Developing Intelligence Theory: New Challenges and Competing Perspectives

Significant changes have occurred in the security intelligence environment in recent years—including transformative information technologies, the advent of ‘new’ terrorism, and the emergence of hybrid warfare—making this an opportune moment to take stock and consider how we explain what intelligence does and how. The material made available via the 2013 Edward Snowden leaks and subsequent national debates has contributed much to our understanding of contemporary intelligence processes and has significant implications for future theorisation, for example, in relation to the concept of ‘surveillance’. 

The contributors are leading figures in Intelligence Studies who represent a range of different approaches to conceptual thinking about intelligence. As such, their contributions provide a clear statement of the current parameters of debates in intelligence theory while also pointing to ways in which the study of intelligence continues to develop. 

This book was originally published as a special issue of Intelligence and National Security.