Essay on "Intelligence and Security Agencies Work"

Essay 12 pages (3964 words) Sources: 20 Style: Harvard

[EXCERPT] . . . .

However, as politics continue to evolve, the aspect of democratization of sectors within the government continues to elicit heated debates, as some section of groups wants everything to remain open in the eyes of the public. However, in regards to the significant role of the intelligence services, in addition to the weight of, the matters, they handle; especially regarding the security of the country, they have a shielding factor for exemption from interference by other parties in their operations.

The aspect of the raising debates in regards to politics and their interest in the intelligence service come from the aspect of the roles played by the intelligence service. The government is highly secretive department of the country, mostly acting from informed sources of intelligence and towards securing the interest of the country. However, with the increasing threats towards the security of most countries, most decision makers continue to advocate for openness in the intelligence service, as they want to work in conjunction with them (Crawford, 2004, p. 130). However, the intelligence service lies under the executive arm of the government, with the president in most countries, including Britain and the United States of America being the commanding chief officer of the defense forces and military. The decision makers, on the other hand, are on the second arm of government, which is the legislature. The legislature has its myriad of responsibilities towards the security of the country. Among the responsibilities of the decision, makers concerning the security of the country include the following.

The decision makers have the mandate to formulate and establish rules and regulations governing the country (Posner, 2006, p. 67). This means that they make the rules and laws that govern the action of the military, police and defense forces of the nation. As such, they have the mandate to make guiding rules towards the action of the security detail in the country. Therefore, in their view, they have the responsibility of maintain law and order as the defense forces and the intelligence services do. The decision makers, in essence, are the law that governs the activity of the security services in the country, as they discuss and debate upon weighty matters concerning the security of the country. This is the basis for their argument to being part of the intelligence service of the country. However, in counter argument towards their belief, the intelligence service consists of highly skilled and trained officers in the field of action (MacDonald, 2009, p. 9). The decision makers, on the other hand, are simple citizens, with varied careers and specialization in varied fields, and without any skill in the field of security. Additionally, the intelligence service operates on highly sensitive grounds that require a lot of caution and sensitivity in action. Therefore, saying that the decision makers be included in the activity of the intelligence service is like blowing the cover of the intelligence service, placing every bit of information, no matter how crucial and sensitive to the eyes of the opponents and potential threats (Theoharis, 2006, p. 118). The decision makers have a significant role to play towards the intelligence service and security of the country. They debate on weighty bills and decide on the guidelines governing the action of the intelligence service. However, this does not warrant them the recognition of being among the leading people in the intelligence service of the country. The security of a country is a paramount sector of operation in the government and requires handling with care and sensitivity to the secrets that the government keeps from the public; in their endeavor to protect them from threats of insecurity.

The argument of the decision makers wanting to involve themselves in the activity of the intelligence service in the Britain for instance, which also applies across many other countries; borders on the means used to gather the information required to maintain law and order and keep the intelligence of the country on the forefront in maintain security of the country. The classification of the intelligence service operations is such that, some activities are overt while others are covert (Waxman, 2012, p. 301). The overt missions mean that they do not have much weight and as such, do not warrant extreme means of gathering information. The overt missions are not highly secretive; hence, the reason the intelligence service may allow such as the decision makers wishes to involve themselves in the works of the intelligence. However, the aspect changes regarding the covert missions of the intelligence services. The aspect of gathering intelligence requires high levels of care and sensitivity towards the risks and losses that come with a mission gone wrong while in line of duty. The means of collecting information include the following, and some of which are the basis of the argument by decision makers to regulate the activity of the intelligence.

The British has the SIS building which heads the headquarters of the M16, which is the British intelligence service of the country (Britain: MI5 gets ready for the starter's gun; Security at the Olympic games, 2011, p. 78). The intelligence service of the United States is a collection of several agencies, specifically fourteen in number, that form the unit called the Intelligence Community. The activity of the Intelligence Community is under the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which acts as the overseer of the activity of the fourteen units in the intelligence service of the country. These departments act in their endeavor to provide quality and reliable information to the security of their countries. However, as politics continue to evolve, there are debates concerning their activity, which largely base on the means used to gather information and their sources of information. However, as most missions have it, the activities of intelligence are mostly covert. Information gathering involves cooperation with other institutions within and outside the country. This procedure is not highly controversial, as information, sharing happens based on mutual agreement and consent to share information regarding the security of the country. The second method used is review and evaluation of public sources of information, such as the social media, news pieces and other public channels that present information that could be valuable in establishing threats to the security of the country and its people (Joel, 2010, p .1755). The information gathered through these means does not infringe the privacy of any person or nation, as the means used are not suffocating the space of any person or country.

However, the controversy arises when the means used to gather information include the following. The fist and most controversial is that of espionage. Espionage entails the act of eavesdropping and spying upon the unsuspecting target to source out information that could be useful towards the security of the country. The United States and Britain have in the past been in the highlights for spying in other countries, with their spies caught in those countries, most ending dead. Thus, from this aspect, espionage is disadvantageous as it risks the lives of the citizens of the country; as such, spies usually have high-level skills in matters of security. Therefore, when a country loses such people in their endeavor of gathering information, it is painful to the family and society.

Additionally, spying increases tension among the countries in question, as when the country catches the spy, they realize the distrust the other country has on them. This increases tension between the two countries and may even affect trade ties and peace treaties signed before between the countries (Roberts, 2009, p. 173). Additionally, some agencies may be corrupt; hence, they may use espionage to blackmail and employ other underhand dealings for their personal gains, a factor not acceptable by the law. Thus, espionage, although it has its own benefits towards the security of the country, still poses several risk factors, which constitute the debate towards the activity of the intelligence service. However, it remains the main procedure of the intelligence services in gathering information for security purposes to the country.

Another controversial mean of gathering information by the intelligence services is that of communication interceptions. This method involves the aspect of eavesdropping on the communications channels of prospective sources of threat to the security of the country (Wagner, 2007, p. 90). The intelligence services have intelligent personnel, who have the skill to hack into the communication channels of the public and other sectors; in order to listen to their conversations and other informational exchange channels to intercept the information that may be useful to their operations. Communication interception has its disadvantage in that, the countries or sectors to which the intelligence service intercepts its communication may feel interjected and sue the country for industrial espionage (Cloud, 2004, p 89). Additionally, when the countries realize that the security intelligence tapped into their communication channels, they feel that the spying country does not respect its sovereignty and its actions and commitment towards maintain security. Therefore, this may cause international disagreements as happened recently when United States tapped into… READ MORE

How to Reference "Intelligence and Security Agencies Work" Essay in a Bibliography

Related Essays:

National Security and Homeland Defense Research Paper

Security Agencies

National Security and Homeland Defense at the Federal, State, and Local Levels: An Overview of Three Agencies

Federal

National Security Agency (NSA)

Jurisdiction: Gathers information worldwide; official jurisdiction… read more

Research Paper 7 pages (1757 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA Topic: Crime / Police / Criminal Justice

---

Intelligence Pathologies Term Paper

Intelligence Pathologies

The Church Committee Investigations which began in 1974 after the Watershed Scandal in President Nixon's administration found that intelligence agencies had unlimited executive power. The committee found that… read more

Term Paper 10 pages (3119 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Terrorism / Extremism / Radicalization

---

Security Roles Research Paper

Security Roles

In the present digital age when a substantial amount of data and other key corporate information is stored in servers, the word "security" takes on a new and… read more

Research Paper 3 pages (1081 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce

---

Intelligence Agencies Term Paper

Intelligence Agencies

What exactly is an Intelligence Agency? It is an agency that is responsible for gathering information about an enemy of any kind, and assimilating this information in such… read more

Term Paper 28 pages (11218 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Military / Army / Navy / Marines

---

Intelligence Policy Term Paper

Intelligence Policy

Political factors that shape contemporary debates over intelligence policy, effectiveness, and accountability

Achieving a successful policy in a country is not an easy task. In the United States,… read more

Term Paper 10 pages (3186 words) Sources: 9 Topic: Psychology / Behavior / Psychiatry

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>