The life of a counterintelligence (CI) operative has been immortalized in film and novels as being filled with glamour and excitement. While international travel, heroism, and danger are all part of the job description, the fundamentals of counterintelligence are discipline, skill, and—well—intelligence. CI operations include conducting investigations, offensive and defensive operations, security and vulnerability analyses, and intelligence collection in peace and at all levels of conflict to support command needs. This guide serves to inform commanders, agents, and analysts on how to identify, neutralize, and exploit any foreign attempts to conduct operations against the U.S. Army. Find out how CI operatives combat terrorism, create battlefield deception, and inform all echelons of combat of both real and potential threats from the U.S. Army's own guide to counterintelligence. The tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) outlined are the same instructions that CI personnel follow in the field. As the world becomes more interconnected and as technological advances continue to be made, proper CI techniques are exceedingly critical to the protection of the U.S. Army. Counterintelligence is not just the subject for an entertaining story, it is how peacekeeping, humanitarian, and counter-drug operations are carried out in this globalized world.
The Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Department of the Army is the Federal Government agency within which the United States Army is organized, and it is led by the Secretary of the Army who has statutory authority 10 U.S.C. § 3013 to conduct its affairs and to prescribe regulations for its government, subject to the limits of the law, and the directions of the Secretary of Defense and the President.
The Secretary of the Army is a civilian official appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The highest-ranking military officer in the department is the Chief of Staff of the Army, who is also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Other senior officials of the Department are the Under Secretary of the Army (principal deputy to the Secretary) and the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army (principal deputy to the Chief of Staff.)
The Department of War was originally formed in 1789 as an Executive Department of the United States, and was renamed by the National Security Act of 1947 to the Department of the Army on September 18, 1947. By amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 in 1949, the Department of the Army was transformed to its present-day status.