Counterintelligence state

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Federal Security Service
in 2002

Counterintelligence state (sometimes also called intelligence state, securocracy or spookocracy) is a state where the state security service penetrates and permeates all societal institutions, including the military.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The term has been applied by historians and political commentators to the former Soviet Union, the former German Democratic Republic, Cuba after the 1959 revolution, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, China under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and post-Soviet Russia under Vladimir Putin, especially since 2012.

According to one definition, "The counterintelligence state is characterized by the presence of a large, elite force acting as a watchdog of a security defined as broadly that the state must maintain an enormous vigilance and enforcement apparatus... This apparatus is not accountable to the public and enjoys immense police powers... Whether the civilian government is able to

control the security bodies is an open question; indeed the civilian government is so penetrated by the apparatus that there is no clear distinction between the two."[4]

In some cases, securocracies feature literal, direct rule of the state by officials originating from the secret police - as it was in the USSR under Lavrentiy Beria and Yuri Andropov, for instance, and as it is in Russia under Vladimir Putin.

Soviet Union

Further information: Chekism

There was a massive security apparatus in the Soviet Union to prevent any opposition, and "every facet of daily life fell into the KGB's domain."[4]

Undercover staff of the KGB included three major categories:

(a) the active reserve,
(b) the "trusted contacts" (or "reliable people"), and
(c) "civilian informers" (or "secret helpers").

The "active reserve" included KGB officers with a military rank who worked undercover. "Trusted contacts" were high placed civilians who collaborated with the KGB without signing any official working agreements, such as directors of personnel departments at various institutions, academics, deans, or writers and actors.[8] Informers were citizens secretly recruited by the KGB, sometimes using forceful recruitment methods, such as blackmail. The precise number of people from various categories remains unknown, but one of the estimates was 11 million "informers" in the Soviet Union, or one out of every eighteen adult citizens.[9]

Russian Federation

A "Law on Foreign Intelligence" adopted in August 1992 provided conditions for penetration by former KGB officers to all levels of the government and economy, since it stipulated that "career personnel may occupy positions in ministries, departments, establishments, enterprises and organizations in accordance with the requirements of this law without compromising their association with foreign intelligence agencies."[10] According to a Russian banker, "All big companies have to put people from the security services on the board of directors... and we know that when Lubyanka calls, they have to answer them."[11] A current FSB colonel explained that "We must make sure that companies don't make decisions that are not in the interest of the state".[12][13]

NGOs, regional governments, even culture... They started to use all political institutions."[14]

Political scholar Julie Anderson describes how under the presidency of Vladimir Putin, himself a former KGB operative, "an 'FSB State' composed of

transnational terrorism groups utilizing all available means to achieve their goals and further their interests, Russian intelligence collaboration with these elements is potentially disastrous."[15][16]

Historian

Russian apartment bombings and other terrorism acts in Russia to frighten the civilian population and achieve their political objectives.[17]

Former KGB officer

FSB?", he replied: "Whole country. FSB owns everything, including Russian Army and even own Church, the Russian Orthodox Church... Putin managed to create a new social system
in Russia".

Intelligence expert Marc Gerecht describes Vladimir Putin's Russia as "a new phenomenon in Europe: a state defined and dominated by former and active-duty security and intelligence officers. Not even Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, or the Soviet Union – all undoubtedly much worse creations than Putin's government – were as top-heavy with intelligence talent."[18]

People's Republic of China

Further information: Mass surveillance in China

China contains many of the hallmarks of a counterintelligence state, with an intelligence security apparatus unprecedented in both scale and sophistication.

Xi Jinping Administration, with Richard McGregor of the Lowy Institute describing the CCP's culture as one of "radical secrecy".[22]

In an address on April 14, 2022 to the Georgia Institute of Technology, CIA Director William Burns expanded on the issue of "ubiquitous technical surveillance" in countries such as China and the challenge such issues posed to US intelligence collection on the PRC,[23] stating:

The People’s Republic of China is a formidable competitor, lacking in neither ambition nor capability. It seeks to overtake us in literally every domain, from economic strength to military power, and from space to cyber space. Its rise has been remarkable. In the last few years, Beijing has hacked at least 150 U.S. companies to steal secrets. It is trying to increase its nuclear arsenal to 1000 warheads. It has detained 1 million of its own citizens simply because they are Muslim, and arrested thousands more in Hong Kong for peacefully supporting democracy. And it has lured countless countries into crushing debt, data-exposure and democratic backsliding. The People’s Republic of China is intent upon building the capabilities to bully its neighbors, replace the United States as the preeminent power in the Indo-Pacific, and chip away with other authoritarians at the rules-based international order that we and our allies have worked so hard to sustain. As an intelligence service, we have never had to deal with an adversary with more reach in more domains.
— 
CIA Director William Burns
, Remarks at Georgia Institute of Technology (April 14, 2022)

An article published in Foreign Policy on April 27, 2019 by British security specialist Edward Lucas, also made significant reference to China and its use of technology for counter-intelligence purposes stating "The cloak of anonymity [for Western intelligence agencies] is steadily shrinking" and additionally that "closed societies now have the edge over open ones. It has become harder for Western countries to spy on places such as China, Iran, and Russia and easier for those countries’ intelligence services to spy on the rest of the world".[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ John J. Dziak Chekisty: A History of the KGB (Lexington Books, D. C. Heath and Company, 125 Spring Street, Lexington, Mass.), with a foreword by Robert Conquest, pages 1–2.
  2. ^ Chekisty: A History of the KGB. – book reviews, National Review, March 4, 1988 by Chilton Williamson, Jr.
  3. ^ Richard H. Shultz, The Secret War Against Hanoi: The Untold Story of Spies, Saboteurs, and Covert Warriors in North Vietnam, – Page 356
  4. ^
    ISBN 0-8133-2323-1
    , pages 13–15.
  5. ^ Overthrowing Saddam. How he rules., By James S. Robbins, a national-security analyst & NRO contributor, National Review, February 18, 2002
  6. ^ How New Are the New Communists? Oleksy Colloquium Reflects on the Legacy of the KGB by Dr. Michael Szporer
  7. Sunday Times
    , January 20, 2008
  8. ISBN 0-374-52738-5
    , pages 56–57
  9. ^ Robert W. Pringle. Andropov's Counterintelligence State, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 13:2, 193–203, page 196, 2000
  10. ^ The HUMINT Offensive from Putin's Chekist State Anderson, Julie (2007), International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, 20:2, 258–316
  11. ^ "Putin Made Good on Promise to FSB". Archived from the original on 2008-10-25.
  12. ISSN 0013-0613
    . Retrieved 2017-11-24.
  13. ^ "FINROSFORUM - Home". 2011-07-20. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2017-11-24.
  14. ^ a b In Russia, A Secretive Force Widens, by P. Finn, Washington Post, 2006
  15. ^ The HUMINT Offensive from Putin's Chekist State Anderson, Julie (2007), International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, 20:2, 258 – 316
  16. ^ The Chekist Takeover of the Russian State, Anderson, Julie (2006), International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, 19:2, 237 – 288.
  17. ^ Blowing Up Russia: The Secret Plot to Bring Back KGB Terror Historian Yuri Felshtinsky explains his views on the nature of Putinism on C-SPAN
  18. ^ A Rogue Intelligence State? Why Europe and America Cannot Ignore Russia Archived 2007-09-14 at the Wayback Machine By Reuel Marc Gerecht
  19. ^ "The Unprecedented Reach of China's Surveillance State". ChinaFile. 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  20. ^ "China Is Evading U.S. Spies — and the White House Is Worried". Bloomberg.com. 2021-11-10. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  21. ^ "Old school spying is obsolete, says one expert. Blame technology". NBC News. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  22. ^ "Xi Jinping's Radical Secrecy - The Atlantic". archive.ph. 2022-08-23. Archived from the original on 2022-08-23. Retrieved 2022-08-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  23. ^ "Director Burns' Remarks at Georgia Tech - CIA". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  24. ^ Lucas, Edward (27 April 2019). "The Spycraft Revolution". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Counterintelligence_state&oldid=1208791391"