Hello!
For this blog post/discussion, I will be discussing the necessity of intelligence and it's role in national security. As seen in one of our readings, the growth of what defined national secured evolved as our nation grew. They first established a department of war that, over time, created intelligence agencies within the military during WWII. We also see several acts passed in the early 1900's, notably the Espionage Act of 1917, which details how espionage against military activities to aid adversaries is damaging to our national security and is worthy of a maximum fine of $10,000 dollars and a maximum sentencing of 20 years in prison. (Benny, D.J. , 2022) This demonstrates an early recognition that intelligence can be damaging to national security and interest of a sovereign nation.
This then developed further in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism act of 2004. The goal of this act was to expand on the capabilities of our intelligence agencies so they could better collect information that can help prevent and counter act terrorist actions. This provides insight that intelligence can help strengthen national security by preventing terrorist actions from being committed.
Reference:
Benny, D.J. (2022). U.S. National Security and the Intelligence Services (1st ed.). CRC Press. https://doi-org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.4324/9781003270843
