CIA

At Booz Allen Hamilton’s headquarters in McLean, Virginia, the firm’s vice presidents specializing in intelligence oversee two types of contract: offer two types of services: training executives and supplying critical systems to the agencies. Virtually all of the latter call on its services: NSA, DIA, CIA, FBI, NRO, and NGA (see graph). Even IARPA, the newly- established R&D unit of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), relies of the firm’s technology assessments.

n 2005, Microsoft launched a Location Finder as part of its Live Maps service. The application examined the networks a person was connected to, cross checked his IP address, and then predicted where the person was on a map. It was far from 100 percent accurate, but when it was right, it was ever-so-slightly terrifying. Coupling a person's location with 3D aerial map views, it showed the person a picture of the building he was sitting in with a big "X" on top of it -- giving him the simultaneous sensation of being the CIA agent locating a target, the target expecting an incoming cruise missile, and the viewer of a sophisticated, futuristic spy-movie.

Intelligence failures, security lapses and the lack of civilian oversight brought to light by a recent Colombian military incursion into his country have prompted Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa to overhaul the command of his armed forces. Correa's shake-up comes in a nation where the military enjoys a high measure of autonomy, wields considerable economic and political power and has played a hand in the overthrow of three presidents since 1997.

Chafing at ties between American intelligence agencies and Ecuadorean military officials, President Rafael Correa is purging the armed forces of top commanders and pressing ahead with plans to cast out more than 100 American military personnel from an air base here in this coastal city.

The Ecuadorian government said on Tuesday that its ties with the United States will not be strained by Ecuador's refusal to renew the contract with the U.S. military for renting Ecuador's Manta base after 2009. Ecuadorian Defense Minister Javier Ponce said the two countries will not break their relations after the stoppage of the contract, which gives the United States a lease until 2009.

President Rafael Correa’s allegations that intelligence services in Ecuador had been infiltrated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have led to a shake-up in the armed forces of unforeseeable consequences.

QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador's defence minister has resigned amid allegations the country's military intelligence is controlled by the CIA. No official reason has been given for the resignation of Defence Minister Wellington Sandoval.

The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity funds, may soon acquire the $2 billion government contracting business of consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the biggest suppliers of technology and personnel to the U.S. government's spy agencies.

The global proceeds of the Afghan drug trade is in excess of 150 billion dollars a year. There is mounting evidence that this illicit trade is protected by the US military. Historically, starting in the early 1980s, the Afghan drug trade was used to finance CIA covert support of the Islamic brigades. The 2003 war on Afghanistan was launched following the Taliban government's 2000-2001 drug eradication program which led to a collapse in opium production in excess of 90 percent.

The top two U.S. intelligence officials traveled secretly to Pakistan this month to press President Pervez Musharraf to allow the CIA greater latitude to operate in the tribal territories where Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups are all active, according to several officials who have been briefed on the visit.