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Human Intelligence Throughout History: An Analysis of the Changes in Human Intelligence Collection Techniques from the Cold War to the Present
Lohmann, Garrett Thomas ; Biagini, Erika (vedoucí práce) ; Špelda, Petr (oponent)
This dissertation seeks to investigate how the human intelligence (HUMINT) collection field has evolved from the Cold War to the modern day. To conduct this investigation this dissertation will examine the HUMINT activities of three case study countries, the United States, Russia, and China. Along with the analysis of these case studies' HUMINT activities, this dissertation will also analyze how technology has changed over time to aid HUMINT in the digital world of today. This analysis serves to prove a pattern in the evolution of HUMINT activities along with the rise of new technologies. By analyzing patterns of the evolution of the HUMINT technology relationship, this dissertation will provide insight into the possible future of the HUMINT collection field.
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The Commercialisation of Space as an Information Source: An Enquiry into Potential Implications for Geospatial Intelligence
Oses Astiz, María ; Biagini, Erika (vedoucí práce) ; Doboš, Bohumil (oponent)
This dissertation is looking into the question of how the entrance of the private sector has affected the security network in space. To do so, this thesis provides a temporary reality of today's space ecosystem in accordance with its congested and contested characteristic factor developed by the introduction of the private sector in space. This is to be done through the analysis of one of the major space actors, the United States and its impact on space activities and transformation on their own space capabilities towards a private monopoly of the resources of the domain. Providing therefore, the changing factor that characterises states as their own propellant of security and their own insecurity in the domain. For that matter, this dissertation operates with numerical data provided by organisational, non-organisational and different studies providing the picture of the reality of space and its short-term future predictions. Therefore, lastly, providing a possible impact on the private monopolisation of space activities, ecosystem and technologies into the security network and its use for intelligence purposes. Key words: Space Security Network, Mega-Constellation, Miniaturisation, Big-Data, GEOINT
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Russian cyber strategy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Analysing the Kremlin's disinformation efforts amid 2022 invasion of Ukraine
Janadze, Elene ; Biagini, Erika (vedoucí práce) ; Cheskin, Ammon (oponent)
Over-reliance on social media platforms for news in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) provides fertile ground for Russia to cultivate its image as a great power through Russian state- funded media channels such as RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic. RT Arabic (formerly known as Russia Today) started operating in the developing countries of the Arabic-speaking Middle East as early as May 2007 (Jensen, 2018). Although disinformation has grown to be an important component of Russia's strategic engagement in the MENA, the Kremlin's information operations targeting the Arabic-speaking populations are still not thoroughly investigated in the literature. This study draws from the literature on Russia's broader strategy in the MENA and brings emphasis to the information component of the strategy that has received little academic attention. Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine marked a further increase in Moscow's Ukraine-related disinformation campaigns in the MENA, providing a new opportunity to assess Russia's broader strategic goals in the region via gaining insights into the anatomy of the Kremlin's information operations. In this light, Russia's disinformation efforts in the MENA - the region that has traditionally been a battleground between great powers - have become a significant subject to study....
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An inevitable collision: Health, biology and security in times of pandemic
Adam, Sarah Jeanne ; Boštíková, Vanda (vedoucí práce) ; Biagini, Erika (oponent)
For more than two and a half years now, experts and scholars around the world have been unanimous about one thing: the COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest challenge of our times. Since the SARS-CoV-2 first emerged in the Chinese province of Wuhan in December 2019, more than 560 thousand millions of confirmed cases were documented and approximately 6,3 millions of deaths were recorded throughout the world. Its extreme virulence and lethality, combined with its devastating consequences, prompted states leaders and international actors to frame the disease as a threat to their national and international security. In other words, the COVID-19 was securitized by actors in position of authority who presented and labeled the issue as an existential security threat. While the COVID-19 is not the first health-related issue to be securitized, the case of the COVID-19 revealed a security rationale that was not present in the previous securitizations. Indeed, many scientists and field experts have noted the relevance of another aspect that was brought up by the securitization of the COVID-19: the vulnerabilities of states toward biological threats as a whole, and not only infectious diseases. The COVID-19 was therefore not only presented as a security threat because of its high morbidity/mortality rates and the...
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Lethal crossroads: The evolution of Taliban violence in response to counterinsurgency strategies in Afghanistan 2006-2021
Mccafferty, Sean ; Biagini, Erika (vedoucí práce) ; Aslan, Emil (oponent) ; Kaczmarski, Marcin (oponent)
Lethal Crossroads: The Evolution of Taliban Violence in Response to Counterinsurgency Strategies in Afghanistan 2006-2021. July 2022 Presented in partial fulfilment for the Degree of International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies Word Count: 21861 Date of Submission: 24/07/2022 Student Number Glasgow: 2188272M Dublin: 20109547 Prague: 19142078 Supervisor Dr Erika Biagini Abstract This thesis examines how the Taliban's use of the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) evolved in response to changing counterinsurgency strategies in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2021. The work aims to identify the role of state counterinsurgency strategies in affecting variation in IED use by insurgents. The evolution of methods of violence in Afghanistan has rarely been focused on. Yet, the Taliban's return to power in 2021 amid the withdrawal of the last coalition forces necessitates reflection on the conflict across academia and policy making. To investigate the evolution of the IED this research employs a longitudinal case study design applying qualitative research methodologies such as the constant comparative method to analyse three distinct phases of insurgent and counterinsurgent violent competition in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2021. An evolutionary theoretical framework outlined by Veilleux-Lepage...
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Unwelcome Chinese Economic, Political, and Military Influence: How Australia Serves as an Example in Combating Chinese Influence
Swindall, Molly ; Munro, Neil (vedoucí práce) ; Biagini, Erika (oponent) ; Ludvík, Jan (oponent)
Chinese engagement worldwide has increased significantly as the country has continued to grow. With increased engagement militarily, economically, politically, etc. concerns have increased surrounding Chinese foreign influence in other countries, particularly Western countries. While concerns are wide-ranging, this dissertation uses a qualitative case study to examine influence concerns in three key areas in Australia and what Australia is doing to combat these influence concerns. The areas are economics (investments), politics (interference through political donations), and military (concerns over Chinese activities in the Pacific). Australia was selected due to its precarious position of being strongly connected to China economically, with China being Australia's top two-way trading partner. Since China doesn't separate trade and politics, Australia stands to lose when limiting Chinese influence, but this hasn't stopped the country from responding. Australia has passed many laws, introduced new regulations, announced new initiatives, and blocked certain high-profile investments to limit influence and influence concerns. Additionally, Australia can serve as a model to other countries with similar concerns.
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Counterterrorism strategies as a consequence of terrorism: understanding United Kingdom's CONTEST 2018
Orozbakieva, Aizhan ; Aslan, Emil (vedoucí práce) ; Aliyev, Huseyn (oponent) ; Biagini, Erika (oponent)
The relative peace that the world citizens enjoy today keeps being sabotaged by forces that kill and injure innocent civilians via terrorist attacks. In recent times, a number of violent attacks took place between 2013 and 2017 in all parts of the world. The territories that have been affected the most are the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Western Europe. While terrorism in the MENA region, for instance, was mostly carried out by local forces, in Western Europe it was either external powers or domestic perpetrators who have been indoctrinated by foreign radicals. Western European states started becoming more cautious and alert. As a consequence of terrorism, new counterterrorism strategies have been written and implemented. The following research project seeks to analyse and interpret the United Kingdom's counterterrorism strategy in order to understand the dynamics of the legitimisation of security- oriented policies. The UK has been selected as a case study because it has predominantly struggled with the phenomenon of Northern-Irish related terrorism, long before the infamous September 11th , 2001 attacks in the US. Post-2001, the UK has been mostly targeted by jihadi- inspired terrorism. In response to the growing threat, the country initiated and implemented strategies to reduce...
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Assessing the Digital Hegemony
Keyser, Daniel ; Vostal, Filip (vedoucí práce) ; Cheskin, Ammon (oponent) ; Biagini, Erika (oponent)
Assessing the Digital Hegemony Daniel Keyser Abstract This paper seeks to answer whether there exists a global superpower in regard to control of the internet. This position, drawing upon the historical and political science related position of Hegemon, is explored further through the concept of Hegemony and its related ideas to form both a theory, that of Digital Hegemony, and methodology to address the question in an empirical case study of the United States of America and the People's Republic of China. The empirical argument is based off of the amount of traffic generated by nationally based companies, the amount of control over internet based architecture and infrastructure globally, and the development of future technologies linked to the internet. The empirical findings of this paper conclude that the United States of America has control of the internet through amount of traffic generated, and amount of architecture and infrastructure globally owned by nationally based corporations, but that this Digital Hegemony is being challenged by the People's Republic of China, especially in regard to future technologies linked to the internet, arguing that the United States must increase its investment and development into these industries either by government back programs or its corporations to maintain the...
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Police Militarisation and its Implications for Policing and Crime Prevention in South Africa
Rains, Coleman Dunham ; Berg, Julie (vedoucí práce) ; Ludvík, Jan (oponent) ; Biagini, Erika (oponent)
The purpose of this study is to explore police militarisation, specifically in South Africa and its South African Police Service (SAPS) since their remilitarisation in 2010. The study utilises Peter Kraska's militarisation continuum as the framework to assess how the SAPS have, or have not, militarised since 2010. To conduct this research, this study is designed as an exploratory approach that utilises a case study, document and literature analysis, and secondary data set analysis as its methodologies. The findings reveal evidence of further militarisation of the SAPS according to the operational, organisational, and cultural indicators of Kraska's militarisation continuum. The findings of further militarisation, according to these indicators, include incongruity between South African government documents and what is put in practice regarding police militarisation and community policing; new and re-established paramilitary units; a weakened stance on the SAPS' use of lethal force and of the capabilities of independent oversight bodies; and an evolving strategy towards repeated, national-scale high-density militarised operations by the SAPS. These findings of further militarisation are accompanied by evidence of less militarisation according to the fourth metric of Kraska's continuum, the material...
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Financial Intelligence and Money Laundering: A Comparative Case Study of the UK and Brazil
Silveira, Louise Nathalie Vingert ; Butler, Eamonn (vedoucí práce) ; Erkomashvili, David (oponent) ; Biagini, Erika (oponent)
Financial Intelligence and Money Laundering: A Comparative Case Study of the UK and Brazil July 2020 Glasgow University Student ID: 2401161s DCU Student ID: 18114270 Charles University Student ID: 46010726 Louise Nathalie Vingert Silveira Presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies Word Count: 24,094 Supervisor: Dr. Eamonn Butler McIntosh Date of Submission: 29th July 2020 Abstract: Money Laundering (ML) offers criminals the means to hide their illicit proceeds allowing them to enjoy their profits or further reinvest in criminal activities. Financial intelligence provides a comprehensive and effective strategy to disrupt these criminal networks increasing security worldwide. To this purpose the use of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) are central in detecting suspicious transactions and providing law enforcement with useful intelligence. The international Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regime offers flexibility on the type of their institutional arrangement which have translated into four models by state practice. The aim of this dissertation is to explore this flexibility and question if the model adopted by a country influences its operations. A mix method approach consisting of document analysis and comparative...
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