SUMMARY VERSION INTELLIGENCE ISSN 1245-2122 N. 91 New Series, 11 January 1999 Every Two to Three Weeks Next Issue on 25 January 1999 Publishing since 1980 Editor Olivier Schmidt (email intelligence-adi@wanadoo.fr; web http://www.blythe.org/Intelligence) TABLE OF CONTENTS, N. 91, 11 January 1999 FRONT PAGE CHILE - THE GENERAL & THE LONG JOURNEY HOME p.1 TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES "INTELLIGENCE" - SPECIAL REPORTS & COMPLETE INDEX FOR 1998 p.2 ENCRYPTION & PRIVACY - Continuing Battle in the US. p.3 COMPUTERS - Mobile Code Viruses & Y2K Comes Early. p.4 TECHNOLOGY & TECHNIQUES - Open Sources Intelligence. p.5 PEOPLE GREAT BRITAIN - DOMINIC LAWSON p.6 David Shayler. p.7 BELGIUM - WILLY CLAES p.8 PEOPLE - Open Source Intelligence. p.9 AGENDA COMING EVENTS THROUGH 1 FEBRUARY 1999 p.10 INTELLIGENCE AROUND THE WORLD USA - HARD CASE AGAINST CHINA STILL WANTING p.11 Pentagon Web War, Commercial Imagery, "Civies", Drones and Training. p.12 Suspicious Russian "Wet Back" & High Tech. p.13 FBI "Rings Out the Old & Rings In the New" p.14 NORTH AMERICA - Open Source Intelligence. p.15 GREAT BRITAIN - BRITISH ARMS FOR EVERYMAN p.16 CHINOOK VICTIM'S COMPENSATION CLAIMS p.17 FRANCE - "CAT-AND-MOUSE" AROUND HERNU SPY CASE p.18 BELGIUM - EUROPEAN COMMISSION FRAUD ONLY THE VENEER p.19 NETHERLANDS - Improved Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight. p.20 GERMANY - OVERHEAD SURVEILLANCE GETS RAIL BLACKMAILER p.21 ITALY - TALES FROM THE CALVI CRYPT p.22 Mafia Wars Back in the News. p.23 RUSSIA - New Year's Promises at the FSB. p.24 AFRICA - SANDLINE "OUTS" EXECUTIVE OUTCOMES p.25 --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 91, 11 January 1999, p. 5 TECHNOLOGY & TECHNIQUES - Open Sources Intelligence. 1998/1999 ANNUAL SURVEYS COMPANIES POLICE BLASTER HAND SCANNER PASSIVE RADAR DISPLAYS IMAGERY --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 91, 11 January 1999, p. 9 PEOPLE - Open Source Intelligence. USA. Michael A. Sheehan, David Sheldon, Jonathan Pollard, Al Schweitzer, Justin Petersen. IRELAND. Brian Keenan. FRANCE. Lieutenant Colonel Francois Pascal. BELGIUM Denis Guillaume. FINLAND. Olli Mattila. ALBANIA. Fatos Klosi. BULGARIA. Ivo Karamanski. RUSSIA. Mikhail Kalashnikov. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 91, 11 January 1999, p. 13 USA - Suspicious Russian "Wet Back" & High Tech. Certain specialists are not sure the Russian national arrested at the US-Mexican border late last month is as anodyne an affair as the press would have it. He was observed by Mexican Federal Police officers standing on a Sonora hillside with night vision goggles and a two-way radio, apparently keeping under surveillance the Mariposa Port of Entry which admits most of the truck traffic into the US. When approached by the Mexicans, he admitted observing the tactics used by the US Border Patrol and Customs officers at Nogales, Arizona, prior to attempting to illegally cross into the US. The Russian took off running as the Mexican police closed in at a distance of 50 meters of the border but was captured, sent to Mexico City and put on a plane back to Moscow. What the press -- and perhaps Mexican officials -- missed is that US Customs recently installed new checking technologies in the area's ports of entry. High-speed cameras linked to a computer data bank now register and identify license plates of vehicles leaving and entering the US at San Ysidro where swipe cards will be issued to cleared frequent travelers. (...cut...) --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 91, 11 January 1999, p. 18 FRANCE "CAT-AND-MOUSE" AROUND HERNU SPY CASE The accusation that deceased former Socialist defense minister, Charles Hernu, was a Soviet spy recently took an interesting "cat-and-mouse" turn. Last May, we mentioned that the book, "Enquete sur l'Agent Hernu" (1997, Fayard), by "L'Express" journalists, Jean-Marie Pontaut and Jerome Dupuis, managed to stay on the stands despite some serious "mistakes" in the documents presented to prove their case against Hernu. At the time, former DGSE foreign intelligence chief, Admiral Pierre Lacoste, called the accusations "rather weak" (INT, n. 80 26). In July, in the framework of the libel trials against the journalists, Judge Jean-Paul Valat requested declassification of all intelligence concerning the accusations (INT, n. 83 23). On 29 October, "L'Express", published the supposedly complete Romanian intelligence file that was the basis of Pontaut and Dupuis' accusations against Hernu. Nonetheless. many inconsistencies remain, and, according to a French intelligence rumor, the case will not be truly "broken open" as long as Jacques Dewatre remains head of DGSE foreign intelligence. The rumor depicts Dewatre as a staunch defender of traditional Socialist interests, including Hernu's reputation, and implies that when Dewatre goes, the Hernu case could explode along with that of the "Rainbow Warrior" sunk in New Zealand on Hernu's orders. When the Hernu espionage case first surfaced in "L'Express", "managing" the crisis supposedly became a top DGSE priority (INT, n. 89 15). On 20 November, Judge Valat questioned former DST internal security chief, Jacques Fournet, accused of "violating professional confidentiality" for giving five newspaper interviews and a television interview concerning the Hernu affair. Fournet, DST chief from May 1990 to October 1993, is reportedly the man who received the Hernu file transmitted officially from Romania by Romanian intelligence officer, Mihail Caraman, in 1992. Fournet gave Judge Valat a letter from former conservative interior minister, Jean-Louis Debre, Fournet's superior when he was DST chief, stating the Fournet had Debre's authorization to "defend himself publicly in this affair". On 16 December, the judge called Debre in for questioning. He has also asked for Romanian, Bulgarian and Russian judiciary cooperation in getting to the bottom of this now thoroughly politicized affair. (...cut...) --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 91, 11 January 1999, p. 19 BELGIUM EUROPEAN COMMISSION FRAUD ONLY THE VENEER It looks like the craziness of the "Crazy Kingdom" of Belgium has truly "rubbed off" on one of its major resident institutions: the European Commission. After a 1997 series of embarrassing press reports on fraud and influence peddling by the Commission, the latter apparently tried to clear its name by revealing a suspected 500,000 Ecus fraud involving the EU humanitarian aid budget in September. But, in October, the European Parliament (EP), to which the Commission answers institutionally, called for the creation of an independent EU audit office saying the existing internal fraud investigation office, the UCLAF, had not worked effectively and was inadequately staffed. Under pressure from the EP, the Commission proposed, on 2 December, in Brussels, to create an independent European fraud office supposedly to stamp out corruption in EU member states and institutions. "A clear separation between controllers and those being controlled would be healthier," European Commission President and former Luxembourg prime minister, Jacques Santer, told the EP, reiterating that the Commission had never covered up suspected fraud. Indeed, the Commission recently fined the Swiss-Swedish firm, Asea Brown Boveri, some 70 million Ecus ($82.6 million) for allegedly colluding with nine other companies to keep prices high for insulated heating pipes. Probably to avoid mounting criticism and "snuff out the affair", the Commission reportedly created a 20-person special unit, on 3 December, to fight fraud, to bust market-rigging cartels and to combat price fixing. According to EU antitrust chief, Karel Van Miert, the "unit is charged exclusively with unveiling, pursuing and eliminating cartels for any product and service related activities. Its creation confirms, in concrete terms, the Commission's priority to fight such practices". The new unit is expected to concentrate on suspected violations of antitrust rules, to raid companies in search of incriminating evidence and to bring charges against violators. According to Van Miert, fraud and collusion are becoming more professional and harder to detect as companies become increasingly skillful at masking practices such as collusive bidding, due in part to modern technology. COMMENT -- What neither Santer nor Van Miert want to admit is that the Commission itself is the center of fraud, corruption, collusive bidding, antitrust violations, influence peddling covered up suspected fraud, market-rigging and price fixing. In August 1997, the Brussels Flemish daily, "De Morgen", published detailed reports showing that the Commission had been involved in all these vices in "giving" the monopoly of Commission, EP and EU security and protection to the company, Group 4, in 1992. This exclusive contract, covering building, personne and document security and all forms of protection, bid on by four companies, went to Group 4 after the Commission furnished Group 4 with confidential information concerning the three other companies' bids. In return, Group 4 got to "pad" its Commission security budget with 50 former European "spooks" -- former members of French DGSE foreign intelligence and Dutch BVD internal security have been mentioned -- who did nothing but pocket EU money and get EU "freebees". The accusations were serious enough -- and backed with enough information -- that Santer had to open a Commission investigation which, in March 1998, substantiated the accusations and passed the file on to the Belgian Public Prosecutor in Brussels who is calling for the opening of fraud trials. A major decision will be made on 14 January to see what will be done and may determine the future of the Commission. This weekend, Santer, feeling the heat, told German radio that he was considering resigning, and French President, Jacques Chirac, approves. The Dutch Prime Minister has also asked three European Commissioners to quit. Santer has claimed that the Commission security service had no special weapons, but "De Morgen" obtained a Commission order for two high-powered rifles with scopes and silencers. Santer has stated that the Commission had never covered up suspected fraud but "De Morgan" has just published parts of the EU Financial Controler's report showing that Santer and the Commission did not investigate and tried to cover up the daily's substantiated accussations that the Belgian extreme right has thoroughly infiltrated the security service of the Commission, the EP and the EU. (...cut...) ---------------------------------------------