Global Intelligence: The World's Secret Services Today (Global Issues)

The CIA, the KGB, MI5, Mossad, Boss, Savak, Dina - the names read like a rollcall of the seamier side of history in the years following the Second World War. Today the Cold War is dead; there are fewer dictatorships; and 9.11 has created a whole new raison d'etre for covert action. This title: explains the impact of the war on terrorism on the world's secret services and intelligence agencies; describes how ultra-modern new technologies have vastly increased their power to spy and eavesdrop; reveals the changing priorities and working methods of intelligence services around the world; important issues raised include the new roles of the secret services as they target 'rogue states', 'the war on drugs', and 'terrorists'. The authors explore the unsolved contradiction between secretive and unaccountable agencies operating on the fringes of the law, and the requirements of a free and democratic society.