Intelligence: Hiding In Plain Sight

[Valin]

Strategy Page

July 26, 2020:

Syria has been at war since the 2011 “Arab Spring” uprising and because of that over a third of the population has fled the country, including a growing number of people belonging to the Syrian government. That has created a bonanza for intelligence agencies, who can pay for secrets of the highly secretive Assad clan that has ruled Syria since the 1960s. Some of these secrets are headed for books while others will be locked away by foreign intel agencies. Some of these secrets have become public and one of the more interesting collections are about the Syrian Branch 211, a division of the Military Intelligence Division that was responsible for uncovering Israeli electronic devices hidden in furniture, concrete, artificial rocks and many other unlikely locations.

Syria has long been a prime target for Israeli espionage, and remains so today. Knowing who to spy on is just as important as teaching your case officers how to spy. Sometimes deciding who to keeps tabs on, or steal information from, can mean the difference between a successful operation and a ruined reputation that makes others unwilling to work with you.

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