Spies and scholars in the cyber age: researching intelligence in Australian policy and regional security

Abstract

The limited treatment of intelligence by IR and strategic studies academics in Australia distorts the scholarly research and public understanding of policymaking in Canberra. This article provides an overview of intelligence-focused research in Australia, including the traditional challenges which constrained the field, its limited engagement with more conventional scholarship, and the potential for more applied historical study of intelligence-related issues in the future. It demonstrates how key developments in Australian alliance diplomacy and cyber security are heavily influenced by intelligence and identifies trends in the US–China relationship and regional security which are elevating the strategic importance of Australia’s intelligence agencies. More interest from the academic community in the role and contribution of intelligence to foreign and defence policy will be needed in the coming years if scholarship is to remain in touch with the reality of Australian statecraft.