ABSTRACT
This chapter describes why and how private sector corporations assist governments in intelligence collection, analysis, and operations. It explains the actual and potential benefits and risks associated with private intelligence, maps the terrain of private intelligence scholarship, and points to pathways for future investigations that draw upon developments in private security studies (PSS) research. The chapter summarizes and synthesizes scholarship that investigates why and how private sector actors assist governments in intelligence collection, analysis, and operations. It argues that dissolving the public/private distinction in terms of the work that intelligence collectors, analysts, and operators perform may be appropriate, but equating the underlying drivers of business and government is not. The Capstone case underscores the question of whether contemporary private intelligence activities qualitatively differ from their historical antecedents. The Capstone case also draws attention to the debate over individual morality versus institutional integrity. The chapter describes pathways for future investigations of private intelligence that draw upon developments in PSS.
