Why do governments resort on intelligence?

Custom Research by Essay 21 April 2006

Why do Governments Rely on Intelligence

Introduction

Perhaps the most fundamental priority for any nation is the maintenance of security , whether one is considering a nation 's domestic security economic security , b security , etc . In an effort to maintain that security , and for other reasons , every nation to some extent maintains a system of intelligence , which is to say that they collect information about the strategic operations of other countries , defense information economic data , and the like in an effort to keep ahead of

rival nations as well as to provide a certain degree of protection for their own nation and its people . In this , the researcher will explore in greater depth the reasons why governments rely on intelligence as well as some of the areas where government intelligence is directed . Upon conclusion of this , the reader will have gained a much better understanding of the

Traditional Scope of Intelligence

In the traditional scope of intelligence , perhaps a scope that is a bit napve in its design , intelligence within the governmental arena consists of the gathering of vital information that key decision makers within the government need to form policy , and to facilitate the implementation of successful policy based on valid information (Bar-Joseph . This classic view , of course , does not account for the presence of politics in the equation . When politics are introduced into the intelligence process , this classic view begins to change drastically The origins of intelligence gathering , of course , date back to Biblical times , when tribes sent representatives to assimilate with other tribes in an effort to learn more about what were essentially their neighbors or in some cases , their rivals . Even in those early days of intelligence , however , politics played a role as tribal rulers sought to use intelligence not only to form policy for their people , but also in an effort to advance their own agendas , gather wealth , and the like Once politics entered into intelligence , it changed from an objective to a defensive practice

On the Defensive

As was previously stated , once self interest and politics worked their way into the intelligence process , it became a defense mechanism for nations that sought to protect themselves from the aggression and subversion of other nations . This aggression only increased as times changed and the world political scene became more complex (Snider . For example , as transportation methods and communications developed with the passage of time , the need for solid intelligence became more and more important , and as such , governments became more reliant upon it . This reliance on intelligence gave birth to what we today would call a spy- someone whose job it is to gather information about one nation in to furnish the information to another nation for their benefit

The time in history when defensive intelligence gathering really experienced a sort of golden age was during the period immediately following World War II , the late 1940s , which is commonly referred to in modern history as...