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PLA ships seen testing drones in Pacific Ocean

PLA ships seen testing drones in Pacific Ocean

Japan says more Chinese naval ships have been seen near Okinawa, with some staging drills involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) able to carry missiles and conduct surveillance that analysts say is crucial for China to expand its maritime power.

The Joint Staff Office of the Japanese Defence Ministry said the country’s maritime defence force on Monday morning spotted three Chinese ships – two Type 054A multi-role warships and one Dongdiao 232 electronic surveillance ship – going through the Okinawa Miyako Strait on their way to the East China Sea.

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US/Australia Cocos Islands spy plan

US/Australia Cocos Islands spy plan

DEFENCE plans to develop the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean as a base for Australian and US spy drones and aircraft run counter to assurances Canberra has given the United Nations, one of Australia’s most senior foreign policy figures has warned.

Australia promised it would not ”militarise” the islands when persuading key nations at the world body not to oppose the transfer of the former British possession to Australian sovereignty, the former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Richard Woolcott, said.

The recent Defence Force Posture Review suggested Defence consider upgrading the Cocos Islands airfield to support the new P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft likely to be acquired by the Royal Australian Air Force.

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Turkish Daily: CIA and Mossad behind Syria Bombings

Turkish Daily: CIA and Mossad behind Syria Bombings

The Turkish daily Aydinlik said that suicide bombings represent a way of incitement carried out by the CIA and Mossad agents in Iraq, and are applied now in Syria, Lebanese daily Al-Benaa reported.

“CIA and Mossad agents have carried out – and still – various attacks in several countries including Iraq, Pakistan and Libya,” Aydinlik stated in a report published Monday.

The report made it clear that the agents have bombed mosques during the occupation of Iraq in order to incite Shiites against Sunnis and vice versa.

“Those agents have achieved their goal where most of their operations were targeting Shiite and Sunnite mosques. All bombings were declared suicide attacks, while the suicide bombers were announced killed, but the fact is contrary to what was claimed,” the daily added.

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After 20 years, India’s RAW upgrades to super spy jets

After 20 years, India’s RAW upgrades to super spy jets

After 20 years, India’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) is set to spread its wings — deep into enemy territory.

The agency is to acquire two Bombardier jets packed with Israeli multi-mission airborne reconnaissance and surveillance systems that will multiply its capability along Pakistan and China borders.

The Bombardier 5000 aircraft, which will replace two 21-year-old Gulfstream jets, will daily collect electronic and ground intelligence 180 km inside the neighbours’ territories.

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Kashmir’s blue sapphire mines on spy agency’s radar

Kashmir’s blue sapphire mines on spy agency’s radar

An Indian espionage agency keeping tabs on terrorism modules operating from Pakistan is nowadays “eyeing” Kashmir’s world-famous blue sapphires.

Intercepts of snatches of conversation between unknown persons in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Jammu and Kashmir about mining operations at Padder sapphire mines in Doda district have put these on the spy agency’s radar.

Sketchy conversations are related to the volume of the sapphire mining business and details of domestic and foreign players in the race to win the “golden opportunity” to mine the expensive gemstones, sources told The Tribune.

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FOIA: FBI and police free to launch spies in sky over US cities

FOIA:  FBI and police free to launch spies in sky over US cities

The American skies may soon be full of drones after it was disclosed that domestic law enforcement agencies, from the FBI to local police, have been granted permission to deploy the unmanned aircraft.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show that more than 50 non-military organisations have asked to fly drone aircraft, many of which can carry cameras and surveillance equipment for spying, within the US.

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Iranian oil ministry hit by cyber-attack

Iranian oil ministry hit by cyber-attack

Iran’s oil ministry has called a crisis meeting after its main website and internal communications system were hit by an apparent cyber-attack that forced authorities to cut off the country’s oil export terminal from the internet.

Local news agencies reported on Monday that a virus had struck the computer and communication systems of Iran’s main oil export facilities on Kharg Island as well as the internal network and the websites of its oil ministry and subsidiary organisations.

The semi-official Mehr news agency quoted ministry officials as saying an investigation was under way. “We are making plans to neutralise this cyber-attack,” said the deputy oil minister in charge of civil defence, Hamdollah Mohammadnejad.

The Kharg Island oil terminal, which exports 80% of the country’s daily 2.2m barrels, was hit by the virus, along with terminals on the islands of Gheshm and Kish.

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Pentagon creates new espionage unit

Pentagon creates new espionage unit

The Pentagon is planning to ramp up its spying operations against high-priority targets such as Iran under an intelligence reorganization approved last week by Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, a senior defense official said Monday.

The newly created Defense Clandestine Service would work closely with the CIA to expand espionage operations overseas at a time when the missions of the agency and the military increasingly converge.

The defense official said the plan was developed in response to a classified study completed last year by the director of national intelligence that concluded that the military’s espionage efforts needed to be more focused on major targets outside war zones.

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A Military and Intelligence Clash Over Spy Satellites

A Military and Intelligence Clash Over Spy Satellites

In recent years, advances in commercially available technology have allowed private companies to develop satellites carrying high-resolution sensors and perform many of the surveillance tasks that were once the sole preserve of classified satellites owned and operated by the intelligence community. Two private companies already provide some of America’s spy satellite imagery, at far lower costs than government-owned satellites, according to current and former government and industry officials and outside analysts.

But at the urging of senior intelligence officials, the Obama administration has proposed cutting the contracts for commercial satellite imagery in half next year — to about $250 million from $540 million — to help meet deficit reduction requirements, while bringing back more of the work inside the government, according to administration and Congressional officials and industry experts.

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US military intelligence critic to lead spy agency

US military intelligence critic to lead spy agency

A US general who once blasted the work of military spies in Afghanistan as “only marginally relevant” has been nominated to take over the Pentagon’s intelligence agency, officials said.

The decision to name Lieutenant General Michael Flynn suggests a possible shake-up of the sprawling Defense Intelligence Agency as the general has earned a reputation for pushing for dramatic change in his work with special forces.

Flynn was a scathing public critic of military intelligence in Afghanistan, where he served as a top intelligence officer in 2010, saying it failed to provide decision makers with a clear picture of conditions on the ground.

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National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: Mapping Africa One Country at a Time

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: Mapping Africa One Country at a Time

When the U.S. military wants to head into un-chartered, or minimally chartered territory, they call on the experts of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or the NGA. By compiling the most current satellite imagery, existing maps, and layers of data like roads, rivers, and towns they are able to create custom maps and imagery for specific locations or events.

Currently, two Geospatial Analysts from Stuttgart, Germany are mapping out the terrain for African Lion 2012 in southern Morocco. AL-12 is a bi-lateral exercise between U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Africa, the Utah National Guard, and the Kingdom of Morocco. It’s the 8th annual African Lion exercise in the country.

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IARPA: The Forecasting World Events Project

IARPA: The Forecasting World Events Project

Forecasting World Events (FWE) is a nationwide research program funded by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). Our study will investigate various aspects of individual and group predictions to gain fresh insights into the factors that influence people’s predictions about key world events and trends. In addition, we will look at ways to leverage and integrate this information to develop more accurate overall predictions.

The Project’s forecasting questions will be quite varied in subject matter and scope, spanning such domains as global security and politics, business and economics, public health, science and technology, and social and cultural change.

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The Special Collection Service: Inside the secret world of America’s top eavesdropping spies

The Special Collection Service: Inside the secret world of America’s top eavesdropping spies

The NSA, the intelligence arm of the United States responsible for eavesdropping and code breaking, weathered criticism and high-profile legal challenges in 2005 for its warrantless wiretapping program, and now we have a decent idea of the sophisticated and controversial methods the NSA employs to penetrate global telecommunications networks. Still in the shadows, however, is a secretive joint program with the Central Intelligence Agency codenamed F6, but better known as the Special Collection Service.

The men and women of the Special Collection Service are responsible for placing super-high-tech bugs in unbelievably hard-to-reach places.

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Spy games lurk behind China politics struggle

Spy games lurk behind China politics struggle

China’s Communist Party is undergoing a factional battle that involves allegations of murder, torture, betrayal and espionage.

Transcript
CHRIS UHLMANN, PRESENTER: In today’s China the brutal and sometimes violent machinations of party politics are usually played out behind the scenes, but the Communist Party is now in the grip of a factional battle the likes of which hasn’t been seen for decades, and it’s dramatically public. It’s not just an ideological struggle but a tale of espionage, betrayal, torture and even murder – and whoever wins will determine the destiny of 1.5 billion people. China correspondent Stephen McDonnell has the story.

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Belarusian Dictator Lukashenka reshuffles KGB

Belarusian Dictator Lukashenka reshuffles KGB

The Belarusian dictator made a number of personnel decisions.

The number of new chiefs of KGB offices strikes the eye.

Alyaksandr Kryvohin is appointed chief of the KGB central counterintelligence office; Alyaksandr Pakumeika is appointed head of the KGB central office for protecting the constitutional system and fight against terrorism; Alyaksandr Taustashou is appointed head of the KGB central office for counterintelligence support of law enforcement and auditing bodies, fight against corruption and organized crime; Uladzimir Archakou is appointed the head of the KGB office for the Vitebsk region.

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India Deploys UAV Squadron near Sri Lanka

India Deploys UAV Squadron near Sri Lanka

The Indian Navy is all set to commission its first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) squadron on the East Coast at Uchipuli near here soon.

It is considered a significant step towards strengthening maritime surveillance and reconnaissance in Palk Strait, Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay off the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coast. The commissioning of the UAV squadron near Rameswaram assumes significance not only due to its close proximity to Sri Lanka but also due to the strategic importance of the region.

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American Universities Infected by Foreign Spies Detected by FBI

American Universities Infected by Foreign Spies Detected by FBI

Hearkening back to Cold War anxieties, growing signs of spying on U.S. universities are alarming national security officials. As schools become more global in their locations and student populations, their culture of openness and international collaboration makes them increasingly vulnerable to theft of research conducted for the government and industry.

“We have intelligence and cases indicating that U.S. universities are indeed a target of foreign intelligence services,” Frank Figliuzzi, Federal Bureau of Investigation assistant director for counterintelligence, said in a February interview in the bureau’s Washington headquarters.

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Number of Russian spies in the UK back to Cold War levels: Security services

Number of Russian spies in the UK back to Cold War levels: Security services

Up to half the staff at the Russian embassy in London could be involved in intelligence gathering, a senior source told The Daily Telegraph.

About 40 Russian spies are believed to be operating in this country at any one time. Some are involved in traditional state espionage, while others monitor London-based oligarchs or engage in industrial spying.

There are fears Russia will intensify its efforts over the coming months while the British security services focus on the Olympic Games and Diamond Jubilee.

Britain’s close relationship with America is also hugely attractive for Russia, which sees it as a “back door” to US intelligence, one expert warned.

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U.S. and Other Western Nations Met With Germany Over Shady Computer-Surveillance Tactics

U.S. and Other Western Nations Met With Germany Over Shady Computer-Surveillance Tactics

Infecting a computer with spyware in order to secretly siphon data is a tactic most commonly associated with criminals. But explosive new revelations in Germany suggest international law enforcement agencies are adopting similar methods as a form of intrusive suspect surveillance, raising fresh civil liberties concerns.

Information released last month by the German government shows that between 2008-2011, representatives from the FBI; the U.K.’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA); and France’s secret service, the DCRI, were among those to have held meetings with German federal police about deploying “monitoring software” used to covertly infiltrate computers.

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US launches new spy satellite NROL-25

US launches new spy satellite NROL-25

The US has launched a new classified radar imaging satellite that can see at night and through bad weather, allowing American intelligenceagencies to spy on countries of interest.

An unmanned rocket blasted off from the California coast carrying a clandestine new spy satellite called NROL-25 for the US military, media reports said.

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a mission to orbit the classified satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office. The liftoff came after several delays due to bad weather and a technical glitch, Space.com reported.

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Belarus special forces officer: why I fled to the EU

Belarus special forces officer: why I fled to the EU

The Diamond – an elite special forces unit in Belarus – is the personal security detail of President Alexander Lukashenko.

In a secret location outside the country, a former Diamond officer, Igor Makar, spoke to EUobserver about his experiences and why he fled to seek refuge in the EU.

He said the Lukashenko system has turned rank-and-file police and the state security service, the KGB, into “criminals.”

“The state itself makes criminals out of the police because they are entirely dependent on the state and carry out any order [they are given]. If the order is not fulfilled, then you will be fired and you can no longer feed your family,” he explained.

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Spy agency cash used for Saudi arms plant: report

Spy agency cash used for Saudi arms plant: report

The company, Swedish Security Technology and Innovation (SSTI), was reportedly set up by the Swedish Defence Research Agency (Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut – FOI) in order to oversee the construction of a factory for the maintenance and upgrade of anti-tank missile systems.

In order to keep the company secret, FOI needed cash in order to set it up, according to Svergies Radio (SR), which first reported on the secret plans for the Saudi weapons plant earlier this month.

However, FOI was unable to procure the necessary cash on its own, but instead had to rely on help from the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service (Militära underrättelse- och säkerhetstjänsten – MUST).

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Israeli special forces makes covert forays into Iran

Israeli special forces makes covert forays into Iran

According to the newspaper, the soldiers of the IDF special forces disguised as Iranian soldiers are regularly sent to this base set into the rear of Iran, using, including transport helicopters. Their main task – not to miss the start of work on nuclear warheads.

According to sources in the Western intelligence community, for the Israeli agents use a modern, extremely sensitive equipment. They monitor radiation background in suspicious areas, and the fluctuations of the soil, able to testify about the nuclear tests.

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U.S. spy agencies can keep data on Americans longer

U.S. spy agencies can keep data on Americans longer

Until now, the National Counterterrorism Center had to immediately destroy information about Americans that was already stored in other government databases when there were no clear ties to terrorism.

Giving the NCTC expanded record-retention authority had been called for by members of Congress who said the intelligence community did not connect strands of intelligence held by multiple agencies leading up to the failed bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas 2009.

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Trapped In The Grid: How Net-Centric Devices And Appliances Provide Voluminous Information To Intelligence Agencies And Their Business Partners

Trapped In The Grid: How Net-Centric Devices And Appliances Provide Voluminous Information To Intelligence Agencies And Their Business Partners

The Internet has revolutionized our world. It has shaped the way most people live and think. The Internet can be used to bring families together or it can be used to organize riots around the world. At this point in time it is not enough to be able to access websites, music and games at home, we need devices that can do this as well as any desktop computer. Today we have tablets and smart phones and they have been built so that you can connect to the web from wherever you are. The massive appetites of Internet users have created fortunes for those who were quick to act on it.

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New IDF Field Intelligence Battalion to be Stationed at Egypt Border

New IDF Field Intelligence Battalion to be Stationed at Egypt Border

The Field Intelligence Corps established a new battalion to be stationed in the Southern Command along the eastern and western borders. An inauguration ceremony was held earlier this week, with Southern Command GOC, Maj. Gen. Tal Russo and Field Intelligence Corps Commander, Brig. Gen. Eli Pollack.

The new battalion, under the command of Lt. Col. Erez, was established to enhance field intelligence capabilities in the region and the battalion specifically for these purposes. The battalion will fortify Israel Defense Forces (IDF) forces already stationed in the region. The IDF is taking every measure to maintain routine life of Israeli civilians in the region as well as maintaining their security.

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80 French ‘training with Pakistan Taliban’

80 French ‘training with Pakistan Taliban’

More than 80 French nationals are training with the Pakistan Taliban in the lawless north-west of the country, according to a militant commander, raising fears of a renewed campaign against Western targets.

Mohammed Merah, the man believed to have killed seven people in south-western France, was trained by al-Qaeda in Waziristan on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, according to the French prosecutor.

His visits, thought to be in 2010 and 2011, highlight again Pakistan’s reputation for jihadi tourism and raise the chilling prospect of more attacks.

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ISI funding insurgency in North East/Bangladesh, says ex-ISI chief

ISI funding insurgency in North East/Bangladesh, says ex-ISI chief

Pakistan’s former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Assad Durani has made a startling before the Pakistan Supreme Court. Durani told the court that the Pakistan spy agency had been meddling with India’s affairs in the North East.

India has been claiming what the former ISI chief has stated since a very long time. India has also said that the operations in the North East, which have several instances of insurgencies, are all being funded by the ISI. The Harkat-ul-Jihadi in particular has been causing a great deal of trouble in both the North Eastern states. According to Durrani, the ISI had paid Rs 50 crore to former prime minister Khaleeda Zia during the 1991 elections.

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Global Intelligence & Information Grid Goes Online: DI2E framework aims for streamlined intelligence sharing

Global Intelligence & Information Grid Goes Online: DI2E framework aims for streamlined intelligence sharing

If everything goes according to plan, sometime in the next few years the Defense Department and intelligence community members will begin reaping the benefits of a common cross-agency environment that’s designed to help users access and use a wide range of essential intelligence resources.

The planned Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise (DI2E) framework seeks to integrate currently disconnected systems, information, teams, tools and other technologies into a tightly unified environment. The common system will enable users to securely add, access and share information and other intelligence resources anytime, anywhere.

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Pakistani Generals Conjure up a New Terror body

Pakistani Generals Conjure up a New Terror body

Pakistan seems to be back with its old ways. Its policy of using terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy continues with regard to India. This is despite the right noises made recently by Pakistan in granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India in trade by this year end and invigorating bilateral trade ties in a big way. Though Pakistan seems to have dumped its “Kashmir first, trade later” policy for good, the Pakistani Generals are focused on another ‘T’ – Terror.

Terrorist and extremist groups and leaders, guilty of several terrorist attacks, hosting Osama bin Laden and his al Qaida and killing hundreds of minorities in Pakistan, are now staging a major comeback with the backing of ISI and Pakistan Army.

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The presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau marred by an assassination

The presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau marred by an assassination

The former head of military intelligence of Guinea Bissau was assassinated a few hours after the first round of the presidential election, which he apparently took place Sunday in calm, we learn of a security source.

Colonel Samba Diallo was shot by soldiers in a bar near his home late Sunday night, state witnesses. He was removed from office and temporarily imprisoned after a coup within the military that led to the shelving of the Chief of Staff Jose Zamora Induta in April 2010.

The presidential election was held after the death, on January 9 in a Paris hospital, the Head of State, Malam Bacai Sanha. It purports to permit the former Portuguese colony of West Africa to the history dotted with military coups, to consolidate its political stability.

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Spies could use your TV to snoop on you, according to CIA director David Petraeus

Spies could use your TV to snoop on you, according to CIA director David Petraeus

Spies could now snoop on you through your TV, dispensing with the necessity of planting bugs in your room, according to CIA director David Petraeus.

The CIA says it will be able to ‘read’ these devices via the internet – and perhaps even via radio waves from outside the home, Petraeus added.

Everything from remote controls to clock radios can now be controlled via apps – and chip company ARM recently unveiled low-powered, cheaper chips which will be used in everything from fridges and ovens to doorbells, according to the Daily Mail.

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Army Tests Menu Of Battlefield Intelligence Apps

Army Tests Menu Of Battlefield Intelligence Apps

The Army is developing a new Web-based system that allows soldiers to download real-time intelligence applications and information from laptops in the field.

The Army likened the new system to an app store that allows soldiers to use a battlefield communications network to access and download applications that combine real-time operations data and intelligence collected by the military, according to an article on the Army website.

The Army will test the system–part of its fusion of networking capabilities to support what it calls “ops-intel” convergence–during the next Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) in May.

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CIA chief holds closed-door meeting on Syria with Turkish prime minister

CIA chief holds closed-door meeting on Syria with Turkish prime minister

Top U.S. officials are reaching out to American allies in the Mideast to get a better read on the escalating crisis in Syria.

CIA chief David Petraeus on Tuesday held a closed-door meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to discuss the violent crackdown by Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad on anti-government forces, according to Agence France-Presse.

U.S. embassy spokesman T.J. Grubisha said Petraeus met with Erdoğan and Turkish National Intelligence Organization chief Hakan Fidan and “discussed areas of mutual concern, including regional security issues and counter-terrorism cooperation.”

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Iranian intelligence agents detained in Azerbaijan

Iranian intelligence agents detained in Azerbaijan

As a result of a special operation conducted by the Azerbaijani Ministry of National Security, a group of 22 individuals was revealed and detained. It is accused of espionage activity against Azerbaijan on the instructions of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the public relations department at the Ministry told Trend today.

Thus, the citizens of Azerbaijan – Kerimov Niazi, Aliyev Mubariz, Tagiyev Elman, Jalilov Nusrat, Gasimov Rahim, Zekiev Mammadtagi, Gashimov Bahram, Abbasov Ayaz, Abbasov Afgan, Mamedov Shahin, Agayev Miralesker, Zulfugarov Rovshan, Alekperov Gamidaga, Gasimov Seymour, Rasulov Taleh, Gabibov Jeyhun, Kerimov Elchin, Mammadov Zahid and others were brought by IRGC to a secret cooperation. While carrying out espionage activity on the instructions of the organization, they collected and delivered information to use it against Azerbaijan’s national security.

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8 Creepy Spy Technologies That Can Be Hitched to Your Neighborhood Drones

8 Creepy Spy Technologies That Can Be Hitched to Your Neighborhood Drones

AlterNet has assembled an incomplete list of spy technologies and surveillance programs, military and civilian, that can take to the air on drones. Here are eight things that could potentially be strapped to the UAV that may be flying over your head in the next few years.

1. WiFi and phone hacking: The Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform (WASP) can break into WiFi networks and hack cell phones, according to Forbes. Jerry-rigged from an old army drone by two former military network security analysts, the spy plane comes with a Linux system and dictionary to help generate password-cracking words.

Plus, its antennas mimic cell phone towers, allowing the machine, allegedly, to tap into cell phone conversations and access text messages. “Ideally, the target won’t even know he’s being spied on,” one of the designers told Forbes.

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Secret SAS squadron sent to spy in Africa

Secret SAS squadron sent to spy in Africa

A SECRET squadron of Australian SAS soldiers has been operating at large in Africa, performing work normally done by spies, in an unannounced and possibly dangerous expansion of Australia’s foreign military engagement.

The deployment of the SAS’s 4 Squadron – the existence of which has never been publicly confirmed – has put the special forces unit at the outer reaches of Australian and international law.

The Age has confirmed that troopers from the squadron have mounted dozens of secret operations over the past year in African nations including Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Kenya.

They have been out of uniform and not accompanied by Australian Secret Intelligence Service officers with whom undercover SAS forces are conventionally deployed.

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Security experts admit China stole secret fighter jet plans

Security experts admit China stole secret fighter jet plans

CHINESE spies hacked into computers belonging to BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest defence company, to steal details about the design, performance and electronic systems of the West’s latest fighter jet, senior security figures have disclosed.

The Chinese exploited vulnerabilities in BAE’s computer defences to steal vast amounts of data on the $300 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a multinational project to create a plane that will give the West air supremacy for years to come, according to the sources.

The hacking attack has prompted fears that the fighter jet’s advanced radar capabilities could have been compromised.

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Pakistan: Zaheerul Islam appointed new head of ISI

Pakistan: Zaheerul Islam appointed new head of ISI

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appointed the leader from a list of three names provided to him by the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appointed a new director-general for Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), Pakistan’s powerful spy agency, on Friday, according to Reuters [5].

Lt. Gen. Zaheerul Islam will be replacing Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha who is retiring on March 18, after holding the post since 2008, during some of the most turbulent times in Pakistan and America’s relationship.

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China intel op targets U.S. military shift to Asia

China intel op targets U.S. military shift to Asia

China’s intelligence agencies are conducting a major covert influence campaign aimed at derailing the Obama administration’s military shift to Asia, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Air Sea Battle Concept—a Pentagon program to develop new weapons and capabilities to counter China’s military buildup—was a tightly guarded secret.

In November, the Pentagon briefed reporters on the creation of the joint Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps office called the Air Sea Battle Office; this new office is developing new military strike capabilities that range from the use of special operations forces deep inside China, to long-range precision attacks with missiles and aircraft.

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India mulls Web monitoring agency creation

India mulls Web monitoring agency creation

India’s government is considering setting up a national agency to monitor Internet traffic as well as assess cybersecurity threats on a real-time basis.

The Times of India reported Monday that the proposal for a National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) was discussed at a “recent” meeting called by the country’s National Security Council Secretariat. Officials from India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB), external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the Home Ministry, and army, were in attendance, it said.

The multi-agency NCCC is intended for “real-time assessment of cybersecurity threat in the country” and to generate “actionable report or alerts for proactive actions” according to minutes taken during the meeting.

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U.S. ‘info ops’ programs dubious, costly

U.S. ‘info ops’ programs dubious, costly

Information operations work like most giant marketing campaigns, as they use a combination of radio and TV broadcasts, leaflets, newspapers and entertainment to drive home their message. Instead of selling soap or cereal, information operators are selling Iraqi or Afghan citizens on the virtues of their governments, the need to report roadside bombs or how to switch sides from the insurgency to the government.

U.S. military and government reports obtained by WikiLeaks show that information operations campaigns often work in coordination with intelligence operations. After improvised explosive device (IED) explosions or sniper attacks, reports show, information operators would flood an area with anti-insurgent messages while intelligence operatives would fan into neighborhoods to gather information.

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Confessions of a KGB spy

Confessions of a KGB spy

It is the perfect place to meet a man from the KGB. Boris Karpichkov – former KGB operative and double agent – suggests we meet under the shadow of Marble Arch in central London. I am late. But he is easy to spot: a gaunt, thin, pale figure with the slightly haunted look of someone who has spent their career in the twilight world of espionage.

Since fleeing to Britain in the late 1990s Karpichkov has preferred to keep a low profile – unlike another, better known Moscow agent who fled to London, one Alexander Litvinenko. Now, with the KGB’s most famous graduate, Vladimir Putin, about to get his old Kremlin job back, can Karpichkov shed light on the murky world of Russian spying?

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US ‘using UK spy base to subvert democracy’

US ‘using UK spy base to subvert democracy’

The US government was accused of using a controversial spy station in Yorkshire to “subvert and destroy democracy” in a new report funded by the Joseph Rowntree foundation.

The report, based on an investigation led by Dr Steve Schofield into the Menwith Hill base near Harrogate, revealed for the first time the station’s integral role in military offensives – potentially including drone strikes – and corporate snooping.

The investigation found that the cost to the British taxpayer of hosting the base has been grossly downplayed while the alleged benefits to the local and national economies have been hugely exaggerated.

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Officials: US drones monitoring clashes in Syria

Officials: US drones monitoring clashes in Syria

“A good number” of unmanned U.S. military and intelligence drones are operating in the skies over Syria, monitoring the Syrian military’s attacks against opposition forces and innocent civilians alike, U.S. defense officials tell NBC News’ Jim Miklaszewski.

The officials said this surveillance is not in preparation for U.S. military intervention. Rather, the Obama administration hopes to use the overhead visual evidence and intercepts of Syrian government and military communications in an effort to “make the case for a widespread international response,” the officials told Miklaszewski.

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Israel’s ex-spy chief sees opportunity in Syria crisis

Israel’s ex-spy chief sees opportunity in Syria crisis

You’ve called Syria the Achilles’ heel of Iran. What do you mean?

Iran has invested enormous efforts in trying to secure Syria as a major partner. The Alawite [Muslim] minority is very close to the Shiites in Iran. The Syrian army is mainly based on Alawite command and has units that are purely Alawite. This makes the Iranian investment all the more important.

Syria is also the conduit for Iran’s arming of the Hezbollah Shiite forces in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. If the regime falls in Syria and the Iranians are expelled, this is going to be a horrendous defeat for Iran….

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USAID’s role in covert work questioned

USAID’s role in covert work questioned

It was part of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier: a government agency to work with developing countries around the world and spread democracy in the process.

Fifty years later, the U.S. Agency for International Development faces skepticism from other countries about its true purpose and warnings from critics who say it has strayed too much into the world of clandestine operations.

The imprisonment in Cuba of USAID subcontractor Alan Gross, who secretly brought in communications equipment to the country, has raised questions whether the aid agency has endangered its workers, even those who operate in the open.

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Israel’s Mossad is using Azerbaijan to spy on Iran: reports

Israel’s Mossad is using Azerbaijan to spy on Iran: reports

Israel is using Azerbaijan, a former soviet republic bordering Iran, as a base to spy on the regime in Tehran, the London Times reported Saturday.

The newspaper cited testimony from an anonymous Mossad agent, referred
to only as Shimon.

“This is ground zero for intelligence work,” Shimon told The Times. “Our presence here is quiet, but substantial. We have increased our presence in the past year, and it gets us very close to Iran. This is a wonderfully porous country.”

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US Intelligence: India may be drawn into ‘limited war’ with China

US Intelligence: India may be drawn into ‘limited war’ with China

“The Indian Army believes a major Sino-Indian conflict is not imminent, but the Indian military is strengthening its forces in preparation to fight a limited conflict along the disputed border, and is working to balance Chinese power projection in the Indian Ocean,” a PTI report quoted him as saying.

Clapper said India has expressed support for a strong US military posture in East Asia and US engagement in Asia. He said China in 2011 appeared to temper the assertive behavior that characterised its foreign policy the year before, but the internal and external drivers of that behaviour persist.

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Weather Satellite Surveillance?

Weather Satellite Surveillance?

The FY series appear to be roughly analogous to those associated with the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. The FY-3, equipped with almost a dozen all weather sensors, is China’s most advanced space asset providing meteorological support to the People’s Liberation Army. The system also could provide measurement and signature intelligence data to China’s emerging anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) targeting architecture.

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Is the Successor to the KGB Targeting the Russian Opposition?

Is the Successor to the KGB Targeting the Russian Opposition?

Last week, two friends—one a former parliamentarian, the other a current lawmaker andformer colonel in Russia’s spy service—met up at a café popular among members of Russia’s Parliament. The café, Akademiya, is situated a few blocks away from the Kremlin. There the men—Vladimir Ryzhkov and Gennady Gudkov—had what they thought was a private conversation.

But someone was secretly filming the conversation. On Monday, that someone posted 10 minutes of the film on YouTube. No one seemed to notice.

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Vladimir Putin’s support of spying is of Cold War calibre

Vladimir Putin’s support of spying is of Cold War calibre

Russian spies haven’t been this visibly active since the height of the Cold War.

“Much of this goes on sub rosa and never comes to public view,” said Wesley Wark, a University of Toronto security expert.

“But the general view is that the post-Soviet Russian state remains wedded to a very intensive overseas intelligence collection effort. The Putin administration in particular seems extremely keen on investing in foreign intelligence, which is perhaps not very surprising, given his KGB background.” (Mr. Putin is a former KGB spy, who was stationed in Dresden, East Germany, in 1985-90.)

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False Flag: Mossad posed as US spies to recruit terrorists to fight covert Iran war

False Flag: Mossad posed as US spies to recruit terrorists to fight covert Iran war

Buried deep in the archives of America’s intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush’s administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives — what is commonly referred to as a “false flag” operation.

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Ominous turf war between Pakistani state institutions

Ominous turf war between Pakistani state institutions

Pakistan’s political scene looks like the OK Corral, with the main organs of state and other players heading for an inglorious showdown.

In the past few weeks, the powerful military has heaped pressure on the civilian government by participating in a Supreme Court inquiry which could see President Zardari condemned as a “traitor”.

The government has retaliated by accusing the military top brass of flouting the rules of business. It has warned them against setting up a “state within the state”.

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Child Soldiers: Teenage spy school opens in Azerbaijan

Child Soldiers: Teenage spy school opens in Azerbaijan

Courses to train young people in army reconnaissance officially began today.

The training is organized by the Voluntary Military and Patriotic Sport and Technical Society, APA reported.

The aim of the courses, mainly for teenagers, is to train scouts for the armed forces. Those attending the courses will get certificates which will be taken into account during conscription.

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Israeli Mossad recruiting Iranian exiles in Iraq’s Kurdish region: report

Israeli Mossad recruiting Iranian exiles in Iraq’s Kurdish region: report

The Israeli spy agency Mossad is using Iranian exiles living in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan to target Iranian nuclear experts and sabotage the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, says an Iraqi security official quoted by the French daily Le Figaro.

“The Mossad agents have increased their infiltration in the Kurdish regions of Iraq,” the unnamed security official was quoted as saying.

He said Iranian refugees in the Kurdish regions opposed to the current regime in Tehran are being recruited by the Israeli agents to target Iranian experts in nuclear technology.

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China, Cuba and the espionage alliance against the U.S.

China, Cuba and the espionage alliance against the U.S.

China’s intelligence operations are the “core arena” for achieving the superpower status which the Communist elite in Beijing so passionately desires. Central to its spy activities is the island of Cuba which is strategically located for the interception of U.S. military and civilian satellite communications. China’s spy services also cooperates closely with Havana’s own world-class intelligence services.

Inexplicably, the U.S. mass media are ignoring both the existence of the spy base as well as the Cuban-Chinese alliance which is responsible for it.

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X-37B spaceplane ‘spying on China’

X-37B spaceplane ‘spying on China’

America’s classified X-37B spaceplane is probably spying on China, according to a report in Spaceflight magazine.
The unpiloted vehicle was launched into orbit by the US Air Force in March last year and has yet to return to Earth.

The Pentagon has steadfastly refused to discuss its mission but amateur space trackers have noted how its path around the globe is nearly identical to China’s spacelab, Tiangong-1.

There is wide speculation that the X-37B is eavesdropping on the laboratory.

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Troops get CIA-style training at facility

Troops get CIA-style training at facility

Among the students at the CIA-approved Fort Bragg course are U.S. Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Marine Corps special operators. As in the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden, everything from computers to fingerprints can be retrieved from a raid site and quickly analyzed. In some cases the analysis is so fast it can lead to several new targets in a single night.

The school is also an illustration of how special operations and intelligence forces have reached an easier coexistence, after early clashes where CIA officers accused the military operators of ineptly trying to run their own spy rings overseas without State Department or CIA knowledge.

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Cuba’s ‘NSA’ Suspected of Aiding North Korea

Cuba’s ‘NSA’ Suspected of Aiding North Korea

Intelligence sharing between Cuba and North Korea has likely spiked following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Unlike the broad intelligence sharing agreements Havana has with Moscow and Beijing, Cuba’s support to Pyongyang is narrowly focused on US Special Operations Forces (SOF), particularly those supporting Seoul. Washington and both Koreas have long viewed Special Operations as the force of choice in a shooting war, especially during the decisive early days of a conflict.

Cuba’s Directorate of Military Intelligence (DIM) runs a signals intercept site at Bejucal, which has long served as the hub for targeting US SOF.

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Algeria: Motives Behind Spy Agency Shake Up

Algeria: Motives Behind Spy Agency Shake Up

Several Algerian news outlets reported the appointment of retired General Athman Tartag (alias Bashir) to head of the Department of Homeland Security (known by its French initials DSI), the most significant branch of Algeria’s powerful and notoriously secretive Intelligence Agency DRS. General Tartag replaced General “Ahmed” (his real name Abdelkader Kherfi) who was fired by DRS’ strong man Major General Mohamed Mediene (alias Toufik. While no reasons were given for this rare and unusually candid shake up, Algerian observers and Intelligence experts are speculating about the motivations and the timing of General Medienne decision to nominate the controversial General Tartag. A significant change at the DRS, the center of power in Algeria, will have ramifications around the region.

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Former Pakistan Army Chief Reveals Intelligence Bureau Harbored Bin Laden in Abbottabad

Former Pakistan Army Chief Reveals Intelligence Bureau Harbored Bin Laden in Abbottabad

In spite of denials by the Pakistani military, evidence is emerging that elements within the Pakistani military harbored Osama bin Laden with the knowledge of former army chief General Pervez Musharraf and possibly current Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Former Pakistani Army Chief General Ziauddin Butt (a.k.a. General ZiauddinKhawaja) revealed at a conference on Pakistani-U.S. relations in October 2011 that according to his knowledge the then former Director-General of Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan (2004 – 2008), Brigadier Ijaz Shah (Retd.), had kept Osama bin Laden in an Intelligence Bureau safe house in Abbottabad. In the same address, he revealed that the ISI had helped the CIA to track him down and kill on May 1.

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India’s New Fusion Centers: An overhaul for state’s intelligence system

India’s New Fusion Centers: An overhaul for state’s intelligence system

According to the officers, S-MAC will be an intelligence ‘fusion’ centre for bringing together information from various agencies like Intelligence Bureau (India’s internal spy agency), the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the special branches of all the state police departments.

Intelligence wings of the enforcement agencies like Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Income Tax and the Customs will also coordinate with S-MAC units.

Officials said though the country had intelligence agencies at various levels, there was no coordination among the agencies at the ground level to work jointly on an intelligence input.

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No control over army and ISI, admits Pakistan government

No control over army and ISI, admits Pakistan government

Pakistan’s defence ministry does not have operational control over the military and theInter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the ministry has admitted in the Supreme Court.

The Ministry of Defence Wednesday conceded that it has no operational control over the armed forces as well as the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), reported the daily Dawn.

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South Korean Unification Ministry Staff Get CIA Training

South Korean Unification Ministry Staff Get CIA Training

Unification Ministry staff were given two intelligence analysis training sessions by the U.S.’ Central Intelligence Agency this year. According to the Unification Ministry, around a dozen members of its staff were trained by the CIA in April and November to learn to analyze intelligence from socialist countries.

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India’s Domestic Intelligence Agency RAW gets power to tap phones, track emails

India’s Domestic Intelligence Agency RAW gets power to tap phones, track emails

Bringing India’s external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), at par with international spy agencies in terms of arming it with legal snooping powers, the government recently notified it as one of the eight agencies to intercept phone calls, emails and voice and data communications ‘domestically’.

The other agencies in the list are Intelligence Bureau, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate, Narcotics Control Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Technical Research Organisation and state police.

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Sources: Plan to kill Iran Supreme Leader thwarted

Sources: Plan to kill Iran Supreme Leader thwarted

According to informed sources inside Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has recently ordered the arrest of a number of prominent members of the Revolutionary Guards. He ordered to investigate them and others, who were not arrested, in a suspected plot to assassinate him.

The sources said that among those arrested and interrogated so far are some of Khamenei’s bodyguards. The sources conveyed that those arrested tried to convince Khamenei to visit Mlard missile base in western Tehran on November 12th. It should be mentioned that on that day a huge blast took place in this military base, which killed among others the head of ballistic missiles production and development unit.

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Iranian general who controls Iraq steps out of the shadows

Iranian general who controls Iraq steps out of the shadows

Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the covert action wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, is stepping out of the shadows as a leading hard-liner, and as tension with the United States heats up, that’s a really bad sign.

There is a school of thought among Iran-watchers that Tehran believes the United States and Israel, backed by Britain, are gearing up for a showdown with the Islamic Republic.

The Iranians, several seasoned analysts say, are getting ready for trouble as hard-line conservatives in the ruling elite demonstrated when they stormed and sacked the British Embassy in Tehran Nov. 29.

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Cold War Propaganda Revisited – spinning the ideological battlefront

Cold War Propaganda Revisited – spinning the ideological battlefront

“This conference spurred a vital conversation about the channels and means by which governments ‘sold’ the Cold War to their own people – and how journalists, movie-makers, academics, researchers and the general public took up the ideological battle of their own volition.”

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America’s Shadow State in Pakistan

America’s Shadow State in Pakistan

Many in the U.S. government regarded the capture as a crowning achievement of a decade-long, multibillion-dollar effort to build a secret network of Pakistani security forces, intelligence operatives, counterterrorism fighters, and detention centers. Its objective had been to create a friendlier, more trustworthy alternative to Pakistan’s military and intelligence services.

Now, however, just three months after Mauritani’s capture, the partnership is facing its most dire challenge. Relations between the two countries have been rocked by back-to-back incidents.

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Drone shot down in Iran ‘may’ belong to US

Drone shot down in Iran ‘may’ belong to US

A surveillance drone flying over western Afghanistan had gone out of control late last week and may be the one Iran said it had shot down over its own airspace, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has said.

“The UAV to which the Iranians are referring may be a US unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week. The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status,” an ISAF statement said on Sunday.
The statement was issued in Kabul and released to reporters covering an international conference on Afghanistan in the German city Bonn.

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Pakistan Heightened Fears?: CIA ‘Black Night’ out to fuel sectarian strife in Muharram

Pakistan Heightened Fears?: CIA ‘Black Night’ out to fuel sectarian strife in Muharram

The intelligence agencies have raised fears of terrorism across the country as a CIA-backed squad has been tasked to carry out terrorists activities to stoke sectarian strife during Muharram

The agencies have urged all the provincial and AJK authorities to ensure foolproof security as a CIA-sponsored squad, ‘Black Night’, has been assigned the task of carrying out targeted killings, and suicide bombings to instigate sectarian violence during the holy month.

According to sources, the hostile spy agencies had recruited militants to disrupt peace in the country as the rift between Washington and Islamabad is widening since the Raymond Davis episode.

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Report: Explosion rocks Iran city of Isfahan, home to key nuclear facility

Report: Explosion rocks Iran city of Isfahan, home to key nuclear facility

An explosion rocked the western Iranian city of Isfahan on Monday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, adding that the blast was heard in several parts of the city.

According to reports, frightened residents called the fire department after the blast, forcing the city authorities to admit there had been an explosion.

Speaking with Fars news agency, Isfahan’s deputy mayor confirmed the reports and said the authorities are investigating the matter. However, after the incident was reported in Israel, the report was taken off the Fars website.

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ISI pockets Rs.500 cr annually from fake Indian notes: officials

ISI pockets Rs.500 cr annually from fake Indian notes: officials

ISI has been making a profit of 30-40% on the face value of each counterfeit Indian currency note produced in Pakistan, according to the presentation. The cost of printing Rs.1,000 counterfeit notes, for instance, is Rs.39 a piece (the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) spends Rs.29 to print a Rs.1,000 note), but it is sold at Rs.350-400, according to the presentation. The total number of fake notes that came into India in 2010 from abroad was pegged at Rs.1,600 crore, and going by this estimate, the report pegged the total profit figure at Rs.500 crore.

The phenomenon of fake currency is not new. According to the annual report of India’s central bank, 435,607 counterfeit notes were identified in fiscal 2010-11—up 9.4% from fiscal 2008-09. The number of counterfeit notes detected by the Reserve Bank of India in 2008-09 was 398,111, and 401,476 in 2009-10. The annual report, however, does not give an estimate of fake currency notes circulating in the country.

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Was David Headley a double agent, serving the US and ISI simultaneously?

Was David Headley a double agent, serving the US and ISI simultaneously?

ugh is that Headley led something of a charmed existence. The report details the number of times Headley slipped in and out of Pakistan, Dubai, India and the US, which, in any other person would have aroused the scrutiny of counter-terrorism officials, certainly immigration officials every time. But Headley slipped through. Was it oversight, or was Headley being played so he could access more detailed intelligence?

At some stage during this time, Headley went over to the dark side, became radicalized and a jihadi working for the Lashkar-e-Taiba and ISI simultaneously, for the same project, an attack on Mumbai.

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CIA Intrigues against Pakistani Institutions

CIA Intrigues against Pakistani Institutions

Anyhow, philosophy of “conspiring against the state” by few incredible traitors is not a simple anti Pakistan propaganda. There are chances that CIA has planned: to create political anarchy, target ISI Chief to whom CIA considered a main hindrance in the implantation of US agenda in this region, moreover pitching government against security agencies and vital state organs. CIA knows that ISI chief tenure might be completing in March 2011 which is already the month of senate election in Pakistan where political temperature is quite high in these days. Similar a number of tries have already been made at number of occasions.

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CIA spies caught in Iran, Lebanon: report

CIA spies caught in Iran, Lebanon: report

More than a dozen spies working for the CIA have been caught in Iran and Lebanon, and US officials fear they may face execution, ABC News reported Monday.

The report is based on information from four current and former US officials with connections to the intelligence community.

“Espionage is a risky business,” a US official told ABC News. “Many risks lead to wins, but some result in occasional setbacks.”

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Important Flashback: Spies Prep Reporters on Protecting Secrets

Important Flashback: Spies Prep Reporters on Protecting Secrets

Frustrated by press leaks about its most sensitive electronic surveillance work, the secretive National Security Agency convened an unprecedented series of off-the-record “seminars” in recent years to teach reporters about the damage caused by such leaks and to discourage reporting that could interfere with the agency’s mission to spy on America’s enemies.

The half-day classes featured high-ranking NSA officials highlighting objectionable passages in published stories and offering “an innocuous rewrite” that officials said maintained the “overall thrust” of the articles but omitted details that could disclose the agency’s techniques, according to course outlines obtained by The New York Sun.

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Germany shocked by secret service link to rightwing terror cell

Germany shocked by secret service link to rightwing terror cell

An agent working for Germany’s answer to MI5 was at the scene of one of the 10 murders carried out by neo-Nazi terrorists, the domestic intelligence agency has confirmed, fuelling speculation that the killers’ movements were known to the authorities during their 13 years on the run.

The undercover officer was in an internet cafe in the central city of Kassel in Hessen when a 21-year-old Turk was shot at point blank range on 6 April 2006, a spokesman for the Hessen branch of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said on Tuesday.

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Clandestine Somalia missions yield AQ targets

Clandestine Somalia missions yield AQ targets

The third in a series looking at U.S. military operations in the Horn of Africa after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks

Starting in 2003, small teams of U.S. operatives would clamber aboard a civilian turboprop plane at a Nairobi, Kenya, airfield to embark on one of the most dangerous missions conducted by U.S. personnel in Somalia since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The teams combined CIA case officers and “shooters” from a secretive special operations unit sometimes called Task Force Orange, said an intelligence source with long experience in the Horn of Africa. “There were always at least two CIA case officers, and there were always at least two shooters,” the source said. “Everybody was armed.”

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New Reports Link N. Korean, Iranian Nuclear Programs

New Reports Link N. Korean, Iranian Nuclear Programs

News media in Northeast Asia are reporting details of alleged cooperation between Iran and North Korea in trying to build atomic bombs. Such joint activities have been suspected for years.

South Korea’s foreign ministry and the national intelligence service say they cannot comment on fresh reports linking Pyongyang’s atomic efforts to Iran.

Officials with the agencies considered at the forefront of monitoring North Korea’s nuclear programs say the allegations, apparently leaked by diplomats in recent days, involve classified information.

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Intel Source: Israel Behind Deadly Explosion at Iran Missile Base

Intel Source: Israel Behind Deadly Explosion at Iran Missile Base

Israeli newspapers on Sunday were thick with innuendo, the front pages of the three largest dailies dominated by variations on the headline “Mysterious Explosion in Iranian Missile Base.” Turn the page, and the mystery is answered with a wink. “Who is Responsible for Attacks on the Iranian Army?” asks Ma’ariv, and the paper lists without further comment a half-dozen other violent setbacks to Iran’s nuclear and military nexus. For Israeli readers, the coy implication is that their own government was behind Saturday’s massive blast just outside Tehran. It is an assumption a Western intelligence source insists is correct: The Mossad — the Israeli agency charged with covert operations — did it.

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China Adds a Spyglass in Space, Hints at More to Come

China Adds a Spyglass in Space, Hints at More to Come

China launched two satellites Wednesday as part of a decade-long rapid expansion of earth-monitoring capabilities that also buttress the country’s growing military prowess.

Yaogan-12, the primary cargo of the launch, is the twelfth model in a series of “remote sensing” satellites that many analysts believe are tasked with gathering military intelligence. China, which has never acknowledged a defense-related launch, claims that the satellite will be used for “scientific experiments, land survey, crop yield assessment, and disaster monitoring.”

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Secret Snoop Conference for Gov’t Spying: Go Stealth, Hit a Hundred Thousand Targets

Secret Snoop Conference for Gov’t Spying: Go Stealth, Hit a Hundred Thousand Targets

As the Police once sang [6], “Every breath you take and every move you make…I’ll be watching you,” and that seems to sum up the Italian Hacking Team services and what it pimps atIntelligence Support Systems (ISS) conferences [7]. While there are many vendors at such conferences offered worldwide and allegedly for “lawful interception, criminal investigation and intelligence gathering,” some stand out as ethically and legally questionable. We know cyber cops need ways to go after the evil cybercriminal elements hiding in cyberspace, but it’s the “mass surveillance” and “without a warrant” that sets our privacy hackles on edge as that seems to assume anyone may be a bad guy needing monitored.

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Mossad, CIA, MI6 Set up Spying Centers Near Iranian Borders

Mossad, CIA, MI6 Set up Spying Centers Near Iranian Borders

“Based on investigations, Mossad, CIA and MI6 spy agencies have set up spy bases on the borderlines of five neighboring countries (with Iran),” member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Zohreh Elahian told FNA.

“The bases are tasked with directing terrorist groups and even conducting sabotage and espionage operations against the Islamic Republic and its citizens,” she added.

Elahian named Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan as the five countries in which the US, Israeli and British spy agencies have established bases.

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Canada needs foreign spy service: Experts

Canada needs foreign spy service: Experts

It’s high time Canada had a proper foreign spy agency, especially if the feds are serious about positioning Canada as a country that punches above its weight on the international stage.

And security expert Christian Leuprecht said Canada could have one of the best foreign intelligence services in the world, given its very diverse population and the good relations the government has with Canada’s ethnic communities.

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Dark days for Taiwan’s spies

Dark days for Taiwan’s spies

When Taiwan’s government last month announced budget cuts in military intelligence, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) insisted operations against mainland China would not be affected.

It’s only administrative expenses being whittled down, said the MND, and if anything, Taiwan’s strength in intelligence warfare will be boosted. However, media paint a vastly different picture, suggesting Taiwan’s future leaders will be completely deaf and blind to secretive developments across the Taiwan Strait.

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Al-Qaeda’s spy killers spread terror in Pakistan

Al-Qaeda’s spy killers spread terror in Pakistan

Ayub Khan was on his way home when masked men, dressed in black and carrying AK-47 assault rifles, pulled him out of a minibus on a summer evening in Pakistan’s north-western tribal district of North Waziristan.

For the next 15 days he was tortured, and threatened with execution if he did not admit that he was a US spy providing information that led CIA-operated unmanned aircraft to their targets.

Khan, a pseudonym, managed to convince his captors that he was not a spy and was released with broken bones and holes in his feet, made by an electric drill.

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Turkey, Israel to face new crisis over Göktürk spy satellite project

Turkey, Israel to face new crisis over Göktürk spy satellite project

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, high-level officials from the Turkish Defense Ministry said: “For years, Israel has obtained images of our territory. For the first time, we will have a satellite for intelligence. Reciprocity is essential in international relations. If they observe Turkish soil, Turkey has the same right, too.”

Turkey’s defense and procurement authorities completed the deal with Telespazio for the construction and launch of the country’s first military satellite, Göktürk, in 2009. The 250-million-euro contract was signed on July 16, 2009 at a ceremony attended by representatives of Telespazio and top Turkish officials, including Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül and Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM) head Murad Bayar.

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MI6 role in Libyan rebels’ rendition ‘helped to strengthen al-Qaida’

MI6 role in Libyan rebels’ rendition ‘helped to strengthen al-Qaida’

British intelligence believes the capture and rendition of two top Libyan rebel commanders, carried out with the involvement of MI6, strengthened al-Qaida and helped groups attacking British forces in Iraq, secret documents reveal.

The papers, discovered in the British ambassador’s abandoned residence in Tripoli, raise new and damaging questions over Britain’s role in the seizure and torture of key opponents of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

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Spies Want to Go Open-Source to Stop the Next WikiLeaks

Spies Want to Go Open-Source to Stop the Next WikiLeaks

The mission to keep a closer eye on agents comes at a time when the intelligence community is also trying to open up the flow of information internally. At the intelligence technology magazine Defense Systems, Amber Corrin reports that some agencies are experimenting with using more open-source software and trying to take advantage of mobile apps. “When our content is easily accessible, when it’s usable within an open environment and with a different delivery model–those three [capabilities] are going to help us get to deeper analytics,” Letitia Long, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), said at a GEOINT symposium on Monday. “We free up the time of our analysts to be focused on the ‘so what?’ to be focused on the context, experiment with the new sensor data and the new phenomena, developing new analytic tools and techniques.”

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Russian spooks under fire

Russian spooks under fire

It also reflects a stocktaking of the intelligence agencies as Putin prepares to return to power. He draws his support from the spooks, but he also wants efficiency and obedience. The GRU often duplicated the work of the SVR and instead he wants it to concentrate on what it is best at: true military espionage, work in Central Asia and the Caucasus and, one may suspect, occasional assassinations of enemies abroad.

Putin was once a spook; he believes in them and draws many of his closest allies from their ranks. But he also knows that left to their own devices they will tend to be distracted by futile turf wars. They also get too big for their own boots and from time to time need reminding who’s boss. In this respect, the GRU is simply the sacrificial victim of the hour. The FSB and SVR, though, are expected to learn the lesson.

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US intelligence on alert: news report

US intelligence on alert: news report

The Washington Times is reporting that US intelligence agencies are on alert for unexpected Chinese military activities this weekend.

While there is no hint about the possible nature of such activities, they could be timed to coincide with the visit of White House National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon to Beijing.

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Elite N. Korean defector joins S. Korea’s spy agency

Elite N. Korean defector joins S. Korea’s spy agency

A former regional head of a key North Korean youth organization was recently named a research fellow of an institute run by South Korea’s spy agency, a source said Tuesday.

Sol Jong-sik represented Ryanggang Province for the League of Kim Il-sung Socialist Working Youth before defecting to South Korea in 2009.

The League, named after the late founder of the communist country, is a major social unit that mobilizes young North Koreans, including teenagers, and publishes a propaganda newspaper for them.

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Spies to use Twitter as crystal ball

Spies to use Twitter as crystal ball

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), a research arm of the US intelligence community, is sponsoring the work under the Open Source Indicators (OSI) programme. The three-year project, with an unspecified budget, is designed to gather digital data from a range of sources, from traffic webcams to television to Twitter. The goal, according to IARPA, is to provide the intelligence community with predictions of social and political events that can “beat the news”.

Initially, the OSI project will focus on Latin America, which has abundant publicly available data and offers a convenient test bed for researchers’ models.

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Ugandans welcome U.S. troop plan to fight rebels

Ugandans welcome U.S. troop plan to fight rebels

Residents and rights groups said U.S. troops being sent to Uganda would give a fresh impetus to the fight against Lord’s Resistance Army rebels accused of murder and kidnapping children and capturing their leader.

The rebel group, which has waged a brutal insurgency for nearly 20 years, was ejected from northern Uganda in 2005 and has since roamed remote jungle straddling the borders of Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.

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Rio’s Unprecedented New Surveillance System

Rio’s Unprecedented New Surveillance System

80 interchangeable digital panels project live video feeds from 450 cameras and three helicopters, plus a dizzying array of tricked-out Google Maps of schools and hospitals, car accidents with real-time traffic to the nearest hospital, and close to 10,000 GPS-tracked buses and ambulances. There are temperature, wind, humidity, and air quality maps. Heat maps of dengue fever outbreaks. Crisis-mode maps of high-risk landslide zones. On one map, graphic simulations predict tomorrow’s weather within a 150-mile radius.
Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city in one of the world’s fastest-emerging economies, has created a survellience system that makes Big Brother live up to its name.

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Belarus KGB gets new powers amid growing anger

Belarus KGB gets new powers amid growing anger

Belarus’ authoritarian president is trying to tighten his grip on the ex-Soviet nation with new legislation that boosts the already sweeping powers of the secret police, still known as the KGB.

As well as lifting restrictions on the KGB’s use of weapons, the legislation also makes it even easier for President Alexander Lukashenko to put his political opponents behind bars. A new ban on receiving foreign funds carries a two-year prison sentence, while simply calling for an anti-government protest can send someone to prison for three years.

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Chinese telecom firm tied to KGB-like spy ministry

Chinese telecom firm tied to KGB-like spy ministry

A U.S. intelligence report for the first time links China’s largest telecommunications company to Beijing’s KGB-like intelligence service and says the company recently received nearly a quarter-billion dollars from the Chinese government.

The disclosures are a setback for Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.’s efforts to break into the U.S. telecommunications market. The company has been blocked from doing so three times by the U.S. government because of concerns about its links to the Chinese government.

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Secret panel can put Americans on ‘kill list’

Secret panel can put Americans on ‘kill list’

American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, according to officials.

There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House’s National Security Council, several current and former officials said. Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate.

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