‘No, we don’t know where Tupac is’: critical intelligence studies and the CIA on social media

Abstract

Since joining Twitter in 2014, the CIA has used social media to show an uncharacteristically humorous side to an institution more commonly associated with espionage and secrecy. In light of this representation, we analyse the CIA’s tweets and public responses to them by building upon recent work on critical intelligence studies. We argue that the CIA’s use of social media is a continuation of the CIA’s intervention in popular culture that is vital to the legitimation of the Agency’s actions. In doing so we demonstrate the contribution that discourse analysis can make to intelligence studies in the digital age.