Dan Gordon Spy Club

FORMER CIA OFFICER LATEST SUSPECT CHARGED UNDER ESPIONAGE ACT IN UNRIVALED GOVERNMENT CLAMPDOWN ON NATIONAL SECURITY LEAKS

Agent Zero — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:03:09 +0000

John Kiriakou, an ex CIA officer, was charged last week under the Espionage Act with passing on classified information to journalists. The Obama administration has made unparalleled use of the aforementioned legislation in its crackdown on current or onetime government officials turning over information to reporters, according to Steven Aftergood, who monitors the intelligence community for the American Federation of Scientists. Kiriakou’s fellow ex CIA officer, Jeffrey Sterling, stands accused of disclosing information to a New York Times journalist, while Stephen Kim, an official of the State Department, is suspected of divulging secrets about North Korea to Fox News. A translator with the FBI, Shamai Leibowitz, was charged with leaking information to a blogger, and his subsequent guilty plea in 2010 drew a 20 month prison term. Bradley Manning is purported to have provided documents to Wikileaks.
The federal complaint filed against Mr. Kiriakou encompassed a number of different allegations, including the claim that he supplied New York Times reporter Scott Shane with information incorporated in the 2008 article naming CIA analyst Deuce Martinez as a central figure in the waterboarding interrogation of al Qaeda logistics head Abu Zubaydah. Waterboarding refers to the simulation of drowning. Martinez was not an undercover operative, nevertheless, his assignment was classified. The New York Times refused comment on the supposed Kiriakou connection. Cited in the complaint are Kiriakou emails to reporters that purportedly disseminated secret information, such as the identity of a CIA agent known as “Covert Officer A.” During recorded FBI questioning on the 12th of this month, he refuted said activity. An additional charge leveled against Kiriakou pertains to false statements he allegedly made to the Publication Review Board of the CIA, which oversees anything authored by a onetime CIA officer, in an effort to inject classified data into The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror, his 2010 memoir. Conviction could bring a lengthy prison stay stretching over decades. After being charged in an Alexandria, Virginia federal court, Kiriakou’s release was procured via an unsecured bond in the amount of $250,000.

ZAMBIAN OFFICIAL DEMANDS THREE ACCUSED CZECH SPIES WHO SKIPPED BAIL AND FLED TO HOMELAND RETURN FOR TRIAL

Agent Zero — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:00:46 +0000

Kennedy Sakeni, Zambia’s Interior Minister, has called on three Czech nationals who were to go on trial for espionage there this month, but jumped bail in December and subsequently turned up in their native Czech Republic, to go back and stand trial. Michal Vebr, Jiri Cetel, and Jan Coufal, employees of a Dutch exhibition logistics firm, were on a stopover in Zambia last October, following a business trip to South Africa, when they were arrested on suspicion of spying because of photographs they snapped outside military locations and the presidential palace. Diplomatic negotiations undertaken by the Czech government on behalf of the trio proved unsuccessful in securing their release. Vebr, Cetel, and Coufal were later granted bail but their passports were confiscated. The Czech Foreign Ministry revealed on January 1 that the three had come home but did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding their departure from Zambia. The latter country’s state radio in turn carried accounts of the escape of the purported spies to their homeland. Mr. Sakeni announced that a special police investigation was underway to ascertain exactly what had transpired. Intelligence experts have speculated that the getaway of Vebr, Cetel, and Coufal very probably was effected by means of false passports or an embassy vehicle.

Official Czech reaction to the current situation has for the most part fallen silent, with the Foreign Ministry and that country’s intelligence agencies declining comment. while Prime Minister Petr Necas emphasized that the highly confidential nature of the case precluded any disclosures. However, Justice Minister Jiri Pospisil declared that the three men will not face extradition to Zambia. He explained that the national constitution bars the involuntary extradition of Czech citizens abroad. Vebr, Cetel, and Coufal would be subject to extradition should there be the issuance of an international arrest warrant and travel outside the Czech Republic. Minister Pospisil stated that no extradition request had been made by the Zambian government. A strong possibility exists that the three Czechs will be tried in absentia and thereafter could be sentenced to a maximum of thirty years in prison if found guilty.

FORMER AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES EMPLOYEE SENTENCED FOR ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE

Agent Zero — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:59:33 +0000

Elliot Doxer, an ex employee of Akamai Technologies Inc. who entered a guilty plea to a charge of foreign economic espionage this past August, specifically to turning over trade secrets of his employer to an undercover FBI operative he thought was an Israeli agent, received a six month prison term and a $25,000 fine at a sentencing hearing in Massachusetts last month. The Brookline resident also was sentenced to house arrest for another six months. Federal prosecutors had requested a three year prison term. Doxer’s industrial espionage activities spanned a year and a half from 2009 to 2010, and entailed the attempt to peddle sensitive Akamai information to Israel. The company’s contracts that he instead unwittingly passed on to the FBI pertained to the Department of Homeland Security, a top aerospace company, a number of Department of Defense contractors, and the FBI as well. Said contracts were worth almost $10 million. Monetary compensation was not the only payment Doxer sought for the classified corporate data he offered for sale, as he intimated to an FBI contact the desire that the mother of one of his children be subjected to harsh retribution for his claimed torment.

EX BRITISH OFFICIAL CONFIRMS LONGTIME RUSSIAN ASSERTIONS THAT BRITISH AGENTS EMPLOYED FAKE ROCK IN THEIR MOSCOW OPERATIONS

Agent Zero — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:02:17 +0000

The documentary Putin, Russia and the West, which aired on the BBC the 19th of this month, incorporates the admission by former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, that the seemingly farfetched Russian allegations dating to 2006 of British use of a fake rock in a Moscow park for espionage, were indeed true. Russian state television coverage six years ago purported to exhibit four British operatives planting or recovering the already referred to fake rock, and uncovered the advanced communications devices contained therein. According to official Russian accounts, British agents and their Russian contacts relied on pocket-sized computers to download information to and from an apparatus concealed in the plastic boulder as they went by it, a method effective at 65 feet away at most and requiring solely one to two seconds. Tony Blair, prime minister at the time the Russian charges regarding the fake rock were first made, refused to respond, with the British government referring to the established practice against discourse on intelligence matters. Mr. Blair’s then Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, did not follow the customary procedure under the circumstances, and so he refrained from ordering the expulsion of British diplomats taking part in espionage activities because, he explained, their replacements might be more adept.
Mr. Powell’s disclosure marked the first official British confirmation of the fake rock affair, and he in turn accused the Russians of being aware of what was going on for awhile but calculating when to reveal the plot so as to countenance a clampdown on government opponents. The British Foreign Office, which administers the MI6 intelligence service, would not address the Powell statements. Britain’s ambassador posted to Russia in 2006 was Tony Brenton, and he likewise contended that the timing of exposure of the fake rock conspiracy was determined by political expediency. He described the subsequent striking deterioration in relations between London and Moscow, pointing out intimidation of diplomats, suits brought against British energy companies, and the poisoning death of dissident one time Russian security official Alexander Litvinenko in England.

CANADIAN NAVAL OFFICER FIRST TO BE CHARGED UNDER SECURITY OF INFORMATION ACT AND ENSUING REPORTS CLAIM TIES TO RUSSIA

Agent Zero — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:00:39 +0000

Sub-Lieutenant Jeffrey Paul Delisle, an intelligence officer in the Canadian Navy, holds the dubious distinction of being the initial espionage suspect charged under that country’s Security of Information Act, following his arrest by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police during the weekend of January 14th. The aforementioned legislation was enacted in 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and expanded the classification of secret information to include all data the government determined should be kept out of foreign hands. Delisle was taken into custody on suspicion of leaking information that could advance foreign interests at the expense of Canada’s. The nature of information supposedly turned over was not revealed, nor was the purported foreign recipient identified. An ongoing investigation will ascertain if national security was compromised. The first charge filed against Delisle was a single count of breach of trust covered by a section of the Criminal Code dealing with public officials, with a maximum penalty of a five year prison term. When he appeared in court last week for a scheduled bail hearing, he stood accused of two additional charges, those of passing on protected information and endeavoring to pass on protected information. A conviction could bring a life sentence. Bail proceedings were postponed until the 25th of this month.
Delisle’s arrest set the stage for what has been described as the most prominent spy affair in Canada for more than fifty years. Reports have surfaced that the undisclosed foreign entity to which he allegedly supplied information was Russia, beginning in July 2007 and continuing until the time of his arrest. During that timespan, Delisle’s postings to Ottawa, Kingston and lastly, Halifax, afforded him access to sensitive data. Russian officials have refuted the CTV News account that four of its embassy personnel were expelled by the Canadian government on the heels of the Delisle scandal, claiming instead that they departed Canada last year in accordance with usual procedure. Although there has been no Canadian confirmation of said expulsions, nevertheless, the current situation undoubtedly could worsen the existing strained relations between Canada and Russia relative to a number of issues, among which are Arctic sovereignty, human rights, and Russian transactions with Tehran.

CONVICTED CIA SPY IN IRAN DRAWS DEATH PENALTY

Agent Zero — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:59:22 +0000

Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, an ex Marine Arabic translator, was found guilty of being a CIA agent by an Iranian court, which handed down a death sentence, according to a state radio account last week. Specifically, the conviction entailed charges of spying for an enemy nation, serving as a CIA operative, and attempting to cast Iran as a participant in terrorism. It is not known precisely when Mr. Hekmati, American born and raised and with roots in Iran, was taken into custody, but news reports have narrowed the time of his arrest to late August or early September. Iranian officials contend he was given special training for his espionage assignment in Iran while his father maintains the reason for his trip there was to see his grandmothers. On the 18th of December, Iran’s state TV showed a video of Hekmati allegedly admitting his role in a conspiracy to penetrate that country’s Intelligence Ministry. Although he holds dual American-Iranian citizenship, Hekmati was tried as an Iranian since Iran’s laws fail to acknowledge dual citizenship. During a closed court hearing held late last month, prosecutors requested that the death sentence be imposed in this case.

Official American response has been the call for Hekmati’s release right away that was made by the U.S. State Department. The American government has requested that Swiss diplomats be permitted contact with him in prison. Switzerland acts as a substitute for the American government in American affairs in Iran because of the absence of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Iran. According to Iranian law, appeals must be initiated within twenty days of sentencing. No reports have surfaced of Hekmati going forward with an appeal. The official Iranian news agency Irna carried the statement of Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei, an Iranian judiciary spokesman, that said appeal would be heard by Iran’s Supreme Court.

TRIAL DATE SET FOR ONETIME INDIAN DIPLOMAT ACCUSED OF BEING PAKISTANI OPERATIVE

Agent Zero — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:39:45 +0000

March 22 was set by an Indian court this week as the start date for the trial of Madhuri Gupta, an erstwhile Second Secretary grade diplomat at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, on espionage and conspiracy charges related to allegations she had turned over classified information to Pakistani intelligence. The espionage charges against the officer in India’s Ministry of External Affairs were made pursuant to sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, while the criminal conspiracy charge stemmed from section 120B of India’s Penal Code. Ms. Gupta’s arrest in April of 2010 by Delhi Police’s Special Cell took place after Indian officials grew suspicious of her and placed her under surveillance, commencing in 2009. During the six months immediately prior to the arrest, Gupta was watched ever more closely until she was brought home on the ruse of discussions in conjunction with the SAARC summit occurring in Bhutan. Upon Gupta’s return, she was subjected to detention and questioning over a period of 2 to 3 days. The formal arrest encompassed claims of spying as well as leaking a number of significant documents. Accounts of Gupta’s Pakistani ties assert she was an agent for approximately two years.

SPECULATION ABOUNDS AS TO SUSPECTED SPY MISSION OF SPACEPLANE

Agent Zero — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:38:51 +0000

The mission of the top secret American spaceplane, the X-37B, called the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) as well, has come under increased scrutiny, leading to suppositions that it is being utilized for espionage. The unmanned spacecraft remains in orbit after a launching by the United States Air Force this past March, and has drawn the close attention of American and European optical tracking experts. While the Air Force maintains the X-37B serves in the testing of new technologies, the Pentagon would offer no comment on the vehicle’s purpose. The current issue of Spaceflight magazine, a publication of the British Interplanetary Society, carries a report asserting that the OTV’s mission very likely is spying on the Chinese, specifically China’s spacelab, Tiangong-1. The aforementioned optical tracking experts have observed the almost duplicate orbits of the two spacecraft. Dr. David Baker, editor of Spaceflight, further contends that “space-to-space surveillance” can be achieved by means of highly sophisticated sensors and sensor suites, which the X-37B might be using. The United States has longstanding suspicions regarding China’s space program, in large part due to the indistinct demarcation between the military and civilian nature of its projects.

Brian Weeden, who occupies a technical advisory position with the Secure World Foundation, in addition to being a onetime orbital specialist with the United States Air Force, discounts the Chinese angle to the espionage theory, instead claiming that a much more probable scenario is that the X-37B is keeping watch over the Middle East. He explained to BBC News that the orbit of a spy satellite is normally polar, permitting surveillance of the entire world, but that the OTV’s orbit is much more restricted, covering only a narrow band of latitudes. Mr. Weeden emphasized that the Middle East and Afghanistan comprise the sole sources of interest in the just referred to band. Moreover, he ascribed the extremely corresponding paths of the X-37B and the Tiangong-1 to coincidence, and made the point that the United States has sufficient capability to conduct surveillance of China’s spacelab without resorting to the OTV.

INDUSTRIAL SPY SENTENCED IN FIRST ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE CASE IN INDIANA

Agent Zero — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:37:55 +0000

Kexue Huang, a scientist who pled guilty in October of last year to industrial espionage carried out while an employee of Dow Chemical Co. and Cargill Inc., received a prison term of seven years and three months at his sentencing on December 21 in Indianapolis before United States District Judge William T. Lawrence. The landmark action was the first prosecuted in Indiana under the Economic Espionage Act instituted 16 years ago, which prohibits purloining trade secrets thereafter destined for foreign hands, and numbers among only eight such proceedings throughout the United States over that time span. Mr. Huang, a Chinese national, admitted trade-secret theft in conjunction with the organic pesticide research he conducted at Dow’s Indianapolis site during the period of 2003 to 2008. He passed on said information to a minimum of two others, including a researcher at China’s Hunan Normal University who afterwards worked in Dresden, Germany. Huang subsequently assumed the position of biotechnologist four years ago at Cargill, the agricultural titan, where he appropriated a crucial ingredient in a then recently developed food product that he later delivered to a Hunan Normal University student.
Huang had been held in federal custody following his indictment. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Indianapolis office, Tim Horty, disclosed that Huang would be required to begin his prison term right away. In addition, Mr. Horty stated during a phone interview that the government would initiate deportation proceedings against Huang once his sentence is served. Economic reverses connected to his espionage activities totaled more than 7 million dollars, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

KUWAIT REFUTES REPORTS OF SPY SWAP WTIH TEHRAN

Agent Zero — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:57:09 +0000

In the wake of the December 18th release of two Kuwaitis from a 36 day detention by Iranian authorities, Kuwait denied that a deal had been reached for it to release two Iranians found guilty of spying. The two detained Kuwaitis, lawyer and journalist Adel Al Yahya, and TV cameraman Raed Al Majid, first were accused of espionage and afterwards of visa violations. The dismantling of a spy network in Kuwait in 2010 led to the imposition of the death penalty for two Iranians and a life sentence for a third. The convictions are being appealed and that decision should be rendered this month. The members of the aforementioned espionage network underwent the same progression of events in Bahrain, as they experienced arrest, trial, and conviction. Said island kingdom claims Iran has sought to foment dissension among the Shia majority directed towards its Sunni rulers.

The Iranian news agency Irna’s coverage of the release of Al Yahya and Al Majid included the assertion by Iran’s deputy foreign minister for the Middle East and Africa, Hossein Amirabdollahian, that it was meant to prompt reciprocal action on the part of Kuwaiti officials. He went on to contend that there had been a pledge given by Kuwait’s government to arrange the release of Iranian detainees in the not too distant future. The apparent response of the Kuwaiti foreign ministry deputy Mohammad Al Roumi to this statement was the declaration made to the daily Al Seyassah, that there existed neither a deal between the two nations nor a connection between their respective cases.