FAS | Intelligence | News | 1999 ||||

June 1999 Intelligence News

• STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARYJune 30, 1999 -- Today the Department of State, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Archives are releasing newly declassified and other documents related to events in Chile from 1973-78.
• TEXT: COMMERCE DEPT. FACT SHEET ON OECD ANTI-BRIBERY CONVENTION USIA 30 June 1999 -- Following is a Fact Sheet on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention. The fact sheet was released June 30, 1999 by the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration]
• F.B.I. Is Proposing a Special Division for Hunting Spies By DAVID JOHNSTON The New York Times 26 June 1999 -- The F.B.I. is proposing a division devoted solely to rooting out spies, part of a Government-wide review of counterintelligence following suspicions that China tried to steal nuclear secrets, Government officials said. A new division of the F.B.I. devoted solely to counterintelligence would add agents and analysts to the efforts against foreign espionage, increasing the agency's staff. The bureau is likely to revise its traditional system of assessing threats and allocating budgets on a country-by-country basis, known as the National Security Threat List,
• U-S EMBASSIES CLOSED Voice of America 25 June 1999 -- THE UNITED STATES HAS CLOSED SIX OF ITS EMBASSIES IN AFRICA IN RESPONSE TO NEW TERRORIST THREATS LINKED TO OSAMA BIN LADEN.
• U.S. SUSPENDS OPERATIONS AT SIX EMBASSIES IN AFRICA USIA By Jane A. Morse -- 25 June 1999 -- The United States has suspended operations at six of its embassies in African nations for three days because of information that these facilities have been "under surveillance by suspicious individuals," State Department Spokesman James Rubin announced June 25.
• U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing 25 June 1999 -- DEPARTMENT Embassy Heightened Status of Alert Because of Security Concerns/Terrorists/Osama bin Laden/Security/Taliban/Threats to Americans/Coordinator for Counter-terrorism Mike Sheehan
• Strategic command intelligence role echoes its past U.S. Strategic Command Public Affairs (AFPN) 23 Jun 1999-- U.S. Space Command decommissioned its 5-year-old Missile Analysis Center. This move freed more than a hundred analysts to transfer to USSTRATCOM and form a Strategic Forces division to augment the STRATJIC. This division, like the center before it, will provide assessments of foreign missile forces and support of strategic and theater planning.
• UNPRECEDENTED JOINT HEARING EXAMINES SECURITY AT DOE WEAPONS LABS USIA 23 June 1999 -- The security situation at the U.S. Department of Energy's weapons labs is in bad shape. Or, if you prefer, things have been getting better since the new team took over.
• TEXT: RICHARDSON JUNE 22 SENATE TESTIMONY ON RUDMAN REPORT -- The overarching principle directing efforts to improve the Department of Energy's security procedures is that the Secretary of Energy "must be accountable, responsible, and must have full authority," Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson said in June 22 testimony before a joint hearing of the Senate Select Intelligence, Armed Services, and Governmental Affairs and Natural Resources Committees.
• CONGRESS-NUCLEAR LABS Voice of America 22 June 1999 -- U-S ENERGY SECRETARY BILL RICHARDSON SAYS MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO IMPROVE SECURITY AT THE NATION'S NUCLEAR-WEAPONS LABS. THIS FOLLOWS ALLEGATIONS THAT CHINA STOLE SECRETS FROM THE LOS ALAMOS FACILITY.
• BIN LADIN BROADCAST Voice of America 22 June 1999 -- USAMA BIN LADIN WAS RECENTLY FEATURED IN A TELEVISION BROADCAST FROM QATAR AIRED THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST. HE CALLED ON MUSLIMS TO MURDER AMERICAN CITIZENS AND PRAISED THOSE WHO HAVE COMMITTED TERRORIST ACTS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES.
• U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing 17 June 1999 -- We've said all along that we believe bin Laden will strike again. We do not have specific information about timing or location, but the general pattern of activity of bin Laden's organization that we've noted for many, many months has continued.
• DoD News Briefing Thursday, June 17, 1999 -- The situation with Osama bin Laden is that he has stated, and we certainly believe, that he intends to conduct further attacks on U.S. civilians and military personnel worldwide. We expect that he will pursue what he has stated that he will do. We are going to do everything in our efforts to protect our forces and protect our U.S. government installations worldwide. But I don't have any specifics as to the timing or the location of any such kind of activity.
• STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT June 15, 1999 - I asked the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the PFIAB, to undertake a review of the security threat at the Department of Energy's weapons labs and the measures that have been taken to address it. PFIAB Chairman Warren B. Rudman presented the Board's findings to me today.
• Report Scolds Bureaucracy for U.S. Nuclear Lab Lapses The New York Times 15 June 1999 -- Issued by the president's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, which studies sensitive intelligence and national security issues, the report argues that the Energy Department has mishandled the nation's nuclear secrets for 20 years.
• Suspect in Loss of Nuclear Secrets Unlikely to Face Spying Charges By DAVID JOHNSTON The New York Times 15 June 1999 -- Three months ago, a research mathematician was dismissed from his job at the Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory for security violations. Now federal authorities say it is most unlikely that the mathematician will ever face criminal charges. One crucial component is missing. There is no direct evidence that Lee ever passed or tried to pass on to China any classified national security information.
• MEXICAN BANKERS/DRUG MONEY Voice of America 11 June 1999 -- A U-S JURY IN LOS ANGELES HAS CONVICTED THREE MEXICAN BANKERS OF CONCEALING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PROFITS FROM LATIN AMERICAN DRUG CARTELS. THE JURY ALSO ACQUITTED THREE OTHER MEXICAN NATIONALS OF THE MONEY-LAUNDERING CHARGES.
• U-N / U-S / LIBYA Voice of America 11 June 1999 -- OFFICIALS FROM THE UNITED STATES AND LIBYA HAVE MET (FRIDAY) AT THE UNITED NATIONS -- THEIR FIRST SUCH MEETING SINCE THE TWO COUNTRIES BROKE RELATIONS IN 1981.
• STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY June 11, 1999 -- National Security Advisor Samuel Berger announced today the appointment of Jeffrey A. Hunker as Senior Director for Infrastructure Protection, Office of Transnational Threats, effective June 3, 1999.
• IRAN / SPIES Voice of America 11 June 1999 -- IN IRAN, WORSHIPERS AT FRIDAY'S PRAYERS AT TEHRAN UNIVERSITY HAVE CALLED FOR THE IMMEDIATE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF 13 IRANIAN JEWS CHARGED WITH SPYING FOR ISRAEL. ISRAELI OFFICIALS DENY THE ACCUSATIONS.
• TEXT: STATE DEPARTMENT ISSUES WORLDWIDE CAUTION USIA 10 June 1999 -- The State Department issued a Worldwide Caution June 10 advising U.S. citizens abroad to remain vigilant with regard to their personal security.
• TEXT: STATEMENT ON CLINTON REQUEST FOR MORE EMBASSY SECURITY FUNDS Voice of America 08 June 1999 -- President Clinton has asked Congress for an additional $864 million for his five-year program to beef up the security of U.S. embassies abroad.
• TEXT: FREEH ANNOUNCES ADDITION OF BIN LADEN TO FBI'S MOST WANTED LIST USIA 07 June 1999 -- The addition of Usama Bin Laden to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List emphasizes the FBI'S commitment to the prevention of terrorism, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said in a press conference on June 7.
• TEXT: CARPENTER REMARKS ON BIN LADEN'S PLACEMENT ON FBI'S TOP TEN LIST USIA 07 June 1999 -- The addition of Usama Bin Laden to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List demonstrates the U.S. commitment to apprehending terrorists and achieving justice, David Carpenter, assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, said at a press conference here June 7.
• TEXT: FBI PUTS BIN LADEN ON ITS TEN MOST WANTED LIST USIA 07 June 1999 -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has put Usama Bin Laden on its list of the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives," Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis J. Freeh announced June 7.
• Army needs more linguists (Army News Service, June 4, 1999) -- The Army is short linguists and the Recruiting Command has taken on the mission of enlisting language-qualified applicants. The Army is especially short Chinese Mandarin, Korean and Arabic linguists
• HUGE INCREASE PREDICTED IN LATIN AMERICAN INTERNET USE USIA 02 June 1999 -- The number of Latin American Internet users is expected to grow to 34 million people by 2000, a 485 percent jump since 1997, says the chief economist of a firm that provides financial services and information in Latin America.
• DRUG CZAR / COLOMBIA Voice of America 2 June 1999 -- THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S TOP ANTI-NARCOTICS OFFICIAL SAYS THE UNITED STATES COULD DO EVEN MORE TO SUPPORT COLOMBIA IN ITS BATTLE AGAINST ILLEGAL DRUG PRODUCTION.
• When it comes to spying, U.S. is as insatiable as China MSNBC 02 June 1999 -- John Pike, an intelligence expert at the Federation of American Scientists, notes that it is a great advantage to have the Chinese rely on communications satellites made by Loral or Hughes and launched by Chinese rockets. �You don�t hear the NSA complain about U.S. communications satellites being used by the Chinese government or military,� says Pike. �They want to keep the Chinese communications in space, in the air where we can intercept it. And having it on a U.S. satellite, about which we know everything, makes it even better.�
• MEXICO / U-S DRUGS Voice of America 01 June 1999 -- WHEN U-S SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE ALBRIGHT AND OTHER U-S OFFICIALS VISIT MEXICO LATER THIS WEEK, THEY MAY FIND THE TABLES TURNED ON THEM WHEN IT COMES TO THE ISSUE OF CORRUPTION.
• DoD News Briefing Tuesday, June 01, 1999 -- As you have probably read, there have been a number of cases throughout the government over the last couple of weeks where people have come in and defaced Web pages, home pages, etc., and one of the things we want to do is make that much more difficult.