Confusing counterintelligence with security can wreck your afternoon

Abstract

Typically, there is little linkage between a firm's intelligence collection and security functions. Nevertheless, counterintelligence measures often are relegated to security personnel, if they're thought about at all. But while security seeks to protect a firm's assets by a combination of policies, procedures and practices, counterintelligence, properly understood, aims to engage and neutralize a competitor's collection efforts through a variety of imaginative, flexible, and active measures. An organized counterintelligence approach, such as the Business Intelligence Collection Model^SM described here, can help ensure CI/counterintelligence integration. This process involves defining what needs to be protected, for how long, and from whom; assessing the rival's CI collection capabilities; testing and managing your firm's vulnerability to the rival's collection methods; developing and implementing aggressive countermeasures (including disinformation); analyzing the results; and integrating this information with data from the CI side of the process, thereby providing management with a more complete intelligence picture of the marketplace (revealing what the competition is trying to collect, for instance, is often an early indicator of where they're headed as a company). A case study is provided. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.