All over the world, the main task of the secret services (intelligence services) is the collection and analysis of political and economic information. The secret services get this information that is important to them primarily from open sources. If this is not possible, they use special intelligence facilities to secretly obtain information. And it was this part of their activity that has always inspired human imagination.
My name is Bond: clichés and myths
Numerous stories, anecdotes and jokes play out the intelligence image created and fueled by spy novels and films (primarily about James Bond, agent 007). But the reality looks in comparison with this often not at all impressive. As the German expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom wrote, “the second oldest profession”, thanks to the romantic halo spread by show business, creates an erroneous idea that the purpose of its work is to use brave agents operating behind enemy lines and stealing secrets from the secret offices of foreign powers. This idea has very little to do with the day-to-day work of intelligence. Although public praise or, on the contrary, ridicule of failures, most often concerns this, albeit very small, part of their work.
But the secret services are special. They act covertly and, at first glance, are inaccessible to the control of society, like other parts of the state mechanism in democratic countries. In addition, it is the special services that have earned a very dubious reputation as an instrument of suppression in dictatorial regimes.
Intelligence, to be effective, must keep some of its activities secret. This makes it difficult to correct prejudices. Secret services, clandestinely observing extremists, terrorists and enemy agents, would be useless if they would provide the general public with the methods of their work and the information obtained as a result of it. Such “transparency” simply cannot exist, but this is what always feeds the myths and speculations around intelligence.
The Rise of Espionage: The Cold War
After World War II, politics was defined by the geopolitical division of the world into two parts between East and West during the Cold War. It was the heyday of all intelligence services. The "enemy" and his intentions seemed to justify any methods and means. And on German soil, the rivalry between the KGB and the CIA has borne fruit in its own way. Berlin was simply overwhelmed with agents trying to deceive and expose each other. This was the beginning of intense mutual eavesdropping, recruiting and recruiting agents, and large-scale "intelligence programs." But it was also a “simple time”, for it was known exactly who the “enemy” was and where he came from. With the end of the Cold War, espionage did not lose its significance, but its goals and objects changed. The bipolarity of the Cold War drowned out regional conflicts, led to the "discipline" of the parties to the conflict and, thereby, to the stabilization of the world order, in which the lines of conflict were clearly delineated. The current multipolarity, characterized by a large number of regional conflicts that sometimes dragged on for many years, in which many local counterparties are involved, has led to a situation of unpredictability, in which political influence is becoming increasingly difficult. Political, economic and social processes call into question in general the ability of individual national states to act. Both the cause and the consequence of this development are now actors acting outside state structures, for example, private armies and international financial structures. On the one hand, transnational economic zones and cultural and civilizational communities emerge within one state. From there, new attachments emerge, expressed in religious or political movements. In short, the large number of new actors and potential conflict partners creates a blurred overall picture. Important areas of information are expanding, and getting it quickly becomes even more valuable. Therefore, espionage today is no longer directed at a bloc of hostile states, but at a huge number of goals, at domestic, foreign and defense policies, at studying social structures and framework conditions. The advantage in knowledge is and remains a tool for creating a national strategy.
In addition, an increasingly important role is played by economic espionage, which deals with industrial policy, science and technology. The reason for this was, for example, the growing interest of developing and transforming countries in modernizing their own economies in order to successfully compete on international markets faster and at the lowest cost. But the old industrial countries do not sit idly by. The competition is becoming more intense, and therefore they are trying to gain an advantage in this competition. The palette of spy targets extends all the way through product creation, from fundamental scientific fundamentals through use-oriented development to economic exploitation and marketing strategies. Another reason for the surge in economic espionage is the efforts of “rogue states”. Especially the development, production and service of modern weapons systems presuppose a sufficient "know-how", which so far only developed industrial nations have at their disposal.
Means and methods
Not only the goals, but also the methods and means of espionage are subject to constant change. Today, in the times of the most modern and rapidly developing technology, the acquisition of intelligence information using computers and satellites is especially progressing. But the “human factor” will always have its own special meaning, for example, in the field of analysis and evaluation of the information received.
The intelligence techniques in their espionage operations are multivariate and varied. “Classical” methods include obtaining open information and spying it out during conversations, using one's own employees acting undercover, recruiting (strangers) persons as agents and sources, and obtaining information using technical means such as radio intelligence and other eavesdropping methods (electronic intelligence service). In addition, in economic espionage in connection with the illegal transfer of technologies and the receipt of important products (the so-called "dual use" - which can be used for both peaceful and military purposes), a special method of camouflage plays an ever-increasing role by creating special firms and institutions (especially export-import).
No intelligence can be imagined without the use of our own intelligence agents - under cover or "illegal immigrants" - and the recruitment of foreigners as agents ("human" (undercover) intelligence, in English - "Human Intelligence", HUMINT (HUMINT)). These scouts and agents are an important factor, since, as a rule, in this case we are dealing with well-trained personnel with strong motivation. Technical intelligence in the course of general scientific and technological progress has supplemented and expanded the capabilities of HUMINT. First of all, a worldwide communications network, in addition to its obvious advantages, presents a very serious risk due to the wide range of eavesdropping possibilities. Added to this is the increased risk of unauthorized access to protected information. The intelligence services of almost all countries have recognized these trends and accordingly changed their espionage activities, widely using, for example, eavesdropping on telephone / fax networks using technical devices that respond to certain words.
Not only political, but also economic espionage in the network and data banks is becoming increasingly important. He uses the means of classical radio intelligence, participation in information systems or illegal access to them, penetration of agents into sensitive areas (data banks). In addition, every effort is made to gain access to relevant results or master communication techniques through “normal” commercial links.
However, covert information acquisition is less of a major source of intelligence information today than it used to be. Open sources, i.e. purposeful analysis of information to which any person can theoretically have access, in the course of technological development and changes in the world of the media, have become much more important. Like other administrative bodies, like journalists or the informed public, intelligence officers also read newspapers and magazines, analyze radio and television programs and new electronic media (Internet). In the case of observing an organization, they collect all publicly available information (leaflets, programs, slogans), attend public events, obtain information from publicly available filing cabinets and registries, or interview people. Moreover, they often act openly as employees of the "authorities". Today, up to 60% of information comes from open sources. To these should be added the information received from other authorities, police reports or court verdicts - about 20%.
But what about technical intelligence? Many people are concerned that their personal information may be collected by third parties against their will and used against them. At the same time, they have little confidence in government agencies and especially in special services. On the contrary, they are suspected of all sorts of sins, creating a rather “dark” image. But this notion is wrong: precisely because the entire sphere of intelligence is so sensitive, just in states of law, such as Germany, the duties and rights of the secret services are very clearly regulated. And the observance of these rules is constantly monitored and submitted to the public by independent institutions and organizations.
Tab. 1. Ways of obtaining intelligence information
<table sources (80%)
<td sources (20%)
<td informants, proxies
<td observation
<td photography and sketching
<td above post and telephone communication (in Germany - based on the G-10 law)
<td sound recording
Other methods of obtaining information:
Obtaining information from other administrative bodies, enterprises and organizations (banks, institutions, public organizations, telecommunications enterprises, post office, air and other transport companies)
Organization of the secret services
In all countries, there are many departments involved in obtaining open and classified information. Nevertheless, the classic example of the organization of the state secret service includes 4 main areas: the internal secret service, foreign intelligence, military intelligence and other services involved in intelligence activities.
At the same time, the competence and structure of these services varies greatly. Sometimes, for example, in the USA and Great Britain, technical intelligence is separated into a separate service. The countries of the European Union and, for example, Israel follow the classic pattern. At the same time, military intelligence can also be divided into two parts - for actions within the country and abroad. States, the regional and global role of which requires the creation of differentiated structures, have their own characteristics. Since in the United States there is no commandment for the division of competences between the police and the secret service, the federal police of the FBI there plays the role of an internal secret service. It is America that can be an example of how complex the structure of the secret services of a state can be.
The internal organization of the secret services is also guided by classical schemes. Planning and control is followed by information acquisition, divided into “operational intelligence with human sources” and “technical intelligence”. Then there are special departments dealing with counterterrorism, economic intelligence, organized crime and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. All the collected information flows into the analytical department, which tries to create a general picture of the situation on its basis. Analytical and informative reports emerge from these assessments and are passed on to decision-makers. In many special services, for reasons of secrecy, the employees of the analytical and operational information departments do not know each other. Most intelligence services are organized today either by levels of information acquisition (for example, information mining and evaluation) or by areas of activity (for example, organized crime or the fight against terrorism). The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is a good example.
The analytical department is of particular importance. The quality of the assessments of the secret service depends on it. It is very important to collect as much quality information as possible, but it is even more important to create a big picture out of thousands of unrelated information, like in a puzzle. This is the Achilles heel of intelligence, because with the current technical capabilities, you can get many times more information than before, which all needs to be processed and tied together. It is like a gear mechanism, in which decisions of choice (important or unimportant) must be made in such a way that the gears cling to each other and create a reasonable result. In the end, this result should be useful to the person for whom it is created, so that you can really work with it. This does not mean that the result must necessarily “satisfy the customer,” but he must give him information that he can refer to and which he can reasonably use.
