intelandsecurity - Tumblr blog

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

The secret battlefield

Bollywood blockbuster Raazi and a controversial new book by former RAW and ISI chiefs have brought the focus back on the deadly espionage game between India and Pakistan.

By Ravi Shankar

Bollywood blockbuster Raazi and a controversial new book by former RAW and ISI chiefs have brought the focus back on the deadly espionage game between India and Pakistan, the sacrifices of agents who prized patriotism over their own lives and the political interests that crippled Indian intelligence capabilities

The spy thriller Raazi, which has just swept into the `100-crore club, is not just a true story. It is also an allegory of the chessboard of intrigue on which Pakistan and India compete to capture military and strategic superiority over the subcontinent. In the high voltage standoff scene between RAW spy Sehmet played by Alia Bhatt and her Pakistani Army officer husband Iqbal played by Vicky Kaushal, Sehmet says tearfully, “Watan ke aage kuchh nahi... khud bhi nahi (Nothing matters more than the country, not even oneself).”

Her words sum up the essence of espionage—patriotism is worthy of the ultimate sacrifice. Little is known of what happens behind the black curtain of spycraft— Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spies abducted or killed and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) targets identified and executed in war zones like Kashmir and Balochistan. Additional players in the subcontinental espionage milling pond are the CIA, Mossad, MI6, China’s MSS, Russia’s FSB and a host of agencies from smaller nations. Deception is the name of the game, as the motto of the world’s most feared spy agency Mossad sums up the Old Testament spirit, ‘By deception, thou shall wage war.’

Shadow Players

A controversial book released last month The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace involving former RAW boss Amarjit Singh Dulat and ISI chief Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani has the intelligence community in a flap. The Pak Army has charged Durrani with violating its Military Code of Conduct and has forbidden him to leave the country. The book contains an embarrassing revelation that Kulbhushan Yadav’s arrest was an attempt by the ISI to deflect world attention from Pakistan’s Balochistan problem and the connection between the Pathankot terror attack and the ISI.

The spy game between India and Pakistan has many ramifications. In mid-May, former diplomat Madhuri Gupta was jailed for spying for ISI. On 28 March 2017, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Hansraj Ahir, told Rajya Sabha that India had arrested 33 Pakistani spies in 2016. India, however, does not execute Pakistani spies. But Jadhav has been sentenced to death in a Field General Court Marshal. Sarabjit Singh was murdered in a Lahore jail in 2013.

Sheikh Shamim was hanged in 1999. A very few like Kashmir Singh were lucky; he spent 35 years on death row and was pardoned by Pak President Pervez Musharraf in 2008. “I was a spy and did my duty,” declared Kashmir Singh, who had pretended to be deranged while in prison. “Even Pakistan authorities failed to get information from me,” he said proudly. Of such stories, Ravindra Kaushik’s stands out as a unique example of courage and patriotism. Identified as a potential asset for his theatrical abilities by RAW after being spotted acting in a play, Kaushik was trained as a spy, who then infiltrated Pakistan, enrolled in Karachi University under the alias Nabi Ahmad Shakir and joined the Pakistan Army where he was promoted to Major.

For nearly 30 years, he kept feeding sensitive information to his handlers, including the plans for a Pakistan invasion across the Rajasthan border until he was caught and executed. A former RAW official said his inputs helped India win many confrontations against Pakistan, including the Kargil War. Pakistani spy Mohammed Kalam aka Ejaz’s story is similar to Kaushik’s, though not as tragic. Chosen for his interest in photography, ISI trained him in codes and military formation signs and smuggled him into India via Dhaka, helped by the Pakistan High Commission in Bangladesh.

He opened a photo studio with ISI funds and began spying on Indian Army and Air Force movements which had bases there. The ISI network in India is so well entrenched that Kalam was able to get an Aadhaar card, Voter’s ID and driving licence. He also sent video recordings of the landing of a Mirage 2000 on the Yamuna Expressway in May 2015. There is no dearth of traitors on both sides. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) says many Indians who travel to Pakistan to visit relatives legally are trapped with either money or sexual blackmail. In October 2016, Pak spy Bodh Raj was arrested in Jammu with SIM cards and Indian troop deployment maps in Kashmir. Spooks don’t always use high tech; Raj’s arrest revealed the ISI uses carrier pigeons to take messages to and fro between Pakistan and India.

The Doval Factor

The Current National Security The current National Security Advisor (NSA), Ajit Doval, spent around seven years as an Indian spy in Pakistan. During a function at Vidarbha, he related how he would attend a dargah regularly to keep his cover as a Muslim. One day, he was spotted by a bearded old man who called him a Hindu. Though he denied it, the man pointed out a hole in Doval’s ear for an earring. The present NSA replied that he was born a Hindu who had later converted to Islam. The old man took him home and showed idols of Durga and Shiva hidden in a cupboard.

He was a Hindu, living in disguise in Pakistan. Doval does not reveal anything further, though the old man would have made an excellent intelligence asset for RAW. Veterans also say Pakistan gets away with espionage transgressions more than India, simply because India is an accountable democracy while the military controls Islamabad and funds terror activity worldwide. The Spy Chronicles speculates that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Doval are literally a single entity when it comes to deciding India’s Pak policy.

Durrani said Pakistan believes Doval would love to come to Pakistan if invited, but Islamabad would lose face if he cancels at the last minute. There are times when the Ministry of External Affairs or RAW miscalculate. There exists between India and Pakistan an unwritten 13-year code of conduct that any ‘outed’ diplomat is allowed to leave for home with bag and baggage unhindered.

In November 2016, in an unprecedented exhibition of bravado, Indian agencies broke this rule and ambushed, detained, interrogated and expelled Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar. Pakistan immediately expelled an Indian employee in the Islamabad mission. India retaliated by ordering Pakistan to unilaterally withdraw six of its diplomats, saying Akhtar had ‘confessed’ they were spies. Infuriated, Pakistan named eight Indian diplomats and mission staffers in Islamabad as spies, burning their alleged cover, thereby rendering them useless to operate in any country. “There was some courtesy between agents, especially those working under diplomatic cover. It’s less now,” says an IB officer.

THE AFGHAN BLUNDER Senior officials in the Cabinet Secretariat suggest that the intelligence agencies of India, the US, the UK, Israel, France and other terrorism-affected countries are closely working together to monitor ISI activities. Says a senior Israeli diplomat, now retired, who was posted in Delhi in the late 2000s, “Indian intelligence agencies are among the five best in the world. Their information has helped prevent many terror attacks in major Western cities.”

The late 1980s and 1990s were crucial years for RAW. Another former Israeli diplomat who worked in Delhi in the eighties and now serves at a training facility in Tel Aviv says even in the ’70s when India and Israel had no diplomatic relations, cooperation between agencies was unhindered since both had a common enemy in Pakistan. He says, “Geopolitics then was a complex affair. Foreign policy depends a lot on intelligence inputs. Everyone was paranoid. Delhi was a nest of spy activity, with CIA and KGB at each other’s throats. The State Department hated India.” Afghanistan was occupied by Soviet forces and India was pro-USSR. The Americans supported Pakistan, through which it was arming the Mujahideen. Everyone wanted to know what India was thinking because Afghanistan is the most strategic country in the region. In 2001, after the Soviets withdrew and the Mujahideen executed Afghan President Najibullah, it was suddenly free for all.

India faced an intelligence crisis since its only contacts were the Pashtuns and no information was available on other tribal warlords. Indian intelligence opened clandestine ties with mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Masood in 1994. Masood was fighting on two fronts—against the Saudi-US-Pakistan-supported Ittehad group and Hezb-e-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. According to former diplomat MK Bhadrakumar, Pakistan Interior Minister Nasirullah Babar, known as the father of the Taliban, gave his fighters the necessary support to fill the power vacuum in Kabul. In late 1992, India botched a chance to establish a working relationship with Taliban president Burhanuddin Rabbani of Afghanistan who had asked to refuel his plane in Delhi on his way to Jakarta to attend the Non-Aligned Movement Summit meeting in September. AfPak experts presume he wished to use India as a counter-force against Pakistan. But Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao procrastinated and the opportunity was lost, says Bhadrakumar. In the end, all espionage comes down to one thing—business.

Afghanistan is everyone’s business. The US is still a partner in Pakistan’s “war on terror” albeit a tentative one in the Trump era. South Block sources estimate America gives Pakistan about $1 billion a year in the form of Coalition Support Funds (CSF). Pakistan’s State Bank announced CSF has even reduced Pak’s current account deficit. India on its part has promised $1 billion in assistance to Afghanistan, which provides a route to energy-sufficient Central Asia, since the transit of Indian products through Pakistani territory is prohibited. COVERT POWER

While diplomacy is the promotion of national interest through well-established norms, espionage works for the same purpose through undercover action that includes kidnappings, assassinations and sabotage. Security expert Jaydev Ranade recalls that RAW was so effective in Pakistan in the 1970s that the-then ISI chief called his Indian counterpart to talk truce in unprecedented move. Establishment support is crucial to any intelligence agency. Many books have been written by retired intelligence officers on operations conducted by IB and RAW. The Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane by former operative B Raman, who worked in Intelligence for 26 years, describes how RAW developed its covert capabilities in Pakistan within two years, thanks to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s backing.

Writes Raman, “Covert action capability is an indispensable tool for any State having external adversaries. Any intelligence agency worth its salt will have a covert action capability ready to use, when necessary.” Meanwhile, The Spy Chronicles recalls the cordiality that once prevailed between senior intelligence officers of both countries, who belong to the Partition generation and share a modicum of emotional attachment. Dulat recounts chatting with Durrani in Islamabad over glasses of Black Label whiskey—unimaginable today owing to the almost total Islamic radicalisation of the top ranks of the Pakistan Army. RAW agents have reportedly conducted successive anti-terrorist operations on foreign soil. In 2009, RAW and IB launched a joint operation to conduct 400 snatch operations in Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh to catch and bring to India escaped militants, including Sheikh Abdul Khwaja, conspirator in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. More recently, Pakistan news reports said a retired Pakistani Army officer, who had participated in Jadhav’s kidnapping and incarceration, was taken by Indian intelligence agencies near the Nepal border in retaliation.

POLITICAL SABOTEURS

Over the past few decades, Indian intelligence capabilities have been eroded by political ambitions. It started in 1977, when Morarji Desai cut the RAW budget by 30 percent and shared details of the agency’s network in Pakistan with Zia-ul-Haq and information gathered on the Kahuta nuclear facility. A RAW agent had procured a hair sample from a saloon in Kahuta where Pak scientists went for haircuts. Tests revealed the hair had signs of high radiation and bomb-grade uranium. The agent also obtained a copy of the blueprint of the nuclear plant.

Morarji refused permission to RAW to sabotage Pak’s nuclear plans. He then refused permission to Israeli warplanes to refuel in India on a mission to bomb the Kahuta facility. In retrospect, Morarji is singularly responsible for the nuclear threat in the region. The next fatal blow to RAW came from 10-month Prime Minister IK Gujral, who banned all covert operations in 1997. He also gave out details of all RAW agents in Pakistan, who were promptly tortured and executed on the directions of Gen Ziauddin, then DG, ISI.

The last blow was the dismantling of the Technical Services Division in 2012 and the persecution of its chief Major Hunny Bakshi as a result of inter-service rivalry between factions of the Indian Army. “Then the Pakistanis were so scared of RAW that if they hit us once in India, we would hit back ten times,” says a Military Intelligence (MI) officer in the know. Another spy film released this year, Aiyaary shows vested interests trying to sabotage a similar intelligence outfit. In a dramatic scene, a Kashmiri double agent is killed for treachery. The Indian spymaster and the traitor have a final cordial drinking session, followed by a last request by the doomed man to have noodles. After the meal, he is executed with a single shot to the head. An MI officer serving in Kashmir suggests it could well be a true story.

Loyalty is the ultimate test in spycraft—loyalty to the nation and the mysterious brotherhood of spooks. In the treacherous terrain of the secret war fought in the shadows, unnamed men and women continue to adhere to a code that has been in operation since the beginning of nations, “Watan ke aage kuchh nahi... khud bhi nahi.”

The Great Game

Afghanistan has always been the theatre of geopolitical control, espionage and wars. The Great Game that started in January 1830 was meant to map and control the vast tract of land that included Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Persia, Turkey, Tibet and the Himalayan route into Central Asia. It was a grim game of death and war that involved the British Empire, Russia and Germany. Its echoes still determine the violent politics and policy of the region.

A short history of esponage

Egyptian hieroglyphs record spies in the royal court, military and among slaves. Egyptian spies were also the first to use poison to kill. Spies of Egypt, Greece and Rome used codes, disguised writing, invisible ink and hidden pockets. Ancient Greeks used complex signals to secretly communicate among outposts and towers. In the Middle East and Byzantium, civilian intelligence agents gathered information about foreign armies and economies from traders, merchants, sailors, and businessmen. Fifth-century records mention the use of spies in the Indus Valley civilisation.

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and Kautilya’s Arthasatra have extensive details on their use in times of both war and peace. Records show Rome’s intelligence agency warned Julius Caesar of the plot against his life, which he fatally ignored. Roman military intelligence was used to conquer hostile and alien lands. Political espionage was common.

The feared Roman secret police, the Frumentarii, spied on politicians and commoners alike. The Middle Ages necessitated the use of couriers, translators, and royal messengers acting as spies who used cryptography and steganography. The Catholic Church created a massive spy network as it expanded control over Europe. Elizabethan Intelligence chiefs hired linguists, scholars, authors, engineers and scientists to procure and analyse information. Telescopes, magnifying glasses, camera obscura, and clocks were used for remote surveillance. In the 19th century, colonial powers employed secret agents to gather information about unrest in their holdings. As the industrial age dawned, government spies infiltrated labour organisations, which had spies of their own.

Technology progressed rapidly, and the invention of the daguerreotype in 1837 and the Morse Code were game changers until the electronic era dawned with telegraph, radio, computers, hacking and satellites as intelligence-gathering aids. Today espionage comparatively involves more technical sophistication and research and analysis than in-field operations.

#RAW ISI India Pakistan Intelligence Spying

0 notes

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

Lebanese #intelligence service arrests Syrian reporter near Lebanon-Syria border

Beirut, May 30, 2018--The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern about the arrest of Abdel Hafez al-Houlani, a reporter for the Syrian pro-opposition news website Zaman al-Wasl.

Four men in plainclothes on May 24 entered al-Houlani's tent in the Wafa al-Umani refugee camp in the northeastern Lebanese city of Arsal, 77 miles (123 km) northeast of Beirut, identified themselves as members of the Lebanese intelligence ntelligence service, and took al-Houlani to an unknown destination, according to his employer, news reports, and the Syrian Journalists Association.

Although charges have not been filed against al-Houlani, news reports citing an anonymous Lebanese intelligence official said that the journalist was arrested because of his media activities.

According to an article from the journalist's employer, al-Houlani was transferred to the Defense Ministry prison in Beirut, but the article did not specify when he was transferred.

CPJ was unable to verify independently al-Houlani's whereabouts.

"We are concerned about the detention of Syrian journalist Abdel Hafez al-Houlani and call on Lebanese authorities to release him immediately," said CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney from New York City. "Rather than arresting correspondents, Lebanese authorities should do everything in their power to guarantee journalists' safety."

The Lebanese General Security and Internal Security Forces did not immediately reply to CPJ's emailed request for comment.

In 2012, al-Houlani began contributing to Zaman al-Wasl, which was founded in 2005 by activists in Homs opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and became a staff reporter in 2013. He mainly covered human interest stories and socialissues involving refugees; he did not cover Syrian or Lebanese politics, Mohammad Hamdan, Zaman al-Wasl's managing editor, told CPJ.

Hamdan also said that, following al-Houlani's detention, the Lebanese military intelligence seized the journalist's car from the Wafa al-Umani camp and interrogated a man close to al-Houlani.

Al-Houlani, who is originally from Homs and moved to Lebanon in 2012, also works as a social worker and runs a small care center for elderly people in Arsal, according to news reports.

#Intelligence

0 notes

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

Diplomat's Licence To Murder

Diplomats’ licence to murder

Pakistan should devise a strategy to drive diplomats according to the international code of conduct

Asad Hussain

JUNE 2, 2018

The term “diplomatic immunity” refers to a principle of international law that limits the degree to which officials and employees of governments and international organisations are subject to the authority of police officers and judges in the country of assignment. Does this mean that foreign officials are the one who give us a clear definition of “discrimination”, as is often assumed? Not quite, or maybe.

Diplomatic immunity is a legal cover for diplomats who provide services abroad under the Vienna Convention of 1961. History reveals that foreign messengers and diplomats have always enjoyed reciprocal immunity in the exercise of their functions. Therefore, Colonel Hall is subject to this immunity.

Colonel Hall drove under the influence and accelerated through a red light, which caused the unfortunate accident. Colonel Hall remains inside the US embassy unless he has been secretly removed from the country. The Pakistani government has its hands tied behind its back because Americans are right to claim immunity. Pakistan has so far appealed to the ambassador of the United States and expressed its official dissatisfaction (persona non grata). Local police went even further by requesting a travel ban for US diplomats while the incident was under further investigation.

Public sentiment reflects the view that US officials stationed in Pakistan have little respect for national laws

For what matters, it is a black and white case. First, the CCTV video is there to see everything. This is not a very flattering video, and we cannot deny the transgressions that took place. Why was Colonel Hall driving alone and had no driver? This entire incident could have been avoided simply by having an official escort or a driver for your car, at least. Second, Colonel Hall was eligible for diplomatic immunity and took advantage of it. And that’s it.

Every year, more than 10,000 people die in drunk driving accidents on American roads. As such, drunk driving laws are very strict in the United States, and can lead to suspension of driving license, heavy fines and even time in jail. In addition, the US traffic laws are very stringent, with motorists being punished not only for breaking traffic lights but also for crossing stop signs without stopping completely.

However, US diplomats feel free to participate in drunk driving on Pakistani roads. Not only that, even when they are caught in the act, with their misdeeds captured by the camera, they are still allowed to go through sublime laws such as diplomatic immunity.

The Diplomatic Enclave of Islamabad is a venerable fortress whose entrance is heavily guarded. It houses all the embassies of the first world, and it is almost impossible to enter. Even when they are going to conduct interviews to get a visa or passports are being sent, people have to board a special bus off the entrance and pick it up at the embassy of their choice. As such, the ordinary Pakistani has already repressed ill-will towards foreign diplomats, and this negativity is what is now driving the vehement street protests as well.

Under international law, diplomatic agents are entitled to the privileges and immunities associated with their status and are, therefore, exempt from both the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the receiving state. If there are some exceptions concerning private real estate and certain acts relating to the private commercial activity, a diplomatic agent, under article 31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, may not be prosecuted or punished by a host state, police orders and regulations cannot be enforced against him either.

In the current scenario, however, it seems that Pakistan probably will not use any of these approaches to hold Emmanuel responsible for his criminal imprudence. Recently, the Trump administration reduced aid and threatened to take punitive measures against Pakistan for its alleged support of the Afghan Taliban insurgency; it also managed to place Pakistan on a global terrorism watch list in June. Of the mixed reaction of the Foreign Office, it seems that Pakistan does not want to oppose.

Therefore, given the reasons for many cases that have happened, some suggestions are worth mentioning. First, the provisions of article 41 of the Convention should be reinterpreted diligently and strengthened as necessary, so that respect for the rule of law and the government of the host state becomes legally binding. Second, the United Nations should establish new guidelines to preserve the basic concept of diplomatic immunity, while establishing reasonable limits on who is entitled to immunity.

From the perspective of “equality before the law”, this immunity seems very unfair not because it seeks to protect diplomats abroad with special privileges, but because it often exceeds its limits to invade the life and dignity of others. There is no doubt that the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations was indeed the pioneer. However, now is the time to review the changes based on global demands. An effort towards a revised convention would be sustainable for both the country in question and the victims. Ultimately, it is suggested that effective and pragmatic policies be designed to ensure the integration of a robust dispute resolution mechanism within the framework of the Vienna Conventions.

The solution and the prevention of this crisis are the same as for all the other problems that affect Pakistan: strong leadership and sustained democracy. As these two pillars merge into society, the fabric of the nation will grow stronger and inspire you with respect. Here we hope that the upcoming elections will generate strong leadership and good luck for the country.

As a Muslim country, we should follow the principle of equality as Islam is the religion of equality. We can take guidance from Quran in which Allah Almighty mentioned the solutions to all problems. In the eyes of Almighty Allah, all people are equal, but they are definitely not identical in the sense of abilities, potentials, ambitions, wealth and so on. Islam is the religion of peace and equality, and it always spread the message of equality among Muslims because all Muslims are equal in the eyes of Almighty Allah.

“O humanity, indeed We have created you from male and female, and have made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Indeed, the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted” [Quran 49:13]

The writer is a Quetta based columnist and can be reached at [email protected]

Published in Daily Times, June 2nd 2018.

#pakistan #diplomacy

0 notes

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

German intelligence service in the dock over taps on cables at data centre

De-Cix says BND taps at Frankfurt hub are illegal as they capture domestic communications

Wed, May 30, 2018, 20:20

Derek Scally

in Berlin

The grounds of the BND in Berlin. A former intelligence chief has warned that without telecommunication surveillance in Frankfurt and elsewhere the BND could “close up shop”. Photograph: Getty Images

Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the BND, usually operates abroad in the shadows – but on Wednesday it found its practices in the dock in Leipzig.

The operator of the world’s largest internet hub has gone to court, claiming BND taps on cables in its Frankfurt data centre are illegal because they also capture German domestic communications.

“We have grave doubts about the legality of the current practice,” said the German Commercial Internet Exchange (De-Cix) in a statement on Wednesday.

“We consider ourselves under obligation to our customers to work towards a situation in which strategic surveillance of their telecommunications only takes place in a legal manner.”

De-Cix says its Frankfurt exchange is the world’s largest, bringing together 1,200 communication lines from around the world: China, Russia, the Middle East and Africa. At peak times the facility – spread across 19 data centres – reportedly consumes more electricity than Frankfurt airport and handles more than 6 terabits of data per second.

At crucial points, however, the BND has inserted so-called “prism” devices into the fibre-optic cables, diverting a copy of all data to BND servers.

Company lawyer Sven-Erik Heun accused the BND, and the federal interior ministry that oversees its work, of “choosing the biggest pond to go fishing in”.

De-Cix management said its lawsuit, at Germany’s highest administrative court, is about seeking “judicial clarification and…legal certainty for our customers and our company”.

‘Accomplice’

A member of the company management board, Klaus Landefeld, is more outspoken, telling the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily that the firm did not want to be an “accomplice” to mass BND surveillance.

De-Cix – a consortium with members that include Deutsche Telekom, the former German state telecoms company, Google and Ebay – says it feels bound by article 10 of the German post-war constitution guaranteeing the privacy of communications.

German wiretap laws allow the BND to capture foreign communications passing through German territory. In the 1990s, however, Germany’s constitutional court outlawed widespread data dragnets, obliging the BND to capture data in a targeted way – and no more than 20 per cent of total traffic.

In addition, BND is forbidding from intercepting German citizens’ communications. Yet the prism technology, said to be in use in the Frankfurt data centre since 2009, copies everything, and is unable to separate foreign and domestic communications. The BND says it uses data filters for this, but there is no independent confirmation that this is the case.

The German agency is not alone in such practices, with whistleblower Edward Snowden revealing widespread communications tapping both by US and UK intelligence services.

Major junctions

Having one of the internet’s major junctions on its territory has made life easy for Germany’s BND. And a former intelligence chief has warned that without telecommunication surveillance in Frankfurt and elsewhere the BND could “close up shop”.

Yet Germany’s history of two 20th century dictatorships has left mass surveillance a sensitive issue, particularly after the Snowden revelations. That the BND is sucking up the world’s communications – and possibly sharing them with partner agencies including the BND in the US – has seen the opposition Green Party lead calls for more moderate data surveillance.

#bnd #germany #intelligence

0 notes

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

Australia calls for intel. review after report on Chinese espionage made public

After a turbulent week in Australian politics, contents of a 2016 classified report on a decades long campaign of subversion and interference by Beijing is causing more turbulence for Australian-Chinese relations 604

By Duncan DeAeth,Taiwan News, Staff Writer 2018/05/31 18:00

Australia PM Malcolm Turnbull of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop (By Associated Press)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – After a turbulent week in Australian politics, with controversy and debate swirling around issues of espionage and undue Chinese influence, new developments point to even more controversy ahead.

On May 29, Australian media reported a national news story revealing the contents of a classified report on China’s “brazen” and “aggressive” interference in Australian politics over the past decade.

The contents of the government report was part of an investigation that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered in 2016, to address the serious concern of foreign interference, and to determine the extent of such deleterious activities within Australian politics.

In 2017, Turnbull declared that for security purposes the report would remain confidential. However, portions of that report, were reported by Australian this week and has shocked members of the public that had been unaware of the extent of the problem.

Turnbull previously stated that "it's fair to say that our system as a whole had not grasped the nature and the magnitude of the threat.”

Among many worrying findings in the report, it stated that Chinese agents and their confederates have been actively pursuing a campaign of infiltration into Australian politics for over a decade, and that even local councils had been targeted and successfully infiltrated.

The original inquiry was headed by Turnbull’s former advisor John Garnaut, who spoke before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee in March, noting that the Chinese are strategic, patient, and “very good at” political infiltration and shaping public opinion.

Garnaut also warned that “China's activities have become so brazen and so aggressive that we can't ignore it any longer," reports ABC.

On May 30, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) announced that after discovering substantial evidence of foreign political influence in Australia’s political process, and credible information on terrorist threats, that the ASIO would begin a national investigation, reportedly what will be the largest review of national security and the intelligence community in over four decades, and is expected to last 18 months.

Last week, the head of the ASIO, Duncan Lewis, stated before the Australian Senate that China represents an unprecedented threat of foreign influence in the country, stating that "foreign actors covertly attempt to influence and shape the views of members of the Australian public, the Australian media and officials in the Australian government, as well as members of diaspora communities,” reports Business Insider.

Politicians in Australia are deeply divided on the issue, and it has become one of the most sensitive political topics in recent months, and politicians appear to be forming into camps termed either “China Hawks” or “Panda Huggers.”

After the turbulence of recent China-Australia relations, and the leaking of the report this week by Australian Media, Attorney General Christian Porter stated that "The Prime Minister considered that now is the time to have a top to tail review of all of the national intelligence community agencies," reports CNN.

With legislation already on the table in the Australian Parliament targeting Chinese influence and possible espionage activity, the announcement from the ASIO and Attorney General of a massive review of the country’s intelligence laws, and agencies is likely to add even more fire to the political debate raging in Australia over the long arm of Beijing’s influence.

0 notes

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

The CIA and Pelé

The CIA and Pelé Agency archives detail Henry Kissinger’s notes on a 1975 meeting between the soccer phenom, President Gerald Ford, and national security adviser Brent Scowcroft Written by JPat Brown Edited by Michael Morisy A 1975 memo from Henry Kissinger uncovered in the Central Intelligence Agency archives details the then-Secretary of State’s talking points for an upcoming Oval Office meeting with Edson Arantes do Nascimento, the Brazilian soccer phenom better known as Pelé.

The visit was actually Pelé’s second trip to the White House. He had previously met with Richard Nixon in 1973 (and politely corrected the president when he asked if he spoke Spanish). However, Pelé had just signed with the North American Soccer League’s New York Cosmos, and it was Kissinger’s hope that the visit would help stimulate American interest in the sport.

Although Kissinger himself was unable to attend, the inclusion of the memo in the CIA archives was likely the result of the apparently last-minute inclusion of national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft. (Maybe he was a closet Peixe fan?)

For his part, it doesn’t look like Kissinger missed out on much. If the talking points provided are anything to go off of, the meeting wasn’t exactly riveting.

But if nothing else, thanks to an earlier draft of the memo included in the archives, we have Kissinger’s guide to pronouncing futebol.

#CIA #brazil #kissinger #pele

0 notes

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

German spies can keep monitoring internet hubs, court rules

The BND headquarters in Berlin. Photo: DPAGermany's spy agency can monitor major internet hubs if Berlin deems it necessary for strategic security interests, a federal court has ruled.

In a ruling late on Wednesday, the Federal Administrative Court threw out a challenge by the world's largest internet hub, the De-Cix exchange, against the tapping of its data flows by the BND foreign intelligence service.

The operator had argued the agency was breaking the law by capturing German domestic communications along with international data.

However, the court in the eastern city of Leipzig ruled that internet hubs "can be required by the federal interior ministry to assist with strategic communications surveillance by the BND".

De-Cix says its Frankfurt hub is the world's biggest internet exchange, bundling data flows from as far as China, Russia, the Middle East and Africa, which handles more than six terabytes per second at peak traffic.

De-Cix Management GmbH, which is owned by eco Association, the European internet industry body, had filed suit against the interior ministry, which oversees the BND and its strategic signals intelligence.

It said the BND, a partner of the US National Security Agency (NSA), has placed so-called Y-piece prisms into its data-carrying fibre optic cables that give it an unfiltered and complete copy of the data flow.

Given the mass of daily phone calls, emails, chats, internet searches, streamed videos and other online communications, an effective fire-walling of purely German communications is unrealistic, activists argue.

Germany had reacted with outrage when information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed in 2013 that US agents were carrying out widespread tapping worldwide, including of Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone.

Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany where state spying on citizens was rampant, declared repeatedly that "spying among friends is not on" while acknowledging Germany's reliance on the US in security matters.

But to the great embarrassment of Germany, it later emerged that the BND helped the NSA spy on European allies.

Berlin in 2016 approved new measures, including greater oversight, to rein in the BND following the scandal.

#bnd #germany #intelligence

0 notes

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

The Cipher Brief's Dead Drop

Each week, we hope to give our readers tidbits of gossip from the world of national security and intelligence. The Dead Drop is a source of fun or intriguing news you can’t get anywhere else.

PARDON ME? Here at The Dead Drop we are old enough to remember when Fox News Channel used to be anti-Russian, and when former CIA officer (and convicted felon) John Kiriakou used to be anti-Trump. But that was so long ago. On May 24th, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson had Kiriakou on his program to attack Robert Mueller and John Brennan. In days gone by, Kiriakou often suggested (inaccurately) that he had been sent to prison for being a whistleblower about CIA interrogation practices. But now he claims he was jailed due to the personal animus of Brennan and his ‘lacky’ Mueller. While he was at it, Kiriakou added that “Russia-gate …has nothing whatsoever to do with Russia. And none of these indictments (of Trump-related individuals) have anything to do with anything.” The segment on Fox News was only four minutes long – so Carlson could not find time to tell viewers that Kiriakou now works for Putin-run Sputnik news. But there was time for Kiriakou to plead for a presidential pardon for his conviction for leaking classified information to what the president calls the “failing New York Times” among other news organizations. Perhaps trashing Brennan and Mueller will be enough to win President Trump’s pardon (assuming the White House staff doesn’t Google Kiriakou’s past comments from a few weeks ago when he attacked Trump’s pick for CIA Director, Gina Haspel, or during the 2016 presidential campaign when he called Trump’s political positions “lunacy.” Perhaps sensing that past attacks on Trump might not aid his search for a pardon, Kiriakou fell back on the president’s reported susceptibility to flattery – by comparing his willingness to grant pardons to that of – Abraham Lincoln. No, really.

TUFTS DEAN LEAVES SCENE: Word came out late Thursday that retired Admiral James Stavridis is stepping down as Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts later this summer. Stavridis led the prestigious graduate school for five years, which he says is longer that he has held any other job. While at Fletcher, Stavridis has been a ubiquitous presence in the media – contributing to The Cipher Brief as well lesser known outfits like Time and NBC News. The official announcement from Tufts says Stavridis will ‘pursue new opportunities in international finance and consulting.’ Our sources tell us those opportunities will include, among other things, work with the Washington-based Carlyle Group. Stavridis, who was vetted by the Hillary Clinton campaign as a possible vice presidential candidate in 2016, has also not ruled out future political roles. The Cipher Brief hears that quite a few former ambassadors and retired flag and general officers are already throwing their hats in the ring to succeed Stavridis at Fletcher.

CLOWNS TO THE LEFT OF ME…. Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union on May 27th, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani called former intelligence officials John Brennan and James Clapper “two clowns.” Saying that he had no regard for either of them (which is self-evident). Giuliani said “Clapper is talking about spying, which he doesn’t realize it’s spying on the Trump campaign. He’s [had] an obligation to tell them.” Giuliani ignored that Clapper has said he was unaware of the FBI use of a confidential informant looking into allegations of Russian election meddling. “Brennan was chief torturer in charge,” the former mayor alleged. “Then he disowned it, then I don’t know what he did for the CIA. He’s the most political CIA director I have ever met.” Clapper, who appeared on the program immediately following Giuliani, took the high road (where there is considerably less traffic these days.) Clapper noted: “Well, in the space of a week, I have progressed from being the dumbest foreign intelligence officer on the planet, according to President Trump, and now a clown. So, it’s career progression, I guess, at its best. I — but just more in the narrative here.”

FORGET “SPYGATE”, WE’VE MOVED ON TO “OBAMAGATE”: The term “Spygate” was so — last week. The conservative publication “The American Spectator” is out with a “special report” on “The London-to-Langley Spy Ring.” As best we can make it out – the claim is that U.S. and British intelligence were so prescient – that they were spying on the Trump campaign years before there was a Trump campaign. They cite other news accounts which suggest an FBI “informant” falsely told the Bureau that General Mike Flynn was alarmingly close to a Russian woman who attended a Cambridge Intelligence Seminar with him. The American Spectator says the spy ring’s (that would be CIA/British intelligence) treatment of George Papadopoulos was “flat out cruel.” We would not have come across these revelations had they not been re-tweeted by noted espionage expert and former TV personality, Roseanne Barr.

REEL VS REAL: There was an interesting event at UCLA on Wednesday called “Reel vs. Real with the CIA and FX’s “The Americans.” A panel discussion was moderated by Joe Weisberg, a former CIA officer and creator of the TV series ‘The Americans’. On the “reel” side of the panel were Keri Russell, who plays Elizabeth Jennings, Matthew Rhys, who plays Phillip Jennings and Cost Ronin, who portrays Oleg Burov on the series. On the “real” side were two former career CIA officers, Martha Peterson and Cipher Brief Expert Mark Kelton. There was an enjoyable exchange of playing the role of intelligence officers on TV vs. in true life. You can watch a video of the event here on YouTube – we recommend you fast forward through the first 48 minutes which is a shot of empty chairs. The action picks up after that.

POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:

Burger Kim: NBC News reported this week that a new U.S. intelligence assessment has concluded that North Korea does not intend to do away with its nuclear weapons any time soon. No surprise there. Most outside observers agree that Kim Jong Un would see de-nuking as a very risky proposition – for exactly the same reason the administration’s use of the term “the Libya model” is so self-defeating. The one surprise contained in the intelligence reporting, however, is the idea that CIA analysts suggest that Kim may soften the blow of not getting rid of his WMD – by offering to open a hamburger franchise in Pyongyang. ‘You want fries with that ICBM?’ Unlike Burger King – which serves up its Whoppers flame broiled, we hear Burger Kim will just nuke theirs.

Bolton Backup: The Inside the Ring column in the Washington Times reports that former CIA official Fred Fleitz has been selected to be executive director of the National Security Council. The move comes as no surprise, since Fleitz has long been associated with the latest National Security Advisor, John Bolton. He was Chief of Staff when Bolton was Under Secretary of State for Arms Control. Fleitz is a former CIA analyst who in recent years has been VP of the Center for Security Policy which is led by Frank Gaffney. An outwardly cheerful fellow, Fleitz is the author of such publications as: “The Coming North Korea Nuclear Nightmare,” “Warning Order: China Prepares for Conflict and Why We Must Do the Same” and “Peacekeeping Fiascoes of the 1990s.”

I Spied: Some of the best stuff in the daily newspapers comes from the obituary columns. No exception this week when the New York Times carried the obit of Fred Kovaleski, 93, who died last week. Kovaleski was a globetrotting tennis player who joined the CIA in 1951. His career sounds a lot like the fictional character played by Robert Culp in the 1960s series “I Spy” – but Kovaleski’s son, Serge (a reporter for the NYT) said the program was not based on his dad’s experiences. Kovaleski’s real-world exploits do sound like the work of Hollywood, however. According to the Times, he used his abilities to speak Russian and play tennis were useful when he was asked to help handle a tennis-obsessed K.G. B. defector to the U.S. “I never hit a winner against him,” Mr. Kovaleski told The Washington Post several years ago. “The idea was to make him feel better about himself, to soothe his ego. And I think the tennis was real therapy for him.” Apparently, that was not the only therapy. Kovaleski was said to have arranged for prostitutes to visit with the Soviet defector.

Pele Points – Continuing to scour the database of declassified CIA documents, the folks at Muckrock.com have uncovered 1975 talking points sent by Henry Kissinger to President Nixon regarding an Oval Office visit by international soccer star Pele (true name: Edson Arantes Nascimento.) The Brazilian soccer great had recently signed on with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League, trying to make the most popular game everywhere else in the world, a hit in America. The draft talking points told Nixon how to pronounce his visitor’s name (PEH-LAY) and suggested he tell him that “soccer is a great game to play as well as to watch” and that “since the object isn’t to hide the ball, as in our football, it’s easy to follow for the spectator.” We imagine Pele was gratified to learn this. What is unexplained in the document uncovered by Muckrock is why the talking points were in the CIA classified archive in the first place.

0 notes

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

Threat Report 2018: China’s Expanding Economy and Military Reach

Despite indications that China’s economy is likely to experience a moderate slowdown, the world’s second largest economy – and largest market by headcount – continues to expand the depth of its interactions with the world. From the One Belt, One Road project to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, China’s economic footprint is set to expand dramatically over the next decades. China’s approach to foreign policy, military might, and international security are evolving as well.

What follows is a section of The Cipher Brief’s 2018 Annual Threat Report, focused on China’s economic and military expansion around the world. For more information on how to read the full Threat Report, please click here.

Bottom Line: The expansion of China’s burgeoning economic and political interests into the Middle East, Africa and South Asia has compelled Beijing to undertake a more active foreign policy approach to ensure the security of Chinese nationals and its interests abroad. While China’s growing force projection in these volatile regions could aid international efforts to tackle destabilizing local security threats, it could also challenge Western interests and add new theaters of geopolitical competition across several regions.

Background: China has become the world’s second-largest economy, with an average annual growth rate of 10 percent[i] over the last three decades, a massive GDP of $2.44 trillion in 2017 and a foreign trade volume rising 14 percent from 2016 to 2017 to reach $4.4 trillion.[ii]

To fuel its expanding economy, China has surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest crude oil importer, bringing in 8.4 million barrels per day compared with 7.9 million imported daily by the United States.[iii] It is projected to overtake the U.S. as the largest net consumer of oil by the early 2030s, at which point it will likely import around 70 percent of its oil.[iv]

Roughly 50 percent of China’s oil imports originate from the Middle East and an additional 23 percent from Africa. [v] Both regions play an integral role in China’s One Belt, One Road economic initiative to develop regional trade routes connecting East Asia and Europe. China entices partnerships through direct investment and loans for infrastructure development often granted by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which rivals international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In the Middle East, China is performing a delicate balancing act as a major importer of oil from both Saudi Arabia and Iran, managing to pursue its economic ambitions despite divisive regional politics. China’s bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia reached new heights in March 2017 after Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud and China’s President Xi Jinping signed $65 billion worth of contracts between Saudi and Chinese companies.[vi] China has also steadily boosted its economic cooperation with Iran following the signing of the Iranian nuclear deal in July 2015 and the subsequent lifting of sanctions against the Islamic Republic in January 2016. During Xi’s visit to Iran one week after the sanctions were lifted, Beijing and Tehran agreed to boost trade to $600 billion over the next 10 years.[vii]

In Africa, China is trading attractive infrastructure-development loans for access to natural resources. For example, China’s state-owned export-import bank, China Exim,provided $29.3 billion of development projects to African countries between 2002 and 2009,[viii] and in 2014, approximately 85 percent of Chinese imports from the continent were either oil or minerals.[ix] Through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) – the primarily institutional mechanism for economic cooperation between China and African states – China promised $60 billion in funding in 2015, largely for major industrial parks across the continent, and this amount is expected to further increase during the 2018 FOCAC summit scheduled for September 2018.[x]

China has also invested $62 billion in several infrastructure projects across Pakistan as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The development agreement was launched in April 2015 and aims to directly link China to Pakistan’s Arabian Sea port of Gwadar as well as further westward to Afghanistan. Originally valued at $46 billion, China raised its funding for CPEC in April 2017 to $62 billion as it focuses on constructing highways, railways, energy infrastructure intended to reduce power outages in Pakistan and the Gwadar Port.[xi] Thousands of Chinese nationals have traveled to Pakistan to work on these infrastructure projects, posing a heightened security risk for Pakistani authorities to monitor

0 notes

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

FBI PSA: "Think before you post - Flashback "The Helsinki Warning"

And he comes in early the next morning, 6 o’clock the next morning, and there is, obviously, confusion and concern. And he is asked to do a number of things. And he is asked to work on Weber’s desk with his computer. And he looks down and sees the Helsinki warning on Weber’s desk. And he goes crazy. And he says what is this?

And Weber says: Oh, my God, don’t worry, don’t worry, it’s nothing, forget it.

So Koch says, how can I forget it? This is a warning of a potential bomb. It is my job.

Just forget it. Be quiet or you will get in trouble.”

Washington Post — “Helsinki Warning: Timely or Buried?”

“There was a real push in the embassy community to make sure that everybody was aware that there had been a terrorist threat made, and that people flying Western carriers going through Frankfurt should change their tickets.”

Karen Decker, Consular Official at the Moscow US Embassy – ABC, Nov. 30 1989

“Perhaps life in war-torn Beirut had made them [CIA McKee and Gannon] used to terror risks. Perhaps they figured to themselves that their superiors would not have allowed them to travel if the flight was at serious risk. Had they known that within the past three weeks, there had been a number of strong indications that radical Palestinians were planning to attack Pan Am, they would most surely have chosen another airline.”

John Ashton and Ian Fergusson – Cover Up of Convenience

“The Helsinki Warning was totally investigated after the bombing and we determined as fact that it was not a credible threat based on who made the threat.”

Richard Marquise – Former FBI agent and head of the Pan Am 103 Bombing Investigation (Communication to the author)

“At the end of the Commission findings, you will see that we looked at the total history of passenger bookings for Pan Am 103 and they were the same for years. No one was warned off the plane.”

Frank Duggan — (Communication to the author)

The FBI is reminding the public to “Think Before You Post” hoax threats targeting schools and other public places. It’s not a joke. It is a federal crime.

On December 5, 1988, a man speaking with an Arabic accent telephoned the US Embassy in Helsinki, Finland. The informant said that a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the United States would be blown up within the next two weeks. On December 21, 1988, Pan Am 103 exploded over Lockerbie. Pan Am 103A — its feeder flight — originated from Frankfurt. The warning was dismissed as a hoax.

The FBI concluded that the ‘culprit’ had done it to impress his girlfriend. Actually, the suspect was never indicted because sufficient evidence could not be assembled. If there was not enough evidence to indict, let alone convict, Samra Mahayou for the hoax, where was the evidence to dismiss the warning as one?

#fbi #intelligence

2 notes · View notes

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

THE UNTOLD STORY OF JAPAN’S SECRET SPY AGENCY

EVERY WEEK IN Tokyo’s Ichigaya district, about three miles northeast of the bright neon lights and swarming crowds in the heart of Shibuya, a driver quietly parks a black sedan-style car outside a gray office building. Before setting off on a short, 10-minute drive south, he picks up a passenger who is carrying an important package: top-secret intelligence reports, destined for the desks of the prime minister’s closest advisers.

Known only as “C1,” the office building is located inside a high-security compound that houses Japan’s Ministry of Defense. But it is not an ordinary military facility – it is a secret spy agency headquarters for the Directorate for Signals Intelligence, Japan’s version of the National Security Agency.

The directorate has a history that dates back to the 1950s; its role is to eavesdrop on communications. But its operations remain so highly classified that the Japanese government has disclosed little about its work – even the location of its headquarters. Most Japanese officials, except for a select few of the prime minister’s inner circle, are kept in the dark about the directorate’s activities, which are regulated by a limited legal framework and not subject to any independent oversight.

Now, a new investigation by the Japanese broadcaster NHK — produced in collaboration with The Intercept — reveals, for the first time, details about the inner workings of Japan’s opaque spy community. Based on classified documents and interviews with current and former officials familiar with the agency’s intelligence work, the investigation shines light on a previously undisclosed internet surveillance program and a spy hub in the south of Japan that is used to monitor phone calls and emails passing across communications satellites.

Night view of the C1 building, inside Japan’s Ministry of Defense compound in Ichigaya.

According to the current and former officials, the Directorate for Signals Intelligence, or DFS, employs about 1,700 people and has at least six surveillance facilities that eavesdrop around the clock on phone calls, emails, and other communications. (The NSA, in comparison, has said it has a workforce of more than 30,000 and Britain’s signals intelligence agency claims more than 6,000 staff.) The communications collected at the spy facilities are sent back to analysts who work inside the C1 building, which has four underground floors and eight above ground.

“Very few people know what the DFS is doing and can enter the building,” according to an active-duty official with knowledge of the directorate’s operations, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The official agreed to share details about the directorate after The Intercept and NHK last year revealed that the spy agency had obtained a mass surveillance system called XKEYSCORE, which is used to sift through copies of people’s emails, online chats, internet browsing histories, and information about social media activity. The official said that they believed the directorate’s use of XKEYSCORE was “not permissible” under the Japanese Constitution, which protects people’s right to privacy.

The official believed the directorate’s use of XKEYSCORE was “not permissible” under the Japanese Constitution.

The directorate – known in Japanese as the “Denpa-Bu,” meaning “electromagnetic wave section” – currently has 11 different departments, each focused on a different subject, such as information analysis, public safety and security, and cryptography. However, the departments are kept separate from each other and there is limited communication between them, the active-duty official said. Each department in the C1 building has a different lock installed on the rooms it uses, and these can only be accessed by a select group of people who have the appropriate security clearance, access codes, and identification. The directorate operates as the largest arm of Japan’s Defense Intelligence Agency, which has other divisions focused on, for example, analyzing satellite imagery, sources said.

Atsushi Miyata, who between 1987 and 2005 worked with the directorate and the Ministry of Defense, said that his work for the spy agency had involved monitoring neighboring countries, such as North Korea, and their military activities. But the agency’s culture of intense secrecy meant that it was reluctant to share information it collected with other elements of the Japanese government. “They did not share the data inside of [the] Defense Ministry properly,” said Miyata. “Even inside of the Defense Ministry, the report was not put on the table. So the people did not understand what we were doing.”

The directorate is accomplished at conducting surveillance, but has a tendency to be excessively secretive about its work, according to classified documents The Intercept disclosed last year. A 2008 NSA memo described its Japanese counterparts as being “still caught in a Cold War way of doing business” and “rather stove-piped.” The U.S. continues to work closely with Japan’s intelligence community, however, and collaborates with the country to monitor the communications of countries across Asia.

ABOUT 700 MILES southwest of Tokyo, there are two small towns called Tachiarai and Chikuzen, which have a combined population of about 44,000 people. Japan’s military, known as the Self-Defense Forces, has a base situated on a patch of grassy farmland in between the towns. But the base is not used to train soldiers. It is one of the country’s most important spy hubs.

For years, the large antennae inside the secure compound, which are concealed underneath what look like giant golf balls, attracted concerns from local residents who were worried that the powerful radio waves they emitted might damage their health or interfere with their televisions. The Japanese government sent senior officials to reassure the locals that there would be no problems, and the government began paying the Chikuzen council an annual fee of about $100,000 as compensation for the disturbance caused by the base. But the function of the antennae was never revealed.

A top-secret document from the directorate offers unprecedented insight into some of the Tachiarai base’s activities. The document – an English-language PowerPoint presentation – appears to have been shared with the NSA during a meeting in February 2013, at which the Japanese spy agency’s then-deputy director was scheduled to discuss intelligence-gathering issues with his American counterparts. The presentation was contained in the archive of classified files provided to The Intercept by Edward Snowden. No internal documents from Japan’s surveillance agency have ever been publicly disclosed before.

According to the presentation, Japan has used Tachiarai for a covert internet surveillance program code-named MALLARD. As of mid-2012, the base was using its antennae to monitor communications passing across satellites. Each week, it collected records about some 200,000 internet sessions, which were then being stored and analyzed for a period of two months. Between December 2012 and January 2013, Tachiarai began using the surveillance technology to collect information about potential cyberattacks. As a result, its data collection rapidly increased, and it began sweeping up information about 500,000 internet sessions every hour – 12 million every day. Despite this, the directorate indicated that it was only able to detect a single email that was linked to an apparent cyberattack. It struggled to cope with the amount of data it was harvesting and asked the NSA for help. “We would like to see processing procedure which the U.S. side employs in order not to affect traditional SIGINT collection,” the directorate told the NSA, “and would appreciate your technical assistance.”

“Even inside of the Defense Ministry, the people did not understand what we were doing.”

Chris Augustine, a spokesperson for the NSA, declined to answer questions about the agency’s cooperation with Japan, saying in a statement that he would “neither confirm nor deny information concerning potential relationships with foreign intelligence services.” He added: “Any cooperation among intelligence services is conducted lawfully, in a manner that mutually strengthens national security.”

The directorate’s work at Tachiarai appears to focus on monitoring the activities of foreign countries in the region. It is unclear whether it collects Japanese citizens’ communications, either deliberately or incidentally, through dragnet programs like MALLARD. The law in Japan prohibits wiretapping landlines without a court order, but monitoring communications as they are being transmitted wirelessly across satellites is a gray area, Japanese legal experts say, because there are no legal precedents in the country that place limitations upon that kind of surveillance, though there is a general right to privacy outlined in the constitution.

According to Richard Tanter, a professor at the University of Melbourne who specializes in researching government surveillance capabilities, more than 200 satellites are “visible” from Tachiarai, meaning the base can intercept communications and data passing between them using its surveillance systems. Of the 200-plus satellites, said Tanter, at least 30 are Chinese and potential targets for ongoing surveillance. Moreover, he added, “satellites owned or operated by Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, and even the United States or European states may be targeted” by the Tachiarai facility.

Snowden, who worked at a U.S. military base in Japan as an NSA contractor between 2009 and 2012, told The Intercept that Japanese spies appeared to have targeted “entire internet service providers, not just any one customer.” Referencing the MALLARD program, he said that there were not “500,000 terrorist communications happening in one year, much less one hour. … Is this authorized in law in a way that’s well-understood, that’s well-regulated, to make sure they are only targeting bad guys and not simply everything that they see?”

A spokesperson for Japan’s Ministry of Defense refused to discuss MALLARD, but said that the country’s “information-gathering activities” are necessary for national security and “done in compliance with laws and regulations.” The spokesperson acknowledged that Japan has “offices throughout the country” that are intercepting communications; however, he insisted that the surveillance is focused on military activities and “cyberthreats” and is “not collecting the general public’s information.” When pressed to explain how the country’s spy systems distinguish ordinary people’s communications from those related to threats, the spokesperson would not provide details on the grounds that doing so “may be a hindrance to effective future information activities.”

A woman works on her laptop on the viewing platform of the Tokyo Skytree on March 29, 2018, in Tokyo, Japan.

IN OCTOBER 2013, the Directorate for Signals Intelligence was planning to launch an operation aimed at what it described as the “Anonymous internet,” according to the 2013 presentation. This suggests that the directorate wanted to collect data about people’s usage of privacy tools such as Tor, which allows people to mask their computer’s IP address while they browse the internet. Tor is often used by journalists and dissidents to evade government surveillance; however, it is also used by child abusers and other criminals to plan or carry out illegal acts. In April 2013, it was reported that Japanese police were urging internet service providers to find ways to block people who were using Tor to commit crimes. In 2012, the country’s police investigators were repeatedly thwarted by a hacker known as the “Demon Killer,” who posted a series of death threats online. The hacker used Tor to successfully evade detection for seven months, which was a major source of embarrassment for Japanese police — and likely fueled demand for new surveillance capabilities.

Snowden told The Intercept that Japanese spies appeared have targeted “entire internet service providers, not just any one customer.”

The directorate’s activities at Tachiarai and elsewhere are aided by an organization called J6, which is a specialist technical unit connected to Japan’s Ministry of Defense, according to sources familiar with its operations. However, the cooperation between the directorate and J6 has been inhibited by the extreme secrecy that is pervasive within the Japanese government, with each agency apparently reluctant to open up to the other about its respective capabilities. In the 2013 presentation, Japanese officials from the directorate described J6’s role to the NSA, but admitted that they had relied on “assumptions” to do so, because “J6 function is not disclosed to us.”

According to the presentation, the directorate’s role is to carry out surveillance and analyze intelligence. The role of J6 includes analyzing malware and developing countermeasures – such as firewalls – to prevent hacks of Japanese computer systems. A third organization, called the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Organization, or CIRO, is the ultimate beneficiary of intelligence that is collected. Headed by a powerful figure named Shigeru Kitamura, it oversees the work of both the directorate and J6 and is connected to the prime minister’s office, based out of a building known as “H20,” a short walk from the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo’s Chiyoda district.

Between 2000 and 2005, prior to development of the MALLARD internet surveillance program, expansion work took place at the Tachiarai facility. At that time, the then-town council chair, Hitoshi Miyahara, was shown a map of the construction plans, which revealed that a tunnel was being built below the base. Miyahara was allowed to visit the construction site, he said, but was prevented from entering the underground area. The current town council chair, Tsutomu Yano, had a similar experience. He visited the facility about four years ago and was shown around a gymnasium, a cafeteria, and a conference room. He was prevented from accessing the underground tunnel and a space he was told was used for “communications.” Yano said he repeatedly questioned the Self-Defense Forces about the Tachiarai facility’s function. But he never received any answers.

Ed Noguchi contributed reporting and translation.

Documents

Documents published with this article:

DFS briefing Feb 2013

Cyber paper Japan DFS

DFS and NSA partnership

#intelligence

1 note · View note

intelandsecurity · 6 years

Text

Dead Drop: Your Weekly #Intelligence Gossip From The Cipher Brief

It's Friday...which means time for a new issue of The Dead Drop! Be sure to check out our intel gossip column for all the latest and greatest insider scoops and strange happenings.

STANDING UP FOR GINA – For a variety of reasons, Monday’s swearing in ceremony for new CIA Director Gina Haspel was a remarkable affair. Setting aside, for a moment, the historical import of the first woman to lead the Agency, the event was notable simple for the way it was staged. According to Dead Drop sources, the Presidential lectern was set up in the hallway steps above the iconic main lobby with its CIA seal and Memorial Wall. Down the hallway, to the left and right of the lectern, were several hundred seats for distinguished visitors, senior CIA officials, and the like. Standing in the lobby, in front and below the makeshift stage, were several hundred Agency employees. Behind the CIA workers, was a platform for the White House press travel pool. Visitors speculated that the unusual set up was designed both to cram in a large crowd and to avoid repeating the image of the President standing before the Memorial Wall, which resulted in some unfavorable coverage following his January 21, 2017 visit to Langley. The logistics ensured that the press coverage focused only on those on stage – the President, VP, Secretary of State Pompeo and Haspel. The media were unable to see the invited guests – and were instructed not to take shots of CIA employees before them – some of whom are under cover – as Haspel herself was until about 16 months ago. Observers breathed a sigh of relief when the President largely passed up opportunities to say anything overly political in his remarks (except perhaps when he described House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes as “a very courageous man.”) The day was Haspel’s, however. The new director was greeted with loud cheers from the Agency employees standing before her. The Dead Drop hears that a limited number of tickets to the event were offered to the workforce the previous Friday afternoon and were all snapped up within minutes of being made available. One minor glitch, though. Someone forgot to put in the president’s remarks the words: “Please be seated.” As a result, the audience members who were lucky enough to have seats and were standing for the national anthem and invocation – were still standing when Trump was introduced – remained standing for the entirety of Trump’s remarks, and the swearing-in by the Veep, and Haspel’s relatively short speech.

SPOTTED AT LANGLEY: In addition to Trump, Pence and Pompeo, there was an unusually large contingent of other senior administration officials present for the swearing-in. Most of them were out of camera range due to the previously mentioned stagecraft. But our spies tell us that those in attendance included: Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Secretary of Education Rick Perry, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, VA Secretary nominee Robert Wilkie, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Advisor John Bolton, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short and a large contingent of unrecognizable White House staffers.

ODD JOB: The New York Times posted a job announcement last week seeking “an ambitious correspondent to cover the CIA and the nation’s other intelligence agencies.” The job ad requested candidates to “submit a memo outlining their vision for covering the beat…” and adding what “areas of the beat do you consider most important? What should be getting more coverage than it is? What kinds of stories should we avoid? What stories on the beat, beyond The Times’s coverage, do you admire and why? Where could The Times improve?”

C’MON, WE CAN DO IT BETTER: Speaking of areas where the media could improve, Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly was interviewed on this week’s episode of WTOP’s popular TARGET USA Podcast with JJ Green. Green apparently interrogated Kelly over why and how she created The Cipher Brief and what constitutes a true expert in national security these days. We hear Kelly cracked pretty easily under pressure, and gave away some key secrets to how it all started.

TAKING COMMAND OF WHAT, EXACTLY: Lt. General Scott Miller has been nominated as the next commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, which would make him the 9th U.S. General in 17 years to take the post and the first one appointed under President Trump. Miller is an interesting pick. The Wall Street Journal credits him with heading some of America’s most secretive missions that included the Army’s Delta Force and the Navy’s SEAL Team Six. With the current U.S. Afghan policy leaning heavily on Special Operations, he may be the right choice at the right time. Though the Dead Drop spoke with a former Green Beret who suggested ‘If you created a general cloned from the DNA of Patton and Robert E. Lee, you still wouldn’t be able to get results over there. It’s enough already.’

LOST AND NOT FOUND DEPARTMENT: Last week, The Dead Drop told you about the USAF 91st Security Group which reportedly lost a box of MK19 grenades when they fell out of a moving truck. These things can happen. The Air Force, in an abundance of caution, ordered the unit to do a complete inventory of its other weapons, just to make sure nothing else had gone missing. Oops. According to the website Task and Purpose, the unit now reports that it has also misplaced an M240 machine gun. As far as we know, the 150 ICBMs for which the Missile Wing is responsible, remain in U.S. government possession. Nonetheless, on Tuesday, the Security Group Commander lost something else – his job.

CLEAN UP ON AISLE 17! Appearing on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” program, nationally syndicated radio host Mark Levin suggested that the president should appoint a commission to clean up the agencies within the intelligence community. Levin said “… the president needs to appoint a commission of five or seven people … top-notch men from prior administrations and women and appoint them and say fix the FBI at the top, fix the CIA, fix intelligence agencies. We can’t allow it to happen to another president of the United States. To hell with, sorry Jeff, with Jeff Sessions and all of the other people. The president should take responsibility. You are talking about spies in the Trump administration. You’re talking about a failed FISA court. This is incredible stuff.”

ISN’T THAT SPECIAL? If that commission idea doesn’t fly, a resolution was submitted in the House of Representatives on Tuesday calling for a second special counsel to probe possible misconduct of DOJ, the FBI and the circumstances leading to the appointment of Special Counsel Mueller. Our question is: who’ll investigate the investigators investigating the investigators?

POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:

Coming to a TV near you – Shock and Awe: We told you a couple years agoabout a forthcoming movie called “Shock and Awe” directed by Rob Reiner and starring Reiner, Woody Harrelson, and James Marden, playing Knight Ridder newspaper journalists who were among the few media members skeptical about government claims regarding Iraq’s supposed WMD stockpile prior to the 2003 war. The trailer for the film is now out. In what seems backwards from past practice, the flick will start running on DirecTV on June 14 and later will show up in theaters on July 11.

Let the games begin: Severaltimes in the past, The Dead Drop has told you about how the CIA uses tabletop games (board games) to help train their analysts. Now comes word in an online publication called “The Verge” that some folks FOIA’d for details about the games and an outfit called Diegetic Games, is putting out a version of one of them for public enjoyment. Called “CIA: Collect it All,” the game reportedly “demonstrates how different intelligence tactics can be used to address political, economic, and military crises — and how the system often manages to screw it all up.” Hey, if we wanted to learn about all that – we’d just read the newspapers.

WHAT’S ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND? We at the Dead Drop love to spy into people’s bedrooms. Don’t worry, we just want to know what your nighttime reading habits are. We’re guessing you might have one or both of the new releases by Cipher Brief Experts. General Michael V. Hayden’s Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Liesis currently an Amazon #1 release. Cipher Brief Expert and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s new book Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence was just released this week and is already a best seller on Amazon. Both books take a hard look at truth versus fiction in the White House. Ironic, perhaps that President Trump himself might be generating higher book sales for both. In a Tweet this week, the President said that Clapper as much as admitted that the FBI was spying on the President’s campaign. Turns out, that is a lie. But no doubt, good for the business of selling books.

#intelligence deaddrop thecipherbrief intelligencegossip

0 notes