The Fight for International Security Solutions

Abstract

In the new world order, the boundary between national and corporate objectives could become indistinct. Resources aligned as part of the Cold War could be refocused for perverse commercial advantage. One possibility is the shifting of intelligence-gathering capabilities of individual nation states so that they are more overtly targeted at the international corporate environment. Some consider this just a “profitable” adjunct to normal market forces (as in a multinational corporation buying time in the competitive marketplace from an enterprise offering services on a spy satellite). In the extreme, however, it could result in a closer coupling of the national intelligence services to specific, preferred and friendly capitalist enterprises. Moves to align national and corporate security objectives may have already emerged as national authorities agonize over the imbalances in the trade of manufactured goods between the various players.