Studies in Intelligence: Practitioners and Academics, Opposites or Collaborators?

Andregg, Michael M.
2010-02-19
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Studies in Intelligence: Practitioners and Academics, Opposites or Collaborators?

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2010-02-19

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For presentation to the ISA Intelligence Studies Section, February 19, 1:45 pm, Grand Salon. by Michael Andregg, University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, mmandregg@stthomas.edu I have studied spies for over 20 years, first because I’m a specialist in the causes of war and secondly because the U.S. Constitution has been injured by problems in our intelligence community. One cannot have a comprehensive view on why wars start without attending to what intelligence groups are up to. And the Constitution is America’s greatest strength, so it matters when it is harmed and innocents are injured. Governments need good intelligence systems to protect themselves and our peoples from a sometimes brutal world. So you might think that collaboration with academics would be easy. But it is not, for a great many reasons. So one answer to the question of opposites or collaborators is that I have collaborated with hundreds of intelligence professionals over the years, only occasionally and temporarily have I been an adversary, and very rarely an enemy. I have never been “opposite” despite the fact that we come from quite different cultures, because we are in basically the same business as those who are paid to do intelligence full time with the important exception that I work on human and civilizational survival, not for any particular agency of any government.

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This was a verbal presentation for a group of mixed practitioners and academics who studied spies. It was organized by a 40 year veteran of CIA operations and public diplomacy in the form of "Officers in Residence" at many US universities and many other projects. The topic of collaboration between "insiders" of any spy organization, and outsiders like academics (or reporters) is a perennial dilemma for both sides. They are each struggling to figure out very difficult problems, sometimes of great importance. But they have different datasets and experiences. An ideal world would combine those to solve common problems, but spies are ultimately employees of states with very parochial interests.

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Andregg, Michael M.. (2010). Studies in Intelligence: Practitioners and Academics, Opposites or Collaborators?. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/208803.

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