Servicios secretos (Continuación)

InternacionalTerrorismo Internacional

By Porter Goss, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 10/02/06):

At the Central Intelligence Agency, we are more than holding our own in the global war on terrorism, but we are at risk of losing a key battle: the battle to protect our classified information.

Judge Laurence Silberman, a chairman of President Bush's commission on weapons of mass destruction, said he was "stunned" by the damage done to our critical intelligence assets by leaked information. The commission reported last March that in monetary terms, unauthorized disclosures have cost America hundreds of millions of dollars; in security terms, of course, the cost has been much higher.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión Europea, ,

By Magnus Linklater (THE TIMES, 25/01/06):

WHAT A BRILLIANT idea, our men in Moscow must have thought, to have an electronic dead letter drop hidden in a hollowed-out stone. No more hassle about letters left at midnight in some incriminating tree or fishing around for those tiresome microdots. It’s a pity, of course, that the technology let them down, but then it always does, doesn’t it? Having to kick the stone to make it work, then pick it up and take it back to the lab for tests,rather undermined the hands-off approach. I can just hear the familiar comment that has served MI6 so well down the years: “Don’t worry, we’ll get it right next time.”…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

By Melanie W. Sisson, an intelligence analyst at FBI headquarters from December 2003 to May 2005 (THE WASHINGTON POST, 31/12/05):

Why is the FBI having so much trouble keeping its intelligence analysts -- the kind of people who are vitally important to its post-Sept. 11 mission?

The problem was laid out at a congressional hearing a few months ago by the Justice Department's inspector general, Glenn A. Fine. He noted that the FBI is suffering a high rate of attrition among its most recently hired and most highly educated analysts, and he concluded that the bureau needs to stop assigning them duties that have nothing much to do with analysis and to offer better retention incentives.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica, , ,

By Jeffrey H. Smith, a former general counsel of the CIA (THE WASHINGTON POST, 09/11/05):

Americans do not join the CIA to commit torture. Yet that could be the result if a proposal advanced by Vice President Cheney becomes law.

When the abuses by U.S. servicemen and intelligence officers at Abu Ghraib surfaced last year, there was understandable outrage in this country and abroad. Internal investigations and congressional hearings revealed several causes of the abuse. One of the most important was confusion in the military and intelligence agencies as to what rules governed interrogations. A root cause of the confusion was the belief at the highest levels of the administration that the Geneva Conventions, which had governed our conduct for 60 years, were outmoded and should not constrain our treatment of prisoners.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

Por Jorge Volpi, escritor mexicano (EL PAIS, 22/02/05):

En 1967, Anthony Perkins había concluido sus atropellados estudios de administración de empresas en la Universidad de Boston y acababa de casarse con su novia de toda la vida cuando, a instancias de un pariente de ella, fue invitado a realizar algunas pruebas en la Agencia Nacional de Seguridad (NSA), acaso el menos conocido de los variados cuerpos de inteligencia que existían entonces en Estados Unidos. Aunque al parecer obtuvo buenos resultados y satisfizo los requisitos impuestos por sus entrevistadores, al final Perkins prefirió incorporarse durante dos años al Cuerpo de Paz y, al lado de su esposa, se dispuso a pasar tres años en la selva amazónica ecuatoriana.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaTerrorismo, ,

Por Antonio M. Díaz Fernández, profesor de la Universidad de Burgos y autor de Los servicios de inteligencia españoles, de próxima aparición en Alianza (EL PAÍS, 30/01/04):

El historial de actividades sospechosas del Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (antes Cesid) es dilatado. Desde su creación en 1977, todos y cada uno de los partidos políticos, desde el propio PSOE hasta el PNV, pasando por Coalición Canaria y el GIL, lo han acusado en algún momento de espionaje. En 1983, Jorge Verstrynge denunció que Alianza Popular estaba siendo espiada por el Cesid y años más tarde Federico Trillo, entonces presidente del Congreso, sostuvo que era controlado por el servicio de inteligencia.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

By Jim Hoagland (THE WASHINGTON POST, 03/04/03):

The war in Iraq is apotheosis and pitfall for George Tenet and his Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA's strengths in the opening phase of the war now quickly become grave weaknesses for President Bush's goals in the decisive stage of this campaign and in Iraq's volatile political future.

The agency's strengths lie in its covert license to buy, seduce or eliminate America's potential and real foes. Its glory at this moment flows from the barrels of the guns and the stacks of cash that agency operatives can hand out secretly to people who say they will do America's bidding.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

Por Said K. Aburish, escritor, biógrafo de Saddam Hussein; su último libro es Saddam Hussein, la política de la venganza. Traducción: Juan Gabriel López Guix (La Vanguardia, 13/03/2003):

Salvo a dos o tres de ellos (y sólo porque escribieron libros poco fiables sobre sus aventuras), casi nadie conoce a James Russell Barracks, Joe Goodwin, George Britt, William Bucley, Robert Anderson, Ed Applegate, Arthur Close, Reymond Close, Miles Copeland, James Critchfield, William Eddy, James Eichelberger, Joseph Ellender, John Fistere, Wilbur Crane Eveland, Robert Ransom Haig, Elmo Hutcheson, Harry Kern, William Lakeland, Archie Roosevelt, Kermit Roosevelt y Armand Meyer. En realidad, se trata de una lista parcial de agentes importantes de la CIA que dirigieron y ejecutaron los designios estadounidenses en el mundo árabe desde la década de 1950 hasta nuestros días.…  Seguir leyendo »