Intelligence – The Seventh Floor

A Perfect Storm: Israeli Intelligence, Hamas, and Growing Tensions on American Soil

The Intelligence Gaps That Led to the October 7 Attack and the Fallout Threatening U.S.-Israeli Relations

Israel’s intelligence services are renowned for their sophistication and their ability to anticipate and mitigate threats, both within and beyond the country’s borders. Institutions like the Mossad, Shin Bet, and military intelligence have long been regarded as some of the most advanced in the world, particularly when it comes to monitoring militant groups like Hamas. So when, on October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise and highly coordinated attack on Israel, the scope of the intelligence failure was both shocking and humbling.

Hamas managed to carry out a devastating series of strikes on more than 20 Israeli towns and several military bases, leaving Israeli society reeling. The attacks raised immediate and uncomfortable questions: How did this happen? How did Hamas orchestrate such a large-scale, complex operation without Israeli intelligence services detecting it in time to act?

As the dust settled in the days following the attack, more details about the intelligence failures began to emerge. The New York Times reported on October 10, 2023, that Israeli intelligence had picked up signs of suspicious activity on Hamas networks in the lead-up to the assault. However, these signals were not fully understood or acted upon, much like the failure of the U.S. to connect the dots before the 9/11 attacks.

Javed Ali, a counterterrorism expert who spent years working within U.S. intelligence, likened the challenge to assembling a complex puzzle. “Intelligence analysis is like putting a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle together from individual pieces of intelligence every day,” he explained. “You try to make judgments for policymakers to act on those insights.” In this case, the pieces didn’t fit together quickly enough to prevent the tragedy.

As reports came in, it became clear that Hamas had undertaken meticulous planning for the assault, going to extraordinary lengths to avoid detection. The plot may have been concealed within the typical noise of everyday militant activity or possibly even intentionally diverted to avoid arousing suspicion. Ali speculated that Iran might have played a supporting role in coordinating or backing Hamas’s efforts, though U.S. officials have not confirmed any direct Iranian involvement at this stage.

For Israel, a country that shares a border with Hamas-controlled Gaza, the failure to anticipate such an attack is particularly glaring. Many Israeli officials had assumed that Hamas, weakened by years of Israeli counterterrorism efforts, lacked the capability to mount a large-scale offensive. This underestimation of Hamas’s capabilities was a dangerous miscalculation.

How Israeli Intelligence Works—and Where it Stumbled

The broader context of Israel’s intelligence failure can be better understood by examining the structure of its intelligence community. Israel’s intelligence apparatus mirrors, in many respects, the system employed by the United States. Shin Bet handles domestic threats, much like the FBI, while Mossad oversees foreign intelligence operations, similar to the CIA. In addition, military intelligence takes the lead on threats to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), akin to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.

Israeli intelligence agencies rely on a combination of traditional methods, including human intelligence (spies), signals intelligence (intercepting electronic communications), imagery intelligence (satellite surveillance), and open-source intelligence (publicly available data). In theory, these sources combine to form a comprehensive picture of potential threats. In practice, the October 7 attack revealed that these mechanisms, while sophisticated, are not foolproof.

A major weakness in Israel’s intelligence system is the lack of an overarching authority to coordinate efforts across agencies. Unlike the U.S., which established the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) after the 9/11 Commission identified communication failures between intelligence bodies, Israel has no equivalent centralized office. In Israel, intelligence agencies operate in relative silos, with no single entity responsible for ensuring that information flows seamlessly between them.

Ali argues that this structural gap might have contributed to the intelligence breakdown leading up to the Hamas attacks. Without a central intelligence coordinator, it is possible that critical pieces of information from different agencies were never fully integrated or understood in a timely manner. Looking forward, he suggests that Israel might benefit from creating an office similar to the ODNI to avoid such lapses in the future.

The U.S.-Israel Intelligence Partnership and Gaps

The relationship between U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies is famously close. The two nations have a bilateral intelligence-sharing agreement that ensures critical information about potential threats is passed between them. This collaboration is separate from the larger international intelligence-sharing alliance known as the “Five Eyes,” which includes the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Despite this close partnership, it appears that the U.S. may not have had significant intelligence on the Hamas plot, possibly due to shifting global priorities. In recent years, U.S. intelligence agencies have increasingly focused on Russia, China, and the war in Ukraine. This shift may have left blind spots in monitoring groups like Hamas, who, by all appearances, successfully took advantage of this opportunity to launch a major operation.

A Shifting Focus: The Rise of Pro-Palestinian Sentiment in the U.S.

In the wake of the October 7 attacks, another concerning development has captured the attention of Israeli officials: the growing pro-Palestinian sentiment within the United States, particularly on university campuses. In the days and weeks following the attacks, numerous demonstrations, led by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), erupted on campuses across the country. These protests condemned Israel’s actions and called for solidarity with the Palestinian people.

For Israeli leaders, the rise of such movements on American soil presents a new challenge. Traditionally, Israel has enjoyed strong bipartisan support in the U.S., but recent years have seen a shift, particularly among younger Americans, who are increasingly critical of Israeli policies in Gaza and the West Bank.

A New Strategy: Considering Intelligence Operations in the U.S.

The rising tide of pro-Palestinian activism has prompted some within Israel’s government to consider a controversial response: intelligence operations targeting American citizens. According to reports from the Israeli newspaper The Marker, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli, held a secret meeting in October 2023 with Dan Zorla, the CEO of Black Cube, a private Israeli intelligence firm.

The alleged purpose of the meeting was to propose a covert operation to gather intelligence on SJP and other pro-Palestinian groups active on U.S. campuses. The Israeli government reportedly viewed these groups as a threat, both in terms of their potential to sway American public opinion and in their alleged promotion of anti-Semitism.

According to sources, Chikli’s proposal was that Black Cube would conduct the operation on behalf of the Israeli government, but in such a way that it would not be officially attributed to the state of Israel. This would theoretically protect the Israeli government from accusations of spying on U.S. soil, an act that could severely strain diplomatic relations with Washington.

Risks and Consequences

The potential use of a private intelligence firm to target American citizens poses significant risks, both diplomatically and legally. Such an operation would likely be perceived by the U.S. government as a violation of American sovereignty and could damage the longstanding relationship between the two countries. Furthermore, the revelations surrounding this meeting come with echoes of the 1987 Jonathan Pollard affair, in which an American citizen was convicted of spying for Israel. Following Pollard’s conviction, the Israeli government assured the U.S. that it would not engage in espionage activities on American soil in the future.

However, despite the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs’ official denial that such an operation was ever greenlit, multiple sources indicate that discussions did indeed take place. It remains unclear whether the operation will proceed, but the fact that the idea was even considered raises serious ethical and strategic questions for Israel.

For Black Cube, a company known for its complex intelligence operations often conducted on behalf of legal clients, the risks of involvement in such an operation could be significant. According to reports, Black Cube ultimately declined to proceed with the operation, fearing it could harm the company’s reputation and jeopardize its ability to operate in the U.S. in the future.

The Broader Implications for U.S.-Israel Relations

If Israel were to move forward with intelligence operations targeting American citizens, the fallout could be severe. Such actions would almost certainly be viewed as a breach of trust, particularly given the historical assurances Israel has made to the U.S. regarding espionage. Furthermore, the optics of spying on pro-Palestinian student groups, many of which are led by young American citizens, could exacerbate the already growing divide between American public opinion and Israeli policy.

At a time when the U.S. is dealing with complex international challenges, including the war in Ukraine and tensions with China, any further strain in the U.S.-Israel relationship could have wide-reaching consequences. Additionally, if Israeli intelligence operations were to be exposed, it could ignite a firestorm of political and legal repercussions in the U.S.

The October 7 attacks by Hamas have exposed significant vulnerabilities in Israel’s intelligence apparatus, raising serious questions about how one of the world’s most advanced intelligence systems could have failed so profoundly. At the same time, Israel now faces new challenges, as pro-Palestinian sentiment grows among American citizens. In response, some Israeli officials have reportedly considered launching intelligence operations on U.S. soil, a move that could have far-reaching consequences for the U.S.-Israel relationship.

As Israel grapples with the aftermath of the Hamas attack and the shifting tides of public opinion in the U.S., the stakes are higher than ever. The coming months will be critical in determining how Israel adapts to these challenges and whether it can avoid further missteps that could jeopardize its standing both at home and abroad.

ISIS’s Cyber Nightmare: How Misinformation and Hacktivists are Fueling Paranoia Among Jihadis

Featured ████ ███████Leave a comment

ISIS Urges Followers to Use Only Official Channels Amid Cyber Warfare and Misinformation Campaigns

The terrorist organization ISIS has issued a directive to its supporters, instructing them to rely solely on its “official” communication channels. This announcement comes in response to a series of spoof propaganda efforts and cyberattacks launched by international intelligence agencies.

In a message disseminated through the group’s Nashir News Agency on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, ISIS expressed alarm over the proliferation of fake news attributed to the organization. The announcement emphasized that the Nashir News Agency does not have accounts on platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, or WhatsApp. It further stated that no legitimate accounts provide links apart from those officially associated with Nashir.

“We also caution against any account claiming to be affiliated with the publisher of Nashir News… the specialized agency to publish all that is officially issued by the Islamic State,” the message added.

The Nashir News Agency has been a key outlet for disseminating ISIS propaganda, including text, video, and photo reports from militants in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, and other regions. It also publishes material aimed at inspiring and instructing followers to commit acts of global terrorism. Each post on Telegram typically garners thousands of views and is often translated and further spread across mainstream websites and social media platforms by ISIS supporters worldwide.

Rise of Misinformation and Internal Strife

Recently, there has been a noticeable increase in fake ISIS propaganda, leading to paranoia and infighting among jihadis. Daeshgram, a group of Iraqi activists, played a significant role in this development by creating a spoof version of ISIS’s weekly newsletter, Al Naba. This fake newsletter, distributed via an official-looking Telegram account, featured a doctored image of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi surrounded by female dancers and an article on a fictional ISIS team participating in the World Cup.

Daeshgram claimed to have infiltrated over 120 ISIS-affiliated Telegram groups to spread confusion and mistrust using the counterfeit Al Naba issue. “Many members who used to trust one another are fighting in their groups and blaming one another,” an activist told The Independent. Upon realizing they were being targeted, some members became fearful, suspecting that their devices might have been infected with malware. “Our operation is continuing, but we have already achieved our goal to confuse and scare ISIS members and make them doubt each other in a place on the internet where they thought they were untouchable,” the activist added.

ISIS’s propaganda materials, including videos and documents, have been linked to terrorists who carried out deadly attacks in the UK, as well as “self-radicalized” extremists who have been jailed for planning attacks. The group’s focus on creating a “virtual caliphate” is seen as an attempt to maintain influence despite significant territorial losses in Iraq and Syria. The sophistication of their propaganda campaigns has been cited as a key factor in attracting an unprecedented number of foreign recruits.

Target of Global Cyber Efforts

Given its effective use of propaganda, ISIS has become a focal point for both international intelligence agencies and activists working to disrupt its messaging. Earlier this year, GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence and security organization, disclosed that it had initiated a “major offensive cyber campaign” against ISIS, which likely included the creation of fake propaganda.

Jeremy Fleming, the Director of GCHQ, noted that ISIS had harnessed the power of online communications to “radicalize and scare” in a way no previous terrorist group had. “They know potential sympathizers react well to slickly produced, unfiltered videos and magazines that can be downloaded and watched on smartphones, and they know which platforms to use to reach them,” Fleming explained. He further mentioned that the impact of ISIS’s approach has been felt across Europe, including attacks in London and Manchester.

Fleming elaborated that agents at GCHQ and the Ministry of Defence had successfully suppressed ISIS propaganda, impeded the group’s ability to coordinate attacks, and safeguarded coalition forces on the battlefield. “In 2017, there were times when Daesh found it almost impossible to spread their hate online, to use their normal channels to spread their rhetoric, or trust their publications,” he added.

In April, British intelligence, alongside US and European allies, launched a new wave of attacks targeting ISIS’s online platforms, including Amaq, al-Bayan radio, Halummu, and Nashir news websites. Europol stated that ISIS’s capacity to distribute and publicize terrorist content had been “compromised” through a combination of cooperation with internet service providers and cyberattacks. Security services are also working to identify ISIS administrators and radicalized individuals across Europe and beyond using the data retrieved from these operations.

Recent court cases have brought to light that British intelligence agents have been posing as ISIS fighters and propagandists on Telegram and other platforms to gather intelligence on terrorists who believe them to be like-minded extremists.

Evolution of ISIS’s Propaganda Network

When ISIS declared its “caliphate” in early 2014, it was openly publishing propaganda on mainstream social networks and websites, while many foreign fighters became known for documenting their activities on Twitter and blogs. The scale and complexity of the group’s propaganda network were unprecedented, with content available in nearly a dozen languages through websites, social media, automated emails, dedicated apps, and internet browser extensions.

However, intensified efforts to detect and remove such content have forced ISIS into increasingly obscure corners of the internet. Despite this, experts warn that ISIS’s propaganda network, although under significant pressure and facing territorial losses in Syria and Iraq, has already gained a dangerous level of ideological notoriety worldwide.

Raffaello Pantucci, Director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute in London, noted that the group continues to migrate across various platforms.

“Clearly there’s a real question of integrity around their material, and they’re stuck in a situation where no one necessarily trusts it anymore,” he told The Independent.

While acknowledging the importance of disrupting ISIS’s propaganda, Pantucci cautioned against underestimating the group’s resilience. “You can’t kid yourself that this will go away… the real threat comes from the fact there are angry people who are unhappy with governance in parts of the world,” he said.

Pantucci also pointed out that ISIS, which often publishes idealized depictions of life under its rule alongside gruesome footage of executions and battles, is attempting to “project an image of normality” despite its territorial setbacks. He questioned the extent to which the group could compensate for its battlefield losses through its online presence alone, asking, “If they continue to fail on the battlefield, how much can they make up for it with a Telegram account?”

Conclusion

The ongoing battle against ISIS’s propaganda machine involves a multi-faceted approach combining cyberattacks, misinformation campaigns, and intelligence gathering. While these efforts have led to disruptions in ISIS’s ability to operate online, the group’s ideological reach remains a significant concern. Continued vigilance and innovative strategies will be required to counteract the evolving threat posed by ISIS’s propaganda and recruitment tactics.

A Timeline of the New Assets

Featured ████ ███████Leave a comment

The Ongoing Relationship Between American Right-Wing Influencers and Russian Propaganda Farms

In recent years, the intricate web of Russian interference in Western democracies has continued to unravel, revealing a broad spectrum of financial and political influences. The Tenet Media Russian money scandal stands out as one of the more complex and covert operations in this ongoing saga. Tenet Media, a prominent media conglomerate, was thrust into the spotlight when a series of investigations revealed it had unknowingly accepted substantial financial investments linked to Russian oligarchs and entities under the influence of the Kremlin. These revelations ignited widespread concern about foreign influence on Western media and exposed how financial networks can be manipulated for strategic geopolitical gains.

The scandal began to surface in early 2023 when investigative journalists discovered unusual financial patterns involving Tenet Media. Tracing these funds back to their origins, they uncovered a network of offshore companies and financial transactions that pointed to Russian interests. Initial reports hinted that Tenet Media had been receiving indirect funding from entities connected to sanctioned Russian oligarchs, raising questions about the motivations behind these investments and whether they were intended to sway public opinion through media channels. This revelation triggered a chain of events that led to a full-scale investigation, involving multiple governments, financial institutions, and media watchdogs, all aiming to uncover the extent of Russian influence on Tenet Media’s operations.

As the investigations deepened, more startling details emerged. Key figures within Tenet Media were found to have had meetings and established relationships with individuals tied to Russian intelligence and financial networks. Leaked documents revealed that these relationships were not coincidental but were part of a coordinated effort to build soft power influence in Western media. One of the major turning points came when emails from a high-ranking Tenet executive were leaked, suggesting awareness of the questionable origins of some of their funding sources. This leak not only fueled public outcry but also led to intensified scrutiny from regulatory bodies.

The implications of the scandal were vast. For Tenet Media, it meant a substantial loss of credibility, the resignation of several top executives, and the implementation of new, stricter compliance measures to prevent such a breach of trust from recurring. For the wider media landscape, it underscored the vulnerability of even well-established media organizations to covert foreign influence operations. Governments and financial institutions responded by tightening regulations around foreign investments in media companies, ensuring greater transparency and accountability.

The timeline that follows chronicles the key events of the Tenet Media Russian money scandal, detailing the investigation’s progression, the critical moments that shaped public understanding, and the broader implications for media integrity and geopolitical dynamics. From the first whispers of suspicious financial activity to the fallout that ensued, the timeline provides a comprehensive look at how a single media company became entangled in the complex web of international politics and espionage.

The Simplified Timeline (So Far):

February 2022:

Russia invades Ukraine.
This invasion prompts a global response, including extensive sanctions targeting Russian state-controlled entities such as RT (Russia Today). These sanctions are intended to isolate Russia economically and politically on the international stage.

October 2023:

RT begins covertly funneling money to a U.S. media company.
RT, seeking to circumvent the sanctions and influence American public opinion, secretly transfers nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based media company identified as U.S. Company-1. This company’s operations are designed to subtly promote pro-Russian narratives and undermine U.S. credibility.

November 2023:

Launch of Tenet Media.
U.S. Company-1 rebrands itself as Tenet Media. The company starts an aggressive social media campaign, posting content on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube. The content often features anti-Ukrainian and anti-American themes, aligning with RT’s covert objectives.

March 2024:

Moscow music venue terrorist attack.
A terrorist attack occurs at a music venue in Moscow, causing significant casualties. The indictment alleges that RT operatives directed Tenet Media to propagate false narratives blaming Ukraine and the U.S. for the attack. This disinformation aims to create division and alter public perception in both Russia and the U.S.

May 22, 2023:

Tenet Media’s rebranding.
The company formally adopts a new name and identity to better align with its covert mission. This rebranding effort is a part of a broader strategy to disguise the company’s origins and operations.

August 2024:

Financial details of the scandal are revealed.
It is disclosed that RT’s financial support to U.S. Company-1 totals approximately $9.7 million, which constitutes nearly 90% of the company’s bank deposits. This financial dependence highlights the extent of RT’s control over the media operations and its significant influence on the company’s content.

Early September 2024:

Indictment unsealed.
The indictment against RT employees Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva is made public by the Southern District of New York. The charges include conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The indictment reveals the use of fake identities and shell companies to obscure the source of the funds and the manipulation of public opinion.

Mid-September 2024:

RT operatives remain at large.
The indictment details that Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva are fugitives. The authorities are actively seeking their apprehension. The case is a significant example of how foreign actors attempt to infiltrate and influence U.S. media and public discourse.
Influencers and media figures associated with Tenet Media, including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, and Lauren Southern, publicly react to the scandal. They claim ignorance of the true origins of their funding and express shock at the revelations. This public reaction highlights the complexity and far-reaching impact of the scandal on individuals and media platforms involved.

Tim Pool’s official response after days of mocking the allegations with sarcastic comments about flipping his allegiance to Ukraine

The Tenet Media Russian money scandal serves as a stark reminder of the pervasive and sophisticated nature of modern geopolitical influence operations. What began as a seemingly innocuous flow of investment into a media company turned out to be part of a broader strategy by Russian interests to subtly shape narratives and influence public opinion in the West. The scandal highlights how vulnerable even established media companies can be to covert financial manipulations, especially in an era where information is a powerful tool in the geopolitical arena.

Throughout the unfolding of the scandal, several lessons have become evident. First and foremost is the critical importance of transparency and due diligence in media financing. The Tenet Media case has demonstrated that without rigorous scrutiny of funding sources, media organizations risk becoming unwitting vehicles for foreign influence. This realization has led to a much-needed reassessment of regulatory frameworks governing foreign investments in media, pushing for more stringent checks and balances to safeguard media independence and integrity.

Another key takeaway is the evolving nature of state influence campaigns. The use of offshore accounts, shell companies, and intermediaries to mask the true origins of funds reflects a shift from more overt forms of propaganda to subtler, more insidious methods of shaping the information environment. This approach not only makes it harder to detect and counter such operations but also complicates the legal and ethical landscape for media organizations that must navigate these murky waters.

For Tenet Media, the fallout has been both swift and severe. The loss of public trust, the resignation of high-level executives, and the imposition of new compliance protocols are just the beginning of a long road to rebuilding credibility. While the company has taken steps to rectify its mistakes, the scandal will likely cast a long shadow over its operations for years to come.

At a broader level, the scandal has underscored the need for a coordinated global response to counter foreign influence in media. Governments, regulatory bodies, and the media industry itself must work together to ensure that such breaches of trust are prevented in the future. The Tenet Media case has set a precedent that will inform future policies and strategies, reminding us that in the information age, the battle for hearts and minds is fought not just with facts and narratives but also with the financial flows that underpin them.

In the end, the Tenet Media Russian money scandal is not just a story of one company’s failure to guard against covert influence; it is a cautionary tale for the entire media landscape. It reveals the complexities of navigating a world where economic and informational warfare are increasingly intertwined, demanding vigilance, integrity, and collaboration to preserve the principles of free and independent media.

US and UK Intelligence Chiefs Embrace Generative AI for Enhanced Operations

Featured ████ ███████Leave a comment

CIA Director Bill Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore Discuss How AI is Revolutionizing Intelligence Gathering and Global Security

In a joint declaration on collaboration between their agencies, CIA Director Bill Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore have outlined the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in addressing contemporary security threats.

In an op-ed for the Financial Times, Burns and Moore revealed that both agencies are actively employing generative AI to bolster intelligence operations, particularly in managing vast amounts of data. “We are now using AI, including generative AI, to enable and improve intelligence activities—from summarization to ideation to helping identify key information in a sea of data,” they wrote.

The intelligence chiefs also emphasized the use of AI to protect their agencies’ operations. They noted that they are training AI systems to conduct “red teaming” exercises to rigorously test their activities and ensure operational security.

Burns and Moore underscored the transformative impact of technology on the geopolitical landscape, citing the war in Ukraine as a prominent example where satellite imagery, drone technology, cyber warfare, and information operations are converging on an unprecedented scale. “This conflict has demonstrated that technology, deployed alongside extraordinary bravery and traditional weaponry, can alter the course of war,” they stated.

Beyond Ukraine, the CIA and MI6 are actively cooperating to counter Russian disinformation campaigns and what they describe as a “reckless campaign of sabotage across Europe.”

Russia’s utilization of generative AI is also evolving rapidly. Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice seized more than 30 websites operated by Russian actors as part of a misinformation campaign using AI to target American citizens ahead of the 2024 elections.

Additionally, the South China Morning Post recently reported that Russia is coordinating with China on the military applications of AI, including discussions about lethal autonomous weapons systems and other advanced military technologies.

China’s approach to generative AI presents a distinct set of challenges. According to a February 2024 testimony by the RAND Corporation to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, China is expected to integrate generative AI into its cyber-enabled influence operations. RAND alleges that the Chinese military, particularly the People’s Liberation Army, plans to employ AI for social media manipulation and election interference.

Both MI6 and the CIA have identified China as “the principal intelligence and geopolitical challenge of the 21st century.” The intelligence leaders emphasized that their agencies are not navigating this technological landscape alone; they are partnering with innovative companies across the United States, the United Kingdom, and globally to maintain a competitive technological advantage.

While this joint disclosure from Burns and Moore provides important insights into the evolving use of AI in intelligence, it is important to recognize that the exploration of AI applications within intelligence agencies is not new. In July, Lakshmi Raman, the CIA’s Director of Artificial Intelligence Innovation, spoke at an Amazon Web Services Summit about the agency’s use of generative AI for content triage and analytical support. “We were captured by the generative AI zeitgeist just like the entire world was a couple of years back,” Raman said, according to NextGov.

“We’ve also had a lot of success with generative AI, and we have leveraged generative AI to help us classify and triage open-source events to help us search and discover and do levels of natural language query on that data.”

AI companies like OpenAI and Palantir have also been forging agreements with various government agencies to provide AI services that enhance their capabilities. This marks a significant trend; according to a report by the Brookings Institution, federal agencies have increased their potential awards to private tech contracts by almost 1,200%, from $355 million to $4.6 billion during the period studied.

China and the CIA

Featured ████ ███████Leave a comment

Why is China Winning the War Against U.S. Intelligence?

China is the world’s most populous country with a population of 1,420,062,000 citizens as of early 2019. The size of their population is dwarfed, however, by the size of their government. China is known to have an overreaching democratic dictatorship government, ruled by the communist party, whose constitution guarantees them exorbitant power over its citizens, including, but not limited to, their ability to limit even the number of children allowed per family.

With a government this overreaching, you would expect the Chinese government to be very intrusive to its own citizens, as well as foreign governments, with all of the wealth necessary to build a very one of the world’s largest national security establishments. Within this apparatus are several of the world’s most powerful and secretive clandestine agencies. Namely one: The Ministry of State Security or MSS.

It’s certainly nothing new for governments around the world to feel the presence of the agency, with increasing power and efficacy, as they did with the PLA prior. Over the last decade, though, the United States has been the priority target of China’s MSS, with increased hacking, civilian spy recruitment, and even recruitment within government agencies.

In January of 2018, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a naturalized U.S. citizen and former CIA officer, was arrested at New York’s JFK International airport. At the time, Lee was in possession of several hand-written notes containing classified information, including the locations of covert facilities and operational meeting locations,the names and phone numbers of foreign assets and covert CIA employees, and even operational notes from asset meetings. In may of this year, Lee was sentenced to 19 years in prison after being convicted of one count of conspiracy to deliver national defense information to aid a foreign government and two counts of unlawfully retaining documents related to national defense.

Lee worked for the CIA from 1994 – 2007. Lee moved to Hong Kong after leaving the CIA, where he worked for Japan Tobacco International, a company formed in 1999 when Japan Tobacco Inc. purchased the international operations of R.J. Reynolds. In 2010, while working for the firm, Lee was approached by Chinese officials and offered an undisclosed sum of money to provide U.S. intelligence information, as well as sensitive company information to Chinese authorities. Shortly afterward, the Hong Kong company for whom he worked suspected Lee of sharing information regarding the company’s investigation into counterfeiting and smuggling. A former manager of Lee’s had this to say to the South China Morning Post in 2018:

“While at the time we could not prove it, we suspected he was leaking the details of our investigations into counterfeiting and smuggling – including those conducted in cooperation with Western law enforcement agencies and targeting highly sophisticated organised crime syndicates and North Korea – to the mainland authorities. Several of the shipments of counterfeits purchased as part of the investigations were seized by the Chinese authorities or simply disappeared, and one of our contract investigators was arrested and imprisoned in China.”

After his termination from the company in 2012, Lee moved his family back to the United States. The family, while seeking permanent residence, frequented hotels in Virginia and Hawaii. Due to the association between Lee’s former employer and Western law enforcement, U.S. authorities were made aware of Lee’s dealings with Chinese authorities, which raised red flags because of Lee’s former association with the CIA.

Lee quickly came under investigation by federal law enforcement, and in time, during a search of the family’s hotel room, authorities found several day planners and a thumb drive containing sensitive and classified information that Lee had apparently compiled while still at the agency. While this is a crime on its own due to the agreement Lee had signed with the CIA upon his hire, this raised extra suspicions of federal law enforcement, the NSA, and the CIA. This is because of the time-frame between Lee moving to Hong Kong, to the time he returned to the United States – an important span of time for the United States Intelligence Community. Between 2010 – 2012, up to 20 CIA assets were imprisoned or killed by Chinese authorities, which was the worst intelligence disaster the United States had seen since the Aldrich Ames incident in the 1980s.

Problems were not over after Lee’s arrest and conviction, though. Last year, former CIA officer Kevin Mallory was arrested on charges of spying for the Chinese. Mallory was approached by a Chinese intel headhunter via LinkedIn in 2017. Chinese officials learned of Mallory’s $230,000 mortgage that was several months delinquent, along with several other delinquent bills and credit card debt. The Chinese headhunter offered to help pay off Mallory’s debt if he were to pass sensitive and classified information.

In March and April, Mallory traveled to Shanghai with the contact, Michael Yang, who claimed to work for a Chinese think tank. Mallory quickly assessed Yang to be a Chinese intelligence officer, however. At this time, Yang gave Mallory a covcom device in the form of an encrypted Samsung Galaxy smartphone to facilitate his communications with Yang. According to the FBI, Mallory used this device to transmit at least five U.S. government documents to Yang, one containing the identities of sources who had helped the U.S. government.

Mallory was sentenced in May of this year to 20 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Mallory’s and Lee’s sentences were not the only ones this year, though. In March of this year, former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Ron Hansen plead guilty to attempting to communicate, deliver, or transmit information involving the national defense of the United States to the People’s Republic of China.

Hansen was arrested in June of 2018 while en route to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. He was scheduled to board a flight to China while in possession of classified military information he had planned to sell to agents of a Chinese intelligence service. As Hansen admitted, in early 2014, Chinese intelligence targeted him for recruitment, after which time he started meeting with them in China on a regular basis. During the first of these meetings, the agents outlined precisely what kind of information they would consider valuable to Chinese intelligence. Hansen then offered to deliver the information for a some of money that added up to hundreds of thousands of dollars between May 24, 2016 and June 2, 2018.

While Hansen previously had clearance for highly classified information, after leaving the agency, however, he lost his clearance, as most do. Hansen used his relationship with a DIA case officer who still worked for the agency, and acted as a conduit between the officer and Chinese intelligence representatives. Hansen advised the case officer how to record and transmit classified information in a manner that would avoid detection, and also advised the case officer how to hide and launder any financial compensation received for the information.

Unknown to Hansen at the time, the case officer reported Hansen’s behavior to higher-ups within the DIA, and not long after, agreed to act as a confidential source for the FBI during the investigation into Hansen. Hansen met with the case officer on June 2, 2018, and was handed documents containing sensitive and highly classified information related to national security and regional U.S. military readiness. As mentioned before, he was arrested later on that day, and the information never made it to his Chinese intelligence contacts.

Three arrests of former CIA and DIA officers in one year for violations of the espionage act is certainly an alarming uptick. There has also been a large increase in Chinese hacking. According to CrowdStrike co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch, “We have seen [the Ministry of State Security], over the years, break into corporate organizations. They were always better technically than the PLA (People’s Liberation Army).” He continued about the recent increase in MSS hacking, “We’re seeing, on a weekly basis, intrusions into U.S. and other Western companies from Chinese actors.” This is, of course, in violation of the 2015 agreement between the U.S. and China, not to conduct cyber-enabled spying or intellectual property theft.

There has also been an uptick in the amount of non-government employees, foreign visitors, foreign nationals, and U.S. citizens accused of spying. In March of this year, Chinese businesswoman Yujing Zhang unlawfully made her way into Mar-A-Lago – President Trump’s Florida resort – carrying multiple electronics in her purse, such as encrypted thumb drives, allegedly with the intent of collecting sensitive information about President Trump and other government matters through resort computers. Zhang was not convicted of spying, as prosecutors could not prove her intent, but she was convicted of trespassing and lying to federal agents, after changing her story about why she was at the resort several times. Zhang has since been reported after receiving time served on an eight-month sentence of incarceration.

As recently as September of this year, two Chinese diplomats were expelled to the Chinese Embassy in Washington after trespassing onto a sensitive military base in Virginia. This is the first incident of its kind since 1987. It is believed by officials that at least one of the two diplomats was an intelligence officer working under diplomatic cover. The diplomats, accompanied by their wives attempted entry at the base’s checkpoint. Due to lack of clearance, they were instructed to enter, turn around, and leave, but the diplomats ignored instructions and continued onto the base. They were then pursued by military personnel, but continued to evade authorities until their path was blocked by firetrucks. Due to diplomatic immunity, charges were not filed, but the individuals have officially been expelled to their embassy. Steps were also taken to vastly increase restrictions on Chinese diplomats in October. Chinese diplomats must now provide previous notice before meeting with state or local officials, and before visiting educational and research institutions. China has since claimed the incident was a misunderstanding, and the expulsion of the diplomats is a mistake on behalf of the U.S.

Also in September, naturalized U.S. citizen and California resident, Xuehua Peng was taken into custody after an FBI sting that lasted more than two years. Peng, who went by Edward, was charged with acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. Peng allegedly worked as an intermediary passing classified information and collecting payments between intelligence agents. Peng used a classical spy tactic known as dead-drops – a tactic where information, money or other products are left at one of multiple predetermined locations which are usually marked by something as a signal, such as a chalk line or discreet symbol of some kind. The agent that communicated with Peng on behalf of the MSS was a double agent working for the FBI, and collected evidence on Peng for over two years. Peng has not yet been convicted, but the officials allege the evidence collected by the FBI during the investigation is irrefutable.

These are only a few cases from 2019 alone, and one must wonder, as President Trump’s trade war with China continues to escalate, how far will China go to spy on U.S. and other Western companies and governments. Even if China and the U.S. have reached a small deal providing some relief on Chinese tariffs, we remain economic competitors on the global scale, and who knows what sanctions may happen as a result of China’s current crackdown on Hong Kong. In a time when Russia is running vast networks of disinformation campaigns and pumping millions of illegal dollars into political campaigns, the uptick in Chinese spying is more than alarming.

Additional Reading: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-cia-officer-sentenced-prison-espionage https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-intelligence-officer-convicted-attempted-espionage-sentenced-10-years-federal-prison https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-cia-officer-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-commit-espionage https://www.cyberscoop.com/ministry-of-state-security-china-hacking-department-of-justice-indictment/ https://www.cyberscoop.com/ministry-of-state-security-china-hacking-department-of-justice-indictment/ https://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-employee-arrested-allegedly-acting-secret-chinese-agent/story?id=41045611

A Pattern of Attacks

Featured ████ ███████Leave a comment

Deep State Conspiracies and Trump’s On-Going Grudge Against the United States Intelligence Community

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
John 8:32

I’m not a religious person. I leave that sort of thing to the theologians. However, the quote above cannot be questioned as a positive biblical quote. This quote is not only important to the theologians or the religious of the world, but it’s also important to the men and women who serve their country as part of the Central Intelligence Agency, as the CIA’s motto, carved into a wall at the George H.W. Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.

It would appear this quote would be contrary to everything the CIA stands for. Isn’t the CIA a super secret organization of spies that perform crazy experiments on people against their will, torture U.S. citizens, and spy on/overthrow foreign governments left and right to meet the American goal of world domination? Isn’t that where all of the aliens are hidden, along with all of Hillary Clinton’s spooky emails that reveal her secret identity as an evil space lizard? Well, until recently, it was only the movies or low resolution conspiracy documentaries on Youtube. This has unfortunately changed.

President Donald J. Trump has a long history of not only criticizing the I.C. for their inability to prosecute his political rivals’ so-called scandals involving deleted emails or alleged conspiracies at foreign embassies. He has also gone as far as spreading deep state conspiracy theories alleging bias against him, and outlandish CIA plots to remove him from office.

This behavior continued through this very week, months after Donald Trump instructed his own Justice Department to investigate the FBI for alleged political bias against him before and during the Trump-Russia probe, as part of a deep state conspiracy against him. If you’d like to read more about this, I wrote extensively on this earlier in the week. Read it here.

After the report was made public this week, Donald Trump continues to spread misinformation about contents and conclusions of the report, no matter what the Inspector General himself says about his office’s conclusions, or what the Director of the FBI says in response to the report. This behavior indicates that President Trump is intent on continuing to spread these Alex Jones-esque deep state conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, his base is comprised of so many of these lifelong Info Wars subscribers, and they eat this sort of things up. As if he could say the world is flat and the moon landing was a fake, and his base would cheer him even harder.

One must wonder where it ends. Likely the only way to find the answer to that question is the figure out where it began. President Trump has always had a penchant for the conspiratorial beliefs. Whether it was questioning Ted Cruz’s father’s involvement in the JFK assassination, claiming Justice Antonin Scalia was found with a pillow on his face, and trying to point to Democrats in an assassination plot, or even going as far back as bringing the Obama Birther movement from the outer reaches of the internet, to popular online forums such as Twitter.

Alex Jones During a Broadcast on Infowars.com

Why wouldn’t President Trump be hostile toward the USIC while believing in conspiracy theories like these? He has also been known to tune into, and even call into Info Wars. A webcast that has been known to spread such nonsense as the 9/11 attacks being an inside job, the existence of a secret resort where all world leaders meet once per year for orgies and human sacrifice, and even accusing the CIA of putting chemicals in the water that turn straight frogs into homosexuals. I’m really not making this up.

What do you think tap water is? It’s a gay bomb, baby. And I’m not saying people didn’t naturally have homosexual feelings. I’m not even getting into it, quite frankly. I mean, give me a break. Do you think I’m like, oh, shocked by it, so I’m up here bashing it because I don’t like gay people? I don’t like ’em putting chemicals in the water that turn the freakin’ frogs gay! Do you understand that? I’m sick of being social engineered, it’s not funny!
“Alex Jones Gay Bomb Rant”, October 16 2015

Unfortunately, Alex Jones’ conspiracy theories aren’t all comical. Alex is known for accusing survivors of school shootings of being crisis actors, and even spreading conspiracies about businesses running pedophile rings for high-ranking politicians in their basements. While the latter might sound comical, this very business was the victim of a shooting in December of 2016, perpetrated by a man who believed in the conspiracy theory spread by Jones to enough of a degree to kill over it.

This is a very dangerous precedent that is harmful to the American people in the hands of a popular internet personality, but it is far more dangerous in the hands of a President with a cult-like following. Just imagine if Donald Trump were to tweet something tomorrow that would perpetuate the 9/11 conspiracy. How long would it take before former President George W. Bush required enhanced police security, such as those men and women who testified in November’s impeachment inquiries after receiving death threats and being doxed online?

This, however, is little more dangerous than things President Trump has said and done in the past. It would follow his pattern of dishonesty against those who serve to protect our nation. It would be consistent with Donald Trump’s claim that Barack Obama should not be president because he was not born in the United States. A claim that moved the goal posts well into the ocean in their continuing demand for more and more evidence of Obama’s place of birth, even after the long-form birth certificate was put on a giant screen at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

President Trump has touted even more dangerous conspiracy theories over the years. In 2016 during a presidential debate, Donald Trump said to host Jake Tapper, ” “We had so many instances, people that work for me, just the other day, 2 years old, a beautiful child, went to have the vaccine and came back and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic,” The idea that vaccines are to blame for autism is long-debunked by every federal and state health organization in the United States, and in every other first world country. Yet these dangerous hypotheses, after bing repeated enough to an audience that seeks out boogiemen, have led to the return of Whooping Cough, Measles, Mumps, Tuberculosis, etc…

Donald Trump is a known climate change denialist, and has gone as far to publicly harass children online out of his hostility toward the science. Donald Trump has never had a great relationships with science, however. In a 1992 interview with New York Magazine, Donald Trump openly denied the validity of the scientific studies that ruled on the dangers of asbestos.

President Trump has gone as far as accuse others of murder in repeating conspiracy theories. Donald Trump has used the hashtag #ClintonBodyCount on several occasions. A hashtag that is in reference to a conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton was somehow behind the death of DNC employee Seth Rich and the suicide of Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster. This wasn’t the only time, of course. In November of 2017, Donald Trump tweeted, “So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the ‘unsolved mystery’ that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!” A tweet in reference to yet another conspiracy theory that Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough murdered intern Lori Klausutis, while he was a Congressman for Florida’s First District.

What’s worse is Donald Trumjp’s history of rhetoric against Muslims in America and abroad. In November of 2017, Donald Trump tweeted three videos in the hopes of selectively verifying his anti-Muslim sentiments. The videos showed Muslims in Europe committing assaults on citizens and vandalism against “Christian icons.”

Donald Trump’s retweet of propaganda videos posted by members of Britain First, a known anti-Muslim organization.

After the propaganda videos were shared by Donald Trump, he was made aware of the origins of the videos, and the reputation of the group sharing them, which led to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defending the president by saying the “origins of the videos doesn’t matter.”

After a history of repeating and popularizing conspiracy theories, no matter the consequences, it is no wonder President Trump has such little respect for the Intelligence Community. In fact, only days after his inauguration, Donald Trump’s actions displays just how much respect he has for the IC during a speech at the George H.W. Bush Center for Intelligence.

When President Trump stood in front of the CIA’s memorial wall in January of 2017, he spent the entirety of his speech bragging about himself, verbalizing a fictional narrative of a “landslide election,” and dishonestly exaggerating the size of his inauguration crowd. A series of blatantly lies in front of a wall of stars that individually represent men or women who died in the line of duty as members of the CIA. This was an act of disrespect that led to CIA employees leaving flowers at the wall weeks afterward, as a form of protest, apologizing to those lost for allowing President Trump to disgrace their names and legacies.

Such disrespect for our Intelligence Community at the very beginning of his term set the stage for a presidency wherein the IC is consistently held in contempt by the White House, and even many of the president’s appointees within the State Department. And never in my life have I seen a president with such little respect for the men and women who serve tirelessly to keep safe and preserve the freedoms we take for granted every day in the United States of America.