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Spying dates back to early days of human history. Wars of conquests, raids and forays for slaves and treasure formed the nature thereof. With a slight exaggeration, spying and mankind are of the same age. Although it is our inborn characteristic to be curious about other people's business, at the dawn of human history the survival of individuals and smaller communities depended on their awareness of the surrounding world. This essential demand for information meant the elementary form of "intelligence gathering". The "job of a spy" is to pry into the confidential secrets of the adverse party and to inform those from whom the secrets were concealed from. We have read documents dating back to thousands of years BC about so-called messengers. Couriers regularly reported on the state of the dam system on the Nile, the river being the key to the welfare and safety of the ancient Egyptian Empire. In 1340 BC, after the death of Pharaoh Tutanhamon, the monarch of the neighbouring empire sent his confidential messenger to the widow, queen Anhesenamon, for news.  Other documents of later origin were discovered in the course of researches on Chinese history. Around 400 B.C Sun Tzu, a Chinese military commander, recorded his thoughts in a book called The Art of War, where he states that victory, among others, should be based on deceit, psychological warfare and the destruction of the enemy's morale before the battle. He writes, "To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." In his views, the most important precondition of victory is the "preliminary knowledge", to be obtained by the employment of secret agents. He also thought of counter intelligence, stating, "The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out…"
Obviously inquiring about neighbours and "preliminary knowledge" necessary for victory became vitally important in the wake of the first states. At that time, not only individual or tribal interests but those of the state demanded continuous surveillance of the neighbouring countries. It was crucial to learn in time about the concealed hostile intentions and find the best opportunity and timing for a conquest. At the beginning, terms like espionage and counter-espionage were not separate notions, both were considered as information gathering. It was only in the 19th century that the specialisation of intelligence activity began, as a result of the development of the state. Military and political intelligence was separated, and later both were further divided into external and internal intelligence. External intelligence activity the surveillance of foreign states, while internal intelligence tasks were related to the safety of the state, including the detection of subversive elements dissatisfied with the order of the state and of spies penetrating from abroad. |