U.S. intelligence

As predicted, Russia started to feel the ugly face of the Syrian quandary. After a flashy entrance, Russian forces are settling in for a long haul and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) affiliates are biting them.

The UK has delivered to Moscow its assessments regarding the Russian plane crash in Egypt which suggest a terrorist act as a likely cause, Russia's sputniknews.com reported on Monday.

The United States is disturbed by Russia's movement of tactical aircraft to Syria, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sept.19, acknowledging that the jets could pose a threat to American and allied military forces.

The United States announced tighter security measures on August 6 for visitors from the 38 countries in its visa waiver program, which include European nations that have seen hundreds of residents traveling to fight with militant groups in Syria and Iraq. 

Leading Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said July 25 she never knowingly sent or received classified information using her private email server and did not know what messages were being cited by intelligence investigators as examples of emails containing classified information.

An Al-Qaida member in Yemen has said the group directed the Charlie Hebdo attack, while French PM acknowledged "failings" in intelligence that led to a three-day spree of horror and at least 20 people dead.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Jan. 4 that foreign investors should no longer be viewed as a threat and signaled his country’s decades-long isolation from the world economy could soon end.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has questioned Turkey’s possible role in the CIA’s torture program after the 9/11 attacks, after last week’s Senate report on the U.S. intelligence agency’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques.

‘A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood’ by Ian Johnson (Mariner Books, 336 pages, $16)

German Ambassador to Ankara Eberhard Pohl was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Aug. 18 following media reports claiming German secret services have been eavesdropping on Turkey for some time. The Turkish Foreign Ministry asked for an explanation from the ambassador and said in a public statement that it would be “grave” if even only part of the media reports were true.