Agents for Change

In September 1999 St Antony's College, Oxford, hosted a conference on how the intelligence services of the world should respond to the changes in world politics that have flowed from the collapse of the Soviet Union. No less important, the conference discussed the revolution in information technology that is challenging the time-honoured methods used by the intelligence community - the 'second oldest profession'. The papers delivered at the St Antony's conference are reproduced here, together with an edited account of the discussion. When senior intelligence officers from six different countries meet, among them a former Director of the CIA, the Deputy Chief of the British SIS, the head of the KGB's Illegals Directorate, and their counterparts from Italy, Sweden and France, sparks are bound to fly. Are there ethics in espionage? The discussions will surprise, especially as such frank exchanges hitherto have only taken place in highly classified environments. Now, for the first time, some of the world's most experienced Cold Warriors have emerged from the shadows and gathered together to debate the past and deliberate on the future.