Spider Web: Al-Qaeda's Link to the Intelligence Agencies of the Major Powers

摘要

Some U.S. counterintelligence officials fear that terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda may employ some of the same tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of intelligence collection as its state adversaries. Indeed, according to Justin R. Harber, "al-Qaeda training media include lessons on how to collect open source intelligence, conduct surveillance, interrogate detainees, and recruit agents working in a foreign government." Moreover, others argue that al-Qaeda-".. .the most backward, barbaric, bloodthirsty, and oppressive terrorist group on earth"-is under-resourced, given the United States's ".. .massive, sprawling, multi-billion-dollar intelligence gathering bureaucracy." Yet, many, perhaps most, are unaware that al-Qaeda's intelligence and counterintelligence TTPs originated with the intelligence agencies of the major powers. And while the intelligence agencies of the United States, Britain, France, and Russia have adapted their TTPs to deal with the global threats of the day, al-Qaeda and similar groups have also evolved the fundamental intelligence TTPs they acquired from the major powers to survive in hostile operating environments.