PerspectiveCoronavirus Social Distancing Presents Special Challenges to Spies
While the COVID-19 public health crisis grabs the headlines and kills tens of thousands, state-actors and transnational terrorist groups continue to purloin data, spread disinformation and plan terrorist attacks. Jason M. Blazakis writes that the U.S. national security community’s ability to detect threats may be less than optimal because Human intelligence (HUMINT) collection — a key tool to combat terrorism — is impaired during COVID-19.
While the COVID-19 public health crisis grabs the headlines and kills tens of thousands, state-actors and transnational terrorist groups continue to purloin data, spread disinformation and plan terrorist attacks. Jason M. Blazakis writes in The Hill that as the United States grapples with the virus’s spread, Russia and China have spread disinformation with the hope of destabilizing the U.S. political system while it is off balance. Both Chinese and Russian government officials and outlets have pushed conspiracy theories that the U.S. Army created COVID-19.
He adds:
At the same time, terrorist groups such as ISIS have claimed they will leverage the situation to carry out attacks like those in Paris and Brussels five years ago. A February 2020 Department of Homeland Security Federal Protective Service Bulletin, disseminated to state and local law enforcement, warned that white supremacists were exchanging messages about weaponizing COVID-19 to carry out attacks against U.S. government targets and minorities.
Amid all of this, the U.S. national security community’s ability to detect threats may be less than optimal. If nothing else, U.S. policymakers who respond to intelligence assessments and daily briefings lack bandwidth to evaluate non-COVID-19 challenges. While there is little that can be done about the latter, one wonders what can be done about the former.
Human intelligence (HUMINT) collection — a key tool to combat terrorism — is impaired during COVID-19. Spotting, assessing, recruiting and developing sources of information to combat terrorism and state-borne threats is extremely difficult when half of humanity is on lockdown. Blending into crowds while trying to clandestinely meet a source when there are no crowds becomes unviable and introduces a higher level of exposure.
