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Posted by intelblogman on Thursday, April 05, 2007 10:15:32 AM
Iran has nukes.  Iran has stepped over so many UN resolutions that UN stepping is now commonplace.  And now it seems that Iran gassed a person who knew too much about their program.  With shady uranium deals with African countries and all the effort to hide their efforts--something is up.  If Iran is seeking only domestic nuclear power, why would it feel the urge to hide something.  There is no need to hide what can be seen in the open. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_nuclear_program_of_Iran 
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Crisis resolved, but really?

Posted by intelblogman on Thursday, April 05, 2007 10:01:59 AM
Finally, the 15 British sailors are back  in the UK.  Iran released them this morning (Iranian time).  Now everyone is applauding the diplomatic efforts of Britain, proclaiming diplomacy is the answer to world peace.  Diplomatic functions are very much important, but when it slips to appeasement is when it turns dangerous.  Appeasement has almost never worked.  Iran is just testing the waters; and I believe they have found Europe to not be much of a threat if Iran decides to do something bigger.  A book for the dedicated reader The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone 1932-1940 tells of Churchill during the turbulent years surrounding WWII.  It is an excellent reminder of how rogue countries put on the guise of peace and constantly test the waters to see how much they can get away with in the future conflicts.  
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Iranian crisis soon to be resolved?

Posted by intelblogman on Wednesday, April 04, 2007 10:17:49 AM
The issue of whose water the sailors were in is very sketchy.  "The U.K. has said the Britons' two boats, from the frigate HMS Cornwall, were 1.7 nautical miles (3.1 kilometers) inside Iraqi waters when they were captured in the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Iran says the vessels were half a kilometer inside its territorial waters." -Blomberg News- I personally think one or two kilometers can be interpreted either way.  The question is who to trust.  I would say Iran is to be more untrustworthy of the two; but very early this morning, Iran in a press conference declared that they would return the sailors as a "gift" to Britain. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he was distressed by the EU condemnation of Iran and was pleased by the Iranian Coast Guard.  I believe that soon this crisis will be peacefully resolved with the release of the 15 sailors.  I would still be wary of Iran though.
(for more on this issue)
(for a timeline of the crisis)
(for a look at the sources of power in Iran)
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Presidential Daily Brief

Posted by intelblogman on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 2:07:00 PM
The following is an excerpt of Inside the CIA by Ronald Kessler an excellent book to read for those interested in how the CIA operates and the crucial role directors play in the arena of intelligence. 

    {Besides an original and a new building at its headquarters on Dolley Madison Boulevard in McLean, Virginia, the CIA has its own printing plant on the compound that turns out routine classified documents as well as the President's Daily Brief, the top-secret document presented to the president every morning.  The document--usually eight to nine pages--comes off the press at six A.M.  A double-wrapped copy is delievered to the director's home so he can read it on the way to the White House.  A CIA briefer gives a second copy to the president around eight A.M.}

xxxiii    -Inside the CIA by Ronald Kessler
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Breakdown of intelligence agencies part four

Posted by intelblogman on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 10:44:12 AM
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is located in McLean, Virginia.  The history of the CIA is a story itself, but I will discuss about how the CIA operates within its various components.  There are five parts to the CIA, the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) and four directorates or branches of the CIA.  The four directorates are Operations, Science and Technology, Intelligence, and Administration.  Each of the directorates is lead by a Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (DDCI). 

The Directorate of Operations is now known as the National Clandestine Service.
This service contains all the hush-hush stuff and is the coolest branch to be in.  It is also the most demanding.  The divorce rate for those in the Clandestine Service is much higher than the national average.  Hollywood loves this branch.  The purpose of the National Clandestine Service is HUMINT (human intelligence).  The term intelligence collector is often used to describe this branch. 

The Directorate of Science and Technology is the where the secretive high-tech gurus of the world reside.  From satellites to robotic flying insects with cameras--the DS&T makes it all.  DS&T's In-Q-Tel  is named after "Q" in the James Bond movies and fills "Q"s role making all the high tech stuff. 

The Directorate of Intelligence is the most relevant branch for this blog.  In is in this branch where the smart analytical people decide what all the intelligence means.  They condense all this intelligence into a report called the Presidential Daily Brief that lands on the President's desk every morning.  Look for future posts about the DI.

Lastly, the Directorate of Administration orders paper clips and runs basic logistics, not as cool as the NCS but still CIA. 







 
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Re fun facts: Secret Service

Posted by intelblogman on Monday, April 02, 2007 6:03:27 PM
Earlier in fun facts: Secret Service I listed a site having Secret Service codewords.  Here are some of my favorites from the site:


BAMBOO                       PRESIDENTIAL MOTORCADE
BOOKSTORE               WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
CEMENT MIXER          WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM (the place where the President and staff deal with crises)
PLAYGROUND            HELICOPTER PAD, PENTAGON
PUNCH BOWL            CAPITOL BUILDING
ANGEL                          AIR FORCE ONE (President's airplane)
HALO                             POPE JOHN PAUL II
POTUS                          PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
SNOWBANK                BARBARA BUSH
SNOWSTORM             GEORGE BUSH




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Iran: rogue state

Posted by intelblogman on Saturday, March 31, 2007 11:41:48 AM
Because of the current hostage situation with Iran and 15 British sailors, I will briefly discuss about the rogue state Iran.

Iran which is located between the countries Iran and Pakistan has been a constant source of problems for the Western World ever since the US-friendly monarchy of Iran was overthrown.  In 1979, the shah of Iran was forced into exile and replaced by the theocratic system of government it has today.  Since '79 relations have been extremely strained due to the Tehran embassy hostage taking which lasted well over a year.   We have never resumed diplomatic relations with the country.  Because of its open sponsorship of terrorism must notably the terrorist organization Hezbollah or "Party of God" Iran remains on US sanctions.  (Recently, Hezbollah was the aggressor in the Israeli-Lebanon crisis.)  With its terrorist sponsorship, nuclear capability, and extremist leader President Ahamdinejad, Iran remains a dangerous rogue state.


Check out my favorite resource on foreign countries: the CIA World Factbook. 

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html


Other resources on Iran:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/irtoc.html

News:

http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=13337
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/03/E7F83F8E-577E-457D-926B-95F07DA8054E.html
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2007-03/31/content_840996.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/790877.stm


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fun facts: Secret Service

Posted by intelblogman on Friday, March 30, 2007 5:53:33 PM
The Secret Service is actually part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  Originally the Secret Service was tasked with tracking down money counterfeiters.  Now, the Service's job is to protect the President's family, heads of state, political leaders, and even top Presidential electoral candidates and their families.  The President when he leaves office retains Secret Service protection until his death. 

Secret Service members use code words while on duty.  The White House is the "Crown", Air Force One (the President's plane) is Angel, the President's helicopter is Marine One.  The President's family all have codewords with the same letter, i.e. Eagle, Evergreen refer to Clinton and Hillary respectively.  The family code names have no relation to a family member's personality.  They are chosen randomly from a list of code names.  To speak like a real Secret Service agent check out    http://www.2600.com/secret/more/codes.html       -enjoy


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more books on intelligence

Posted by intelblogman on Friday, March 30, 2007 5:22:11 PM
Class 11: Inside the CIA's First Post-9/11 Spy Class by T. J. Waters is a exciting, interested, and fast-paced look at the training of a CIA overseas operative.  I recommend this to any curious about intelligence.  This is one of those hard to put down books.

See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism by Robert Baer is the story of a CIA operative actually in the field.  This well-written book is about Baer's work in multiple areas of the Middle East. 

Both of these books are written by the authors and are largely uncensored by the CIA.  There are portions were the sentences are blacked out since they contain classified material.  This is the raw stuff about real life intelligence.

Most intelligence careers are not as exciting as Baer and Waters.  Most positions are desk jobs such as a analytical position or tech guy; however, since 9/11 the need for human intelligence is on the rise.  During the Clinton years human intelligence was largely done away with emphasis on high-tech surveillance. 

One other book before I finish, The CIA at War: Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror by Ronald Kessler is about the behind-the-scenes Presidential decisions and management of secret projects.  Also cool.
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Posted by intelblogman on Friday, March 30, 2007 3:22:59 PM
(note: the hyperlinks are not functioning on this site, please be patient while I find a solution)
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Posted by intelblogman on Friday, March 30, 2007 3:19:30 PM
Terrorism is one of the most dangerous threats to the United States and understanding terrorism should be a priority for anyone for wishes to prevent it in the future.  The must-read book for understanding the terrorist group al-Qaeda is The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright.  It is the absolute best book on the topic and I strongly, strongly recommend it.
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Breakdown of intelligence agencies part three

Posted by intelblogman on Friday, March 30, 2007 12:54:59 PM
The National Security Agency or NSA is the most secretive of the intelligence agencies.  It happens to also be the largest agency and the agency with the highest budget.  The NSA conducts intelligence through communications interception and provides the  IC with what is called SIGNALS intelligence.   The NSA is  the United States's phone bugger.  They can tap into not only land lines but also cell phones.  They snatch up the phone waves with their powerful satellites and relay them to analysts to be translated.  The National Security Agency mainly listens in on foreign nationals but anyone who says bomb, Allah, Al-Queda, or dozens of other key words multiple times in a setting run the risk of being red-flagged and recorded.  However these recorded calls will never ever be listened to be a human unless it is found that you are a threat to national security.  This description of NSA is brief to say the least.  For the dedicated reader the book Body of Secrets gives everything worth knowing about the National Security Agency.  The movie Enemy of the State is also about the NSA but disregard the whole conspiracy theme. 









 

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Breakdown of intelligence agencies part two

Posted by intelblogman on Friday, March 30, 2007 9:47:04 AM
One of the lesser known agencies in the United States Intelligence Community is the National Reconnaissance Organization or NRO.  The NRO is our nation's premier space intelligence provider.  The NRO is all about satellite and whereas other agencies like the CIA and NSA also have excellent satellites, the NRO's are the best.  Think Google Earth 1000 times better!  These satellites can provide real time video feed from space with the capacity to spot a shoe print  thousands of miles away on the earth's surface and from the tread pattern in the soil identify what size, make, and brand shoe it is.  Terrorists beware.  The only problem is where to look; the earth is a big place to try to find something.




 
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Breakdown of intelligence agencies part one

Posted by intelblogman on Thursday, March 29, 2007 5:48:35 PM
Intelligence in the United States is made up of 16 agencies called collectively the United States Intelligence Communtiy. 

Of particular interest are the following agencies and their brief descriptions:

Everyone knows about the FBI, but not everyone knows that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has a Intelligence department that focuses on catching terrorists and spies.  Whereas the CIA provides the United States with spies, the FBI' intelligence department catches other country's spies.  The movie  Breach is about the most damaging spy case in history and chronicles the FBI's Intelligence branch catch
Robret Hansen.




















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Welcome to Cloak and Dagger

Posted by intelblogman on Thursday, March 29, 2007 5:03:47 PM
Welcome to Cloak and Dagger--the mysterious new blog about national safety & security concerns.

Intelligence, not the brain kind of intelligence but intelligence, the secret cloak and dagger kind of intelligence.  Not James Bond or Alias--this blog is about the real life stuff.  The real stories about the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, MI6, NSA, DIA, Homeland Security, and Black Ops (if it really "exists").   The real story about the many courageous men and women behind desks and in meetings and overseas who make our nation safe.  Not quite as cool as cars with rockets and watches with lazer beams--but hey this stuff is real, cloak and dagger real.

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