Foreign interference in American intelligence collection and analysis

Intelligence Community

The history of deception and intelligence is deeply seated within the American way of life and the roots of democracy. The creation of the republic which began with a declaration of independence from a tyrant monarch gave birth to the institution that is protected by intelligence gathering techniques and operations.

Since that time, enemies of the state have existed and attempted to infiltrate the American way of life through a variety of means. Each actor appears to be attempting to influence the political structure. Angevine, R.(2004) wrote "the importance of military intelligence has long been a matter of debate. More than two millennia ago, the Chinese general and military theorist Sun Tzu asserted that secret operations are essential in war, yet the term "military intelligence" is still often only half-jokingly described as an oxymoron."

The purpose of this essay is to identify and discuss the individuals and organizations outside the U.S. intelligence community and how these organizations seek to politicize the intelligence collection and analysis process. These factors will be discusses in this essay throughout the history of the United Sates, starting with revolutionary war. This essay will also discuss some of the finer points that are often discussed with intelligence and who these aspects can best be used to strengthen the national interests and minimize the risks that are associated with these actions.

Definitions

It is important to first understand the parameters of this argument by defining some key terms. Intelligence is something that is not material and is therefore an abstract term that can and often is used in a variety of settings. Intelligence is something that both collective and the individual possess making the idea a very flexible and wide spanning term. Merriam Webster dictionary defines the word as "the ability to learn or understand things or to deal with new or difficult situation," and " secret information that a government collects about an enemy or possible enemy; also: a government organization that collects such information." This definition is suitable for this discussion as it presents a fair and balanced examination of the word. Words often have many meanings making them only superficially effective when dealing with intelligence. Knowledge, on the other hand, is true intelligence, where words are not needed but to accent and articulate what is already known.

Another key term in this discussion that requires some discussion is political. Politics are played by everyone and for all types of reasons. In this essay, politics will be used to help contextualize and explain the reasoning of why the chosen individuals or organizations are being impacted upon the intelligence community. The community itself will be understood as being the components of the Federal Government, local intelligence gathering units, political intelligence gathering units and individuals themselves.

The Birth of A Nation and Military Intelligence

The main role and purpose of intelligence as a component of the U.S. Government is a silent and sublime tool to help manifest the larger national strategy as set out by leaders within the country. Although many of the intelligence techniques and models that are currently in use by the intelligence community, the practice of this craft began over 200 years ago as the American Revolution took hold.

It must be realized that creation of this country was essentially a usurping of power from an established monarch of England. By all measureable means, the patriots of those days such as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, George Washington and James Madison, would be considered terrorists in today's terms. The use of violence and fear tactics were not avoided in the brutal and violent birth of America. Sayle (2008) wrote "actually, the United States has been involved in intelligence operations from the time of the American Revolution. In its early days, intelligence was conducted on a highly personal and private basis by talented amateurs responsible solely to the President. Only much later did intelligence become conducted by professionals serving the government's top echelon decision makers."

Since war and violence are the epitome of extreme action and chaos, intelligence became an obvious important tool in helping maintain some sense of order on the battlefield and provide military leaders with some information that could help win battles and achieve goals and important objectives with its help. Records show that shortly after taking command of the Continental Army in 1775, Washington paid an unidentified agent to live in Boston and surreptitiously report by use of "secret correspondence" on the movements of British forces. Indeed, Washington recruited and ran a number of agents, set up spy rings, devised secret methods of reporting, analyzed the raw intelligence gathered by his agents, and mounted an extensive campaign to deceive the British armies. Historians cite these activities as having played a major role in the victory at Yorktown and in the ability of the Continental Army to evade the British during the winters at Valley Forge.

In the early days of the country, politics was less powerful as rugged individualism marked the character of many of the people who fled to this country to escape institutional pressures and obstacles. The role of intelligence during this time was strictly a military function as the need for such drastic measures that would soon arise were simply not necessary. Communication and travel was slow and intelligence had time to breath and surface which eliminated many of the problems that are present here today.

The Civil War

In a unique and deadly war that saw the United States fractured and weakened, The Civil War provided another stage of development for the use of intelligence. Still, during this stage of history, strictly military applications were the only practical use for intelligence. Both sides of the battle, Union and Confederate, had intelligence bureaus in place during this bloody conflict which saw millions of American men die and perish for questionable reasons.

The South established a unit entitled the Signal and Secret Service Bureau which aimed at simply attaining printed newspapers from the North which would provide much intelligence for the strategic planning. The Departments of War and State were the intelligence community for the North at this time. Hot air balloons and code breaking technology were some of the aspects of the intelligence gathering community for the Union forces. Either (2007) wrote "with no end to the war in sight, the military information game diversified. Signal towers were used increasingly as intelligence posts -- which aided Union forces armed with the key to Confederate signals. And while spies worked for each side, the more celebrated moles, such as Elizabeth Van Lew and Rose Greenhow, were less valuable in the long run than the anonymous agents and "false deserters" groomed by the North and South and dispatched to relay false information.

Politically, the Civil War is quite confusing and provides some very useful lessons about intelligence and history. When is country is divided, such as it was during this time, outsiders were a significant number as represented by the Confederate States of America. There were many conflicting and diverse interests at stake, and the many causes and problems that were ignited because of this war, is a sad commentary on the way we treat our fellow citizens.

The issue of race and slavery truly came to life during the aftermath of this war and still resonates in the political spectrum today. While slavery should be viewed as a consensual act, it is often not described in these simple terms. Intelligence gathering operations used race and slavery to its advantage during this time and proved to be a useful technique in helping garner success in developing adequate information. To note the limited role of intelligence in peace time during this stage of history is signified by the fact that The Bureau of Military Intelligence was disestablished at the end of the war. A byproduct of its dissolution was the Secret Service, established in 1865 to combat counterfeiting.

Intelligence in the Industrial Age

Before the 20th century, the intelligence community was limited to military use. Only during war did the government find any real purpose for intelligence. At the beginning of the 20th century, the administration of President Teddy Roosevelt began to ramp up the ability of the government to gather intelligence. It has been duly noted throughout the annals of history that Roosevelt used intelligence operatives to incite a revolution in Panama to justify annexing the Panama Canal. In 1907, the President also relied on practical and useable intelligence that demonstrated how the military build-up of the Japanese as justification to launch the worldwide cruise of the "Great White Fleet" as a display of U.S. naval force.

In 1908 the Justice Department's Bureau Of Investigation which would soon evolve into the Federal Bureau of Investigation was created out of a sense of political infighting and paranoia. "Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States in 1901; four years later, he appointed Bonaparte to be attorney general. In 1908, Bonaparte applied that Progressive philosophy to the Department of Justice by creating a corps of special agents. It had neither a name nor an officially designated leader other than the attorney general. Yet, these former detectives and Secret Service men were the forerunners of the FBI." (FBI.gov, nd).

By the year 1916 arrived the FBI had grown from less than 50 agents that focused on banking issues, to over 300 agents. The expanded role of this organization brought many changes to the way intelligence could be incorporated to both domestic and international politics. The FBI became responsible for international security missions, border patrol, and other quasi-military operations in Central and South America. Soon before World War I the FBI's role began to focus on the German and British nationals within America. World War I would start a new chapter or era in intelligence history as the results of total war became inescapable and required the many practical uses for intelligence.

Within the military itself, new branches and techniques of intelligence were developing as well. As technology progressed with new weapons of war, the intelligence gathering technology grew as well. MI-8 within the Army was created during this time to help decode and code information. British intelligence played a major role in bringing the United States into World War I. Public revelations of German intelligence attempts to prevent U.S. industry and the financial sector from assisting Great Britain greatly angered the American public. Subsequently, British intelligence presented Wilson with the decryption of German diplomatic and naval traffic showing a German effort to entice the Mexican government into joining Germany against the United States in return for Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico if Germany won the war. (Guest, 2011).

Shortly after WWI, the FBI expanded dramatically under its newly appointed director, J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover was granted sweeping and dramatic powers that dramatically expanded the duties and operations of the intelligence community. The FBI was heavily involved in all aspects of what is now modern day terms of intelligence. Espionage, counterespionage, sabotage and other international threats were objectives of the FBI. Both domestic and international targets were of interest to FBI under this new regime the political landscape grew significantly alongside this evolution as well.

World War II drastically propelled the growth in strength of the intelligence community as technology and conflict became ignited again at a global level. There was a very chaotic time and much was at risk both politically and militarily. Within the military, the intelligence community created the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). This organization was used primarily as a weapons against the axis powers around the world. The contributions to the evolution of the intelligence community and its role in politics is deep and profound.

The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942, a terrorist attack, demonstrated the limitations of the intelligence community in many aspects. While some may contend that this attack was allowed by military powers in order to propel the country into the war, the intelligence committee may have had to look like they had failed in order to align itself with the broader national interests of going to war. This political tactic became necessary due to the increase in media and information. The more information available to the masses, requires and equal and opposite disinformation campaign in order to protect national secrets and preserve the American way of life.

The Cold War.

Modern day spy tactics were perfected during the Cold Years ending in the 1990's. The

Bipolar world that was created out of the political agreements after World War II, noted a new dynamic within the intelligence community that essentially changed the way intelligence was used and practiced. "This period is of particular interest. The 1950s and 1960s were the formative years of the Soviet nuclear program. By the end of this period, Moscow had a mature nuclear weapons technology base and a thoroughly integrated and redundant weapons complex, the configuration of which remained largely the same until the end of the Cold War. In many ways, these were also the most dangerous years of the Cold War, " (Bukharin,2007) The 1962 Cuban missile crisis and other dramatic events of that period were of critical significance in shaping approaches to national defense, foreign policy, and intelligence that served each country for the balance of the Cold War confrontation.

On July 27, 1947, President Truman signed into law the National Security Act of 1947, creating a new and challenging postwar national security framework. A National Security Council was created to assist and systemize a complete and competent national security policy. The Act created the position of Secretary of Defense and unified the separate military departments (the Army, the Navy, and the newly-created Air Force) under this position. The Act also established the Joint Chiefs of Staff to serve as the principal military advisers to the President and the Secretary of Defense. Also most importantly, the Central Intelligence Agency was established with the Director of Central Intelligence as its head. At the time of its creation, the CIA was the only agency charged with a national intelligence mission.

The Modern Era of the Intelligence Community

The tasks that are now required from the national intelligence services and how they relate to the very complex and rapidly changing political structure are now more in demand and dangerous. In a world where everyone is a potential terrorist with the means to communicate and breach new political ground, makes this landscape the challenge that it truly is. Effective and efficient leadership is now in demand more than ever in this community because of the nature of the threats that are currently being presented to these institutions.