Oleg Nechiporenko
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Total Espionage doctrine is a specific approach to intelligence gathering, implicating as many variable sources as possible. It combines political, economic, financial, military and industrial espionage. Like other types of espionage, it is subdivided into active and passive espionage. In its original meaning, it applies to
human intelligence Human intelligence is the intellectual capability of humans, which is marked by complex cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness. High intelligence is associated with better outcomes in life. Through intelligence, humans ...
(HUMINT). It characterizes
authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...
and
totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
regimes. In the 20th century total espionage was practiced by Japan, Germany and the Soviet Russia. During the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the Soviet
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
often accused the United States of total espionage.


Kurt Reiss

Total espionage doctrine was first defined by Kurt Riess in his 1941 book ''Total Espionage: Germany's Information and Disinformation Apparatus 1932-40''. German intelligence used Germans residing or travelling abroad, as well as foreign sympathizers, to collect all sorts of information – political, scientific, economic, etc. Tourists, scientists, actors, university professors, sailors, auto-mechanics, diplomats, journalists, NGO's and business corporations were instrumentalized to gather intelligence and to sabotage the enemy. One important instrument of intelligence gathering was The Organization of Germans Living Abroad, directed by
Ernst Wilhelm Bohle Ernst Wilhelm Bohle (28 July 1903 – 9 November 1960) was the leader of the Foreign Organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP; Nazi Party) from 1933 until 1945. Bohle is unusual as being the only defendant in the Subse ...
, a special assistant to the German Counter-Intelligence (SD) Chief
Walter Schellenberg Walter Friedrich Schellenberg (16 January 1910 – 31 March 1952) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. He rose through the ranks of the SS, becoming one of the highest ranking men in the '' Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD) and eventually a ...
. Vast network of spies was developed by Goebbels' Counter-Action (Abwehr) Department jointly with the War Ministry Intelligence Service. This department was also in charge of controlling German-language newspapers in non-German-speaking countries. According to Riess, "by 1937 Goebbels controlled some 330 German newspapers in non-German-speaking countries. This figure did not include the large number of newspapers in Switzerland, Alsace, and Czechoslovakia, nor the newspapers in other languages". The goal of this control was not only propaganda, but espionage. Even though Hitler's total espionage was a prerequisite of
total war Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combata ...
, Germany's failure to defeat the Soviet Union quickly was, according to Riess, a result of its inability to build a sound espionage network there.


Roger Deacon

Intelligence historian Roger Deacon attributed the invention of total espionage strategy to the pre-Revolutionary Russian secret police, known as the "Okhrana". "Okhrana" was created in 1881 following the assassination of Alexander II. According to Deacon, this police agency was "the most comprehensive coordinated espionage and counter-espionage organization, the most total form of espionage devised in the latter part of the XIX century and still forming the basis of Soviet espionage and counter-espionage today."


Oleg Nechiporenko

In the early 2000s ''total espionage doctrine'' resurfaced, due to the efforts of
Oleg Nechiporenko Total Espionage doctrine is a specific approach to intelligence gathering, implicating as many variable sources as possible. It combines political, economic, financial, military and industrial espionage. Like other types of espionage, it is subdivid ...
, a
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
counter-intelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...
operative turned espionage theorist. In his 2001 article "Playing on Enemy's Field", discussing ancient Chinese spying strategy, Nechiporenko declared: "The object of espionage can be anything: there is no person, nor any area or a single phenomenon in the enemy's country that might remain unknown to the opposite side. And the main instrument of this knowledge is spying." The article was edited by the
Federal Security Service The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) RF; rus, Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации (ФСБ России), Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Feder ...
's Center for Public Relations.


Valery Gerasimov

Later total espionage doctrine was incorporated in the so-called "hybrid warfare doctrine" or "the Gerasimov doctrine", named after the Russian Chief of Staff General
Valery Gerasimov Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov ( rus, Валерий Васильевич Герасимов, p=vɐˈlʲerʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪdʑ ɡʲɪˈrasʲɪməf; born 8 September 1955) is a Russian army general serving as the Chief of the General Sta ...
. In Gerasimov's view, non-military methods could be as efficient if not superior to direct military action. Hybrid warfare doctrine also relied on guerilla war tactics as well as on the concept of
asymmetric warfare Asymmetric warfare (or asymmetric engagement) is the term given to describe a type of war between belligerents whose relative military power, strategy or tactics differ significantly. This is typically a war between a standing, professional ar ...
. Hybrid warfare was used by the Russians during the Crimea annexation and in its war on Donbass. Some of its elements, like faking Western media outlets, are used in the Russian covert campaign against the United States and its allies.


References

{{Reflist Espionage