wisdom in this critical area." —Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson, U.S. Navy (Ret), former director, Defense Intelligence Agency

"The world of CIA clandestine operations and technologies is complex, tough, and often arcane and unforgiving, but also consummately professional and necessary. Jack Devine is a larger-than-life character who served a long and distinguished career, in the field and in headquarters, spanning important periods in CIA history. If you want a better understanding of the CIA; its complex, differentiated, and noble people; and its missions, this well-written book is for you." — Admiral William O. Studeman, U.S. Navy (Ret)

"Jack Devine's personal narrative as a CIA case officer weaves through some of the most contentious pages of recent history: Iran-Contra, aid to the Afghan mujahideen, the coup against Chile's Salvador Allende, the murderous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, the traitorous Aldrich Ames. And Devine tells these tales with a case officer's candor, busting popular myths as he goes. Read this book and learn why the nation still needs the CIA." —General Michael Hayden, former director, CIA and NSA

"Jack Devine is one of the legendary spymasters of our time. He was in Chile when Allende fell; he ran Charlie Wilson's war in Afghanistan; he had too much to do with Iran-Contra for his own taste, though he tried to stop it; he caught Pablo Escobar in Colombia; he tried to warn George Tenet that there was a bullet coming from Iraq with his name on it. Devine served America's interests for more than thirty years in a wide range of covert operations, ultimately overseeing the Directorate of Operations, a CIA division that watches over thousands of American covert operatives worldwide. Good Hunting is his guide to the art of spycraft, told with great wit, candor, and commonsense wisdom. Caricatured by Hollywood, lionized by the right, and pilloried by the left, the CIA remains one of the least understood instruments of the United States government. Devine knows more than almost anyone about the CIA's vital importance as a tool of American statecraft. Now, as he sees it, the agency is trapped within a larger bureaucracy, losing swaths of turf to the military and, most ominous of all, being transformed into a paramilitary organization. Its capacity to do what it does best has been seriously degraded. In wonderfully readable prose, Good Hunting aims to set the record straight. This is a revelatory inside look at an organization whose history has not been given its real due." — Robert David Steele, former CIA, from his review of the book at Public Intelligence Blog

3-course Lunch at Noon
< 11 a.m. speaker

Peter W. Finn

National Security Editor for The Washington Post (previously served as the Post's bureau chief in Moscow). His book, The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book, discusses a 1960s CIA propaganda operation
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Peter W. Finn, National Security Editor for The Washington Post (previously served as the Post's bureau chief in Moscow). His book, scheduled for release to public four days after this special event, discusses a 1960s CIA propaganda operation: The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book. The co-authors are Peter Finn and Petra Couvee [Couvee lives in Russia]. These authors take readers into the world of Soviet intelligentsia and Cold War politics to study how Boris Pasternak came to write and publish Doctor Zhivago (which first appeared in Italy in 1957). The authors use rich archival research, including previously classified CIA files, to depict the oppressive political conditions that gave rise to Pasternak's masterpiece, and the international firestorm that occurred when the novel was banned in the Soviet Union. The torturous ideological policing by the Soviets is discussed; for indeed, the tale of Doctor Zhivago itself is very much about the long psychic scar left by the Russian Revolution. The authors also present the role played by the Kremlin in persecuting Pasternak and his loved ones, as well as the role of the CIA in using his novel in a game of ideological warfare—overall, a triumphant reminder that successful covert and propaganda operations can fade into history devoid of public recognition or credit for what became highly beneficial, pro-freedom outcomes.

Check-in for badge pickup at 10:30 a.m.
Peter W. Finn begins presentation at 11 a.m.
Lunch served at noon
Jack Devine begins his presentation at 1 pm
Morning and Afternoon programs are On The Record

The latest intelligence books, and many others, for sale throughout event.

Event closes at 2 p.m.

Complete Registration

EVENT LOCATION: The Crowne Plaza
1960 Chain Bridge Road • McLean, Virginia 22102
Driving directions here or use this link: http://tinyurl.com/boey9vf
 

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Egypt Gunmen Kill Intelligence Officer Near Cairo. Egypt's Interior Ministry says gunmen have killed a captain from the intelligence services and a policeman on a desert road outside Cairo.

The ministry's media center said the joint security patrol was trying to stop a suspicious vehicle on the road to the canal city of Suez early Sunday when its occupants opened fire.

Captain Ashraf Badeer al-Qazaz was killed in the firefight, along with a policeman from the central security force. The assailants managed to flee. [Read more: AP/20April2014]

Defense Intelligence Agency Creates New Training Center at MacDill. The Defense Intelligence Agency has created a new training and development center for its 2,000 personnel at MacDill Air Force Base, which is the first of many agency satellite learning centers around the globe.

The agency, which provides intelligence to warfighters, policy makers and planners in the Pentagon and intelligence communities, is transforming the Regional Joint Intelligence and Education Center at U.S. Central Command into the Southeast Enterprise Learning Center, said spokesman Jim Kudla.

The agency is expanding its The Academy for Defense Intelligence, based at its Washington headquarters, as a way to maximize training dollars for the personnel it trains, said Kudla.

Because the academy already has personnel in place at MacDill, "we have begun the process there and we will take advantage of Subject Matter Experts assigned to either Centcom or U.S. Special Operations Command to serve as adjunct instructors to teach," said Kudla. [Read more: Altman/TampaTribune/15April2014]

French Intelligence Services Played Key Role in Hostage Release. A day after the liberation of four French journalists held in Syria, new details have emerged about the conditions of their release. According to reports, intelligence services had kept track of the journalists since their capture in June, notably through the use of informers.

Not a day went by without the French government being informed of the whereabouts of Didier Francois, Edouard Elias, Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torre.

Weekly meetings took place between intelligence services, the French President and Defense minister to locate the journalists, with help of the US, Britain, Spain and Turkey.

Intelligence services also used a network of informers based in Syria who were in regular contact with the journalists. [Read more: RFI/21April2014]

Intel Officer Killed, Another Injured in Yemen's Sanaa. An intelligence officer was shot dead and another badly injured in a Monday attack by unidentified militants in Yemeni capital Sanaa, a security source said.

"The militants were on a motorcycle when they opened fire on Lt. Col. Abdel-Rahman al-Nagdi, who was killed on the spot," the source said.

He added that Lt. Gen. Mohamed al-Eriej, who had been walking with al-Nagdi, had been injured by the gunfire and was now in "very critical" condition. 

The source, who asked not to be named, said the militants had fled immediately after the attack. [Read more: WorldBulletin/21April2014]

Long: NGA Is Moving Toward 'Immersive Intelligence'. Of the 17 U.S. intelligence agencies, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is best suited to turn big data into actionable intelligence, NGA Director Letitia Long said. She told FCW in an April 14 interview that mapping is what her 14,500-person agency does, and every iota of intelligence can be attributed to some physical point on Earth.

"We really are the driver for intelligence integration because everything is somewhere on the Earth at a point in time," Long said. "So we give that ability for all of us who are describing objects to anchor it to the Map of the World."

NGA's Map of the World entails much more minute information than the simple cartography the phrase might suggest. It is a mix of information from top-secret, classified and unclassified networks made available to U.S. government agencies, some of their international partners, commercial users and academic experts. The Map of the World can tap into a vast trove of satellite and social media data, among other sources.

NGA has made steady progress in developing the map, Long said. Nine data layers are online and available now, including those for maritime and aeronautical data. A topography layer will be added in the next two weeks, and two more layers will round out the first operational version of the map in August. [Read more: Lyngaas/FCW/15April2014]

Romania's Intelligence Service to Take Over 3-Star Hotel From Administration of State Patrimony. The Romanian Intelligence Service SRI, which in late-2013 received from the government the Olanesti Palace, used by former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu during the communist regime, will also take under administration the Maria Hotel in Baile Olanesti, according to a document obtained by local Mediafax. The hotel was built by the Administration of the State's Patrimony RA-APPS in 2008.

The 3-star hotel, owned by RA-APPS, will be transferred at SRI's request.

The hotel and the adjacent buildings will be transferred with payment, but at the inventory value, and the money will be paid from the funds allocated to SRI from the state budget, within four years, reports Mediafax.

The staff currently working at the hotel will be kept by SRI based on an evaluation, or will continue to work for RA-APPS. [Read more: Popescu/RomaniaInsider/18April2014]

Israel Intelligence Service Provides Valuable Terror Information to Malaysia. Bangkok police are investigating two suspected foreign male tourists for terrorism activities following intelligence information from Israeli sources.

It has been reported that one of the men admitted to a planned attack on Israeli tourists in Khao San Road during the yearly Thai water festival, Songkran.

The men have been held since the beginning of Songrkran, which started one week ago.

Following their arrest on suspicion of links to militant Islamist group, Hezbollah, the Israeli government immediately called for a higher security presence in the area for the protection of Israeli travelers. [Read more: MalaysiaSun/20April2014]

China 'Builds Spy Network in Australian Universities'. China is reportedly building covert informant networks inside Australia's top universities, prompting Australia to strengthen its counter-intelligence capabilities.

Fairfax Media reports that Chinese intelligence officials say they are building networks to monitor the ethnic Chinese community to protect Beijing's core interests.

Much of the monitoring work takes place in higher education institutions, it reports.

This includes Sydney University and Melbourne University, where more than 90,000 students from mainland China are potentially exposed to ideas and activities not readily available at home. [Read more: SBS/21April2014]

Despite Tough Patch, U.S. Intelligence Chief Says He Is Staying. Despite enduring "a perfect storm" of troubles for U.S. spy agencies over the last 18 months, the director of national intelligence announced on Tuesday that he plans to stay on the job through the end of President Barack Obama's term.

Speaking to an industry conference in Tampa, James Clapper detailed a litany of challenges he said have hit the $45 billion (26.9 billion pounds)-per-year U.S. intelligence-gathering effort, from U.S. budget turmoil and the Syrian war to leaks by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

"The past 18 months is one of the toughest stretches for the intelligence community I've seen in my 50-plus years in the business," Clapper said.

Clapper, a former Air Force general who oversees 17 intelligence agencies and is known for his sometimes-blunt language, predicted that spending on everything from spy satellites to human agents would continue to decline.

To critics of U.S. intelligence, he said: "You're going to have a lot less of it to complain about." [Read more: Strobel/TheStar/16April2014]

Intel Agencies Ready to Start Deploying Shared IT Systems. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says much of the groundwork has been laid, and it is now time to start deploying the project known as ICITE, a common IT environment for the entire intelligence community.

It has taken the ODNI and federal intelligence agencies two years, but intelligence agencies have already begun internal pilots of the individual components that will make up the Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise - the shared architecture that the 17 IC agencies will use.

Individual agencies still will build mission-centric applications when they need to, but common functions like basic desktop software and business IT will converge into ICITE, and all of the agencies will store and share their data in a cloud- based environment.

"We're working on the business plan to allow each IC element to depend on the others for common services. This is a new paradigm for the intelligence community: we actually have to trust each other," Clapper said. "There were very few people who ever thought we could integrate our IT systems, but I think we're doing it, and I think keeping steady pressure on this will bring it to success. That's one of the big reasons why my principal deputy and I plan to stick around until the end of the administration to make sure ICITE sticks." [Read more: Serbu/FederalNewsRadio/16April2014]

U.S. Intelligence Community Endorses Company's Bid to Sell Sharper Imagery . The U.S. intelligence community's publicly announced endorsement of imaging satellite operator DigitalGlobe's request to sell its highest-resolution photos on the open market likely helps the company's cause, but it is not the final word on the matter.

The White House, which is weighing the request, also must consider input from the other U.S. government stakeholders, including the departments of State, Commerce, Defense and Homeland Security. 

The pending decision will be based on national security as well as economic considerations, a U.S. government official said, adding that the matter should be resolved soon. The official declined to be more specific.

Still, having the intelligence community squarely in its camp certainly will not hurt DigitalGlobe's cause. [Read more: Gruss/SpaceNews/18April2014]

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

GHS Grad Involved in Study of Intelligence Analysis. Playing video games isn't always touted as a productive use of one's time, but the game play of one Goodrich High School graduate may contribute to intelligence analysis training that assists in matters of national security.

Emily Francis was one of 120 Mercyhurst University students who studied the effectiveness of digital games in mitigating cognitive biases by playing Enemy of Reason, a first-person shooter game designed to help analysts learn to identify and overcome three cognitive biases identified by the intelligence community as most likely to cause "errors in judgment" confirmation bias, fundamental attribution error and bias blind spot. The team for the SIRIUS Program research project included Mercyhurst professor Kristan Wheaton, J.D., and graduate assistant Melonie Richey. The faculty-student research on the game earned Mercyhurst University a Performance Excellence Award from the Boeing Company. In the intelligence industry, falling prey to cognitive biases can lead to egregious errors in judgment and have far-reaching effects on U.S. security.

"I was so excited to participate in such an interesting and important project," said Francis, a 2011 GHS graduate who is a junior at Mercyhurst, majoring in intelligence studies and public health and minoring in political science.

Wheaton, a gamer and game creator who is widely known for his use of game-based methodologies in the teaching of intelligence analysis, acted as a subject matter expert on the project. Richey assisted with multiple tasks from literature review to data analysis, while the students including Francis acted as test subjects in measuring the effectiveness of games in identifying and mitigating biases. [Read more: Bromley/ClarkstonNews/16April2014]

Revolution in the Israeli Intelligence Agencies. The IDF Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman), Mossad and ISA have recently undergone far-reaching changes. The most significant changes were introduced in the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, where almost 1,000 officers changed positions and the organizational structure has been revolutionized.

This massive wave of changes is the result of the process known as the Arab Spring and of a dramatic technological revolution.

"Today's intelligence systematically misses the most significant historic developments," says a senior intelligence officer with respect to those major changes. "In the era of the Internet and the social networks, events take place at a mind-boggling pace. Processes that once took years are now being concluded within days and even hours. However, beyond the regional instability, the really fateful change, as far as the intelligence agencies are concerned, has been a technological one. In the past, the primary intelligence effort was SigInt (Signals Intelligence, based on the spotting of electronic signals and monitoring of radio communication networks and telephone lines). Today, no one uses telephones or radio transceivers anymore. The enemy has evolved into an entity that is usually amorphous, with no definite chain of command, and each independent intelligence objective keeps a number of different cellular telephones which it uses to send written messages through E-mail, the social networks and WhatsApp, or uses the Internet-based Skype network that offers basic encryption capabilities. The entire concept and all of the resources should be revised in order to keep on collecting SigInt in this day and age, and that is only one example of the change.

"Generally, the intelligence community must adapt itself and provide real-time information about Jihad organizations and arms transfers, but also about enemy targets in caves and in urban areas - so that the information may be handed over promptly and the targets may be �treated' by precision-guided munitions. The intelligence systems developed in order to track and monitor any object within spaces that can be as large as dozens of square kilometers are sometimes inconceivable. As a result of all this, today's intelligence is radically different even compared to the methods of the last decade." [Read more: Rapaport/IsraelDefense/19April2014]

Saudi Spy Chief Removal May Not Change U.S. Ties - or End His Career. Prince Bandar bin Sultan's replacement last week as Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief has fueled speculation about a shift in the monarchy's shaky relations with the United States and its position toward the Syrian conflict - not to mention about the prince's political future.

Yet many political experts and pundits believe Bandar's departure will barely affect Saudi foreign policies. And they say it's possible the prince could return to the political scene stronger than ever.

"The last person to be relieved of his duties [in 2012] as head of Saudi intelligence - Prince Muqrin [bin Abdulaziz] - has become for all intents and purposes a king-in-waiting," said Fahad Nazer, a former political analyst at the Saudi Embassy in Washington. "Any pronouncements about the 'end' of Prince Bandar may be premature."

Last month, Muqrin was appointed deputy crown prince, making it probable he will someday become king. [Read more: Tarek/LATimes/20April2014]

Former CIA Officer, Now in Havana, Discusses Gadhafi's 'Secret World'. U.S. fugitive and renegade CIA agent Frank Terpil is still living in Havana and easily recounting his days helping former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi to murder his political enemies, according to a recently released British documentary.

Co-producer Michael Chrisman said Terpil, 74, was interviewed at his Havana home in December and gave the impression of leading a somewhat bored life, "with little to do (and) spending much time frequenting Havana watering holes nursing a drink."

He has a much younger Cuban girlfriend, and asks friends and visitors to supply him with the occasional English language book, said Chrisman. The Showtime documentary is titled Mad Dog: Inside the Secret World of Muammar Gaddafi.

The interview focused on Terpil's relations with the Libyan dictator, killed in a 2011 revolt, and not on his links to his Cuban hosts because "he was no doubt taking a gamble upsetting them by doing the interview," the co-producer added.

Terpil, a CIA operative who resigned from the agency in 1970, is one of more than 70 U.S. fugitives reported to have received safe haven in Cuba. [Read more: Tamayo/MiamiHerald/21April2014]

Eye Spy With My Google Glass. "Eyes on target" may take on a new meaning in military and intelligence parlance as spooks and combatants get their hands on Google Glass.

Google Inc.'s internet-connected eyewear, which went on sale to the general public on April 15 for one day only, could also become a tactical and intelligence information sharing tool for first responders such as police or firefighters under a new plan by BAE Systems Inc., the U.S.-arm of Europe's largest defense company.

BAE has developed an app called GXP Xplorer Snap that allows operatives and first-responders to take pictures using Google Glass and, through voice commands, transmit the photos along with detailed positional, time and other key tagging information, Rex Ballard, the company's general manager for Geospatial Exploitation Products said in an interview.

But curb your James Bond enthusiasm, the app is not for your ordinary Google Glass customer. Snap provides an encrypted interface to BAE's GXP Xplorer data management system used by customers that include the U.S. military services, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, its Australian counterpart and the U.K. defense ministry. [Read more: Wall/WallStreetJournal/17April2014]

Section III - COMMENTARY

Senator Feinstein Shocked at CIA's "EIT" Program (OR) The Myth of an Objective Congressional Study. The Democratically-controlled Senate Select Intelligence Committee (SSCI), chaired by California Senator Feinstein (D), has just voted to release to the public the 480-page executive summary and the 20 findings of a study carried out by only the Democratic Majority of the Committee. This study began in 2009 and was completed in 2012. The highlighted phrase means that only Democratic staffers of the Committee conducted the "study" about counterterrorism activities ordered by a Republican president in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. That fact alone makes one suspicious of the "objective" conclusions reached. More telling is the admitted fact that the Democratic investigators in three plus years of research never bothered to interview Jose Rodriguez, the head of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center and then the Director of all Clandestine Operations for the period in question, nor other senior CIA officials. (I guess when you know what conclusions you wish to reach before you even start the study, it makes it easier to decide on your investigative methodology.) Senator Saxby Chambliss, Republican Minority Leader of the Committee, in explaining why he voted "yes" to release the report, stated he did so "despite the report's significant errors, omissions, and assumptions - as well as a lot of cherry-picking of the facts - I want the American people to be able to see it and judge for themselves." (That also allows a testosterone-free Chambliss to claim how he managed to be both against a biased report, yet vote for it.) Unfortunately, this report has been reported by the news media as the Senate's SSCI-concluded "facts" - and thus its conclusions are the Gospel truth about the ineffective, lying and torturing CIA. (Take a look at the choice of words in headlines of news articles in the subsequent days about the report.) It has not been reported simply as the biased, Democratic Party opinions of a Democratic investigation, done in a half-assed manner.

As for the substance of the report, through leaks of the as yet unreleased report to journalists, we already know that major conclusions (accusations) are that (1) no useful information on terrorist activities was obtained through Enhanced Interrogation Techniques; (2) many things done by the CIA were illegal; and (3) the CIA lied to Congressional investigators. And while not in the original report, Senator Feinstein has recently also publicly accused the CIA of having "spied" on the SSCI investigators. Per news reports, the CIA has reported to the Justice Department for investigation alleged improper handling and removal of classified material that was made available on computers to the SSCI investigators.

As for the first accusation, President George Bush, Vice-President Cheney and Director of CIA Operations Jose Rodriguez have all publicly stated that the harsh interrogation techniques in the first few years after 9/11, including waterboarding, produced valuable intelligence that helped stop future planned terrorist attacks. Granted, those people and others with such positive claims have a vested interest in promoting the idea that the interrogations obtained valuable information. But are their "biased" views any less correct than the "biased" views of Democratic Party staffers-only working on a committee chaired by Democratic Party Senator Feinstein, whose virulent anti-CIA views have been known long before this three-year "study" ever began. [Read more: Coyle/profgenecoyle.com/15April2014]

Can Jordanian Intelligence and Special Forces Commandos Rescue Jordanian Ambassador Held Hostage in Libya? In 2006 and in the Ritz Carlton hotel in the Georgetown area of Washington D.C a senior Jordanian intelligence "Mukhabarat" officer bragged that his agents kidnapped terrorists from around the world for the CIA. Then in 2010, then Jordanian Prime Minister Samir Al Rifai announced publically that Jordanian intelligence agents will pursue its enemies and terrorists anywhere in the world.

These two important statements show without a doubt how powerful the Jordanian government perceives itself when it comes to intelligence and special forces commandos. To fully understand these two statements it is important, however, to put them in the context of the American CIA, September 11 and the war on terror that followed.

Jordan has been a key US ally in the war on terror and when the Jordanian intelligence officer bragged about his agents , he actually was referring to the many services the Jordanian General intelligence Department, GID, have performed for the CIA or on behalf of the CIA. Services that ranged from kidnapping and killing suspected Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq to holding terror suspects at the GID cells for interrogations that used "enhanced techniques" which is euphemism for torture that Americans were forbidden from doing by law. The Jordanians faced no such legal constraints and were happy to do anything for the CIA .

Jordanian Special forces also played a special role in the American war on terror. It is helpful that King Abdullah II was the commander of the Jordanian Special Forces Command before he assumed the throne and became king in 1999, and personally commanded a commando operation in Amman against local criminals in an Amman area and was described in great details in his book Our Last Best Chance.

But the key change in the Jordanian Special Forces came when the United States Central Command which covers the Middle East, Central Asia, Pakistan and Afghanistan as its Area Of Responsibility, AOR, decided to build and invest in a state of the art facility, The King Abdullah Special Operation Training Center, KASOTC, to train its regional allies on hostage rescue and commando operations. [Read more: Younes/ArabDailyNews/21April2014]

Intelligence Directive Bars Unauthorized Contacts With News Media. The Director of National Intelligence has forbidden most intelligence community employees from discussing "intelligence-related information" with a reporter unless they have specific authorization to do so, according to an Intelligence Community Directive that was issued last month.

"IC employees... must obtain authorization for contacts with the media" on intelligence-related matters, and "must also report... unplanned or unintentional contact with the media on covered matters," the Directive stated.

The new Directive reflects - and escalates - tensions between the government and the press over leaks of classified information. It is intended "to mitigate risks of unauthorized disclosures of intelligence-related matters that may result from such contacts." See Intelligence Community Directive 119, Media Contacts, March 20, 2014.

Significantly, however, the new prohibition does not distinguish between classified and unclassified intelligence information. The "covered matters" that require prior authorization before an employee may discuss them with a reporter extend to any topic that is "related" to intelligence, irrespective of its classification status. [Read more: Aftergood/SecrecyNews/21April2014]

Russia Is a Bigger Threat Than Terrorism. The Ukraine crisis has not been difficult to follow. Like a childish kleptomaniac, Russian president Putin appears to have adopted a four-step land-grab strategy: Arm Russian-speaking rebels with guns and supplies and training, support them with disguised Russian GRU military intelligence and Spetsnaz special forces operatives, act indignant when the Ukraine wants to fight back, and then invade the Ukraine to protect Russian speakers from the Ukraine's right to police its country.

As infantile as Putin's game of chess has been, his tactics have worked, and the West has been powerless to come up with a counterstrategy.

Yesterday the Ukraine said it wanted United Nations help after a pro-Russian crowd stormed a police station in the town of Horlivka, near Donets. The West can't do anything because Russia has a veto vote at the top table of the UN. As a result, it looks likely that Russia is poised to invade eastern Ukraine in the same way that it manufactured the invasion of the Crimea. Russia deliberately caused the Ukraine problem. It also exacerbated the genocide in Syria by voting against action there on the unspoken basis that Russia needed to maintain arms deals with President Assad.

As a former British intelligence officer, I know that Western intelligence agencies such as the CIA and the United Kingdom's MI6 have spent years warning their politicians about the dangers of rogue states compared with the relative flash-in-the-pan but abhorrent and immediate threat of terrorism. But since 9/11, bearded crazies have been getting all the attention, and our politicians have been more interested in catching people who were blowing stuff up, killing innocents, and causing anarchy. As a result, the politicians tasked the CIA and other agencies with dedicating a significant percentage of their capabilities to the counterterrorism effort. But terrorists rarely change the world map. Major rogue states can destabilize the world order and everything we cherish. The spies knew that but could do nothing about it because they were told to take their eye off the rogue state threats and instead chase the bearded crazies. [Read more: Dunn/HuffingtonPost/21April2014]

Section IV -  Coming AFIO Events

AFIO EDUCATIONAL EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

1 - 3 May 2014 - Tysons Corner, VA - AFIO 2014 Intelligence Symposium - Registration closes 23 Apr 2014 - tomorrow.

AFIO 2014 Intelligence Symposium - Agenda and Registration Now Available Online- All speakers are confirmed. Theme is GEOINT, HUMINT, SIGINT: Expanding Capabilities; Growing Challenges and Risks

Day One at the new headquarters of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Registration closes on 23 April.
Register . Agenda is <here. The Agenda was updated on 22 April 2014.

You will hear/meet...

� Letitia A. Long, NGA Director; turned GEOINT into crucial player in most intelligence and CT operations;
� Michael Sulick, former Director, CIA's National Clandestine Service, Intelligence Historian;
� John J. Hamre, President CSIS, former Deputy Secretary of Defense;
� Michael Warner, Historian, DoD and CIA;
� James Hughes, CIA Mideast Expert;
� Paul R. Pillar, former senior CIA analyst, on Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform
� Kai Bird, Mideast Expert, author of The CIA in Beirut;
� Stewart Baker, former NSA & DHS legal expert on privacy and intel issues;
� John Bennett, former Director, CIA's National Clandestine Service;
� Spike Bowman, former NSA, NCIX/DNI, FBI, privacy and intel legal issues;
� David Ignatius, author, journalist Washington Post; the media view of privacy sensitivities;
� John Sano, former Deputy Director, National Clandestine Service, CIA;
� David Major, former FBI/National Security Council; Eyes-open expert on dangers the U.S. faces.
and banquet speaker: � Dr. John M. Poindexter, ADM, USN(Ret), visionary, brave lightning rod, and heralded pioneer in digital, real-time security who showed how to connect-the-dots; a leader in protecting privacy in a data-driven society; the architect of Big Data systems that sent terrorists running for cover and to their lawyers and front groups to circumvent the new capabilities.

ay One of the Event [at NGA] is open to U.S. citizens only. Days Two and Three are open to all members, subscribers, and guests.
All three days will be conducted at UNCLASSIFIED level.

Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1960 Chain Bridge Road, McLean, VA 22102, Phone: 1-888-233-9527

Use the following link: http://tinyurl.com/ko6ppau to enter a hotel reservation at the discounted $109/nite rate.

If there is any difficulty getting the AFIO $109/night rate, at the hotel ask for Kristina Dorough at 703-738-3114 M - F 7am - 5pm EST
We do NOT recommend calling the national reservation lines but suggest calling the hotel at the above number to get the special event rate.

Saturday, 3 May 2014 - Orange Park, FL - AFIO North Florida Chapter hosts meeting

Location: Country Club of Orange Park. Questions and reservations: Quiel Begonia at qbegonia@comcast.net or call 352-332-6150. Cost will be $16 each, pay the Country Club at the luncheon.

Saturday, 10 May 2014, noon - 2 - Indian Harbor Beach, FL - The AFIO Florida Satellite Chapter hosts Dick Kerr discussing Robert Gates' book: Duty.

CIA veteran Dick Kerr will discuss Robert Gates' book Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War. The meeting will convene at the Eau Gallie Yacht Club, 100 Datura Drive, Indian Harbor Beach, FL. For information and reservations, please contact Barbara Keith, bobbie6769@juno.com, or 321 777 5561.

Wednesday, 14 May 2014, 6 - 9 pm - Scottsdale, AZ - AFIO AZ Chapter's 2nd Annual James Bond 007 Black Tie Event

AFIO's Arizona Chapter's scholarship fundraiser helps support the students of the defense and security studies at ASU.
Attire: Black Tie Optional
EVENT: Shaken not Stirred Martini Bar, Sit down dinner with hosts at each table representing the CIA Clandestine Service, FBI, Military Intelligence, and Law Enforcement Intelligence who will share war stories and answer questions; Bond Girls; live entertainment and dancing; Aston Martin (minus Machine Guns); Charitable fundraising auction of intelligence & spy paraphernalia; related art objects.
Tickets: $62.50 per person; $125 per couple until April 30
$75 per person; $150 per couple May 1 to May 11.
RSVP: 0072014@afioaz.org. Send check to: AFIO AZ 8614 E Appaloosa Trail, Scottsdale, AZ 85258. Select Chicken Provencal or Poached Salmon, and indicate full name of each guest.

15 May 2014, noon - 2 pm - San Francisco, CA - The AFIO James Quesada Chapter hosts Farhad Mansourian, former officer in the Imperial Iranian Army. He will discuss the current Iranian government and intelligence related to terror structure and nuclear activities.

11:30AM no host cocktails; meeting starts at noon. United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, SF (between Sloat/Wawona). RSVP required by 5/1/14 to Mariko Kawaguchi: e-mail afiosf@aol.com and mail check made out to "AFIO" to: Mariko Kawaguchi, P.O. Box 117578, Burlingame, CA 94011. Members and students: $25; non-member guests $35 (must be accompanied by member).

15 May 2014, 11:30am - 2 pm - Englewood, CO - The AFIO Rocky Mountain Chapter hears from Thomas Ravenelle, FBI SAC Denver

AFIO will hold a joint meeting with FBI's InfraGard featuring Thomas Ravenelle, FBI Denver Division Supervising Agent in Charge. SAC Ravenelle will talk about a case briefing and overview of a closed EOD case. The meeting will be held at the Perfect Landing Restaurant, which is upstairs at the Denver Jet Center FBO, 7625 S. Peoria Street, Englewood CO 80112. Phone: 303-649-4478. There are seating limitations of 45 seats so we will accept reservations on a first come first serve basis. You will receive directions when you RSVP to Tom Van Wormer at robsmom@pcisys.net. The lunch will cost $15.00. You can pay at the door.

Friday, 13 June 2014, 10:30am - 2pm - Tysons Corner, VA - AFIO Summer Luncheon featuring Good Hunting by Jack Devine, former CIA director of operations and chief of the CIA Afghan Task Force, 1986-87. The morning speaker is Peter Finn, National Security Editor for The Washington Post. His book, The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book, discusses a risky, highly successful 1960s CIA propaganda operation.

John "Jack" J. Devine addresses his colleagues and other AFIO members at this luncheon upon the release of his book, Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story. Devine served in the CIA for more than three decades, participating in covert operations that took him from Allende's Chile through Iran-Contra and Charlie Wilson's Afghanistan to George Tenet's Iraq, eventually rising to the position of Director of the DO [today's National Clandestine Service]. This book is a master class in spying.

Peter Finn's book, co-authored with Petra Couvee [Couvee lives in Russia], discusses the world of Soviet intelligentsia and Cold War politics to study how Boris Pasternak came to write and publish Doctor Zhivago (which first appeared in Italy in 1957). The authors use previously classified CIA files to depict the oppressive political conditions that gave rise to Pasternak's masterpiece, and the international firestorm that occurred when the novel was banned in the Soviet Union. The torturous ideological policing by the Soviets mirrored the tale of Doctor Zhivago itself which harbored a long psychic scar from the Russian Revolution. The authors also present the role played by the Kremlin in persecuting Pasternak and his loved ones, as well as the role of the CIA in using his book in a game of ideological warfare―overall, a triumphant reminder that successful covert and propaganda operations, though they can fade into history devoid of public recognition or credit, played significant roles and led to some highly beneficial, pro-freedom outcomes.

Early registration is .

27 June 2014 - Los Angeles, CA - AFIO Los Angeles hears from Dr. Erik Nemeth on "Cultural Intelligence in International Affairs and Foreign Policy."

Dr. Erik Nemeth from the RAND Corporation will be the guest speaker for the June 27, 2014 meeting. Dr. Nemeth will present "Cultural Intelligence in International Affairs & Foreign Policy" - The politics of historical & cultural property and the intelligence gathering to assess the political significance of looting and repatriation of cultural property. Please RSVP for attendance: AFIO_LA@Yahoo.com

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

Section V - Other Upcoming Events

MANY more International Spy Museum Events in 2014 with full details are listed on the AFIO Website at www.afio.com.

Wednesday, 23 April 2014, 6:30 - 9:30pm - Washington, DC - Spy School Workshop: Surveillance 101 with Eric O'Neil, at the International Spy Museum

Spring into surveillance!
As a young operative in the FBI, Eric O'Neill was used to conducting surveillance; he was even put into the position of spying on his boss. The boss was Robert Hanssen, who was under suspicion of working for Russia, and O'Neill was up to the challenge. Now he'll share his expertise with you. O'Neill has conducted many outdoor surveillance exercises for the Museum, and he's ready to take those with the right skills up a notch. You'll be trailing the "Rabbit" through a complicated urban setting with red herrings and false leads. O'Neill will rate your clandestine prowess while you spy on secret meetings and operational acts and see if you can uncover the spy skullduggery that's afoot while you are on foot. There is no guarantee that your "Rabbit" won't escape!
Tickets: $94. Space is limited to only 10 participants -- advance registration required! Call Laura Hicken at 202.654.0932 to register.

Monday, 5 May 2014, 4pm - Washington, DC - "Covert Legions: U.S. Army Intelligence and the Defense of Europe, 1944-1949"

Covert Legions: U.S. Army Intelligence and the Defense of Europe, 1944-1949.
“As the Third Reich collapsed, Soviet forces moved deep into Central Europe, and the United States had to adjust rapidly to the new political landscape. The intelligence services of the U.S. Army assumed a key role in informing Washington national security policy toward Europe during this critical period. This presentation discusses the early Cold War operations of U.S. Army intelligence as it sought to apprehend war criminals, suppress Nazi subversion, contain communism, and monitor the Red Army.”
Location: Woodrow Wilson Center.
To register or learn more visit here or email thomas.boghardt@us.army.mil

Tuesday, 13 May 2014 , 6:30pm - Washington, DC - Why Intelligence Fails, at the International Spy Museum

"What you're surprised with depends on who you are - " --Philippe Silberzahn
Who lives in caves, only holy men or primitive cavemen? Dr. Milo Jones, visiting professor at IE Business School in Madrid, Spain, thinks that the answer to that question helps explain the intelligence failure of 9/11. He comes to the International Spy Museum to argue that the CIA's repeated intelligence failures are a result of the fact that the CIA thinks that intelligence analysis is science while it is really a social process in which identity and culture play a major role. Also joining us for the evening will be Dr. Mark Lowenthal, CEO of the Intelligence and Security Academy and former assistant director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production. He will engage with Dr. Jones on the provocative conclusions of the book Constructing Cassandra: Reframing Intelligence Failure at the CIA, 1947-2001, that Jones co-authored with Philippe Silberzahn of EMLYON Business School in France.
Tickets: $10. Visit www.spymuseum.org

Sunday, 18 May 2014,1800 - 2200 - Tysons Corner, VA - NMIA/NMIF Awards Banquet
Please join for the social highlight of 2014 as NMIA honors the winners of the prestigious National Military Intelligence Association/National Military Intelligence Foundation awards. Help them and senior representatives from each of the Services in congratulating the future leaders of the military intelligence community whose significant achievements have enhanced our national security in truly spectacular ways.
Location: Mclean Hilton Hotel, Tysons Corner, VA.
Register here.

Thursday, 12 June 2014 - CIA Technology Exposition - CIA Headquarters in Langley, VA 

Hosted by the Office of the CIO, the CIA Technology Expo returns to the CIA Original Headquarters this June! This exclusive event is one of the very few opportunities to showcase your products and services inside the walls of the CIA. This is a great opportunity to network with CIO personnel as well as over 1,000 other CIA personnel. Over 100 applications will be collected but only 55 will be hand-selected by CIA to exhibit.
The CIA Technology Council will review all applications, make selections, and notify NCSI of accepted exhibitors. Please keep your answers concise and explain exactly the products and services you have to offer the CIA. The application process is free, you will only be charged if you are selected to exhibit!
In order to ensure that your application is processed, please complete both the 2014 Tech Expo Contract and the CIA Application. All applications must be received by 12:00 PM EST on April 4, 2014! All responses must be typed including electronic signatures and sent electronically. 
Please contact your NCSI sales representative at 443-561-2400 for application and contract forms and additional information. 
www.ncsi.com

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