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Research Conference : Intelligence, borders and surveillance, April 21st, 2008

Monday 14 April 2008, by Challenge French Team

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Research Conference

The Challenge research programme hosted by the CERI-Sciences Po, invites you at the research seminar on:

Transnational Intelligence, Territorial Intelligence, and Security : Intelligence, borders and surveillance

April 21st, 2008

09:30–13:00

14:30 – 18:30

The fight against terrorism has led to multiple transformations of the state’s security apparatuses – with a priority now given to intelligence -, as well as of the very logics that have historically underpinned the concept of «security» – with the now prevailing logic of anticipation.

Hence, according to the current U.S. administration’s view, the main objective is to protect the homeland by anticipating the hostile intentions of «terrorists» in order to neutralize the threat even before it emerges. From this perspective, the fight against terrorism is not only seen as the realm of the police and the judiciary. It is also a form of low intensity conflict waged at the global level, the fundamental logic of which is that of a deterritorialized, networked and asymmetric form of warfare in which the role of the military has to be articulated to that of the intelligence services. In Europe, where several initiatives have begun to institutionalize a so-called space of «justice, liberty and security», the prevailing approach is certainly more «police-oriented» than in the USA. At first glance, the «EU» and «US» approaches appear to be different. However, both approaches challenge the traditional demarcations between the inside and the outside, defence and security, the civil and the military as well as between the police, the military and intelligence. Indeed, they both emphasize the necessity of anticipating threats and dangers through information sharing. Since September 11th, European intelligence services (civil and military), administrative services and even social services, request information they would never have been allowed to access before. To some extent, databases were already networked, but generally in a segmented way. At present, some of these traditional limitations on the exchange of information - such as the strict separation between files on foreigners and criminal files of the police - are being eroded.

This trend toward an increased capacity in terms of information sharing did not appear with the events of September 11, 2001. Nevertheless, decisions made since then in Europe, as well as in the US, have largely broadened this trend. The very logics underpinning these developments rest on the hypothesis that an increased sharing of information promotes efficiency in the fight against threats and dangers, despite of the frequent absence of prior agreement on what constitutes a «reliable piece of information». Moreover, this issue of information sharing also challenges sovereignty: on the one hand, in intelligence matters, the principle of sovereignty often forms an obstacle to international cooperation on security issues. But, on the other hand, technical systems allowing for large scale data-collection and for information sharing contribute a great deal to the erosion of the geographical border and thus of sovereignty. This also applies to important de-differentiation of the role and activities in the field of security. All of these issues are now an integrated part of police and military thinking on intelligence. They put a particular emphasis on Technological Intelligence (TECHINT) instead of on the more traditional Human Intelligence (HUMINT). This has led to a progressive shift from targeted intelligence to surveillance and to a redefinition of the hierarchy between agencies by highlighting the role of so-called «useful services and agencies» and reformulating the lines and demarcations relevant to the field of security.

In the traditional perspective on security, the police, the military and intelligence are three distinct spheres. The military wage war outside the national territory. The police enforces law and order inside. Intelligence had long been collected, and espionage conducted, against enemy agents. From this perspective there was a marked difference between internal and external affairs. This conception, drawn from the traditional demarcation between defence and security and from the structuring role of borders, is now being replaced by an approach that is claimed to be « more suited to a period characterized by new transversal threats ». It considers the police to be part of the intelligence (intelligence-led policing) sphere following a logic of prevention and pro-action. It is considered important that the police are kept informed by intelligence services and extensive surveillance practices. In consequence, inter-agency coordination is becoming a central aspect of policing. It creates the conditions that make it possible for the relevant agencies to enlarge their systems of databases far beyond their original perimeters. With the massive resort to the technical systems of databases, all these developments also put the conditions of possibility for a progressive emancipation of the security agencies from their traditional jurisdictions and prerogatives.

Participants in the seminar will discuss these current transformations and their implications by observing in more detail, both in Europe and in the USA, the question of transatlantic, European as well as interagency cooperation in intelligence matters. It will discuss the move toward integrated intelligence practices through integrated technical systems and the relation between intelligence and surveillance. It will also raise the question of the role of information sharing while enforcing the security of territories and borders and that of the redefinition of the relation to space and time that information sharing fuels.

Programme

11h00 – 13h00

Chair: Philippe Bonditti, Sciences Po, France

Didier Bigo, Sciences Po, France

Transatlantic and European Cooperation in Intelligence Matters

Thierry Delpeuch, ISPP/ENS Cachan, France and Jacqueline Ross, University of Illinois, College of Law, USA

The Intelligence of Public Safety: Practices and Theory

Julien Jeandesboz, Sciences Po, France

Information Sharing and Borders: the Role and Limits of FRONTEX

13h00 – 14h30: Lunch Break

14h30 – 16h30

Chair: Dominique Lapprand, DGGN, Ministry of Defence, France