{"id":2268,"date":"2008-01-22T17:49:42","date_gmt":"2008-01-22T17:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/surveillance-big-brother\/the-list-the-world%e2%80%99s-top-spy-agencies\/2268\/"},"modified":"2008-01-22T17:49:42","modified_gmt":"2008-01-22T17:49:42","slug":"the-list-the-world%e2%80%99s-top-spy-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/contributions\/general\/the-list-the-world%e2%80%99s-top-spy-agencies\/","title":{"rendered":"The List: The World\u2019s Top Spy Agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Cold War long over, the CIA no longer faces any real competition, right? Wrong. The world\u2019s top espionage agencies are as busy as ever. This week, the FP<\/span> List looks at the countries that best know how to wield a cloak and dagger.<\/p>\n

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DENIS SINYAKOV\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)<\/span><\/p>\n

Country:<\/strong> Russia<\/p>\n

Area of expertise:<\/strong> Officially\u2013counterterrorism and protecting Russian commercial interests abroad. Unofficially\u2013consolidating political power back home.<\/p>\n

Activities: <\/strong>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\u2019s 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. \u201cThey are as important today as they ever were, if not more,\u201d he said. \u201cRussia has not eased off at all on its espionage activities.\u201d 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 \u201cone of the most professional and effective special services.\u201d In reality, the intelligence services have emerged as one of the most powerful political groups in Putin\u2019s Russia, and ex-KGB agents occupy many of the Kremlin\u2019s key positions. As the Russian saying goes, \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as an ex-Chekist.\u201d<\/p>\n

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FREDERIC J. BROWN\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ministry of State Security<\/span><\/p>\n

Country:<\/strong> China<\/p>\n

Area of expertise:<\/strong> Industrial espionage and data analysis, domestic security<\/p>\n

Activities: <\/strong>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. \u201cChinese espionage is different than Western espionage,\u201d says Earnest. \u201cWe go after a secret somewhere; they go after numbers. They collect little bits and pieces and put it together.\u201d Sources often don\u2019t even realize they\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

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Research and Analysis Wing<\/span><\/p>\n

Country:<\/strong> India<\/p>\n

Area of expertise:<\/strong> Destabilizing Pakistan<\/p>\n

Activities:<\/strong> 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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ROUF BHAT\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Inter-Services Intelligence<\/span><\/p>\n

Country:<\/strong> Pakistan<\/p>\n

Area of expertise: <\/strong>Destabilizing India<\/p>\n

Activities:<\/strong> Sometimes described as a state within a state with virtually no oversight, ISI is best known for the firm control it exercises over Pakistan\u2019s 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\u2013fighting 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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ROUF BHAT\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)<\/span><\/p>\n

Country: <\/strong>Britain<\/p>\n

Area of expertise: <\/strong>Counterterrorism, James Bond nostalgia<\/p>\n

Activities:<\/strong> After a decade of budget cuts during the \u201cpeace dividend\u201d years following the Cold War, Her Majesty\u2019s secret service was caught somewhat unprepared for the challenges of the war on terror. On 9\/11, only 30 of MI6\u2019s 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 \u201cQ\u201d who designs gadgets, just like in the James Bond films, but \u201cM\u201d is actually called \u201cC.\u201d) MI6 has also taken out ads in online spy-themed computer games such as \u201cTom Clancy\u2019s Splinter Cell.\u201d This is a far cry from the Cold War era, when undercover recruiters surreptitiously singled out Oxford and Cambridge\u2019s best and brightest for intelligence work. Despite the charm offensive, MI6 has been attacked in the British media for allegedly participating in CIA-organized \u201crendition\u201d of terrorism suspects to be tortured abroad. Kremlin officials have also accused MI6 of trying to influence Russia\u2019s domestic politics. MI6\u2019s activities may not be as expansive as they once were, but Earnest characterizes this as \u201ca shift in priorities\u201d toward Middle Eastern terrorism, \u201crather than a decline.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Mossad<\/span><\/p>\n

Country:<\/strong> Israel<\/p>\n

Area of expertise: <\/strong>Combating Islamist terrorism, evacuating Jewish refugees<\/p>\n

Activities: <\/strong>\u201cWe\u2019re all students of the Mossad,\u201d says Earnest. Since it was founded in 1951, \u201cthe Institute,\u201d as it translates in English, has acquired a reputation for extraordinary skill and aggressiveness in combating Israel\u2019s 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 \u201cOperation Moses\u201d 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the Cold War long over, the CIA no longer faces any real competition, right? Wrong. The world\u2019s top espionage agencies are as busy as ever. This week, the FP List looks at the countries that best know how to wield a cloak and dagger. DENIS SINYAKOV\/AFP\/Getty Images Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Country: Russia Area […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1614],"tags":[62],"class_list":{"0":"post-2268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-general","7":"category-surveillance-big-brother","8":"tag-spying"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}