ABSTRACT
British interest in intelligence activity can be seen from the turn of the fourteenth century, at which point King Edward II ordered ‘the seizure of “all letters coming from or going to ports beyond the seas”’. During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain’s Duke of Wellington mastered the use of intelligence during his campaigns against the French on the Iberian Peninsula. The widespread emergence of intelligence agencies–formal, bureaucratic institutions in their own right, either civilian or military-based–is a more recent development. The development of institutions primarily focused upon internal intelligence gathering also took place during the nineteenth century. During the twentieth century, intelligence and security apparatus continued to develop around the globe, under both democratic and authoritarian regimes. Established intelligence agencies in democratic systems have found themselves subject to increased scrutiny of their activities. In 1992, the military intelligence spied on various center-right party members’.
