THE NEW OLD ESPIONAGE

February 18, 2008 

As a former counterintelligence special agent, I never cease to be amazed, but not surprised, at the terrible lack of judgment Americans that participate in espionage against their own country demonstrate. As a former senior executive in the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), I am deeply saddened by the FBI’s recent arrest, on February 11, 2008, of Mr. Gregg Bergersen, a DSCA weapons system analyst, for conspiracy to disclose classified national defense information.

I only know what I read in the papers about Bergersen’s case. And like every American, he is innocent until proven guilty. With those necessary statements out of the way, allow me to share my thoughts on America’s increasing vulnerability to the intelligence agencies of Russia and China that seek to obtain classified information through the recruitment of US Government employees.

The arrest of Mr. Bergersen is only the most recent of several such cases involving government employees with Top Secret security clearances. The most notorious and most damaging, of course, was that of long-time FBI mole, Robert Hanssen. His story, a hold over from the Cold War, was well told in the movie, Breach.

The Cold War is long over, but the fundamentals of espionage don’t change, only the environment in which it’s conducted. What’s changed for America in recent years is the nature of our relationship with Cold War enemies Russia and China. 

When the former Soviet Union fell, the US and Yeltsin’s Russia made concerted efforts to improve relations. US-Russia relations have regressed under former KGB officer, Vladimir Putin, but the US is reluctant to portray Russia as an adversary, not wanting to slip back into a Cold War. As Defense Secretary Robert Gates, former director of the CIA, recently stated, “One Cold War is enough.”

And although China remains a Communist state and poses a serious threat to a democratic Taiwan, since the mid-1980s, Washington has pursued improved political, economic, and military relations with China. The US looks to China as a valued partner in Six Party Talks on North Korea’s nuclear program and other issues. US-China trade is enormous. The US and China regularly conduct high-level military visits and exchanges.

Despite these improvements in bilateral relations, however, traditional intelligence collection operations directed at the United States by Russia and China have not subsided. On the contrary, following Bergersen’s arrest a senior Department of Justice official described those operations as “approaching Cold War Levels.” 

Russian and Chinese intelligence operations in the US may be approaching Cold War levels, but since 9/11 America has focused more on the terrorism threat from al-Qaeda. Counterintelligence awareness of the new old espionage, outside of the counterintelligence community, has been lacking despite the numerous cases that have come to public attention. 

As a former member of the Washington, DC, bureaucracy and the US Army for more than 42 years, I can attest to the difference between general counterintelligence awareness of Russian and Chinese espionage today and what it was in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Twenty-five years ago government employees were routinely required to receive a counter- intelligence briefing before traveling to many overseas destinations. Today counterterrorism briefs have replaced them. Twenty-five years ago few US Government employees traveled to the Soviet Union and China. Today thousands visit Moscow and Beijing every year. Russian and Chinese tourists travel all over the United States.

No rational person wants the return of Cold War-tensions. Much benefit to the US has accrued as the result of these improved relationships beyond the reduced risk of nuclear war. Nevertheless, US Government employees need to better understand the intelligence collection threats Russia and China pose to US national security. 

Al-Qaeda may pose a more imminent threat to America, but the possibility the US could face China in a war in the Taiwan Strait is quite real. And while the likelihood of a direct US-Russia confrontation is less probable, Putin’s Russia increasingly seeks to challenge US power and influence. The smaller Russia and China perceive the gap between the US and their own military capabilities, the more aggressive they are likely to be. For the past 60 years Moscow has improved its military capabilities by stealing US technology. A lesson the Beijing has learned well. 

None of this should shift responsibility from the US Government employees who participate in espionage. They bear the full responsibility for their actions and should bear the full penalty under the law. The truth is, American's who spy on their country generally have two things in common. They have a valid security clearance and they volunteer their services to the foreign government involved. They are the enemy within. 

Russian and Chinese Intelligence professionals know there is a certain type of US Government employee who is prone to recruitment by foreign agents. They spend much time and effort seeking these people out. Thorough background investigations of government employees who receive Top Secret clearances are intended to identify these people. It’s not possible to identify all of them. Good counterintelligence awareness programs are necessary to make everyone aware of the threat.

The most effective counterintelligence awareness programs are those that tell employees about true espionage cases, and how those that allow themselves to be recruited by foreign agents are almost always caught. In today’s world of computers, video surveillance cameras, and credit cards, it’s virtually impossible to avoid leaving a trail of electronic bread crumbs.

Anyone who reads the news stories about the Bergersen and similar cases has to be impressed with the thoroughness and extensiveness of the case the FBI builds before pursuing an indictment. Anyone who believes he or she can participate in serial espionage and evade the attention of the US Government is fooling themselves. Hanssen was a trained intelligence operative, and although he evaded the US government for over 20 years, he too eventually was caught.

US Government efforts to defend against and defeat al-Qaeda terrorists, who threaten Americans at home and abroad, rightly should be its highest priority. Thousands of American lives are at risk. The damage done to America by those who just want to steal our secrets often is difficult to assess and appreciate. But espionage assisted and abetted by Americans is like a cancer. If unchecked, it leads to a slow death. We have the resources to defend against both threats.

As for the men and women of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, who have served their government with exceptional honor and distinction for almost four decades, you should continue to hold your heads high and go about the great work you do. The American people and the US Government understand the difference between government employees like you and those who are not loyal to their country.