Tag Archives: informants

US

Roles of F.B.I. and Informants Muddle the Michigan Governor Kidnapping Case

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The defense lawyers using that same trove of evidence material have built an entirely different scenario of what happened. They depict the accused as reluctant puppets entrapped by the F.B.I. agents and informants whom they say came up with the kidnapping plot.

Within weeks of joining, Dan took over the training exercises, introducing a much higher level of military tactics, defense lawyers said. They describe him as consulting closely with his main handler, Agent Jayson Chambers, on matters like who should participate in two surveillance trips to Ms. Whitmer’s cottage.

The suspects discussing violence on the recordings or in encrypted chats was just inflammatory rhetoric, the defense says. Prosecutors say Adam Fox, 38, the group’s ringleader, was living in the basement of a friend’s vacuum cleaner shop where he worked, talking about assaulting the Michigan statehouse just as “Big Dan” was getting involved.

The defense lawyers in the federal case either declined or ignored requests to comment, while a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Western Michigan said the office would not discuss pending criminal matters. The F.BI referred questions to the U.S. attorney.

Sting operations using informants are a thorny tactic in terror cases. In those developed after the 9/11 attacks, F.B.I. agents often got involved when someone expressed interest in joining Al Qaeda or in fomenting some kind of terrorist act. If the suspects had trouble agreeing on a plot or acquiring weapons, the informants or undercover agents would sometimes help them as a way of gauging criminal intent.

Critics of such F.B.I. methods like Michael German, a former undercover F.B.I. agent, accuse the agency of acting like Cecil B. DeMille, manufacturing complicated, theatrical scenarios rather than pursuing the more complex task of unearthing actual extremist plots.

Mr. German, who is now a fellow at the Liberty & National Security Program of the Brennan Center for Justice, said, “Rather than focus on those crimes and investigating them, there appears to be more interest in this method of manufacturing plots for the FBI to solve.”

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World

CIA admits China, Pakistan intelligence services hunting down informants: Report | World News

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Top US counterintelligence officials have warned CIA stations around the world about the “troubling” number of informants recruited from foreign countries to spy for America being killed, arrested or most likely compromised, according to a New York Times report citing an “unusual top secret cable”. The report claims that the cable has provided the specific number of informants who were executed by adversarial intelligence agencies in the last few years, highlighting the struggle they are facing in recruiting spies around the world.

“In recent years, adversarial intelligence services in countries such as Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan have been hunting down the C.I.A.’s sources and in some cases turning them into double agents,” the NYT said in a report Tuesday.

In the last two decades, the Central Intelligence Agency has heavily invested in countries like Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan in its war against terrorism. They have also been reportedly focusing on improving intelligence collection in China and Russia and US policymakers demand more insight on adversarial powers. While the loss of informants isn’t a new problem for American intelligence agencies, the cable underscores the gravity of the situation, the report suggests.

The use of artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and other sophisticated tools have made it easier for foreign governments to track US intelligence officers operating in their country, according to the report. The monitoring of the intelligence officers could easily lead them to the agents working for the CIA.

In 2009, a CIA operation in Afghanistan went wrong when a Jordianian doctor blew himself up at a US military base in Khost, killing seven CIA officers and one Jordanian officer. The triple agent, Humam Khalil al Balawi, had tricked the CIA officers into believing that he would spy for them. The problem of placing “mission over security” by not paying enough attention to the potential counterintelligence risk has been highlighted in the cable, according to the NYT report.

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World

CIA reports dozens of informants arrested or killed

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The CIA has called on its frontline spies to step up their operational security around the world after dozens of informants have been arrested, killed or otherwise compromised in recent years, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

A cable sent last week from top US counterintelligence officials to every agency station and base included the exact number of human sources arrested or executed by rival services — a detail that is typically a closely guarded secret, the Times reported.

The document lays several issues at the feet of case officers responsible for recruiting new informants — including poor tradecraft, underestimating the counterintelligence prowess of foreign agencies, and focusing on recruitment without paying proper attention to potential risks. It goes on to remind officers to focus on those issues in addition to bringing new sources into the fold.

In recent years, reports have indicated that China has become particularly adept at tracking down and taking out US spy networks. The Times reported in 2017 that in one such case, at least 12 suspected informants had been executed by Beijing and several more had been imprisoned.

The Times reported in 2017 that at least 12 suspected informants were executed by Beijing, and more had been imprisoned.
AFP via Getty Images

However, Tuesday’s report suggests that other US adversaries — including Russia, Iran and Pakistan — have similarly increased their capabilities, in some cases turning CIA sources into double agents. The cable sent last week did not give a number of how many informants had been compromised in this way.

Other US adversaries, including nations like Pakistan, have as well increased their capabilities in turning CIA sources into double agents.
AFP via Getty Images

Further hampering the CIA’s efforts, according to the Times, was a breach of the classified communications system that led to the exposure of networks in China and Iran. In addition, some officials believe treasonous US intelligence officers handed over information that led to the arrests and deaths of sources.

In November 2019, for example, former CIA case agent Jerry Chun Shing Lee was sentenced to 19 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage. Prosecutors say Chinese intelligence officers gave Lee more than $840,000 over a three-year period beginning in 2010 to divulge the names of human sources. Lee’s defense team denied that claim.

Months earlier, Monica Witt, a former Air Force intelligence officer, was indicted on charges of delivering national defense information to the government of Iran and conspiracy. Prosecutors said she turned over classified information about US intelligence officers after defecting to Iran in 2013.

Former CIA case agent Jerry Chun Shing Lee was sentenced to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage.
AP
Monica Witt, a former Air Force intelligence officer, was indicted on charges of delivering national defense information to the government of Iran.
AP

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World

CIA admits to losing dozens of informants around the world: NYT

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Leading counterintelligence officials issued a memo to all of the C.I.A.’s global stations saying that a concerning number of U.S. informants were being captured and executed.

The C.I.A.’s counterintelligence mission center investigated dozens of incidents in the last few years that involved killings, arrests or compromises of foreign informants. In an unusual move, the message sent via a top secret cable included the specific number of agents killed by other intelligence agencies, according to The New York Times.

Officials said that level of detail is a sign of the significance of the cable. Announcing the specific number of killings is rare as that figure typically held under wraps from the public and even from some C.I.A. employees, the Times noted.

The cable, which also cited the issue of putting “mission over security,” comes amid recent efforts by countries like Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan to find C.I.A. informants and turn them into double agents, the Times reported. 

The memo also noted long standing issues like placing too much trust in sources, a speedy recruiting process and inadequate attention to potential intelligence risks among other problems. 

The uptick in compromised informants highlights the more sophisticated ways in which foreign intelligence agencies are tracking the C.I.A.’s actions. These mechanisms include artificial intelligence, facial recognition tools and other hacking methods, per the Times. 

The New York Times also reported that C.I.A. case officers were sometimes promoted for recruiting spies often regardless of the success, performance or quality of that spy.

“No one at the end of the day is being held responsible when things go south with an agent,” Douglas London, a former C.I.A operative who was unaware of the cable, said to the Times. “Sometimes there are things beyond our control but there are also occasions of sloppiness and neglect and people in senior positions are never held responsible.”

People who have read the cable added that it was intended for the officers who are most directly involved in enlisting and vetting potential new informants, the Times reported.

The Hill has reached out to the C.I.A. for comment. 

 



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US

Several tied to Haiti assassination plot were previously US law enforcement informants

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Haitian President Jovenel Moise was killed last Wednesday in an operation that Haitian authorities say involved at least 28 people, many of them Colombian mercenaries hired through a Florida-based security company.

At least one of the men arrested in connection to the assassination by Haitian authorities previously worked as an informant for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA said in a statement in response to CNN.

“At times, one of the suspects in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise was a confidential source to the DEA,” the DEA said in a statement.

“Following the assassination of President Moise, the suspect reached out to his contacts at the DEA. A DEA official assigned to Haiti urged the suspect to surrender to local authorities and, along with a US State Department official, provided information to the Haitian government that assisted in the surrender and arrest of the suspect and one other individual,” the DEA said.

The DEA said it is aware of reports that some assassins yelled “DEA” at the time of their attack. The DEA said in its statement that none of the attackers were operating on behalf of the agency.

Other suspects also had US ties, including working as informants for the FBI, the people briefed on the matter said. The FBI said in response to CNN’s reporting that it doesn’t comment on informants, except to say that it uses “lawful sources to collect intelligence” as part of its investigations.
Authorities on Monday announced the arrest of a suspect who they say orchestrated the assassination. Haitian-born Christian Emmanuel Sanon, 63, entered the country on a private jet in June, Police Chief Leon Charles said at a news conference.

Haitian authorities say that Sanon hired the Florida-based company CTU Security, which they alleged recruited men initially to provide security for Sanon, though their mission appears to have changed thereafter.

“He came to Haiti accompanied by a few people in the beginning of June, these people were supposed to ensure his security and his business,” said Charles at the news conference. “He came with the intention to take over as President of the Republic.”

Two Colombian suspects who were killed in Haiti by police also had links to CTU Security, which is owned by a Venezuelan national, said Colombian police on Monday. They have requested assistance from the US Interpol office to investigate the company’s data.

It’s not clear that the men who worked as US law enforcement informants wittingly participated in the assassination plot or were aware of the mission, the people briefed on the matter said.

CNN has not been able to reach Sanon or his representatives for comment since his arrest.

A delegation from the US, including representatives from the State Department and Department of Homeland Security, returned from Port-au-Prince on Monday and briefed President Joe Biden, according to the White House. Biden said later on Monday that he was “closely following the events in Haiti,” and that the US was “ready to continue to provide assistance.”

Haitian authorities have provided limited details on the investigation, but the growing number of Florida connections to the plot appears to portray an operation at least partly hatched in the United States. Three American citizens have now been arrested in Haiti for their alleged involvement, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

That may increase the likelihood that the US Justice Department could bring charges against any US participants in the plot.

On Monday, the Justice Department said it would “investigate whether there were any violations of US criminal law” in connection with the assassination.

Senior officials have conducted an initial assessment, and the department would continue assisting Haitian authorities to investigate “the facts and circumstances surrounding this heinous attack,” said a spokesperson in a statement.

CNN’s Caitlin Hu, Mitchell McCluskey and Jessie Yeung contributed to this report.

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