Cold War Espionage Is As Hot As Ever

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Column 122506 Brewer

Monday, December 25, 2006 Cold War Espionage is as Hot as Ever By Jerry Brewer Reportedly espionage preceded Biblical times. A modern colloquialism references, “The satanic serpent, an agent operating under the cover of a reptile, who enlisted Eve as an intelligence asset to destabilize the relationship between God and the Garden of Eden.” Although a graphic philosophical illustration, it does identify the purpose and essential ethic of the intelligence craft — coaxing your contact to part with confidences. In this scenario the reptile conducted a false flag recruitment — recruiting Eve by pretending to be a sympathizer or another friendly service. The reptile’s successful pitch and recruitment of Eve, by deception and with disinformation, influenced the actions leading to the toppling and displacement of the previously established regime. The voracious appetite of the intelligence animal is alive and well. Though in competition with another as the “world’s oldest profession,” they do have their similarities. At the professed declaration of the ending of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and western world in 1991, the spy business was apparently left out of the loop. This massive apparatus continued to churn and reinvent itself. Economic intelligence became the buzzword for nations around the world seeking to acquire financial and trade advantages. Much of this,

through industrial espionage leading to the recruitment and acquisition of proprietary business information, advantages in contract negotiations, trade secrets and manufacturing processes. Much of the analytical aspect of intelligence surfaced in modern service, however the animal’s appetite declared its dissatisfaction with policy makers apparently not adequately recognizing that they had grown significantly academic, and thus their thought process was one of feeling that they could make contributions to national policy. Many thought the clandestine mystique was over. Much of this new thinking was, as answers to complex questions could be derived from quantitative processes after an initial assignment of arbitrary values. Yet it was quickly learned that it takes people on the ground to make the product a reality. Human intelligence (HUMINT), in most cases, provided plain common sense with basic fundamentals of tradecraft. This in contrast to the inherent problem of over-institutionalizing and regulating the process of mere thought. Over the years the Russians installed nearly four hundred KGB and GRU spies in strategic positions in the United Nations in New York City. It became a massive spy facility that operated openly and with absolute impunity on U.S. soil. The Soviets controlled the U.N. Library, known to be the most comprehensive intelligence collection machine they had in this hemisphere. Too, the GRU operated technical acquisition of recruited U.S. military and other disloyal assets out of several facilities in Mexico City. Aeroflot Airline offices were a favorite “notional” facility for agent cover. The CIA responded with highly effective surveillance and counter-surveillance teams and specialists. Much of modern espionage is being politically spun as essentially economic, scientific, technological and financial. A more microscopic focus of the spy business reveals necessary elements of political, biographical and geographical specialization to make appropriate threat assessments and neutralizing, dismantling and eliminating those threats. The Intelligence Cycle is clearly more than just spin. Current events in Latin America certainly call attention to a need for democracies in the region to monitor and maintain vigilance on leftist and left-leaning leaders who could potentially threaten the stability of this

hemisphere. The reelection of President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela is a case in point. Chavez’s opponent, political veteran Manuel Rosales accused Chavez of “edging Venezuela towards totalitarianism.” Too, Rosales’ supporters accused Chavez of “deepening class divisions.” Chavez responded by pledging to shake up Venezuela with a more radical version of socialism, and to forge a wider front against the United States in Latin America. As well, Chavez plans to propose constitutional changes to end presidential term limits. The recent poisoning and death of ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London, with polonium-210, a radioactive element usually produced in a nuclear reactor or particle accelerator, is a stark reminder that the spy business is as lethal as ever. Litvinenko was a counterterrorism specialist for the Soviet-era KGB, and its FSB successor agency. A Kremlin critic, in a statement dictated two days before he died Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating his poisoning. As individual liberties and democracies continue to be attacked, intelligence will be a tool utilized by each side. Seems nothing has changed since Eden. —————————— Jerry Brewer, the Vice President of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Miami, Florida, is a guest columnist with MexiData.info. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].