British report into Russian meddling leads to uncomfortable conclusions

Britain is abuzz today with news of the long-awaited release of the Parliament’s report into Russian meddling in British politics. The report is the work of the Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee. Since 2013, the Committee has been appointed to oversee the work of Britain’s intelligence agencies. Almost all of its meetings are conducted behind closed doors, and its reports are vetted by the spy agencies prior to release. By law, the Committee cannot make its reports public without previously submitting them for approval to the Office of the Prime Minister.

In the past it has taken no more than 10 days for the Committee’s reports to be approved by the prime minister. This particular report, however, which concerns —among other things— Russian meddling into British politics, took considerably longer. It was given to the prime minister on October 17. But by November 6, when parliament was dissolved in preparation for the election that brought Boris Johnson to power, it had not been approved. It finally came out yesterday, after numerous and inexplicable delays. Many speculated that the government did not want to deal with the uncomfortable conclusions in the report.

Like all reports of its kind, this one will be politicized and used by Britain’s major parties against their rivals. But behind the politicking, the report makes for uncomfortable reading indeed. It shows that, not just British, but Western intelligence agencies as a whole, remain incapable of combating online psychological operations from foreign state actors —primarily Russia— aiming to influence Western politics on a mass scale.

This is ironic, because Western spy agencies used to be really good on Russia. In fact, during the Cold War that is all they did. Many years have passed since then, and many leading Western experts on Russia have either retired or died. Additionally, the attacks of September 11, 2001, turned the attention of Western spy agencies to terrorism by groups like al-Qaeda, and away from Russia. Meanwhile, back in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, rebuilt the state and sought to reclaim Russia’s lost international prestige. This plan includes a page from the old KGB playbook: destabilizing Western nations through psychological operations that accentuate existing extremist tendencies from the left or right.

The British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee’s report on Russia shows that the Internet, and social media in particular, have been major conduits of Russia’s psychological operations in Britain. This means that America’s 2016 presidential elections formed but a single step in Russia’s broader tactic for political destabilization of key Western nations. Additionally, whereas Western intelligence agencies have used social media to collect information, the Russians have developed an expertise in using these platforms to influence politics on a mass scale. The lack of understanding of social media dynamics by Western spies, who are usually older and not online-savvy, has added to their inability to stop Russian advances.

More importantly, the report offers clear evidence that British spy agencies —and to some extent those in leadership positions— have underestimated the degree to which Britain has been a target of Russian intelligence in recent years. This is an important realization in two ways: first, it shows that the Russian spy services have the manpower and technical capability to target many countries at once —something they had lost for a while in the 1990s. Second, it shows that other countries should take heed. If Britain has been a systematic target, chances are that Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Canada, and many others, have also been subjected to Russia’s online influence operations.

The report also shows that British spies have been so overwhelmed by this problem, that they don’t even know how to start tackling it. Doing so would take a fundamental rethinking of how to conduct intelligence in an increasingly networked and globalized world, where disinformation is quickly becoming a weapon in the hands of malicious state actors. This is completely uncharted territory, and no-one in the West is quite sure how to respond to these novel challenges.

Author: Ian Allen

https://intelnews.org/2020/07/22/01-2838/

France sentences former intelligence officers to prison for spying for China

A court in Paris has sentenced to prison two former employees of France’s external intelligence agency, who were accused of spying for the government of China. A third person, the wife of one of the accused, was also handed a jail sentence.

The two men have been identified in media reports only as “Henri M.”, 73, and “Pierre-Marie H.”, 69. They are both reportedly former employees of France’s Directorate-General for External Security, known as DGSE. The service operates as France’s equivalent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Additionally, “Laurence H.”, reportedly the wife of Pierre-Marie H., stood accused of “concealing property derived from espionage on behalf of a foreign power, which is likely to harm the fundamental interests of the nation”.

Pierre-Marie H. was arrested in late 2017 while transiting between flights at Zurich airport. He was found to be carrying on him a large amount of undeclared cash, which was reportedly given to him by his Chinese handler, following a meeting on “an island in the Indian Ocean”. Henri M. served as DGSE station chief in Beijing, where he was officially listed as the second secretary at the French embassy there. However, he was recalled to Paris less than a year after his arrival in China, for having an affair with the ambassador’s Chinese interpreter. After his retirement in 2003, Henri M. reportedly moved to China, where he married the interpreter and settled in the southern Chinese island of Hainan. He was arrested by French authorities in 2017.

Both men stood accused of “delivering information to a foreign power” and by doing so “damaging the fundamental interests of the French nation”. French officials described the cases of the two men as “extremely grave”. Their trial took place behind closed doors. On Monday, the court sentenced Pierre-Marie H. to 12 years in prison. Henri M. was given an 8-year prison sentence. Laurence H. was sentenced to 4 years in prison, with a 2-year suspension.

Author: Joseph Fitsanakis

https://intelnews.org/2020/07/13/01-2830/

Former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove warns Huawei is a huge threat to UK’s national security

CHINA’s tech giant Huawei poses such a grave security threat that the Government must reverse its decision to give it a role in building 5G networks, a former spy boss has said.

Sir Richard Dearlove, who led MI6 from 1999-2004, said using Huawei equipment could place the Chinese government in a “potentially advantageous exploitative position” in the UK’s future telecoms network.

His intervention comes in a report by the influential Henry Jackson Society think tank, which warned that the Government’s risk assessment of Huawei is “too narrow”. Yesterday Donald Trump effectively blocked Huawei products from the US yesterday.

He signed an executive order barring US firms from using telecom gear from “foreign adversaires”.

It will pile pressure on Britain to bar Huawei from any involvement in building the new 5G network.

Huawei issued a damning rebuttal - warning that the move would force the US to use “inferior and expensive alternative equipment” and would “ultimately harm US companies and consumers”.

It added: “If the US restricts Huawei, it will not make the US safer, nor will it make the US stronger.”

In a foreward to the HJS report, which recommends Britain also bans Huawei equipment, Sir Richard wrote: “The fact that the British Government now appears to have decided to place the development of some its most sensitive critical infrastructure in the hands of a company from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is deeply worrying,”

“The PRC uses its sophisticated technical capabilities not only to control its own population (to an extreme and growing degree), but it also conducts remotely aggressive intelligence gathering operations on a global scale.

“No part of the communist Chinese state is ultimately able to operate free of the control exercised by its Communist Party leadership.

'SHORT ON FACT'

“To place the PRC in a potentially advantageous exploitative position in the UK’s future telecommunications systems therefore is a risk, however remote it may seem at the moment, we simply do not need to take.”

Replying to the report, a Huawei spokesman said: “This report is long on politically motivated insinuation but short on fact. It fundamentally misunderstands the nature of modern China, global technology markets and of 5G.

"The isolationist approach they recommend may support an America first trade agenda but it’s hard to see how it’s in UK’s national interest.

"We are an independent, employee-owned company which does not take instructions from the Chinese government. In 32 years, there have been no significant cyber security issues with our equipment.

"We hope and expect that any decision on Huawei’s participation in Britain’s build-out of 5G networks will be based on solid evidence, rather than on unfounded speculation and groundless accusations”

https://www.thesun.co.uk/uncategorized/9093849/huawei-threat-spy-boss-mi6-chief-warning-china/

Chinese state-linked operatives funded Trump campaign to gain access

A report in The Wall Street Journal claims that individuals and groups with ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army donated substantial funds to the re-election campaign of United States President Donald Trump, in return for access to the White House.

The paper claims that nearly half a million dollars were donated to Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign on behalf of Chinese-linked interests soon after he was sworn in as president in January of 2017. Some of these donations were allegedly among the biggest made to the campaign. The list of donors is headed by four men, according to The Journal, some of whom are naturalized Americans of Chinese background, and at least one is a Chinese citizen and American permanent resident, which means he does not get to vote in the United States. He is believed to have donated $150,000 to the Trump re-election campaign.

Many of these donations are gathered through an organization that was created in the United States in 2017 to help the president get re-elected in 2020, says the paper. Funds raised by the group are funneled to Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee. However, according to The Journal, the people behind the organization have ties to Chinese diplomats in the United States, as well as to the Chinese state.

The paper claims that the money given to the Trump re-election campaign earned some of these donors physical access to the White House and the president in at least one occasion, in May of 2017. Among those who were invited to visit the White House was a personal adviser to Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Others have ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, said the paper. It added that some of these donors have also attended Trump re-election campaign strategy meetings and meetings of the Republican National Committee.

The Wall Street Journal allegations came just days after Mr. Trump’s former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, claimed in a new book that the president solicited his Chinese counterpart for help in securing his re-election. In his new book, The Room Where it Happened, Mr. Bolton claims that the American president asked Mr. Xi to have China purchase billions of dollars of American soybeans, so that farming communities in the Midwest would continue to support the Trump ticket come 2020.

Author: Ian Allen

https://intelnews.org/2020/06/30/01-2820/

NZ spy agency broke into foreign embassies on behalf of CIA and MI6,

The spy agency of New Zealand broke into at least three foreign embassies in Wellington at the request of the United States and Britain, according to an investigative report by the country’s public radio broadcaster. Radio New Zealand reported on Tuesday that the highly controversial break-ins targeted the Indian High Commission and the Iranian Embassy in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A few years earlier, the New Zealand spy agency had allegedly broken into the Czechoslovakian embassy in Wellington.

Radio New Zealand podcast it confirmed the break-ins after “piecing together information gained after months of engaging with multiple sources in New Zealand, Britain and the United States”. According to the broadcaster, the operations were carried out by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) on behalf of its American and British counterparts, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

The New Zealand agency was also allegedly pressured to carry out the operations by Australia, with which it collaborates as part of the so-called Five-Eyes alliance. For over 75 years, New Zealand has been a member of the partnership, which is also known as the UK-USA Security Agreement. It provides a multilateral framework for intelligence cooperation between the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

According to Radio New Zealand, the break-in at the Indian High Commission in Wellington took place in the 1980s. It was codenamed Operation DUNNAGE and was jointly supported by MI6. After entering the building —which technically constitutes Indian soil— NZSIS spies allegedly took “thousands of photographs” of the contents of codebooks used by Indian diplomats to communicate in secret with their government in New Delhi. These were shared with MI6 and were used by the British to decipher the codes used in diplomatic communications between Indian officials.

The break-in at the Iranian Embassy was carried out sometime in the early 1990s, and was part of Operation HOROSCOPE, which was devised by the CIA. A group of NZSIS spies entered the embassy building and photographed it, while also installing surreptitious listening devices. These devices reportedly remained operational for years afterwards, and enabled the Americans to gather intelligence on Iran, a country they had no formal diplomatic relations with.

The revelations by Radio New Zealand came two weeks after the broadcaster aired a podcast called The Service, which claimed that the NZSIS broke into the Embassy of Czechoslovakia in 1986. The purpose of the alleged operation was to steal Warsaw Pact communication codes, once again on behalf of MI6.

The broadcaster spoke to Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who was New Zealand’s prime minister in 1989 and 1990. Sir Geoffrey said he was never informed about any of the alleged raids. His successor, Jim Bolger, said he “could not recall ever signing any warrants to allow the SIS to break into foreign embassies”. Helen Clark, who served as prime minister between 1999 and 2008, refused to confirm or deny that the NZSIS carried out similar break-ins on foreign embassies while she was prime minister.

In a statement sent to Radio New Zealand, the NZSIS said it was “unable to respond to questions about what may or not be specific operational matters”. The agency added that “the mission of the NZSIS has always been to keep New Zealanders safe, protect our key national institutions and promote New Zealand’s national advantage”.

Author: Ian Allen

https://intelnews.org/2020/07/01/01-2821/

Russia flew unmarked military aircraft to Libya to evacuate mercenaries, US claims

The United States has alleged that the Russian military flew over a dozen unmarked aircraft to Libya, in an attempt to provide air support for Russian mercenaries who are fighting in Tripoli. If true, this development marks a major escalation of Russia’s military intervention in the Libyan civil war.

The war has been raging in Libya since 2011, when a popular uprising backed by the West and its allies led to the demise of the country’s dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. Much of the east of the country is controlled by the United States-backed Tobruk-led Government, which is affiliated with the Libyan National Army (LNA) and its commander, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. Russia also backs the LNA and is vying with the United States for influence among Haftar’s commanders and troops. The LNA is fighting against the United Nations-recognized Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), which is supported by Qatar and Turkey.

On Tuesday, the Africa Command of the United States Department of Defense alleged that Russian pilots had flown military planes to Jufra, an LNA stronghold. The Americans claimed that the jets had been repainted in Syria to hide their Russian Federation insignia, before being flown first to Tobruk, in Libya’s east, and from there to Jufra. According to the Pentagon, the Russian planes were flown to Libya in order to provide air support to over 1,000 Russian mercenaries who are fighting alongside the LNA.

The mercenaries reportedly belong to the PMC Wagner (also known as the Wagner Group), a Russian security contractor with presence on the ground in Syria, eastern Ukraine, the Central African Republic, and elsewhere. Western officials allege that Russian private contractor firms like Wagner could not operate without permission from the Kremlin. According to recent reports, Wagner personnel have been participating in the LNA’s year-long effort to take Tripoli from the hands of the GNA and by doing so put an end to the Libyan civil war. But the offensive has not been going well in recent days, and Wagner forces were reportedly pushed back by Turkish- and Qatari-supported GNA troops.

The US Pentagon alleged that Moscow sent the Russian military aircraft to Libya in order to “provide close air support and offensive fires for the Wagner Group PMC that is supporting the LNA’s fight”. Other commentators have argued that the main purpose of the mission was to reach the outskirts of Tripoli and airlift the Russian mercenaries to safety. But Ahmed Mismari, a spokesman for the LNA, rejected reports of the arrival of Russian military aircraft to Libya as “media rumors and lies”. He said that all aircraft used by the LNA were “repaired […] old Libyan jets”. The Russian military has not commented on the allegations by the US Pentagon.

Author: Joseph Fitsanakis 

https://intelnews.org/2020/05/28/01-2789/

Argentine former president and spy agency director indicted in wiretapping probe

The former president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, has been indicted as part of a widening investigation into a domestic spying program, which allegedly targeted opposition politicians, journalists and other public figures. The alleged espionage took place between 2015 and 2019, when Macri occupied the country’s highest office.

In 2015, Macri, a successful businessman and former mayor of Buenos Aires, became the first democratically-elected president of Argentina in 100 years that came from a party other than the populist brand described as ‘Peronist’ in the post-war era. His presidency was marked by a turn to the right, as well as numerous investigations into allegations of corruption against prior heads of state, notably Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, whom Macri succeeded in the presidency.

But Kirchner is now back, serving as vice-president under Argentina’s new president, Alberto Fernández. Fernández, a Peronist, took office in December of 2019, after defeating Macri in a hotly contested race. Among Fernández’s top agenda items is the reform of the country’s Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI). The agency used to be known as the Secretaría de Inteligencia del Estado (SIDE) until 2015, when then-President Kirchner dissolved the organization and replaced it with the AFI, in order to combat alleged human-rights abuses by SIDE agents. But Kirchner has always said that her work in reforming the old SIDE was left incomplete. Her running mate, Fernández, promised to complete her work if elected. In his first post-election speech, President Fernández said that the SIDE/AFI would be reformed. He famously told his jubilant supporters: “Never again, the secret state. Never again, the cellars of democracy”. Soon afterwards, Fernández appointed Cristina Caamaño, an attorney and government administrator with experience in the area of civil liberties, to lead the AFI.

Last week, Caamaño gave a federal court in Buenos Aires a deposition containing list of over 80 names of Argentine citizens, who were allegedly spied on by the AFI without a warrant during Macri’s administration. In her deposition, Caamaño alleges that the individuals had their emails “spied on without any court order”, from as early as June 2016 until the final days of Macri’s presidency. According to local media reports, the list of alleged victims includes political opponents of Macri, as well as investigative journalists, government officials, and notable members of Argentina’s business community. There are also police and military officers on the list as well as artists, intellectuals, and trade unionists. Caamaño asked the court to investigate, aside for Macri, Gustavo Arribas, who served as AFI director under the previous president, as well as his deputy director in the spy agency, Silvia Majdalani, and her brother-in-law, Darío Biorci. The names of other alleged culprits in Caamaño’s deposition remain secret, reportedly because these individuals are still serving as undercover agents in the AFI.

On Wednesday, Caamaño’s deposition was shared with the Argentine Congress, and are now being debated in various committees, including the intelligence committee. Congress members from President Fernández’s Partido Justicialista have expressed strong support for the probe. But the opposition is highly skeptical and has asked for more information from Caamaño’s office.

Author: Joseph Fitsanakis

https://intelnews.org/2020/06/02/01-2793/