From Just Security In these night raids, the forces involved are Afghan strike force units trained and equipped by the CIA, and often accompanied by CIA operatives or U.S. Special Forces. They operate outside normal U.S. and Afghan military command structures, and target suspected Taliban or Islamic State fighters mainly in rural areas where the...
Category: Activities
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Two Plead Guilty to Spying on MEK for Iran
This case reveals Iranian intelligence priorities in America: the Mujahedeen e-Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian dissident group that was once on the U.S. list of terrorism groups for its attacks on the American citizens in the 1970s. [Deep Sttes guide to Iranian intelligence agencies.] The Iranians were’n’t spying on the U.S. government. They were...
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Beyond Baghdadi: Turkey’s Discreet Relationship With ISIS
[This article first appeared in The New Republic, October 30, 2019] The elimination of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi amid the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria is exposing an enduring and underappreciated reality of the Middle East: the Islamic State has always had a special relationship with Turkish National Intelligence Office, known by its...
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WhatsApp Sues NSO, the Israeli Tech Firm, for Spyware Targeting Activists and Journalists
From The New Yorker: On Tuesday, WhatsApp took the extraordinary step of announcing that it had traced the malware back to NSO Group, a spyware-maker based in Israel, and filed a lawsuit against the company—and also its parent, Q Cyber Technologies—in a Northern California court, accusing it of “unlawful access and use” of WhatsApp computers....
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Military Intelligence Spending Hits $21.9 Billion
military intelligence, DIA, black budget