Security Awareness as a Secret Intelligence Function
Based on International Examples
Copyright (c) 2026 Drusza Tamás, Mezei József, Solti István, Regényi Kund Miklós
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
According to some experts, the basic functions of intelligence services are: information gathering; information management, counter-intelligence and covert operations. This may be accepted, although specialised services with different systems of tasks are an exception, not all elements of this list can be interpreted in their case. However, it is clear that there are an increasing number of services that perform counter-intelligence tasks and that are running awareness programmes to ensure the effectiveness of their tasks. The aim is to raise the security awareness of members of society. Citizens who may be affected by national security risks. The importance of this activity is unquestionable, so much so that today it can even be seen, as the title suggests, as a function in its own right, which should and must be examined and adapted to the constantly changing operational environment. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the theoretical background and to give an insight into the security awareness programmes of some European and US intelligence agencies.
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