CIA

China, Europe, United States
Strider's EU evangelism on tech theft committed by China

Backed by the Koch family and Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Strider, run by former US intelligence specialists on China and already under contract to the Pentagon, is starting to prospect in Europe.

United States
CIA rolls out well-oiled plan on familiar turf in Ukraine

Engrossed in Europe, US intelligence has increased its operations in Ukraine. It has considerable scope of action in the country forged from eight years of building relations with and providing support to its Ukrainian homologues.

France
France sets up 'CIA' to strengthen inter-ministerial cooperation on crisis and threat anticipation

The Comité Interministériel d'Anticipation (CIA), a little known committee overseen by France's general defence and national security secretariat, the SGDSN, has been set up to coordinate inter-ministerial forward planning on security and defence matters. It should benefit French strategic planning - but also public spending.

Afghanistan, Qatar
Taliban seek funds to finance new army

Still persona non grata in international politics, the Taliban are hoping to negotiate their first contracts with the West and shed sanctions paralysing their ambitions in Afghanistan. The Biden administration does not, for the moment, have any plans to shift its position.

Qatar
US and France keep watch on Qatar's pro-Ukraine shift

Despite having heavily invested in Russia when blocked from its Gulf neighbours from 2017 to 2021, Qatar has taken the Ukraine crisis as an opportunity to confirm its support for the Washington-Brussels axis. For Moscow, this does not mean Doha has passed a point of no return.

France, Russia, Ukraine
How Paris prepared its intelligence services for the Russian offensive in Ukraine

France was quick to set aside its reservations about the likelihood of an imminent Russian invasion and put its intelligence services and military units on standby a few hours before it started. The main focus was then to make up for its human resource gaps.

UAE, United States
Ex-Circinus executives forge new careers in Abu Dhabi

Circinus, which used to monitor social media for the UAE, has fallen from grace since its owner, Republican Party sponsor Eliot Broidy, ran afoul of foreign lobbying laws. But former executives of the company, including ex-CIA officers, continue to prosper both in Abu Dhabi and in Eastern Europe.

France
French military intelligence agency tries out fusion cells

France's military intelligence directorate's latest fusion cell, dubbed the "Plateau Méditerranée", is designed to help it better anticipate crises in the strategic region amid mounting in-house organisational woes and staffing issues.

China, Israel
Chinese businesswomen take on Israeli tech

As a group of Israeli entrepreneurs start their trial in Tel Aviv over the sale of dual-use goods and drones to China, business in Israel seems to be as good as ever for Chinese firms, thanks in large part to a network of Chinese businesswomen with strong connections to the state.

United States
Linkedin strengthens threat intelligence with former Facebook staff

Professional social network Linkedin has been singled out as a Chinese intelligence data source and is strengthening its threat intelligence department by recruiting from Meta (formerly Facebook), which has been extending its teams in this field over the past three years.

United States
Charges against Big Pharma in Iraq fuelled by investigation led by former CIA executives

The legal action started by law firm Sparacino against five pharmaceuticals companies for alleged terrorism financing attracted heavy media coverage. The lawsuit, which was validated last month by a Washington appeal court judge, is based on the work of a squad of former intelligence officers turned private investigators.

Egypt, Turkey
Abbas Kamel and Hakan Fidan's talks stumble on Libya and Muslim Brotherhood

Tension is rising between Egypt and Turkey's intelligence chiefs over Turkey's refusal to extradite suspected Muslim Brotherhood members and Erdogan's Libyan ambitions, differences that jeopardise an Egyptian-Turkish reconciliation.

The Corporate Intelligence Gazette
CR Investigations, Elliott, Raiole, ESL & Network

Appointments, financial results, new contracts: each week, we report on events both big and small that matter in the global corporate intelligence community. This week we go to London, Washinton and Paris.

London CR Investigations primed for 2022 with new Russia-facing recruits.

London Elliott counts on Boris Johnson's ex-PR whiz.

Washington Ex-CIA agent Raiole moves into fair trade.

Paris No longer advising Huawei, Alexandre Medvedowsky pushes for sovereign consulting.

Washington Nardello hires ex-DEA agent for DC office.

United States
Technica Corp to update USCYBERCOM's APT hunter system

As tensions continue to mount with Russia, the US Air Force has contracted Technica Corp to update USCYBERCOM's Cyberspace Vulnerability Assessment/Hunter.

Poland, Ukraine, United States
Warsaw and Pinchuk join forces in Washington

The Polish government has hitched its wagon to a pro-Eastern European Washington think-tank connected with Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk.

UAE, Yemen
Ali Al Shamsi sent to Washington to draw up anti-Houthi axis

The Emirati spymaster has been picked to discuss with top US security officials ways to counter Yemen's pro-Iran Houthi militia as the UAE urges Israel to join the alliance, not the least by means of its US contacts.