The second week of June 2016, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office launched NROL-37, carrying its latest spy satellite into geosynchronous orbit via a Delta IV-Heavy rocket. But it only took amateur space enthusiasts a few days to locate the mysterious new craft in the skies near Malaysia, over the Strait of Malacca. While the contents and…
Category: Intelligence Tradecraft
Espionage Files: South Korean Intelligence Warns Of ISIS Threat To U.S. Bases
Link this article with a recent article from John Schindler at XX Committee stating that ISIS’ Cyber Arm is indeed Russian Intelligence and you have quite a different story.-SF South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a statement release on June 19 that ISIS, through its hacking network called United Cyber Caliphate, has collected…
Espionage Files: Canadian Intel Report Claims Russia “Mobilizing for War”
A report by Canada’s primary intelligence agency warns in stark language that Russia is “retooling its military for a fight” and appears to be “mobilizing for war”. The classified report was accessed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the country’s state-owned broadcaster. According to the CBC, the document was produced by the Canadian Security Intelligence…
Espionage Files: USMC EA-6B Prowler Fills New Role as Spy Plane
When the EA-6B Prowler electronic-warfare plane first entered service with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps starting in 1971, its main job was to scramble enemy radars and radios with its powerful jammers. But with the Marines and the other U.S. armed services facing severe shortages of various planes, the few remaining Prowlers are now…
History of Terrorism: How British Intelligence Infiltrated the IRA
This is an article from The Atlantic in 2006 but I thought it a great read on the History of the IRA from the British perspective.-SF I first met the man now called Kevin Fulton in London, on Platform 13 at Victoria Station. We almost missed each other in the crowd; he didn’t look at…
Military Intelligence History: The Battle of Midway, The Complete Intelligence Story
The Battle of Midway in June of 1942 was one of the most important naval battles in world history and a turning point in the Second World War. Between June 4 and 7, aircraft from aircraft carriers Enterprise, Yorktown, and Hornet of the U.S. Navy’s Task Forces 16 and 17 ambushed and sank the Imperial…
Espionage Files: North Korea’s Shadow War, Part IV
South Korea’s Covert Operations in North Korea After Pyongyang attacked Seoul in the late 1960s, the South counterattacked This is the fourth story in a series. Read parts one, two and three. In the late 1960s, North Korea unleashed a guerrilla war on South Korea, sending spies and special operations troops across the Military Demarcation…
Espionage Files: Counterintelligence for U.S. Companies Operating Abroad
In January, the CEO of American Superconductor publicly detailed how traditional economic espionage methods carried out by a small Chinese firm resulted in over a billion dollars in loss to his company. Since at least 2011, much attention has been given to the rampant cyber espionage threat against U.S. firms, ultimately pushing U.S. businesses to…
Know Your Weapons: The CIA Probably Still Uses Some of the High Standard Spy Pistols It Bought During World War II
A suppressed .22-caliber “Wetwork” weapon that never needed replacing When the United States entered World War II, the Pentagon quickly bought up all the stocks it could find of .22LR target pistols — a .22-caliber handgun that fires a rifle-style cartridge—for training purposes. But the British Special Operations Executive was already using suppressed versions of similar weapons in combat….
Espionage Files: North Korea’s Shadow War, Part III
How South Korea Thwarted Kim Il-sung’s Shadow War North Korea’s late-1960s commando campaign came to a bloody halt This is the third story in a series. Read parts one and two. In the late spring of 1969, a 75-ton North Korean speed boat hurtled through the Yellow Sea off the western coast of South…