1st Edition

From Northern Ireland to Afghanistan British Military Intelligence Operations, Ethics and Human Rights

By Jon Moran Copyright 2013
    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    Moran concentrates on three aims: to provide an overview of British military intelligence operations in the last 30 years which concentrates on operational not strategic intelligence; to examine the debates over ethics and effectiveness that have followed these operations; and to examine the increasing attempts to place military intelligence under the same type of regulation that police and security intelligence operations have been subject to. As such, he provides a timely overview of intelligence effectiveness and ethics in this area of heightened interest and relevance in terms of the recent UK deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and in the light of the UK Strategic Defence Review. This book is not a philosophical discussion of military ethics; nor is it a study of operations alone. In the light of experiences from Northern Ireland to Afghanistan, it examines the debates over effectiveness which have surrounded British military intelligence activities whilst tying these debates closely to the ethical issues they raise. Each stage of operations is evaluated in context. Interest will cut across disciplines and as such this book will appeal to intelligence, counter-terrorism, military studies, politics, human rights and philosophy practitioners, scholars and students.

    Contents: Military intelligence: effectiveness, ethics and human rights; Low intensity intelligence in Northern Ireland; Into the maelstrom: Iraq, (in)security and desperate intelligence ’wars’; Afghanistan: intelligence is not the solution; Conclusion: the uses and limits of intelligence in the British experience; Bibliography; Index.

    Biography

    Jon Moran

    ’British military involvement in intelligence gathering and operations in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism represents a compelling but under-researched issue. Jon Moran provides an original and insightful study of state activity, in which the British military have garnered a reputation not only for ingenuity but also for shameful abuses of ethics and human rights, all of which he fully documents.’ Clive Walker, University of Leeds, UK ’This exciting book is one of the first studies to shed light on recent British intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will be important reading for all those interested in the intersection between history, military ethics and public policy.’ Richard J. Aldrich, University of Warwick, UK