National Security

Spotlight | France, UAE
Sylvain Vieujot, the richest Frenchman in Dubai, caught up in dynastic power struggle

Equitativa Group's Emirates REIT, one of the largest property trusts in the Gulf, is the subject of several investigations and a lawsuit from a former partner linked to Tahnoon bin Zayed. The business duo Vieujot-Mouquet, who are connected to MbZ, are also being closely watched.

Afghanistan, Central Asia, Russia
Central Asian spymasters want to return Russia's focus to Afghanistan

Silovik chief Nikolai Patrushev is still taking part in discussion forums run by Central Asia's intelligence chiefs worried about the Taliban security risk. But with all their efforts focused on the war in Ukraine, Russia's armed forces have been forced to gradually disengage from that part of the world.

Spotlight | United Kingdom
MI6 strengthens legal team to weigh in on future changes in intelligence legislation

Faced with a packed legislative schedule involving the Investigatory Powers Act, National Security Bill and Human Rights Act, the British foreign intelligence service is strengthening its legal team, which has been tasked with lobbying in Westminster.

Turkey, UAE
Edge Group central to Turkey-UAE cyber rapprochement

The UAE and Turkey have several defence bilateral cooperation projects in the works, and are tentatively exploring cyber cooperation, which might be a way for Abu Dhabi's Edge Group to reestablish itself in the cyber-offensive sector.

The Agencies' Gazette
CIA, Georgia's GIS, Hamas finance, DGSE operations

Appointments, reforms and key issues: every Monday, we report on events both big and small that matter in the global intelligence community. This week we home in on the US, Georgia, Palestine, Turkey and France.

United StatesCIA's spies experience housing crisis in Langley

GeorgiaGovernment increases oversight of GIS' international dealings

Palestine/TurkeyHamas still receiving funds from Turkey

FranceDGSE operations department poised to get new chief

Ukraine
Ukrainian parliament gives priority to debate on military intelligence revamp

The large reform of Ukraine's SBU internal intelligence service, which has already been partly carried out, has been temporarily suspended because of the war with Moscow. Priority is now being given to some hard thinking about military intelligence reform.

The Tech Telegraph
Thales and PwC, FiveCast, Flashpoint, and US drones think-tank

From SIGINT to GEOINT and OSINT and a dose of cyber, each week we report on events both big and small that matter in the community of technical intelligence providers.

BrusselsThales and PwC, the European Commission's threat intelligence providers.

Arlington/AdelaideAustralia's FiveCast loses US national security market guru.

New YorkEvan Kohlmann, the second Flashpoint co-founder to jump ship.

ArlingtonFaced with China, Mitchell Institute reinvents itself as a designer of drone policy.

Belarus, Ukraine
Dissident militias involved in Ukraine conflict worry Minsk security chiefs

A group of Belarusian volunteers, Kalinovsky, is defending Ukrainian territory against Russian forces. Together with the Bypol organisation, it is also preparing for a new regime once Alexander Lukashenko is gone, in liaison with the Warsaw diaspora.

Israel, Turkey
Tel Aviv's spymasters slow down reconciliation with Ankara

Israel and Turkey had been warming to one another, but recent recommendations from Israel's national security council, warning Israelis to avoid travel to Turkey because of Iranian activisim, have put up a roadblock.

France
France's highest administrative jurisdiction will handle the case of disowned intelligence official

The legal battle between France's domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI, and one of its former officers, Eric M., suspected of being too close to the US intelligence community, should soon come to a close before the Council of State.

Russia
Jet Infosystems, the Kremlin's all-terrain IT supplier

The Moscow-based firm, which even operates in foreign military theatres, nurtures its security networks through its chief lobbyist, Vadim Shustov.

UAE, United States
Washington focuses on Talal Al Kaissi in its new UAE cloud offensive

Appointed head of G42 Cloud in January, Talal Al Kaissi has been receptive to a charm offensive by US companies and that of their business contacts, providing a ray of hope for Washington that's alarmed by the inroads into the UAE by China's Huawei.

UAE
UAE cyber offensive champion CPX hit by intrusion as internal power battle rages around it

Despite the attribution of control of the UAE's cyber offensive capacity to Group 42 company CPX, sovereign fund Tawazun has not given up its battle to take charge of the national cyber intelligence sector. Meanwhile, CPX executives are trying to hide the fact that the company has suffered its first attack.

United Kingdom
Home Office puts figure on unmasking a foreign spy

The National Security Bill, the first reform of Britain's counter-intelligence law since 1911, has involved some intricate number-crunching by the Home Office.

Russia
Russian investors await Western asset nationalisation wave

As the Russian parliament prepares the legal framework for nationalising foreign-held assets in Russia, the regulatory authorities are also taking steps to bring critical industries back under the Kremlin's control.

Europe, France
TotalEnergies and Paris push to take the lead in the European race for non-Russian gas

The consequences of the war in Ukraine on the energy markets may still be at an early stage but France is looking to establish itself as the key player in alternative supplies to countries with TotalEnergies, even though this may cause friction within the EU.