Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit INTELLIGENCE ISSN 1245-2122 N. 45 New Series, 7 October 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) In this issue: TABLE OF CONTENTS, N. 45, 7 October 1996 FRONTPAGE U.S.A./GREAT BRITAIN - "JOINED AT THE HIP" INTELLIGENCE COOPERATION p.1 TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES SECURITY LAPSES AND OTHER PROBLEMS ON THE INTERNET p.2 TROUBLE WITH GQ360 ULTRA HIGH ALTITUDE PARACHUTE p.3 PEPPER SPRAY AND CS-CN TEAR GAS CONFUSION p.4 PARCEL BOMBS - New U.S. Postal Service Rules. p.5 GANGS - "Reasonable" and "Conservative" Statistics. p.6 BOMB SNIFFERS - Congressional "Consumers' Report". p.7 TELEPHONE SCAMS - New Paying Number Tactics. p.8 RECONVERSION - Ecological "Bombs Away". p.9 SOUND - A Virtual "Quack Box". p.10 PRIVACY - Beyond Lexis P-Trak Trouble. p.11 IMAGERY - Cheap Digital Maps for War Games. p.12 ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE - French and English Manuals. p.13 SELF-DESTRUCT TAPS - Israeli Devices Analyzed. p.14 DEBIT CARDS - Japan Pays North Korea Via Poor Security. p.15 PEOPLE U.S.A. - FREDERIC WHITEHURST p.16 ROBERT CHAEGON KIM p.17 GREAT BRITAIN/INDIA - PETER BLEACH p.18 BULGARIA - ANDREY LUKANOV p.19 U.S.A. - Kevin D. Mitnick. p.20 Clark Hager. p.21 Henry Billingsley. p.22 John W. DeCamp. p.23 GREAT BRITAIN - Officer "T". p.24 Fitzroy Maclean. p.25 Diarmuid O'Neil. p.26 RUSSIA - Alexander Nikitin. p.27 MEXICO/U.S.A. - Celestino Castillo. p.28 CUBA/U.S.A. - Carlos Fleites. p.29 COLOMBIA/U.S.A. - Farouk Yanine Diaz. p.30 COLOMBIA/GREAT BRITAIN - Philip Halden. p.31 ARGENTINA/U.S.A. - Jose Siderman. p.32 ISRAEL - David Ivry. p.33 Mordechai Vanunu. p.34 AGENDA COMING EVENTS FROM NOW TO 15 NOVEMBER 1996 p.35 INTELLIGENCE AROUND THE WORLD U.S.A. - GULF WAR SYNDROME GETS A MILITARY EXPLANATION p.36 FBI NCIC 2000 ALIVE AND KICKING p.37 U.S.A./ISRAEL - Election Time Roll Call & Collection. p.38 GREAT BRITAIN - BETTER CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE WITH VICTIMOLOGY p.39 PSA MEETING FINDS FAULTS WITH EVERYBODY p.40 SECRECY LIFTED ON DOUNREAY NUCLEAR ACCIDENT p.41 Civvies Train Military Copter Pilots. p.42 NORTHERN IRELAND - THE FALSE PEACE FALLS APART p.43 FRANCE - SECURE NATIONAL E-CASH SERVICE GOES ONLINE p.44 BELGIUM - AGUSTA BACK ON THE AGENDA p.45 ANOTHER MAJOR SCANDAL INVOLVING HIGH OFFICIALS p.46 GERMANY - HOME-GROWN SATELLITE AND SIGINT CONFLICTS p.47 SWITZERLAND - Archives Find Nazi Agents in Red Cross. p.48 NORWAY - THE "OSLO/ANC" CONNECTION REVEALED p.49 SWEDEN - E.U. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ON TRIAL p.50 CENTRAL EUROPE - "BRASS TACKS" SECURITY ANALYSIS p.51 UGANDA - DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS SHARED WITH THE BRITS p.52 --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 45, 7 October 1996, p. 19 BULGARIA - ANDREY LUKANOV On 2 October, Andrei Lukanov, a Russian-born former member of the Bulgarian Central Committee, Prime Minister in 1990, boss of the TopEnergy Russian-Bulgarian joint venture (INT, N. 39/5), was shot to death at his home. TopEnergy, created last year with help from the Bulgarian corporation, Multigroup, controls the import of Russian gas and crude oil, and its reexport to Greece, to avoid Turkey's U.S.-backed stranglehold on Russian oil shipments through the Bosporus (INT, N. 33/53). Lukanov was also apparently connected with Tron, a large Bulgarian holding company which appeared out of nowhere soon after the fall of the Communist regime, and its Sunnyvale, California, company in Silicon Valley, Pont Peripherals, half of which belongs to Waltham Electronics. Silicon Valley is also where Bisser Dimitrov, "Lukanov's man in California", got his start (INT, N. 39/51). Bulgarian "businessman" Dimitrov, head of the firm GigaStorage, was the center of a recent financial/political scandal in the region of Belfort, France (INT, N. 33/15). But Topenergy recently removed Lukanov and replaced him with none other than Iliya Pavlov, president of Multigroup (INT, N. 33/15). Mr. Pavlov confirmed the news and told reporters that Lukanov had "caused friction" between Topenergy and the Bulgarian government. Mr. Lukanov, on his side, told reporters that such a change had not taken place. In the meantime, the removal was also confirmed by Topenergy executives (INT, N. 42/43). Observers have noted that Lukanov's position in Topenergy was in flagrant conflict of interest with his status as member of parliament for the ruling Socialist Party. Topenergy had applied for a license to operate all domestic and transit gas pipelines on Bulgarian territory and to build new facilities. The government delayed its response until two weeks past the legal deadline, and then announced that a commission was being set up to work out the conditions for issuing such a license by mid-September. On 12 April Ivo Jancev, a former member of Bulgarian intelligence and a leading figure of Multigroup was found dead. Although police concluded that Jancev had committed suicide, Jancev's former intelligence service colleagues are "conducting their own investigation" into what may be either a battle between former senior intelligence officials now involved in business, or in a Multigroup "internal house cleaning" (INT, N. 37/17). Following the October 1995 assassination attempt against Macedonian President, Kiro Gligorov, press reports had mentioned possible involvement of Multigroup in the car bombing. As for Topenergy, it was created 1995 as a joint venture between Gasprom of Russia and a Bulgarian state company, Bulgargas. Gasprom's boss, Rem Vyakhirev, is said to have more power in Russia than President Boris Yeltsin, has total control of Topenergy. With presidential elections coming up, the media is wondering whether the motives for Lukanov's murder were political or economic, a distinction which seems to have little relevance in the case of someone such as Lukanov. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 45, 7 October 1996, p. 37 U.S.A. FBI NCIC 2000 ALIVE AND KICKING Internet "FBI-watchers" quickly noticed the recent withdrawal from the Bureau's web page of all mention of the monthly newsletter on the NCIC 200 computerization and modernization program of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), and jumped to the conclusion that NCIC 2000 "is being scrapped". "Intelligence" asked the FBI which quite simply replied that, since the newsletter was supposed to be A monthly and the last issue was dated May 1996, it was withdrawn from the web page. Not only did this get some action on the Internet, it also got some action at headquarters where a "dedicated staff" of one person has been specifically given the task of putting the NCIC 2000 newsletter out on time every month. As for NCIC 2000, according to the FBI, it is "on track", "moving ahead at full speed" and encountering "no known problems". COMMENT -- In April 1995, we announced that the FBI began modernizing the NCIC in 1992 and Harris Corp. got to work, in March 1993, on NCIC 2000 (INT, N. 13/8), selecting Printrack International Inc.'s Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and a Combined DNA Indexing System (CODIS), which has already been installed with AFIS in some 30 locations in 17 states. Supposedly NCIC 2000 will also include the capacity to identify a criminal's cholesterol level from the fingerprints he or she leaves. However, this June, we noted that a GAO report on "entry time problems" at the NCIC computer database of wanted criminals found that the FBI, and other federal agencies, entered fugitives long after arrest warrants were issued and sometimes even after they had been arrested (INT, N. 39/32). These problems seem to have more to do with field office procedures than trouble at headquarters with NCIC. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 45, 7 October 1996, p. 38 U.S.A./ISRAEL - Election Time Roll Call & Collection. According to press reports, supposedly based on analysis of Federal Election Commission (FEC) figures, pro-Israeli political action committee contributions have already reached more than $3.8 million as of 30 June while the committees themselves have apparently reported $5.5 million in contributions. The FEC figures don't include presidential campaign contributions or money given directly to campaigns. But anti-Israeli political action is also heating up with the opening of the "'USS Liberty' Essay Contest" in preparation for the 7-9 June 1997 30th anniversary reunion of "USS Liberty" survivors. The ship was an electronic surveillance vessel in international waters off the coast of Israel during the 1967 Six Day War which Israeli aircraft attacked for two hours, killing 34 U.S. servicemen and wounding 171 others. The ship was so badly damaged that it had to be scrapped. Israel still makes the untenable claim that it thought the "USS Liberty" was an Egyptian horse carrier, "El Quseir", and the U.S. Congress, careful not to offend moneyed pro-Israeli campaign contributors, has never investigated the incident. U.S. law requires investigation of grave violations of international law, but the "USS Liberty" affair still remains today the only major maritime incident in U.S. history not investigated by Congress. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 45, 7 October 1996, p. 46 BELGIUM ANOTHER MAJOR SCANDAL INVOLVING HIGH OFFICIALS The Dutch police, in collaboration with Belgian authorities, are examining evidence that several senior figures in Belgian law enforcement circles have been deeply involved in drug trafficking. On 14 March, Belgian drug trafficker and police informer, Martin Swennen, was shot and killed by one Ton van E. in an Amsterdam bar following a dispute in which Van E. had accused Swennen of being a police informer. The murder investigation revealed that Swennen had been an informer for Belgian Gendarmerie officer Willy van Mechelen, 53, a notorious and controversial criminal investigator who had repeatedly been suspected of involvement in drug schemes. However, Van Mechelen has always managed to "come away clean" and, in fact, has risen to become the second in command with the Antwerp BOB investigation brigade. He is currently in custody awaiting trial: three of his accomplices have already testified that they worked for van Mechelen importing drugs through the port of Antwerp. Shortly before being murdered, Swennen had turned to the Rotterdam CID criminal intelligence department, where subsequently three drug runners had been working with him for months, resulting in dossiers full of trafficking information. Swennen not only told the Dutch cops about his connections with well-known Dutch drug traffickers such as Johan Verhoek, but also gave detailed accounts of Van Mechelen's criminal schemes and implicated other senior Belgian law enforcement officers such as Colonel Herman Luijten, a liaison officer at the Belgian embassy in The Hague. Swennen had an appointment on 15 March to give a statement to Belgian investigating magistrate, J. Mahieu, head of the Van Mechelen investigation, but he was killed the evening before. Investigators think that a possible leak in the Rotterdam CID caused Swennen's death: some weeks before, in February 1996, Rotterdam CID officer, Richard Lengton, was arrested after having been caught in the act of selling confidential dossiers to criminals for 10,000 guilders. Another high-placed official fingered by Swennen before he died is Belgian magistrate Walter De Smet, a former investigating magistrate who is currently on the Comite P, the police oversight committee (INT, N. 38/1). Mr. De Smet is accused of having helped Van Mechelen with his drug imports by sabotaging investigations against him. De Smet denied recently, on BRT radio, that he had facilitated Van Mechelen's shady activities. Instead he has pointed to an anonymous and very senior civil servant whom he says sabotaged his attempts to prosecute Van Mechelen. Judicial sources believe this person to be Antwerp's highest boss in the public prosecutor's office, prosecutor general Van Camp. On 30 September, behind closed doors, the Belgian parliament discussed the matter which has stirred up a lot of controversy. Judicial authorities in Antwerp have confirmed that there is "evidence" of suspicious activity on the part of a number of Belgian investigators, and they have asked the Dutch authorities for more details. Swennen had asserted that he himself was protected by Van Mechelen and Luijten for money. An international warrant issued against him in October 1995 somehow got lost at the Dutch CRI National Criminal Intelligence Service for six months. Col. Luijten is said to have received 35,000 guilders from Van Mechelen to make sure the warrant disappeared. So far, the CRI can only explain that the warrant was lost "through administrative failures". Col. Luijten's possible involvement is now under investigation. Dutch and Belgian investigators at first distrusted Swennen's incredible stories about a drug organization headed by some of Belgium's most senior law enforcement officials who facilitated drug imports for many notorious Dutch and Belgian drug barons through Antwerp harbor. But now investigators in both countries are believed to have dug up so much supporting evidence that the dead snitch's allegations can no longer be ignored. --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 45, 7 October 1996, p. 47 GERMANY HOME-GROWN SATELLITE AND SIGINT CONFLICTS The German defense ministry faces opposition to its signal intelligence (Sigint) and surveillance satellite (Imint) plans from two very different "domestic" quarters. After much prodding from French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is pressuring his defense minister, Volker Ruehe, to support two spy satellite projects with France: the Helios 2 optical surveillance satellite and the Horus radar imaging surveillance satellite. So far, Mr. Ruehe has resisted the Chancellor's pressing invitation. Indeed, the German defense minister has informed his French counterpart, Charles Millon, that he has already allocated the only available funds for Eurofighter 2000. The German defense minister's assessment is that his forces do not need to know about supposedly "strategic" movements in the Chad sand dunes. The French, however, are keeping the pressure up and Chancellor Kohl and President Chirac hope to reach a final decision during their planned meeting in December. The German air force faces opposition from a very different "domestic" quarter. Its plans to install a Sigint listening post to monitor high frequency (HF) communications in Eastern Europe faces strong opposition from local politicians in Berlin. The installation, in Fernmeldesektor D (communications sector D), which would be constructed in Gatow, would require the logging of 3,000 trees in a 300 m diameter circle, with a protective circle 1,600 m in diameter, and special permits for the use of any electrical appliances within 2,500 meters. The installation would be operated by a Sigint unit currently stationed in Feuchtwangen and would be part of the Third Air force Division. In response to parliamentary questioning by MP Wolfgang Behrendt, assistant defense minister Peter Wichert said the installation was approved in early 1995 as part of plans to centralize HF monitoring within the German defense ministry. According to Mr. Wichert, "all the components of this plan are to be realized". --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, N. 45, 7 October 1996, p. 49 NORWAY THE "OSLO/ANC" CONNECTION REVEALED The Norwegian Government, using money laundering and other covert financial techniques, transferred millions of dollars of public funds to anti-apartheid activists during the 20-year period leading up to the collapse of the white racist regime. The financial aid, amounting to almost $350 million, went to the families of imprisoned African National Congress members and was also used to finance political agitation in the 1970s and 1980s. The Oslo Government used intermediaries -- generally members of the Church of Norway (CoN) -- to smuggle cash into South Africa. A Norwegian intelligence agent, Bjarne Lindstrom, working under diplomatic cover from the Norwegian consul-general's office in Cape Town, distributed money to the impoverished black residents of the townships. A group of local businessmen also used the CoN's Durban office to purchase "financial rands" (introduced when South Africa needed hard currency and issued at 30 percent above the normal rate of exchange) which the CoN then distributed to ANC activists. The "Oslo/ANC" connection is detailed in a recently published book, "Mandela's Land", written by Tomm Kristianen, the African correspondent for Norwegian radio from 1990 to 1994. His account of the covert support for the ANC is confirmed by Svenn Stray, foreign minister from 1981 to 1986, and by Trond Bakkevig, general secretary of the CoN, who smuggled "hard currency" concealed in a body-belt into South Africa on at least five occasions. * Copyright ADI 1996, reproduction in any form forbidden without explicit authorization from the ADI. 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