AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #01-08 dated 7 January 2008
N.B. - This is the first WIN for 2008. The last WIN for 2007 was #47-07 released on 17 December 2007
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25 January 2008 - AFIO Winter Luncheon - Crowne Plaza Hotel, Tysons Corner
10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Frank Anderson, former ADDO, Directorate of Operations, CIA
Anderson was chief of CIA's Near East and South Asia Division, having served previously as director of technical services, as chief of the Afghan task force and as chief of station in three Middle East posts.
on "U.S. Operations in the Middle East"
and
John Robb, author of BRAVE NEW WAR: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization
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CONTENTS
Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE
Section IV - CAREERS, BOOKS AND COMING EVENTS
Current Calendar Next Two Months ONLY:Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Secret Military Documents Found on Public Computer in Sweden. The Swedish Armed Forces said one of its staff had accidentally left a USB memory stick with classified military documents on a public computer in Stockholm. "We take this kind of carelessness very seriously," Col. Bengt Sandstrom of the Military Intelligence and Security Service said in a statement.
According to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet - which returned the portable computer memory device to the armed forces after receiving it from an unidentified person - the memory stick was found in a computer in a public Stockholm library. The military said it contained "both unclassified and classified information such as information regarding IED (improvised explosive devices) and mine threats in Afghanistan." Two of the files were classified. Countries other than Sweden, including the United States, were also mentioned, the military said, but it did not say which countries.
Aftonbladet said the documents included an analysis of the situation in Afghanistan as well as a classified U.S. intelligence report.
Sandstrom was meeting with defense attaches from the countries mentioned in the documents to discuss the incident. The armed forces said the employee had admitted misplacing the memory stick, and that a preliminary technical investigation confirmed it belonged to him. A civil investigation is to be carried out and the contents of the memory stick will be analyzed to determine the damage its misplacement may have caused, the military said.
[CanadianPress/4January2007]
Bulgaria Appoints Super Chief. The newly appointed head of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), Petko Sertov, says he has the support of Bulgaria's Western partners despite the fact he had worked for communist-era secret services.
At a December 27 news conference, Sertov disappointed the media by saying that he would not be meeting them very often due to the nature of SANS's work. According to the law that came into force on January 1, 2008, the National Security Service of the Interior Ministry, the Military Counterintelligence from the Defense Ministry and Financial Intelligence Agency from the Finance Ministry all became part of SANS.
A personal initiative of Stanishev, SANS was advertised as a super agency to fight drug trafficking, money laundering and top-level corruption. It will also exercise control over the length of stay of foreigners in the country with relation to terrorist threats. According to unofficial information, nearly 3000 people will work for the new agency. They will have the right to trace, eavesdrop, detain and search people. SANS chairperson will be subject to Parliament's control.
The opposition strongly protested about the length of the leadership term for SANS because of all the powers that the position holds. The term is set by law at five years. The law did not include any conditions about people that had worked for former communist security police State Security being appointed to the SANS leadership.
Sertov graduated from Sofia's University of World and National Economy in 1982 and in 1984 joined State Security. He had also trained at the Ecole Nationale Superieure de la Police in Lyon. He worked in the Interior Ministry until 1997. Prior to his appointment as the head of SANS he was chairman of the National Security Council within the government.
The names of Sertov's deputies were also given, the current head of the National Security Agency Ivan Drashkov and that of the Security, Military Police and Counterintelligence Agency, Brigadier General Nikolai
Nikolov. [SophiaEcho/4January2007]
Marine Captain Conspires with FBI/CIA Employee in Naturalization Fraud. Samar Khalil Spinelli, 39, a Captain in the US Marine Corps, pleaded guilty in December in a Detroit federal court to conspiring with former FBI Agent and CIA employee Nada Nadim Prouty and Elfat El Aouar, the wife of fugitive restaurateur Talal Chahine, to commit citizenship fraud and passport fraud, according to US Attorney Stephen J. Murphy.
Mr. Murphy was joined in making the announcement by Brian M. Moskowitz, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Detroit field office.
At a hearing before US District Court Judge Avern Cohn, Spinelli entered a plea of guilty to counts one and two of a fourth superseding information. Count one of the information charges conspiracy, for which the maximum penalty is five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Count two charges passport fraud, for which the maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
According to court documents, Spinelli (originally named Samar Khalil Nabbouh) entered the United States from Lebanon on a student visa in 1989. She resided in Taylor, Michigan with Elfat El Aouar and Nada Nadim Prouty. On April 13, 1990, Spinelli entered into a fraudulent marriage with Jean Paul Deladurantaye in St. Clair Shores, Michigan for the purpose of evading US immigration laws.
Spinelli later submitted a series of false, fraudulent and forged documents and letters to federal immigration officials to verify the validity of the fraudulent marriage in order to obtain permanent residency status, and, later, US citizenship, thereby committing naturalization fraud. In fact, Spinelli hired Deladurantaye to marry her, never had any relationship with Deladurantaye and never resided with him as husband and wife. On Aug. 31, 1995, after obtaining her citizenship, Spinelli filed for divorce falsely claiming to have "lived and cohabited together as husband and wife."
On Dec. 19, 1997, Spinelli utilized her fraudulently obtained citizenship to obtain a commission as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. It is a prerequisite to becoming a commissioned officer that one be a US citizen. Spinelli was in the midst of her second tour of combat in Iraq, when she was extracted to answer the citizenship fraud charges.
In addition, Spinelli facilitated the fraudulent marriage of Nada Nadim Prouty (then Nada Nadim Al Aouar) to her fake brother-in-law, Chris Deladurantaye. Spinelli and Prouty were thus technically sisters-in-law through dual fraudulent marriages, while continuing to reside together in Taylor, Mich. Spinelli later assisted Nada Prouty in defrauding the Federal Bureau of Investigation into hiring Prouty by serving as a reference for Prouty in 1998 while attending the Marine Corps Basic School in Quantico, Virginia.
Notwithstanding her knowledge that Prouty had fraudulently procured US citizenship and was thus completely ineligible to become an FBI agent, Spinelli told FBI investigators that she was not aware of any activity or conduct in Prouty's background which could in any way be used to subject her to influence, pressure, coercion, or compromise, or which would negatively reflect upon Prouty's character.
Nada Prouty recently pleaded guilty to charges of fraudulently obtaining US citizenship, which she later used to gain employment at the FBI and CIA, and to accessing a federal computer system to unlawfully query information about herself, Talal Chahine, Elfat El Aouar and the terrorist organization Hizbollah.
El Aouar's husband, Talal Chahine is currently a fugitive believed to be in Lebanon. He, was charged in 2006 in the Eastern District of Michigan with tax evasion in connection with a scheme to conceal more than $20 million in cash received by La Shish restaurants and to route funds to persons in Lebanon.
Last month, Chahine was also charged in the Eastern District of Michigan, along with a senior ICE official in Detroit and others in a bribery and extortion conspiracy in which federal immigration benefits were allegedly awarded to illegal aliens in exchange for money.
The ongoing investigation into this matter is being conducted by the FBI and ICE, with assistance from the US State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Mr. Murphy also extended his appreciation to the U.S. Marine Corps for its full cooperation in the investigation. [Kouri/CommonVoice/4January2007]
Russia Cracks Down on Nuclear Smugglers. Russia says its customs officials have foiled more than 120 attempts to smuggle 'highly radioactive' material out of the country in 2007. The West claims that Moscow might fail to prevent the smuggling of radioactive material that could be used by terrorists to make dirty bombs. A further 722 cases of illegal importing of highly radioactive material into Russia were detected - possible evidence of a dangerous trade between ex-Soviet states.
The figures come as Britain continues to demand the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi for allegedly poisoning an ex-KGB agent with radioactive polonium-210 in London in November 2006. British sources alleged that the polonium used in the murder originated at a Russian state facility. But Nikolai Kravchenko of the Russian customs service said shipments of this substance are being exported from Russia legally.
[PressTv/3January2007]
U.S. Court Awards $466 Million to Iranian Victim. The family of a naturalized American citizen who was arrested, tortured, and executed in Iran, have won a $466 million judgment in U.S. federal court against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the intelligence ministry, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Former Iranian air force officer Siavash Bayani was executed in August 1997, two years after returning to Iran to care for his terminally-ill mother. He was repeatedly tortured during his detention in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, according to testimony by family members presented during emotionally-charged court hearings in Washington, DC. A government newspaper, Salam, alleged that Bayani was executed because he had worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. But according to U.S. District Court judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr., Bayani was never employed by the Central Intelligence Agency or any other U.S. government agency and never received money from the U.S. government for information about the Islamic regime in Iran or for any other services.
The judgment, handed down on December 28, comes on the heels of more than $6 billion in compensatory and punitive damages awarded victims of state-sponsored terrorist acts in U.S. courts, according to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service.
[Timmerman/Newsmax/3January2007]
Khamenei: Wrong Time for Iran-US Ties. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday he was willing to improve relations with the United States but that the moment was not right because it would make his country more vulnerable to U.S. espionage. Khamenei said restoring ties with the U.S. now would "provide opportunity for security agents to come and go, as well as for espionage."
"It has no benefit for Iranian nation," state radio quoted him as saying at a student group meeting in the central province of Yazd. It would be an "opportunity for U.S. infiltration, traffic of their intelligence agents and espionage of Iran."
Iran last year claimed it uncovered spy rings organized by the U.S. and its Western allies and detained four Iranian-Americans, who were later released. The arrests prompted the United States to warn its citizens against traveling to Iran, accusing authorities there of a "disturbing pattern" of harassment.
The United States and Iran have had no diplomatic ties since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The dispute over Iran's nuclear program and U.S. allegations of Iranian support for armed groups in Iraq have raised tensions.
Washington has refused to hold talks with Iran over the issue of diplomatic ties until Tehran suspends uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to produce fuel for both nuclear energy and weapons. But the two countries have held three rounds of ambassador-level negotiations on security in Iraq, breaking the 27-year diplomatic freeze. Iran says its nuclear program is intended solely for energy production, and Khamenei reiterated Thursday that his country would continue to pursue it to generate some 20,000 megawatts of electricity in the next two decades.
Washington's push for a third round of U.N. sanctions against Iran was undermined by the release of a new U.S. intelligence report in December, saying that Tehran suspended development of nuclear weapons development under international pressure in 2003. It was a dramatic turnaround from the previous U.S. stance that Iran restarted the program in 2005.
[Karimi/AP/4January200]
Why Did U.S. Intelligence Expel MI-6 Agents From Afghanistan? Senior Afghan government officials have told reporters that two MI6 agents were expelled from the country last week, at the behest of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), after they were caught funding Taliban units. The two alleged MI6 agents, Mervyn Patterson and Michael Semple, left Afghanistan on Dec. 27, on charges that they posed a threat to the country's national security. Patterson worked for the United Nations, and Semple worked for the European Union. Both men were Afghan specialists, who had been operating in the country for over 20 years.
An unnamed Afghan government official told the London Sunday Telegraph that "this warning," that the men were financing the Taliban for at least ten months, "came from the Americans. They were not happy with the support being provided to the Taliban. They gave the information to our intelligence services, who ordered the arrests." The Afghan government source further added, "The Afghan government would never have acted alone to expel officials of such a senior level. This was information that was given to the NDS [National Directorate of Security] by the Americans." In 2006, U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan had loudly protested the British decision to withdraw troops from Musa Qala, opening the door for a Taliban takeover of the region, in a deal with local tribal leaders.
The London Times added that when Patterson and Semple were arrested, they had $150,000 with them, which was to be given to Taliban commanders in the same Musa Qala region. The Times added, "British officials have been careful to distance current MI6 talks with Taliban commanders in Helmand from the expulsions of Michael Semple, the Irish head of the EU mission, and Mervyn Patterson, a British advisor to the UN." The Telegraph had reported that the claims that the CIA was behind the expulsions "will reinforce perceptions of a rift between the U.S. and its international partners in Afghanistan, including Britain."
[ExecutiveIntelligenceReview/31December2007]
Key Pentagon Strategist Plots Global War on Terror. In the Pentagon's newly expanded Special Operations office, Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Vickers is working to implement the U.S. military's highest-priority plan: a global campaign against terrorism that reaches far beyond Iraq and Afghanistan. The plan details the targeting of al-Qaida-affiliated networks around the world and explores how the United States should retaliate in case of another major terrorist attack. The most critical aspect of the plan, Vickers said in a recent interview, involves U.S. Special Operations forces working through foreign partners to uproot and fight terrorist groups.
Vickers' job also spans the modernization of nuclear forces for deterrence and retaliation, and the retooling of conventional forces to combat terrorism, a portfolio so expansive that he and some Pentagon officials once jokingly referred to his efforts as the "take-over-the-world plan."
Vickers, a former Green Beret and CIA operative [sic], was the principal strategist for the biggest covert program in CIA history: the paramilitary operation that drove the Soviet army out of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The movie "Charlie Wilson's War" portrays Vickers in that role, in which he directed an insurgent force of 150,000 Afghan fighters and controlled an annual budget of more than $2 billion in current dollars.
Today, as the top Pentagon adviser on counterterrorism strategy, Vickers exudes the same assurance about defeating terrorist groups as he did as a 31-year-old CIA paramilitary officer assigned to Afghanistan, where he convinced superiors that, with the right strategy and weapons, the ragtag Afghan insurgents could win.
Vickers joined the Pentagon in July to oversee the 54,000-strong Special Operations Command (Socom), based in Tampa, Fla., which is growing faster than any other part of the U.S. military. Socom's budget has doubled in recent years, to $6 billion for 2008, and the command is to add 13,000 troops to its ranks by 2011.
Senior Pentagon and military officials regard Vickers as a rarity: a skilled strategist who is creative and pragmatic. "He tends to think like a gangster," said Jim Thomas, a former senior defense planner who worked with Vickers.
Vickers' outlook was shaped in the CIA and Special Forces, which he joined in 1973. In the 10th Special Forces Group, he trained year-round for a guerrilla war against the Soviet Union. One scenario he prepared for: to parachute into enemy territory with a small nuclear weapon strapped to his leg and position it to halt the Red Army.
Vickers recalled that the nuclear devices did not seem that small, "particularly when you are in an aircraft with one of them or it is attached to your body." Was it a suicide mission? "I certainly hoped not," Vickers said.
An expert in martial arts, parachuting and weapons, and second in his class at Officer Candidate School, Vickers joined the CIA's paramilitary unit in 1983. Soon after, he received a citation for combat in Grenada.
His greatest influence was in the precise way he reassessed the potential of Afghan guerrilla forces and prescribed the right mix of weaponry to attack Soviet weaknesses.
Today Vickers' plan to build a global counterterrorist network is no less ambitious. The plan is focused on a list of 20 "high-priority" countries, with Pakistan posing a central preoccupation for Vickers, who said al-Qaida sanctuaries in the country's western tribal areas are a serious threat to the United States. The list also includes Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, the Philippines, Yemen, Somalia and Iran, and Vickers hinted that some European countries could be on it. Beyond that, the plan covers 29 additional "priority" countries, and "other countries" he did not name.
Vickers, who has advised President Bush on Iraq strategy, is convinced that more U.S. troops are not enough to solve the conflict in Iraq and that working with local forces is the best long-term strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Working with proxy forces also will enable the United States to extend and sustain its influence, something it failed to do in Afghanistan, he said. "After this great victory and after a million Afghans died, we basically exited that region and Afghanistan just spun into chaos," he said.
[Tyson/WashingtonPost/31December2007]
AG Says Disclosing Evidence in Sailor Case Would Harm Security. U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey says a request by a former Navy sailor charged with supporting terrorism to disclose portions of the investigation would harm national security. Hassan Abu-Jihaad, who is accused of disclosing secret information about the location of Navy ships and the best ways to attack them, says evidence against him was illegally obtained and should be thrown out. His defense wants prosecutors to disclose applications to a secret court and its orders approving searches and telephone surveillance.
Abu-Jihaad, 31, of Phoenix, pleaded not guilty in April to charges he provided material support to terrorists with intent to kill U.S. citizens and disclosed classified information relating to the national defense. He has been held without bail since his arrest in March in Phoenix.
Mukasey said disclosing the materials requested by the defense "reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States." The documents contain sensitive and classified information involving U.S. intelligence sources and methods for conducting counterterrorism investigations, officials said in court papers filed Friday.
Abu-Jihaad's attorneys say in court papers that the court should "look askance" at such a claim. They say the criminal charges against Abu-Jihaad involve alleged conduct in 2001, but authorities have been investigating him since 2004 and only turned up "some half-baked notion" to attack military installations. "This is not a situation where the government is conducting an ongoing investigation which is generating 'foreign intelligence information' or other evidence of an ongoing plot to harm the national security," Abu-Jihaad's attorneys wrote in court papers earlier this month.
In challenging the evidence, Abu-Jihaad has cited a September ruling by a federal judge in Oregon that struck down key portions of the USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled the act cannot be used to authorize secret searches and wiretapping to gather criminal evidence - instead of intelligence - without violating the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.
The Bush Administration is appealing that ruling. Prosecutors in Abu-Jihaad's case also say the ruling was wrong and cite other decisions that found the law constitutional.
Abu-Jihaad says any intercepted telephone calls and searches of his e-mails that were authorized by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court violated the Fourth Amendment. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is a federal court charged with overseeing requests from the FBI and others for warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents.
Prosecutors want a judge to secretly review the materials and declare the evidence was legally collected and that the documents do not include information that must be disclosed to the defense as part of due process. "In short," prosecutors wrote, "there is nothing extraordinary about the FISA collection authorized in this case that would justify this case becoming the first 'exception' to the rule of more than two decades of FISA litigation - that is, the first-ever order to produce and disclose highly sensitive and classified FISA materials."
Abu-Jihaad, who received an honorable discharge from the Navy in 2002, faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
[Christoffersen/AP/24December2007]
CIA in 2003 Planned Destruction of Tapes. A key member of Congress disclosed that the CIA said in February 2003 it planned to destroy videotapes of harsh interrogations after the agency's inspector general finished probing the episodes, an account that adds detail to recent CIA statements about the circumstances surrounding the tapes' destruction.
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) released a declassified copy of a letter she secretly wrote to the CIA in February 2003, in which she quoted then-CIA General Counsel Scott W. Muller as telling her a tape of the agency's interrogation of Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein, better known as Abu Zubaida, "will be destroyed after the Inspector General finishes his inquiry." The CIA yesterday confirmed Harman's account of Muller's statement.
Harman at that time had recently become the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, and in her letter she urged Muller to "reconsider" that plan and predicted that the tapes' destruction "would reflect badly on the agency." Agency officials nonetheless destroyed the tapes in 2005.
In recent public accounts about the tapes, CIA officials have said that no definitive decision was made about destroying the tapes until 2005. Beginning in early 2003, senior officials expressed an "intention to dispose" of the videos, according to a Dec. 6 statement by CIA Director Michael V. Hayden. But an internal debate over the tapes' disposition continued for two more years, with senior CIA lawyers advising against their destruction.
According to several senior intelligence officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is under criminal investigation, the videotaping at issue was conducted at secret CIA detention sites overseas with the approval of CIA headquarters. The interrogations got underway after the administration in August 2002 authorized what Muller described in a Feb. 28, 2003, letter to Harman as a "handful of specially approved interrogation techniques."
[Pincus/WashingtonPost/4January2008]
North Korea Claims it Gave US List of Nuclear Programs, Explained Alleged Uranium Program. North Korea blamed the United States for slowed progress in its de-nuclearization, saying it was acting in good faith and had given Washington details about atomic programs it has pledged to abandon. The North also said it had no choice but to slow the pace of disablement of a key nuclear reactor as the U.S. and other countries were not fulfilling their end of a deal to provide promised energy aid and political concessions.
The statement by North Korea's Foreign Ministry was its first on the nuclear issue since a year-end deadline for declaring the programs passed Monday with the U.S., South Korea and Japan saying Pyongyang had failed to deliver.
North Korea, however, strongly suggested that it had done what was required and was awaiting action from those and other members of the so-called six-party talks, which also includes China and Russia, before progress could resume.
The United States maintains that North Korea has yet to provide a complete nuclear declaration, but has confidence the process remains on track
The North accused the U.S. and other parties of delays in carrying out their commitments, such as shipping energy aid and removing the North from U.S. terrorism and trade blacklists. That had forced Pyongyang to "adjust the tempo of the disablement of some nuclear facilities on the principle of action for action," it said.
North Korea last year promised to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for the equivalent of 1 million tons of oil and political concessions, such as the possibility of normalized relations with the U.S. and removal from the terror list. In October, it pledged to disable its nuclear facilities and issue a declaration on its atomic programs by the end of 2007. The ministry statement said the promised aid shipments have "not been done even 50 per cent."
The North began disabling facilities at its sole plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon under the watch of U.S. experts in November. On Friday, the North said the last part of the process - removing spent fuel rods - was continuing, and that it was expected to be completed in 100 days.
Still, despite its criticisms, the North said the aid-for-disarmament deal could be implemented smoothly "should all the participating nations make concerted, sincere efforts on the principle of simultaneous action," a stance it has consistently taken.
U.S. officials including Hill have generally commended North Korea for cooperating in the shutdown and disablement of its Yongbyon reactor and for committing to give up its nuclear programs. But the key issue for the United States has been the nuclear declaration. Washington wants Pyongyang to acknowledge a suspected uranium enrichment program - an
allegation that touched off the latest nuclear standoff in late 2002 - and that the North has long denied.
The Foreign Ministry did not list the contents of what it gave Washington, but stressed it had follow-up consultations with U.S. officials and tried its best to defuse allegations that Pyongyang had a uranium-based nuclear weapons program.
U.S. officials have charged that the North's purchase of suspicious material and equipment -
including aluminum tubes that could be used in the process of converting hot uranium gas into fuel for nuclear weapons - showed it pursued a uranium enrichment program.
The statement also said the North offered an explanation to the U.S. about the uranium program, showing American officials military facilities where the aluminum tubes were used, and providing samples to clarify "the controversial aluminum tubes had nothing to do with the uranium enrichment." [Chang&Klug/AP/5January2008]
Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE
Triple Jeopardy: The Nazi Plan to Kill WWII Leaders in Tehran. The British Big Ape Media TV company and the Moscow TV Center are making a documentary series about Russian-British relations over four centuries. The Lion and the Bear, for release in 2008, will mix documentary history, travelogue and personal accounts and will be presented by author, and Winston Churchill's granddaughter, Celia Sandys.
One of the best sections in the film is devoted to the Tehran meeting of the three leaders in 1943, when Hitler's agents planned to destroy the Big Three in one fell swoop. The attempt was foiled by Soviet intelligence.
The "Long Jump" operation to assassinate the Big Three was masterminded on Hitler's orders by Otto Scorzeny, an SS thug and daredevil saboteur.
The first tip-off about the planned attempt came from Soviet intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov, aka Wermacht Oberleutnant Paul Siebert, from Nazi-occupied Ukraine. Kuznetsov, a famed Soviet spy, got an SS man named Ulrich von Ortel to spill the secret over a bottle of good brandy. Von Ortel not only told his "friend" Paul about the operation, but invited him to accompany him on a trip to Tehran to buy cheap Persian rugs.
In the autumn of 1943, fate thrust 19-year-old Gevork Vartanian into the center of the operation. Vartanian was an intelligence agent as well as the son of a Soviet intelligence agent who worked in Iran under the cover of a wealthy merchant. He received his first assignment and the cover name Amir from the resident in 1940.
He formed a group of seven like-minded people. All were of about the same age - Armenians, a Lezghin and an Assyrian - and they communicated in Russian and Farsi. Their parents had been exiled or fled from the USSR to escape Stalin's gulag. They were outcasts and refugees, but they put their lives at risk for the sake of the Motherland that had rejected them.
They were new to the intelligence profession and people from Soviet intelligence had to teach them as they went along. The resident called the group "light cavalry" because of their agility and speed. They shadowed Germans and identified Iranian agents. Gevork Vartanian/Amir today claims that the "light cavalry" had been instrumental in bringing about the arrest of several hundred people who posed a great danger to the USSR and Britain, who both had troops stationed in Iran as early as the autumn of 1941.
On the eve of the Tehran Conference, the Soviet and British field stations were working under tremendous strain. The "light cavalry" received orders to prevent the assassination attempt at all costs. These young men handled the job. I asked Gevork Vartanian whether it was true that on the eve of the Tehran Conference the Soviet and British intelligences moved ruthlessly to detain all the suspects.
"What did you expect?" Gevork Vartanian replied. "To let the Germans take out the three leaders with one stroke? People were placed under temporary arrest on the slightest suspicion. If suspicions were not confirmed, they were released after the conference. On one occasion we had to arrest an Iranian Nazi agent at a wedding party. We got a tip that he was complicit in the assassination plot. As it turned out, it was not the first terrorist attack he had been a part of."
During the filming at the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service press office, Celia Sandys tried to find out from Gevork Vartanian how they had managed to foil the plot. The slender man in a well-fitting dark suit with the top Russian military decoration - the Golden Star of the Hero - answered in good English and then, at Ms. Sandys's request, repeated the answers in Russian.
"Six German radio operators had been dropped by parachute into the holy Muslim city of Qum and made it to Tehran. That was the start of Operation Long Jump. The Germans established communication with Berlin. The 'light cavalry' was given the mission to locate the intruders' radio station in the huge city of Tehran. Day and night, 14 to 16 hours a day we scoured the streets. Eventually we found the place where the group was hiding. From then on the Germans were transmitting messages to Berlin that were intercepted by the Soviet and British intelligence. But the Nazi radio operators were nobody's fools. One of them managed to send a coded message, 'we are under surveillance.'
"The principals in Germany realized that the operation was getting off to a disastrous start. The Nazis decided against sending the main group led by Scorenzy to certain death. The Germans failed to make their Long Jump.
"Your grandfather," Vartanian went on, "was staying at the British Embassy, where he was provided with security guards. But the U.S. Embassy was on the city's outskirts and staying there was too risky. In a departure from the rules of protocol, Roosevelt, after much urging, stayed at the Soviet Embassy, where, of course, Stalin was also staying."
Churchill's granddaughter was naturally curious to know what security precautions had been taken to guard the Prime Minister.
"The street between the Soviet and British Embassies, which were located close to each other, had been sealed off. They stretched a six-meter tarpaulin sheet to make something like a passage guarded by Soviet and British machine-gunners.
"All the participants in the Tehran Conference were able to go back and forth safely. According to some information, the Nazis planned to get into the British Embassy through a water supply channel and assassinate Churchill on his birthday, November 30. But these plans were foiled. In those days I was also there, in Tehran. I was close enough to see your grandfather, Stalin and Roosevelt. What struck me was their confidence and calmness."
"You must have had a certain amount of luck," noted Ms. Sandys.
"Yes, of course," Vartanian agreed. "Luck is important for many professions, and all the more so for that of an intelligence agent." [Novosti/4January2008]
DHS Begins Collecting 10 Fingerprints from International Visitors at Dulles International. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport (Dulles). The change, said DHS in a release, is part of the Department's upgrade from two- to 10-fingerprint collection in order to enhance security and fingerprint-matching accuracy.
"Anyone who's watched the news or seen crimes solved on television shows can appreciate the power of biometrics," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "They help the legitimate traveler proceed more quickly while protecting their identity and enable our frontline personnel to focus even greater attention on potential security risks. Biometrics tell the story that the unknown terrorist tries to conceal, and it causes them to question whether they've ever left a print behind."
Department of State (DOS) consular officers and DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers collect biometrics - digital fingerprints and a photograph - from all non-U.S. citizens between the ages of 14 and 79, with some exceptions, when they apply for visas or arrive at U.S. ports of entry. The Department's US-VISIT program checks this data against a joint Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)-DHS watch list of criminals, immigration violators and known or suspected terrorists. Watch list data comes from several sources, in particular the Department of Defense (DOD), FBI, DHS and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Checking biometrics against these databases helps officers make visa determinations and admissibility decisions. It also improves the department's ability to compare a visitor's fingerprints against latent fingerprints collected by DOD and the FBI from known and unknown terrorists all over the world.
Dulles became the first port of entry to collect additional fingerprints from visitors on November 29. Nine other ports of entry will begin 10-fingerprint collection during the next few months, and the 278 remaining ports will begin this process by the end of 2008. This announcement is the result of an interagency partnership among DHS, FBI, DOD and DOS.
The next ports scheduled to collect 10 fingerprints from international visitors are: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; Boston Logan International Airport; Chicago O'Hare International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport; Miami International Airport; Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport; Orlando International Airport; and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
US-VISIT, in cooperation with CBP, is leading the transition to a 10-fingerprint collection standard. Since US-VISIT began in 2004, DHS has used biometric identifiers to prevent the use of fraudulent documents, protect visitors from identity theft, and stop thousands of criminals and immigration violators from entering the country. [GovernmentTechnology/2January2008]
Section IV - CAREERS, BOOKS AND COMING EVENTS
Online University Seeks Instructors. Henley-Putnam University (formerly California University of Protection and Intelligence Management) is seeking qualified professionals to become online instructors for Protection, Intelligence and Counterterrorism programs, starting course development in spring or summer of 2007, and teaching responsibilities in calendar 2008.
Qualified candidates should have a minimum of a masters degree, however a bachelors degree may be considered for certain subject matter expertise. At least five years of “field” experience or verifiable research and study background in the Protection, Intelligence and/or CT field is also required. A record of publications in the field is a plus. Basic internet skills—email, word processing, navigating and using the web—are mandatory. Should have experience in developing and/or delivering instructional materials and a real desire to teach and mentor the professionals of tomorrow.
Student load will be light at first, however instructors may need to manage several classes at once (students may start classes on the first day of every month), stay in regular contact with students, offer assistance, encouragement and correction as needed and completing administrative tasks in a timely fashion. Instructors will take part in course development and will be required to keep their courses up-to-date.
Currently open are part-time positions with no associated benefits. Depending upon individual performance, positions could become full-time. All instructors will need to sign a contract which includes a Non-Disclosure Agreement. This is a good opportunity for retirees or professionals who already have another "day job" who want to be part of an exciting new institution dedicated to changing the landscape of intelligence, counterterrorism and security, and who want to stay in contact with many of their former colleagues.
Henley-Putnam is an online university, so most contact takes place via the Internet or telephone discussion. Some travel to the San Francisco Bay Area may be necessary for occasional onsite training or seminars, however no relocation is necessary.
Please email your resume with cover letter to nbhowmick@henley-putnam.edu.
About Henley-Putnam: Henley-Putnam is a nationally accredited university offering state-approved undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the areas of Management of Personal Protection, Intelligence Management and Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies. Henley-Putnam University is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). DETC is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency, and is a recognized member of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. The University is approved to train veterans and other eligible persons. The University is affiliated with the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES).
Operation Broken Reed: Truman's Secret North Korean Spy Mission That Averted World War
III, by Lt. Col. Arthur L. Boyd (Ret.). Carroll & Graf, $26.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-78672-086-6. Reviewed by Tom Miller.
President Harry Truman was in a quandary. After eighteen months of attacks and counterattacks, the war in Korea was back where it started near the 38th Parallel that had divided the two nations since World War II. Truman now "faced a fearful decision:" either escalate the conflict in the hope of achieving victory or accept a stalemate.
Truman's decision was made more problematic by a lack of dependable intelligence "on enemy capabilities and intentions." The intelligence community (including the CIA) had missed not only the June 1950 North Korean invasion of the South but also the massive Chinese intervention in November 1950.
According to Boyd, a retired Army officer, Truman decided at this crucial juncture to bypass the intelligence community and authorize a top-secret "black" operation that would put a team behind North Korean lines to collect and transmit intelligence on the enemy.
The hand-picked, ten-man team was inserted behind enemy lines by submarine and traveled across the Korean Peninsula from the Sea of Japan to their pickup point on the coast of the Yellow Sea. Along their route, there were perhaps a million North Korean and Communist Chinese troops. Boyd notes presciently that "the odds for success seemed remote."
Remote or not, the ten men chosen accepted the dangers inherent in their mission. They also accepted that it would go unacknowledged: there would be no record, they would receive no recognition (no awards or decorations), and they were sworn to silence for the next half-century.
Boyd, a young Signal Corps officer at the time, was chosen because he had a top-secret crypto clearance and was adept at Morse code. It would be his job to transmit the intelligence reports to aircraft on station over the Sea of Japan.
Despite the danger and some close calls, the unit collected a trove of intelligence that "revealed a staggering enemy buildup" - evidence that convinced Truman not to escalate the war.
Heartbreakingly close to their rendezvous point, the team was discovered and ambushed by the North Koreans. Seven were killed instantly and three wounded - two seriously. Miraculously, they made it to the pickup point and were rescued. Boyd's wound was not life-threatening, and he recovered quickly. He never learned the fate of his two companions.
Fifty years later, Boyd is finally free to tell this fantastic tale of selfless service and heroic sacrifice. Boyd acknowledges that given the surreal nature of the mission and the absence of corroborating evidence or witnesses, some readers might question the veracity of his story. He also appeals for anyone else with knowledge of the mission to come forward. (I admit to some skepticism. I also admit to being thoroughly enthralled by Boyd's tale.)
If Broken Reed unfolded as Boyd insists, corroboration - and more details - would be welcome. The team members knew each other only by aliases, and Boyd can identify none of them. Given their sacrifice and the putative impact of their mission on the course of the war, it would be nice if they finally received some long-overdue recognition.
[Miller/Military.com/November2007]
EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....
8 January 2008 - McLean, VA- 10am-4pm- TECHEXPO Top Secret Hiring Event - www.TechExpoUSA.com - Active Security Clearance Required
10 January 2008 – San Francisco – The AFIO Jim Quesada Chapter hosts Col. Vance E. Purvis, Chief, Security and law Enforcement, US Army Corps of Engineers. Col. Purvis will speak on transnational terrorism with emphasis on the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. The meeting will be held at United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94116 (between Sloat and Wawona). 11:30 AM no host cocktails; noon - luncheon. $25 member rate with advance reservation; $35 non-member rate or at door. RSVP to Mariko Kawaguchi (please indicate meat or fish) no later than 5PM 12/28/07: mariko@cataphora.com, (650) 622-9840 X608 or send a check to P.O. Box 117578 Burlingame, CA 94011.
10 January 2008 - Linthinicum, MD - 10am-4pm - TECHEXPO Top Secret Hiring Event - www.TechExpoUSA.com - Active Security Clearance Required
Sunday,
13 January 2008 1100 – 1330 - Beachwood, OH - AFIO Northern Ohio
Chapter hosts a special cinema brunch to view: “Islam vs. Islamists:
Voices From the Muslim Center”
This is a film produced by Frank Gaffney and Martyn Burke in a
Corporation for Public Broadcasting competition that CPB/PBS refused to
air after the film won a showing. It was shown at the AFIO National
Symposium in October, 2007, with commentary by producer Frank Gaffney.
Following the film, there will be a discussion led by Beverly A Goldstein Ph.D.
Frank Gaffney is the Founder and President of the Center for Security
Policy in Washington, D.C. The Center is a not-for-profit, non-partisan
educational corporation established in 1988. Under Mr. Gaffney's
leadership, the Center has been nationally and internationally
recognized as a resource for timely, informed and penetrating analyses
of foreign and defense policy matters.
Mr. Gaffney is the lead-author of War Footing: Ten Steps America Must
Take to Prevail in the War for the Free World (Naval Institute Press,
2005). With a foreword by former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, an
introduction by Victor Davis Hanson and contributions from thirty-two
other accomplished security policy practitioners, this highly acclaimed
volume constitutes an "owners manual" for the new global conflict in
which America finds itself engaged - the War for the Free World.
Location: Wellington’s Restaurant,
777 ALPHA DRIVE,
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, OHIO 44143,
I -271 AT WILSON MILLS RD., 440.461.9211 or 440.442.0055. DRIVING DIRECTIONS AND MAP AVAILABLE AT http://www.wellingtoncatering.com/location_Map.htm.
Cost: $24 per person
RSVP: Veronica Flint, (440) 338-4720 or at vbf@windstream.net
Tuesday, 15 January 2008, 11:00 AM -12:00 PM (CST) - the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals hosts: Using Competitive Analysis to Increase Your Strategic Value. Join them for their annual webinar that will provide insights on how a world-class organization integrates CI into its operations. Lynn Tyson will discuss why competitive intelligence should be an integral part of a best-in-class Investor Relations program and Dell's approach both holistically and specifically to IR. Topics will include external/internal research tools, sample analyses, and overcoming obstacles such as departmental collaboration and resource constraints. This discussion should help individuals decide what is relevant to their executive management, how to measure their effectiveness and foster two-way dialogue and information flow between IR and competitive intelligence professionals within their organization.
Lynn Antipas Tyson serves as Vice President, Investor Relations for Dell Inc. In this role, she is responsible for Dell's relationships with investors and financial analysts, and strategic direction of the Investor Relations function. From 2004 through 2007, Lynn also led Dell’s Global Corporate Communications function and was responsible for all aspects of communications, including chairman’s communications, media relations, public affairs, internal and product communications as well as the industry analyst function.
Registration is free! (Complimentary from NIRI St. Louis)
Or call SCIP St. Louis (314) 576-4137 / SCIP Kansas City (816) 235-5499.
NIRI members please register through NIRI St. Louis at (314) 725-2594.
*Note* Please register before 5pm (EST) Friday, January 11, 2008 as registration via the web will be closed afterwards.
Contact Information -
Alison Bourey, St. Louis Chapter Chair, email: atbourey@earthlink.net, 314.576.4137
Dionedra Dorsey, SCIP Staff Coordinator, email: ddorsey@scip.org, 703.739.0696 ext. 111
17 January 2008 at 11:30 - Colorado Springs, CO - The Rocky Mountain AFIO Chapter luncheon. The chapter meets in the Air Force Academy Officers Club, Falcon Room. Their Speaker will be John Wolf who was a Military Attache in the USSR and China. He will speak on China in the 21st Century and their control of information.
Please RSVP to Dick Durham at Riverwear53@aol.com or call 719-488-2884
19 January 08 - Kennebunk, ME - The Maine Chapter of AFIO (affectionately referred to as MAFIO) will have Tyler S. Drumheller, 25 year career employee of the Central Intelligence Agency as guest. Drumheller retired from CIA in 2005 and is author of "On the Brink", detailing the beginning of the war in Iraq and his battles with the Bush administration over the validity of intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Having worked at the highest levels of government on foreign policy and security issues, he is currently working on a second book on the U.S. intelligence community in the age of international terrorism. At the time of his retirement ,Drumheller was Chief of the Europe Division of CIA. Among other positions held, he was Chief of CIA's largest field station. During the period 1980-1990 he served in Africa as an operations officer and chief of station. He holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and has done graduate work in Chinese language at Georgetown University. He speaks five languages in addition to English. He is currently President of Tyler Drumheller LLC. Meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at 2:00 p.m. in the Kennebunk Free Library, 112 Main Street [Rt. 1 at Rt. 35] in Kennebunk, Maine. Contact 207-985-2392 for information.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008, 6:30 pm – Washington, DC - LA Times reporter Bob Drogin, and Tyler Drumheller, former chief of CIA covert operations in Europe present Curveball: Inside the WMD Debacle at the Spy Museum. In 1999, a mysterious Iraqi applied for political asylum in Germany. The young engineer offered compelling details about Saddam Hussein’s secret effort to build weapons of mass destruction. The Germans shared this information with U.S. intelligence but denied the Americans access to their informant—who the Americans codenamed “Curveball.” The case lay dormant until after 9/11, when the Bush administration embraced Curveball’s unconfirmed account. Although relied upon by President Bush and Colin Powell, Curveball was a fraud whose intelligence was discredited before the war. Join Los Angeles Times reporter Bob Drogin, author of Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War, and Tyler Drumheller, former chief of CIA covert operations in Europe and author of On the Brink: An Insider’s Account of How the White House Compromised American Intelligence, as they reveal the inner workings of this intelligence failure from flawed analysis to political maneuvering. Tickets: $20 per person. Visit www.spymuseum.org
Tuesday, 22 January 2008, 7:30 AM – 10:00 AM - Toronto, ON, Canada - Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals presents: Using Competitive Intelligence to Predict Your Competitors Pricing Actions. Pricing is the single highest point of leverage for the business. For example, if the average company improved pricing by just 1% profitability would increase by 12.5%.
It is also one of the most difficult areas to obtain CI. Both ethical and legal issues are prevalent in the area of competitive pricing. Yet it is vital that CI professionals participate in this important area of the business. Without excellent CI companies price from a weakened perspective and tend to fall prey to their worst fears about the competition. This corrosive situation leads to price wars and can dramatically alter the viability of a company and the industry in which it participates.
This session is intended to give CI professionals insight into how they can add significant value to their organization in the pricing arena by reducing fear and replacing it with understanding. The session will address the following areas:
Valuable tools and data gathering processes for reducing fear
How to discern your competitors pricing strategy
Influencing how the competition perceives your pricing strategy
How to determine whether a competitor is a price leader versus follower
Understanding the dynamics of price wars
Connecting capacity utilization and competitive pricing actions
About the Speaker - Paul Hunt, a consultants in the field of pricing strategy, who has advised organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.
Location - Toronto Board of Trade, Downtown Centre, 1 First Canadian Place, Toronto, Ontario (416.366.6811)
Registration Fees - SCIP Member $35 USD; Non-Member $45 USD
Contact Information David Gibson, Toronto Group Coordinator, email: david.gibson@sympatico.com, 416.932.9923.
Dionedra Dorsey, SCIP Staff Chapter Coordinator, email: ddorsey@scip.org, 703.739.0696 ext.111.
23 January 2008- Phoenix, AZ - The Arizona AFIO Chapter luncheon features Dr. Richard Post, former CIA. The chapter will meet at the Hilton Garden Inn at 11:30 AM. The speaker will be Richard W. Post. PhD. Dr. Post joined the CIA after his graduation from the University of Michigan. After a number of years he returned to the University of Wisconsin where he headed the Criminal Justice Program. He then became Director of Security and Political Risk first at B.F. Goodrich and later at American Can. Rich, then took a consulting position with Kroll Associates in Hong Kong to start up and manage a Joint Venture with Jardine Matheson & Co, to provide security and investigative services in Asia, and later on formed Post and Associates which he then sold to the International Accounting Firm of Ernst and Young. At the time of the sale his firm was called Brand Protection Associates. Although his consulting practice is based in Phoenix he still maintains offices in China. Over the years he has worked on hundreds of sensitive investigations, crisis management situations and trade secrete thefts around the world. Rich and his wife, Penny, who is also his life long business partner have recently authored a book titled, "Global Brand Integrity Management." Rich has a BS, MS, and PhD. He is a Certified Protection Professional CPP. For information and reservations contact Bill Williams at (602) 944-2451 or fireballci@hotmail.com.
Thursday, 24 January 2008, 12 noon – 1 pm – Washington, DC – Free author lunchtime debriefing and book signing – Ronald Kessler – author of The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack at the Spy Museum. Over 5,000 terrorists have been rolled up worldwide since 9/11, yet the race to stop them is more desperate than ever. For The Terrorist Watch, best-selling author Ronald Kessler interviewed FBI and CIA counterterrorism operatives to capture the story of terrorists’ relentless efforts to attack the United States and the efforts being made to stop these plots. Kessler’s interviews with FBI Director Robert Mueller, CIA Director Michael Hayden, White House counterterrorism chief Fran Townsend, and dozens of key intelligence operatives takes readers inside the war rooms of the battle against terrorism. Learn what Kessler discovered about how the U.S. helped thwart the 2006 London terrorist plot, how press leaks have jeopardized our safety, what he has determined that Saddam Hussein admitted in seven months of secret FBI debriefings, and how he thinks the Intelligence Community has changed since 9/11. Free – no registration required.
Friday, 25 January 2008 - McLean, VA - AFIO National Winter Luncheon -
25 January 2008 - AFIO Winter Luncheon - Crowne Plaza Hotel, Tysons Corner
10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Frank Anderson, former ADDO, Directorate of Operations, CIA
Anderson was chief of CIA's Near East and South Asia Division, having served previously as director of technical services, as chief of the Afghan task force and as chief of station in three Middle East posts. [confirmed]
on "What You Need To Know About U.S. Operations in the Middle East"
and
John Robb, author of BRAVE NEW WAR: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization [invited]
PLEASE NOTE: The Crowne Plaza was once the Holiday Inn.
The address remains the same: 1960 Chain Bridge Road • McLean, Virginia 22102
Space limited. REGISTER SECURELY ONLINE Here
30 January 2008 - Colorado Springs, CO - 10am-4pm -TECHEXPO Top Secret Hiring Event - www.TechExpoUSA.com - Active Security Clearance Required.
Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 6:30 pm – Washington, DC – “Spies on Screen” - The Lives of Others – Burton Gerber, retired CIA case officer, at the Spy Museum. Today there are 5,000 surveillance cameras in New York City – 200 in Times Square alone, and the UK has a larger network that successfully helped it round up the terrorists seeking to blow up transit system. So, while It may feel Big Brother is watching, these surveillance efforts are quite different from the tactics used by the German Democratic Republic before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Oscar-winning film, The Lives of Others, captures the effect that a culture of permanent suspicion and total surveillance had on the average citizen, and it also poses the intriguing question of what happens when a surveillant begins to sympathize with his target. Based on his own experiences as a CIA station chief in three Communist countries, retired CIA case officer Burton Gerber will place the film in context and discuss its accuracy and the ethical implications of espionage and counter-espionage. Co-sponsored by the Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC. Tickets: $20 per person. Visit http://www.spymuseum.org for tickets.
2 February 2008 - Indian River, FL - Florida Satellite Chapter Luncheon. The next luncheon for the Florida Satellite Chapter, AFIO will be on 2 February 2008 (Saturday), at the Indian River Country Colony Club (IRCC). There will be a cash bar beginning at 11:30 a.m. and a 12:30 p.m. lunch. The luncheon speaker will be COL Harry Pawlak, USAF Retired. COL Pawlak (a Chapter member) will speak about his involvement in a Recon Mission in Asia. He was forced to land in a hostile area without radio communications and walked almost three weeks before being picked up. The luncheon cost is $17.00. There will be a beef entr�e or fish entr�e option. Contact George Stephenson (Vice President) at gstephenson@cfl.rr.com for reservation information. Please put AFIO in the subject block to insure the e-mail will be opened. Col Pawlak is currently President of Matrix Management LTD.
5 - 6 February 2008 - San Diego, CA - 9am-4pm - WEST 2008 - www.TechExpoUSA.com
Tuesday, 5 February 2008, 6:30 pm – Washington, DC – “Mata Hari and Houdini: Entertaining Spies”– authors Pat Shipman and William Kalush at the Spy Museum. Were they or weren’t they? Mata Hari’s reputation as a seductive beauty who used her wiles to gather intelligence is well-known. But history reveals a different story. Meanwhile, Harry Houdini, the “World’s Greatest Escape Artist,” is known for his magical feats and his pursuit of fake spiritualists. But was he also a covert operative? In this demystifying evening, Pat Shipman, author of Femme Fatale: Love, Lies and the Unknown Life of Mata Hari, and William Kalush, co-author of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero, lift the veil of time from these two legends. Was the infamous dancer executed for espionage or for shameless behavior? Did Houdini use his theatrical tours as a cover for collecting intelligence for the U.S. or perhaps the British? Tickets: $20. Visit http://www.spymuseum.org for tickets.
Sunday, 10 February 2008 1030 – 1330 - Beachwood, OH - AFIO Northern Ohio Chapter hosts Timothy R. Walton,
author, CIA and Navy Veteran on "24 Years with the CIA." Timothy R.
Walton has a B.A. in philosophy from the College of William and Mary,
and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia. While in
graduate school he had a Fulbright scholarship to do research at the
French Foreign Ministry in Paris, France.
From 1970 to 1976, he served in the U.S.Navy on ships and bases in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean.
For 24 years, he was an analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency,
during which he worked with personnel from law enforcement, the
military, and foreign liaison services.
He has had a variety of experience teaching analysis, including:•
Classes at the CIA's Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis.•
Mercyhurst College's program in the Washington D.C. area.• The Director
of National Intelligence's "Analysis 101," which is offered to new
analysts in all of the components of the US Intelligence Community.• A
graduate-level class in competitive intelligence for the Johns Hopkins
University business school.
He is also the author of The Spanish Treasure Fleets, the story of the
centuries-long maritime struggle to control the flow of precious metals
from Spain's colonies in Latin America.
Location: Hilton Cleveland East /Beachwood (Location not yet
confirmed), 3663 Park East Drive, Beachwood, Ohio 44122, Tel:
1-216-464-5950 Fax: 1-216-464-6539
Cost: $24.00 per person
RSVP: Veronica Flint, (440) 338-4720 or at vbf@windstream.net
Thursday, 21 February 2008, 12 noon – 1 pm – Washington, DC – author debriefing and book signing – Pete Earley author of Comrade J, at the Spy Museum. From 1997 to 2000, a man known as Comrade J was working in the U.S. as the highest-ranking operative in the SVR – a successor agency to the KGB. He directed all Russian spy action in New York City, and personally oversaw every covert operation against the U.S. and its allies in the UN. Comrade J recruited spies, planted agents, manipulated intelligence, and influenced American policy – all under the direct leadership of Boris Yeltsin followed by that of Vladimir Putin. He was a legend in the SVR: known as the man who kept the secrets. Then in 2000 he defected and turned the tables on Mother Russia – for two years he had acted as a double agent for the FBI. In Comrade J, Earley gives an account of this extraordinary spy. Free, no registration required.
22-23 February 2008 - Baltimore, MD - 3rd International Conference on "Ethics in the Intelligence Community",
Sponsored by: International Intelligence Ethics Association and Johns
Hopkins University School of Education, Division of Public Safety
Leadership. Intelligence ethics is an emerging field without
established principles for resolving the ethical problems confronting
the intelligence community. Intelligence work has no theory analogous
to "just war" theory in military ethics. Consequently, a focus of this
conference is to provide a forum in which the application of ethical
theories to intelligence problems can be discussed and a theory of
“just intelligence” developed. This conference is co-sponsored by The
International Intelligence Ethics Association and Johns Hopkins
University, School of Education, Division of Public Leadership.
The conference will be held at The Johns Hopkins University-Mt.
Washington Conference Center, in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference is
open to all relevant disciplines, including political science, history,
law enforcement, philosophy, international relations, theology, and to
representatives of all legitimate stake-holders in intelligence ethics,
including government, the press, and non-governmental organizations.
The 2-day conference begins on Friday morning, February 22nd and ends
on Saturday afternoon, February 23, 2008. Attendees will be provided
all meals during this time. The conference will consist of academic
papers and panels, in a traditional lecture format with audience
discussion. Privacy Policy: All presentations and discussions are on a
“not for attribution” basis. No recording devices (cameras, audio
recorders, etc.) that can capture images and sound are permitted.
A sample of the topics at the conference include:
• Torture & Ticking Time-Bombs: Empirical Research Regarding Moral Judgments
• Can Just War Theory Contribute to a Normative Framework for Intelligence Ethics? National Security vs. Social Security
• The Utility And Practicality Of A Code Of Ethics Specifically
Addressing The Officer-Agent Relationship (i.e., HUMINT) And Could Such
A Code Be Meaningful Or Useful In Real Operational Settings?
• A Professional Ethics Review Board for the Intelligence Community: Is it possible?
• Accountability vs. Politicalization: An Ethical Difference - With Case Studies
• Developing a Moral Framework for Making Complex Ethical Judgments For the Intelligence Professional
• Individual Rights vs. Collective Rights: A Moral Dilemma In Intelligence During National Emergency Situations?
Conference Location: Mt. Washington Conference Center, 5801 Smith Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21209; Information/Directions: http://www.mtwashconfctr.com/home.html
Registration till December 31, 2007 - Registration fee covers 3 meals on Friday and 2 meals on Saturday
$ 370 Conference Registration. Late Registration after January 1, 2008
Registration fee covers 3 meals on Friday and 2 meals on Saturday $ 395
Conference Registration
A limited number of suites are available at the conference center
Suites, $150.00 a day [check in is Thursday, Tax and gratuities
included] Mail To : International Intelligence Ethics Association
(IIEA), P.O. Box 23053, Washington, D.C. 20026. Further information
available from: conference2008@intelligence-ethics.org
10 -11 March 2008 - Laurel, Maryland - 2008 Unrestricted Warfare Symposium at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) is jointly sponsored by JHU/APL and the University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). It is also co-sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Policy), the Department of State, and the National Intelligence Council. For 2008, the theme of integrating strategy, analysis, and technology to counter adversaries utilizing unrestricted warfare approaches. The focus will be on the DoD Campaign Plan for the War on Terrorism: Integrating Strategy, Analysis, and Technology in Support of the U.S. War on Terror Campaign. I am thrilled that Admiral Eric Olson, USSOCOM, has agreed to give the keynote address. Over the two days we will have four other featured speakers [Dr. Thomas Mahnken, ODUSD(Policy); Prof. Bruce Hoffman, Georgetown University; Dr. Stephen Flynn, Council on Foreign Relations; and Prof. Peter Feaver, Duke University], five roundtable panels, and a panel of senior-level government representatives responsible for various aspects of the War on Terror Campaign.
2008 registration details can be found at the symposium website: http://www.jhuapl.edu/urw_symposium/.
Thursday, 20 March 2008, 6:30 pm – Washington, DC -“The Bomber Behind the Veil: Muslim Women and Violent Jihad”– Farhana Ali, Rand Corp. policy analyst, at the Spy Museum. Beware the mujahidaat. Farhana Ali, an international policy analyst with the Rand Corporation, is one of the few researchers focused on these Muslin female fighters. She has charted an increase in suicide attacks by Muslim women since at least 2000, in new theaters of operation, including Uzbekistan, Egypt, and Iraq. These attacks are arguably more deadly than those conducted by male jihadists, in part due to the perception that women are unlikely to commit such acts of horror, and when they do, the shock or “CNN factor” of their attacks draws far greater media attention. She discusses their place in Islamic history, their psychological profile, and the likely shelf-life of this disturbing trend. Tickets: $20. Visit http://www.spymuseum.org for tickets.
For Additional Events two+ months or greater....view our online Calendar of Events
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