SPY GAMES - Alexander Litvinenko

"Russian security service blamed for defector’s high-profile death" PBS NewsHour 1/21/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The findings of a British inquiry into the demise of former Russian spy and high-profile defector Alexander Litvinenko were released Thursday, concluding that Litvinenko's 2006 death by polonium poisoning was the result of a Russian government operation, likely personally approved by President Vladimir Putin.  Chris Ship of Independent Television News begins our coverage.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  The death by poisoning of a former Russian spy in London was thrust back into the headlines today, as a British inquiry into his killing released its report.

Alexander Litvinenko fled Russia nearly 20 years ago and accused the former chief of Russia’s spy agency, now-President Vladimir Putin, of corruption.  In 2006, he met two Russian spies at a London hotel, and three weeks later, he was dead.

Chris Ship of Independent Television News begins our coverage.

CHRIS SHIP, Independent Television:  We were reminded today that the radioactive poison inside Alexander Litvinenko's body was so strong, he had to be buried in a lead-lined coffin.  Today, the Russian security service the FSB was blamed for his killing.  And the orders, concluded the man who led the inquiry, most likely came from the top, the very top, he said.

SIR ROBERT OWEN, Litvinenko Inquiry Chairman:  The operation to kill Mr. Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr. Patrushev, then head of the FSB, and also by President Putin.

"What the Litvinenko assassination accusation means for the Kremlin" PBS NewsHour 1/21/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  A British investigation is pointing the finger at the Russian state and President Vladimir Putin for the 2006 assassination of a former spy and defector.  Hari Sreenivasan talks to Steven Lee Myers of The New York Times and Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia.

NATIONAL SECURITY - Snowden Spy Update

"Authorities Search Bolivian President's Plane for Edward Snowden" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 7/3/2013

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour):  The diplomatic fallout over NSA leaker Edward Snowden and the revelations he's provided took another turn today.

Ray Suarez has the story.

RAY SUAREZ (Newshour):  Bolivian President Evo Morales boarded his plane in Vienna today, hours after being stranded at the airport, as Austrian authorities, with his permission, searched the aircraft in vain for fugitive Edward Snowden.

Returning from an energy summit in Moscow last night, Morales landed in Vienna after being denied entry to Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish airspace, a move that enraged Bolivian authorities.

DAVID CHOQUEHUANCA, Bolivian Foreign Minister:  Portugal needs to explain to us, France needs to explain to us why they canceled permission to use their airspace.  They want to intimidate us.  It is discrimination towards our president. It has endangered the life of president.

RAY SUAREZ:  But today there was confusion as those countries denied refusing Morales passage.  And in Vienna, Morales told reporters it's unclear why he was suspected of harboring Snowden in the first place.

PRESIDENT EVO MORALES, Bolivia:  Of course, how can we have on our plane a person who is having problems with another country?  We are very responsible in what we do and we are also very responsible as regards to international agreements.

RAY SUAREZ:  Snowden himself remains out of sight, reportedly still in the transit area of the Moscow airport as he applies for asylum in some 20 countries.  The U.S. government has issued broad warnings to countries considering those requests, and many have already declined or said Snowden must be on their soil to apply.

For its part, La Paz has accused the U.S. of pressuring the European countries to block Morales' plane.  In Washington today, a State Department spokeswoman wouldn't confirm or deny that.

JEN PSAKI, State Department Spokeswoman: We have been in contact with a range of countries across the world who had any chance of having Mr. Snowden land or even transit through their countries, but I'm not going to outline when those were or what those countries have been.

RAY SUAREZ: As the fight for Snowden's fate drags on, there's new fallout over the classified documents he revealed. The Guardian newspaper in London cited those when it reported Sunday the U.S. has been spying on the European Union missions in New York and Washington, as well as on the embassies of dozens of other countries.

Meanwhile, in Europe, France said it's delaying trade talks with the U.S. by two weeks. And Germany's foreign minister announced his country will send a delegation to Washington next week to meet with Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss how the U.S. gathers intelligence.

"How Much Diplomatic Persuasion Does U.S. Wield in Snowden Affair?" (Part-2) PBS Newshour 7/3/2013

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Though some have used Edward Snowden as an outlet to antagonize the U.S., no country has yet offered him asylum.  Ray Suarez talks to P.J. Crowley, former assistant secretary of state for public affairs, and James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies about the diplomatic fallout over the NSA leaks.

Watch How Much Diplomatic Pull Does the U.S. to Get Snowden back? on PBS.
See more from PBS NewsHour.

RUSSIA - Catches Inept CIA Spy?

"Russia Arrests U.S. Diplomat on Spying Accusations" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 5/14/2013

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  We turn to Moscow, where a U.S. Embassy officer was detained and accused of spying in a story that sounds right out of the Cold War.

Margaret Warner reports.

MARGARET WARNER (Newshour):  The announcement came in Moscow from Russia's federal security service, the FSB.

Releasing these photographs and video, it said U.S. diplomat Ryan Fogle in a blond wig and hat had been detained in Moscow overnight.  Officially, he's a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy, but the Russians said he works for the CIA and was caught trying to recruit a Russian intelligence agent to work for the U.S.

Later today, the Russians handed him over to the embassy and ordered him expelled from the country.  In Washington, the State Department's Patrick Ventrell confirmed a U.S. diplomat had been detained, but declined to elaborate.  The incident came as the U.S. is seeking Russian cooperation in two key areas, the investigation of the Boston bombing suspects and efforts to end the Syrian civil war.

Secretary of State John Kerry was in Moscow last week announcing a joint effort to bring about Syrian peace talks.

Gee... an embassy 'diplomat' being a CIA spy?  So, what's new?


"Incident With Diplomat Occurs as U.S. Seeks Russian Help on Boston Attacker" (Part-2) PBS Newshour 5/14/2013

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Sounding like something out of a spy movie, Russian authorities detained an American diplomat overnight on claims he is actually a CIA agent.  Margaret Warner talks with Will Englund of The Washington Post for more details of the story and what kind of information American intelligence agencies might want to collect in Russia.

AMERICA - Syrian Spies Here?

"Are Syrian Spies Keeping Tabs on Opposition Activists in U.S.?" PBS Newshour 1/3/2012

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (Newshour): Next, the crackdown on Syrian dissidents, this time in the United States.

While the death toll in Syria has now climbed over 5,000, another sinister side of the struggle is playing out right here at home.

POLITICS - Spying Lawsuit, SLAP!

"Judge rules against Bush in spying lawsuit" AP

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge Thursday refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the Bush administration’s domestic spying program, rejecting government claims that allowing the case to go forward could expose state secrets and jeopardize the war on terror.

Now lets see where it goes from here.

Of course, Bush says he can ignore law in his duty to "protect" America.
Hail Caesar!

POLITICS - Be Careful, They Can Spy On Emails of Non-Terrorists

In an article by Josh Gerstein, Staff Reporter, New York Sun, "Patriot Act E-Mail Searches Apply to Non-Terrorists, Judges Say" .......

Two federal judges in Florida have upheld the authority of individual courts to use the Patriot Act to order searches anywhere in the country for e-mails and computer data in all types of criminal investigations, overruling a magistrate who found that Congress limited such expanded jurisdiction to cases involving terrorism.

The disagreement among the jurists about the scope of their powers simmered for more than two years before coming to light in an opinion unsealed earlier this month. The resolution, which underscored the government's broad legal authority to intercept electronic communications, comes as debate is raging over President Bush's warrantless surveillance program and the duties of Internet providers to protect personal data.

A magistrate judge in Orlando, James Glazebrook, first questioned the so-called nationwide-search provision in 2003, after investigators in a child pornography probe asked him to issue a search warrant requiring a "legitimate" California-based Web site to identify all users who accessed certain "password-protected" photos posted on the site. The Web provider was not named in public court records.

Magistrate Glazebrook said that in passing the Patriot Act, formally known as the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, Congress made clear its focus was on terrorism. He said there was nothing in the language Congress adopted in the days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that suggested the nationwide-search provision should apply to garden variety federal cases.

"The statutory language is clear and unambiguous in limiting district court authority to issue out-of-district warrants to investigations of terrorism, and that language controls this court's interpretation. The government has shown no legislative intent to the contrary," the magistrate wrote. He also noted that many of the examples given during legislative debate involved terrorism. The then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy, a Democrat of Vermont, described the nationwide-search language as applying in terrorism cases, the court noted.

Magistrate Glazebrook denied the search warrant, but it was recently disclosed that the government appealed to a federal judge, G. Kendall Sharp, who granted it without explanation.

You bet there was no explanation, he didn't have any!

Glazebrook has to think that the (so called) Patriot Act is all encompassing and is not, nor ever was, limited to protecting the Nation from terrorism. Next, the SS come knocking at your door.