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. * FRONTPAGE GERMANY/COLOMBIA: "FREE" AGENT WERNER MAUSS GETS CAUGHT Officially, a smart customs official, on 17 November at Medellin airport, noticed the nervous behavior of three Europeans and decided to check the Interpol records. A missing phalanx from the thumb of the middle-aged, short and graying man gave away his true identity: he was Werner Mauss, 56, who, for more than thirty years, has been the trusted "free" agent for irregular jobs that the German government prefers to deal with in a deniable manner. In his suitcase the Colombians found six forged passports supplied by the German coordinator for the security services, Bernd Schmidbauer, with whom Mauss had cooperated closely for the last two and a half years. Travelling with Mauss were his wife, Michaella and another woman, Brigitte Schone, who turned out to be the wife of an ex- director of the German company BASF in Colombia who had just been released by the ELN, the Marxist National Liberation Army, for a ransom of $1.2 million. Since 1994, Mauss and Schmidbauer had obtained the release of four kidnapped persons. The free agent and his chief also served as mediators between the Colombian government and the ELN rebels, although no settlement was reached. Werner Mauss is now in Colombian custody, charged with the illegal payment of ransom money, for which he could be facing a ten-year prison sentence. This "official" story is complicated by the local political situation in which a "cocaine-money-soaked government" is fighting internal opposition strongly backed by Washington, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other U.S. law enforcement and intelligence services (INT, N. 36/66, 39/22, 40/53 & 43/52). "Free" agent Mauss has been navigating in these stormy waters and apparently avoiding hidden obstacles, while making large profits. This probably got on a lot of powerful officials' nerves and provided an undreamed of chance for a young rightwing nationalistic politician with "presidential preventions", Alvaro Uribe Velez, to "score some points" and, according to some specialists, "curry U.S. favor". Since paying a ransom is illegal under Colombian law, and Mauss was "doing his business" in the department of Antioquia, whose governor is Mr. Uribe, the latter supposedly had Mauss arrested. One can now expect charges to be "heaped on" Mauss, probably with Washington's approval, so that Germany will have to pay a large "ransom" for Mauss and for not following American policy in the U.S.' "backyard". Mr. Mauss, the subject of numerous unconfirmed rumors, parliamentary inquiries and a voluminous but unwanted biography, has remained an enigmatic figure for most of his life. He resides in a Disney-like castle in the village of Altstrimmig, in southwest Germany, but started as a simple private investigator checking out fraudulent insurance claims. Soon, both the German police and the German intelligence services took an interest in his talent for discreet operations, and in the 1970s he became deeply involved in antiterrorist operations against the Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF). Since important German business figures were RAF targets, many major German firms held "privately" financed German intelligence service anti-RAF operations. Mauss was supposedly involved in these operations and some even say that he was the "cut-out" between the services and the industrialists. Mauss' trespassing of the law got him into trouble more than once, but, with the help of his powerful protectors, he always managed to steer clear of any serious consequences. Last year, he was sentenced in absentia to two years imprisonment by a Belgian court for corruption and using a false identity, but he was released on appeal. He planned to report in December to the Lubeck public prosecutors' office which is still investigating the controversial death of German Christian Democrat politician, Uwe Barschel, on 11 October 1987, to explain what he was doing on that day in the hotel next to the one in which Mr. Barschel was found (see "Germany - Barschel's Death as a Mossad Assassination"; INT, N. 6/1). It is believed Mr. Mauss was negotiating with representatives of Hezbollah in a kidnapping case of Hoechst and Siemens employees in Beirut. With the support of the German government, he managed to obtain the release of the kidnapped Germans. Building on this success, Mr. Mauss specialized in kidnap negotiations and made millions working in Colombia, where more than 1,400 persons are kidnapped every year, both by ordinary criminals and leftist guerrilleros. With an annual turnover of more than $500 million in ransom money, kidnapping has become the tenth largest industry in the country. Colombian officials are wary of the role that foreign negotiators like Mr. Mauss play, and anonymous police officials in Colombia have told the press they think he is working with the ELN, advising them on the selection of new targets and increasing ransoms for his own profit. This, of course, reinforces the "unofficial" explanation for Mauss' arrest. Foreign aid workers object to the payment of protection money by German companies to the guerrilleros on advice from Mr. Mauss, a practice believed to be financially supported by the German government. Moreover, as mentioned above, it is illegal under Colombian law to pay a ransom. Now the German government has to decide whether to pull all possible strings (and pay another "ransom") to obtain the release of its loyal agent, or to risk the embarrassment of being confronted with testimony of a quarter century of clandestine service to the Bundeskanzler's office in all corners of the earth. * 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 =================================================================