SpyTalk: December 19, 2010 - December 25, 2010

For Britain and Russia, another round of spy wars

“Spy wars” are the Gilbert and Sullivan of foreign relations. Most of the time the punishment fits the crime, to coin a phrase (which happens to be theirs). Each side boots out the other’s spy in high dudgeon. And so...

By Jeff Stein  | December 23, 2010; 4:00 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (3)
 
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Clapper flunks ABC's quiz on London terror case

The head of U.S. intelligence, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr., went blank when asked about a roundup of suspected terrorists in London that had happened only hours earlier. ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer’s Monday interview...

By Jeff Stein  | December 21, 2010; 9:00 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (14)
Categories:  Homeland Security, Intelligence, Media  
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BackChannel Chatter: Top FBI counterterror guy moves on

Donald F. Borelli, who retired last week as head of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York, today joined a private security consulting company headed by Ali Soufan, another notable FBI agent who worked against al-Qaeda. Borelli was...

By Jeff Stein  | December 21, 2010; 7:30 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  Financial/business, Intelligence, Justice/FBI  
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WikiLeaks “no threat,” top German official says

Germany’s top security official said Monday that WikiLeaks is “irritating and annoying for Germany, but not a threat.” Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere also he said he was opposed to financial entities cutting off payments to WikiLeaks under pressure from...

By Jeff Stein  | December 21, 2010; 2:15 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (15)
Categories:  Financial/business, Foreign policy, Homeland Security, Intelligence, Lawandcourts  | Tags:  Angela Merkel, Der Spiegel, Hillary Clinton, Thomas De Maizière  
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Islamic group asks DoJ to review police training

Two groups representing American Muslims differed sharply Monday over revelations in The Washington Post about the sometimes-ignorant quality of local police training on radical Islam, with one group calling for a Justice Department investigation, the other saying it “is not...

By Jeff Stein  | December 20, 2010; 8:40 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (13)
Categories:  Homeland Security, Intelligence, Justice/FBI, Lawandcourts, Media  
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