Present Use of Technology in Intelligence Activities - Coursework Example

Intelligence and Technology INTRODUCTION With the advancement of technology, considerable changes have been measured in various domains of the society. In the presence of advanced technologies, the society has shown significant changes further depicting a positive direction for the overall mankind. It has been noted that the use of technology can be extensively measured in almost each and every domain of the society including education, business, infrastructure and governmental operations among others. In these areas, the use of technology is viewed to be quite significant and forms one of the integral parts of their respective operational activities. Contextually, the use of technology can also be seen in the domain or the work of intelligence agencies that operate all over the world to mitigate rising issues of crimes and eliminating national security threats in future. The use of technology in the domain of intelligence is quite widespread and forms the integral of part of their operations such as analysis and collection of information among others. Correspondingly, the work of intelligence sector involves considerable amount of confidentiality along with the challenging task of accessing information from others’ computers or security networks. In this context, the varied evolving and valuable technologies enable these agencies to reduce the complexities involved in their work and to ensure positive results (Sternberg and Preiss 69-74). THESIS STATEMENT The importance of technology is deemed to be quite transparent in various domains of the society including the intelligence sector wherein its significance is at the utmost level especially in the present day context. Contextually, this particular essay primarily highlights a few of the potential technologies or applications that can be extensively used in the activities of the intelligence agencies along with identifying a few of the benefits that these technologies can assure for this particular sector. PRESENT USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES It is believed that the presence of technology in the modern day society is extensive and is prevalent in various domains. It has also been known that with the extensive use of technology, the effectiveness and efficacy of executing work has reached to a higher level altogether. Contextually, the use of technology can be witnessed in the work process of intelligence agencies in solving cases relevant to national security and other issues. The work of intelligence includes various processes such as human intelligence (HUMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), open source intelligence (OSINT) and measurement and signatures intelligence (MASINT) among others. These approaches are used by intelligence agencies to acquire information to protect the country from any particular threat. However, the role of technology in conducting these activities could not be ignored. Information technology has an extensive existence in the works that are been conducted by intelligence agencies all around the world (Federation of American Scientists, “Intelligence Collection Activities and Disciplines”). It has been observed that technological development is one of the most important features of the work conducted by intelligence domain. They seek to acquire accurate and trustworthy information relevant to their national issues and frame their acts accordingly. In this regard, they implement advanced and improved technologies to get the best possible information that can be considered or that can prove to be fruitful in dealing with any aspect of national threat. The use of technology in the intelligence sector mainly implements the aspect of technology for the collection and analysis of the information acquired. It is believed that countries that has intelligence agencies with less technical capabilities are unable to acquire accurate and reliable information as they are not been able to attain access to the primary source from where the information are gathered. Contextually, intelligence intends to implement upgraded technologies in each of their domains of working (Federation of American Scientists, “Intelligence Collection Activities and Disciplines”). The use of technologies in the work of intelligence might differ from one to the other. Subsequently, the present application of technology in human intelligence (HUMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), open source intelligence (OSINT) and measurement and signatures intelligence (MASINT) will be vital to discuss. The use of this technology in this particular sector has its roots deeply embedded within the World War II since which the use of technology was ascertained in the intelligence sector. This further continued extensively in the contemporary scenario (Federation of American Scientists, “Technology & Intelligence”; Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Science, “The Elements of Intelligence”). TECHNOLOGIES WITH POTENTIAL FUTURE USE IN THE INTELLIGENCE SECTOR The above discussion has mainly depicted the importance of technology in the intelligence sector. Contextually, this particular section of the essay mainly focuses on depicting a few of the technologies or applications that can prove to be vital to be used in the intelligence sector in the future context to aid in the furtherance of intelligence collection or analysis. It is known that technology has seen maximum advancement in the recent times owing to which the work of intelligence sector has become more effective as a consequence of increase in accuracy. However, these technologies that had been developed in the recent past have lacked the aspect of universal presence within the intelligence sector despite having the potential to be extensively used. In this context, the example of the use radio waves by the National Security Agency (NSA) will be vital to consider. NSA is one of the most significant intelligence agencies of the United States that is accountable for SIGNIT and other information assurance domain of the nation. The agency is seen to be using the radio waves to obtain access of the information on international computers. The agency has placed thousands of computers outside the nation that are implementing radio waves to retrieve data from other international computers. It is a particular undisclosed technology that has been implemented by the agency to acquire noteworthy information. However, traditionally, it is believed that accessing other computers in such easy manner was hard to imagine. This particular purview has utmost potential to be used by agencies all over the world in an extensive manner. The technology can access computers even when they are not been online or connected to any internet connection. The radio waves can be transmitted to other computers with mere use of USB or through a tiny circuit board which is again deemed to be quite advantageous for security agencies. However, the implementation of the radio waves in computer should need to be done manually which is again a minor pitfall of this particular technology. Correspondingly, going by the benefits of the technology, it is very much suitable for the contemporary espionage activities. Hence, this particular technology has a high potential to be extensively used by other agencies all over in the future context (Burns, “NSA Uses Radio Waves to Spy on International Computers”). Another potential technology that can be implemented by the intelligence sector for conducting their activities includes Secure Global Traveler (SGT). In the present day context, SGT is used mainly in the airline sector to protect as well as ensure safety of the travellers especially after the incident of the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The technology has the potential to detect unauthorized people trying to access and brake security web. In this particular technology, users are provided with personal identification number which remains confidential and undisclosed to others. This particular technology might act as useful in the intelligence sector. It is known that the activities that are being conducted in this particular sector are highly confidential and should not be known to any unauthorized individuals. With the use of this particular technology within the intelligence sector, concerned authorities would be able to detect any unauthorized identities further ensuring confidentiality in their work. Furthermore, with this particular technology, concerned authorities in the intelligence sector will also be able to detect any unauthorized person that might act as a threat for the national security of the nations (Tal Global, “Secure Global Traveler”). Hence, this particular technology can also be extensively used in the intelligence sector in the coming future. The other potential technology that can be used by intelligence agencies in their operations of collecting and analyzing information includes the use of phone apps to assess and acquire valuable information. It is believed that when a person opens a particular application in his/her phone, he/she will indirectly provide certain personal information regarding their age, location and gender. Contextually, this information is determined to be vital as per the experts of the intelligence agencies. In the modern day purview, where the threat of terrorism is quite widespread in almost every nation of the world, the information that are acquired from telecommunication technology might prove to be vital for the intelligence sector to identify threats to national security. The information that are being indirectly provided by the users through their mobile phone apps helps the concerned authorities in the intelligence sector to determine the exact location along with the activities of the individual who are using the application. This data will assist intelligence sector in their investigation upto a considerable extent altogether (Glanz, Larson and Lehren, “Spy Agencies Tap Data Streaming from Phone Apps”). Hence, this particular technical aspect is also deemed to have the potential to be implied in the intelligence domain more aggressively in the future context. The use of the prism tool in the activities of collecting and analyzing information in the intelligence sector will be a key aspect to be discussed with regard to the potential use of technology by intelligence agencies in the future context. Prism is a particular tool that is currently being implemented by the NSA of the United States to collect and gather electronic information and data from internet providers such as Facebook and Gmail among others. It is among the recent advancements of the use of technology in the intelligence sector which is again deemed to ensure effective results. However, it is widely believed that the use of prism tool is quite narrow in the present day context as it has not been used widely (The Verge, “Everything You Need to Know about PRISM”). The data that has been acquired through this particular technology or approach seem to provide reliable and accurate facts which again enhance the operational efficiencies of the agencies operating in the intelligence sector. This aspect further depicts that the technology has the potential to be used in a widespread manner, further helping countries to deal with national security threats (Hopkins, “UK Gathering Secret Intelligence via Covert NSA Operation”). Hence, this aspect shows the potential of prism tool to be utilized for intelligence activities in the future context. All the technologies that have been mentioned above are among the latest advancements in the technological domain that is compatible to be used in the intelligence sector in an extensive manner. CONCLUSION From the overall analysis, it can be comprehended that the presence of technology in the contemporary society is quite extensive and can be seen visibly in various domains including education, business and intelligence sectors amid others. The use of technology enhances the effectiveness and efficacy along with the accuracy and reliability of the work that is being executed with the utilization of upgraded technology. Contextually, the use of advanced technology has been witnessed to be quite extensive in the intelligence sector over the years. Since countries are under severe threats with regard to terrorism and other unwanted activities, the use of technologies to acquire relevant and accurate informations about unfamiliar and suspicious activities is of prime importance. Contextually, certain technologies have been identified in the discussion, which have the potential to be extensively implemented in the domain of intelligence in the future context. A few of the technologies such as SGT and mobile application have negligible use in the intelligence sector in the present day purview while the technologies such as prism program and radio waves are used marginally but can be used extensively in the coming future. Hence, it can be concluded that technology is one of the most important components in any sector and its significance can be duly ascertained in the intelligence activities as well in a comprehensive manner altogether. Works Cited Burns, Enid. NSA Uses Radio Waves to Spy on International Computers. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. “Technology & Intelligence.” Federation of American Scientists. n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. “Intelligence Collection Activities and Disciplines.” Federation of American Scientists. n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. Glanz, James, Jeff Larson, and Andrew W. Lehren. Spy Agencies Tap Data Streaming From Phone Apps. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. Hopkins, Nick. UK Gathering Secret Intelligence via Covert NSA Operation. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. “The Elements of Intelligence.” Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Science. 2007. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. Sternberg, Robert J. and Preiss, David D. Intelligence and Technology: The Impact of Tools on the Nature and Development of Human Abilities. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2013. Print. “Secure Global Traveler.” Tal Global. n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. “Everything you need to know about PRISM.” The Verge. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. Read More