Aldrich, Richard J. (Richard James), 1961- and Kasuku, John. (2012) Escaping from American intelligence : culture, ethnocentrism and the Anglosphere. International Affairs, Vol.88 (No.5). pp. 1009-1028. ISSN 0020-5850

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Abstract

The United States and its closest allies now spend over $100 billion a year on intelligence. Ten years after 9/11, the intelligence machine is certainly bigger - but not necessarily better. American intelligence continues to privilege old-fashioned strategic analysis for policy-makers and exhibits a technocratic approach to asymmetric security threats, epitomized by the accelerated use of drone strikes and data-mining. Distinguished commentators have focused on the panacea of top-down reform, while politicians and practitioners have created entire new agencies. However these prescriptions for change remain conceptually limited because of underlying Anglo-Saxon presumptions about what intelligence is. Although intelligence is a global business, when we talk about intelligence we tend to use a vocabulary that is narrowly derived from the experiences of America and its English-speaking nebula. This article deploys the notion of strategic culture to explain this why this is. It then explores the cases of China and South Africa to suggest how we might begin to rethink our intelligence communities and their tasks. It argues that the road to success is about individuals, attitudes and cultures rather than organizations. Future improvement will depend on our ability to recognize the changing nature of the security environment and to practice the art of ‘intelligence among the people’. While the United States remains the world’s most significant military power, its strategic culture is unsuited to this new terrain and arguably other countries do these things rather better.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	E History America > E151 United States (General) J Political Science > JZ International relations U Military Science > U Military Science (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Intelligence service -- United States, Intelligence service -- China, Intelligence service -- South Africa, National security -- United States
Journal or Publication Title:	International Affairs
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN:	0020-5850
Date:	September 2012
Volume:	Vol.88
Number:	No.5
Number of Pages:	20
Page Range:	pp. 1009-1028
Identification Number:	10.1111/j.1468-2346.2012.01116.x
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Funder:	Arts & Humanities Research Council (Great Britain) (AHRC)
Grant number:	RES-451-26-0480 (AHRC)
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/50605

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