Insider Threat - Then and Now

Espionage, the use of spying to obtain secret information regarding the intentions and capabilities of other persons, groups, organizations, or states is largely seen as a modern twentieth-century phenomenon (Burds, 2012). In reality, it is one of the oldest political and military acts, appearing in historical and literary accounts since the beginning of recorded history. A vital tool of statecraft, espionage shapes foreign policy and changes how wars proceed. Unbeknownst to many Americans, subterfuge and secrecy would play an important role in the Revolutionary War. George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, was well aware that he needed reliable intelligence to triumph over British forces which outmatched and often outnumbered his own. To achieve this, Washington would establish numerous spy networks over the course of the war, the most successful being the Culper Spy Ring.

From after World War II, to the Cold War, to the creation of the atomic bomb, America’s fear grew stronger. Espionage played an important role in the paranoia of the country. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiracy in committing espionage because of the unwarranted paranoia of a nuclear attack by the Russians and the unjustified fear of the Soviet Union in the 1950s.

Over the past few years, government surveillance in the United States has become a widely debated issue with two completely different sides. The National Security Agency, a government agency known for it’s efforts in spying and surveillance, has been at the center of this issue since it’s founding in the 1950’s. The Cold War had just begun and the United States government was doing anything they could to find potential terrorists and communists. In fact, many famous people including Einstein were being spied on by the government to find citizens with potential ties to the Soviet Union. (New York Times - New Details Emerge from the Einstein Files; How the FBI Tracked His Phone Calls and His Trash) As the cold war came to an end in the early 90’s, NSA spying seemed to come to an end as well.

During the time of 1947, there was a high alert against any attack announced by Russia. Fear of communists among the people had begun to form. With this fear in mind, President Truman had ordered that the civilians were to be given a background check that were of in service for the government. During this investigation, a high-ranking State Department official was convicted for have been a spy; fear of communists grew

The above quote, by Richard Nixon, best captures the mass hysteria and paranoia that dominated the American people during the Cold War Era. It would only be 15 years till an article by a New York Times reporter by the name of Seymour Hersh accusing the CIA of targeting antiwar protestors as well as many others whom they believed where foreign agents and had conducted everything from break-ins to wiretaps and even placement of informants within groups to monitor their actions. Later in the article Hesrh would state that the concept of the program was developed by a presidential aid and was in fact encouraged by members of the executive branch. He also revealed heavy involvement by the FBI on the behest of CIA director Helms who had been known to believe that the KGB had infiltrated the United States government.

Knowledge is power. It is as simple as that. Espionage is the secret gathering of information, often referred to as "intelligence". Intelligence refers to the processed information needed to make any decision. This could be used for business, military, economic, or political decisions. More often than not, this term refers to domestic or foreign policy of a country. Espionage is illegal in all countries, yet all countries have some form of espionage organization. The first espionage act was recorded 2500 years ago. The first book on espionage, The Art of War was written by a Chinese emperor/general Sun Tzu in about 500 BC. There is another type of espionage, counter-espionage. This is the

In recent times the US government has been called out, on numerous occasions by whistle-blowers, about some of the secrets they are keeping from the public. “Leaking information is very dangerous. The Obama Administration has embarked on a war on

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were spies for the Soviet Union. They were citizens of the United States and were convicted and executed for committing espionage. They were secretly relaying information about technology and certain prototypes relating to the atomic bombs. This is one of the most infamous cases of espionage.

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, and two years later, the War of the Spies ended. In Checkpoint Charlie, examine pieces of the Berlin Wall. The fall of the Wall signified both a physical and symbolic end to the secrecy, division, and strife of the Cold War. However, many aspects of the Cold War did not fade as quickly. In Silent Sentries, study the evolution of overhead reconnaissance, a Cold War innovation that led to the prevalence of spy satellites in our world. Learn about traitors, defectors, and Cold War spies in Wilderness of Mirrors, which contains fascinating video clips of CIA, KGB, and FBI officers discussing the ir roles in the cases of Robert Hanssen, Aldrich Ames, and

Angleton entered the CIA, and became its Head of Counterintelligence, at one of the most turbulent times in recent history. The Second World War had only recently concluded and the Cold War mentalities were beginning to set in, with neither side having any idea the nature the next four decades would be characterised by. By the time Angleton took his most prominent seat in 1954, the Soviet’s had closed the technological weapons gap and developed their own nuclear weapon. But more than this, the way they accomplished this can be seen to have contributed, understandably, to Angleton’s paranoia. As writer Colin Norman states, in 1950, Klaus Fuchs, a well-respected German-British physicist who had worked on the Manhattan Project, “confessed to spying

Cleaving a country in two, while costing more than half a million lives, brings about one of the most pivotal periods in America’s history. Although brother fought against brother, a new generation of conflict began to emerge. This war is a war of information. Union troops began marching three days ago, where have they gone? Confederate men left this stronghold for us to take, why? Procuring information without authorization through covert and clandestine means is referring to the art of spying. Spying has remained a threat since the beginning of human history and in every culture or sub-culture around the Earth. Contributing original and innovative ideas to the art of spying; Allan Pinkerton set the basis for centuries to come, regarding

The term “Covert Action” brings with it a connotation of shadowy figures wrapped in secrecy and intrigue. It also brings with it a substantial amount of moral questions as to “what is right.” The use of covert action has been widely publicized since the early seventies, but trying to find out the truth to these events has been difficult to say the least. What is even more difficult, is historically recording these events into categories of successes or failures. These operations are difficult to dissect because of their secrecy and although events have been recorded, some facts simply aren’t apparent. This paper will seek to identify the complex issues associated with covert operations.

Throughout history, human nature has facilitated a predisposition for holding and acquiring secrets. This acquisition of intangible information often played out as a chess game and piqued our inherent desire to manipulate minds. Over time, as warfare became more and more technologically proficient, humans adapted their self-driven procurement of social secrets into a sophisticated network of battlefield espionage. Beginning in World War II and continuing into the 1960’s, Virginia Hall exemplified both the thrill seeker’s inner satisfaction and the professional spy’s execution of tradecraft driven espionage.

Spies, or espionage agents, are trained to gather secret information by going undercover. Spying is against the law all over the world, yet every important nation employs spies and has schools for training them. Since they don’t wear military uniform, captured spies are not entitled to treatment as war prisoners. The usual reward for the blown spy is a firing squad or the hangman's noose. Knowing how dangerous their work is, spies have developed certain time-tested ways of operating and protecting themselves. The men who beached their dinghy that morning in 1940 knew their business.

In many insider crimes, managers and other coworkers observed that the offenders had exhibited signs of stress, disgruntlement, or other issues, but no alarms were raised. Barriers to using such psychosocial indicators include the inability to recognize the signs and the failure to record the behaviors so that they can be assessed. A psychosocial model was developed to assess an employee’ s behavior associated with an increased risk of insider abuse. The model is based on case studies and research literature on factors/correlates associated with precursor behavioral manifestations of individuals committing insider crimes. To test the model’s agreement with human resources and management professionals, we conducted an experiment with positive results. If implemented in an operational setting, the model would be part of a set of management tools for employee assessment to identify employees who pose a greater insider threat.