High-Level Member Of ISIS Sentenced To Life In Prison For Material Support To A Foreign Terrorist Organization Resulting In Death

The U.S. Justice Department released the below:

A New York man was sentenced today to life in prison on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and five substantive counts of providing material support to ISIS in the forms of personnel, including himself, Australian citizen Jake Bilardi and others, as well as services, weapons, property and equipment, and false documentation and identification, all between January 2013 and June 2017, when the defendant was arrested in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to court documents, Mirsad Kandic, 41, of Brooklyn and Kosovo, was convicted by a federal jury in May 2022 following a three-week trial in Brooklyn.

“Serving ISIS’s deadly terror campaign, this defendant fought on the battlefield, spread propaganda, smuggled weapons, and radicalized Western recruits,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The National Security Division was created to counter foreign terrorist organizations like ISIS and, with our partners, we remain committed to identifying and holding accountable those who provide support to such terrorist groups.”

“Kandic was a high-ranking member of ISIS who relished the death and destruction he wrought while providing every conceivable form of material support to a terrorist organization, including the recruitment of countless others to ISIS’s bloody campaigns in Syria and elsewhere,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. “Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable for his conduct and ensures that he will never again pose a threat to the United States or any of our allies. This office will remain relentless in prosecuting terrorists who threaten the safety and security of the United States and U.S. interests around the world.”

“The defendant in this case provided numerous forms of material support to ISIS for years, and today, he was brought to justice for his actions,” said Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “This sentencing demonstrates the serious commitment of the FBI and our law enforcement partners around the world to investigating and holding accountable terrorists who threaten the safety and security of American interests, and those of our allies.”

After several failed attempts to travel from the United States to Istanbul, Turkey, Kandic took a two-day Greyhound bus ride from New York City to Monterrey, Mexico, in November 2013, and flew through Panama, Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Kosovo, and Turkey before arriving in Syria at the end of 2013. Once in Syria, the defendant joined ISIS and became a fighter for the group in Haritan, an ISIS stronghold in the outskirts of Aleppo, wielding Russian-made PK machine guns and AK-47 assault rifles.

ISIS leadership then sent the defendant to Turkey to take up the role of smuggling foreign fighters and weapons into Syria from abroad, and to serve as an emir for ISIS media. Kandic disseminated ISIS recruitment messages and gruesome propaganda using more than 120 Twitter accounts. For example, the defendant sent out an ISIS-produced “documentary” titled “Flames of War.” This video celebrated ISIS conquests and macabre executions of ISIS captives, including instances where victims were forced to dig their own graves before being summarily executed by gunshot. The defendant tweeted that this video was the “best thing ever seen on screen.”

Kandic was a prolific recruiter of foreign fighters for ISIS. He sent thousands of radicalized ISIS volunteer fighters from Western countries into ISIS-controlled territories in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. This included a fellow New Yorker, Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, who became an ISIS sniper and sniper trainer, and another individual who became an emir for ISIS safehouses in the Idlib province of Syria. Asainov was convicted after trial in February 2023 of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS, two substantive counts of providing material support to ISIS, one count of receiving military-type training from ISIS, and obstruction of justice. He is awaiting sentencing.

A foreign fighter recruited by the defendant was Jake Bilardi of Australia. Bilardi contacted the defendant in June 2014 for assistance in traveling to Syria to join ISIS. Kandic provided Bilardi – who had just turned 18 years old and had never traveled internationally before – with instructions and guidance for reaching Istanbul, Turkey. Kandic then arranged for Bilardi to be picked up at the airport in Istanbul and smuggled him into Syria. Kandic maintained contact with Bilardi as he became an ISIS fighter and ISIS suicide bomber. Bilardi went on to commit a suicide truck attack with fellow ISIS members on March 11, 2015, in Ramadi Iraq, killing himself, more than 30 Iraqi soldiers and an Iraqi policeman. Prior to the attack, the defendant wished Bilardi well and stated, “May Allah make there [sic] inner organs implode.” Bilardi’s attack was coordinated with others committed at the same time; 30 members of the Iraqi military were killed, 61 were injured, and 25 were missing, whose bodies were never found, all as a result of this coordinated series of attacks. After the attack, the defendant celebrated Bilardi’s service to ISIS, on Twitter and to a co-conspirator. A member of the Iraqi Army general staff testified at trial that the March 11, 2015, attack paved the way for ISIS’s takeover of Ramadi and the Anbar Province of Iraq several weeks later.

Kandic also provided battlefield intelligence to top ISIS leadership. He also shaped the information environment in which ISIS operated by enforcing ISIS media and publicity discipline. For example, the defendant directed other ISIS supporters to refrain from posting any information about the success (or failure) of ISIS recruitment efforts as well as to minimize any reporting about ISIS military action in specific military actions. Kandic managed money for ISIS fighters in Syria, including two ISIS fighters who gave the defendant their bank cards, from which bank records showed more than $40,000 was transacted. Kandic smuggled weapons to ISIS in Syria, including a night vision scope for an ISIS sniper. Kandic operated a private market via Telegram – called “Khilafah (Caliphate) Market” – for which he was the group administrator with authority to restrict access to the group. Members posted firearms and military equipment for sale, including mortars and suicide belts (i.e., improvised explosive devices). Among the members of Kandic’s private Telegram market was Abu Luqman, who, at the time, was the ISIS governor for the Raqqa province, ISIS’s de facto capital in Syria.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Saritha Komatireddy and J. Matthew Haggans for the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Huda Abouchaer and Trial Attorney Jennifer Levy of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI’s Legal Attachés abroad and foreign authorities in multiple countries on three continents provided critical assistance in this case. The Bosnian and Herzegovina State Investigation and Protection Agency, the Bosnian and Herzegovina State Intelligence and Security Agency, the Bosnian and Herzegovina Foreigners’ Affairs Service, the Bosnian and Herzegovina State Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Australian Federal Police, the Victoria Police (Australia), the Australian Border Force, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, Joint Operations Command in Iraq, and the FBI Legal Attaché Offices in Sarajevo, Canberra, Nur-Sultan, and Baghdad, provided extraordinary assistance in the investigation and prosecution. The Ministry of Justice for the Republic of Finland, and Federal Office of Justice in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development in the Republic of South Africa and the central authorities responsible for mutual legal assistance in Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Ukraine; and the FBI’s Legal Attaché Offices in those countries provided valuable support in the investigation.

Cracking Down On Porch Pirating

Broad + Liberty posted my piece on porch pirating.

You can read the piece via the below link or the below text:

Paul Davis: Cracking down on porch pirating (broadandliberty.com)

A man who lives in South Philadelphia contacted me to complain after the third time someone stole a package off his porch.

“I work during the day and so does my wife, so no one is home to bring in the packages we receive from FedEx, UPS or the U.S. Mail,” the man, who rather that I not use his name, said to me. “For the third in so many months, someone stole a package from us.”

The man said he lives on a good city block that is normally safe and crime-free, and he has friendly and alert neighbors. But none of his neighbors saw the thieves steal his packages. Some of his neighbors have also had packages stolen from their porches.

Theft of packages is like car break-ins, which I covered in my last piece. The thefts are considered a minor crime and not much police action is taken, and prosecutors rarely take the thieves to criminal court. But theft of packages are quality of life crimes, and although it is a minor crime, the impact on the victim is not minor. 

According to the man who contacted me, the theft of his packages has upset him and his family greatly, and they feel less safe in their home. They have become much more security-conscious. 

“It kills me that some thief just walks up on my porch on my property and helps himself to my packages,” the man said. “It is an invasion of my privacy. What would happen if one of my kids opens the door while the thief is on the porch? 

“I think the police and the district attorney should do more to stop these thieves who roam around the city looking for unguarded packages.” 

I offered my sympathy and I told the man that the Pennsylvania Legislature is working on a bill to help reduce thefts from porches and doorways. In an email from Pennsylvania Senator Mike Regan, he announced that legislation cracking down on “porch pirating” was approved by the Pennsylvania Senate. 

The bill began in a February 17 memorandum from Pennsylvania Senator Frank A. Farry to all senators. In the memorandum, he recommended cracking down on porch pirating in the Commonwealth.

“The world of shopping has dramatically changed with Amazon, online grocery shopping, and direct delivery services growing in size and ease of use,” Senator Farry wrote in the memorandum. “These changes have many positive impacts on our constituents especially during the pandemic. Criminals see this change in commerce as another way to steal from our constituents.

“The average cost of a package stolen in Pennsylvania is $43 and close to 2 million Pennsylvanians have experienced this crime. The financial toll can hurt many everyday Pennsylvanians but there is also the emotional distress of having your personal property violated by these pirates. These issues continue to get worse since 2020 with the major increases and new accessibility to online/remote shopping. Theft of mail is currently charged under other theft offenses based solely on the value of the item taken. My legislation would implement specific penalties for theft of mail, which includes a package, bag or letter. The grading of this offense would increase if the person has prior convictions for theft of mail.

Senator Farry asked his fellow senators to join him in co-sponsoring the legislation to fight back against this new form of piracy. 

“Senate Bill 527 would implement specific penalties for theft of mail, which includes a package, bag or letter, “Senator Reagan stated in his email. “The grading of this offense would increase if the person had prior convictions for theft of mail. In Pennsylvania, theft of mail – also known as porch pirating – is currently charged under other theft offenses based solely on the value of the item taken by a porch pirate.”

On June 6, the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Pennsylvania Senator Lisa Baker advanced Senate Bill 527. 

“The bill creates a new crime, theft of mail, and implements specific penalties for repeat offenders,” Senator Baker said. “We must give constant attention to making sure that emerging forms of criminal activity can be prosecuted and penalized. With the growth in online shopping, the crime of porch pirating has quickly spread.

On June 21, the bill moved to the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee.

Similar anti-porch pirate bills are being legislated in New Jersey, Tennessee and other states across the country, as well as in Washington D.C., where some congressional representatives are calling for porch pirating to become a federal crime, as it is for theft of U.S. mail.  

In the meantime, I suggested the man get a doorbell cam. The doorbell cam is triggered by a motion sensor and will notify him of activity at his door via his cell phone. The door cam also captures footage of the thief in action.

Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes the On Crime column for the Washington Times. 

A Look Back At The Notorious British Double Agent And Traitor Kim Philby

Counterterrorism magazine published my piece on the infamous British spy and traitor Kim Philby. 

You can read the piece via the below pages or the below text:

MGM + is showing “A Spy Among Friends,” which is the true story of Harold Adrian Russell “Kim” Philby, a senior British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6) officer who was discovered to be a Soviet spy, and his long-time friend at SIS, Nicholas Elliot. 

The six-part series, based on Ben Macintyre’s book, is well-made and has two strong leading actors, Guy Pierce as Philby, and Damian Lewis as Elliot. But one complaint is that the series is complicated and expects the viewer to be cognizant of the life and treachery of Philby at the start of the series. A second complaint is that the series injects a fictional character in the form of a woman MI5 interrogator, as well as several fictional events. 

Still, those interested in espionage history and high drama will enjoy “A Spy Among Friends.” 

“There is voluminous literature on Kim Philby, including the invaluable pioneering work of writers such as Patrick Seale, Philip Knightly, Tom Bower, Anthony Cave Brown and Genrikh Borovik,” Ben Macintyre wrote in the introduction of “A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal.” “But to many readers Philby remains opaque, like the Cold War itself., often alluded to but little understood. Moreover, in recent years the release of much previously classified material, along with authorized histories of MI5 and MI6, has shed new light on both that conflict and Philby’s place in it.”   

Kim Philby was born in India in 1912. His father was H. St. John Philby, a famous British Arabist and Middle East scholar. Strong-willed and independent, H. St. John Philby despised British imperialism, converted to Islam and advised Arab leaders. The father called his son “Kim” after the child spy in Rudyard Kipling’s classic novel of espionage in India.    

Attracted to communism, Kim Philby was recruited by the Soviets in 1934. He attended Cambridge with the other recruited British spies who later became known as “The Cambridge Five” spy ring.

In 1936, he was working for an Anglo-German trade journal, (beginning his long-time cover as a journalist) and used the cover to report to his Soviets handlers on the Nazi German government. He went on to operate as a journalist in Spain in early 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and later became the London Times correspondent to Spanish Loyalist leader General Franco. 

Urged by his Soviet handler, Philby joined the British SIS and became a penetration agent for the Soviets in 1940 during World War II. A year later, he was assigned to the counterespionage section dealing with the Iberian Peninsula, and in 1944 he was chosen to head up the newly created Soviet counterintelligence unit, Section IX. 

From 1947 to 1949, Philby was chief of the British Istanbul SIS station. A rising star in SIS, Philby was then posted to Washington D.C. and became the British liaison to the CIA and FBI. He regularly swapped secrets as he lunched with the CIA’s counterintelligence chief, James Jesus Angleton, whom he first met in London. Philby was in an ideal position to pass secrets to the Soviets about the intelligence partnership between the British and the Americans. 

Kim Philby was by all accounts intelligent, charming, and a very good professional intelligence officer. He was also what the British call a “rotter.” He was a serial philanderer and alcoholic who betrayed his wives, his friends and his SIS and American colleagues. 

“I have always operated on two levels, a personal level and a political level. When the two come into conflict, I have had to put politics first,” Philby said in justifying his treachery to family, friends and country. 

The end nearly came for Philby in 1951 when he discovered that fellow Cambridge spy and British Foreign Service officer Donald Maclean was suspected of being a Soviet spy. Philby sent Guy Burgess, another Foreign Service officer and Soviet spy to warn Maclean and arrange for his defection to the Soviet Union. Philby warned Burgess, a raging alcoholic and flamboyant homosexual, not to defect as well. 

But Burgess did defect with Maclean and suspicion fell on Philby as “The Third Man” in the spy ring and the man who warned them. Philby was forced to leave Washington. MI5 interrogators were unable to prove Philby was The Third Man, and SIS senior officials supported him, but Philby was forced to resign from SIS.    

 

Philby was publicly called "The Third Man" in Parliament in 1955. He was then publicly cleared by Foreign Secretary and later Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who spoke in Philby’s defense.

Despite Philby being suspected of informing the Soviets of every major secret operation the British and Americans conducted and causing the deaths of many anti-communist spies and freedom fighters, his SIS supporters arranged for him to work as a stringer correspondent for The Economist and The Beirut Observer in 1956. SIS also hired Philby, a former senior intelligence officer, as an agent for the British intelligence agency.

 

When starling new evidence confirmed that Philby was indeed a Soviet spy in 1962, his former SIS colleague and friend Nicholas Elliot was sent to Beirut to confront him. Elliot offered Philby a deal and Philby gave Elliot a signed confession. But rather than return to the United Kingdom, Philby boarded a Soviet freighter and sailed to the Soviet Union. The Soviets announced Philby’s defection, which embarrassed the British government and SIS.

 

While in the Soviet Union, Philby wrote about his life as a Soviet spy in the book, “My Silent War,” which was no doubt co-written by the KGB. The book further embarrassed the British government. In the book, Philby admitted to being a straight penetration agent for the Soviets but denied being a traitor.

 

“To be a traitor,” Philby wrote, “One must belong. I never belonged.” 

While speaking to East German Stasi officers in a 1981, Philby said the SIS failed to uncover him as a Soviet agent due to the British class system. He said that it was inconceivable to senior officers that that he, ‘born into the ruling class of the British Empire,’ could possibly be a traitor. 

Kim Philby thought he would be hailed as a Soviet hero and made a KGB general, but the Soviets were a suspicious and untrusting lot, and Philby was placed in a Moscow apartment and was basically sidelined.

 

Kim Philby became a bitter alcoholic and lived the last 25 years of his life in Moscow, dying in 1988. He did not live to see the Communist Soviet Union, the evil empire he served all of his life, fall in 1999.

 

In addition to the many nonfiction books about Kim Philby, he was also the inspiration for two fictional characters created by two former SIS officers-turned-novelists. Graham Greene, who worked for Kim Philby in SIS during World War II, wrote “The Human Factor,” which featured a double agent much like Philby. 

John le Carre, who served briefly in SIS, wrote the brilliant spy thriller, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” which was about a senior SIS officer and Soviet double agent based on Philby. The novel spawned a fine TV miniseries and a feature film. 

Former CIA Director Allen Dulles called Kim Philby “the best spy the Soviets ever had.” British historian Anthony Cave Brown, who wrote “Treason in the Blood: H. St. John Philby, Kim Philby and the Spy Case of the Century,” called Kim Philby “quite possibly the greatest unhanged scoundrel in modern British history.” 

Paul Davis, a long-time contributor to the Journal, writes the IACSP online Threatcon column. 

Total Empire: My Q&A With Author And Retired Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata

Counterterrorism magazine published My Q&A with thriller writer and retired Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata. The retired general is the author of the thriller Total Empire.

You can read my Q&A with him via the pages above and below, or the below text:

Brigadier General (Retired) Anthony J. Tata served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from November 10, 2020, to January 15, 2021. Prior to assuming this position, he was the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

Anthony J. Tata is a 1981 West Point graduate who completed graduate studies in international relations from The Catholic University of America and the School of Advanced Military Studies. He also served as a National Security Fellow at Harvard University’s JFK School of Government.

He served for 28 years in the United States Army, commanding a paratrooper battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division and an air assault brigade in the 101st Airborne Division. He served as the Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division and Joint Task Force 76 in Afghanistan from 2006-2007. He also served as the deputy director of Joint Concept Development and Experimentation as well as the Joint IED Defeat Organization.

His operational deployments and missions include Operation Uphold Democracy to support Haitian stability, Operation Joint Endeavor in Bosnia and Croatia, Operation Jungle Warrior in Panama, Operation Joint Guardian in Kosovo, and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Upon transitioning from the military, Mr. Tata served as the Chief Operating Officer of Washington, DC Public Schools, Superintendent of Wake County (Raleigh, NC) Public School System, and Secretary of Transportation of North Carolina. His business background includes presidency of a defense start-up company and leadership of companies in the airborne collection, infrastructure, and oil and gas industries.

Anthony J. Tata is the recipient of the Army Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Combat Action Badge, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal, and Ranger Tab.

He is also the author of several military thrillers, including “Chasing the Lion,” and his latest, “Total Empire.”

Anthony J. Tata was interviewed by Paul Davis.

IACSP: I’ve read the first two books of your new General Garret Sinclair series, “Chasing the Lion,” and your most recent novel, “Total Empire,” and I enjoyed both of them. How would you describe your novels?

Tata: The novels are very Ton Clancyesque, perhaps with Mark Greaney and Nelson DeMille mixed in there. The protagonist, General Garret Sinclair, wrestles with the primeval dilemma of mission versus men that all commanders are confronted with. What I try to do for my readers is paint a realistic scenario that pushes the boundaries a little bit, perhaps slightly in the future, and captures an interesting concept, such as laser-targeting system for hypersonic glide nuclear missiles or a mind control sarin gas can easily be spread. That’s a high concept, and within that context, a likeable hero with an extremely polar opposite villain. In the first book, Dariush Parizad, who is Sinclair’s match, and in the second book, Sanson, known as “The Executioner.”          

IACSP: Is Garrett Sinclair autobiographical or based on anyone you knew?

Tata: No. My writing is 100 per cent fiction. Of course, as the books are written in the first person and the fact that he is an Army general, and has all this combat experience, is authentic to me, but I’m not trying to replicate myself or living out some Walter Mitty fantasy. I’ve been in combat, so I don’t need to pretend like I’ve gone. It’s my creation, so it is a part of me.    

IACSP: Is it unusual for a general to command a small unit in the field?

Tata: While he is the commander of this large special operations command, he heads up a small task force that goes and does presidential-level missions. I don’t think it is a stretch that a three-star general would be personally responsive to the president for some of these missions that he’s going on. One of my personal heroes, General James Gavin, the 82^nd Airborne commander, jumped into combat on all four European jumps. When he landed, he was just another paratrooper. He would go meet the next guy, typically a private or sergeant, and he and the private or sergeant would fight for half the day until they were linked up with everyone else. So, for high-visibility, strategic missions, it’s not unusual for a general to manage that closely. 

IACSP: Why did you begin to write thrillers after your military career? Did you always want to be a writer?

Tata: That is a long-standing childhood dream to be a traditionally published fiction novelist. I’m very fortunate to have a great team at St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan. I’m very blessed.

IACSP: After serving 28 years in the Army, you became the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. What duties did you perform in that role and what were your accomplishments?

Tata: When I was the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, it was just the last seven or eight months of the Trump administration that I was there. I was a senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense as I was awaiting confirmation. I was the Deputy Undersecretary for Policy and then the Undersecretary for Policy, and I did everything from managing the national defense strategy to coordinating with partners and allies form around the globe, signing major defense agreements with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Mozambique and Morocco. All very important agreements that are integral to our national defense and security.           

IACSP: Did you find it difficult to transition from a general to a DOD senior civilian official?

Tata: No. I think it helped me that I had an 11-year break in service in which I was the Secretary of Transportation and Superintendent of Education in North Carolina, and I ran my own business. I think having that breath of experience helped with my transition, certainly understanding the importance of civilian control of the military. Having that gap in service made me a better leader in that regard.      

IACSP: Do you miss the hustle and bustle of working at the Pentagon or are you enjoying being a full-time writer?

Tata: I miss being able to contribute to my country on a large scale. I miss being able to serve and would gladly do so again. Both of my parents were public school teachers and guidance counselors, and my dad was a football coach, and they instilled in my brother and sister and me this obligation to serve and be a good citizen. 

IACSP:  What has changed in the Pentagon since you left?

Tata: What was less than reassuring was the incoming team was not interested in a proper transition, to include purging all of the advisory boards. It is kind of dangerous when you do that kind of thing, and you end up with things like what happened in Afghanistan. When you think you know better than everybody, that arrogance got 13 soldiers killed. We had a plan, but they weren’t interested in talking to us.

IACSP: As a veteran of Afghanistan, I take it you were not too happy with the abrupt withdrawal?

Tata: It wasn’t the abrupt withdrawal that I was unhappy with, it was the manner that it was executed. I think everybody agreed that we should withdrawal from Afghanistan. President Trump believed that, but he listened to his senior defense officials, including me, who advised holding on to Bagram for now with 1,500 troops. The other thing is that the Biden administration fundamentally fractured NATO in a way that it hasn’t been fractured before. We had a mantra: we came in together, we adjust together, and we leave together with NATO. The abrupt withdrawal was just as abrupt to the American people as it was to our NATO partners. There were 30 some nations and partners there. And that was a key signal to Putin. It is a very significant milestone in American military history.                

IACSP: The Chinese are the bad guys in your novel “Total Empire.” Do you think we are going to go to war with the Chinese over Taiwan in the near future?

Tata: I think China is certainly sharping its knife to either do a soft takeover like Hong Kong or to blockade Taiwan and make it a fait accompli. There are lots of national security implications for that, chief among them, I believe, is that you have semi-conductors manufactured there. That entity produces a fair amount of the world’s chips, and if that were to go away, or be controlled by China, the supply chain shortage on chips would exasperate 100 times over.        

IACSP: As a Navy veteran who served on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War, I believe we need to build up the U.S. Navy to counter a Chinese blockade of Taiwan. You mentioned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, do you think the U.S. Should support the Ukraine with money, equipment and training?

Tata: I think we should tie it to our vital interest. Our vital interest can be mapped back to a strong and stable Europe that has democratic governments and free market economies, and we have an alliance called NATO, which we are obligated by way of Article 5. Ukraine is adjacent to NATO, and we need to make sure that all NATO nations understand our commitment to NATO. Ukraine is of no particular interest to us other than it is serving as a conduit for Russian aggression. We need to have some modicum of support to Ukraine, but at the same time there should be some commensurate level of negotiation happening, but there has been none.

IACSP:  Thank you for your service and your interesting and entertaining thrillers and thank you for speaking to us.

A Little Night Music: Van Morrison's Live Performance Of "Comfortably Numb'

 My wife and I watched Martin Scorsese’s The Departed again on TV this evening. 

The Departed is a good film, but I prefer his great crime films, such as Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Casino, and perhaps the greatest crime film ever made, Goodfellas. 

The Departed was a remake of a Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs, which I saw before The Departed. The remake simply replaced Chinese characters for Irish American characters.  

Scorsese used popular music well in The Departed's soundtrack, as he has in his other fine films. 

Although the score in The Departed is not as good as Goodfellas or Mean Streets, I particularly liked one song that Scorsese’s uses, Van Morrison’s live performance of Pink Floyd's song, Comfortably Numb, with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, The Band and other well-known performers. 

You can watch and listen to Van Morrison’s performance via the below link:

Roger Waters, Van Morrison, The Band - Comfortably Numb - YouTube

You can also read my Crime Beat column about The Departed via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Beat Column: Martin Scorsese's Film World of Crime 

Cooperation Between United States And Mexican Law Enforcement Leads To Significant Actions Against Transnational Drug Trafficking Organization

 The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

U.S. and Mexican law enforcement announced significant enforcement actions against a prolific transnational drug trafficking organization operating in Nogales, Sonora, along the U.S.-Mexico border.

After extensive bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, Fiscalía General de la República (FGR) – conducted a significant enforcement operation on June 23, 2023, to dismantle a prolific transnational drug trafficking organization operating in Nogales, Sonora, along the U.S.–Mexico border. The operation resulted in the arrest of five people and the seizure of 120,000 fentanyl pills, 15 pounds of methamphetamine, 17 pounds of heroin, 15 pounds of cocaine, three assault rifles, one 9mm handgun, and a vehicle.

In addition, seven U.S.-based coordinators and operators with alleged ties to the same drug-trafficking organization have been arrested and indicted in the United States. Gerardo Bernal-Mazon, 29, Ashley Bernal, 31, Jessica Yesenia Valenzuela, 32, and Delyanira Lovio, 29, all of Nogales, Arizona, Juan Murillo, 48, of Rio Rico, Arizona, and Lilian Sugey Siegfried, 38, of Tucson, Arizona, were indicted by a federal grand jury on drug trafficking charges on Feb. 2. George Armenta-Vasquez, 45, of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 25.

“Transnational drug trafficking organizations pose an unprecedented public safety threat to both the United States and Mexico,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “These coordinated law enforcement actions demonstrate the success our countries can have when we work together to meet that threat.”

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) – Nogales led the investigation in the United States, in concert with the DEA Mexico City Country Office, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – Nogales, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – Tucson. Support from DEA–Mexico City Country Office and FGR’s Agencia de Investigación Criminal (AIC) was critical in providing coordination between United States and Mexican law enforcement agencies. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Tucson, is prosecuting the seven individuals named above.

A Look Back At The Life Of A Notorious Navy Spy: My Crime Beat Column On John Walker

Back in 2009 I wrote about convicted spy John Walker in my Crime Beat column. 

You can read the column below: 

John Walker may very well be the most damaging of all the Cold War spies.

The retired Navy warrant officer was arrested in 1985, the year known as “The Year of the Spy,” because of the number of spy arrests that year.

Walker was arrested for selling classified information to the Soviet Union for 18 years. Walker was known in the trade as a “walk-in,” as he began his life as a spy by entering the Soviet embassy in Washington D.C. and offering his services. He later recruited his best friend, his brother and his son to join in his spy ring.

Walker gave away the keys to the kingdom of naval communications: key cards used for enciphering messages and encryption devices. The U.S. Navy estimates that more than one million classified military and intelligence agency messages were compromised by Walker. The Soviets were able to read vital American communications during a time of war. Had the U.S. gone to nuclear war with the Soviet Union, Walker’s security breech would have had been catastrophic.

I have a particular interest in the Walker spy case, as I served as a young seaman in the Radio Communications Division aboard the USS Kitty Hawk when the aircraft carrier conducted combat operations off the coast of Vietnam in 1970-1971.

The Kitty Hawk served as the flag ship for Task Force 77, so we handled highly classified war traffic for the 7th Fleet, the in-country military commands, the CIA, and other alphabet intelligence agencies. Little did we know that much of what we took great pains to protect was already blown by Walker.

It is my view — a view shared by many others who served in the military — that Walker’s espionage led to the death of many American sailors, soldiers, airman and marines during the Vietnam War.

Despite personal animosity, I was curious to read Walker's autobiography, My Life as a Spy: One of America's Most Notorious Spies Finally Tells His Story.

The book is of interest primarily as a case study of a spy, best read in conjunction with other books on Walker. In his book Walker cites his reasons for spying as (a) to bring about an improvement in U.S.-Soviet relations with a view towards reducing the prospect of war, (b) his disgust with U.S. government deception, the Cold War fraud and covert misadventures, (c) adventure and (d) the psychological pressure of a failed marriage.

He fails to mention greed or his enormous ego, the two prime motives for espionage that are, it seems to me, much closer to the truth. Now serving a life sentence in federal prison, Walker has written a self-serving book, a book that is pure spin.

We had another name for it when I was in the Navy.

Walker recounts his life like it’s an adventure story rather than a tragedy. He damaged national security, destroyed his family, and in my view, he caused the deaths of American servicemen in Vietnam.

Walker was a well-rated sailor who rose quickly up the enlisted ranks to become a warrant officer. He claims his dismal marriage to an alcoholic wife and a mistrust of the U.S. government led him to steal secrets and sell them to the Soviets. He later drew his son, brother and best friend into a life of espionage and betrayal.

In 1985, “The Year of the Spy,” his ex-wife reported him to the FBI and he was arrested in a Maryland motel after making a “dead-drop” of classified documents at a nearby roadside.

Walker made a deal with the government in which he testified against his friend, Navy Chief Petty Officer Jerry Whitworth (whom he recruited to spy for him) and he agreed to reveal what he gave to the Soviets in exchange for a lesser sentence for his son (who he recruited to spy for him).

On November 6, 1986, John Walker was sentenced to two life terms plus ten years to be served concurrently. His son was sentenced to 25 years.

The book is interesting in a perverse way, but one should keep in mind that Walker is a habitual liar. He is also proud of his criminal deeds. At one point in the book, he grins to himself and thinks “If they only knew.”

Walker states that he didn’t like the James Bond movies, finding them to be Hollywood fantasies, but then he states he thought of Bond when he was with a blond only hours after a secret meeting with the KGB. But be serious, Walker was hardly James Bond.

He claims to have written the book for his children, but in the book he often brags of female conquests. He says he was concerned for his children and tried to protect them from his abusive wife, but he talked his son into committing espionage, and talked him right into federal prison. He also attempted to draw his daughter into the spy ring.

Walker sees himself as a glamorous spy, but he was in fact merely an unattractive and weaselly sneak thief. He stole classified documents and sold them to the Soviets in order to live a more prosperous lifestyle.

The book will interest students of espionage and history, but it ought to be read after one reads other books on Walker, such as former FBI Special Agent Robert Hunter's Spy Hunter: Inside the Walker Espionage Case, and journalist Pete Earley's Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring.

Note:  The above column originally appeared at GreatHistory.com. 

You can also read about John Walker, Jonathan Pollard (seen in the above photo) and other spies in my 1995 interview with FBI Special Agent Barbara A. Verica.

The interview appeared in two parts in a Defense Department in-house magazine when I was a civilian Defense Department administrative officer for a DOD command in Philadelphia. 

As administrative officer, I oversaw security for the command, and I was contributing writer to DOD magazines as well. I was also a producer and on-air host of the Federal Executive Board's radio program Inside Government. I interviewed FBI Special Agent Verica on Inside Government and later wrote the two articles, which can read via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: Inside Government: The FBI Warns Against "Friendly Spies" And Other Threats Of Espionage