July 24th, 2007
Espionage on the rise
Espionage is evidently a growth industry once again. An article in The Australian reports that the number of Russian and Chinese spies in Australia are approaching the level they were at during the Cold War. Australia is trying to build out its counter-espionage capabilities. I wonder if there are any modern innovations to trade craft? Encrypted USB thumb drives instead of microdots?
The growing Russian threat comes on top of an even larger rise in the number of Chinese agents operating in Australia in recent years, as a booming economy and record defence spending provide a wealth of new opportunities for traditional espionage.
Russia is obviously doing a lot of saber rattling lately: expelling British diplomats in a classic tit for tat over the murder of a British citizen and ex-KGB operative, Alexander Litvinenko.
The upside of all of this is that maybe John le Carre will start writing spy novels again instead of fantasies about drug companies (Constant Gardener) and Bush conspiracies (Absolute Friends).
Richard Stiennon is an industry consultant. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
