Iraqi PM Maliki Reportedly Spied on CIA Agents for Years

A new report from Newsweek suggests that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been spying on US military agents — targeting the CIA in particular — for the past several years.

According to multiple sources, Maliki began his counterintelligence measures in 2004 when he infiltrated the Iraq National Intelligence Service, or INIS, in 2004. ““They fired all the guys who they considered suspect, which was basically all the guys we put into the [intelligence] service, and solidified control around the Shia and Iran,” said former CIA official John Maguire. Maliki then began his spying operations in earnest, allegedly using Iranian technology to spy on CIA agents’ cellphones.

Maguire himself blames the Americans for slipping in this regard:

It’s a common lament of CIA oldtimers that the current crop of operators don’t measure up to past standards. But Maguire is appalled at how easy at least some CIA spy-handlers, called case officers in espionage jargon, make it for the Iraqis to find them. “I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been driving around the city the last several years and I would see a station motorcade come by with a lead car, a car with a case officer in it and a follow car. And the case officer would be in the passenger seat and have his feet on the dash reading a newspaper. That is not clandestine collection tradecraft. It’s embarrassing.”

[Newsweek]
[Image via Jonathan Ernst / Reuters]

—

>> Follow Tina Nguyen (@Tina_Nguyen) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!