Published in Intelligence and National Security (Ahead of Print, 2026)

Intelligence and the Russo-Ukrainian War. Volume 39, Issue 3 of Intelligence and National Security

This article considers the impact of digital advances on clandestine Human Intelligence (HUMINT) operations. Despite the arrival and advancement of disruptive technologies, classical HUMINT tradecr...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an enabling emerging digital technology that has the potential to transform the practice of intelligence analysis. To date, intelligence and policy communities have ...

An interview with the director of intelligence of the Danish Defence Intelligence Service, Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen. The objective of the interview was to explore elements of the strategy of a small n...

Most private and public sector organizations, including intelligence services, now pursue digital transformation in one form or another. This article discusses what implications digital transformat...

Digital transformation of intelligence requires advances in information technology. However, the hardest to implement IT – disruptive IT like artificial intelligence and quantum computing – pose si...

The traditional intelligence cycle has been a cornerstone of intelligence work, offering a structured framework for data collection, analysis, and dissemination. However, the digital age and evolvi...

How do intelligence services navigate the complexities of digital transformation? This article presents two interviews with Dr Sebastian Reyn, former deputy director of the Netherlands Defence Inte...

This article explores the vital collaboration between government intelligence agencies and the private technology sector in fostering innovation to address evolving technological needs. Traditional...

In this interview, Brigt Harr Vaage, Head of Operations in the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS), reflects on the evolution of intelligence work in the face of rapidly shifting threats and techn...

Intelligence work shapes and is shaped in turn by emerging technologies. This article is concerned with the current iteration of this dynamic, with the questions of which emerging technologies are ...

This article is the edited transcript of a conversation held between Michael Goodman, David Omand and John Taylor. It brings together an academic view with those of two collectors of intelligence. ...

This introduction to the special issue explores how digital technologies are reshaping intelligence organizations. It frames digital transformation not as a linear process but as a complex journey ...

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was accompanied by a major intelligence failure. Russia’s intelligence machinery failed strategically and tactically, leaving leaders surprised and for...

In the first half of the 20th century, the Soviets recognized the causal link between strategic and operational failures in the military and intelligence domains and the quality of the intelligence...

This article explores the individual-level effects of an intelligence failure; in particular, on entry-level intelligence analysts. It draws on interviews with graduates of the first class of the I...

This article investigates the rise and decline of early warning as a priority task for intelligence agencies. The article shows that shifts in the prioritization of early warning are shaped by a co...

The study of strategic warning has focused on deception success. Scholars have argued that deception often succeeds because targets suffer cognitive and bureaucratic pathologies. This paper offers ...

A consistent challenge in the study and practice of warning is that of definitions. This article focuses on the meaning of early warning, arguing that it should be explicitly separated from the ter...

This special issue of Intelligence and National Security examines the persistence of strategic surprise and the limitations of existing early warning frameworks in an era of geopolitical volatility...

Rethinking Strategic Warning and Intelligence Failure in an Era of Global Transformation. Volume 40, Issue 5 of Intelligence and National Security

Published in Intelligence and National Security (Vol. 40, No. 3, 2025)

The recent revival in the study of grand strategy owes much to the search for meaning about the West’s global purpose after the failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. Long dominated by writing on the Un...

Intelligence agencies operating in modern-day liberal democracies are dependent on the public for support. In recent years, the UK’s intelligence and security agencies have adopted a public facing ...

Legislatures are increasingly investing resources into oversight of intelligence agencies. However, effective control of intelligence is wrought with challenges: while national security is a highly...

This study examines the evolving challenges faced by intelligence operatives, particularly Non-Official Cover (NOC) officers and illegals, in the context of modern surveillance technologies. With a...

Before and after Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy’s Office of Naval Intelligence established several counterespionage schemes to prevent the Axis powers from infiltrating the United States with...

Israel was caught off guard by Hamas attack on October 7, underscoring vulnerabilities in its national security apparatus. Scholars and practitioners primarily attribute this failure to intelligenc...

This paper explores the role of U.S. intelligence in assessing the effectiveness of national-level strategies and plans. A high-speed information environment may require a more dynamic, continuous ...

This article proposes a narrative-based approach to understanding why states choose covert action. Drawing on narratology and securitisation theory, it argues that states employ covert action to sh...

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, some of the timeliest intelligence was provided not by intelligence agencies, but by private actors. Open-source intelligence is an increasing focus in intellig...

Commercially sourced intelligence (CSINT) is rapidly gaining importance due to attributes such as variety, availability, flexibility, and cost. While its usage is well-documented, this article offe...

Volume 40, Issue 3 of Intelligence and National Security

This limited systematic literature review examines the contributions and experiences of women in intelligence. It synthesises existing scholarship across various disciplines, including history, com...

Women have significantly contributed to the field of intelligence; without them, large standing government intelligence organisations, would not have been possible. Among their most discussed attri...

Intelligence agencies operating in modern-day liberal democracies are dependent on the public for support. In recent years, the UK’s intelligence and security agencies have adopted a public facing ...

Published in Intelligence and National Security (Vol. 40, No. 1, 2025)

Intelligence Studies Section Panels at ISA2025

This article proposes a narrative-based approach to understanding why states choose covert action. Drawing on narratology and securitisation theory, it argues that states employ covert action to sh...

Volume 39, Issue 7 of Intelligence and National Security