Free Republic

White House operative heading 'birther' smear campaign? Former Fannie Mae chief allegedly manages 100-strong attack team from Pennsylvania Ave NEW YORK – A top Democrat, apparently operating with the full approval and cooperation of the president, has been directing a team of up to 100 who are paid to publish disinformation on a wide variety of websites to discredit "birthers," according to anti-Obama researchers. The radical supporters of the president, known as Obama robots, or "OBOTs" for short, have confirmed their White House-appointed ring leader is Democratic Party operative James A. Johnson, the former chairman of Fannie Mae. Initially, the...

Oleg Gordievsky, one of the Cold War's most famous defectors, says Russia may have as many as 50 deep-cover couples spying inside the United States. Gordievsky, a former deputy head of the KGB in London who defected in 1985, said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would know the number of illegal operatives in each target country. The 71-year-old ex-double agent said that, based on his experience in Russian intelligence, he estimates that Moscow likely has 40 to 50 couples operating under cover in the US."For the KGB, there's usually 40 to 50 couples, all illegal," said Gordievsky, who defected to Britain...

In a recent Washington Times article titled, “Online activists on the right, unite!,” Andrew Breitbart wrote about the dirty tactics that left-wing activists are employing online.  Breitbart, who helped his friend and former conservative, Arianna Huffington, found the left-wing Huffington Post blog, wrote that “Internet hooligans are spewing their talking points to thwart the dissent of the newly-out-of-power… Political leftists play for keeps. They are willing to lie, perform deceptive acts in a coordinated fashion and do so in a wicked way - all in the pursuit of victory.” Breitbart further detailed how liberal groups like MoveOn.org have been “planting”...

Deep inside the heart of the "Green Zone", the heavily fortified administrative compound in Baghdad, lies one of the most carefully guarded secrets of the war in Iraq. It is a cell from a small and anonymous British Army unit that goes by the deliberately meaningless name of the Joint Support Group (JSG), and it has proved to be one of the Coalition's most effective and deadly weapons in the fight against terror. Its members - servicemen and women of all ranks recruited from all three of the Armed Forces - are trained to turn hardened terrorists into coalition spies...

LONDON: As many as 60 Russian spies are operating in Britain, virtually unchallenged by a domestic intelligence service preoccupied by the threat from Islamic extremism, a lawmaker told a debate Wednesday on relations between Moscow and London.Chris Bryant, a legislator with Tony Blair's governing Labour party who convened and led the session, said Russian authorities had shown a "casual disregard" for the deaths of journalists critical of the Kremlin.Outside analysts said Bryant's figure seemed high, though British intelligence officials have expressed concern about espionage.Lawmakers held the debate at the House of Commons ancillary chamber Westminster Hall following the poisoning death...

Ex-KGB Colonel Alexander Litvinenko was investigating the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. They shared a deep hatred of President Putin. "I hate him for his cynicism, for his racism, his lies, for the massacre of the innocents that went on throughout his first term as president," she wrote. While she was traveling to cover the Beslan school massacre in 2004, she was served a poisoned cup of tea. She fell very ill but survived. She was gunned down last month. On Nov. 1, it was Litvinenko's turn to be poisoned. Protected by armed guards, he is fighting for his...

MIAMI — A Taiwanese businessman pleaded guilty Wednesday to acting as a covert agent for the Chinese government and trying to buy sophisticated military parts and weapons, including an F-16 fighter jet engine and cruise missiles.

German spies handed Saddam Hussein's war plans to the Americans while their government was denouncing the planned attack, it was claimed yesterday. The documents were transferred as the coalition completed its invasion plans in February 2003. A month later, American and British forces entered Iraq. The claims, in yesterday's New York Times, were swiftly denied by German officials. The paper said that a classified American military document referred to Saddam and his aides meeting in late 2002 to radically amend Iraq's war plans. They had wanted an invading army slowed and deflected by Iraq's military en route to Baghdad. But...

WASHINGTON - Former Pentagon analyst Larry A. Franklin was sentenced Friday to a 12 years and seven months imprisonment for passing classified information to former American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists Franklin was also found guilty of sharing classified information with Israeli diplomat Naor Gilon. He was also fined $10,000. In sentencing Franklin, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said the facts of the case led him to believe that Franklin was motivated primarily by a desire to help the United States, not harm it.

PARIS 6 AUG. (IPS) Iran announced Monday that two of its nationals, detained last week by the U.S. forces in Kosovo, are still in captivity and only one has been released. "There is no new word on the fate of the two health workers, but, efforts are still under way to help release them", the foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi told a Tehran press conference.

"Mrs. Whittaker, knotting the scarf, addresses the garden club ladies in front of the portraits of Stalin and Mao. MRS. WHITTAKER (to all) Notice how he is drawn always to authority? (to Raymond) That won't do, Raymond. We need the captain to get you your medal. Whom else? RAYMOND SHAW Well, I guess Ed Mavole, ma'am. YEN LO Ah, that's better. Now, then, Raymond. Take this scarf. Yen Lo places the knotted scarf in Raymond's hands. YEN LO And strangle Ed Mavole. (beat) Er, to death. RAYMOND SHAW Yes, ma'am. Raymond rises and casually walks past Marco........"

The New Zealand Government called in an Israeli diplomat over suspected Mossad spies arrested in New Zealand, and demanded the Israeli Government return any bogus New Zealand passports it might have. The New Zealand Herald says, in a rare intervention, Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Jim Sutton summoned the Canberra-based Acting Israeli Ambassador Orna Sagiv a week ago after two Israeli men were arrested in Auckland allegedly trying to obtain a false New Zealand passport. Mr Sutton said the ambassador was called in to have the 'riot act' read - 'and for me to say on behalf of the New Zealand...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... . U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. . . Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family...

<p>BERLIN -- German scientists said Monday they have developed a computer system to reconstruct millions of files on informants torn up by the East German secret police -- within years rather than centuries.</p> <p>After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the Stasi security police tore up into jigsaw puzzle-size pieces documents on their huge network, which include meticulous observations on East Germans and foreigners deemed a threat to the state. About 15 people have been working at the Berlin archive for Stasi documents meticulously piecing together scraps by hand.</p>

Mission improbable (Filed: 09/11/2003) The BBC is searching for would-be spies to be coached by real intelligence officers for a reality TV programme to be shown next year. Adam Lusher became a trainee spook for a day.The voice on the other end of the telephone was pleasingly furtive. "Mr Lusher, do you want to become a spy?" Did I want to? Did I want to travel the world? Tropical islands with Spectre bases hidden in the volcano a speciality?Did I want to drive fast cars, catch criminal masterminds? Did I want to tangle with dangerously beautiful women? Well, you...

<p>September 24, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - A U.S. airman who spied for Syria is among five Americans suspected of espionage at the terrorist prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military sources revealed yesterday. Senior airman Ahmad al-Halabi, who worked as an Arabic translator, has been arrested and charged with espionage, the Pentagon said.</p>

Tony Snow said there is a report that Naomi Campbell has a spy network which has tracked Osama Bin Laden to Saudi Arabia....nothing furtur

<p>While most older James Bond movies have aged well, many of the spy's gadgets seem ready for a garage sale.</p> <p>Bond's top-secret toys from the 1960s and 1970s include a bargain bin's worth of bulky pagers, photocopiers and other technology that can now be purchased at discount with a Costco Club Card.</p>

In mid-1984, a former Egyptian Army officer with an engaging manner and a gift for languages approached the C.I.A. in Egypt with what seemed an intriguing offer: He volunteered to be a spy. The agency tried him out, but the Egyptian flunked. He had made contact in Germany with a branch of Hezbollah, the Middle Eastern terrorist group, and told its members that he was working with the CIA, a betrayal the agency quickly discovered. Soon after, C.I.A. officials branded him untrustworthy and cut off further dealings with him, suspecting that he wanted to help the terrorists spy on Americans,...

For nearly 20 years during the height of the Cold War, Boris Aleksandrovich Solomatin, oversaw most of the KGB's anti-American spy operations. The now-retired major general played a key role in the "handling" of John Walker Jr., the Navy officer who headed the most damaging spy ring ever to operate against the United States. Solomatin also recruited Glenn Michael Souther, a lesser-known Navy officer, who provided the KGB with some of America's nuclear war plans before eluding the FBI and fleeing to Moscow where he committed suicide in 1989. The Souther case is worth noting because he is considered to...