An Introduction to Intelligence Studies

Abstract

Intelligence Studies deal with the question what Intelligence Services do, how they do it and why. They can be responsible for the civil and/or the military sector and be focused on internal (homeland) or external (foreign) affairs. A key activity is information gathering, but they may also be active in Political Warfare and related areas. This paper provides basic knowledge for anyone who is doing or interested in strategic and security studies. After an overview on the term intelligence and the topics of intelligence studies, the structure and rationale of intelligence communities and cooperation between intelligence services is presented, followed by a discussion of the legal and political dimension and the relationship to media. The following section presents covert activities in Political Warfare. Finally, the new field of cyber espionage and the impact on the structure and activities of intelligence services is briefly presented.