Preview

Information Espionage Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1313 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Information Espionage Essay Example
Espionage: to spy, the gathering of information

Espionage is the secret gathering of information on rival countries for military purposes. Espionage can be used in business, military, economic or political decisions however; it is commonly employed government for defensive tactics. Espionage or spying is illegal in many nations however, it gains profits from agencies to protect the secrecy of information that is desired.
Espionage is an old ancient craft; it has been used through out history. The Bible's book of Joshua (The Old Testament) states that the leaders secretly sent out spies to reconnoiter a country. Also the Chinese Military theorist Sun Tzu's, who wrote a book The Art Of War written in 500 B.C, provides instruction for organizing an espionage system with agents and defectors also known as rebels. Homer a Greek philosopher who wrote "Illiad" mentions the Egyptians had a well-developed secret service and spying agents. During the middle ages Joan of Arc , the world renown female spy was betrayed by Bishop Pierre Cauchon of Beavais, As a result Sir Francis Walsingham developed an efficient political spy system for Elizabeth I. During the American Revolution, Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold achieved their fame as spies during the U.S. Civil War.
In the United States the CIA or the Central Intelligence Agency is the main agency for gathering secret information and responsible for operations outside the United States. The FBI or Federal Bureau of Investigation has the primary responsibility for counterespionage activities within the United States. Counterespionage is when a country or an organization captures a hostile spy and turns them into a so-called "double agent" who sends false information to their own organization. It prevents other nations from gaining such information. Under international law, these activities are not illegal, but individual nations have laws against spying. However, spies are not considered with common or uncommon

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Spies usually have one of two objectives. The first objective is Espionage, espionage is the tactic that focuses on topics not available to the public, with most of the information gotten through this method is gotten through covert means. Espionage has dated all the way back to Ancient Indian times, during Chandra Gupta’s reign. In Chanakya’s Arthashastra, he describes how he used methods of assassination and espionage to gain and preserve Chandra Gupta’s reign. The U.S. itself has used espionage very heavily, especially during the Cold…

    • 1852 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was officially established through the National Security Act of 1947, but the concept of intelligence gathering had existed since the days of the Revolutionary War. The CIA is the successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was created in 1942 to help organize espionage activities during World War II. The mission of the CIA is to collect bits of strategic information in order to protect the United States of America from foreign enemies. The intelligence is then given to the President and senior government policy makers. Along with CIA officials, they analyze it and make decisions based upon what they find, in order to protect the country from potential enemies and terrorist plots. The current Director of the CIA is Leon Edward Panetta, who was…

    • 1900 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    George Tenet CIA

    • 3296 Words
    • 14 Pages

    The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an independent United States Government agency who are responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers (CIA,2007). Since the 1960 's and World War II, foreign intelligence has been important to the United States since the days of President George Washington, that such efforts have been coordinated on a government-wide level. The Central Intelligence Agency Act was passed in 1949, which supplemented the 1947 Act, granting the Agency more powers. The agency was permitted to use confidential fiscal and administrative procedures and was exempted from many of the usual limitations on expenditures. Thus, allowing funds to now be accounted in budgets of other departments and then transferred to the Agency without restrictions, while ensuring the secrecy of the CIA’s budget, which is an important consideration in covert operations. The Act created a Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) as head of the Intelligence Community, head of the CIA, and principal…

    • 3296 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In light of recent events it is evident that the issue of government spying has become more prevalent. With the growth of power and resources within the government it is possible that they have overextended their reach into to the lives of their citizens. The capabilities of the government, both known and unknown, have been abused in an unconstitutional way and many people are woefully apathetic.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    "I think everyone knew we were walking a very thin line."(Owen) Not many Americans know the truth that lies behind the Iran-Contra scandals. Most would be surprised to know about the deception of our leaders. Still today, some truth of Iran-Contra lies hidden in the conscience of the people who organized it, aided it, and went through with it. It started with good intentions, but soon was corrupted. Some may argue that we must do what we can to smother the flame of communism, but I believe that deception, abuse of power and bloodshed is no way to go about it.…

    • 1634 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    An intelligence agency was first established in the country when the president realized how uninformed the government was about the attack on Pearl Harbor before it happened. The CIA was then established to provide intelligence about the Soviet Union during the Cold War era (Central Intelligence Agency). Though the era is over, it is important for the CIA to exist and help with foreign alliances. The CIA is advanced in its capabilities of getting and analyzing information necessary for this (Rizzo, John). When dealing with other countries, even if there may be no threats of any kind, it’s important to know that they are telling the truth, and what their real intentions are. In 1962, the CIA has helped with the arms control agreement with the Soviet Union by giving information about the missiles and the level of weaponry the Soviet Union had in Cuba. The CIA also helped confront North Korea about its nuclear building capability in 1992 (Tenet,…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    History of Spies in the Civil War Espionage, a term commonly seen in today’s military and sometimes even in the news. It is the act of spying or using a spy or spies, usually by governments, to gather or obtain military or political information. This is an effective way to gather many kinds of intel in secret. I’ve found from some research that I’ve done that it was used in the Civil War.…

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Intelligence Community (IC) has different legislations as well as executive powers to help govern the operation. Some of the legislation has been established to keep current with the time and technologies, while others have help protect the American people’s civil liberties. Additionally, the President of the United States is granted certain executive powers to aid in the administration’s mission to protect American from both foreign and domestic threats. With executive power,…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Title two of the Patriot Act has help with intelligence gathering. This has allowed the government to use wiretaps through the Foreign Intelligence Survey Act. This means government to perform…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    NSA leaked

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Eight months later, media outlets around the world have published more than 100 revelations in over a dozen languages. We now know that the NSA has tracked private American citizens’ phone calls, emails and social connections; monitored Internet traffic in and out of the U.S.; and spied on allied countries and foreign companies alike. What we have learned so far suggests that the agency has gone from protecting national security to facilitating the United States’ political and economic advantage on the world stage.…

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Types Of Love And Spying

    • 1538 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Love is considered to be a deep feeling or an intense affection that you feel for something or somebody. A spy can be said to be a person working for another individual that gathers information on something to then give it back to the individual that the spy is working for. A spy and love, by definition, do not compare to each other for several reasons but they are considered to be a type of brother and sister. Can a spy ever truly love? Is a spy capable of trust? These are opinion related questions that allow you to look deeper into the relationship a spy has with another, so called important person in that spy’s life. In fact, maybe the best known spy to man in James Bond, aka double 007. Exploring many readings and movies…

    • 1538 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The government is not spending enough time and resource in surveillance, which is resulting in the threats and decrease of national security. Surveillance is the act of observing, or monitoring a person. Monitoring a person can include the use of cameras, wiretaps, GPS tracking, and internet surveillance. Events such as the Oklahoma City bombing, and the attack on 9/11 lead to a law former President Bush passed. "On October 26th, 2001, Bush signed into law the USA Patriot Act." (Podesta) Government surveillance is an essential part of everyday life because not only does it keep the country under control, but ensures safety for Americans.…

    • 1858 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Counter Terrorism

    • 2173 Words
    • 9 Pages

    As noted by Carera (2005), the theme of intelligence reform is still fresh in the United States, and with the creation of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), we can appreciate how deep the concerns over intelligence failure in recent years have been. At the heart of this development lie issues of funding, structure and methodology, of which we are concerned with the last of the three. In order to address the issues surrounding the methodology of collecting intelligence for counter terrorism, we first look at definitions of the intelligence terminology referred to, along with an explanation of the current focus of the debate. We then identify how the modern terrorist threat differs from the traditional Cold War enemy, before suggesting reasons why over reliance on one form of intelligence gathering is wrong. We concentrate on a western perspective of intelligence, in particular, the experiences of the United States. This approach allows us to keep a focus on the issue without wandering into inappropriate areas of debate.…

    • 2173 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On NSA Surveillance

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “Under observation, we act less free, which means we effectively are less free.” People have been living in a world where technology controls them.. What they do not know is that the NSA has been treating people as if they were criminals. Do we really have freedom when the NSA is collecting and reading more than 200 million messages per day. Has our 4th amendment been overthrown by NSA? A country is not free, if its citizens are constantly being spied on. In the present day, people surround themselves in technology compared to the novel 1984 where people have no choice but to have a telescreen in their houses and in their workplaces. The novel accurately portrayed the NSA Surveillance problem because it shows how the government spies on its citizens, it effectively describes the ways…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Homeland Security

    • 2016 Words
    • 7 Pages

    1. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 reduces the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism.…

    • 2016 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays