‘Ethics of Applied Intelligence in Military Conflict’ in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence

• posted July 6, 2019

Today, the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence published an article that I co-authored with fellow students from Georgetown University’s masters program in applied intelligence.

It appears in Vol. 32, Issue No. 3. The article explores the ethics of applied intelligence in modern conflict with a focus on preemptive war and precision guided weapons:

 

“Intelligence is essential to modern statecraft in times of war and peace. As such, its vital role deserves and requires better general comprehension. Recent attention has focused on public attitudes and ethics surrounding intelligence collection, particularly its potential or actual damage to private individuals and democratic societies. Yet, as modern conflict continues to blur the boundaries between war and peace, the results of the intelligence cycle are often laid bare for all to see in decisions to use armed force by the U.S. military. Both the March 2003 invasion of Iraq and the use of precision- guided weapons demonstrate how the primacy and capabilities of intelligence have expanded the situations and requirements for ethical judgments in contemporary conflicts. Intelligence increasingly plays a role in ethical considerations about the principles of just war, the law of armed conflict, and other standards of international humanitarian law.”

You can read the article here.