Former US Intel Officials Discuss Personal Opinion vs. Professional Obligation in International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence

• posted February 22, 2020

Yesterday, the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence published an article that I co-authored with Luis Rodriguez. It appears in the Spring 2020 issue. The Editor in Chief of the Journal edited the article for us. It began as a working draft that Rodriguez and I workshopped at a 2019 International Studies Association Intelligence Studies panel in Toronto, Canada.

“Thirty two former U.S. and U.K. intelligence practitioners and other intelligence experts were interviewed. They were asked about what role former intelligence officials think they should have in the public and political discourse.

 

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Traditionally, former intelligence officials have had a role in informing the public about the history, function, or mission of the IC or their specific areas of subject-matter expertise,10 but, in recent years, more former intelligence officials appear to take a more prominent and vocal role in public discourse, including in politics. The article includes recommendations from respondents to intelligence agencies and voluntary standards of conduct that should apply to the public and political speech of former U.S. intelligence officials.”

You can read the article here.