The Privatization of Intelligence

Intelligence is an ambiguous term whose meaning ranges from a person’s mental ability to espionage. As applied to organized institutional activity the term is neither clear nor appreciated by most non-practitioners. In order to develop a common understanding of what “intelligence” means, we will start with a widely accepted definition of the term: Intelligence is a simple and self-evident thing. As an activity it is the pursuit of a certain kind of knowledge; as a phenomenon it is the resultant knowledge. As applied in the context of organizational activity intelligence is a kind of knowledge upon which a successful course of action can be rested, it is also the type of organization which produces the knowledge, and finally, the activity pursued by an intelligence organization. Intelligence connotes information needed or desired by the government in a pursuance of its national interest. It includes the process of obtaining, evaluating, protecting and eventually exploiting the same information. Intelligence also encompasses the defense of U.S. institutions from penetration and harm by hostile intelligence services.