International Intelligence Research Articles

Intersection of CBRN, military forensic science, and counterterrorism

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required that forensic science was used beyond the traditional law enforcement and criminal justice goals and applied to military operations. The 9/11 terror attacks in the United States (US) inspired further attacks in the Western World and highlighted the importance of national and international intelligence sharing for counterterrorism operations. Following the 9/11 attacks, anthrax was disseminated in the US mail system, demonstrating a successful modern use of biological agents. As a result, nations enhanced their Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) capabilities to prevent, prepare, respond, and recover from CBRN attacks but in the last decade, there has been a decrease in capabilities across military forensic science, counterterrorism, and CBRN. Recent changes in the global and strategic environment such as, the war in the Ukraine, the threat of grey zone conflicts (below the threshold of war) such as the conflict in the Middle East, and strategic competition, indicates international, national, state and local CBRN capabilities need to be reinvigorated in a world under digital transformations. There is a need for a harmonized approach to enhance the integration of military, law enforcement, and CBRN operations to support decision-making. In this paper, we look back to where we have come from and where we are now to make recommendations on where to from here for military forensic science and counterterrorism, including CBRN which intersects both of these systems.

The THE USE OF LAW IN CHINA IoT OPERATION INTELLIGENCE CONCEPT

Internet of Things (IoT) currently become one of the most developing systems in the world. Private to government used it for their intelligence tools. It will support them to complete mission, such as investigations, security, and recruitment. In international intelligence, IoT concept has already used cause of its effectivity. These conditions are also supported by modern cyber era that can stored our data throughout the world digital form. Currently, China is one of the countries that is making breakthroughs in domestic law to advance its national interests. This research tries to find new points of view and compare data in the form of papers, news, research topic articles, books, and journals. It is hoped that this research can help understand the correlation between law and intelligence regarding the use of IoT in the current era of modern intelligence.

Intelligence for human security: measuring outcomes quantitatively

ABSTRACT This article examines whether increased intelligence capacity improves global security, a key assumption in intelligence theory. Using the partial least squares structural equation modelling method, the research statistically analyzes data from the U.S. International Intelligence Behaviour dataset and Global Terrorism Database. Grounded in intelligence studies and international relations theory, the study integrates a constructivist human security framework. Surprisingly, the results show a significant correlation between increased intelligence capacity and the degree of terrorism, suggesting intelligence may undermine rather than enhance human security. This finding challenges traditional assumptions, though it must be viewed cautiously due to potential endogeneity.

Why the Five Eyes? Power and Identity in the Formation of a Multilateral Intelligence Grouping

Abstract Adopting an analytically eclectic approach that draws on theories of realist bargaining, identity, and socialization, this article investigates the early Cold War origins of the Five Eyes intelligence grouping (the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand). An understanding of identity grounded in culture suggests a natural process of international intelligence community building, but this was not the case with the Five Eyes. The formation of the grouping was not preordained. Although Anglo-Saxonism was a necessary condition, it was not sufficient. In addition to being able to provide valuable sites for signals intelligence collection, aspiring members had to be seen as staunchly anti-Communist (and therefore politically trustworthy) by the United States in order to become full members of this exclusive community. Early postwar concerns over the political loyalties and secrecy protection regime of the Australian government prompted the British to initiate a process of socialization aimed at bolstering its affiliate's security institutions and practices and guaranteeing its own access to U.S. secrets.

How does the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) affect financial intelligence exchange with third countries?

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the probable effect of the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union on the transfer of financial intelligence to a third country without an adequacy decision.Design/methodology/approachThis is an analytical study of the financial intelligence exchange mechanisms between the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and its foreign counterparts. The research analyses the key challenges this national agency faces in using the Egmont Group membership to import financial intelligence from jurisdictions with a superior data protection regime.FindingsMembership in the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units does not guarantee unrestricted international intelligence exchange. Existing data protection regulations in Bangladesh are inadequate. This may forbid the transfer of the financial intelligence linked to European Union (EU) data subjects to Bangladesh.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper does not cover a thorough discussion on any specific alternative tools for data transfer from the EU to a third country except for “appropriate safeguards” options.Practical implicationsThe results of this study will help understand the existing legal and institutional limitations that may prevent intelligence exchange between the BFIU and its EU counterparts.Originality/valueThe study helps ascertain the legislative reform necessary in Bangladesh, a third country, to facilitate the transfer of financial intelligence from the EU.

Rethinking intelligence practices and processes: three sociological concepts for the study of intelligence

ABSTRACT Recently, a small but growing number of intelligence scholars has called for more methodological variety in the study of intelligence. In this article, we connect with the emerging discussion about the utility of sociological approaches and discuss three influential sociological concepts, namely ‘epistemic communities’, ‘transnational fields’ and ‘knowledge circulation’ for understanding international intelligence relations. We apply each concept to an empirical example from our research on German-Arab intelligence relations during the Cold War. The paper concludes that the concepts highlight the everyday life and social embeddedness of shared and transnational intelligence practices and processes.

The Social Ties that Bind: Unraveling the Role of Trust in International Intelligence Cooperation

International cooperation between intelligence services poses a dilemma. It is an important tool in countering today’s complex transnational threats, but at the same time, cooperation is a risky business. Intelligence services can never be sure that a partner will reciprocate in kind. Scholars and practitioners often identify trust as one of the foremost conditions to overcome this dilemma. Yet the notion of trust is seldomly conceptualized in these rational-calculative explanations. Contrary to the common view that intelligence services are exceptional in their opportunism and rivalry, social relations and trustworthiness perceptions provide a more dominant explanation for the level of cooperation between intelligence partners than is often assumed by scholars and practitioners. Known reputations, recognized professional standards, and shared traits socially bind intelligence professionals to their community of practice, enabling them to bridge divides like nationality and even conflicting interests. Intelligence services resemble many other organizations in the public and private domains, requiring a de-exceptionalization of their international cooperation.

COMPARATIVE LAW REPATRIATION INDONESIAN CITIZEN EX FOEIGN ISLAMIC STATE IRAQ AND SYIRIA ABOUT INDONESIA LAW AND ISLAMIC LAW

The issue of citizen became the hot news on sosial meda country in Indonesian. On February 1 2020, the National Counter terrorism Agency exchanged international intelligence information with countries in the Middle East and got around 600 Indonesian citizens who were former combatants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This polemic has become a hot topic of discussion among the government and the people of Indonesia about the fate of Indonesian citizens (WNI) whether they can be returned to their homeland or left alone in shelter camps in Syria. The formulation of the problem studied in this journal is to describe the views or opinion of Indonesian law on the concept of citizenship and explain the views of Indonesian law (law no. 5 of 2018 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Terrorism) and Islamic law (Opinions of Imam Malik and Imam Syafii) concerning the repatriation of Indonesian citizens who were former combatants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria to Indonesia. In this study, the authors use normative research methods by conducting library research through the process of reading, researching, and reviewing ongoing discussions with this research. The results of this study indicate that in Indonesian law, referring to Law No. 5 of 2018, they must be repatriation to Indonnesia because they are the responsibility of the state in accordance with articles 43b, 43b, and 43d. whereas in Islamic law there is caution by asking them if they want to go back and repent for their actions, if they obey they can be repatriation to Indonesia, if not they are fought. and the decision will ultimately be left to the government about their fate.

Italian Intelligence Studies Literature - Understanding the State of Play - A Comparative Perspective

ABSTRACT Contributions to the Italian intelligence studies literature have seen an expansion since the major reform of Italian intelligence introduced in 2007. Italian civil society also increasingly recognizes the importance of intelligence. This paper first explores Italian intelligence studies literature as it stands today before considering the academic research. The six main categories of Italian intelligence literature are presented within: history, sources of intelligence, international relations and geopolitics, theories of intelligence and theoretical frameworks, great figures and memoirs, law enforcement, and the fight against criminal organizations. A short comparative analysis between the Italian literature and international intelligence studies is drawn which includes a comparison of categories, topics, key questions, and projects. The goal of this paper, therefore, is to draw a likely depiction of the state of Italian intelligence studies.

Circulation, not Cooperation: Towards a new understanding of intelligence agencies as transnationally constituted knowledge providers

ABSTRACT Theoretical approaches to international intelligence relations primarily rely on the inadequate concept of cooperation. I offer an alternative analytical framework based on the concept of knowledge circulation. Knowledge circulation highlights that intelligence agencies are not highly bounded, national actors, butconstituted by transnationally circulated knowledge. Knowledge circulation draws attention to an autonomous realm of transnational intelligence relations, and thus offers insights for scholars, policy makers and practitioners. The article references understudied examples of intelligence relations and closes with an example of how the story of US-WestGerman intelligence relations could be retold via a knowledge circulation framework.

COVID-19が与えた影響による人々の生活意識に関する国際調査：パンデミック時の国際的な集合知のアーカイブを目指して

COVID-19が与えた影響による人々の生活意識に関する国際調査：パンデミック時の国際的な集合知のアーカイブを目指して

Das Recht der Nachrichtendienste: Missstände, Entwicklungen und Perspektiven eines Rechtsgebiets in der Findungsphase

The law governing the German intelligence services lacks a consistent concept, is non-transparent, fragmented and in urgent need of reform. In May 2020, the First Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court held that the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst - BND) is bound by the fundamental rights of the Basic Law when conducting telecommunications surveillance of foreigners in other countries (so-called Foreign-Foreign Strategic Surveillance), and that the statutory bases in their current design violate the fundamental right to the privacy of telecommunication and freedom of the press. The judgment put an end to the long-running discussion about whether intelligence operations abroad are suitable for statutory regulation at all. Moreover, the Constitutional Court’s decision provided the impetus for one of the most significant reforms in recent German security law. By April 2021, the amendment of the BND Act was finally on the books. It will enter into force in January 2022. It codifies important new rules about the practice, authorization and oversight of foreign data collection by the BND as well as legal requirements for Germany’s participation in international intelligence cooperation. The reform’s provisions implement the constitutional requirements, as stated in the judgement, almost literally. Nonethele⁠ss, the reform created a number of new problems and left major deficits in German intelligence law unresolved. It is far from creating a clear and consistent legal framework for the activities of the three federal intelligence services, in particular their surveillance practices. The article outlines the major shortcomings, developments and perspectives in this field of security law.

Inter- and intra-agency intelligence liaison during ‘the troubles’

ABSTRACT Intelligence is crucial to success in counter-terrorism, and successful intelligence work involves effective liaison between and within all the organisations involved. Scholars rarely address intelligence in counter-terrorism other than through case studies, while studies of intelligence in counter-insurgency and studies of international intelligence liaison emphasise the value of intelligence liaison with little attention to how it works in practice. This article substantially expands existing knowledge and understanding by focusing on intelligence coordination within Northern Ireland in the 1990s. It draws on heretofore unexploited, yet voluminous, original material. It analyses the contribution that computerisation made to inter-agency liaison, the contribution the Northern Ireland Prison Service made to intelligence work, the role played by intra- and inter-agency structures and the valuable work that the right individuals in the right posts can do. This article thereby provides a broader and deeper understanding of the challenges faced by state agencies and how some of these were overcome to facilitate inter- and intra-agency intelligence liaison in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. It therefore contributes to emerging theory that seeks to explain intelligence.

Explaining the depth and breadth of international intelligence cooperation: towards a comprehensive understanding

ABSTRACT Despite neorealism's predominance in the academic debate, it is too narrow a basis for the comprehensive understanding of present-day international intelligence cooperation. This approach is perfectly capable of explaining what is currently not happening in international intelligence cooperation and why this is the case. However, it is inadequate to understand what does happen in international intelligence cooperation. To explain international intelligence cooperation, especially in long-standing multilateral arrangements such as the EU and NATO, additional approaches are needed. This article advocates stepping beyond a state-centric approach of international intelligence cooperation, viewing it as a process and using a sociological perspective.

Shaping the European School of Intelligence Studies

ABSTRACT Within a generation, intelligence studies have established themselves in continental Europe. Research infrastructure has been created with journals and conferences. The article explores how a European School of Intelligence Studies (ESIS) differs from the traditional British and American research and which scholars constitute ESIS. This work also presents new methodical proposals (e.g. using a quantitative method for selecting material from the existing empirical data sets), following the requirement that intelligence studies should have an interdisciplinary nature. Our argumentation is based on an analysis of the two main conferences, the conference of the International Intelligence History Association (IIHA) and the Need to Know-format (NtK), and it defines the content of the ESIS based on state of the art. European researchers participating in these fora were primary from Germany, Benelux, the Nordic states, and Central- and Eastern Europe. ESIS shows European West-East unity and strong ties to British, American and Israeli research, it also indicates a North-South divide. The Archival Revolution has been defining for the development of the ESIS. The access to documents regarding all areas of intelligence activity, including operational records and personal files of agents, differs from traditional declassification. This way, it is possible in Europe to do empirical research on intelligence operations in a hitherto unseen scale. Furthermore, the ESIS is characterized by substantial interest to counterintelligence and awareness of the differences between intelligence in democracies and authoritarian regimes.

Brief Synopses of New Arabic Language Publications

Brief Synopses of New Arabic Language Publications

ТВОРЧЕСТВО РОМАНА КИМА: ЭТНОКУЛЬТУРНЫЕ РЕАЛИИ В СОВЕТСКОЙ БЕЛЛЕТРИСТИКЕ

The article is concerned with the works by the Soviet writer and East Asian studies scholar Roman Kim (1899–1967). He is well known as an author of spy fiction. The article follows the literary history of Roman Kim. Being a Russian-language descendant of Korean emigrants, he wrote about rivalry between international intelligence services on polycultural territories. First published works by R. Kim were non-fictional. He became a commentator of the book The Roots of the Japanese Sun by B. Pilniak and also published his analysis of the contemporary Japanese literature in the lampoon Three Houses across from the Other Two . R. Kim criticized Japanese ‘ego’-fiction of the early 20th century because literary ‘masters’ and their apprentices did not notice significant events in Japan and in the world and did not bring up social issues. Kim’s literary work demonstrates that the civic position of the characters in literature is essential for him. In the 1950s and 1960s, Roman Kim’s fiction has an intriguing plot and distinctness of a storyline. The structure of his novellas is usually built on ideological oppositions: the USA and the USSR, North and South Korea, Japan and communist China. The writer creates images of Kore and Koreans with historical retrospections and ethnocultural details. Korea in general is shown as a space of competition between the modern empires. Kim underlines ethnocultural particularity of most of the characters. The specificity of his fiction is based on the rationalistic principle, which also determines the unambiguity of the characters. Such a feature of the characters and the storyline is fairly typical of formula literature. Roman Kim also depicts spies like ghosts in his novellas. The authors of the article interpret that as reflection of the hybrid identity of Korean diaspora in the Soviet Union.

Rendszerváltás a polgári hírszerzésnél

Transformation of the III/I in the second half of the 1980s followed the Hungarian social changes. Shaping of a new intelligence service started at the end of 1988. After the regime change a new, inventive service, adjusted to the democratic environment, was set up. Tasks, directions followed the new foreign political and economic orientation, structural and personnel changes of large volume occurred. The new civilian intelligence service provided support to the government, gained confidence from the political leadership, became an active member of the new Hungarian state institution system and the international intelligence community.

Criminalization as anxious and ineffective response to foreign fighters phenomenon in the Western Balkans

Despite not being a new phenomenon, nor an Islamic specificum, only recently when the West has increasingly become a potential target of returning foreign fighters from the Syrian theater has the international community reacted. The UN Security Council called on Member-states to, inter alia, immediately amend their national legislation to criminalize travelling abroad for terrorist purposes. However, as I identify in this article, contrary to majority of the Western countries, the Western Balkan countries opted to amend their legislation to criminalize travelling abroad to join conflict irrespective of its connection with terrorism, going well beyond the intended aim of the Security Council's resolutions. I argue that this broader criminal law approach is difficult to justify from either preventive or reactive perspectives. It is, in fact, an anxious and ineffective response to foreign fighters phenomenon. It is anxious because existing data shows that countries from the region have suffered fewer extremist attacks than the West. Notwithstanding, they still decided to introduce far more aggressive legislative changes, even though it only amplified securitizing moves performed by fighters' recruiters. I further demonstrate that the implementation of this new legislation has been ineffective particularly due to: (1) the challenge of securing court-strong evidence, especially those gathered through international intelligence cooperation; (2) its application mainly as an alternative when other terrorism-related offences cannot be proved; and (3) biased law application in countries that have returning fighters from both Middle East and Ukraine.

Population-Centric Counterinsurgency in the Age of Salafi-Driven Insurgencies

Abstract This article explores the relevance of the dominant, population-centered, counterinsurgency doctrine in an era dominated by Salafi-inspired state challengers. Building on Weinstein's (2007) argument, I argue that an insurgent group's emergent nature, shaped by its origin, affects how it will operate and the kind of strategy most likely to defeat it. I investigate the plausibility of my claims through an examination of Boko Haram. I demonstrate the disconnect between Boko Haram's Salafi ideology and its objective of establishing a caliphate, on the one hand, and the strategy of dialogue and socioeconomic reforms to end the insurgency, on the other. In light of this disjuncture, I argue that the key to Boko Haram's defeat lies in the mobilization of international military and intelligence resources to strengthen the Nigerian government's enemy-centered counterinsurgency operation against the group.