Stuff, Sept 1

Fri Sep 1 12:08:21 EDT 2000

(Note, this is first "Stuff" since August 4 -- I've been on vacation.)

WIRETAPS IN THE WIRELESS AGE.  Changing technology has law enforcement
officials, as well as intelligence officers, worried about criminals
easily evading tools like wiretaps. And now their proposals about what
to do about it are worrying privacy advocates.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/cellphoneprivacy000817.html

AWOL US ARMY RESERVE INTELLIGENCE OFFICER disappeared in Israel and
later resurfaced in the United States.  After being missing for 2 weeks,
Jeremiah Mattysse turned up at a youth hostel in the desert town of
Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, and later returned to the US.  He has denied
allegations by an Israeli woman who claimed to be his girlfriend that he
disclosed sensitive documents.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20000822_1282.html

THE "CIA DEFENSE" BECOMES FACTOR IN LOCKERBIE TRIAL. Scottish judges
hearing the Lockerbie bombing trial called on the U.S. government to
fully declassify a batch of CIA cables containing information
provided by a Libyan informant around the time of the 1988 airliner
explosion. As the trial resumed following a three-week summer recess,
lawyers for two Libyan defendants accused of bombing Pan Am Flight 103
insisted the information was indispensable to their case.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20000822_1230.html

NRO SHOULDER PATCH SAID TO REVEAL SECRET INFO ABOUT SPY SATELLITES.
Amateur satellite observers who track the orbits of classified US
intelligence satellites say the embroidered patch, distributed to NRO
employees to commemorate the Aug. 17 launch of a Titan IV, clearly
revealed the rocket's secret payload -- a radar-imaging Lacrosse spy
satellite with a 68 degree inclination, the same orbit as Lacrosse 2
rather than  a 68 degree inclination, the same as Lacrosse 1 and 3.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46376-2000Aug29.html

NSA REFORMS AND WINSTON WILEY, NEW CIA/DDI.  In his Aug 28 "Back
Channels" column, Vernon Loeb, writes about a speech by NSA Director
LtGen Michael Hayden about two aspects of his NSA reengineering effort.
"Project Trailblazer," is his initiative to develop a 21st century
SIGINT system to keep the agency from going deaf in the face of
spreading encryption software, hard-to-tap fiber optic cables and
increasing cell phone traffic now literally drowning analysts in 1's and
0's.
"Project Groundbreaker," is a $5 billion, 10-year plan now in the works
to turn over development and management of nonclassified information
technology to the private sector so NSA can focus on
mission-critical"--i.e. classified--technology.
WINSTON WILEY, the new CIA/DDI, is also discussed in the column.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34238-2000Aug27.html

DARK CLOUD OVER LOS ALAMOS AND OTHER DOE LABS is becoming a national
security problem, according to Washington Post Vernon Loeb.  Funding
cuts, a big drop in morale plus departing employees and reluctance of
young scientists to accept employment at the embattled DOE labs
threatens to do serious harm to the work of the labs and ultimately to
US national security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30694-2000Aug26.html

FBI COUNTERINTELLIGENCE EFFORTS RISE SHARPLY.  The number of FBI
counterintelligence (CI) officers has grown almost fivefold during the
Clinton administration, but internal security and terrorism cases
accounted for only 45 of the FBI's 12,730 convictions in 1998, a
Syracuse University research center reported.  Citing federal employment
data, Syracuse's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) said
the total of FBI CI officers increased from 224 in 1992 to 1,025 in
1999.  Most are are probably CI and counterterrorist analysts.  [Recall
that in the first year of the Clinton Administration, Director Louis
Freeh bragged that with the Cold War over, he was switching several
hundred CI officers to criminal investigations, including Washington, DC
street crime.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33742-2000Aug27.html

IA INFORMATION PROTECTION AND CI EFFORTS.   -- A recently released
report (congressionally mandated) on the DoD's "Defense Information
Assurance Program" indicates that in 1999 the DIA tripled its staff
(from 8 to 24) to improve its ability to conduct penetration testing and
vulnerability analysis of the estimated 8,000 Defense Department
information systems. DIA reported it is "implementing an intrusion
detection system to monitor its classified networks," and upgrading its
unclassified infrastructure to enable "a single point of entry/exit via
protected firewalls and other Information Assurance safeguards."
Large file in PDF format:
http://www.c3i.osd.mil/org/sio/ia/diap/infocenter.html

GEORGE W BUSH GETS FIRST CIA BRIEFING.  Bill Gertz & Rowan Scarborough
cover that and other topics in their Sept 1 "Inside the Ring" column in
the Washington Times.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_gertzscar/20000901_xcgsc_chinas_for.shtml

EDMOND POPE, A US BUSINESS MAN IS SAID TO BE IN terrible condition in
Russian Jail.  The wife of retired US navy officer and alleged spy
Edmund Pope said on Tuesday that her ailing husband was in a terrible
condition after visiting him in a Russian jail.  (See letter to the
editor by VADM Tom Brooks on this subject, below.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20000831_3011.html
http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20000831_3171.html
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=193910&section=default

FULL TEXT OF ADM TOM BROOK'S LETTER ON EDMOND POPE.
"In April the FSB (the former KGB) arrested a retired US Navy captain,
Edmond Pope, on charges of espionage after he openly attempted to
purchase a Russian-manufactured torpedo that had been advertised and
displayed at trade shows as readily available for export [news story,
Apr8].
"Mr. Pope is a businessman, not an agent for the U.S. government. He is
being held in Moscow's infamous Lefortovo prison without any possibility
of bail while the charges are investigated.
"Mr. Pope's wife has met with President Clinton. Members of Congress
from his home state of Pennsylvania have gathered more than 140
sponsors for a House resolution to put pressure on the Russians to
release Mr. Pope, whose health is reported to be failing badly. Mr.
Clinton
twice has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin [news story, Aug.
17], but Mr. Pope still languishes in prison without adequate medical
care.
"Congress and the public should insist that the Clinton administration
remember its responsibility to protect the rights of its citizens
traveling
abroad. It is time for Congress to take a no-nonsense stand with regard
to the Russians: Treat American citizens properly or forget any aid or
assistance from the United States.  --THOMAS A. BROOKS, Fairfax
Station."  (The writer is a retired navy rear admiral.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28132-2000Aug26.html

POLITICAL CARTOON (military theme) FROM WASHINGTON TIMES.
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/garner.htm

LTGEN HAYDEN, DIRNSA, TO SPEAK AT SEPT 21 LUNCHEON.
The Potomac Chapter of NMIA will have it's first fall luncheon Sept 21
at the Bolling EM Club.  Speaker will be LtGen Michael Hayden, USAF,
Director of the National Security Agency and Chief, Central Security
Service. He will speak  on "Change and the Future NSA." For
reservations, call voice mail (703) 921-1800 or  go to:
<http://www.intelweb.org/potomac>.

AMB PAUL BRENNER TO SPEAK AT SEPT 22 BREAKFAST.  Amb Brenner, who headed
the National Commission on Terrorism and is now Managing Director of
Kissinger & Associates, will speak at a breakfast meeting of the the
American Bar Association at the University Club in Washington, DC, 1135
16th Street, 8am.  Reservations required: Send check for $15 before Sept
19 to ABA Standing Committee on Law & Security, 740 15th St NW, Wash, DC
20005-1009.

        John Macartney

Intelligence Forum (http://www.intelforum.org) is sponsored by Intelligence
and National Security, a Frank Cass journal (http://www.frankcass.com/jnls/ins.htm)