Thursday, November 7, 2013

Russian Intelligence is Behind the Snowden Show: German Intelligence

» Russian Intelligence is Behind the Snowden Show: German ...
05/11/13 14:52 from intelligence services - Google Blog Search

Russian Intelligence is Behind the Snowden Show: German Intelligence

November 5, 2013
As I’ve noted at length already, the drama surrounding the continuing leaks of classified information from the U.S. National Security Agency, care of the defector Edward Snowden, has now taken center stage in Germany. Which is not altogether surprising because Germany is such a close partner with the United States in security and other matters, and also because a significant component of the Wikileaks apparat lives in Berlin.
To anyone versed in counterintelligence, specifically the modus operandi of Russian security services, the Snowden Operation* is a classic case of Active Measures, in other words a secret propaganda job. That its ultimate objective is fracturing the Western security and intelligence alliance is made increasing clear in the tone of the reporting coming from the Operation, especially its German mouthpiece, the newsmagazine Der Spiegel. Relying on fronts, cut-outs, “independent” journalists, plus platoons of what Lenin memorably termed Useful Idiots, is just what the Kremlin’s intelligence services do when they want to engage in Active Measures. We’ve been down this road before – in many ways what’s going on now is merely a replay of the operational game from the 1970s based on the CIA defector Phil Agee (KGB covername: PONT), but with broadband access – yet the Snowden Operation is unusually successful and brazen, even by Moscow’s high standards in this regard.
This is also the conclusion of the German security services, based on a new report in the Berlin daily Die Welt. The recent Moscow visit of the leftist Green Party parliamentarian Hans-Christian Ströbele with Snowden caused a global sensation. It was also transparently the work of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). Noting the stage-managed aspect of the photo op, ”There is no doubt that this was a room that was prepared by the intelligence service,” concluded a German senior intelligence official, adding that this was ”a typical FSB room ” – meaning fully wired. To expand on Die Welt‘s reportage:
The three-hour conversation had been recorded in this room with microphones and video cameras. After analyzing the course of the visit, German security experts came to the conclusion that the FSB completely organized and monitored Ströbele’s visit to Moscow, and effectively used it for its purposes. The goal of the visit had been to rekindle the debate about the NSA spying affair, thus burdening relations between Germany and the United States even more. “This is playing into the hands of Russia,” said the intelligence official, criticizing Ströbele’s action. That the Green Party official allowed himself to be used by Russia for that country’s interests was to be regarded as “borderline,” he explained.
The Snowden Operation is far from over, and more German-related Active Measures are to be expected. That said, it’s somewhat reassuring that, no matter what politicians may say, German intelligence is at least aware of the real game that’s afoot here.
*Until some future Vasili Mitrokhin tells us what Edward Snowden’s actual FSB covername is, I’ll be terming what’s going on the Snowden Operation (Операция Сноудена).

Russia, China, Iran and Latin America - Blogs Review

Russia, China, Iran and Latin America - Blogs Review

Sources - GS: | criminal organisationsinternational drug trafficking organizations

Intelligence Services |


Russia, China, Iran and Latin America - Blogs Review 
_________________________________________________________
Continuously Updated: 


12:21 PM 11/7/2013: Russia's Nationalists March to an Anti-Immigrant Drum | 3 Navy officials now charged with taking bribes - U-T San Diego | FBI monitored anti-war site in error


Published on Nov 6, 2013

After the United States, Russia has the world's second largest number of immigrant workers, officially estimated at 12 million. With 10 percent of all workers in Russia coming from Central Asia, VOA's James Brooke reports on mounting tensions between Russia's historically Slavic population and the newcomers.

Russia's Nationalists March to an Anti-Immigrant Drum


12:21 PM 11/7/2013

» A Third Navy Official Is Arrested in Bribery Case - New York Times
07/11/13 03:23 from Top Stories - Google News
NBC 7 San Diego A Third Navy Official Is Arrested in Bribery Case New York Times Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that a third Navy official had been arrested on charges of accepting prostitutes and luxury travel from an Asian ship-ser...


10:00 AM 11/7/2013

» 3 Navy officials now charged with taking bribes - U-T San Diego
07/11/13 08:05 from Top Stories - Google News
NBC 7 San Diego 3 Navy officials now charged with taking bribes U-T San Diego SAN DIEGO (AP) — The number of senior U.S. Navy officials accused of swapping secrets for bribes that included cash, prostitutes and high-end travel has grown ...

» 3 Navy officials now charged with taking bribes - NorthJersey.com
07/11/13 08:28 from Top Stories - Google News
NBC 7 San Diego 3 Navy officials now charged with taking bribes NorthJersey.com SAN DIEGO (AP) — The number of senior U.S. Navy officials accused of swapping secrets for bribes that included cash, prostitutes and high-end travel has grow...


» New Criminal Charges in Widening US Navy Corruption Probe
07/11/13 01:26 from Voice of America
U.S. prosecutors have accused a third senior U.S. Navy official in a widening bribery probe involving millions of dollars in excess charges for refueling and supplying U.S. fleet ships in Asian ports. A Justice Department statement said ...



Third senior Navy official arrested in bribery probe involving prostitutes

Third senior Navy official arrested in bribery probe involving prostitutes
Commander is accused of giving classified information to a defense contractor in exchange for perks.

» U.S.-Iran Thaw Grew From Years of Behind-the-Scenes Talks
07/11/13 09:13 from WSJ.com: World News
The White House heralded President Obama's phone call with Iranian counterpart Hasan Rouhani earlier this fall as a foreign-policy milestone born of a rush of last-minute diplomacy. But top National Security Council officials began plant...


» U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan
07/11/13 03:28 from NYT > International
The Department of Defense has identified 2,274 American service members who have died as a part of the Afghan war and related operations.


» Israeli Politician Acquitted of Charges
07/11/13 02:25 from WSJ.com: World News
Hardline politician Avigdor Lieberman has been acquitted of corruption charges, clearing the way for him to return as Israel's foreign minister and deputy to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


» Was Yasser Arafat killed by polonium poisoning?
07/11/13 01:51 from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post
JERUSALEM — On the evening of Oct. 12, 2004, Yasser Arafat, the flamboyant, autocratic and inscrutable chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, sat down for dinner at his besieged compound in Ramallah in the West Bank. And so b...



» Swiss Report Supports Theory Arafat Was Poisoned - New York Times
07/11/13 01:32 from Top Stories - Google News
Washington Post Swiss Report Supports Theory Arafat Was Poisoned New York Times JERUSALEM — Nine years of mystery and intrigue surrounding the death of Yasir Arafat, the symbol of the Palestinian national struggle, took a contentious tur...

» Swiss Report Supports Theory Arafat Was Poisoned
07/11/13 01:32 from NYT > International
The latest report said that taking into account analytical limitations its findings “moderately support the proposition” that Yasir Arafat’s death was the consequence of polonium poisoning.

» U.S. Puts $5 Million Bounty on Mexican Kingpin
07/11/13 01:36 from WSJ.com: World News
The U.S. government offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of a Mexican kingpin, Rafael Caro Quintero, who was ordered released in Mexico years after his conviction for murdering a U.S. drug agent there.


» Smaller Asteroids, Bigger Threat
07/11/13 01:33 from WSJ.com: World News
The well-documented explosion of an asteroid over Russia in February offers clues to its origin, flight path and structure, along with suggesting that smaller rocks can also pose big risks.


» U.S. seeking deal on Iranian nuclear ‘freeze,’ diplomats say
07/11/13 01:30 from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post
The Obama administration is hoping to rapidly secure a deal with Iran that would temporarily freeze the country’s nuclear program and buy time for diplomats to try to hammer out a more comprehensive agreement restricting Tehran’s future ..


» On Holding Hands and Fake Marriage: Stories of Being Gay in Russia
07/11/13 00:49 from NYT > International
To better understand what it is like to identify as L.G.B.T. in a country that officially discourages openness, The Times asked readers to share their stories.


» UK spy chiefs to be quizzed in public for first time, on Snowden
07/11/13 00:08 from Reuters: International
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's intelligence chiefs will give their first ever public testimony on Thursday when they are cross-examined together in parliament about the case of former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.


» U.K. Spymaster Sees Growing Cyber Threat
07/11/13 10:12 from WSJ.com: World News
In a rare public speech, the head of GCHQ said Britain is facing more and more attacks from abroad and large volumes of sensitive information are being stolen from the defense industry.


-
WP


White House considering civilian leadership at NSA


Separating top jobs at Cyber Command and the NSA could tamp the furor over the spy agency’s powers, officials say.


The U.S. shifts left

The U.S. shifts left
Republicans took a step back from the tea party, and the country is moving another direction.



-


Xi's limits laid bare as labor camps stay open


BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping has been blocked in efforts to dismantle the country's labor camp system in a clear sign that he has yet to cement his grip on the ruling Communist Party a year after gaining power, leadership sources said.  Full Article 



Members of the honour guard march during a military parade in the Red Square in Moscow, November 7, 2013. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

Russia's long-term growth to lag global economy

MOSCOW - Russia acknowledged for the first time that its economy would lag global growth in the next 20 years, setting the stage for an era of stagnation that could threaten President Vladimir Putin's grip on power.  Full Article 


» NATO war games worry Moscow
06/11/13 23:51 from Reuters: International
ADAZI, Latvia (Reuters) - NATO is staging its biggest military exercise in seven years this week in the Baltic countries and Poland but its insistence that the drills are not aimed at sharpening defenses against a resurgent Russia have n...

-
G

-


Head of MI5 Andrew Parker, Head of MI6 John Sawers and GCHQ Director Iain Lobban.
The director-general of MI5, Andrew Parker; the MI6 chief, Sir John Sawers; and the director of GCHQ, Sir Iain Lobban. Photograph: AP