Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit INTELLIGENCE ISSN 1245-2122 N. 36 New Series, 29 April 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) is US $315. Intelligence, N. 36, 29 April 1996, p. 1 NETHERLANDS CROOKS BEAT COPS AT COUNTER-ESPIONAGE With Dutch criminal intelligence already under close scrutiny by the Van Traa Commission on covert police methods (INT, N. 21/1 & 30/1) and fighting a running battle against criminal gangs which have sophisticated surveillance and counter- espionage methods and equipment (INT, N. 3/16), a 17 April decision by the Amsterdam court against the police isn't going to help encourage the fight against crime. The court decided to drop the police's case against two defendants accused of installing clandestine monitoring equipment and eavesdropping on police telephone lines. This decision deals another blow to the Amsterdam police's attempts to defeat criminal counter- espionage structures. The two suspects did receive sentences for two-and-a-half and three years for forging credit cards, using them to obtain three million guilders in fraudulent transactions, and possession of Ecstasy (XTC; 3,4-methylene dioxymethamphetamine or MDMA) drug precursor materials. During 1994 and 1995, the police recorded 148 incidents of what is broadly called "counter-observation", in which covert surveillance teams and other sensitive police operatives were followed and exposed. According to a confidential report, at least 25 law enforcement operations, as well as one BVD internal security service operation, were disturbed by such so- called "contra" activities. By continuously monitoring police communications and using sophisticated direction-finding equipment, the Dutch "contras" have succeeded in charting a large number of covert police teams and facilities. Telephone lines in police stations and private lines of investigators at home have been bugged, and the contents of sensitive conversations have been published and used in court to frustrate prosecution. Police officers are "escorted home" after work by "contra" shadowers. Two weeks ago the implied threat reached unprecedented levels when the police arrested two men who were preparing a Semtex bomb. These suspects apparently planned to use the device against Amsterdam public prosecutors involved in preparing the case against Johan Verhoek, alias "the Stutterer" (INT, N. 14/54), the suspected leader of the "Octopus" cannabis-smuggling organization (INT, N. 4/1, 36 & 31/52), who was arrested recently after one of his accomplices agreed to testify against him in court. The trial against Mr. Verhoek started on 22 April. The two defendants in the Amsterdam court case, who have now escaped a conviction for "contra" activities, were found by the court to have not violated the law on intercepting communications and penetrating computer systems, because although they possessed a large collection of interception equipment, they had not made "directed efforts" and had not broken any access codes to obtain the information. Also, a device built to intercept and analyze beeper communications was not found to be illegal. The court did not agree with the police that the suspects functioned as a "facilitating business" aiding criminal organizations. Police and public prosecutors are frustrated because they continue to be unsuccessful in dismantling the "contras" and obtaining convictions. Last year a man, nicknamed "E.T.", was arrested for bugging a police chief's telephone, but he was released after two months for lack of evidence. Later, a notorious Amsterdam "scanner freak" was arrested, and printouts of stolen police files were found at his home, but six months later he is still waiting to be subpoenaed. The Amsterdam police has reinforced its efforts to improve internal security, fight corruption and eliminate criminal counter-intelligence structures. The increasing sophistication of criminal organizations and the threat of attacks on the lives of law enforcement personnel involved in investigating organized crime gives a grim indication of how seriously major "cannabis criminals" take their business. France, which is engaged in an "ideological battle" against supposedly "permissive" Dutch drug policy, will surely use this situation to "prove" that no drugs, hard or soft, should be allowed on the streets, either officially or unofficially. The Dutch, of course, will maintain that "it's not the drugs, it's the money" that causes crime and corruption. * Also in this Issue: N. 36, 29 April 1996 FRONTPAGE NETHERLANDS - CROOKS BEAT COPS AT COUNTER-ESPIONAGE p.1 TECHNOLOGY & TECHNIQUES USING TIME TO CRACK PUBLIC KEY ENCRYPTION SYSTEMS p.2 FICTION & REALITY OF "ARTIFICIAL BLOOD" p.3 BALLISTIC MISSILE TECHNOLOGY & PROLIFERATION p.4 DATA - Floppy Disk with Images Too. p.5 MINI-SATS - Shooting into Orbit. p.6 EAVESDROPPING - Telephone Taps Made Easy. p.7 NETWORKS - Breaking the Rules of the Game. p.8 MAPS - The whole United States On-line. p.9 VIRUSES - "Forensic" Data Bank. p.10 BATTERIES - All-Plastic and Ultra-Light-Weight. p.11 COMPUTER ID - "Invisible" Internet Service. p.12 DEFENSE - From "International" to "European". p.13 PEOPLE KEVIN D. MITNICK - U.S.A. p.14 GEORGE BLAKE - GREAT BRITAIN/RUSSIA p.15 ANTHONY DUNCAN - IRELAND p.16 MORDECHAI VANUNU - ISRAEL p.17 U.S.A. - Frank Kern/aka Kerr/aka Jones. p.18 U.S.A. - Maryanne Baumgartner. p.19 GREAT BRITAIN/BELARUS - Szymon Serafinowicz. p.20 TURKS & CAICOS - Martin Bourke. p.21 ROMANIA/SWITZERLAND - Floriana Jucan. p.22 RUSSIA/NORWAY - Alexander Nikitin. p.23 AGENDA INFOWAR - Critical Technologies Meeting. p.24 SECUBANK 96 - Moscow/St. Petersburg Meeting. p.25 ILA 96 - International Aerospace Meeting. p.26 TABES 96 - Annual Van Braun Center Meeting. p.27 DIGITAL TV - London Conference. p.28 SCIP FRANCE - Lunch Conference. p.29 DIGI REVO - ASIS Conference. p.30 PRIVACY - Internet Meeting. p.31 IDT 96 - Professional Information Forum. p.32 INTERNET - Major European Meeting. p.33 ETHICS - New York Conference. p.34 MARINE SOUTH - Users & Suppliers Exhibit. p.35 ARPA TECH 96 - Systems and Technology Symposium. p.36 DEMINEX 96 - Specialized French Conference. p.37 CANADA - Learned Societies Congress. p.38 INFOWAR - European Conference. p.39 ACSAC 96 - Call for Papers. p.40 INFOTECH - Three London Courses. p.41 INTERNET - Harvard Meeting. p.42 AAS 96 - Classified Meeting. p.43 KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER - Paris Seminar. p.44 HIDING INFO - Cambridge Workshop. p.45 INTELLIGENCE AROUND THE WORLD U.S.A. - "LEVEL PLAYING FIELD" BEING IMPOSED INTERNATIONALLY p.46 Everybody Gets a Security Check. p.47 Clinton's Intelligence Community Reforms. p.48 Intelligence Community & Oversight. p.49 GREAT BRITAIN - "WELCOME TO THE MARDI GRA EXPERIENCE" p.50 "ORGANIZED" THEFT OF GOVERNMENT EQUIPMENT p.51 MASSARI WINS "DE FACTO" ASYLUM p.52 INCONSISTENCIES IN 1984 SHOOTING OF POLICEWOMAN p.53 FRANCE - WINNERS AND LOSERS IN "DOWNSIZING" p.54 Time to Cash in on Pensions. p.55 BELGIUM - AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE "RUNNING DOG" CAUGHT BY THE PRESS p.56 GERMANY - HOSTAGE OUTWITS POLICE & PAYS HIS OWN RELEASE p.57 Iranian "Leaks" Make It to Israel. p.58 SPAIN - Front Page CESID Top Secret Report. p.59 GIBRALTAR - Smugglers Cause Another Diplomatic Incident. p.60 POLAND - The "Intermediary Structures" Strike Back. p.61 HUNGARY - Second "Opening" for FBI School. p.62 BOSNIA - EVERYBODY TRYING OUT NEW INTELLIGENCE GEAR p.63 RUSSIA - New National Security Policy Published. p.64 EASTERN EUROPE - A NEW TYPE OF "SCRAMBLING" AT RFE/RL p.65 COLOMBIA - A DEA "Deep Throat" in Spain. p.66 ETHIOPIA/SUDAN - DCI Deutch Drops By. p.67 PALESTINE - INTELLIGENCE "EATING UP THE BUDGET" p.68 ISRAEL - Lost Chances with Arafat & Others. p.69 SAUDI ARABIA - FOUR CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR RIYADH BOMBING p.70 PAKISTAN - PROBLEMS ON ALL BORDERS AND AT HOME TOO p.71 ================================================================= 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 =================================================================