Adam Henschke
Biographic Data
| ID | 4163678 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Adam Henschke |
| GIVEN NAMES | Adam |
| FAMILY NAME | Henschke |
| SIGNATURE | HENSCHKE A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Twente |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2956-0883 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 4 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Moral Risk, Moral Injury, and Institutional Responsibility
Intelligence is morally unique—means and ends that are typically morally problematic are rendered justifiable by reference to the special purpose that national security intelligence serves. This is particularly the case with human intelligence (HUMINT), where operators and handlers might have to violate normal ethical principles as part of their job. Lying, coercion, and/or exploitation may feature as part of a HUMINT operation. This creates a mo…
Introduction
Ethics, intelligence collection, and analysis, notably espionage, have coexisted for millennia. Ethics as a sustained discussion on right and wrong has existed since at least the era of the ancient
Cyber-governance of the natural world the implications of digital twins in environmental governance
Digital Twins (DTs) are data-driven real-time and multi-faceted representations of real-life physical systems or phenomena. Currently, DTs are developed for use in environmental governance, ranging from DTs of single crops to the planet Earth. By offering up-to-date dynamic simulations, DTs are anticipated to support decision-making in addressing key challenges like ecological degradation and climate change. However, DTs are not neutral tools: th…
Pluralism and the Design of Autonomous Vehicles
This paper advocates for an ethical analysis of autonomous vehicle systems (AVSs) based on a moral epistemic pluralism. This paper contends that approaching the design of intricate social technologies, such as AVSs, is most effective when acknowledging a diverse range of values. Additionally, a comprehensive ethical framework for autonomous vehicles should be applied across two interconnected layers. The first layer centers on the individual leve…
The Ethics of National Security Intelligence Institutions
This book explores the ethics of national security intelligence institutions operating in contemporary liberal democracies. Intelligence collection by agencies such as the CIA, MI6, and Mossad involves practices that are apparently inconsistent with the principles of ordinary morality - practices such as lying, spying, manipulation, and covert action. However, in the defence of national security, such practices may not only be morally permissible…
Cognitive Warfare
This book explores the conceptual, historical, and ethical issues of information conflict to present a detailed analysis of cognitive warfare. Is it possible for liberal democracies to deliberately use information on civilian populations to impact political and social institutions? While information conflict has been a part of political conflict, warfare, and international relations for as long as there has been political competition, given that …
A gathering storm
Increasingly fringe and violent far-right ideologies have become a significant threat to national security in Western countries in the twenty-first century. Accelerationism is growing in far-right narratives while populism and ethnocentrism garnered public attention. This study presents an empirical study of Stormfront, the largest and oldest online white nationalist community in the world, to identify accelerationist themes in the ideological na…
The Ethics of Surveillance in Times of Emergency
The Covid-19 pandemic is arguably the first international emergency of the twenty-first century. In order to respond to this emergency, countries and governments around the world were forced to engage in a range of actions and policies that would not otherwise have been permitted. Looking in particular at the use of surveillance technologies, this book examines the challenge of ethics in emergencies. What can states do to keep their populations s…
Public health measures and the rise of incidental surveillance
The public health measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in a substantially increased shared reliance on private infrastructure and digital services in areas such as healthcare, education, retail, and the workplace. This development has (i) granted a number of private actors significant (informational) power, and (ii) given rise to a range of digital surveillance practices incidental to the pandemic itself. In thi…
Minotaurs, Not Centaurs
Contesting Paul Scharre’s influential vision of “centaur warfighting” and the idea that autonomous weapon systems will replace human warfighters, this article proposes that the manned-unmanned teams of the future are more likely to be minotaurs, teams of humans under the control, supervision, or command of artificial intelligence. It examines the likely composition of the future force and prompts a necessary conversation about the ethical issues …
Ethics of Surveillance in Times of Emergency
The Palgrave Handbook of National Security
Counter-Terrorism
This insightful book provides an analysis of the central ethical issues that have arisen in combatting global terrorism and, in particular, jihadist terrorist groups, notably Al Qaeda, Islamic State and their affiliates. Chapters explore the theoretical problems that arise in relation to terrorism, such as the definition of terrorism and the concept of collective responsibility, and consider specific ethical issues in counter-terrorism.
Counter-Terrorism, Ethics and Technology
This open access book discusses ethical issues arising from the overlap between counter-terrorism, ethics, and technologies.
Toward an Ethical Framework for Countering Extremist Propaganda Online
In recent years, extremists have increasingly turned to online spaces to distribute propaganda and as a recruitment tool. While there is a clear need for governments and social media companies to respond to these efforts, such responses also bring with them a set of ethical challenges. This paper provides an ethical analysis of key policy responses to online extremist propaganda. It identifies the ethical challenges faced by policy responses and …
Rethinking the Nature of States and Political Violence
It is a long-held belief that states must retain the monopoly over political violence in order to be states, and to survive. However, there are recent criticisms of this view forcing us to consider not just the state's use of political violence but the very nature of the state. Elizabeth Frazer and Kimberly Hutchings's Can Political Violence Ever Be Justified? argues that it cannot. Ned Dobos's Ethics, Security, and the War-Machine raises a serie…
Palgrave Handbook of National Security
Can a Soldier Say No to an Enhancing Intervention
Technological advancements have provided militaries with the possibility to enhance human performance and to provide soldiers with better warfighting capabilities. Though these technologies hold significant potential, their use is not without cost to the individual. This paper explores the complexities associated with using human cognitive enhancements in the military, focusing on how the purpose and context of these technologies could potentiall…
‘It struck at the heart of who I thought I was’
Why Would I Be a Whistleblower
The ethics of whistleblowing are complex and challenging. On the one hand, there are a strong set of moral reasons why someone ought to blow the whistle when he or she learns of wrongdoing. On the other hand, such actions typically come at a significant cost to the whistleblower and may not bring about any significant change. Both aspects prompt us to ask, why would I be a whistleblower? Emanuela Ceva and Michele Bocchiola's Is Whistleblowing a D…
Ethics in an Age of Surveillance
People increasingly live online, sharing publicly what might have once seemed private, but at the same time are enraged by extremes of government surveillance and the corresponding invasion into our private lives. In this enlightening work, Adam Henschke re-examines privacy and property in the age of surveillance in order to understand not only the importance of these social conventions, but also their moral relevance. By analyzing identity and i…
The Value of Transparency
Given recognition of widespread state sponsored surveillance programs, are liberal democracies descending into an Orwellian authoritarian nightmare? The realities of the modern surveillance state instead suggest our worries ought to be about Kafkaesque bureaucratic black holes. In this paper we suggest that authoritarianism can be avoided by liberal democracies if they adhere to processes of ensurance and assurance. Moreover, we argue that both o…
Counterterrorism policy in liberal-democratic societies
This article considers the moral limits to national security policies. While it may seem self-evident that there are, and ought to be, limits to counterterrorism policies, there is an increasingly widespread public opinion that political leaders can, and must, do everything they can to protect against terrorist acts. Liberal-democratic societies are facing the threat of domestic terrorism, and for a political leader to say that ‘we cannot stop al…
Ethics in an Age of Surveillance
"People increasingly live online, sharing publicly what might have once seemed private, but at the same time are enraged by extremes of government surveillance and the corresponding invasion into our private lives. In this enlightening work, Adam Henschke re-examines privacy and property in the age of surveillance in order to understand not only the importance of these social conventions, but also their moral relevance. By analyzing identity and …
Beyond the downward gaze
In Opening the black box: The work of watching, 2015, Gavin J. D. Smith gives a sociological critique of closed-circuit television (CCTV) operations. Moving beyond the simple analysis of surveillan
Making Sense of Animal Disenhancement
The Value of Transparency
Given recognition of widespread state sponsored surveillance programs, are liberal democracies descending into an Orwellian authoritarian nightmare? The realities of the modern surveillance state instead suggest our worries ought to be about Kafkaesque bureaucratic black holes. In this paper we suggest that authoritarianism can be avoided by liberal democracies if they adhere to processes of ensurance and assurance. Moreover, we argue that both o…
Counterterrorism policy in liberal-democratic societies
This article considers the moral limits to national security policies. While it may seem self-evident that there are, and ought to be, limits to counterterrorism policies, there is an increasingly widespread public opinion that political leaders can, and must, do everything they can to protect against terrorist acts. Liberal-democratic societies are facing the threat of domestic terrorism, and for a political leader to say that ‘we cannot stop al…
A gathering storm
Increasingly fringe and violent far-right ideologies have become a significant threat to national security in Western countries in the twenty-first century. Accelerationism is growing in far-right narratives while populism and ethnocentrism garnered public attention. This study presents an empirical study of Stormfront, the largest and oldest online white nationalist community in the world, to identify accelerationist themes in the ideological na…
Toward an Ethical Framework for Countering Extremist Propaganda Online
In recent years, extremists have increasingly turned to online spaces to distribute propaganda and as a recruitment tool. While there is a clear need for governments and social media companies to respond to these efforts, such responses also bring with them a set of ethical challenges. This paper provides an ethical analysis of key policy responses to online extremist propaganda. It identifies the ethical challenges faced by policy responses and …
Nanoscale
Making Sense of Animal Disenhancement
Beyond the downward gaze
In Opening the black box: The work of watching, 2015, Gavin J. D. Smith gives a sociological critique of closed-circuit television (CCTV) operations. Moving beyond the simple analysis of surveillan
Ethics in an Age of Surveillance
People increasingly live online, sharing publicly what might have once seemed private, but at the same time are enraged by extremes of government surveillance and the corresponding invasion into our private lives. In this enlightening work, Adam Henschke re-examines privacy and property in the age of surveillance in order to understand not only the importance of these social conventions, but also their moral relevance. By analyzing identity and i…
The Value of Transparency
Given recognition of widespread state sponsored surveillance programs, are liberal democracies descending into an Orwellian authoritarian nightmare? The realities of the modern surveillance state instead suggest our worries ought to be about Kafkaesque bureaucratic black holes. In this paper we suggest that authoritarianism can be avoided by liberal democracies if they adhere to processes of ensurance and assurance. Moreover, we argue that both o…
Counterterrorism policy in liberal-democratic societies
This article considers the moral limits to national security policies. While it may seem self-evident that there are, and ought to be, limits to counterterrorism policies, there is an increasingly widespread public opinion that political leaders can, and must, do everything they can to protect against terrorist acts. Liberal-democratic societies are facing the threat of domestic terrorism, and for a political leader to say that ‘we cannot stop al…
Ethics in an Age of Surveillance
"People increasingly live online, sharing publicly what might have once seemed private, but at the same time are enraged by extremes of government surveillance and the corresponding invasion into our private lives. In this enlightening work, Adam Henschke re-examines privacy and property in the age of surveillance in order to understand not only the importance of these social conventions, but also their moral relevance. By analyzing identity and …
Can a Soldier Say No to an Enhancing Intervention
Technological advancements have provided militaries with the possibility to enhance human performance and to provide soldiers with better warfighting capabilities. Though these technologies hold significant potential, their use is not without cost to the individual. This paper explores the complexities associated with using human cognitive enhancements in the military, focusing on how the purpose and context of these technologies could potentiall…
‘It struck at the heart of who I thought I was’
Why Would I Be a Whistleblower
The ethics of whistleblowing are complex and challenging. On the one hand, there are a strong set of moral reasons why someone ought to blow the whistle when he or she learns of wrongdoing. On the other hand, such actions typically come at a significant cost to the whistleblower and may not bring about any significant change. Both aspects prompt us to ask, why would I be a whistleblower? Emanuela Ceva and Michele Bocchiola's Is Whistleblowing a D…
Counter-Terrorism
This insightful book provides an analysis of the central ethical issues that have arisen in combatting global terrorism and, in particular, jihadist terrorist groups, notably Al Qaeda, Islamic State and their affiliates. Chapters explore the theoretical problems that arise in relation to terrorism, such as the definition of terrorism and the concept of collective responsibility, and consider specific ethical issues in counter-terrorism.
Counter-Terrorism, Ethics and Technology
This open access book discusses ethical issues arising from the overlap between counter-terrorism, ethics, and technologies.
Toward an Ethical Framework for Countering Extremist Propaganda Online
In recent years, extremists have increasingly turned to online spaces to distribute propaganda and as a recruitment tool. While there is a clear need for governments and social media companies to respond to these efforts, such responses also bring with them a set of ethical challenges. This paper provides an ethical analysis of key policy responses to online extremist propaganda. It identifies the ethical challenges faced by policy responses and …
Rethinking the Nature of States and Political Violence
It is a long-held belief that states must retain the monopoly over political violence in order to be states, and to survive. However, there are recent criticisms of this view forcing us to consider not just the state's use of political violence but the very nature of the state. Elizabeth Frazer and Kimberly Hutchings's Can Political Violence Ever Be Justified? argues that it cannot. Ned Dobos's Ethics, Security, and the War-Machine raises a serie…
Palgrave Handbook of National Security
The Palgrave Handbook of National Security
The Ethics of Surveillance in Times of Emergency
The Covid-19 pandemic is arguably the first international emergency of the twenty-first century. In order to respond to this emergency, countries and governments around the world were forced to engage in a range of actions and policies that would not otherwise have been permitted. Looking in particular at the use of surveillance technologies, this book examines the challenge of ethics in emergencies. What can states do to keep their populations s…
Public health measures and the rise of incidental surveillance
The public health measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in a substantially increased shared reliance on private infrastructure and digital services in areas such as healthcare, education, retail, and the workplace. This development has (i) granted a number of private actors significant (informational) power, and (ii) given rise to a range of digital surveillance practices incidental to the pandemic itself. In thi…
Minotaurs, Not Centaurs
Contesting Paul Scharre’s influential vision of “centaur warfighting” and the idea that autonomous weapon systems will replace human warfighters, this article proposes that the manned-unmanned teams of the future are more likely to be minotaurs, teams of humans under the control, supervision, or command of artificial intelligence. It examines the likely composition of the future force and prompts a necessary conversation about the ethical issues …
Ethics of Surveillance in Times of Emergency
Pluralism and the Design of Autonomous Vehicles
This paper advocates for an ethical analysis of autonomous vehicle systems (AVSs) based on a moral epistemic pluralism. This paper contends that approaching the design of intricate social technologies, such as AVSs, is most effective when acknowledging a diverse range of values. Additionally, a comprehensive ethical framework for autonomous vehicles should be applied across two interconnected layers. The first layer centers on the individual leve…
The Ethics of National Security Intelligence Institutions
This book explores the ethics of national security intelligence institutions operating in contemporary liberal democracies. Intelligence collection by agencies such as the CIA, MI6, and Mossad involves practices that are apparently inconsistent with the principles of ordinary morality - practices such as lying, spying, manipulation, and covert action. However, in the defence of national security, such practices may not only be morally permissible…
Cognitive Warfare
This book explores the conceptual, historical, and ethical issues of information conflict to present a detailed analysis of cognitive warfare. Is it possible for liberal democracies to deliberately use information on civilian populations to impact political and social institutions? While information conflict has been a part of political conflict, warfare, and international relations for as long as there has been political competition, given that …
A gathering storm
Increasingly fringe and violent far-right ideologies have become a significant threat to national security in Western countries in the twenty-first century. Accelerationism is growing in far-right narratives while populism and ethnocentrism garnered public attention. This study presents an empirical study of Stormfront, the largest and oldest online white nationalist community in the world, to identify accelerationist themes in the ideological na…
Moral Risk, Moral Injury, and Institutional Responsibility
Intelligence is morally unique—means and ends that are typically morally problematic are rendered justifiable by reference to the special purpose that national security intelligence serves. This is particularly the case with human intelligence (HUMINT), where operators and handlers might have to violate normal ethical principles as part of their job. Lying, coercion, and/or exploitation may feature as part of a HUMINT operation. This creates a mo…
Political science (17 works) · Law (16 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Engineering (10 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Politics (7 works) · Business (6 works) · Computer security (6 works) · Engineering ethics (6 works)