Counterintelligence state (sometimes also called intelligence state or spookocracy) is a state where state security service penetrates and permeates all societal institutions including the military. The term has been applied by historians and political commentators to the Soviet Union, the former German Democratic Republic, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and modern Russia under Vladimir Putin.
According to a definition, "The counterintelligence state is characterized by the presence of a large, elite force acting as a watchdog of a security defined as broadly that the state must maintain an enormous vigilance and enforcement apparatus... This apparatus is not accountable to the public and enjoys immense police powers... Whether the civilian government is able to control the security bodies is an open question; indeed the civilian government is so penetrated by the apparatus that there is no clear distinction between the two."
Read more about Counterintelligence State: Soviet Union, Russian Federation, See Also
Famous quotes containing the word state:
“The state is suffering from two opposite vices, avarice and luxury; two plagues which, in the past, have been the ruin of every great empire.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)