Central Intelligence Agency

Mercyhurst University’s Tom Ridge School Hosts Fourth Global Intelligence Forum

Posted on Updated on

English: Seal of the United States Department ...
English: Seal of the United States Department of Homeland Security. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

GlobeNewswire

 

ERIE, Pa., Dec. 16, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — From public health challenges like Ebola to the effect of climate change on food safety in the coming decades, international experts in public health, higher education, business and traditional intelligence will gather in Dungarvan, Ireland, for the fourth biennial Global Intelligence Forum — The Dungarvan Conference July 12-15, 2015.

 

Sponsored by the Tom Ridge School of Intelligence Studies and Information Science at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, the conference comes on the heels of highly successful summits that welcomed prominent intelligence leaders like Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security; former CIA Director Michael V. Hayden; former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh; and Europol Director Rob Wainwright.

 

Panelists for this year’s expanded forum — “Intelligence-Informed Decision-Making to Build a More Secure Future” — will address how leaders can effectively establish intelligence practices to enhance decision-making as they address pressing global concerns.

 

Keynote speakers include one of the world’s leading experts on cybersecurity, Howard Schmidt, who served as cyber advisor to Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. He also held positions as vice president and chief information security officer for eBay Inc., and operated as chief security officer for Microsoft Corp. Currently, he is a partner with Tom Ridge in Ridge-Schmidt Cyber, an executive services firm that helps leaders in business and government navigate the increasing demands of cybersecurity. Read the rest of this entry »

Jordanian Al-Qaida Fighter Killed in Afghanistan | Jih@d

Posted on Updated on

by Florian Flade

“The hero of Khorasan Zaid Saleh al-Hourani, known to everyone as Abu Musab al-Hourani”, the beginning of a short biography of a Jordanian Jihadist fighter killed in Afghanistan reads. The article about Al-Hourani was posted on Jihadist Internet forums recently and gives a rare insight into the situation of foreign fighters in Afghanistan these days.

“Abu Musab al-Hourani”, a resident of Amman, from a Jericho family, allegedly was a close aid to former Iraqi Al-Qaida leader Abu Musab az-Zarqawi and recruited about 30 other Jordanians to Jihad in Iraq. In Jordan al-Hourani was imprisoned for 5 years because of his terrorist activities.

In 2010 he traveled to Pakistan and joined the mujaheddin in the tribal areas. Pictures released with his biography are showing Abu Musab al-Hourani in the Pakistani tribal agency of Orakzai. “He took part in operations targeting the Pakistani military”, the biography reads. Al-Hourani was wounded during the fighting in Pakistan, both in battle with Pakistani troops (on his leg) and in CIA drone strikes (again his leg) but recovered from the injuries. Read the rest of this entry »

Former CIA spy advocates overthrow of Iranian regime

Posted on Updated on

Reza Kahlili, living in the shadows with a fake name and disguise, worked from inside the Revolutionary Guard. He warns of terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S. and a plot to destroy Israel.

LA na.iran.spy.01.JPG

Former CIA spy Reza Kahlili lived a double life until the mid-1990s, passing along Iran’s secrets to the CIA and recruiting Revolutionary Guards for the agency. In a sense, he resumed his double identity after publishing his 2010 memoir. (Reza Kahlili / July 7, 2012)

By David Zucchino

July 6, 2012, 6:33 p.m.

Los Angeles Times
ARLINGTON, Va. — His disguise consists of a blue surgeon’s mask, sunglasses and a baseball cap that reads “Free Iran.” A small modulator distorts his voice. He uses a pseudonym, Reza Kahlili.
He lives in fear, he says, because his years as a paid spy for the CIA inside Iran have made him an assassination target of Iran’s government. He worries about his wife and children, who live with him in California.
At the same time, implausibly, he has become one of the most influential and outspoken voices in the U.S. advocating the overthrow of the Iranian government.
For the last two years, Kahlili has gone semipublic with a memoir, a blog, op-ed pieces and invitation-only speeches at think tanks. He warns that Iran operates terrorist sleeper cells inside the United States and is determined to build nuclear weapons to destroy Israel. The U.S. should respond, he argues, by supporting the opposition inside Iran.
He travels furtively between appearances, working as a Pentagon consultant and as a member of a domestic security task force.

Read the rest of this entry »

PM – Iranian assassination bears all the hallmarks of Mossad 13/01/2012

Posted on Updated on

Suzanne Hill reported this story on Friday, January 13, 2012

BRENDAN TREMBATH:An United States intelligence and security expert says it’s unlikely the US was involved in this week’s assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist. Iran has blamed both the US and Israel.

Iranian news reports say Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was killed on his way to work in Tehran. A motorcyclist attached a bomb to his car.

Dr Joseph Fitsanakis is an Iran watcher, and coordinator of the Security and Intelligence Studies programme at King College in Tennessee. He’s told Suzanne Hill that the assassination is probably the work of Israel’s spy service.

JOSEPH FITSANAKIS: The assassination fits the character of the Mossad, going back all the way to 1960s with Operation Damocles when the Israelis actually went so far as assassinating German scientists working with Egypt in Egypt’s nuclear program.

Some people mention that there are other agencies that have similar operational character like the Russians, for instance, the Russian secret services but the Russians are allies of Iran.

The Chinese have been mentioned as well but, again, even though they’re pretty capable, they don’t have that type of operational character.

SUZANNE HILL: When we talk about operational character, are you referring only to Mossad’s predisposition to assassinate as we assume they have or are you referring to other things to do with the assassination itself in which we can see hallmarks of Mossad?

JOSEPH FITSANAKIS: I think both. In particular, assassination operations are very, very risky. They’re very complex, involve a large number of individuals, they’re very carefully planned.

Read the rest of this entry »

Turkey’s Intelligence: “We have established an original new structure’

Posted on Updated on

  • RAF Menwith Hill, a large ECHELON site in the ...
    Image via Wikipedia

    Published : 09.01.2012 19:43
    Updated : 09.01.2012 22:04

Turkey’s () is setting up an Electronic Intelligence Village on a 3,000 square meter plot of land, which will allow for the tracking of all forms of intelligence signals.

Undersecretary explains that within the next two to three years, they aim to become one of the largest intelligence services in the world and that they are synthesizing the CIA-FBI model.
Yesterday, the “Meeting with the Press” portion of a series of ceremonies held to commemorate to 85th anniversary of the , or MİTs founding, was held at the undersecretariat headquarters.
At the event, which brought together the executive editors and Ankara representatives from newspapers and television stations, MİT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, announced their objective to become one of the top ten intelligence services, to undergo a restructuring in terms of both internal and foreign intelligence and that they are synthesizing the United States’ CIA-FBI model. Fidan stood up for the organization, which has faced intentions of being drawn into the Uludere incident, by sharing their goals for “Perfection and Competitive Pursuit.”
OBJECTIVE TO BECOME TOP TEN: “We have always been told “You are very good in your region, Turkey is a shining star.” However, we do not consider this to be enough. With the exception of a few countries in this region, this is not an area where there are first class players. We want to become players in the global realm. There are ten intelligence services in this realm, within the next two to three years; we will become one of them.”
FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM: “We are preparing a joint intelligence program. Under the headline “Security Intelligence”, we have reestablished our units dealing with terrorism doth domestically and abroad. We have created units that will primarily deal with armed terror as well as an analysis unit that will also be dealing with terrorism.”

INTELLIGENCE VILLAGE: “The General Staff Electronic Systems Command has been handed over to the MİT. A 3,000 square meter plot of land was purchased next to the Electronic Systems Command (GES) facility.
We are building an Electronic Intelligence Village there that will be befitting of the 21st century. 21. This is a historical step in terms of military-civilian collaboration. Turkey has now been saved from the wasted resources and effort as well as from duplication and has obtained the opportunity to visualize our national capacity. All signal intelligence directed towards our region will be tracked and evaluated from here.”
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE VISUALS ARE NOT OURS: “The visual intelligence obtained from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is obtained by the General Staff and not MİT.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Spies trying to disrupt Iran’s upcoming elections arrested: Moslehi

Posted on Updated on

Spies trying to disrupt Iran‘s upcoming elections arrested: Moslehi

Tehran, Jan 8, IRNA – Intelligence Minister Hojjatoleslam Heydar Moslehi announced the arrest of several spies who, in line with the plots of the US government, wanted to disrupt the upcoming Ninth Majlis (Parliament) elections slated for March 2.

Spies trying to disrupt Iran's  upcoming elections arrested: Moslehi
Hojjatoleslam Moslehi made the remarks among reporters at the end of a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Sunday.’Our intelligence apparatus had complete information about the activities of the arrested spies,’ he added.

The minister pointed out that the detained spies were trying to execute the plots of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) through social networks and cyberspace to disrupt the process of the upcoming Ninth Majlis (Parliament) elections.

Read the rest of this entry »

CIA operations in Iran underway to take out Tehran bigs in mission to dismantle weapons program  

Posted on Updated on

Explosions and assasinations at Iran nuke base pinned to Israel may have been CIA

Monday, November 14 2011, 12:11 AM

Vahid Salemi/AP

 

In public Sunday, President Obama was at a summit unsuccessfully leaning on Russia and China to back diplomatic efforts to curb Iran’s nuke program.

In private Sunday, there was more evidence of an efficient and brutal covert operation that continues to degrade Iran’s military capabilities.

Iranian officials revealed that one of the 17 men killed in a huge explosion at a munitions depot was a key Revolutionary Guard commander who headed Iran’s missile program. And the IRNA state news agency reported that scientists had discovered a new computer virus in their systems, a more sophisticated version of the Stuxnet worm deployed last year to foul up Iran’s centrifuges.

Iran said the army base explosion was an accident and the new Duqu virus was contained. But Israeli newspapers and some U.S. experts said it appeared to be more from an ongoing secret operation by the CIA and Israel’s Mossad to eliminate Iran’s nuclear threat.

The covert campaign encompasses a series of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists since 2007 and a similar explosion at another Iranian missile base two years ago both widely attributed to the Mossad.

“May there be more like it,” was all Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said when Army Radio asked about the new blast.

There was a third mysterious event: The son of a top Iranian hard-liner was found dead — a seeming suicide — in a Dubai hotel on Sunday. His father called it “suspicious” and linked to the base explosion, without elaborating.

Israel was accused of deploying the 11 agents who killed a top Hamas terrorist in a Dubai hotel last year. Read the rest of this entry »

Iraq pullout blinds U.S. intel operations

Posted on Updated on

U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commande...
Image via Wikipedia

The U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq is cutting off vital intelligence bases and listening posts that have played a key role in clandestine operations that have scored major successes in the global counter-terrorism campaign.

The Central Intelligence Agency, which until recently operated outside the military establishment, is expected to stay on in various guises within the 17,000 U.S. personnel who will remain under State Department jurisdiction.

The CIA has become increasingly militarized since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and most of its establishment — including a heavily enlarged paramilitary division — is engaged in the counter-terrorism battle to one degree or another.

And with Gen. David Petraeus, the former military commander in Iraq and Afghanistan who wrote the army’s counter-insurgency manual, now the director of the CIA, the agency can be expected to maintain some covert operations. Read the rest of this entry »

Intelligence: Leave No One Behind

Posted on Updated on

A Pakistan Army soldier deployed during an exe...
Image via Wikipedia
September 13, 2011: Over the last four months, Pakistan has arrested several Pakistanis who aided the U.S. in finding Osama bin Laden, and has banned others from leaving the country. American intelligence officials want to get many of these helpful Pakistanis out of Pakistan, both to safeguard and reward them. This is crucial for future intelligence operations. If a country can demonstrate that it takes care of those who help, more will be willing to step forward. Otherwise, local help will be hard to find. Meanwhile, Pakistan continues to deny, at least publically, that it knew Osama bin Laden was hiding out in a military town (Abbottabad), surrounded by retired generals and less than a kilometer from the national military academy. Read the rest of this entry »

Europe cyber-attack puts spotlight on Internet security risks

Posted on Updated on

DigiNotarThe Dutch government seized control of the Internet security firm DigiNotar company after it was discovered that hackers produced 531 fake DigiNotar authentication Read the rest of this entry »