The use and abuse of intelligence: An intelligence provider's perspective

Abstract

There is a widely held perception that intelligence is the purloining of secret information from foreign countries, which is then used for advantage in wartime and as an aid to diplomacy and statecraft in peacetime, and the catching of foreign spies, or counterintelligence. In reality, intelligence serves a number of other purposes, such as technology development in support of other intelligence programmes, support to treaty negotiations and monitoring, arms control, and more. Several recently declassified Cold War intelligence activities are reviewed as examples of some of the other uses and benefits of intelligence gathering, and to show that leaders, policy makers and other consumers of intelligence may choose to use, abuse or ignore it, depending upon their own predilection, prejudices, biases, or political agendas, and sometimes altering the original intent of the intelligence.