Abstract

This paper examines from the point of view of an intelligence practicioner the utility of the philosophical method that Professor Cecile Fabre has applied to intelligence ethics. Her emphasis on the duty that lies on governments to be sufficiently well informed about those who pose a real risk of serious violations of fundamental human rights is seen as a valuable addition to discourse on the ethics of intelligence activity. The just war tradition is put forward as an alternative framing of key ethical issues that can be translated into a practical code for intelligence officers that can be adapted to changing levels of threat in a way that is difficult to derive from a timeless philosophical analysis.