Confusing Counterintelligence with Security Can Wreck Your Afternoon

Due to copyright agreements, the full text of this article is not available electronically. The article can be found in its entirety in the "Competitive Intelligence Review", Vol. 8(3) 53-61 (1997). Reprint hard copies are also available on request from Phoenix Consulting Group at <info@intellpros.com>.

Executive Summary

Typically, there is little linkage between a firm's intelligence collection and security functions. Nevertheless, counterintelligence measures often are relegated to security personnel, if they're thought about at all. But while security seeks to protect a firm's assets by a combination of policies, procedures and practices, counterintelligence, properly understood, aims to engage and neutralize a competitor's collection efforts through a variety of imaginative, flexible, and active measures. An organized counterintelligence approach, such as the Business Intelligence Collection Model(SM) described here, can help ensure CI/counterintelligence integration. This process involves defining what needs to be protected, for how long, and from whom; assessing the rival's CI collection capabilities; testing and managing your firm's vulnerability to the rival's collection methods; developing and implementing aggressive countermeasures (including disinformation); analyzing the results; and integrating this information with the data from the CI side of the process, thereby providing management with a more complete intelligence picture of the marketplace (revealing what the competition is trying to collect, for instance, is often an early indicator of where they're headed as a company). A case study is provided.