History of Surveillance: From Espionage to Cyber Intelligence in Military Operations

By Fouad Sabry

What is History of Surveillance

Surveillance is a method of constant observation that has been used throughout history. While surveillance has become popularized through recent advances in technology, surveillance activities have occurred throughout history.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: History of Surveillance

Chapter 2: Espionage

Chapter 3: Industrial Espionage

Chapter 4: Ninja

Chapter 5: Surveillance

Chapter 6: Reconnaissance

Chapter 7: Seti I

Chapter 8: Mass Surveillance

Chapter 9: Kadesh (Syria)

Chapter 10: Battle of Kadesh

(II) Answering the public top questions about history of surveillance.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of History of Surveillance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Jun 18, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: History of surveillance

Throughout the course of human history, the practice of surveillance has been utilized as a technique of continuous observation. Despite the fact that current technological advancements have contributed to the rise in popularity of monitoring, activities related to surveillance have been carried out throughout history.

As Keith Laidler proposes in his book Surveillance Unlimited: How We’ve Become the Most Watched People on Earth, "spying and surveillance are at least as old as civilization itself.

The rise of city states and empires […] meant that each needed to know not only the disposition and morale of their enemy, but also the loyalty and general sentiment of their own population."

Surveillance has been referred to as spying or espionage on numerous occasions throughout history. The majority of the time, surveillance has been used throughout history as a method to gather and collect information, monitor the behaviors of other individuals (often adversaries), and make use of this knowledge to gain a better understanding of the party that is being spied upon. Since the beginning of time, the most common method of surveillance has been accomplished through the utilization of a single spy or a small group of spies. As new technologies emerged, such as spyglasses, telescopes, and radios, surveillance technologies continued to have an impact on the manner in which surveillance was carried out. The extent to which surveillance methods have developed over the course of history is brought into focus by contemporary surveillance technology such as closed-circuit television, radio frequency identification, and global positioning systems.

In the Bible, there are numerous instances that could be considered examples of surveillance. That of David and Bathsheba, which can be found in the second book of Samuel, is an example that can be found in the book of 2 Samuel. David was wandering on the roof of his castle when he saw Bathsheba taking a bath. As he continued to observe her, his desire for her intensified, despite the fact that she was already married to Uriah. Rather of being used for the benefit of society as a whole, David decided to employ surveillance for his own personal advantage and enjoyment in this particular instance.

Another example, and as Kieith Laidler has shown out, is a book that can be found in the numerical book.

Here, details of the information that the spies were required to collect mostly regarding the land, what is the population density of the land?, structure of the towns and cities, (Numbers 13: 17–20) the quality of the soil as well as the presence of trees in the surroundings.

In contrast to the tragic tale of David and Bathsheba, In this instance, monitoring is being utilized for a distinct set of purposes.

Through the gathering of knowledge concerning the territory and its inhabitants, With the help of the spies, they would have been able to ascertain the capabilities and limitations of their adversaries.

This particular application of monitoring satisfies one of the most fundamental aspects of surveillance, both historically and in light of contemporary developments.

In his book titled The Enemy Within: A History of Espionage, Terry Crowdy makes the following assertion::

"the earliest surviving record of espionage dates from the time of Pharaoh Rameses’ war with the Hittites and the battle of Kadesh.

(c.1274 BC)…The Hittite king Muwatallis sent two spies into the Egyptian camp posing as deserters to convince pharaoh that the Hittite army was still quite distant.

Rameses trusted their account and, without realizing it, permitted a portion of his army to march into an ambush set up by the Hittites.

For the pharaoh's benefit, good fortune, he captured two more Hittite spies and had his officers interrogate them…the Hittites spies revealed that an ambush had been set…Ramses was therefore able to bring up reserves and avert disaster at what became known as the battle of Kadesh."

{End Chapter 1}

Chapter 2: Espionage

collecting intelligence, often known as espionage, spying, or intelligence collecting, is the process of acquiring information that is strictly confidential or secret. An individual who engages in the act of espionage is referred to as an espionage agent or spy. In the service of a government, company, criminal organization, or independent operation, espionage can be committed by any individual or spy ring (a group of two or more individuals who work together to carry out a spy mission). Because it is by definition undesirable, the practice is considered to be clandestine. Under certain conditions, it might be a legitimate instrument of law enforcement, while under other conditions, it might be unlawful and subject to legal repercussions.

It is common for a government or a commercial entity to engage in espionage as a component of an institutionalised effort. On the other hand, the word is typically connected with official state surveillance of potential or present adversaries for the purposes of military operations. Industrial espionage is the term used to describe spying that involves corporations.

Infiltrating the ranks of a given organization is one method that can be utilized to collect data and information about that organization. It is therefore possible for spies to come back with information such as the size and strength of the enemy forces. In addition to this, they are able to locate individuals who are dissidents within the organization and persuade them to surrender or disclose additional information. Spies are someone who steals technology and sabotages the enemy in a variety of different ways during times of crisis. Confronting and preventing the collecting of intelligence and espionage by an adversary is the practice of counterintelligence. The majority of sovereign states have stringent laws regarding espionage, and those who engage in espionage in other countries are subject to these laws. The consequences for being detected are frequently harsh.

Throughout the history of military affairs, the significance of espionage has been acknowledged since ancient times.

A spy who was working in the court of King Hammurabi, who passed away in 1750 BC, fabricated a report while posing as a diplomatic emissary. This report is considered to be the oldest known classified document. There are references to espionage in the Iliad, the Bible, and the Amarna writings, as well as its recordings in the account of the Old Testament known as The Twelve Spies. The ancient Egyptians had a well-developed secret service.

At the height of World War I in the 20th century, every great power, with the exception of the United States, had sophisticated civilian espionage systems, and every national military institution had intelligence divisions. Congress of the United States of America enacted the Espionage Act of 1917 in order to safeguard the nation from the activities of foreign agents. Mata Hari was the most famous espionage operative of World War I. She was responsible for gathering intelligence for Germany by luring French officials into cooperating with Germany. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, Germany and Imperial Japan had already created complex networks of espionage. In the year 1942, General William J. Donovan established the Office of Strategic Services under his leadership. The British system, on the other hand, constituted the foundation of the Allied intelligence system. There were a great number of resistance groups that worked against Nazi Germany. Some of these groups include the Maier-Messner Group from Austria, the French Resistance, the Witte Brigade, Milorg, and the Polish Home Army. These groups also gave the Allied secret agencies with information that was extremely crucial for the war effort.

Espionage has been more widespread after the end of World War II, with a significant portion of this growth stemming from the Cold War that was fought between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. From the Okhrana to the KGB (Committee for State Security), which also served as a secret police organization, the Russian Empire and its successor, the Soviet Union, have a long history of espionage. This heritage can be traced back to the Okhrana. The Central information Agency (CIA) was established in the United States by the National Security Act of 1947. Its primary function is to coordinate information gathering with the National Security Agency, which is responsible for doing research into codes and electronic communication. In addition to these, the United States of America has thirteen more agencies that are responsible for gathering intelligence. The majority of the nation's funding for intelligence collection is allocated to various agencies under the Department of Defense and the programs that they run. In accordance with the reorganization of the department of intelligence that took place in 2004, the director of national intelligence is accountable for supervising and coordinating the activities and budgets of the various intelligence agencies in the United States.

Cases involving espionage during the Cold War included those involving Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers, as well as the Rosenberg Case. Two Central Intelligence Agency agents were taken captive by the Communist Chinese in the year 1952. In the year 1960, Francis Gary Powers, who was flying a U-2 reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union for the CIA, was shot down and taken captive. During the time of the Cold War, a large number of Soviet intelligence professionals, such as General Walter Krivitsky, Victor Kravchenko, Vladimir Petrov, Peter Deriabin Pawel Monat, and Oleg Penkovsky, of the GRU, defected to the West. A number of Western officials, including Guy Burgess and Donald D. Maclean of Great Britain in 1951, Otto John of West Germany in 1954, William H. Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell, cryptographers from