COLOMBIA: SEPULVEDA OBTAINED INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION FROM ANDROMEDA

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06587086
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2017
• Case Number: F-2016-02088
• Publication Date: May 17, 2014

Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
Page 1 of 7
UNCLASSIFIED!!
ENVELOPE
ZNR UUUUU
HEADER
RAAUZYUW RUEIFBS9299 1371918-UUUU--RUZDTPW.
171918Z MAY 14
FM OSC RESTON VA
TO RHMCSII/ATTORNEY GENERAL D BRANCH
RUEPPOG/CDR PSYOPGP FT BRAGG NCHASOF-POG-SB//
RHMCSII/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUZFMXI/CDR USTRANSCOM INTEL CELL SCOTT AFB IL
RUEPNGA/CDRNGIC CHARLOTTESVILLE VA
RHMCSII/CDRUSASOIC WASHINGTON DC
RHMCSII/COGARD IDB WASHINGTON DC
RHMCSII/COMUSNAVCENT//N2//
RHMCSII/COMUSNAVS0//N2//
RUEPWDC/DA AMHS WASHINGTON DC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC//IN-1//
RUEPTRX/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMCSII/DIRNAVCRIMINVSERV QUANTICO VA
RHMCSII/GISA FT BRAGG NC
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL
RUZDJWC/JWAC DAHLGREN VA
RUZDQAN/MARCORINTACT QUANTICO VA
RUZDNAI/NASIC WRIGHT PATTERSON AFB OH
ZEN/NGA WASHINGTON DC
RUETIAA/NSACSS FT GEORGE G MEADE MD
RUCXONI/ONI WASHINGTON DC//2140//
RHHJJPI/PACOM IDHS HONOLULU HI
RHMCSII/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCQSAB/USSOCOM INTEL MACDILL AFB FL
ZEN/CIA WASHINGTON DC
ZEN/SECSTATE WASHINGTON DC//INR//
BT
CONTROLS
UNCLAS
Q4014
CITE OSC RESTON VA 736608
UNCLASSIFIED//
(b)(3)
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
3/15/2016
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
Page 2 of 7
UNCLASSIFIED!!
WARNING: TOPIC: CRIME, DOMESTIC POLITICAL
SERIAL: LAL2014051659947003
BODY
COUNTRY: COLOMBIA
SUBJ: (U) COLOMBIA: SEPULVEDA OBTAINED INTELLIGENCE NFORMATION
FROM
Andromeda
REF: 1. Wiretap suspect had contacts with 'Andromeda program' and
military intelligence: newspaper LAR2014051655698784 Colombia
Reports
English 0000 GMT 16 May 14 (U)
2. Colombia: Report Examines Files in Possession of Sepulveda
LA1,2014051261571563 eltiempo.com Spanish 0000 GMT 12 May 14 (U)
3. Colombia: Hacker Sepulveda Allegedly Targeted Timochenko,
Cordoba
LA1,2014051053377505 elespectador.com Spanish 0000 GMT 08 May 14 (U)
SOURCE: Bogota eltiempo.com in Spanish 15 May 14 (U)
TEXT:
[ (U) El Tiempo Justice Section staff report on 15 May; place not
specified: "Peace Process 'Hacker' Claims Buying Andromeda
Information")
(INTERNET)
[OSC Translated Text]
(U) This product may contain copyrighted material; authorized use
is
for national security purposes of the United States Government
only
Any reproduction, dissemination, or use is subject to the OSC usage
policy and the original copyright.
While establishing whether the illegal activities of Andres
Fernando
Sepulveda, the peace process hacker [preceding word in English],
have
been used for political objectives, the Attorney General's Office
is
advancing, with firm steps, toward another key aspect of the
investigation: Sepulveda's links with Andromeda, the Army's
intelligence facade, disclosed three months ago in the northern
UNCLASSIFIED!!
-3!15/2016
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
Page 3 of 7
UNCLASSIFIED//
area
of Bogota.
A few hours after being arrested, the hacker confessed before a
prosecutor that he had been trafficking with intelligence
information
and revealed that Andromeda was one of his sources of confidential
data. Sepulveda's statements allegedly showed that offenses have
been perpetrated at the place -- which is handled by military
intelligence personnel - and that phones had been hacked. (See, in
addition: Follow ups and charges moving the 'hacker' Sepulveda's
case)
"A friend, who is a member of the Air Force intelligence (analyst)
and expert in informatics security, said that he knew the Andromeda
people," Sepulveda said in a 6-page exclusive statement to the El
Tiempo. This newspaper abstains from revealing the mentioned names,
so as not to hinder the investigation.
The front of Andromeda, at the Galerias neighborhood, in Bogota.
Photo: El Tiempo files.
He added that a little after the scandal caused by the disclosing
of
the facade, he met with a contact who made himself known as
'Bender'
[preceding word in English] and that this person offered him "a
great
deal" of information on the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia] and on the peace process," as well as a monitoring tool
for
BlackBerry" that was capable of listening to calls, film videos,
take
photographs and serve as reference for geolocation [geographical
location]. (See: The files of 'hacker' Sepulveda, who is charged
with spying on the peace process).
UNCLASSIFIED//
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086 3/15/2016
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
Page 4 of 7
UNCLASSIFIED//
Sepulveda asserts that the Andromeda men, led by a sergeant,
offered
him, for the price of 30 million pesos, an information package
containing chats among the FARC chiefs, as well as mails; he added
that his plan, which did not come true, was to purchase the package
and then resell the information to the National Intelligence
Directorate (DNI) "for a higher price, so that he could profit by
it."
"The objective was to purchase 100 mail accounts (of the FARC) but
only 20 of them were delivered," and that he allegedly paid for
them
with a computer and 8 million pesos in cash. They had asked 100
million pesos for the 100 mail accounts.
Contact with the DNI
As this newspaper revealed last Sunday, among those intercepted
accounts was that of alias 'Boris, head of the FARC security in
Havana.
Sepulveda reported how he obtained the encrypted mail that appeared
in one of his computers (see photographs). As a result of the
electronic hacking of this mail, he obtained a photograph of the
guerrilla fighter and of other members of the delegation to Cuba,
with a Colombian congressman who was recently in Havana, and that
these photos had been in circulation in the last few days.
Although he was also offered access to the accounts of 'Ivan
Marquez'
and 'Timochenko,' Sepulveda asserted that the passwords had been
mistaken and that he had not been able to access the accounts.
The hacker [preceding word in English] said he never succeeded in
UNCLASSIFIED//
3/15/2016
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
Page 5 of 7
UNCLASSIMED#
selling the information, despite the fact that he got in touch with
a
civilian adviser of the DNI, and that this persons assured him that
"they were interested in obtaining information on the Havana
accords
before they were made public, and that they were also interested in
knowing whether any terrorist act to be performed in Colombia was
being ordered from Havana."
"My idea was to buy the information from the Andromeda people,
complement it, and sell it to the DNI," he said.
The National Intelligence Directorate is the head of the
intelligence
activity in Colombia. It is headed by Admiral Alvaro Echandia
(retired), who was one of the military chiefs at the head of the
first major attacks against the FARC. On Wednesday night, DNI
spokespersons confirmed that the person mentioned by the hacker
[preceding word in English] did work there.
Sepulveda asserts that his civilian contact at the agency was the
person who acted as the bridge for the purchase - for 8 million
pesos
-- of the database of demobilized guerrilla fighters, which was
found
in his files. He also asserted that his idea was to complement the
data stolen from Andromeda. "I am willing to deepen all the
information I have on the case, as long as all that is done under
the
guarantee that my personal integrity and that of my family will be
preserved," he pointed out.
Sepulveda's version states that, last year, he met with several
high-ranking police chiefs "to offer them the program he was
developing" on the analysis and behavior of criminality in the
cities; he added that he acted as an advisor in several
investigations against gangs such as that of "the Pascuales."
UNCLASSIFIED//
3/15/2016
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
Page 6 of 7
UNCLASSIFIED,/
"They didn't pay me but, in a financial crisis, they helped me
from
their own pockets, without my signing any document or anything," he
said. Police have reported that Sepulveda did contact them but
that
they discarded his offer of helping them because they didn't
consider
him trustworthy.
Political Contacts
In this first statement before the courts, the 'hacker' denied that
his spying of the peace process had any relation with political
sectors. He said he worked during Alvaro Uribe's campaign, in
2006,
when J.J. Rendon and German Chica invited him, and that his
contacts
at the Democratic Center were Luis Alfonso Hoyos and David Zuluaga,
son of the candidate. "With regard to these politicians' links
with
the peace process, there were none," he concluded.
(Description of Source: Bogota eltiempo.com in Spanish
[Description of Source: Bogota eltiempo.com in Spanish Website
of
most influential newspaper published by Casa Editorial El Tiempo
with
the largest circulation in Colombia; mogul Luis Carlos Sarmiento
Angulo, the country's most prominent banker and businessman, owns
100% of El Tiempo stock; URL: http://www.eltiempo.com]
(U) This product may contain copyrighted material; authorized use
is
for national security purposes of the United States Government
only.
Any reproduction, dissemination, or use is subject to the OSC usage
policy and the original copyright.
CABLETYPE: FBISEMS ACP 1.0
ADMEN
UNCLASSIFIEDll
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
3/15/2016
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
Page 7 of 7
BT
#9299
NNNN
UNCLASSWIEW
UNCLASSIFIED//
Approved for Release: 2017/02/16 C06587086
3/15/2016