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SPOTLIGHT

UNITED STATES

Echelon Steps from the Shadows

Last week's spectacular declassification of the first NSA in-house notes to officially confirm the existence of the global Echelon eavesdropping network marks a singular victory for American privacy advocates. In recent months in Washington their allies in Congress (with Bob Goodlatte in the vanguard) have fought a particularly tough fight on the point that Echelon also intercepts the communications of American citizens. (...) [ 646 words ] [ €8 ]

Community watch

UNITED KINGDOM
MI6 Behind Russian-Polish Rift
	According to Intelligence Newsletter diplomatic sources in Poland, agents from Britain's MI6 on post in that country but also Russia are behind a diplomatic incident that has pitted Warsaw against Moscow in recent days. (...) [ 237 words ] [ €5 ]

FRANCE
A Very Special Intelligence Agency
	A book just published in Paris that explores how France collects its taxes has revealed the existence of a previously-unknown financial intelligence agency called the Brigade Nationale d'Enquetes Economiques (BNEE). (...) [ 368 words ] [ €5 ]

WHO'S WHO

JORDAN
Omar Abu Omar
	Going under the name of sheikh Abu Ketadaj, 36-year-old Omar Abu Omar lives in London where he runs the tiny Reform and Defiance group accused of helping Ussama Ben Laden's network. (...) [ 233 words ] [ €5 ]

UNITED STATES
Bran Ferren
	An American computer expert, Bran Ferren has built his reputation on work he does as vice-president of Disney Imagineering where he is specifically in charge of the company's creative technology and R&D section. (...) [ 242 words ] [ €5 ]

UNITED STATES
David Alba
	Appointed assistant director of the FBI by its boss, Louis Freeh, on Jan. 24, David Alba will be in charge of the agency's new Investigative Services Division (ISD) that was set in November. (...) [ 182 words ] [ €5 ]

FRANCE
Xavier Bout de Marnhac
	Little is known about the next director of DGSE's operations directorate, col. Xavier Bout de Marnhac, who will assume his functions in the spring when the agency's new boss, Jean-Claude Cousseran, takes over his post. (...) [ 160 words ] [ €5 ]

FRANCE
DGSE and Foreign Office Cosy Up
	Jacques Dewatre, head of the French foreign intelligence agency DGSE, is preparing to shortly stand down and take the post of French ambassador to Ethiopia but his successor, Jean-Claude Cousseran, France's current envoy to Turkey, won't be able to take up his new job until April. (...) [ 482 words ] [ €5 ]

GERMANY
BfV Stands Watch over Corporate World
	In recent years the Bundesamt fur Verfassungsschutz (BfV) has stood out as the German agency most involved in economic counter-espionage and that job has now been extended to keeping a close, extended and protective eye on hundreds of German companies. (...) [ 416 words ] [ €5 ]

UNITED STATES
NSA Deputy Chief To Quit
	The exact reasons why NSA deputy director Barbara McNamara has decided to quit aren't known but Intelligence Newsletter sources in Washington say she will leave her post this coming spring to take on a new job in London as the agency's U. (...) [ 149 words ] [ €1,5 ]

UNITED STATES
Tight Audit for NRO
	The speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, has just picked members of the panel that will conduct an audit of how the space intelligence agency National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has performed. (...) [ 149 words ] [ €1,5 ]

MACEDONIA
Pro-Serb Arms Network Rolled Up
	The Macedonian authorities have discovered a secret arms ring inside the country's military intelligence service that delivered weapons and explosives to Belgrade. (...) [ 161 words ] [ €1,5 ]

UNITED KINGDOM
Tony Blair Keeps Spy Budget Under Wraps
	Prime minister Tony Blair clearly isn't keen on lifting the lid on how much Britain's intelligence services cost the nation. (...) [ 102 words ] [ €1,5 ]

Agenda

UNITED KINGDOM
Knowledge Management Gathering
	A two-day conference on knowledge management is slated for London on April 4-5 that the organizers are touting as the most comprehensive and valuable gathering on the subject this year. (...) [ 130 words ] [ €1,5 ]

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Keeping Abreast of Developments
	An up-to-the-minute review on developments in information warfare will be conducted at the Tricon 2000 conference being held during the TRIDEX 2000 exhibition in Abu Dhabi on March 6-7. (...) [ 132 words ] [ €1,5 ]

Threat assessment

	UNITED STATES/EUROPE
	Dangers of On-Line Tax Havens
		Several officials attending the latest plenary session of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris between Feb. 1-3 issued a warning on the sidelines of the conclave against "special offshore products" being offered to the public on the Internet. (...) [ 267 words ] [ €5 ]

	SAUDI ARABIA
	Bruising Fight for Saudi Succession
		The recent resignation of the governor of Mecca, a result of angry political infighting, testifies to the bitterness of the fight to succeed king Fahd whose health appears to be constantly worsening. (...) [ 447 words ] [ €5 ]

TECHNOLOGY

EUROPE
Standardizing Electronic Signatures
	The coming months could be marked by major political and financial developments in the field of electronic signatures. Following last November's adoption of the Common Framework for Electronic Signature by the European Commission (IN 371) technical debates are currently being staged to determine the characteristics of the signatures that will win official recognition throughout the European Union. (...) [ 471 words ] [ €5 ]

UNITED STATES
Clinton Focuses on Nanotechnology
	The Clinton administration pushed nanotechnology into the forefront among future priorities of American scientific organizations last week in unveiling the U. (...) [ 301 words ] [ €5 ]

UNITED KINGDOM
Button-Up When You See Button
	Surveillance technology has already produced video cameras hidden in a pair of glasses or in a pen, as Britain's Optex has proved. (...) [ 117 words ] [ €1,5 ]

CZECH REPUBLIC
Interception Shield
	The Czech company Retia has begun marketing an original system that can be placed close to a computer to prevent its radiation from being intercepted and the text being re-constituted. (...) [ 186 words ] [ €1,5 ]

UNITED STATES
The First Laser Attack Aircraft
	Work has begun at the Boeing plant in Wichita, Kansas to convert a 747-400 freighter aircraft into the world's first laser-armed plane. (...) [ 170 words ] [ €1,5 ]

UNITED STATES
Echelon Steps from the Shadows
	Last week's spectacular declassification of the first NSA in-house notes to officially confirm the existence of the global Echelon eavesdropping network marks a singular victory for American privacy advocates. In recent months in Washington their allies in Congress (with Bob Goodlatte in the vanguard) have fought a particularly tough fight on the point that Echelon also intercepts the communications of American citizens. (...) [ 646 words ] [ €8 ]

	FRANCE
	Infighting for Control of Power Stations
		The question of who holds authority over civil nuclear power stations in France has triggered a fierce bout of lobbying in recent weeks, and the fight could get even rougher. (...) [ 520 words ] [ €5 ]

	EGYPT
	Leadership Rift Splits Egypt's Jihad
		According to sources close to the Egyptian fundamentalist movement Jihad, its leader since 1992, Ayman Al Zawahiri, was dismissed in early January after falling out with its consultative council. (...) [ 297 words ] [ €5 ]

	EUROPE
	Key Dates for European Defense
		Officials from Portugal's foreign ministry are beavering away at present to ensure that two new European Union bodies that are to implement Europe's common political and security policy (CPSP) will be set up in coming weeks. (...) [ 329 words ] [ €5 ]

	AUSTRIA
	ALERTING CORPORATE WORLD TO DANGERS
		The International Atomic Energy Agency held its first forum for the corporate world in Vienna on Jan. (...) [ 99 words ] [ €1,5 ]