Exploring Ethics in Intelligence and the Role of Leadership

Ethics and leadership are vital to any organization. Within the intelligence community leaders have an unquestionable role in the security of a nation and often deal with disturbing information and sometimes operate in personal danger to obtain valuable information. In some instances, unethical tactics (such as stealing or eavesdropping on an unsuspected conversation) are used to obtain information on potential national threats. In an ordinary life eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation or hacking into their computer would be considered a serious breach of courtesy and/or social convention. However, in the intelligence world, unethical tactics are necessary to protect nations and the people living within them. The purpose of this paper is to investigate ethics and intelligence and the role leadership plays. The paper begins by exploring the key elements of intelligence and the different methods of collecting information. Next, the paper outlines the three main approaches to ethics and how they can be applied to intelligence agencies. Then, the role of leadership in ethics and intelligence services is explored. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion surrounding the difficulty in researching ethics, intelligence and leadership in intelligence agencies.