The full story is now published:
Haaretz, 25 Feb 10: . . . . Mosab Hassan Yousef, son 
of the Hamas leader in the West Bank, has decided to reveal the whole picture: For more than a decade he was an agent of Israel’s Shin Bet security service. He was motivated not by economic gain or self-interest, but by sheer ideology.
During that period he prevented dozens of suicide-bombing attempts and uncovered terrorist cells – including those planning to assassinate senior Israeli figures, such as Shimon Peres, then foreign minister, and Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. The Shin Bet considered Yousef the most reliable and most senior agent it had succeeded in running at the top levels of Hamas. Within the organization he was known as the “Green Prince”: “prince,” because he was the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the people who founded Hamas and one of its leaders in the West Bank, and “green” for the color of the Islamist organization’s flag.
During the grimmest period of the second intifada, Yousef brought about the arrest of the most wanted terrorists on Israel’s list, those who are mentioned repeatedly in the headlines – among them Ibrahim Hamed and Marwan Barghouti. He even agreed to the arrest of his father, who is still in jail today, to prevent his assassination by Israel.
This is the story of an intelligent young man who acts courageously against the movement in which he was raised in an effort to save lives, and manages to persuade the Shin Bet to arrest wanted individuals instead of killing them. . . . . .
YNET, 25 Feb 10: Women behind enemy lines: Ivy Brinton whose hair turned blonde during the operation; the mysterious Anna Clasby who wore a wide-brimmed hat and disappeared from the hotel a few hours before the assassination; Gail Folliard whose hair looked like a wig right from the start – are these the real heroes of the Dubai operation to assassinate senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Mabhouh?
The pictures of the six women who appear on Dubai police’s list of assassins stand out particularly in light of the masculine image of espionage. They are all young – between 24 and 31, according to the passports they carried – and pretty. Their travels, according to the Dubai investigation, took them around the world: Germany, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, even Iran.
Security footage adds fascinating details about these women’s methods. All are seen in the company of other team members, apart from Anna Clasby who carried an Irish passport, and was the only one who visited Dubai twice.
On the first occasion, she arrived from Zurich in November 2009 for one day only. On the second visit, she stayed for less than 24 hours and left before the killing. She completed her mission for reasons that are still unclear and left quickly, the Dubai investigators said. . . . .
♦ CI CENTRE COURSE: 140–Women in Espionage
Reuters, 25 Feb 10: U.S. spy agencies believe an American-born Muslim cleric based in Yemen played a bigger role than first thought in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s decision to start launching attacks against U.S. targets, counterterrorism officials said. The revised assessment by intelligence analysts could help build a case for adding Anwar al-Awlaki to the U.S. target list to kill or capture top militants, though current and former officials said careful review was needed given his status as a U.S. citizen. . . . . “The preferable course would always be a capture but we are at war,” the former official said. Pending a decision on whether the United States should target him directly, the former official added, “If we can do it through a third party, it’s probably preferable.” . . .
. . . . “Awlaki is someone who has shifted his focus in recent years. At one time, he was principally a recruiter and propagandist. More recently, he’s become a key player in terrorist operations — one who has helped turn AQAP’s attention to planning attacks on U.S. interests,” a U.S. counterterrorism official said. Other U.S. counterterrorism officials described Awlaki as the main force behind AQAP’s decision to transform itself from a regional threat into what U.S. spy agencies see as the network’s most active affiliate outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Born in New Mexico, Awlaki was an imam at mosques in Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia, near the U.S. capital. He returned to Yemen in 2004 where he taught at a university before he was arrested and imprisoned in 2006 for suspected links to al Qaeda and involvement in attacks. . . .
FBI, 25 Feb 10: The Justice Department announced that a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York has returned a superseding indictment charging Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin with terrorism violations stemming from, among other activities, their alleged roles in the plot involving Najibullah Zazi to attack the New York subway system in mid-September 2009. Ahmedzay and Medunjanin are scheduled to appear in federal court today in Brooklyn at 11:00 a.m.
Ahmedzay, 25, a U.S. citizen and resident of Queens, N.Y., was previously indicted on Jan. 8, 2010 in the Eastern District of New York on charges of making material false statements to the FBI about his travels to Pakistan and Afghanistan and about his conversations with a fellow traveler. Medunjanin, 25, a U.S. citizen and resident of Queens, N.Y., was previously indicted on Jan. 8, 2010 in the Eastern District of New York on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization, namely al Qaeda.
The five-count superseding indictment unsealed this morning charges both Ahmedzay and Medunjanin with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction (explosive bombs) against persons or property in the United States. Specifically, they are charged with conspiring with Zazi to conduct an attack on Manhattan subway lines that would take place on Sept. 14, Sept. 15, or Sept. 16, 2009. The maximum statutory penalty for this offense is life in prison.
“The facts alleged in this indictment shed further light on the scope of this attempted attack and underscore the importance of using every tool we have available to both disrupt plots against our nation and hold suspected terrorists accountable for their actions,” said Attorney General Holder. “This attack would have been deadly, and the many agents, prosecutors and intelligence professionals who worked together seamlessly to thwart it deserve our thanks.”
Both defendants are also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country. Specifically, the superseding indictment alleges that on or about Aug. 28, 2008, both Ahmedzay and Medunjanin accompanied Zazi on a flight from Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., to Peshawar, Pakistan, in furtherance of the conspiracy. The maximum statutory penalty for this offense is life in prison.
The superseding indictment also charges both defendants with providing material support, including currency, training, communications equipment and personnel, to a foreign terrorist organization, namely al Qaeda. The maximum statutory penalty for this offense is 15 years in prison.
In addition, Ahmedzay and Medunjanin are charged with receiving military-type training from al Qaeda. The maximum statutory penalty for this offense is 10 years in prison.
Finally, Ahmedzay is further charged with making false statements to the FBI in a terrorism investigation. According to the indictment, Ahmedzay falsely told the FBI he had disclosed all the locations he visited during his trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan, when he had failed to disclose all these locations. The maximum statutory penalty for this offense is eight years in prison.
CBS News, 25 Feb 10: “60 Minutes” has obtained an FBI videotape showing a Defense Department employee selling secrets to a Chinese spy for cash. The video, which has never been made public before, offers a rare glimpse into the secretive world of espionage and illustrates how China’s spying may now pose the biggest espionage threat to the U.S.
“60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley’s report will be broadcast this Sunday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
China may be the number-one espionage threat now. “The Chinese are the biggest problem we have with respect to the level of effort that they’re devoting against us, versus the level of attention we are giving to them,” says Michelle Van Cleave, once America’s top counterintelligence officer who coordinated the hunt for foreign spies from 2003 to 2006.
“Definitely, without a doubt,” the Chinese focus most of their espionage on the U.S., says Fengzhi Li, who once recruited spies for China’s Ministry of State Security and is now in the U.S. seeking asylum.
The Chinese, says Van Cleave, have had the designs to all of the nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal for years and they have been after a lot more lately. “Virtually every technology that is on the U.S. control technology list has been targeted at one time or another by the Chinese,” she tells Pelley. “Sensors and optics…biological and chemical processes…all the things we have identified as having inherent military application,” says Van Cleave. “I think we are a real candy store for the Chinese and for others.”
In the videotape obtained by “60 Minutes”, Gregg Bergersen, a civilian Pentagon worker with a high-security clearance, is shown taking money, about $2,000, from the Chinese spy, Tai Shen Kuo. Bergersen then discusses how he will let Kuo look at secret documents. The documents included the types of weapons the U.S. was selling to its ally Taiwan as well as plans for a classified command and control system that was going to be used by Taiwan.
Bergersen clearly implicates himself on the videotape. “I’m very , very, very reticent to let you have it because it’s all classified, but I will let you see it,” he tells Kuo. “You know you can write all…the notes you want…it’s just I can never let anyone know…I’d get fired for sure on that,” says Bergersen. “Well, not even get fired, I’d go to *** jail!”
That’s where Bergersen is now, serving almost five years in federal prison for communicating national defense information. Kuo, a naturalized American citizen, was given 15 years for espionage. Both men pleaded guilty after being shown the tape and other evidence against them.
♦ CI CENTRE COURSE: 207–An Introduction to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Intelligence and Counterintelligence Methodologies
♦ CI CENTRE COURSE: 150–Current Counterespionage Cases
♦ CI CENTRE COURSE: 170–Economic Espionage and Theft of Technology
♦ CI CENTRE BRIEFING: Chinese Cyber Trends: The 21st Century Battlefield
