Why is Surveillance Conducted?

Welcome back to the final article in this series on Surveillance. As the keen observer I know you are, you will notice I have tried to use the who, what, when, why, and how formula to provide a basic overview of Surveillance from the perspective of a former intelligence officer.

In this article, I will dive into the reasons why Surveillance is used on a target. Since you have read my previous articles, you are aware that Surveillance, in the Intelligence Community, is used to acquire information on a target. But in this article, I will focus specifically, on what can prompt Surveillance to be conducted on one target as opposed to another.  In my previous articles, I have provided a brief overview of the advantages of Surveillance on a target, but there are times when a situation dictates that Surveillance should or must be conducted against a target.

National Security Investigations, like many police investigations, have levels of priority. For example, an active police investigation to identify a serial killer will have a higher priority than a purse snatching case. Although both are crimes and both warrant further investigation, the serial killer case is understandably a higher priority.

If we were to make a similar comparison to the world of Intelligence, a terrorist cell planning an attack would take higher priority than a newly arrived intelligence officer working out of a foreign state embassy. Both investigations relate to national security concerns, but all things being equal, the terrorist cell has the potential to result in death and destruction of unknown capacity.

The use of a Surveillance team can be prompted by both internal and external factors.

An internal factor can come from intelligence information provided by a source close to the target, knowing that the target is picking up unknown parties at the airport.

This can be combined with external factors, such as reliable intelligence received from a foreign government that individuals are traveling into the country to participate in a meeting to plan an act of violence or perpetrate an attack.

These internal and external factors would prompt a Surveillance team to be dispatched to the airport to confirm the arrival of the individuals, who meets them, and where they go in the city.

Actions outside the norm:

The advantage of regular surveillance of a target is most often in understanding the range of the normal activities in which they participate. Take a moment and think about how your own daily routines signify who you are and what you do. A target of a National Security Investigation is very similar. They may be a shift worker, an unemployed hermit, a single parent, or an embassy employee. After weeks or months or even years of surveillance, a Surveillance Team will know the routines of the target. If there is a severe deviation from the normal routine, this may prompt a need for further surveillance to identify the cause of the change.

If a suspected cyberhacker, working for an enemy nation-state, typically conducts all their activities in the privacy of their apartment but suddenly begins working from the home of an associate, this is reason to believe that their change of routine was prompted by an unknown factor yet to be identified. This may also provide the Surveillance team an opportunity to identify other aspects of the target that could be of use in the investigation. Specifically, the associate could be unaware of the actions of the target as a cyberhacker, and they may be willing to assist in the investigation.

Unexpected opportunity:

Do you remember the previously mentioned newly arrived Intelligence Officer? Well, the Surveillance Team does, and during a surveillance run against our cyberhacker, they come across the new IO meeting an unidentified individual in a park. This presents an opportunity to collect information on a viable target. But what about our cyberhacker? Luckily, the Surveillance team consists of enough members to split the team to both maintain coverage of the cyberhacker, who is static now, and pursue the Intelligence Officer to identify the unknown individual in the park. 

These are a few examples of why surveillance is conducted in the Intelligence Community. But as I previously mentioned, the main reason a Surveillance team is dispatched against a target is to acquire more information on that target. 

Surveillance is both a science and an art. To perform it with any level of proficiency, it takes years of hard work and patience. Surveillants have to:

• See, without being seen.
• Observe, without being observed.
• Notice, without being noticed. 

For the Intelligence professionals who are tasked with this difficult, but incredibly important role in the Intelligence Community, the idea of mastering the art of surveillance is unachievable, but the constant effort they put into their profession allows them to be an incredible contribution to maintaining national security.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this series. In my next series of articles, I will discuss Counter-Surveillance, the flip side of the coin to Surveillance.  That series will delve into how Intelligence Officers use counter-surveillance to keep themselves, their operational activity, and their sources safe.