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A scathing federal audit blasts Denver's Stapleton airport redevelopment deal, saying that the Federal Aviation Administration gave up $71 million in revenue by selling off land at the old Stapleton International Airport at less than half its value. The audit was performed by an inspector general of the Department of Transportation and released to the public on Thursday. The audit says the FAA failed to properly oversee Denver city officials as they sold off parcels after Denver International Airport replaced Stapleton in 1995.

The U.S. Congress is considering an investigation into the U.S. intelligence agencies estimates of China's development of a new stealth jet, the J-20, that was flight tested for the first time last week. The director of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Vice Adm. David Dorsett told reporters that speed of the development had been underestimated. Dorsett said the emergence of the J-20 was not a surprise but that U.S. intelligence underestimated "the speed at which they are making progress." Several days later Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates confirmed that U.S. intelligence agencies underestimated China's progress in developing a new stealth...

Yesterday I had a request from a client for a network diagram for a system I’m designing, and normally I create such drawings as a PNG file. But this client said “no, I need it in Visio, or similar style so we can edit it”. I have avoided Microsoft Visio in the past, mainly because of its price tag: $249.99 for the basic version, and a whopping $999.99 for the premium version!**********************************snip********************************************* So I want to share “Dia”, short for “Diagram”. Its detailed, open source, and most importantly, free. It also has a community springing up that is adding shape...

Washington (CNN) -- The Department of Defense recently purchased and destroyed thousands of copies of an Army Reserve officer's memoir in an effort to safeguard state secrets, a spokeswoman said Saturday. "DoD decided to purchase copies of the first printing because they contained information which could cause damage to national security," Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. April Cunningham said. In a statement to CNN, Cunningham said defense officials observed the September 20 destruction of about 9,500 copies of Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer's new memoir "Operation Dark Heart." Shaffer says he was notified Friday about the Pentagon's purchase. "The whole...

For those of you who thought the Talon domestic surveillance system was dead... it's back! Talon 2.0 coupled with the recent legislation giving the Feds the power to seize control over private networks = not a pretty picture.

The U.S. intelligence community has tracked the huge growth of IRGC's military over the last decade. Officials said IRGC has formed fully-fledged armies, navies and air force, organized to conduct both conventional and insurgency operations. "Iran's objective is to overwhelm enemy air defenses with mobile CDCMs [coastal defense cruise missiles], combined with multiple rocket launchers, coastal artillery, and ballistic missiles," an assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency said. The DIA assessment, titled "Iran's Military Power," outlined the roles of Iran's conventional military and IRGC. The assessment, released to the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 15, asserted that the conventional...

Iran was said to have encountered difficulties in modernizing its Air Force. The U.S. intelligence community has determined that the Iranian Air Force was hampered in several areas of modernization of its 1970s-era U.S.-origin platforms. The Defense Intelligence Agency assessed that the Air Force was blocked in such areas as airborne early-warning and control as well as precision-guided munitions. "The IRIAF [Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force] remains largely dependent on 1970's-era U.S. aircraft like the F-4 Phantom II, the F-14A Tomcat, and the F-5E Tiger II," DIA said in a report titled "Iran's Military Power." The report, released to...

The Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that Iran was advancing in efforts to develop an ICBM that could strike the United States. DIA said Iran could receive critical technology and expertise from foreign countries that would significantly reduce the development period of a nuclear-tipped ICBM. "The Iranians continue to develop a capability in their missile system," DIA director Ronald Burgess said. "They are improving their range and accuracy. If others decide to assist them they could leapfrog that technology as they have given some indication of testing that has been of concern to us." In testimony to the Senate Armed...

Despite major new report by the US’ Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) making it clear Taiwan’s Air Force is in poor shape, it is by no means certain that Washington will sell Taipei the 66 advanced F-16C/D fighters it wants, sources in Washington said. A White House source said US President Barack Obama had not made up his mind about the sale. Weighing against it is a belief that China will object much more strenuously than it did last month when Washington announced a US$6.4 billion arms and technology package. On top of this, there is a powerful Pentagon group that...

A report released yesterday by the US Defense Intelligence Agency that assesses the overall effectiveness of Taiwan’s air defenses has reinforced concerns about the state of Taiwan’s aging fighter squadrons. An unclassified version of the report seen by the Taipei Times produces a damning indictment of the poor state of many of the Air Force’s jets, raising serious doubts about the nation’s ability to defend itself in the event of a Chinese attack. “Although Taiwan has nearly 400 combat aircraft in service, far fewer of these are operationally capable,” the report said. The military’s 60 “F-5 fighters have reached the...

http SNIPPET: "A United Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration N449UA performing flight UA-223 from Washington Dulles,DC to Las Vegas,NV (USA) with 129 passengers and 5 crew, was enroute at FL360 24nm northeast of Denver International Airport,CO, when a male passenger attempted to open the aircraft door prompting other passengers to jump up and subdue the unruly. The crew decided to divert to Denver and requested law enforcement to meet the aircraft. The airplane landed safely about 20 minutes later. The unruly passenger was taken into custody by police." SNIPPET: "The FBI reported, that the man will undergo mental evaluation. The man...

It happened again on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, less than a month after the incident aboard AirTran Flight 297. United Airlines Flight 227, scheduled to depart Denver International Airport at 1:50 pm Wednesday for Los Angeles was disrupted when several passengers who were described as Middle Eastern in appearance, confirmed by this investigator to be a group of Muslims traveling together, were removed from that aircraft due to suspicious behavior that originated in the terminal and continued to the airplane.

(Editor’s Note: Doug Hagmann’s popular site, the Northeast Intelligence Network is currently under transition to another server and will be back online later today.) It happened again on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, less than a month after the incident aboard AirTran Flight 297. United Airlines Flight 227, scheduled to depart Denver International Airport at 1:50 pm Wednesday for Los Angeles was disrupted when several passengers who were described as Middle Eastern in appearance, confirmed by this investigator to be a group of Muslims traveling together, were removed from that aircraft due to suspicious behavior that originated in the terminal and...

United Airlines passengers removed from flight at Denver airport This is a news story and video interview done by Chris Vanderveen of 9news about United Airlines Flight 227, which was detained at Denver International Airport yesterday. Police officers and FBI were called to the scene. The video at the side gives more info, including passenger interviews. ALSO SEE: Hmmm . . . Yet Another Dry Run?: United 227 Sounds Just Like AirTran 297 ----------- Clearly there is a pattern of such incidents; note similarities to what we are now finding out about Airtran flight 297 Annie Jacobsen's ordeal on Northwest...

Passenger Jets Were 200 Vertical Feet Apart. the FAA is investigating a Nov. 23rd incident where two passenger jets nearly collided in the airspace over Colorado. the two planes merged on Air Traffic Control radar at the same altitude and in the same moment. "They were within a blink of an eye of colliding," and "It was the ugliest thing I've ever seen in all my years." The incident is classified as an "operational error" ...a mistake made by an air traffic controller. Several planes were en route to Denver on an arrival path from the northeast, called "Sayge Six."...

Investigators Searching DIA Clerk's Bank Account For Missing Taxi Fees. Denver police are investigating the embezzlement of $170,000 from Denver International Airport taxi fees. A search warrant obtained by 7NEWS shows the scam went undetected for nearly two years. At least 16 cash collections made by DIA Ground Transportation Department workers between November 2007 and late June 2009 vanished en route from that agency to the airport finance department without making it to the bank. The probe was triggered when a random DIA internal audit found a $10,000 collection missing in June, sources told 7News. Police said they were alerted...

The Federal Aviation Administration has opened its own investigation into the 50-mile flight of the helium balloon that briefly delayed flights at Denver International Airport after a couple reported that their 6-year-old son may have been on board, an official said Tuesday. FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the agency investigates civil allegations rather than criminal ones. He declined to provide details on the nature of the FAA probe or its possible outcome. Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden has said investigators believe amateur storm chasers Richard and Mayumi Heene called 911 Thursday saying they thought their son, Falcon, was aboard the...

BULLETIN -- NEW YORK POLICE AND FBI RAID HOMES IN QUEENS IN TERRORISM INVESTIGATION.6 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters

SNIPPET: "Theresa L. Penwell is being investigated for a "weapons violation" at Denver International Airport that was reported at about 9:35 a.m. Saturday, according to a Denver police report. Penwell was taken into police custody when two guns were found in her possession at a DIA checkpoint, said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson. Penwell was interviewed and released pending further investigation."

The number of ex-Guantanamo detainees who have gone back to terrorism is much larger than the government is letting on. A senior intelligence official, who has access to some of the country's top secrets, tells HUMAN EVENTS that some Pentagon analysts actually believe 102 former enemy combatants have returned to terror -- not 61 as publicly reported by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). That would mean that of 520 terrorists released from the Guantanamo Bay prison, nearly 20 percent returned to the practice of killing to achieve their radical view of Islam. The number is gaining importance in light of...

COL| Denver| Aircraft Down| DIA-800| Denver International Airport|737 landed with the wing on fire, initial reports of 15 pts, MCI response enroute. M/A:Arapahoe County M/A:Adams County| COL015| 19:06 Not seeing it anywhere else yet. Hear it live here: Denver PD and Fire

How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

DIA -- There are plenty of volunteers offering a helpful hand to delegates and other convention-goers arriving here. Convention volunteers wave Obama 08 signs and airport volunteers stand out in their cowboy hats and suede vests. The hum of noise is occasionally punctuated by the voice of Mayor John Hickenlooper welcoming visitors over the loudspeaker. Even baggage claim is dressed up for the occasion with vases of red, white and blue carnations. Convention-goers are difficult to pick out from the general crowd. A handful are wearing shirts, some have lapel pins or buttons. Not everyone here is happy about the...

New Unit of DIA Will Take the Offensive On Counterintelligence - By Walter Pincus Monday, August 18, 2008; A09 The Defense Intelligence Agency's newly created Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center is going to have an office authorized for the first time to carry out "strategic offensive counterintelligence operations," according to Mike Pick, who will direct the program. Such covert offensive operations are carried out at home and abroad against people known or suspected to be foreign intelligence officers or connected to foreign intelligence or international terrorist activities -- but not against U.S. citizens, said Toby Sullivan, director of counterintelligence...

Statement as of 8:00 PM MDT on August 16, 2008 ... Record low maximum temperature set in Denver for August 16th... The high temperature at Denver International Airport today was 58 degrees. This 58 degree reading will replace the previous low maximum temperature record for August 16th which was 63 degrees set 118 years ago in 1890.

The appearance of nuclear weapons materials on the black market is a growing global concern, and it is crucial that the United States reinforce its team of nuclear forensics experts and modernize its forensics tools to prepare for or respond to a possible nuclear terrorist attack. Large quantities of nuclear materials are inadequately secured in several countries, including Russia and Pakistan. Since 1993, there have been more than 1,300 incidents of illicit trafficking of nuclear materials, including plutonium and highly enriched uranium, both of which can be used to develop an atomic bomb. And these are only the incidents we...

I remember years ago reading about the strange goings on behind the building and the subsequent images/artwork inside the Denver Airport. I found this on you tube, a very good presentation on the subject. Denver Airport

Feeling guilty about the amount of carbon dioxide your upcoming flight will pump into the atmosphere? Soon you might be able to fork over some extra cash at Denver International Airport to invest in projects intended to help negate your share of the environmental damage caused by air travel. DIA is looking to become one of the first airports in the nation to offer passengers the ability to buy carbon offsets in its concourses. The offsets would pay for renewable energy and power-saving projects that help cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. The airport is soliciting proposals from companies interested...

Keith Weissman and Steven Rosen Are PhDs and Middle East Experts Who Did Some Lobbying. They Thought They Were Doing What Washington Insiders Always Do. Thomas O’Donnell didn’t reveal his job when he phoned Keith Weissman in 2004 and got the policy analyst’s wife. He says he didn’t want to scare her. When Weissman returned the call and found out O’Donnell was an FBI agent, his first reaction was to attempt a joke: “What did I do?” “I’m sure you didn’t do anything,” O’Donnell told him. He wanted to meet that day, for five or ten minutes, and get Weissman’s...

More than six years after retired United Airline captain Ray Lahr launched his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) petition into the fate of TWA Flight 800, the FBI has shown him—likely by accident—one seriously smoking gun. The Boeing 747 blew up off the coast of Long Island on July 17, 1996. One of the FBI documents received recently by Lahr and his attorney, John Clarke of Washington DC, details a communication that took place six days after the crash: "On Tuesday, July 23, 1996, a representative from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) advised [the FBI] that after a visual analysis...

Frontpage Interview's guest today is Scott W. Carmichael, the senior security and counterintelligence investigator for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He served as the lead case agent for the DIA on the Ana Montes espionage investigation. He has been investigating attempts by foreign intelligence services to penetrate DIA operations worldwide for nearly twenty years. Prior to that he was a Chinese-Mandarin linguist in the U.S. Navy and a special agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. His contributions toward the successful resolution of national security matters have earned Carmichael the DIA Civilian Expeditionary Medal and Award for Meritorious Civilian Service,...

~~~snip~~~ The successful investigation and capture of one of U.S. intelligence's prized employees was pushed deep inside the pages of newspapers -- if it appeared at all -- due to 9/11. The lapse in intelligence that led to those attacks overshadowed a rare instance when a mole was successfully outed. ~~~snip~~~ True Believer shows that catching spies within our own intelligence structure is a painstaking process. Carmichael, as much as he is able (given that agencies like DIA just can't let certain information out), walks readers through each step of evidence gathering and case development, while illustrating the challenges in...

Mr. Tenet's account of all this gives the reader no idea of the substance of our critique, which was that the CIA's analysts were suppressing information. They were not showing policy makers reports that justified concern about ties between Iraq and al Qaeda. Mr. Tenet does tell us that the CIA briefed Mr. Cheney on Iraq and al Qaeda in September 2002 and that the "briefing was a disaster" because "Libby and the vice president arrived with such detailed knowledge on people, sources, and timelines that the senior CIA analytic manager doing the briefing that day simply could not compete."...

The Bush administration: a bigger threat to national security than a foreign spy. That was Tom Brokaw's implicit assumption in his interview with former CIA Director George Tenet on this morning's "Today." Along the way, Brokaw accused former Defense Secretay Donald Rumsfeld of running a "rogue" intelligence operation. BROKAW: In the opening passage you describe conversations in the Clinton administration between the Palestinians and the Israelis attempting to get some sort of a new peace arrangement. But the Israelis were demanding the release of Jonathan Pollard, a United States military intelligence analyst who had been selling them secrets, who's...

(AP) DENVER An empty passenger bridge collapsed over the wing of a United Airlines plane at Denver International Airport on Friday, damaging the aircraft but causing no injuries, the airline said. The cause of the collapse and the extent of the damage were not immediately known. United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said the Boeing 757 had just arrived from Boston and the 184 passengers and crew were still on board. The bridge extends from the concourse to the plane. The one that collapsed is a new type that extends over the wing so passengers can use both the front and rear...

Feb. 18, 2004. 01:00 AM DANNY JOHNSTON/AP U.S. President George W. Bush is applauded by the army and National Guard troops during a speech at Fort Polk, La., yesterday in which he defended the U.S. war in Iraq. Fort Polk is home to more than 6,300 troops who are in Iraq. `Heads should roll' over IraqAdviser wants U.S. intelligence chiefs to quit Cites faulty conclusions on Saddam's weapons ERIC ROSENBERGSPECIAL TO THE STAR WASHINGTON—Richard Perle, a chief proponent of last year's U.S. invasion of Iraq, yesterday called for the chiefs of the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Defence Intelligence...

Snow removal a specialty of award-winning airfield. the Little Airport That Could. Centennial is an astonishing seven-time winner (plus one honorable mention) of a national snow-removal award for large general aviation airfields. That achievement gives it high-flying popularity among corporate-jetting executives who want to get where they're going quickly - and safely. "We're clearly the airport of choice... "Our crews know how to remove snow." For the record: Along with most area airports, Centennial was shut down last week for about 27 hours... What's the secret to Centennial's snow-sweeping success? "Long before the snow starts to fly out here, they...

Spokesman doesn't see any reason to alter procedures. Airport officials didn't promise any changes Tuesday despite the avalanche of criticism about the 45- hour closure of Denver International Airport that snarled holiday traffic across the nation. Even a suggestion by their boss, Mayor John Hickenlooper, that some of the equipment that cleared both lanes of Peña Boulevard might be diverted to runways was dismissed. "I don't know why we would do anything differently," DIA spokesman Chuck Cannon said when asked about plans to handle another major storm bearing down on the Front Range that might hit Thursday... Cannon... a debriefing...

Snowstorm dumps 20 inches, snarling roads, closing DIA. A paralyzing blizzard swept across the Front Range on Wednesday, dumping 20 inches of snow, grinding traffic to a near halt, shuttering Denver International Airport and prompting Gov. Bill Owens to declare a state of emergency. With as much as 3 feet of total snow forecast by the time the storm dies down late this morning - a blizzard warning is in effect until noon - travel may not be much better today. • Interstate 70 was closed from Airport Road in Denver all the way east to Kansas. • After numerous...

Three men have been indicted for allegedly trying to obtain defense information and stolen military equipment from an undercover US government agent, federal prosecutors said. Amen Ahmed Ali, 56, received what he believed to be secret defense documents from the agent and sent them to Yemen by fax or courier on several occasions since last year, federal prosecutors said. Ali was arrested at his cigarette shop in Bakersfield about 180 kilometers north of Los Angeles, on Thursday. He was scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate in Bakersfield on Friday. The arrest came after a two-year operation and investigation.

A veteran CIA operations official who clashed with former agency Director Porter J. Goss was formally named the deputy CIA director yesterday, raising concerns among critics who say he will hamper reform at the agency. Stephen R. Kappes, who is well-liked among CIA rank and file but who is viewed as someone supporting the status quo at the embattled agency, began work yesterday in his new role, a CIA statement said.

VLADIMIR Putin would like it to be seen as the "energy security" summit, or the "Russia regains its pride" summit, or perhaps even the "Putin leads the world" summit. But this weekend's gathering in StPetersburg of leaders of the Group of Eight nations would more accurately be called "the KGB summit". The streets are crawling with FSB officers, the modern incarnation of the KGB, trying to impose remarkably tight security for the first G8 summit in Russia. The host himself is a former KGB agent. Dozens of his ministers, regional governors and top Kremlin aides are former KGB men, as...

Stephen Kappes: The Wrong Man at CIA by Kenneth R. TimmermanPosted May 31, 2006Before Gen. Michael Hayden settles in as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Congress needs to ask hard questions of the man he has said he wants to appoint as deputy director of the CIA: former operations chief Stephen R. Kappes. Kappes is a former Marine who elicits strong praise from former operations officers such as Gary Berntsen, who worked under him for two years. Hayden also heaped praise on Kappes. "When I did the Rolodex check around the community about Steve … they’re almost universally positive,"...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The general considered the Bush administration's likely choice to become CIA director would be the "wrong person at the wrong place at the wrong time," the Republican head of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said on Sunday. Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency, has been widely cited in the media as the President George W. Bush's expected pick to lead the CIA following the ouster of CIA director Porter Goss. "We should not have a military person leading a civilian agency at this time," Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, told "Fox...

The sordid tale now making the rounds in the "mainstream" press of a rogue Pentagon intelligence operation has all the elements of an urban legend: heavy breathing, a secret basement office "down by the ramp" and government officials who form a hidden alliance based on long-ago ties to an obscure but influential university guru. Only the work of a few good men with the courage to face up to this "cabal" - and a few crusader-journalists to help them - can make the demons scatter and scare the dark ones into the light. Or so the story goes on those...

April 22, 2006 (by Lieven Dewitte) - A passenger who claimed to have a bomb aboard a United Airlines flight was subdued by passengers as the California-bound plane was diverted to Denver International Airport. Two F-16 fighter jets from Buckley Air Force Base scrambled to escort the plane. The A-320 Airbus heading to Sacramento, Calif., from Chicago flew into Denver Friday. The F-16s followed to make sure nothing untoward was going to happen. Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega tried to open an door on the Airbus A-320 en route from Chicago to Sacramento, Calif., and then claimed to have a bomb forcing...

United Airlines Flight Diverted to DenverDENVER - A passenger who claimed to have a bomb aboard a United Airlines flight was subdued by passengers as the California-bound plane was diverted to Denver International Airport, airport officials said. Two F-16 fighter jets from Buckley Air Force Base scrambled to escort the plane as it flew into Denver Friday, according to Lt. Commander Sean Kelly, a spokesman for NORAD. "They followed to make sure nothing untoward was going to happen," he said. Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega was arrested after the plane landed around 4:30 p.m., FBI spokeswoman Monique Kelso said. Three Secret Service...

... "The lead suggested that what the president was saying was based on something that had been debunked, and that is not true," McClellan said. "In fact, the president was saying something that was based on what the intelligence community - through the CIA and DIA - were saying." ...

The principals in the Able Danger story have filed suit to restrain the Department of Defense from retaliating against Tony Shaffer and to allow these witnesses to retain counsel during the closed hearings that Congress has scheduled into the data-mining program. Mark Zaid, representing Shaffer as well as contractor J. D. Smith, filed the suit on Monday against the DoD, DIA, the Army, and their attorneys in the DC district court. I've copied the text into the extended entry of this post. Most of those who have followed Able Danger will not be surprised by the allegations in the lawsuit....