Intelligence Support to United Nations Activities

With the end of the Cold War, the United Nations has been reinvigorated as a forum for the maintenance of world peace. The trend at present is clearly toward a more proactive stance, with the United Nations becoming involved in preventive diplomacy and peacemaking efforts. With this proactive stance has come an increasing need for intelligence support to United Nations activities. This study examines some of the problems associated with such an effort and possible structures and processes which can be implemented by both the United Nations and the United States. The key conclusions drawn by the study are that an intelligence structure within the United Nations needs to be established, with an emphasis toward making the process available to all members of the United Nations, while permitting individual countries to limit their involvement and protect their own unilateral interests. Within the United States government, a central structure needs to be established under the DCI to properly support United Nations activities as a U.S. policy tool, while effectively protecting U.S. intelligence community equities.