Espionage

From Free net encyclopedia

Espionage is the practice of obtaining information about an organization or a society that is considered secret or confidential (spying) without the permission of the holder of the information. What differentiates espionage from other forms of intelligence work is that espionage involves obtaining the information by accessing the place where the information is stored or accessing the people who know the information and will divulge it through some kind of subterfuge. Espionage is usually thought of as part of an institutional effort (i.e., governmental or corporate espionage). The term espionage 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. Black's Law Dictionary (1990) defines espionage as: "...gathering, transmitting, or losing...information related to the national defense." A spy is an agent employed to obtain such secrets. The term intelligence officer is also used to describe a member of the armed forces, police officer 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. Spymaster is a term often used in literature for the superior of a spy ring.

Incidents of espionage are well documented throughout history. The writings of Sun-Tzu contain information on deception and subversion. The ancient Egyptians had a thoroughly developed system for the acquisition of intelligence, and the Hebrews used spies as well. More recently, they played a significant part in Elizabethan England (see Francis Walsingham). Feudal Japan often used ninja to gather intelligence. Many modern espionage methods were already then well established.[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 from drug transactions. For a variety of reasons, including changes in technology, it has been necessary to do this without warrants and it is argued that the necessity makes it legal.

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 that can instantly annihilate any suspected threat anywhere in the world.

1 Legality of espionage
2 Noteworthy incidents in the history of espionage
3 Spies in various conflicts
4 Espionage organizations
5 Espionage technology and techniques
6 Spy fiction
7 Further reading
8 Pop culture
9 See also
10 External links

[edit]

Legality of espionage

Espionage, when performed by a citizen of the target state, is generally considered to be a form of treason. In many countries espionage is a crime punishable by death or life imprisonment. For example, espionage is still a capital crime in the USA; however, the death penalty is rarely used in espionage cases in the U.S. See Espionage Act.

A person who owed allegiance to the British Crown who spied for a foreign country would face a maximum life sentence for treason if it could be proved they were aiding Britain's enemies. In fact a foreign spy may also be prosecuted for treason because temporary allegiance to the Crown is owed by everyone voluntarily in Britain except lawful enemy combatants.

Also in the UK, spying for proscribed terrorist organisations violates the Terrorism Act 2000. During the Second World War German spies in Britain were executed for treachery, a special offense covering any aid given to the enemy, including by foreign nationals.

[edit]

Noteworthy incidents in the history of espionage

Daniel Defoe spies for England in Edinburgh, assisting in the bribery scandal which led to the Treaty of Union 1707
Benedict Arnold's West Point betrayal conspiracy
Patriot Kelsie DeNooy leaks British invasion plan to General Washington
1870s — infiltration of U.S. labor unions by Pinkerton National Detective Agency
1940s — Double Cross System British capture of German spy network in Britain in WWII
1940s — Stalin rejects Richard Sorge's precise data on Operation Barbarossa
1940s — transfer of U.S. nuclear weapons secrets in the Rosenberg Case
1940s–1950s — Cambridge Five Soviet spy ring in U.K. during and after WWII
1960 — U-2 Incident during the Cold War.
1961 — failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion
1968–1985 — Walker spy ring sold U.S. KL-7 codes to Soviets
1979 — Top members of the Church of Scientology are convicted in federal court for their participation in Operation Snow White, the largest incident of private domestic espionage in U.S. history, in United States vs. Mary Sue Hubbard et al.
1970s–1990s — alleged Chinese theft of American nuclear weapons designs (See Cox Report)
2005 — Leandro Aragoncillo indicted as part of what the FBI refers to as the first case in history of espionage from within the White House

[edit]

Spies in various conflicts

[edit]

Espionage organizations

Main article: List of intelligence agencies.

Argentina: SIDE, DNIC, DNIEM, J-2, SIE, SIN, SIFA, SIPF, SIGN, SIPN, SIPSA
Australia: DSD, ASIO, ASIS, ONA, DIO
Canada: CSIS, CSE
Cuba: DGI, Military intelligence, others [CI]
France: DGSE, RG, DST
Germany: BND
India: RAW, IB, JIC, DIA
Israel: Mossad
Italy: SISMI, SISDE
Mexico: CISEN
Pakistan: ISI
Netherlands: AIVD
New Zealand: NZSIS GCSB
South Africa: NIA, SASS, SANDF-ID
Soviet Union: SVR, (formerly KGB external reconnaissance and predecessor names); Soviet Military Intelligence GRU
UK: MI5, MI6, GCHQ, Special Branch
USA: CIA, DIA, NSA, NRO

[edit]

Espionage technology and techniques

Main article list of intelligence gathering disciplines.

Agent Handling
Black Bag Operations
Concealment device
Cryptography
Cut-out
Dead drop
Eavesdropping
False flag operations
Honey trap
Interrogation
Nonofficial cover - NOC
One-way voice link
Steganography
Surveillance
TEMPEST — Protection devices for communication equipment.

[edit]

Spy fiction

Main article: Spy fiction

Since not much is publicly known about real-life secret agents, the popular conception of the secret agent has been formed largely by 20th and 21st century literature and cinema. Similar to the character of the private eye, the secret agent is usually a loner, sometimes amoral, an existential hero operating outside the everyday constraints of society. James Bond, the protagonist of Ian Fleming's novels who went on to spawn an extremely successful film franchise, is probably the most famous fictional secret agent of all. Another is the boy spy Alex Rider, created by Anthony Horowitz; Rider is said to be useful due to his youth.

Spy Fiction has also become prevalent in video gaming, where the "wetworks" 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 Metal Gear and Splinter Cell.

[edit]

Pop culture

Common espionage in today's world has been dubbed snitching (other variations included ratting and tattle-tale). What separates it from other forms of espionage is that it involves a traitor or victim rather than a spy. Snitching received a bad reputation as it goes against the golden rule. Also the informers are often used as the scapegoat for a person or group's mistakes and failures. The video Stop Snitchin' was created to show that people who informed authorities on crimes should (or would) be murdered. This resulted in major controversy.

[edit]