Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
George Blake passed away.
Only found out that he turned traitor against MI 6 because of the air strikes in North Korea.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
Japan provided intel to the West about what was going on in Xinjiang.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
In the name of being honest
Jonathan Pollard arrives in Israel, 35 years after his arrest for spying.
Pollard arrived in Israel with his wife, Esther, according to the Israel Hayom newspaper. He had long expressed a desire to move to Israel, which granted him citizenship in 1995.
The Pollards flew in a private jet from Newark International Airport in New Jersey to accommodate Esther’s health issues, Israel Hayom reported.
Before landing, Pollard was invited by the plane’s pilots into the cockpit, where air traffic controllers at Ben Gurion International Airport greeted him in Hebrew.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich of the Blue and White party welcomed Pollard to Israel, writing on Twitter, “Jonathan, how good it is that you came home.” Finance Minister Yisrael Katz of Likud said, “Welcome home to Israel.”
Pollard’s lawyer, Eliot Lauer, told The Times of Israel, “The event speaks for itself. A dream realized after 35 very difficult years.”
Pollard’s parole ended last month. Afterward, he readied to move to Israel with his wife, who was undergoing rounds of chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer, according Lauer.
Pollard, 66, was a US Navy intelligence analyst in the mid-1980s when he made contact with an Israeli colonel in New York and began sending US secrets to Israel in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars.
Pollard, who is Jewish, passed thousands of crucial US documents to Israel, straining relations between the two close allies.
He was arrested in 1985 and was sentenced to life in prison two years later, despite pleading guilty in a deal his attorneys expected would result in a more lenient sentence.
He was eventually released in 2015, but was kept in the United States by parole rules and not allowed to travel to Israel where his wife, whom he married after he was jailed, lived.
He remained subject to a curfew, had to wear a wrist monitor, and was prohibited from working for any company that lacked US government monitoring software on its computer systems. In addition, he was restricted from traveling abroad.
Last month, Pollard released photos taken of his wife cutting the electronic monitor bracelet off of his wrist as his five-year parole was terminated. He also issued a statement thanking Esther for standing by his side for three decades.
Lauer told The Times of Israel that the termination of his parole likely required a “wink and a nod” from the highest levels of the White House.
Pollard’s move to Israel comes despite his previous accusations that Israel had not done enough to secure his release.
His capture and his subsequent treatment — by Israel, which threw him out of its Washington embassy and into the arms of waiting FBI agents, and by the United States, which agreed to a plea bargain and then sentenced him with uncommon severity — left him deeply embittered.
Israel’s October 1985 raid on the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s Tunis headquarters that killed around 60 people was planned with information from Pollard, according to CIA documents declassified in 2012.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Pollard by phone last month, telling him, “We’re waiting for you.”
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
Dickson Yeo came back to Singapore. ISD just announced that he's in their custody to see if he did something that goes against Singaporean interests.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
https://hongkongfp.com/2021/02/05/britain-expels-chinese-spies-posing-as-journalists-report/
London expelled Chinese reporters accused of using their jobs for the MSS.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
A NK News podcast on George Blake, who converted to be a pro-communist agent with the KGB.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
Interesting interview with LKY in the 60s.
He says that the CIA tried to use bribes in Singapore.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
https://igtds.org/blog/2021/02/18/russia-enhances-its-spy-hub-in-ireland/
Russia's using Ireland as a hub for "improved" espionage ops in Western Europe.
Edited by Ominae on Sep 4th 2022 at 4:54:17 AM
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
Bulgaria took out a spy ring that operated on behalf of Russia:
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told Russia on Saturday to stop spying in his country, a day after prosecutors said they had charged six people on charges of working as spies for Moscow.
Prosecutors said on Friday members of the alleged spying ring, who included former and current military intelligence officers, had passed classified information about Bulgaria, NATO and the EU to an official at the Russian embassy in Sofia.
During the last 18 months, Bulgaria has expelled six Russian diplomats, including a military attache, over suspected spying - straining historically close diplomatic ties between the NATO and EU member and Moscow.
"Once again it could be necessary to declare Russian diplomats as unwanted. And with regards the operation yesterday, I again address their superiors to stop spying in Bulgaria," Borissov said during a trip to the northeastern city of Silistra.
"Friendship is friendship, we have always demonstrated it," he added.
Bulgaria was one of the closest allies of the Soviet Union during the Communist era. It maintains close cultural, historical and economic ties with Russia, which remains the country's main energy partner.
The Russian embassy in Sofia said on Friday that speculation about its alleged involvement should stop until a court rules, calling the case an attempt to "once again demonise" Russia.
The United States, Britain and neighbouring North Macedonia said they stand with Bulgaria against "malign activities" on its territory.
"We fully support Bulgaria's efforts in disrupting an alleged spy ring and taking steps to tackle Russia's hostile actions in its territory," British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Twitter on Saturday.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
Higgins gets interviewed on his OSINT work with Bellingcat.
Edited by Ominae on May 10th 2021 at 3:43:40 AM
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
An Italian navy officer was detained for handing military secrets to the Russian Embassy.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
Question for a story:
What kind of multinational corporations would've best suited for espionage activities during the WWII and the interwar years?
Here's the context: The main character is a naval officer (Annapolis class of 1906) who serve as the Director of Naval Intelligence in the late 1920s, during which he creates a far-reaching intelligence network, even making connections with the likes of Wilhelm Canaris. After his tenure as the director ends, he figures that he should set up some front companies in various parts of the world, especially Europe, in order to keep the network going and help out the U.S. Navy in other means.
Now, the main character is filthy rich because he, through his wife who is an ambitious lawyer/journalist/businesswoman, made tons of money with loopholes in prohibition and real estate investment, so there are plenty kinds of companies they can establish. Since the primary purpose is espionage, I'm thinking either a multi-media company (so it can have "journalists" snoop around places) or an international real estate company (legally have people look around places, classified or otherwise).
Bonus points if it's the kind of corporations that would earn a lot of favor to the Nazis.
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
In the name of being honest
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
....
-slaps forehead-
Wow, why didn't I think of that? That's perfect! ![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
A procrastination in of itself
Keep in mind that intelligence work doesn’t actually need a ton of infrastructure or front organisations. Most intelligence work is run out of embassies, you just have a cover guy at the embassy speak to your sources within the country.
If you want to be particularly sneaky you might put someone into a country via an existing cover organisation, but you don’t need to establish an entire organisation for the purpose. You just convince an existing organisation (often a government one) to create a nothing job post that your agent inhabits while doing their espionage work. Companies that used to be nationally owned or do lots of government contracts work are a big use here.
It’s the same with the logistics of moving physical stuff, you either move it via diplomatic bag or convince a friendly shipping or airline company to put it in their hold but not on the manifest. A company with a very close relationship to the government might even go slightly off course so you can get your stuff out before reaching the official point of entry (rumour is that British Airways cargo flights have done this for the SAS).
So for your character, I’d say have him buy up an existing company of some sort (or shares in one) and just move his assets in companies to talking to people there. Though realistically he’d have to be leading a mass exodus of US intelligence agents to pull that off (source to agent relationships are very personal) you can just hand-wave the sources as being connected to him personally or to a couple close friends (for obvious reason a head of naval intelligence wouldn’t actually be cultivating sources, that’s field agent work).
Edited by Silasw on Apr 5th 2021 at 10:33:30 AM
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
Hmm...very good insight. Thanks for the detailed suggestion, it's very helpful.
Who Am I?
Yeah, import/export firms were the classic go-to business for that (ie, not the companies that owned the ships, the companies that acted as international shipping brokers, who were different).
"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
What makes shipping companies so effective as a cover for intelligence agencies, though?
Is it because they have good excuses to use spy ships? ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
A procrastination in of itself
You’re thinking much more elaborate then things actually were.
They were the go to because if you work for an import/export company nobody questions why you’re constantly popping up in cities outside your home country.
It provided a realistic excuse for regular visits into a country, and for the visits to involve learning about the local situation and chatting with low-level government officials.
Remember, actual espionage is a lot less “super telescope on a ship in international waters” and a lot more “sit in pub near naval base and show sympathy for the base employee who complains about how his boss sucks and doesn’t value him”.
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
In the name of being honest
It's a pretty nifty cover for people who travel a lot, especially to sites associated with logistics and heavy industries. Plus having connections in the field lets you in on who's moving what around the world.
A lot of intelligence work isn't about top secret information at all, but rather observing and analysing publicly-available information. Things like rail and ship traffic in and out of a certain region, military or civilian; what they might be carrying; when certain areas and facilities might be closed off for military drills, the transport of sensitive items and other similarly hush hush stuff.
If the amount of imported oil cargo heading to Country A is increasing, does that mean that they're building a fuel stockpile for war? Could they be transporting military cargo to a country they're not supposed to be selling those things to, via a neutral third country's port? If their warships are at port more than usual, does that mean that they don't have the resources to keep them running, or does it mean that those ships are being refurbished and refitted for an upcoming military operation? Those are the kind of things that you can pick up when you know people who frequent the sea lanes, ports and warehouses.
For Germany specifically, the interwar period was a sensitive time where they did their best to build up their military in violation of the Treaty of Versailles (first covertly under the Weimar Republic, then openly under the Nazis). That involved the imports of industrial metals from neutral countries like Sweden and Turkey, as well as exchanges of military technology with the USSR and Nationalist Spain, among others. Keeping tabs on where the cargo goes is a good way to figure out what's up.
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
-writing down-
Analyzing things by keeping track of where hardware material goes...that's very nifty. That reminds me of how if some well-funded, prominent scientists or research centers suddenly stop publishing can mean that they have started working on a classified project.
Well, guilty as charged. XP
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
Nikolai Glushkov is found dead in the UK.
Police found him after his daughter found his corpse and reported it. Signs obviously showed that he was attacked from the back and his death was covered to make it look like he killer himself at first glance.
So another anti-Putin dissident is scored after Skripal.
Edited by Ominae on Apr 9th 2021 at 7:52:07 AM
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Who Am I?
Of course, the import/export thing doesn't work well anymore because everyone orders materials off the internet now anyway. Your best cover nowadays is probably corporate IT consultant.
Of course, Glushkov died in 2018, it just took until now for the coroner to deliver a ruling.
"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
Part two of the previous China story:
As Xi consolidated power, U.S. officials struggled to read China’s new ruler.
In early 2013, as Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping prepared to assume the Chinese presidency, very few people in the West had any idea what kind of leader he was. In January of that year, the New York Times’ Nick Kristof, an experienced China correspondent, wrote that Xi “will spearhead a resurgence of economic reform, and probably some political easing as well.”
It was a radically mistaken assessment. But even inside the U.S. government, knowledge of China—and its intensions—was at a low point. During the 2000s, U.S. intelligence had operated with relative confidence against Beijing. But during China’s biggest political transition in decades, American officials were looking through an increasingly opaque glass.
The twin disasters of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack, which had helped the Chinese to identify undercover U.S. intelligence officials, and the obliteration of the CIA’s network of Chinese assets significantly “affected the quality of insight” into what the United States understood about events in that country, according to a former U.S. national security official. There was a noticeable decrease in high-quality intelligence reporting percolating up to senior policymakers, this source recalled. “Things weren’t the same.”