Wise statesmen realize the dangers inherent in secret armaments, and therefore strive by means of international agreements to ensure that the great Powers shall communicate to one another the extent of their respective armament programmes. Since uncertainty and suspicion are the parents of fear, a thoroughly efficient intelligence service is in some degree a safeguard against panic and all its evil consequences. As for the ethics of intelligence operations in peace- time, the gathering of news about foreign armaments and martial preparations plays an important, if not an indispensable, part in the general scheme of national defence.įor this reason every Power, great or small, keeps a close watch on the militant activities of neighbouring states and, if only as a measure of self- defence, tries to discover exactly what degree of armed strength is at the disposal of those countries which figure on its list of potential enemies. The amazingly detailed knowledge of German naval movements obtained by the British Admiralty during the greater part of the war of 1914- 18 was derived almost entirely from an expert analysis of information furnished by the Germans themselves. Some of the most valuable intelligence work in war and in peace has been accomplished by methods which bear no relation to the ordinary practices of espionage. That assumption, however, is not altogether justified. WHEN the phrase “intelligence work” is used to describe the acquisition of foreign military secrets, it is assumed by many to be merely a polite euphemism for spying. The extraordinary success of the Naval Intelligence Division of the British Admiralty during the war of 1914- 18 has never been fully disclosed, but it is known to have given the Allies many important advantages
0 kommentar(er)
