An open-source overview of the technical intelligence collection threat in Asia

Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, April-June, 2004 by Wade C. Wilson

Final Thoughts

This short article has highlighted some of the open-source information on threats that await business travelers, tourists, and government personnel alike in their travels and work in the Asian-Pacific Theater. Although the TECHINT threat is prevalent they should not disregard the human intelligence (HUMINT) threat. Perhaps a rule of thumb that one would be well advised to follow is not to engage in any activities or discussions that one would not like to become public knowledge. Furthermore, even though a person's travels may take him to a so-called friendly country, this is no guarantee that either that country is not interested in his activities or that other countries do not have the means to collect outside their own territories. In this regard, a popular military motto seems appropriate: "Vigilance is my watchword."

Endnotes

(1.) To cite just one example, Japan studied and improved on the technology behind disc brakes employed on F-104 fighters according to John J. Fialka, War by Other Means: Economic Espionage in America (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1997), page 43.

(2.) Ibid., pages 114-116.

(3.) PBX is Private Branch Exchange, a computerized telephone switch used by businesses and government agencies as a cost-saving measure while incorporating numerous features like call waiting and call forwarding to support their customer-relations needs.

(4.) Ibid., page 14.

(5.) Eftimiades, Nicholas, Chinese Intelligence Operations (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1994), page 45.

(6.) Schweizer, Peter, Friendly Spies: How America's Allies Are Using Economic Espionage to Steal Our Secrets (New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1993), page 85; also Fialka, War by Other Means, page 114.

(7.) Fialka, page 118.

(8.) Schweizer, page 23.

(9.) Fialka, page 114.

(10.) Ibid., page 118.

(11.) Stokes, Mark A., China's Strategic Modernization: Implications for the United States (Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, 1999), pages 33-34.

(12.) Ibid. "Lanzhou collects on Russia. Shenyang covers Russia, Japan, and Korea. Chengdu monitors India, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia. Nanjing monitors Taiwan. Guangzhou covers Southeast Asia and the South China Sea. Sites in Jilemutu, Erlian, and Hami as well as other Northwest China locations cover Central Asia, Russia, and Mongolia." Stokes lists sites in Shanghai, Beijing, plus Burma, Laos, and Rocky Island in the Paracels but does not mention their actual targets.

(13.) Ibid., pages 48-49.

Sergeant First Class Wade Wilson is a certified Technical Special Agent assigned to B Company, 205th MI Battalion. 3 Fort Shafter, Hawaii. Special Agent Wilson is working towards a Master's degree in Strategic Intelligence through American Military University. Readers can reach him at wade.wilson@us.army.mil and telephonically at (808) 438-6887.