When most of us visualise a spy, we’re more likely to picture the likes of James Bond or Jason Bourne than a scientist in a lab coat. But the most challenging national security threats facing the world today require a level of scientific expertise that is outside the sphere of more traditional spycraft. The security implications of climate change and the threat of future pandemics are two key fields on which intelligence agencies are focusing – and to this end they are bringing in new talent from the fields of science and technology.
The United States, as is often the case, appears to be ahead of the game. Under President Joe Biden, the intelligence community has committed to work on areas traditionally dominated by science, including an investigation into the origins of Covid-19 and the theory that it was accidentally leaked from a Chinese lab. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has brought an experienced epidemiologist from the State Department’s intelligence and research division to serve on its council, to strengthen the role of scientific expertise. The office has also created two new senior national intelligence posts, one to look into climate change and the other to examine “disruptive technology”. Preparing for the future, agencies like the CIA are also being encouraged to aggressively recruit science students.
Throughout the Cold War, scientists and technologists worked alongside and within intelligence agencies, so it’s not that this kind of relationship is anything particularly new. But the nature of recent threats demands engagement with a different range of disciplines. All of which begs the question of what Britain is doing about this trend. In June, the outgoing chief scientific adviser for national security, Anthony Finkelstein, warned that the UK was at “serious risk” if it fails to achieve a strategic advantage in science and technology. Speaking to the BBC, he said that the UK had not missed the boat, but that the intelligence community would have to make significant changes in order to confront this new era of geopolitical competition.
In March, the government announced a long-awaited review of the UK’s security and defence policy, which brought science and technology to the forefront. But the review is in danger of being too little, too late, given the scale of the challenges and the rapid rate of change. More clearly needs to be done. It would be no bad thing to look to our own science and technology students, given that climate change and the threat of future pandemics are major security challenges that aren’t going anywhere.
This article is a preview from the upcoming New Humanist autumn 2021 edition. Subscribe today.
