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INTL410 Midterm

Uploaded: 5 years ago
Contributor: bio_man
Category: Other
Type: Lecture Notes
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Filename:   INTL410_Midterm.docx (22.36 kB)
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Counterintellinge Lessons Learned AMU INTL410 Counterintellinge Lessons Learned Protecting our National security from outside influences is the priority of U.S. Counterintelligence operatives and to do this our intelligence agencies and its operatives operate around the clock. For a foreign entity to conduct an operation against the U.S. it is crucial for them to have inside access also known as a sleeper agent. In major cases considered failures by the U.S. government foreign operatives conducting support and active collection operations within the U.S. government have led to catastrophic results and the loss of life and influencing U.S. policy. Our Counterintelligence faces constant threats from various facets and some are hard to even perceive. Many are motivated by politics, different ideologies, and terrorism. Two examples of this is the case of convicted Spy Ana Montes, a DIA analysts specializing on Cuba and Ali Mohammed, an Ex-Army Sergeant, CIA operative, and FBI translator who was responsible for the development of the terrorist organization Al-Qaida in the U.S. Named the most damaging spy to the United States Ana Montes is quoted saying during her short trial "I believe our government's policy towards Cuba is cruel and unfair, I felt morally obligated to help the island defend itself from our efforts to impose our values and our political system on it." Ana Montes’s nickname was the Queen of Cuba, she was an operative from 1985 to the September 11, 2001. From a young age Ana Montes was very politically aware and disagreed with U.S. policy in South and Latin America. Growing up during the Cold War era Ana Montes sympathized with Cuba and the Castro regime. For the 16 years she worked for Cuba she went undetected and carried out her operations. Ana Montes betrayed her own country and put American soldiers in harm’s way. Some of the information she disclosed to Cuba are the identities of undercover operatives in Cuba, and locations of Special Forces units among other documents that remain classified. Cuba then used this information for their own operations and even sold the information to our adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea. Read More andan Cuba’s socialist government agenda was underway with the support of the Soviet Union. Cuba was looking stronger and they were making money off of two things Sugar and Tourism. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost its security in Latin America and they no longer had large order purchases for sugar. The U.S. tough sanctions against Cuba ensured their economy tanked and they were weaker than ever. If the U.S. wanted to overthrow Castro, the fall of the Soviets paved the way. Cuba’s Intelligence agents were trained by the KGB and they were experts in establishing sleeper cells and that is how they were able to recruit and remain undetected with Ana Montes for 16 years. Although Ana Montes was caught the Cuban operatives who handled her were not. Cuba also carried out operations in South Florida to deter and detect Cuban exile groups carrying out operations allegedly with the Support of the CIA. When discussing September 11 2001, many topic arise but a name that is usually not mentioned is Ali Mohammed. Ali Mohammed was Al-Qaida’s first spy in America and was crucial in developing the groups training cell and even responsible for bombing of U.S. embassies in South Africa. Ali Mohammed began his carrier as an Egyptian intelligence officer and was relived of duties after the death of Anwar Saddat for his radical Islamism views in 1984. He got a job as head of security for Egypt air where he was recruited by the terrorist organization and was tasked with infiltrating U.S. intelligence. He then became a CIA operative and was terminated with prejudice and even placed on a DHS watch list for having terrorist ties. This did not stop Ali Mohammed from traveling to the U.S. marrying to get his citizenship and joining the U.S. Army even serving in a Special Forces unit. Ali Mohammed was able to steal documents which became essential to creating Al-Qaida training manuals. Ali also was able to relay information on troop movements and locations throughout the Middle East. Ali Mohammed also established communication cells to allow the organization to speak through communication centers. Ali Mohammed received an honorable discharge from the Army and was discharged as a Sergeant in the Army this gave him credibility and he continued to pursue ways to infiltrate U.S. intelligence. This led to his next assignment as an FBI informant and translator which led to his capture. Ali Mohammed was full of red flags and a quick records check of his name through a DHS data base would reveal he was a potential terrorist despite this he was given access to information and allowed to operate unhindered for many years. This story seems like a movie but it was very much real. Ali Mohammed used his background knowledge of Airport Security to develop a plot that led to the events of 9/11. He was instrumental in building the terrorist network Al Qaida and one of the first terrorist cell to operate in the United States. Today we face a huge surge in migration from war torn countries around the globe where extremism is dominant. These individuals are pretty much given U.S. citizenships and even the ones identified as having terrorist ties are not removed from our country. The laws that we have today allow for this to happen. A perfect example is the On December 2, 2015, 14 people were killed and 22 others were seriously injured in a terrorist attack. Terrorist take advantage of our laws and use them against us. In this case the Visa was granted on grounds of marriage. I don't have the solutions to this problem but letting everyone in as we have been is not the right answer. Both of these examples have shown us that the threat our national security faces has no uniform or boundaries. The threat is real and we must all be vigilant to those that surround us. Our National Security must be protected and as intelligence professionals were are all responsible for identifying and reporting threats when we are unsure of something. Prior to 9/11 Counterintelligence was not really discussed but as we have learned these organizations have the ability to infiltrate any organization and detecting them is not the job of one person but is a team effort. Today our Counterintelligence conducts many operations and ensures to educate all employees to report any suspicious activities in the work place to avoid cases like Ana Montes and Ali Mohammed form happening again. Our policies are continuously changing and our strategy to deter and detect the enemy will continue to be adjusted. Bibliography Best, Richard. Vol. 2 2011.September 11, 2001. Cohn, Michael A., Matthias R. Mehl, and James W. Pennebaker. 2004. "Linguistic Markers of Psychological Change Surrounding September 11, 2001" Psychological Science 15, no. 10 (2004): 687-693. Iglesias, María José. April 28, 2013. “Ana Montes, la asturiana que espio para Fidel” La Nueva Espana.  Lehto, Marja. 2009. "War on Terror – Armed Conflict with Al-Qaida?" Nordic Journal of International Law 78, no. 4 (2009): 499-511 Patterson, Thom. August 8, 2018. “The Most Dangerous U.S. Spy You Never Heard of” CNN. The Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies. October 2002. “An Unrepentant Motes Sentenced to 25 Years”. 

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