<nettime> "Intelligence" archive

[nettime@Desk.nl]

[This was sent on on Phil Agre's Red Rock Eater mailing list (see
<http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/rre.html> for more info). It
is, as he said, excellent--and it's also US$315/yr for a subscrip-
tion. However, since exposing and reforming intelligence programs
tends to happen over decades rather than months, the newsletter's
archive of back issues (5 Sept 96 - 27 June 97) is still quite in-
teresting--and free. See <http://www.blythe.org/Intelligence/>.-T]

INTELLIGENCE                                ISSN 1245-2122
N. 78 New Series, 20 April 1998
Every Three Weeks
Publishing since 1980

Editor
Olivier Schmidt
(email  adi@ursula.blythe.org;
web  http://www.blythe.org/Intelligence)

TABLE OF CONTENTS, N. 78, 20 April 1998

FRONT PAGE

AUSTRALIA - FIGHTING THE ENEMY WITHIN ... LAW ENFORCEMENT p.1

TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES

TRIPLE DES & AES ENCRYPTION "DOWN" BEFORE BEING SET UP p.2
BRITS & US TAKING BIOTERRORISM SERIOUSLY p.3
EUROPE STUDIES SPY TECH BUT APPLIES FBI LAW p.4
COMPUTERS - EU Project Crosses the Irish Border. p.5
TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES - Briefs and Media Reports. p.6

PEOPLE

USA - DOUGLAS FRED GROAT p.7
ETHIOPIA/ZIMBABWE - MENGISTU HAILE MARIAM p.8
ISRAEL - EFRAIM HALEVY p.9
CHINA - XU YONGYUE p.10
PEOPLE - Briefs and Media Reports. p.11

AGENDA

COMING EVENTS THROUGH 18 MAY 1998 p.12

INTELLIGENCE AROUND THE WORLD

USA - "HOME GROWN" TERROR MEANER THAN "FOREIGN STUFF" p.13
     PUBLIC ENCRYPTION DEBATE MOVES INTO "END GAME" p.14
     CHINESE ROCKET FAILURE OPENS "CAN OF WORMS" p.15
     Briefs and Media Reports. p.16

GREAT BRITAIN - "OUTSIDE" POLICING OF THE POLICE p.17
     PRISONS NO "DRUG FREE" ZONES p.18
     New Police Network Targets Fine Art Theft. p.19

NORTHERN IRELAND - UN CONFIRMS RUC HARASSES LAWYERS p.20

FRANCE - EUROTUNNEL FIRE CONTINUES TO SMOLDER p.21

GERMANY - BND CAN'T KEEP OUT OF THE NEWS p.22

DENMARK - PET's Cold War Past Catches Up with It. p.23

WESTERN EUROPE - Briefs and Media Reports. p.24

BULGARIA - CD Piracy On The Way Out. p.25

RUSSIA - Cop-To-Cop With ... Chicago. p.26

ARMENIA - And The Next Russian Arms Convoy. p.27

EASTERN EUROPE - Briefs and Media Reports. p.28

PARAGUAY - A Criminal Presidential Candidate. p.29

LATIN AMERICA - Briefs and Media Reports. p.30

NIGERIA - No Valid Official Documents. p.31

MAURITIUS - A Booming Economy ... Legal & Illegal. p.32

AFRICA - Briefs and Media Reports. p.33

PALESTINE - ISRAELIS WATCHING THE PALESTINIAN WATCHERS p.34

ISRAEL - Bad Luck Fortnight. p.35

MIDDLE EAST - Briefs and Media Reports. p.36

THAILAND - DIPLOMATIC JOCKEYING AROUND POLICE ACADEMY p.37

CHINA - Infowar, But Please Not Here. p.38

SOUTH KOREA - "WORST CASE" SCENARIO FOR THE ANSP p.39

NEW ZEALAND - SIS' New "Glossy Effort". p.40

ASIA - Briefs and Media Reports. p.41

---------------------------------------------

Intelligence, N. 78, 20 April 1998, p. 17


GREAT BRITAIN

"OUTSIDE" POLICING OF THE POLICE


In an effort to allow Britain's chief constables to prosecute
"the corrosive minority" of corrupt police officers, the Home
Secretary, Jack Straw, has proposed that independent
investigators, including retired Military Intelligence
officers, HM Customs investigators, legal and accountancy
firms, and specialized sections of government departments, such
as the Post Office, should be used to examine allegations of
police corruption and malpractice.  Mr. Straw's "first step" in
setting up an independent investigative agency to monitor
police affairs, follows the publication of a Commons Home
Affairs Committee report, which is highly critical of the
present procedure in which the police investigate themselves,
and which allows those accused of corruption and attempting to
pervert the course of justice to retire early with full pension
rights, or take indefinite sick leave to avoid disciplinary
procedures.

Other key reforms, announced at the end of March, after a 5-
year consultation period and due to come into force in April
1999, include:  - a reduction in the burden of proof in
disciplinary hearings from the criminal trail standard of
"beyond reasonable doubt" to the "balance of probability" as
used in civilian cases;  - the phasing out of the rule of
double jeopardy by which an officer cleared by a civilian court
cannot be subsequently disciplined;  - disciplinary proceeding
to be conducted even in the absence of the accused, linked to a
"fast track" dismissal procedure;  - an end to the "right to
silence" during disciplinary hearings and "adverse inference"
to be drawn from a refusal to answer questions;  - the rights
of a policeman to a full pension to be assessed by the Home
Office if the officer has been convicted of a criminal offence.
Up to 75 percent of the entitlement can be withheld.

COMMENT  --  The reforms were welcomed by the Association of
Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the Police Complaints Authority
(PCA) and the Superintendents Association of England and Wales,
but Fred Broughton, chairman of the Police Federation,
representing 124,000 policemen up to the rank of chief
inspector, who work at "the cutting edge of the criminal
system", repeated the well-worn excuse that measures such as
the reduction in the standard of proof in disciplinary cases
would "damage the confidence and morale of the service".  The
MP's report highlighted a number of cases in which senior
officers avoided disciplinary proceedings.  Among the examples
is the case of Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent, Tony
Lundy, who retired on medical grounds after serious corruption
and fabrication of evidence allegations and currently lives on
full pension in southern Spain, and South Yorkshire Chief
Superintendent, David Duckworth, the senior officer in charge
of crowd control at Hillsborough football stadium where almost
100 Liverpool FC supporters died.  He retired suffering from
post-traumatic stress days before he was due to give evidence
at a judicial inquiry into why the police failed to control
both the number of fans entering the ground, and their
inadequate response to the tragedy.

---------------------------------------------

Intelligence, N. 78, 20 April 1998, p. 21


FRANCE

EUROTUNNEL FIRE CONTINUES TO SMOLDER


In December 1996, we mentioned that "there has apparently been
some very heavy-handed information management concerning the 18
November fire in the Channel Tunnel", a statement that has been
confirmed several times since then.  The day after the fire,
the "International Herald Tribune", which is published in
Paris, headlined the burning train's frozen brake system.
French papers have never mentioned the subject, but did cite
Clive Durrant, head of security for Eurotunnel, who said
emergency systems functioned "exactly as planned".  When the
train's engineer discovered the fire on board a truck on the
train, he immediately brought the train to a halt and
apparently tried to put the train into reverse and back it out
of the tunnel as quickly as possible to get it to a specially-
equipped fire station side track at the end of the tunnel (INT
n. 50 42).  When he tried to release the emergency brakes, they
were frozen in locked position, so the train sat where it was
and burned out of control for several hours.  Certain
specialists say a disaster was narrowly avoided.

In early May 1997, the independent security panel investigating
the fire issued its report criticizing security on the rail
link and making several recommendations concerning the
simplification of security procedures.  The report in no way
addressed the problem of the cause of the fire.  In terms of
security, we reported in February 1997 that Eurotunnel had
rejected putting trucks in closed, fireproof cars to avoid a
repeat of the incident (INT, n. 54 33).  According to
specialists, the decision is reasonable since the cause of the
fire seems to be more related to personnel than to equipment.
The press and the report noted that a truck apparently was
already smoldering before the train entered the tunnel.  So
new, expensive fireproof cars for trucks, and even the panel's
recommendations, would partially alleviate, but not solve,
these problems.  According to French intelligence, what would
solve at least the November accident would be to find two
disgruntled workers who disappeared not long before the fire
took place.  Some specialists believe the two may be
responsible for the entire incident.  While the major media
were talking about the panel's security report, only the BBC
had the courage to dig into the affair and mention the possible
criminal origin of the fire (see "Eurotunnel Fire Still a
Burning Issue", INT n. 60 30).  In France, the consumer
journal, "Que Choisir?", which apparently has some contact with
French intelligence, also mentioned that the fire was of
criminal origin.  Much later, "Le Monde" also mentioned the
fact, but no one ever mentioned the existence of two
disgruntled workers.

COMMENT  --  Personnel problems may not be the only obstacles
to security on Eurotunnel.  Clive Durrant apparently didn't
keep his job as head of security for long after the fire, and
neither did his reported successor, Mr. Boubli, head of the
Prodimas private security company now in charge of Eurotunnel
security.  The post had long been vacant when the January-
February issue of "Preventique-Securite" (n. 37, p. 96) first
publicized the job opening for a "Bilingual French-English
Director of Security".  The supposedly three-year contract --
it's been at least two chiefs in two years -- is being handled
by the Mercuri Urval employment agency.

British security arrangements for the Channel Tunnel rail link
had been the responsibility of Department of Transport Security
Division (Transec) and an MI5 senior official, Harry Ditmas,
who found four international airlines operating in Great
Britain which failed a security review in January 1994,
including Virgin Atlantic, a member of a consortium which bid
to take over and operate the British portion of the Channel
Tunnel railway in January 1995 (INT n. 9 49).  Ditmas is a
known intelligence specialist who developed "traffic analysis"
to observe movements of individuals and telephone calls to
identify IRA members and ringleaders.  But Eurotunnel recently
announced that it wants to form its own company to be
responsible for security and no longer depend on French and
British law enforcement and fire brigades.  This was greeted
last week by a statement by Pas de Calais and Kent fire chiefs
saying that they alone have responsibility for fire safety and
security of Eurotunnel.  It looks like what Eurotunnel needs
most are diplomats and competent managers instead of security
experts.

---------------------------------------------

Intelligence, N. 78, 20 April 1998, p. 26


RUSSIA - Cop-To-Cop With ... Chicago.  Al Capone's "turf" will
be taking on Russian organized crime.  The US State Department
awarded a $2.6 million grant to the Office of International
Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago to
develop a police exchange program with Russia and Poland.  The
program, called "Cop-To-Cop", represents the largest grant
awarded to a non-federal law enforcement entity under the State
Department International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau.
The grant supports the formation of an international
partnership aimed at improving the administration of justice
and policing practices in Eastern Europe and in the US.  Surely
the Wild West and the Wild East have things in common and
information to exchange.

---------------------------------------------

Intelligence, N. 78, 20 April 1998, p. 32


MAURITIUS - A Booming Economy ... Legal & Illegal.  In late
March, Noah Beckwith of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
in London, presented his report, "Mauritius Country Risk
Service", in Mauritius at a meeting where Prime Minister,
Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Finance Minister, Vasant Bunwaree, Bank
of Mauritius Governor, Mitrajeet Maraye, Minister of Economic
Development & Regional Cooperation, Rundheersing Bheenick, and
Minister of Telecommunications & Information Technologies,
Sarah Duut Lallah, were all speakers.  The EIU puts Mauritius
in third place in sub-Saharan Africa, close behind Botswana and
Namibia for overall political and economic risk.  According to
Beckwith, "Mauritius is now one of the most attractive and
diverse markets in the region for foreign investors".  The
International Southern Oceans Longline Fisheries Information
Clearing House (ISOLFICH) in Australia sadly agrees,
considering Mauritius' central role in the commercialization in
1997 of $140 million of illegal "takes" in the region.  The EIU
and ISOLFICH reports came out at about the same time but seem
each to have ignored the existence of the other.  Together,
they furnish a good description of Mauritius' "booming
economy".

---------------------------------------------

Intelligence, N. 78, 20 April 1998, p. 38


CHINA - Infowar, But Please Not Here.  In January, we mentioned
China's entry into the age of cyber-warfare with the success of
a full-scale test of the "CIN High Intelligence Network" (INT,
n. 74 4).  CIN, supposedly developed "independently" by China,
forms an integrated intelligence network, and saw its first
application in March 1997 at the Beijing regional military
headquarters, the only military region that has not recently
been dissolved and reorganized.  Also, China's first computer-
virus warfare exercise was held on 10 October by the People's
Liberation Army (PLA).  Now it seems that China may have been
"welcomed to the club" by one of the "Big Boys" with a
particular "informative" initiation ceremony.  On 9 April,
Chinese authorities announced they were investigating
mysterious disruptions of the Apstar-1 telecommunications
satellite due to interference from a signal source on earth
which began in mid-March by disrupting earthquake monitoring
systems and pager services in China, and had nothing to do with
the satellite itself.  According to a government statement, "up
to this moment, they [Chinese intelligence services] have not
located the source of the interference and we cannot rule out
the possibility (that the source is outside China)".  Someone
was "jumping the gun" on recommendations by Zhang Deyong, Zhang
Minghua and Xu Kejian in their article, "Information Attack",
published by Chinese army newspaper, "Jiefangjun Bao", on 24
March, which stated:  "We should try to attack and paralyze an
enemy command system (...) launch an electronic attack on an
enemy; and (...) ensure electromagnetic control in an area and
at a time favorable to us.  To this end, we should cultivate
partial information superiority by combining active
interference with passive interference ..."  Theory is fine,
but someone hasn't been doing their field work.

---------------------------------------------

Intelligence, N. 78, 20 April 1998, p. 40


NEW ZEALAND - SIS' New "Glossy Effort".  Following British
MI5's "glossy public relations effort", their New Zealand
counterparts thought it would be a good idea to do the same,
resulting in the information booklet, "Security in New Zealand
Today", about the Security Intelligence Service (SIS), made
public on 8 April.  Researcher and writer on intelligence
matters, Nicky Hager (INT, n. 42 50 & n. 65 5), claimed that
the main reason for the booklet was to justify the SIS's
existence, adding that he was planning a book on the SIS,
though not as comprehensive as his book on the Government
Communication Security Bureau, "Secret Power".  "The booklet
makes no mention of the SIS's disreputable past, where numerous
New Zealanders' lives were intruded upon for taking part in
worthy political causes, many of which are part of mainstream
opinion today," Hager stated.  The other members of the New
Zealand intelligence community are:  the External Assessments
Bureau which is responsible for researching and assessing
overseas developments, situations, or issues likely to affect
New Zealand's interests, but does not collect secret
intelligence;  the Directorate of Defence Intelligence and
Security responsible for the New Zealand Defence Force's
intelligence and security.  On 8 April, the "Evening Post"
published long extracts from the SIS brochure.

---------------------------------------------

Intelligence, N. 78, 20 April 1998, p. 41


ASIA - Briefs and Media Reports.
- Pakistan  Prime Minister vows to exterminate terrorism;
Pakistan and India secretly at war.
- India  India is working on a spy satellite;  India is
currently developing a spy satellite, the air force chief
announced;  West gun-running to rebels.
- Sri Lanka  Scores killed when air force bombs rebel flotilla
and troops attack;  Sixteen Tamil rebels killed in northern Sri
Lanka;  Sri Lankan police cracking down on mobsters helping
rebels;  Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) profile.
- China  China's Spies Target Corporate America.
- Macau  The driver of Macau's security chief was shot and
killed at point blank range outside his home;  On two occasions
last week the Triads killed policemen in Macao;  Similar
problems in Macau and Hong Kong.
- Australia  Jailed hacker exposed net's vulnerability;
Serious problems in law enforcement.

---------------------------------------------
<END OF FILE>

-----End of forwarded message-----
---
#  distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@desk.nl and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/  contact: nettime-owner@desk.nl