This book is a story about Private Intelligence Contractors (PICs) and their relationship with the United States executive and legislative principals in the War on Terror when the line between the public and private sectors has been increasingly blurred. PICs have challenged the traditional approach which assumes that sensitive intelligence tasks should be performed by government officials because of their importance for national security. So this book examines the principal-agent relationship and the oversight problem between PICs, the US Intelligence Community (IC), the president and Congress after the 9/11 attacks. The book demonstrates that by exploiting information asymmetry, adversely selected PICs can violate legislative rules and goals such as by performing inherently governmental tasks, colluding with the IC, capturing the control of the task and contractual process, abuse, waste and fraud. In addition, to get around congressional oversight and achieve his or her hidden agenda, the executive principal can also mismanage contractors through the IC or delegate contractors to perform inherently governmental tasks.

Examines the politicisation of intelligence and mismanagement of the Intelligence Community by the executive principal Analyzes the principal-agent relationship and the oversight problem between PICs, the IC, the president and Congress Argues that the greater the changes in the ICs' use of PICs the greater the oversight problems

Autorentext

Bülent Sungur holds a PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Aberdeen, UK. His research interests include oversight of intelligence organizations, outsourcing intelligence and law enforcement intelligence.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The Evolution of Outsourcing US Intelligence and Intelligence Oversight Mechanisms from the Cold War to 9/11.- Chapter 3: The Mismanagement of Contractors over the Iraqi WMD Issue Background: The Rise of PICs After 9/11.- Chapter 4: PICs and Abu Ghraib.- Chapter 5: The Outsourcing of US Covert Drone Operations.- Chapter 6: Conclusion.