INTELLIGENCE FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATIVE DIMENSIONS IN THE SARS-COV2 PANDEMIC -TOWARDS COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE WITH MEDINT?

Abstract

Research Paper

DOI: 10.37458/ssj.5.2.5

The aim of this study is to illustrate some of the strengths and weaknesses of three main communicative dimensions that have served intelligence functions in the interest of national security during the Sars-Cov2 pandemic crisis. The selected communicative dimensions relate to the American intelligence dissemination process, the Italian epidemic intelligence coordination and the public communication, within the specific framework of crisis state governance. The information was gathered mainly from OSINT sources, while ITS analysis followed both a deductive and an inductive approach. Highlights show that MEDINT could benefit from collective intelligence in the future. In the context of a global pandemic crisis, this raises two further key questions: Should intelligence include its own communicative dimension, in addition to information, within its boundaries of interest and surveillance? And, would it benefit from appropriate training and revision of the division between intelligence reporting and policy advice?

The topic is relevant for monitoring the balance between the dimension of secrecy and the dimension of transparency, both of which concern the intelligence services, both in terms of national security and in terms of the participatory democratic state in which the intelligence services operate in Italy, starting from the Italian reform of Law 124/2007.