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'Counter-intelligence' refers to intelligence organizations or efforts designed to prevent enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence. Examples include careful classification and control of sensitive information, actively spreading disinformation to mislead the enemy, and direct targeting of enemy intelligence collection methods and resources.
The related field of counter-espionage is specifically directed against an enemy's human intelligence collection organizations and involves efforts to detect, neutralize, and where possible, exploit the espionage activities of enemy spies. Counter-espionage is specific subset of the counter-intelligence field, and most governments and militaries have organizations charged with these duties.
When spying is discovered, counter-intelligence agencies are usually legally empowered to arrest espionage suspects, but it is often more productive to see if the situation can first be exploited by controlling and manipulating what information the spy can collect. If the situation can not be exploited, the spy will be neutralized instead. Of key importance will be discovering what information the spy was able to collect previously, and assessing what damage may have been done.
Disinformation can also be used to deceive inimical organizations' (such as terrorist groups) or foreign spies and their handlers, or make them cease their activities if they learn their information has become unreliable or their existence has been compromised.
An example of counter-intelligence in action happened in 1981 when a soviet defector, Vladimir Vetrov, codenamed "Farewell," gave several classified documents to French intelligence of industrial espionage committed by the Soviet Union in various western nations in a collection called the Farewell Dossier. When the US Central Intelligence Agency was informed of this, they retaliated with a sabotage plan on the enemy by using secretly prepared disinformation for the spies to collect and use. The result were numerous seriously technical failures in the USSR such as a massive oil pipeline explosion that seriously damaged its economy. When the sabotage was discovered by the Soviets, it threw the worth and safety of all their intelligence gained in the operation into doubt. Furthermore, to stop the Soviets from attempting to confirm any of it, the NATO allies expelled the known spies to stop the infiltration.
Intelligence and counter-intelligence activities occur not only between governments but also between commercial industries as well as between law enforcement and criminal groups.

Contents

Counter-intelligence agencies

See also

External link

Counter-intelligence agencies

★ Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) - United States

★ Agência Brasileira de Inteligência (Abin) - Brazil

★ Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) - Australia

★ Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz - Germany

★ Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) - Canada

★ Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) - United States

★ Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST) - France

★ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - United States

★ Federal Security Service (FSB)- Russian Federation

★ Committee for State Security (KGB)- Soviet Union

★ Intelligence Bureau - India

★ Inter-Services Intelligence - Pakistan

★ Military Intelligence, Section 5 (MI5)- United Kingdom

★ Military Intelligence, Section 6 (MI6)- United Kingdom

★ Militärischer Abschirmdienst (MAD) - Germany

★ National Intelligence Agency (NIA) - South Africa

★ Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (NCIX) - United States

★ Serviciul Român de Informaţii (SRI) - Romania

★ Serviço de Informações e Segurança (SIS) - Portugal

★ Shabak - Israel

★ Swedish Security Service (Säpo) - Sweden

See also

★ Counter-proliferation

External link

★ Damned Interesting's account of the sabotage made possible by Farewell's intelligence