ABSTRACT
Defence intelligence organisations are generally less well known than civilian, ostensibly more secretive, intelligence agencies. Whilst in recent years Russia’s GRU has entered the public eye because of its involvement in the Salisbury poisonings in the United Kingdom in 2018 and other similar operations, it is less familiar than Russia’s domestic-intelligence agency, the FSB. Similarly, there is more public awareness of the United States’ CIA or the UK’s MI5 or MI6 than the United States’ Defense Intelligence Agency or the UK’s Defence Intelligence. The same arguably holds true for these countries’ signals intelligence agencies. Much less has been written about or by defence intelligence organisations, despite their work often underpinning the strategic intelligence insights that support decisions in defence ministries and at the highest levels of government, as well as their respective country’s deep expertise on topics such as nuclear or chemical weapons.
