Ideology in Costume: A Growing Threat to Intelligence Studies

Abstract

Intelligence studies (IS) is a new and rapidly evolving academic discipline. Scholars periodically assess its status, noting considerable progress, but they have barely begun to assess the origins and implications of a significant recent development in IS: infiltration of the discipline by people determined to alter intelligence studies for ideological reasons. This commentary focuses on the destructive impact of neo-Marxian “critical intelligence studies” on IS generally. It addresses the origins and implications of this infection and suggests ways to inoculate IS against further damage.

Notes

1 For example, Wesley K. Wark, “Introduction: The Study of Espionage: Past, Present, Future?,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 8, No. 3 (1993), pp. 1–13; Miron Varouhakis, “What is Being Published in Intelligence? A Study of Two Scholarly Journals,” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 26, No. 1 (2013), pp. 176–189; Richard J. Aldrich, “‘A Profoundly Disruptive Force’: The CIA, Historiography and the Perils of Globalization,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 26, No. 2–3 (2011), pp. 139–158.

2 Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History of the Frankfurt School and the Institute of Social Research 1923–1950 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975).

3 Ibid., p. 8.

4 Gramsci is best known for his Prison Notebooks, written while in an Italian prison. Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks (New York: International Publishers, 1971).

5 Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, pp. 41–85.

6 For example, Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (Boston: Beacon, 1964); Herbert Marcuse, Counterrevolution and Revolt (Boston: Beacon, 1972).

7 Herbert Marcuse, “Repressive Tolerance,” in A Critique of Pure Tolerance, edited by Robert Paul Wolff, Barrington Moore Jr., and Herbert Marcuse (Boston: Beacon, 1969), pp. 81–123.

8 Stephen R. C. Hicks, Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (Tempe, AZ: Scholargy, 2004).

9 Adam Server, “The Fight Over the 1619 Project Is Not about the Facts,” The Atlantic, 23 December 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/historians-clash-1619-project/604093

10 Derrick A. Bell, Race, Racism, and American Law, 6th ed. (Los Angeles, CA: Aspen Publishers, 2008).

11 For example, Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist (New York: One World, 2019).

12 Kimberlé Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color,” Stanford Law Review, Vol. 43, No. 6 (1991), pp. 1241–1299.

13 For example, Antonia Darder, Rodolfo D. Torres, and Marta P. Baltodano (eds.), The Critical Pedagogy Reader, 3rd ed. (Milton Park, UK: Routledge, 2017).

14 Freire’s two most prominent works, translated into English, are Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Penguin, 2017), originally published in 1968, and The Politics of Education: Culture, Power, and Liberation (Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey, 1985).

15 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, p. 7.

16 Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, pp. 24–43.

17 Christopher Ingraham, “The Dramatic Shift among College Professors that’s Hurting Students’ Education,” Washington Post, 16 January 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/11/the-dramatic-shift-among-college-professors-thats-hurting-students-education/. See also Jon A. Shields, “The Disappearing Conservative Professor,” National Affairs, Fall 2018, https://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-disappearing-conservative-professor

18 Shawn Langlois, “More Than a Third of Millennials Polled Approve of Communism,” MarketWatch, 2 November 2019, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/for-millennials-socialism-and-communism-are-hot-capitalism-is-not-2019-10-28

19 Yuri Bezmenov, Love Letter to America, 1984, https://ia800602.us.archive.org/11/items/love-letter-america/love-letter-america.pdf; Pete Earley, Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia’s Master Spy in America after the End of the Cold War (New York: Berkley, 2007), p. 110; John A. Gentry, “Belated Success: Soviet Active Measures against the United States,” American Intelligence Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2 (2022), pp. 151–170.

20 Timothy Thomas, “Russia’s Reflexive Control Theory and the Military,” Journal of Slavic Military Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (2004), pp. 237–256; Daniel P. Bagge, Unmasking Maskirovka: Russia’s Cyber Influence Operations (New York: Defense Press, 2019).

21 For example, Christopher Till, “Propaganda through ‘Reflective Control’ and the Mediated Construction of Reality,” New Media & Society, Vol. 23, No. 6 (2021), pp. 1362–1378.

22 Samantha Newbery and Christian Kaunert, “Critical Intelligence Studies: A New Framework for Analysis,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 38, No. 5 (2023), pp. 780–798.

23 Loch K. Johnson and Allison M. Shelton, “Thoughts on the State of Intelligence Studies: A Survey Report,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 28, No. 1 (2013), pp. 109–120.

24 James Der Derian, “Anti‐Diplomacy, Intelligence Theory and Surveillance Practice,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 8, No. 3 (1993), p. 29.

25 Hamilton Bean, “Rhetorical and Critical/Cultural Intelligence Studies,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 28, No. 4 (2013), pp. 506–508.

26 Ibid., p. 498. See also Hamilton Bean, “Intelligence Theory from the Margins: Questions Ignored and Debates Not Had,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 33, No. 4 (2018), pp. 527–540.

27 Bean, “Rhetorical and Critical/Cultural Intelligence Studies,” p. 504.

28 Berma Klein Goldewijk, “Why Still Critical? Critical Intelligence Studies Positioned in Scholarship on Security, War, and International Relations,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 36, No. 4 (2021), p. 477.

29 Kearns biography, https://www.bristol.ac.uk/people/person/Oliver-Kearns-ebdab90e-f6b0-4627-b55c-0364ece0be83/ (accessed 15 October 2022).

30 Peter Gill and Mark Phythian, Intelligence in an Insecure World, 3rd ed. (Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2018), pp. 28–33.

31 Ibid., p. 28.

32 Gill has recognized the legitimacy of security-focused intelligence elsewhere.

33 Under UK law, “open-source intelligence” is now considered surveillance and therefore covered by Part 2 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and requires a Directed Surveillance Authorisation. Thanks to Philip Davies and an anonymous reviewer for clarification of this evidently complicated act and reinterpretation.

34 Thanks to an anonymous reviewer for this point.

35 For example, Zygmunt Bauman, Didier Bigo, Paulo Esteves, Elspeth Guild, Vivienne Jabri, David Lyon, and R. B. J. Walker, “After Snowden: Rethinking the Impact of Surveillance,” International Political Sociology, Vol. 8 (2014), pp. 121–144.

36 For example, William Styles, “The World Federation of Scientific Workers, a Case Study of a Soviet Front Organisation: 1946–1964,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 33, No. 1 (2018), pp. 116–129.

37 See WPC’s website at wpc-in.org.

38 Simon Willmetts, “The Cultural Turn in Intelligence Studies,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 34, No. 6 (2019), pp. 801, 804.

39 Peter de Werd, “Reflexive Intelligence and Converging Knowledge Regimes,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 36, No. 4 (2021), pp. 512–526.

40 Mark M. Lowenthal, “Intelligence Epistemology: Dealing with the Unbelievable,” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 6, No. 3 (1993), pp. 319–325.

41 Willmetts, “The Cultural Turn in Intelligence Studies.”

42 Ibid., p. 806.

43 Christopher Moran, Company Confessions: Secrets, Memoirs, and the CIA (New York: Thomas Dunne, 2016).

44 Richards J. Heuer, Jr., Psychology of Intelligence Analysis (Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1999).

45 For example, Charles G. Cogan, “The In‐Culture of the DO,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1993), pp. 78–86; Anonymous, “The DI’s Organizational Culture,” Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 34 (1990), pp. 21–25.

46 Robert M. Gates, “The CIA and American Foreign Policy,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 66, No. 2 (1987–1988), p. 219.

47 Myriam Dunn Cavelty and Victor Mauer, “Postmodern Intelligence: Strategic Warning in an Age of Reflexive Intelligence,” Security Dialogue, Vol. 40, No. 2 (2009), pp. 123–144; de Werd, “Reflexive Intelligence and Converging Knowledge Regimes.”

48 Marcuse, “Repressive Tolerance.”

49 Larry Diamond and Orville Schell (ed.), China’s Influence & American Interests: Promoting Constructive Vigilance (Stanford CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2019), p. ix; Clive Hamilton and Marieke Ohlberg, Hidden Hand: How the Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping the World (London: Oneworld, 2020), pp. 250, 274.

50 Erik J. Dahl, “Why Won’t They Listen? Comparing Receptivity toward Intelligence at Pearl Harbor and Midway,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 28, No. 1 (2013), pp. 68–90.

51 Shilpa Sajja, Jervis interview, 29 September 2020, https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2020/09/perception-in-politics-bpr-interviews-robert-jervis/

52 Hager Ben Jaffel, Alvina Hoffman, Oliver Kearns, and Sebastian Larsson, “Collective Discussion: Toward Critical Approaches to Intelligence as a Social Phenomenon,” International Political Sociology, Vol. 14 (2020), p. 324.

53 Arthur S. Hulnick, “What’s Wrong with the Intelligence Cycle,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 21, No. 6 (2006), pp. 959–979.

54 Hager Ben Jaffel and Sebastian Larsson (eds.), Problematising Intelligence Studies: Towards a New Research Agenda (Routledge, London, 2022).

55 Diana I. Bolsinger, “Intelligence Studies: Problem or Solution?,” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence (2022). doi:10.1080/08850607.2022.2119797

56 Hager Ben Jaffel and Sebastian Larsson, “Why Do We Need a New Research Agenda for the Study of Intelligence?” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence (2023). doi:10.1080/08850607.2023.2222342

57 T. W. van de Kerke and C. W. Hijzen, “Secrecy, Evidence, and Fear: Exploring the Construction of Intelligence Power with Actor-Network Theory (ANT),” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 36, No. 4 (2021), p. 528.

58 Klaus Knorr, “Failures in National Intelligence Estimates: The Case of the Cuban Missiles,” World Politics, Vol. 16, No. 3 (1964), p. 460.

59 Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, The CIA & American Democracy, 2nd ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998), p. 226.

60 Thomas Fingar, Reducing Uncertainty: Intelligence Analysis and National Security (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011).

61 Hager Ben Jaffel, “Britain’s European Connection in Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Cooperation: Everyday Practices of Police Liaison Officers,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 35, No. 7 (2020), p. 1007.

62 Irena Chiru, Cristina Ivan, and Rubén Arcos, “Diversity in Intelligence: Organizations, Processes, and People,” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 35, No. 4 (2022–2023), pp. 607–620.

63 Hamilton Bean and Mia Fischer, “Queering Intelligence Studies,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 36, No. 4 (2021), pp. 584–598.

64 Gentry, “Belated Success,” p. 156.

65 Julie Mendosa, “Expanding Mental Models in Intelligence Through Diverse Perspectives,” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 35, No. 4 (2022–2023), p. 633.

66 Damien Van Puyvelde e-mail to author, 21 November 2022; Damien Van Puyvelde and Sean Curtis, “‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’: Diversity and Scholarship in Intelligence Studies,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 31, No. 7 (2016), pp. 1041, 1044.

67 INS coeditors generally divide submissions on a geographical basis. Stephen Marrin handles submissions from people living in the Western Hemisphere and Phythian processes submissions from the rest of the world.

68 Andrew Rathmell, “Towards Postmodern Intelligence,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 17, No. 3 (2002), pp. 87–104.

69 Ibid., pp. 91, 94.

70 Phillip H. J. Davies, “Theory and Intelligence Reconsidered,” in Intelligence Theory: Key Questions and Debates, edited by Peter Gill, Stephen Marrin, and Mark Phythian (New York: Routledge, 2009), p. 200.

71 Davies e-mail to author, 7 November 2022.

72 Silviu Cristian Paicu, “Data-Driven Security and Democratic Intelligence: Key Role of Critical Engagement by Academia,” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 36, No. 3 (2023), pp. 711–728; Ben Jaffel and Larsson, “Why Do We Need a New Research Agenda for the Study of Intelligence?”

73 Chiru, Ivan, and Arcos, “Diversity in Intelligence,” p. 617.

74 Phythian e-mail to author, 5 May 2023.

75 Mark Phythian, “Conclusion: The Development of Critical Intelligence Studies,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 36, No. 4 (2021), pp. 615–620.

76 Marrin e-mail to author, 21 October 2022.

77 Goldman conversation via Zoom with author, 9 November 2022, and telephone conversation 28 November 2022.

78 Johnson e-mails to author, 25 September 2022 and 7 May 2023.

79 Valcourt telephone conversation with author, 15 September 2022, e-mail 7 May 2023.

80 Ibid.

81 Dahl e-mails to author, 21 October 2022 and 5 May 2023.

82 Damien Van Puyvelde, “Women and Black Employees at the Central Intelligence Agency: From Fair Employment to Diversity Management,” Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Vol. 34, No. 5 (2021), pp. 673–703.

83 Van Puyvelde e-mail to author, 21 November 2022.

84 This term is a legacy of the Russian civil war in which noncommunists were “Whites,” as opposed to the communist Reds. The term “paint it White” reflects the communist practice of hiding or misrepresenting their activities by hiding behind apparent noncommunist Whites. Examples include the Indochinese Communist Party’s use of the ostensibly nationalist Viet Minh front organization to hide its actual control of the war against France after World War II and East European communists’ claims that their regimes were “democratic.” See Calder Walton, Spies: The Epic Intelligence War between East and West (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2023), p. 151.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John A. Gentry

Dr. John A. Gentry is Adjunct Professor with the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He formerly was an intelligence analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. Dr. Gentry has written extensively on intelligence and security topics. The author can be contacted at [email protected].