Moving Towards a Secret Intelligence Joint Capability?: Challenges and Opportunities of Removing Organisational Boundaries

Abstract

Former UK intelligence chiefs Alex Younger and Jeremy Fleming recently suggested that the country’s three intelligence collection agencies should be seen as a capability, questioning whether they should even still be separate. Celia Parker-Vincent and Michael Goodman explain what might be lost in blurring or removing their distinct identities and suggest that finding a way to enable the closest possible working between the agencies is the key to facing today’s threats and ever-more complex operating environment. The UK should look to its Five Eyes partners, specifically the US and Australia, for inspiration. With one of the pre-eminent intelligence apparatuses in the world, the new UK government should make sure there is no risk to the country losing its strong position. ◼.