Archive for the 'Covert Operations' Category
Key Figures in Global Battle Against Illegal Arms Trade Lost in Air France Crash
June 8th, 2009Via: Sunday Herald: Argentine campaigner Pablo Dreyfus and Swiss colleague Ronald Dreyer battled South American arms and drug trafficking. AMID THE media frenzy and speculation over the disappearance of Air France’s ill-fated Flight 447, the loss of two of the world’s most prominent figures in the war on the illegal arms trade and international drug […]
Mysterious ‘Chip’ is CIA’s Latest Weapon Against al-Qaida Targets Hiding in Pakistan’s Tribal Belt
June 2nd, 2009The ‘chip’ is a bit less mysterious to Cryptogon readers since the DARPA program was mentioned here months ago: Continuous Clandestine Tagging, Tracking and Locating (CTTL). Via: Guardian: The CIA is equipping Pakistani tribesmen with secret electronic transmitters to help target and kill al-Qaida leaders in the north-western tribal belt, in a tactic that could […]
The Black World Has Black Fiber; Cut It and Black SUVs Show Up Within Minutes
May 31st, 2009You have to read to the end of the article to find out that the incident happened in 2000. Via: Washington Post: This part happens all the time: A construction crew putting up an office building in the heart of Tysons Corner a few years ago hit a fiber optic cable no one knew was […]
CIA Briefers Regularly Mislead Hill Intelligence Panels, Ex-Spy Charges
May 27th, 2009This has only been standard operating procedure for about the last 62 years. Via: Congressional Quarterly Politics: A former deep-cover CIA operative says the spy agency’s congressional briefers routinely shade the truth or hide facts altogether from congressional overseers. “They mumble, they dissemble, and there’s a lot of ‘on the one hand . . .’” […]
CIA’s In-Q-Tel invests in Sonitus Medical: Device Transmits Sound to Via Teeth
May 27th, 2009Via: Washington Business Journal: Sonitus Medical Inc., a business working on a hearing aid that uses the teeth, got an investment from In-Q-Tel, an investment firm started by the CIA. San Mateo, Calif.-based Sonitus didn’t say how much money In-Q-Tel invested. Led by CEO Amir Abolfathi, Sonitus is making an in-the-mouth hearing aid that transmits […]
Secret Power by Nicky Hager Available as Free eBook
May 26th, 2009Nicky Hager’s Secret Power should be on every Cryptogon reader’s list. Doubly so if you’re a Kiwi Cryptogon reader. Secret Power gives us a heretofore unprecedented look at how the UKUSA surveillance machine is really run. This was published in 1996, and when I read it back then I couldn’t believe what I was holding […]
Afghanistan: U.S. Forces Seize Almost 15 Tonnes of Narcotics Including Opium, Heroin and Morphine
May 22nd, 2009The commentary for this has already been written. See Blackwater Worldwide Changes Its Name to Xe; Same Mercenaries, but Now with More “Aviation Support” and The Invisible Hand of the Market: British Troops Seize £50 Million of Afghan Opium. Via: Reuters: Afghan and U.S. forces have killed 34 militants, almost half of them in air […]
After Major Florida Bank Fails, Carlyle Swoops In as a Buyer
May 22nd, 2009Via: Washington Post: Florida-based BankUnited collapsed yesterday, the largest bank failure so far this year, as a new federal investigation revealed that the bank’s regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision, allowed the firm to cover up its financial weakness. A consortium of investors, including District-based private-equity giant Carlyle Group, agreed to buy and recapitalize BankUnited, […]
Satellites to Streamline U.S. Intelligence Agency Narcotics Trafficking Operations
May 21st, 2009That’s not a misleading headline for those of us who have been paying attention. But then again, how many people have ever of SEASPRAY? This looks like an updated version of SEASPRAY, which is part of how Barry Seal was able to move tons of drugs into the U.S. It’s helpful to make sure that […]
“For Years,” the Taliban Has Been Fighting the U.S. with Arms that the U.S. Shipped to Afghanistan
May 20th, 2009We get by with a little help from our friends. Via: AFP: Pentagon munitions have leaked from Afghan forces to Taliban militants, enabling them to fight an insurgency for years against materially superior US and Afghan forces, The New York Times reported. According to a Times study of ammunition markings, of 30 rifle magazines removed […]
