It is surprising to me how few people outside the Intelligence Community know what Counterintelligence is. In a presentation that I recently made to a volunteer military support group, I had to define counterintelligence and spent most of my Q&A time talking about Counterintelligence and the recent news media flap about the National Security Agency activities to engage in Counterintelligence. There seems to be a major lack of understanding on this critical subject in our fight against terrorism. The noted author John Keegan in his 2004 book, Intelligence in War, does not even mention the word “counterintelligence” in 387 pages on the subject.

Counterintelligence is normally defined as those activities which are concerned with identifying and counteracting the threat to national security posed by hostile intelligence services or terrorist groups by individuals engaged in espionage, sabotage or subversion. After the mix up on the weapons of mass destruction information before the Iraqi War, almost everyone knew what our intelligence community was supposed to do. There is no doubt that they are continually conducting extensive intelligence operations; however, the art of counterintelligence must be given the same attention as the collection, processing, analysis, and distribution of intelligence related information in law enforcement and public security organizations.

The intelligence community is continually faced with the problem of identifying, understanding, prioritizing, and counteracting the intelligence threats (foreign powers and terrorist groups) that are faced by the United States. As defined in Executive Order 12333, counterintelligence includes both "information gathered" and "activities conducted" in order "to protect against espionage, other intelligence activities, sabotage or assassination conducted on behalf of foreign powers, organizations, or persons, or international terrorist activities but not including personnel, physical documents or communications security."

There is a national level organization for counterintelligence. The National Counterintelligence Executive (NCIX) is appointed by the President to serve as head of national counterintelligence for the United States Government. The mission of the NCIX is to improve the performance of the Counterintelligence community in identifying, assessing, prioritizing and countering intelligence threats to the United States; to ensure CI community efficiency and effectiveness, and to provide for the integration of the CI activities of the U.S. Government. The NCIX heads the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX) and chairs the National Counterintelligence Policy Board .

A Presidential Decision Directive (U.S. Counterintelligence Effectiveness - Counterintelligence for the 21 st Century) established the NCIX, and outlines specific steps enabling the U.S. counterintelligence community to better fulfill its mission.

And, The National Security Agency is authorized by Congress to collect electronic intelligence (ELINT) and conduct counterintelligence.

While many superb men and women in US law enforcement agencies, civilian intelligence agencies, and the military intelligence services are hard at work developing the “actionable” intelligence necessary to target the threats facing the US, one would hope that the same attention and resources would be provided to counter the threats identified with Counterintelligence activities before anyone can act against the interest or the assets of the US.

Can someone tell me if there is a section in the US Constitution that guarantees the right to national suicide? I surely must be missing something that some of the liberal national news media, ACLU, and some politicians on both sides see.

Isn't this what they taught in the Soviet and communist bloc schools on propaganda? Make a false claim, shout it loud and clear, make it repetitive, attach platitudes of indignation when opposed, and support all who pick up the falsehood with praise and support. Do you notice a pattern here?

The National Security Agency can monitor my overseas calls any time.