After years of presuming that all significant activities by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would be “out of area,” big changes are afoot as key Alliance member countries are realizing that traditional military threats are returning and NATO, having...
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Poland, NATO, and the Return of History
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What’s Wrong with NSA
Dear NSA, Hi, it’s me again. Although I left the Agency a few years ago, I still think about you a lot and, in recent months – thanks to that awful Ed guy – I’ve been writing and talking publicly...
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Update: Merkel’s “real” cellphone is secure
As Germany’s “Handygate” has become a mass phenomenon bordering on hysteria, one of the strangest aspects has been the fact, which I’ve noted previously, that Chancellor Angela Merkel was using a quite insecure cellphone to conduct government business. According to...
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NSA, Germany and Handygate: A Reality Check
Right now Germany is in the midst of a full-fledged political storm, dubbed Handygate in the media, over alleged espionage by the National Security Agency against the German government, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose cellphone is said to have been...
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It’s called the Second Oldest Profession for a reason
We’ve started the new week with more “shocking” revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency, a foreign intelligence agency, is actually conducting foreign intelligence operations. And pretty effectively at that. Thanks to Edward Snowden and his motley ring of collaborators,...
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Schindler discusses the future of German intelligence
Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), which is equivalent to CIA and NSA combined in terms of mission, has been a major Western intelligence agency for decades, and a key partner of American spies. Some of the depths of this relationship...
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French Intelligence sees “steep rise” in Western mujahidin in Syria
A detailed new report in the Parisian daily Le Monde, based on sources inside France’s foreign intelligence service (DGSE), paints a dire portrait of the rising number of Westerners going to wage jihad in Syria. I’m providing the highlights of...
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Poland’s Crazy/Awesome Corruption/Spy Scandal
Poland never ceases to entertain spy-watchers. While that country has made a remarkable transition from Communism to free-market democracy over the last generation, rebranding Poland as the standout success story among former Warsaw Pact countries today, there have been bumps...
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Snapshot of the Secret War
Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, most Western countries, sometimes with UN backing, have tried to prevent Iran from obtaining embargoed military materials, especially anything that could assist Tehran’s nuclear program. This is a big deal in SpookWorld as many...
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UPDATE: More on Israel’s Iranian spy scandal
Last week I reported on the arrest of Ali Mansouri (AKA Alex Mans), an Iranian-Belgian national, by Israeli authorities after he was caught setting up fronts and photographing sensitive sites, including the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. The arrest was...