POR QUE É NECESSÁRIA UMA NOVA AGENDA DE PESQUISA PARA O ESTUDO DA INTELIGÊNCIA CONTEMPORÂNEA?

Abstract

The article is situated within Intelligence Studies and addresses the mismatch between an Anglo state-centric and functionalist paradigm, largely structured around the “intelligence cycle”, and the complex contemporary ecology of actors, technologies and practices in state, public security, strategic and competitive intelligence. Its objective is to propose a new research agenda for contemporary intelligence, linking doctrinal, conceptual and methodological foundations to the Brazilian context, with particular emphasis on ABIN’s Intelligence Activity Doctrine. The methodology consists of a narrative literature review that combines the examination of legal and doctrinal frameworks with national and international studies on intelligence, information science, knowledge management and public security. The main results identify four structuring axes: intelligence understood as a transversal social field; the centrality of users’ needs assessment; the impact of emerging technologies and analysts’ professionalisation; and the importance of the systematic use of structured analytic techniques. It concludes that consolidating this agenda requires transdisciplinary efforts, the revision of training programmes and institutional practices, the strengthening of democratic oversight mechanisms and the development of empirical research on users, methods and organisational arrangements in intelligence.