Spy Schools
Page 39
Betty Castor’s lament: Anita Kumar, “Al-Arian Issue Looms for Castor,” St. Petersburg Times, July 11, 2004, http://www.sptimes.com/2004/07/11/State/Al_Arian_issue_looms_.shtml.
“We couldn’t be more surprised”: Gustav Niebuhr, “Professor Talked of Understanding But Now Reveals Ties to Terrorists,” New York Times, November 13, 1995. The surprised administrator was Mark T. Orr, director of the university’s international studies center.
The agenda for an October 2013 meeting at FBI headquarters: Dean W. Chappell III, FBI’s Strategic Partnership Unit, email message (with attached agenda) to NSHEAB members, September 29, 2013, provided by the University of Texas at Austin in response to my public records request.
the FBI hosted a dinner: Chappell email message to NSHEAB members, October 21, 2013.
it noticed Internet postings: https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/pittsburgh/press-releases/2013/pennsylvania-man-sentenced-for-terrorism-solicitation-and-firearms-offense.
He gave FBI-sponsored seminars: “Partial List of Talks Given on Behalf of the FBI,” provided by Graham Spanier to the author.
Minerva Initiative: http://minerva.dtic.mil/overview.html.
Louis Freeh: See report at https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/396512-report-final-071212.html.
Spanier … sued Freeh and Penn State separately: See http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/02/spanier_files_breach_of_contra.html.
8: BUMPS AND CUTOUTS
The CIA agent tapped: The opening scene is based on an interview with a former intelligence officer with firsthand knowledge of the incident.
“Because the feedback”: Taken from William C. Hannas, James Mulvenon, and Anna B. Puglisi, Chinese Industrial Espionage: Technology Acquisition and Military Modernization (New York: Routledge, 2013), p. 26.
The FBI warned American academics: FBI white paper, “Higher Education and National Security: The Targeting of Sensitive, Proprietary, and Classified Information on Campuses of Higher Education,” April 2011.
“What our spies and informants were noticing”: Kiriakou, The Reluctant Spy, p. 154.
Sixth Annual International Conference: https://msfs.georgetown.edu/CyberConference2016.
Centra has received more than $200 million in government contracts: Jason Leopold, “The CIA Paid This Contractor $40 Million to Review Torture Documents,” VICE News, July 27, 2015.
Barbara Walter listed: http://gps.ucsd.edu/_files/faculty/walter/walter_cv.pdf. The RAND conference is on p. 10.
a media mouthpiece of Iranian hard-liners denounced: http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/news/press-statements/1000000165-restrictions-on-academic-freedom-underscore-events-at-conference-for-iranian-studies.html.
The Los Angeles Times revealed the program: Greg Miller, “CIA Has Recruited Iranians to Defect,” Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2007.
Emails released in 2015: Courtney Fennell, “Cryptic Clinton Emails May Refer to Iranian Scientist,” CNN, September 2, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/politics/clinton-email-shahram-amiri/.
Four Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated: The killings were widely reported. See, for example, Tom Burgis, “Timeline: Assassinated Iranian Scientists,” http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2012/01/timeline-assassinated-iranian-scientists/.
Iran convicted a man: “Iran Hangs ‘Mossad Agent’ for Scientist Killing,” Reuters, May 15, 2012.
“On occasion scientists”: Michael Ono, “Santorum Says He Would Bomb Iran’s Nuclear Plants,” ABC News, January 1, 2012, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/santorum-says-he-would-bomb-irans-nuclear-plants/.
concluded in 1989: The 1989 legal opinion on assassinations was prepared by W. Hays Parks, chief of the international law branch of the international affairs division of the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Army. Lawyers for the Departments of Defense and State, the CIA, and the National Security Council concurred in it.
“grave consequences”: David Albright, Peddling Peril: How the Secret Nuclear Trade Arms America’s Enemies (New York: Free Press, 2010), p. 209.
“the only place outside their own country”: Nicholas Dawidoff, The Catcher Was a Spy (New York: Vintage Books, 1995), p. 164.
“the pistol stayed”: Ibid., p. 205.
9: HIDDEN IN THE IVY
his favorite hobby: Phone interview with Shelagh Lafferty Moskow, January 15, 2016.
They took turns trying to resuscitate him: Kevin Ryan email message to the author, February 9, 2016.
More than one thousand mourners: SYA website, http://alumni.sya.org/s/833/global.aspx?sid=833&gid=1&pgid=473.
Barack Obama: Ibid.
given the flag: Ibid.
won a bout: “Scoreboard,” Harvard Crimson, January 13, 1983.
“there are enough lawyers”: Joe Holley, “Ex-CIA Agent Ken Moskow; Died Atop Mount Kilimanjaro,” Washington Post, October 6, 2008.
disguised himself in a wig: Shelagh Lafferty Moskow.
one in a long line: I pored over the mid-career program’s annual photo rosters in the Kennedy School library, looking for students who might have been undercover CIA officers: for example, those who described themselves as political officers in a U.S. embassy with a working knowledge of Farsi or Arabic. I then cross-checked those names on the Internet, and in interviews with other sources and/or the graduates themselves, to determine if in fact they had worked for the CIA.
risen to become presidents: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_School_of_Government#Notable_alumni.
No fewer than five: The five graduates who have served in Japan’s cabinet are Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Yoko Kamikawa, Yoshimasa Hayashi, Yoichi Miyazawa, and Toshimitsu Motegi.
former intelligence brass: The list of experts and fellows at the Belfer Center may be found on its website: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/experts/index.html?filter=T&groupby=1&type=.
on the CIA director’s advisory board: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/experts/199/graham_allison.html.
“[I]t is inappropriate”: Hearings Before the Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate on the National Intelligence Reorganization and Reform Act of 1978, p. 645, http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/952525.pdf.
occasionally request two certificates: Background interview with Kennedy School administrator.
two-week, $12,500 course: https://exed.hks.harvard.edu/Programs/nis/overview.aspx.
including heads of the National Security Agency: Interview with Tad Oelstrom.
“The CIA had as little experience”: Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow, eds., Dealing with Dictators: Dilemmas of U.S. Diplomacy and Intelligence Analysis, 1945–1990 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2006), p. xi.
a scandal over undisclosed funding: See Michelle M. Hu and Radhika Jain, “Controversy Erupts Over Professors’ Ties to the CIA,” Harvard Crimson, May 25, 2011, http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/5/25/research-cia-harvard-betts/.
with their names blanked out: May and Zelikow, Dealing with Dictators, p. ix.
Princeton provides full scholarships: http://wws.princeton.edu/admissions/mpp/financial-aid.
“When prisoners were wounded”: Mark Moyar, Phoenix and the Birds of Prey: Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism in Vietnam (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007), pp. 104–5.
Geneva Conventions: See https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule110 and http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/text-images/Geneva_POW.pdf.
his credentials as a soldier and spy: David Lightman, “Simmons’ Resume Suddenly an Asset,” Hartford Courant, November 12, 2001.
Thomas Gordon: Gordon’s resume is available at http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=57518. The Houston Police Department confirmed his employment there.
prompting the Arizona Republic to reveal: Chris Moeser, “Gordon in CIA, Fired, Sources Say,” Arizona Republic, July 24, 1999, p. 1.
He pleaded guilty: U.S. District Court for Arizona, Case CR 01-00164-001-PHX-VAM.
On his Twitter page: Kiowa Gordon
’s Twitter page, https://twitter.com/circakigordon.
“I went through a detailed screening procedure”: Russian Reporter (weekly magazine), 2012. Translated from the Russian by Stepan Kravchenko.
A backstory as a Canadian diplomat’s son: Abby Goodnough, “Suspect in Spy Case Cultivated Friends Made at Harvard,” New York Times, June 30, 2010.
Scotch-tasting excursion: Ibid. Goodnough’s article is also the source of the “flavorful,” “very vague,” and “In Singapore” quotations.
wine caves: Jonathan Saltzman, Shelley Murphy, and John Ellement, “Alleged Spies Always Strived for Connections,” Boston Globe, June 30, 2010.
“very friendly”: Ibid.
attended Kennedy School reunions: FBI report, “Higher Education and National Security,” 2011.
started a software design firm: Evan Perez, “Alleged Russian Agent Claimed Official Was His Firm’s Adviser,” Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2010.
“Western estimation”: Complaint v. Heathfield, Foley, et al., FBI agent Maria Ricci, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, http://cryptome.org/svr/usa-v-svr.htm 6/25/10.
agreed to spy for Russia: Devlin Barrett, “Russian Spy Ring Aimed to Make Children Agents,” Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2012.
“In order to win”: Russian Reporter.
rescinded his degree: Naveen N. Srivatsa, “Harvard Kennedy School Revokes Degree Awarded to Russian Spy,” Harvard Crimson, July 16, 2010.
“establish their legend”: Vavilov v. the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, http://caselaw.canada.globe24h.com/0/0/federal/federal-court-of-canada/2015/08/2015fc960.shtml.
largest in the world: Speech by French ambassador Francois Delattre, March 5, 2014, http://www.ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article5421.
Engulfed in a scandal: Michael D. Shear, “Petraeus Quits; Evidence of Affair Was Found by FBI,” New York Times, November 9, 2012.
Recanati-Kaplan: My account of the genesis of the fellowships is based on an interview with Petraeus. Kaplan and Allison declined to comment.
“educates the next generation of thought leaders”: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/fellowships/recanatikaplan.html.
a Pentagon intelligence analyst studied: The American studying criminal networks was Kim Benderoth; the Israeli studying counterterrorism was Gilad Raik. Their research topics are no longer listed on the Belfer Center website.
Panthera: https://www.panthera.org/.
He learned French as a student in Switzerland: Delattre speech.
“The program has brought France together”: Video of Delattre speech, http://frenchculture.org/archive/speeches/france-honors-tom-kaplan-legion-honor.
a key backer of United Against Nuclear Iran: Eli Clifton, “Document Reveals Billionaire Backers Behind United Against Nuclear Iran,” https:/lobelog.com.
“As much as United Against Nuclear Iran”: Video of speech by Tom Kaplan as he received French Legion of Honor medal, http://frenchculture.org/archive/speeches/france-honors-tom-kaplan-legion-honor. The words aren’t in the published text.
Obama administration intervened: Matt Apuzzo, “Justice Department Moves to Shield Anti-Iran Group’s Files,” New York Times, July 27, 2014.
“allowing the litigation to proceed”: Opinion and Order, U.S. District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos, Victor Restis and Enterprises Shipping and Trading S.A. v. United Against Nuclear Iran et al., 13 Civ. 5032, March 23, 2015.
“Security in the Black Sea Region”: The agenda is available at www.harvard-bssp.org/files/agenda%202015.doc.
a desperate phone call: Alvin Powell, “Russian, U.S. Admirals Talk to Save Sub,” Harvard University Gazette, October 20, 2005.
“Everybody knew Mr. Moscow”: Adriana Rivas email message to the author, January 25, 2016.
now-deceased Guatemalan defense minister: Gramajo’s participation in the mid-career program was controversial because he had allegedly overseen murders and torture of political dissidents in Guatemala. At the Kennedy School graduation ceremony in 1991, he was served with papers in a lawsuit brought by eight Guatemalans in a U.S. court, accusing him of human rights abuses. Four years later, he was found civilly liable, and was prohibited from entering the United States. A swarm of bees stung him to death at his ranch in 2004.
10: “I AM KEEPING YOU OUT OF JAIL”
the bureau began hiring women as agents: Suzanne Stratford, “FBI Celebrates 40th Anniversary of First Female Agent,” fox8.com/2012/08/13/fbi-celebrates-40th-anniversary-of-first-female-agent/.
they made up almost 20 percent: There were 13,907 agents, of whom 2,707, or 19.5 percent, were women, according to “Today’s FBI: Facts & Figures,” 2013–14, p. 51.
Agents come from all walks of life: Ibid., p. 47.
It reports to the director: Ibid., p. 5.
seventy-eight offices and suboffices: Ibid., p. 8.
the burean’s priorities shifted: FBI director Robert S. Mueller III, prepared statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee, June 2002, https://global.nytimes.com/2002/06/06/politics/06APMTEX.html?pagewanted=all&position=top.
“is not just the more traditional spies”: https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence.
born in 1968 in Burlington, Vermont: I traced her family history through birth, marriage, and death certificates available on Ancestry.com.
shared patents for two devices: “Frequency Responsive Lubrication System,” July 9, 1968, United States Patent 3,391,602; “Muzzle Brake Torque Assist for Multi-Barrel Weapons,” November 21, 1972, United States Patent 3,703,122.
her father transferred: Phone interview with George Dewey Brooks.
Its population rose: “Population Trends for the 25 Largest SC Cities, 2000 to 2012,” provided by John Gardner.
lower poverty rate: “Economic Status Indicators: Greenville County and Municipalities,” provided by John Gardner, based on American Community Survey 2008–2012 and 2010 U.S. Census.
Dale Farrington retired: Email from GE spokeswoman, January 9, 2016.
With a 91.9 percent graduation rate: South Carolina State Report Card 2015, Mauldin High School, https://ed.sc.gov/assets/reportCards/2015/high/c/h2301014.pdf.
his arrest following a racial melee: “After Getting Arrested in a Race Riot, Kevin Garnett Drove Himself to Escape Rural S.C. and Become Highest-Paid Player in NBA History,” http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/02/24/kevin-garnetts-took-inspiring-road-rural-s-c-highest-paid-player-nba-history/, February 24, 2015.
standout athlete: Mauldin High yearbook; interview with Coach Delmer Howell; 1984–85 Palmetto’s Finest Record Book, p. 104.
She majored in psychology: University of North Carolina alumni records.
she became a social worker for Orange County: Donna Davenport, human resources analyst, Orange County, email message to the author, October 20, 2015.
must be U.S. citizens between the ages: ‘Today’s FBI: Facts & Figures,” p. 48.
22,692 applicants: Ibid., p. 47.
according to a court document: W. Bryan Park II, “Affidavit Seeking Oral Testimony and Production of Documents From Task Force Agent Robert Sheehan and F.B.I. Special Agent Dianne Farrington,” Florida v. Lawrence Kilbourn, Case Number 99-3807, March 10, 2000.
medical device distributor: www.linkedin.com/in/matt-mercurio-4048875.
Nike Women’s Marathon: http://www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?MIDD=2224081019&Gen=B&Begin=1939&End=2038&Max=4881.
Cliffs at Glassy: I looked up the Mercurios’ purchases and sales of lots at: viewer.greenvillecounty.org/countyweb/disclaimer.do.
dropped in value: County records show that the Mercurios bought the lot for $232,000 in 2007. It was valued at $138,080 in 2015.
sank into Chapter 11 bankruptcy: Case No. 12-01220, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for South Carolina, http://www.scb.uscourts.gov/pdf/court_postings/Cliffs_order.pdf.
Mercurio interviewed one of Al-Arian’s alleged co-conspirators: Interview with Kerry Myers, who headed the Al-Arian criminal investigation. The
government listed her as a possible witness, but she didn’t testify.
if he would provide information: Interview with Koerner.
“a little bit nervous”: Zheng email message to author, September 14, 2014.
On the afternoon of March 9: The date is confirmed by a March 5, 2010, email message from Romine to Peng: “We can do it Tuesday afternoon then. I will meet with you for about half an hour before she arrives.”
In their regular corner booth: This scene is reconstructed from interviews with Peng and is consistent with their email correspondence.
American Association of University Professors had condemned: “Academic Freedom and Tenure: University of South Florida,” 2003, https://www.aaup.org/report/academic-freedom-and-tenure-university-south-florida.
his expertise was in physical education: http://www.usf.edu/provost/documents/leadership-cv/wilcox-2012withoutrefcv.pdf.
agents copied the images: “Report of Investigation,” Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, November 15, 2010, provided in response to a public records request.
“no materials which could be used to defraud … no conspiratorial acts were found”: Ibid.
Peng and the university reached a settlement: “Settlement and General Release Agreement Between Dr. Dajin Peng and the University of South Florida Board of Trustees,” August 24, 2010.
assigned on the day of the settlement: Fax from General Counsel Steven Prevaux to Wenzel, August 24, 2010.
He pitched the idea to Holbrook: The meeting time and place were confirmed in an email message from Holbrook’s executive administrative assistant, Beth Beall, to Peng, October 8, 2010.
probably went to see her: Holbrook thought so, but wasn’t sure.
which would arrive in Tampa later that month: “Nankai University Delegation Visits USF,” USF World News, November 28, 2010, http://global.usf.edu/wordpress/?p=672.
Otherwise, they threatened to circulate: Letter from “Thirty-Six Overseas Chinese of the Greater Tampa Bay Area,” Exhibit 19, Memo to Dr. Ralph Wilcox from Dr. Dwayne Smith re: Review of Dr. Dajin Peng’s actions while on suspension, March 22, 2012.