An analysis of the rationale for domestic civilian intelligence services : selected case study

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to investigate and analyse the rationale for separate domestic civilian intelligence services in the absence of wide-spread political violence such as an insurgency. South Africa as a developing country and the UK as a developed country, are used as case studies. The study, amongst others, focuses on the definitions of national security during and after the Cold War, and the mandate and focus of domestic civilian intelligence during and after the Cold War. The widened definition of security and how it impacts on domestic civilian intelligence in South Africa and the UK, is investigated. The study also examines the impact of domestic civilian intelligence services on the democratic fabric of states. The findings of the study confirmed that the elevation of non-military or ‘new’ threats to the level of national security threats, presents additional challenges to domestic civilian intelligence services. The overlapping mandate and focus of domestic civilian intelligence with other intelligence agencies raises issues of information sharing, co-ordination and intelligence failures. The study concludes that in the absence of wide-spread political violence or insurgency, a domestic civilian intelligence agency should neither be readily established nor retained, or otherwise its mandate should be narrowly defined. Copyright