ACTIVE MEASURES COUNTERINTELLIGENCE RECONFIGURATION ELEMENTS
ACTIVE MEASURES COUNTERINTELLIGENCE RECONFIGURATION ELEMENTS

Summary/Abstract: In general, counterintelligence is a process of detecting, preventing, exploiting and manipulating the intelligence activities of opposing/external entities (groups, organizations, states), and is usually explained as protection of secrets against espionage(counterintelligence). In particular, in some states, in addition to the classic intelligence activities, clandestine/covert operations (in Western terminology) or active measures (in Soviet/Russian terminology) are conducted. By means of such operations the decisions or events, the political, military or social circumstances in another state are influenced in order to promote own foreign policy objectives. Such operations are conducted by intelligence structures, as they have available specialized personnel and specific skills, necessary for the complex integration of various resources and techniques to exercise influence. Taking this aspect into account, it should come as no surprise that the approaches used in order to identify and neutralize such operations get materialized in the area of counterintelligence. The paper is aimed at exploring some active measures which could be used to reconfigure counterintelligence, becoming then relevant for an effective national security policy. A comparative analysis between the two former Cold War superpowers – the USSR and the US – is performed in order to exemplify and support the arguments presented while also underlining the peculiarity of Soviet(present day Russian) conducts. In the first instance, the historical perspective/lens isused to account for the patterns developed during the Cold War, and then, shifting to the current status-quo, their relevance is explained in the present-day context.

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