Essays on Issues
for the
Open Source
Intelligence Community
Wisdom in the Context of National Intelligence Agencies
(click title to download .pdf file - size 145Kb)
This is a short paper presented to the Intelligence Studies Section of the ISA in 2003 on the difficulties of creating higher order values (like wisdom) in the real working environments of national intelligence agencies.
Intelligence Ethics: The Definitive Work of 2007*
(click title to download .pdf file - size 624Kb)
This booklet was created in September, 2007 after 26 intelligence professionals from 7 countries submitted essays to be judged in a competition. Four judges, two editors of large intelligence journals, one a clandestine operator and one a former Chancellor of America’s National Intelligence University System picked the best half of these essays to be included in this reader which was edited for brevity. Actual spies prefer small readers to large books on ethics. It was used by the CIA before it was formally published, and is being used now in classes at the National Defense Intelligence College and others. But it was not produced by any of these groups. It was produced by Ground Zero Minnesota for free worldwide use. For example, it is being tranlated into Portuguese right now (early 2009). We provide our best material on the web for anyone’s use in the same spirit that animates all of our work on “education for informed democracy and human survival.” Ethics for spies does seem strange. But think a moment, would you rather they have no ethics at all?
Intelligence Ethics
(click title to download .pdf file - size 240Kb)
This is a chapter produced for an intelligence studies textbook published in Great Britain in 2007 called the “Handbook of Intelligence Studies.” It reviews the essential roles of different types of “intelligence professionals” as well as some of the exceptional dilemmas they face in their work.
Restoring Healthy Relationships Between Intelligence Agencies
and the Academy
(click title to download .pdf file - size 98Kb)
This paper reflects the schism between related groups of “intelligence professionals” specifically academics, media and spies. It attempts to point out how much better each could do their different jobs if they collaborated better. That requires some understanding of the different works they do, and how to better exploit the open sources revolution without violating confidences.
Human Security and National Security
(click title to download .pdf file - size 68Kb)
This very short concept piece was created to help a mixed panel of human rights activists and military officers involved in civil affairs to recognize the substantial overlap between these concepts. The UN has been promoting the idea of “human security” for about a decade, but very few people know why or what that means.
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