The 17 Agencies That Make Up The U.S. Intellgience Community

These 17 Agencies Make Up The Most Sophisticated Spy Network In The World -- Business Insider

The U.S. intelligence community is vast, composed of 17 distinct organizations each operating under its own shroud of secrecy.

Oversight of these agencies generally falls to the Department of Defense or Congress, leaving the average citizen with precious little knowledge of how they operate.

Funded by largely classified budgets, it's difficult to assess how much the U.S. annually spends on these clandestine operations, but one 2012 estimate pegs the cost at about $75 billion.

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My Comment: Only 17?

North Korea Intelligence Gathering Is The Black Hole In The Intellience Community

Kim Jong-un addresses North Koreans in Pyongyang. Photograph: Reuters

Intelligence On North Korea, And Its New Leader, Remains Elusive -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — The black hole of North Korea intelligence gathering is getting blacker.

When President Obama and South Korea’s new president, Park Geun-hye, meet for the first time at the White House on Tuesday, intelligence officials and outside experts say, they will be working, by necessity, from a deeply incomplete understanding of their common adversary. At a time when the United States has learned to conduct drone strikes with increasing accuracy in Pakistan, and direct cyberweapons at specific nuclear centrifuges deep under the Iranian desert, its understanding of North Korea’s leadership and weapons systems has actually gotten worse.

The most recent intelligence failures included what administration officials now acknowledge was the C.I.A.’s initial judgment — now reversed — that the North’s young new leader, Kim Jong-un, was probably more interested in economic reform than in following his father’s and grandfather’s “military first” policy of bolstering the North’s missile and nuclear arsenals, and threatening to use them unless the world came to its door.

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My Comment: The intelligence agencies should talk to this North Korean expert.

The HQs Of The World's Intelligence Agencies (Photo Gallery)

China: Ministry of State Security. Photo: Vmenkov/Wikimedia

Spy Bases: 9 Secretive HQs of the World’s Intelligence Agencies -- Danger Room

Architecture is a language, one used by institutions to say something about themselves.

The same basic principle is true for the world's spy agencies. All show their secrecy in their buildings, while some may appear starkly utilitarian, and some may even be frightening and alienating. But they also have their quirks and differences, whether it be an isolated complex hidden by trees, in a location that's never been officially disclosed, or a prominent complex built by superstar architects and put on prominent display in the middle of a capital city.

From Virginia to Berlin to Moscow, here are nine of them.

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My Comment: I suspect that it is the smaller players that have the most interesting buildings .... like Israel's.

Who Is The Boss In America's Intelligence Community

Who's The Boss? -- Pam Benson, CNN

Creating the office of the director of national intelligence in 2005 was meant to improve the management of the nation’s intelligence gathering in the wake of 9/11, but it has often led to turf wars between national intelligence directors and directors of the CIA.

Now President Barack Obama’s nomination of his trusted counterterrorism aide, John Brennan, as CIA director may leave the impression the CIA director is the top spy, even though the director of national intelligence technically would be his boss.

The problem, past directors in both posts and other experts say, is that the DNI’s role is ambiguous.

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My Comment: The answer is actually very simple .... President Obama is the boss. Within the intelligence community, it is the DNI.

Intelligence Community: US Will No Longer Be A Superpower By 2030

Intelligence Community: U.S. Out As Sole Superpower By 2030 -- Politico

A new report by the intelligence community projects that the United States will no longer be the world's only superpower by 2030.

"In terms of the indices of overall power – GDP, population size, military spending and technological investment – Asia will surpass North America and Europe combined," the report concludes.

“Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds" — prepared by the office of the National Intelligence Council of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — projects that the "unipolar" world that emerged after the fall of the Soviet Union will not continue.

"With the rapid rise of other countries, the 'unipolar moment' is over and no country – whether the U.S., China, or any other country – will be a hegemonic power," the report argues.

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Update #1: U.S. intelligence sees Asia's global power rising by 2030 -- Reuters
Update #2: Intel report sees U.S. losing superpower status by 2030 -- USA Today

My Comment: The full report is here. 2030 is their date .... what's my take .... if America does not reign in it's spending (which I predict the government will not), it will be 2020 when the cracks and perception will start that the era of America as a superpower is at an end.

U.S. Intelligence Does Not Need More Spies Nor More Bureaucracy

Better Spies, Not More -- Max Boot, L.A. Times

The U.S. intelligence community already suffers from a propensity to put quantity over quality.

The Defense Intelligence Agency is planning to dramatically expand the ranks of its covert "collectors" — a.k.a. case officers or, more popularly, spies. It has 500 or so and hopes to double that number.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this plan, which is being pushed by the DIA's new director, Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. It is unlikely to lead to a militarization of U.S. foreign policy, as some fear — the military is already the dominant player in the intelligence community, with its control not only of the Defense Department's DIA but also the National Security Agency and other high-tech outfits.

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My Comment: This is so typical of government .... if there is a problem .... the solution is to throw money at it. But in this case .... it is true .... money helps but it is not the prime solution to making the U.S. intelligence community a more effective and "cheaper" organization to run.

The White House And The U.S. Intelligence Communty Are At Odds On The Iranian/al Qaeda Surge In Egypt And Libya

Revolt Of The Spooks -- Washington Free Beacon

Intelligence officials angered by Obama administration cover up of intelligence on Iranian, al Qaeda surge in Egypt and Libya.

Weeks before the presidential election, President Barack Obama’s administration faces mounting opposition from within the ranks of U.S. intelligence agencies over what career officers say is a “cover up” of intelligence information about terrorism in North Africa.

Intelligence held back from senior officials and the public includes numerous classified reports revealing clear Iranian support for jihadists throughout the tumultuous North Africa and Middle East region, as well as notably widespread al Qaeda penetration into Egypt and Libya in the months before the deadly Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

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My Comment: Watching the White House story on the Benghazi attack unravel right before my eyes was .... for me .... a rare but disturbing look into how this administration conducts it's foreign policy when the facts on the ground and intelligence reports indicate that (maybe) a different policy should be pursued. In addition .... the avalanche of leaks that have occurred since the Benghazi attack has also told me that many in the intelligence community are now deeply disturbed with what is happening .... and are in "fits" that the White House continues to be in denial with certain events. Case in point ....

.... The administration, in particular, wants to keep hidden solid intelligence showing that the terrorist group behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans is now flourishing under the Muslim Brotherhood regime of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.


I do not know if this claim is true .... but you would think that there would be a least some public debate to determine if it is true, especially in context of what happened at the US embassy in Cairo and the Egypt government's lackadaisical response to the rioting that occurred there in September.

Questions need to be asked, and answers need to be forthcoming .... but we are not getting any of this .... and I suspect that we will not until after the elections in November .... and even then.

British Court To Investigate The Poisoning Death Of Former Russian Agent

Statement: Mrs Litvinenko speaks to members of the media as she leaves the hearing into the death of her husband, who died from polonium poisoning in London in 2006. Daily Mail

British Court to Investigate Former Russian Agent's Poisoning -- Voice of America

LONDON — A senior judge says an inquest will take place early next year into the death of a former Russian FSB security services officer who was poisoned in Britain in 2006. The family of Alexander Litvinenko wants the hearing to investigate what it believes was the "criminal role" of the Russian state.

At a preliminary hearing on Thursday, High Court judge Robert Owen said the six-year delay between Litvinenko's death and the holding of an inquest was "regrettable." He said the hearing will take place in early 2013.

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More News On The Investigation Of Alexander Litvinenko

British Government Seeks to Suppress Dissident’s Alleged Spy Links -- New York Times
UK judge says Litvinenko inquest to open in 2013 -- Bloomberg Businessweek/AP
UK judge will open inquest in new year into poisoning death of ex-Russian agent Litvinenko -- Washington Post/AP
Dead Russian dissident's links to UK espionage to stay secret: hearing -- Reuters
Alexander Litvinenko inquest to go ahead next year -- The Guardian
Litvinenko probe to consider alleged Russian link -- BBC
UK to Open Inquest into Russian Dissident’s Death -- Epoch Times
REDACTED: Parts of key police report into whether Alexander Litvinenko had contact with MI6 will be kept secret at inquest -- Daily Mail

My Comment: This inquest will only start next year .... and be done in secret.With such guidelines, I doubt that we will ever know the truth behond his death.

U.S. Intelligence Agencies Continue To NOT Share Intel On Terror Threats

Officials: Federal Agencies Often Don't Share Tips on Potential Terrorist Activity -- National Journal

Nearly half of federal agencies are not sharing documented incidents of potential terrorist activity with U.S. intelligence centers, according to officials in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The Homeland Security and Justice departments since 2008 have been teaching federal officials and police to deposit, through a secure network, reports of suspicious behavior while being mindful of civil liberties. The point of the technology is to piece together terrorist plots before they are executed.

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My Comment: It appears that no one trusts anyone outside of their own inner circle. A disquieting thought when one realizes that there are still many threats out there.

Israel's Super-Secret Intelligence Agency

Inside Israel's Super-Secret Intelligence Agency --- CBS

This article is adapted from "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" (Levant Books), a new book detailing the history of the Israeli intelligence community by CBS News national correspondent Dan Raviv and Israeli journalist Yossi Melman.

As tensions continue to mount between Iran and Israel, Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman offer detailed reporting on how Israel's intelligence agency operates inside Iran.

There've been more than a few reports suggesting that Israel's foreign intelligence agency - the Mossad - hires Iranian dissidents to carry out sabotage and assassinations inside Iran.

But a study of fifty years of assassinations by the Mossad - including conversations with current and former operatives and those who work with them in countries friendly to Israel - yields the conclusion that the assassins inside Iran are Israelis.

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My Comment: I guess this Israeli ultra-super-secret intelligence agency is no longer secret.

British And U.S. Intelligence Are Rattled By White House Leaks On Their Operations

Underwear Bomb Plot: British And US Intelligence Rattled Over Leaks -- The Guardian

Leak about UK involvement described as despicable by CIA as anger turns to Obama administration for compromising mission.

Detailed leaks of operational information about the foiled underwear bomb plot are causing growing anger in the US intelligence community, with former agents blaming the Obama administration for undermining national security and compromising the British services, MI6 and MI5.

The Guardian has learned from Saudi sources that the agent was not a Saudi national as was widely reported, but a Yemeni. He was born in Saudi Arabia, in the port city of Jeddah, and then studied and worked in the UK, where he acquired a British passport.

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My Comment: The U.S. media has been completely AWOL on the White House's use of intelligence information/operations for political purposes. One has to go overseas to other media sources (like the above Guardian's post) to read on what is becoming a huge scandal within the intelligence community. I am shaking my head .... one day Al Qaeda (or some other group) will launch a successful operation against us that will claim numerous lives .... and they will have been able to do so due to the information that they have gleamed from these leaks and other open and public sources.

A New Intelligence Agency For The Pentagon

Pentagon Establishes Defense Clandestine Service, New Espionage Unit -- Washington Post

The Pentagon is planning to ramp up its spying operations against high-priority targets such as Iran under an intelligence reorganization aimed at expanding on the military’s espionage efforts beyond war zones, a senior defense official said Monday.

The newly created Defense Clandestine Service would work closely with the CIA — pairing two organizations that have often seen each other as rivals — in an effort to bolster espionage operations overseas at a time when the missions of the agency and the military increasingly converge.

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More News On The Pentagon's New Intelligence Service

Defense Department Plans New Intelligence Gathering Service -- New York Times
Pentagon reshapes spy service -- L.A. Times
Pentagon sets up new spy agency to eavesdrop on a changing world -- The Guardian
Pentagon Creates New Spy Service in Revamp -- Wall Street Journal
New Pentagon spy agency to focus on Iran, China -- AFP
Pentagon spies get new service, stepped up mission -- AP
Pentagon Launches New Spy Agency -- Slate
Pentagon creating new spy service -- Baltimore Sun
Pentagon creating new spy service -- Baltimore Sun
US spies to target Iranians, Chinese -- The Australian
U.S. reorganizing military intelligence -- UPI
New Defense Service Enhances Intelligence Capabilities -- US Department of Defense
Military reworking spy operations -- CNN
Pentagon to Establish Defense Clandestine Service -- RIA Novosti
The Pentagon Is Starting A Whole New Spy Agency To Steal Foreign Secrets -- Business Insider

Chinese Spy Ring Busted In Russia?

The spy had tried to gain access to sensitive Russian missile technology Photo: REUTERS

Russia Reveals Arrest Of Chinese Man For Espionage -- BBC

A Chinese man faces a charge in Russia of attempted spying for allegedly trying to gain details of a missile system through bribery.

The man, identified as Tun Sheniyun, was arrested in Moscow on 28 October last year but his arrest was kept secret until now.

He allegedly sought technological and repair documentation on the Soviet-era S300 surface-to-air system.

The case surprised analysts, as Russia has already sold the system to China.

Mr Tun is thought to have been acting on the instructions of the Chinese state security ministry, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

Formally, he worked as an interpreter for official delegations, it added.

There was no immediate reaction to news from Chinese officials.

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More News On Chinese Spy Arrested In Russia

Russia arrests Chinese 'spy' in row over defence weapons -- The Guardian
Russia Charges Chinese National With Spying -- Moscow Times
Russia claims China spy arrest -- AFP
Russia claims it has detained Chinese spy -- The Telegraph
Russia accuses Chinese man of spying -- UPI
Russian special services detain Chinese spy -- Voice of Russia
Russia Accuses Chinese National of Espionage -- Global Security Newswire

U.S. Defense Official Resigns Over Spy Ring In Afghanistan

Photo: Michael D Furlong still faces possible criminal charges after being accused of running an illegal spy ring in Afghanistan

U.S. Defense Official Resigns Over Alleged 'Jason Bourne' Spy Ring In Afghanistan -- Daily Mail

* Michael D Furlong allegedly set up network of former CIA agents to help track and kill Islamic militants
* He has resigned from the Air Force
* Furlong still faces possible criminal charges

A senior U.S. defense official who allegedly set up a spy network of ‘Jason Bournes’ to help track and kill Islamic militants has resigned from the Air Force but maintains his innocence.

Michael D Furlong hit the headlines last year after being accused of diverting money from intelligence gathering to fund his own private unit of former CIA agents and special forces soldiers.

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Update #1: Official resigns over alleged spy ring -- AP
Update #2: Air Force official resigned over spy ring charges -- Politico

My Comment: I am surprised that it took this long to have him resign.

Language Skills Are Still Needed In America's Intelligence Agencies

The CIA has run television ads geared toward recruiting from the Arab-American and Iranian-American communities

US Spy Agencies 'Struggle With Post-9/11 Languages' -- The Telegraph

Despite intense focus on Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East in the last decade, U.S. spy agencies are still lacking in language skills needed to talk to locals, translate intercepted intelligence and analyze data, according to top intelligence officials.

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks prompted a major push for foreign language skills to track militants and trends in parts of the world that were not a Cold War priority.

But intelligence agencies have had to face the reality that the languages they need cannot be taught quickly, the street slang U.S. operatives and analysts require is not easy, and security concerns make the clearance process lengthy.

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My Comment: We are actually better off than most countries .... but room for improvements should still be pursued.

The Arab Spring Has Dried Up Western Intelligence Assets

Arab Spring An 'Intel Disaster' For West -- UPI

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The Arab Spring has been "an intelligence disaster" for Western security services because of the fall of Middle Eastern leaders working with the United States and Europe, says a former Central Intelligence Agency chief.



"The help we were getting from the Egyptian intelligence service, less so from the Tunisians but certainly from the Libyans and Lebanese, has dried up -- either because of resentment at our governments stabbing their political leaders in the back, or because those who worked for the services have taken off in fear of being incarcerated or worse," said Michal Scheuer, who headed the CIA unit tasked with hunting down Osama bin Laden.



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My Comment: When the head of Libyan Intelligence is now a wanted war criminal .... an office that did cooperate on some level with Western intelligence agencies in the past .... yeah .... after all that has happened I would guess your intelligence assets would dry up.

Report Details Persistent Gaps In Intelligence Networks

Ten Years After 9/11, Report Details Gaps In Intelligence Networks -- The Hill

Nearly 10 years after the 9/11 attacks U.S. intelligence agencies are still struggling to strengthen the information sharing networks that broke down in 2001, according to the latest report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).



“Counterterrorism requires the close coordination of intelligence and law enforcement agencies, but there remain many institutional and procedural issues that complicate cooperation between the two sets of agencies,” states the report, issued earlier this month by the nonpartisan research arm of Congress.



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My Comment: The 10th anniversary of 9/11 only a few weeks away, this should be front page news .... but instead .... it is only The Hill that is covering it.



Hat Tip: Extra Good Shit

Intelligence Official Outed In Situation Room Photo

President Obama, members of the national security team and one mystery woman receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House. (By Pete Souza/White House via Reuters)

Who Is The Situation Room Mystery Woman? -- Washington Post

How many people do you recognize in this photo of the Situation Room? Most people in this now-famous photograph, showing President Obama and his national security team getting updates on the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, are recognizable public figures. Except for one: the brunette peaking from between the shoulders of Tony Blinken, national security adviser to the vice president, and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan.

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My Comment: If her work is of a clandestine nature, this photo is not going to give her career a boost.

Defector Who Unmasked Russian Spy Ring Facing 20 Years In Jail (If Caught)

Double agent Alexander Poteyev, right, and Russian spy Anna Chapman

Anna Chapman Spy Ring 'Traitor' Facing 20 Years In Jail -- The Telegraph

A Russian double agent who allegedly helped the United States unmask 11 Russian spies including Anna Chapman last year faces up to 20 years in jail for treason and desertion if he is ever caught and convicted

Investigators from Russia's FSB security service said they had finished a criminal investigation into Colonel Alexander Poteyev, the alleged traitor, and that a military court in Moscow would try his case in absentia.

"The FSB investigation department has completed an investigation into the case to charge Russian national Alexander Poteyev with committing high treason by divulging state secrets," the FSB said in a statement.

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More News On The Prosecution Of Russian Defector Colonel Alexander Poteyev

Russian Is Charged With Betraying Spies in U.S. -- New York Times
Russia seeks 20 years for US spy ring traitor -- AFP
Russia prosecutes reputed U.S. spy-ring betrayer -- Reuters
Russia charges US spy ring 'traitor' Poteyev -- BBC
Russia Indicts Spy Turned US Informant -- Voice of America
Russian Who Gave Up U.S. Spy Ring Charged -- Radio Free Europe
Russia says officer helped U.S. -- UPI

How The Arab Revolution Is Impacting Our Intelligence Community In It's Fight Against Extremist Groups Like Al Qaeda

Photo: Moussa Koussa, former Libyan intelligence chief, now foreign minister. Chris Helgren/Reuters

Old Arab Ties May Harm New Ones -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — There once was no American institution more hostile to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s pariah government than the Central Intelligence Agency, which had lost its deputy Beirut station chief when Libyan intelligence operatives blew up Pan Am Flight 103 above Scotland in 1988.

But with the Sept. 11 attacks came a new group of enemies. In recent years, the C.I.A. has been closely tethered to Colonel Qaddafi’s intelligence service as it hunts for information about operatives of Al Qaeda in North Africa.

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My Comment: A sobering analysis on how our intelligence services work with repressive regimes to fight against extremist groups like Al Qaeda. As to what is my take .... Al Qaeda is the number one threat, and anyone who wants to help us in stopping them is A-OK with me .... even if that assistance comes from regimes like Gaddafi's.

This is not only my own opinion, but it is also one that is shared with our politicians who sit on their intelligence oversight committees .... something that the New York Times article leaves out in its reporting. This arrangement of the CIA working with regimes like Gaddafi's would never have proceeded if the White House and Congressional/Senate oversight committees did not sign onto it .... and sign onto it they did.