Insights into intelligence: statecraft, security, and truth

What is the role of intelligence with respect to policy-making and national security? 

What is the concept of ‘truth to power’ and is it the right approach for intelligence assessment?  

Should intelligence agencies to be more public and open about their threat assessments? 

What is the role of open-source intelligence (OSINT) in the intelligence community (IC)? And would the Australian IC stand to benefit from a standalone OSINT agency? 

In this episode, Beth Sanner joins Peter Ford and Ben Scott to discuss how intelligence and statecraft interact and look at some key events to analyse the role of intelligence. 

Beth Sanner is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University Belfer Center and the former US Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Mission Integration. 

Peter Ford is a Senior Advisor at the ANU National Security College (NSC).  

Ben Scott is a Senior Advisor at NSC.  

Show notes:  

• Opinion piece by Beth Sanner on 'Truth to Power': A Former Presidential Briefer Rethinks Truth to Power (thecipherbrief.com) 
• United States 2024 Annual Threat Assessment: ATA-2024-Unclassified-Report.pdf (dni.gov)  
• ASIO Director-General's Annual Threat Assessment 2024: Director-General's Annual Threat Assessment 2024 | ASIO 
• Adapting Australian intelligence to the information age by Ben Scott: find out more 

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