intelligence agencies

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Al-Qaeda Sets Sights on Pakistan

(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 in Afghanistan,...

Spooks Use Wiki to Share Intel
 Spooks Use Wiki to Share Intel 
Apr 8, 2009 3:48 PM CDT

Spooks Use Wiki to Share Intel

Site enables rapid sharing of information, advocates say

(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...

Report Slams Spy Agencies
 Report Slams Spy Agencies 
Apr 2, 2009 5:46 AM CDT

Report Slams Spy Agencies

Internal probe finds intelligence agencies have failed to streamline under DNI

(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...

Ex-CIA Exec Gets 37 Months for Peddling Contracts

(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...

'Google-like' System to Link US Intelligence Agencies

Overhaul includes databases, email

(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...

Panetta Pick Raises Intel Hackles

Obama defends CIA choice from critics who call him inexperienced

(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...

US Dominance 'Fading Fast' as Global Upheaval Looms

Report predicts increasingly unstable world future as wealth and power shift

(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...

CIA Dreads Another Neocon White House

Agency fears McCain administration would extend Bush-era woes

(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...

White House Order Ramps Up Spy Boss Powers

Historic overhaul signed by prez

(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...

From Britain With Love: MI6 Seeks Minorities

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

(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...

US Spies Getting Own Version of Second Life

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

(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...

'Good Cop' Enticed 9/11 Mastermind to Talk

But detainee had already faced waterboarding

(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...

UK Intelligence 'Sent Citizens to Be Tortured'

MI5 outsourced brutal interrogations to Pakistan, say lawyers

(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...

US Spies Surf Internet for Open Secrets

In Information Age, useful intelligence hides in plain sight

(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 on...

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