A confusion, not a system: the organizational evolution of strategic intelligence assessment in Canada, 1943 to 2003. Issue 4 (7th June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Barnes, Alan
• Is Part Of: Intelligence and national security. Volume 34:Issue 4(2019)
• Page Start: 464
• Page End: 479
• Publication Date: 2019-06-07
• Subjects: Espionage -- Periodicals; Intelligence service -- Periodicals; National security -- Periodicals; 327.12
• DOI: 10.1080/02684527.2019.1578043
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-4527

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Recently released documentation has for the first time made it possible to describe the organizational evolution of strategic intelligence assessment in Canada. During the 60-year period surveyed in this article, the analytical groups involved in strategic assessment and the interdepartmental intelligence committee structure underwent a number of changes. These were almost invariably incremental steps—shaped by bureaucratic factors and resource constraints—rather than initiatives guided by a broader vision of the role of intelligence assessment in support of Canadian foreign and defence policy. This organizational study provides the foundation for long-overdue research into the foreign intelligence function in Canada.