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31st January 1999
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"Top secret'

Director, Military Intelligence - DMI - (Official Military Spokesman and Director, Media at Army Headquarters), Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon's "top secret" intelligence briefs to Government VIPs and security forces top brass are now accompanied by an unusual supplement - a full print out of the day's reports on Tamilnet, the widely accessed website which says it is "reporting to the world on Tamil affairs." In spy parlance, such very easily accessible material, publicly available, are classed as "open source" intelligence. And such material is available in great abundance whatever the subject may be. 

But why only the "Tamilnet" has become "top secret" is not clear or remains a "highly classified" mat-ter.Colombo based diplomats, local and foreign media personnel are among those who access this website daily on www.Tamilnet.com.

Access is only a finger tip away for anyone, like all the recipients of the "top secret" int briefs, who have a computer and are linked to the Internet. At least Brig. Tennekoon, whose daily official chores include dual roles - covert (for intelligence work) and overt for (propaganda work) - is saved one bother, of not coaching translators to handle the task. The website is in English and therefore the print outs are in the original language. Moreover sleuths are now very wary about translators.

As one undercover operative remarked "if the translators are not handled properly, they can give the show away...... and confessions made at the behest of ambitious bosses can end up in confusion..." The man, though not a sentimental type, knew what had been going on.

Mission to kill

Have the two sons of a leading politico become targets of Tiger guerrillas ?

So says a report from the Directorate of Internal Intelligence (DII).

Acting on their warning, security for the duo has been tightened and their movements have been restricted. 

Insiders claim DII was tipped off by their sources in the Wanni. They had learnt that the LTTE had slipped in a two man hit squad to assassinate the two sons. Descriptions of the men were sent out to Police Stations. Days later, one of the guerrillas were arrested by the Police in a City suburb. The young man admitted he was a hard core Tiger cadre but denied he was on a mission to kill the politician's sons. 

Rape at midnight

It happened in a leading western capital last week. A Sri Lankan Ambassador and another Sri Lankan, a high ranking diplomat, were woken up in the dead of night by Police who were looking for a rapist. 

The entire luxury building complex was searched following a midnight rape on the stairwell of the building, one which also houses about eight other Ambassadors from other nations. The two Sri Lankan diplomats readily co-operated with the cops who were searching for the rapist, probably hiding in one of the apartments.


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