Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Excerpts from ... INTELLIGENCE ISSN 1245-2122 N. 50 New Series, 16 December 1996 Publishing since 1980 Editor Olivier Schmidt (email intelligence-adi@wanadoo.fr; web http://www.blythe.org/Intelligence; tel/fax 33 1 40 51 85 19; post ADI, 16 rue des Ecoles, 75005 Paris, France) Copyright ADI 1996, reproduction in any form forbidden without explicit authorization from the ADI. A one year subscription (23 issues with full index) is US $315. * INTELLIGENCE AROUND THE WORLD: IRELAND: DANGEROUS DISINFORMATION AS MEDIA PARADE O'CALLEGHAN The British newspaper, the "Sunday Times", has been accused by some Irish journalists of attempting to undermine efforts, by SDLP leader John Hume and Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, to secure a new IRA ceasefire, by publishing "uncheckable stories based on half-truths from unattributal sources". This follows a report, by the paper's Ireland correspondent, Liam Clarke, claiming MI5 encryption experts had decoded data on computer disks seized by the RUC during a raid on an alleged IRA intelligence cell (INT, N. 49/29). The data supposedly uncovered a "network of IRA moles" based in the affluent suburbs and towns around Belfast. The report also claims that the disks contained clues to the identities of IRA members which have led to several arrests. The "Sunday Times" story, based on anonymous MI5 sources, alleges that "republican spies" work as school teachers in areas where senior police officers and members of the judiciary live, and question pupils about their parents' background, or are employed in the public and private service sector, such as insurance and health care, which allows them access to confidential files. As a result, several RUC officers have been advised to sell their homes and move elsewhere. MI5 is also claiming that the IRA bombing of Thiepvel Barracks Army headquarters, on 7 October, was based on intelligence collated by the "moles". One RUC source, quoted by Mr. Clarke, warned that the IRA is about ready to strike again; "we feel they have put so much work into it, it is only a matter of time before an assassination is carried out". COMMENT -- Journalists in Ireland, many of whom have covered the conflict north of the border, point out that Mr. Clarke's stories cannot be disproved because his anonymous police and intelligence sources cannot be questioned. They claim that since the IRA ceasefire, from August 1994 to February 1996, a pattern has emerged which adds weight to allegations that the "Sunday Times" is an uncritical conduit for the "black propaganda" specialists of Thames House, MI5's headquarters in London. The same criticism has been made of the "Mail on Sunday" and its recent libelous accusations against Martha Pope, chief of staff to George Mitchell, the chairman of the Stormont talks (see p. 19 in "People" - below). It has also been disclosed that Sean O'Calleghan, a former IRA activist who became one of MI5's most productive informers, was released from Maghaberry Prison, on 5 December, after serving only eight years of two life sentences for killing two members of the security forces. Originally from County Kerry, in the Irish Republic, O'Calleghan joined the IRA in the early 1970s and was "turned" by Garda Special Branch in 1974 for which he acted as an informer until mid-1980. Sean O'Calleghan's most important "coup" was supplying information which led to the interception of the trawler, "Marita Ann", off the west coast of Ireland in September 1984, which was carrying weapons from the U.S. for the IRA. Two senior IRA members, Sean Crawley and Martin Ferris, were arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison. John McIntyre, a crew-member of the U.S. trawler USS Valhalla, which transferred the weapons to the Irish fishing vessel, was later murdered by the Special Air Service (SAS) on orders from the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). The assassins, according to "Intelligence" sources, travelled from Belfast via London and Toronto, and arrived in Boston on 30 November 1984. Within days they had carried out their assignment and disposed of the body. "Intelligence" has learned that McIntyre's execution was ordered to protect O'Calleghan's identity, when the IRA began an internal inquiry into the failed gun-running operation. John McIntyre was an American citizen murdered on U.S. soil by the British SAS, and his death has been part of a cover-up involving both the U.S. State Department and the British Foreign Office. When O'Calleghan was extradited north and convicted of murder, he immediately became an informer for MI5, churning out a number of bizarre tales which often had little basis in fact, but which were, nonetheless, carried by the "Sunday Times" -- including allegations that 20 victims of IRA hit squads lie buried in secret graves on the Black Mountains, on the outskirts of Belfast. Although the report, complete with a map pinpointing the location of "the IRA's secret graveyard" is almost 18 months old, nothing so far has been found, despite an anonymous MI5 source, quoted by Liam Clarke, supporting O'Calleghan's allegations. Since his release, he has given a number of TV and radio interviews on the "secret agenda" behind the Republican movement's ceasefire strategy (which he claims is to force the SDLP into an electoral pact in order to increase Sinn Fein's political influence), without being asked how he came by such high-quality information after being isolated, for his own safety, from all Republican contacts since 1988. It was announced on 11 December that O'Calleghan had been invited to the House of Commons to meet Tory MPs and rightwing backbenchers on the Northern Ireland Committee who have close links with the Ulster Unionist parties and little interest in a compromise peace settlement. This is the kind of treatment once given to KGB defectors, such as Oleg Gordievsky who became British media's favourite ex-spy. Sean O'Calleghan has already been briefed to perform a similar anti-Irish Republican role and will probably tour the U.S. next year for a series of prime-time interviews. No book plans have been announced yet, but one can expect something along those lines shortly. * PEOPLE: NORTHERN IRELAND - Martha Pope. Chief of staff to George Mitchell, the chairman of the Stormont talks, Martha Pope, 51, recently denied allegations that she had developed a relationship with Gerry Kelly, a senior Sinn Fein member. She denied ever having met Mr. Kelly. The accusations had been made by the sensationalist tabloid, "The Mail on Sunday" on 1 December in a six paragraph article on page 2. Initially, "The Mail" refused to apologize to Mr. Kelly and Ms. Pope. Then, suddenly it did an "about face", and it admitted the allegations were completely false and that it would pay "substantial damages" to Ms. Pope. The article alleged that MI5 had monitored her meeting Mr. Kelly, who is a senior member of the Sinn Fein delegation that met the Government during the IRA ceasefire. He took part in the Provisional IRA's first mainland bombing campaign in 1973 and led the mass breakout by 38 IRA inmates from the Maze Prison in 1983. Ms. Pope, a former Secretary of the U.S. Senate, is also its first woman Sergeant-at-Arms. The Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party supposedly raised the allegations at a 28 November meeting with Prime Minister John Major and Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Northern Ireland Secretary, who didn't seem to manage to keep the allegations out of the press. * Also in this issue... TABLE OF CONTENTS, N. 50, 16 December 1996 FRONTPAGE: GERMANY/COLOMBIA - "FREE" AGENT WERNER MAUSS GETS CAUGHT p.1 TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES: BUCK ROGERS AIRBORNE "RAY GUN" FIRING "OPTICAL BULLETS" p.2 DEALING WITH INTERNET VIRUS HOAXES & SECURITY BLUEPRINT p.3 TUSA PARAFOIL SURVEILLANCE DRONE p.4 WEB - Site-Blocking Technology Makes Its Debut. p.5 SATELLITES - New Technology Wins SBIRS Bid. p.6 TERRORISM - New Encyclopedia. p.7 BOMBS - DOE Reveals BEEF Tech as Russia Protests. p.8 INFORMATION - Web Resources & Offshore Financing. p.9 INFOWAR - Very Serious British ... Humor. p.10 IMAGERY - Photo Recon Against ... Refugees. p.11 MISSILES - One China Didn't Publicize. p.12 PEOPLE: U.S.A. - HARRY B. "SKIP" BRANDON p.13 GREAT BRITAIN - JOHN VASSALL p.14 BULGARIA - ZHIVKO ZHELEV p.15 RUSSIA/BULGARIA - YURII NIKOLAYEVITCH YERMOLAYEV p.16 U.S.A. - Richard Nuccio. p.17 GIBRALTAR - Richard Luce. p.18 NORTHERN IRELAND - Martha Pope. p.19 RUSSIA - Gennadi Osipovich. p.20 RUSSIA/CUBA - Fedor Ladygin. p.21 BRAZIL/GERMANY - Karl Heinz Schaab. p.22 SUDAN/U.S.A. - John Early. p.23 ISRAEL/U.S.A. - Chaim Herzog. p.24 AGENDA: COMING EVENTS THROUGH 15 FEBRUARY 1997 p.25 INTELLIGENCE AROUND THE WORLD: U.S.A. - NEW YORK COPS EXPORT & L.A. COPS IN COURT p.26 CLIPPER RESURFACES AS GOVERNMENT BACK PADDLES p.27 BOMBS AND BURSTS AT NUCLEAR PLANTS p.28 CIA and FBI Files? Not in this Life. p.29 Privatizing Military Laboratories. p.30 NIMA First Contracts "Leak" Information. p.31 CANADA - "Showing Up the Yanks" on Secrecy. p.32 GREAT BRITAIN - OPPOSITION TO MASONIC ROLL-CALL p.33 THE PRICE OF POWER p.34 CHEMICAL CAPABILITY COVER-UP p.35 IRELAND - DANGEROUS DISINFORMATION AS MEDIA PARADE O'CALLEGHAN p.36 FRANCE - GIA STARTS ANOTHER BLOODY CAMPAIGN FOR XMAS p.37 "LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT" AT THE SGDN p.38 Agreeing to Disagree on Helios-2. p.39 Foccart Defends the "Backyard" against the U.S. p.40 Transparency for Intelligence Services. p.41 Channel Tunnel "Safe" But Burning. p.42 BELGIUM - New Informants for Old Problems. p.43 GERMANY - Irish Prepare to Extradite J. Corry. p.44 WESTERN EUROPE - STRASBOURG STRIKES BACK AT LONDON p.45 ISRAEL/GREAT BRITAIN - SHOWCASE LONDON TRIAL HAVING PROBLEMS p.46 BANGLADESH - ELECTORAL VICTORY LEADS TO ... TORTURE p.47 HONG KONG - BRITAIN "WARNS" CHINA p.48 ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org =================================================================