The US Intelligence Community by Jeffrey Richelson

Author:Jeffrey Richelson [Richelson, Jeffrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9780813343624
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1985-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

OFFICERS AND DIPLOMATS

The core of U.S. human intelligence operations is composed of the intelligence officers of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service. These officers are U.S. citizens who generally operate under the cover of U.S. embassies and consulates—an approach that provides them with secure communications (within the embassy and to other locations), protected files, and diplomatic immunity.

Others operate under “non-official cover” (NOC). Such NOCs may operate as businessmen, sometimes under the cover of working at the overseas office of a U.S. firm. In 1995 it was reported that 110 CIA officers were serving as NOCs, and that RJR Nabisco, General Electric, IBM, Bank of America, Pan Am, Rockwell International, and other major corporations had allowed CIA officers to pose as overseas employees. In other cases, the CIA officer might work for a front company established by the CIA. Thus, for example, Valerie Plame, an officer with the Counterproliferation Division, operated overseas while ostensibly being employed by the CIA-created Brewster Jennings & Associates.5

However, in 2008 it was reported that the CIA had shut down all but two of as many as twelve front companies set up in Europe and elsewhere in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and that the Bush administration had planned to expand overseas operations by 50 percent. The companies were to have had six to nine case officers plus support staff. The agency apparently concluded that the companies were “ill-conceived and poorly positioned” for collecting intelligence on terrorist groups and networks dealing in the proliferation of unconventional weapons.6

CIA officers generally seek to recruit foreign nationals as agents as well as to cultivate knowledgeable foreigners who may provide information, either as “unwitting” sources or outside of a formal officer-agent relationship. CIA stations in foreign countries are headed by the Chief of Station(COS) and vary substantially in size, from just a few officers to more than 150, as was the case in the Philippines in the late 1980s. The COS and his or her officers operate under a variety of cover positions that vary from embassy to embassy, including political counselor, second secretary, and economic attaché.7

DIA human intelligence officers, including attachés who operate as part of the Defense Attaché System, constitute a second group of intelligence officers. The functions of the Defense attachés include

identifying and gaining cooperation of human sources believed to possess the ability to furnish intelligence information;

identifying and capturing collection opportunities presented by trade fairs, military demonstrations, parades, symposia, convocations, conferences, meetings, and the like;

traveling to identified geographic target areas to observe, photograph, and report information specifically needed by consumers/users;

identifying, establishing contact with, and maintaining liaison with foreign military officers, who by virtue of rank, position, or assignment can furnish potential intelligence information or are considered to be future leaders;

gaining and maintaining area reality to observe and report political, sociological, psychological, and economic developments of potential value in gauging military plans, capabilities, and intentions of foreign governments and their military forces and their stability;

identifying and gaining access to assist in the acquisition and exploitation of foreign military equipment and materiel.

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