Intelligence Work | featured news

The US has expanded its secret intelligence forces in Africa, with Special Operations forces establishing a network of small air bases to spy on terrorist hideouts, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The infiltration of an agent into the ranks of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula provides a rare insight into the shadowy world of counter-terrorism and the problems for both intelligence agencies and al-Qaeda in knowing whom to trust.

In an anonymous industrial park, CIA analysts who jokingly call themselves the "ninja librarians" are mining the mass of information people publish about themselves overseas, tracking everything from common public opinion to revolutions.

Cyber-attacks by Chinese and Russian intelligence services, as well corporate hackers in those countries, have swallowed up large amounts of high-tech American research and development data, and that stolen information has helped build their economies, U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded.

U.S. officials said Thursday evening they have "specific, credible but unconfirmed" information about a potential threat against the United States coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The drugs liaison officer lost a computer memory stick said to contain a list of undercover agents' names and details with more than five years of intelligence work.

Current and former U.S. officials say the failure to carefully examine the value of 'enhanced' methods like waterboarding -- despite calls to do so as early as 2003 -- was part of a broader trend.

The CIA used an arsenal of severe interrogation techniques on alleged Al Qaeda prisoners for nearly seven years without ever seeking a rigorous assessment of whether the methods were effective or necessary, according to current and former U.S.