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

(Date: Tue, 03 May 2005 22:23:58 +0200)

Intelligence news

Israel

A couple of weeks ago, an unmanned drone (Mersad 1) was launched by the Hezbollah. According to Hezbollah officials, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flew over the northern part of Israel and over several settlements. The Mersad returned safely. It was the second time that the Hezbollah did this. Last November they also launched an UAV but that one crashed.

(Source: Rotterdams Dagblad)

Georgia / Russia

Georgia denied overflight to the Russian long-range reconnaissance aircraft A-50 (NATO codename Mainstay) during the air force exercise of the CIS in early April.

USA

A previously unknown intelligence programme set up two years ago by the Pentagon has been operating in states deemed to be "emerging target countries", the Washington Post reported. The Strategic Support Branch was created to give the defence secretary the "full spectrum of humint operations," according to Pentagon documents quoted by the paper.

The programme reportedly conducts operations in friendly and unfriendly states where conventional war might not even be a distant prospect. It deploys intelligence officers, including linguists, technical specialists and interrogators, alongside secret special forces in countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia, the Philippines and Georgia, the Washington Post said.

The Strategic Support Branch was set up in April 2002 under the codename Project Icon. It is a branch of the Pentagon's Defence Human Intelligence Service and is intended to complement the Special Operations Command, based in Tampa.

Sources: The Guardian, Washington Post