¶ … Foreign Intelligence Services There is much controversy with regard to the foreign policy practiced by the majority of powerful nations in the contemporary society. In an environment where intelligence is often the key to success, emerging powers have the tendency to improve their intelligence services and to get actively involved in competing with some of the established actors in the international setting. While Russia proved to be an impressive adversary for the U.S. during the Cold War era, new powers such as China and Iran currently represent significant opponents for the West. When considering the U.S.' current role in international affairs, it would be important for someone to gain a complex understanding of the degree to which countries such as Russia, China, and Iran represent significant threats today.

Russian-American relations have been turbulent throughout the second half of the twentieth century. The 1990s have brought a breath of fresh air and conditions seemed to have calmed as Russia started to appreciate Western types of thinking. The start of the twenty-first century seemed to confirm the fact that Russia was no longer interested in focusing on the military aspect of expansion and that it now wants to adopt capitalist principles in order to experience progress.

Recent events in the Ukraine seriously destabilized the international environment and the relatively peaceful relationship between Russia and the U.S. during the last few years. What is even more concerning about Russia today is that it cooperated with the West for the last two decades and it thus gained a complex understanding of strategies used there. "Moscow for the first time looked to the West to import modern weapons systems. Russia...

while modernizing its nuclear triad to maintain a credible deterrent." (United States. Congress. House. Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence p. 54)
When considering Iran's current position in the international environment, it would be safe to say it is among the most unstable communities that have the power to engage in serious warfare. Its history of dealing with the U.S. And attempting to discourage any kind of Western influence pervading its society can be visible in the way that it conducts its foreign affairs with the U.S. Factors such as morality are not as important as one might be inclined to believe when considering Iran's attitude toward Americans in general.

Current-day circumstances involving the Iranian intelligence service - the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) -- make it difficult and almost impossible for other intelligence agencies to understand its precise objectives and methods of achieving these respective targets. The present minister of intelligence and security in Iran emphasized the fact that his country's intelligence community actually prefers to take on attitudes that are unlike typical intelligence strategies. "One of the characteristics of MOIS is that it formed from inside of the revolution; and in fact, this organization was formed on the basis of the needs of the revolution in contrast with other intelligence services around the world that imitate each other." (Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security: A Profile p.3)

While Iran's actions would seem unrefined to many and while these respective people might consider that the country's ability to affect the U.S. In any way is very limited (Iran's Ministry of Intelligence…