Former CIA agents were called to extract personnel from Montenegro

The mysterious conversation in Florida between the security guard of the pre-election campaign strategist of the Democratic Front and the private American security agency about the "extraction of personnel" from Montenegro around October 16, will be one of the topics at today's hearing on the indictment for the coup attempt.

The Special State Prosecutor's Office requests that as evidence at the trial of 14 defendants, including Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević, the report of the US Department of Justice on the interrogation of Brian Scott, executive director of Patriot Defense Group (PDG) from Orlando, be read, in which it is written that they were asked to "provide protection" to the Democratic Front.

This was allegedly verbally requested by Joseph Asad, an American of Lebanese descent, on behalf of the "Canadian-Israeli political consultant" of DF, whose name was allegedly not mentioned in the conversation in September or early October 2016, from Scott's company - a former XNUMX-year CIA agent, according to the indictment. .

Assad is the director of his Abu Dhabi-based security agency, Peregrine Consultants, which is co-owned by his wife Michelle, a former CIA agent.

"Assad informed them that it was about the need for services that include counter-surveillance, as well as evacuation and planning the extraction of personnel sometime after October 6, 2016 (around the time of the Montenegrin elections) in the vicinity of Podgorica," the indictment of Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoj says. Katnic.

Scott allegedly refused the job in Montenegro based on the advice of their "consultant from Malta", who informed them that the DF is an opponent of the ruling party in Montenegro, but also confirmed that "the party contacted Peregrine", the indictment claims.

PDG does not know what happened in the end with that alleged request.

"Vijesti" has learned that at today's hearing, the defense will request that this evidence be excluded from the file, with which Katnić apparently wants to connect DF with the planning of the alleged coup d'état and the situation if the alleged plan goes wrong.

"Scott was interrogated by the FBI in the form of information gathering from a citizen. It cannot be used in this court proceeding, and especially it cannot be used due to the US request regarding the limitation of the possibility of use 'in any legal proceeding,'” said one of the defense attorneys to "Vijesta".

The defense claims that Scott and Asad, as former security guards, were obliged to report everything to the American authorities as terrorism and to be questioned by the Montenegrin prosecutor's office, and since they were not, "this is a complete fabrication by a CIA operative." “Why would anyone use the logistics services of ex-CIA agents in an operation organized by Russian agents. It is not logical, and it is contrary to the position in the indictment that the defendants wanted to prevent Montenegro from joining NATO. Who engages NATO structures to help him in an operation aimed at an anti-NATO agenda"?

A source from the prosecution told "Vijesti" that the American authorities also interrogated Assad, but that he invoked the fifth amendment of the US Constitution, which allows a witness to refuse to answer questions if it could incriminate himself.

Allegedly, the Montenegrin prosecution offered him to be a cooperating witness, but he also refused.

The prosecutor's office believes that there is a possibility that Asad will be prosecuted in the USA.

By the time the newspaper closed, Assad had not responded to "Vijesta"'s request to discuss these topics, including his alleged interrogation in the US.

Aron Shaviv, an Israeli political strategist who campaigned for DF and was "drawn" by Scott or Katnić in the indictment, confirmed that Assad - his "good friend" - often does security work for him, but never for his clients in elections.

He told "Vijesta" that he did not know in advance about the conversation between Assad and Scott's company about "manpower extraction", but that if it happened, it was "completely fine, because it was a very risky situation, especially at the end of the campaign" for him and his team. "Everywhere I go, he does a risk assessment for me. Sometimes there is no risk, but sometimes I do projects for the opposition in a country where one man has been in power for 28 years and has consolidated control over the security services, as is the case in Montenegro," said Šaviv.

He said that he and his team were "harassed" by the Montenegrin authorities during the campaign, with regular detentions at the airport, "sometimes for two hours at a time", interrogations, car searches, monitoring which "they didn't even try to hide" and that it was almost consulted with Assad daily to assess risks.

“His task is always me and my team, not my client. He knew I worked for DF but never got in touch with them, they didn't know he existed until a few weeks ago when it was announced. The idea is that even they don't know that an assessment is underway, because sometimes the risks are internal as well as external," said Shaviv.

He claims that he talked with Assad near the end of the campaign about the possibility of an unplanned departure if it became too dangerous: "I left the day after the election." During election day it was very risky, a strange situation, but I didn't feel any personal risk. If he had told me to leave, I would have gone, but it didn't happen."

Shaviv said that he did not know that Scott and his PDG even existed, that he did not ask Asad to talk to them, nor that he subsequently talked to him about the disputed conversation in Orlando.

"It is not up to me to confirm or deny it. It is very possible that Joseph told them as part of his work, 'if I have a group of people in Montenegro who are in a bad situation and I have to get them out of there, what are my options'. He is an analyst, not a man who can do it. If he talked about it with a third party, it was not at my request, but I am very happy that he did. That was perfectly fine for him to consider, not for DF, but for me and my team. "He was not responsible for DF at all, nor did he have any relationship with them," Shaviv said.

A source from the prosecution told "Vijesti" that Assad entered Montenegro with a group of his people on October 6, that he was in the country on the day of the election, and that around 14 p.m., "after the police and SDT announced the attempted terrorism" he left across the Božaj border crossing.

"It's possible. He was in the country several times as part of the risk analysis for me, that was part of his task," Shaviv said.

Shaviv: I would like to work for DF again, DPS owns the state

Shaviv said that the Democratic Front is not his client at the moment, but that he is very interested in working for them in a presidential or other campaign.

He accused the DPS of capturing all institutions and abusing them during October.

"There are two theories regarding what happened in Montenegro on October 16. The first theory would have you believe that it was a failed Russian operation involving an Israeli political consultant, a renegade Serbian gendarme, a former CIA agent and some peasants with hunting rifles. If there is anything to be learned from the recent past, it is that Russian military operations neither look like this nor fail. Another theory is that the Montenegrin authorities - faced with a catastrophic election defeat - hastily concocted the worst conspiracy theory ever concocted. I believe that all the evidence - or the lack of it - is in favor of the latter," Shaviv said.

"Montenegro is not a country with a ruling party, it is a party that has a country. DPS has turned all state institutions, security services, local authorities and state-owned enterprises into branches of the party, and the selective use of the prosecution and anti-corruption agencies to suppress and intimidate the opposition is just another example".

Assad pulled refugees from Iraq, offers operations in war zones

We offer physical security services to help clients protect their critical infrastructure and personnel in any environment, from acceptable to high-risk, writes Joseph Asad's Peregrin Consultants website, which specializes in the Middle East and North Africa.

"We have a rare combination of operational know-how, field experience and high analytical capabilities. We can find out the intelligence data needed to solve problems even in conflict and unstable locations," the site says.

According to articles in the American media, Assad was born in Egypt, worked for the American government in the field of counterterrorism. His wife Michelle Rigby Asad was a CIA agent.

They offer verification of business partners, “operations in war zones and conflict areas, gathering information and confirming it. The American media has written a lot about their operation to extract 149 Christians from the ISIS-controlled part of Iraq in 2014 to Slovakia, with the help of Aron Shaviv.

Brian Scott's firm works for the US government and friendly countries

Brian Scott's private security company, Patriot Defense Group, provides military contract services and logistics in support of its clients - governments, according to their website.

“We provide professional services, training and logistics to those who defend America. Our military and government services are focused solely on the needs of the US military, law enforcement, and friendly foreign governments." These services rely on a unique team of operatives from the US military, intelligence, law enforcement and prosecutorial communities. Our managers and contract personnel have served in emergency situations and other operational roles in every major conflict since the Vietnam War," the PDG website states.

Scott has been with PDG for eight years.

Before that, he was a CIA operative for 10 years, specializing in the Middle East and anti-terrorism, the website says. Of the six CIA outposts in the Middle East where he served, he was the head of two. He spent two years in the White House as a special assistant for public affairs under Bill Clinton. Prior to that, he served in the US Army, including in the International Wiretapping Unit and as a Military Intelligence agent in Haiti. PDG strategy advisor Douglas Wise was a senior official of the Military Intelligence Service until August 2016. He also served as the head of the CIA's covert operations program, and participated in its missions in the Balkans, the Middle East, East Asia, Afghanistan and Iraq.