Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:

• Textbook: Chapters 11, 12
• Lecture
• Link (PDF): Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Espionage
• Link (PDF): The role of private corporations in the intelligence community
• Link (video): Challenges for Clandestine Intelligence Collection in Support of U.S. Middle East Policy(please take notes while watching this video)

Introduction

The World is increasingly interdependent, connected through economics and business relationships that frequently and easily cross borders.

Initial Post

Which, in your opinion, is more difficult: Intelligence gathering about a nation or of a group, such as a terrorist organization? How different does using cybersecurity efforts change the gathering of intelligence?

Secondary Posts

Read postings provided by your instructor or fellow students. Read and respond to the conclusions drawn by your classmates. Remember to read the feedback to your own major postings and reply throughout the week.

Writing Requirements

• In addition to one initial post, respond to at least two peers.
• Initial Post Length: minimum of 250 words
• Secondary Post Length: minimum of 200 words per post
• Using APA format, provide at least one citation with corresponding references page and use appropriate in-text citation(s) referring to the academic concept for the initial post.

Student 1: “This question, for me was a no-brainer. I answered this question before I finished reading the question. Intelligence gathering about a terrorist group is much more difficult than gathering intelligence on a nation. I say its harder to gather intelligence on terrorist groups for a number of reasons. Terrorists groups aren’t all in one area or country. They are scattered all over the world. Most terrorist don’t usually use social media, texting, emails (especially the ones hiding in caves in the mountains). Just as Osama bin Laden only used a courier and didn’t have cell phones or internet. And when they do use email, the code is easy to break. On one of the episodes of the show Terrorism Close Calls on Netflix, a young man in the United States sent an email to someone overseas asking for the “recipe” for making a bomb. U.S. intelligence picked up on that one pretty quickly and his plans were foiled. It can also be especially difficult when the governments of foreign countries have terrorist organizations on the payroll. There is also the way in which loans are made. I remember from many classes ago, where a member in each town or village keeps track of loans for those in need. So, it’s not through a bank, it’s almost like a Western Union with a much smaller paper trail. The name of it escapes me right now, but I’ll look it up again when I have some more free time. There are also issues when terrorist organizations have ties to foreign governments. “State sponsorship of, or at least acquiescence to, terrorism makes the intelligence issue more complicated The intelligence community must collect not only against the terrorists but also against other governments and their intelligence services” (Lowenthal, 2017, pp. 398-399).

I think using cybersecurity could definitely help when gathering intelligence against a nation. Trying to follow terrorist groups fully with just cybersecurity wouldn’t work out so well, mostly because they try to stay under the radar. But as I stated before, cybersecurity can be used to watch emails sent to lone wolves here in the U.S.

References

Lowenthal, M. M. (2017). Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy. Los Angeles: CQ Press.

Student 2: “ in my opinion it is very difficult to gathering intelligence on both groups, but I think it is harder to gather intelligence on certain countries compared to smaller terrorist organizations. Countries such as China, Russia, and North Korea are very secretive and don’t release much information about themselves. According to the CIA North Koreas literacy rate is 100% which shows they’re releasing falsified information because even the United States and other developed countries cannot boast such a high literacy rate (The world Factbook: Korea, North, 2019). While the CIA most likely does have more accurate intelligence on the country, it shows how easy it is for the country to lie about statistics. Cyber security is also an issue when gathering intelligence on countries because they can have some of the most sophisticated software in the world. For example, in China there is a new law about cybersecurity that forces companies to comply with China’s security standards. This means that these companies have to use certain programs that are approved by their government. This is an issue because it means that if they want China can sneak malware into the different companies and collect information. “Given China’s record of using hackers to steal intellectual property from global competitors, some network owners worry — justifiably, according to experts — that allowing China access to their data puts corporate secrets at risk” (Uchill, 2019), which demonstrates just how dangerous this cybersecurity issue is. While it would be beneficial to China it could be disastrous for foreign companies and their countries”.

The world Factbook: Korea, North. (2018, February 01). Retrieved November 28, 2019, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world…

Uchill. (2019, October 17). China’s toughened cybersecurity law could cause problems. Retrieved November 28, 2019, from https://www.axios.com/china-cybersecurity-law-upgr…