AFRICOM spokesman Benjamin Benson has confirmed to TomDispatch that U.S. air operations conducted from Base Aerienne 101 in Niamey, the capital of Niger, were providing "support for intelligence collection with French forces conducting operations in Mali and with other partners in the region".
Since 2001, because of the U.S.A. Patriot Act and other expansions to counterterrorism authorities and programs, it has become easier for the government to use information collected for intelligence purposes, with or without a warrant, to support criminal prosecutions against any American.
Some of your contemporaries -- including ones not particularly known for intelligence (rhymes with 'Mince Peel') -- are actually doing very well in business these days.
One topline development is that the UK plans to establish "the world's first national advisory body for artificial intelligence" with the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation will set standards for the use and ethics of AI and data, with the aim to lay the groundwork for "practical development" in the field.
Edward Snowden holds the Sam Adams award for integrity in intelligence, with former US government officials Coleen Rowley and Thomas Drake, ex-US officials Jesselyn Raddack and Ray McGovern, and (second right) UK WikiLeaks journalist Sarah Harrison.
In reaction, the United States clamped down on its procedures for sharing intelligence with Mexican law enforcement.
The Pentagon is discussing a variety of options for sharing intelligence with Egypt's military and police in Sinai.
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence with radio telescopes has come of age recently, 50 years after the first feeble attempt.
General Musharraf has already faced protests for sharing intelligence with the Americans and allowing coalition warplanes to use Pakistani airspace.
The Observer also understands that highly classified channels exist for sharing intelligence with governments including Egypt's in exceptional circumstances, but it is not clear in this instance whether the raw intelligence itself was shared.
However, in an era where music for squaddies may yet take over and the return of a band as vacuous as Stereo MC's is seen as some kind of British cultural renaissance, Elbow fly a tattered flag for grumpy intelligence with a heart-wrenching streak.
