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Tag: Magda Long Covert Actions

Magda Long | Covert Actions Today | Intelligence & Interview N.21 | Dr Giangiuseppe Pili

The intelligence world has its grievances everywhere in the world. This is particularly true in the Western democracies precisely because… they are democracies. In theory, democracies are the land of human rights, transparency, and ultimately openness. After all, any other form of government is not so engaged with those values. However, the reality is always more complex, and history teaches us that even the most established and oldest democracies in the world, comparatively speaking, have their covert activities. But is this only history? Are covert actions simply dead, a “relic of the Cold War”? This is exactly the right introductory question for this insightful interview. After twenty interviews now, in which we covered less controversial topics (but are there any in the intelligence studies?), I thought to tackle one of the most fascinating, complicated, and complex topics of intelligence studies. It wasn’t possible to find a better person than Magda Long, Ph.D. candidate at King’s College – London, whose passion for intelligence and research is so completely transparent. Her in-depth knowledge and passion will be apparent to all our readers once they go through the interview. And I’m always glad to bring different opinions on my research topics and ideas. Indeed, I argued elsewhere that covert actions are not part of intelligence in theory; but they are for historical reasons. And it is cool to put it after the interview on intelligence ethics! Ok, I hope I persuaded you that if you are interested in covert actions, especially in the current geopolitical competition, this is definitely the interview you were searching for. Then, it is with my distinct pleasure to publish the interview on Scuola Filosofica – for those who don’t know it yet; it is one of the leading cultural blogs in Italy. In the name of Scuola Filosofica Team, our readers, and myself, Giangiuseppe Pili, Magda: thank you!