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| Europe |
| Stupid CIA Tricks |
| 2006-07-27 |
| July 27, 2006: There was a major embarrassment at the CIA when it was discovered that Italian detectives had been able to identify and track some CIA agents because the agents had used a frequent flyer card to travel around Europe. That card provided enough information for the Italians to identify the CIA men as CIA employees. All this was going on because the Italian agents were trying to find out if the CIA was involved in the abduction of a Kurdish terrorist from Italy in 2003. Although this was done with the cooperation of Italian counter-terrorism officials, it was also done without the permission of the Italian government. That has turned into a major scandal in Italy, where fear of terrorists and anti-Americanism both compete for media attention. The CIA is conducting an investigation to find out how widespread this sort of sloppiness is among its field agents. One thing that will probably come out of this is that the CIA agents thought that, since they were operating in an allied country, and with obviously cooperative Italian counter-terrorism agents, they did not have to use the kind of precautions meant to keep them safe in a hostile environment. While European counter-terrorism organizations have been diligent at tracking, and fighting, Islamic terrorism in Europe, their political bosses are faced with media and public attitudes driven more by fear (of terrorist attack) and a desire to blame someone else (like the U.S.) This creates some strange situations. Like Italian courts trying to track down and arrest American CIA employees. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #12 The AFSCME was real happy about it. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-07-27 21:24 |
| #11 you could use Freq. Flyer miles you accumulate for Federal Gov't jobs for your own PERSONAL use. Nothing but a kickback. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-07-27 17:19 |
| #10 Good thing they didn't check "Who's Who" |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-07-27 17:13 |
| #9 WTG BA I remember that too! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-07-27 16:08 |
| #8 I know why this is. Late in Clinton's term, he signed an Executive Order (I believe) that said you could use Freq. Flyer miles you accumulate for Federal Gov't jobs for your own PERSONAL use. Before that, you could still accumulate miles, but then you could only use them on gov't travel. You had to keep a separate personal FF miles account for your personal trips. Unintended consequences. Of course, any "real" CIA agent would've thought...I can't put my real name on the account, duh! |
| Posted by: BA 2006-07-27 14:05 |
| #7 agents had used a frequent flyer card to travel around Europe Nice tradecraft donks! You deserve an Italian jail. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-07-27 14:00 |
| #6 They are there to do SUPER SECRET work with deep undercover agents that drive from their luxury homes in Virginia to the CIA HQs in Langley. Real good tradecraft Valarie "Clouseau" Plame! BTW does she have the CIA parking stickers on her car too? Just betting she does. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-07-27 12:28 |
| #5 Given that the NSA does satellites and phone taps and the CIA can't do Humint, what exactly do we need the CIA for? To relieve you of excess money. Your tax dollars at work. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-07-27 11:34 |
| #4 Given that the NSA does satellites and phone taps and the CIA can't do Humint, what exactly do we need the CIA for? Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2006-07-27 11:21 |
| #3 Bring back the secrecy and bring back the wetwork. That's a start. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-07-27 10:49 |
| #2 "It lost that ability years ago when it snuggled up to satellite and phone intercepts." That would be great but that business is done by NSA. The problem is still need good field agents to puts eyes and ears on intelligence targets or you get a distorted picture. The LLL Mo0nb@+5 that took control of the CIA are too PC to do actual field work without a sandwich board proclaiming "Spy at Work". WouldnÂ’t want to upset anybody with our spying would we? |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-07-27 10:45 |
| #1 Well the problem is the CIA is no longer a clandestine field agent agency. It lost that ability years ago when it snuggled up to satellite and phone intercepts. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-07-27 10:26 |