ABSTRACT
The chapter briefly reviews some recent discussions concerning intelligence theory and suggestions that we are in the midst of a revolution in intelligence affairs. Taking a page out of the sociology of surveillance literature it is argued here that, while it is possible to say that we are in the midst of technological revolution in intelligence affairs there has not, as yet, been a revolution in intelligence theory.1 Rather, a dominant intelligence paradigm, referred here to here as the ‘national security intelligence paradigm’, prevails. This paradigm is predicated largely on the assumptions of international relations realism: Realpolitik. An alternative conception is here offered, namely the ‘human security intelligence paradigm’. The tenets of this approach to intelligence security will be briefly outlined following which, by way of illustration, two case-study vignettes of contrasting intelligence-led police interventions are presented. These examples pertain to UK domestic police operations and they represent two quite different ways of organizing intelligence-led operations which analogically map onto the national-security/human-security distinction. Throughout the chapter it is suggested that the sociology of policing literature offers a useful touchstone in thinking about the re-orientation of transnational security issues. This is so because the institutions of liberal democratic policing offer a different kind of institutional basis for thinking about security intelligence than do the bases of the currently dominant national security paradigm which are the military and secret intelligence institutions. The chapter concludes by arguing that human security doctrine offers a way out of the impasse that the now dominant paradigm persists in.
