Sometimes the problems facing intelligence agencies–and those who report on them–seem insoluble. For example, what caused U.S. diplomatic official to experience a host of strange symptoms after being posted in Havana? Science does not yet offer definitive answers about the “Havana Syndrome.” Are the symptoms caused by a “directed energy attack,” mounted by a foreign...
Category: News
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RIP: Janine Brookner, Ousted CIA Officer Who Challenged Agency in Court
Yet Ms. Brookner was among the most skilled and admired case officers in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations — the clandestine service that infiltrates foreign countries and recruits agents to provide secrets to the United States. She was among the few women to ascend the ranks of the department, until her career was derailed in...
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Reporters Once Challenged the Spy State. Now, Many Chose to Cooperate
In his TK News Substack newsletter, Matt Taibbi compares the relationship between U.S. news organizations and the intelligence community in 2014 and today. Fast forward seven years. Julian Assange is behind bars, and may die there. Snowden is in exile in Russia. Brennan, Clapper, and Hayden have been rehabilitated and are all paid contributors...
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How the CIA Plotted the ‘Accidental’ Death of Raul Castro
One of blackest of the black arts of espionage is the assassination operation designed to disguise who was reallly reponsible. Case in point: a CIA plot to kill Raul Castro, commander of the Cuban armed forces, by making it look like he died in a plane crash. Spoiler alert: this story is very well-documented. From...
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Spy Talk: 5 Ways to Read an Intelligence Report
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...
