The appointment of diplomat Maximilian Rasch to the strategic post of BND vice-president signals the German spy service’s rising influence. Rasch, now tasked with overseeing the BND’s foreign affairs, served in Kyiv and is close to the agency’s director.
A note from the Five Eyes earlier this month warned of Chinese intelligence recruiting via LinkedIn. But this very real threat is already outdated, and Intelligence Online can reveal that Beijing is now developing new methods that are much more difficult to uncover.
The French president is due to visit Syria early this week, days after a deadly bombing in Damascus on 2 July. As well as business leaders keen to tap into the local market, the economic delegation should include several top executives from state-owned companies, covering sectors ranging from energy to defence.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s term in office is set to end without a resolution to the matter of how the fight against disinformation should be organised at government level. Should it stay under the remit of the Foreign Office and its intelligence services, or be dealt with in a separate department altogether, as Westminster recommends?
The priorities of the nine Vietnamese military personnel officially invited to Paris for the Eurosatory defence and security trade fair were different to those hoped by their French partners.
A key example of the near-forced privatisation of the country’s public assets, the national airway Pakistan International Airlines has just been transferred to private ownership. But in reality, the local defence sector is still in the driving seat.
Taiwanese defence groups are increasingly looking to French drone manufacturers. One such group, I-SEE, which had kept a low profile, is pushing ahead with its cooperation projects on the island.
A couple employed by European missile manufacturer MBDA were dismissed because of the husband’s past trips abroad. His travels were detailed in an unsigned memo from a French intelligence service, which focused on the man’s work placements in Israel and Armenia when he was studying for his engineering degree.
World View’s stratospheric observation systems were discreetly integrated into Washington’s ISR architecture during operations against Iran. Using Palantir, the balloons also feed GEOINT to US special operations command and support image and signals intelligence collection across the Indo-Pacific.
Li Qian’s appointment to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the latest sign that the Chinese Communist Party apparatus is tightening its grip on diplomatic affairs. A generation of leaders born in the 1960s is gradually taking up diplomatic leadership positions, ahead of the expected reshuffle between the 5th plenum, at the end of 2026, and the 21st Congress, at the end of 2027.
Appointments, financial results, new contracts: every Wednesday, we report on events both big and small that matter in the global corporate intelligence community.
Oman’s communications ministry announced last year its intention to build a semiconductor plant in Dhofar Governorate with financing from outside investors. But the latter are said to be nervous over the tech partner on the project, a Taiwan-born entrepreneur who has close connections to Beijing but little track record in the sector.
Australia’s ASIO domestic security service is under fire from Beijing after a report mentioned Chinese espionage. The diplomatic pressure is weighing heavily on the debate over Canberra’s intelligence priorities in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack.
A whistle blower who collaborated with Russian paramilitary group Wagner in Central African Republic and was then exfiltrated to France in 2024 has seen his asylum seekers’ application rejected by the French authorities. His case has been at the heart of a tussle within the French administration ever since.
Family members of the former politician, who was condemned last month to a long prison sentence following a contract for Google computers, have been engaging with public affairs firms on a campaign to build awareness of his plight.
The Ukrainian special forces have officially endorsed five joint operations carried out by the Black Spark movement over the past year. The group itself claims to have carried out more.
A number of high-profile figures, including close associates of Emmanuel Macron, veteran diplomats and academics, are set to take up posts at key French embassies this summer.
BlueBird Tech’s products are much sought after by the intelligence services of Kyiv’s allies, who are using diplomatic pouches to take the gear out of Ukraine.
At the height of an unprecedented cull within the People’s Liberation Army, more is learned from looking at the purge’s survivors than its victims. Although Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli and Zhong Shaojun have avoided prison, they have not been cleared of wrongdoing or reinstated. Rather, they have been demoted, a punishment in its own right.
Russia hosted delegations from 145 countries at its annual meeting of senior security officials. US representatives were among those who took part in the summit.
Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous places to meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, your reporter put on his trainers and headed to the Suzanne Lenglen stadium in the French capital, where officers playing a game of football on their lunch break have a feeling they are being watched.
Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the driving force behind the UAE’s AI projects, has started to introduce his descendants to Emirati tech’s inner circles. His daughter, Sheikha Fatima bint Tahnoon, is about to step into the limelight.
The consulting firm led by Stanley McChrystal recently won a $420,000 contract to help the US Customs and Border Protection crack down on fentanyl trafficking.
The Thai defence ministry was due to announce its choice to build the Royal Thai Navy’s new frigate at the end of June. It did not do so for administrative reasons. However, Intelligence Online can reveal the technical ranking of the bids.
Appointments, reforms and the issues at stake: every Monday, Intelligence Online serves up snippets big and small from the global intelligence community.
US officials are pressing European authorities for guarantees over immigration controls. In a barely veiled threat, Washington has said it could remove these countries from the Visa Waiver Program administered by DHS and the State Department if they do not meet its demands.
The boards of Saudi football clubs are bracing themselves ahead of an expected wave of contractual legal disputes over the payment of players’ wages after the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund drastically cut their budgets.
The top jobs at the European agencies responsible for police cooperation and border control within the EU are up for grabs in the coming months. A succession race is now underway, with several countries taking up positions.
Reduced by purges to just two members, the supreme body of the People’s Liberation Army is to be reconstituted before the army’s centenary in 2027. The party leadership wants to dispel the image of a military institution mired in speculation and to demonstrate that the purge remains on course.
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