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131. Changing intelligence dynamics in Africa

Author:
Sandy Africa
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:
A common public perception about modern day intelligence services in Africa is that they are mere extensions of the too-often authoritarian leaders under whom they operate. In some cases, the intelligence services appear to tolerate this perception – some would suggest even fuel it – because of the apparent power, access and influence intelligence provides. As despised or ridiculed as intelligence services might be, they often hold a trump card in domestic and international relations, and are quite aware of this relative advantage.
Topic:
Security and Intelligence
Political Geography:
Africa

132. Lighting up the Intelligence Community: A Democratic Approach to Intelligence Secrecy and Openness

Author:
Laurie Nathan
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:
The most important and vexed issue relating to governance of the intelligence services in a democracy is arguably that of secrecy. It is the most important issue because the higher the level of secrecy, the harder it is to ascertain and assess the features and performance of the services. In the absence of adequate information, it is impossible to have a meaningful discussion on the role and orientation of the intelligence community, on the need for intelligence reform and on the vital question of whether the services are protecting or undermining the security and freedom of citizens.
Topic:
Corruption, Democratization, Intelligence, and Governance
Political Geography:
South Africa

133. A Failure of Intelligence

Author:
Joshua Goodman
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
The Duke of Marlborough once said, "No war can be conducted successfully without early and good intelligence, and that such advices [sic] can't be had but at a very great expense." While popular culture, and Hollywood in particular, has romanticized the role of intelligence in wars, the simple fact remains: one must know the enemy one is fighting for victory to be possible.
Topic:
Intelligence
Political Geography:
United States and Israel

134. Diplomacy and Security in the Twenty-first Century

Author:
Janne E. Nolan
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Abstract:
The findings of this first phase of our inquiry raised many questions about how the United States might improve discourse among intelligence and policy professionals in ways that could advance U.S. security interests in the twenty-first century. We were fortunate to receive additional support from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2006 to expand our study, allowing us to focus on the use of diplomatic engagement to protect against emerging security threats to U.S. interests—specifically on the spread of nuclear capabilities among new regional powers. The major purpose of this second inquiry is to examine whether diplomatic engagement is feasible and effective for addressing twenty-first century security challenges and to develop different examples of what such challenges might require.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, Diplomacy, Intelligence, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
United States

135. The Israeli Secret Services and the Struggle Against Terrorism

Author:
Ami Pedahsur
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Columbia University Press
Abstract:
While Mossad is known as one of the world's most successful terrorist-fighting organizations, the state of Israel has, more than once and on many levels, risked the lives of its agents and soldiers through unwise intelligence-based intervention. An expert on terror and political extremism, Ami Pedahzur argues that Israel's strict reliance on the elite units of its intelligence community is fundamentally flawed. A unique synthesis of memoir, academic research, and information gathered from print and online sources, Pedahzur's complex study explores this issue through Israel's past encounters with terrorists, specifically, hostage rescue missions, the first and second wars in Lebanon, the challenges of the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian terrorist groups, and Hezbollah. He brings a rare transparency to Israel's counterterrorist activities, highlighting their successes and failures and the factors that have contributed to these results. From the foundations of this analysis, Pedahzur ultimately builds a strategy for future confrontation that has relevance not only for Israel but also for other countries that have adopted Israel's intelligence-based model.
Topic:
Intelligence, Military Affairs, and Counter-terrorism
Political Geography:
Middle East and Israel
Publication Identifier:
9780231511612
Publication Identifier Type:
ISBN

136. PolicyWatch #1330: Domestic Issues Trump Foreign Policy in Iran

Author:
Mehdi Khalaji
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
At each stop on his recent Middle East tour, President Bush centered his foreign policy agenda on the growing threat from Iran. But inside the Islamic Republic, domestic policies -- and not the international issues that Bush highlighted -- are at the center of political debate.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Intelligence, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, and Middle East

137. PolicyWatch #1324: Raising the Costs for Tehran

Author:
Michael Jacobson
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
In the wake of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran, questions are being raised as to whether sanctions and financial pressure remain a viable approach to changing Tehran's decisionmaking on its nuclear program. As evidence of this strategy's demise, critics point to the foundering attempts to negotiate a third round of UN sanctions against Iran -- sanctions that appeared imminent before the NIE's publication. While additional punitive measures by the UN are important and necessary, better enforcement of the various sanctions regimes already in place could have an equally significant impact.
Topic:
Intelligence and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, and Middle East

138. Gain Seeking in a "Double Security Dilemma": The Case of OPEC

Author:
Ellinor Zeino-Mahmalat
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
The remarkable stability of the cooperation among the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has generally been explained by these members' mutual dependency on high and stable oil revenues. Since the OPEC countries, however, face the double security dilemma of both domestic and external security threats, they are not simply eager to secure (absolute) oil revenues for the sake of domestic stability; they are also sensitive to the (relative) oil revenues of their competing or even conflicting partners. The existing approaches of rational egoism and defensive positionalism have proven to be rather inadequate in explaining this kind of gain-seeking behavior. This paper therefore develops the new theoretical approach of “gain-seeking mentalities,” with the objective of tracing variations in OPEC members' gain-seeking behaviors. Using this approach, the empirical assessment of Iran and Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War and Iraq during the Gulf War of 1990/91 shows the extent to which Iran and Iraq altered their gain-seeking behavior as a result of a changing constellation of threats.
Topic:
Security, Economics, Intelligence, and Oil
Political Geography:
Iraq, Iran, and Middle East

139. National Security and Intelligence Reform in Sierra Leone, 2000-2003

Author:
Robert Ashington-Pickett
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:
The working paper series on Sierra Leone is part of the research programme 'Security System Transformation in Sierra Leone, 1997-2007'. These working papers present perspectives from both Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom regarding the implementation of activities broadly defined as security sector reform (SSR) in the period towards the end of and following the Sierra Leone war.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Intelligence
Political Geography:
Africa and Sierra Leone

140. Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action for the Advancement of the Right of Access to Information

Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
We, over 125 members of the global access to information community from 40 countries, representing governments, civil society organizations, international bodies and financial institutions, donor agencies and foundations, private sector companies, media outlets and scholars, gathered in Atlanta, Georgia from February 27-29, 2008, under the auspices of the Carter Center and hereby adopt the following Declaration and Plan of Action to advance the passage, implementation, enforcement, and exercise of the right of access to information:
Topic:
Civil Society, Intelligence, Treaties and Agreements, and Intellectual Property/Copyright
Political Geography:
Georgia