THE ROLE OF A SECURITY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE IN A DEMOCRACY

The idea that the U.S. is the only nation to perform internal and external intelligence activities is naïve. Every nation has its own intelligence agencies for the protection of its people and gathering of important secret information which can impact their interests. Intelligence agencies are a symbol of country’s defence strength and power.

Espionage and sabotage

With a view to protecting national security, sensitive information concerning political, economic, scientific or military affairs of a state must be kept secret. All countries have secrets that other states seek to acquire in order to advance their objectives. Any unauthorised attempt to obtain such information for a foreign power is an indication of possible espionage. Sabotage is considered as activities conducted for the purpose of endangering the safety, security or defence of vital public or private property, such as installations, structures, equipment or systems. In countering espionage, a security intelligence service catch spies, thereby disrupting activities of hostile intelligence services. Countering espionage is the “oldest” task of most of the world’s security intelligence services.

One type of espionage that has not declined but rather expanded after the end of the Cold Was is economic and industrial espionage. In today’s competitive global economy , acquiring scientific and technological information for the purpose of gaining an economic advantage has become increasingly important for many countries. Economic espionage can be defined as the use of, or facilitation of, illegal, clandestine, coercive or deceptive means by a foreign government or its surrogates to acquire economic intelligence. Economic espionage exposes the targeted state’s companies to unfair disadvantages, jeopardising the jobs, competitiveness of the state, and hampering its research and development investment. High-tech companies are the most frequent targets of foreign spies, followed by manufacturing and service industries. Among the most sought-after information are research and development strategies, manufacturing and marketing plans, and customer lists. Information and technology that has been the target of economic espionage includes trade and pricing information, investment strategy, contract details, supplier lists, planning documents, research and development data, technical drawings and computer data-bases.

Foreign-influenced activities

Foreign structures may try to interfere with or manipulate the political life of the state in pursuit of their own interests. Such interference may be directed not only by foreign governments, but by foreign political groups and other organisations which have the capacity to influence domestic affairs of the state. For example, hostile foreign powers may attempt to infiltrate governmental authorities or exert pressure on public officials. In many cases foreign agents interfere with the affairs of ethnic communities within the state by threatening the nationals who have relatives abroad. Clandestine attempts of interference, or those carried out deceptively or involving personal threats such as coercion or blackmail, constitute threats to national security.

In addition to these politically motivated foreign activities, many democratic countries face even more acute threat of economically prompted international organised crime, or trans-national crime. Today, organised crime is no longer limited to a street level activity. Members of highly sophisticated and organised criminal syndicates are now able to pursue a complex web of lucrative legal and illegal actions world-wide. Contemporary criminal organisations are adaptable, sophisticated, extremely opportunistic and immersed in a full range of illegal and legal practices. While still involved at the lower level with drug-trafficking, prostitution, loan-sharking, illegal gambling and extortion, they have expanded their activities to a quasi-corporate level where they are active in large-scale insurance fraud, the depletion of natural resources, environmental crime, migrant smuggling, bank fraud, tax fraud and corruption. In addition, their frequent use of money earned from the illegal ventures to fund legitimate ones allows trans-national criminals to launder money and earn even greater profits. Trans-national criminal syndicates are not afraid to work globally in any country where legal or bureaucratic loopholes allow them to take advantage of the system. As with international corporations, trans-national criminal organisations are quite willing to work together, often bartering for the use of each other’s unique talents to accomplish specific tasks, or to make longer-term arrangements when it suits their needs.

Terrorism

The actual or threatening use of violence is often politically motivated, and used as an attempt to force the government to act in a certain way. Hostage taking, kidnapping, bomb threats or assassinations are examples of violent acts that may endanger the lives of the people and have been used to force political responses. Terrorism within a state may be intended to achieve a political objective in that country. But it may also be intended to affect political affairs in another state; in such a case it is the international terrorism threat.

The democratic Western countries are particularly vulnerable to terrorist influence because of an open nature of their respective societies. Paradoxically, the most economically prosperous and safe countries and their missions abroad appear to be the most easy, “soft” targets for terrorist activities of various kinds. Terrorism is usually politically motivated. Political violence continues to find practitioners in established terrorist organisations, as well as in new and evolving groups. Old and undiminished enmities remain, as do associated terrorist groups, sponsors and international links. The terrorism threat has now become increasingly trans-frontier and countering terrorism now requires more effort and resources than ever. The fight against terrorism requires international co-operation, based on international law, established through international agreements. In support of their countries’ collaborative efforts to counter terrorist activity, security intelligence services of the NATO countries have developed co-operative arrangements within the international security and intelligence community in pursuit of exchanges of intelligence and expertise.

Subversion

Subversive activities include: a) covert, unlawful acts which may undermine the constitutionally established system of government, and b) activities which are directed toward the destruction or overthrow of the constitutionally established system of government by unlawful or unconstitutional means. elections. Following the end of the Cold War, the threat from subversive organisations to parliamentary democracies states has declined and is now insignificant.

New threats

While the new technologies provide new opportunities, they can also give rise to new threats to national security. The rapid changes in travel, transportation, telecommunications, information technology and computers have quickly increased the threats of proliferation of weapons of mass-destruction, drugs and trans-national crime. Young criminals design bombs or toxins with potentially devastating power by using plans they find on the Internet. Not only can the information explosion be used by terrorists or criminals, but it can also be used by those trying to avoid the government’s surveillance. In addition, various computer crimes can be reviewed as a separate example. It is now possible to cross borders silently over the Internet and steal someone’s information, or even money, without detection and disappear. It is one of the most rapidly growing types of crime, and it is carried out often by very sophisticated “hackers”. Another threatening trend is the wide use of commercial encryption. Certain encryption hardware and software that are widely available allow criminals or terrorists to use hardly breakable codes. The recent scientific discoveries, such as cost-efficient algorithmic procedures for finding prime numbers of high order, will provide every computer expert with a possibility to encrypt information with a virtually unbreakable code. The challenge to a security intelligence service will become even more acute.