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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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