Concluding remarks

Abstract

9/11 created a new situation in international relations generally, but especially for the intelligence services. While terrorism did not represent a new phenomenon, the scale of the threat was completely new. Another important effect of 9/11 is noted by Tormod Heier, underscoring how the imperative of fighting terrorism for intelligence services such as the Norwegian NIS led to cooperation with several new partners in areas such as Central Asia and in the Greater Middle East. The arguments for liberal democracies having secret intelligence services are, in many ways, based on realism's core assumptions. The monumental leak caused by Snowden made the public much more aware of the intelligence services' surveillance and collection practices. The Norwegian Intelligence Service states some of the dilemmas of moral hazards well in their 'Ethical Guidelines'. The intelligence services are powerful institutions, with a significant role to play in order to protect freedom and to ensure the endurance of robust and stable liberal democracies.