Democratic Oversight of Intelligence Services

Intelligence has come to play an increasingly important role in the shaping of policy and policing action around the world. There is an urgent need to reflect upon the democratic principles applicable to the intelligence sector and the proper accountability and oversight arrangements for organizations that are necessarily secret. By its very nature, the collection of intelligence also raises a number of ethical and moral questions and appropriate reforms need to be researched, discussed and debated. Reliable and realistic democratic systems of oversight must deal with special executive powers, the requirements of secrecy, the relationship between processes and structures and other hot-potato national security issues. This book addresses the development of, and the challenges and impediments to, democratic oversight and review of the intelligence community in Australia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and United Kingdom. The promotion of democratic oversight of the intelligence community has gained renewed significance in the aftermath of 9/11. Legal and administrative frameworks, executive prerogatives and power - and their potential abuses, operational work and analytical tradecraft, crisis management, human rights, state-sponsored detention and interrogation policy and the separation of powers are discussed.