The Decline Of Social Skills Amongst Counterintelligence Agents

Human Intelligence (HUMINT) is as old as humanity, and to this day is one of, if not the best method of collecting information, because of the potential quantity and diversity of information that can be collected through this discipline. It is a method to gather information through interpersonal relations. In this assignment I will explain the difference between overt and clandestine HUMINT operations, present which Intelligence Community members use HUMINT and describe their principal methods. Lastly, I will offer my opinion as to whether I believe overt or clandestine HUMINT is more effective.

Counterintelligence is one of the most vital areas of the United States intelligence system, and is heavily intertwined with our history, laws and ethics. According to the National Security Act of 1947, counterintelligence (CI) is defined as “information gathered and activities conducted to protect against espionage, other intelligence activities, sabotage, or assassinations conducted by or on behalf of foreign governments or elements thereof, foreign organizations or foreign persons, or international terrorist activities.” It consists of five activities and functions: operations, investigations, collection, analysis and production, and functional services. In this aspect, CI is unique in that it is both an activity and its product. U.S. intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) collect and analyze both CI information and foreign intelligence. There are many counterintelligence activities that the United States is involved in, as both CI and foreign intelligence play an important role in countering threats to our country’s national security. Among these most controversial and misunderstood activities are counterespionage and disinformation.

After World War II American intelligence had the need to be transformed. The inexperience along with bureaucracy and poor coordination among American intelligence officers obligated the United States intelligence community to change dramatically in order to confront the new challenges that emerged after the end of WWII. From Early America through WWI the intelligence system of the United States of America was involved in operations in which they had to construct intelligence systems virtually from scratch (Andrew 1995). Human intelligence was already developed, but with certain limitations and other intelligence disciplines were underdeveloped and very seldom sophisticated. After WWI America recessed and settled in a period of peace. The

The spies were created in 1914 during world war one to fight the undercover wars.

Later in the article, Goldman and Rosenberg, write about two such agents, Brian Ray Hoke and Nathaniel Patrick Delemarre. These men were killed in the line of duty, outside the town of Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The background of Mr. Delemarre is obscure, the only definite facts are that he served as a radio operator in the military for a dozen years. After the September 11 attacks, he joined the C.I.A. to stop any more bloodshed from happening. After that, he is a complete mystery, going off the grid. Mr. Hoke’s story is more known to the public. He grew up in North Dakota and was the average high school student. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy, and in 1997 passed the test to become a Navy SEAL, working in the Middle East and

On the gloomy Friday night of June 19, 1953, a man named Julius Rosenberg was led into a room containing an electric chair; he was strapped in and then executed. After his body was removed, his wife suffered the same fate. This marked the end of one of the biggest espionage cases from World War II and the Cold War. This fascinating and complex couple were double agents, who worked for both the American and Russian governments. During the mid 20th century, it was not uncommon for American and British citizens to become enamored and sympathetic with communist ideals. However, only a few wanted them so badly that they turned against their own countries. Some of the most famous spies during this time included, the Rosenbergs, David Greenglass, and the Cambridge Five. Each decided to undermine the democratic and capitalist ideals of their countries and work for the Soviet Union. A spy’s role during World War II and throughout the Cold War was to gather information from the opposing side, and during this time, that information mostly related to weapon developments. Initially, the United States used people to spy and gather information, similar to the Russians. However as the Cold War progressed, the United States decided to go a step further and use technology to carry out their espionage. Spying played a critical role in the nuclear arms race which took place throughout World War II and the Cold War. The actions of American and British double agents contributed to tensions and

Using their deep knowledge of psychological concepts, behavioral analysts are able to assess whether a terroristic threat is substantive of merely the product of an individual's psychological problems. They’re also able to analyze whether gathered intelligence is accurate or was given under duress, which can make it easier to differentiate between real and imaginary threats to the American population. This position has been represented in all kinds of media and popular culture, from "Law & Order" to "Criminal Minds" and beyond. The importance of this role at the Department of Homeland security is hard to overstate. Furthermore, the exciting nature of this position often makes it one of the most highly competitive jobs in any field at the

Criminal Profiling Although criminal profiling is not the flawless and magical process that entertainment television portrays it to be, it is a valuable investigative tool that aids in the analysis of crimes and the manner in which they are committed. This behavioral and investigative method is useful in helping investigators to accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminal subjects or offenders. Criminal profiling is based on the belief that it is possible to predict certain characteristics of an offender by examining the specific details of their offenses. By combining the knowledge of social and forensic sciences, profilers can make useful predictions about individual traits or behaviors an offender likely possesses.

It was said by the intelligent Sherlock Holmes that “It should be your business to know things. To train yourself to see what others overlook.” This quote means that it is an investigators job and no one else’s to observe closer than others. For police related jobs it is very important to be able to come up with possible reasons why someone would want to commit crimes, whether they were under the influence of drugs, mentally ill, or in gangs. This is very crucial for a crisis negotiators job, where they deal with crimes such as standoffs, hostage situations, suicides, kidnappings, and hijackings;

In Beyond the Vigilant State Richard Aldrich suggests that, “there was a distinct shift in the nature of secret service by the late 1990’s towards more kinetic activity.” Furthermore, Aldrich advocates that the shift can be attributed to the transnational capabilities of these new targets such as terrorist groups. During the Cold War, intelligence agencies collected information passively which included missile counting or persuading people to defect from communist governments. However, given the more violent and ruthless nature of new threats such as terrorists, “the result has been that the secret services are doing less analysis and estimating and more 'fixing', enforcing and disrupting.” Specifically, there has been an evolution from, “pure intelligence towards the kind of intervention that looks more like

Badge and credentials, and firearms are issued to federal agents or law enforcement officers to conduct official business and protect themselves and others. Agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID), and many other federal agencies work in this capacity of carrying firearms, badge and credentials without the associated stigma and constraints that counterintelligence suffer from. Very few Army counterintelligence offices or entities function in the same manner as our civilian counterparts. Therefore, the question is why the Counterintelligence Corp is not working in the same capacity and function as our civilian law enforcement counterparts regarding

Counterintelligence (CI) involves actions aimed at protecting the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage from penetration and disruption by hostile nations or their intelligence services (Lowenthal, 2014). Three main components of Counterintelligence include collection, defensive and offensive. Collection is ability to gather intelligence information about rivalry capabilities against own nation; defensive part of CI involve measures to prevent and thwarting other nations attempts to penetration into own nations intelligence system; while offensive deal with running double agents to penetrate, manipulate, exploit, and control targeted adversaries. CI is said to be the most essential aspect of the intelligence disciplines, in the sense that collecting vast quantities of secret information and produce excellent analysis of the intelligence, but ineffective counterintelligence measures may diminish confidence the final results (Van Cleave, 2013). According to Federal Bureau of Investigation (2011) “Significant advances have been made in clarifying and rectifying intelligence gaps and requirements through the formation of liaison and working relationships with other U.S. intelligence community agencies, foreign partners, the private sector, and academia”. For instance, since 2001, FBI CI program has resulted to total arrests of 249, of which 46 of them were linked to espionage. Counterintelligence (CI)

Typically, military intelligence requires providing commanders with the worst possible scenario so that they can prepare an overwhelming force to battle (Bradbury 2006). The civilian IC community typically words on strategic or national intelligence requirements. They are concerned with foreign agents and governments, what they're doing, or plotting to do. Whereas, the military are concerned with what foreign militaries are doing, their capabilities and how to skillfully tackle any threats that may arise (Wall 112). Moreover, civilians in the IC communitive cover either as official cover in the form of diplomatic or consular personnel, or unprivileged civilians cover such as non-official/undercover (Kelly 18). Moreover, civilians can operate undercover and can essentially break laws, to an extent, without us even knowing while the military operates lawfully and are visible. This is primarily because the military values transparency and wants to ensure that the reputation of its service members remains unsullied alongside the tenebrous world of clandestine intelligence (Wall

My adventurous personality and curious mindset have encouraged me to seek a career field in which I am passionate about and challenged by. I view a career with the Central Intelligence Agency as appealing because it will allow me to serve my country. While there are many ways to defend my country, I am particularly attracted to the CIA because I see the value in the work the agency does. Intelligence is vital to our national security, as it allows our policy makers to act with a clear understanding of international events. Furthermore, working specifically within the Directorate of Operations is attractive to me because it would allow me to not only serve, but also defend my country on the front lines every day, through both the collection of human intelligence and covert

Counterintelligence (CI) involves actions aimed at protecting the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage from penetration and disruption by hostile nations or their intelligence services (Lowenthal, 2014). Three main components of Counterintelligence include collection, defensive and offensive. The collection is the ability to gather intelligence information about rivalry capabilities against own nation; defensive part of CI involves measures to prevent and thwart other nations ' attempts to penetrate into own nation 's intelligence system; while an offensive aspect deal with running double agents to penetrate, manipulate, exploit, and control targeted adversaries. CI is said to be the most essential aspect of the intelligence disciplines, in the sense that it helps in collecting vast quantities of secret information and produce an excellent analysis of intelligence, although, ineffective counterintelligence measures may diminish confidence in the final results (Van Cleave, 2013).