|
|
Risks During
Foreign Travel
|
.gif)
The risk of becoming an intelligence
target increases greatly during foreign travel. As an American government
official, scientist, or business traveler with access to useful information,
you can become the target of a foreign intelligence or security service
at anytime in any country. As described in Who's
Doing What to Whom, the threat is certainly not limited to so-called
"unfriendly" countries.
Never think, "They wouldn't dare risk
something like that against me. They have too much at stake." Many
countries do risk it, routinely, because the potential benefits are great and
the risks are very low when an intelligence service is operating on its home
turf. Even U.S. Government cabinet level officials and corporate CEOs have
been assigned to bugged hotel rooms and had all their documents secretly
photographed or their laptop computers accessed.
Conversely, never think you are too
low-ranking to be of interest. Secretaries, file clerks and cleaning crew are
targeted because they can often provide access to valuable information.
Foreign government scrutiny of you while
visiting another country may occur by design or chance for any of the
following reasons:
- You have government, business, scientific, or
technical information of potential value to a foreign government or a
local industry.
- You have relatives or organizational
affiliations or speak the local language fluently in the country you are
visiting.
- You fit a terrorism, narcotic trafficking,
criminal, or other profile.
- You buy or sell on the black-market.
- The local government discovers on your person
or in your luggage literature that is banned or strictly controlled.
- You are associating with individuals the host
government considers as political dissidents.
Here are some of the common methods that
may be used..
Methods
Assessment - Friendly discussion with local contacts who assess
whether you have information of value and seek to identify any personal
attitudes, beliefs, problems or needs that could be exploitable.
Elicitation - A ploy whereby seemingly normal conversation is
contrived to extract intelligence information of value. Advantages of this
technique are that it:
- Puts someone at ease to share information.
- Is difficult to recognize as an intelligence
technique.
- Is easily deniable.
Eavesdropping - Listening to other peoples' conversations to
gather information.
- Frequently done in social environments where
attendees feel comfortable and secure and, therefore, are more likely to
talk about themselves or their work.
- Frequent venues include restaurants, bars, and
public transportation.
- Eavesdropping can occur in a radius of six to
eight seats on public transportation or 10-12 feet in other settings.
Technical Eavesdropping - Use of audio and visual devices, usually
concealed.
- Relatively cost efficient and low risk.
- Concealed devices can be installed in public
and private facilities -- such as hotel rooms, restaurants, offices, and
automobiles.
"Bag Operations" - Surreptitious entry into someone's hotel room to
steal, photograph, or photocopy documents; steal or copy magnetic media; or
download from laptop computers.
- Often conducted or condoned by host government
intelligence or security services or by operatives for local
corporations.
- Frequently done with cooperation of hotel
staff.
Surveillance - Following you to determine your contacts and
activities.
- Labor intensive if done correctly. Not usually
done unless you are suspected of improper activity or a target of great
interest.
Theft of Information - Stealing documents, briefcases, laptop computers
or sensitive equipment.
- Laptop computers are especially vulnerable as
they may contain a treasure trove of information.
- Theft of laptops from hotel rooms and while
transiting airports is especially common.
- Foreign service has plausible denial, as the
laptop may have been stolen for the value of the laptop rather than
value of the information it contained. You may never know whether the
information was compromised or not.
Intercepting Electronic Communications - Telephones, fax, telex, and computers can all be
monitored electronically.
- You are particularly vulnerable while
communicating to, from or within foreign countries, as most foreign
telecommunications systems cooperate with their country's security
service.
- Office, hotel, and portable telephones
(including cellular) are key targets.
How to Protect Yourself
Common sense and basic counterintelligence
(CI) awareness can effectively protect you against foreign attempts to
collect sensitive, proprietary, and other privileged information. A few tips
are listed below.
- Arrange a pre-travel briefing from your
security office.
- Maintain physical control of all sensitive
documents or equipment at all times. Do not leave items that would be of
value to a foreign intelligence service unattended in hotel rooms or
stored in hotel safes.
- Limit sensitive discussions -- hotel rooms or
other public places are rarely suitable to discuss sensitive
information.
- Do not use computer or facsimile equipment at
foreign hotels or business centers for sensitive matters.
- Do not divulge information to anyone not
authorized to hear it.
- Ignore or deflect intrusive inquiries or
conversation about business or personal matters.
- Keep unwanted material until it can be
disposed of securely. Burn or shred paper and cut floppy disks in pieces
and discard.
- Keep your laptop computer as carry-on baggage
-- never check it with other luggage and, if possible, remove or control
storage media.
- If secure communications equipment is
accessible, use it to discuss business matters.
- Report any CI incident to the relevant U.S. Government
agency and/or your local security office.
Reference
Most of the
information in this module on risks during foreign travel comes from publications
of the Overseas Security Advisory Council. OSAC is a joint venture between
State Department and private sector security professionals designed to
exchange security-related information pertaining to foreign travel. OSAC may
be contacted at (202) 663-0533. Information is available via the OSAC web
site at http://www.ds-osac.org/
|