Ex-CIA Engineer Convicted In Massive Theft Of Secret Info

The Associated Press offers a report on the conviction of a former CIA engineer for the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history .

NEW YORK (AP) — A former CIA software engineer was convicted Wednesday of federal charges accusing him of the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history.

Joshua Schulte, who chose to defend himself at a New York City retrial, had told jurors in closing arguments that the CIA and FBI made him a scapegoat for an embarrassing public release of a trove of CIA secrets by WikiLeaks in 2017.

Schulte watched without visibly reacting as U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman announced the guilty verdict on nine counts, which was reached in mid-afternoon by a jury that had deliberated since Friday.

The so-called Vault 7 leak revealed how the CIA hacked Apple and Android smartphones in overseas spying operations, and efforts to turn internet-connected televisions into listening devices. Prior to his arrest, Schulte had helped create the hacking tools as a coder at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

A sentencing date was not immediately set because Schulte still awaits trial on charges of possessing and transporting child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty.

You can read the rest of the report via the below link:  

Ex-CIA engineer convicted in massive theft of secret info | AP News 

Long-Awaited Whitey Bulger Trial To Begin In Mass.

Denise Lavoie at the Associated Press offers a piece on the beginning of the James "Whitey" Bulger trial.

BOSTON - James "Whitey" Bulger is no longer the feared man who swaggered around South Boston and later became one of the nation's most-wanted fugitives.

At 83, the bright platinum hair that earned Bulger his nickname is all but gone and his reputed status as the leader of a violent gang has passed.

But as Bulger's long-awaited trial gets underway, it's clear that the passage of time has done little to diminish Boston's fascination with Bulger.

"He's a survivor. He's had a very long shelf life in a profession where that is not typical," said Dick Lehr, who has co-written two books about Bulger, including the biography "Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss."

"The many faces of Whitey make him intriguing," Lehr said

You can read the rest of the piece at Philly.com via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130602_ap_longawaitedbulgermurdertrialtobegininmass.html

CBS' John Miller Rises Above The Fray In Boston Bombing Case

David Bauder's Associated Press account of journalist John Miller was posted on Philly.com.

NEW YORK - If John Miller had scheduled an earlier flight, the CBS News coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath would have been much weaker.

Miller was driving home on the afternoon of April 15 to pick up his wife for their flight to a vacation in Florence, Italy. A phone call alerted him to the bombings and he turned around and headed back to the office, where he's spent much of his time since.

His dual role as a low-key explainer and reporter helped keep CBS ahead on key details of the investigation as the suspects' identities began to emerge, and away from missteps made by other news organizations.

Miller, who appears primarily on "CBS This Morning," reported two days after the bombing that authorities had their eye specifically on someone seen by a store security camera. When Internet sleuths began speculating about potential suspects based on pictures taken at the scene, Miller steered CBS away from them. Miller similarly assured the network it wasn't true when rivals reported erroneously that a suspect had been arrested, said CBS News President David Rhodes.
His bosses knew as much from Miller's demeanor as his words that day. Miller sat calmly in the newsroom eating a sandwich while other news divisions were frantically reporting and unreporting an arrest, Rhodes said.

You can read te rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/television/20130429_ap_cbsmillerrisesabovethefrayinbostoncase.html

Mexican Drug Cartels Reportedly Dispatching Agents Deep Inside U.S.

FoxNews.com offers an Associated Press report on the threat of Mexican drug cartel agents in the U.S.

CHICAGO –  Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States -- an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world's most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits.

If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels' move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/01/mexican-drug-cartels-reportedly-dispatching-agents-deep-inside-us/

George Blake, the MI6 Spy Who Betrayed Up To 40 British Agents And Defected To Russia, Says He has No Regrets

 

Vladimir Putin, Russia's president former KGB agent, likes to trot out the memories of the Cold War spies like Kim Philby and honor them as heroes.

One such Cold War spy, 90-year George Blake, is still alive and resides in Putin's Russia.

Exiled former master spy and traitor George Blake, whose betrayal of British agents to the KGB is said to have cost any lives, claims the 'happiest years' of his life are being spent in Putin-controlled Russia.

In a rare interview marking his 90th birthday, the former MI6 officer recalled sharing cocktails, including martinis - favored by James Bond - with fellow spies outside Moscow in their KGB retirement.

Nearly five decades after he escaped from a British jail and was smuggled to east Berlin in a camper van in one of the classic cloak-and-dagger stories of the 20th century, Blake lives quietly in the Moscow suburbs with his wife Ida on a pension from the KGB.

'These are the happiest years of my life, and the most peaceful, ' Blake, who goes by the Russian name Georgy Ivanovich, said in the interview, published in the Russian government newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta.

... There was no sign of regret or remorse for his duplicity and he appeared content with the life he forged after being exposed with fellow traitors Donald Maclean and Kim Philby as among the most 'significant' spies of the Cold War years.

You can also read the Associated Press piece on Blake in the Philadelphia Inquirer via the below link:

http://articles.philly.com/2012-11-07/news/34974566_1_british-prison-soviet-spy-double-agent

Spec-Ops Troops Study To Be Part-Spy, Part-Gumshoe

Kimberly Dozier at the Associated Press wrote an interesting piece about a new training course at Fort Bragg's Special Warfare Center.

The raid to grab Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan took just under 40 minutes , roughly 10 to get to bin Laden.

Special operators spent much of the rest of the time gathering evidence: computer files, written notes and thumb drives that pointed to new al-Qaida plots and previously secret operatives around the globe.

That science is what special operators of all types are learning at Fort Bragg's Special Warfare Center, with real-life scenarios meant to shock , and teach.

...The coursework is similar to the CIA's legendary spycraft training center called The Farm, and is at the brainchild of Green Beret Maj. Gen. Bennet Sacolick, a veteran of elite special operations units and a long stint on loan to the CIA.

Among the students at the CIA-approved Fort Bragg course are Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Marine Corps special operators. As in the Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden, everything from computers to fingerprints can be retrieved from a raid site and quickly analyzed. In some cases the analysis is so fast it can lead to several new targets in a single night.

You can read the rest of the story at the below link to Philly.com:

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/washington/20120104_ap_specopstroopsstudytobepartspypartgumshoe.html?c=r

Military Special Operators gathering evidence and intelligence is not a new concept.

None other than Ian Fleming, the creator of the fictional iconic character James Bond, conceived and organized a commando group called the 30 Assault Unit to do just this in World War II.

I wrote a piece on Commander Ian Fleming and his WWII intelligence-commando group for Counterterrorism magazine. You can read the magazine story via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/IanFlemingsCommandos.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/IanFlemingsCommandos2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/IanFlemingsCommandos3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/IanFlemingsCommandos4.jpg

Don't Tread On Me: Pentagon Tells Iran That Any Disruption Of Oil Route 'Will Not Be Tolerated'

FoxNews.com's Jennifer Griffin and the Associated Press reports that the Pentagon has warned Iran against any disruption of the Strait of Hormutz.  

...A spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's 5th fleet warned Iran against disrupting shipments in the strait, saying the U.S. Navy keeps a "robust presence in the region" and is "ready to counter malevolent actions to ensure freedom of navigation."

"Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated," Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Rebecca Rebarich said.

The warning comes as Iranian officials stand by earlier threats to use the passageway to retaliate if the West imposes new sanctions targeting Tehran's oil exports over the country's suspect nuclear program.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/28/pentagon-iranian-disruption-oil-route-will-not-be-tolerated/

Welcome to Hell, Moammar Gadhafi

 

The above photo showing the Libyan dictator in the last moments of his life has been seen around the world.

The Philadelphia Inquirer offered this photo and a dozen others and used the Associated Press' piece on his death.

Moammar Gadhafi, Libya's dictator for 42 years until he was ousted in an uprising-turned-civil war, was killed Thursday as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation_world/20111020_ap_libyasmoammargadhafikilledinhometownbattle.html?cmpid=131298059

The Man Who Hunted Osama Bin Laden

 

The Associated Press offers an interesting story about the CIA analyst who was key to the CIA/Navy SEAL take down of America's public enemy number one, Osama bin Laden.

You can read the story via the link to the New York Post below:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/the_man_who_hunted_osama_bin_laden_tsPjneoWUYrx4d4eS3hXuL

Prior to the Navy SEALs' raid and killing of bin Laden, I interviewed Michael Scheuer, a retired CIA analyst who previously hunted bin Laden for many years.

Scheuer is the author Osama bin Laden, an interesting and informative look at the al-Qaeda leader.

You can read my interview with Scheuer in Counterterrorism magazine via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/QandAMichaelScheuer.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/QandAMichaelScheuer2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/QandAMichaelScheuer3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/QandAMichaelScheuer4.jpg

Inside The Bin Laden Raid: How Navy SEALs Took Out Public Enemy No. 1 And How The Plan Nearly Failed

Helen Kennedy at The New York Daily News wrote an interesting piece about the bin Laden raid.

Dramatic new details about the 40-minute blitz against Osama Bin Laden - and how close it came to disaster - finally explain all the grim faces in the now-famous Situation Room photo.

The Associated Press reported extensive new details about the raid on the Al Qaeda leader's compound, revealing the operation was much more of a nailbiter than previously known.

You can read the rest of the newspaper story via the below link:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/05/17/2011-05-17_inside_the_bin_laden_raid_how_navy_seals_took_out_public_enemy_no_1_and_how_the_.html?page=0

Where Every Arrival And Departure Is Flight 007: Jamaican Airport Named After James Bond Creator Ian Fleming

David McFadden of the AP wrote a good piece in The Washington Examiner about the airport in Orcabessa, Jamaica that was named after the late, great British thriller writer Ian Fleming.

Fleming created his iconic character secret agent James Bond at his Jamaican villa Goldeneye, which is located near the airport. Fleming (seen in the above photo at Goldeneye) wrote all of the James Bond thrillers in Jamaica.

Back in 1986 my wife surprised me by arranged for us to spend a week at Goldeneye. For a life-long Fleming aficionado, Goldeneye (seen in the below photo) was a magical place. We loved the villa, Orcabessa and Jamaica.

You can read the AP piece via the below link:

http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/world/2011/01/jamaica-opens-new-airport-named-ian-fleming


You can read more about Ian Fleming and James Bond in my Crime Beat column via the link below:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2010/06/casino-royale-revisited-film-that.html