Spy Games.

[AnimeFan188]

Russia suspected of using Bermuda shell company
to exploit American anti-fracking activists:

"Russia’s propaganda schemes and shell companies are so complex that investigators
call them “matryoshkas” for the Russian nesting dolls that hide one inside the other.
Capitol Hill lawmakers say they are now wrestling with one that appears to have
twisted American oil and gas policy in Moscow’s favor.

Adding fresh intrigue to the multiple Russia probes underway across Washington, top
Republican lawmakers are demanding that the Trump administration immediately
investigate a Bermuda-based shell company with suspected Kremlin ties that is accused
of working in the shadows to move millions of dollars to anti-fracking activists across
the U.S.

Capitol Hill investigators say the Bermuda fracking case underscores the complexity of
recent Russian influence operations that attempt to use Americans as pawns in money
laundering or propaganda schemes."

See:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-company-to-f/

[AnimeFan188]

Hearing loss of US diplomats in Cuba blamed on covert device:

"The two-year-old U.S. diplomatic relationship with Cuba was roiled Wednesday by
what U.S. officials say was a string of bizarre incidents that left a group of
American diplomats in Havana with severe hearing loss attributed to a covert
sonic device.

In the fall of 2016, a series of U.S. diplomats began suffering unexplained
losses of hearing, according to officials with knowledge of the investigation
into the case. Several of the diplomats were recent arrivals at the embassy,
which reopened in 2015 as part of former President Barack Obama's
reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Some of the diplomats' symptoms were so severe that they were forced to cancel
their tours early and return to the United States, officials said. After months
of investigation, U.S. officials concluded that the diplomats had been exposed
to an advanced device that operated outside the range of audible sound and had
been deployed either inside or outside their residences. It was not immediately
clear if the device was a weapon used in a deliberate attack, or had some other
purpose."

See:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

[AnimeFan188]

The KGB Playbook for Infiltrating the Middle East:

"THE PLAN WAS SIMPLE but audacious: On October 3, 1969, the Lebanese Air Force
pilot would turn up for his scheduled training flight in a French-made Mirage III-E
interceptor jet. “Upon attaining an altitude of 3,000 feet,” he was instructed, “radio
the Beirut tower that you are experiencing generator trouble and your controls are
malfunctioning. Then declare an emergency. Thereafter, acknowledge no radio
transmissions… Four minutes after you cross the Soviet frontier, three interceptors will
meet you and guide you to Baku in Azerbaijan… Should rendezvous fail, contact the
base there on a frequency of 322 kilocycles…”"

"Badawi was a less-than-inconspicuous asset of Soviet intelligence, the GRU or
military branch of it to be exact, and, perhaps hoping to entice his former pupil into
betraying their country, he took it upon himself sweeten the pot for heisting one of
the most sophisticated warplanes then in use by NATO countries. Mattar would receive
$3 million for the Mirage, Badawi had said. But when Badawi finally introduced Mattar
to his new GRU handler, Vladimir Vasileyv, the Russian expressed shock at the asked-
for amount. The true price was $1 million. A negotiation ensued before prospective
agent and officer compromised on $2 million."

See:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-kg...=home?ref=home

[Toukairin]

I'm surprised no one talked about the recent nerve agent incident in England since this is probably the first time that a country sought revenge against a spy who was already arrested, condemned, but then released on a spy swap.

For those who may not be aware of the full story, Sergei Skripal is a former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a double agent for the UK's intelligence services during the 1990s and early 2000s. In December 2004, he was arrested by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and later tried, convicted of high treason, and sentenced to 13 years in prison. He was then a part of the Illegals Program spy swap in 2010 when the US released Russian spy Anna Chapman in exchange of Kripal. Since then, Skripal settled in the UK. Just 12 days ago, he and his daughter were poisoned by a nerve agent. Three police officers have also been poisoned by that nerve agent.

Since this kind of incident is arguably a first in the history of modern espionnage and a violation of unspoken rules in spycraft, I now wonder: what do you think might happen next? Do you think Western intelligence agencies might start retaliating? IMHO, Western agencies should be going with all of their resources to catch and compromise Anna Chapman to a permanent end. If that happens, then it's too bad. Putin drew first blood by ordering something that not even the former Soviet Union ever dared to do.

[AnimeFan188]

U.K. Cops Will Be at Risk From the Kremlin if Inquiry Takes Them
to Russia, Says the Detective Who Hunted Litvinenko’s Killers:

"As one of Britain’s most senior counterterror investigators, former Detective
Inspector Brian Tarpey conducted operations at the height of The Troubles in Northern
Ireland; followed the trail of jihadis to North Africa; entered the notorious Black Beach
prison in Equatorial Guinea; and tracked the 2005 London terrorists all the way back
to their lawless training camps in Pakistan.

In all of his investigations, he says he was harmed only once: in Moscow, during the
hunt for the killers of Alexander Litvinenko. The Russian dissident had died in London
after being poisoned with a dose of the radioactive isotope polonium-210 that was
slipped into a pot of tea.

The Russian authorities said they would help the team from Scotland Yard to run down
their leads and interview the prime suspects. Instead the detectives encountered
obstruction, ultimatums, subterfuge, intimidation, a possible body double, and even a
case of suspected poisoning.

It was the most difficult foreign assignment of Tarpey’s career.

When he sat opposite a delegation from the Russian prosecutor general’s office at the
beginning of the trip in December 2006, he had no idea that the rogues’ gallery on the
other side of the long table featured some of Vladimir Putin’s top enforcers including a
future member of the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions list and the suspected mastermind of
Russia’s alleged pro-Trump influence campaign.

After just a few days of investigation in Moscow, it was obvious to Tarpey that this
supposedly independent branch of the justice system was being run as a de facto
intelligence operation with immense power and resources. They weren’t tested at the
time, but he’s convinced that he and a colleague were given tainted cups of tea inside
the prosecutor general’s office, which left them both suffering from gastroenteritis-like
symptoms. Tarpey began to feel unwell as soon as he left the building."

See:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/uk-cop...llers?ref=home

[AnimeFan188]

Originally Posted by Toukairin

I'm surprised no one talked about the recent nerve agent incident in England since this is probably the first time that a country sought revenge against a spy who was already arrested, condemned, but then released on a spy swap.

For those who may not be aware of the full story, Sergei Skripal is a former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a double agent for the UK's intelligence services during the 1990s and early 2000s. In December 2004, he was arrested by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and later tried, convicted of high treason, and sentenced to 13 years in prison. He was then a part of the Illegals Program spy swap in 2010 when the US released Russian spy Anna Chapman in exchange of Kripal. Since then, Skripal settled in the UK. Just 12 days ago, he and his daughter were poisoned by a nerve agent. Three police officers have also been poisoned by that nerve agent.

Since this kind of incident is arguably a first in the history of modern espionnage and a violation of unspoken rules in spycraft, I now wonder: what do you think might happen next? Do you think Western intelligence agencies might start retaliating? IMHO, Western agencies should be going with all of their resources to catch and compromise Anna Chapman to a permanent end. If that happens, then it's too bad. Putin drew first blood by ordering something that not even the former Soviet Union ever dared to do.

The North Koreans got away with a nerve agent assassination, so I guess Putin decided to give it a try too:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...her/402478002/

This is why it's bad to let this sort of thing slide.

[AnimeFan188]

What Secretive Anti-Ship Missile Did China Hack From The U.S. Navy?:

"China's relentless cyber espionage campaign against the Pentagon has been one of
the central reasons why that country's technological warfighting capabilities have
aggressively matured over a relatively short period of time. In fact, we now see the
fruits of their hacking operations on a daily basis via advanced 'indigenous' weapon
systems, some which are now entering into operational service. But a previously
unreported intrusion into a Navy contractor's computer network has provided the
Chinese military with information on the service's electronic warfare and threat library,
cryptographic radio systems used on submarines, specific sensor data, and detailed
information on a previously undisclosed and fast-paced initiative to field a supersonic
anti-ship missile onto American nuclear submarines dubbed Sea Dragon."

See:

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...m-the-u-s-navy