Rules for Assigning Tasks to Intelligence Services
In different countries the intelligence services are assigned tasks differently; it depends on their system of direction and control. In democratic countries the following rules are followed:
- tasks have to be in accordance with the legal position, the scope of powers and also the capacity of an intelligence service;
- services may not passively wait for being tasked. They should have a flexible mechanism enabling them to swiftly react to newly recognized occasions and they should also have the capacity to look for them;governments and their professional bodies have to prepare long-term tasks well in advance;
- assignments should not result from faults of the information system of the state and its bodies, i.e. from requesting information which shall be obtain through the standard methods of the state (which is not working properly).
Source: Petr Zeman - lectures, trainings and public speeches