GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Open Secrets

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: NextGov

05March2011 11:00amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: In April 2010, some of the most secretive professionals in government launched their contribution to the Obama administration's transparency campaign. CIA officials released their open government plan on the agency's website, "mindful," as it states, "that continued public support for CIA is very much dependent upon public understanding of its mission and activities."

The multipronged action plan includes proactive declassification of historical documents, slick new publications, public speaking engagements by leaders, daily responses to media and citizen inquiries, symposia in cooperation with academia, stepped-up collaboration with other agencies, and encouragement of online feedback from the public.

It's a far cry from the Cold War days when the Kennedy administration demanded the removal of roadside signs indicating the spy agency's mere presence behind the trees of Langley, Va.

While past CIA directors such as Allen Dulles and William Colby largely avoided the limelight, Leon Panetta in his first two years as agency head has given a series of public speeches on national security priorities including counterterrorism and counter-
proliferation. He also has appealed for greater hiring diversity at the CIA in speeches to Hispanic, Asian and Muslim groups.

This is not your father's CIA. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Libya: What should CIA be doing?

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: The Washington Post

05March2011 8:00amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: With the future of Libya still in the balance, some CIA operations veterans think it’s well past time the spy agency went past just trying to keep tabs on what’s going on and arm the rebels.

“This guy, Gaddafi, has been an enemy of ours for decades,” says Charles Faddis, who led a secret CIA mission into northern Iraq before the 2003 invasion.

“Now his people have risen up against him and are attempting to do what we never could, depose him. We should have been in there a week ago, arming the opposition and providing whatever other assistance we can.”

The agency’s success in Afghanistan in 2001, leading troops and directing air strikes that routed the Taliban in matter of weeks show that “both CIA and Special Forces have broad capabilities, as displayed in Afghanistan in 2001, to work with indigenous forces in fast moving, fluid situations like this,” Faddis added.

President Obama said today that he had "instructed...all those who are involved in international affairs to examine is a full range of options," which resumably includes the CIA and other special operations assets.

The administration should definitely not send troops when CIA and special operations units are suited for the situation, said a former top military intelligence official in Afghanistan who asked for anonymity because he still works on international issues. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS CYBER-SECURITY BRIEFING: CIA blames 'technical difficulties' for website crash

 

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: NextGov

04March2011 10:30pmEST

GCIS CYBER-SECURITY UPDATE: The CIA's website, which crashed Thursday afternoon, was revived shortly before 11 a.m. Friday morning. The spy agency declined to discuss what might have caused the blackout, but Office of Management and Budget officials referred all questions to civilian cybersecurity authorities at the Homeland Security Department, which suggests the event was an attack.

A CIA spokeswoman said in an e-mail: "Websites sometimes experience technical difficulties. The agency is making every effort to restore CIA.gov as soon as possible."

Soon after she wrote, the site was back up and offering "the second installment in the lighthearted K-9 Cam series" on how to become a bomb-sniffing CIA dog, and posing this intriguing question: "What country has three megacites with populations of greater than 15 million? (No, it's not China.)" (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Nomination Sheds New Light on Intel Policy

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Secrecy News

22February2011 2:35pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Last week the Senate confirmed Stephanie O’Sullivan to be the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (PDDNI), the number two position in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).  Ms. O’Sullivan, a longtime CIA employee who is currently Associate Deputy Director of CIA, will be the fourth person to hold that office.

A review of the materials submitted in support of her nomination, especially a set of answers to pre-hearing questions (pdf) submitted by the Senate Intelligence Committee, turns up a number of interesting new details concerning intelligence policy.  For example:

**  ODNI began an effort last year “to reinvigorate the declassification of imagery for public release,” Ms. O’Sullivan said. She indicated that this program had been “launched in May 2010,” but there is little sign that it has had any impact to date.

On the contrary, attempts to gain access to historical intelligence satellite imagery remain as contentious and mostly as fruitless as ever.  “Trying to get [satellite imagery] declassified today, it’s like I’m taking their marbles away,” said Charles P. Vick of GlobalSecurity.org earlier this month, “and it’s over 40 years old.”  (“New Secrets of Huge Soviet Moon Rocket Revealed” by Leonard David, Space.com, February 7, 2011) (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Egypt military officials: Mubarak expected to step down

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: JPOST

10February2011 12:03pmEST

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Cairo — Egypt's military announced on national television that it has stepped in to "safeguard the country" on Thursday and assured protesters that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will meet their demands in the strongest indication yet that Egypt's longtime leader has lost power. In Washington, the CIA chief said there was a "strong likelihood" Mubarak will step down Thursday.

The dramatic announcement showed that the military was taking control after 17 days of protests demanding Mubarak's immediate ouster spiraled out of control.

Gen. Hassan al-Roueini, military commander for the Cairo area, told thousands of protesters in central Tahrir Square, "All your demands will be met today." Some in the crowd held up their hands in V-for-victory signs, shouting "the people want the end of the regime" and "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," a victory cry used by secular and religious people alike.

The military's supreme council was meeting Thursday, without the commander in chief Mubarak, and announced on state TV its "support of the legitimate demands of the people." A spokesman read a statement that the council was in permanent session to explore "what measures and arrangements could be made to safeguard the nation, its achievements and the ambitions of its great people."

The statement was labeled "communique number 1," a phrasing that suggests a military coup. (read full report)

 

 

 

"GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is a cooperative intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service and Machaseh Security Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, MSS or it's advertisers or affiliates.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: CSIS watchdog cool to foreign spy service

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Calgary Herald

09February2011 8:54pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: OTTAWA - Canada does not need a foreign intelligence service like the CIA, says the head of the watchdog agency that oversees CSIS.

Dr. Arthur T. Porter says current intelligence-gathering by a handful of federal departments and agencies satisfies the government's appetite for made-in-Canada foreign intelligence.

"You have to recognize that (by spying) you are probably breaking somebody's law by just the definition of what you're doing," Porter said in his first interview since becoming chairman of the security intelligence review committee (SIRC) last summer.

"It's also incredibly expensive to set that sort of apparatus up. I'm just not sure that we're ready to go in that direction at this time." (read full report)

 

 

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's advertisers or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: CIA shakeup a bad idea, some old spies say

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: The Washington Post

09February2011 5:54pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: CIA veterans say a report that the agency is radically reorganizing its spy service is probably overblown, and if it’s not, it's an idea that should be shot down, as has happened in the past.

U.S. News reported Tuesday that CIA Director Leon Panetta has undertaken “a major shift to reinvigorate” the agency’s National Clandestine Service, “potentially impacting up to half the CIA's workforce.”

The story was short on particulars but said Panetta’s plan was to lower walls between geographic divisions and “allow the nation's spies to move more easily from one group, issue, or region to another when needed.”

"These changes will enable the NCS to move its people to where they're needed most, whether it's to fight terrorism or to focus on an emerging hot spot," U.S. News said, quoting an unidentified “intelligence insider.”

But some longtime CIA veterans said the alleged shakeup is less than it seems... (read full report)

 

 

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's advertisers or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.