SpyTalk: October 3, 2010 - October 9, 2010

Blackwater firm's embassy dogs not up to speed, audit says

State Department auditors said Friday that guard dogs deployed by two private security companies to protect American embassies in Afghanistan and Iraq are not being properly trained to detect bombs. The department's inspector general singled out U.S. Training Center, an...

By Jeff Stein  | October 8, 2010; 5:38 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (6)
Categories:  Financial/business, Intelligence, Military  | Tags:  ArmorGroup, CIA, Diplomatic Security, RONCO Consulting Corporation, State Department, Triple Canopy, U.S. Training Center  
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FBI’s ‘unprecedented’ Puerto Rico invasion

It was more like Normandy than Puerto Rico. Boarding planes in the middle of the night, hundreds of FBI agents, analysts and examiners flew into Puerto Rico before dawn Wednesday and took down about 130 local police and law enforcement...

By Jeff Stein  | October 6, 2010; 6:08 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (12)
Categories:  Intelligence, Justice/FBI, Lawandcourts  
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Li Fengzhi, ex-Chinese spy, granted asylum

Finally, he can let out his breath. Li Fengzhi, a former Chinese intelligence agent whose long quest to stay in the United States became entangled in spy wars and layers of secrecy, has been granted asylum. An immigration judge in...

By Jeff Stein  | October 5, 2010; 8:40 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (1)
Categories:  Homeland Security, Intelligence, Lawandcourts  | Tags:  Mark Robert Barr  
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FBI, DHS, New Orleans police ignore citizen bomb warning

Despite global terrorism jitters and the ubiquitous homeland security plea to “Say something if you see something,” New Orleans police, the FBI and DHS all ignored the repeated warnings of a concerned citizen Tuesday about a large, unattended suitcase in...

By Jeff Stein  | October 5, 2010; 6:23 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (23)
Categories:  Homeland Security, Intelligence, Justice/FBI  | Tags:  Joseph T. Wilkins  
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Backchannel chatter: What’s Spanish for spy?

The CIA wants you, hombre. The spy agency announced Tuesday that it had signed a "landmark” agreement with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities to help it recruit Spanish-speaking students. “Hispanic Americans are writing one of the greatest chapters...

By Jeff Stein  | October 5, 2010; 4:20 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (1)
Categories:  Financial/business, Intelligence  | Tags:  Leon E. Panetta  
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CIA mum on lawsuit alleging drone targeting errors

The CIA has declined comment on allegations that its drones have a targeting margin of error of up to 40 feet, a malfunction that could be contributing to civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The allegations have surfaced in a...

By Jeff Stein  | October 4, 2010; 10:15 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (2)
Categories:  Financial/business, Intelligence, Lawandcourts  | Tags:  Hays W. "Skip" McCormick III, IISi, Intelligent Integration Systems, Netezza  
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