Jordan, Syria
Amman and Damascus coordinate intelligence to bring refugees home

The Intelligence Gazette
New public security director in Jordan, Susnjara candidate for DRSD, Kalinovsky Regiment goes political, sex scandal in Copenhagen

Appointments reforms and key issues: every Monday, Intelligence Online reports on developments great and small in the global intelligence community. This week, we bring news from Amman, Paris, Minsk and Copenhagen.

JordanAbdallah II appoints new public security chief to combat drug trafficking.

FrancePhilippe Susnjara favourite to head the DRSD.

Belarus/UkraineKalinovsky Regiment goes political.

DenmarkRevelations about spy chief's sex life threaten Social Democrats

Syria, Turkey
Turkish and Syrian spy chiefs Hakan Fidan and Ali Mamlouk talk again at Russia's initiative

Keen to play the role of mediator between Turkey and Syria, Russia sponsored a new meeting between the spy chiefs of the two countries, which have been at daggers drawn since 2011. The results were not convincing but the meeting at least allowed Ankara and Damascus to set out their demands.

The Intelligence Gazette
New viceroy in Amman, ODNI and DCSA help tech industry

Appointments, financial results, new contracts: each week, we report on events both big and small that matter in the global corporate intelligence community. This week, we go to Amman and Washington.

JordanAbdullah II secures his clan

United StatesODNI and DCSA try to boost high tech R&D

Syria
Damascus' red tape tactics to keep watch on Syrians aboard

The Damascene authorities, now no longer concerned about maintaining their rule, has come up with a cunning way to keep a tally of Syrians living aboard, many of whom were once defectors or opponents. This administrative blackmail comes with exorbitant fees that can help fill the Assad regime's coffers.

Jordan
Black Mountain, Jordanian conglomerate TAG's cybersecurity outpost in the Gulf

The young Jordanian-Emirati company Black Mountain, under the aegis of businessman and politician Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, has opened the gates of Amman to companies from the United States and Russia as it continues to grow in cyber investigation.

Syria, Turkey
Turkish and Syrian spymasters making furtive moves to prepare for future normalisation

Though far from singing the praises of Bashar Al Assad's regime, Ankara recognises that the regime's continued existence points to a need to restore dialogue between the two countries. Turkey's intelligence service, the MIT, is taking the first steps towards this.

Syria
UN plays double game on Syrian refugee question

The question of the return of Syrian refugees to their country, on the agenda at UN-sponsored talks in Geneva that got under way again on 18 October, was already keeping UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi busy.

Iraq, Syria, Turkey
Fidan and Mamlouk to thrash out Turkish-Syrian business in Baghdad

Turkey and Syria's spymasters are due to meet in Baghdad later this month to tackle bilateral sticking points such as the refugee crisis, the Kurds, and the situation in Idlib, under the watchful eye of the region's new mediator, Iraq's prime minister Mustafa Al Kadhemi.