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Was Dead Pakistani Journalist Saleem Shahzad a CIA Asset?
Leaked emails by wikileaks suggest that dead Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad was working for the CIA. The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods:
Email-ID 1644311
Date 2011-06-01 15:50:16
From burton@stratfor.com
To sean.noonan@stratfor.com, hoor.jangda@stratfor.com, secure@stratfor.com
The most interesting aspect is the killing of a journalist. Fine line
between an investigative journalist and spy. When you rattle around
topics nobody wants aired, you pay the price. Truth tellers always get
shot. Its much easier to lie or make up stories.
On 6/1/2011 8:46 AM, Sean Noonan wrote:
http://www.amazon.com/Bloodmoney-Novel-Espionage-David-Ignatius/dp/...
i don't think we're going anywhere with this SSS thing, though it is
interesting.
On 6/1/11 8:41 AM, Fred Burton wrote:
The poor bastard went down the rabbit hole and was neutralized.
ISI is fully infiltrated by sympathizers and operatives. So, he was
killed by ISI. Will we find a smoking gun? No. Will anybody care
about this dude? Not really. The Agency lost an asset. Life goes
on. There is a reason the CIA set up unilateral operations in
Pakistan.
Suggest everyone read David Ignatius new book on CIA NOC and front
company operations in Pakistan. Once again, he has gotten dead
right.
On 6/1/2011 8:06 AM, Sean Noonan wrote:
the question, though, is still who did it.
It means very different things if it is the ISI, the traditional
military, or the jihadists. Then a question of who within those
groups can also mean different things. Not saying we can answer that
very easily, but who specifically killed who (with the support of
who) would explain if there is an issue or not. Operating between
the intelligence services and jihadists is a very, very dangerous
place- so it's not all that surprising that these deaths occur. And
as tensions go up, so will those deaths. But we would have to know
the same people were involved in the deaths to really know what 'the
issue' actually is.
On 6/1/11 7:59 AM, Kamran Bokhari wrote:
The issue is not the man himself (though I am personally spooked
out because I knew him and we met not too long ago and he wrote on
my fb wall a day before he went missing). Instead the issue is the
growing number of deaths of people who have been supportive of
jihadists. Recall KK and Col Imam and now Triple-S. The other
thing is that each of these 3 people were with the ISI at one
point. A former army chief confirmed to me that SSS was at one
point on the payroll. Each of these guys had a falling out with
the official ISI but maintained links deep within the service.
These guys have also had ties to jihadists of one type while
pissing off other more radical types.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
From: Fred Burton
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2011 07:51:53 -0500 (CDT)
To: Sean Noonan
Cc: Secure List
Subject: Re: Pakistan Journalist Vanishes: Is the ISI Involved?
http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745331010&;
Note his May 20 book release.
He was living on borrowed time operating in the belly of the
beast. His last interview is telling. Regardless, he's dead.
Life on the edge.
On 6/1/2011 6:34 AM, Sean Noonan wrote:
Did y'all read his most recent story?
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ME27Df06.html
These three stories are pretty good on his death and what was
going on:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-31/syed-sale...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/leading-journalist-mur...
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2074800,00.html#ixzz1...
Just throwing ideas out here. This is such a clusterfuck I
don't know what to think.
His next was to be "Next: Recruitment and training of militants
" So who was doing the recruitment and training, huh?
If it's anything like the first half, it sounds like he's going
to accuse someone in the Pakistani military. Maybe they wanted
to stop that?
Excerpt of new book on AQ and friends. Says the Mumbai plan was
ISI's and a dude under Kashmiri at LeT carried it out:
http://www.syedsaleemshahzad.com/2011/05/who-masterminded-mumbai-at...
It seems just as likely jihadists could go after him for
exposing their location (or that they thought he exposed it).
The reports I've read through of 'torture' were really just that
he had been hit in the face. That's probably pretty typical of
any militant or criminal outfit, and while the other reports of
his ISI meetings were more peaceful, it wouldn't be that
difficult for them to go that far either.
Here's his email to the HRW:
http://asiancorrespondent.com/56321/saleem-shahzad-dead-another-one...
For future reference:
Meeting details as on October 17, 2010 at the ISI headquarters
Islamabad between DG Media Wing ISI, Rear Admiral Adnan Nazir
and Syed Saleem Shahzad, the Bureau Chief Pakistan for Asia
Times Online (Hong Kong). Commodore Khalid Pervaiz, the Deputy
Director General of Media Wing ISI was also present during the
conversation.
Agenda of the meeting: discussion on Asia Times Online story
published on October 15, 2010, titled Pakistan frees Taliban
commander (see
http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LJ16Df02.html).
The meeting discussed the following issues.
1-Syed Saleem Shahzad told Rear Admiral Adnan that an
intelligence channel leaked the story. However, he added that
story was published only after a confirmation from the most
credible Taliban source. Syed also explained that DG ISPR was
sent a text message about the story, but he did not respond.
2- Rear Admiral Adnan Nazir had the view that story caused a lot
of embracement for the country but observed that issuing a
denial from the government side is no solution. He suggested
Syed Saleem Shahzad should write a denial of the story.
3- Syed Shahzad refused to comply with demand and termed it
impractical.
4-Rear Admiral Adnan was curious to know the source of the story
as it is a shame that information would leak from the office of
a high profile intelligence service.
5- Syed Shahzad called it an intelligence leak but did not
specify the source.
6-The conversation was held in an extremely polite and friendly
atmosphere and there was no mince word in the room at any stage.
Rear Admiral Adnan Nazir also offered Syed Saleem Shahzad a
favor in following words.
"I must give you a favor. We have recently arrested a terrorist
and have recovered a lot of data, dairies and other material
during the interrogation. The terrorist had a hit list with him.
If I find your name in the list, I will certainly let you know,"
(end of email)
On 5/31/11 7:56 PM, burton@stratfor.com wrote:
I'm sure the ISI extracted a confession of his CIA work before
he died. There will be a leaked story about his double agent
work and the Pakis rub the CIA's nose in it. Its what intel
agencies do. Tit for tat. The world will soon forget him.
Price one pays for playing the game.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Kamran Bokhari"
Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 19:36:07 -0500 (CDT)
To: Reva Bhalla; Kamran
Bokhari
ReplyTo: bokhari@stratfor.com
Cc: Secure List; Fred
Burton
Subject: Re: Pakistan Journalist Vanishes: Is the ISI
Involved?
Pretty big one. Domestic and int'l media shit-storm about how
ISI brutally killed a journalist who uncovered ties between
navy and aQ. The big thing now is aQ penetration of ISI.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Reva Bhalla
Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 19:29:03 -0500 (CDT)
To:
Cc: Secure List; Fred
Burton
Subject: Re: Pakistan Journalist Vanishes: Is the ISI
Involved?
is it that much of a crisis?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Kamran Bokhari"
To: "Fred Burton" , "Kamran Bokhari"
Cc: "Secure List"
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 7:28:02 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Pakistan Journalist Vanishes: Is the ISI
Involved?
Yes, he is dead. But the question is why create this new
crisis when there are no shortages of crises.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Fred Burton
Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 19:18:28 -0500 (CDT)
To: Kamran Bokhari
Cc: Secure List
Subject: Re: Fwd: Pakistan Journalist Vanishes: Is the ISI
Involved?
I'm not surprised. Have we confirmed he's dead?
On 5/31/2011 7:16 PM, Kamran Bokhari wrote:
Heard that the ISI agents who were "interrogating" him
didn't realize he had a heart condition and when they began
the thrashing the guy had a heart attack and died.
On 5/31/2011 2:17 PM, Fred Burton wrote:
A reasonable man would conclude that the chap was on the
CIA dole, but you did not hear that from me. Payback is a
bitch.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Pakistan Journalist Vanishes: Is the ISI
Involved?
Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 13:15:00 -0500
From: Fred Burton
To: OS
Fears are growing for the safety of a well-known Pakistani journalist
who has been missing for 39 hours now and, according to an international
advocacy group, is believed to be in the custody of Pakistan's
controversial Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Human
Rights Watch declared that Syed Saleem Shahzad, a reporter working for
the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online and Adnkronos International, the
Italian news agency, could be subject to mistreatment and even torture
while in custody.
UPDATE: Pakistan's main news channels are reporting that Shahzad's dead
body has been found. One news channel broadcast what appeared to be a
black and white image of Shahzad's face. There were visible signs of
torture..
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2074800,00.html#ixzz1...
--
Sean Noonan
Tactical Analyst
Office: +1 512-279-9479
Mobile: +1 512-758-5967
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
--
Sean Noonan
Tactical Analyst
Office: +1 512-279-9479
Mobile: +1 512-758-5967
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
--
Sean Noonan
Tactical Analyst
Office: +1 512-279-9479
Mobile: +1 512-758-5967
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1644311_re-pakistan-journalist-va...
http://books.google.com/books?id=fQLfrQzfpxsC&printsec=frontcov...
Views: 283
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Comment by Riaz Haq on October 5, 2021 at 7:54pm
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#Pakistan #ISI has a record of discovering & breaking up #US #CIA spy agents rings: “Historic Pakistani success in identifying people working for the CIA was a driving force behind the cable, the people familiar with the matter said.” #intelligence https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/cia-warning-human-...
Counterintelligence officials at the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Va., have dispatched a cable to officers around the world cautioning them to take greater care in handling human sources, who are at risk of being captured or killed by rival intelligence services, according to people familiar with the matter.
The cable reflected a general concern among the agency’s leadership that its operations officers should pay more attention to protecting their agents, while also recognizing that they have to aggressively recruit spies and informants to perform their intelligence-collection mission, according to the people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive matter.
Such notices to the field — known as worldwide stations and bases cables (WWSB) — are routine, former officials said. People familiar with the recent cable said it wasn’t prompted by any new penetration of a spy network. But, they added, the cable underscored concerns that CIA officers may be putting recruitment ahead of basic source-protection techniques.
Historic Pakistani success in identifying people working for the CIA was a driving force behind the cable, the people familiar with the matter said.
The CIA is under renewed pressure to recruit and maintain effective spy networks in Pakistan, following the U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan and the country’s takeover by the Taliban. Maintaining reliable human sources will be crucial to the Biden administration’s plans to keep tabs on terrorist threats without a military presence on the ground, former officials said.
The CIA cable was first reported by the New York Times.
“These go out every two or three years on counterintelligence concerns. They’re not unusual but are still important reminders to officers to tighten up on tradecraft,” said Thad Troy, a former CIA operations officer who served as a chief of station in several European capitals. Troy said he had not seen the recent cable.
In an unusually revealing detail, the cable noted the number of agents killed by foreign intelligence services. That level of specificity might ordinarily be excluded from a cable that is widely disseminated, as this one was, but it was included to get the attention of CIA officers, who might otherwise regard the bulletin as a routine advisory, people familiar with the message said.
When asked about the cable, a CIA spokeswoman declined to comment.
The CIA has suffered some disastrous penetrations of its spy networks in recent years. In 2011, the agency launched a mole-hunt after an informant in China told his American handlers that everyone he knew who was helping the U.S. government had been discovered by Chinese authorities, who then forced the agents to work for them.
CIA assets in Iran were also identified and arrested in another penetration around the same time.
In both instances, former officials said that agents were probably discovered because of a breach in the CIA’s covert communications system, which it used to secretly communicate with agents in the field.
By invoking previous failures, the cable was probably meant to admonish current officers not to repeat past mistakes.
“If this is being sent to the workforce [rather than a particular CIA station], the message is, ‘Hey, people, let’s be careful,” said Daniel Hoffman, a former intelligence officer who held senior positions overseas and at headquarters.
Hoffman, who hasn’t seen the cable, said that if the agency wanted to send a more urgent message about an active counterintelligence problem — such as a particular group of sources being compromised — it would handle the matter in a more discreet message to the officers concerned.
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