Intelligence and counterintelligence have repeatedly proven to be a key part of war games around the world. It’s no different in 2022.
At the same time, when the Polish Foreign Intelligence Agency makes itself known with a poster campaign and encourages people to work there, the counterintelligence of Norway and the United States catches agents from foreign countries. The tense 20s of the 21st century mean the security services have their hands full, trying to catch enemy operational officers.
Detained Spies
The FBI captured two Chinese people who were trying to bribe a US official to get information from him about a US lawsuit against Huawei. The Chinese company was charged in 2020 with conspiracy and theft of technology. Since then, legal actions have been brought against the electronics giant in the United States.
Beijing attempted to bribe a US law enforcement officer with the help of two of its agents to gain access to confidential information regarding the US prosecutor’s legal strategies that he could use in a case against Huawei.
spies Guochun Il and Zheng Wang they paid the official 61,000 PLN dollars in Bitcoins in exchange for providing them with the desired information. The American, however, turned out to be an FBI double agent, and with his help the Chinese were arrested.
“The Department of Justice will not tolerate any attempt by any foreign power to undermine the rule of law upon which our democracy is built,” the United States Attorney General said. Merrick Garland.
Washington points out that China has long been secretly involved in US politics and internal affairs.
A hostile intelligence agent was also arrested in Norway. On October 25, Norwegian police arrested a man who claimed to be a Brazilian scientist from the Polar University of Tromsoe in the north of the country. The spy was to obtain information about Norway’s policy towards the polar regions and pass it on to the Russian Federation.
The man came to Norway in the fall of 2021. He stayed in the country as a so-called illegal, that is, an agent hiding under a false identity. This is the first case of such intelligence activity in Norway, local police reported.
Interview in Poland
Poland, as a NATO country with strained relations with Russia and a strong supporter of a fighting Ukraine, is exposed to surveillance by foreign services, especially Russian ones.
Thus, the Polish civil and military counterintelligence has worked hard in recent months. In March, the Internal Security Agency demanded the expulsion from the country of 45 employees of the Russian Embassy in Warsaw, who, under cover of diplomatic activities, were to perform intelligence duties in our country. The Russians left Poland that same month.
Then, in early April, the Internal Security Agency arrested a Russian citizen who, on behalf of the Russian secret service, was to obtain information about the armed forces of Poland and NATO and their possible combat readiness.
On July 11, a Pole, Jarosław A., was arrested in Silesia, who was supposed to “signal the will to act” for the benefit of the Russian intelligence services. The man’s motive was to be for possible financial gain. A captured spy now faces up to 8 years in prison.
The Polish intelligence services do not hide the fact that they currently need as many employees as possible. In the first half of the year, the Foreign Intelligence Agency conducted an information campaign, as part of which posters informing about recruitment to the service were hung in cities. The Polish intelligence services are looking for people for operational officer positions, but also for civilian employees.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior and Administration have prepared a bill that would increase the penalties for obtaining information for foreign intelligence. Spies can go to prison for up to 25 years. For more information on the government bill, see HERE.
Who is spying on who?
Espionage is an extremely important part of state security policy. The illegal collection of information from its enemies has taken place since ancient times, and with the development of information and digital technologies, the intensity of intelligence activities has increased.
Spies, particularly British, played one of the key roles in the defeat of the Third Reich during World War II. Then the world was engulfed in the Cold War, in which agents (primarily the United States and the USSR) competed fiercely to steal as much information as possible, while eliminating their adversaries.
Today, in the information age, the acquisition and strategic use of data is crucial to conduct an intensive foreign policy.
British and American intelligence constantly update information on the war in Ukraine, often cooperating with kyiv, thanks to which Ukrainian forces can accurately attack the troops of the invaders. It was in cooperation with Western agents that the highly effective Kharkiv counter-offensive, led by the Ukrainian armed forces at the beginning of September this year, was prepared.
However, intelligence activities are often conducted against a given country’s allies as well – countries like to have more information about each other than can be legally obtained. One example is the wiretap operation the United States conducted against European political and national leaders. Americans in the conduct of this operation, aimed, among other things, at the then Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkelassisted by an operational officer from the Danish secret service.
