Move Over Ed Snowden, Al Jazeera Has A Huge New Stack Of Spy Documents

from the and-the-revelations-just-keep-on-coming dept

Mon, Feb 23rd 2015 1:32pm — Mike Masnick

There have been questions of when (not if) the next "Ed Snowden" situation would show up. There certainly have been a few recent leaks that appear to have been from folks other than Snowden, but they've mostly been one-off leaks. However, this morning, Al Jazeera is claiming that it got its hands on a huge trough of spy documents, in the form of cables from South Africa's spy agency, the State Security Agency (SSA), and it will begin reporting on what's in those documents, in collaboration with reporters at The Guardian:

Spanning a period from 2006 until December 2014, they include detailed briefings and internal analyses written by operatives of South Africa's State Security Agency (SSA). They also reveal the South Africans' secret correspondence with the US intelligence agency, the CIA, Britain's MI6, Israel's Mossad, Russia's FSB and Iran's operatives, as well as dozens of other services from Asia to the Middle East and Africa.

The files unveil details of how, as the post-apartheid South African state grappled with the challenges of forging new security services, the country became vulnerable to foreign espionage and inundated with warnings related to the US "War on Terror".

As Al Jazeera points out, this is not "signals intelligence" (SIGINT) material, but rather "human intelligence" (HUMINT) of the kind normally done by the CIA, rather than the NSA. It's about spies on the ground -- and also, according to Al Jazeera, their humdrum daily office existence. Honestly, it almost sounds like the plot of a bad sitcom: come work at a premier national intelligence agency... and bitch about the lack of parking:

At times, the workplace resembles any other, with spies involved in form-filling, complaints about missing documents and personal squabbles.... One set of cables from the Algerian Embassy in South Africa relates to a more practical concern. It demands that "no parking" signs are placed in the street outside. The cable notes that the British and US embassies enjoy this privilege, and argues that it should be extended to Algeria as well.

Whether or not this latest leak turns up anything more interesting than parking disputes, it is worth noting that another trove of intelligence documents have leaked...

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Filed Under: cia, fsb, leaks, mi6, mossad, south africa, ssa, surveillance, whistleblower
Companies: al jazeera, guardian

27 Comments

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tomczerniawski, 23 Feb 2015 @ 1:40pm

The biggest story I've seen so far in this tranche of documents, is that the Israeli Mossad doesn't believe that Iran is pursuing a bomb at all, despite Netanyahu's insistence that we're milliseconds away from being nuked by Iran.

This might torpedo that warmonger's political future, and give someone a bit more peace-minded a chance at office. Once again, a leak of secret materials stands to improve the world.
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:26pm
  
  Re:
  Yeah, because the crap their continually hiding sheds more light in just how corrupt our "leaders" are.
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2015 @ 6:17pm
  
  Re:
  That depends on how willing Mossad is to change their tune for political reasons.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:01pm

I feel like this leak is designed to obscure the true leaks.
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:28pm
  
  Re:
  Certainly a possibility, i for one will wait and see
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 5:10pm
  
  Re:
  Agreed. While I welcome any meaningful leaks, and am positive there will be many more to come, I'm not seeing anything bulleted in the AJ article (besides the Netanyahu item) that's anything other than one would expect from legitimate spy work.
  
  ~The CIA made attempts to contact Hamas directly despite the US government listing the Palestinian group as a "terrorist organisation"
  - So contact is a bad thing?
  
  ~Britain's MI6 sought South African help in an operation to recruit a North Korean official who had previously refused their cash
  - Maybe what they tried after failing with cash is bad?
  
  ~South African and Ethiopian spies struggled to "neutralise" an assassination plot targeting a leading African diplomat
  - Wouldn't this be a good thing?
  
  Maybe these leaks will turn out to be more significant than they seem from their intro. But for now, I don't see much of a reason for Snowden to "move over" (or even move slightly to the left) for these revelations.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:15pm

so who from Al Jazeera is the US going to file suit against for treason? they must get someone, surely. it wont seem like a proper leak until the DoJ tries to throw someone's ass into Gitmo, never to be seen again, for committing acts of terrorism!!
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Feb 2015 @ 6:58am
  
  Re:
  so who from Al Jazeera is the US going to file suit against for treason?
  Despite lots of recent talk, nobody's ever been charged with treason for leaking information to a journalist, and it's unlikely the DOJ would try. The constitution is very strict about what counts as treason because, at the time of writing, English kings had been abusing treason laws quite a bit. People claiming leaking information is treason don't understand history (or are lying).
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:21pm

Hey Masnick- Your hated Hollywood is making a movie about Snowden. Are you going to criticize them for that or just steal it when it's out?
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:27pm
  
  Re:
  Half-assed comment without any thought put into it. Amazing.
  If only you understood the meaning of stealing.
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  - Mason Wheeler (profile), 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:51pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Don't feed the trolls. Just click Report and move on.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:56pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Sorry, It's just the urge is too great to not respond. I'll take heed next time...
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  - Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 8:41pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Pretty sure everyone learns the meaning of stealing around age 4. Maybe you didn't?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 8:45pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Here's a link many at Techdirt appear to need a refresher course in:
      
      http://www.ehow.com/info_12275406_talking-kids-stealing.html
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - ryuugami, 23 Feb 2015 @ 10:00pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        From that link:
        Make sure your child understands that stealing is the unlawful taking of another person's property. Be clear that stealing can be done physically, such as taking a candy bar from a store, or electronically, such as taking music that hasn't been purchased, from the Internet.
        
        And then make your child return what he stole, such as a candy bar to the store, or the music to the Internet. Just imagine how many people would've bought that song, but they couldn't because a child stole it. Millions lost in revenue! Millions!
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    - Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 9:43pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Log back in, chicken boy.
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:30pm
  
  Re:
  Many of us already saw the film about Snowden -- Citizenfour -- because we couldn't wait for the DVD to come out.
  
  Hopefully Al Jazeera will put together some good documentaries on this latest leak.
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:32pm
  
  Re:
  Look, i dont think mike is interested in you in that way, so go home and take a loooong cold shower and while your at it, go see if they've made any progress in character transplants
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:33pm
  
  Re:
  Make a MOVIE........are you sure.
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:38pm
  
  Re:
  whats he stealing, whats he taking thats gonna be deprived from the other person?
  
  Fuck off with your profit above all piece of shit mentality
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  - Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:52pm
    
    Re: Re:
    look, that was uncalled for, i apologise for loosing my temper
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    - Anonymous Coward, 24 Feb 2015 @ 12:31am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      "loosing"? Does your temper need a belt?
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 3:11pm
  
  Re:
  Aren't you late for your appointment for processing at the organ donor center?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 2:21pm

I'm just waiting for Al Jazeera to get a US guided missile "accidently" fired into its headquarters ... for the third time.

Apparently the attitude-adjustment gained from first two bombings has worn off, and these wayward Arabs need another gentle reminder of what happens to foreign news agencies who get too far out of line.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 8:25pm

Didn't one of the Manning cables show the Al Jazeera head working with CIA, pulling stories on request etc?
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2015 @ 8:59pm
  
  Re:
  Actually this could fit with their motives. Iran and the US have ISIS as a common enemy. This has made working together in a not-cooperating way awkward.
  
  So if they can shove Netanyahu onto his sword they can normalize relationships with Iran and minimize negative diplomatic impact on Israel by revealing it to be a rogue PM.
  
  Assuming that the CIA fed Al Jazeera (a large assumption), the big question would be how long did they know this? Were they withholding this knowledge because they previously wanted to act against Iran but decided to play their card now? Or did they just find out relatively speaking?
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Ninja (profile), 24 Feb 2015 @ 3:06am

Eventually there will be leakage. It is good because it shines light into shady behavior and at the same time it may be bad with all the surveillance we are seeing. That's personal data leaking into hands that may not be friendly.
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