A comparative analysis of intelligence coordination after the 9/11 attack and the Second Gulf War : selected case studies

Abstract

The dissertation aims to examine the intelligence coordination mechanisms in the US and UK with a view to comparing them and identifying similarities and differences between them. To achieve this aim, the study provides a conceptual framework of intelligence as a system and explains the rationale for coordination between the respective intelligence services. The study analyses the coordination mechanisms which existed in the US and UK prior to the 11 September 2001 attacks and the Second Gulf War. The study examines the findings and recommendations of inquiries in both the UK and US that followed these events. This is followed by an analysis of the measures that were introduced after these events in order to strengthen and improve intelligence coordinating mechanisms in the US and UK. The study highlights the need for centralised intelligence coordination systems, and illustrates that coordination is required to ensure that intelligence services function as a unified intelligence community. The study concludes that the nature of twenty-first century threats demands that intelligence communities improve coordination, which entails a shift from decentralised services toward a centralised, unified intelligence community. Copyright