ABSTRACT
Counterintelligence—work directed at countering hostile intelligence operations—seems generally accepted as authorized by law. Soviet intelligence gives special attention to recruiting US citizens. In the United States, with its strongly developed attitude on the rights and privileges of citizens, this focus can pose special problems in counterintelligence work. As terrorism became an important factor in everyday life, counterterrorist responsibilities were assigned to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency in their respective jurisdictions. The necessary and unavoidable working assumption of counterintelligence is that there are far more hostile intelligence operations under way than have been detected. Those seeking to regulate the conduct of counterintelligence operators have focused on the surveillance of Americans in its various forms. Essentially, management of counterintelligence should be reserved for the separate agencies, subject to policy direction by the National Security Council. The Carter Executive Order went further than the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in applying additional requirements to the conduct of physical surveillance.
