Intelligence in Asymmetric Conflict

Examining the preparedness of the South African Intelligence Community (SAIC) to address asymmetric threats becomes a matter of national importance given the proximity of international terrorist organizations like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria to SA and the detrimental impact of organized crime, particularly state capture, on the country’s government and state-owned enterprises. The research was based on a relativist ontological assumption with a qualitative approach to the search through published literature, legislation, policy, reports, and media releases for relevant descriptions of the current state of SA security threats and its IC—more specifically, the State Security Agency. The study concluded that the SAIC is unlikely to be capable of neutralizing evolving domestic and international asymmetric threats due to chronic incapacity caused by overbureaucracy, state capture, politicization, and corruption (among other ills). This is a contribution to the ongoing introspection in SA about developing a functional and professional state security apparatus that effectively contributes to the ethos of “freedom from want and freedom from fear.”

Armed conflict · Political science · Intelligence, Security, War Strategy · Law

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