Conclusion

Abstract

The US intelligence community’s reliance on contractors challenges accountability both in theory and in practice. When intelligence is outsourced, accountability cannot be approached through the sole prism of executive control, congressional oversight and judicial review, as is so often the case in the academic literature. To explore the evolving accountability regime for intelligence contractors, this book has proposed a new model of intelligence accountability as a process that brings together a variety of stakeholders across the three branches of government and broader society. In practice, these stakeholders’ willingness and ability to hold contractors to account differs and evolves....