ABSTRACT
This is the third in a series of edited collections based on events held at the University of Wales Conference Centre at Gregynog, organized by scholars from the Centre for Intelligence and International Security Studies (CIISS) in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University.1 A fourth conference was held in the spring of 2009. The introduction to the second collection contains this statement from the first:
Intelligence has never been more important in world politics than it is now at the opening of the twenty-first century. The terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001, along with the politics and diplomacy of the Second Gulf War, have brought intelligence issues to the forefront of both official and popular discourse on security and international affairs. The need for better understanding of both the nature of the intelligence process and its importance to national and international security has never been more apparent. The aim of this collection is to enhance our understanding of the subject by drawing on a range of perspectives, from academic experts to journalists to former members of the British and American intelligence communities.2
