Espionage

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Espionage (a word from Latin espionnage) or spying is a practice of gathering information about an organization or a society that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Unlike other forms of intelligence work, espionage involves accessing the place where the desired information is stored, or accessing the people who know the information and will divulge it through some kind of subterfuge.[citation needed]It also can be used as a general term to describe spying activities.

Espionage is usually part of an institutional effort (i.e., governmental or corporate espionage), and the term is most readily associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies, primarily for military purposes, but this has been extended to spying involving corporations, known specifically as industrial espionage. Many nations routinely spy on both their enemies and allies, although they maintain a policy of not making comment on this. In addition to utilizing agencies within a government many also employ private companies to collect information on their behalf such as SCG International Risk and others. Black's Law Dictionary (1990) defines espionage as: "...gathering, transmitting, or losing...information related to the national defense."

A spy is a person employed to obtain such secrets. The term intelligence officer is also used to describe a member of the armed forces, police, or civilian intelligence agency who specialises in the gathering, fusion, and analysis of information and intelligence in order to provide advice to their government or another organisation. In general, intelligence officers travel to foreign countries to recruit and "run" intelligence agents, who in turn spy on their own governments. These agents can be moles (who are recruited before they get access to secrets) or defectors (who are recruited after they get access to secrets).

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[edit] History

Incidents of espionage are well documented throughout history. The ancient writings of Chinese and Indian military strategists such as Sun-Tzu and Chanakya contain information on deception and subversion. Chanakya's student Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire, made use of assassinations, spies and secret agents, which are described in Chanakya's Arthasastra. The ancient Egyptians had a thoroughly developed system for the acquisition of intelligence, and the Hebrews used spies as well, as in the story of Rahab. Feudal Japan often used ninja to gather intelligence. More recently, spies played a significant part in Elizabethan England (see Francis Walsingham). Many modern espionage methods were well established even then. [1]

The Cold War involved intense espionage activity between the United States of America and its allies and the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China and their allies, particularly related to nuclear weapons secrets. Recently, espionage agencies have targeted the illegal drug trade and those considered to be terrorists.

For three decades the United States has cultivated its best and brightest to pre-eminence in what is now known as the field of communication and control. As technology has advanced, the means and methods of espionage have advanced from Nixon era wire tapping, through Reagan era programs like ECHELON and Carnivore, to surveillance of all electronic transmissions including cell phone logs, voice mail, email, packet sniffing, trace routing and wireless transmissions.

However, the Soviet Union has been said to have had fielded the largest and most advanced spy networks during its time, infiltrating some of the most secure places on the planet, which has caused many scandals.

Since January of 2000, a long list of agencies have been data mining the world's stock exchanges; this program was formalized on October 26, 2001, in the form of the Patriot Act. This helps track the financing of people who might be laundering money. This is done without warrants.

In order to gather political and economic information that might be of advantage to the United States, foreign communications are routinely subject to surveillance. In 2002, new programs of satellite surveillance and unmanned low level drones armed with missiles made it possible not only to perform surveillance in real time, but to respond with force.

[edit] Risks

The risks of espionage vary. A spy breaking the host country's laws may be deported, imprisoned, or even executed. A spy breaking his/her own country's laws can be imprisoned for espionage or/and treason, or even executed, as the Rosenbergs were. For example, when Aldrich Ames handed a stack of dossiers of CIA agents in the Eastern Bloc to his KGB-officer "handler," the KGB "rolled up" several networks, and at least ten people were secretly shot. When Ames was arrested by the FBI, he faced life in prison; his contact, who had diplomatic immunity, was declared persona non grata and taken to the airport. Ames's wife was threatened with life imprisonment if her husband did not cooperate; he did, and she was given a five-year sentence. Hugh Francis Redmond, a CIA officer in China, spent nineteen years in a Chinese prison for espionage—and died there—as he was operating without diplomatic cover and immunity.

Espionage by country

[edit] Spies in various conflicts

See also: Intelligence agency, Special Operations Executive, and United States government security breaches

[edit] Espionage technology and techniques

See also: Tradecraft and List of intelligence gathering disciplines

[edit] Spy fiction

Main article: Spy fiction

During the many 20th century spy scandals, a large amount of information became publicly known about national spy agencies and dozens of real-life secret agents. These sensational stories piqued public interest in a profession largely off-limits to human interest news reporting, a natural consequence of the secrecy inherent to their work. To fill in the blanks, the popular conception of the secret agent has been formed largely by 20th and 21st century literature and cinema. While it is obvious from reading news accounts that many real spies, such as Valerie Plame, are attractive and sociable, the fictional secret agent is often a loner, sometimes amoral—an existential hero operating outside the everyday constraints of society. Loner spy personalities may have been a stereotype of convenience for authors who already knew how to write loner private investigator characters that sold well from the 1920s to the present.

While fictional secret agents, such as Johnny Fedora, were popular during the 1950s and 60s, James Bond, the protagonist of Ian Fleming's novels, who went on to spawn an extremely successful film franchise, is the most famous fictional secret agent of all: he uses the best toys and excels at fighting and seduction, completely ignoring the more tedious side of espionage. In direct contrast to this, John LeCarre's character George Smiley is often considered the "anti-Bond" and one of the more realistic fictional spies: he is a finite and imperfect man, initially defeated by enemies within the Secret Service, who eventually prevails by patience, intelligence, and compassion. Another is the boy spy Alex Rider, created by Anthony Horowitz; Rider is said to be useful due to his youth. Other popular spies are the characters Johnny Fedora by Desmond Cory; Quiller by Adam Hall; Nikita, played by Peta Wilson, and Michael Samuelle, played by Roy Dupuis, in the TV series La Femme Nikita (1997–2001), Jack Ryan in numerous Tom Clancy novels, and Sydney Bristow, played by Jennifer Garner, in the subsequent TV series Alias (2001–2006). The British TV series Spooks is another example of spy fiction.

Spy fiction has also become prevalent in video gaming, where the "wet work" aspect of espionage is highlighted. Game situations typically involve agents sent into enemy territory for purposes of subversion. These depictions are more action-oriented than would be typical in most cases of espionage, and they tend to focus on infiltration rather than information-gathering. Some examples are GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, Thief, Metal Gear and Splinter Cell. Recent incarnations have attempted to introduce more psychological aspects of infiltration, such as social camouflage and moral decision making, into gameplay.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Surveys

  • Andrew, Christopher. For the President's Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush (1996)
  • Black, Ian. Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services (1992)
  • Bungert, Heike et al eds. Secret Intelligence in the Twentieth Century (2003) essays by scholars
  • Friedman, George. America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemies (2005), since 9-11
  • Johnson, Robert, 'Spying for Empire: The Great Game in Central and South Asia, 1757-1947' (London: Greenhill, 2006) British Intelligence and its imperial connection
  • Kahn, David The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet (1996), 1200 pages
  • Knightley, Philip. The Second Oldest Profession: Spies and Spying in the Twentieth Century (1986)
  • Lerner, K. Lee and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, eds. Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security (2003), 1100 pages. 850 articles, strongest on technology
  • Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth & K. Lee Lerner, eds. Terrorism : essential primary sources. Thomson Gale, 2006. ISBN 9781414406213 Library of Congress. Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies Reading Rms LC Control Number: 2005024002.
  • O'Toole, George. Honorable Treachery: A History of U.S. Intelligence, Espionage, Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA (1991)
  • Owen, David. Hidden Secrets: A Complete History of Espionage and the Technology Used to Support It (2002), popular
  • Richelson, Jeffery T. A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century (1997)
  • Richelson, Jeffery T. The U.S. Intelligence Community (4th ed. 1999)
  • Smith Jr., W. Thomas. Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency (2003), popular
  • West, Nigel. MI6: British Secret Intelligence Service Operations 1909-1945 (1983)
  • West, Nigel. Secret War: The Story of SOE, Britain's Wartime Sabotage Organization (1992)
  • Wohlstetter, Roberta. Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision (1962)
  • Jenkins, Peter. "Advanced Surveillance: The Complete Manual of Surveillance Training". ISBN 0953537811

[edit] World War I

  • Beesly, Patrick. Room 40. (1982). Covers the breaking of German codes by RN intelligence, including the Turkish bribe, Zimmermann telegram, and failure at Jutland.
  • Burnham, Frederick Russell. Taking Chances; Chapter 2 is about Duquesne (1944)
  • Kahn, David. The Codebreakers. (1996). Covers the breaking of Russian codes and the victory at Tannenberg.
  • May, Ernest (ed.) Knowing One's Enemies: Intelligence Assessment before the Two World Wars (1984)
  • Tuchman, Barbara W. The Zimmermann Telegram (1966)

[edit] World War II: 1931-1945

  • Babington-Smith, Constance. Air Spy: The Story of Photo Intelligence in World War II (1957)
  • Hinsley, F. H. and Alan Stripp. Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park (2001)
  • Hinsley, F. H. British Intelligence in the Second World War (1996) abridged version of multivolume official history.
  • Hohne, Heinz. Canaris: Hitler's Master Spy (1979)
  • Jones, R. V. The Wizard War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939-1945 (1978)
  • Kahn, David. The Codebreakers. (1996).
  • Kahn, David. Hitler's Spies: German Military Intelligence in World War II (1978)
  • Kahn, David. Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1939-1943 (1991) FACE
  • Lewin, Ronald. The American Magic: Codes, Ciphers and the Defeat of Japan (1982)
  • May, Ernest (ed.) Knowing One's Enemies: Intelligence Assessment before the Two World Wars (1984)
  • Persico, Joseph. Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage (2001)
  • Persico, Joseph. Casey: The Lives and Secrets of William J. Casey-From the OSS to the CIA (1991)
  • Ronnie, Art. Counterfeit Hero: Fritz Duquesne, Adventurer and Spy (1995) ISBN 1-55750-733-3
  • Sayers, Michael & Albert E. Kahn. Sabotage! The Secret War Against America (1942)
  • Smith, Richard Harris. OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency (2005)
  • Stanley, Roy M. World War II Photo Intelligence (1981)
  • Wark, Wesley. The Ultimate Enemy: British Intelligence and Nazi Germany, 1933-1939 (1985)
  • Wark, Wesley K."Cryptographic Innocence: The Origins of Signals Intelligence in Canada in the Second World War", Journal of Contemporary History 22 (1987)

[edit] Cold War Era: 1945-1991

The Stalin Era (1999).* Spectre, One Man's View

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