United Nations Counter Surveillance Unit (CSU) - spying the world in the name of "development"

Joseph Torsella, the new US Ambassador to the United Nations will be looking in vain to find any budget line where the expenses of the UN's Spying Unit (CSU) are charged in the budget. He won't be able to get any numbers. They are SECRET and covered by UN's Secretary General discretionary approval(s).

Yes ...United Nations is a public organization, fully funded by member states, with a mandate in poverty eradication and peace building, but Ban Ki-moon and his Korean staffers seems to have found a way to hide a Secretive Spying and Counter-Intelligence Unit at UN's HQs in Geneva.

Contrary to host-country agreements which UN signs with any nations where its offices are located (including US, Switzerland, Austria, etc) the UN seem to be dissatisfied with the level of "intelligence" shared by host countries and thus is taking upon itself to create a robust Spying and Counter-intelligence Service that will serve the UN's purpose.

If it wasn't for UN's independent auditors at JIU (Joint Inspection Unit) no one will ever know about the UN Spies. Even the element of the above unit is buried inside a lengthy report from JIU (JIU/ML/2010/1 - UNOG Security and Safety Section Management Letter).

The Independent Inspectors lament in their report that Ban Ki-moon did not share with them his report on full budget disclosures of UN's Department of Security Services (DSS). They also question the legality of the Spying and Counter-intelligence unit at its Headquarters in Geneva, questioning the validity and its mandate.

Here is JIU report:

21. Another example is the creation of the Counter Surveillance Unit (CSU) as part of the “Groupe des Enquêtes des Operations Spéciales” (GEOS). In spite of the relatively high degree of safety and security at Geneva, the Inspectors are conscious of the increased threats against United Nations system entities and understand the importance of reinforced security measures, including risk and threat assessment. If any operational need for additional risk assessment capacity through a separate entity is required, the Inspectors recommend carrying out these activities in the context of a clear mandate with clear operational procedures and in full compliance with Host country agreements provisions and the general rule of law, which might be questioned on the basis of information received by the Inspectors. The Inspectors noted the high turnover of staff within this unit in recent years which might be the sign of potential internal problems. In the context of an individual complaint, the UNDSS Internal Affairs Unit scrutinized the activities of CSU through a formal investigation and made a draft recommendation insisting that the role of the Counter- Surveillance Unit at UNOG SSS be reviewed. As already mentioned, the Inspectors regret that the final version of the report was not made available to them.

Recommendation 1: Following the implementation of General Assembly resolution 59/276 creating the United Nations Department for Safety and Security Services, the United Nations Secretary-General should issue without any further delay a Secretary- General’s Bulletin (ST/SGB) for the Department of Safety and Security formalizing the legal framework of United Nations security entities.

Recommendation 2: The Chief of UNOG SSS should ensure that each UNOG SSS organizational entity is covered by formal terms of reference indicating its mandate, its objectives and its scope for action thereby creating a clear accountability framework.

While many democrats and world leaders were dismayed by wikileaks reports on US spying at United Nations, it seem that the very leaders of these countries were allowing (thru their vote at 5th committee on UN budgets) to fund a unit that was spying on them on behalf of Ban Ki-moon.

Is United States Congress going to pick up the tub on this new UN expense and pay another 27% of its spying costs? Will Ileana Ros-Lehtinen allow that United Nations carry non-mandated and thus illegal counter-surveillance activities in the territory of the United States? Who monitors the UN-CSU? Why has OIOS not investigated nor audited this unit? How much are UN spies costing the world tax-payers?

Let's see ...!

Security Concerns Delay Completion of Capital Master Plan

By Herve Couturier | Jun 15, 2011

click here for this story

The increased protections from possible "blasts" will add only six months to the project.

Security concerns, stemming from recent terrorist attacks against United Nations compounds around the world, will mean at least six months’ delay in the renovation of New York headquarters, says the head of the project.

Michael Adlerstein, UN assistant secretary-general and executive director of the Capital Master Plan, as the project is known, said in a recent interview with The InterDependent that the concerns were raised by the U.S. government, the UN's own security service and the City of New York.

Adlerstein would not give many details about the nature of the security anxieties but said that "there were assumptions about the level of blast that might be experienced."

He also said that those returning to work in the Secretariat building when it was finished would be rethought as to who needed to be near the secretary-general the most.

The new security scrutiny led to a pause of about six months in the restoration of two of the headquarters buildings, that of the Conference building and the General Assembly hall, delaying completion of the whole project to 2014, instead of 2013, as previously planned. The extra cost, about $100 million, was paid by the U.S. in February.

The UN complex, situated on 17 acres along the East River in Midtown Manhattan, includes the landmark 39-story glass and steel Secretariat tower, the domed General Assembly hall and the conference building with its many large meeting rooms. The complex was completed in 1950, but the Dag Hammarskjold Library and the South Annex were added later.

Six decades since the headquarters’ original construction, the entire compound had leaking roofs, was riddled with asbestos and lacked adequate fire detectors, a sprinkler system and other emergency safety devices.

The enormous overhaul, begun in May 2008, aims to make the buildings more energy efficient and bring them into conformity with New York City health and safety codes, while improving security. The initial renovation plan was for the project to be done in five years to the tune of nearly $1.9 billion.

Isabella Penney for UNA-USA

The renovation of the Secretariat building at New York headquarters is on schedule, says the UN. Here, an early-morning shot in June.

Adlerstein stressed that the work on the Secretariat building "is moving very well, right on schedule."

"It was supposed to be finished in early 2012, and it will be finished within a few months of when we originally said it would," he said.

He added that the work on the conference building and the General Assembly hall had also been on schedule "until we had to pause for several months."

"The host country, along with the UN security service and the host city, determined that the risks to the UN had elevated in recent years and that the UN needed to protect itself a little better on the perimeter, to stiffen the perimeter of the compound," he said.

Aware of the delicate nature of any UN-related financing, Adlerstein quickly noted that "the host country also stated that they would pay for it."

"It took a few months for them to secure the funding, but now that's done", he said. "In the process we lost some time, so for the Conference building and the General Assembly portion of the project, which are sequential, we will finish in 2014."

Elaborating on the issues of security, he said: "Over the years since the beginning of the project, the UN has been attacked several times, in Baghdad, in Algiers, in other places, and there have been incidents in New York where terrorists were able to almost achieve success, in Times Square and other incidents. So there was a concern that we should raise the level of protection, and that means making the building stiffer from a larger blast from outside, from the roadways around the four sides of the UN.

“We are taking care of the blast within the compound, and we count on the host city and the host country to protect us from blast from outside the compound. So we needed to stiffen up and they have provided the funding for us to do that."

Adlerstein’s goal is to have the General Assembly back in its renovated hall for the yearly general debate of September 2014, thereby limiting to only one year the inconvenience of member countries’ having to meet in temporary quarters in the windowless structure on the North Lawn of the UN.

He also explained that they were aiming to finish the Conference building at the end of 2012; it is now operating in swing space in the North Lawn building. That space will then become the temporary home for the General Assembly, where it will hold its 2013 annual debate.

"Everyone understands we had a delay for a little while," he added, noting that the member countries are pleased that the project is so far staying close to budget. "We're about 4 percent over budget. When we started the project, we were about 10 percent over budget,” but they have been “gaining on that every year and getting better."

Alma Hidalgo for UNA-USA

When the Secretariat is done, it will accommodate about 3,700 people, as before, but the staff will be prioritized to include under secretaries-general and assistant secretaries-general.

When everything is done, the Secretariat building, which housed about 3,700 people before the renovation, will accommodate roughly the same number. But "it might not be the same people," Adlerstein said, adding, "We are moving back to what's called the leadership concept, so that the leadership of the UN will be in the Secretariat."

The UN began with everyone in the Secretariat, but over time, departments established afterward were put into rental space, and the Secretariat staff -- the Department of Field Support, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and others -- "grew exponentially outside the compound."

"So this is our opportunity to intelligently restack the Secretariat with the people that the secretary-general needs."

All personnel, he pointed out, are valuable to the secretary-general, "but some of them need to be on call very quickly all the time,” so they are bringing back all the under secretaries-general and assistant secretaries-general into the Secretariat to make that building, as many corporate and governmental headquarters are, “the leadership of the organization."

Those who cannot be brought back into that area will be set up in rental space. "We only fit half our organization inside the compound; the question for the CMP is which half comes into the compound, so it will be the leadership half," he said.

Adlerstein joined the UN when the renovation project started in 2007 and has had a career in historic preservation, including working as chief architect for the Department of Interior, mainly restoring national parks like the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

A primary goal of the UN project is to make it as "green” as possible. "We're going to cut the energy consumption by 50 percent, cut the water consumption by 45 percent, cut our operations so that we continue to use less fuel and less energy in the future," he said.

UN's Counter-surveillance Unit assessment of Jordan says the "kingdom is in its last days"

The UN's Department of Security Services - Counter-Surveillance Unit (Geneva) has conducted an assessment of current situation in Jordan and has concluded that based on the detailed information from UN sources in the ground, the Jordan Kingdom might be in its last days.

The secret briefing report for "top UN officials" seem to indicate that the UN should immediately prepare an ad-hoc plan to deal with the humanitarian and refugee crisis if the situation would precipitate like in Egypt. They also call that UN should get ready to immediately assist at least the large number of Palestinian refugees whom are located in Jordan refugee camps. The report says that these portion of population might face real hardship.

Secret minutes of UN Security Team in Jordan indicate potential unrest as "imminent"

In a recent secret minutes of UN Security Team in Jordan, the UN leaders, Heads of Agencies and Security Officers shared what they called "indications of an imminent unrest" in Jordan. In the meeting the participants sought immediate guidance from UNDSS and Headquarters about the situation and how to deal with it in case of mass unrests. Another meeting will be taking place on Tuesday 1st of February.

Based on the minutes and the atmosphere inside the meeting one can say that a potential unrest and implication of palestinian refugees who live in deep poverty with a popular discontent towards the king could become a deadly situation for Jordan.

UN leadership in Jordan is told to "keep all options open" including a potential withdrawals of personnel, mainly from UNRWA HQs and UN development agencies. Tomorrows meeting would decide on potential alternative routes of escape for UN personnel, if airport and other mass transportation means are blocked.

UN Security Team in DPRK decides NOT to raise Security Status after bombings in the South

In a meeting held today by heads of UN Agencies in Pyongyang (who are also members of the UN Security team in DPR Korea) they decided:

1. Not to raise security phase alert for North Korea;

• Members of security team expressed concerns that if they elevate current security phase in North Korea (DPRK) it might anger the DPRK Government and result in deterioration of the UN cooperation and programmes in North Korea;
• They also feared that an increased security phase might mean a halt of programme work in the field, meaning international advisors, consultants and humanitarian aid personnel who work in capacity building programmes might not be allowed in the country;

2. Continue monitor the situation and decide accordingly;

• Security team requested that the Security Focal Point keep ongoing contact with Un HQs (DSS) as well as the Western Embassies present in Pyongyang and brief accordingly the UN Team at any time;

UN must overhaul image to improve staff safety: Ban Ki-moon

REUTERS

Mon 1 Sep 2008, 11:50 GMT

[-] Text [+] GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations must improve its image in conflict zones so its employees are not seen as targets, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.

Addressing a Geneva ceremony commemorating the 2003 bombing of the U.N.'s Baghdad headquarters, which killed 22 U.N. staff, Ban said he was committed to taking "every possible measure to protect our staff around the world".

But he said it was impossible to eliminate risk without changing errant perceptions about the world body and its staff, who are occasionally seen as working on behalf of leading powers and not in a neutral interest.

"Too many people in the world do not understand what the U.N. does, or its role as an impartial friend to all. This remains one of our most significant strategic communications challenges," Ban said.

The U.N. has more than 100,000 staff supporting peacekeeping operations in countries including Georgia, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Sudan, and Chad, and deploys scores of humanitarian aid workers to distribute food and run refugee camps in some of the world's most dangerous hotspots.

Plans are under way to build a larger and better-fortified compound to house U.N. staff in Iraq, and security policies will be overhauled in line with recommendations from an independent panel formed after last December's blasts in Algiers that killed 17 U.N. employees, the U.N. chief told the ceremony.

At its New York headquarters and regional hubs in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi, the U.N. and its agencies also work to promote human rights, protect the environment, tackle disease, and fight poverty. It spends about $15 billion a year.

Letter to UNDP Watch on Algeria bombing

It has been 3 months now since the last posting to UNDP Watch to air the blood soaked laundry of UNDP and its negligence in Algeria which cost the lives of 13 of our colleagues and the gross mismanagement of the Security Unit for UNDP. 3 months to take action to prevent another Algeria. 3 months to make the changes in the Security Unit to make sure that rules and regulations are followed in hiring and that the falsely titled deputy chief is removed. But what has happened?

UNDP executive board has given over 30 million dollars to the Security Unit to provide for our safety after Algeria. Of course Mr. Jab Swart has been placed in charge of managing this fund again, even following his inability to give funds to Algeria when it was needed most. Each region was asked to prioritize the needs for using these funds. each responsible regional security unit focal point reviewed and approved these requests. The security unit budgeting manager reviewed and validated these requests.The Administrator and Associate Administrator have reminded everyone that security is the highest priority and that the funding is available to help protect us. But what has happened in this 3 months? NOTHING.

Mr.Jab Swart sits on his deputy chief's throne and 'manages' this fund. If you ask anyone they refer to this fund as "Jab's fund". Funds for some moving of UNDP offices have been proposed but not a penny has been issued. Almost every UNDP country office where you and I work every day far from Mr. Jab Swart in his private ofice in New York have asked for funds. What have we received NOTHING.

Mr. Jab Swart was keen to use "his" fund last year to give funds to projects he personally endorsed such as thousands for countries in Europe where his friends worked. Many thousands for other countries where there was a lesser threat than in Algeria, where again Mr. Jab Swart's friends worked or where he had worked himself. But Algeria was given funds for only some radios. How did Mr. Jab Swart think that a few radios would help against a bomb? In Mr. Jab Swart's management of security it is more important to but an armoured truck for his friends in Somalia where the staff worked from a safe hotel most of the time. For Algeria Mr. Jab Swart did virtually NOTHING.

With the blood of 13 UN colleages on his hands it could be expected that Mr. Jab Swart would be eager to make right and do for us what he refused to do for Algeria. But he has done NOTHING.

In Africa we have a saying: Rain beats a leopard's skin, but it does not wash out the spots. The rain of our colleagues' blood was not enough even to wash out Mr. Jab Swart's spots of incompetence. His background is not security and he is an incompetent manager and UNDP administration has not seen fit to remove him. Again my friends, what has been done NOTHING.

Perhaps Mr. Brahimi and his investigating team will see the truth behind Mr. Jab Swart's spots. But I and many others expect the usual NOTHING.