FAS | Intelligence | News | 2003 ||||

April 2003 Intelligence News

• Work that gave Bob Graham expertise muzzles him by Bill Adair, St. Petersburg Times, April 28. "This administration has practiced pervasive secrecy and put millions of documents under seal," Graham told trial lawyers in Los Angeles two weeks ago. In a Senate speech, he warned that "excessive secrecy will undermine the public's confidence in our government and its essential institutions."
• Intelligence-sharing said lacking despite agencies' vow after 9/11 by Bryan Bender, Boston Globe, April 25. "Twenty months after the 2001 terrorist attacks, America's spy agencies still don't share troves of valuable threat information with each other, and rarely provide intelligence to state and local authorities on the front lines in the war on terrorism, according to government officials and private specialists."
• CIA Ponders a Role in Postwar Iraq by Chuck McCutcheon, Newhouse News Service, April 24. "The CIA is considering the sensitive question of whether to help set up an intelligence service in postwar Iraq, with the goal of bolstering efforts to nab foreign terrorists and disrupt planned attacks, intelligence experts and former spy agency officials say."
• The Eyes and Ears of War by Usha Lee McFarling, Los Angeles Times, April 24. "Data streaming from satellites proved pivotal in Iraq, letting U.S. troops beat Hussein's forces to the punch on the battlefield."
• Support waning for controversial Iran rebel group by Frank Davies, Miami Herald, April 10. "An Iranian opposition group whose military arm was sheltered by Saddam Hussein and attacked by U.S. forces is spurring intense debate on Capitol Hill...."
• Statement by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller on the Arrest of James J. Smith and Katrina Leung, FBI press release, April 9. "It is a sad day for the FBI. James Smith was once a Special Agent, sworn to uphold the rule of law and the high ethical standards of the FBI."
• 2pm: Saddam is spotted. 2.48pm: pilots get their orders. 3pm: 60ft crater at target by Julian Borger and Stuart Millar, The Guardian, April 9. "High above Iraq's western desert on Monday afternoon a US B-1 bomber was refuelling in mid-air on its way to a scheduled series of air strikes when it received urgent orders."
• FBI: Mission Impossible? by Jean Kumagai, IEEE Spectrum, April. "With a new computer network, automated investigative tools, and more channels for sharing information, the FBI hopes to finally know what it knows."
• FBI Creates Structure to Support Intelligence Mission, FBI press release, April 3. "As part of its on-going reorganization efforts, the FBI has put in place for the first time a formal structure to prioritize intelligence exploitation and to establish strategic plans for intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination."