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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Nov 04 2010 - 21:08:56 EST
"The report referred to is UN Security Council document number
S/2008/769. Reviewing that document suggests that the relevant part
was compiled by US representatives to the UN and is, by implication,
credited to the Monitoring Group on Somalia. However, it appears from
reading the UN report that, in producing its Somalia document, the USA
was highly instrumental in writing the passage which it now quotes,
providing what amounts to self-corroboration."
The Risk Professional: US Treasury discloses intelligence sources in
sanctions document
The Risk Professional
Thursday 04 November 2010
The USA's intelligence failures are the stuff of legend. The quality
of the intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq was - to be
polite - deeply flawed. It is easy to imagine that that intelligence
comes from agents in the field, from informants (formal or accidental)
or from infiltration. But a remarkable document released by the US
Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control yesterday demonstrates a
rather different picture.
The document, "Information on persons listed in the annex to Executive
Order 13536 of 12 April 2010" revisits the bald list of individuals
and entities to which the USA applied sanctions, alleging involvement
in piracy and other terrorist acts. All are connected to Somalia. The
information contains no evidence but it does demonstrate the
intelligence on which the USA based its decisions.
What is surprising is the how that intelligence was gathered - and
what the sources of that intelligence were.
In some cases, the source was the United Nations Monitoring Group on
Somalia. It is not known how that intelligence was gathered.
But the most featured sources are those most favoured by many bloggers
writing fake newspapers or opinion pieces based on what they have read
in the more established media.
In the minutes after the attacks on New York's World Trade Centre on
11 September 2001, many Americans turned from their domestic channels
to the more measured coverage provided by the BBC. And, the document
makes clear, it is to the UK's public service broadcaster that the US
Treasury turns for its intelligence. The document makes repeated
reference to BBC reports as the source of information as to the
activities and allegiances of several of those named.
It also places heavy reliance on reports by The Times, an interesting
throwback to the late 18th century when the newspaper's foreign
correspondents filed reports ahead of Britain's own intelligence
network getting their information home. The situation became so
worrisome that The Times and the British Government did a deal for the
government to have access to those reports prior to publication as
part of its formal intelligence gathering.
The document also shows that, even after serious questions were raised
about the quality of intelligence work by the USA, the intelligence is
not handled with due care and attention: it makes reference to a
report in "The UK's Globe and Mail." The Globe and Mail is published
in Canada.
The sources quoted are sometimes less well known but no less well
regarded: The Council on Foreign Relations is a New York-based think
tank and publisher.
In some cases, reference is made to unidentified sources: "ATOM is
reportedly involved in arms trafficking. Information from a number of
sources indicates that his forces receive arms and equipment from
Yemen and Eritrea. According to a December 2008 report, "An eyewitness
described six such shipments during a four-week period in early 2008,
each sufficient to fill two pickup trucks with small arms, ammunition,
and rocket-propelled grenades." The report referred to is UN Security
Council document number S/2008/769. Reviewing that document suggests
that the relevant part was compiled by US representatives to the UN
and is, by implication, credited to the Monitoring Group on Somalia.
However, it appears from reading the UN report that, in producing its
Somalia document, the USA was highly instrumental in writing the
passage which it now quotes, providing what amounts to
self-corroboration.
The full text of the document is available in the Sanctions section of
our sister publication BankingInsuranceSecurities.Com
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