Intelligence and US Foreign Policy since WWII: A Review of Current History

Abstract

When the Obama administration took office in 2009, International Relations (IR) scholars had high expectations for the new government. Many scholars took Obama's campaign slogan - "change we can believe in" - to mean that the new president will initiate reforms that bring US foreign policies into line with international laws. However, Obama soon authorized covert operations on sovereign state's soil, which violate the norm of state sovereignty. This continuing trend in the use of intelligence and other exceptional means, regardless of party affiliation, suggests that a complete analysis of U.S foreign policy cannot be done without taking these measures into account. For this reason, this article aims to review the roles of intelligence in US foreign policy since the end of the Second World War in order to reiterate the importance of intelligence in analysing the policies of the US.