Adebimpe Saheed FAGBEMI, PhD
Department of Criminology and Forensic Studies,
University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban,
Republic of South Africa
Email: adebimpefagbemi@yahoo.com
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1412-3588
Abstract
It is factual that no State can exist without formidable and active intelligence community (IC). Intelligence community is the bedrock of a State in terms of prevention, detection and safe guide against hostile intelligence service (HIS). The Nigeria intelligence community are Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Department of State Services (DSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA). The intelligence community are saddled primarily to procure timely and adequate intelligence for the government to formulates foreign policies and protect her State against clandestine operations from hostile intelligence service (H.I.S). This paper will focus on the Global North intelligence community citing United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) as reference point and Global South intelligence community adopting Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria as case in point respectively. The security challenges confronting the Global North intelligence community are terrorism, cybercrime, economic intelligence, espionage, subversive activities, hostile State actors and so on. While the Global South intelligence community are facing different security challenges such as, corruption, lack of funds, political instability, failed State, unhealthy rivalry amongst intelligence agency, leakages of sensitive materials (top-secret) to the public, activities of mole (double agents), and so on. It is pertinent to bridge the gaps between the Global North and Global South intelligence community and proffer lasting solution to the security challenges confronting the Nigeria intelligence community. This paper will suggest the way forward and advice the Nigerian government how to combat the contemporary threats impeding the intelligence community in actualizing their potentials in discharging their statutory roles and safeguarding the State against any external coercions.
Keywords: Crime, Early Warning Signals, Global North, Global South, Intelligence community, Intelligence sharing, Security challenges.
Introduction
It is factual that no States can survive without an intelligence community (IC). Intelligence agencies are the bedrock in any warfare, and safeguarding its States against espionage, terrorism and insurgency activities from both internal (terrorist/insurgent) and external (Hostile Intelligence Service) enemies of the State. All State across the globe must have a well-equipped and well-trained intelligence agents to combat the prevailing threats (Mosindi, 2019).
This paper will discuss various intelligence communities from the Global North and Global South States. The United States intelligence community comprises of office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGIA), Department of State (DoS), and Department of Defence (DoD) and so on, Ratcliffe (2020). The United Kingdom intelligence community are Military Intelligence Section 6 (MI6), Military Intelligence Section 5 (MI5), Defence Intelligence (DI) and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) Ratcliffe (2020).