Spying in the Digital Age
Neil Bisson
Director, Global Intelligence Knowledge Network | Retired CSIS Intelligence Officer | NS and Intelligence Media Commentator | Content creator / Podcast Host, Global Intelligence Weekly Wrap-up / Spies Like Us
Bob Dylan mumbled it best when he sang, "Times, they are a-changin'."
The CentralIntelligence Agency (CIA) recently released a recruitment video that aims to solicit help from Russians who are dissatisfied with the Putin oligarchy and want to see change.
It's a bold and exciting move in the intelligence world.
As a former Intelligence Officer with 25 years of Security and Intelligence experience, I know that recruiting and managing sources is essential to HUMINT operations. I worked domestically and internationally to identify, recruit, and train sources for reliable intelligence.
From my experience, making numerous contacts in communities with potential national security information increases recruitment success. However, using digital media for broad outreach wasn't considered a viable strategy when I worked covertly.
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Traditionally, potential sources were identified through database verifications, which assisted in identifying affiliations, knowledge and access to threats. Face to face recruitment was the norm, it wasn’t conducted in the virtual world.
The CIA recruitment video is the digital equivalent of a "knock and talk" technique, wherein an intelligence officer would conduct an assessment by meeting the potential source in an undisclosed and hopefully somewhat private location. However there's no assessment and no meeting place. Instead the CIA has opted for reaching a wider audience. It shows how the CIA has adapted to gain more returns on investment. Instead of a private location, the CIA is using the dark web as their cover.
Society's reliance on online communication may have prompted the CIA to leverage it. The video aims to capture dissatisfied individuals and lead them to contact the CIA.
While the video may attract a high number of unrecruitable agents and provoke counter-operations, like dangles, form the Russian Intelligence Agencies, the CIA has likely anticipated this, but still believe the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
News reporting has suggested widespread dissatisfaction among Russians with the War in Ukraine and Putin's leadership. The CIA has seized this opportunity to expand potential agent recruitment.
Although success in the Intelligence Community is elusive. A large pool of potential agents suggests a positive outlook for the CIA against Russian threats.
For reliable information on the CIA, its history, and operational activities, please visit www.globalintelligenceknowledgenetwork.com.