ABSTRACT
This
paper critically examines the degree to which the intelligence services of democratic
states can vigorously and effectively conduct operations geared towards promoting
the national interest while operating within a model which upholds ethical
standards and remains accountable to elected representatives and the judiciary.
Drawing
on a range of multidisciplinary sources including the work of historians, philosophical
insight, legislation, case law, and intelligence service charters, the paper
constructs a provocative historiography of key operations undertaken by the
intelligence services of the United States and Britain.
It
identifies unethical practices such as techniques of deception which have
included the manufacture and dissemination of disinformation as well as the
possible facilitating of false-flag operations. It presents evidence of
collaboration with political extremists and documents significant contraventions
of the rule of law through the use of extraordinary renditions, the
establishment of ‘black camps’, the use of torture, and the facilitation of
extra-judicial assassination. Further, it discusses their use in the destabilisation
of sovereign nations through the supervision of extremist militias and death
squads.
It
compares intelligence projects and operations from the Cold War era, including
the controversial utilisation of stay-behind armies in Western Europe, with the
strategies employed in the contemporary ‘War on Terror’ while examining the
existing mechanisms of accountability.
It
concludes that the nature of intelligence work particularly when put in the
context of pursuing vital national interests is one which many would see as
being antithetical to a complete subordination to a rigorous ethical code. The
security services are ultimately the tools of their political masters who
sanction the use of unethical methods. This can only be tackled by the
political will to abrogate laws and policies which encourage unethical
strategies and the vigilance and persistence of the legal profession, human
rights organisations and an independent media.
CONTACT
DETAILS
Adeyinka
Makinde LL.B (Hons)
Of
the Middle Temple, Barrister
University
of Westminster
School
of Law
4-12
Little Titchfield Street
London
W1W
7UW
Work
e-mail: Makinda@wmu.ac.uk
Private
e-mail: adeyinkamakinde@aol.com
AFFILIATIONS
The
Honourable Society of the Middle Temple
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