POL 462 Moral Foundations of Intelligence
This course explores the moral and ethical principles regulating the practice of intelligence (collection, analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action) as practiced in democratic societies. In contrast to authoritarian societies, within democracies a preference for conducting public affairs with some measure of openness and within legal boundaries has been present for several centuries. At the same time those societies, including the emergent United States, have recognized the need for state secrets (or arcana rei publicae). The tension between openness and secrecy in American government has long been apparent and seems never to result in a permanent equilibrium. The course will address this tension, and its legal, political, and philosophical implications. Students can expect to engage with issues of loyalty versus transparency, the relevance of ethics in other professions, whether a professional ethical ethos exists in intelligence, privacy, and the role of technology.