SAMPLE SUMMARY VERSION INTELLIGENCE ISSN 1245-2122 N. 97 New Series, 19 April 1999 Every Two to Three Weeks Next Issue on 17 May 1999 Publishing since 1980 Editor Olivier Schmidt (email intelligence-adi@wanadoo.fr; web http://www.blythe.org/Intelligence) TABLE OF CONTENTS, N. 97, 19 April 1999 FRONT PAGE NETHERLANDS - UPS & DOWNS IN FIGHTING ORGANIZED CRIME p.1 TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES INTERNET, E-COMMERCE & PUBLIC ENCRYPTION "FREE-FOR-ALL" p.2 THE HIGH-TECH HUNT FOR MELISSA p.3 NOT SO SMART 1995 ORDNANCE IN THE BALKANS p.4 TECHNOLOGY & TECHNIQUES - Open Source Intelligence. p.5 ANONYMIZER, BIO-CHEM AGENTS, CODES, FILTER SOFTWARE, INFOSEC, Y2K. PEOPLE GREAT BRITAIN - EDGAR "MARDI GRAS" PEARCE p.6 RUSSIA - BORIS BEREZOVSKY p.7 PEOPLE - Open Source Intelligence. p.8 USA, GREAT BRITAIN, RUSSIA, BOLIVIA, SOUTH AFRICA/ISRAEL. AGENDA COMING EVENTS THROUGH 1 JUNE 1999 p.9 INTELLIGENCE AROUND THE WORLD USA - PARTISAN BATTLE OVER CHINA & NUCLEAR SPYING p.10 - Computer Network Security "Purge" at DOE Labs. p.11 - Open Source Intelligence. p.12 CIA, FBI, PENTAGON, POLICE, CUSTOMS. GREAT BRITAIN - ATTEMPT TO SMEAR COOK p.13 - FEARS OF TERRORIST "SAFE HAVEN" p.14 - MILLENNIUM BUG BATTLE GROUND & CHAOS @ IND p.15 NORTHERN IRELAND - ANOTHER COVER-UP SLOWLY COLLAPSES p.16 FRANCE - IRAN-STRAIN IN FRANCO-AMERICAN TIES p.17 WESTERN EUROPE - Open Source Intelligence. p.18 GREAT BRITAIN, ITALY. BALKANS - BRASS TACKS & TECHNOLOGICAL FANTASIES p.19 EASTERN EUROPE - Open Source Intelligence. p.20 SLOVAKIA, SERBIA, KOSOVO, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, KAZAKHSTAN. BRAZIL - THREE-WAY MILITARY-POLICE-POLITICS FIGHT p.21 LATIN AMERICA - Open Source Intelligence. p.22 ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA, COLOMBIA, SURINAME, PERU, PARAGUAY. SOUTH AFRICA - McBride Says Arms Still Flow. p.23 AFRICA - Open Source Intelligence. p.24 SOUTH AFRICA, ZAMBIA, KENYA, NIGER, GHANA. MIDDLE EAST - Open Source Intelligence. p.25 ISRAEL, PALESTINE, LEBANON, IRAN, IRAQ. ASIA - Open Source Intelligence. p.26 AFGHANISTAN, CHINA, KOREA, JAPAN, PHILIPPINES, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, ASIA. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 97, 19 April 1999, p. 1 NETHERLANDS UPS & DOWNS IN FIGHTING ORGANIZED CRIME Several recent and surprising developments have again stirred debate about organized crime and the way it is tackled in Holland. Good news followed soon after the trial of former Surinamese dictator, strongman and alleged narcotics smuggler, Desi Bouterse, begun in The Hague in March. The prime suspect and his lawyer have so far chosen to boycott the trial, pending a decision in a procedural appeal case in which they challenge the The Hague court as not being competent. Observers have noted, however, that the dispute is moot and represents a last- ditch attempt to obstruct legal proceedings. The good news was that Mr. Bouterse's position in his own country has dramatically changed for the worse after President Jules Wijdenbosch, his old comrade in arms, decided on 4 April to fire Mr. Bouterse as Advisor to the State for not doing a good job (see "Surinam." below). As a consequence, the interests of Mr. Bouterse are no longer automatically identified with those of the nation of Suriname. He now has to operate without formal diplomatic immunity which leaves him much more vulnerable to Dutch attempts to get him arrested and extradited, should he decide to visit a foreign country. This could come to pass in the near future if rumors in Suriname are correct: Mr. Bouterse apparently suffers from an eye disease which, if untreated, could lead to total blindness. Until recently, few people seriously believed the Bouterse case would ever result in conviction or of actually seeing him behind bars. ...(cut)... --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 97, 19 April 1999, p. 2 INTERNET, E-COMMERCE & PUBLIC ENCRYPTION "FREE-FOR-ALL" On 19 January, French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, suddenly reversed France's long-term and traditionally restrictive policy toward the public use of encryption systems and allowed complete freedom of use of systems with key lengths up to and including 128 bits. We mentioned at that time that the implications of this French decision go far beyond France itself and is "the first splash of a tidal change that will, in all likelihood, drown the international public encryption policy the US is trying to impose on the world in the name of fighting crime, drugs and terrorism" (see "Worldwide - France Breaks Ranks with USA & Against USA on Codes", INT, n. 92 1). The most obvious consequence will be the development of a new EU public encryption policy to encourage "harmonization" (meaning 128 bit keys for everybody), "economic development" (meaning the production of EU encryption software more powerful than legally exported US products) and "integration" (meaning 128 bit encryption can be legally used AMONG all EU countries and just INSIDE each country). The latter is an inevitable consequence of the French decision, but it will take time and will likely be resisted by all EU national intelligence services, with the French services probably fighting the hardest ... and the Dutch the least. The Brits, of course, are caught in the middle: between the French and Dutch extremes and, also, between the EU and the US which pays a major part of the British GCHQ budget. ...(cut)... --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 97, 19 April 1999, p. 6 GREAT BRITAIN - EDGAR "MARDI GRAS" PEARCE The "Mardi Gras" bomber, 61-year-old Edgar Pearce, was sentenced to 224 years at the Old Bailey on 14 April, after a three-year campaign of terror and blackmail against Barclays Bank and the Sainsbury supermarket chain (INT, n. 75 8, n. 76 35, n. 78 24, n. 79 34 & n. 80 29). A resident of Chiswick, west London, Pearce pleaded guilty to 23 offences of extortion, wounding, possession of firearms and causing an explosion. His campaign, according to Judge Michael Hyam, the Recorder of London -- who ordered that the sentences should run concurrently, meaning Pearce will serve 21 years -- was "motivated by greed" and had been carried out with a "cynical disregard" for the public. Some of the 36 explosive devices, concealed in video cassettes marked "welcome to the Mardi Gras", were delivered by hand to branches of Barclays in the south-east, others were hidden in Sainsbury shopping bags in the region. ...(cut)... --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 97, 19 April 1999, p. 10 USA PARTISAN BATTLE OVER CHINA & NUCLEAR SPYING On 8 April, the "New York Times" reported that China stole information from the US to make a neutron bomb and, when the 1988 test failed, it filched additional secrets in 1995 to improve the weapon. In early 1996, a Chinese spy, working for the CIA, described Chinese efforts to get secret information on neutron bombs, including details on how the data was stolen in the 1980s from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. This account contradicts White House claims that such spying by China ended before Bill Clinton became president. National Security Adviser, Sandy Berger, was supposedly told of the possible new theft of neutron bomb data during a 1996 meeting, but David Leavy, a spokesman for the National Security Council (NSC), said Berger and another NSC official, who attended the 1996 briefing, do not believe the neutron bomb issue was mentioned. According to Leavy, Berger did not learn of the suspicions until he received a more detailed briefing in July 1997. ...(cut)... --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 97, 19 April 1999, p. 13 GREAT BRITAIN ATTEMPT TO SMEAR COOK An apparent attempt to smear British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, is being investigated by the Home Office and the Attorney-General, John Morris. The elaborate effort to implicate Cook in a supposed investigation of Labour MP, Diane Abbott, a member of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee and a consistent critic of the government, came to light in mid-March after the anonymous delivery of a dossier to her through the post. Ms. Abbott has been a persistent and vocal critic of aspects of the government's "ethical" foreign policy, especially over the Sandline mercenary affair, which was investigated in-depth by the committee of which she is a member. The committee's report, published in February, was highly critical of the government. The four-page anonymous dossier contained extensive details about Abbott's personal and professional life, including friends, contacts and activities, stretching as far back as her university days in the 1970s. Also attached was a memorandum -- which shows every indication of having been fabricated -- addressed to the Foreign Secretary. ...(cut)... --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 97, 19 April 1999, p. 17 FRANCE IRAN-STRAIN IN FRANCO-AMERICAN TIES According to certain specialists, a "coded message" the "Washington Post" published on 3 April was for the US intelligence community to let the French government know it wasn't happy with Paris' increasingly closer ties with Iran. Despite the recent cancellation of a visit to France by Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami, French oil companies are implementing major contracts in Iran, against the demands of the US and the economic sanctions Washington has unsuccessfully tried to impose worldwide on Iran. Instead of standing up and telling France to stop dealing with Iran, Washington dug up some NSA communications intercepts that "showed" France was equipping Iran with deadly anti-ship missiles. ...(cut)... --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 97, 19 April 1999, p. 19 BALKANS BRASS TACKS & TECHNOLOGICAL FANTASIES War tends to bring out the best and the worst in people, and the media are no exception. But selling nezspapers means it's often the worst, the most spectacular and the fantasies that make it into the headlines. NATO has reportedly lost one single manned aircraft over Serbia, despite an extended aerial bombardment campaign and much-touted Serbian antiaircraft defenses. The downed was an F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter- bomber, which added to fantasies and worst-case scenarios: Serb radar had pierced stealth technology with the help of the Russians. All for one plane downed! Some German media reports, echoed uncritically by others, speculated that there were as many as 30 anti-stealth Czech Tamara radar units in Serbia. We mentioned in our previous issue that Czech authorities were investigating the possible presence of Tamara and similar Ramona units in the Balkans, noting that a former employee of Tesla, which produced Tamara, stated that if the system is in Serbia, it can be operated only by Russian experts trained in the Czech Republic (INT, n. 96 1). Moreover, according to specialists, Tamara is an antiquated system that passively -- not actively, as radar -- locates by triangulation and classifies electronic signals to identify aircraft. Since F-117s operate in electronic silence, a Tamara unit couldn't find an F-117 buzzing around it in the dark. Finally, Tamara is not a type of low-frequency radar which can detect a stealth aircraft but not clearly enough to aim a missile at it. ...(cut)... ---------------------------------------------