In addition to this there are exhibits to interest any ENIGMA 2000 Member.
PLondon’s favourite is Hut 1, the Diplomatic Wireless Exhibition.
The cover pic on NL33 was the 6 tone Piccolo Unit, which can be seen at weekends in Hut 1 DWS Exhibition.
May 2006
Articles, newsreports and Items of interest :enigma2000-owner@yahoogroups.com
Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities | Polytones
German branch | Numbers predictions
E03 & E03a prediction charts | E06 & S06 schedules
Cubans schedules | G06 schedules over a year | E11 schedules over a year
If it had not been for 15 minutes (3/6)
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Index | E2K NL Home
Now onto PoSW’s ‘Items from the Media’:
The Mail on Sunday of 26-February reported that M15 has stopped spying on Marxist students and trade unionists as they are no longer considered a danger to national security. According to Jason Lewis, Whitehall correspondent, "As it faces up to the threat of international terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks it has dropped all so-called "reds under the bed" operations. The "enemy within" surveillance monitored the activities of hundreds of radicals......including some who went on to be Labour Cabinet Ministers. Secret files on Foreign Secretary Jack Straw classified him as a subversive when he was a student leader in the sixties". There is a photograph of "Hapless Jack" Straw taken in the Sixties when he was a student "leader" and he has the same shifty, devious look about him as he does now. Always puts me in mind of a small-town used car salesman who has just spent the afternoon winding back the mileage indicators on all of the vehicles in his showroom and can hardly believe he has gotten away with it. A couple of other names of those regarded as a threat to the State a few decades ago include Peter Mandlesson who was bugged by M15 for three years in the late Seventies and Peter Hain who conducted a campaign against the then South African government. There is also a mention of the spying activities conducted against trade union leader Arthur Scargill who led the coal miner's strike in 1984, one of the great dividing lines in British domestic politics because it marked the end of the trades unions as a serious force in the country. I remember an incident concerning the miner's strike which occured several years afterwards when there was a news report that two individuals fairly high up in Mr. Scargill's union executive were informers for the intelligence services and had been for many years - I think they were given new identities and a generous financial package by a greatful government who were able to break the miners because of the inside information they provided. Mr Scargill was pounced on by reporters as he left a meeting and was asked by one of them "Mr Scargill, what is your reaction to the reports that two of your trusted colleagues were M15 informers". Without a moments hesitation Scargill replied "I'm surprised there were only two".
On a somewhat related theme there was much discussion in the media as to whether or not there was a plot to overthrow Prime Minister Harold Wilson who led the Labour goverment in the Sixties and again in the mid-Seventies. There have been many rumours about this over the years and was touched upon by Peter Wright in his Spycatcher book. The story goes that a plot to overthrow Wilson had been prepared by MI5 with a collection of businessmen and senior millitary men who would form a goverment with Lord Mountbatten as its head. The reason for such drastic action was the supposed mess the Wilson administration was making of the economy and the belief that Wilson himself was a Soviet agent. The events formed the basis of a drama-documenary put out by BBC television on March-16 based on conversations Wilson had with two BBC journalists in 1976. I must say, having lived through the Wilson years he didn't seem to be all that much of a rabied communist. The big overseas news story in the second half of the Sixties was the Vietnam War and Harold Wilson appeared to be one hundred percent in favour of what the Americans were doing although he stopped short of sending British troops despite great pressure from President L.B. Johnson. Had he given in to the Americans we might have had somewhere in London our own black granite memorial with thousands of names on it just like they have in Washington.
The death of John Profumo in early March was the cause of much comment in the press. The Profumo affair was a major news story in the early Sixties when the then Secretary of State for war got himself mixed up with some ladies of easy virtue most memorably a certain Christine Keeler who, when she wasn't servicing Mr. Profumo was busy dispensing her favours to Yevgeny Ivanov, the naval attache at the Soviet embassy which, at the height of the Cold War, had obvious security implications. In 1963 Profumo stated in Parliament that there was "no impropriety" in his relationship with Keeler but a few weeks later he appeared before Parliament to say that he had misled the house and that he would resign. And resign he did, an action which would be unthinkable with any of today's politicians. Who could imagine any of the current self serving bunch resigning on such a matter ? And he didn't re-appear on the board of directors of companies seeking fat government contracts; instead he went into charity work in the poorer areas of London and became highly regarded. Whatever his faults he atoned for his sins many times over and notwithstanding the threat to national security of his actions I am sure he caused far less damage to the wellbeing of this nation than any of the politicians who have been in power over the last two decades. One of the best sources of of the salient facts on the Profumo affair can be found in the book "Espionage, an Encyclopedia of Spies and Secrets", compiled by Richard M Bennett, published by Virgin Books Ltd.
The Sunday Express of 9-April carried an interesting piece on a possible cover-up in the aftermath of the event which took place on December 21 1988 when Pan American Flight 103 exploded over Scotland killing 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. According to a police surgeon involved in the case, Dr. David Fieldhouse, a body went missing from the scene which led to the wrong man being jailed for the atrocity. In 2002 a Libyan was found guilty of the bombing and sentenced to a minimum of 27 years in prison. The allegation is that the missing corpse was removed as part of a CIA plot to conceal the identity of someone who should not have been on the plane.
The article says
"Many close to the investigation believe it was Syrians, not Libyans who planted the bomb after infiltrating a botched CIA operation that allowed terrorists to send heroin across the Atlantic in return for information about American hostages in Lebanon. The story revolves around the fact that Dr. Fieldhouse helped to recover and tag 59 bodies of the victims but later it turned out that only 58 were listed with one of them being removed from all official records. There were reports at the time of a coffin-shaped box being shipped out of Carlilse and there were claims that CIA agents dressed in Pan-Am overalls had combed the countryside for luggage belonging to a number of dead American intelligence agents who had been on board. A woman police officer reported finding a CIA badge in the debris but was ordered not to make any record of it."
On 3-March several papers carried the story of an intercepted message from the Second World War, encoded by the famous Enigma machine, finally being decoded 64 years later. The Daily Express reported in a piece by Mark Reynolds that "Three coded messages which have remained undeciphered since the Second World War are finally being cracked thanks to thousands of computer owners. The German codes baffled Allied cryptographers during the war. But one of the messages from a Nazi U-boat captain has now been revealed through code-breaking software on a grid of PCs linked to the internet" The message rendered into plaintext is a fairly routine communication from Kapitanleutnant Hartwig Looks, commander of the U264 and dated November 25 1942 on the prevailing weather conditions together with course and speed taken in the aftermath of being on the receiving end of a depth charge attack. The story continues "The succesful attempt to crack the code was initiated by German violinist Stefan Krah. He wrote the program and publicised it on the internet, attracting the interest of about 45 people who allowed their computers to be used. In the end the project snowballed, involving 2,500 terminals around the world".
The London based commercial radio station Talk Sport has recently aquired a new presenter in the form of Mr. George Galloway, former Labour Party Member of Parliament - long since fallen out of favour with Mr. Tony BLiar and now the only "Respect Party" MP, and of course sometime hand-shaker of Saddam Hussein. The output of Talk Sport Radio as the name suggests is largely concerned with sport - which in the UK means football - and a great deal of its peak-hour output is dedicated to the task of hyping up the whole money-making business for the benifit of its shaven headed, tatooed and ear-ring wearing followers. However, there is only so much crap that can be spoken on this subject and in the late evenings the station concerns itself with various other topics. The whole talk radio format is something which has been copied from the USA where no doubt it works very well, less so in the UK where the laws of slander and the recent legislation restricting what can be said in public greatly limit what can be discussed and indeed, much of the programming these days is in the form of a contrived angry rant against various aspects of the law as applied to motor vehicles, especially with regard to parking restrictions and speed limits as enforced by automatic cameras. Nevertheless, George is the exception and makes a far better job than most of his fellow presenters when he does his two hour slot on Saturday and Sunday evenings, modestly entitled "The Mother of all Talkshows", covering many serious subjects and engaging in lively debate with the callers.
[PL’s comment:I am not a lover of anything sport; I’ll follow Cricket and a bit of Rugby but I don’t really care two hoots for the rest of the nonsense. I discovered TalkSport one morning at when fed up with the rhetoric from my usual haunt of 97.3 I thought I’d tune on the MW band.
I landed on 1089and Mike Mendoza – interesting show at 0400 whilst I take a shave. Then there is like presenters in the evening [football nonsense permitting] and George Galloway Saturday and Sunday. I listen to GG on my minidisk during the week – makes crappy journeys come alive – especially when some punter rings in, attempts to make life difficult for him and slags GG off only to be told he can expect to hear from GG’s lawyers. It really is entertaining.
The only downside of non-sport listening is Actor Steve Hartley’s- ex Ch. Supt Tom Chandler in The Bill continual voice – very annoying indeed ].
and now onto our continuing NEWS & ITEMS of INTEREST penned by KW and a variety of others:
MUO MUO MUO
ZBZ ZBZ ZBZ ????
ZCZC 1027Z210406
FLASH ENIGMA 2000
NOT CONFIDENTIAL CRYPTO MARKED ~ ~ KLGTY CLEAR
BEGINS:
The Army is to get a new air-portable battlefield communications network called FALCON under a contract worth in excess of £200m, Minister for Defence Procurement, Lord Drayson, announced yesterday.
BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies (Insyte), has been awarded the contract to design and manufacture FALCON which will equip senior commanders with one of the world's most advanced and powerful digital communications networks for controlling combat operations at corps, divisional and brigade level. It will have up to 50 times the data throughput capacity of the systems it replaces and will massively improve the Army's communications network and reduce the number of Royal Signals vehicles and personnel needed to support a major headquarters. It is due to enter service in 2010.
Lord Drayson said: "I am very pleased to announce that we have awarded the FALCON contract to BAE Systems Insyte for this hugely important system. Its delivery will provide the Armed Forces with the modern, secure communications infrastructure required for effective operations".
"FALCON will be a vital part of the network-enabled operations that will help our front line commanders cut through the fog of war and ensure that they have the ability to communicate quickly and effectively across the battlefield. Studies have shown that better and faster use of combat
information gives our Armed Forces a major advantage over any likely opponents and FALCON, integrated with the Bowman tactical communications system and the Cormorant command system, will give them that crucial advantage. It fully supports our future procurement policy as laid out in the Defence Industrial Strategy"
FALCON will provide the battlefield communications infrastructure to support the Army's command systems. The Bowman tactical system will feed information into FALCON, which will be able to link back to UK headquarters using the Skynet 5 satellite communications system.
FALCON will replace in-service systems such as Ptarmigan, Euromux,and the RAF Transportable Telecommunications System (RTTS). The FALCON network will permit transmission of large amounts of data between Army Headquarters and battlefield commanders. The system will be deployed to and operated by Royal Signals Units and will allow significant operator reductions over the
existing Ptarmigan system.
The FALCON project is managed by the Theatre and Formation Communication Systems project team, based at the Defence Procurement Agency in Bristol. The team is led by Martin Sheppard
In line with the Defence Industrial Strategy; the programme will sustain a cadre of engineers that understand our systems and requirements in order to support our equipment in the future. It also maintains our capability to produce equipment over which a measure of sovereign control is
required (e.g. cryptographic material). FALCON is key to the "Resilient Information Infrastructure" of Network Enabled Capability (NEC) by providing the modern, secure communications infrastructure required by deployed formations and operating bases. Anon.
--- End forwarded message ---
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ZCZC
TNX Anon ZBZ5 ZBZ5 ZBZ5
BOWMAN? Better Off With a Map And Nokia imi system name CUPSTRINGCUP imi
BIBI E2K
Last time we mentioned a blog run by Mr Michael Smith, a convicted spy. It came to our notice that The Ealing Times actually printed further details of Mr Smith’s view of his conviction:
http://www.ealingtimes.co.uk/display.var.704285.0.0.php
For those without computer access:
‘Spy’ out of the cold
By Susan Greenwood
The Cold War may be becoming an academic subject but for a former Kingston resident fighting to clear his name, it is very much a hot topic.
Mike Smith, 58, has spent 10 years in jail accused of passing on defence secrets to the KGB, the Soviet Union's infamous intelligence service, during the early 1990s.
But he has always vehemently protested his innocence, claiming an unfortunate series of coincidences, bad decisions and an incendiary political climate contributed to his downfall.
He believes he was made an ideal scapegoat because of his past involvement with the trades union movement in Kingston, as well as the Young Communist League, which saw him take trips to Moscow in the early 1970s.
Mr Smith admits to industrial espionage, selling information while working for the General Electric Company at the Hirst Research Centre in Wembley and amassing around £20,000. But he was adamant that he was not selling secrets to the Soviets between 1990 and 1992.
He said: "I am trying to discover and expose the full story behind the conspiracy that led to my conviction of supposedly spying for the Russians and have been trying to make noises about this for some years. I just want to sort it out and clear my name. It has changed my whole life, damaged my possibility of getting a job and led to the end of my marriage.".
Central to Mr Smith's conviction was the character of Viktor Oshchenko, his alleged KGB contact who defected to the UK in July 1992. Mr Smith denies any contact with Oshchenko.
He said: "It's possible I could've met him, because a guy I knew in New Malden brought a group of Russians down to a social gathering. But that was in the 1970s not the 1990s and I don't know what's happened to him now.".
Mr Smith's appeal in 1995 was turned down, claiming treachery is treachery and it must be punished'. For more information on the case go to www.parellic.blogspot.com.
sgreenwood@london.newsquest.co.uk.
9:47am Friday 10th March 2006
"According to Pakistani intelligence sources, the use of free and anonymous e-mail services such as Yahoo! or Hotmail by al Qaeda operatives is widespread.
To avoid being intercepted, the messages are not sent but saved in the account's draft box.
They can then be retrieved by other operatives by simply logging on to the same e-mail address — with a shared password.
This technique makes it impossible for intelligence services such as the British GCHQ or the American NSA to read these messages without hacking into the servers themselves, which they are legally prohibited to do."
What tripe! Intelligence held in the draft box must flow through a compromised medium (comm network) to reach any given receiver.
The intent of the disinfo is to get the amateurs to keep their messages in their draft boxes. Whenever the same draft box is accessed by a computer, the IP is logged by the email server. Then, a mongo link can be drawn up to study the pattern and figure out who is in charge of the amateurs.
http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/3665
Colonel Deepak Raina of the Indian Army faces court martial for allowing a Pakistani spy to access top-secret war plans.
He is the highest-ranking Indian officer to face spying charges.
It is also one of India 's biggest espionage cases since the Sambha spy scandal in 1971.
Raina, who was the colonel operations at Tezpur, 4 Corps headquarters in Assam, had asked Lance Naik Javed Khan to copy some top-secret documents in July 2005.
Khan did download the papers from a restricted computer for Raina but kept a copy for himself, which he then passed on to his father Hanif.
Hanif, a retired IAF sergeant, was believed to be working for Pakistan and was later produced in a local court in Guwahati.
War plans
The documents contained information about India ’s response to a nuclear attack, entire plans of missile deployment across the nation, reshuffle and redeployment of all infantry units in the army between October 2005 and March 2006.
It also included tactical and strategic sector-wise deployment of troops on the India-China border under 4 Corps.
Raina's boss Lt Gen AS Jamwal wanted the documents copied as he was raising a new corps in Himachal Pradesh.
Raina is charged with violating procedure by allowing Khan to access to classified information. He is being held responsible for not being vigilant enough.
The question is if Colonel Raina is guilty of being too casual with his work or something more than that.
Brought to notice by Jmm [tnx]
Gloucester Citizen 10:39 15-Mar-06
It Could hardly have been a more apt school to provide lessons about the secret world of electronic espionage. Youngsters from the Crypt School in Gloucester have been learning about the cryptic world of Cheltenham's GCHQ eavesdropping base.
The school hosted a GCHQ morning for Year 9, 10 and 6th form language students.
GCHQ, the Government communications headquarters, sent a team to the senior school to talk about the importance of languages to their day-to-day work.
Pupils took part in a series of workshops with the team, which gave them the chance to find out about GCHQ, hear about languages in the military and gave them a taste of Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Urdu and Greek languages.
The school is trying to get more pupils to take up languages and GCHQ staff met students last year.
County councillor Joan Nash, cabinet member for schools, said: "Staff of the Crypt School and of GCHQ should be congratulated in arranging this opportunity for pupils to talk about the importance of languages in the workplace.
"Opportunities such as these, give pupils useful information to take into account when they are selecting subjects for later examination courses and career selection."
Penny Krucker, head of international education at the county council said: "I am delighted that one of Gloucestershire's top employers is showing such interest in languages in our schools.
"It is great to see such a time commitment by GCHQ to inspire and support young people's acquisition of languages."
[Sent in by Jmm]
Makes you wonder why the JSSL closed. Anyone with an interest might like to take a look at ‘Secret Classrooms’, Harold Shukman and Geoffrey Elliott..
|
This version of the Harrier Jump Jet can be seen at Bletchley Park National Codebreaking Centre. [Colossus rebuild bldg seen behind]. In addition to this there are exhibits to interest any ENIGMA 2000 Member. PLondon’s favourite is Hut 1, the Diplomatic Wireless Exhibition. The cover pic on NL33 was the 6 tone Piccolo Unit, which can be seen at weekends in Hut 1 DWS Exhibition. |
The Hawker P1127 was the project name of the harrier Jump Jet, perhaps Britain ’s most prolific Post WW2 jet fighter. Many a schoolboy bought the Airfix model or Dinky Toy or added it to his Vapour Trails display.
It saw action in Britains last Colonial War in 1982 when we sorted out the Argies over their claim to the Falklands – or the less attractive Malvinas as the argies renamed it. [I recall seeing all the cans of Corned Beef untouched on supermarket shelves – ‘Produce of Argentina ’ became, ‘canned in Brazil ’ or the rather direct ‘Argies are barmy, send in the Army’ pained along the Auxiliary Fire Station wall in Old Town, Croydon].
Apart from Argies and Malvinas another word entered our language; viffing. Viffing was an acronym from the RAF term Vectoring In Forward Flight. In other words whacking the brakes on and letting a missile go past [or your opponent] before destroying it..
The Metro of Tuesday 28th March on Page 25 showed an aerial photo of 1200 naval personnel and 50 school pupils bidding farewell to to the Royal Navy Sea Harrier FA2 jump jets at Yeovilton as they were taken out of service.
PLondon met the Sub Lt at a RN Dockyard who developed the ski jump used for fuel efficient take-offs – he also left a damn good bill in the Officers Mess at HMS Vernon too but the least said about that the better.
[Alongside the pic about the jump jets a prominent piece was placed that accused Ken Livingstone, London’s Mayor, of calling The US Ambassador a ‘Chiselling Crook’ because of his refusal to pay London’s congestion charge. Apparently, Mr Tuttle runs one of America ’s biggest car dealerships. This was recognized by our Ken who then called Mr Tuttle ‘a salesman who was a friend of Mr Bush. On 06/04 PM Bliar – no doubt desperate for votes as well as to lose certain remaks about his relationship with Bush announced he supported Ken and the charges – the UAE Embassy has apparently paid the charges asked for as Ken stated he looks forward to clamping Mr Tuttle’s car].
Apart from the removal of the Harrier from Yeolvilton [PLondon and DoK once knew a LtCdr who was the ATC there] a recent article showed the Paras marching out of Dover on their way to their Welsh billet. Wonder if this is a land sale?
So started a short in the Sunday Express 2nd April 2006 which mentioned that this possibility is due to be discussed at a top level Whitehall meeting as relations between the west and Iran continue to deteriorate. [They’ve got oil!!!!].
The very next day a variety of papers, mine was the Metro, carried the story about Iran ’s successful test of a high speed torpedo that can do 224mph [360kph]. It is capable of destroying large warships and submarines but it is not known if the Hoot can carry a nuclear warhead.
Condoleezza ‘what a handle’ Rice and Jack Straw [or as a certain young man calls him ‘the Demon Headmaster] visited Blackburn and Liverpool where residents made their feelings quite clear about the Iraq War [and didn’t Mr Mayor look sick?]. Then wanting a safer place they flew to Iraq to have talks with Mr Jaafari, who they feel is not up to uniting all Iraqis.
In the Metro Codoleezza ‘what a handle’ Rice is reported as suggesting that in a comparison between Iraq and Iran that ‘the circumstances are different.’ Dead right Ms Rice – this lot will really fight back, just like North Koreans and that’s died a death lately too. Does N Korea not have oil then?
Plondon was settling into the last day before a couple of day’s leave and was pondering on the lack of interesting newspaper job advets. Then he saw the ad on P36 Metro 29/03. What’s your password? It declared on behalf of MI5, the Security Service.
The job itself is for Service Desk Analysts educated to A or GNVQ Level in an IT subject. You do need a good grasp of MS Windows and MS Office though [Wot! No Linux?] Not surprisingly no applications via Capitas – now its Harvey Nash, but remember it’s all ‘A matter of national security!’ Wonder if this is part of the screening of all data messages etc or just to keep their own pc’s in good order? Wonder if the expected JTAC is part of this recruitment drive?
Whilst we talk about MI5 we received an interesting email highlighting the US Rendition flights [which Britain could never be part of ; ) ].
The URL for this BBC Newspiece is: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4851478.stm
The headline ‘MI5 enabled UK pair’s ‘rendition’’ followed by the strapline, ‘Telegrams sent by the British security service led to the “extraordinary rendition” of the two UK residents now in Guantanamo Bay. It’s an interesting read especially when you learn that those banged up are an Iraqi citizen with UK residency who claims his link with Abu Qatada was expressly approved and encouraged by British Intelligence and the other is a Jordanian refugee who had been living in North West London.. It’s an interesting read.
So began a piece on the front page of the Sunday Times of 02/04. Did you know, and this may well be a difficult question because its from a ‘leaked top-secret memo from the JIC’ that the war in Iraq has made Britian the target of a terror campaign by al-Qaeda that will ‘last for many years to come’. Apparently Tony Bliar didn’t and had to be warned by the Spy Chiefs. The article, by David Leppard, also points out that for the bombings on 7th July Mr Bliar blamed an “evil ideology”, not the war, for motivating the suicide bombers.
What caused some discussion is that Bliar has to be appraised of this situation when the rest of this over-taxed and very pc and thought controlled Nation already knew it.
Page 62 of NL32 carried this piece:
‘Spy’ claims sex hell
The Sun newspaper carried a story on 09/11 [ninth of November to the yanks] penned by Virginia Wheeler and entitled ‘Spy Girl claims sex hell’. PLondon had previously received an email from AnonNI giving a URL that took him to the BBC News site and the same story:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4413620.stm> and a chance chat with DoK about oversleeping and missing the 0340z alternate Wed sending brought in the mention of the Det and all things Miss Mates!
The early BBC piece mentions in one paragraph, ‘Cpl Mates, who earns £27,000, is retiring from the 14 Intelligence Company, part of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment.
The reason for Miss Mates action is apparently due to the years of degrading abuse – if she wins – it will cost the MoD only £686,000.
These complaints go right back to the time when Miss Mates joined the army, ten years ago [Sept 1995]. Miss Mates is 30years old and is retiring from the Special Reconnaissance Regt. This regiment is known as the ‘Det’.
A collection of articles on Miss Mates apparent ordeals – all sexually motivated - are covered in a variety of newspapers.
However the Sun makes this claim, “Two years later she joined 14 Intelligence Company, the special section known as ‘The Det’”
…………….The Det is already under scrutiny over its role in the surveillance operation in London that led to the killing by armed police of Brazillian Jean Charles Menenzes. [As we previously stated police are not armed with automatic weapons -- now they claim dum-dum bullets used – or, to be accurate, ‘hollow point shot’- and who really gives a toss]?
In continuation a male colleague later claimed that Miss Mates was the ‘victim of schoolboy pranks’.
E sent an interesting cutting from a British newspaper, Daily Telegraph that featured a piece entitled, ‘Army reveals secret elite unit that puts women on the front line’.
An interesting article indeed as it itemises a different area where the Special Reconnaissance Regiment has excelled, the training and selection and who else they work for.
[tnx E].
On 5th April 2006 p13 Metro Newspaper fielded the headline, ‘£12000 for Army spy in sex case’, whilst the Daily Express Page 5 offered, ‘Payout for lesbian jibe Army spy’.
We will not detail the claims here but suffice it to say that Miss Mates suffered a catalogue of abuse that accounted for her 43 allegations. Of these 43 only 12 were proven but compensation awarded on only six. The total amount was £12000, well short of the £686,000 originally demanded.
At the hearing she was told that special forces “are even more prejudiced against women than the mainstream Army”. She was, apparently, passed over in favour of less talented men [that’s a trait of all services – you don’t even need to be a soldier to encounter that – according to a mate of KW the |MSC is rife with it – only those who burn the seat they sit on get promotion, irrespective of ability].
AnonNI kindly sent in the following link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4877190.stm
And remarked
“I have to say that the following has been the subject of much laughter, and as such I must nominate it as 'Quote of the Week'.
"Another successful compensation claim was for a colleague attempting to prevent Cpl Mates from attending a rounders [also known as Baseball in America] competition". Followed a close second by; "The final successful claim was that female toilets used by Cpl Mates had had cling film placed over them".
I really don't know what to make of the above......sounds more like the charge sheet of a grammar school detention, rather than proceedings taking place in a courtroom. I wonder is she looks just so smug now, having only got £12k compensation in respect of a number of claims, rather than the original £686k that she was claiming in respect of forty-three separate claims. What is the world coming to?”
[Tnx AnonNI]
So there I was sitting at my desk on Tuesday 11th April, 2006 with a cup of black tea when I opened the Metro free paper. Page 44 secretarial jobs section had the usual ads, but one stuck out above the others. I had actually seen the email address, ‘lee@spymaster.co.uk’ and my mind went straight to Lee Tracey, a former eavesdropper for MI6, and development engineer who developed a system I can’t remember the name of!! Converting the email addy to:
http://www.spymaster.co.uk/ I took a look at the very professional site. The online catalogue is also interesting. Those without PC can send for one but it will cost you 40 quid for the pleasure.
I recall that Lee Tracey also featutred in a past Wireless World but again I cannot remember the date, mid to late 1980s. Anyway, if you are a cheerful, non-smoking/secretary/receptionist who wants to work in SpymastersW1 showroom with 3 weeks hols per annum you can expect £20k
Moscow, Apr 17: Russian President Vladimir Putin today abolished the high-security prisons of the country's powerful counter-espionage agency Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopastnosti (FSB), used mainly for pre-trial detentions.
The FSB -- one of several successors of the Soviet KGB -- is involved in counter-espionage and anti-terror operations, and is reported to have a number of prisons including infamous high-security Lefortovo Jail where foreign spies and prominent Chechen terror leaders were confined after arrest.
Putin signed into law his decree making FSB detention centres part of the country's penitentiary system, administered by the Justice Ministry, a Kremlin press release said here.
The law now prohibits the use of these prisons for holding individuals accused or suspected of committing crimes whose investigation falls within the purview of FSB.
The move is designed to ensure the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of suspects and prisoners in line with recommendations from the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace) and falls and Russia 's obligations under 1996 accession to the council, the release said.
Bureau Report http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=289018&sid=WOR
[Via JMM – thanks]!
A couple of our readers contacted KW to berate him over his waggish treatment of Tony Blair – that is why this issue is virtually free from his verbal spankings of HMG.
Well old Ken has missed his chance this time – Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party broadcast in UK 1855 18/04, so we’ll do it for him:
The missed PPB can be seen on http://www.davethechameleon.com/video/web/dave-the-chameleon-xl.mov
Far from telling the viewers what Labour has in store for us in its local election mandate [we all know it’s much of the same – strip us of money, give it to illegal immigrants and ruin the NHS and a bit of easily forgiven sleaze on the side] it represented the leader of the Conservative Party [Tories for non-Brits] as a Chameleon riding a bike. They attempted to suggest that David Cameron changes his political views depending on his needs to reach the people.
The PPB actually achieved two things; one being an adverts for the film maker who did the very clever work, the other being to vote for any party but Labour.
If David Cameron does change his colours to suit it’s better than lying, surely. The local elections are due on 4th May and the buzz in the media is that a huge portion of the vote will be given to the extreme right wing BNP because of Blair’s poor stewardship of this Country. The fact is that many will vote for the extremists not because of Bliar’s poor leadership but because they are pissed off with being treated as second rate citizens who are, in effect, cash cows for Labour. The illegals in the country get all, unmarried mothers get all, skivers get all and the elderly who have contributed all their lives have to exist on subsistence pensions because they should have saved [in the worlds most taxed country].
My father, an 86yo veteran of Burma, looks out of his window and wants to know why he was forced to fight in WW2 and what really came out of it. It was, he says, not worth the lives of decent youngsters to have to live in a country where there is no respect and where the the fat of the land is shucked out to those who have never contributed. Criminals are no longer punished correctly, shootings and street robbery are common. You can’t get treatment in hospitals because the wards have ‘mature students’ all suffering HiV, TB and suchlike. It is, of course, their Human Right to get treatment – but what about those of us who work to pay for this lot? Yours truly had a growth removed that demanded immediate treatment – I waited 4 months for that and was told by the surgeon that it was not benign.
Blair slagged off Cameron for no reason other than to ridicule the man and his party; perhaps he should look round and see the absolute crap of a country he has created. “Tough on Crime, Tough on the causes of Crime.” Tell that to the mother who goes to visit her son in the morgue full of shot from a converted Brocock; because no else believes it either. Mr Cameron will not need to reply to the slur placed upon him because Blair has done it himself.
So far Mr Cameron has not said much; what he has said is common sense though – ‘Vote for anyone but the BNP.’
But what if the BNP do get into a plethora of Councils – especially the labour controlled ones – what will happen then?
Not a humorous account as KW would do it – perhaps a little bitter too – but all true from the eyes of the working classes of Britain.
Britain to double commitment to the war on terror with 'SAS Lite'
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
April 2005
A new elite fighting force is to be created that will enable the Special Air Service to double the number of military operations against terrorist organisations around the world.
The creation of the unit, to be called the Joint Special Forces Support Group, will mean that Britain 's special forces will grow to more than 2,000, their largest number since the Second World War, most of whom will be committed to fighting terrorism within the United Kingdom and abroad.
The 650-man unit will be composed mainly of paratroopers, who have a proven track record of working alongside the SAS, in addition to troops from the Royal Marines and the Royal Air Force Regiment.
Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the Chief of the General Staff, is understood to have told special forces commanders that the unit should be ready to conduct operations alongside the SAS by early 2008.
The Telegraph has learnt that defence chiefs want the SAS and its Royal Marine equivalent, the Special Boat Service, to be freed to return to their original role of staging special operations.
These would include long-range infiltration operations deep behind enemy lines, counter-insurgency ambushes, and the seizure of terrorist suspects in hostile countries. This would leave more conventional attacks, such as those carried out in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, to the new unit.
Senior officers within the special forces have long believed that the SAS should operate more like its original incarnation, the Special Operations Executive, which was formed in June 1940.
The SOE, composed of male and female agents specialising in sabotage, spying and assassination, was ordered by Winston Churchill to "set Europe ablaze". In Afghanistan during November 2001, the SAS was ordered to help to destroy al-Qaeda bases in the caves of the Tora Bora mountains, an operation that was described by the SAS squadron commander as a misappropriation of special forces.
The new unit will be commanded by a Parachute Regiment lieutenant colonel and will be based at St Athlan Barracks, in South Wales, close to the SAS headquarters in Hereford. The force will be composed of around 450 soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment and 200 members from the Royal Marines and the RAF Regiment.
Troops from across the Army will be invited to join the new unit, but those from outside the Parachute Regiment or the Royal Marines will have to pass rigorous tests in addition to the demanding Army parachute course.
While the Paras will supply the assault troops for military operations, it is understood that commanders are keen to exploit the special skills of the Royal Marines, such as maritime surveillance, and the RAF Regiment, who would secure landing sites and airfields.
The possibility of a new unit was first discussed last year during the controversial restructuring of the infantry, which saw the demise of three infantry battalions.
Gen Jackson convinced Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, of the need for a so-called "Ranger" battalion - based on the United States Rangers - to work alongside the SAS, and the general was effectively able to reduce the number of battalions facing the axe from four to three.
The Parachute Regiment had previously demonstrated its expertise in working alongside the SAS in September 2000, when 110 members of the regiment helped in the rescue of 11 British soldiers who had been kidnapped by the West Side Boys, a Sierra Leone guerrilla organisation. The mission was a success, although one member of the SAS was killed and several Paras were injured.
A senior Army officer described the creation of the force as a "welcome move which has been a long time in coming".
H said: "You could describe the new unit as SAS Lite. Soldiers wishing to become part of it will have to offer much more than the average infantryman but the entrance requirements will not be as demanding as those required by the SAS".
[Believed to have appeared in the Daily Telegraph but this taken from ‘SkyscraperCityForums’ and posted by ‘Arthur Dent’]
The Metro 21/04 page 2: Elite Unit Confirmed
Defence chiefs yesterday confirmed the creation of an elite unit to support Britain’s special forces and strengthen anti-terror operations. The Special Forces Support Group, including Royal Marine commandos, army paratroopers and RAF freefall experts based at St Athan barracks Cardiff Wales, will support the SAS and Special Boat Service in battle and help police dealing with terror attacks. The Unit came into operation on April 3 but its existence was confirmed by Defence Secretary John Reid only yesterday [20/04]
Written Ministerial Statement: Secretary of State for Defence Dr John Reid
Special Forces Support Unit
The Secretary of State for Defence (Dr John Reid): On 16 December 2004 (Official Report, column 1798), as part of the wider programme to modernise the UK’s defence capabilities, the then Secretary of State for Defence, the rt hon Geoff Hoon MP, announced to the House the Government’s intention to create two new units that would significantly improve the specialist support to the Special Forces and enhance our global capacity to fight terrorism.
The first of these new units, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, became operational in April 2005 and is already delivering a globally deployable special reconnaissance capability to the UK Special Forces.
The second new unit is the ‘Special Forces Support Group’. SFSG is an enhanced capability that will directly support UK Special Forces intervention operations around the world and will provide the UK with an additional counter-terrorist capability.
I am pleased to be able to inform the House today that the SFSG has now stood up in St Athan, near Cardiff, and achieved Initial Operating Capability as planned on 3 April.
Personnel for the new unit have been drawn from the Parachute Regiment, the Royal Marines, and the Royal Air Force Regiment. The unit will be part of the UK Special Forces Group.
The principal role of the SFSG is to provide direct support to UKSF intervention operations, as well as reinforcing UKSF in other key capability areas such as provision of specialist training and support to domestic CT operations. It will have a specific specialist infantry role and personnel will be equipped and trained accordingly.
No place for the ‘Det’ then?
Then we have:
MoD to fight terror - Bond-style
By Sean O'Neill
Like Q-branch in the films, a new centre will develop hi-tech gadgets to help thwart extremists
AN ELITE squad of scientists — the real-life equivalent of James Bond’s Q Branch — has been enlisted as Britain ’s latest force in the fight against international terrorism.
The team of experts, which will operate from a new laboratory at the Ministry of Defence’s secret research centre at Porton Down, Wiltshire, will develop gadgetry and weaponry to counter the terrorist threat.
The 15 key experts who will initially staff the Counter-Terrorism Science and Technology Centre will co-ordinate Britain ’s scientific response to attacks such as the July 7 bombings.
Their inventions may not quite be in the fantastical realms of 007’s weapon-packed watches and bizarrely armed Aston Martins, but they will draw on the latest research and experimentation to provide technological answers to terrorism.
The MoD said that the new science centre — which will be officially opened today by John Reid, the Defence Secretary— will be a one-stop shop for all government agencies dealing with terrorist incidents.
The scientists will seek to develop new methods of detecting the presence of explosives, to improve the chances of identifying a suicide bomber before he or she has had the opportunity to carry out an attack.
They will focus strongly on the detection and defusing of the roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices used against British troops by al-Qaeda insurgents in Iraq and Taleban forces in Afghanistan.
The laboratory will be able to tap into the research going on outside government into developing ultra-sensitive and highly portable equipment for identifying traces of chemical or biological agents in the air. Remote-controlled chemical agent detectors are also likely to be developed. Major exercises have been conducted to rehearse the emergency response to a dirty bomb attack, and counter-terrorism agencies claim to have thwar-ted at least two attempts by Islamist extremists to mount chemical attacks in Britain.
“Terrorism is a real threat to us all and we must do everything we can to ensure the UK is best equipped to deal with any incident both at home and wherever our Armed Forces deploy”, Mr Reid said yesterday. “This new centre will provide a world-class hub to ensure government laboratories, industry and academia are used as efficiently as possible to keep one step ahead of evolving terrorist threats.”
Ken Brigden, the director of the centre and the man who may come to be known as Q, said:
“This centre will be staffed by the very best MoD, academic and industry counter-terrorist technical experts with cutting edge expertise in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive threats.
Terrorist threats evolve rapidly so the centre will respond, not just to current threats but also anticipate threats as they emerge and develop.”
The creation of the centre was welcomed by Lord Rees of Ludlow, the president of the Royal Society. He said:
“The new centre should clearly identify sources of expertise and this co-ordinated approach should help to prevent the duplication of scientific research and ensure efficient use of funds”.
Lord Rees also called on the MoD to ensure that the benefits of the centre’s work were made available to all of those involved in the fight against terrorism.
Q branch in the James Bond films is headed by Major Boothroyd — MI6 codename Q
The part of Q was played from 1963 to 1999 by Desmond Llewelyn; John Cleese took over after his death
Bond’s first hi-tech gadget was a briefcase fitted with a teargas dispenser, rifle and knives
The new Porton Down laboratory will be staffed by experts now working in the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory and the Atomic Weapons Establishment
Original Source unknown – also taken from ‘SkyscraperCityForums’ and posted by ‘CRAMPS’
SEE Also: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7003312571
[Tnx Jmm]
Katharine Gun was a translator at the Britain's communications spy agency, General Communications Headquarters. In 2002, she leaked a top-secret memo to a British newspaper, revealing the U.S. was spying on U.N. Security Council members before their vote on the Iraq war.
Read her latest here - URL thanks to AnonNI who declared, 'Paragraph 6.......she really is naughty, isn't she?!'
[I totally agree with you there – bet she’ll be under surveillance for writing that, at least].
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/03/20/iran_time_to_leak.php
Finally…………………………………………………………
Hidden away on page 24 of The Times [dtd 27/04/2006] was an interesting article entitled ‘Secret Service breaks cover to advertise for spooks.
This most interesting piece penned by the Defence Editor, Michael Evans, stated that in the 97 year history of Britain’s SIS aka MI6 this was the first time that they were ‘blowing its cover and trawling openly for recruits.’
The advert appeared on page 3 of The Times’ Career inset.
The writer suggests that a golden mosque features prominently in the row of photographs used in the advert ‘to remind would be recruits that these days many key operational posts are in Islamic countries’. E2k hopes that any subsequently interviewed hopeful doesn’t go to his location for interview armed with that knowledge because it was not a ‘golden mosque’ roof, minaret or whatever. What it appears to be is a gold laid dome [with decorative crucifix above] so commonly seen on Russian architecturually influenced religious buildings. The advert does give a flavour of a world reaching organisation though. One image is that of a hooded man with a rifle, typically an AK-47 it could well be the Romanian version looking at the gas block/tube and the upper and lower hand guards. Whilst the front sight block is not seen the rear sight and block is visible as is the front sling swivel [except it don’t swivel]!
Another image that looks remarkably like one from a certain GCHQ booklet, features in part a cassegrain dish.
The ad asks for : Administration, Operational Officers, Operational Analysts, Linguists, Technology and directs the hopeful applicants to a URL after declaring,
“We operate around the world to make this country safer and more prosperous. As you can imagine, it’s no easy task. So whether we need a thoroughly efficient administrator or an overseas operator in the field, we hire people we can depend on because everyone in the UK depends on them. For more details about joining Britain’s secret intelligence service, go to www.**********.gov.uk”
[Taken from The Times ‘Careers’ Page 3 27/04/06]
Full article can be read: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2153344,00.html
This advertisement and associated blurb can be seen on the MI6 website.
Here’s a link to a Numbers Clip produced in the US for KUTV :
http://www.kutv.com/video/?id=15187@kutv.dayport.com
[Some input from E2k during the making of the programme and a reference to us on the KUTV website. Usual sort of stuff from Akin Fernandez].
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