Military and Civilian Perspectives on the Ethics of Intelligence - Essay Example

According to the BBC Ethics Guide (2011), “A war is only just if it is fought for a reason that is justified, and that carries sufficient moral weight.” Just War goes beyond just a military practice to be encompassed as a theory. In this direction, Orend, Brian (2008) argues that “just war theory is probably the most influential perspective on the ethics of war and peace.” This means that the talk of just war raises a lot of questions on ethics and morality. Many researchers and theorists have therefore propounded a lot of ideas and theories on just war. One such is the ‘consequentialist’ moral dynamic for intelligence operations introduced by Arrigo. The Arrigo Paper and believers of it thereof raise a lot of issues of when human source intelligence, counterintelligence, or covert operations pass the “moral divide” and violate the Just War doctrine.

As an expectation of civilians from the military, wars should be started by causes and causes should be found through intelligence. For this reason, a justified war comes with a justifiable cause and for that matter, a justifiable intelligence. It is therefore important that “a doctrine of just war should coordinate with a doctrine of just intelligence, especially for human source intelligence, counterintelligence, and covert operations” (Arrigo, 2001).

Ultimately, the military has failed in its mission of just war if its source of intelligence cannot be ranked as just in the sense that it is taken primarily by insiders or military specialists without any regard for outsiders or ordinary citizens. Another incidence when human source intelligence, counterintelligence, or covert operations pass the “moral divide” and violate the Just War doctrine is when a war fought does not redress wrong suffered but is fought based on inflicting revenge and vengeance. Again, a war violates the just war doctrine when ordinary citizens or civilians are made to suffer directly or indirectly for the sake of a beleaguered target.

Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important that all forms of war, even those against terrorism are fought on the principles of just war and that at no point in time should the military become its dictator or decider. As much as possible, intelligence from civilians should be respected because,e for nothing at all, the civilian knows the basic laws and knows the difference between right and wrong. Read More