An Ethical Framework for Economic Intelligence

Abstract

It can be argued that intelligence activity has ethical value through its important role in detecting, preventing, and countering threats that would cause harm to the political community and its members. What has been relatively overlooked, however, is the potentially (un)ethical role of intelligence in the economic sphere—that is, whether secret intelligence acts of economic espionage and economic covert action can be used against another (potentially aggressive) state’s economy or economic actors as a means of protecting one’s own economic, social, and military security. Economic intelligence works to create a competitive economic or political advantage, but this can cause harm that is more likely to be disproportionate and inflicted on those who have done nothing to warrant it. The harms caused by economic intelligence can be widely spread across society and against those who are unjustified targets. To account for this, additional care needs to be given to questions of proportionality and discrimination.