Invisible Power From Sun Tzu to Makiavell

Ancient history is filled with examples, characters and events confirming the use of intelligence forces. In the year 4000 BC, we know there was an intelligence service used in the sumer cities-states to collect information on surrounding cities and guarantee the balance of political- Territorial agreements.

In collective imagination, the history of secret services has always been shrouded in mystery and is divided into episodes, plots, international events and dark characters, which, acting in the clads, have conditioned the course of events, without the praise of history. That said, for those who are not involved in this area, it is legitimate to ask how secret activities arose, for what purpose, in what historic era, in which geographic area and in what are the causes of their birth. It will thus be discovered that the history of secret services is as ancient as man, that the spy trade joins the categories of space and time, because it has existed everywhere and ever, and that information control has played a role of primary importance in the formation of modern states.

Leaving out the prehistoric period, it is fair to say that only at the moment the first social groupings were born (in various structured forms of tribes, villages, urban centres, cities-states) would begin using the initial actions of secret services, with individuals charged to collect as much information as possible, on populations located near the borders. The anchorage was originally born with a double function: protection, to ensure the safety of the population, stability of political institutions, and balance among neighbouring populations; attackers, as support for the war, which is not only won in the battlefield by the force of arms and the superiority of troops, but is prepared to recognize its enemy, its military equipment, even the area in which the impact will take place. Any information, properly valued, can have an extraordinary benefit, until the point of determining the outcome of a conflict. The oldest developer of intelligence theory was in the 6th century BC, Chinese General Sun Tzu, author of a treaty for military strategy, “War Art”, which even today constitutes a reference point for historians and passionate followers after this. Sun Tzu was the first to understand the importance of knowing the opponent's secrets, to weaken and hit the most sensitive targets; for this reason, collecting information should not be the product of immediate inexprovation, but the objective of an attentive military planning. The “that is defined as the ability to predict cannot be the result of encounters with external events, not even estimates. It must be obtained by people who are familiar with the enemy situation”.

From Sun Tzu down here, ancient history is filled with examples, characters and events confirming the use of intelligence forces. In the year 4000 BC, we know there was an intelligence service used in the sumer cities-states to collect information about surrounding towns and ensure the balance of political- territorial agreements. Two centuries later, in Egypt, the battle between the empire of the Pharaohs and the Ithites for the conquest of the city of Kadesh was above all a spy game, which saw Ramuss II' informants (insisting to detect the exact position of the opposing army) and the anti-spy Ith, infiltrated behind enemy lines, with the intent of killing Egyptian military leaders.

Always standing in the Near East, we learn from the Old Testament about a people, the Philistines, who settled in Palestine, posed a formidable threat to the Israelites. It is a popular thought that in the long war that the two peoples faced, Jews have widely used spies, thanks to whom, after taking up important military secrets, they managed to defeat the army of the Philistines, which, given the undisputed military superiority, would undoubtedly have defeated the army of the Israelite kingdom.
To see a significant change, or more precisely, for an institutionalization of spy trade, we need to move geographically from the Near East to imperial Rome: here, secret services are no longer the actions of individuals paid by the commander. It was here that the first pieces of information collection were to be developed.

In August's era, the Praetorian Guard was the military department responsible for the emperor's security except for special missions in public and private. Its parts were “spectors”, responsible for internal security, and “explores”, which had the duty to study enemy customs and ensure external security. To achieve the institutionalisation of a true “pion”, the last period of Roman history must be expected, sometime between the I and III centuries. Asked since Adrian's time to keep an eye on the imperial court, during the reign of Domitian “fumen <xx7>, special army troops were officially assigned to collect information: a kind of secret police, the delicate task of preserving the security of institutions, at the command of <x8*princeps peregrinorum”, referring directly to the emperor. Under Diocletian's reign, “producers” were hit and the old intelligence system discovered his disability. The boundaries of the empire were so great that ensuring the safety of its territory, threatened by pressure from barbarian peoples, became a top priority. In this context, reformation of the army was carried out by Diocletian and reorganizing Rome's security system.

“--Preservators” were replaced by “agents in rebus” (mission agents), who took over control, collection and transmission of information. In essence, “agents” were spies, informants, trusted emperor couriers with the task of preserving internal security, and acting as liaison between the province and the centre. Their training was conducted at the school “agetum in rebus”, an authentic formation academy, very strict which guaranteed privileges and prestige for the most skilled. After the fall of the Roman Empire, this Department of Imperial Administration would be weakened and would have to spend much time before the return to sophisticated spying.

A prominent role would be played in the Middle Ages (the scheme would come in the 18th century) the Venice Republic, which under constant threat of foreign forces, used qualified spies widely, using every means, legal and illegal (kill, conspiracy, blackmail), only to protect its safety. The Council of Tens itself, its highest governing body, was born with the exact function of monitoring and deterring any danger to state security, and exploits information brought by the Spiunas (the Council's informers) as well as anonymous denounations preserved in “The Lion's” containers distributed through the city where the Venetians stored very reserved information, destined for magistrates.
Starting in 1539, they came and became part of the Council of Tens 3 Inquisitors, magistrates in charge of preserving state secrets. Having unlimited power in the exercise of a hidden “justice”, their decisions were un appealable and predicted, among other things, the elimination at night in the vein, for all convicts.

So we're in Renaissance, then, the Maciavel century, the father of modern politics. For the first time in history, in full opposition to the medieval concept that interpreted history as an exercise of divine will, and founded political action on ethical and spiritual preconditions, Makiaveli describes a management of politics devoid of religion and morality;

The prince, the incarnation of this ideal, must have all the virtues possible, but if the times are required, he must also adopt moral negative behavior, and use sharpness and violence, only to retain the control of Principate. The concepts of Raison d'Et, or more precisely, the whole of the supreme targets above all national security that a state must preserve above anything else, and the State Secret, which, as such, must be protected from the organs of control, are specifically born to carry out such a delicate task.

The definition of the concept of the State Secret particularly reminds us of the role of the intelligence analyst Makiaveli had during his political career (a shadowed by modern, but no less interesting history). After Makiavel, politics would no longer be the same and reach extreme specialization points. The direction of the republic, finally relieved of moral and religious provisions, will abide from that moment on by secular laws aimed at protecting, expanding the state. In the period of Makiaveli and the centuries to come, political analysis would focus above all on the concept of Raison d'Etat, on the combined needs of political action and the absolute protection of the interests of state bodies.

In this climate the reflection and analysis of politics, understood as cultural categories, even the secret services would be consolidated as real institutions and integral parts of any state camera, with professional experts constantly engaged in collecting and processing information, in protecting the supreme interest of national security. / Translation: The world..