What Influences and Affects Intelligence Cooperation and Liaison Between the US and Other Countries

Research Paper
Information INTL 604
July 17, 2021
Research question: What influences and affects intelligence cooperation and liaison between the US and other countries?
I. Introduction.
Intelligence cooperation (liaison) is necessary to share and exchange information and intelligence between states and intelligence agencies when there is cooperation and key concerns. However, it is more challenging to share information on terrorism and counterterrorism and the US involved in various counterterrorism operations and strategies. Sometimes the US has to cooperate with autocratic regimes, yet information sharing may also be used to target certain individuals and organizations without following due process. The US intelligence officers often exercise restraint in their operations, but this is not the case with those they are cooperating with other intelligence agents.  
 The US intelligence community analyses and exchanges intelligence with other intelligence agencies and mostly cooperate on intelligence sharing. However, there is greater support for intelligence cooperation and liaison when there is mutual trust between the US and other countries. Intelligence cooperation improves intelligence gathering and supports decision-making. Transnational terrorist operations and activities threaten global security, and the US cooperates with other intelligence agencies as international terrorist threats are best tackled with coordination, cooperation, and information sharing. 
 Intelligence cooperation liaison on issues of international security, which inform decision-makers on the best course of action based on the available intelligence. The United Kingdom-United States of America Agreement (UKUSA), established in 1946, is a formal partnership between the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand where there is intelligence sharing (Garrido, 2015, p. 154). Intelligence gathering is necessary to support the analysis of strategic information and collect information necessary to support intelligence analysis and improve security. The US supports bilateral and multilateral intelligence collaboration with its allies to deal with security issues. Intelligence sharing is more common when it is deemed beneficial to improve security, enhance intelligence and promote national interests.
II. Literature Review: 
The Rational Actor Theory is one of the most common theories in foreign policy and international relations where rational actors are expected to make informed decisions. International intelligence cooperation partly depends on international relations, highlighting the rational actor model is helpful to study international cooperation. Decision-makers on maximizing value while prioritizing goals and objectives such as enhancing intelligence and improving security. In intelligence cooperation, one of the rational self-interest is to improve the nation’s interest. Fighting against terrorism, intelligence gathering, sharing information, and improving intelligence capabilities in an environment where mutual trust between different intelligence agencies is necessary to promote intelligence cooperation.
Increasingly, the US has partnered with various countries as part of counterterrorism efforts and even conducted joint operations. (Byman, 2016, p. 146) highlights that the United States relies on intelligence cooperation struggle with developing countries that often have persistent governance problems and face challenges dealing decisively with terrorism. The public is not privy to information on intelligence liaison efforts with autocratic regimes. Yet these regimes remain crucial to fighting terrorism. Yet, autocratic regimes are more likely to cooperate if this helps them maintain power, and the lack of an independent political and legal system poses challenges to the US judiciary since the US is internal human rights protection. Furthermore, autocratic regimes seek to maintain tight control over a country’s resources, including those provided by the US to aid in counterterrorism.
The UK-US transatlantic relations are one of the longest between the two countries, and the interactions are influenced by various components of the geopolitical assemblage. Interactions affect how the two states cooperate and share intelligence information. The concept of assemblage applied to diplomacy and geopolitics relates to the components and processes. Dittmer (2015, p. 606) considers states as assemblages where diplomacy is then another form of the assemblage with different processes where different state actors are brought together. To understand international affairs and the geopolitical assemblages of the UKUSA intelligence cooperation, it is necessary to evaluate how different components work. Political assemblage and diplomacy directly influence the willingness of political leaders to cooperate (Clark, 2021, p.5). Geopolitics affects how countries forge relations and, by extension, intelligence liaison. If countries have similar interests and close relations, they are more likely to share relevant intelligence with each other. 
Intelligence gathering is essential in counterterrorism, and intelligence cooperation with various entities is necessary to improve response to terrorism. Intelligence cooperation in counterterrorism helps to promote national security, but sometimes there is resistance against inter-and intra-agency cooperation, which affects the ability of the agencies together and share relevant information. In the fight against terrorism, it is necessary to optimize inter-and intra-agency intelligence cooperation (Newbery, 2020, p. 2). While Newbery focuses on intelligence-gathering and liaison in Northern Ireland and England, the article provides insights on the need to speed up the liaison to improve security (p. 11). Intelligence for counterterrorism requires various intelligence agencies working closely together and intelligence coordination. Inter-and intra-agency intelligence liaison is more likely to be effective when there is a shared purpose.
Internal and external processes influence the culture of US intelligence agencies that tend to operate independently and share intelligence information. US intelligence agencies have their unique bureaucratic identities, culture, and environment, and sometimes there is resistance to work closely together (Aid, 2011, p. 484). Additionally, Aid (2011, p. 484) singles out the Rational Actor Model to research the intelligence sector where individuals and organizations are rational who makes informed foreign policy decisions that are beneficial and based on the environment, conditions and constraints. The assumption is that rational actions in intelligence analysis and decision-making are based on the belief that intelligence agents make rational choices and share information. However, this is not always the case, as different perspectives influence agencies to choose some decisions over others. 
The tension between policymakers and intelligence is a concern as intelligence analysts may require support from the policymakers to push forward with their preferred policies. Strained relations between policymakers and intelligence are closely linked when there are conflicting interests and needs (Jervis, 2020, p.187). Intelligence analysts and agents focus on surveillance and gathering to get the best intelligence available, but they do not influence how the information is used. Closer collaboration between policymakers and the intelligence agencies is necessary to support structured intelligence and help the policymakers improve security.US policyma...