What are some of the similarities and differences of the Ames and Hanssen counterintelligence cases
What are some of the similarities and differences of the Ames and Hanssen counterintelligence cases? Draw some “lessons learned” from both cases.
Background:
“Think of intelligence as a “coin.” On one “side of the coin” is human intelligence operations and on the other side is counterintelligence. The United States runs human intelligence operations against other nation-states. CIA case officers operate overseas to spot, assess, and recruit foreign agents to steal secrets for the United States. At the same time, the intelligence services of other nation-states are doing the same against the United States. Foreign intelligence officers are actively spotting, assessing, and recruiting Americans to steal classified information from the United States. Employees of the Intelligence Community are especially prized targets for hostile intelligence services.
The IC has suffered from numerous counterintelligence debacles in which employees were caught spying for other nation-states. China, for example, recruited an employee working for the CIA. The Soviet Union ran a spy network inside the Navy in which Soviet intelligence gained access to American encryption codes. Cuba long ran an employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). And even though it is an ally of the United States, Israel recruited an analyst employed by the Naval Intelligence Service. The Israeli case illustrates the old adage in the intelligence profession that “there is no such thing as a friendly intelligence service.”
This week we will be studying three especially devastating counterintelligence cases. We will look at Russian intelligence penetrations of the CIA, the FBI, and, perhaps, the National Security Agency (NSA). The CIA penetration led to the deaths of about a dozen Russian agents who were working for the Agency. The FBI case exposed the scope and breath of American counterintelligence operations against the Soviet Union. And the NSA case revealed highly sensitive and worldwide intelligence collection operations. The exposure of these operations cost American taxpayers the billions of dollars needed to research, develop, implement, and operate these intelligence collection programs.”
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