The List: The World’s Top Spy Agencies
| Posted January 2008 |
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With the Cold War long over, the CIA no longer faces any real competition, right? Wrong. The world’s top espionage agencies are as busy as ever.  DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Country: Russia Area of expertise: Officially—counterterrorism and protecting Russian commercial interests abroad. Unofficially—consolidating political power back home. Activities: Russia has a formidable spying tradition that dates back to the czarist-era Cheka. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the once omnipotent KGB was broken up into several smaller organizations with vastly limited powers. Since ex-KGB man Vladimir Putin took power, however, the SVR, or Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedk as it’s known in Russian, has recovered much of its swagger. Russian spying within the United States is now back to Cold War levels, U.S. officials believe. Peter Earnest, the executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, who matched wits with the KGB as a CIA operative for over three decades, shared this assessment. “They are as important today as they ever were, if not more,” he said. “Russia has not eased off at all on its espionage activities.” The SVR is widely suspected to have played a role in the assassination of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London last year. Putin has denied this allegation and lauded the SVR as “one of the most professional and effective special services.” In reality, the intelligence services have emerged as one of the most powerful political groups in Putin’s Russia, and ex-KGB agents occupy many of the Kremlin’s key positions. As the Russian saying goes, “There’s no such thing as an ex-Chekist.”  FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images Ministry of State Security Country: China Area of expertise: Industrial espionage and data analysis, domestic security Activities: The MSS is close in structure to the old Soviet KGB and is responsible for both domestic security and foreign espionage. Its overseas activities are believed to be focused aggressively on the United States, particularly its high-tech industries and military technology. Rather than relying on a handful of agents, the MSS views almost anyone has a potential intelligence asset and gathers intelligence on new weapons systems painstakingly over time through personal contacts. “Chinese espionage is different than Western espionage,” says Earnest. “We go after a secret somewhere; they go after numbers. They collect little bits and pieces and put it together.” Sources often don’t even realize they’ve collaborated with a foreign spy mission, and the thousands of Chinese diplomats, students, and business people who travel to the West every year make spies incredibly difficult to detect. Through this method, the Chinese have managed to reverse engineer numerous U.S. weapons systems. China appears to be stepping up its espionage efforts in cyberspace as well. In September 2007, the Pentagon accused China of hacking into U.S. Defense Department databases. The governments of Germany and Britain have made similar accusations.  Research and Analysis Wing Country: India Area of expertise: Destabilizing Pakistan Activities: RAW was founded in 1968 specifically to counter Pakistani support of militant groups within India, but over the years it has grown into one of the world’s most formidable intelligence services, with wide-ranging activities in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and elsewhere. It is particularly active in Bangladesh, where it played a key role in that country’s movement for independence from Pakistan. Pakistani authorities often blame RAW for terrorist attacks in their country. Although these accusations tend to lack evidence, RAW does have a history of backing militant groups in Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka. Recent years have not been easy for RAW. In 1996, RAW was implicated in a scandal involving the illegal donation of funds to U.S. congressional campaigns. Stories about infiltration by U.S. and Chinese assets have become public scandals, and the media is now calling for greater transparency and oversight of the notoriously secretive agency.  ROUF BHAT/AFP/Getty Images Inter-Services Intelligence Country: Pakistan Area of expertise: Destabilizing India Activities: Sometimes described as a state within a state with virtually no oversight, ISI is best known for the firm control it exercises over Pakistan’s politics and its role in protecting the military from domestic opposition. But the ISI has also been accused of playing both sides in the global war on terror—fighting Islamist extremists domestically while abetting them abroad. Whether spreading anti-Indian propaganda in Kashmir or funding Sikh separatists in Punjab, the ISI has consistently undermined India’s stability for decades. India has accused the ISI of involvement in dozens of terrorist attacks over the years, including the Mumbai bombings of 2006 that killed 187 people. At the same time, the ISI has worked with the U.S. and allies to combat al Qaeda and the Taliban inside Pakistan.  ROUF BHAT/AFP/Getty Images Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Country: Britain Area of expertise: Counterterrorism, James Bond nostalgia Activities: After a decade of budget cuts during the “peace dividend” years following the Cold War, Her Majesty’s secret service was caught somewhat unprepared for the challenges of the war on terror. On 9/11, only 30 of MI6’s 1,600 agents were working on counterterrorism. Since then, the agency has been on an all-out recruitment blitz that includes previously unheard of measures, such as taking out ads in newspapers and allowing agents to grant interviews. (Among the fun facts revealed: There really is a person called “Q” who designs gadgets, just like in the James Bond films, but “M” is actually called “C.”) MI6 has also taken out ads in online spy-themed computer games such as “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.” This is a far cry from the Cold War era, when undercover recruiters surreptitiously singled out Oxford and Cambridge’s best and brightest for intelligence work. Despite the charm offensive, MI6 has been attacked in the British media for allegedly participating in CIA-organized “rendition” of terrorism suspects to be tortured abroad. Kremlin officials have also accused MI6 of trying to influence Russia’s domestic politics. MI6’s activities may not be as expansive as they once were, but Earnest characterizes this as “a shift in priorities” toward Middle Eastern terrorism, “rather than a decline.”  The Mossad Country: Israel Area of expertise: Combating Islamist terrorism, evacuating Jewish refugees Activities: “We’re all students of the Mossad,” says Earnest. Since it was founded in 1951, “the Institute,” as it translates in English, has acquired a reputation for extraordinary skill and aggressiveness in combating Israel’s enemies. Some of its notable achievements include the abduction of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann from Argentina in 1960, the assassination of the planners of the 1972 Munich Olympics killings, and the assassination of a senior Hamas operative with an exploding cellphone in 1996. The Mossad has also been active over the years in efforts to assist Jewish refugees who seek to immigrate to Israel, including the secret airlifting of thousands of Ethiopian Jews in “Operation Moses” in 1984. The Mossad made some moves toward greater transparency and openness in the 1990s, including revealing the name of its director for the first time, but under Ariel Sharon it turned back toward the clandestine operations for which it is best known. Reports indicate that the Mossad may have had either an agent or an informant at the Syrian military installation that Israel bombed in September 2007.
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All this is incredibly interesting in light of the recent information that she had NO BULLET WOUNDS, and an autopsy was avoided!!
Couple of things with the Pakistan-situation, which aren’t adding up. As background, Pakistan government is claiming that they have a recording; and that the telecom conference/call shows AlQueda was involved. Here are the problems:
Ongoing Investigation
Normally, during an “ongoing” investigation, the last thing the government in the US would want to do was indicate what they knew or didn’t know. This would tip people off. It makes no sense for the Pakistanis — before apprehending those people supposedly on the tape — to disclose the information the Pakistanis have, their methods, or their suspicions. These should be kept confidential until the suspects are apprehended. Disclosing the information before apprehending anyone casts doubts about the motivations for the disclosure, the accuracy of the claims behind the information, and the credibility the government investigation is serious about finding someone.
Electronic Interception
Curiously, the Pakistanis want us to believe they have a recording, but they cannot explain how they knew — in advance — to target this phone/communication device; or, why — despite this information about the phone — they were unable to put energy into locating in physical space/on planet earth where these people were. It is backwards to have a recording of someone, not take action to detain them; however, know enough to have ongoing surveillance, but there is no apparent effort to ensure the conversations were recorded and acted upon for purposes of preventing an attack.
Questions
- How was the Pakistani government able to pinpoint the phone they were using, but unable to track that phone to a physical location, and prevent the attack; or quickly round up those supposedly involved?
- How many people are they monitoring, who are engaged in ongoing conversations, but they’re not doing anything about?
- If people were going “off line”, then why weren’t people sent into the area to find these people supposedly connected with the phone lines, instead of letting these “known people” wander around?
- How do they explain being able to track a phone line, but no ability to locate that person?
- Why are they disclosing — before apprehending — the identities of the people they think are involved?
Conclusions
The claim the Pakistani government is making are dubious. It does not seem credible that they would disclose — now — specific information about suspects, but not take steps to apprehend the people. Rather, the fact that they supposedly have these people “under surveillance” and have “recordings” suggests the opposite: There are no real recordings, they don’t know where the suspects are, as they should if they can monitor them.
Judgments
The transcript has been fabricated. There are no suspects. The claims AlQueda are making have not been captured on any ongoing surveillance or monitoring effort. The Pakistani government has no evidence. The people making claims have not been targeted through either electronic surveillance or physical detention or monitoring.
The Pakistani government appears to be lying and misrepresenting the status of the investigation. They do not appear to have any real information; and their “disclosure” of this information doesn’t mean the information is real, true, accurate, or signs of progress. It is our judgment the people who may ultimately be brought to trial may have nothing to do with any planning; and it is likely the electronic evidence used to convict them could be tainted, fabricated, and not survive cross-examination. The people currently being targeted, accused, or are “under surveillance” appear to be nothing more than convenient scapegoats. We have no confidence the investigation into the assassination will be untainted. We make no judgements as to the alleged complicity of ISI or who was involved with the assassination.