Military Intelligence: From Telling Truth to Power to Bewilderment

Abstract

This introductory chapter discusses 100 years of military intelligence and outlines the main changes that distinguish the post-Cold war period from the preceding one. This is characterised by a blurring of the boundaries between civilian and military intelligence, between investigative services and the intelligence community, and the foreign and domestic realms. The chapter also discusses the rise of oversight mechanisms. All these combined with unprecedented technological change to produce a challenging environment for intelligence services that is more unpredictable than ever before, and at the same time requires adequate, even pre-emptive responses on the part of the intelligence community. The dazzling level of adaptivity required largely obscures the fact that such adaptations were required in earlier periods as well, and intelligence professionals could profit by studying them.