As American families dined on turkey and stuffing, China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) was hard at work in Beijing hammering out military reforms. These reforms were then announced to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by President Xi Jinping, who also serves as the CMC chairman. The proposed organizational changes may make this round of reform…
Category: Espionage Files
Cold War Files: CIA Fooled by Massive Double-Agent Failure
The CIA was fooled by scores of double agents pretending to be working for the agency but secretly loyal to communist spy agencies during the Cold War and beyond, according to a former CIA analyst, operations officer, and historian. The large-scale deception included nearly 100 fake CIA recruits in East Germany, Cuba, as well as the…
The Truth About SpyWar and How 21st Century Espionage Really Works
Espionage is a constant in human civilization. Spying features prominently in theOld Testament and it’s often called the “second oldest profession” with good reason. The ancient Chinese sage Sun Tzu wrote eloquently about the strategic importance of espionage and counterespionage fully 2,500 years ago. As long as people have lived in anything resembling societies, they…
Forged ISIS Video Praises Obama’s Backing
Is is Real or is it Memorex Folks?? An apparently forged ISIS video disseminated online Monday praised President Obama and called for joint U.S. action with the terrorist group against Russian intervention in Syria. The five-minute video also called for designating Obama as the caliph, or ruler, of ISIS. ISIS supporters on Twitter were quick…
Espionage Files: OSS Living Legend Hugh Montgomery
I am currently writing a series of short stories about the OSS during WW2. Here are some of my inspirations. -SF WASHINGTON — Hugh Montgomery never wrote a memoir. That just wasn’t done among his generation of spies. But his exploits as a World War II combat veteran, CIA cold warrior and Washington power player…
Giving Thanks to the OSS
As today’s security depends increasingly on intelligence and special operators, Congress should act to honor those who paved their way. What do attorney James Donovan (portrayed by Tom Hanks in “Bridge of Spies”), the “French Chef” Julia Child, Virginia Hall (the only American civilian woman to receive the Distinguished Service Cross during World War II),…
Intel Tradecraft: Geo-Tagging and Identifying a Picture by it’s Background (Similar Image Search)
In the most recent episode of Homeland, Carrie while trying to figure out what direction to go in searching a stolen laptop for intel, is distracted by the computer’s screen saver which is a picture that shows the suspect in a beachfront bar in what appears to be a tropical location. Thinking back, Carrie remembers…
Cold War Files: Terror’s KGB Roots
A year ago today, my friend Alexander Litvinenko died in a London hospital, leaving behind a wife and young son. Sasha was poisoned by a tiny nuclear device containing polonium-210 — which, the British Crown Prosecution Service concluded, was planted on him by Russian secret agents. In its way, his murder was an act of…
Espionage Files: The tradition of Russians Dying in D.C. Hotels under Murky Circumstances
The other day a former Putin spokesman died in a DC hotel. He was 57 years old. Seems young to me for a heart attack. This reminded me of poor old Walter Krivitsky, a top Soviet intelligence official who defected after his friend and colleague Ignace Reiss was machine gunned in Switzerland in 1937. American…
Espionage Files: Navy Engineer Sentenced for Attempted Espionage
In the fall of 2014, civilian engineer Mostafa Ahmed Awwad provided schematics of the U.S. Navy’s newest nuclear aircraft carrier—the USS Gerald R. Ford—to an individual he thought was an Egyptian intelligence officer. At the time, Awwad was an employee of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, and had access to naval nuclear…