counterespionage

noun

coun·​ter·​es·​pi·​o·​nage ˌkau̇n-tər-ˈe-spē-ə-ˌnäzh 

-ˌnäj,

-nij,

 Canadian also  -ˌnazh;

-ˌe-spē-ə-ˈnäzh;

-ə-ˈspē-ə-nij

: the activity concerned with detecting and thwarting enemy espionage

Example Sentences

He was involved in counterespionage against Germany in World War II.

Recent Examples on the Web

Many privacy hawks and civil libertarians are focused this year on simply minimizing the FBI’s ability to access intelligence gathered for counterespionage purposes without a warrant. —Dell Cameron, WIRED, 9 Mar. 2023

Now he was supposed to transform it into a major international intelligence and counterespionage agency capable of gathering secret information about enemy spies and, where possible, thwarting their activities. —Beverly Gage, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Nov. 2022

Jay Bratt, the prosecutor leading the department’s counterespionage work, advocated seeking a judge’s warrant for an unannounced search at the property to quickly recover any sensitive documents still there. —Anchorage Daily News, 1 Mar. 2023

Privacy advocates are largely focused on a subset of 702 collection — the FBI’s searches of a fraction of the 702 database for leads in counterespionage, cyber, or counterterrorism probes. —Ellen Nakashima, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Feb. 2023

The vaunted G-men who had rocketed to fame as dauntless crimebusters now looked like the Keystone Cops of counterespionage. —Bertrand M. Patenaude, WSJ, 8 Oct. 2020

The case has also exposed other serious vulnerabilities for Germany, which former American intelligence officers said in recent years has been seen as not aggressive enough in its vigilance over Russian spying and its counterespionage efforts. —Erika Solomon, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Feb. 2023

His lead lawyers in the case met on June 3 with Mr. Bratt, the chief of the counterespionage section of the national security division at the Justice Department. —Maggie Haberman, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2022

With British approval, Hoover dispatched FBI official Hugh Clegg to London for a round of training in espionage and counterespionage techniques. —Beverly Gage, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Nov. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

1899, in the meaning defined above