Al-Jazeera has obtained hundreds of secret intelligence documents from the world’s spy agencies and is going to publish them in the coming days. The Spy Cables offer an unprecedented insight into “operational dealings of the shadowy and highly politicized realm of global espionage”, says the TV network.
The confidential documents cover a period from 2006 until December 2014 and include detailed briefings and internal analysis written by operatives of South Africa’s State Security Agency (SSA) and secret correspondence with the CIA, Britain’s MI6, Mossad, Russia’s FSB and Iran’s operatives, as well as dozens of other services from Asia to the Middle East and Africa, according to Al-Jazeera‘s teaser.
The news channel calls it “the largest intelligence leak since Snowden”, but notes that the Spy Cables deal with human intelligence, unlike the Edward Snowden documents that focus on electronic signals intelligence. This means, the documents contain a “day-in-the-office” espionage with form-filling, complaints about missing documents and personal squabbles. One of the cables show that the Algerian Embassy in South Africa asked for “no parking” signs, a privilege enjoyed already by the British and US embassies. These are clues that prove “intelligence agencies are over-classifying information and hiding behind an unnecessary veil of secrecy.”
“We believe it is important to achieve greater transparency in the field of intelligence. The events of the last decade have shown that there has been inadequate scrutiny on the activities of agencies around the world. That has allowed some to act outside their own laws and, in some cases international law”, explained the journalists.
The full content of the documents is not yet known, but reportedly include Israel’s “true” assessment of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, an MI6 operation to recruit a North Korean spy and an assassination plot targeting an African union leader.
Al-Jazeera said the documents will be redacted before publication to protect innocent people and undercover agents. Also, sections that could pose a threat to the public, such as specific chemical formulas to build explosive devices will not be made public.