Persons, Personhood and Proportionality: Building on a Just War Approach to Intelligence Ethics

In this chapter I defend and develop the approach, taken by Michael Quinlan, Ross Bellaby, and David Omand respectively, of employing the principles of the just war tradition to intelligence. I first consider the benefits of this approach before looking at challenges to it, presenting a comprehensive list of those challenges, and answering each in turn. I accept that one challenge in particular (that of the principles lacking real guidance) holds some weight. I address this through a consideration of the principle of proportionality as it applies to coercive techniques of intelligence collection. When weighing proportionality, it is tempting to see the assault in coercive intelligence as solely against the individual. However, I argue that the assault is also against personhood and the wider community, and goes further than an assault “merely” against a single person. I conclude that coercive practices in intelligence are not mala in se but that they are justifiable only in rare cases. Through this, the principle of proportionality is shown to offer real guidance in these instances.