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Committee Overview
The Cold War Intelligence Joint Crisis Committee is different from a traditional JCC.
Whereas most JCC’s have delegates able to control their respective nations directly and influence
the decisions of other delegates, the intelligence agencies they represent in this committee are not
the decision-making bodies of the nations these agencies belong to. Rather, delegates attempt to
play out a covert war against one another while gathering intelligence to influence the actions of
their respective masters, which will create new stories and challenges for them to adapt to.
1
Bloc Positions
This section explains each intelligence agency in the two blocs presented in the Cold War
Intelligence Joint Crisis Committee.
Communist Bloc
KGB (Soviet Union)
Committee for State Security, better known as the KGB, is the largest Cold War
intelligence agencies and the prime Communist Bloc intelligence agency. The KGB is created as a
successor to the Cheka and the NKVD, and mainly acts in concern to foreign intelligence; its
duties include internal security, espionage, and secret police.1
The Soviet Union and Red China had been aligned up until the late 1950’s; after Stalin’s
passing, Khrushchev’s De-Stalinization as well as subsequent demand on the Chinese
government, gradually resulted in the Sino-Soviet Split that saw the withdrawal of financial,
material and professional support to the Chinese industry and defense sector.2 On the other
hand, the Soviet Union and the United States had realized, through the Cuban Missile Crisis, that
mutual talk was possible despite polarized ideological differences.3 This does not mean that the
Russians are friendly with the Americans; Russian spy rings still operate within United States,
and vice versa.4
Africa, seeing gradual independence of former colonies, has proved to be favorable to
Communism. Significant Soviet influence exists in Arab nations such as Egypt, Syria and Iraq
against the American-backed Israel as well as remaining colonial influence from the United
Kingdom. 5
Stasi (East Germany)
East Germany’s State Security Service is East Germany’s foreign intelligence and secret
police agency. Under the leadership of Erich Mielke, who had started his intelligence career in
the NKVD and participated in the planning and construction of the Berlin Wall, the Stasi is at
the front line of the Cold War intelligence war and known to be brutally efficient.6
1
http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/KGB.asp
http://www.nationalcoldwarexhibition.org/schools-colleges/national-curriculum/detente/sinosoviet-split.aspx
3
http://www.historytoday.com/john-swift/cuban-missile-crisis
4
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/the-cold-war/spiesof-the-cold-war-era/
5
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/africa/1961-10-01/african-problems-and-cold-war
6
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/east-german-domestic-surveillance-went-farbeyond-the-stasi-a-1042883.html
2
2
Though not quite a puppet state like some of the smaller Slavic nations, East Germany’s
position at the forefront of the Iron Curtain meant extensive Russian surveillance, garrison and
control. The two Germanies are ideologically polarized and hostile towards each other; for the
civilians however, West Germany’s democratic and industrially prosperous society results in
constant attempts to flee East Germany, being one of the reasons that East Germany controls an
extensive secret police. East Germany has provided support to Red China as part of the Eastern
Bloc until the Sino-Soviet Split.7
MSS (China)
Ministry of State Security is somewhat of a misnomer for the Chinese intelligence agency;
to be chronologically correct, it is known as the Central Investigation Department in this period.
The CID is very experienced; many veteran spies from World War 2 and the Civil War continue
to work for the agency after the ascension of the Communist party as the ruling party of China.8
Mao’s ideal of making China the third great power in the world is viewed as a threat by
the pragmatic Khrushchev - who wanted a Chinese puppet state to the Soviet Union - and the
Americans, who of course cannot view a Communist nation as anything other than hostile.
China is thus seeking overseas diplomatic allies in less-developed nations of Africa and South
America, as they shared similar histories of being exploited by foreign empires. China is also
experiencing strains with some of its neighbour nations over territorial and diplomatic issues,
such as India, which saw a small border skirmish and increased garrisons along Sino-Indian
borders. Pakistan, despite being nominally supported by the United States, is developing a closer
relationship with the Chinese government.9
Capitalist Bloc
CIA (United States)
The foreign-dealing Central Intelligence Agency of the United States primarily concerns
itself with foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, while sometimes it chooses to cooperate
with the Federal Bureau of Investigations to deal with spies on American soil. The CIA is also
notable for supporting foreign insurgencies in fighting proxy wars.10
The United States is the leading power of the Capitalist Bloc and favors containment,
where it attempts to make diplomatic and military allies that contain and limit Communist
influence in the region without triggering a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. However, the civil
war in Vietnam has seen increased United States participation, including the deployment of all
7
http://understandinggermany.de/history/differences-between-east-west-germany/
http://www.jamestown.org/programs/chinabrief/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=37368&cH
ash=0239321b02
9
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870184,00.html
10
http://alphahistory.com/coldwar/coups-and-proxy-wars/
8
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three branches of the armed force in fighting the Communist Vietnamese together with the
South Vietnamese. The United States is also extremely wary of Communism in Latin America
and South America, and is willing to expend resources to prevent the establishment of proCommunist regimes.11
MI6 (United Kingdom)
Military Intelligence, Section 6 is the formal name for the British foreign intelligence
agency. Founded in 1907, it suffered a series of Soviet infiltrations in the 1950’s but nonetheless
had started recovery process. With many British outposts and Commonwealth locales still
around the world, the MI6 could easily transport and deploy its assets overseas.12
The United Kingdom is experiencing the independence of its colonies by revolutions and
statutes, and while it cannot prevent these events from happening, it is intent on retaining as
much of its overseas influence as possible thru the Commonwealth of Nations. Aligned with the
Capitalist Bloc, the United Kingdom particularly retains its interest in the Middle East and
Europe, while Asian matters are of slightly less concern.13
BND (West Germany)
The Federal Intelligence Service is no doubt at the front line of this intelligence war,
facing the famous Stasi right across the border. Typical of the stereotypical German spirit of
thoroughness, they are known to be very diligent at obtaining useful intelligence data, as their
failure will no doubt lead to the encroachment and eventual annexation of their homeland by the
Iron Curtain.
Functioning as an independent nation that nonetheless to possess an offensive army, the
new Bundeswehr cooperates closely with NATO garrison forces in West Germany. German
unification is impossible considering the Iron Curtain at the moment.14
11
http://www.historynet.com/vietnam-war
http://www.topspysecrets.com/mi6-history.html
13
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/endofempire_overview_01.shtml
14
http://www.britannica.com/topic/BND
12
4
Current Situation
This section explains various events of attention in different continents.
The Americas
The Civil Rights Movements
The United States of America is a famous nation for fulfilling the American Dream,
provided that one is a white male. Social and racial tensions run high within the United States
since its earliest days, including discrimination against, but not limited to: Native Americans,
African Americans, Chinese immigrants and coolies, Japanese immigrants during World War 2,
and anyone with Socialist/Communist preferences/intentions as the Cold War began.15
Civil rights proponents fought differently. Martin Luther King saw promise in the
Gandhian methodology of nonviolent resistance as the way to advance civil rights.16 The LatinAmerican movements in southern United States saw the propagation of Latino culture.17 Others
such as Malcolm X had decided that more radical actions may be necessary; he was against
integration, and instead advocated for an African-American unity against white suppression by
“whatever means necessary.” Malcolm X had written a letter to Truman – while imprisoned in
1950 – that he was a Communist against the Korean War; with the promise of a fair society
where the people live a life freed from the oppressors, it can only be argued that there are
certainly more undercover Socialists and Communists in the United States, fighting for both civil
rights and perhaps their own dreams of seeing the hammer and the sickle flag flown in the
United States.18
Communist Uprising in South America
Communism had established the stronghold known as Cuba in 1958. The United States
would certainly not allow another Cuba to rise in its hemisphere; a significant doctrine was
compiled to fund anti-communism in the Latin Americas. There had been successes and failures,
aside from the infamous Bay of Pigs incident19 and the supposedly invincible Fidel Castro, who
somehow foiled every attempt to assassinate him.20 Che Guevara, for example, is a Cuban
revolutionary who had just left his posts in the new Communist government to attempt to incite
a Communist revolution in Bolivia; he had written books on guerrilla warfare, and is highly
respected by Cubans as a revolutionary hero.21
15
http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-civil-rights-movement-organizations-events-impact-onthe-us.html
16
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr
17
http://www.understandingrace.org/history/society/post_war_economic_boom.html
18
http://www.biography.com/people/malcolm-x-9396195
19
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/bay-of-pigs-invasion
20
http://www.biography.com/people/fidel-castro-9241487
21
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Che-Guevara
5
The Cuban Missile Crisis was, however, a turning point in West-East relations. The
Americans and the Russians realized that the other side was not as evil as they thought, and a
period of thawing relations known as the detente began. Although the two blocs are still
extremely wary of each other, higher-level communication is now established between national
leaders.22
Asia
The Chinese Problem – Diplomatic
Chiang-Kai Shek, the ruler of what little remains of the Republic of China on the islands
of Taiwan, retains his seat as the legal representative at the United Nations, while the rest of
China is controlled by Mao’s Communist Party, showing signs of tension against the
Khrushchev-led Soviet Union but still intensely Communist. Both Chiang and Mao maintains
that there is only one China, though both sides obviously discredit the other one as rebels to be
eliminated. The Chinese armies had clashed at various points in the 50’s, not to mention the
undercover intelligence war of attempting to acquire weapons and convince military personnel to
betray their original side. Most Western bloc nations would align with Nationalist China;
however, nations such as Sweden, Denmark and some others recognized Communist China as
the legal international entity to represent China. Mao’s China actively looked to replace Chiang’s
China in the United Nations, but due to the power of the veto in the Security Council and
American influence over many delegates, this had been so far unsuccessful.23 Neither Red nor
Blue China is part of the Non-Aligned Movement; however, Red China has been steadily
approaching African countries to gain diplomatic alliance in return for helping these nations
construct infrastructure and mine raw materials.24
The Chinese Problem – Military
Communist China is constantly looking to expel the Nationalists from the islands of
Taiwan and integrate the islands into the Communist regime, but its lack of a formidable navy
and United States support for Chiang had so far made advances unsuccessful. However, the
Chinese volunteer army had managed to fight to an armistice with the United Nations (mostly
American) army in Korea despite obvious American advantage in technology and firepower, and
the United States had changed its policy to a containment one as opposed to an elimination
one.25
Red China’s borders are not quiet. Opposing territorial claims in the Himalayas between
the Indians and the Chinese means that the two sides are wary of each other in the area. To the
south, French Indochina had been replaced by two Vietnams, not unlike the Korean situation
before the Korean War broke out. The Sino-Soviet split also meant that Russia was now a
22
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis
http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/taiwan_crisis.asp
24
http://www.pambazuka.org/governance/africa-and-un-security-council-permanent-seats
25
http://www.chinapictorial.com.cn/en/focus/txt/2009-04/07/content_190344.htm
23
6
potential threat to their Communist cadres, and should the Soviet Army attack China, the PLA
may not be able to put up an effective resistance for too long.26
Red China has also successfully developed nuclear weapons, thanks to the efforts of
scientists who were house-arrested in the United States after the formation of Red China but
were finally released in the mid 1950’s. However, Red China currently lacks any means of
delivering this weapon, though it can be assumed that the Chinese are actively pursuing the
objective of achieving nuclear capability.27
The Chinese Problem – Internal
The Great Leap Forward is an attempt to intensely industrialize China within a very short
time period, and its outcome is certainly not favorable for Mao and the Communist Party;
agricultural collectivization and the establishment of many small but largely ineffective smelters
created a massive famine problem in the early 1960’s. Mao, though not ousted from power, saw
his powers gradually diminish; however, he is certainly not going to give up his power.28
The Chinese Problem – External
The Sino-Soviet Split originated at the start of destalinization, and only intensified as Mao
and Khrushchev became increasingly antagonistic of each other due to their different ideologies;
Mao saw Khrushchev as revisionist and betraying the Communist Revolution by warming up to
the West, while the pragmatic Khrushchev was not too happy by the fact that despite his efforts
to ensure the late Stalin’s promises were delivered to China in order to gain a favorable return, he
was not able to achieve his objectives such as establishing a Soviet naval base in China, or deploy
nuclear weapons in China. Both sides started deploying additional troops near the borders, and
as the People’s Liberation Army concluded that they would not be able to resist the Russian Red
Army for more than three days before Beijing is lost, the upper echelons of the Chinese
government have started exploring additional options of defending the northern borders against
Soviet intrusions, by nuclear means if necessary.29
The Korean Problem
Since North Korea and South Korea never formally signed a peace treaty, the two nations
are technically still at war. The Korean Demilitarization Zone is one of the most well-fortified
borders on this planet, leading one to wonder how can the people of originally one nation despise
the other side to such a degree of hostility. North Korea is technically aligned with the
Communist Bloc, but pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet elements had been cleared out by Kim Il-Sung;
he is now the leader of a truly independent nation, as opposed to the East European satellite
states’ puppet leaders. Like Castro, assassinations against him had been largely unsuccessful. Kim
26
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/indo-prc_1962.htm
http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page12.shtml
28
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/china-1900-to1976/the-great-leap-forward/
29
http://asianhistory.about.com/od/governmentandlaw/fl/The-Sino-Soviet-Split.htm
27
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sought to make his nation more independent than reliant from foreign aid; North Korea, at this
point, is economically more successful than the South.
South Korea had, on the other hand, not fared as well as the North. Syngman Rhee, the
corrupt president of the state, was ousted in 1960, yet this was followed by a period of political
instability. Park Chung-hee established what is effectively a military government in 1961, and
though deemed autocratic, he started programs to vitalize the national economy. South Korea is
a staunch ally of the United States and currently receives massive amounts of economic support
that sometimes approaches the sum of national GDP, but relations with the Japanese is only
recently becoming normalized due to nearly half a century of occupation, colonization and
suppression by the Japanese Empire.30
The Vietnam Problem
French Indochina had been disbanded and the nation of Vietnam was established, albeit as two
nations; the Communist North Vietnam had its roots in wartime resistance against the Japanese,
while the capitalist South Vietnam was established by anti-communists after the retreat of the
French. As like in Korea, the two sides despise each other for their different ideologies, and civil
war quickly broke out; presidents Kennedy and Johnson escalated United States involvement in
the war, and had troops fighting against the North Vietnamese Army as well as the Viet Cong, a
somewhat separate Communist military entity that is nevertheless directly linked to North
Vietnam.31
Africa
Non-Aligned Movement
The members of the Non-Aligned Movement belong to neither the communist nor the
capitalist blocs of influence. These are mostly nations from Africa and South America, which are
young nations recently freed from foreign colonialism. Due to a historic background of fighting
against European imperialist powers before being suppressed, these nations are not necessarily
friendly to the current European governments. Red China, considering its split with the Soviet
Union, has found this to be especially favorable, and had established trade agreements with
African nations to acquire metals that China doesn’t produce at a reasonable rate in exchange for
infrastructural buildup, cultural exchanges and in some cases even the training and supply for
national armies such as the Tanzanian army.32
Israel and the Middle East
Israel was established as a nation for the Jewish people and quickly came into conflict
with the Muslim-dominated Middle Eastern nations such as Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The racial and
30
http://korean-war.commemoration.gov.au/cold-war-crisis-in-korea/
http://history1900s.about.com/od/vietnamwar/a/vietnamwar.htm
32
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-cold-war-comes-to-africa-as-guinea-gains-itsindependence
31
8
religious conflict in the Middle East is never calm; sometimes Israel is on the offensive,
sometimes it is on the defensive. The question of Israel developing nuclear weapons is also a
major Arabian concern, yet Israel’s ties with the United States allowed these Arab nations to
consolidate their relationship to the Soviet Union. Old colonial powers such as the United
Kingdom and France retain some influence in the area, but due to the increasing ties between the
Arabs and the Soviets, the colonial connections are fast disappearing.33
Europe
The Iron Curtain
Germany was divided into four parts for occupation, and then simplified into two as the
Cold War begins. East Germany is at the forefront of the Iron Curtain, and is home to a large
Soviet army. West Germany, similarly, is home to a large contingent of NATO troops, as well as
its own Bundeswehr. Ideological education of the young, as well as alignment of the adult, shows
that neither side is willing to surrender itself for a unified Germany; however, the economy of
West Germany benefitted due to retaining the industrial heartland of Rhineland, as well as not
suffering a complete destruction of its industrial base for supplying Russia with war loots.34
Suppression of the Satellite States
The Soviet Union is essentially a Russo-centric nation supported by smaller Slavic
satellite states, bound together by the Soviet government and military. The Russians, however,
have showed that satellite states either obeyed or faced dire consequences. The Hungarian
Revolution of 1956 was effectively crushed by the Soviet Red Army, preventing its departure
from the Soviet Union. A more successful case of split is evidenced by Tito’s split with Stalin, and
the independence of Yugoslavia from the Soviet Union; though both are communist nations,
Yugoslavia is effectively a non-aligned nation. The straining of Sino-Soviet relationship is also
due to how the Soviet Union has worked in Europe; Mao Zedong would never surrender China
to become just another satellite state of the Soviet Union.35
Others
The Space Race
The Russians have had enormous success with their space program, putting the first
satellite, first animal, first man and first woman into space. The United States, on the other hand,
is not to be left behind; developing rockets capable of delivering more payload into higher orbits
also meant the capability to put missiles that carried larger warheads and able to hit further, and
thus, aside from being a national pride, the Space Race stimulates various portions of the defense
industry and allows the nation to become better armed as well as better defended. Having a piece
33
http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000578
http://www.britannica.com/event/Iron-Curtain
35
http://www.gcsehistory.org.uk/modernworld/coldwar/satellitestates.htm
34
9
of national soil in orbit around the planet meant more than just scientific opportunities; it is
envisioned that nuclear weapons could be placed in orbit and sent down from dedicated space
platforms, which could also function as drop points for infantry forces to quickly descend into
the heartland of opposing nations.36
Conclusion
The Cold War Intelligence JCC at CAIMUN 2016 is faced with a complex and
multifaceted conflict, with a number of different perspectives represented within it. Delegates
must be cunning, strategic, and resourceful in order to be victorious for their country on all its
relevant fronts. We hope that all delegates are engaged and enthralled by the progress of this
committee, and we look forward to seeing you all.
36
http://www.history.com/topics/space-race
10
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