Intelligence Threat

The research scientists from various countries could bring forth new challenges to the host nations in terms of intelligence threat.  The main forms of intelligence threat shall be though SIGINT and HUMINT due to the interactions among the scientists themselves and between the scientists and the residents of the nations they shall inhabit due to the exchange program. Ideally, the main kind of intelligence threat is cyber-attacks. The wide use of technological networks in performing daily operations in personal and corporate levels is at a risk of the cyber threats and attacks. Abu et al (2018) describes the cyber threats as a set of malicious activities that are undertaken in the form of espionage, web defacement, denial of service attack, and theft of intellectual property.

Treverton (2018) describes the intelligence threat as being prominent in the operations of specific countries, China and Russia have specifically stood out as nations prone to conducting hybrid threats over the internet through an application meant to create intervention in  the cyber space. In the interchange  includes various proponents of the  hybrid threats comprise of the hyper normalized languages in the discourses that some internet users can visibly see.  The three main kinds of cyber threat intelligence are tactical intelligence, strategic intelligence and the operational intelligence. The tactical intelligence is performed on the computer data so as to alter the kind of results that the data presents to the various users. Mainly it’s done on official  document records such as criminal database. Operational intelligence refers to the mid-term operational intelligence that enables different teams to work appropriately in determination of intelligence concerning events and organizations.  Lastly, the operational intelligence helps in dealing with the higher level of intelligence that determines the long term impact of the intelligence threat such as the impact on the foreign policies.

Espionage Techniques

Various techniques can be used in conducting the cyber intelligence threat that is  prone to be experienced in various parts of the country due to the research students.  The Open Source Intelligence System (OSINT) forms the major espionage technique amongst the perpetrators of the cyber threats (Seker, 2019). OSINT espionage technique is an easy form of gathering intelligence as it mostly entails the visible components of the information concerning a government institution or a government itself.  Seker (2019) classifies the OSINT information sources such as the Grey literature, the media, academic publication, internet, and the academic literature.  Most of the OSINT is meant for informing the public on a specific issue and may form intelligence on the functionality of an aspect of the government. For instance, an academic literature may document the industrial information that is mostly used in the manufacture of an item. The availability of the information to everyone may ultimately lead to the threat of counter items development in different states.

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HUMINT   Intelligence represents one of the oldest forms of intelligence that do not require an additional device for documentation of the required data. According to   Rodriguez-Hernandez (2013) the HUMINT activities that are related to the espionage activities is the interaction between an individual and the individuals in a given nation with an intention of deriving specific information from them. Research scientists may use this technique in learning the operational ability of the host country. Through continual interactions with the host citizens the research scientists could get knowledge on the crime management procedures in the country.

COMINT is an intelligence espionage technique that entails the interception of information among two distinct parties. According to Lindsay (2020), COMINT can take the form of eavesdropping or the tapping of phone conversation. The perpetrator of the COMINT gets knowledge on private data such as military and combat plans that might be used against the host country. The introduction of a pathway to a particular conversation could lead to the constant information leakage that may form the basis of an enemy’s unplanned attack on their opponent.  The presence in a foreign country makes it easy for COMINT espionage without the quick detection by the authorities.

IMINT espionage technique is an additional tactic which the visiting research scientists may use in their intelligence mission. Its activities entail capturing of information that may deemed useful such as images captured on recorded films, or any other kind of recorded media. The images may entail the visual photographs that have been captured using the inflared sensors, and optical sensors (Lindsay, 2020).  IMINT can document how the specific facilities have been set up and eventually lead to the development of similar facilities in a different country. Particularly, it may document how institutions have put up their research in a bid to help in actualization of the learning needs of particular scholars such as medical students.  It might be termed as the replication of the images without acquisition of the proper intellectual property rights. GEOINT can be used in the intelligence on particular military activities on the earth.  The military activities might prove useful as a form of knowledge to other countries on training and combat as well as for armoury equipment that a country might be possessing.

Strategy to Counter the Threat

Counter Intelligence is one of the key ways of countering the intelligence threat.  Cleave (2013) describes the counter intelligence measures as comprising of all the means of the information gathered so as to protect against espionage and other intelligence activities meant to sabotage the activities of a country.  In regard to the post-graduate scholars who have visited the university, the counter intelligence measures shall be embodied in the activities of particular institutions. The synergy between all the institutions involved will help in the creation of the counter intelligence measures useful in combating all kinds of espionage and attacks.

The Military is one of the components of the government that shall be helpful in counter intelligence activities. Through the IMINT and COMINT measures it shall adequately provide a means of detecting the espionage by the foreign research scientists and particularly nab the specific persons. The IMINT shall be conducted through the surveillance cameras that shall help in the establishment of any suspicious activities around the countries major towns or centers (Cleave, 2013). The COMINT shall help in the detection of any kind of tapping in the government official communication. Eventually, upon identification of the perpetrators of the specific crime, the government through the military shall help in development of the specific justice system and eventual prosecution of the victims.

Learning institutions such as Universities and research centers shall additionally play a major role in the counterintelligence measures. The first kind of identification of the perpetrators is through HUMINT activities. HUMINT entails the physical interactions that the host students and instructors may have with the visiting learners. The institution shall help in determining how far the research students have gone with their intelligence activities.  The universities can help form inter-student groups that shall help in averting any technical espionage that may ultimately affect the privacy of the institution such as the set-up of the research centers.

Universities and Research centers can make use of the IMINT technique in identification of foreign students who might be having a different motive from the basic study in the institution.  IMINT could entail the placing of surveillance cameras at strategic places throughout the institution. Additionally, the institution could introduce COMINT techniques that would help in interception of the communication of the international students both personal and corporate conversations.  The wiretapping of the conversation will help in the identification of the particular kind of the activities that the research scientists are engaged in.  In case there is any kind of suspicious events such as using HUMINT to gather intelligence on a particular aspect such as intellectual property development, the victims can be aptly dealt with.

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Corporation can use HUMINT intelligence measures in countering the intelligence that various nationalities could be in possession. The corporations such as Foreign affairs department may employ spies to counter the existing intelligence among the post graduate research scientists. The spies can help in understanding of the activities of the post-graduate research scientist within the institutional setting. The intelligence will help in understanding the end goal of the gathered intelligence on the corporation.

Obstacles and Constraints in Counter Intelligence Measures

The approach against the intelligence measure is coupled with some challenges along the way. Firstly the major obstacle is that the various institutions such as the universities and the research centers may not be united in what they perceive a threat to national intelligence (Lefebvre, 2003). As such, there is need for cooperation between the involved persons so as to conclusively agree on which kind of intelligence among the research scientists are perceived as a threat.

Financial constraints are among the major obstacles in conducting counter intelligence measures(Lefebvre, 2003).Corporations may not have the adequate resources to form complex counter intelligence measures such as the IMINT or the COMINT. The institutions involved may overcome the challenge through a united approach to funding by the host country treasury and the criminal justice management system. The extra funding can also be in kind where the devices that are needed in execution of counter intelligence measures such as the surveillance cameras are donated to the concerned institutions.

Legal issues may emanate due to the execution of the counter intelligence measures. There are measures such as wiretapping that are considered intrusive in personal privacy. As such, the institutions conducting such measures should incorporate the legal experts in seeking approval of the intelligence actions on the basis of the threat that the research scientist students may pose to a nation at large.

Offensive and Defensive Counter Intelligence Measures Employed

Apart from the institutions that are involved in the counter intelligence measures, the military emerges as one of the chief institutions that carry out counter intelligence measures. The measures are mostly under HUMINT technique and may be perceived as either offensive or defensive. Defensive measures are meant to protect the trade secrets and intellectual property in the country whereas the Offensive measures are mostly in combating the identified perpetrators of the crime.  Scibiorek (2007), describes the defensive operations as a series of operation that is meant to make the military possess an advantageous position over the enemies. The defensive operations have continually developed due to the development in the kind of technique used in combating the enemy. Scibiorek (2007), describes that the group operations are currently conducted in a different manner from the past depending on the troop organizational level.

Deception operations are among the defensive measures employed in Counter Intelligence measures.  Shaw (2004), describes the counter intelligence as a set of measures mostly incorporated in the military activities meant to give false information on the perceived strategy to make the enemy act regarding the shared information.   The research scientist students may be offered a specific kind of information to reveal how far they have undertaken the intelligence on a countries trade secret. The deception operations will give the military an advantageous position over the enemy.

Physical securities are an additional measure that determines the manner in which the HUMINT operations are geared towards offering of security on its activities. Philpott and Einstein (2006) describes the physical securities as a measure that entails putting up the  necessary counter intelligence devices such as the surveillance cameras in institutions and other places considered as vulnerable in intelligence threat analysis. Physical securities helps in detection of the various personnel engaged in intelligence activities which might lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the intelligence threat.

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Information security in organizations such as corporations is an essential counter intelligence defensive measure. Alhassana and  Adjei-Quayeb(2017), describes information security as comprising of the measures that are undertaken  to prevent the information such as trade secrets  in the organizational website. The information security measures entail the encryption of messages, confidentiality of the information exhibited through restriction of access, integrity of the message transmitted to restrict modification and the authentication of the users so as to prevent unauthorized attacks. In the counter intelligence measures, the defensive measures are undertaken before the corporations and learning institutions involved decide to take on offensive measures against the intelligence threats. Mostly, information gathering on the perceived intelligence threat precedes the execution of any of the offensive or defensive measures.

The main offensive measures in conducting the espionage techniques are the counter-espionage measures. They are described as a set of measures that are designed for combating espionage attacks (Williams, 2014).  The first offensive measure is the concealing of the trade secrets in the organizations including the manner in which the trade secrets have been collected.  The post graduate scientists attached to various military levels should not be given access to any kind of confidential information such as the trade secrets. Secondly, the confidential information in the state security levels could be labeled as confidential, top secret and secret (Williams, 2014). Each level of confidential information should bring along a set of measures aimed at restricting the access and eventual sharing of the I formation.

The intelligence cycle is one of the most useful components in the counter-espionage techniques as it helps in making use of the information that has been collected through various measures.  Williams (2014) states that the information cycle helps in the decryption of the encrypted data that has been gathered in the counter intelligence activities. Intelligence officers go through the data and help in understanding any underlying issue concerning the research scientists.  Translation is an additional vital component of the intelligence work.  The intelligence gathered may be in a foreign language especially regarding the data that has been gathered in the COMINT technique. It requires a lot of decoding to properly understand the underlying intelligence issues on the taped conversation. Williams (2014) states that the final part of the counter intelligence measures is comparison of the data gathered in the intelligence techniques with the available information concerning various nationalities. Comparison of the information helps in understanding the specific components of the intelligence information that defines the vulnerability of the intelligence threats.  Intelligence cycle helps in the determination of whether particular perpetrators should be executed in the justice system and if there any subtle cases that can be dealt with through an official warning. Vigilance in the activities of the research student is paramount in the intelligence cycles to evade the full execution of the activities following the intelligence threat gathering.

In conclusion, different countries have concealed manner of espionage techniques aimed at the nations that they consider as the potential threat. Therefore, counterintelligence measures, both offensive and defensive should be put in place to ensure that the vital information such as state secrets is highly guarded. The advent of technological progress makes the intelligence threat execution easy as the perpetrators do not have to physically visit the premises where the data is housed. Restriction of access to the internet services serves as a counter intelligence measure against cyber-attack threats.

References

Abu et al, (2018)” Cyber Threat Intelligence – Issue and Challenges.” Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Vol. 10, No. 1, April 2018, pp. 371~379ISSN: 2502-4752, DOI: 10.11591/ijeecs.v10.i1.pp371-379

Alhassana,M.M and  Adjei-Quaye, A (2017). “Information Security in an Organization.” International Journal of Computer (IJC) (2017) Volume 24, No 1, pp 100-116

Lindsay, J. R. (2020). “Demystifying the Quantum Threat: Infrastructure, Institutions, and Intelligence Advantage. “Security Studies, 29(2), 335-361.

Philpott, D., & Einstein, S. (2006). “ The Integrated Physical Security Handbook.” Homeland Defense Journal.

Rodriguez-Hernandez, M. S(2013). “Human intelligence (HUMINT).”In book: Encyclopedia of Military Science (pp.673-74) Edition: 1Publisher: G. Kurt Piehler Editors: G

Scibiorek, Z (2007). “Maneuver in Defensive Operations.” The Journal of Slavic Military Studies Volume 7, 1994 – Issue 2

Seker, E.(2019). Cyber Threat Intelligence. The Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey

 Shaw, J.E (2014).” Military Deception at the Operational Level War.”    Report number: NWC 4115AAffiliation: Naval War College

Treverton, G. (2018). The intelligence challenges of hybrid threats: Focus on cyber and virtual realm.

Van Cleave, M. K. (2007). Counter intelligence and national strategy. National Defense Univ W Lefebvre, S (2003).”The Difficulties and Dilemmas of International Intelligence Cooperation,” International Journal of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence, 16:4,527-542, Washington Dc School For National Security Executive Education.

Williams. M (2014). “Espionage and counterespionage.”    In book: Encyclopedia of Lying and Deception (pp.336-339)Edition: Vol. 1Chapter: Espionage and counterespionage Publisher: Sage Reference Editors: T. Levine & J. G. Golson.

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