Kim Hjelmgaard

So motivations have shifted over time during the Cold War.

I think the consensus was that ideology, capitalism versus socialism versus communism was the key driver in this kind of activity.

However, there's been studies by the U.S.

Defense Department that essentially show that overall financial reward comes up more than any other factor.

We're in the realm of informed speculation here.

But what the experts say is that money can offer more leverage because it's a little bit more traceable.

And, you know, it opens up people to bribery, corruption, blackmail.

So, you know, with seduction or intimacy, there's also concern that the quality of the information that comes out of this, these sort of attempts is not necessarily as robust.

So most of the examples that we've looked at look at the U.S.

military.

and defense contractors.

The general perception is that most of this activity probably takes place overseas, and the targets are typically not top-level people, to put it that way.

It's not ambassadors.

It's not a foreign minister.

It's not the CEO of a company.

The people that get targeted by this tend to be more low-level people who, by virtue of their status and position, may be less guarded, guarded physically but also kind of conceptually.

Well, counterintelligence work, we should say at the top here, is like a lot of intelligence work.

It's something of a dark art, and those involved in it don't like to divulge their secrets.

I think the thing we can say, it's a general point, but there's some specificity in it, which is that counterintelligence work involves situational awareness.

The police force that you mentioned, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency,