The Importance Of Intelligence Ethics

2888 Words12 Pages
Societies and their governments have constantly used secret intelligence about other societies for advantage in competition, conflict and war. The routes that different societies employ and the way in which they control their secret intelligence services differ with the nature of those societies. Espionage is a part of such intelligence gathering. Espionage between states is an undercover state-sponsored intrusion of the restricted space of another state or organization (be it physically, visually, acoustically, digitally or legally restricted), for the sake of collecting information. Espionage is neither clearly condoned nor condemned under International Law. When we do talk about espionage, it is largely perceived as an extra-moral activity,…show more content…
The skills are certainly adjusted for local differences such as technology and manpower but intelligence gathering very much like repairing a broken leg or building a bridge over a river remains very much the same throughout the world. And therefore Espionage as a professional pursuit, speaks an international language. The intelligence officer is a highly trained professional with strict standards for performance, conduct and promotion within the profession. For this reason it makes some sense to speak of international standards of ethics “for” Espionage. The purpose of this paper is to consider the ethical demands of the intelligence profession and then consider what it means to serve ethically as a intelligence professional. Intelligence ethics is an emerging field which aims to create a theory of "just intelligence" not necessarily by drawing upon the classical philosophical literature, but by establishing principles for resolving the many ethical problems which confront the intelligence community. “As an intelligence officer, you are confronted with ethical dilemmas every day,” says Melissa Boyle Mahle, who retired from the Central Intelligence Agency in 2002 after 14 years as a case officer. “You're the point of the spear, and no one's going to be there to make decisions for…show more content…
Its status is debated, some see whistle blowers as traitorous violators of loyalty to their country; others see them as heroic de- fenders of values considered to be more important than nationalism i.e. humanity. It is much more than that, because this person not only puts his career at risk but also his own life as well as his family and friends. They put themselves in the ultimate no-win

More about The Importance Of Intelligence Ethics

Open Document