ABSTRACT
In this chapter we would like to propose an analytical framework for research on security expertise, drawing on case studies involving two fairly distinct practices: Israeli military intelligence and political risk analysis. Our main contention is that the tools offered by the sociology of professions are insufficient for this purpose, and they should be supplemented by the analysis of expertise as a network connecting diverse actors, devices, institutions and concepts. From this perspective, to explain the origins, consequences and diverse forms taken by ‘security expertise’ it is not enough to focus on the struggle over jurisdiction between different groups of experts, but one must also attend to how a network of expertise is assembled that is able to perform the task of handling ‘unknowns’, whether converting them into calculable risks, or into non-numerical forms of calculation such as profiles, rankings or ratings, or blunting the indeterminate threat they represent through deterrence or preparedness.
