ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how each manages this tension. It reveals that, even as they accept the importance of accountability, liberal democracies may define the concept differently and use different mechanisms to provide it. The National Security Act of 1947 established the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and charged it with collection of foreign intelligence and the performance of “such other functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security as the National Security Council may from time to time direct”. The absence of sharp distinctions also is consistent with the United Kingdom (UK’s) emphasis on secrecy as essential to operational effectiveness. The National Security Agency (NSA) was established by President Truman in 1952 to provide unified control over communications intelligence activities. The impetus for comparable legislation regarding MI6 and GCHQ was the 1992 trial of three businessmen prosecuted in the Matrix Churchill scandal for illegal arms sales to Iraq.
