| Pedro |
Posted
on 09-Nov-02 12:06 AM
Is this the same Trailokya that i know? way to go dude.
Sun Tzu and Chanakya on spies
Intelligence gathering has helped nations not only protect them selves from treason and terrorist activities, but has also helped in formulating foreign policies. Especially, in the Post 9/11 world, the role of intelligence gathering has proven even more crucial to find out the whereabouts of terrorist leaders and organizations and to formulate a foreign policy that calls for an alliance of all nations to fight terrorism.
Although, this sounds new to many of us, and some of us might even think that intelligence gathering is a relatively new western concept, two eastern scholars and strategists, Sun Tzu in China, and Chanakya or Kautilya in India, highlighted the role of intelligence in country’s domestic and foreign affairs more than 2000 years ago. Sun Tzu, in his book The Art of War (Sun Tzu Bing Fa, in Chinese) and Chanakya in his book on statecraft, Arthashastra, have not only written about the importance of spies in the safe running of the state, but have also classified the spies into various groups, and have clearly stated the roles of each group.
According to Sun Tzu, advance knowledge of enemy’s moves is very crucial to run and protect the state. Chapter 13 of Sun Tzu’s book, titled Yong Men (using people) discusses the ways of employing spies with a rationale that one cannot find out the enemy’s true situations from ghosts, spirits or gods, so, it is imperative to employ spies to find out about the enemy.
He sees the need for 5 types of spies to run the daily affairs of the state and to win a war—local spy, internal spy, double agent, expendable spy and living spy. Local spy is hired from the area of which the information is needed. Internal spy holds a key position in the enemy’s bureaucracy and has access to important information.
Double agent is the enemy’s spy. Sun Tzu seems generous towards internal spy and double agent because it is from them, the information about one’s own double agents can be acquired. So, there is a provision for rewards to these two types of spies. Expendable spy is hired to disseminate false information to the enemy. Sun Tzu does not seem very kind to this particular group of spies because he writes that once the job is done, then, it’s better for the state to kill the spy. Living spy is the most valuable one because he goes to the enemy’s territory, witnesses the events taking place there and based on the intelligence he has gathered, submits a report to the ruler. When all these five types of spies are mobilized secretly, then the state will always be able to take proactive measures against the enemy’s moves.
Likewise, Chanakya, in the 9th chapter of his book under the heading, State Administration, highlights the importance of spies in day to day running of the state. Chanakya has divided the secret service into two distinguished groups: the establishment and the rover. The establishment consists of professionals such as interns at the court, high-ranking monks, householders, merchants and fake ascetics.
They all work undercover and submit their reports to the head of the intelligence services. Spies who fall under the establishment do not move around. The rover group, as the name suggests, have to travel around gathering intelligence. This group consists of people who are criminals, trained killers, Brahmin nuns and orphans. Of these four, the criminals and trained killers are mobilized to secretly kill people who are engaged in corruption and crimes against the state.
The latter two are trained by the state for espionage and are given high respect in the court, which gives them unrestricted access to the homes of bureaucrats and commoners. All These spies report to the establishment and the establishment reports to the head of the intelligence services. Chanakya also has a provision for spies who work in foreign countries. These spies are similar to Sun Tzu’s internal agents and double agents because they get paid from both sides. These spies go to foreign countries and secure important positions in offices there, befriend the ruler or key administrators to acquire information and pass that information to their home country. To ensure the loyalty and honesty of this type of spies, Chanakya suggests that their wives and children be taken hostages until the mission is accomplished.
Both writers’ emphasis on being one step ahead of the enemy in safeguarding the nation is still relevant in today’s world- perhaps it was more relevant at the time of their writing! Terrorism has emerged as a common enemy of the civilized world in recent times. The whole world is waging a war against terror, and advance knowledge of terrorists’ plans is one of the most important tools to win this war that has affected the lives of millions of people worldwide.
By Trailokya Aryal and
Kalyan Raj Sharma
|
