Part 1
Showing posts with label spying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spying. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Monday, March 20, 2017
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Striking Back: Germany Considers Counterespionage Against US
The question seemed out of place, especially when asked three times. A female journalist from a satire magazine wanted to know if Thomas de Maizière liked cheese snacks. "Questions like that are more appropriate for breakfast television than here," the minister snipped back. It was de Maizière's first visit as interior minister to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency. And he was in no mood for jokes.
Instead, the minister preferred to focus on the basics during the appearance two weeks ago, with counterespionage at the top of his list. The issue, he warned, shouldn't be underestimated, adding that the question as to who was doing the spying was but of secondary importance.
In other words: Germany intends to defend itself against all spying efforts in the future, even if they are perpetrated by supposed friends.
While the minister's words may have sounded innocuous, they marked nothing less than the start of a political about-face. Away from the public eye, the German government is moving toward implementing plans to turn its own spies against partner countries like the United States, putting allies on the same level as the Chinese, Russians and North Koreans. » | SPIEGEL Staff | Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Thursday, September 05, 2013
US and UK Spy Agencies Defeat Privacy and Security on the Internet
US and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online transactions and emails, according to top-secret documents revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden.
The files show that the National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have broadly compromised the guarantees that internet companies have given consumers to reassure them that their communications, online banking and medical records would be indecipherable to criminals or governments.
The agencies, the documents reveal, have adopted a battery of methods in their systematic and ongoing assault on what they see as one of the biggest threats to their ability to access huge swathes of internet traffic – "the use of ubiquitous encryption across the internet".
Those methods include covert measures to ensure NSA control over setting of international encryption standards, the use of supercomputers to break encryption with "brute force", and – the most closely guarded secret of all – collaboration with technology companies and internet service providers themselves. » | James Ball, Julian Borger and Glenn Greenwald | Thursday, September 05, 2013
Friday, July 12, 2013
Stasi 2.0? US Fed Workers to Spy & Snitch on Each Other
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Shahram Amiri, who claimed he was abducted by CIA, has not been seen since return from US last year
An Iranian nuclear scientist who claimed to have been abducted by the CIA and who returned to a hero's welcome in Tehran last July, has since been imprisoned and tortured on suspicion of giving away state secrets, according to an opposition website.
Iranbriefing.net - run by a US-based group which normally reports on political prisoners and the activities of Iran's revolutionary guard - said the scientist, Shahram Amiri, had been interrogated intensively for three months in Tehran and then spent two months in solitary confinement, where his treatment had left him hospitalised for a week.
The Tehran authorities would not confirm or deny the account.
Amiri has not been seen in public in the six months since his much-publicised homecoming from America, where he claimed to have been held against his will. State media portrayed him at the time as a daring patriot who had escaped from his alleged CIA captors with critical information about US covert operations against Iran.
US officials, surprised by Amiri's unexpected return to Iran, insisted he had gone to the US willingly. There was concern in US intelligence circles however that his original "defection" in Saudi Arabia in 2009 could have been a trap to embarrass the CIA and trick its officials into revealing how much the US knows about the Iranian nuclear programme. >>> Julian Borger and Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Related >>>
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Der iranische Physiker Shahram Amiri, behauptet, dass die USA wollten, dass er aussagt ein iranischer Spion zu sein. So sollte Amiri Teil eines Austauschs von Spionen mit Teheran werden. Amiri bekräftigte in einem Interview zudem seine Aussagen, dass er im Juni 2009 in Saudi-Arabien von US-Geheimdienstmitarbeitern entführt wurde.
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Der iranische Atomforscher Schahram Amiri ist auf dem Weg nach Hause in den Iran, wohl via ein Drittland. Der Forscher war vor einem Jahr verschwunden und am Dienstag überraschend in der pakistanischen Botschaft in Washington wieder aufgetaucht. Nun will Amiri im iranischen Fernsehen bekannt geben, wie es zu seiner Befreiung kam. Teheran wirft den USA die Entführung des Atomphysikers vor.
Verbunden >>>
Sunday, July 18, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The CIA is investigating whether Shahram Amiri, the Iranian nuclear scientist who defected to the US but last week flew back to Tehran, was a double agent.
The strange case of Shahram Amiri has puzzled US intelligence chiefs who approved a $5 million payment to him for information about Iran's illicit nuclear programme.
Former US intelligence agents have predicted that Mr Amiri will disappear into prison or even face death, despite the hero's welcome he was accorded as he was met by his wife and hugged his seven-year-old son.
But his decision to fly back voluntarily, claiming outlandishly that he was kidnapped by CIA and Saudi agents during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia last June and then tortured in the US, has prompted suspicions that he was a double agent working for Iran all along, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
There are also questions about why the Iranian authorities allowed him to travel alone to Saudi Arabia, despite his sensitive work, and why he left his family behind if he was intending to leave Iran permanently. >>> Philip Sherwell in New York and William Lowther in Washington | Saturday, July 17, 2010
Related articles here
Thursday, July 08, 2010
KRONE.at: Die Gerüchte über einen amerikanisch-russischen Agententausch in Wien scheinen sich zu bestätigen: Der wegen Hochverrats verurteilte Moskauer Nuklearexperte Igor Sutjagin soll bereits in Wien eingetroffen sein, sagte der russische Menschenrechtler Ernst Tschorny am Donnerstagnachmittag der Nachrichtenagentur Interfax. Eine offizielle Bestätigung dafür gab es zunächst aber nicht.
Tschorny sagte, man habe Sutjagins Vater per Telefon mitgeteilt, sein Sohn sei bei der Ankunft am Wiener Flughafen gesehen worden. Er sei von einem britischen Offizier empfangen worden, der ihn nach London weiterbringen soll. Laut "Krone"-Informationen wurde der Transport mit einem Privatjet mit unauffälliger Firmenaufschrift unternommen. Die Landung erfolgte am späteren Nachmittag. >>> | Donnerstag, 08. Juli 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The 11 people accused of spying for Russia have been formally charged, amid claims the US and Russia are planning to carry out a Cold War-style 'spy swap'.
US Justices ordered two suspects detained in Boston and three in the Washington area to be transferred to New York, where they will join five already there at the next court hearing at the end of the month.
They are all accused of “conspiring to act as secret agents in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation and nine of these individuals with conspiracy to commit money laundering,” the formal indictment said.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years for money laundering and five for the conspiracy allegations.
It comes amid reports the Kremlin is planning to hand over Igor Sutyagin, a Russian academic jailed for spying for the CIA in 2004, as well as Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence jailed for spying for Britain in 2006, in return for the release of the alleged Russian spies. The names of the other "exchangees" were not disclosed. >>> Andrew Osborn in Moscow | Thursday, July 08, 2010
Thursday, July 01, 2010
THE TIMES: Two accused Russian spies appeared in leg irons today in a Boston court, where their lawyers were granted extra time to prepare their defence in a spy case that has driven oil slicks off America’s front pages and prompted an international manhunt in the eastern Mediterranean.
Seven more of the alleged Russian agents were due in court tonight to seek bail against daunting odds as the search for their supposed ringleader continued in Cyprus, and Washington expressed its dismay over his release on Wednesday.
Christopher Metsos, the alleged bag-carrier for many of the suspected “sleepers”, was still at large after the astonishing decision by a Cypriot judge to release him on a €26,500 bond.
A dejected senior Cypriot legal official told The Times today that Mr Metsos “probably went to the north and has left from there already”, referring to the strong possibility that Metsos has crossed into the self-declared Turkish Republic. >>> Giles Whittell, Washington and Michael Theodoulou, Nicosia | Thursday, July 01, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
THE TIMES: The White House admitted yesterday that even as Presidents Obama and Medvedev met last week for talks in Washington, Mr Obama knew the FBI was closing in on an alleged Russian spy ring and chose to say nothing.
The confession was matched by an acknowledgement in Moscow that at least some of the 11 suspects are Russian citizens, but it will do little to assuage Russian anger.
Vladimir Putin accused American officials of being “out of control”, while a Kremlin spokesman said that the US had revived “the spirit of the Cold War”.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, said that the only thing that was clear about the raids on Sunday was that their timing had been chosen “with special elegance”. Continue reading and comment >>> Analysis, Tony Halpin, Giles Whittell | Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
THE TIMES: Main points: 11 arrested over spy ring in United States / ‘Mastermind’ held in Cyprus / One suspect used fake British passport / Married couples and journalist among those held / Investigation lasted a decade
The Russian Government has admitted that 11 people accused of spying for Moscow in the US include Russian citizens, but denies that they acted against American interests.
The Foreign Ministry urged the US to take into account the “positive character” of relations between the two countries, after President Obama and President Dimitry Medvedev offered a show of unity and dined together on hamburgers last week.
“We are talking about Russian citizens who came to the United States at different times,” the ministry said in a statement. “They have not committed any kind of actions directed against the interests of the United States.”
Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, who has a background in the security services, was more aggressive.
He told the former US president Bill Clinton, “Back at your home, the police went out of control (and) are throwing people in jail.
“I hope that all the positive gains that have been achieved in our relationship wll not be damaged by the recent event.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry called for lawyers and diplomats to have access to the suspects, who had posed for years as middle-class professionals from a range of countries including Uruguay and Canada. Continue reading and comment >>> Judith Evans, Tony Halpin in Moscow and Giles Whittell in Washington | Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Google was asked by British authorities almost 1,200 times for information about the internet activites of individuals and companies in just six months, the search engine has disclosed.
Britons are among the most spied upon on the web, according to the figures which show only Brazil and the United States asked for more information.
The 1,166 requests for information - which relate to the second half of 2009 - came from agencies such as local and national police, and usually formed part of a criminal investigation. France asked for 846 pieces of information, and Germany for 428.
The search engine also received 59 requests from British government departments and other official sources to remove items from Google's services.
A Google spokesman said that the company regularly gets asked by governments for information relating to users’ emails or on how and where they have logged on. The company added, however, that where broad requests are made it endeavours to release as little information as is necessary by law. It complies with approximately 77 per cent of all British requests for removal.
Google has launched its Government Requests Tool to highlight the extent to which governments are using their legal systems to gather information about citizens or censor the web. However, it admitted it could not provide data for China as Beijing considers such figures as a state secret. >>> Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor | Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The Second World War spy who inspired the womanising hero in the Oscar-winning film The English Patient was actually homosexual and in love with a young soldier, according to letters discovered in Germany.
Intimate correspondence penned by Hungarian-born adventurer Count Laszlo de Almásy shows he had a relationship with a soldier called Hans Entholt.
The Heinrich Barth Institute for African Studies in Cologne has made the claim after discovering love letters but has yet to publish the details.
A member of the institute's staff told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine the letters show he had several homosexual relationships: "Egyptian princes were among Almásy's lovers." >>> Allan Hall in Berlin | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Geheimdienstbericht – "Englischer Patient" in Wahrheit hässlicher Nazi-Spion: Das Leben des Wüstenforschers Graf László de Almásy war Vorbild für das Kinodrama "Der Englische Patient" mit dem attraktiven Ralph Fiennes in der Hauptrolle. In Wirklichkeit war Almásy jedoch ein Spion der Nazis. Und ein hässlicher noch dazu. >>> | Freitag, 21. Mai 2004
Monday, March 08, 2010
BBC – Today Programme: Summer 1937. What could be more fitting in the cool afternoon of an English country lane than a group of cycling tourists steadily pedalling their way from one historic site to another, stopping to camp overnight in fields along the way.
The only problem was, that summer, some of those groups of teenage boys were Hitler Youth.
In an era without satellite photography, when detailed ordnance survey maps could be hard to come by and when tension in Europe was rising, MI5 were worried that this innocent cyclo-tourism was a cover for spying.
MI5 had been told that Hitler Youth groups visiting abroad were asked to complete a detailed questionnaire, including questions on terrain, population, and political views of the population.
They were asked to take photographs, especially of industry, and to get lists of names of all those taking part in anti-German movements. Read on (with audio) >>> Sanchia Berg | Monday, March 08, 2010
Sunday, July 19, 2009
THE SUNDAY TIMES: IT WAS his British passport that consigned a young writer to three days of torture. The man, who has asked to be identified only as Reza, was arrested in Tehran during an anti-government protest, beaten and threatened with death for being a “British spy”.
His broken nose and ribs have started to heal but the psychological scars remain, even though he is now safely back in London.
The 30-year-old’s story is one of the few to emerge from the prisons in which, international groups say, thousands of men and women arrested since the disputed June 12 presidential election have been held.
Reza, whose real name is being withheld to protect his family in Tehran, has lived in Britain since childhood but travelled to Iran last month for a writing project.
He voted for Mir Hossein Mousavi, the presidential candidate who claims that his defeat by the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged. Reza joined the hundreds of thousands who poured onto the streets to protest.
On June 20, the day after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, endorsed Ahmadinejad’s victory, Reza was leaving a demonstration when two militia men blindfolded him and bundled him onto the back of a motorcycle. >>> Marie Colvin | Sunday, July 19, 2009
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Russian intelligence agents have recently been trying to steal German military technology with an intensity unknown since the end of the Cold War. But the spies who have been arrested so far have got off scot-free -- thanks to their diplomatic immunity.
Vladimir Vozhzhov thought he was on safe territory as he waited in his Salzburg hotel on June 11. After all, the 50-year-old Russian citizen had been commuting between Moscow and Vienna for many years. But this particular visit to Austria took an unusual turn. Russian Agents Plot to Steal German Military Technology (more) By Holger Stark
Mark Alexander
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