The Role of Counter-Intelligence and Counter-Espionage Today - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages David Lonsdale has talked about this phenomenon by evoking the consequences of information technology. There have been a number of changes happening in geopolitical relations that have changed the way, counter-espionage and counterintelligence operations are carried out. The changes have also transformed the time and space in which such acts are relevant.

It was in this backdrop that in 1991, the US had declared that new challenges were surfacing before the US counterintelligence, and had developed a National Security Strategy which said:

Growing international economic competition and potential regional instabilities vastly broaden the scope of the potential intelligence threat. Our traditional openness, combined with recent changes in immigration laws and the sheer volume of information flow in the United States, affords great access to sensitive information and facilities as well as to individuals who may be targets for intelligence collection.

Similarly, the formation of Europol in the European Union was a step towards ensuring effective counterintelligence coordination within the EU nations. UK has also included the US “among the prioritized country for a cooperation treaty with Europol.” All this refocusing and redesigning of intelligence activities represent a broader understanding of the changes that happen around. Counterintelligence operations have thus become more a round-the-clock activity than being a response to some existing or potential security threats. Researchers have been talking about the need for establishing an “international intelligence model…[which can]…establish shared concepts and procedures in the exchange of intelligence and common national and international intelligence work.”

International counterespionage and counterintelligence activities and theories have to be discussed in the broader context of geopolitics. The term, ‘geopolitics’, is often used to understand international politics and foreign policy matters. Henry Kissinger had equaled this concept with “global equilibrium and permanent national interests in the world balance of power.” Thus this concept is viewed as a prerequisite for maintaining global peace and well-being. But usually, counterintelligence and counterespionage practices have also a trait to create global tensions as well. When these activities infringe upon the privacy and freedom of the citizens, criticism is bound to rise. For example, in the 1970s, the FBI in America had pursued callous persecution of the Black radical activists and the American Indian Movement in the name of national security. Bruneau and Tollefson have also explained this aspect of counterintelligence by saying that, “counterintelligence and security intelligence activities have the greatest negative implications for democracy because of the covert surveillance of their citizenry.”

Also, when the counterintelligence activity of a hostile nation or agency is unearthed and the propagators are prosecuted, the hostilities may get enhanced. An interesting explanation on intelligence and counterintelligence has been that “one side’s intelligence failure is likely to be another side’s counterintelligence success. ...Download file to see next pages Read More