U.S. targets spy services abroad
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The Bush administration has adopted a new
counterintelligence strategy that calls for "attacking" foreign spy
services and the spy components of terrorist groups before they can
strike, a senior U.S. intelligence official said yesterday.
National Counterintelligence Executive Michelle Van Cleave said in
a speech here that the past policy of waiting for intelligence threats
to emerge "ceded the initiative to the adversary."
"No longer will we wait until taking action," Miss Van Cleave said
during a conference hosted by the Bush School of Government and Public
Service at Texas A&M University. "To meet the threat, U.S.
counterintelligence needs to go on the offensive, which will require
major but achievable changes in the way we do business."
The new mission for counterintelligence is to identify foreign
spies and terrorist threats, and then develop "a counterintelligence
doctrine of attacking foreign intelligence services systematically via
strategic counterintelligence operations," Miss Van Cleave said.
The offensive counterintelligence strategy is part of the Bush
administration's policy of pre-empting strategic threats. It is also
part of President Bush's announced plan to promote democracy and
freedom and undermine global tyranny, she said.
In the past, counterintelligence often was limited to "catching
spies." Previously captured spies, including CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames
and Robert Hanssen, a Russian mole in the FBI, "caused stunning
losses," Miss Van Cleave said.
In the battle against terrorists, new counterintelligence
activities will target the intelligence services of state sponsors of
terrorism, such as Syria and Iran.
"The intelligence services of state sponsors may represent the key
links in the global terrorist-support network," Miss Van Cleave said.
"Terrorist groups perform traditional intelligence activities in the
way they gather information, recruit sources and use assets."
Under the new strategy, U.S. intelligence agencies will more
aggressively work to disrupt terrorist operations by targeting their
intelligence links.
The strategy was approved March 1 by the president, and formal
guidance to the CIA, FBI and other security agencies involved in
counterintelligence work will be issued in the next several weeks, a
U.S. intelligence official said. A formal report on the strategy also
will be made public and sent to Congress, perhaps as early as this
month.
The national counterintelligence executive is a White House-level
office that was placed under the control of the new director of
national intelligence as part of the recently enacted
intelligence-reform legislation.
Miss Van Cleave's comments came as FBI and CIA officials at the
conference said the threat from foreign intelligence services --
specifically, Russia and China -- is growing.
Barry Royden, a veteran CIA official, said Russian intelligence
services are targeting U.S. troops in the Middle East for recruitment
as agents, as well as seeking recruits among Americans in Russia.
Russian intelligence officers are using "very aggressive actions
and operations," including blackmail, extortion and entrapment "to try
to get people to commit espionage," Mr. Royden said.
He also said the Russians are conducting "very aggressive
operations against our troops in the Middle East." He did not
elaborate.
"We get continued reporting about very aggressive actions and
operations against Americans of all types and stripes" in Russia and
other parts of the world, Mr. Royden said.
Tim Bereznay, a senior FBI counterintelligence official, said
Chinese intelligence activities are a major threat -- specifically,
Beijing's covert targeting of U.S. weapons technology.
Counterintelligence against Chinese spying "is our main priority,"
Mr. Bereznay.
He said he fears his 4-year-old grandson might one day have to go
to war in the Taiwan Strait against a Chinese military armed with
stolen U.S. weapons technology.
"I would hate for my grandson to be killed with U.S. technology,"
Mr. Bereznay said.
Lisa Bronson, a Pentagon technology security director, told the
conference that China's government conducts large-scale activities
aimed at gathering American high-technology secrets through front
companies.
"China has somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 front companies in
the U.S., and their sole reason for existing is to steal, exploit U.S.
technology," Miss Bronson said.
It is difficult to assess what technologies China already has
obtained illicitly from the United States, she said.
China has "an aggressive military modernization program and we're
concerned about that aggressive military modernization program, and
that's probably going to be one of the biggest challenges in the
combination of the counterintelligence and technology security world
in the next five or 10 years," Miss Bronson said.
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| Title: Re: U.S. targets spy services abroad |
07 Mar 2005 10:55:40 PM |
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Spat the Words
U.S. targets spy services abroad
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The Bush administration has adopted a new
counterintelligence strategy that calls for "attacking" foreign spy
services and the spy components of terrorist groups before they can
strike, a senior U.S. intelligence official said yesterday.
Boloney. We've had this policy for years... decades... centuries.
Bush didn't come up with anything new, he just finally pulled his
head part way out of his arse.
National Counterintelligence Executive Michelle Van Cleave said in
a speech here that the past policy of waiting for intelligence threats
to emerge "ceded the initiative to the adversary."
"No longer will we wait until taking action," Miss Van Cleave said
during a conference hosted by the Bush School of Government and Public
Service at Texas A&M University. "To meet the threat, U.S.
counterintelligence needs to go on the offensive, which will require
major but achievable changes in the way we do business."
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