Prunckun - Counterintelligence theory and practice

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Prunckun, Henry W.

Counterintelligence theory and practice / Hank Prunckun.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4422-1911-3 (alk. paper)ISBN 978-1-4422-1933-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)ISBN 978-1-4422-1912-0 (electronic)

1. Intelligence service. I. Title.

JF1525.I6P775 2012

327.1201dc23

2012030929

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Counterintelligence is one of the most popularized aspects of intelligence work. Intelligence analysis, imagery interpretation, and developing the intelligence requirements (i.e., questions that need to be answered) all take a backseat to the media and public perception of the glamour of counterintelligence. In a nutshell, counterintelligence is preventing your enemy from knowing what you are doing, in your determination to collect information on them. If collecting information in order to turn it into intelligence is the goal, then counterintelligence is to deny that effort to collect that information.

There are plenty of counterintelligence books that display the cat-and-mouse of intelligence operatives who seek to avoid getting captured by the enemy. A quick search of novels and movies over the last fifty years produces a treasure trove of results. Additionally, in the academic world, there are countless books on the history of counterintelligence operations. However, this book is different.

I am extremely proud to say that this book is one of the few unclassified publications that actually describes what constitutes a successful counterintelligence operation, as well as the elements that compose such an operation. In essence, counterintelligence is about a governments ability to keep secrets, and this book explains how to do it from both an academic and practitioners point of view, which makes this a very special publication.

Jan Goldman, EdD

Series Editor

The English philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon is attributed with saying: He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator. If intelligence officers and analysts are to avoid new evils when it comes to the security of classified information and the secret operations these data underpin, it follows that they must apply new remedies. To do this, a book that addresses the issues of counterintelligence theory and practice is needed.

This book attempts to fill a void in the subject literature that has remained for some time. For instance, during my twenty-eight years as a practitioner in the fields of security, investigation, intelligence, and research, I have found that there was a dearth of texts available on counterintelligence that discussed in simple, clear terms the crafts theory and practice. This is not to say that there are only a few texts on the subjectto the contrary, there are many. However, many of these books tend to be written with disappointingly little practical explanation and no theoretical base. Because of this, many of these texts view counterintelligence simply as security, which it is not. As such, although there are a number of texts on library shelves that contain the title counterintelligence, they are, in my view, narrow and somewhat limiting in their coverage and do not place counterintelligence in the context in which it needs to sit. For the new recruit to counterintelligence, or for the instructor teaching the subject, these texts leave them wanting.