http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png http://gawker.com/tag/cia http://gawker.com/tag/cia

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So we should all be proud that, according to a Foreign Policy investigation by Mark Perry, Israeli intelligence officers pretended to be CIA agents so they could recruit Pakistani religious fanatics to assassinate Iranians. How sweet. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5875895&view=rss&microfeed=true

On the day Germany surrendered in 1945, legendary CIA chief Richard Helms—then an officer serving overseas in the OSS—somehow laid hands on some of Adolf Hitler's personal stationery. So naturally he jotted a note to his toddler back in the states about the nature of evil. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5873493&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Associated Press' Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman—who have been having a very good year—have tracked down the CIA secret prison where Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and other ghost detainees were tortured and interrogated. It's on a residential street in Bucharest (here it is on Google Maps). Its code name was Bright Light. Sounds cozy. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5866267&view=rss&microfeed=true

Earlier this week we learned that Iran and its pal Hezbollah had caught dozens of CIA spies who always met at a super-secret Pizza Hut in Beirut (using the super-secret code word "PIZZA" to communicate meeting times). Now an Iranian parliamentary leader says that 12 of the spies have been arrested and jailed in cells where they're fed nothing but bread sticks and water. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5862501&view=rss&microfeed=true

The CIA has basically lost its network of spies in Lebanon and suffered a major setback in its efforts to infiltrate Iran, all because it screwed up basic tradecraft—including communicating with spies on trackable cell phones and using the indecipherable code word "PIZZA" to denote planned meetings at a Beirut Pizza Hut. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5861484&view=rss&microfeed=true

Former military intelligence officer Anthony Shaffer is suing the Pentagon and the CIA over their extraordinary attempts to censor Operation Dark Heart, the book he wrote recounting his days as a military spy in Afghanistan and elsewhere. One problem he's run into: The government has the original unredacted manuscript he wrote. And it won't give him a copy. Because it's classified. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5860158&view=rss&microfeed=true

The CIA spends all day on Twitter and Facebook, just like you. And they're using them to keep the president and government officials informed of world events. What does the #4wordsbeforesex trending topic mean for the American People? More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5856396&view=rss&microfeed=true

The death of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric linked to al Qaeda's operations in Yemen, is likely to impact American Arabs and Muslims in positive fashion, according to Dr. Hussein Ibish, former communications director for the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Commitee. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5845717&view=rss&microfeed=true

The CIA is having trouble keeping its secret agents off the internet. First, it allowed the White House to publish a photograph of the man behind the operation to kill Osama bin Laden. And now the identity of the woman who runs its "Global Jihad Unit"—and who has a long (if pseudonymous) history of being associated with some of the agency's most disastrous boondoggles—has been published online by two documentary filmmakers who sussed it out with the help of some "savvy internet research." More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5842912&view=rss&microfeed=true

The best part of toppling a dictator, besides freedom, is getting to rifle through the papers of the intelligence bureaucracy. Who knows what you'll find! Like, say, a big binder that says "C.I.A." and two others that say "M.I.-6"! More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5837166&view=rss&microfeed=true

The AP's Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman broke an extraordinary story today about the NYPD's unfettered and probably illegal intelligence operation—which employs "rakers" and "mosque crawlers" to troll Arab neighborhoods for information even when no crime is suspected—and its tight integration with the CIA, which has covert operatives deployed within the department. Basically, if you're a Muslim in New York, you either work for the NYPD or are being watched by them. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5833984&view=rss&microfeed=true

Remember Susan Burns, the woman "from the American CIA" who in April tried to beat up a Gauguin hung at the National Gallery of Art? Well, she got back inside the gallery somehow, and this time allegedly went nuts on a Matisse. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5830598&view=rss&microfeed=true

Fox & Friends hopped into the wayback machine this morning to summon outrage about a post we published 23 days ago. They're angry—like a lot of people—that we pointed to a man in photos distributed by the White House and AP as the likely head of the operation to kill bin Laden. In expressing that anger, they published a photo of a covert CIA agent. Way to go, Doocy. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5826027&view=rss&microfeed=true

The evil, teaparty-funding Koch Brothers do not appreciate their websites being bombarded by hackers. The FBI is targeting people possibly connected to a February Anonymous attack on Koch Industries websites, including a brutal assault on their powerful bathroom tissue manufacturing arm. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5824974&view=rss&microfeed=true

In the weeks before the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, the CIA had a prominent doctor organize a fake vaccination drive, in an attempt to secretly collect DNA from him and his family. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5820136&view=rss&microfeed=true

Yesterday the Associated Press published a lengthy profile of "John," the secretive CIA agent who led the effort to locate and kill Osama bin Laden. The CIA asked the AP not to report John's full name or certain biographical details that might identify him, and the AP complied. But internet spy-hunter and data anarchist John Young, of Cryptome, thinks he's found a photo of this master spy. In the White House's Flickr feed. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5818728&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Senate confirmed Gen. David Petraeus as CIA director today, 94-0. Meanwhile, the Justice Department will "drop criminal investigations of most CIA officials" who tortured people. Is there a quid pro quo here, or just two independent, predictable things? More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5817194&view=rss&microfeed=true

According to a CIA spokeswoman, the Lulz Security hack attack that took down the CIA's public website for several hours yesterday was no big deal. But... what about cyberwar! More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5812761&view=rss&microfeed=true

According to the New York Times' James Risen, Bush White House officials asked the CIA to gather dirt on and discredit left-wing academic Juan Cole because they didn't like the things he wrote on his blog. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5812551&view=rss&microfeed=true

The CIA's website is down, and the hacking group Lulz Security is claiming credit on Twitter. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5812379&view=rss&microfeed=true

According to Time magazine, a special prosecutor tasked with investigating CIA personnel for torturing and murdering detainees during the Bush Administration has convened a grand jury and started issuing subpoenas. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5811924&view=rss&microfeed=true

New York Times reporter and blogger-hater James Risen has been subpoenaed to testify in the criminal trial of a former CIA agent accused of leaking Risen classified information. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5805093&view=rss&microfeed=true

You've probably never heard of Marty Martin. He spent most of his life as an anonymous CIA operative. But he very recently came out of the closet as the man Bush put in charge of finding Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of 9/11, and guess what? It turns out the man Bush put in charge of finding bin Laden is an extremely shady and allegedly corrupt war profiteer. Who would have thought? More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5803556&view=rss&microfeed=true

You're not allowed to see the CIA's postmortem photos of Osama bin Laden. But that doesn't mean they can't be described to you! Sen. James Inhofe got a chance to see the pictures today, because he is a fancy boy, and the Oklahoma Republican was very excited to tell everyone about it. In, uh, detail. They're "gruesome"! More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5801046&view=rss&microfeed=true

The CIA will now let select senators view Osama bin Laden's gross death photos "if they wish," Reuters reports. But they'll have to make appointments. Sounds like a hassle. Just look at Sen. Scott Brown's fake photos instead. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5800561&view=rss&microfeed=true

Now that Barack Obama has released his long-form birth certificate, let's play What Other Evil News Is He Trying to Distract Us From? Maybe it's this: The AP reports that CIA Director and former Bill Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta will take over for Defense Secretary Robert Gates this summer, while Afghanistan commander Gen. David Petraeus will replace Panetta at the CIA. Does the Obama administration want us talking about this? More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5796206&view=rss&microfeed=true

Happy Earth Day, everyone! The CIA wants you all to know that it is at the forefront of conservation by… shredding and burning documents. They sent out this official Earth Day press release highlighting its "sustainability and conservation initiatives": More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5794913&view=rss&microfeed=true

In a bid to show its transparency bona fides, the CIA has released six previously secret documents from World War I, thirty years before the Agency was created. They concern invisible ink. Which, until today, was a national secret. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5793687&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Smoking Gun has uncovered an old mugshot of Susan Burns, the woman who attacked Gauguin's "Two Tahitian Women" over the weekend. They've also got the criminal complaint, and as it turns out, she's a CIA agent! (According to her.) More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5788918&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Central Intelligence Agency is a fundamentally lawless organization that secretly influences events around the globe on behalf of the U.S. It turns out Obama has deployed its agents to Libya, and for some reason liberals are up in arms about it. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5787718&view=rss&microfeed=true

Reuters reports that President Obama "signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi" within the last "two or three weeks." So there's your channel for arming the rebels. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5787376&view=rss&microfeed=true

American government officials now say that Raymond Davis, the American man arrested in Pakistan last month after shooting two men dead in Lahore, was part of a covert, C.I.A.-led team of operatives, according to The New York Times. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5766357&view=rss&microfeed=true

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, an Iraqi defector under Saddam Hussein whose claims about the former dictator's mobile biological weapons programs were used heavily in the Bush Administration's public case for war, has an interesting story to tell everyone. The source, who, under the alias "Curveball" in intelligence reports, provided a foundation for Secretary of State Colin Powell's famous speech to the United Nations a month before the Iraq invasion, admits that he just made it up to get Hussein out of power. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5761364&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Associated Press' Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo have a breathtaking-but-sadly-unsurprising story detailing the CIA's habit of promoting the very people responsible for the Agency's most spectacular fuck-ups. The analyst responsible for illegally abducting, drugging, sodomizing, and beating a completely innocent man because she thought he was someone else? She's running the hunt for bin Laden now. The guy who let a prisoner freeze to death in Afghanistan? He oversees spying operations in the Middle East. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5755942&view=rss&microfeed=true

Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer, was indicted today for leaking classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen. The indictment shows that the federal government had access to their e-mail and phone contacts going back several years. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5726821&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Department of Justice was too scared to prosecute the CIA for deliberately destroying evidence that its employees illegally tortured terror detainees. But fear not: The National Archives and Records Administration is still on the case. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5687623&view=rss&microfeed=true

Back in the day, the U.S. had a policy of waterboarding people, but the CIA secretly destroyed the videotapes of these "sessions" in 2005. Now the agents responsible won't even be prosecuted. So that's how it works. [AP, photo] More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5685778&view=rss&microfeed=true

Justice Department officials took the controversial step yesterday of invoking the government's state secret privilege to try and dismiss a terrorism lawsuit over the "targeted killing" of a U.S. citizen. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5648275&view=rss&microfeed=true

Wikileaks has published its most recent catch: a brief February 2010 CIA memo analyzing risks to homeland security if the United States is perceived as an "exporter of terrorism." More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5621903&view=rss&microfeed=true