Discussing the challenges terrorist groups face as they multiply and plot international attacks, while at the same time providing a framework for decoding the strengths and weaknesses of their counter-intelligence, Blake W. Mobley offers an indispensable text for the intelligence, military, homeland security, and law enforcement fields.

Chandler and Gunaratna employ their unparalleled expertise to probe the West's responses to the catastrophic attacks so indelibly seared into the history of the early twenty-first century, from 9/11 to the Madrid bombings to deadly strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine, and elsewhere.

The United States faces substantial challenges to its security, freedom, and prosperity. Transnational terrorism, continued proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), asymmetric warfare, extremist movements, and failed states present severe challenges to a just and stable international order. Our ability to meet these challenges is threatened by the intelligence activities of traditional and non-traditional adversaries. Our adversaries - foreign intelligence services, terrorists, foreign criminal enterprises and cyber intruders - use overt, covert, and clandestine activities to exploit and undermine US national security interests. Counterintelligence is one of several instruments of national power that can thwart such activities, but its effectiveness depends in many respects on co-ordination with other elements of government and with the private sector. During the Cold War, our nation's adversaries gained access to vital secrets of the most closely guarded institutions of our national security establishment and penetrated virtually all organisations of the US intelligence and defence communities. The resulting losses produced grave damage to our national security in terms of secrets compromised, intelligence sources degraded, and lives lost, and would have been catastrophic had we been at war. Today we are engaged in a war, fighting terrorists who have invaded our nation's shores and threaten Americans and our allies around the world. In this struggle - which has cultural, economic, diplomatic, and political as well as military dimensions - the potential consequences of counterintelligence failures can be immediate and devastating, putting in jeopardy our nation's vital information, infrastructure, military forces and a wide range of US interests, technologies and personnel around the world. In the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the counterintelligence community has begun to evolve from a confederation toward a unified enterprise able to bring the full range of counterintelligence capabilities to bear on national issues. The Counterintelligence Enhancement Act of 2002, as amended, and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 accelerated this evolution and charged the National Counterintelligence Executive (NCIX) with producing this National Counterintelligence Strategy and providing the President with reports on its implementation. Yet much remains undone. Continuing the process of integrating counterintelligence activities is an urgent national requirement. The counterintelligence community must do this through increasingly rigorous policy, doctrine, standards, and technology, and by aligning policy and practice with the budgetary and operational priorities of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Counterintelligence activities must be orchestrated and integrated to better protect America's secrets and vital assets while providing incisive intelligence to national security decision makers. The counterintelligence capabilities of the United States evolved over time to fit the shape and mission of the disparate institutions that controlled them. Taken individually, these capabilities do not provide a response equal to the breadth of the threats arrayed against the nation, and they have not always functioned cohesively in support of focused national priorities.

Can We Construct a Grand Strategy to Counter Terrorism? Fifteen years after September 11, the United States still faces terror threats—both domestic and foreign. After years of wars, ever more intensive and pervasive surveillance, enhanced security measures at major transportation centers, and many attempts to explain who we are fighting and why and how to fight them, the threats continue to multiply. So, too, do our attempts to understand just what terrorism is and how to counter it. Two leaders in the field of terrorism studies, Martha Crenshaw and Gary LaFree, provide a critical look at how we have dealt with the terror threat over the years. They make clear why it is so difficult to create policy to counter terrorism. The foes are multiple and often amorphous, the study of the field dogged by disagreement on basic definitional and methodological issues, and the creation of policy hobbled by an exacting standard: the counterterrorist must succeed all the time; the terrorist only once. As Countering Terrorism shows, there are no simple solutions to this threat.

As technology continues to advance, the threats imposed on these innovations also continue to grow and evolve. As such, law enforcement specialists diligently work to counteract these threats, promote national safety, and defend the individual rights of citizens. National Security and Counterintelligence in the Era of Cyber Espionage highlights technological advancements in intelligence systems and law enforcement in relation to cybercrime and reconnaissance issues. Focusing on current and emergent threats to national security, as well as the technological advancements being adopted within the intelligence field, this book is an exhaustive reference source for government officials, researchers, graduate-level students, and intelligence and enforcement specialists interested in novel measures in being implemented in the prevention of cybercrime and terrorism.

Decision makers matching wits with an adversary want intelligence—good, relevant information to help them win. Intelligence can gain these advantages through directed research and analysis, agile collection, and the timely use of guile and theft. Counterintelligence is the art and practice of defeating these endeavors. Its purpose is the same as that of positive intelligence—to gain advantage—but it does so by exploiting, disrupting, denying, or manipulating the intelligence activities of others. The tools of counterintelligence include security systems, deception, and disguise: vaults, mirrors, and masks. In one indispensable volume, top practitioners and scholars in the field explain the importance of counterintelligence today and explore the causes of—and practical solutions for—U.S. counterintelligence weaknesses. These experts stress the importance of developing a sound strategic vision in order to improve U.S. counterintelligence and emphasize the challenges posed by technological change, confused purposes, political culture, and bureaucratic rigidity. Vaults, Mirrors, and Masks skillfully reveals that robust counterintelligence is vital to ensuring America's security. Published in cooperation with the Center for Peace and Security Studies and the George T. Kalaris Memorial Fund, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.