'Flame' cyber-attack in Middle East raises whodunit questions

JERUSALEM -- The latest case of cyber warfare and intelligence gathering in the Middle East has both surprised and impressed experts worldwide, as information about the newly detected malware dubbed "Flame" emerges.

The malware was discovered by the Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, one of the world's leading information technology companies. The firm was tapped by the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union to look into reports of suspicious computer activity.

Kaspersky experts said Flame is "the most sophisticated cyber-weapon yet unleashed."

A wide, seemingly indiscriminate range of computers belonging to individuals as well as state-related organizations were targeted the Middle East, including in Syria, Lebanon and Sudan. Hardest hit appears to be Iran, raising questions about whether a cyber attack was aimed at the country's controversial nuclear program, and, if so, prompting speculation about who's behind it.

Israeli Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon helped spur speculation Tuesday by saying in a radio interview that "whoever sees the Iranian threat as a significant threat is likely to take various steps, including these, to hobble it." He also noted Israel's high-tech prowess. Later in the day, Iran's Fars news agency said Yaalon "acknowledged the Zionist regime's cyber-attack on Iran." 

Pakistani doctor caught between counterterrorism and treason

The treason conviction and 33-year prison sentence given the Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA locate  Osama bin Laden last year has outraged U.S. leaders who see Shakeel Afridi as a hero in their campaign against terrorism.

A Senate panel voted to slash aid to Pakistan by $33 million -- a million for each year of Afridi's sentence. Senate Armed Services Committee members John McCain and Carl Levin, in a bipartisan blast at Islamabad, demanded that Afridi be pardoned and released, saying his help in finding Bin Laden was "the furthest thing from treason." Another lawmaker, Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, has introduced legislation to award U.S. citizenship and the Congressional Gold Medal to the jailed surgeon.

But Afridi's spying on behalf of another nation would violate laws in the U.S. and other developed nations as well.

 

The Constitution defines treason as "levying war" or aiding the enemy in a conflict, and only one U.S. citizen has been charged with treason since World War II -- fugitive Al Qaeda activist Adam Gadahn in 2006. U.S. courts, though, have convicted dozens of citizens and legal residents in the post-war era on an array of charges for spying on behalf of foreign powers.

 

Afridi, who could have been sentenced to death, was dealt with more lightly than U.S. citizen Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a life sentence for passing classified information to Israel in the 1980s.

Pollard worked as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy when he provided classified documents to Israeli agents for money and jewels. Israeli and American Jewish group have tried to gain his freedom since his 1989 conviction for spying. He was given Israeli citizenship in 1995 and his incarceration at a federal prison in North Carolina continues to be a thorn in the side of U.S.-Israeli relations.

 

Espionage, whether for friend or foe, remains a dangerous business that can land operatives in prison for years -- even if they succeeded in passing on little of value.

 

GOP lawmaker concerned over strength of Taliban

WASHINGTON -- U.S. intelligence operatives in Afghanistan believe that the Taliban is stronger now than it was before President Obama deployed 30,000 more troops in 2010, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Friday after returning from a three-day visit.

“My biggest take-away from the trip was the huge difference between what the military believes the state of affairs is and what our intelligence community believes the state of affairs is,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.). “Folks on the intelligence side … believe the Taliban is stronger today than it was even a couple of years ago.” 

The Taliban’s goal is to avoid major battles with superior U.S. forces until those forces withdraw, Rogers said. He said worsening corruption among Afghan government officials is driving new recruits to the Taliban, which he said now has a shadow governor in every Afghan province.

“We’ve seen a lot more violence in the north that we haven’t seen before,” Rogers said. “There’s been an increase in political assassinations.”

The pessimistic intelligence assessments, Rogers said, contrast with sentiments expressed by military commanders, a disconnect that also occurred at times during the war in Iraq.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and was also on the trip, was less pessimistic about the strength of the Taliban, saying she saw evidence of significant military and intelligence successes.

The Taliban earns as much as $120 million a year from the country’s heroin trade, Feinstein said. “My big concern is that the Taliban ends up as a narco-cartel, candidly,” she said.

She acknowledged “a difference of opinion” between the military and the intelligence community over the progress of the war.

Feinstein and Rogers said intelligence and military analysts agree that the Taliban continues to enjoy havens in parts of Pakistan, where extremist networks and factories producing bomb ingredients are beyond the reach of U.S. ground forces.

On Tuesday, President Obama made a surprise overnight visit to Kabul, the Afghan capital, to sign a strategic agreement with President Hamid Karzai, setting the stage for withdrawal of most remaining U.S. troops by the end of 2014. The Obama administration has argued that the Taliban has suffered broad losses and that the Afghan government must take over its own security by that time.

On Friday, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said in a speech to U.S. troops at Ft. Benning, Ga., that the Taliban has “been weakened, their momentum has been broken.”

ALSO:

Obama in Afghanistan, sees 'light on the horizon'

Obama in Afghanistan on Osama bin Laden death anniversary

Obama Afghanistan visit shows powerful advantage of incumbency

-- Ken Dilanian

Caption: President Obama greets troops at Bagram air base in Afghanistan during his visit this week. Credit: Charles Dharapak / Associated Press.