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Italian Prosecution Looking for More Spy Conviction ...
An earlier ruling by an Italian court that convicted 23 American and 2 Italian citizens has been appealed. The defendants were accused of kidnapping a terrorism suspect. Now, the Italian prosecution is trying to reverse some of the lower court’s decisions. They have opened an appeal in hopes of incriminating the 5 other Italian agents who had been acquitted…
Are spies on the heels of WikiLeaks?
It appears likely that Australian spy agencies tailed WikiLeaks founder and spokesman Julian Assange, but as he travels around the world, hiding out and leaking classified, sensitive information about various governments’ activities, are other intelligence agencies tapping into…
Dead Russian Spy: Accidental Drowning or Murder?
52-year-old General Yuri Ivanov’s decomposing body washed up on the shores of southern Turkey on August 12. On August 30, an official Russian eulogy reported that he had drowned while swimming “several days ago.” Various sources indicate he had been missing for ten days when his body was turned into the authorities by Turkish fisherman from…
Obama Forces U.S. Spy Chief to Retire?
On Thursday May 20, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair resigned from his post as head of the sixteen agencies that together create the U.S. intelligence community. Although his resignation was originally attributed to his security…
Canadian Spy Agency Says Domestic Terror Cells Pose ...
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) says that the biggest security risk facing Canadians today is homegrown terrorism, like that masterminded by Toronto 18, a group charged in 2006 for planning a terrorist attack against Canada as a payback for the country’s military involvement in Afghanistan.
Canada, like the U.S., has opened its doors to many immigrants…
CIA to Improve Intelligence Gathering Techniques
Just about everything about the CIA is classified – including its budget – but occasionally we get a little insight into how it’s spending its money: This week, the agency announced plans to pour millions of dollars over the next five years into improving intelligence gathering techniques, technologies and communications.
Number 1 on the agenda is upping…
N Korea’s assassination plans stalled
It’s no secret that refugees from North Korea’s oppressive government are streaming in droves to South Korea, looking for a place where they can speak freely and find enough food to subsist on. But we bet you didn’t know that every refugee seeking a safe haven in South Korea gets screened and interviewed by intelligence services…
Italy arrests Iranian spies smuggling weapons
Iran’s steadily progressing nuclear program is top of the terrorist/espionage pops and it comes as no surprise that the country’s got its spies on the hunt for weapons and nuclear materials to import into Iran illegally.
In a nutshell, Iran is under an international UN arms embargo, so they’re having a tough time getting their hands on…
White House issues report on Xmas screw-up
President Obama is proactively addressing the intelligence snafu that gave Nigerian Abdulmutallab the opportunity to blow up a plane heading to Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas day, 2009. Luck stepped in, and the bomb…
Obama open about U.S. Intelligence ‘screw-up’
On December 25, 2009, a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was allowed to board Delta flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, even though he had explosives, which he planned to detonate en route to Detroit, sewn into…
Bracing for the worst
By Haggai Carmon
While the world eyes Dubai’s failing economy with great concern, across the bay, Iran sees opportunity. Dubai is the only oil-free city-state of the United Arab Emirates. Until mid-November, it was best known for its spectacular economy and luxurious high-rises.
Intelligence services the world over, however, have long regarded Dubai as a rat’s nest of…
Blackwater CEO indignant
CEO Erik Prince of Blackwater, the infamous company contracted by the CIA to develop a targeted assassination program (a.k.a. hit squad for hire), recently spoke with Vanity Fair, sharing information about the top-secret…
British intel helps thwart terror attack on NY subw ...
9/11 may seem a distant memory, but as the recent arrest of Najibullah Zazi – an airport shuttle bus driver with plans to detonate homemade bombs on the New York subway – shows, Al Qaeda still has its eye on the Big Apple. It turns out…
Prison sentences for Americans in Italy CIA renditi ...
In Italy the trial against those Italian and American agents believed to be involved in an alleged CIA rendition operation continues. The Italian prosecutor has…
U.S. spy chief reveals spy strategy
Tuesday night, U.S. Intelligence Director Dennis Blair shared with the public his new official spy strategy for U.S. intelligence, which includes more collaboration between the 16 different spy agencies, increased…
See through Oz’s new spy HQ
And we do mean literally. Australia is sparing no expense on the new Canberra-based headquarters of its domestic spy agency ASIO, which will be the 2nd largest building in the city. The project’s just begun – tell-tale signs mark…
CIA under investigation
Despite protests (we’ve already conducted an internal investigation; employees who committed abuses have already been duly reprimanded) and extenuating circumstances (the CIA was up against a then very unknown enemy…
Egypt: Trial of Hezbollah spies in motion
This Sunday, Egypt brought 26 alleged Hezbollah agents to the stand, where they were formally accused of passing information to a foreign organization, possession of explosive material and planning terrorist attacks on Egyptian…
CIA’s contractor conundrum
The CIA’s been under a microscope lately, and Director Leon Panetta didn’t help matters by coming clean to Congress this June about a terrorist assassination operation that went on for seven years (unbeknownst to Congress). Worse yet is…
UK spy chief says British intelligence not guilty o ...
Allegations are mounting – have MI5 and MI6 agents been involved in the extreme interrogation and torture of terror suspects abroad? It would not be shocking, given the threat of terrorism, the pressure to stop it in its tracks, and…
Moroccan-born ‘Belgian spy’ gets life sentence
Although he claims that his contact with terrorist organizations the world over was all part of his undercover work for the Belgian government, the Moroccan courts believe otherwise and have jailed Abdelkader Belliraj (51) for the remainder of his life. He has been convicted of leading a terrorist…
Seven ‘spies’ beheaded in Somalia
In Somalia today, seven people were executed by the fanatic Islamic insurgency for being spies and followers of Christianity. The group responsible for the beheadings is Al Shabaab (Youth in Arabic), a rebel faction affiliated with Al Qaeda. Al Shabaab is committed to overthrowing the Somali government and imposing…
Former CIA spy laments Milan rendition
An ex-U.S. spy – once a CIA station chief in Italy – recently spoke to the Italian paper Il Giornale about his involvement in a 2003 CIA rendition heist, which took a Muslim cleric (Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr) suspected of terrorist involvement from his home in…
Debate on FBI use of informants in mosques
Recently, several news stories have made it more than clear that the FBI is planting informants in mosques around the U.S. to spy on fellow worshipers. There’s the case of the mosque informant who claims the FBI failed to pay him for spying on mosques in Southern California and also that of the homegrown terrorist plot in…
Ex-Chinese spy appeals to stay in Bangkok
For once – a Chinese spy caper that has nothing to do with the United States. Beijing has been pressuring Bangkok to extradite Li Yuzhou, a confessed Chinese spy and dissenter, who has been accused of…