Explain How Important are good Intelligence Services in maintaining the Security of the Individual and the State?

Explain How Important are good Intelligence Services in maintaining the Security of the Individual and the State?

Demonstrate the role of the Intelligence Services theoretically; explain what they do.

What threats do states face? Like threats from outside, from the traditional military centric … from other states. This could also be industrial espionage which is also information gathering by other country’s Intelligence Agency. For example, the weather balloon that had been flying across the US recently.

Account for threats coming from outside (external) and from within (internal)

Explain why Intelligence gathering does not always provide security for the individual especially as been demonstrated through racial, ethnic profiling or religious profiling. For example, in Britain young black and Asian men are most likely to be stopped and searched than white young men which the police claim that it is based on the intelligence.

Consider that intelligence gathering is not always accurate. Although it may provide security for the state, but it can raise ininter-ethnic, and religious tensions.

Explain how it can contain civil liberties. Do research on revelations by Edward Snowden. Snowden is interesting – he exposed potential abuses and the use of new technologies, but it is worth noting he is also an example of how intelligence is increasingly privatised (he worked for an outside company).

Compare State with Individual and whether Intelligence services really do enhance the security of the individual.
Familiarise yourself with the UK, US, Israel and Chinese Intelligence Services. Use enough material to compare Israel’s Mossad with either UK, US, Russian or Chinese Intelligence Services or Pakistan especially concerning the debate over civil rights and liberties.

Remember that authoritarian regimes would not care about issues such as privacy or the violation of civil liberties, but liberal democracies are supposed to care. Although even in liberal democracies we have seen the curtailment of civil liberties. So, there is this tension between state security and individual security. Talk about what they do.

It is important you set out the role of the intelligence agencies (there is a distinction between internal security and national security. e.g., MI5 and MI6).

Look at the chapter in the set text, ‘International Security Studies’ as it will give you an idea of the key authors on the subject and the debates surrounding intelligence agencies. It is important you read around on the subject, rather than using generic sites such as e-IR.

Last Completed Projects