Challenges of Neglecting Strategic Intelligence

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Introduction

The 21^st century has witnessed a lot of transformation in regards to intelligence and security issues. The latter have become more pronounced in the western political discourse (Bell 2003, 245). Strategic intelligence issue has been a major topic of discussion since the September 11 terror attacks in the United States (Orton and Callahan 2008, 411).

The public has a lot of expectation from the intelligence team since there is a growing feeling that the western societies are vulnerable to more attacks in future (Honig 2007, 699). The debate over the role of intelligence has resulted into the need to conduct further research to examine the future challenges facing the National Intelligence Community.

Researchers, journalists and scholars possess the feeling that Strategic Intelligence has been neglected for a long time leading to frequent terror attacks (Johnson 2003, 638). It is barely five decades since Strategic Intelligence became a serious academic study. There is need to conduct a research study to examine why Strategic Intelligence has been neglected (Scott and Jackson, 2004, 142).

Problem statement

Research has shown that that Strategic Intelligence is largely an abstract theory that is put in place to frighten people who are a threat to global security (Lillbacka 2013, 307). Such a scenario has led to lack of practicality in intelligence. It has also been a major challenge and obstacle for the National Intelligence Community in preventing potential threats against security.

Significance of the study

The significance of this study is to examine possible challenges of neglecting Strategic Intelligence and to identify tactical measures that can be put in place by the National Intelligence Community to control the challenges posed by poor global security.

Theoretical Framework

The proposed study will be guided by realism theory. This theoretical framework will help the researcher to examine the realities of security challenges and accurately present findings in an authentic manner in order to establish the exact measures that are supposed to be taken in response to the topic being studied.

Research hypothesis

This study will be guided by a hypothesis which states that the National Intelligence Community will continue to face challenges in future due to neglect of Strategic Intelligence on security matters.

Research Question

What are the likely challenges that the National Intelligence Community will continue to face in future due to the neglect of Strategic Intelligence?

Research Objective

The objective of this study is to identify some of the possible challenges facing the National Intelligence Community owing to gross neglect of Strategic Intelligence on matters related to security.

Research Design

In this study, a descriptive and systematic review approach will be used to gather information related to the topic of study. To elaborate further, case studies and surveys will be used in order to examine how intelligence has been applied at the national and international levels.

Reviewing peer-reviewed sources such as books, journals and other publications in order to infer what other researcher have done about the subject matter will also be part of the research design. In order to test the research hypothesis, a thorough review of literature will be done in order to gather adequate and relevant information that is likely to support or disapprove the hypothesis.

Qualitative research methods such as content analysis will be crucial in the study design in order to collect suitable information related to the research variables. Qualitative research method will be used because it is flexible and the research variables are unquantifiable. Moreover, it is worth to note that this study is theory-driven and thus makes is suitable to use qualitative research method.

Literature Review

It is apparent that several investigations have been done on strategic intelligence. For instance, a study was conducted by Hymans to examine the theory and practice of strategic intelligence in the United States. The study revealed that most of the theories presented on strategic intelligence are not put into practice.

Other research evidences shows that there is a rapid increase of academic inquiry on intelligence matters (Scott and Jackson 2004, 145). As a matter of fact, investigations began following the end of the Cold War era. Since then, there has been an altitudinal shift towards official secrecy, work of security and intelligence (Orton and Callahan 2008, 413).

This has heightened the debates over the motives of policy makers and their concern on intelligence policies. Meanwhile, the September 11 attack and Iraq War of 2003 have repositioned the scholars’ attention on strategic intelligence (Johnson 2003, 645). There have been popular perceptions and general understanding of the nature of international intelligence.

It is important to note that the role of Intelligence in international relations and global politics are still below the expected standards (Bell 2003, 246). In actual sense, people need to understand more of the concept of “intelligence” and what it is all about. Thereafter, nations need to understand the components of strategic intelligence since it is more than a tool of defense.

Most countries understand intelligence as a way or mechanisms of oppressing other states (Svendsen 2009, 701). Other nations use intelligence as a policymaking tool. This explains why different views and understanding of the concept results into lack of harmony and lowers the value and quality of intelligence on offer.

It is apparent that understanding intelligence at the international level is more crucial since it will influence decision-making at both the national and international levels. Actually, intelligence matters are quite mystifying despite the fact that they have occupied a prominent place in the minds of people than it was before the September 11 attacks (Bell 2003, 247).

A lot of research studies ought to be done on underlying issues such as the role of human intelligence against technical warfare and nuclear weapons. There is also need to examine the issue of collaboration in international intelligence and cognitive obstacles facing strategic intelligence (Hymans 2006, 456).

Researchers elaborate that the role of intelligence in international relations has evolved. The trans-national cooperation on intelligence matters reflects a change in global politics. The evolution of international norm places many limitations on exercise of power. However, globalization and advances in information, communication and technology has posed new challenges on intelligence that require new solutions.

For instance, researchers and scientists report that there is lack of adequate strategies to coordinate international intelligence as well as collecting and analyzing information (Hymans 2006, 459). Moreover, research has shown that there is lack of appropriate resources for gathering, translating and evaluating intelligence (Bell 2003, 247). The political leaders in the global realm lack the understanding of the value and limitation of intelligence.

Evidence to support this claim is derived from the surprise attack that occurred in the United States in December 1941 and left over 2000 people dead. This precipitated the US to declare war against Asia and Europe whereas the recent September 11 attack led to the US entry into war with Iraq and Afghanistan (Bell 2003, 248). This implies that there is much that needs to be done on intelligence. It is beyond reasonable doubt that the topic selected for study will help to close some of the existing research gaps.

Data collection and analysis

Sampling in data collection and analysis will be used to choose data sources that are relevant to the topic being studied. In this study, the researcher will use stratified sampling plan to select case studies and peer-reviewed sources that are relevant to the study.

In this case, they will be sorted using specific criteria such as by date, type (journals, books or periodicals) and topics. Data will be collected through survey method as well as taking notes from reviewed literature. Gathered data will be analyzed and transformed to useful information that will also be used in making conclusions and supporting recommendations.

During the analysis phase, data will be grouped into numerous categories such as “complete”, “with errors”, “incomplete” and “biased”. This will assist the researcher in identifying and overcoming possible errors during the data processing stage. Case studies to be used in the study will be related to the topic of study.

Research limitations and discussion on bias

It is anticipated that there will be limitations during study. Some of the limitations include subjectivity of authors and the available literature materials. Subjectivity of research findings may result into bias during discussion of research outcomes.

Eventually, the researcher might give inaccurate conclusion and recommendations. The other limitation might be the shortage of time. Nevertheless, the limitations will be eliminated by consulting a wide range of peer-reviewed sources and shrewd management of the available time for the study.

Conclusions and recommendations

Conclusions and recommendations will be made based on the research findings.

References

Bell, Bowyer. 2003.”Toward a theory of deception.” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 16, no. 2 (April): 244-279.

Johnson, Loch. 2003. “Preface to a theory of strategic intelligence.” International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 16, no. 4 (February): 638-663.

Honig, Or Arthur. 2007. “A new direction for theory-building in intelligence studies.” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 20, no. 4 (August): 699- 716.

Hymans, Jacques. 2006. “Theories of nuclear proliferation: The state of the field.” Nonproliferation Review 13, no. 3 (May): 455-465.

Lillbacka, Ralf. 2013.”Realism, Constructivism, and Intelligence Analysis.” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 26, no. 2 (February): 304-331.

Orton, Douglas, and Jamie, Callahan. 2008.”Important “folk theories” in intelligence reorganization.” International Journal of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence 8, no. 4 (January): 411-429.

Scott, Len, and Peter, Jackson. 2004.”The study of intelligence in theory and practice.” Intelligence & National Security 19, no. 2 (September): 139-169.

Svendsen, Adam. 2009.”Connecting intelligence and theory: Intelligence liaison and international relations.” Intelligence and National Security 24, no. 5 (October): 700-729.

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