Intelligence Community during and after the Cold War - Essay Example

Threats such as terrorism are not easy to tackle and it has forced intelligence agencies to invest heavily in new technology as well as create more sophisticated methods of spying on potential adversaries. The rise of al Qaeda and its affiliate organizations has created a situation where it has become essential for the intelligence community to utilize all the resources available to it to ensure that this threat is either neutralized or destroyed. The intelligence community after the Cold War has had to face adversaries who are more numerous than during the Soviet era and this has made it imperative for there to be changes in the way that the various agencies within it operate.

For example, during the Soviet era, it was common practice for the various intelligence agencies not to share information; each of them attempted to ensure that what they considered to be their jurisdiction was jealously guarded.1 The rise of the terrorist threat on the United States, especially after the 9/11 attacks, changed all that as it led to the realization of the need to be interagency cooperation to prevent such an event from ever taking place again. In recent years, there have developed fusion centers whose main purpose is to ensure that all the information, concerning potential threats, that has been collected by the various agencies is shared in a common database.

2 This is a phenomenon that would have been considered strange during the Cold War as each agency in the period attempted to keep all the information that it gathered a closely guarded secret, not to be shared with rival agencies. During the Cold War, the main means of intelligence gathering was either through direct spying, the use of double agents, or the use of sleeper agents. This form of spying was extremely risky for those individuals involved because it created a situation where, if caught, they were likely to either be killed or put on display to the embarrassment of their home nation.

The modern form of intelligence gathering, however, aims at preventing such incidents as much as possible and this is based on the fact that there is the use of advanced technology to cover those areas which are highly sensitive. The use of the new forms of intelligence gathering technology has ensured that the need for field agents has become minimal; they are required only during the most crucial of missions. The use of evermore sophisticated intelligence-gathering technology has created a situation where it has become much easier to gather intelligence on any target around the globe.

 All the potential threats to the nation are often on the radar of the intelligence agencies, and one way or the other; they are more often than not found out and eliminated. The use of drone technology has enabled the swift identification, targeting, and elimination of threats to national security anywhere in the world, thus creating more efficiency when protecting the interests of the United States. When compared to the Cold War era, it can be said that the status of the intelligence community has changed for the better since it has seen the development of better cooperation between the various intelligence agencies.