Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

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Kati
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Kati »

A first year Chinese graduate student attending an Ivy League university lands at Shanghai Int'al airport at the beginning of summer
to spend a a couple of weeks with her family. She plans to get back to her campus soon for her summer research project. Upon
inspecting her passport and the monitor the immigration officer calls another staff who leads the student to an ante room for a
quick chit-chat. The sweet-mouthed officer asked the student how was her studies, and how did she pay for her trip. After a few
more pleasantries the officer asked her if she (the student) would like her future trips to be paid by her people (read PRC). If she
did, then she should pay her people back in kind. Then the officer promised to get back to her, and she noted down her contact info.
After a few days, another official showed up at the student's family home in her hometown, and got down to business. He provided
her a list of professors at her school campus whose research would be very valuable to her (the student's) people. He then listed the
specific things she might be able to provide to him by shadowing at least two professors in her department.

In a recent closed door meeting with a large gathering of several university high-ranking administrators the details of the above
encounter was shared by the officials of a particular investigative agency tasked with counter-intel. It was suspected that the above-
mentioned student was already a turn-coat, being cultivated by the counter-intel, and revealed more details.

After a very long slumber, the counter-intel is waking up, and apparently pushing back the chinese plans with gusto in the last two years.
krishna_krishna
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by krishna_krishna »

Intresting news after so Long, glad to know raw is alive and kicking finally. Computers stolen from porky conssulate in bangla :

https://arynews.tv/en/computer-theft-pa ... ion-dhaka/
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by sum »

Wonder what was that data which made such a risky op to be authorized?
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Nikhil T »

A "Surgical Strike" Unit To Fight Behind Enemy Lines: Government Sources
NEW DELHI: The government is planning to set up a "surgical strike" force comprising the best soldiers drawn from the three branches of the military, a senior government official told NDTV. This special unit will conduct surprise precision strikes deep inside enemy territory, inflicting maximum damage in the shortest possible time and leave the battle area swiftly, similar to the operation carried out by the country's special forces on seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control in September 2016.
"The government feels it needs a special group with enhanced capabilities, so a unit having the best from all the three (branches of the armed forces) is being created," said the official, who asked not to be named.

The new commando group will have soldiers from the special forces of the Air Force, the Navy and the Army -- Garuds, Marcos and Paras, respectively. These battle-hardened soldiers whose skills are comparable to the US Navy Seals can operate in different terrain, from jungles and mountains to maritime environment.

The new unit will come under the direct control of the Army chief, the official said. "It will have two groups -- planning and assault," he said.

The government has chosen 96 members for the planning group, and 124 for the assault group.

The assault group is further divided into two sub-units -- as is the practice in all special force units of the world -- namely, attack and support units to ensure smooth deployment and seamless coordination.

The unit is the brainchild of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, a senior officer of the National Security Council said. "A note pertaining to it has been sent to the cabinet committee," he said. "Threats from air and sea are multiplying every day, so in the times to come we need to be prepared, that's why this unit is being created," he said.

The soldiers in the attack unit, apart from having top fighting skills, will know specialised field craft such as reading hi-tech maps and coordinating with air support, which the unit will eventually get. The support group will have soldiers who have local knowledge of the target area and can provide intelligence inputs to the assault unit.

"It's going to a cohesive unit. Those who have expertise in CI-ops (counter-insurgency) will be engaged in this group," the official said.

For now, the government plans to use any suitable infrastructure to maintain the new special force, whose name is not yet known. It will eventually allocate a separate budget for this group.

Regular infiltration attempts and ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces are the other reasons why this force is being set up. "It's also a part of psychological warfare tactics to put hostile neighbours under stress," the official said.
Interesting development. In some ways, a surgical strike is the most likely military option to be used again, so it makes sense to have a full time focus on it. I hope it was the Service Chiefs who came up with this idea based on real needs, not the NSA. I wonder if a cross-service unit can be cohesive.
sum
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by sum »

^^ I have no doubt that in the years to come post this govt, we will hear of multitude of agencies, intel led activities which were raised and performed in this tenure
The soldiers in the attack unit, apart from having top fighting skills, will know specialised field craft such as reading hi-tech maps and coordinating with air support, which the unit will eventually get. The support group will have soldiers who have local knowledge of the target area and can provide intelligence inputs to the assault unit.
How is this different from the current SG?
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by rkhanna »

sum wrote:^^ I have no doubt that in the years to come post this govt, we will hear of multitude of agencies, intel led activities which were raised and performed in this tenure
The soldiers in the attack unit, apart from having top fighting skills, will know specialised field craft such as reading hi-tech maps and coordinating with air support, which the unit will eventually get. The support group will have soldiers who have local knowledge of the target area and can provide intelligence inputs to the assault unit.
How is this different from the current SG?
IMO (i hope so) - SG belongs to RAW - i.e the equivalent to the CIA's SAD

This unit - and it has been mentioned in the press before as the Special Operations Division - is more like JSOC - Pursing militaryisque targets of strategic / national importance

our normal SOF units will continue COIN and Training for "vanilla" asymmetrical warfare.
ramana
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by ramana »

I think its to snatch the clown jewels.

hope Unknown is reading this in some happy place.
Neshant
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Neshant »

Massive security risk from Huawei's infrastructure and equipment with US having identified badckdoors in their system. It's practically a cyber warfare arm of the PLA.

-------

US Pressures Germany To Ditch Huawei Over 'Security Concerns'

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12- ... ntensifies
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by ramana »

Neshant, What about US manufactured equipment? Do they not have security back doors?

Indian mil and gov networks are not connected to Huawei powered networks.
The main Indian customer needs 5G to propel to the next level of connectivity.
5G is expected to drive a huge job growth in India.
And Huawei equipment is cheaper than Western equipment.
Both have back doors and front doors.


Also when Indian military folks get honey or malai trapped regularly by ISI/US and pass on real secrets what is the concern with this back door equipment?
Have you notices any trapped Intel guy escape to Pakistan or China. They all go to US.

What is needed is a balanced decision for India and not driven by hype.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Prasad »

Well for that you need to fund and nurture your own. When nobody seems to be interested in doing that, what use getting angry at west or china?
sum
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by sum »

Huuuge amount of details in this Swami article on the current affairs in RAW:
Rumblings in RAW
Some snippets. Read it all:
Ever since 2014, at least 13 senior officials who held operational posts have been removed from RAW, after they were passed over for promotion. In many of those cases, the evidence is murky, but they all have one common feature: those sacked belonged to RAW’s organic cadre, the Research and Analysis Service—not its competitor for institutional control, the Indian Police Service (IPS).
Goel’s career hasn’t been short of controversy, either. In the United Kingdom, he ran foul of the country’s MI5 and MI6, who lobbied their Government to have Goel expelled from the country that violated his cover as a diplomat. The tensions erupted after Goel allegedly sought to recruit Khalistan-linked figures working for the United Kingdom’s intelligence services—poaching that did not go undetected.
Goel himself was named, last month, in litigation filed by Central Bureau of Investigations Deputy Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar Bassi, who told the Supreme Court his ageny had intercepted a conversation between RAW’s Goel and banker Somesh Prasad, warning the Dubai-based fugitive not to return to India ‘at any cost’.


RAW sources have told Firspost Somesh Prasad and his brother and business partner, Manoj Prasad, handled overseas bank accounts the organisation used to funnel funds for covert operations.The men, the sources said, were picked because of their banking expertise, but also because their father, Dineshwar Prasad, was a RAW officer.

The main part i am heartened is amidst the gloom:
For the past four years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has pushed RAW to acquire a growing frontline role, ever-more-aggressively pursuing India’s interests overseas
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by ramana »

Usually Swami stories are suspect. Often bats for anti national.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by kit »

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blo ... or-russia/


As we head for a very important election in 2019, I am forced to learn from USA and invite you to think about who could be interested in us and what would serve its agenda.

There is absolutely no doubt that China is interested in the outcome Indian elections.

A strong India isn’t exactly a Chinese dream. They will want India to be unstable and confused. They will want Indian growth to slow down, especially in industrial sector, and they will surely love to see Indian military power to become weak.

It is easy to see that a weak government at helm in India would serve Chinese agenda wonderfully well, so it would be stupid of us if we are not going to consider a possibility that somewhere in China there is a large establishment working right now with a clear agenda of using whatever options they have to influence Indian elections.

There is no doubt that China must have done so in every election in past, but the case of 2019 election is a clearly different.

The problem today is that China is a superpower, a technology powerhouse and, lot worse, it is almost a rogue state that is immune to international opinions and pressures. There is also enough evidence that it uses unethical hacking as a state-supported weapon and it is really good at it too.

Lot worse is, Chinese IT products, especially smartphones have penetrated not just Indian market but the entire world. Time and again, it is caught with having inserted a chip here and an IC there in computers and phones it has supplied to the world that it can use for snooping.

As China-built smartphone is the primary route used by Indian masses to access social media, it is very likely that China is already holding us by the short hairs.

So, if Russia could tweak the opinion of American public by using social media, it should be a cakewalk for Chinese to do that to India.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by kit »

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/ ... ng-weijing


Poland’s internal affairs minister, Joachim Brudziński, called for the European Union and Nato to work on a joint position over whether to exclude Huawei from their markets.


Huawei Q&A: what you need to know about the Chinese phone maker
Read more
Brudziński said Poland wanted to continue cooperating with China but that a discussion was needed on whether to exclude Huawei from some markets.

“There are concerns about Huawei within Nato as well. It would make most sense to have a joint stance, among EU member states and Nato members,” he told broadcaster RMF FM.

“We want relations with China that are good, intensive and attractive for both sides,” he added.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecommunications equipment, is facing intense scrutiny in the west over its relationship with China’s government.

In August, the US president, Donald Trump, signed a bill that barred the US government from using Huawei equipment and is considering an executive order that would also ban US companies from doing so.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Neshant »

It is a cyber warfare arm of the PLA

Certain other companies too.

Apple had to get rid of a ton of such equipment with the aim of going to zero on it for security reasons.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by TKiran »

There's no possibility of influencing the Indian voters by China. While China certainly has the data about Indian voters' opinion, it has only information. Information is double edged sword. It doesn't have the tools to stop the information. If it tried to crash the Indian social media, it's war and they will surely loose any war even with minnows, India is not a minnow.

For every narrative that negatively portrayed NaMo, there's counter narrative, it's not all lost for India. People are more interested in searching the counter narrative than believe blindly the propaganda. In fact, the more furious the narrative, the counter narrative is more effective. China can't selectively block the counter narratives.

Propaganda is effective only when counter narratives are blocked.

It's gonna be NaMo govt in 2019, much more stronger than what was in 2014. But there's only one possibility of showcasing great possitive narratives of the three states Congress won recently through policy decisions to show that they are nationalistic too. But they already lost it by urea scam, and loan wivers (benefitting only select few big farmers).

The probability of maha thug bandhan coming to power is zero.

But mathematically there's a chance and possibility of mgb coming to power, and even for the sake of argument, converting such possibility into 0.00001%, the mgb will collapse in 6months and we will have fresh elections. It would be much bigger victory for NDA then.

China doesn't have tools to Block counter narratives like it can do with WeChat or weibo etc.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Rahul M »

what's the point of posting smilies and a 3 year old article ?
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by ramana »

Neshant
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Neshant »

Kati wrote:A fascinating account of what the Panda is doing in down under .....

Australia And New Zealand Are Ground Zero For Chinese Influence

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/02/62724990 ... -influence
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Nikhil T »

Never seen an article like this in Economic Times. Let's keep a pin on this ..

Air India on a top-secret mission?

Intense speculation that Air India could be readying a mission that involves sending a long-range non-stop flight to bring back a highvalue target early next week swept aviation circles Friday.

Sources were tight-lipped about the plane’s destination and the passenger’s identity.

However, as per the buzz, the flight will have three sets of crew (one set is a captain and co-pilot) and 15 to 20 nonairline personnel. The aircraft is likely to begin its return trip after 14 hours, factoring in a mandatory 12-hour rest for the crew and a quick turnaround time.

There was no official confirmation. However, the buttoned-up response was not read as a categorical denial and this only further escalated the speculation.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by sum »

Why would such a vague article even be printed?

Wonder who this HVT from far away land is and why IAF/RAW/ARC planes arent being used like for some previous cases?
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by chetak »

ramana wrote:I think its to snatch the clown jewels.

hope Unknown is reading this in some happy place.
aren't these guys replicating the SEAL team structure and objectives??
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by chetak »

sum wrote:Why would such a vague article even be printed?

Wonder who this HVT from far away land is and why IAF/RAW/ARC planes arent being used like for some previous cases?
and why open their hole about such a thing??

can't the dopes do it quietly??

isn't it a tailor made job for the C17/C130 with a refueller??
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Rakesh »

Why was this article published? The ET Editor needs to answer a few questions.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Rakesh »

Spies rule the roost
https://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/20 ... roost.html

By R. Prasannan And Namrata Biji Ahuja, 11 November 2018
In its 50th year, R&AW is at the centre of massive overhaul of intelligence apparatus.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by komal »

Supposed targets of operation involving AI aircraft

Modi govt commissions long-range Boeing to bring back fugitives Mehul Choksi and Jatin Mehta: Reports

https://www.opindia.com/2019/01/modi-go ... a-reports/
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by sum »

Rakesh wrote:Spies rule the roost
https://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/20 ... roost.html

By R. Prasannan And Namrata Biji Ahuja, 11 November 2018
In its 50th year, R&AW is at the centre of massive overhaul of intelligence apparatus.
I just pray atleast one more term of Modi govt atleast for this domain to prosper else we will slide back to olden days of Nehruvian diplomats rolling back all the strides made
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by rajithn »

komal wrote:Supposed targets of operation involving AI aircraft

Modi govt commissions long-range Boeing to bring back fugitives Mehul Choksi and Jatin Mehta: Reports

https://www.opindia.com/2019/01/modi-go ... a-reports/
Most likely a plane to be sent to bring AJ back before the interim budget. The "news" about bringing back Choksi or whoever is likely a red herring. Just to get the MSM undies in a twist! HAHAHAHA

With all the aircraft we have at our disposal, in order to bring a fugitive back, the last thing we need is this...I am waiting to see the MSM faces when Jaitley walks down the stairs...or even better.....that aircraft story goes **poof***
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Nikhil T »

JayS
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by JayS »

What secret is left in it now..? All fugitives living in Caribbean must have left by now. :lol: Unless of coarse the fugitive is already under arrest with local authorities. But in that case what's the need for special flight and all this secrecy...?
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Sagrawal »

Did the flight return? Any news on its human cargo?
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by suryag »

sum
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by sum »

Absolutely no doubt in my mind. Dont think any other country will go great lengths to foil Paki plans in BD

Coupled with news of "theft of few computers" from Dhaka Paki embassy, can imagine there is lot of activity happening there which we will hear titbits of in years to.come
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by arshyam »

JayS wrote:What secret is left in it now..? All fugitives living in Caribbean must have left by now. :lol: Unless of coarse the fugitive is already under arrest with local authorities. But in that case what's the need for special flight and all this secrecy...?
Was this a feint to get the other guy from Dubai? He certainly hadn't gone anywhere :lol:
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by JayS »

arshyam wrote:
JayS wrote:What secret is left in it now..? All fugitives living in Caribbean must have left by now. :lol: Unless of coarse the fugitive is already under arrest with local authorities. But in that case what's the need for special flight and all this secrecy...?
Was this a feint to get the other guy from Dubai? He certainly hadn't gone anywhere :lol:
Could be. Would be really chanakian if this was done deliberately. So any leaked info coming would have been attributed to some mission in Caribbean while real mission was always to grab the rats from UAE. :lol:
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Kati »

PRIVATE MOSSAD FOR HIRE

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019 ... d-for-hire

Enjoy.... A fascinating account.......

Excerpts:
he modern market for private intelligence dates back to the nineteen-seventies, when a former prosecutor named Jules Kroll began hiring police detectives, F.B.I. and Treasury agents, and forensic accountants to conduct detective work on behalf of corporations, law and accounting firms, and other clients. The company, which became known as Kroll, Inc., also recruited a small number of former C.I.A. officers, but rarely advertised these hires—Kroll knew that associating too closely with the C.I.A. could endanger employees in countries where the spy agency was viewed with contempt.

In the two-thousands, Israeli versions of Kroll entered the market. These companies had a unique advantage: few countries produce more highly trained and war-tested intelligence professionals, as a proportion of the population, than Israel. Conscription in Israel is mandatory for most citizens, and top intelligence units often identify talented recruits while they are in high school. These soldiers undergo intensive training in a range of language and technical skills. After a few years of government service, most are discharged, at which point many finish their educations and enter the civilian job market. Gadi Aviran was one of the pioneers of the private Israeli intelligence industry. “There was this huge pipeline of talent coming out of the military every year,” Aviran, who founded the intelligence firm Terrogence, said. “All a company like mine had to do was stand at the gate and say, ‘You look interesting.’ ”

Aviran was formerly the head of an Israeli military intelligence research team, where he supervised analysts who, looking for terrorist threats, reviewed data vacuumed up from telephone communications and from the Internet. The process, Aviran said, was like “looking at a flowing river and trying to see if there was anything interesting passing by.” The system was generally effective at analyzing attacks after they occurred, but wasn’t as good at providing advance warning.

Aviran began to think about a more targeted approach. Spies, private investigators, criminals, and even some journalists have long used false identities to trick people into providing information, a practice known as pretexting. The Internet made pretexting easier. Aviran thought that fake online personae, known as avatars, could be used to spy on terrorist groups and to head off planned attacks. In 2004, he started Terrogence, which became the first major Israeli company to demonstrate the effectiveness of avatars in counterterrorism work.

When Terrogence launched, many suspected jihadi groups communicated through members-only online forums run by designated administrators. To get past these gatekeepers, Terrogence’s operatives gave their avatars legends, or backstories—often as Arab students at European universities. As the avatars proliferated, their operators joked that the most valuable online chat rooms were now entirely populated by avatars, who were, inadvertently, collecting information from one another.

Aviran tried to keep Terrogence focussed on its core mission—counterterrorism—but some government clients offered the company substantial contracts to move in other directions. “It’s a slippery slope,” Aviran said, insisting that it was a path he resisted. “You start with one thing and suddenly you think, Wait, wait, I can do this. Then somebody asks if you can do something else. And you say, ‘Well, it’s risky but the money is good, so let’s give it a try.’ ”

Terrogence’s success spawned imitators, and other former intelligence officers began to open their own firms, many of them less risk-averse than Terrogence. One of the boldest, Black Cube, openly advertised its ties to Israeli spy agencies, including Mossad and Unit 8200, the military’s signals-intelligence corps. Black Cube got its start with the help of Vincent Tchenguiz, an Iranian-born English real-estate tycoon who had invested in Terrogence. In March, 2011, Tchenguiz was arrested by a British anti-fraud unit investigating his business dealings. (The office later dropped the investigation and paid him a settlement.) He asked Meir Dagan, who had just stepped down as the director of Mossad, how he could draw on the expertise of former intelligence officers to look into the business rivals he believed had alerted authorities. Dagan’s message to Tchenguiz, a former colleague of Dagan’s said, was: I can find a personal Mossad for you. (Dagan died in 2016.) Tchenguiz became Black Cube’s first significant client.

In some respects, Psy-Group emerged more directly from Terrogence. In 2008, Aviran hired an Israel Defense Forces intelligence officer named Royi Burstien to be the vice-president of business development. Social networks such as Facebook—whose profiles featured photographs and other personal information—were becoming popular, and Terrogence’s avatars had become more sophisticated to avoid detection. Burstien urged Aviran to consider using the avatars in more aggressive ways, and on behalf of a wider range of commercial clients. Aviran was wary. After less than a year at Terrogence, Burstien returned to Israel’s military intelligence, and joined an élite unit that specialized in PsyOps, or psychological operations.

In the following years, some of Burstien’s ambitions were being fulfilled elsewhere. Russia’s intelligence services had begun using a variety of tools—including hacking, cyber weapons, online aliases, and Web sites that spread fake news—to conduct information warfare and to sow discord in neighboring countries. In the late two-thousands, the Russians targeted Estonia and Georgia. In 2014, they hit Ukraine. Later that year, Burstien founded Psy-Group, which, like Black Cube, used avatars to conduct intelligence-collection operations. But Burstien also offered his avatars for another purpose: influence campaigns, similar to those mounted by Russia. Burstien boasted that Psy-Group’s so-called “deep” avatars were so convincing that they were capable of planting the seeds of ideas in people’s heads.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Kati »

^^^^
We know that in the last four and half years Pappu vanished from Bharat three times after regional / local election drubbings.
It was rumored that he went to a particular western country to attend private "leadership courses" under the watch of special
parties who wanted to make sure that Pappu could bounce back.......
After all, "Make in India" has made life miserable for many people / parties who have been used to cozy business
dealings that were/are detrimental to Bharat's national interest.....
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by ramana »

Also how do we know that the private Mossads did not fish in US elections? More likely as pay off is very important.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by jaysimha »

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kit
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by kit »

Kati wrote:^^^^
We know that in the last four and half years Pappu vanished from Bharat three times after regional / local election drubbings.
It was rumored that he went to a particular western country to attend private "leadership courses" under the watch of special
parties who wanted to make sure that Pappu could bounce back.......
After all, "Make in India" has made life miserable for many people / parties who have been used to cozy business
dealings that were/are detrimental to Bharat's national interest.....
Pappu also has the counsel of Mani Aiyar and S Pitroda .. god help the country if he comes anywhere near power!
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