Towards a Reflexive Study of Intelligence Accountability
Abstract
This chapter continues and expands on the mapping of Intelligence Studies literature initiated in the introduction chapter. Here, however, the focus lies on the way in which debates around the idea of oversight and accountability have been developed in Intelligence Studies, particularly in its central journals Intelligence and National Security and International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. First, the chapter surveys the debates present in the literature and proposes three ideal-typical controversies (the allegiance of oversight bodies, the jurisdiction of oversight, and the progress made in the past decades) and four agreements (access under secrecy, embracing the raison d’état, the diffusion of responsibility, and the need of neutrality). Second, drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's reflexivity, the chapter proposes both a way of analysing the position-takings by these authors and a way of going forward from these positions.