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Queering Intelligence Studies

  • Citation: Bean, Hamilton, and Mia Fischer. “Queering Intelligence Studies.” Intelligence and National Security 36, no. 4 (2021): 584–98.
    • Topics:
    • Conflict and Security
    • Keywords:
    • intelligence studies
    • U.S.
    • Intelligence Community (IC)
    • LGBTQ inclusivity

This essay proposes ‘queering’ Intelligence Studies through a critical analysis of recent U.S. Intelligence Community diversity initiatives that aim to create workplaces more inclusive of LGBTQ members. In doing so, the essay advances queer theory as a resource that can improve intelligence organizing through critique of dominant approaches to diversity management. Shifting from a focus on identity categories to normativity can reveal entrenched institutional assumptions and inequities that undermine diversity initiatives. The essay also describes how queer theory complicates the uncritical celebration of LGBTQ inclusivity within the U.S. Intelligence Community.

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