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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: intelligence agencies

intelligence agencies stories: 20 news summaries

US Spies Are Voice of Caution in Iran Debate

Israelis, Europeans believe Tehran is developing warheads

Sep 29, 09 11:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - The global intelligence community is at odds over whether Iran is developing nuclear warheads, with US spies insisting it isn’t, and European and Israeli spies begging to differ. In what the New York Times calls a “mirror image” of the Iraq debate, the US say documents found... More »

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Iran • intelligence • nuclear program • National Intelligence Estimate • nuclear sites • spies • intelligence agencies • Qom

Taliban Blast Kills Afghan
Spy Chief, 22 Others

Insurgents target intelligence official during mosque visit

Sep 2, 09 6:03 AM CDT
(AP) - A Taliban suicide bomber at a mosque near Kabul killed 23 people today, including Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence. The explosion ripped through a crowd in Laghman province just as officials were leaving the mosque. Two top provincial officials from Laghman were also among the dead, and the blast destroyed... More »

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Afghanistan • Taliban • intelligence • suicide bomber • suicide bombing • National Directorate of Security • Afghanistan war • intelligence agencies

US Still Lacks Translators in Vital Languages

Intelligence, military officials often unable to read texts, emails

Aug 31, 09 2:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nearly eight years have passed since 9/11, but national security agencies remain disturbingly low on translators for crucial dialects, the Washington Times reports. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives email and text-message each other freely in languages the CIA largely ignored before 2001. "I can't explain... More »

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Iraq • Afghanistan • national security • War on Terror • CIA • Pakistan • Pashtun • translation • Arabic • Urdu • intelligence agencies • Dari • translator

(Newser) - The Obama administration is working on plans to create a team of interrogation experts drawn from different agencies, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal. The unit would take the job of debriefing "high-value" terror suspects away from the CIA, the sources say, and would be tasked with creating new,... More »

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CIA • counterterrorism • interrogation • waterboarding • terror suspects • Army Field Manual • intelligence agencies • Obama administration

(Newser) - Hamas says Israel is corrupting Palestinian youth with aphrodisiac chewing gum. “We have discovered two types of stimulants that were introduced into the Gaza Strip from Israeli border crossings,” a spokesman tells AFP. “The first type is presented in the form of chewing gum and the second... More »

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Hamas • Palestinians • Arab Israeli conflict • chewing gum • aphrodisiacs • Gaza Strip border • intelligence agencies

 Spying 101: US Wants 
 Colleges to Train 007s 

Spying 101 plan aims to mold future intelligence officers

Jun 20, 09 9:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - It's like a cloak-and-dagger version of ROTC. The government wants universities to help train the next generation of spies, the Washington Post reports. The proposed program would recruit first- and second-generation students from diverse ethnic backgrounds, the Mideast and Asia in particular, and run them through a specialized set of... More »

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espionage • higher education • colleges and universities • spies • intelligence agencies

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda has set its sights on the increasingly unstable Pakistan, American and Pakistani intelligence officials tell the New York Times. “They smell blood, and they are intoxicated by the idea of a jihadist takeover in Pakistan,” said a former CIA analyst. The group no longer operates... More »

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Afghanistan • Taliban • Pakistan • Swat • al-Qaeda • intelligence agencies • Buner

 Spooks Use Wiki to Share Intel 

Site enables rapid sharing of information, advocates say

Apr 8, 09 3:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - The CIA has grown wise to the power of open-source collaboration, and Intellipedia—a classified version of Wikipedia—is humming with activity 3 years after its debut, Time reports. The site boasts 900,000 pages of content written by 100,000 identified intelligence professionals. Advocates cite the rapid treatment of... More »

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Iraq • CIA • Wikipedia • spy • open source • intelligence agencies • intelligence-gathering • Intellipedia

 Report Slams Spy Agencies 

Internal probe finds intelligence agencies have failed to streamline under DNI

Apr 2, 09 5:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - America's 16 spy agencies have failed to stop infighting and fix weaknesses identified after 9/11, according to an internal report released yesterday. The report sharply criticizes the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for failing to streamline intelligence analysis and spur cooperation and information-sharing among agencies, as it was... More »

MORE ABOUT:
CIA • spying • Director of National Intelligence • intelligence agencies

(Newser) - A former CIA official who steered contracts toward a friend in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, was sentenced today to 37 months in prison, the Washington Post reports. Kyle Foggo was, at the time, the CIA’s executive director, the agency’s third-highest position. In exchange for lavish dinners... More »

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Iraq • Afghanistan • CIA • corruption • Federal Court • government contracts • intelligence agencies • executive director • Kyle Foggo

'Google-like' System to Link
US Intelligence Agencies

Overhaul includes databases, email

Jan 22, 09 8:00 AM CST
(Newser) - The computer databases of the 16 US intelligence agencies soon will be linked, the Wall Street Journal reports. The system comes nearly 5 years after the spy agencies got heat for failing to "connect the dots" before the Sept. 11 attacks. Analysts will be able to search through secret... More »

MORE ABOUT:
CIA • FBI • Mike McConnell • database • computer network • intelligence agencies • Obama administration • Dennis Blair

 Panetta Pick Raises 
 Intel Hackles 

Obama defends CIA choice from critics who call him inexperienced

Jan 7, 09 10:47 AM CST
(Newser) - Barack Obama’s choice of former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to run the CIA is catching some flak from intelligence professionals, the Washington Post reports. Panetta has no direct experience with intelligence-gathering; says an anonymous official who worked with Bill Clinton’s national-security team while Panetta... More »

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Barack Obama • CIA • torture • Leon Panetta • intelligence agencies • President Obama

US Dominance 'Fading Fast'
as Global Upheaval Looms


Report predicts increasingly unstable world future as wealth and power shift

Nov 21, 08 2:15 AM CST
(Newser) - US intelligence agencies believe the next 20 years will be the twilight of America's global dominance, the Times of London reports. A report from the National Intelligence Council paints a bleak future of an increasingly unstable world in which new powers and alliances emerge as competition for dwindling resources heats... More »

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America • US intelligence • global economy • USA • intelligence agencies

CIA Dreads Another Neocon White House

Agency fears McCain administration would extend Bush-era woes

Sep 2, 08 1:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - The CIA has had a rough run under the Bush White House, and its top brass is worried that a John McCain presidency would be just as bad, reports Mother Jones. In recent years, animosity has defined the relationship between neoconservatives and spies, and McCain’s braintrust is full of... More »

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John McCain • CIA • intelligence agencies • neoconservatves

White House Order
Ramps Up Spy Boss Powers

Historic overhaul signed by prez

Jul 31, 08 5:36 AM CDT
(Newser) - A sweeping overhaul of spy powers will give the director of national intelligence broad new authority, reports the Wall Street Journal. Mike McConnell will be able to command information-sharing between agencies, hire and fire agency heads, and make major purchase decisions under a new executive order signed yesterday by President... More »

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Mike McConnell • Director of National Intelligence • intelligence agencies

From Britain With Love: MI6 Seeks Minorities

Spy agency wants women, Asians, Arabs, to help fight terrorism

Jul 13, 08 4:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - Next year's 007's may look more like Charlie's Angels than James Bond, as MI6 seeks to recruit more women and minority agents, the AP reports. The drive, which has netted 20,000 résumés over the past 12 months, welcomes Asian and Middle Eastern language speakers, the disabled, and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
gender • counterterrorism • James Bond • MI6 • Britain • gender discrimination • gender stereotypes • intelligence agencies

US Spies Getting Own Version of Second Life

Military is planning a virtual world for agents, complete with a 'time machine'

Jul 3, 08 7:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - Call it 007 2.0, if you will. The US military is planning a Second Life-style virtual world just for spies, complete with a “time machine” feature. But some are skeptical. "They can't do plain old forensics right and they're going to develop a mechanism that rolls the... More »

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US military • virtual worlds • spies • intelligence agencies

 'Good Cop'
 Enticed 9/11
 Mastermind to Talk 

But detainee had already faced waterboarding

Jun 22, 08 7:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - A CIA interrogator’s rapport with a mastermind of the 9/11 attacks helped provide vast amounts of information on terrorism while raising tough questions about interrogation methods, the New York Times reports. Agent Deuce Martinez cajoled Khalid Sheikh Mohammed into discussing his thoughts in great detail—but it’s unclear... More »

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CIA • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed • waterboarding • interrogation techniques • intelligence agencies

UK Intelligence 'Sent Citizens to Be Tortured'

MI5 outsourced brutal interrogations to Pakistan, say lawyers

Apr 29, 08 3:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - British intelligence officers have been accused of sending citizens to a Pakistani agency to be tortured, reports the Guardian. MI5 officials requested Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency to arrest British terror suspects in the country, where they were subjected to beatings, whippings, sleep deprivation and fingernail extraction, according to lawyers... More »

MORE ABOUT:
War on Terror • torture • Pakistan • intelligence • United Kingdom • Inter Service Intelligence • MI5 • intelligence agencies

US Spies Surf Internet for
Open Secrets

In Information Age, useful intelligence hides in plain sight

Apr 1, 08 12:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - Where do America’s spies go to get their most useful information? The Internet, mostly. Intelligence reports are increasingly filled with “open-source intelligence,” or information that’s available to nearly anyone, USA Today reports. The much-publicized December report on Iran’s nuclear program, for example, relied heavily... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • CIA • Internet • classified information • spying • spies • intelligence agencies

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