Part of the problem that various public figures have in
understanding the circumstances of international contacts is the general lack
of understanding of the professional intelligence world and how it operates.
Most particularly is the impact that is made internationally by covert activity
influencing foreign adversaries or expected adversaries. This is called political/psychological
warfare. The modern application began directly after the end of World War Two
and the evolution of the post-war intelligence services. The Russians had a
leg-up on everyone else because their Communist Party already had a well-structured
worldwide network. If anything, the Western nations have become much more
sophisticated since then. Unfortunately, this sophistication and the strategy
therein seems to have been missed by the Chairman of the House Intelligence
Committee, Adam Schiff.
The immediate issue at hand is the much speculated and
Schiff-driven argument as to whether President Donald Trump has had private
contacts with the Russians. Unrecognized by Schiff and the general press is
that this issue actually is an aid to the Russians. To take this matter further
and make it clearer it is necessary to recognize that in the world of
intelligence those who cooperate with a given service are considered either
“witting” or “unwitting assets”. In fact, it is not necessarily a person,
though it usually is. Schiff and his supporters have therefore become unwitting
assets to Russian political warfare instruments. The efforts to undermine the
President's leadership become a help to the Russians in selling the idea
internationally that the Americans are too unstable a nation – and the
President in particular – to be counted on. Of course, Mr. Schiff and his
backers are essentially ignorant of this circumstance. Unfortunately, the
reason for this ignorance is that they are blinded by their domestic political
ambitions accompanied, most likely, by a lack of experience in the arcane
elements of political/psychological warfare technique.
The more Schiff attacks, the more Trump and his people
counterattack. This produces a situation where the U.S. appears disoriented and
thus untrustworthy as protectors worldwide. This works exceedingly well in
less-developed world terms. One wonders whether the Russian services have been
able to use this ploy to influence inaction on the part of Mexico in respect to
the massive flow of illegal immigrants into the United States. It would appear
that for some reason Mexico City does not view the American concern as anything
but an exaggerated response by an easily excitable U.S. President. Score one
for the GU (reportedly the new acronym for what was GRU, the Russian
intelligence organization chartered to handle such matters), even if they
didn't originate the operations as a covert action.
The Russians are not the only ones who are able to take
advantage of unwitting assets. We do it wherever we can and so do all the other
major countries. One expects that all nations, if they have the capability, use
such devices to their advantage whenever they can. To use a term of art, that
is one of the real clear and present dangers. Of course, the Chinese know about
the utilization of unwitting assets for they use the mechanism regularly in
their commercial activities. In the particular case of Chairman Schiff's
pursuit of pejorative information relative to Donald Trump, Beijing is staying
as far away as they can. However, given the Chinese proclivity for the long
view, they will find a way to use any leverage implicit in the circumstance if
the need arises.
None of this would be new to the old hands in the
intelligence business, even if it has escaped Adam Schiff. But frankly, is
there anyone in Washington these days who understands any of this and the
implications? Apparently not!
Comments
Post a Comment