[Spain]: Operation Desert Lantern

[Zak]

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Classification: TOP SECRET // EYES ONLY

I. MISSION OBJECTIVE
- To establish a discreet, resilient intelligence presence in Egypt capable of:
- Monitoring the activities of the Egyptian Intelligence Community and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Tracking Egyptian diplomatic and intelligence efforts related to Catalonia and broader Mediterranean destabilization operations.
- Cultivating informants within the Egyptian political, academic, and diplomatic community.
- Facilitating ongoing covert collection of communications and movement intelligence relevant to Spanish national security.

II. STRATEGIC OVERVIEW
Egypt’s geopolitical posture is increasingly assertive in Mediterranean and African affairs. There is growing evidence of Egyptian engagement with Spanish separatist movements, possibly for leverage in diplomatic negotiations or regional influence campaigns. Domestic Egyptian surveillance will be extensive, assets must operate under non-official cover with high compartmentalization.

III. PHASED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Phase 1: Reconnaissance & Entry (Weeks 1–4)
Cover Stories:
- Spanish nationals working as language instructors, aid organization advisors, and corporate consultants for projects in Alexandria and Cairo.
- Additional entries via academic exchange and cultural outreach programs.

Insertion Points:
- Cairo: Focused on Intelligence Community, Foreign Ministry, and embassy interactions.
- Alexandria: University access and port-related intelligence.
- Luxor/Aswan: Tourist-heavy zones useful for soft surveillance and asset meetings.

Initial Objectives:
- Identify social hubs and personnel routines.
- Establish local logistical and medical support cells.
- Build rapport with mid-tier Egyptian contacts through front-facing organizations.

Phase 2: Asset Development (Weeks 5–16)
Target Recruitment:
- Junior staff in Foreign Ministry, state-aligned media, Cairo University faculty, and telecom infrastructure contractors.
- Recruitment through classic motivators: money, ideology, ego, coercion.

Support Networks:
- Liaise with allied countries operating embassies in Cairo for asset deconfliction and limited intelligence exchange.
- Coordinate with Turkish and French intelligence for backchannel support.

Operational Security Measures:
- Secure communication via satellite dead-drop protocols and heavily shielded burner networks.
- Mandatory quarterly exfil and psychological wellness assessments via consular rotations.

Phase 3: Embedded Intelligence Collection (Month 5–TBC)
Ongoing Tasks:
- Infiltrate Egyptian NGO funding streams suspected of bankrolling European separatist movements.
- Map Egyptian Intelligence communication patterns using passive monitoring of diplomatic traffic.
- Conduct background dossiers on mid-to-senior intelligence operatives and regime influencers.

Surveillance Infrastructure:
- Placement of passive signal repeaters in proximity to the Egyptian Ministry of Communication hubs (with support from local collaborators).

Signals Intelligence collection from dish relay sites in the Western Desert in low risk, low visibility areas.

IV. CONTINGENCY & EXFILTRATION
- Evacuation via Spanish consulate in Alexandria and allied European embassies. Staged fallback through Cyprus or Malta under diplomatic protection protocols.
- All assets trained in denial-of-identity and short-term resistance techniques.
- Fallback ID packs provided for all field agents with European credentials, pre-validated under cover.

 

[Zak]

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TOP SECRET – EYES ONLY
Inside a secure wing within the National Intelligence Center's Madrid compound, a final round of mission prep was underway for Operation Desert Lantern. The fluorescent lights flickered overhead as twelve Spanish operatives sat in formation, listening intently to their handler. Weeks of psychological preparation would be undertook, linguistics, and immersive scenario drills were now culminating in hard deployment orders.

These weren’t ordinary agents. Recruited over the past decade, each hailed from small towns and villages in Northern Morocco from places like Tétouan, Nador, and Chefchaouen. Most had crossed into Spanish territory through Ceuta and Melilla, some with their families, others as unaccompanied minors. Over time, they became naturalized Spanish nationals, and through quiet monitoring, were handpicked for their linguistic range, cultural intuition, and ability to navigate two worlds without raising alarms.

Arabic wasn’t just a skill. It was native. And that made them indispensable.

Now, they would return to North Africa not as migrants or nationals, but as professionals under official Spanish banners. Their cover stories had been meticulously constructed, blending realism with plausible deniability.

Each operative had been assigned a unique cover identity, designed to blend seamlessly into Egypt’s civilian and professional landscape:

Two operatives would enter as hospital technicians on a new initiative on a Spanish-Egyptian healthcare exchange program, looking to and working in Cairo’s peripheral clinics under the cover of a joint public health initiative to be developed by Teknon Medical Centre which was one of the leading hospitals in the Spanish private healthcare sector,

Three others had been placed as communications engineers which were looking to conduct a fiber-optics infrastructure upgrade project, operating primarily in Alexandria and Suez.

One agent had credentials as a renewable energy surveyor for a multinational solar panel assessment project in southern Egypt, providing access to rural movement corridors and technical installations.

Another pair posed as travel coordination agents with a Spanish company facilitating eco-tourism circuits along the Nile which was ideal for discreet mobility across provinces.

One would operate as a logistics consultant embedded within a Spanish NGO involved in humanitarian logistics and vaccine cold-chain planning, enabling plausible access to border regions and storage sites.

The final three operatives assumed roles as language and cultural liaisons, officially employed as Arabic-Spanish interpreters and administrative aides at the Spanish embassy.

Each legend was supported by robust documentation, valid visas, employment histories, fabricated email correspondences, and corroborating social media presence. Their exit and extraction plans had been rehearsed. Emergency signals, fallback identities, and diplomatic deniability measures were in place.

The lead field officer issued the final words.
"You are not tourists. You are not guests. You are eyes and ears of the Spanish Republic in a territory where silence is currency and truth is rarely spoken aloud. You are ghosts. Go see. Go listen. But do not be seen."

Operation Desert Lantern was greenlit. Over the next few weeks, the first assets would be in Cairo (to be sent in next post.) and the rest would follow in waves carried by the flow of people, unnoticed, until the signal was given.

Kelly the Mad

 

[Zak]

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TOP SECRET – EYES ONLY
The morning heat clung to the tarmac as the Iberia flight from Madrid taxied to a halt, its passengers beginning to disembark into the terminal bustle of arrivals. Among them were three nondescript individuals dressed in the modest attire of international civil service—pressed shirts, slacks, official lanyards clipped to their chests identifying them as diplomats belonging to the Spanish Embassy in Cairo. Each bore the unassuming calm of trained operatives cloaked in bureaucratic normalcy.

"Rafiq" was the first through passport control, handing over documentation that listed him as a certified Arabic-Spanish interpreter with prior assignments in refugee outreach programs across Andalusia. Fluent in both languages since childhood, his Moroccan roots provided him a natural cover one difficult to pierce under scrutiny.

Following closely behind was "Yasmine" her dossier framing her as an administrative liaison recruited to support embassy consular operations. Her file included legitimate credentials, subtle traces of NGO work in Granada, and coursework in intercultural mediation. Her calm demeanor masked an analytical mind trained to observe, record, and relay with precision.

Last came "Sami" a logistics aide assigned to assist in embassy-community programs related to cultural exchange and diaspora affairs. Formerly a telecommunications technician by trade, his cover allowed him to interface with local contractors, vendors, and expatriate networks which provided vital access points for intel mapping.

All three shared a common thread, Spanish nationals by naturalization, born in villages near Tetouan and Nador in Morocco, having entered Spain as minors through Ceuta and Melilla in the late 2000s. Their blend of cultural familiarity and national legitimacy made them ideal for the task.

The three agents approached the immigration counter side by side, their expressions calm and composed. Each carried a slim leather folder containing their diplomatic credentials, which they handed over simultaneously to the officer behind the desk.

Kelly the Mad