Governments Resort to Intelligence - Essay Example

Without a definite description of the role, purpose and development of the intelligence services, the reason that governments place such importance upon these services cannot be understood. There are other problems of definition where Intelligence is concerned; the first is the fact that Joint Intelligence Centers exist, implying for the researcher that there is more than one 'intelligences'. How does one distinguish between all of these services if there is not a clear definition from which to work Also, in order to establish the purpose behind the development of the Intelligence Services, the researcher must consider each of the many reshuffles, realignments and bureaucratic statements which run through the story of the services like veins.

Each of these movements may provide a key to determining why governments, and the US government in particular, place so much reliance upon the ability of the Intelligence services to protect and administer the United States and its civilians. And yet, in the 6 years between 1996 and 2002, the budget for intelligence services increased by nearly 7 billion. Current expenditure is nearly 38 billion. In comparison, the Health services budget for 2006, 2007 and 2008 was $67, 349, $67, 533 and $67,650 respectively (Budget of US Government 2008, 2007)This amount of spending, and more essentially, the increase to the amount of spending, demonstrates that the US government is placing increasing reliance upon the Intelligence services.

In order to establish why this is so, a definition of the Intelligence services will be attempted, followed by a short analysis of the history of the services. Reasons for resorting to intelligence services will be considered in light of these facts, and the complexities of setting up an intelligence service for the EU will be used to illustrate the problems in setting up alternatives to the system already established. The conclusion will then draw all these different strands together, hopefully providing an analysis of the reasons that governments resort to using intelligence services.

Intelligence Definitions"We have no accepted definition of intelligenceWithout a clear idea of what intelligence is, how can we develop a theory to explain how it worksa compelling definition of intelligence might help us to devise a theory of intelligence, and increase