WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:05.440 Welcome back, everybody. Today's interesting spy story for you. Let's 2 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:07.719 see how you like it. It's called inside an intelligence 3 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:11.439 dead zone. How government defeats by signals and drones. So 4 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:15.279 imagine you're running surveillance against your Russian intelligence facility. Normally, 5 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:20.719 an intelligence service has an enormous technological toolbox radio frequency surveillance, 6 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:27.079 satellite imagery, electronic intercepts, remote sensors, drones, directional microphones, cyber collection. 7 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:31.079 But as your surveillance approaches this particular compound, something strange happens. 8 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:36.600 Radio signals disappear, electronic transmissions become inaccessible, and drones can't operate. 9 00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:42.479 Conversations also occurring inside cannot be remotely understood. If you 10 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:45.359 remember the old show Homeland, the characters essentially describe this 11 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:48.840 as a dead zone. Could something like that actually exist? Well, 12 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:52.159 it does. There isn't one magical technology that creates an 13 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:56.799 invisible intelligence bubble. Instead, governments can layer multiple counter surveillance techniques. 14 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:01.759 Let's start with RF shielding. It means read frequency cell phones, 15 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:06.359 Wi Fi, bluetooth radios and cantless other texts communicate using 16 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:11.560 electromagnetic radiation. A highly secure facility can therefore be constructed 17 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:15.840 significantly reduced radio frequency energy entering or leaving particular areas. 18 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:20.280 One method is what's curled, creating what's called a fairy 19 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:24.480 day cage. If fairy day enclosure uses conductive materials such 20 00:01:24.519 --> 00:01:28.359 as metal mesh, specialized wall materials, or conductive coatings to 21 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:33.799 attenuate electromagnetic signals. So imagine putting your classified conference room 22 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:37.719 inside an electric magnetic shell. Radio waves reaching that shell 23 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:40.799 can be reflected or absorbed rather than freely passing through. 24 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:45.439 I mean someone sitting outside the building may have greater 25 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:50.480 difficulty detecting transmissions originating inside. But there is a problem. 26 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:55.079 A shielded room still needs electricity. It may need telephone lines, 27 00:01:55.200 --> 00:02:00.920 network connections, ventilation pipes, doors. Every penetration through that protective 28 00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:04.879 boundary potentially becomes a vulnerability, and that's where signal filtering 29 00:02:04.920 --> 00:02:09.520 becomes important. Electrical cables can potentially carry unwanted high frequency 30 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:13.919 signals across the secure perimeter. Specialized filters can therefore be 31 00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:17.960 installed on power and communication lines to attenuate or reduce 32 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.080 the frequencies that aren't supposed to cross the boundary. Look 33 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:24.319 at it as an electronic checkpoint. The system allows necessary 34 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:29.840 electrical power or authorized communications through while suppressing unwanted signal 35 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:34.039 components that could potentially provide a leak. Secure facilities may 36 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:37.360 also use carefully designed cable routing, grounding, bonding. 37 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:37.719 And shielding. 38 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:43.159 This overlaps with another famous intel security concept, tepest. Tipest 39 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:47.560 is associated with protecting classified information from compromise to unintended 40 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:53.280 electronic emanations. A computer monitor, cable electronic device can generate 41 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:57.560 electromagnetic energy simply by operating. So security isn't only about 42 00:02:57.639 --> 00:03:03.000 preventing someone from potentially transmitting classified information. It's also about 43 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:07.360 preventing equipment from unintentionally radiating information to the surrounding environment. 44 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:13.479 Now imagine we've defeated radio frequency surveillance, the spies outside 45 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:18.680 aside to simply listen, and that's where acoustic isolation becomes important. 46 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:23.840 Ordinary walls aren't designed to stop sophisticated surveillance. Sound is 47 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:27.599 mechanical energy. When you speak, pressure waves travel through the 48 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:30.719 air and can cause surrounding structures, walls, doors, windows, and 49 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:34.840 other services to vibrate. Highly secure rooms therefore may incorporate 50 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:38.800 specialized construction intended to reduce the transmission of those vibrations 51 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:44.400 that can include multiple wall layers. Acoustic insulation, isolated structural assemblies, 52 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:48.120 especially designed doors and seals, careful treatment of ventilation ducts 53 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:49.080 and other openings. 54 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:51.439 Windows deserve particular. 55 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:54.280 Attention because glass can vibrate and response to sound occurring 56 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:59.400 inside a room. Historically, INTEL services of investigated methods of 57 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:03.919 detecting the extremely small vibrations remotely and attempting a reconstructed 58 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:08.039 information from them. So a secure facility might eliminate exterior 59 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:11.800 windows entirely, or employed designs intended to make that type 60 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:15.199 of collection more difficult. Then we have what we call 61 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:19.639 sound masking. Instead of relying exclusively on physical isolation, facilities 62 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:24.600 can introduce control background noise designed to reduce the comprehension 63 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:29.279 of conversations outside the protected space. So let's move outside 64 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:32.680 the building. What happens when the CIA launches a drone? 65 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:36.319 This is where the modern intel battlefield becomes especially interesting. 66 00:04:36.759 --> 00:04:40.600 Counter drone systems now exist and they're called counter uas systems. 67 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:45.879 Radar can identify objects moving through protected airspace. Radio frequency 68 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:48.839 sensors can search for communication links between a drone. 69 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:49.519 And the operator. 70 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:55.639 Electro Optical cameras can visually identify suspicious aircraft. Infrared systems 71 00:04:55.639 --> 00:04:59.399 may help detect them under certain conditions. Acoustic sensors can 72 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:04.920 sometimes recognize characteristic drone sounds. Once a drone has been detected, However, 73 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:09.160 stopping it becomes a separate problem. Many drones depend on 74 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:13.199 radio frequency command link. Disrupting that link can potentially interfere 75 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:16.800 with the operator's ability to control the aircraft. Another potential 76 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:20.800 target is satellite navigation. Many unmanned aircraft relied heavily upon 77 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:25.720 systems such as GPS for positioning and navigating. Interfering with 78 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:29.279 the satellite navigation reception can therefore make some drones considerably 79 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:32.279 less reliable. This is where you hear terms like jamming 80 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:36.560 or spoofing into the intel VOCAB. Jamming overwhelms or interferes 81 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:39.480 with a segment, well, spoofing attempts to provide false navigation 82 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:43.079 information that causes the receiver to calculate into correct position. 83 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:47.040 Neither technique creates a perfect anti drone force field. Some 84 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:51.519 drones can still operate autonomous but autonomously. Others can use 85 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:56.680 inertial navigation, visual navigation, and so forth. Some sophisticated military 86 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:00.519 systems can incorporate anti jamming technology, so even how protect 87 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:04.399 the compound faces a constant technological competition between surveillance and 88 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:08.040 counter surveillance. That brings us to the biggest limitation of 89 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:10.920 the homeland idea. You can shield the building and can 90 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:15.319 isolate conversations, filter electrical signals, control electronic equipment, search for 91 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:19.800 hidden transmitters, detect trones, and interfear with communications, but you 92 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:25.240 still haven't made the facility invisible. Satellites can potentially observe 93 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:28.720 the compound. Intel analyts can watch vehicles entering and leaving. 94 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:33.199 They can identify employees, they can examine communications occurring outside 95 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:39.000 the protected area, established patterns of life, and perhaps most importantly, 96 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:41.920 recruit human sources. And that's where we get to human 97 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:46.279 human intelligence and building dollar electronic security system doesn't help 98 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:48.920 very much, and someone on the inside is squeakily working 99 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:52.160 for your adversary. That's why a real intelligence dead zone 100 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:55.839 isn't actually a place where intelligence collection becomes impossible. It's 101 00:06:55.879 --> 00:06:58.519 a place where the defender has systematically attempt to deny 102 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:05.399 multiple forms of techno tech intel collection. So layer those 103 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:08.959 systems together and you can create an extraordinarily difficult intel target, 104 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:10.399 but never a perfect one. 105 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:12.800 Espionage has always been a tech arms race. 106 00:07:13.079 --> 00:07:15.560 Every time someone builds a better wall, someone else starts 107 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:18.319 figuring out how to listen through it, and sometimes the 108 00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:20.439 best solution isn't penetrating the wall at all. 109 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:22.720 Let's find the person who already has the key.