A whole of society intelligence approach: critical reassessment of the tools and means used to counter information warfare in the digital age

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to critically reflect on why scholars need to reevaluate the definition of intelligence practices in the 21st century. Our assessment starts with digital communication advancements and their progressive appropriation by power agents to the benefit of propaganda, disinformation, and political manipulation. While analyzing the very nature of intelligence as being ‘institutionally’ and ‘nationally’ constructed, the paper advances a new, deeply societal model in which intelligence is de-reified and approached as key instrument in diverting the use of digital communication to de-construct polarizing narratives.