Espionage: Difference between revisions

The oldest known classified document was a report made by a spy disguised as a [[Envoy (title)|diplomatic envoy]] in the court of [[King Hammurabi]], who died in around 1750 BC. The [[ancient Egypt]]ians had a developed secret service, and espionage is mentioned in the ''[[Iliad]]'', the [[Bible]], and the [[Amarna letters]] as well as its recordings in the story of the [[Old Testament]], ''[[The Twelve Spies]]''.<ref name="foo">{{cite web |title=Espionage Facts |url=https://www.spymuseum.org/education-programs/spy-resources/espionage-facts/ |website=International Spy Museum |access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref> Espionage was also prevalent in the [[Greco-Roman world]], when spies employed illiterate subjects in [[civil service]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Richmond |first=J. A. |date=1998 |title=Spies in Ancient Greece |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/643204 |journal=Greece & Rome |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1093/gr/45.1.1 |jstor=643204 |issn=0017-3835}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ñaco del Hoyo |first=Toni |date=November 2014 |title=Roman and Pontic Intelligence Strategies: Politics and War in the Time of Mithradates VI |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26098615 |journal=War in History |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=401–421 |doi=10.1177/0968344513505528 |jstor=26098615 |s2cid=220652440 |via=JSTOR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=ehoward |date=2006-06-12 |title=Espionage in Ancient Rome |url=https://www.historynet.com/espionage-in-ancient-rome/ |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=HistoryNet |language=en-US}}</ref>

The thesis that espionage and intelligence has a central role in [[war]] as well as [[peace]] was first advanced in ''[[The Art of War]]'' and in the ''[[Arthashastra]]''. In the [[Middle Ages]] European states excelled at what has later been termed counter-[[subversion]] when Catholic [[inquisition]]s were staged to annihilate [[heresy]]. Inquisitions were marked by centrally organised mass [[interrogation]]s and detailed record keeping. During the [[Renaissance]] European states funded codebreakers to obtain intelligence through [[frequency analysis]]. Western espionage changed fundamentally during the Renaissance when Italian [[city-state]]s installed resident [[ambassador]]s in [[capital cities]] to collect intelligence. Renaissance [[Venice]] became so obsessed with espionage that the [[Council of Ten]], which was nominally responsible for [[security]], did not even allow the [[Doge (title)|doge]] to consult government [[archive]]s freely. In 1481 the Council of Ten barred all Venetian government officials from making contact with ambassadors or foreigners. Those revealing [[official secret]]s could face the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]]. Venice became obsessed with espionage because successful [[international trade]] demanded that the city-state could protect its [[trade secret]]s. Under Queen [[Elizabeth I]] of England ({{reign | 1558 | 1603}}), [[Francis Walsingham]] ({{circa}} 1532–1590) was appointed foreign secretary and intelligence chief.<ref>{{Cite book | last= Andrew | first= Christopher | title= The Secret World: A History of Intelligence | date= 28 June 2018 | publisher= Penguin Books Limited | isbn= 9780241305225}}</ref> The novelist and journalist [[Daniel Defoe]] (died 1731) not only spied for the British government, but also developed a theory of espionage foreshadowing modern [[police-state]] methods.<ref>

In modern times, many people convicted of espionage have been given penal sentences rather than execution. For example, [[Aldrich Hazen Ames]] is an American CIA analyst, turned KGB mole, who was convicted of espionage in 1994; he is serving a [[life sentence]] without the possibility of parole in the high-security [[United States Penitentiary, Allenwood|Allenwood U.S. Penitentiary]].<ref name="Federal Bureau of Prisons">{{cite web |url=http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=Ames&Middle=&FirstName=Aldrich+&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=23&y=24 |title=Aldrich Hazen Ames Register Number: 40087-083 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons |work=Bop.gov |access-date=2014-01-03 |archive-date=2012-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919121009/http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=Ames&Middle=&FirstName=Aldrich+&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=23&y=24 |url-status=dead }} ''(Search result)''</ref> Ames was formerly a 31-year [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] [[counter-intelligence|counterintelligence]] officer and analyst who committed espionage against his country by [[spying]] for the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Russia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/aldrich-hazen-ames|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013065115/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/aldrich-hazen-ames|url-status=dead|archive-date=2010-10-13|title=FBI – Aldrich Hazen Ames|publisher=FBI}}</ref> So far as it is known, Ames compromised the second-largest number of CIA agents, second only to [[Robert Hanssen]], who also served a prison sentence until his death in 2023.<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Hanssen, F.B.I. Agent Exposed as Spy for Moscow, Dies at 79 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/us/robert-hanssen-spy-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=5 June 2023}}</ref>

Espionage is illegal in the UK under the Official Secrets Acts of 1911 and 1920. The UK law under this legislation considers espionage as "concerning those who intend to help an enemy and deliberately harm the security of the nation". According to [[MI5]], a person commits the offence of 'spying' if they, "for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State": approaches, enters or inspects a prohibited area; makes documents such as plans that are intended, calculated, or could directly or indirectly be of use to an enemy; or "obtains, collects, records, or publishes, or communicates to any other person any secret official code word, or password, or any sketch, plan, model, article, or note, or other document which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy". The illegality of espionage also includes any action which may be considered 'preparatory to' spying, or encouraging or aiding another to spy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mi5.gov.uk/home/the-threats/espionage/espionage-and-the-law.html |title=Espionage and the law &#124; |website=MI5 - the Security Service |access-date=2014-08-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140925142433/https://www.mi5.gov.uk/home/the-threats/espionage/espionage-and-the-law.html |archive-date=2014-09-25 }}</ref>

Government intelligence is very much distinct from espionage, and is not illegal in the UK, providing that the organisations of individuals are registered, often with the ICO, and are acting within the restrictions of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). 'Intelligence' is considered legally as "information of all sorts gathered by a government or organisation to guide its decisions. It includes information that may be both public and private, obtained from much different public or secret sources. It could consist entirely of information from either publicly available or secret sources, or be a combination of the two."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mi5.gov.uk/home/the-threats/espionage/what-is-espionage.html |title=What is espionage? &#124; |website=MI5 - the Security Service |access-date=2013-08-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101174455/https://www.mi5.gov.uk/home/the-threats/espionage/what-is-espionage.html |archive-date=2013-11-01 }}</ref>