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2005 Intelligence News:

20051231

US - International - Iraq - Secret - GOV - Terrorism - Intelligence - Telecommunications- E-Mail - Privacy - Politics - Media - Enforcement - "US investigates leak of spy program: Prosecutors focus on disclosure to New York Times." ... "The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into recent disclosures about a controversial domestic eavesdropping program that was secretly authorized by President Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials said yesterday." ... "Justice Department prosecutors will focus on whether classified information about the program was unlawfully disclosed to The New York Times, which reported two weeks ago that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to monitor the international telephone calls and e-mails of people in the United States without court-approved warrants, officials said." ... "The case is the latest in a series of clashes between the media and the Bush administration, which has aggressively enforced restrictions on classified information and has frequently complained about media disclosures related to terrorism or the war in Iraq." -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost via -BostonGlobe

20051230

Secret - Government - Intelligence - Civil Liberties - Privacy - Politics - Media - "Justice Dept. Opens Inquiry Into Leak of Domestic Spying." ... "The Justice Department said today that it had opened a criminal investigation into the disclosure of classified information about a secret National Security Agency program under which President Bush authorized eavesdropping on people in the United States without a court warrant." ... "The investigation apparently began in recent days following a formal referral from the agency regarding the leak, federal officials said on condition of anonymity." ... "The program, whose existence was revealed in an article in The New York Times on Dec. 16, has provoked sharp criticism from civil liberties groups, some members of Congress and some former intelligence officials who believe it circumvents the law governing national security eavesdropping." -By Scott Shane -NYTimes

20051228

Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Florida - Oregon - Ohio - Virginia - "Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts." ... "Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda." ... "The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out." ... "The expected legal challenges, in cases from Florida, Ohio, Oregon and Virginia, add another dimension to the growing controversy over the agency's domestic surveillance program and could jeopardize some of the Bush administration's most important courtroom victories in terror cases, legal analysts say." -By Eric Lichtblau and James Risen (1, 2) -NYTimes

20051227

Secret - Government - Law Enforcement - Law - Privacy - "U.S. secret surveillance up sharply since Sept. 11." ... "Federal applications for a special U.S. court to authorize secret surveillance rose sharply after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the panel required changes to the requests at a even greater rate, government documents show." ... "The Justice Department's reports to the U.S. Congress on the surveillance court's activities show that the Bush administration made 5,645 applications for electronic surveillance and physical searches through 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available. In the previous four years, the court received a total of 3,436." -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk

20051226

Government- Military - Intelligence - Secret - Prisons - Civil Liberties - Privacy - Law - Media- Politics - "Fear destroys what bin Laden could not." ... "One wonders if Osama bin Laden didn't win after all. He ruined the America that existed on 9/11. But he had help." ... "If, back in 2001, anyone had told me that four years after bin Laden's attack our president would admit that he broke U.S. law against domestic spying and ignored the Constitution -- and then expect the American people to congratulate him for it -- I would have presumed the girders of our very Republic had crumbled." ... "Had anyone said our president would invade a country and kill 30,000 of its people claiming a threat that never, in fact, existed, then admit he would have invaded even if he had known there was no threat -- and expect America to be pleased by this -- I would have thought our nation's sensibilities and honor had been eviscerated." ... "If I had been informed that our nation's leaders would embrace torture as a legitimate tool of warfare, hold prisoners for years without charges and operate secret prisons overseas -- and call such procedures necessary for the nation's security -- I would have laughed at the folly of protecting human rights by destroying them." ... "If someone had predicted the president's staff would out a CIA agent as revenge against a critic, defy a law against domestic propaganda by bankrolling supposedly independent journalists and commentators, and ridicule a 37-year Marie Corps veteran for questioning U.S. military policy -- and that the populace would be more interested in whether Angelina is about to make Brad a daddy -- I would have called the prediction an absurd fantasy." -By Robert Steinback -Miami/Herald

20051224

Government - Terrorism - Law Enforcement - Law - Telecommunications - Business - Internet - Privacy - Politics - "Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report." ... "The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity, according to current and former government officials." ... "The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they said." ... "As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams of domestic and international communications, the officials said." ... "The government's collection and analysis of phone and Internet traffic have raised questions among some law enforcement and judicial officials familiar with the program." -By Eric Lichtblau and James Risen (1, 2) -NYTimes

20051223

Secret- Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Law - Privacy - History - Samuel Alito - "In 1984 memo, Alito defends domestic wiretaps." ... "As a Reagan administration lawyer, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito argued that federal officials can't be sued for damages for wiretapping Americans without warrants in national security cases, a document released Friday showed." ... "Alito's position may complicate his prospects for confirmation because its disclosure comes amid an uproar over a four-year-old Bush administration counterterrorism operation that's been eavesdropping on Americans without court approval." ... "President Bush's argument that he has the legal and constitutional authority to direct the National Security Agency to conduct the secret domestic surveillance operation is almost certain to end up before the Supreme Court." -By Jonathan S. Landay -Knight Ridder via -MercuryNews
Italy - EU - US - Egypt -Intelligence - "Italy court issues EU arrest warrant for CIA team." ... "A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003, Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday." ... "Milan magistrates suspect a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured." -Reuters

20051222

Secret - Government - Terrorism- Intelligence - Telecommunications - EMail - Privacy - Politics - "Judges on Surveillance Court To Be Briefed on Spy Program." ... "The presiding judge of a secret court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases is arranging a classified briefing for her fellow judges to address their concerns about the legality of President Bush's domestic spying program, according to several intelligence and government sources." ... "Several members of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said in interviews that they want to know why the administration believed secretly listening in on telephone calls and reading e-mails of U.S. citizens without court authorization was legal. Some of the judges said they are particularly concerned that information gleaned from the president's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to gain authorized wiretaps from their court." (1, 2) -By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer with contributions by Julie Tate -WashingtonPost
US - Arizona - Mexico - Drugs - Terrorism - Law - Intelligence - "Surprise - terror war aids drug war: One Arizona border unit sees marijuana haul triple." ... "As Congress and President Bush wrangle over the USA Patriot Act, the Border Security bill, and other tools of the war on terror, they may want to keep another law-enforcement group in mind - the nation's drug-fighters." ... "That's because the war on terror is proving to be a boon to the war on drugs. Drug seizures are up all along the US-Mexico border. Nowhere is the trend clearer than along a desolate 118-mile patch of Arizona desert across the border from the Mexican state of Sonora." ... "In what is rapidly becoming one of the highest drug-trafficking and people- smuggling sectors along the border, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers there have seized 13,000 pounds of marijuana since Oct. 1, triple the amount captured in the same period last year. That year, fiscal 2005, also set a record. The reasons for the success? Better intelligence-sharing, increased manpower, and improved technology that border officials have received in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks." -By Faye Bowers -CSMonitor

20051221

Government- Political - Intelligence - Privacy - Law - History - "Limits to power: Restrictions on domestic spying were put in place for a reason." ... "It's an old argument. Back during the Vietnam War, government photographers went to the anti-war demonstrations and took pictures of the demonstrators. Protest leaders thought, probably correctly, that their phones were tapped. Even I, a reporter covering the protests, heard some odd clicking noises when I picked up the phone to make some calls. And, of course, FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, who made his own laws, eavesdropped on Martin Luther King Jr., among others, though we didn't know it at the time." ... "Outside the law? John Mitchell, who was President Richard Nixon's Attorney General, argued that the government didn't need a warrant to tap the phone of any political dissenter it thought was a threat to national security, which certainly does sound like the secret police at work. But in 1972, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that Mitchell was wrong. Justice Lewis Powell, a Nixon appointee, wrote for the unanimous court that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects Americans from "unreasonable searches and seizures" and that that freedom "cannot be properly guaranteed if domestic security surveillances are conducted solely at the discretion of the executive branch."" ... "President Bush obviously thinks the court was wrong, since he ordered the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2002 to begin eavesdropping on American citizens without a court-issued warrant." -By Bruce Morton -CNN
Secret - Government - Intelligence - "Surveillance-court judge quits in protest." ... "A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources." ... "U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, sent a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation." ... "Two associates familiar with his decision said Tuesday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable." -By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer -WashingtonPost via -SeattleTimes.NWsource

20051220

Government - Military - Intelligence - Total Information Awareness - Secrecy - Consumer - Telecommunications -Databases - Privacy - Law -West-Virginia - Dick Cheney - Terrorism - "Bush, Democrats swap charges over his approval of wiretaps." ... "The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, released a letter he wrote to Vice President Dick Cheney on July 17, 2003, the day he learned of the surveillance in a meeting with Cheney, three other lawmakers and the heads of the CIA and NSA. Rockefeller expressed deep misgivings and said the program reminded him of Total Information Awareness, a controversial Pentagon effort to mine credit-card data, cellphone calls and even bank withdrawals to spot terrorist activity." ... ""These concerns were never addressed, and I was prohibited from sharing my views with my colleagues" by secrecy laws, Rockefeller said Monday. He accused the president and his aides of "repeatedly misrepresenting the facts" in recent days and demanded a "full investigation into the legal and operational aspects of the program" now that the program has come to light." -By Todd J. Gillman -DallasNews.com via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
Environment - Animals - Terrorism - Civil Righs - Law - Politics - Indiana - "F.B.I. Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show." ... "Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief, newly disclosed agency records show." ... "But the documents, coming after the Bush administration's confirmation that President Bush had authorized some spying without warrants in fighting terrorism, prompted charges from civil rights advocates that the government had improperly blurred the line between terrorism and acts of civil disobedience and lawful protest." ... "One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis [Indiana] planned to conduct surveillance as part of a "Vegan Community Project." Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group's "semi-communistic ideology." A third indicates the bureau's interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals." (1, 2) -By Eric Lichtblau -NYTimes
Government - Telecommunications - EMail - Intelligence - Law - West-Virginia- Cheney, Dick - "Democrats: Briefings weren't approvals for wiretapping." ... "Some Democrats say they never approved a domestic wiretapping program, undermining suggestions by President Bush and his senior advisers that the plan was fully vetted in a series of congressional briefings." ... ""I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse, these activities," West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said in a handwritten letter to Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2003. "As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney."" ... "Rockefeller is among a small group of congressional leaders who have received briefings on the administration's four-year-old program to eavesdrop — without warrants — on international calls and e-mails of Americans and others inside the United States with suspected ties to al-Qaeda." -AP via -USATODAY

20051219

Government- Military - Intelligence - Privacy - Law - Politics - "Bush's Snoopgate: The president was so desperate to kill The New York Times' eavesdropping story, he summoned the paper's editor and publisher to the Oval Office. But it wasn't just out of concern about national security." ... "The problem was not that the disclosures would compromise national security, as Bush claimed at his press conference. His comparison to the damaging pre-9/11 revelation of Osama bin Laden's use of a satellite phone, which caused bin Laden to change tactics, is fallacious; any Americans with ties to Muslim extremists-in fact, all American Muslims, period-have long since suspected that the U.S. government might be listening in to their conversations. Bush claimed that "the fact that we are discussing this program is helping the enemy." But there is simply no evidence, or even reasonable presumption, that this is so. And rather than the leaking being a "shameful act," it was the work of a patriot inside the government who was trying to stop a presidential power grab." ... "No, Bush was desperate to keep the Times from running this important story-which the paper had already inexplicably held for a year-because he knew that it would reveal him as a law-breaker." -By Jonathan Alter -MSNBC/Newsweek
Secret - Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Civil Liberties - Privacy - Law - "Bush strongly defends eavesdropping program." ... "President Bush on Monday forcefully defended his administration's eavesdropping program for terror suspects living in the United States as an essential element of protecting Americans from a new enemy, and he said whoever unmasked the secret plan had committed a "shameful act."" ... "As Republicans joined Democrats in calling for a congressional inquiry into the domestic spying program, the president insisted he had the legal and constitutional authority to order surveillance. He said he was concerned about citizens' civil liberties but denied suggestions that he had abused the power of the presidency, and he vowed not to abandon the plan he approved after the 2001 terror attacks." ... ""To say `unchecked power' basically is ascribing some kind of dictatorial position to the president, which I strongly reject," Bush said. "I am doing what you expect me to do, and at the same time, safeguarding the civil liberties of the country."" -ChicagoTribune via -MercuryNews
Secret - Intelligence - Telecommunications - EMail - Privacy - Law - "President Bush Defends Secret Wiretaps, Urges Patriot Act Renewal." ... "In his final news conference of the year, President Bush offered a stern defense of his ordering of secret wiretaps within the United States and made a spirited plea for the renewal of the Patriot Act." ... "The president's top priority was to quell the growing outrage over the revelation on Friday by The New York Times of a widespread, ongoing domestic eavesdropping program by the National Security Agency that has targeted phone conversations and e-mail exchanges within the U.S." ... "Though the disclosure of the covert domestic spying program has caused concern among both Democrats and Republicans, with some calling for hearings into whether it violates the Constitution, Bush vigorously defended his right to order the program, which he said he has renewed more than 30 times." -MTV.com /News

20051218

Secret - Government - Terrorism - Intelligence- Privacy - Law - Wisconsin - "Bush, under fire, defends spy program: President says eavesdropping policy is 'vital'." ... "President Bush acknowledged yesterday that he has repeatedly authorized secret eavesdropping within the United States without obtaining warrants, a policy that some critics called illegal. The admission came one day after the president refused to address the issue." ... "Bush yesterday said he reauthorized the program more than 30 times since the Sept. 11 attacks and vowed to continue it despite criticism by some members of both political parties." ... "But Senator Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, urged the president to suspend the program immediately. Feingold said the program violates a law that requires a court order for such surveillance." -By Michael Kranish -Boston/Globe

20051217

Secret - Government - Terrorism - Privacy - Politics - Civil Liberties - Law - "Update 3: Bush Acknowledges Approving Eavesdropping." ... "President Bush said Saturday he has no intention of stopping his personal authorizations of a post-Sept. 11 secret eavesdropping program in the U.S., lashing out at those involved in revealing it while defending it as crucial to preventing future attacks." ... "Angry members of Congress have demanded an explanation of the program, first revealed in Friday's New York Times and whether the monitoring by the National Security Agency without obtaining warrants from a court violates civil liberties." -AP via -Forbes
Intelligence - Politics - "Robert Novak Leaving CNN for Fox News." ... "Robert Novak, the gruff-voiced political pundit and occasional loose cannon in a three-piece suit, is leaving CNN and going to work for Fox News." ... "In the recent past, Novak has been making news more than commenting on it. In a controversial move, he printed the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame in a 2003 newspaper column, which triggered a full-fledged, multilayered investigation into who leaked that information. In August he cursed at fellow analyst James Carville and abandoned the set of a CNN political talk show mid-broadcast. Just recently he suggested to a group in North Carolina that President Bush knows the source of the CIA leak. Asked if these incidents led to his departure, he laughed and said he doesn't think so." -By Linton Weeks-WashingtonPost

20051216

Iraq- US - Intelligence - "Official: Al-Zarqawi Caught, Freed." ... "Iraqi security forces caught terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the Fallujah area last year but released him because they didn't realize who he was, the deputy interior minister said in an interview broadcast Friday." ... "CNN broadcast a similar report late Thursday, but it could not be confirmed. But a U.S. official said in Washington that American intelligence believed it was plausible." -AP via-CBSNews
Secret - Government - Military - Terrorism - EMail - Telecommunications - Law - Politics - History - "Bush Authorized Domestic Spying: Post-9/11 Order Bypassed Special Court." ... "President Bush signed a secret order in 2002 authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in the United States, despite previous legal prohibitions against such domestic spying, sources with knowledge of the program said last night." ... "For more than four years, the NSA tasked other military intelligence agencies to assist its broad-based surveillance effort directed at people inside the country suspected of having terrorist connections, even before Bush signed the 2002 order that authorized the NSA program, according to an informed U.S. official." ... "The effort, which began within days after the attacks, has consisted partly of monitoring domestic telephone conversations, e-mail and even fax communications of individuals identified by the NSA as having some connection to al Qaeda events or figures, or to potential terrorism-related activities in the United States, the official said." ... "It has also involved teams of Defense Intelligence Agency personnel stationed in major U.S. cities conducting the type of surveillance typically performed by the FBI: monitoring the movements and activities -- through high-tech equipment -- of individuals and vehicles, the official said." -By Dan Eggen with contributions by Dafna Linzer and Peter Baker -WashingtonPost
Government - Secrets - Civil Liberties - Privacy - "Official: Bush authorized spying multiple times: Senior intelligence officer says President personally gave NSA permission." ... "President Bush has personally authorized a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States more than three dozen times since October 2001, a senior intelligence official said Friday night." ... "The disclosure follows angry demands by lawmakers earlier in the day for a congressional inquiry into whether the monitoring by the highly secretive National Security Agency violated civil liberties." (1, 2) -AP via -MSNBC
US - World - Government - Secret - Telecommunications - Intelligence - Privacy - Terrorism - Law - "Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts." ... "Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials." ... "Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications." ... "The previously undisclosed decision to permit some eavesdropping inside the country without court approval was a major shift in American intelligence-gathering practices, particularly for the National Security Agency, whose mission is to spy on communications abroad. As a result, some officials familiar with the continuing operation have questioned whether the surveillance has stretched, if not crossed, constitutional limits on legal searches." (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) -By James Risen and Eric Lichtblau with contributions by Barclay Walsh -NYTimes

20051215

Lebanon- Syria - Political - Intelligence - Terrorism - "UN extends Lebanon murder probe, chastises Syria." ... "The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to extend for six months the international probe into the murder of a Lebanese leader and told Syria it was not co-operating fully with investigators." ... "The resolution also authorises the U.N. commission to provide technical assistance to the Beirut government investigating a string of other politically motivated murders or attempted killings in the last year." ... "Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who headed the U.N. inquiry, on Monday released a 25-page report saying new evidence had reinforced his earlier judgement that Syrian intelligence officials and their Lebanese allies, were involved in the killing." -By Evelyn Leopold -Reuters
Government - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Prisons - Law - Arizona - "Bush backs down on proposed torture ban." ... "President Bush on Thursday abandoned his opposition to an anti-torture amendment by Sen. John McCain in the face of overwhelming support for the measure in Congress." ... "Bush backed down from a veto threat after being unable to muster support from one-third of either the House or Senate, even though his own Republican Party controls both chambers. The measure by McCain, R-Ariz., is attached to the annual defense spending bill that funds the war on terrorism." ... "The amendment says no one in U.S. government custody, whether prisoner of war or terrorist," shall be subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," regardless of where the prisoner is being held." -By John Diamond with contributions by David Jackson -USATODAY
US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence- "Bush Admits Mistakes but Defends War: He accepts responsibility for acting on flawed intelligence but says the invasion was justified. Aides hope his candor will boost his ratings." ... "President Bush said Wednesday that he accepted responsibility for deciding to wage war in Iraq in part on the basis of faulty intelligence, but that he remained convinced history would conclude he had done the right thing." ... "Speaking hours before Iraqis began arriving at the polls to elect a new government, Bush acknowledged miscalculations and mistakes before and after the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003." ... ""It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong," Bush told a group of political leaders and scholars at the nonpartisan Woodrow Wilson Center. "As president, I'm responsible for the decision to go into Iraq, and I'm also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities."" -By Warren Vieth -LAtimes

20051214

Military - Intelligence - Law - Secrets - Arizona - "New Army Rules May Snarl Talks With McCain on Detainee Issue." ... "The Army has approved a new, classified set of interrogation methods that may complicate negotiations over legislation proposed by [Arizona Republican] Senator John McCain to bar cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees in American custody, military officials said Tuesday." ... "The techniques are included in a 10-page classified addendum to a new Army field manual that was forwarded this week to Stephen A. Cambone, the under secretary of defense for intelligence policy, for final approval, they said." ... "The addendum provides dozens of examples and goes into exacting detail on what procedures may or may not be used, and in what circumstances. Army interrogators have never had a set of such specific guidelines that would help teach them how to walk right up to the line between legal and illegal interrogations." -By Eric Schmitt with contributions by Joel Brinkley -NYTimes

20051212

US- Iraq - World - Intelligence - Politics - "Peace-making a core mission in new Pentagon policy." ... "After years of internal debate, the Pentagon has embraced a fundamental change in policy which calls for the U.S. armed forces to be equally adept at waging war and making peace." ... "The new course, announced in a Pentagon directive, follows widespread criticism of the conduct of the war in Iraq, where U.S. forces scored a swift, decisive victory over conventional opponents but found themselves ill-equipped to deal with post-combat chaos and an increasingly effective insurgency." ... "The directive says that establishing order and security, restoring essential services and meeting the humanitarian needs of the population of a vanquished country were a "core U.S. military mission.""" ... "The directive specifies the need for better language skills, more regional expertise, better intelligence and counterintelligence, more emphasis on studying foreign cultures and more coordination with foreign governments, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations." (1, 2) -By Bernd Debusmannn -Reuters

dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/html/300005.htm

US - Taiwan- "US diplomat had affair with spy: A former top US diplomat has pleaded guilty to not disclosing a relationship with a Taiwanese intelligence officer." ... "Donald Keyser, 62, also pleaded guilty to illegally removing classified documents from the US State Department where he was employed until 2004." -BBC /News
France - Terrorism - Intelligence - "French target 'Islamic network': Police investigating suspected plans for attacks in France have arrested at least 20 people during raids in and around Paris." ... "They described the arrests as a "major operation aimed at disbanding an Islamist network linked to terrorism"." ... "Agents of the domestic intelligence service, the DST, raided homes around Paris before dawn." -BBC /News
UN - Lebanon - Syria - Terrorism - "Update 7: U.N.: Evidence Solidifies Hariri Report." ... "New evidence has reinforced investigators' belief that the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, a U.N. probe said Monday." ... "The report said Syria was moving at a "slow pace" in meeting council demands for cooperation. The document also cited evidence that Syrian authorities had arrested and threatened relatives of one witness, Husam Taher Husam, shortly before he recanted testimony that was central to the original findings, spelled out in an October report." ... ""Preliminary investigation leads to the conclusion that Mr. Husam is being manipulated by the Syrian authorities," the report said." -AP via -Forbes
UN - Syria - Lebanon - Terrorism- "Hariri Murder Coordinated by Spy Services, UN Says (Update2)." ... "New witnesses confirmed that Lebanese and Syrian intelligence services plotted the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the German prosecutor investigating the crime said, and he urged the Syrian government to cooperate more fully with his probe." ... "Investigator Detlev Mehlis cited additional information that ``points directly at perpetrators, sponsors and organizers of an organized operation aiming at killing Mr. Hariri, including the recruitment of special agents by the Lebanese and Syrian intelligence services, handling of improvised explosive devices, a pattern of threats against targeted individuals and planning of other criminal activities.''" ... "Syria, led by President Bashar al-Assad, has denied any involvement in the truck-bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on Feb. 14 in Beirut." -By Bill Varner -Bloomberg

20051207

US - Iraq - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Opinion - Economy - "Poll: Bush's Ratings Bump Up." ... "The President’s overall approval rating has risen from 35 percent in October to 40 percent now, and his ratings on handling the economy and the war in Iraq have also improved." ... "The Bush Administration continues to face criticism from many Democrats and other war opponents about the way pre-war intelligence was handled, and whether there truly was a compelling connection between Iraq and the terror threat to the United States. Fifty-two percent of Americans think the Bush Administration deliberately misled the public in making the case for war, while 44 percent say it did not." ... "An overwhelming majority of Americans think this Congress should be asking questions about pre-war intelligence. Fifty-six percent call it a very important line of questioning, and another 24 percent call it somewhat important." -CBSNews

20051206

US - Germany - Afghanistan - Secret - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Prisons - Law - Politics - VA- "German citizen held in secret prison sues ex-CIA director." ... "A German citizen whom the CIA abducted from Macedonia and held in a secret prison in Afghanistan for five months sued former CIA Director George Tenet on Tuesday, saying he'd been tortured." ... "[Khaled] Al-Masri's lawsuit, filed by ACLU lawyers in Alexandria, Va. [Virginia], sheds light on the CIA's secret practice of "extraordinary renditions," using special teams to capture suspected terrorists and transport them to countries that practice torture or to one of the agency's reported secret prisons in Eastern Europe or Asia." ... "In the four years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the CIA has captured about 3,000 people, including some top al-Qaida leaders, according to a Washington Post report. Intelligence committees in Congress have been told that the CIA's inspector general is investigating possible "erroneous renditions."" ... "U.S. officials refuse to confirm or deny the existence of secret prisons." -By Frank Davies and Warren P. Strobel -MercuryNews
US - Germany - Intelligence - "‘Abduction’ case tarnishes Rice’s efforts to repair ties with Berlin." ... "Attempts to repair strained relations between the US and Germany backfired on Tuesday after Angela Merkel, Germany’s new chancellor, said Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, had admitted that in the case of a German citizen [Khaled el-Masri] who says he was abducted and detained for several months two years ago the US had made “a mistake”, a claim swiftly denied by US officials." ... "“We talked about the case, which the US government has accepted as a mistake,” Ms Merkel said after meeting Ms Rice in Berlin. “I am very glad that the secretary of state has repeated again here that when mistakes happen they must of course be corrected immediately.”" ... "Ms Rice gave a more circumspect account of the meeting. “As I told the chancellor, I cannot comment on specific aspects of our intelligence activities. . . I have also stressed that on the political area, mistakes sometimes happen,” she said. -By Bertrand Benoit and Hugh Williamson -FT.com
US - Iraq - Niger - Lewis Libby - Dick Cheney - Military - Politics - Law - "Plame Is Set to Leave the CIA." ... "[Valerie] Plame, 42, worked undercover for the CIA tracking weapons proliferation but saw her clandestine career imperiled after she was identified as an agency operative in the summer of 2003 in a syndicated column by Robert Novak." ... "Plame is married to Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador, who was sent by the CIA to Africa in February 2002 to evaluate claims that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy weapons-grade uranium in Niger. Wilson found the claims unverifiable and publicly criticized the intelligence used by the administration to justify the war against Iraq." ... "Administration officials began a campaign to discredit Wilson and identified Plame in conversations with several journalists, potentially violating a law against unmasking undercover agents. A federal grand jury recently indicted former [Vice President Dick] Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on charges that he repeatedly lied to investigators." -By Richard B. Schmitt -LAtimes
Russia - Civil Liberties - Intelligence - Politics - "Russia reins in 'foreign influence': The legislature wants to tighten state control of 450,000 civic groups." ... "The headquarters for Open Russia in downtown Moscow was known as "The Citadel" for its turreted Gothic facade." ... "But these days a real bunker mentality prevails inside the civic education center founded by now-imprisoned oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Like many other Russian nonprofit groups involved with public policy issues, it faces possible closure under new legislation that goes before the Duma next week." ... ""I don't want to be a Cassandra, but I fear the entire nonprofit sector in Russia is facing dark times," says Irina Yasina, the center's program director. "There is spy mania in Russia, and they are specially scrutinizing any organization that has foreign funding."" ... "All of Russia's estimated 450,000 civic groups - from community sports clubs to charities and nationwide human rights movements - will need to re-register next year with a special state agency. The sweeping amendments to Russia's law on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), approved by a Duma majority last month, would add up to levels of state control not seen since Soviet times." (1, 2) -By Fred Weir -CSMonitor
Government - Military -Intelligence - Prisons - Telecommunications - Politics - "Government gets 5 "F's," 12 "D's" in last 9/11 report." ... "The federal government received failing and mediocre grades Monday from the former Sept. 11 commission, whose members said in a final report that the Bush administration and Congress have balked at enacting numerous reforms that could save American lives and prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil." ... "The group also said there has been little progress in forcing federal agencies to share intelligence and terrorism information and sharply criticized government efforts to secure weapons of mass destruction or establish clear standards for the proper treatment of U.S. detainees." ... "The panel also sharply criticized Congress for failing to enable first responders to communicate easily by setting aside part of the broadcast spectrum for their use. A pending budget bill would open part of the spectrum for first responders in 2009, but the Sept. 11 panel said that date is "too distant given the urgency of the threat."" -By Dan Eggen-WashingtonPost via -SeattleTimes.NWsource

20051205

US - Pakistan - Egypt - Terrorism - Intelligence - Aircraft - Robots - "Drone said to have killed Al Qaeda's No. 3: If true, Abu Hamza Rabia would be the third to hold the post and be taken out." ... "In the dead of night, the US Predator aircraft swooped in over the [Pakistan] hamlet of Haisori, locking in on an abandoned house five travelers had quietly entered just hours before, according to neighbors. Then, they say, the drone fired on the stone and mud dwelling for about eight minutes, reducing it to rubble." ... "Pakistani officials say the airstrike, which took place last Thursday in tribal region of North Waziristan, killed five people, including Al Qaeda's No. 3 man, Egyptian Abu Hamza Rabia. Conflicting reports cast some uncertainty on Mr. Rabia's death and his exact rank, however." ... "If Islamabad's account holds true it would represent the third Al Qaeda "No. 3" to be killed or captured in as many years. Taking out the terrorist network's operations manager represents an intelligence victory with obvious short-term gains in disrupting terrorist planning, but also points to Al Qaeda's ability to bounce back from these losses in the past, say analysts." -By Gretchen Peters -CSMonitor
US - World - Prison - Terrorism- Intelligence - Law - Arizona - "McCain won't concede on torture ban: Insists on language prohibiting cruel, inhumane treatment." ... "[Arizona Republican] Senator John McCain, a prisoner of war who was tortured in Vietnam, yesterday said he will refuse to yield on his demands that the White House agree with his proposed ban on the use of torture to extract information from suspected terrorists." ... "''I won't," he said on NBC's ''Meet the Press" when asked whether he would compromise with the Bush administration." ... "He is insisting on his language that no person in US custody should be subject to ''cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment."" -By Jim Abrams -AP via -BostonGlobe

20051130

US - EU - Secret - Intelligence - Prisons - Terrorism - "U.S. to Respond to EU Questions on Prisons." ... "The European Union has formally requested answers from the Bush administration about reports of secret U.S.-run prisons for terrorism suspects in Europe, and the United States will reply "to the best of our ability," the State Department said Wednesday." ... "It would be illegal for the U.S. government to hold prisoners in isolation and difficult conditions in secret prisons in the United States. It has long been assumed that the CIA operates overseas sites to get around U.S. law and to keep terrorism suspects out of the jurisdiction of U.S. courts." -By Anne Gearan -AP via-WashingtonPost

20051127

Government - Military - Intelligence - Terrorism - Privacy - Law - Civil Liberties - Politics - Oregon - "Pentagon Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity: Fears of Post-9/11 Terrorism Spur Proposals for New Powers." ... "The Pentagon has pushed legislation on Capitol Hill that would create an intelligence exception to the Privacy Act, allowing the FBI and others to share information gathered about U.S. citizens with the Pentagon, CIA and other intelligence agencies, as long as the data is deemed to be related to foreign intelligence. Backers say the measure is needed to strengthen investigations into terrorism or weapons of mass destruction." ... "The proposals, and other Pentagon steps aimed at improving its ability to analyze counterterrorism intelligence collected inside the United States, have drawn complaints from civil liberties advocates and a few members of Congress, who say the Defense Department's push into domestic collection is proceeding with little scrutiny by the Congress or the public." ... ""We are deputizing the military to spy on law-abiding Americans in America. This is a huge leap without even a [congressional] hearing," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore. [Oregon]), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a recent interview." (1, 2) -By Walter Pincus with contributions by Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost

20051120

Dick Cheney - GOV - Military - Politics - "Powell aide: Torture 'guidance' from VP: Former staff chief says Cheney's 'flexibility' helped lead to abuse." ... "Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told CNN that the practice of torture may be continuing in U.S.-run facilities." ... ""There's no question in my mind that we did. There's no question in my mind that we may be still doing it," Wilkerson said on CNN's "Late Edition."" ... "There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office," he said. "His implementer in this case was [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department."" -CNN

20051117

Idaho - New_Hampshire - Alaska - Illinois - Wisconsin - Colorado - Secret - GOV - Police - Intelligence - Civil Liberties - Library - Business - Health - Privacy - Politics - "Senators Vow To Block Patriot Act." ... "Half a dozen senators worried about civil liberties –three Democrats and three Republicans – said Thursday they will try to block the measure to renew the Patriot Act, CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports." ... "The most controversial parts of the law that vastly expanded FBI powers after 9/11 expire at the end of the year unless renewed. An agreement on a measure to do that between the House and Senate doesn't include some minimal new protections these senators want, including having a judge review broad secret warrants when the FBI seeks information from libraries, hospitals and banks." ... ""If further changes are not made, we will work to stop this bill from becoming law," GOP Sens. Larry Craig [Idaho], John Sununu [New Hampshire] and Lisa Murkowski [Alaska] and Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin [Illinois], Russ Feingold [Wisconsin] and Ken Salazar [Colorado] said in a letter to the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees." -AP -CBSNews

20051115

Government - Intelligence - Media - Politics - I. Lewis Libby - Dick Cheney - "Post reporter testifies in CIA leak probe." ... "Washington Post editor Bob Woodward testified that a senior Bush administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame about a month before her identity was publicly exposed, the Post acknowledged Wednesday." ... "Woodward told Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who is investigating the leak of Plame's identity, that the official talked to him about Plame in mid-June 2003, the Post said. Woodward and editors at the Post refused to identify the official other than to say it was not I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff." -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource

20051113

US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Politics - "The Right Way in Iraq." ... "I was wrong." ... "Almost three years ago we went into Iraq to remove what we were told -- and what many of us believed and argued -- was a threat to America. But in fact we now know that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction when our forces invaded Iraq in 2003. The intelligence was deeply flawed and, in some cases, manipulated to fit a political agenda." ... "It was a mistake to vote for this war in 2002. I take responsibility for that mistake. It has been hard to say these words because those who didn't make a mistake -- the men and women of our armed forces and their families -- have performed heroically and paid a dear price." ... "The world desperately needs moral leadership from America, and the foundation for moral leadership is telling the truth." ... "While we can't change the past, we need to accept responsibility, because a key part of restoring America's moral leadership is acknowledging when we've made mistakes or been proven wrong -- and showing that we have the creativity and guts to make it right." -By John Edwards-WashingtonPost

20051112

US - Iraq - Secret - Military - Terrorism - Politics - Law - "Asterisks Dot White House's Iraq Argument." ... "President Bush and his national security adviser have answered critics of the Iraq war in recent days with a two-pronged argument: that Congress saw the same intelligence the administration did before the war, and that independent commissions have determined that the administration did not misrepresent the intelligence." ... "But Bush and his aides had access to much more voluminous intelligence information than did lawmakers, who were dependent on the administration to provide the material. And the commissions cited by officials, though concluding that the administration did not pressure intelligence analysts to change their conclusions, were not authorized to determine whether the administration exaggerated or distorted those conclusions." ... [Furthermore] "... Bush does not share his most sensitive intelligence, such as the President's Daily Brief, with lawmakers. Also, the National Intelligence Estimate summarizing the intelligence community's views about the threat from Iraq was given to Congress just days before the vote to authorize the use of force in that country." ... "In addition, there were doubts within the intelligence community not included in the NIE. And even the doubts expressed in the NIE could not be used publicly by members of Congress because the classified information had not been cleared for release. For example, the NIE view that Hussein would not use weapons of mass destruction against the United States or turn them over to terrorists unless backed into a corner was cleared for public use only a day before the Senate vote." -By Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus-WashingtonPost

20051111

Bill Frist - Secret - Military - Prisons - Law - "Frist concerned more about leaks than secret prisons." ... "Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he is more concerned about the leak of information regarding secret CIA detention centers than activity in the prisons themselves." ... "Frist told reporters Thursday that while he believed illegal activity should not take place at detention centers, he believes the leak itself poses a greater threat to national security and is "not concerned about what goes on" behind the prison walls."-AP via -CNN
US- Iraq - Military - Intelligence- Religious - Politics - "Poll: Majority questions Bush administration ethics." ... "Most Americans say they aren't impressed by the ethics and honesty of the Bush administration, already under scrutiny for its justifications for an unpopular war in Iraq and its role in the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity." ... "Almost six in 10 — 57 percent — said they do not think the Bush administration has high ethical standards and the same portion says President Bush is not honest, an AP-Ipsos poll found. Just over four in 10 say the administration has high ethical standards and that Bush is honest. Whites, Southerners and evangelicals were most likely to believe Bush is honest." -AP via -HoustonChronicle.com
US- Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Opinion - History - Pennsylvania - "Bush assails Iraq critics as skewing war history." ... "President George W. Bush lashed out at critics of his Iraq policy Friday, accusing them of trying to rewrite history about the decision to go to war and saying their criticism was undercutting U.S. forces in battle." ... ""While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decisions or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began," the president said in a Veterans Day speech in Pennsylvania." ... "Bush delivered his speech as part of an effort to shore up his credibility as he faces growing public skepticism about Iraq and accusations by Democrats and others that he led the nation into war on false pretenses." ... "Those accusations seem to be making a dent in public confidence in him, as public opinion polls show more people questioning the president's honesty about Iraq and about whether American troops should remain in the fight." -By Maria Newman -NYTimes via -IHT.com
US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Political - History - Pennsylvania - "Newsview: Bush Returns to Campaign Playbook." ... "President Bush seems to be turning the clock back to Election Day 2004, parrying with ex-rival John Kerry and harshly questioning his critics' commitment to U.S. troops." ... "You can't blame him for being nostalgic for better political times, when most Americans felt he was a strong, honest leader and gave him the benefit of the doubt on Iraq." ... "That's certainly not the sentiment these days. With his approval ratings plunging, even some Republican leaders are showing signs of abandoning Bush's listing ship." ... ""Mistakes were made," Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said Friday of the war effort." ... "When the president visited Pennsylvania to defend his Iraq policies on Friday, Santorum kept his distance, literally and rhetorically. He was 120 miles away, telling reporters the war in Iraq has been "less than optimal" and that "maybe some blame could be laid" at the White House." -By Ron Fournier -AP via-WashingtonPost
US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - History - "Bush Fires Back at Critics of Iraq War." ... "Knocked on the defensive over allegations that he launched the Iraq war based on faulty intelligence, President Bush accused his critics today of trying to rewrite the history of how and why the war began." ... ""Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war," he added. "These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs. They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world agreed with our assessments of Saddam Hussein."" ... "The bipartisan Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction the panel headed by Judge Laurence H. Silberman and former Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) that examined the pre-war intelligence reported that U.S. intelligence "was dead wrong in almost all of its prewar judgments" about Iraq's illicit weapons." ... ""This was a major intelligence failure," the panel members wrote." ... "However, it found no evidence that White House officials or other administration figures pressured intelligence analysts to shade or change their reports for political reasons." (1, 2) -By Warren Vieth and James Gerstenzang -LAtimes

20051110

Jordan - US - Intelligence - Police - "Attacks at U.S.-Based Hotels in Amman Were Minutes Apart." ... "Terrorist bombs ripped nearly simultaneously through three popular hotels here [in Amman, Jordan] on Wednesday night, killing dozens and wounding more than 100." ... "The Jordanian cabinet said in a statement that the attacks, which killed 57 people and wounded 110, appeared to have been carried out by suicide bombers. Amman, the capital, was placed under a severe security lockdown late Wednesday with streets closed and the police donning heavy armor. Members of Jordan's secret intelligence police force were also out in full force. " -By Hassan M. Fattah and Michael Slackman with contributions by Douglas Jehl and Suha Maayeh -NYTimes
Jordan - US - Intelligence - "Suicide Attacks Kill at Least 57 at 3 Hotels in Jordan's Capital: The tightly coordinated blasts bear the hallmark of Al Qaeda, intelligence officials say, and shred the nation's reputation as a relatively safe zone." ... "The blasts struck the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn in the Jordanian capital just before 9 p.m., sending clouds of black smoke billowing into the sky and leaving some of the bloodied victims lying on plush-carpeted floors." ... "At the Radisson, an assailant detonated an explosives belt in the midst of a wedding party in a crowded banquet hall, resulting in extensive casualties, officials said. At the Days Inn, a car bomber was unable to breach the security perimeter outside the hotel before detonating his explosives, Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher told reporters." -By Ashraf Khalil, Ranya Kadri and Josh Meyer -LAtimes

20051109

California - Virginia - Political - Business - Law - Privacy - Secret - Intelligence- "Secret military spending gets little oversight." ... "A USA TODAY analysis of MZM-related campaign contributions shows how the company's growth and its political activities became intertwined at key moments. In more than 30 instances, donations from MZM's political action committee or company employees went to two members of the House Appropriations Committee — [California Republican Randy] Cunningham and Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va. [Virginia] — in the days surrounding key votes or contract awards that helped MZM grow." ... "For example, MZM's political action committee gave Cunningham $5,000 in 2003 the day before his appointment to a congressional panel negotiating the final version of the defense budget. Ten days later, the day after the House passed the final Pentagon spending bill, Wade gave Cunningham $2,000." ... "Both lawmakers sit on the subcommittee overseeing the Pentagon's spending and have acknowledged putting language in bills that created or expanded contracts that went to MZM." -By Matt Kelley and Jim Drinkard -USATODAY
Hawaii - Military - Flying - Intelligence - "Stealth engineer facing federal indictment." ... "A federal grand jury in Honolulu has returned a six-count indictment against a B-Two stealth bomber engineer already accused of selling U-S military secrets to foreign countries." -AP via KPUA

20051107

Business - Privacy - Terrorism- Intelligence - "Lawmakers Call for Limits on F.B.I. Power to Demand Records in Terrorism Investigations." ... "Republicans and Democrats in Congress called on Sunday for greater restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ability to demand business and personal records in terrorism investigations without a judge's approval and to retain the records indefinitely." ... ""We should not ever give up freedom on the basis of fear, and any freedom that we give up should be limited in time and limited in scope," Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, said on the NBC program "Meet the Press."" ... "Mr. Coburn and other senators were responding to an article on Sunday in The Washington Post about the government's increasing use of what are known as national security letters to demand records from businesses and institutions, without a judge's approval, to aid in terrorism and intelligence investigations." -By Eric Lichtblau -NYTimes
US - Iraq - Dick Cheney - Military - Intelligence - Politics - Listen - "Cheney Positions on Iraq, Detainees Under Scrutiny." ... "Criminal charges against former White House aide I. Lewis Libby have focused new attention on the man he worked for. Vice President Dick Cheney's support for the Iraq war and for exempting detainees in the war on terror from the conventional rules of treatment and interrogation has brought him in conflict with strong forces elsewhere in the government, including Congress." -By Don Gonyea -NPR /News
Australia - Police- Intelligence - "Australia foils terrorist attack." ... "Australian authorities arrested 17 people on Tuesday on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, raiding homes in Melbourne and Sydney less than a week after parliament passed tougher anti-terror laws." ... "One man was shot in the Sydney raids and the police bomb squad was examining a backpack at the scene. Outspoken Muslim cleric Abu Bakr, who has voiced support for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was among those arrested in Melbourne." ... "The Australia Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), last week acknowledged for the first time that Australia had home-grown extremists, some of whom trained overseas." (1, 2) -By Joanne Collins with contributions by Michelle Nichols -Reuters
US - World - Dick Cheney - Military - Intelligence - Politics- Law- Arizona - "Cheney Fights for Detainee Policy: As Pressure Mounts to Limit Handling Of Terror Suspects, He Holds Hard Line." ... "Over the past year, Vice President Cheney has waged an intense and largely unpublicized campaign to stop Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department from imposing more restrictive rules on the handling of terrorist suspects, according to defense, state, intelligence and congressional officials." ... "Just last week, Cheney showed up at a Republican senatorial luncheon to lobby lawmakers for a CIA exemption to an amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz. [Arizona]) that would ban torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners. The exemption would cover the CIA's covert "black sites" in several Eastern European democracies and other countries where key al Qaeda captives are being kept." (1, 2) -By Dana Priest and Robin Wright with contributions by Charles Babington and Josh White-WashingtonPost

20051104

EU - US - Poland - Romania - Military - Terrorism - Secrets - "EU Accepts Polish, Romanian Denials of Secret Jails (Update1)." ... "The European Union's executive agency said it is satisfied with Poland's and Romania's denials that the U.S. is running secret terrorist jails on their soil, saying there's no proof of human rights violations." ... "The Polish and Romanian governments rebutted reports in the Washington Post and Financial Times, citing U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, that the Central Intelligence Agency has operated covert interrogation centers in those countries." -By John Rega -Bloomberg
US - Iraq - Military - Politics - Listen - "Former Aide's Criticisms Ignite Iraq War Debate." ... "The former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell has accused the administration of allowing a small group of senior officials to control the pre- Iraq war intelligence and post-war planning." -PBS /NewsHour
US - Iraq - Lewis Libby - Dick Cheney - Intelligence - Politics - 2006 Election - "Ex-Cheney aide pleads not guilty in CIA leak case." ... "Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide [I. Lewis Libby Jr.] pleaded not guilty Thursday to five criminal charges of lying to or impeding investigators in the case of the leaked identity of a covert CIA agent whose husband was a prominent critic of the Iraq war." ... "It was left unclear when a trial - in which Cheney and other top officials might be called to testify - would begin. But chances appeared considerable that it would unfold over several weeks next year, which is a midterm election year in the United States, giving Democrats a prime opening to assail the Bush administration's handling of Iraq war intelligence." -By Brian Knowlton -IHT.com

20051102

US - Iraq - Military-Secrets - Politics - "Democrats Force Secret Senate Session: Democrats Force Secret Senate Session to Highlight Differences Over How Iraq Intelligence Handled." ... "Unable to win their way with votes, outnumbered Democrats used a rarely invoked Senate rule to force a secret session as a way to dramatize their assertions that the Bush administration misused intelligence in the run-up to war in Iraq." ... "Republicans angrily derided the use of Rule 21 which dates back to 1795 as a political stunt but agreed two hours later to have a bipartisan group check on how the Senate Intelligence Committee is coming along in its investigation of prewar intelligence." ... "The Senate is authorized to have secret sessions by the Constitution." (1, 2) -By Liz Sidoti -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
Dick Cheney - Secret - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Prisons - "Bush adviser says policy forbids torture." ... "President Bush's directive banning the torture of terror suspects applies to all prisoners -even if held in a secret prison reportedly set up by the CIA for its most important al-Qaida captives, a senior administration official [National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley] said Wednesday." ... "Led by Vice President Dick Cheney, the Bush administration is floating a proposal that would allow the president to exempt covert agents outside the Defense Department from a Senate-approved ban on torturing detainees in U.S. custody or weakening the prohibition." -AP via -SeattlePI .NWsource
US - Afghanistan - Thailand - Guantanamo Bay - Cuba - Military - Terrorism - Secret - Prisons - Law - Noteworthy - "CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons: Debate Is Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set Up After 9/11." ... "The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement." ... "The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents." ... "The hidden global internment network is a central element in the CIA's unconventional war on terrorism. It depends on the cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA's covert actions." ... "It is illegal for the government to hold prisoners in such isolation in secret prisons in the United States, which is why the CIA placed them overseas, according to several former and current intelligence officials and other U.S. government officials." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Dana Priest with contributions by Julie Tate -WashingtonPost
Australia - Police - Terrorism - Civil Liberties - Law - "Australia says has intelligence on terror threat." ... "Australia has received specific information about a possible "terrorist threat" to the country, Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday, but Australia's medium security alert remained unchanged." ... "Howard refused to give any details about the nature or location of the threat, but said the government would rush through changes to anti-terror laws to enable police to respond." ... "The new laws, which have been criticised by human rights and civil liberties groups, will allow police to detain suspects for seven days without charge, and use electronic tracking devices to keep tabs on suspects." -By James Grubel -Reuters via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
US - Iraq - Military - Politics- Kansas - "White House ducks prewar intel questions." ... "The White House sought to deflect politically charged questions Wednesday about President Bush's use of prewar intelligence in Iraq, saying Democrats, too, had concluded Saddam Hussein was a threat." ... "Democrats sought assurances that Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan. [Kansas], would complete the second phase of an investigation of the administration's prewar intelligence - as he said he was doing anyway." ... "A six-member task force - three members from each party - was appointed to review the Intelligence Committee's work and report to their respective leaders by Nov. 14." -By Liz Sidoti -AP via -SeattlePI .NWsource

20051102

US - Iraq - Lewis Libby - Dick Cheney - Military - Intelligence - Nevada- "Secret Senate session keeps up pressure on Bush over Iraq war." ... "Democrats accuse rivals of colluding on WMD reports." ... "In an attempt to keep pressure on the Bush administration that drew a furious reaction from Republicans, the Democratic leader, Harry Reid [Nevada], said the American people and US troops deserved to know the details of how the country became engaged in the war, particularly in light of last week's indictment for perjury of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to the vice-president, Dick Cheney." ... ""They [Republican senators] have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why," Mr Reid said. He accused the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, Pat Roberts, of failing to follow through on a promise to conduct a thorough inquiry into prewar intelligence, including how the White House had used or misused it." ... ""The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really all about, how this administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions," Mr Reid said before invoking Senate rules that led to the closed session." -By Jamie Wilson -Guardian.co.uk

20051028

US - Iraq - Lewis Libby - Dick Cheney - Military - Intelligence - Politics - "Cheney's top aide indicted in leak case." ... "Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and a key architect of the Iraq war, was indicted Friday on felony charges of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice for allegedly impeding the grand jury investigating the CIA leak case." ... "The five-count indictment alleges that Libby lied to FBI agents who interviewed him on two occasions, perjured himself during two appearances before the grand jury, and obstructed justice when he "knowingly and corruptly endeavored to influence, obstruct and impede" the grand jury's efforts to find out who leaked Valerie Plame's status as a covert agent to reporters during the spring of 2003." ... "Within minutes of the indictment, Libby resigned his post." -By Zachary Coile -SFGate.com

20051026

Karl Rove - Media - Intelligence - Politics - "Leak Counsel Is Said to Press on Rove's Role." ... "With the clock running out on his investigation, the special counsel in the leak case continued to seek information on Tuesday about Karl Rove's discussions with reporters in the days before a C.I.A. officer's identity was made public, lawyers and others involved in the investigation said." ... "Three days before the grand jury in the case expires and with the White House in a state of high anxiety, the special counsel, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, appeared still to be trying to determine whether Mr. Rove had been fully forthcoming about his contacts with Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist, in July 2003, they said." -By Richard W. Stevenson with contributions by David Johnston -NYTimes

20051025

US - Iraq - Nuclear - Journalist - Law - Politics - "Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Lawyers Report." ... "I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday." ... "Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby's testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said." ... "The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson's husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration's handling of intelligence about Iraq's nuclear program to justify the war." (1, 2) -By David Johnston, Richard W. Stevenson, and Douglas Jehl -NYTimes

20051024

US - Iraq - Niger - Military - People - "Cast of characters grows in CIA leak drama." ... "It began with a clumsy forgery, led the president to backtrack on his own State of the Union address, already has sent one person to jail and has ruined another's career as a covert operative." ... "Up until three years ago, Joe and Valerie Wilson looked like just another upscale couple on the Washington scene, juggling serious jobs while keeping up with 2-year-old twins. He was a former ambassador turned international business consultant. She was an analyst for a Boston-based energy company - a working soccer mom, in the view of one of her neighbors." ... "As it turns out, Valerie really was a clandestine CIA agent and an expert on weapons of mass destruction, exactly the threat that Bush held out as the primary justification for going to war in Iraq. And, as it turns out, Joe's experience as an African envoy also made him a player." ... "In a way, the whole Wilson saga can be traced back to Cheney and Bush. It was Cheney's interest in the alleged Iraq-Niger deal that led the CIA to dispatch Wilson to Africa. And it Bush's use of the debunked claim in his State of the Union address that led Wilson to publish his doubts." -By Nancy Benac -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Government - Intelligence - Law - Secrets - Privacy - "FBI Papers Indicate Intelligence Violations: Secret Surveillance Lacked Oversight." ... "The FBI has conducted clandestine surveillance on some U.S. residents for as long as 18 months at a time without proper paperwork or oversight, according to previously classified documents to be released today." ... "Records turned over as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit also indicate that the FBI has investigated hundreds of potential violations related to its use of secret surveillance operations, which have been stepped up dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but are largely hidden from public view." ... "In other cases, agents obtained e-mails after a warrant expired, seized bank records without proper authority and conducted an improper "unconsented physical search," according to the documents." ... "The documents provided to EPIC focus on 13 cases from 2002 to 2004 that were referred to the Intelligence Oversight Board, an arm of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board that is charged with examining violations of the laws and directives governing clandestine surveillance. Case numbers on the documents indicate that a minimum of 287 potential violations were identified by the FBI during those three years, but the actual number is certainly higher because the records are incomplete." (1, 2) -By Dan Eggen-WashingtonPost

20051021

US - Iraq - Karl Rove - Government - Law - Media - Military - Politics - Secrets - "CIA Leak Queries Look at Disclosure Of Classified Data." ... "Yesterday, one former administration official said Karl Rove, the deputy White House chief of staff, had discussed former diplomat Joseph Wilson and the role of his wife, Ms. Plame, with White House staffers in 2003. That buttresses the possibility that Mr. Fitzgerald is investigating charges related to leaking classified information." ... "The former official said Mr. Rove had these discussions after Mr. Wilson went public with claims that the Bush administration had twisted intelligence to build support for the Iraq war. Mr. Rove discussed discrediting Mr. Wilson, the former official said, adding that Mr. Rove didn't necessarily name Ms. Plame or make her a key talking point in conversations with other White House officials." ... "The Plame investigation, originally sought by Central Intelligence Agency officials, began in September 2003 after her name appeared in the media in July. Critics, including Mr. Wilson, accused the White House of leaking her identity in an effort to undercut his claim that the administration had manipulated intelligence to support the Iraq war." -By John D. McKinnon, Anne Marie Squeo, and Joe Hagan -WSJ.com
Syria - Lebanon - Political - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - "Syrian President Assad's Relatives Implicated in Hariri Murder." ... "Seven senior Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad's brother and brother-in-law, are suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, United Nations investigators said in a report likely to increase tensions between the U.S. and Syria." ... "Hariri, a five-time prime minister of Lebanon, was killed by a bomb Feb. 14." ... "``Many leads point directly towards Syrian security officials as being directly involved,'' said the 54-page report prepared by a team led by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis." ... "He said Assad's brother, Maher, and brother-in-law Assef Shawkat plotted the assassination, along with five other Syrian officials named in the report. It doesn't directly implicate Bashar-al-Assad. There was also evidence of Lebanese involvement in the assassination, according to the report." -By Bill Varner -Bloomberg

20051018

US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Politics - "Cheney's Office Is A Focus in Leak Case: Sources Cite Role Of Feud With CIA." ... "As the investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's name hurtles to an apparent conclusion, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has zeroed in on the role of Vice President Cheney's office, according to lawyers familiar with the case and government officials. The prosecutor has assembled evidence that suggests Cheney's long-standing tensions with the CIA contributed to the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame." ... "In grand jury sessions, including with New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Fitzgerald has pressed witnesses on what Cheney may have known about the effort to push back against ex-diplomat and Iraq war critic Joseph C. Wilson IV, including the leak of his wife's position at the CIA, Miller and others said. But Fitzgerald has focused more on the role of Cheney's top aides, including Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, lawyers involved in the case said." (1, 2) -By Jim VandeHei and Walter Pincus-WashingtonPost

20051017

US - Iraq - Karl Rove - Intelligence - Politics - Secrets - "Cheney May Be Entangled in CIA Leak Investigation, People Say." ... "A special counsel is focusing on whether Vice President Dick Cheney played a role in leaking a covert CIA agent's name, according to people familiar with the probe that already threatens top White House aides Karl Rove and Lewis Libby." ... "The special counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald, has questioned current and former officials of President George W. Bush's administration about whether Cheney was involved in an effort to discredit the agent's husband, Iraq war critic and former U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson, according to the people." ... "Fitzgerald has questioned Cheney's communications adviser Catherine Martin and former spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise and ex-White House aide Jim Wilkinson about the vice president's knowledge of the anti-Wilson campaign and his dealings on it with Libby, his chief of staff, the people said. The information came from multiple sources, who requested anonymity because of the secrecy and political sensitivity of the investigation." -By Richard Keil -Bloomberg
Media - Intelligence - Politics - Secrets - "Inaccurate Info May Help CIA Leak Probe: Inaccurate Information About CIA Operative in Reporter's Notes Could Lead to Source." ... "Information attributed to Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff in New York Times reporter Judith Miller's interview notes is incorrect, offering prosecutors a potential lead to tracking the bad information to its original source." ... "Miller disclosed this weekend that her notes of a conversation she had with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on July 8, 2003 stated Cheney's top aide told her that the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson worked for the CIA's Weapons Intelligence, Non-Proliferation, and Arms Control (WINPAC) unit." ... "Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, never worked for WINPAC, an analysis unit in the overt side of the CIA, and instead worked in a position in the CIA's secret side, known as the directorate of operations, according to three people familiar with her work for the spy agency." (1, 2, 3) -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20051012

US - Iraq - Military - Politics - "CIA review faults prewar plans." ... "A newly released report published by the CIA rebukes the Bush administration for not paying enough attention to prewar intelligence that predicted the factional rivalries now threatening to split Iraq." ... "Policymakers worried more about making the case for the war, particularly the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, than planning for the aftermath, the report says. The report was written by a team of four former CIA analysts led by former deputy CIA director Richard Kerr." ... ""In an ironic twist, the policy community was receptive to technical intelligence (the weapons program), where the analysis was wrong, but apparently paid little attention to intelligence on cultural and political issues (post-Saddam Iraq), where the analysis was right," they write." -By John Diamond -USATODAY

20051011

New York - Terrorism - Police - "'No Evidence' Of NYC Subway Threat." ... "An official at the Department of Homeland Security tells CBS News correspondent Bob Orr that "no evidence has surfaced through intelligence to substantiate the threat" last week against the New York City subway system." ... ""All intelligence agencies agree there is no evidence to support the original information," the official said." ... "John Miller, an assistant FBI director and the agency's chief spokesman, said federal authorities agreed with the New York police department's assessment that any risk had subsided." -AP -CBSNews

20051007

US - Iraq - New York - Transportation - MIL - Police - Intelligence - "New Yorkers Baffled Over Differing Stances on Terrorist Threat." ... "Less than 24 hours after Bloomberg made a dramatic, late afternoon announcement about an "imminent" subway bombing plot, the nation's largest transit system was operating smoothly, New York City officials said. Police, many in riot gear, were deployed in greater numbers than usual at many of the city's 468 stations." ... "One senior federal law enforcement official said the threat reporting was based on "third party information," or conversations among men in Iraq that were overheard by others; this led to men being detained over comments they had allegedly made about traveling to New York to detonate bombs in the subway." ... "The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the information was gleaned from an ongoing military operation in Iraq, passed to the National Counter-terrorism Center at the CIA, and then disseminated to participating law enforcement and intelligence agencies-including Homeland Security." -By Josh Getlin and Josh Meyer -LAtimes

20051006

Secret - US - Philippines - Emergency - Leandro Aragoncillo - Dick Cheney - Government - Military - Intelligence - Police - Politics - New Jersey - Law - "Spy Probe Widens to Years Suspect Was at White House: Ex-Marine Allegedly Sent Files to Philippine Opposition." ... "The Justice Department is investigating whether a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Philippines stole classified documents while he worked in the office of [Republican] Vice President Cheney and provided the information to opposition politicians in Manila [Philippines capital], [Republican] Bush administration officials said yesterday." ... "The possibility that Leandro Aragoncillo was passing the material while stationed as a U.S. Marine security official at the White House marks a dramatic expansion of the case against him and a former Philippine police official, Michael Ray Aquino. Both were arrested and charged in federal court in Newark [New Jersey] last month with sending classified information obtained this year to the Philippines -- more than two years after Aragoncillo left the White House and went to work as an FBI intelligence analyst." ... "Officials from the White House, Justice Department and FBI declined to comment late yesterday, other than to confirm that Aragoncillo first went to work at the White House in 1999, when [Democratic Vice President] Al Gore was vice president. ABC News reported last night that Aragoncillo had admitted taking classified documents while he worked in Cheney's office." ... "Joseph Estrada, the former Philippine president who was forced from office four years ago by mass demonstrations, has acknowledged receiving documents from Aragoncillo while the suspect was still in the Marines." ... "A document from late July reportedly detailed coup discussions at a secret conclave of about two dozen young army and naval officers in Manila. Another account, citing a clandestine source, described Arroyo calling an emergency meeting of her commanding generals to ensure their backing." (1, 2, 3) -By Dan Eggen and Alan Sipress -WashingtonPost
New York - Police - Intelligence - "UPDATE 4-New York hikes subway security after terror plot." ... "New York police stepped up security on Thursday after what city authorities called the most specific threat yet of a terrorist attack on the subway system in the coming days, but officials in Washington played down the threat." ... "Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the FBI had alerted him to "a specific threat to our subway system," which had come from overseas but had already been partially thwarted." ... "In Washington, Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said: "At this time the intelligence community believes that this information, while specific, is of doubtful credibility."" (1, 2) -By Christine Kearney and Mark Egan -Reuters
Karl Rove - Political- Intelligence - "Rove to give additional testimony with no guarantee." ... "Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer's leaked identity but have warned they cannot guarantee he won't be indicted, according to people directly familiar with the investigation." ... "The persons, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy, said Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has not made any decision yet on whether to file criminal charges against the longtime confidant of President Bush or others." ... "For almost two years, Fitzgerald has been investigating whether someone in the Bush administration leaked the identity of Valerie Plame as a CIA officer for political reasons." -AP via -USATODAY
US - Afghanistan - Iraq - Guantanamo Bay - Cuba - Military - Intelligence - "Senate, bucking White House, backs detainee protections." ... "In a sharp rebuke to the White House, the U.S. Senate agreed Wednesday to regulate the detention, interrogation and treatment of prisoners held by the U.S. military." ... "Over two dozen retired senior military officers - including Colin Powell, and John Shalikashvili, two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - endorsed the amendment, which would ban the "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" of anyone in U.S. custody. It would restrict troops to using interrogation techniques outlined in a new U.S. Army field manual but would not cover those used by the CIA." ... "Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday passionately debated the measure, which supporters said would clarify a jumble of conflicting standards and cast a spotlight on the treatment of detainees at U.S. prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba." -By Eric Schmitt with contributions by Carl Hulse -NYTimes via -IHT.com
US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Arizona - "Senate sets standards on detainees: Lawmakers defy Bush to overwhelmingly OK McCain bill in response to Abu Ghraib." ... "In a break with the White House, the Republican-controlled Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure Wednesday that would set standards for the military's treatment of detainees, a response to the [Iraq prison] Abu Ghraib scandal and other allegations that U.S. soldiers have abused prisoners." ... "Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. [Arizona], a victim of torture while a prisoner during the Vietnam War, won approval of the measure that would make interrogation techniques outlined in the Army Field Manual the standard for handling detainees in Defense Department custody and prohibit "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of U.S.-held prisoners." -By Richard Simon -LAtimes via -SFGate.com
US - Vietnam - Arizona - South Carolina -Military - Intelligence- "Senate adds ban on torture to bill." ... "The Senate delivered a rebuke to the Bush administration last night, adding language banning U.S. torture of military prisoners to a $440 billion military-spending bill in defiance of a White House threat to veto the whole bill if the anti-torture language were attached." ... "[Arizona Senator John] McCain, who was tortured by his North Vietnamese captors during the Vietnam War, cited a letter written to him recently by Army Capt. Ian Fishback asking Congress to do justice to military personnel." ... ""Give them clear standards of conduct that reflect the ideals they risk their lives for," Fishback wrote the senator." ... "[South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey] Graham, a former judge advocate in the Air National Guard, said: "We take this moral high ground to make sure that if our people fall into enemy hands, we'll have the moral force to say, 'You have got to treat them right.' If you don't practice what you preach, nobody listens."" -By Joseph L. Galloway and James Kuhnhenn -Knight Ridder via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - "Senate Approves Detainee Treatment Rules: Senate Bill Would Impose Restrictions on Treatment of Prisoners." ... "The Senate faces a confrontation with the House over a $440 billion military spending bill that, despite White House opposition, would impose restrictions on the treatment of terrorism suspects." ... "Delivering a rare wartime slap at Pentagon authority and President Bush, the GOP-controlled Senate voted 90-9 on Wednesday to back an amendment that would prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held." ... "The House-approved version of it does not include the detainee provision. It is unclear how much support the measure has in the GOP-run House." (1, 2) -By Liz Sidoti -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
US - Iraq - Guantanamo Bay - Cuba - Military - Terrorism- Intelligence - "Senate supports setting interrogation limits: Amendment seeks rules on detainees." ... "The Senate defied the White House yesterday by voting to set new limits on interrogating detainees in Iraq and elsewhere, underscoring Congress's growing concerns about reports of abuse of suspected terrorists and others in military custody." ... "Forty-six Republicans joined 43 Democrats and one Independent in voting to define and limit interrogation techniques that US troops may use against terrorism suspects, the latest sign that alarm over treatment of prisoners in the Middle East and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is widespread in both parties. The White House had fought to prevent the restrictions, with Vice President Dick Cheney visiting key Republicans in July and a spokesman yesterday repeating President Bush's threat to veto the larger bill that the language is now attached to -- a $440 billion military spending measure." -By Charles Babington and Shailagh Murray -WashingtonPost via -Boston/Globe

20050930

GOV - Business - Space - Privacy - "Review Leads to Upheaval in Spy Satellite Programs." ... "A high-level review led by John D. Negroponte, the new intelligence director, is stirring a major upheaval within the country's spy satellite programs, beginning with an overhaul of a $15 billion program plagued by delays and cost overruns." ... "In a terse announcement last week, the National Reconnaissance Office, responsible for developing and launching the devices, said only that a Boeing Company contract to provide the next generation of reconnaissance satellites, known as the Future Imagery Architecture, was being "restructured."" ... "But government officials and outside experts said Mr. Negroponte had ordered that Boeing stop work on a significant part of the project, involving satellites with powerful cameras, under a plan to shift the mission to Lockheed Martin, Boeing's chief competitor." -By Douglas Jehl -NYTimes

20050929

US - Iraq - Afghanistan - Military - Terrorism - History - "US trying to understand Iraq insurgency -Negroponte." ... "U.S. intelligence is still struggling to understand the nature of Iraq's insurgency more than two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte said on Thursday." ... "The Iraq insurgency, which U.S. forces have yet to stamp out despite repeated attempts, began months after the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 and spans a disparate collection of groups from Baathists and former regime elements to the Al Qaeda-linked network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." ... "The CIA has also warned in a classified report that Iraq was becoming a more effective training ground for foreign terrorists than Afghanistan was during the war against Soviet occupation in the 1980s, which gave rise to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda." -By David Morgan -Reuters via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk

20050928

US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - "The 'Second' Man: The slain Abu Azzam may not have been Zarqawi's top deputy after all. Will his death have any effect on the Iraq insurgency?" ... "U.S. intelligence officials and counterterrorism analysts are questioning whether a slain terrorist-described by President Bush today as the "second-most-wanted Al Qaeda leader in Iraq"-was as significant a figure as the Bush administration is claiming." ... "In a brief Rose Garden appearance Wednesday morning, Bush seized on the killing of Abu Azzam by joint U.S-Iraqi forces in a shootout last Sunday as fresh evidence that the United States is turning the tide against the Iraqi insurgency." ... "But veteran counterterrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann said today there are ample reasons to question whether Abu Azzam was really the No. 2 figure in the Iraqi insurgency." ... "Three U.S. counterterrorism officials, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, also told NEWSWEEK today that U.S. agencies did not really consider Abu Azzam to be Zarqawi's "deputy" even if he did play a relatively high-ranking role in the insurgency." (1, 2) -By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball -MSNBC/Newsweek

20050902

- - "Terrorist Known Before 9/11, More Say." ... "A Defense Department inquiry has found three more people who recall seeing an intelligence briefing slide that identified the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks a year before the hijackings and terrorist strikes, Pentagon and military officials said Thursday." ... "But the officials said investigators who reviewed thousands of documents and electronic files from a secret counterterrorism planning unit had not found the chart itself, or any evidence the chart ever existed." ... "The officials acknowledged that documents and electronic files created by the unit, known as Able Danger, were destroyed under standing orders that limit the military's use of intelligence gathered about people in the United States." -By Thom Shanker -NYTimes
- - "Inquiry Fails to Find Data on Hijackers: A Pentagon report contradicts statements by members of an intelligence unit that some attackers were known before Sept. 11." ... "An internal Pentagon investigation has found no proof that a classified military intelligence program identified Mohamed Atta or any of the other Sept. 11 hijackers before the attacks or found that they were living in the United States, officials said Thursday." ... "Several senior Pentagon officials said their investigation found five members of the intelligence program codenamed Able Danger who recalled the existence of a large chart of suspected Al Qaeda operatives as far back as 2000 that they said included Atta's name or photograph. But the Pentagon found no evidence that such a chart existed." ... "The findings of the investigation contradict allegations that the military intelligence program may have had information in 2000 that could have led to Atta's arrest and prevented the terrorist attacks." -By Josh Meyer -LAtimes

20050901

- - "Three more assert Pentagon knew of 9/11 ringleader." ... "Three more people associated with a secret U.S. military intelligence team have asserted that the program identified September 11 ringleader Mohammed Atta as an Al Qaeda suspect inside the United States more than a year before the 2001 attacks, the Pentagon said on Thursday." ... "The Pentagon said a three-week review had turned up no documents to back up the assertion, but did not rule out that such documents relating to the classified operation had been destroyed." ... "Pentagon officials declined to identify the three by name, but said they were an analyst with the military's Special Operations Command, an analyst with the Land Information Warfare Assessment Center and a contractor who supported the center." -By Will Dunham -Reuters via -WashingtonPost

20050826

- - "C.I.A. Report Said to Fault Pre-9/11 Leadership." ... "A long-awaited C.I.A. inspector general's report on the agency's performance before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks includes detailed criticism of more than a dozen former and current agency officials, aiming its sharpest language at George J. Tenet, the former director, according to a former intelligence officer who was briefed on the findings and another government official who has seen the report." ... "Mr. Tenet is censured for failing to develop and carry out a strategic plan to take on Al Qaeda in the years before 2001, even after he wrote in a 1998 memo to intelligence agencies that "we are at war" with it, they said, speaking about the highly classified report on condition of anonymity." ... "The findings place [C.I.A. director] Mr. Goss in a delicate position. As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in the years before the attacks, he influenced intelligence policies and monitored intelligence agencies. As leader of the joint Congressional inquiry into the attacks, he joined in requesting the inspector general's inquiry nearly three years ago." -By Scott Shane and James Risen -NYTimes

20050818

- - New Jersey - "9/11 Panel's Leader Requests Quick Assessment of Officers." ... "The chairman of the Sept. 11 commission called on the Pentagon on Wednesday to move quickly to evaluate the credibility of military officers who have said that a highly classified intelligence program managed to identify the Sept. 11 ringleader more than a year before the 2001 attacks. He said the information was not shared in a reliable form with the panel." ... "The chairman, Thomas H. Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, offered no judgment about the accuracy of the officers' accounts. But he said in an interview that if the accounts were true, it suggested that detailed information about the intelligence program, known as Able Danger, was withheld from the commission and that the program and its findings should have been mentioned prominently in the panel's final report last year." -By Philip Shenon -NYTimes
- - - - - "4 hijackers' ID'd as al-Qaeda before 9/11, officer says." ... "A military intelligence team investigating al-Qaeda identified four members of the terrorist organization a year before they became 9/11 hijackers, according to an officer on the intelligence team. But he says that the FBI did not get the information and that the 9/11 Commission failed to expose the lapse." ... "The officer, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, a specialist in human intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency, said in an interview Wednesday that the team, called Able Danger, collected information on al-Qaeda, including links between members and the activities of terrorist cells worldwide." -By John Diamond -USATODAY

20050810

- - Secrets - "9/11 Panel Members Ask Congress to Learn if Pentagon Withheld Files on Hijackers in 2000." ... "Members of the independent commission that investigated the Sept. 11 terror attacks called on Congress to determine whether the Pentagon withheld intelligence information showing that a secret American military unit had identified Mohammed Atta and three other hijackers as potential threats more than a year before the attacks." ... "In a final report released last summer called the authoritative history of the attacks, the commission of five Democrats and five Republicans made no mention of the secret program or the possibility that a government agency had detected Mr. Atta's terrorist activities before Sept. 11." ... "Mr. Weldon went public with his information after having talked with members of the unit in his research for a new book on terrorism. He said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that he had spoken with three team members, all still working in the government, including two in the military, and that they were consistent in asserting that Mr. Atta's affiliation with a Qaeda terrorism cell in the United States was known in the Defense Department by mid-2000 and was not acted on." (1, 2) -By Philip Shenon and Douglas Jehl-NYTimes

20050809

- - - PA - "U.S. knew of al Qaeda cell before 9/11-lawmaker." ... "Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who is vice chairman of both the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, said the information was provided to the staff of the Sept. 11 commission but some commissioners were never briefed on the material." ... ""Able Danger," now disbanded, was a small classified military operation engaged in data-mining analysis of "open source" information including media reports and public records through the use of massively powerful computer systems." ... "Both Weldon and the former military official, who spoke to Reuters in the congressman's office, are actively encouraging intelligence officials to consider a resumption of the activity, which could mean as much as $30 million in new business for defense and intelligence contractors." (1, 2) -By David Morgan -Reuters
- - - New York - "Congressman: Defense Knew 9/11 Hijackers." ... "The Sept. 11 commission will investigate a claim that U.S. defense intelligence officials identified ringleader Mohammed Atta and three other hijackers as a likely part of an al-Qaida cell more than a year before the hijackings but didn't forward the information to law enforcement." ... "Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa. and vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, said Tuesday the men were identified in 1999 by a classified military intelligence unit known as ``Able Danger.'' If true, that's an earlier link to al-Qaida than any previously disclosed intelligence about Atta." ... "According to Weldon, Able Danger identified Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Khalid al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi as members of a cell the unit code-named ``Brooklyn'' because of some loose connections to New York City." -By Kimberly Hefling with contribtions by John J. Lumpkin -AP via -Guardian.co.uk
- - PA - Secrets - "Hijackers 'identified pre-9/11': A year before the 9/11 attacks a secret US intelligence unit had identified four of the hijackers as likely linked to al-Qaeda, a US congressman says.PennsylvaniaBut the unit's request for the FBI to be informed was turned down, according to [Pennsylvania] Representative Curt Weldon." ... "He spoke publicly about the issue on 27 June in a little-noticed speech on the house floor, and to a local paper in his Pennsylvania constituency." ... "He says the unit prepared a chart that included visa photographs of the four men and recommended to Special Operations Command that the FBI be informed." ... "The course of action was said to have been rejected in part because the men were in the US on valid entry visas."-BBC /News

20050808

- - - "'Credible' threats led to U.S. closures in Saudi Arabia." ... "The U.S. State Department closed its embassy and consulates in Saudi Arabia for two days after receiving "specific and credible" threats against its facilities in the kingdom, State Department officials told CNN." ... "The information did not specify which of the U.S. missions was targeted, so the State Department closed its embassy in Riyadh and consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran. They are scheduled to be closed on Monday and Tuesday." -By Elise Labott -CNN

20050803

US - Iraq - Rove - Government - Intelligence - Politics - Ralston - "2 Aides to Rove Testify in C.I.A. Leak Inquiry." ... "Two aides to Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, testified last Friday before a federal grand jury investigating whether government officials illegally disclosed the identity of an undercover C.I.A. operative, according to a person who has been officially briefed on the case." ... "The aides, Susan B. Ralston and Israel Hernandez, were asked about grand jury testimony given on July 13 by Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time magazine, the person who was briefed said. Mr. Cooper has said that he testified about a July 11, 2003, conversation with Mr. Rove in which the C.I.A. officer was discussed." ... "At one point, the aides were asked why Mr. Cooper's call to Mr. Rove was not entered in Mr. Rove's office telephone logs. There was no record of the call, the person who has been briefed said, because Mr. Cooper did not call Mr. Rove directly, but was transferred to his office from a White House switchboard." ... "The aides have worked closely with Mr. Rove, screening his calls and coordinating his activities with other White House officials. Mr. Hernandez had been an aide to President Bush since his successful campaign for governor of Texas in 1994, and Ms. Ralston is known as one of Mr. Rove's most trusted associates." ... "Mr. Fitzgerald has focused on whether in the identification of the officer, Valerie Wilson, there was a deliberate effort to retaliate against her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, for his criticism of the Bush administration's policy on Iraq." -By David Johnston -NYTimes

20050802

- - - - - - - - "Iran: crisis looming over nuclear plans." ... "Threats by Iran to re-start the process of enriching uranium could indicate that it has taken a strategic decision to develop a nuclear fuel production cycle." ... "If so, it could face UN sanctions in due course and one day even a military attack on its facilities by Israel or the United States." ... "But nuclear experts and a new assessment by US intelligence say that Iran is perhaps ten years from being able to make enough fuel for a nuclear bomb." ... "Neither a diplomatic nor a military crisis has been precipitated yet." -By Paul Reynolds-BBC /News

20050722

- Karl Rove - Dick Cheney - - - - Secrets - "Rove, Libby Accounts in CIA Case Differ With Those of Reporters." ... "Two top White House aides have given accounts to a special prosecutor about how reporters first told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to people familiar with the case." ... "Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first learned from NBC News reporter Tim Russert of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador and Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, one person said. Russert has testified before a federal grand jury that he didn't tell Libby of Plame's identity, the person said." ... "White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Fitzgerald that he first learned the identity of the CIA agent from syndicated columnist Robert Novak, according a person familiar with the matter. Novak, who was first to report Plame's name and connection to Wilson, has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor, the person said." -By Richard Keil -Bloomberg

20050721

- Karl Rove - - - Secrets - "Plame's Identity Marked As Secret: Memo Central to Probe Of Leak Was Written By State Dept. Analyst." ... "A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame [a.k.a. Valerie Wilson] in a paragraph marked "(S)" for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials." ... "The paragraph identifying her as the wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was clearly marked to show that it contained classified material at the "secret" level, two sources said. The CIA classifies as "secret" the names of officers whose identities are covert, according to former senior agency officials." ... "Karl Rove, President Bush's deputy chief of staff, has testified that he learned Plame's name from [journalist Robert] Novak a few days before telling another reporter she worked at the CIA and played a role in her husband's mission, according to a lawyer familiar with Rove's account." (1, 2) -By Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei -WashingtonPost
- - Karl Rove - - - - - (satire alert!-) "Karl Rove: the real story." ... "I feel it's time for me to step forward and tell what I know about Karl Rove's conversation with columnist Robert Novak in which Novak reportedly told Rove that CIA operative Valerie Plame had been responsible for her husband Joseph Wilson going to Niger to debunk the White House's claim that Saddam Hussein was shopping for uranium in Africa to make nuclear weapons and that's why America invaded Iraq, and Rove said, "Yes, I've heard that, too."" -By Garrison Keillor via -IHT.com

20050720

Karl Rove - - - "Ex-officers: CIA leak may have harmed U.S.." ... "Eleven former intelligence officers say the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity may have damaged national security and the government's ability to gather intelligence." ... "They said the Republican National Committee has circulated suggestions for officials to deal with the Plame case by focusing on the idea that Plame was not working undercover and legally merited no protection." ... "Thousands of U.S. intelligence officers work at desks in the Washington area every day whose identities are shielded, as Plame's was when her identity was leaked by Bush administration officials, the 11 former officers said." ... "The former officers' statement comes amid revelations that top presidential aide Karl Rove was involved in leaking Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper." -AP via -CNN

20050719

- - - Karl Rove - "Bush alters standard for firing in leak case: President says an aide would have had to commit a crime, not just be involved." ... "President Bush said Monday that he will fire anyone in the administration found to have committed a crime in the leaking of a CIA operative's name, creating a higher threshold than he did one year ago for holding aides accountable in the unmasking of Valerie Plame." ... "After originally saying anyone involved in leaking the name of covert CIA operative would be fired, Bush said: "If somebody committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."" -By Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen-WashingtonPost via -SFGate.com

20050718

- - Karl Rove - "Reporter ties Cheney aide to CIA story: Time identifies chief of staff as 2d source." ... " I. Lewis ''Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, was a second source for a Time magazine article that revealed the identity of a covert CIA agent, the magazine reported yesterday, undercutting repeated White House denials." ... "For two years, the Bush administration has said that neither top presidential adviser Karl Rove nor Libby was involved in identifying Valerie Plame, the covert CIA agent first named in a July 2003 article by syndicated columnist Robert Novak." ... "Last week, Rove, Bush's deputy chief of staff, was identified as a confidential source of Time reporter Matthew Cooper and that disclosure led to some Democrats calling for Rove's resignation while others pressed for the revocation of his security clearance. The disclosure also resulted in the White House no longer denying Rove's involvement and instead declining to comment because the matter is under investigation." -By Diedtra Henderson -Boston/Globe
- Civil Liberties - - - Free Speech - "FBI Says It Has Files on Rights Groups." ... "The FBI has thousands of pages of records in its files relating to the monitoring of civil rights, environmental and similar advocacy groups, the Justice Department acknowledges." ... "The organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Greenpeace, are suing for the release of the documents. The organizations contend that the material will show that they have been subjected to scrutiny by FBI task forces set up to combat terrorism." ... "The FBI has denied singling out individuals or groups for surveillance or investigation based solely on activities protected by the Constitution's guarantees of free speech." -By Mark Sherman -AP via -WashingtonPost
- - Karl Rove - "Bush says he'll fire leaking staffer if crime committed." ... "President Bush said Monday that if anyone on his staff committed a crime in the CIA-leak case, that person will "no longer work in my administration," but he again sidestepped a question on the role of his top political adviser [Karl Rove] in the matter." ... "His remarks appeared to show a subtle change in his stance. Bush said in June 2004 that he would fire anyone in his administration shown to have leaked information that exposed the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame. On Monday, however, he added the qualifier that it would have be shown that a crime was committed." -By Susan Page, Richard Benedetto and Mark Memmott with contributions by -AP -USATODAY

20050715

- - - - Karl Rove - "Rove leak is just part of larger scandal." ... "Let me remind you that the underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not a leak, but a war and how America was misled into that war." ... "In 2002 President Bush, having decided to invade Iraq, was casting about for acasus belli. The weapons of mass destruction theme was not yielding very much until a dubious Italian intelligence report, based partly on forged documents (it later turned out), provided reason to speculate that Iraq might be trying to buy so-called yellowcake uranium from the African country of Niger. It did not seem to matter that the CIA advised that the Italian information was "fragmentary and lacked detail." ... "The role of Rove and associates added up to a small incident in a very large scandal - the effort to delude America into thinking it faced a threat dire enough to justify a war." -By Daniel Schorr -CSMonitor

20050705

- - "Jail for journalists in leak case, prosecutor urges." ... "Two journalists should be jailed for refusing to reveal their confidential sources to a grand jury investigating the leak of a covert CIA operative's name to the news media, a federal prosecutor said on Tuesday." ... "Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald urged Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan to reject requests from New York Times correspondent Judith Miller and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper for home detention instead of jail." -By James Vicini -Reuters via -Wired
- - "Time Reporter's Testimony Is Needed, Prosecutor Says (Update1)." ... "Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper still must testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA official's name even though his employer turned over e-mails and documents, the prosecutor in the case said." ... "``After reviewing the documents provided by Time Inc., Cooper's testimony remains necessary'' for the investigation, said Patrick Fitzgerald in a court filing." ... "The U.S. Supreme Court on June 27 rejected appeals from Miller and Cooper. Time said on June 30 it would "turn over records to Fitzgerald." -By Bill Arthur -Bloomberg

20050703

- - - "Lawyer Says Rove Talked to Reporter, Did Not Leak Name." ... "Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, spoke with Time magazine's Matthew Cooper during a critical week in July 2003 when Cooper was reporting on a public critic of the Bush administration who was also the husband of a CIA operative, his lawyer confirmed yesterday." ... "Rove is identified in Cooper's notes from that time period, which Time turned over Friday to special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald --under court order. Fitzgerald is investigating whether senior administration officials leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to reporters in July 2003 as retaliation after her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to justify a war with Iraq." ... "Rove's lawyer said Rove never identified Plame to Cooper in those conversations. -By Carol D. Leonnig-WashingtonPost

20050630

- - "Time Inc. to comply with Plame inquiry: N.Y. Times says it is 'deeply disappointed' in decision." ... "Time Inc., parent of Time magazine, said Thursday it will provide documents to a grand jury investigating the published disclosure of a CIA agent's identity. The publisher's move drew a sharp critique from the New York Times." ... "Time magazine White House correspondent Matt Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller face jail for refusing to obey a court order to cooperate with the investigation. On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to review that court order." -By Emily Church -MarketWatch

20050622

Mitchell Wade - Randy "Duke" Cunningham - Virgil H Goode Jr - Money - Government - Politics - MZM - Workers - Secret - Military - Intelligence - California - Nevada - Va - Fla - "Workers say MZM founder pressed them to give to PAC." ... "Mitchell Wade, founder of the defense contracting firm MZM Inc., pressured employees to donate to a political fund that benefited [California Republican Representative] Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and other members of Congress, according to three former employees of the company." ... "Wade, who took a $700,000 loss on the purchase of Cunningham's Del Mar home and allows the congressman to stay on his yacht while in Washington, demanded employees make donations to the company's political action committee, MZM PAC, they said." ... "Many companies have PACs, but campaign finance laws prohibit employers from pressuring workers to contribute to the PAC. They may encourage contributions, but not compel them." ... "In the past week, Wade resigned the posts of president and chief executive officer of the company, turning over those duties to Chief Operating Officer Frank Bragg, company sources said. Wade remains the primary shareholder of the privately held, Nevada-licensed company, sources added." ... "The resignations came after the Union-Tribune reported that Wade had purchased and then sold Cunningham's Del Mar house at a loss of $700,000 and has allowed the Rancho Santa Fe Republican to stay aboard his yacht, called the Duke-Stir, while in the nation's capital. The FBI and a federal grand jury are investigating the matter." ... "Little public information exists on what MZM – a name based on the first names of Wade's children Matthew, Zachary and Morgan – does for the government. Former employees, however, say much of its work is with three defense intelligence operations:" ... "Counter Intelligence Field Activity, a highly secretive program created in 2002 by a Pentagon directive that focuses on gathering intelligence to avert attacks like the ones on Sept. 11, 2001." ... "The Army National Ground Intelligence Center in Charlottesville, [Virginia] Va., whose mission is to provide soldiers with battlefield intelligence." ... "The U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command at Ft. Belvoir, [Virginia] Va., just outside Washington, which also provides battlefield intelligence." ... "MZM has been seeking to increase its contracts with the Central Command, which oversees military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Special Operations Command, both based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, [Florida] Fla., according to former employees." ... "They and other former MZM employees questioned the way Wade solicited contracts from Defense Department intelligence agencies during the time they worked for the company." ... "They also expressed concerns about Wade's dealings with three House members who received a large portion of the money disbursed by MZM's PAC. The three – all Republicans – are Cunningham and Reps. Virgil Goode of Virginia and Katherine Harris of Florida." ... "One of the former MZM employees quoted Wade as describing his congressional strategy this way: "The only people I want to work with are people I give checks to. I own them."" -By Marcus Stern with contributions by Jerry Kammer -SignOnSanDiego.com

20050605

- - - - - - - - Secrets - Kansas - "Panel to weigh beefed-up Patriot Act: Move would broaden FBI wiretap powers." ... "The Senate Intelligence Committee will meet behind closed doors this week to consider legislation that could dramatically expand the government's police powers under the USA Patriot Act, including a little-discussed provision to enlarge the FBI's ability to wiretap people who it suspects are national security threats." ... "The proposal, in a draft bill sponsored by committee chairman Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, would lift one of the last restrictions on special warrants the FBI can obtain through a secret court originally set up to monitor foreign spies: that the information the bureau wants must be related to international terrorism or foreign intelligence." ... "Instead, the FBI could use the warrants, which bypass normal constitutional safeguards, to look for evidence of unrelated crimes that it could use to get suspects off the street. The wiretap provision is one of three major additions in the draft bill, which would reauthorize the Patriot Act, the package of enhanced law enforcement powers enacted after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." ... "If the bill became law, it also would give FBI agents the power to write their own subpoenas without permission from a judge, allowing them to seize records from hotels, banks, and Internet service providers." -By Charlie Savage -Boston/Globe

20050602

- - - - Secrets - "Former FBI agents debate Felt's ethics: Some see betrayal -- others say that he acted heroically." ... "Those who disagree with what [former FBI deputy director W. Mark] Felt did question his motives, and believe he betrayed his government and violated the FBI tradition of not revealing investigative findings to the public until the case has been resolved." ... "It was 1972, and then-President Richard Nixon was mired in a scandal his administration was desperately trying to cover up. The head of the FBI was L. Patrick Gray, an outsider Nixon had picked after Hoover's death. Gray would be implicated in the Watergate scandal." ... "Felt, a career agent and the FBI's No. 2 official, was in charge of running the investigation -- a probe that Nixon had secretly ordered the CIA to thwart." ... ""If Felt looked around and said, 'There is nowhere else to turn,' then I would like to think that history would judge him as a conflicted individual determined to do the right thing," [Retired FBI Agent George] Grotz said of Felt's decision to leak aspects of his investigation to the [Washington] Post." -By Stacy Finz -SFGate.com

20050601

- - - - - Secrets - "FBI's No. 2 Was 'Deep Throat': Mark Felt Ends 30-Year Mystery of The Post's Watergate Source." ... "Deep Throat, the secret source whose insider guidance was vital to The Washington Post's groundbreaking coverage of the Watergate scandal, was a pillar of the FBI named W. Mark Felt, The Post confirmed yesterday." ... "As the bureau's second- and third-ranking official during a period when the FBI was battling for its independence against the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, Felt had the means and the motive to help uncover the web of internal spies, secret surveillance, dirty tricks and coverups that led to Nixon's unprecedented resignation on Aug. 9, 1974, and to prison sentences for some of Nixon's highest-ranking aides." ... "Felt's identity as Washington's most celebrated secret source had been an object of speculation for more than 30 years until yesterday, when his role was revealed by his family in a Vanity Fair magazine article. Even Nixon was caught on tape speculating that Felt was "an informer" as early as February 1973, at a time when Deep Throat was supplying confirmation and context for some of The Post's most explosive Watergate stories." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By David Von Drehle-WashingtonPost

20050531

- Netherlands - - - "Second Sudan aid worker arrested: An aid official has been detained in Sudan's Darfur region, a day after his director was charged with spying and spreading false information." ... "Vince Hoedt, Darfur co-ordinator for the Dutch section of Medecins Sans Frontieres has not yet been charged." ... "MSF Sudan director Paul Foreman was arrested on Monday and later released on bail, over a report on rape." ... "The Sudanese authorities deny accusations that they back the Arab Janjaweed militias alleged to have committed widespread atrocities, such as mass killings and mass rape." -BBC /News
- - - "China Arrests Journalist on Allegations of Spying (Update2)." ... "A reporter for Singapore's Straits Times newspaper was arrested in China for spying after a monthlong detention led to his confession, according to the Chinese foreign ministry." ... "Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong resident who holds a British National Overseas passport, admitted that he worked for ``foreign intelligence agencies and accepted large amounts of spying fees,'' the ministry said in a faxed statement today. The statement didn't identify the agencies." ... "China, with 42 journalists in prison as of Dec. 31, was the leading jailer of journalists for a sixth straight year in 2004, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists." -By Janet Ong -Bloomberg

20050526

- - - "FBI Documented Complaints of Koran Abuses in 2002, ACLU Says." ... "The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation documented complaints by prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center claiming guards mistreated the Koran, the American Civil Liberties Union said." ... "Documents released yesterday by the FBI include previously undisclosed interviews with prisoners who described incidents of abuse, including a 2002 allegation that guards flushed a Koran down a toilet." -By Greg Ahlstrand -Bloomberg

20050525

- - - - "Trial Starts in Abu Ghraib Death: Navy SEAL Faces Charges; CIA Agents Not Named in Case." ... "An alleged Iraqi insurgent, Manadel Jamadi, died under intense CIA questioning at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad about 19 months ago." ... "The prosecution of a decorated Navy commando following a killing that occurred under CIA auspices has stirred resentment in military circles, with sailors concerned that a naval officer is taking the fall for civilian misconduct." -By T.R. Reid-WashingtonPost

20050524

- - - - "Syria halts cooperation with U.S.: U.S. criticisms provoke angry reaction." ... "The Syrian government has halted all cooperation with the United States in sharing information about the war on terror, Syria's ambassador said Tuesday." ... "At the same time, Syria is still willing to work with the United States on security issues, he said." -CNN

20050516

- - - - Religion - "Story that sparked riots questioned: Allegation an Islamic holy book was flushed down a toilet by a U.S. soldier can't be proved, Newsweek editor says." ... "While stopping short of retracting the entire story, the magazine apologized and said it would re-examine the accusations after a Pentagon spokesman questioned the reported source of the charges and called similar allegations by detainees "not credible."" ... "Newsweek's error was in asserting that the claim of desecration came in the pending military investigation into FBI e-mail messages describing prisoner abuse at Guantanamo, and in suggesting there was evidence supporting the claim." (1, 2) -By Indrani Sen -Newsday.com
- - - - - "Newsweek Backtracks on Koran Report: Magazine says a source for its story about desecration of the holy book at Guantanamo Bay is now unsure where he read the allegations.." ... "Newsweek magazine acknowledged Sunday that there were errors in a story reporting that U.S. interrogators had desecrated the Koran while attempting to extract intelligence from Muslim prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility." ... "On Saturday, veteran investigative reporter Michael Isikoff, one of the two authors of the original item, contacted his original source, which the magazine identified as a "longtime reliable source, a senior U.S. government official." The source told Isikoff that, while he clearly recalled reading investigative reports about mishandling the Koran, "including a toilet incident," he "could no longer be sure that these concerns had surfaced in the SouthCom report," the magazine reports." -By Richard B. Schmitt-LAtimes

20050513

- - - - - Religion - "Protests Against U.S. Spread Across Afghanistan." ... "Anti-American violence spread to 10 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces and into Pakistan on Thursday as four more protesters died in a third day of demonstrations and clashes with the police." ... "The Afghan authorities and Kabul residents said the spate of violence was the fault of outsiders, who they said were seeking to capitalize on student protests stirred up by reports, most recently in the May 9 issue of Newsweek, that Americans had desecrated the Koran during interrogations at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba." ... "Seeking to calm the passions raised by the desecration report, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed regret for the loss of life and promised a full investigation of the allegation against Americans at Guantánamo. "Disrespect for the Holy Koran is not now, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever be tolerated by the United States," Ms. Rice said in a surprise statement issued before an appearance at the Senate Appropriations Committee." -By Carlotta Gall -NYTimes

20050512

- - - - Religion - "3 More Die in Afghanistan Anti-U.S. Riot." ... "Police clashed with anti-U.S. demonstrators in two Afghan towns, killing at least three people, and Afghan students burned an American flag in Kabul on Thursday as protests spread over reported abuse of Islam's holy book at the U.S. jail in Guantanamo Bay." ... "The unrest came a day after riots in the eastern city of Jalalabad left four people dead - the worst anti-American protests in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001." ... "The source of anger was a brief report in the May 9 edition of Newsweek magazine that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, placed Qurans on toilets in order to rattle suspects, and in at least one case ``flushed a holy book down the toilet.''" -By Stephen Graham -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- - - "Abu Ghraib Intelligence Chief Is Reprimanded." ... "The Army officer in charge of interrogations at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where prisoners often were abused and sexually humiliated, has been cited for two counts of dereliction of duty, handed a formal reprimand and fined $8,000, Army officials announced Wednesday." ... "But Army authorities said no decision had been made whether to relieve Col. Thomas M. Pappas of his command as head of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, a move that would all but end his 24-year military career." ... "A second investigation into intelligence failures at the prison, conducted by Lt. Gen. Anthony R. Jones and Maj. Gen. George R. Fay, found that 23 intelligence soldiers were involved in various ways in the abuse, and that 15 of them believed their actions were sanctioned by Army supervisors." (1, 2) -By Richard A. Serrano-LAtimes

20050510

Tom Ridge

John Ashcroft

Terrorism

Intelligence

Politics

Military

Government

Attorney

FBI

"Ridge reveals clashes on alerts." ... "The [Republican President] Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says." ... "Ridge, who resigned [February] Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or "high" risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled." ... "Ridge said he wanted to "debunk the myth" that his agency was responsible for repeatedly raising the alert under a color-coded system he unveiled in 2002." ... "The level is raised if a majority on the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council favors it and President Bush concurs. Among those on the council with Ridge were Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] chief Robert Mueller, CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] director George Tenet, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell." -By Mimi Hall -USATODAY

20050506

- - New York - - - "Blasts near British Consulate in N.Y. probed: No injuries cited; explosions occur as Britons vote." ... "Two homemade grenades exploded early yesterday in a large concrete planter outside the Manhattan office building that houses the British Consulate about the time the polls were opening for Britain's general election." ... "No one was injured, and police emphasized they did not know whether the consulate was the target. Authorities were studying images from 17 surveillance cameras in and around the midtown Manhattan building in an effort to identify who planted two grenades about 3:30 a.m." ... "Counterterrorism specialists, the FBI, and intelligence officers were helping with the investigation, [New York Police Commissioner Raymond] Kelly said." -By Tatsha Robertson with contribitions by Susan Milligan, Charlie Savage, Glenn Yoder and the -AP -Boston/Globe

20050504

- - - - Secrets - "Pentagon analyst charged with disclosing secrets." ... "A Defense Department analyst was arrested on Wednesday on charges of disclosing top-secret information on potential attacks on American forces in Iraq to two employees of a pro-Israel lobbying group." ... "Lawrence Franklin surrendered to the FBI and faces charges of disclosing classified national defense information in 2003 to two individuals who sources said worked at the time at the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC]." (1, 2) -Reuters

20050430

- - - - "U.S. Clears GIs In Italian Death." ... "A U.S. Army investigation concluded American soldiers were not at fault in the death of an Italian [intelligence] agent in Iraq and recommended no disciplinary action, according to a report released Saturday." ... "The Italian government announced Friday it was not signing off on the U.S. reconstruction of events; Italy has launched a criminal inquiry into Calipari's death." -AP with -CBSNews

20050429

- - - - "Detainee Questioning Was Faked, Book Says: U.S. Military Denies Staging Interviews." ... "The U.S. military staged the interrogations of terrorism suspects for members of Congress and other officials visiting the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to make it appear the government was obtaining valuable intelligence, a former Army translator who worked there claims in a new book scheduled for release Monday." ... "[Former Army Sgt. Erik] Saar also told CBS, and claims in his upcoming book, "Inside the Wire," that a few dozen of the more than 750 men who have been held at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay were terrorists, and that little valuable information has been obtained from them." -By Carol D. Leonnig with contributions by Julie Tate-WashingtonPost
- - - - "DIA: N. Korea Can Arm Missile With Nuke: Defense Official Says North Korea Can Arm Missile With Nuclear Weapon." ... "The Defense Intelligence Agency chief says North Korea is able to arm a missile with a nuclear weapon, but hasn't said whether it has done so or if such a missile could reach the United States." ... "Still, the assessment presented by Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby to a Senate panel Thursday would mark a significant step forward in the communist state's capabilities." ... "Jacoby discussed North Korea's capabilities during questioning by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing." ... "Clinton asked if "North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device?"" ... "Jacoby answered, "My assessment is that they have the capability to do that."" (1, 2) -By John J. Lumpkin -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20050428

- - - "Pentagon Moves to Bar CIA 'Ghost' Detainees." ... "The CIA will no longer be allowed to hold unregistered "ghost" detainees at U.S. military prisons such as Iraq's Abu Ghraib, the Pentagon's top intelligence official said on Thursday." ... "Stephen Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, assured the U.S. Senate that new interim rules on military interrogations eliminate the CIA's practice at Abu Ghraib of hiding detainees and subjecting them to separate interrogation methods that critics say were harsher than those employed by the military." -David Morgan -Reuters via -Wired
- - - - - Secrets - "Priest at Vatican Is Called a Spy: Polish Cleric Said to Aid Communists as Pope Urged Resistance." ... "A Polish priest at the Vatican was accused Wednesday of collaborating with his country's communist secret police during the 1980s, a time when Pope John Paul II was inspiring his countrymen to resist the Soviet-backed government." ... "The Rev. Konrad Stanislaw Hejmo, a Dominican, acknowledged late Wednesday that he had shared reports he wrote for Polish church officials with an acquaintance, a Pole who lived in Germany, but said he did not suspect the man might have been a spy." ... "The accusations originated with Leon Kieres, head of the National Remembrance Institute, which guards communist-era police files. At a news conference Wednesday, he said Hejmo "was a secret collaborator of the Polish secret services under the names Hejnal and Dominik."" -By Monika Scislowska -WashingtonPost

20050427

- - - - "Syrian Intelligence Still in Lebanon: Operatives Remain as Troops Leave, Say U.S. and U.N. Officials." ... "Syria has not withdrawn a significant part of its intelligence presence in Lebanon, undermining its claim yesterday to have ended its 29-year intervention in its western neighbor, U.S., European and U.N. officials said." ... "The international community yesterday welcomed the pullout of the last of 14,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon. But the continuing presence of covert Syrian intelligence operatives would violate the promise President Bashar Assad made to the United Nations last month to withdraw all Syrian personnel. It would also contradict a letter the Syrian government wrote to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday saying that the withdrawal was complete." -By Robin Wright-WashingtonPost
- - - - - "US at least seizes Zarqawi's laptop: Wanted terrorist is believed to have fled a February raid on foot, but agents got key computer files." .. "he United States military has not yet managed to catch Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the top Al Qaeda-linked terrorist in Iraq. But they have perhaps snagged the next best thing: his laptop." .. "In today's Internet world even a brutal terror figure apparently carries his life on a personal electronic device. A February raid by a covert US military unit came so close to Zarqawi that he fled from the vehicle in which he was traveling on foot, leaving his computer behind, say government sources."" -By Peter Grier and Faye Bowers -CSMonitor

20050426

- - - - - - "Arms Move to Syria 'Unlikely,' Report Says." ... "The Bush administration's senior weapons inspector said in a report released last night that it was "unlikely" that Saddam Hussein's forces moved weapons to Syria, though he expressed concern about nuclear-related equipment that was apparently removed after American-led forces invaded Iraq." ... "In a 92-page addendum to a report issued last fall, Charles Duelfer, the head of the former Iraq Survey Group, was also highly critical of the way key Iraqi scientists were interviewed after their capture, suggesting opportunities to mine information from them might have been lost." -By David E. Sanger -NYTimes
- - - "Syrian Forces Exit Lebanon." ... "The last Syrian soldiers and intelligence agents packed into scuffed buses and rumbled homeward over the border today, putting an end to 29 tumultuous years of Syrian military presence in Lebanon and marking a historic turning point in the Middle East." ... "Syria left behind a nation elated over its newfound independence, but uncertain and even frightened of how a liberated Lebanon will evolve." -By Megan K. Stack -LAtimes
- - - - - "World Terror Attacks Tripled in 2004 by U.S. Count." ... "The number of "significant" international terrorist attacks rose to about 650 last year from about 175 in 2003, according to congressional aides briefed on the numbers by State Department and intelligence officials on Monday." ... "The State Department last year initially released erroneous figures that understated the attacks, fatalities and casualties in 2003 and used the figures to claim the Bush administration was prevailing in the war on terrorism." ... "It later said the number killed and injured in 2003 was more than double its original count and said "significant" terrorist attacks -- those that kill or seriously injure someone, cause more than $10,000 in damage or attempt to do either of those things -- rose to a 20-year high of 175." (1, 2) -By Arshad Mohammed-Reuters
- - - - - "Italian Opposition Slams Iraq Killing Findings." ... "An angry opposition branded a report that clears U.S. soldiers of blame for killing an Italian agent in Iraq an insult to Italy Tuesday, but Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi rejected a call to discuss it in parliament." ... "Military intelligence officer Nicola Calipari died when troops at a U.S. checkpoint opened fire late on March 4 as he was driving to Baghdad airport with Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena after obtaining her release from insurgent kidnappers." (1, 2) -By Paul Holmes -Reuters

20050421

- - "First U.S. Intel Director Sworn In." ... "John Negroponte won easy approval by the Senate on Thursday to become the nation's first national intelligence director, a job created last year to better coordinate the nation's spy agencies following the Sept. 11 attacks and other intelligence blunders." ... "Negroponte will take over the task of giving Bush a daily briefing on intelligence matters, probably beginning next week, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said." ... "Negroponte, 65, has called this his "most challenging assignment" in more than 40 years of government service." (1, 2)-AP via -CBSNews

20050420

- - - - "Panel Says Reporters Need Shield Law." ... "A new federal shield law must be enacted to defend reporters' right to protect their confidential sources, a panel of journalists said Tuesday." ... "The presentation at the annual meeting of the Newspaper Association of America came as one of the panelists, New York Times Senior Writer Judith Miller, lost a key court battle over her refusal to testify about conversations she had had with government officials about the identity of an undercover CIA agent." ... "``What's at stake here is the public's right to know,'' Miller said. ``I can't work in the area of national security and intelligence, covering terrorism, unless people who are not authorized to speak to me feel that they can come to me and tell me things. ... It's at the heart of investigative reporting, it's at the heart of national security reporting, and it's at the heart of what we do as journalists.''" -By Beth Fouhy -AP via -Guardian.co.uk

20050418

- - - Hacking - Secrets - - Telecom - "U.S. Military's Elite Hacker Crew." ... "The U.S. military has assembled the world's most formidable hacker posse: a super-secret, multimillion-dollar weapons program that may be ready to launch bloodless cyberwar against enemy networks -- from electric grids to telephone nets." ... "The group's existence was revealed during a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month. Military leaders from U.S. Strategic Command, or Stratcom, disclosed the existence of a unit called the Joint Functional Component Command for Network Warfare, or JFCCNW." ... "In simple terms and sans any military jargon, the unit could best be described as the world's most formidable hacker posse. Ever." (1, 2) -By John Lasker -Wired
- - - - - "Bolton Often Blocked Information, Officials Say: Iran, IAEA Matters Were Allegedly Kept From Rice, Powell." ... "John R. Bolton -- who is seeking confirmation as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations -- often blocked then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and, on one occasion, his successor, Condoleezza Rice, from receiving information vital to U.S. strategies on Iran, according to current and former officials who have worked with Bolton." ... "In some cases, career officials found back channels to Powell or his deputy, Richard L. Armitage, who encouraged assistant secretaries to bring information directly to him. In other cases, the information was delayed for weeks or simply did not get through. The officials, who would discuss the incidents only on the condition of anonymity because some continue to deal with Bolton on other issues, cited a dozen examples of memos or information that Bolton refused to forward during his four years as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security." -By Dafna Linzer-WashingtonPost

20050412

- - - - - "Bolton's Fitness for UN Post Challenged at Hearing (Update4)." ... "John Bolton, President George W. Bush's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, appears likely to win Senate confirmation even as a former State Department official testified today that Bolton abused subordinates and put the integrity of U.S. intelligence at risk." ... "Carl Ford, former head of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Bolton sought to have a State Department analyst and a CIA analyst fired in 2002 for refusing to approve a Bolton speech mentioning potential biological weapons in Cuba. Bolton was forced to change the speech." -By Jeff St.Onge ed. by Joe Winski -Bloomberg

20050408

- - "Bombing at Cairo Tourist Site Leaves 2 Dead, 18 Wounded." ... "A small bomb apparently stuffed with nails exploded Thursday near the heart of the main tourist bazaar here [in Cairo, Egypt], killing 2 people including a French woman and an unidentified man and wounding 18 others, according to the Egyptian Interior Ministry and senior police officials." ... "Ismael al-Shaer, head of the Mabahith, the Egyptian equivalent of the F.B.I., confirmed that a small bomb had gone off but denied reports that it had been thrown from a motor scooter." -By Neil MacFarquhar with contributions by Mona el-Naggar -NYTimes
- - - - - "Syrian Troops Quit Lebanon as U.N. Backs New Probe." ... "Syria pledged to pull out by April 30 in response to U.S.-led pressure and in face of popular protests after the Feb. 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which the Lebanese opposition blames on Syria. Damascus denies the charge." ... "The U.N. Security Council ordered an international investigation into Hariri's assassination on Thursday, a move long called for by the anti-Syrian opposition. Lebanon and Syria have both said they will cooperate with investigators." ... "A U.N. fact-finding mission said last month that Lebanon's own probe into the killing had "serious flaws" and that Syria's military intelligence bore some responsibility by failing to provide security in Lebanon." (1, 2) -By Edmund Blair with contributions by Lin Noueihed -Reuters
- - "US unready for rising threat of 'moles': A recent report on US intelligence harshly critiqued counter-spy efforts." ... "Amid all the criticism of the US's faulty intelligence-gathering, a new concern is surfacing about America's premier national-security agencies - their vulnerability to counterespionage." ... "Because the US has reached such lone, superpower status, government officials say, at least 90 countries - in addition to Al Qaeda - are attempting to steal some of the nation's most sacred secrets." ... ""With the end of the Soviet Union, people stopped taking counterintelligence seriously," says Patrick Lang, former head of Middle East intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency. "Not enough attention has been devoted to keeping people from getting into our secret store of knowledge."" -By Faye Bowers -CSMonitor

20050407

- - - - - Tom DeLay - "Jack Abramoff: The friend Tom DeLay can't shake." ... "Where to begin examining the extraordinary career of Jack Abramoff? His work trying to secure a visa for the great Zairian kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko, perhaps, or the bilking of an estimated $66 million out of Native American tribes, clients he described as "monkeys," "troglodytes," and "idiots"? Or his leadership of a 1980s think tank financed, unbeknownst to him apparently, by the intelligence arm of South Africa's apartheid regime?" ... "No, the chapter of our man's story that matters most at the moment begins with a toast given by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay during a New Year's trip they both took to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands in 1997. "When one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your most able representative in Washington, D.C., invited me to the islands, I wanted to see firsthand the free-market success and the progress and reform you have made," DeLay said before an audience of Abramoff's clients in the islands' garment industry—whom, upon his return to Washington, he helped win an extended exemption from federal immigration and labor laws." -By James Harding -Slate

20050406

- - - - "US moves to create a beachhead in space: Satellite weapons systems would give the US an edge but are costly and controversial." ... "Since Sputnik arced across the sky in 1957, space has essentially been a weapons-free zone - exempted from war at times by international treaties and at others by the prohibitive expense and impracticality of arming the heavens." ... "Today, however, as more nations gain access to space - and as success in war becomes far more dependent on satellite surveillance and communication - the United States is reassessing its space policy." ... "The new position, emerging in documents and congressional testimony, in many respects mirrors President Bush's military policy on the ground - expanding preemption and prevention into the ether, both to strike enemy lands and satellites during times of conflict and to keep America's satellites safe." -By Mark Sappenfield -CSMonitor

20050401

- - "Berger to plead guilty to taking classified material." ... "Sandy Berger, who was the top national security aide to former President Clinton, has agreed to plead guilty to taking classified documents from the National Archives, the Justice Department says." ... "The plea agreement, if accepted by a judge, ends a bizarre episode in which the man who once had access to the government's most sensitive intelligence was accused of sneaking documents out of the Archives in his clothing." -AP via -USATODAY

20050331

- - - - "Panel: Agencies 'Dead Wrong' on Iraq WMDs: Presidential Commission Reports That Spy Agencies Were 'Dead Wrong' in Judgments About Iraqi WMDs." ... "In a scathing report, a presidential commission said Thursday that America's spy agencies were "dead wrong" in most of their judgments about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction before the war and that the United States knows "disturbingly little" about the threats posed by many of the nation's most dangerous adversaries." ... "The report was the latest somber assessment of intelligence shortfalls that a series of investigative panels have made since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Numerous investigations have concluded that spy agencies had serious intelligence failures before the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks against the United States.The report implicitly absolves the Bush administration of manipulating the intelligence used to launch the 2003 Iraq war, putting the blame for bad intelligence directly on the intelligence community." ... ""The daily intelligence briefings given to you before the Iraq war were flawed," the report said. "Through attention-grabbing headlines and repetition of questionable data, these briefings overstated the case that Iraq was rebuilding its WMD programs."" (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Katherine Shrader -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- - - - [PDF] - "The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction." ... "Report to the President of the United States." ... "With this letter, we transmit the report of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. Our unanimous report is based on a lengthy investigation, during which we interviewed hundreds of experts from inside and outside the Intelligence Community and reviewed thousands of documents. Our report offers 74 recommendations for improving the U.S. Intelligence Community (all but a handful of which we believe can be implemented without statutory change). But among these recommendations a few points merit special emphasis." ... "We conclude that the Intelligence Community was dead wrong in almost all of its pre-war judgments about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. This was a major intelligence failure. Its principal causes were the Intelligence Community's inability to collect good information about Iraq's WMD programs, serious errors in analyzing what information it could gather, and a failure to make clear just how much of its analysis was based on assumptions, rather than good evidence. On a matter of this importance, we simply cannot afford failures of this magnitude." ... "After a thorough review, the Commission found no indication that the Intelligence Community distorted the evidence regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. What the intelligence professionals told you about Saddam Hussein's programs was what they believed. They were simply wrong." -Co-Chairmen: Laurence H. Silberman and Charles S. Robb - 3.4MB, 618 page report via -AP.org
- - - - - - "Syria Moves to Keep Control of Lebanon: U.S. and Europe Try to Pressure Defiant Damascus." ... "Syria is working covertly through a network of Lebanese operatives to ensure Damascus can still dominate its smaller neighbor even after it withdraws the last of 15,000 troops, in defiance of a U.N. resolution demanding an end to Syria's 29-year control over Lebanon, according to U.S., European and U.N. officials, and Lebanon's opposition." ... "Although Syria shut down its notorious intelligence headquarters in downtown Beirut, Damascus is establishing a new hidden presence in the capital's southern suburbs, bringing in officials who will not be recognized, say Lebanese opposition and Western sources. The move would contradict a pledge by President Bashar Assad to withdraw Syria's large intelligence operation from the Lebanese capital as of today." -By Robin Wright with contributions by Scott Wilson -WashingtonPost

20050330

- - - - "Syria confirms full troop withdrawal from Lebanon." ... "Syria has told the United Nations it will withdraw all its troops from Lebanon, it emerged today." ... "In a letter to the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, Syria's foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, said his country's troops would leave Lebanon before elections were held." ... "However, he failed to say whether the pullout would include Syrian intelligence agents, as demanded by the security council." -By James Sturcke -Guardian.co.uk

20050328

- - - - - - Osama bin Laden - "The New Head of Jihad Inc.? Intelligence Officials Say Jordanian Terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi May Be Emerging as Osama Bin Laden Successor." ... "However big a shock a recent suicide bombing in Doha was to the Qataris, it was far from unexpected in Western capitals, where intelligence agencies had discreetly put out a travel warning through their respective embassies." ... "The emirate, a key ally in the Bush administration's war on terror, has been high on the terrorist target list ever since it became home to the U.S. Central Command's operational headquarters in early 2003." ... "What did surprise intelligence officials was the name of the group which claimed responsibility for the bombing: Jund al-Sham ("Soldiers of the Levant")." ... "Although the group said that this was its first statement, Jund al-Sham is the same name as a group started by the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Intelligence officials believe it may be a sign that Zarqawi is beginning to attack targets outside Iraq, and may, in fact, be emerging as a replacement to Osama bin Laden as the operational leader of the global jihad. Analysts are concerned that Zarqawi may now begin to redeploy his cadre of militants who, having gained important combat experience in Iraq, are capable of carrying out deadly missions elsewhere." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Alexis Debat -ABCNEWS.com

20050324

- - - - - - "Document suggests bin Laden escaped at Tora Bora: Military brief appears to contradict past Pentagon statements." ... "A document from the U.S. military appears to contradict the Pentagon's previous statements that it does not know whether al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden escaped U.S. forces at Tora Bora in Afghanistan in December 2001." ... "The legal document, which summarizes evidence against a terror suspect in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, states the prisoner "assisted in the escape of Usama Bin Laden from Tora Bora."" -By Mike Mount -CNN

20050322

- - - "US-Mexican border as a terror risk: Recent intelligence gives the most evidence yet of terrorist plans. Lawmakers push for tighter security." ... "Concern is growing at the top levels of government about the US-Mexican border becoming a back door for terrorists entering the United States. While Al Qaeda infiltration across the nation's southern border has been a constant concern since 9/11, US officials cite recent intelligence giving the most definitive evidence yet that terrorists are planning to use it as an entry point - if they haven't already." ... "As a result, a number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers -mainly from border states - are pushing to tighten checkpoints and other ways of monitoring the porous 1,400-mile boundary." -By Faye Bowers -CSMonitor

20050318

- - "Questions Are Left by C.I.A. Chief on the Use of Torture." ... "Porter J. Goss, the director of central intelligence, said Thursday that he could not assure Congress that the Central Intelligence Agency's methods of interrogating terrorism suspects since Sept. 11, 2001, had been permissible under federal laws prohibiting torture." ... "Under sharp questioning at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mr. Goss sought to reassure lawmakers that all interrogations "at this time" were legal and that no methods now in use constituted torture. But he declined, when asked, to make the same broad assertions about practices used over the last few years." ... "Mr. Goss's comments came closer than previous statements from the agency to an admission that at least some of its practices might have crossed the legal limits, and had the effect of raising new questions about the C.I.A.'s conduct in detaining and questioning terror suspects, and in transferring them to foreign governments, in what remains one of the most secretive areas of the government's efforts to combat terrorism." -By Douglas Jehl -NYTimes via -Britannica.com

20050315

- Lebanon - - "Syrian Intelligence Agents Start Beirut Pullout." ... "Syrian intelligence agents began evacuating their headquarters in Beirut on Tuesday, partially meeting a key U.S. and Lebanese opposition demand for an end to three decades of Syrian tutelage over its neighbor." ... "Syria's often feared intelligence presence has been a key element in its political and military influence on Lebanon since its troops first intervened early in the 1975-90 civil war." ... "For now Syrian intelligence retains its Lebanon headquarters in the Bekaa Valley town of Anjar, but the closure of the Beirut office indicated that Syrian forces have almost completed the first phase of a withdrawal from Lebanon announced 10 days ago." (1, 2) -By Nadim Ladki with contributions by Inal Ersan -Reuters

20050314

- Lebanon - - - - "Lebanon Needs to Act First for Syria to Exit, [UN] Envoy Says." ... "The special United Nations envoy on Lebanon cautioned Sunday that a commitment by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to withdraw all troops and intelligence forces from Lebanon in the next few months was contingent on the formation of a new government by Lebanon's leaders." ... ""It will be extremely difficult to carry this out without a government in Lebanon," the envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, said in a telephone interview from Beirut, after meeting with President Émile Lahoud, Prime Minister Omar Karami and other Lebanese. "This is why the internal political processes in Lebanon are now very important."" ... "Under a pact that ended the civil war in 1990, the Lebanese presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian, the prime minister is supposed to be a Sunni Muslim and the president of the chamber of deputies a Shiite." (1, 2) -By Steven R. Weisman with contributions by Hassan M. Fattah -NYTimes

20050311

- - - "Bush Names Missile Defense Veteran to Head NASA." ... "Michael Griffin, a former chief engineer at NASA who has also worked on missile defense systems, was named on Friday as President Bush's choice to head the U.S. space agency." ... "Griffin is head of the space department at the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University, which works on civilian and military space programs, including missile and air defense and national security analysis." ... "Previously, he was president of In-Q-Tel, the CIA's private venture capital arm, and worked at Orbital Sciences Corp. , which develops rockets and missiles." -By Deborah Zabarenko with contributions by Tabassum Zakaria -Reuters via -WashingtonPost

20050309

- Secrets - "Secret FBI Report Questions Al Qaeda Capabilities: No 'True' Al Qaeda Sleeper Agents Have Been Found in U.S." ... "A secret FBI report obtained by ABC News concludes that while there is no doubt al Qaeda wants to hit the United States, its capability to do so is unclear." ... ""Al-Qa'ida leadership's intention to attack the United States is not in question," the report reads. (All spellings are as rendered in the original report.) "However, their capability to do so is unclear, particularly in regard to 'spectacular' operations. We believe al-Qa'ida's capability to launch attacks within the United States is dependent on its ability to infiltrate and maintain operatives in the United States."" ... "And for all the worry about Osama bin Laden's sleeper cells or agents in the United States, a secret FBI assessment concludes it knows of none." (1, 2, 3) -By Brian Ross with David Scott -ABCNEWS.com
- - Lebanon - - - - "Bush wants Syria out of Lebanon by May vote." ... "President George W. Bush, reformulating his demands on Syria, said Tuesday that it must withdraw all its troops from Lebanon before elections there set for May." ... "At times thoughtful, at times blunt, the speech offered a direct challenge for Syria and Iran, which Bush said had long sown chaos through support of terrorist groups." ... ""The time has come for Syria and Iran to stop using murder as a tool of policy, and to end all support for terrorism," he said. He added that he looked to the day when "the Iranian people are free."" ... "After saying previously that Syria must quit Lebanon immediately, under terms of a United Nations resolution, he offered a later but more specific deadline, saying: "All Syrian military forces and intelligence personnel must withdraw before the Lebanese elections for those elections to be free and fair." The elections are set for May." -By Brian Knowlton -IHT.com

20050308

- - "Agencies Watch for Al Qaeda Spies: Counterintelligence officials are concerned that Al Qaeda operatives may have tried to get jobs at the CIA and other agencies to spy on U.S. efforts." ... "U.S. counterintelligence officials are increasingly concerned that Al Qaeda sympathizers or operatives may have tried to get jobs at the CIA and other U.S. agencies in an effort to spy on American counterterrorist efforts." ... "So far, about 40 Americans who sought positions at U.S. intelligence agencies have been red-flagged and turned away for possible ties to terrorist groups, the officials said. Several such applicants have been detected at the CIA." ... "Also, three senior counterintelligence officials said they feared terrorist groups may be trying to place an "insider" in America's fast-growing counterterrorist planning and operational networks as part of a long-term strategy to compromise U.S. intelligence efforts." ... "The CIA director, Porter J. Goss, last month gave the White House plans to increase by 50% the number of CIA clandestine officers and analysts in an effort to improve intelligence on terrorist groups and the spread of weapons of mass destruction." -By Bob Drogin-LAtimes via KTLA

20050306

- - - "Rule Change Lets C.I.A. Freely Send Suspects Abroad to Jails." ... "The Bush administration's secret program to transfer suspected terrorists to foreign countries for interrogation has been carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency under broad authority that has allowed it to act without case-by-case approval from the White House or the State or Justice Departments, according to current and former government officials." ... "The unusually expansive authority for the C.I.A. to operate independently was provided by the White House under a still-classified directive signed by President Bush within days of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the officials said." ... "The process, known as rendition, has been central in the government's efforts to disrupt terrorism, but has been bitterly criticized by human rights groups on grounds that the practice has violated the Bush administration's public pledge to provide safeguards against torture." ... "In providing a detailed description of the program, a senior United States official said that it had been aimed only at those suspected of knowing about terrorist operations, and emphasized that the C.I.A. had gone to great lengths to ensure that they were detained under humane conditions and not tortured." (1, 2) -By Douglas Jehl and David Johnston -NYTimes

20050304

- - - - "Agent killed in Iraq negotiated releases." ... "Nicola Calipari was a veteran Italian secret service agent and practiced negotiator who had helped return two hostages kidnapped in Iraq home to their loved ones in Italy." ... "At least once before, Calipari reportedly came close to negotiating the release of yet another Italian hostage - the journalist Giuliana Sgrena - but left Baghdad empty-handed, according to the news agency ANSA." ... "It finally happened Friday, when Sgrena was handed over to Italian officials following a month of captivity in the hands of Iraqi insurgents. But the happy occasion quickly turned sour when the car taking Sgrena, Calipari and other agents to the Baghdad airport was fired upon at a U.S. checkpoint." ... "Calipari was killed as he threw his body across Sgrena." -By Maria Sanminiatelli -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource

20050301

- - - - - "Bin Laden Aide Urged to Attack Outside Iraq, U.S. Reports." ... "Osama bin Laden recently asked the Jordanian militant Musab al-Zarqawi to consider planning attacks outside Iraq and possibly on American soil, a United States intelligence official said Monday." ... "Mr. Zarqawi is the suspected mastermind behind kidnappings, beheadings and bombings that followed the United States invasion of Iraq. Until late last year, terrorism experts had questioned just how closely Mr. Zarqawi was aligned with Mr. bin Laden and Al Qaeda, despite their mutual animosity toward the United States. But a statement in October attributed to Mr. Zarqawi urged the unification of their two efforts." -B