# Question regarding giving a nation's military, all intelligence gathering role



## sean m (27 Aug 2013)

Hello.

I was just wondering if anyone new of any pieces of literature that advocates giving a nation's, which ever nation, military the capability to collect all security intelligence both from abroad as well as domestically. 

It is my *very **limited **belief*, that the immensity of certain nation's intelligence communities hinders the progress of relations between nation states, an example would be;

http://intelnews.org/2013/08/05/01-1314/ 

Of course the role of a nation's intelligence service depends on the countries foreign policy.

*Perhaps* someone can derive the assumption that due to the sheer size of certain nations intelligence communities, the various intelligence services are pressured to gather intelligence, even though them doing so may hinder the relations their nation has with other countries. An example of a nation that has an immense intelligence community is the United states,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Community

I have read Charles Faddis's book: "Beyond Repair: The Decline and Fall of the CIA". I recommend it to anyone interested in the intelligence field. In the book he is critical of how the CIA has lost influence for foreign intelligence gathering due to other governmental department's being given an increased role in the intelligence community.

There seem to be numerous articles relating to the lack of intelligence sharing between the agencies or services that have intelligence gathering capabilities. An example would be the Jeffrey Delisle case

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/05/26/jeffrey_delisle_case_csis_secretly_watched_spy_held_file_back_from_rcmp.html

*Perhaps* due to multiple services having an intelligence role, their maybe a rivalry that brews and as a result intelligence is not shared,

http://www.ctvnews.ca/air-india-inquiry-to-probe-rcmp-csis-rivalry-1.256712

*Perhaps * if there was only one service in charge of intelligence gathering, that would reduce any inter agency in fighting. 


There is also the financial cost of having multiple security services being given intelligence gathering capabilities, it *may * be possible to deduce the fact that having more security services with intelligence gathering capabilities requires a bigger budget for the whole intelligence community,

http://www.fas.org/irp/budget/index.html

Perhaps have a nation's defense department being the only intelligence provider to the country's executive power would greatly reduce spending costs. 

Certain nations already have their defense department's as their chief intelligence gathering service, in regards to security intelligence abroad. The French DGSE and DPSD are part of the armed forces. The Danish have the Danish Defense Intelligence Service. The Norwegian  National Security Authority, Intelligence Service, Defence Security Service are all part of the Ministry of Defense. The Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service and National Defence Radio Establishment  are part of  the Ministry of Defense. The intelligence communities of the Scandinavian nation has become a model for a future Scottish intelligence service if they gain independence

http://intelnews.org/2013/07/30/01-1310/

Modern day British intellgence was founded during the Boer War, the British Secret Intelligence Service was founded by both the Foreign Service as well as the  Admiralty and War Office.

https://www.sis.gov.uk/our-history/official-history.html

Both the American National Security Agency and Canadian Comunications Security Establishment are part of their nations defense departments.

Again I am writing this post to inquire if anyone knows of any sources from government, academia, think tank or the news that suggests the need to return all intelligence gathering capabilities back to the military? I truly *believe* that it is an important issue for the modern age, given the changes that have occured since the end of the cold war. Also considering the issues in our modern society today

I am 23 years old and studying in Political Science department at Concordia University, my *goal *is to attend the Intelligence and Security Studies MA Program at Brunel University. I then *hope *to become a PHD candidate at the Kings College War Studies Department, where my thesis would be on Strategic Intelligence. My ultimate objective would be to work as a strategic policy analyst for either CSIS or the Chief of Defense Intelligence. I am writing this portion of the post, in the *hopes *of demonstrating that I am not some ignorant cocky kid, as my posts in earlier years have demonstrated. My dream is to be an intelligence officer, I am constantly on the publications section of the CSIS website and other security and foreign policy sites. Not to be overly dramatic but I think, sleep, eat the topic of intelligence gathering. My great uncles both served in WW2 as translators assisting intelligence officers to interrogate German prisoner, so in a way I feel that the field of intelligence is in my blood.

Thank you for your time.


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