Month: November 2025

The  #dynamics of the foreign  #intelligenceservices penetration into  #American life in the last 30 years – Google Search  google.com/search?q=The+dyna…
Over the past 30 years, the dynamics of foreign intelligence penetration into American life have dramatically shifted from traditional human intelligence (HUMINT) gathering toward sophisticated cyber operations, economic espionage, and information warfare. The primary drivers of this evolution are rapid technological advancements and the geopolitical changes following the Cold War and the 9/11 attacks. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] 
Key Dynamics and Trends • Rise of Cyber Espionage: The most significant change has been the transition to cyber operations. Foreign adversaries, particularly nation-states like China and Russia, perceive cyber espionage as a low-cost, high-impact method for stealing sensitive information.

• Targets: Targets have expanded from traditional government and military entities to include critical infrastructure (energy, telecommunications, transportation), private sector companies, academic institutions, and research labs.
• Goals: Objectives include stealing military and WMD technology data, intellectual property, trade secrets, and large quantities of personally identifiable information (PII) for future use.
• Methods: Adversaries use sophisticated techniques like spear-phishing, malware, and supply chain compromises to gain access to U.S. networks.

• Shift to Economic and Technological Espionage: While Cold War espionage focused on political and military intelligence, the last three decades have seen a major focus on economic and technological advantage. Foreign intelligence services actively pursue U.S. technology to boost their own domestic economic growth and modernize their military forces.
• Diversification of Actors and Methods: The number of actors targeting the U.S. has grown beyond major powers. The global availability of advanced technologies has enabled a wider range of states, organizations, and individuals to conduct intelligence activities previously limited to well-financed intelligence services.
• Information Warfare and Influence Operations: Foreign intelligence services now actively engage in information warfare and malign influence operations to sow discontent, weaken the U.S. system from within, and shape U.S. public opinion and policy.
• Post-9/11 Counterterrorism Focus (US Response): The U.S. intelligence community underwent a significant transformation after 9/11, restructuring to become a threat-based, intelligence-driven national security enterprise focused on detecting and dismantling terrorist plots. This led to an expansion of domestic surveillance authorities and data collection programs, intended to improve information sharing and connect the dots between foreign intelligence and domestic threats. [1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16] 

Summary The nature of foreign intelligence penetration has fundamentally changed, becoming more pervasive, technologically advanced, and focused on gaining economic and strategic advantage through cyber means, while continuing to leverage human sources. These dynamics present complex challenges for U.S. counterintelligence efforts, which have adapted by focusing on cyber defense, international partnerships, and protecting critical infrastructure from a growing number of diverse threats. [1, 14, 17, 18, 19] 

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1]  dni.gov/files/NCSC/documents…
[2]  orionpolicy.org/cyber-espion…
[3]  scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/vi…
[4]  tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…
[5]  nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/…
[6]  brennancenter.org/issues/pro…
[7]  americanprogress.org/article…
[8]  pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/inter…
[9]  csis.org/programs/strategic-…
[10]  tbp.org/static/docs/features…
[11]  dni.gov/files/NCSC/documents…
[12]  justice.gov/archive/911/coun…
[13]  gao.gov/assets/gao-24-107600…
[14]  dcsa.mil/Portals/128/Documen…
[15]  dni.gov/files/NCSC/documents…
[16]  csis.org/programs/strategic-…
[17]  defensescoop.com/2023/03/08/…
[18]  rsinc.com/chinese-government…
[19]  muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/8…

— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) Nov 1, 2025