US to 'Attack' Foreign Intel Services Abroad

In what can only be described as a major policy shift for US intelligence, a spoeswoman for the administration revealed at a college conference that the United States would now actively seek to target and destroy adversarial intelligence services abroad:

www.washtimes.com...

"COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The Bush administration has adopted a new counterintelligence strategy that calls for "attacking" foreign spy services and the spy components of terrorist groups before they can strike, a senior U.S. intelligence official said yesterday."

Though I agree with the basic logic of this... I can't help but wonder if something along these lines can be considered an act of war. After all, this sounds like we're talking about killing people, right? Even nonviolent disruption can be interpreted as war.

Then, again... the reality is probably that some of these foreign intel services are already attacking and disrupting US efforts in the homeland itself. Bringing the fight back to their home turf would not be an unjust escalation. After all, "turnabout is fair play."

Moles, double-agents, dead-drops... its been happening since the birth of warfare... The attacks on intelligence services go un-heard of all the time... You think the public hears something everytime a spy has been captured overseas trying to sabotage something be it with fake documents or what have you...

Things that are agressive in nature towards intelligence organisations happen everyday, its part and parcel of their nature...

[edit on 6-3-2005 by ghostsoldier]