The Ethical Limits We Should Place on Intelligence Gathering as Part of an Integrated CT Strategy

David Omand

Terrorism and Political Violence, 2021, vol. 33, issue 2, 290-301

Abstract: This chapter first describes the importance of secret intelligence in protecting the public from terrorist attacks. The use of intelligence in deriving the strategic aim of the integrated U.K. counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, and supporting its delivery is examined. The ethical issues associated with the general practice of secret intelligence are identified by referencing the Just War tradition establishing ethical restraints on armed conflict. Parallels are drawn to derive jus ad intelligentiam and jus in intelligentio ethical concepts to govern the acquisition and use of secret intelligence. The chapter concludes by applying these ideas to the techniques currently in use for counter-terrorism, especially the role of digital intelligence gathering today in helping uncover terrorist networks and frustrate attacks. Specific areas of counterterrorism work that nevertheless continue to raise significant ethical issues are identified.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09546553.2021.1880225 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ftpvxx:v:33:y:2021:i:2:p:290-301

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/ftpv20

DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2021.1880225

Access Statistics for this article

Terrorism and Political Violence is currently edited by James Forest

More articles in Terrorism and Political Violence from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().