Collaborate Disseminate
Rolling Stone has a long investigative story (non-paywalled version here) about a CIA agent who spent years posing as an Islamic radical.
Unrelated, but also in the “real life spies” file: a fake Sudanese diving resort run by Mossad.
Continue reading Story of an Undercover CIA Agent who Penetrated Al Qaeda
An ex-NSA employee has been charged with trying to sell classified data to the Russians (but instead actually talking to an undercover FBI agent).
It’s a weird story, and the FBI affidavit raises more questions than it answers. The employee only worked for the NSA for three weeks—which is weird in itself. I can’t figure out how he linked up with the undercover FBI agent. It’s not clear how much of this was the employee’s idea, and whether he was goaded by the FBI agent. Still, hooray for not leaking NSA secrets to the Russians. (And, almost ten years after Snowden, do we still have this much trouble vetting people before giving them security clearances?)…
Portland is a hotbed for Lego crime. Continue reading Undercover Cops Busted a Large Lego Crime Ring in Portland
A review of the controversial operation concludes FBI didn’t break policy, but rules are stricter now. Continue reading FBI Agent Posing as Journalist to Deliver Malware to Suspect Was Fine, Says DOJ