Michael Morell, the former acting and deputy director of the CIA, dismissed Engel’s point of view, arguing that policy is to blame.”What is happening in Afghanistan is not the result of an intelligence failure. It is the result of numerous policy failures by multiple administrations. Of all the players over the years, the Intelligence Community...
Category: Blog
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Directors of CIA and Mossad Meet in Israel
So far we have mostly wire service coverage. The situation: The United States is seeking to restart nuclear negotiations with Iran, while Israel seeks to disrupt those talks. Israeli press offers unsubstantiated rumor while Iran reminds the United States it has escalatory powers with a barrage of Hezbollah rockets and Persian Gulf drone attack. Bill...
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US Charges China’s MSS With Running a Hacking Operation
The Justice Department accused officers in a provincial bureau of the Ministry of State Security, of creating a sham information security company that they used as a front for a sprawling hacking operation. Source: US Accuses Chinese Officials of Running Data Theft Ring – The New York Times China responded by saying it opposes all...
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How the CIA Plotted the ‘Accidental’ Death of Raul Castro
One of blackest of the black arts of espionage is the assassination operation designed to disguise who was reallly reponsible. Case in point: a CIA plot to kill Raul Castro, commander of the Cuban armed forces, by making it look like he died in a plane crash. Spoiler alert: this story is very well-documented. From...
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Why the Covid-19 ‘Lab Leak Theory” Needs Another Look
Sometimes the problems facing intelligence agencies–and those who report on them–seem insoluble. For example, what caused U.S. diplomatic official to experience a host of strange symptoms after being posted in Havana? Science does not yet offer definitive answers about the “Havana Syndrome.” Are the symptoms caused by a “directed energy attack,” mounted by a foreign...