Given the difficulties of managing foreign liaison relationships, especially complex ones in which political or military deals are struck, the U.S. government needs to balance its dependency with a renewed commitment to collection assets in which it has a comparative advantage, such as space- based platforms, and new initiatives to develop unilateral human sources as well. Deep penetration agents require even tighter restrictions on divulging sources and methods in the intelligence-sharing process than currently exist. The post-9=11 emphasis on intelligence-sharing between agencies and governments needs to be accompanied by recognition of the difference between sharing secret assessments and sharing top secret sources, which are the most valuable and perishable of all. Serious thought must be given to a selective deepening of secrecy in the United States even as—or in order to ensure that—intelligence is more broadly shared.
Related Resources
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Foreign Aid and Soft Power: Great Power Competition in Africa in the Early Twenty-First Century
Blair, Robert A., Robert Marty, and Philip Roessler. “Foreign Aid and Soft Power: Great Power Competition in Africa in the Early Twenty-First Century.” British Journal of Political Science 52, no. 3 (July 2022): 1355–76.
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Geographical Blessing versus Geopolitical Curse: Great Power Security Agendas for the Black Sea Region and a Turkish Alternative
Aydın, Mustafa. “Geographical Blessing versus Geopolitical Curse: Great Power Security Agendas for the Black Sea Region and a Turkish Alternative.” Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 9, no. 3 (September 1, 2009): 271–85.
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