The round table on Intelligence and Democray was held on the 26th and 27th of August at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California
Agenda

Roundtable: Intelligence and Democracy

Within the realm of civilian control of the armed forces as a subset of civil-military relations, probably the most problematic issue is control of the intelligence services. This is due not only to the legacies of the prior, non-democratic regimes, in which the intelligence or security apparatus was a key element of control, and in which human rights abuses often were allowed, but also to the inherent tension everywhere between intelligence and democracy. Democracy requires accountability of the governors to the governed, and transparency. Intelligence services, by contrast, must operate in secret to be effective, thus violating to some degree both accountability and transparency (also called oversight). While well-established democracies have developed mechanisms to deal with this dilemma, new democracies are still in the process of creating them:
Reforming Intelligence: The Challenge of Control in the Democracies

Book--Intelligence and Democracy: A Work in Progress

This book examines the methods civilian authorities in modern democracies can use to establish strong, effective controls over their intelligence agencies while insuring essential intelligence functions - informing the government of external and internal threats - are not compromised. It begins by examining the intelligence process in the United States and other established democracies and the potential problems that intelligence activities can pose to democratic governance. Employing a thematic case study approach, the authors analyze the mechanisms used by the modern democracies to maintain control over their intelligence organizations. These instruments of control include use of the power of the purse, structural and organizational arrangements, legislative oversight, and legal mechanisms. The authors examine recent efforts by democracies in Latin America, Central Europe, Africa, and Asia to establish their own democratic controls over intelligence and the challenges that such nations will face in the future.
Outline of the Book