Politics and technology’s impact on intelligence

Any government or country must have intelligence in order to defend against internal and external threats and to represent the country in covert international matters. The intelligence process makes it easier to gather data that is then utilized to plan out how to implement foreign policy and defend the nation from outside attacks. However, it has gone through a number of changes and obstacles brought on by politics and technology. A nation’s intelligence is significantly influenced by both politics and technology. Politics and technology can sometimes support the intelligence communities’ operations and can sometimes have an impact on it. Of concern is the independence of the intelligence bodies that has been extremely compromised over the years, because of the negative influences of politics and some elements of technology. Intelligence communities require unrestricted independence to enable them to carry out their functions efficiently. However, the controls by politicians and some of the technological mischiefs such as hacking are posing a threat to the intelligence product, process, and the community. Intelligence agencies will achieve tremendous progress if they can conduct their activities freely.

Keywords: intelligence, technology, politics, government, foreign policy, information, community.

Introduction

As disclosed by Clapper (2013), intelligence is a vital component of any government since it serves the need to protect the country from internal and foreign harm, and at the same time facilitate foreign policy for the nation. The use of intelligence has become a necessity for most governments, as it enables the understanding of activities taking place in the country as well as those that transpire to the rest of the world. The most powerful governments in the world utilize intelligence bodies to collect and process information that is beneficial for the country’s foreign policy as well as maintenance of law and order in their respective countries. Institutions such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States (U.S) and Military Intelligence, Section 5 (MI5) of the United Kingdom (U.K) are among the prominent intelligence organizations in the world that serve their respective countries. Bimfort (1995) defines intelligence as the collecting and processing of information that concerns foreign nations and their agents that a government needs to be armed with for purposes of national security and the country’s foreign policy. Intelligence also serves to protect itself from outside influences that may compromise the product and the process, the organization’s affiliates and its personnel from unauthorized disclosure. In recent times, both politics and technology have been important elements of the national intelligence and has affected the product, process or community in one way or another.

Technological Influence on Intelligence

Throughout the years, technology has improved quite significantly and rapidly with everyday inventions being a standard feature in the sector. However, the invention of the internet has transformed the perspective on intelligence and considerably on information dissemination. The use of the internet has made communication fast and reliable since the exchange of messages, and other information over the platform is instantaneous (Atzori, Iera & Morabito, 2010). Intelligence process has benefitted from this lightning-quick exchange of information since the agents of the intelligence bodies can communicate from all parts of the world smoothly and efficiently. Information can also be collected and processed faster since the internet provides a suitable platform for the collection of data and its transmission. Arms of the government such as the Army rely on the real-time information of battle zones or areas of war and attacks to formulate quick strategies on the best cause of actions.

Technological products have also revolutionized the use of intelligence for most intelligence bodies. The most revolutionary product of technology that serves the intelligence word is the drone. Clift (2003) explains that drones are famous for their capabilities to be remotely controlled to fly without the use of an onboard pilot, and can be armed to collect information or execute attacks from a ground-based station. Drones have been a revelation in the intelligence community since it provides a secure spying and attack tool that is free from human casualties since the intelligence agents are never in harm’s way. Today’s spying is done with the use of drones fitted with high precision cameras that take pictures and transmit the collected information to the users in real-time. Other drones are equipped with weapons that can be used to launch attacks on areas that intelligence agents are unable to access or face specific risks should they be in some isolated zones. With the use of drones, the intelligence processes have been made simpler and efficient with minimal casualties (Clift, 2003).

Despite the benefits associated with technology in intelligence, there have been some challenges that have risen as well. Exchange of information on the internet has been exposed to espionage since it is possible for outsiders to gain illegal access to the systems used to transmit and store information over the platform. Hacking, as it is known, is done by other governments and other independent factions to source for unauthorized details and creates a substantial threat to intelligence communities and their respective governments (Rudner, 2013). The CIA has been a constant target for hackers who are fishing for information to use against the state of the U.S to cause harm, use the information to hold the government hostage or obtain financial gain by selling the information to other intelligence agencies. Also, the technological tools used for information collection can even be compromised by hacks that are targeted towards causing the intelligence bodies damages. The governments of intelligence agencies have as a result spent lots of money and used extensive resources to guard themselves against hacks and other intrusions via the internet that may cause them any form of harm, which in turn has reflected the inflating the government’s budget.

Political Influence on Intelligence

Politics and intelligence are in constant conflict due to the influence of one division over the other (Steinhart & Avramov, 2013). This statement provides the explicit reasoning that goes behind the issue of political control on the matters of the government’s intelligence. Politicians have been known to try to meddle, whether lucky or not in the affairs of intelligence bodies for purposes that suit their interests. Therefore, it is essential to consider the influence of politics on the intelligence process, product and the communities that are involved. Politics can either be a hindrance or beneficiary of the intelligence community, since they both work towards the same goal, but with different leaders who have different perspectives on how affairs should be carried out (Handel, 2012). Politics in most instances clashes with the intelligence bodies on matters of financing, budget controls, and leadership selection. Politics is used by politicians to control how the intelligence bodies operate by dictating the budget allocations of these bodies and in most instances, the funding is based on the effectiveness evaluation that may be misleading by the political authorities. Budgets cuts can sometimes be approved despite not being in the best interest of the intelligence product since it affects their processes and modes of operations.

Additionally, politics influences the leadership of most of the intelligence organizations (Gill, 2012). Most of the influential leaders’ appointments done are made subjectively to the top leadership in the political class. Politicians normally pick and recommend their counterparts or individuals that share the same goals in the efforts to have the intelligence bodies work to satisfy the politicians’ self-interests. Of concern, is that the top leaders of the intelligence organizations are working with politicians to further the interests of the individuals or be used to commit conspiracies and unlawful acts. The intelligence process is influenced by these politicians who compromise the information collection and manipulation process of intelligence institutions to further their selfish agendas. Case and example is the hiding of information on the assassination of one of America’s former president John F. Kennedy, that was suppressed by the political class, and the CIA was unable to release the information to the public. According to Gill (2012), politics also tend to control the dissemination of information from these intelligence bodies despite the belief that the intelligence is an independent body that operated without interference.

Conclusion

Matters of technology and politics in the current world are increasingly affecting the intelligence product, process, and the community. While technology tries to advance how intelligence functions, there are also challenges that are presented to intelligence by the use of the technology. On the other hand, politics serves to protect and assist intelligence in progress, at the same time trying to stamp its control on these independent intelligence communities of the government. Both technology and politics have their pros and cons on the issue of intelligence; however, there can be a baseline whereby both politics and technology work with the intelligence community to advance their undertakings. Politics and technology need to assist intelligence bodies in carrying out their mandate that serves to protect the government, secure the safety of the country and be the frontline in the country’s foreign policy. Intelligence should be a tool that helps the government and the people of the nation.

References

Atzori, L., Iera, A., & Morabito, G. (2010). The internet of things: A survey. Computer networks, 54(15), 2787-2805.

Bimfort, M. T. (1995). A Definition of Intelligence. Studies in Intelligence, 2(4), 75-78, from https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent- csi/vol2no4/html/v02i4a08p_0001.htm.

Clapper, James C. Worldwide threat assessment of the US intelligence community. OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE WASHINGTON DC, 2013, from http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA580128.

Clift, A. D. (2003). Intelligence in the Internet Era. JOINT MILITARY INTELLIGENCE COLL WASHINGTON DC, from https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of- intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol47no3/article06.html.

Handel, M. I. (2012). War, strategy and intelligence. Routledge.

Rudner, M. (2013). Cyber-threats to critical national infrastructure: An intelligence challenge. International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 26(3), 453-481.

Steinhart, A., & Avramov, K. (2013). Is Everything Personal?: Political Leaders and Intelligence Organizations: A Typology. International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 26(3), 530-549.