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SPOTLIGHT

RUSSIA

TURF BATTLE BETWEEN RUSSIAN CRIME ELITE

If a number of figures linked to organized Russian crime have found themselves embroiled in cases in the West in recent months the reason stems primarily from vicious in-fighting in Moscow between the clans concerned. Several factors are behind this, including the long-established and entrenched nature of the gangs and maneuvering to eventually replace the Yeltsin clan in the Kremlin. (...) [ 669 words ] [ €7 ]

Community watch

FRANCE
JOINING RANKS AGAINST RUSSIAN CRIME
	The fight against organized Russian crime has prompted high-level cooperation between French intelligence agencies which answer variously to the country's defense ministry, interior ministry, criminal police service and tax authorities. (...) [ 425 words ] [ €4 ]

UNITED KINGDOM
REASSURING THE PUBLIC
	Information that leaked out following an unusual meeting between prime minister Tony Blair and the three chiefs of Britain's intelligence agencies two weeks ago would seem to suggest the conclave was primarily a public relations exercise. (...) [ 288 words ] [ €4 ]

WHO'S WHO

UNITED STATES
JAMES PAVITT
	Although he has only been deputy director of the CIA's most sensitive department – the Directorate of Operations – for just a few months, 53-year-old James Pavitt has already played a key role in Washington's secret diplomatic offensive relative to Israeli-Syrian peace talks. (...) [ 236 words ] [ €4 ]

FRANCE
JEAN-LOUIS GOGE
	A lot of changes are taking place at the top in the French police and the police intelligence agency Renseignement Generaux. (...) [ 266 words ] [ €4 ]

IRAQ
IBRAHIM ABDULSATTAR
	President Saddam Hussein named gen. Ibrahim Abdulsattar as new armed forces chief-of-staff on Dec. 10 in succession to gen. Abdulwahed Shannan who, at the age of 70, was given the honorary post as governor of Baghdad. (...) [ 246 words ] [ €4 ]

GERMANY
HOW IRANIANS OPERATE ABROAD
	Legal episodes in both Tehran and Berlin confirm that Iranian intelligence remains highly active in Germany. Better known by the acronym Vevak, the Vezarat-e Ettalaat Va Anniyat-e Keshvar runs several secret networks that systematically spy on Iranian dissidents in Germany and in certain cases mounts de-stabilization operations against them. (...) [ 287 words ] [ €4 ]

UNITED STATES
NSA'S PAINFUL INTERNAL AUDIT
	After coming under fire in Congress in late November during a debate on the legality of interceptions by the Echelon system (IN 370/371), the new head of the National Security Agency, Michael Hayden, has publicly voiced disappointment over his organization's lack of punch. (...) [ 422 words ] [ €4 ]

UNITED STATES
LESSONS OF THE "GUSEV AFFAIR"
	American intelligence is weighing all the possible consequences of Russian spying at the State Department following the Dec. (...) [ 194 words ] [ €1,3 ]

FRANCE
SECRET WEAPON ARSENAL
	A book published this week by a former French officer claims to lift a veil on the most secret and unknown weapons developed over the past 20 years by the Americans, Russians and Europeans. (...) [ 188 words ] [ €1,3 ]

BULGARIA
INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES CRACK DOWN ON ARMS TRAFFIC
	Several western intelligence agencies have long been calling for tighter controls over go-betweens in arms deals in Eastern Europe. (...) [ 115 words ] [ €1,3 ]

Agenda

UNITED KINGDOM
GPS' FUTURE IN THE MILITARY FIELD
	A conference on the theme of the Future of Military GPS will be held in London on Jan. (...) [ 186 words ] [ €1,3 ]

UNITED STATES
A NEW LEGAL SITUATION?
	The Stanford Law School in California is staging a day-long conference on Feb. (...) [ 152 words ] [ €1,3 ]

Threat assessment

	BRAZIL/FRANCE
	FOCH SALE INCREASINGLY LIKELY
		The Brazilian navy looks highly likely to buy the French aircraft carrier Foch following a recent visit to Brazil by Jean-Bernard Ouvrieu as special representative of French defense minister Alain Richard. (...) [ 333 words ] [ €4 ]

	UNITED STATES/MIDDLE EAST
	SECRET U.S. PLAN FOR GOLAN HEIGHTS
		According to Intelligence Newsletter diplomatic sources in Beirut, Washington's diplomatic success in getting Israel and Syria to the pace table came in part from 31 telephone calls that Bill Clinton made to Hafez Assad and Ehud Barak but also to the quiet work of go-betweens dispatched to the region. (...) [ 450 words ] [ €4 ]

TECHNOLOGY

UNITED STATES
BEATING THE TROJAN HORSES
	A U.S. firm based in Silicon Valley, Finjan Software, has come up with a soft-ware program that it describes as one of the first to stop Trojan horses from playing havoc with computer systems. (...) [ 287 words ] [ €4 ]

FRANCE
NEW GLOBAL EAVESDROPPING SYSTEMS
	Companies that work in the defense and intelligence fields are seeking increasingly to develop multi-function eavesdropping equipment able to intercept every known type of communication. (...) [ 451 words ] [ €4 ]

ISRAEL
FLAWS IN A5/1
	Two Israeli researchers widely known in the encryption community claim to have broken the a5/1 algorithm that telephone manufacturers use to protect cellular telephone and data communications. (...) [ 175 words ] [ €1,3 ]

ITALY
QUELLING TUNNEL FIRES
	An Italian fire-safety engineer attached to the Napes fire department, Domenico Piatti, has invented a remotely controlled system that can put out fires in tunnels. (...) [ 214 words ] [ €1,3 ]

UNITED STATES/EUROPE
A REAL CHRISTMAS SURPRISE
	A lot of experts are predicting a huge surge of computer viruses for the Millenium celebrations. (...) [ 85 words ] [ €1,3 ]

	EGYPT
	JAMAA ISLAMIYA BACK IN ACTION
		The Egyptian underground movement Jamaa Islamiya, one of the most radical in the region alongside Islamic Jihad, has elected a new chief, to the consternation of many Middle East governments. (...) [ 464 words ] [ €4 ]

	FRANCE/SWITZERLAND
	BCGE'S STRANGE FINANCIAL WOES
		Following accusations against the French affiliate of Banque Cantonale de Geneve (BCGe) by a former managing director (IN 371), the Swiss establishment's parent company is girding itself for a storm of criticism. (...) [ 283 words ] [ €4 ]

	CHINA/RUSSIA
	CHINA AND RUSSIA GROOM THEIR IMAGE
		Statements by the Chinese and Russians who attended the Crans-Montana Forum in Geneva on Dec. (...) [ 149 words ] [ €1,3 ]

	GERMANY/SWITZERLAND
	SELLING BANK SECRETS
		The federal government's interior ministry has discreetly indicted four employees of financial establishments for "economic espionage. (...) [ 85 words ] [ €1,3 ]

	FRANCE
	NEW DELAYS FOR FRENCH CARRIER
		France's new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is in the midst of a 26-week upgrading of its systems that began in mid October and will last until mid-February. (...) [ 155 words ] [ €1,3 ]

	FRANCE
	EDF VENTURES INTO RISK MANAGEMENT
		The French utility Electricite de France that produces the bulk of its power from nuclear energy has decided to train its executives in ways to reassure the public in the event of a nuclear accident. (...) [ 112 words ] [ €1,3 ]