Daesh Dudes Diplomats
Spy the spy
The threat from espionage did not end with the Cold War. A number of hostile states continue to collect sensitive information about EU's member states and about the EU's foreign politics and capacity, in order to advance their own military, political, technological, commercial, and economic programs.
The risks to be targeted increase significantly when you travel to foreign countries on mission, business, or even on private trips.
The EEAs staff, missions, and offices in Brussels, Vienna, the Hague, are all targets for foreign intelligence services. Some foreign intelligence services routinely intercept the communications of EU staff abroad on official business.
In 2003, eavesdropping devices were discovered in the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, likely to find out details of member states' negotiating positions during the long and complex talks on EU enlargement.
In 2018, Dutch authorities caught a Russian GRU team of spies trying to intercept the communication at the OPCW headquarters in the Hague.
In 2020, journalists have uncovered the existence of an extensive network of intelligence agents in Brussels 2020, former EU officials who have been spying for foreign intelligence services. These are just a few examples official to the public. The spy business is here to stay.
Your staff, your human resources are not only the most expensive and exclusive investment within your company, organization, or institution. It is the most valuable piece of an organization. It is also the far most vulnerable part of it. It is an enemy within. The hostile surveillance and espionage are likely to increase within the member states and within the EU.
Recruiting secret agents within the EU institutions and missions is a strategic objective for a number of foreign intelligence services. The spies come in many different guises. Learn to identify:
- A Fake legend
- A Hidden agenda
- A Targeting process
In past years, the number of incidents that point to unauthorized attempts to collect sensitive and/or classified information has increased. This and much more I have covered in my book "Daesh Dudes and Diplomats". Sign up for re:find or customized training such as re:brand