Intelligence and the just war tradition : the need for a flexible ethical framework

Intelligence is a varied set of activities that makes examining it as a single entity very difficult. By evaluating the various practices the intelligence community uses in terms of the level of “harm” they cause and using the just war tradition as a means of determining when these harms are justified we can start to make evaluations and judgements of its activity. This chapter will argue that while a direct translation of the just war tradition might be difficult to apply to intelligence, there are a number of underlying ethical contributions that can help us better understand when intelligence should be licensed and when it should be limited. This will involve understanding the key contributions of the just war tradition in order to develop a graduated form for intelligence activity and applying it to some of the key debates on collection, analysis and operative activity. Moreover, not only does the just war tradition allow for understanding when intelligence is justified, but it can also help in evaluating and shaping intelligence-related phenomenon such as what the relevant oversight mechanisms should be and the ethical justification for national security whistleblowing.