“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo Da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) “Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.” United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld —

news briefing (February 12, 2002)

January 1 2019 — This year has been designated as International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements by the United Nations General Assembly.

The year will bring its lot of surprises as we know that there are plenty known unknowns and unknown unknowns.

As a wise guy once said: “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” (The remark has been attributed to Niels Bohr, Goldwyn, Robert Storm Petersen, and Yogi Berra. But it seems it originates from a debate in the Danish parliament in 1937/1938.)

So I will not attempt to make predictions. Here are however a few known dates regarding stories that Intel Today is following: Norwegian ‘spy’ Frode Berg, former CIA Jerry Lee, General Michael Flynn, BREXIT, Dag Hammarskjold, Lockerbie and… James Bond 25. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

February 5 2019 — On December 11 2018, the Moscow City Court has sentenced ex-police officer Alexey Zhitnyuk to 13 years in prison for transferring classified information to Frode Berg, an alleged Norwegian spy. Zhitnyuk gave secret documents containing information on Russian navy to Frode Berg in December 2017. Berg was arrested upon receiving the documents and charged with espionage. In November 2018, the Moscow City Court extended his detention until February 5 2019.

February 12 2019 — Jerry Chun Shing Lee Case — A former CIA officer who is believed to have helped China identify and kill members of the US spy network in the country pleaded not guilty Friday (May 18 2018) in a Virginia federal court on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage and unlawful retention of classified information. Judge T. S. Ellis III set a trial date for Jerry Chun Shing Lee for February 12, 2019. [Interesting details about this case emerged in November 2018.]

March 13 2019 — On December 18 2018, Judge Sullivan decided to delay the sentencing of General Michael Flynn, and set a status hearing for March 13 2019. Flynn’s attorneys said they took the judge up on his offer to delay the sentencing because Flynn is still cooperating with prosecutors.

March 29 2019 – The United Kingdom’s membership in the European Union will cease in accordance with Article 50. Gibraltar will also leave the European Union with the UK. At a date not yet known, British troops will leave Germany, having been stationed there since World War II. (Maybe?)

May 2 2019 — 500 years anniversary of the death of Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and he is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Leonardo died on May 2 1519. Who knows how various hacker groups will celebrate the 500 year anniversary of this ultimate genius?

May 20 2019 — On November 16 2018, the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) voted unanimously in favour of revised definitions of the SI base units. The new definitions will come into force on May 20 2019. Have you noticed that in the “Great Western Democracies”, important decisions are almost never debated and very seldom reported by the media?

June 2019 — In a progress report on his investigation released in December 2018, Mohamed Chande Othman said fresh information had surfaced in the past year that could cast light on the mysterious death of former UN secretary Dag Hammarskjold. In his report , the judge said the UK and South Africa had been entirely unhelpful. In June 2019, Judge Othman will provide his final report to the Secretary-General, who will transmit it to the General Assembly before the end of its 73rd session.

Summer 2019 — Christine Grahame — a Member of the Scottish Parliament since its inception in 1999 — has been outspoken in her view that the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for the 1988 Lockerbie tragedy is unsafe and represents a miscarriage of justice. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has accepted to review the case. According to Grahame, the commission hopes to report by summer 2019.

December 26 2019 — An annular solar eclipse will be visible from South Asia. If only people and their governments could act rationally. There would be no need for psychologists and Intelligence officers. Then again, there would not even be a need for historians.

No New Bond movie in 2019 — Originally, James Bond 25 was scheduled to release on October 25, 2019 in the UK, and a little later on November 8, 2019 in the States… but Danny Boyle unexpectedly walked away. Cary Fukunaga will direct the movie and filming is set to begin at Pinewood Studios from March 4 2019. Bond 25 release date is now set for February 14, 2020.

Donald Rumsfeld : “Unknown Unknowns”

REFERENCES

There are known knowns — Wikipedia

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Intel Today — Knowns & Unknowns of the 2019 Intelligence Calendar