Espionage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
[de:Spionage]]
Espionage is the governmental or corporate practice of obtaining secrets (spying) from rivals or enemies for military, political, or economic advantage. A spy is an agent employed to obtain such secrets. Historically the definition was restricted to a state spying on potential or actual enemies, primarily for military purposes, but has extended to spying involving corporations, known specifically as Industrial espionage. Most nations routinely spy on their enemies, and allies, although they generally deny this. Black's Law Dictionary (1990) defines espionage as: "...gathering, transmitting, or losing...[information related to the national defense]." Espionage, by a citizen of the target state, is generally considered to be a form of treason.
The Cold War involved intense espionage activity between the United States of America and its allies and the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China and their allies, particulary related to nuclear weapons secrets.
Recently, espionage agencies have targeted the illegal drug trade and terroristss.
See: Cold War espionage
Notable spies or alleged spies
- Rudolf Abel
- Aldrich Ames, CIA agent spying for the Soviet Union
- Rosario Ames, wife of Aldrich Ames
- James Armistead
- Moe Berg
- George Blake
- Anthony Blunt
- Christopher Boyce and Daulton Lee - A pair of American walk-in spies for the Soviet Union known as the Falcon and the Snowman.
- Guy Burgess
- John Cairncross
- Jacques Cousteau
- Mansfield Cummings
- William Fischer
- Cambridge Five
- Ian Fleming
- Klaus Fuchs, physicist who supplied information about the British and American atomic bomb research to the Soviet Union
- Reinhard Gehlen
- Anatoli Golitsin
- David Greenglass
- Günter Guillaume, spy for East Germany who caused the resignation of German Chancellor Willy Brandt
- Nathan Hale
- Theodore Hall
- Robert Hanssen, FBI agent convicted of spying for the Soviet Union
- Reino Hayhanen
- Mata Hari, double spy for France and Germany during World War I
- Gordon Lonsdale
- Donald Maclean
- Harold Nicholson
- Kim Philby
- Earl Edwin Pitts
- Jonathan Pollard, U.S. Navy intelligence officer convicted of spying for Israel
- Robert Baden Powell, operated as a spy during the Boer War
- Alfred Redl
- Sidney Reilly
- Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, American civilians executed for espionage for the Soviet Union
- Rainer Rupp, spy for East Germany in NATO headquarters
- Saville Sax
- Richard Sorge
- John Vassall
- John Anthony Walker
- Markus Wolf, director of the espionage operations of East Germany
- Greville Wynne
Espionage organizations
See also Intelligence agencies and Special Operations Executive
Intelligence disciplines
- SIGINT - Intelleigence gathered by intercepting communications.
- HUMINT - Intelligence gathered by a person on the ground.
- ELINT - Intelligence gathered from electronic sensors.
- OSINT - Intelligence gathered from open sources.
- IMINT
- MASINT
Espionage technology and techniques
Counter-espionage technology and techniques
- TEMPEST - Protection devices for communication equipment.
Fictional spies
External links
See also
Secret agent, Spy fiction, numbers station, surveillance.
