Cold war Soviet Union influence on the United States’ intelligence community

Cold war Soviet Union influence on the United States’ intelligence community

Week 6 Discussion 1 replies

Hi Vincent,

I agree with you during the Cold war Soviet Union had an enormous influence on the United States’ intelligence community. The United States started intelligence information gathering as a result of the cold war, and the impact of the cold war is still relevant to the current intelligence community. I like the way you have elaborated on the role of containment policy in the intelligence community. The existing intelligence community needs to understand the history of the information gathering over time. The approach will ensure previous mistakes are not repeated in the future. The containment policy was an excellent approach since the intelligence community gathered critical information on the areas where the Soviet Union had military, social, and economic strengths. The United States has, therefore, improved its information-gathering strategies, especially using advanced technology. The current war against terrorism requires thorough information gathering to prevent terrorist plans. I agree with you the relationship between Russia and the United States have been deteriorating for various issues. Therefore, there is a significant need for the intelligence community to improve information-gathering skills and strategies. I agree with you it is worrying about what are Russia’s motives by creating allies against the united states, especially the Syrian Civil war.

Hi Richetshaye,

I agree with you the Soviet Union had a significant effect on the American intelligence community, and the cold war led to the establishment of American intelligence. The Soviet Union intelligence community posed a threat to the Americans since it had an objective to spread communism. The KGB was seen to dominate the entire Soviet intelligence, and therefore, the United States’ intelligence community had to improve on their information-gathering techniques. However, the changes in technology have made the information gathering simpler, especially the use of satellites and drones. I agree with you the KGB used to carry out the foreign intelligence and counterintelligence with an objective to maintain security in the armed forces.

The united states intelligence community should, therefore, understand the trends of intelligence history since Russia still poses an intelligence threat to the United States. The use of human intelligence was the traditional approach that used to be effective, but the spies were in danger when operating on the enemies’ territories. However, technology has replaced human intelligence, which seems to be more effective as compared to HUMINT. Initially, the spies were killed and tortured, which is not common nowadays due to the improvement of technology. There has been an intelligence competition for the nations, and the intelligence community needs to be updated in technology and strategies.

Week 6 Discussion 2 Replies

Hi Troy,

I agree with you; it can be challenging to gather intelligence information from a terrorist organization as compared to the nation. It is challenging to employ human intelligence to such an organization since the spies can be in danger of both torture and death. However, the most significant approach to gather intel is using the most advanced technology, for instance, drones and satellites. I also agree with you it’s challenging to gather intel from the terrorist groups since there is a limited footprint, and they operate in secrets. Even gathering the information form such groups can consume a lot of time and resources as compared to collecting information from the nation. However, there is a lot of human intelligence in the countries since its simple to collect information undetected.  However, the intelligence community needs to be updated on the cybersecurity to prevent leakage of the intelligence information on the wrong hands. I agree with you, even the nation with leading technology needs to improve the cyberspace and tech. Most of the other intelligence communities and terrorist organizations have also established an effective technique. The cyberattacks have been the contemporary threats to the nation, which portrays the need to improve security.

Hi Dylan,

I agree with you; it is more straightforward to gather information from a nation as compared to the terrorist organizations. Collecting intelligence from organizations like ISIS can be challenging, especially when using the human intelligence strategy. Also, the organizations have established cyberspace and are well funded, which makes it challenging to collect intel from such groups. I also agree with you; it is challenging to gather intelligence information because such organizations have no published reports on their motives or interests. It is even not possible to determine the technology they have implemented in their operations. Identifying such information require spies to gather reliable information. However, involving spies in such missions is subjecting them to death. The current intelligence community should not use undercover agents to collect data from terrorist groups but instead, apply the technology. However, technology can be costly but reliable. As opposed to the terrorist groups, its easy to gather intel from the nation by use of both human intelligence and technology. I also agree with you the US intelligence community should ensure their critical information should not land on the ISIS hands. Such groups are also taking advantage of advanced technology to execute their plans and attacks in the United States.