Western spy agencies are being "overwhelmed" to the point that "bad actors" can "pretty much operate with impunity", according to a former senior CIA operative.

James Olson, who ran the Central Intelligence Agency's counter-intelligence arm, says digital technologies make the traditional "tradecraft" used by agents in the field far less effective.

He says the "Five Eyes" alliance — made up of Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand — is being outgunned by countries like Russia, China and Cuba.

"We make some hits here and there and bring some of their operations down, but I think it's just a drop in the bucket," he tells RN's Future Tense.

"I think what they are doing that has not been detected is probably far, far beyond what we even fear."

Professor Olson, who is now at the Bush School of Government and Public Service in Texas, says capacity has become a paramount issue.

"I think the professionals in Western countries are aware of what's going on, but the truth is we are being overwhelmed," he warns.

"None of us have the resources that can match the nature of the threat we are getting from just China alone.

"We're not doing enough, we are not putting enough resources into it, we are not giving enough priority."

Fourth-generation espionage

Part of the problem is that as the world has grown more complex, the nature of espionage has changed.

Last December, the head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, Alex Younger, called for a new generation of recruits with higher technical skills than those previously required by MI6.

In a rare public appearance, he spoke of what he termed "fourth-generation espionage".

Alex Younger believes MI6 needs young spies with strong tech skills. ( Getty: Andrew Milligan )

"The degree of interconnectedness between nations, peoples and systems, the ubiquitous nature of information, and the exponential pace of technological change are making the world dramatically more complicated," he said.

"This complexity has eroded the boundaries we have traditionally relied upon for our security: the boundaries between virtual and real, the domestic and the international, between states and non-state actors and between war and peace.

"The result is a world of far greater ambiguity."

Mr Younger warned that the West's "adversaries" are proving adept at exploiting that ambiguity to "probe our institutions and defences in ways that fall short of traditional warfare".

Facial recognition and the death of the field agent

Stronger checks are making it harder for spies to work in the field. ( Getty: Joe Raedle )

Professor Olson says the ubiquitous nature of facial recognition and advanced tracking technology poses the greatest threat.

He says China has invested massively in new surveillance hardware, calling into question the continuing effectiveness of traditional "tradecraft".

"It's killing us," Professor Olson says.

"When I was on active duty I could travel internationally. I could go to airport control with false documentation and a bored passport clerk would take a quick look at me and then stamp my passport and I'm in the country.

"Now even small third world countries have access to scanners and databases. It's killing us. It's awful."

Intelligence and security policy expert Edward Lucas predicts the demise of the professional agent in the field.

Not only is avoiding surveillance harder, he says, but undercover agents now have to have a convincing digital back-history. Any inconsistencies are easily detected.

"We have electronic tracking beacons called mobile phones which we carry around with us, and if we don't carry them then that's suspicious as well," Mr Lucas says.

"And then there's a raft of other information on payments and things like that, credit ratings and so on.

"So, there's a kind of invisible digital persona behind us. And someone without that persona is like a man without a shadow."

Mr Lucas says one way Western intelligence can circumvent the problem is by using very young spies, straight out of university, who haven't yet established noticeable "patterns of behaviour".

"That can be OK for what they call errand running, emptying a dead letterbox or something like that, but those people probably only have one or two shots at missions and then they are going to become known to the authorities on the other side," he says.

And once their cover is blown, he says, the results can be dire.

"A few years back the entire CIA network in China was rolled up and they were all executed, often in a pretty brutal manner," Mr Lucas says.

"So the people who are really at risk are not so much the intelligence officers themselves, but the people they're recruiting."

Earlier this month Tehran claimed to have arrested 17 Iranian nationals recruited by the CIA. The US denies the accusation.

The best form of defence is offence

Professor Olson believes the Five Eyes community needs more double agent operations. ( Getty: Julian Hibbard )

Professor Olson believes Western nations need to be far more proactive and aggressive.

Counterintelligence commandment number one, he says, is to keep on the offensive.

"The first prong of being offensive is penetration," Professor Olson says.

"We need to penetrate foreign intelligence services and find those people who are aware of who our spies are."

The second, Professor Olson says, is "double agent operations".

"I'm afraid to say that in the Five Eyes community it is an underutilised methodology," he says.

"I would like to be flooding the hostile services, and particularly China, with double agents, to flush them out, to have them expose their requirements, expose their officers, expose their tradecraft."

Political own goals

Since becoming US President in 2016, Donald Trump has repeatedly praised authoritarian leaders while criticising the competence of Western spy agencies.

Back in January, that earned him an angry rebuke on Twitter from former CIA director John Brennan.

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In Australia, intelligence chiefs have also come in for strident criticism from their own — most notably, former Australian prime minister Paul Keating, who now acts as a special advisor to the China Development Bank.

During a television interview in May, he attacked the heads of Australia's intelligence community, branding them anti-China "nutters" who had gone "berko" and were damaging relations with Beijing.

Professor Olson describes the comments of both Mr Keating and Mr Trump as "demoralising".

"They undermine our motivation and our ability," he says.

"[Mr Trump] has maligned our product and our people. But I think, whether in Australia or in the United States, we professionals ... we're going to accomplish our mission, even though we are being criticised."

Mr Lucas worries there's a wider political issue at play.

Two years ago, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was forced to publicly defend his loyalty after accepting a senior position with the Russian oil giant Rosneft.

His critics included the current Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

But the Schroeder appointment is not unique.

Mr Lucas questions the large number of retired Western politicians now taking up positions with companies linked directly, or indirectly, to the Kremlin or the Chinese Communist Party.

Such appointments, he says, are against the national interest and are used by the Russians and Chinese as part of a broader strategy to buy influence and respectability in democratic countries.

"One of the ways they do that is by putting people on the payroll who have supposedly good reputations," Mr Lucas says.

"And one of the things that they then want to do is to push back against any warnings that come from the intelligence services and pooh-pooh those warnings.

"These former elite people are a kind of first line of defence for the Russians and Chinese against criticism. That's what they are paid for, and I think it's disgraceful."

Mr Lucas is calling for stricter "conflict-of-interest" laws.

And, he says, social sanctions also need to be applied to former politicians and officials who accept work with companies linked to undemocratic, authoritarian regimes.

"It should be seen as not just career-killing, but an absolute social disgrace to go and work for one of these companies," he says.

"And it's in the gift of each and every one of us, to make our own feelings clear if we meet people who do that."