Conveners
Intelligence
- Zakia Shiraz (Leiden University)
Description
Intelligence is deeply embedded within national and transnational security policies and practices. The panel’s aim is to understand the various roles intelligence plays at the strategic and tactical level. How do intelligence actors reduce uncertainty and provide a knowledge advantage? What are the problems and pitfalls of intel analysis and organizations? With intensified global great power rivalry, the focus of intelligence services is increasingly on closed authoritarian regimes. How do intelligence services work with the collection of intelligence and analysis of such targets? Do authoritarian regimes have an information advantage as they can take advantage of vulnerabilities inherent in the openness of democratic societies? By comparing systems and practices from a range of historical and contemporary cases, as well as state and non-state contexts, the panel aims to provide a rich picture of the current status of Intelligence Studies. We are particularly keen to bring together panellists from various disciplinary backgrounds and with diverse theoretical approaches and methodologies.
Many today believe that developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), sensors, and automation presage the coming of a ‘Revolution in Intelligence Affairs’ with far-reaching consequences on the performance of intelligence systems. RIA proponents advocate vast-scale acquisition of AI, state-of-the-art sensors, and automation technologies; support swift organizational and operational changes...
Russia’s war in Ukraine has brought unprecedented attention to open-source intelligence (OSINT) researchers who collect and analyse publicly available information on conflict zones and security threats. Some observers believe easy access to online information has “democratised” intelligence. The investigative group Bellingcat even claims to be an “intelligence agency for the people”. While the...
This paper aims to outline the landscape of intelligence cooperation in Europe, highlighting a marked dependency on the United States - a situation clearly visible in the context of the Ukrainian war. This dependency emerges as a fundamental problem for European strategic autonomy. By analysing Jaffel Hager's contributions on Anglo-European intelligence cooperation, a framework is provided for...
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 demonstrated many limits in its military, planning and intelligence structures. The low combat readiness and preparedness of its forces were matched by inadequate logistics. And overarching everything was intelligence – more precisely an intelligence failure. As many preliminary assessments of Russia’s intelligence work before the invasion have...
