INTELLIGENCE ISSN 1245-2122 N. 77 New Series, 30 March 1998 Every Three Weeks Publishing since 1980 Editor Olivier Schmidt (email intelligence-adi@wanadoo.fr; web http://www.blythe.org/Intelligence) TABLE OF CONTENTS, N. 77, 30 March 1998 FRONT PAGE WESTERN EUROPE - SPLITS ON DRUGS, MONEY & LAW ENFORCEMENT p.1 TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES NETWORK ANALYSIS "MAKES THE BIG TIME" IN INTELLIGENCE p.2 A FRESH LOOK AT CIVILIAN ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE p.3 "SMART" ANTI-RADIATION MIDDLE EASTERN HEADDRESS p.4 WEB - CIA Kids Page. p.5 SPAM - AOL Gets Serious. p.6 INFOWAR - Looking for Real Substance. p.7 EXPLOSIVES - "Taggants" Not Yet Practical. p.8 DIAMONDS - Bye Bye to "Hot Rocks". p.9 PEOPLE USA - MICHAEL A. VATIS p.10 GREAT BRITAIN - JONATHAN AITKEN p.11 CUBA- MANUEL "BARBA ROJA" PINEIRO LOSADA p.12 SOUTH AFRICA - ROBERT MC BRIDE p.13 USA - Terry Anderson. p.14 USA/CUBA - Thomas "Pete" Ray. p.15 USA - Michael D. Hendrix. p.16 GREAT BRITAIN - Peter Prentice. p.17 IRELAND/NETHERLANDS - George "The Penguin" Mitchell. p.18 IRELAND/USA - Jean Kennedy Smith. p.19 GREAT BRITAIN - Anthony Holland. p.20 FRANCE - Jacques Ricard. p.21 RUSSIA - Vladimir Grebennikov. p.22 PERU - Luisa Zanatta. p.23 SAUDI ARABIA - Osama Bin Ladin. p.24 AGENDA COMING EVENTS THROUGH 2 MAY 1998 p.25 INTELLIGENCE AROUND THE WORLD USA - FBI DROWNS IN ENCRYPTION-ELECTRONIC COMMERCE FLOOD p.26 GREAT BRITAIN - MC ALISKEY EXTRADITION REJECTED p.27 LEADING THE WAY ON POLICING THE NET p.28 Getting Through to MI5. p.29 Chinook's Software Problems. p.30 Mason Cops Listed. p.31 NORTHERN IRELAND - "New York Times" Forget to Check. p.32 NETHERLANDS - New Tapping Powers. p.34 FRANCE - CLINTON IN PARIS' AFRICAN "BACK YARD" p.33 NORWAY/RUSSIA - SPY CLAIMS ON ALL SIDES p.35 PORTUGAL - SIS on the Web. p.36 RUSSIA - CRIMES FOR ALL RANKS p.37 Building a Downsized Old KGB. p.38 SIERRA LEONE - A VERY COMMONWEALTH AFFAIR p.39 AFRICA - A New Web Library. p.40 ISRAEL - "RIMON" DEATH SQUAD TRIAL IN PROGRESS p.41 IRAN - Subtle Changes Set In. p.42 INDIA - NAO REPORT CRITICIZED BRIT CHOPPER DEAL p.43 --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 77, 30 March 1998, p. 33 FRANCE CLINTON IN PARIS' AFRICAN "BACK YARD" The smoldering conflict between US and French interests in Africa, often played out by the CIA and the DGSE, broke into fireworks with the recent visit of President Bill Clinton to Africa. Just before his visit, the "European" published an article, "Elf's Shadowy World of Bribes and Intelligence", by journalist Roger Faligot, laying out the history of clandestine DGSE-Elf relations and operations in Africa. On 28 March, during Clinton's trip, the conservative right-wing French weekly, "Valeurs Actuelles", published a series of articles on the US "double political and commercial strategy which bothers ...", including an interview with former minister of Cooperation, Michel Roussin, conveniently forgetting to mention his former role as a senior DGSE official. On 30 August 1997, "Valeurs Actuelles" stated that the DGSE forwarded a report, in February 1997, to the French government describing in detail the important role played by US Special Forces officers in Rwanda and in the overthrow of Mobutu SeSe Seko. Similar reports have claimed that the former senior DIA officer, Richard Ort, ran the operation to overthrow Mobutu. The US press dug into the role of Rwanda in the overthrow of Mobutu, but, just like the French, forgot to mention the direct involvement of security and intelligence services. On 9 July 1997, the "Washington Post", in an interview with Rwanda's vice president and defense minister, Paul Kagame, revealed that Rwanda -- and therefore the Pentagon and the CIA -- planned and directed the rebellion led by Laurent-Desire Kabila in the Congo, with Rwandan forces participating directly in the capture of four major cities. COMMENT -- France, and also Great Britain, see the US African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) as simply an attempt to put the US military in Africa. France's own Renforcement des Capacites Africaines de Maintien de la Paix (RECAMP) was set up faster and already held maneuvers in February on the borders of Senegal, Mali and Mauritania. Nonetheless, at Clinton's first stop, Ghana, a program of military training by US Special Forces was announced, much to the disapproval of the French and their security-intelligence services. It should, however, be mentioned that the initiative is not a new one. On 21 July 1997. 60 "Green Berets" went to Uganda and 60 others to Senegal, all from the Third Special Forces Group. At the time, it was clearly announced that they were only staying for two months and that similar programs were planned for Ghana, as well as Ethiopia, Mali, Malawi, and Tunisia. Probably to win friends for ACRI, and in preparation of Clinton's trip, Washington lifted a long-standing arms embargo on South Africa just a few weeks ago. The embargo affects Armscor, Kentron and Fuchs in South Africa which agreed to pay $12.5 million in fines for not respecting the embargo under the Apartheid regime. Nonetheless, South Africa, along with other countries in the Southern African Development Community, are "dubious about Washington's ACRI", according to "Africa Confidential" in London. For the time being, prevailing winds may be to France's advantage in its "pre carre Africain", but temperatures are still running high between Paris and Washington. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 77, 30 March 1998, p. 7 INFOWAR - Looking for Real Substance. Although information warfare (Infowar) has often been a subject in our pages, "Intelligence" has always maintained, like many other security and intelligence specialists, that Infowar is just one other aspect to be taken into account when considering security. But there are those for whom Infowar is "The Big Thing" and you can often find them around infowar.com which has just been defied and challenged to battle. On 5 March, "Infowar Digest" stated: "Help Wanted: A person with debate talents. Wayne Madsen, Senior Fellow of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has accepted a challenge to debate at InfowarCon 98. Topic - 'Why Infowar is a Paranoid Myth'." Mr. Madsen's view, as presented by "Infowar Digest": In the cause of protecting our "precious national information infrastructure," NSA, the FBI, and the Pentagon -- eagerly supported by military contractors -- are hyping fanciful security threats from cyberspace and promoting remedies that dangerously tread on constitutional rights and civil liberties. The real information war is the government's battle to seize control of and perform surveillance on information conduits like the Internet. The Infowarriors may not win this battle, but at least they'll draw a crowd at InfowarCon 98. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 77, 30 March 1998, p. 13 SOUTH AFRICA - ROBERT MC BRIDE On 9 March, Robert McBride, a director of the Southeast Asia desk of the South African government's Department of Foreign Affairs, was arrested for gun-running at the Ressano Garcia border crossing as he tried to reenter South Africa from Mozambique. On 18 March, he was suspended from his job while awaiting the outcome of the police investigation that now involves a South African military intelligence report of a possible plot against President Nelson Mandela's government. McBride, a well-known member of the ANC Umkhonto weSizwe "Spear of the Nation" armed forces, applauded and dispised as a clandestine operator during the war against Apartheid, was sentenced to death, then to life imprisonment, and finally amnestied for the 1986 bomb deaths in Durban of three persons. Senior ANC and government officials quickly put distance between themselves and McBride, supposedly allowing Mozambique officials handle what seems to be a solid case. The South African government's initially uncoordinated response generated much speculation and several conspiracy theories involving a disinformation campaign against the Mandela government, gunrunning for the IRA and East Timor rebels, or criminal involvement in recent armored car attacks. His wife, Paula McBride, reportedly claimed he was on a deep covert mission to investigate the regional arms trade, but South African police stated that McBride had never worked for any South African intelligence service. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) apparently examined all possible contacts McBride may have had and found none with NIA members. But then, on 20 March, the "Mail and Guardian" announced that McBride's arrest was a trap "planned with the man he was captured with, Vusi Mbatha, Mozambique gun-runner Alex Mamba, and the South African security forces" which were worried that McBride's investigation of arms smuggling had unearthed ties between criminal gangs and intelligence services. Mbatha reportedly has a long history as a former South African military intelligence (MI) and police informer. Mamba is also a police agent, and the "Mail and Guardian" claims to have the name of Mbatha's MI handler. A former official of Lawyers for Human Rights, Aubrey Lekwane, revealed that Mbatha has made conflicting statements to Lawyers for Human Rights and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and was found to be an untruthful witness. It has been established that McBride was not on a personal mission (he made an official requisition for $11,000 before leaving for Mozambique), but the exact status of the unit he was operating for has not been established because the government doesn't want to be seen running "parallel" intelligence services. It is reportedly a "special operations unit" set up late last year to provide the NIA with intelligence on destabilization forces. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 77, 30 March 1998, p. 31 GREAT BRITAIN - Mason Cops Listed. On 5 March, British Freemasons bowed to parliamentary pressure from the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee -- and threats of possible jail sentences for contempt of parliament -- and reluctantly named members who were part of the Serious Crimes Squad in the English West Midlands that was involved in several miscarriages of justice. Michael Higham, Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England, wrote a letter of protest to committee chairman, Chris Mullin, but Gavin Purser, president of the Lodge's Board of General Purposes, gave the names of 16 Freemasons to Mullin. The West Midlands Serious Crimes Squad provided much of the false or manipulated evidence that convicted six innocent men of carrying out two IRA pub bombings in Birmingham in 1974 that killed 21 people -- the famous Birmingham Six case. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 77, 30 March 1998, p. 38 RUSSIA - Building a Downsized Old KGB. In February, we mentioned that the Federal Border Service, with its numerous troops and military equipment, were to be subordinated to the Federal Security Service (FSB) internal security agency, one of the other major branches of the former KGB, like the border guards (see "Border Service 'Back in the Fold'"; INT, n. 75 21). Former dissidents, new democrats and old specialists saw in this an "alarming trend" and "the beginning of the process" of reviving the KGB. But on 24 March, Colonel-General Leontii Shevtsov, commander of all Interior Ministry troops, including the border guards, announced that his troops will be downsized from 257,000 to 220,000 in 1999. By July, Interior Ministry guards will no longer serve in some 50 newly-privatized or converted defense enterprises. Duma deputy, Vladimir Lopatin, a member of the Russian Regions faction, had criticized the "unjustified growth" of Interior Ministry troops under the government President Boris Yeltsin has recently fired. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 77, 30 March 1998, p. 42 IRAN - Subtle Changes Set In. The major press took little note of a 9 March opposition report that Ahmad Vahidi, a founder of the Pasdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps and its current commander, has resigned along with his predecessor and other commanders in the last few months. According to the report, "Vahidi's departure marks a growing trend of resignations within the Guard Corps and bespeaks of the disillusionment and frustration of the highest and most loyal forces of the mullahs' regime." Another opposition report the next day stated that hard-line opposition to President Mohammad Khatami is attempting to force the Majlis parliament to expel his Interior Minister, Abdollah Noori, for his dismissal of hard- line governors and criticism of their ally, Mohammad Yazdi, head of the Judiciary. Western observers are keeping a close watch and "counting points". ---------------------------------------------