Ninety-second edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter

(Date: Sun, 06 Mar 2005 20:38:21 +0000)

Intelligence news

Russia

The test flight of the improved Kobal't spy satellite came to an end after 107 days, about half its expected lifetime. The main recovery vehicle was deorbited from its 183 x 288 km x 67.1 deg orbit around 0700 UTC on Jan 9 and is presumed to have landed in Russia around 0720 UTC, but has not been found by Russian forces. Two objects were ejected from the satellite on Jan 8 into low orbits and re-entered within a day; I speculate that they may have been unused small film recovery capsules, two of which were carried on earlier Kobal't models.

(Source: Jonathan's Space Report No. 544)

Japan

Japan's H2A rocket returned to flight on Feb 26 with the successful launch of MTSAT-1R. Officials hope that this will reopen the way for everything from putting spy satellites in orbit to moving ahead with ambitious scientific missions.

After five consecutive successes beginning in 2002, an H2-A carrying two spy satellites veered off course shortly after liftoff in November 2003 and was destroyed by mission controllers in a spectacular mid-air fireball. Officials say a faulty booster caused the failure.

(Source: Associated Press)

USA

An Atlas 3 rocket lifted off into space early Thursday carrying a secret military payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that oversees the nation's constellation of spy satellites.

(Source: Associated Press)

Poland

A list containing the names of some 240,000 people who allegedly were involved in espionage during Poland's former communist regime was placed on the Internet by reporter Bronislaw Wildstein. The "spy list" was hugely popular in the first few days of February.

According to several newspapers the "Wildstein List" was secretly copied at the national archives. In fact the list was not a secret document and it could be accessed by every person who was a victim of the former Polish secret service Urzad Bezpieczenswta. Just like the lists of the East German STASI and USSR's SOUD, the document lists people who

worked for the Urzad Bezpieczenswta (UB)
tipped the UB (informants)
were under observation of the UB (the victims)
were potential (secret) co-workers/informants

Note that the list might have been manipulated during the time that it was on the web. Anyway, it was NOT a list of 240,000 spies but a list that mentioned both spies AND victims.