Abstract
The UK’s national security landscape was created for an earlier era, in which novel information was scarce, the process of capturing it carried intrinsic value, and its dissemination was highly prized. Limited by the complexity and cost of gathering and guarding secrets, its scope was inevitably constrained, leading to a highly insular culture.
But the world has changed. We are in the information age, where data is ubiquitous. The intelligence edge now lies with those who can most readily access and exploit data and use it to generate actionable insights at pace, using tools such as collective intelligence, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. And the demand for such insights is not restricted to defence and national security, but to all parts of government and the wider public sector. Across government, politicians and policymakers are wrestling with complex, interconnected challenges which must be addressed for future UK prosperity, advantage, and resilience.
The UK intelligence community (UKIC) is facing an existential challenge. It is being out-competed by providers of open-source intelligence and data companies, who can sell their insights to any customer (including, of course, UKIC). To stay relevant into the mid-21st century, UKIC needs to pivot into the future and reimagine itself.
We envisage a future where UKIC becomes a much broader cross-government capability, whose primary function is to provide the right information at the right time to the right customer – both maintaining a core of security intelligence but also enhancing intelligence from other sources. Often this will mean using open-source data sources and expanding into a wider range of problem sets, topics and technologies than might once have been considered within its remit. Instead of being a monolith, it must become a network, embedded as a ‘golden thread’ through sectors and services where ‘security’ is a lens through which to view and contribute to wider discussion, and where the value-add lies in connecting, understanding, and communicating.
This is the pathway to strategic advantage, as set out in the Integrated Review refresh, in which the intelligence community can become conveners and leaders to address the most complex, longitudinal, and emergent challenges. To do so, they must become more diverse, change their culture, be more open to new and different ways of working and thinking, be more adept at working in the open, and embrace and nurture different kinds of people and partnerships.
In this article, we set out the rationale for a new model for national security and the first steps to move towards it.