Intelligence Reform: Adapting to the Changing Security Environment

Abstract

In recent years the intelligence communities of the United States and the United Kingdom have faced a rapidly changing security environment. In that time, a number of high-profile failures have exposed weaknesses within these communities and how they perform their tasks. This article analyses these failures, identifying the key problems, and examines the various reforms designed to overcome the identified weaknesses. These reforms are discussed in three categories: structural change, budget increases, and increased oversight procedures. The article concludes with an assessment of whether said reforms have produced intelligence communities ready for the new security environment.