From the reliable SpyTalk, retired CIA official Ronald Marks has some commonsense advice for those trying to understand the intelligence process. First of all, do remember it is analysis, not crystal ball gazing. Never in my long history with the CIA has there been one perfect piece of information that tells the whole story. The...
Category: News
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A Short Course in the CIA’s Use of Torture
From What does it take to excite America’s moral nerve endings? Bombing kids with cluster bombs or shredding wedding parties with drone attacks doesn’t seem to do it any more. Nor does torture. Oh, sure, there was a collective gasp when lurid photos of American soldiers laughing as they prodded naked Iraqi captives with electrodes...
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‘The Dissident’ Unravels the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi
A top official in Saudi Arabia’s intelligence service, the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP), has been implicated in the assassination of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi (pronounced “Kash-shoke-gee”) The Office of the Director of the National Intelligence has released a declassified report concluding that the order for the assassination came from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A...
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‘Special Ops’: A RAW Story in a New Format
There are almost as many cable series about intelligence agencies as there are intelligence agencies. There’s “Pine Gap,” which takes you inside the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. There’s “Mossad 101” about Israel’s famed intelligence service. And now there’s “Special Ops” a streaming hit in India about the once-ignored Research & Analysis Wing. But “Special Ops”...
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The Unsolved Mystery of the ‘Havana Syndrome’
The non-profit National Security Archive in Washington has the latest on a mysterious malady that felled two CIA operatives in Cuba and many others. Is it a secret weapon, perhaps developed by the Russians, targeting U.S. intelligence operatives and diplomat? There’s no evidence that. But it’s not clear what could be causing similar symptoms among...
