Intra-Allies Intelligence Operations in International Relations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
S2161419 “Doubles Jeux” Intra-Allies Intelligence Operations in International Relations By Gauthier le Roux de Bretagne S2161419 [email protected] Master Thesis Leiden University Humanities Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Lukas Milevski Second reader: Dr. Gjovalin Macaj Word count: 14944 Friday, July 5th 2019 1 S2161419 Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank my supervisor Lukas Milevski for his help and guidance throughout my work. Second, I would like to express my deepest thanks to Eleonora di Pangrazio, Erik Lavalade, Giorgio Alesiani and Jonathan Lench for their invaluable advice and thorough proofreading. I am thankful to Livvy Bourge, Sophie van de Meulengraaf and Lorcan Ryan for their precious company during every lunch and break, which made days spent in the library a pleasure. I would also like to thank my Owl group for their constant support including on Sundays. Finally, I would like to thank the basement community for their warmest welcome every morning, giving me the motivation and inspiration necessary to finish this thesis. 2 S2161419 Table of Contents List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Thesis Framework .......................................................................................................................................... 7 Intelligence ...........................................................................................................................................................7 Literature Review .................................................................................................................................................8 French-American Alliance .................................................................................................................................. 13 Research Design ................................................................................................................................................ 16 1) Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 16 2) Case Studies ............................................................................................................................................... 17 3) Sources ...................................................................................................................................................... 18 CIA Implication in the Algerian War .............................................................................................................. 19 Washington and the FLN ................................................................................................................................... 20 The CIA and French Separatists Acquaintance .................................................................................................. 22 Conspiracy Theories .......................................................................................................................................... 24 Connection Between U.S. Operations and the Alliance .................................................................................... 25 French Economic Espionage ......................................................................................................................... 27 French Services Target the U.S. ......................................................................................................................... 28 Focus on American Champions ......................................................................................................................... 30 Economic Counter Espionage ............................................................................................................................ 31 Spying and Disclosure Effects on Alliance ......................................................................................................... 32 NSA Mass Surveillance ................................................................................................................................. 34 Large-Scale Monitoring ..................................................................................................................................... 35 Eavesdropping on Officials ................................................................................................................................ 37 Disclosure and Mitigated Repercussions ........................................................................................................... 39 Analysis and Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 41 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 45 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................. 46 3 S2161419 List of Abbreviations AFL-CIO American Federation of Labour - Congress of Industrial Organisations CIA Central Intelligence Agency DGSE Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation FLN Front de Libération National HUMINT Human Intelligence IBM International Business Machines Corporation IC Intelligence Community IMINT Imagery Intelligence NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NSA National Security Agency OAS Organisation de l’Armée Secrète OSC Open Source Center OSINT Open Sources Intelligence SDECE Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage SIGINT Signal Intelligence 4 S2161419 Introduction In November 2015, Jonathan Pollard was set free from American detention. This former U.S. intelligence analyst had been condemned to life in prison in 1987 for spying activities against his nation. During the Cold War era, several intelligence officers betrayed their country in favor of the opponent bloc. Pollard however did not act for Soviet interests. American of Jewish faith, Pollard was accused of covertly working for the Israeli government. Even though Israel was one of the closest U.S. allies, Israeli intelligence services actively collected American classified information. These spying activities, comparable to betrayal, are common practices among even allied nations; when matters of intelligence are concerned, governments often disregard alliances. Indeed, the field of intelligence displays a structure in which conventional principles of international relations are set aside. William Stephenson, a Canadian officer working for the British intelligence portrays this obscure aspect of international relations in simple words: “This is the wonderful thing about espionage, nothing exists anymore”. Intelligence, whether it be espionage or covert operations, is not affected by legality nor legitimacy thus challenging the rules of international politics. Nation states operate in a Janus-faced relationship with one another, opposing official public relations yet undertaking secret operations. Following Sun Tzu’s precept “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles”1, governments engage in spying activities not only against their enemies but also within their own alliance. Given the value of a mutually confident relationship, it could be assumed that countries would not jeopardize such an asset. Yet, interaction between states often involves selfish activities. In the realm of international relations, governments usually give primacy to national stakes. Glenn Snyder, belonging to the realist theoretical school argues “States will act according to their interests, whether they are allied or not” 2. As a matter of fact, countries having various incentives to take actions against their allies, often resort to intra-ally intelligence operations. These operations, conducted in secrecy, can have major impacts on international relations development and thus potentially affect friendly relationships. Research Question: In bilateral alliance relations, what role do intelligence operations against the second party play? 1 Sun Tzu & Giles, 2000 2 Snyder, 1997 p.9 5 S2161419 This research question will be divided into three sub-questions: - Which reasons prompt partners to engage in intelligence operations? - Do alliances produce conditions which facilitate such intelligence operations? - Do intra-ally intelligence operations affect the bilateral relations in some way? In a first section, this thesis will introduce the concept of intelligence, present the academic literature concerning intra-ally operations and describe the chosen methodology. The second section will empirically study three cases of intelligence operations among allies. Finally, the analytical part will expose the findings and discuss their implications over the field of international relations. As this paper considers the use of intelligence among allied countries relationship, the analysis will focus on peace time intelligence addressing both foreign operations and domestic surveillance even though nowadays, the traditional Westphalian boundary dividing the two is getting increasingly blurred3. There is a strong need to academically